The Testimony of the Counselor: Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment

The Testimony of the Counselor: Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment



Main reference: Jn 16:8-15



What are the sin, righteousness, and judgment that the Counselor, the Spirit of truth, whom Jesus promised to send, testifies?

As it is written in 1Jn 2:1, Jesus was the Advocate or the Counselor at the First Coming.  The “another counselor” whom Jesus promised to send is referring to the Counselor, the Spirit of truth, mentioned in the reference verse.  The Counselor who comes from heaven is the Spirit of truth, and it is written that the Spirit of Truth will be inside a person (Jn 14:16-17).  Therefore, the person is clothed with the Spirit of Truth, while the Spirit of Truth is clothed with that person.  These two entities become one, just as God and Jesus were one (Jn 10:30).

Religion is a teaching of heaven, and the one who teaches is, first and foremost, the spirit.  The pastor who received the teaching from the spirit and has been clothed by the spirit is a true pastor who can do the work of God (Jn 3:31-34).

Jesus said, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (Jn 14:26).  John the Baptist came in the name of Elijah (Lk 1:17), Jesus came in the name of God the Father (Jn 5:43), and the Counselor of the New Testament comes in Jesus’ name just as he (Jesus) promised.  The Counselor takes from what is of Jesus and teaches it to the congregation members, and it is written in Jn 16:14-15 that what belongs to Jesus belongs to the Father.   At that time, Jesus had much more to say, but he did not say it.  Instead, he handed it (the duty to say) over to the Counselor who was promised to come (Jn 16:12-13).  This Counselor is the Spirit of truth (Jn 15:26).  And the truth is the word of God (Jn 17:17).

Jesus, the Counselor at the First Coming, was the Advocate who spoke on behalf of God (1Jn 2:1).   The Spirit of truth, the “another counselor” who comes in Jesus’ name, is the Advocate who speaks on behalf of Jesus (Jn 14:16, 16:14-15).  The pastor who is clothed with the Spirit of truth is also—together with the spirit—the Advocate who speaks on Jesus’ behalf (Rv 19:10).  Thus, these two beings are the Advocate in the spirit and the Advocate in the flesh, the pastor.


(Jn 16:9-11) 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

Jesus told in advance the things the Counselor will speak of when he comes.  “When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you will see me no longer; in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned” (Jn 16:8-11).

Not believing Jesus at the First Coming was like not believing God, because God was in Jesus.  Likewise, because Jesus is in the Counselor (another counselor) at the Second Coming, not believing the Counselor is not believing Jesus and in his words.  Ultimately, this is sin.

Jesus said that not seeing him is righteousness.  At the Mountain of Transfiguration, Jesus’ body transformed into a spiritual body that cannot be seen (refer to Mt 17).  He went to the Father, so one cannot see Jesus in the flesh, but he promised to send “another counselor.”

In regard to judgment, Jesus said that the prince of the world, in other words, the pastor of this world will receive judgment.  According to Rv 18, 19, and 20, Satan (dragon) and the false pastors receive judgment and are locked up in hell.  Furthermore, the sun, moon, and stars in heaven (Spiritual Israel) have fallen to the earth—this is judgment (Rv 6).  The ending of an era indicates that they have received judgment.  The first heaven and first earth had passed away (Rv 21:1), meaning, they received judgment.

Like the Old Testament era of Noah and Lot, and like the Physical Israelites at the time of Jesus’ First Coming, they (Spiritual Israel) persistently hold on to their traditions and claim to be the orthodoxy, even though their spirits have died and received judgment.  Due to their egotism, they misunderstand the Scriptures and do not know God’s will (refer to Mt 22:29).

These people are like Physical Israel (refer to 1Kgs 11) who worshiped and bowed to gentile gods (during the Japanese colonization).  Like Adam, they continued in their stubbornness and met their ends.  They are not aware of their own corruption, and they do not know that they have been banished from the presence of God for worshiping gentile gods.  And they do not know about the end of the world, which is the end of the churches, because they have become night.

As it is written in the New Testament, the darkening and falling of the sun, moon, and stars represent the end of the chosen people, the Spiritual Israel.  They come to an end because in Revelation 13, the people of the Tabernacle Heaven have sinned by worshiping the beast and receiving the mark on their foreheads and rights hands from the “beast with seven heads and ten horns,” who are the gentile pastors of the dragon.  In Revelation 16, the angels and the seven bowls—those who are victorious over the beast, his image, and the number of his name in Revelation 13—pour wrath and destruction on the pastors of the dragon (destroyer) and the betrayers who worshiped and received the mark from the dragon (Rv 15).  This is the end of age.

God, who brought judgment upon the betrayers and the destroyers, has created the twelve tribes by sealing the wheat-like believers whom He harvested from the north, south, east, and west.  This is the new kingdom of God promised in Revelation and the New Testament.  In Revelation 21:1, God spoke of “a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.”  Such judgment and re-creation take place at the time the promised Counselor, the Spirit of truth, comes and works.

The one who believes will receive heaven as an inheritance.



Amen!





SHINCHEONJI: Healing All Nations

http://cafe.daum.net/scjschool/E3qZ/598