Heavenly Concepts and Earthly Concepts

I repeatedly mentioned this when I studied the Bible. From a heavenly perspective, the glorious King is too wonderful, and one cannot help but give Jesus a thumbs-up. From an earthly perspective, if you were the king, you would come down from the cross; the heavenly concept is that if you are the king, you would be nailed to the cross, which is incomprehensible to people. Heavenly concepts and earthly concepts are completely different, which is based on a very important idea. There is no point in people messing around on earth; dying sooner or later is the same. It does not matter how old a person dies, just different people have different ideas. Recently, TV stations have been broadcasting穿越剧(time-travel dramas). Once you穿越(time-travel), it is hundreds or thousands of years. If you can remember what happened a thousand years ago, no one would commemorate him today. If a person dies with resentment, no one will commemorate him again. It would be tragic if people do not understand this.

When I watch documentaries, especially about the world and the universe, they have existed for hundreds of millions or billions of years. Listening to this, in comparison, makes people feel very small. If we stand on the earth and look up at the sky, the stars we can see, and the light that enters our eyes, have been running for trillions of years. So, if people see themselves as very small and then think about the meaning of life, then work, study, and degrees become very small. Just be happy for one day at a time, and that is how people should live.

The heavenly concept is that giving up is gaining, can you understand? People in the world think that constantly getting and demanding things is gaining. However, what you give up is what you are willing to give up. What you are willing to give up, you will definitely gain. That is why people in the world can never gain. The heavenly concept is that dying is resurrection, and the earthly concept is that death is the end of everything. Earthly concepts are terrible. The heavenly concept sees through everything, and the earthly concept understands nothing. God especially wants us to understand this heavenly logic.

Today, as soon as I open my mouth, I basically talk about the spiritual realm being real. If you do not believe it, find a haunted house to live in. If you see the reality of these things, you cannot help but think: the spiritual realm is real! Today I am telling you that the spiritual realm is real, but from an earthly perspective, you cannot understand it. You know that Jesus chose to die on the cross himself. In fact, he is God and could come down from the cross at any time. But today we just do not know that Jesus is God. He was willing to die on the cross because only by dying could he be put in the tomb, and then rise again on the third day to become the glorious King.

God's Glory Manifested Through Suffering

People especially dislike suffering in their lives. In the early stages of our spiritual life, when we first believe in the Lord, we receive God's grace. At that time, we cannot bear suffering. People cannot bear suffering and cannot bear God's glory. Then, as you continue to believe in the Lord, God's glory will be constantly manifested through some trials. When you experience these磨炼(trials), if you understand the spiritual principles, you will expect great glory ahead of you. Today I encourage brothers and sisters not to think it strange.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. (1 Peter 4:12-13)

If you are not even worthy of this, you will basically not receive glory. If you cannot understand, see through, or see it, you will die, which is a regret for all time. The greatest regret in a person's life is seeing with their own eyes what Jesus Christ is doing in this generation, but being unwilling to believe. Did those people not see the miracles Jesus performed? They did. Not long ago, the news that Lazarus came out of the tomb because of Jesus spread throughout the area, and everyone knew it because Lazarus was not far from Jerusalem. Since he could bring Lazarus, who had been dead for four days and whose body had decayed, back to life, could he not come down from the cross? He could come down, but he did not want to. Today, if you encounter some trials and tribulations in your life, do not be afraid, because God manifests His glory through these things.

Jesus Knows His Actions Clearly

But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:61-62)

Jesus knew what he was doing, but others did not. He clearly expressed it. Did he not know that saying this would lead to his crucifixion? The high priest tore his clothes and said, Why do we need any more witnesses? Jesus was just telling the truth. Did he not know what impact this sentence would have? He knew. He was prepared to walk the path of the cross. Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” (Mark 15:2) Did he not know that this sentence was dangerous? He knew. In that era, the word king could not be used casually. It was rebellion to claim to be king casually. The Roman emperor did not allow anyone to claim to be king. If the common people claimed to be king, what would become of it? When Pilate asked again, Jesus did not argue. Jesus had every reason, ability, and authority not to give up his life. Why did he do this? It was to bear our sins for us.

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

If he had not been鞭伤(whipped) and crucified, we would be people without hope today. He chose to do this, becoming flesh and coming into the world, being crucified, shedding his precious blood, and then willingly sacrificing himself. Jesus did this to open up a road of life for us, a road of self-sacrifice. Jesus said, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. (See Luke 17:33) How clear the heavenly concept is.

Just as Jesus knew what he was doing, we must know what we want to do. If Jesus had not died, there would have been no resurrection. If he had come down from the cross at that time, the resurrection would not have been accomplished. He had to be nailed to the cross, suffer insults, be buried, and then be resurrected.

Eyes Should Choose to See the Good

I think the saddest thing in this world is that people do not know what they are doing. Jesus said not to remember the evil of others, but many people like to remember the evil of others, as if the whole world owes them something. Such people are so pitiful! If a person's mind is full of the evil of others, he must be very painful. If a child is injured from childhood, he must remember the evil of others. He must let go of those things and remember good things. There was a sister who told me how bad her mother was to her. I said: Does your mother have no good things to you? She raised you so fat. If she was bad to you, she would have strangled you to death long ago. The problem is that people do not understand the spiritual world and only see bad things. How can they not be hurt?

Thank God, I have been a spiritual person since I was a child. I look at things with good eyes and with good hope. I have spoken very little in the past few days. I spoke more some time ago. Many people have wronged me. Do I want to care about these things? It would be so hard to care about these things.

People's choices are very important. Do you choose to see the good and not the bad? In Genesis, all animals excrete waste in God's eyes, and it is good in God's eyes. All health experts say that you must ensure排便(excretion). If you do not排便(excrete), you will get sick. It does not look good in people's eyes because糞便(feces) smells臭(stinky) and is很脏(dirty). You cannot mention this when you are eating, or you will not be able to eat. But in God's eyes, it is good because it is healthy.

Today our vision and thinking logic must be changed. Before all things were created, before rain fell, the earth looked desolate, but God saw it as good. Looking at things as good, things will develop in a good direction; looking at bad things, things will develop in a bad direction. A person should not blame others. If you do not understand yourself, the result you live out will not be what you want, but we should still not blame this bad result on others.

If some people always say, He made me suffer, he made me suffer, everyone in the world made me suffer, you should not be with such people. His curse will run to you, because the evil spirit is manipulating this person's life behind the scenes, and sooner or later disaster will come upon you.

Dedicating Time to God

Jesus knew He was fulfilling a plan of redemption. Do you know what you are doing? All who are willing to deny themselves do so by their own choice. Only by denying yourself will you gain. Actually, whether you gain or not is not important. What is important is that we give ourselves away. Those willing to give themselves away will surely gain life. Many people just want to gain: I want, I want, I want! When they don't get it, they become entangled. Today, I tell you, from now on, don't say no one loves me. Say, I want to give myself away.

Jesus was fully qualified to come down from the cross. Could the God who created the universe not overcome the cross? Yet He chose the way of the cross, to die on the cross, and then rise from the tomb. How marvelous! He knew when He died that He would rise from the dead on the third day. He prophesied it many times. Jesus' laying down His life was a wise choice, the wisest choice in the world. Therefore, He was exalted to the highest place and received the most honorable and glorious crown.

Today, many of us think we are clever, but we live out corruption. Jesus was not foolish at all. Therefore, today, many of us need heavenly cleverness and wisdom. The most important thing is to learn to give away, to dedicate time to serve God, because time is life. Many people work overtime without counting the cost, but they are calculative about dedicating time to God. Such people will not amount to much because they do not know what they are doing. Today, we must make wise choices.

People Did Not Understand What Jesus Was Doing

In that era, Pilate could not understand why Jesus was doing this. He had judged many people, and many had argued for themselves, I should not die. Yet Jesus did not argue. Pilate saw for the first time that Jesus refused to argue for Himself, saying things that were detrimental to Himself. He could not understand. His wife, a follower of Jesus, only knew that Jesus was a very great prophet, but she did not know that He was the Son of God. She warned Pilate not to get involved in this matter. In the end, Pilate did get a little involved for political reasons. Pilate could not understand.

In other Gospels, Pilate asked, What is truth? Jesus said, I came to bear witness to the truth. That is, to tell you the truth about the facts: that man does not simply die, that after death there is judgment. He proved this by rising from the dead. Therefore, if we are confused about life and death today, we must go back to the Bible to clarify it. If people had understood, they would not have crucified Him; instead, they would have tried to save Jesus. In fact, Jesus did not need anyone to save Him. Few in that generation could understand. The chief priests wanted to crucify Jesus because they could not understand. Those chief priests were detestable.

But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, asked them, “Why? What crime has he committed?” But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!” (Mark 15:13-14)

They were not being reasonable, and they did not understand what they were doing. The Israelites suffered a curse for two thousand years because of Jesus, because they said, Let his blood be on us and on our children! We must know today that we should not suffer such a curse, nor should we say such things. We should say, May God have mercy on me, may Your precious blood cover my transgressions.

Simon of Cyrene carried the cross for Jesus but did not know that the One being crucified was the glorious King. He was even a little aggrieved when carrying it. Later, he may have believed in Jesus. God had mercy on him for carrying the cross for Jesus. There are no further records of Simon, but that is not important. What we often experience is that glory often turns into humiliation, and humiliation often turns into glory. Simon's humiliation was to share in God's glory. The soldiers, not understanding, made a crown of thorns for Jesus and mocked Him, Hail, King of the Jews! They said it with a mocking tone, not knowing that Jesus truly was the glorious King.

The two robbers also did not understand. They were crucified, one on the left and one on the right. One of them believed in Jesus and was a righteous man. Jesus said, Today you will be with me in paradise. The one who did not believe said, If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. People do not understand the situation and go down to hell that very day. The punishment in hell will last forever. Today you must place a bet, betting on eternal life. Live into eternal life, and by no means end up in eternal punishment. People are confused when they are alive. In fact, life is only seventy or eighty years, a suspended death sentence.

People of Faith Live in the Future

What Jesus accomplished was to let us see the truth about the facts. But how regrettable it is today that those who have believed in Jesus still cannot see the truth about the facts. Living to live, living miserably, dying miserably, and in the end, being judged and thrown into hell. The spiritual realm is very real. Those people do not understand. Those who passed by said, If you come down from the cross, we will believe. In fact, even if they saw it, they would not believe.

Those people did not understand the situation. Some said, Let Elijah come to save him. In fact, he did not need Elijah to save him. They were all confused. Many of those who followed Jesus were confused. They all had one thought: that such a good person was crucified. In fact, they could not see the situation clearly. What Jesus accomplished was a redemption.

In that situation, people could not see clearly. But today, two thousand years after Jesus rose from the dead, how can we not see clearly? Today, if we experience some bad things, I will tell you a secret: those things can all turn into good things. Some of our sisters encounter difficulties in life and work, which we do not want. Did you think that Jesus wanted to be crucified? He didn't want to either. He said, Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. (Luke 9:23)

I want to say that those who have suffering before them will surely have a crown of glory. This is the way of glory. No matter what you encounter, you must see the good, not the bad. It will surely turn into good in the future. Joseph was sold into prison, but his eyes saw the good. How was it good? It was not good at all, but he chose to believe in the good. This is a person of faith. People of faith live in the future, creating a glorious future through suffering. This is the way that Jesus created.

Summary: Self-Denial Is the Way of Life

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)

How sad it is if you follow Jesus but are unwilling to deny yourself. That is the way of glory, but you have lost the way of glory. We face several great temptations today, things we are unwilling to give up. The first is work. We are afraid of the boss, afraid of losing our job, and not afraid of God at all. But we must change our concept. The boss is not scary at all. God is scary. You should fear the God who can destroy both body and soul. Think about how He died on the cross, shedding His blood and sacrificing Himself to achieve your salvation. If you belittle this salvation and value work, what punishment will you receive? Is that true? Are you willing to dedicate your studies, work, and life to Jesus? You must be willing to dedicate them. In fact, whether you dedicate them or not determines one thing: whether you take Jesus' way of self-denial or the way of destruction. Many roads lead to hell, but only one leads to our God.

Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39)

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (Matthew 16:25)

Do you really believe this? I really believe it. Don't think I am foolish. Although I am not as clever as Jesus, I want to be as clever as Jesus. If someone puts a knife to your throat, would you accept Jesus? In fact, I am a person who sees through life and death. I would still accept Jesus. Death is death. Losing my head is not important. A big scar the size of a bowl, in eighteen years I will be a good man again. But I don't say that. Instead, I say a big scar the size of a bowl will achieve an exceeding and eternal weight of glory. What does it matter to lose my head and deny myself? In fact, I have been looking forward to this day for a long time. I especially hope to see the Lord's face early and rest from the labors of this world. But as long as I am in the world for one day, I will tightly grasp the spiritual life that Jesus has given me. What a great grace, why not want it?

Today I bet with everyone that if you are willing to dedicate yourself for Jesus, God will surely turn around your work situation. Among us is a sister who works in sales. In fact, her work is very busy, but I found that she often comes to pray now, and she is very joyful. She said that this is how she arranges her time. But when she started studying for a degree last March, she was on the verge of collapse by September and October, very entangled and miserable. Why do people live like that? If you are willing to dedicate yourself to Jesus for your whole life, you will surely receive a crown of honor and glory! I encourage everyone to try taking the way of self-denial. If you are a teenager or in your twenties, I will tell you something more practical: this world does not have many years left. You can't plan a career for many years either. Hurry up and serve our God, draw near to Him.