The Meaning of the Sacrifice of the Passover[WMSCOG]

As the Bible says that faith is being sure of what we hope for, the people of Zion believe firmly in the prophecy and earnestly hope for the kingdom of God, and they are preaching the glory of Mother throughout the whole world. As a result, many souls are now coming back to Zion.

If we are proud of our Father and Mother and display Their glory, They will greatly bless us and allow us to achieve wonderful results. Now, let's take some time to think about the meaning of the sacrifice of the Passover and the flesh and blood of God given to us.

A mother saved her child with her own blood
There was a great earthquake in Russia, and a whole town was laid in ruins. At that time, a mother and her baby were buried alive under the rubble for several days. The mother lost consciousness when the building collapsed. At the cry of her baby, she barely recovered consciousness. Then she found out that the whole town had become a town of death and that she and her baby were buried under the ruins caused by the earthquake. She tried to breast-feed her crying baby, but the milk didn't come out well because she hadn't eaten or drunk anything, not even a sip of water, for several days. It was obvious that if they were not rescued, they would lose their lives.

The mother decided to do something extreme in order to keep her baby alive until a rescue squad arrived. She took a sharp stone, cut off part of her finger and let her baby drink the blood dripping from her finger.

After a while, a relief squad arrived to save the mother and her baby. Unfortunately, the mother had already died, but her baby who was sucking her finger was still alive and was safely rescued.

To save her baby, the mother tore her own flesh and let her child drink the blood flowing from it. It was an act of her extreme love to save her child.

Through this real story, we come to understand God's love for us. Like the mother, God gave us, who were destined to die, His flesh to eat and His blood to drink in order to grant us the forgiveness of sins and lead us to eternal life and salvation. Whenever we eat the Passover bread representing Christ's flesh and drink the Passover wine symbolizing His blood, we should not only rejoice in having eternal life but remember the holy love of our Father and Mother who saved our lives.

Passover, the love of God who gave His children His own flesh and blood
The child in the above story was drinking the blood dripping from his mother's finger, which was cut off, to satisfy his hunger. He was completely unaware of the fact that it was the blood of his mother who sacrificed her own life to save him. If we were previously just like this child, we should now think of God's love and sacrifice contained in the Passover.

Jn 6:53-57 『Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me."』

God has made a precious promise to mankind that whoever eats Jesus' flesh and drinks His blood will have eternal life, while the person who does not eat His flesh or drink His blood has no life in him. To save us His children, who were sinners from heaven, God didn't even hesitate to die for us on the cross. Through the sacrifice of God, we have received salvation and eternal life.

Just as the mother saved her child with the blood flowing from her finger at the critical moment, our Father and Mother gave Their flesh to eat and Their blood to drink in order to save us. They willingly gave us Themselves for Their children since it was the only way to save the sinners who were destined to die eternally.

Mt 26:17-19, 26-28 『". . . The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.' " So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover . . . While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body. Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you." This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."』

The Passover bread and wine are given to mankind as the symbols of Christ's flesh and blood, having the promise of eternal life. It is God's sacrifice and love that we can ultimately discover through the Passover.

We are happy that we have eternal life by keeping the covenant of God, but we feel so sorry towards Father and Mother because They have sacrificed Themselves to give us eternal life. It is not God's will just to feel sorry or guilty. First, we should keep in mind how much our Father and Mother have suffered to save us and always give thanks to Them for Their grace. And we should willingly give ourselves to saving the whole world, just as our Father and Mother gave Themselves up for our salvation, so that we will enhance the value of the holy sacrifice of Father and Mother.

"Do this in remembrance of me"
The Passover is a feast that every member of the heavenly family must keep. The Apostle Paul emphasized that we should remember and celebrate the Passover and also proclaim it until Christ comes again.

1 Co 11:23-26 『For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.』

Christ wanted His children to remember the sacrifice of Father and Mother whenever they eat the Passover bread and drink the Passover wine; and before His ascension, He told them to proclaim His death by doing that until He comes. Through the Passover of the new covenant, we can discover God's infinite love for us and His great sacrifice that He has made to save us for 6,000 years. So, Jesus said that the Passover was the new covenant (Lk 22:20), and the Bible states that through the new covenant we have become God's heirs who will inherit the kingdom of God. Only those who understand the holy sacrifice and love of Father and Mother are worthy to be Their children and inherit the kingdom of heaven.

This beautiful story of the new covenant is ours alone, so not everyone can share it. There is no Passover in spiritual Babylon because the story of the Passover is not theirs. They abolished the Passover because it was a meaningless day for them. The Passover is the everlasting covenant established by God and a day to commemorate the sacrifice of the heavenly Father and Mother for Their children's salvation. Nevertheless, they insist that there is no need to keep the Passover. This is proof that they do not belong to the heavenly family.

However, it is a very important day for us, the heavenly family members. So in Zion we keep the Passover holy in remembrance of the love and sacrifice of our Father and Mother.

As God has loved us
God is love. Everything done by God, every purpose and will of God, has come through His love. The Passover is a feast that God has established through His love to give us life.

So, Jesus said at the Passover, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." Just as the mother saved her child by shedding her own blood in the aforesaid true story, God saved us by tearing His flesh and shedding His blood. As God loved us, so we should love one another.

1 Jn 4:7-11 『Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him . . . Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.』

1 Jn 4:16-21 『And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him . . . If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.』

Love comes from God our Father and God our Mother. Everything done by God has come through His love. Since He loves us, He has been waiting for us to be purified like pure gold refined in a furnace and become worthy to enter the kingdom of heaven, sometimes using discipline to correct us, sometimes shedding tears for us, sometimes rejoicing, sometimes groaning, only caring for our future and worrying that we may give in to the temptations of the devil and lose the eternal kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, we also ought to love one another with the heart of God. If we do not love one another, it proves that we still understand only the literal meaning of the Passover, viewing it merely as a ceremony of eating bread and drinking wine. In this situation God would say to us, "I gave you My own flesh and blood, so that you have gained life. Then, why can't you sacrifice for one another?"

Looking forward to the everlasting kingdom of heaven, we should faithfully follow the teachings of our Father and Mother. We should not grumble against each other or envy each other: If one achieves something, we need to share in his joy; if one faces difficulties, we need to encourage and comfort him. Without unity, the gospel work cannot be fulfilled. If we preach the gospel with the holy sacrifice and love that God has shown us, God's glorious work will be quickly accomplished.

Faith that acknowledges Father and Mother and boasts about Them
How can we not boast about God who has shown us the example of the holy sacrifice? Why are we hesitating to proclaim our Father and Mother who are so wonderful? We shall tell all the people of the earth about the gracious sacrifice and love of our Father and Mother and invite them to participate in the blood of Their sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins and salvation.

We should proclaim more proudly our Father and Mother who have made us what we are today through Their love. We believe in Mother not just because the Bible testifies about Her, but because She is our heavenly Mother who gave us Her flesh to eat and Her blood to drink to save us from sin. That is why we long for Her love and sacrifice and follow Her wherever She goes, as Her children, isn't it?

If we, God's children, have understood the sacrifice of our Father and Mother, we shall boldly proclaim Their names throughout the world. We should preach Jerusalem Mother to all people around the world, so that they may repent of their sins and come back into the arms of Jerusalem Mother. This is most pleasing to our Father.

1 Jn 4:13-15 『. . . If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.』

About 2,000 years ago, God's people proved their faith in Jesus by acknowledging Him. In this age, however, we are required to have faith in the Spirit and the Bride and proclaim Them to all the people with gladness. Our Father and Mother willingly sacrificed Their lives for our salvation. Their children, who have understood Their sacrificial love for them, are now proudly telling the whole world about the goodness of Their Parents.

What if one is ashamed of his parents and tries to conceal things about them? They will not blame or punish him for that, but will feel sad. On the contrary, if a child is proud of his parents, saying, "My dad and mom are number one," how pleased will they be? Thinking about how our earthly parents feel, we can understand the heart of our heavenly Parents.

Now, God's children are proudly proclaiming the heavenly Father and Mother, and so many people around the world are coming to Zion to meet Father and Mother according to the prophecies. When we see this unparalleled amazing work of salvation occur every day, we feel that our heavenly Father opens all the doors for preaching, being pleased with our efforts.

God is love, so He has established the Passover of the new covenant to save His children. Now we celebrate the Passover every year; whenever we partake of the bread and wine, we should remember that the bread is God's flesh torn for us and the wine is His blood shed for us. Through the Passover, let us engrave again in our hearts the sacrifice of our Father and Mother and give thanks to Them for Their grace; let's put the love of God into action and proclaim the glory of our Father and Mother.

We must not become the foolish ones who say, "Lord, Lord, open the door for us!" after the door is shut. I hope all our brothers and sisters in Zion will do their best to preach the new covenant and confidently proclaim Jerusalem Mother, who is the reality of the new covenant, so that we will live a life that is pleasing and glorifying to our Father and Mother. May God bless you all with much good fruit!