Peace and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The whole Matthew 27 refers to the seven sprinklings of blood upon the Ark of the Covenant. It means the suffering Jesus experiences to save, sanctify and perfect us.
There are seven passages in Matthew 27 that refer to seven kinds of Jesus’ suffering.
We are studying the sixth one in Matthew 27:57-61 now, namely Jesus is buried. He is buried to prove that He truly dies.
Matthew 27:61
27:61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary,sitting opposite the tomb.
Sitting opposite the tomb means enjoying the death or cross experience together with Jesus.
There are two kinds of attitude facing the death or cross experience as follows.
If we can enjoy the cross experience, we will get the nine kinds of heavenly joy written in Matthew 5:3-12.
The facts found in enjoying the cross in our daily life until we can experience the nine kinds of heavenly joy are as follows.
God blesses you.
The whole Matthew 27 refers to the seven sprinklings of blood upon the Ark of the Covenant. It means the suffering Jesus experiences to save, sanctify and perfect us.
There are seven passages in Matthew 27 that refer to seven kinds of Jesus’ suffering.
We are studying the sixth one in Matthew 27:57-61 now, namely Jesus is buried. He is buried to prove that He truly dies.
Matthew 27:61
27:61 And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary,sitting opposite the tomb.
Sitting opposite the tomb means enjoying the death or cross experience together with Jesus.
There are two kinds of attitude facing the death or cross experience as follows.
- Not enjoying even rejecting the cross by murmuring, grumbling, blaming and hoping on other people.
Consequently, there is disappointment, and hopelessness, even one leaves God and perishes forever. - Enjoying the cross until giving thanks always to God.
As a result, there is heavenly joy nothing in the world can influence.
If we can enjoy the cross experience, we will get the nine kinds of heavenly joy written in Matthew 5:3-12.
The facts found in enjoying the cross in our daily life until we can experience the nine kinds of heavenly joy are as follows.
- Being willing to suffer in the flesh in order to stop sinning and live in righteousness.
1 Peter 4:1-2
4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
4:2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
The steps of stopping sinning to live in righteousness are as follows.- Being poor insin or not sinning.
Matthew 5:3
5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Romans 10:10
10:10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
It happens through believing in Jesus, the Savior, in our heart through hearing the Word of Christ, namely God’s Word in the anointed of Holy Spirit. Afterwards, our mouth confesses our sins to God and other people and the blood of Jesus forgives and covers our sins. We are poor in sin and we get the joy of heaven.
Psalm 32:1
32:1 << A Psalm of David. A Contemplation. >>Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.
The joy does not depend on physical riches but whether we have sin or not.
Believing in Jesus and confessing our sins refer to the Gate of Tabernacle. There is suffering and perdition only outside the Tabernacle. Entering it, our heart believes and our mouth confesses, so there is joy of heaven in our life. - Mourning.
Matthew 5:4
5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
2 Corinthians 7:10
7:10 For godly sorrow produces repentanceleading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
There are two kinds of sorrow as follows.- The sorrow of the world causing distress in human. It will make physical death and spiritual one, namely spiritual dryness, up to perdition.
- Godly sorrow to obey the will of God. The result is as follows.
- Repentance, referring to the Altar of Burnt Offering in Tabernacle.
- Water Baptism, referring to the Brazen Laver in Tabernacle.
John 16:21-22
16:21 "A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
16:22 "Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.
Romans 6:4
6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
The right water baptism is the one who has died to sin or repented is buried in water together with Jesus to raise in new life, namely righteous one until he can be as righteous as Jesus is.
1 John 3:9
3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
Isaiah 3:10
3:10 "Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, For they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
The righteous will be joyful. They are blessed by God and become blessings for other people.
- Repentance, referring to the Altar of Burnt Offering in Tabernacle.
- The sorrow of the world causing distress in human. It will make physical death and spiritual one, namely spiritual dryness, up to perdition.
- Being poor insin or not sinning.
- Being willing to suffer in the flesh to keep the good consciencebecause it is the source of eternal joy and life.
Proverbs 4:23
4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
God looks our heart and so does Satan. Therefore, we must be alert keeping our heart.
The process is as follows.- Being meek, referring to the Door of Tabernacle.
Matthew 5:5
5:5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
John 3:6-8
3:6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
3:7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
3:8 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
It means being born of Holy Spirit to become as the wind. It is real but feeling nothing. It means we humble ourselves to become meek, namely there is ability to forgive and forget the sins of other people and to be in silence without any plead to our own life.
For example, Moses is meek as the wind. Miriam speaks against him but he is in silence and able to forgive her.
Numbers 12:1-3,13
12:1 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
12:2 So they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?" And the LORD heard it.
12:3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.)
12:13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "Please heal her, O God, I pray!"
Let us only follow the shepherd in the shepherding, without any comments. One who scolds or speaks against other people many more will be a leper, meaning being unclean, isolated from the body of Christ, and ashamed.
The one who is as the wind will be pleaded and employed by God.
Psalm 104:4
104:4 Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.
The servant of God who is born of the Holy Spirit will become as the wind and flame of fire.
Matthew 25:21
25:21 "His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
The fire means faithfulness and fervency in spirit as well as goodness in the service and ministry to God. As a result, we are employed in greater thing namely the building of Christ’s perfect body. - Being hungry and thirsty for righteousness or humble, referring to the Table of Showbread.
Matthew 5:6
5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Such person will appreciate the true teaching Word and long for hearing and obeying it always. As a result, the true teaching Word becomes flesh and blood in our life. In such condition, we get the satisfaction and joy of heaven. The Holy Communion will hasten the process of the true teaching Word’s being the blood and flesh in our life.
There is no satisfaction outside the true teaching Word but thirst and hunger.
It is only by the true teaching Word and Holy Communion that we can get heavenly satisfaction and joy, so we will not seek them in the world. As a result, we will not fall in sins up to the peak.
Arrogant person will despise the true teaching Word through being bored and sleepy hearing it. Such person will be hungry, thirsty, and lukewarm. Finally, they fall in the sins of Babylon and cannot rise anymore. - Being the merciful, referring to the Golden Candlestick.
Matthew 5:7
5:7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
It means we have ability to give until we can feel that it is more blessed to give than to receive. It also means we have ability to serve and visit other people.
1 Peter 4:9-10
4:9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
4:10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
One who is willing to give, serve, and visit other people becomes the sheep of God. He is blessed by God until entering the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 25:34-36
25:34 "Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
25:35 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;
25:36 ‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ - Being the pure in heart and the peacemakers, referring to Golden Altar of Incense.
Matthew 5:8-9
5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Having pure heart means there is no evil and unclean lusts.
Having peaceful heart means there is no bitterness and revenge.
Hebrews 12:14
12:14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
We will be able to worship God if we have pure and peaceful heart. As a result, we get heavenly joy.
Matthew 17:4
17:4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
The three tabernacles refer to the three places in Tabernacle, namely the Court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place. The worship will increase our spirituality to reach the perfection.
If we have the good conscience, Jesus as the Good Shepherd will make all things in our life goods by giving His soul.
Being shepherded indeed hurts our flesh but our life, marriage, and work life become easy and light.
On the contrary, not being shepherded is comfortable to our flesh but our life becomes heavy.
Thus, being shepherded or not determines our life and death. - Being meek, referring to the Door of Tabernacle.
- Being willingto suffer without any sin.
1 Peter 4:14
4:14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.
It can happen through facing temptations, lifting up fasting prayer or long night prayer, being slandered, et cetera.
As a result, the spirit of glory is in us as follows.- To give us heavenly joy in the midst of suffering.
- To renew and glorify us from carnal man to spiritual one who is as glorious as Jesus is.
Matthew 24:32
24:32 "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.
How great we are now, let us learn to be meek.
Isaiah 36:12
36:12 But the Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?"
Isaiah 38:1
38:1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’"
Jerusalem is in crisis, powerlessness, and total failure. Moreover, King Hezekiah is threatened by death.
What we can do in such condition is making our heart meek as follows.- Tearing clothes, meaning we confess our failure, faults, powerlessness, and unfaithfulness.
Isaiah 37:1
37:1 And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. - Spreading the letter in the house of God, meaning we worship God to pour our heart before Him.
Isaiah 37:14
37:14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. - Being in silence to rely on God only.
Isaiah 36:21
36:21 But they held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, "Do not answer him." - We become as a baby crying the name of God to hope in His grace.
Isaiah 38:3
38:3 and said, "Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
- The merciful hands of God work for us, so our enemies become corpses. Meaning all matters are finished in His time.
Isaiah 37:35-36
37:35 ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’"
37:36 Then the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty–five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses–– - Hezekiah who has gotten the decision of God that he must die can be alive. The impossible thing can be made possible. Our tears attract the grace of God to make bad and destroyed things good and beautiful. It continues until we get the most beautiful thing when Jesus comes a second time that we become as glorious as Jesus is.
- Tearing clothes, meaning we confess our failure, faults, powerlessness, and unfaithfulness.
- To give us heavenly joy in the midst of suffering.
God blesses you.