Buy the Truth

by Dr. Suhento Liauw translated by Mrs. Krista Ang

Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding (Pro erbs !"# !"$. %his erse sounds somewhat sur&rising, doesn't it( )t will certainly trigger many *uestions in the mind o+ the readers. ,hat -ind o+ truth did Solomon instruct us to buy( .ow can we buy truth( And many other *uestions as well. %he truth that Solomon intended shouldn't be /ust any other truth. )t must be the essence o+ all truths, which is 0od .imsel+, since .e is the one true 0od. 1esus said that .e is the truth (1ohn 23# 4$. So the ultimate end o+ all truth see-ing e++orts should be the one true 0od. A&ostle 1ohn wrote, 5And we -now that the Son o+ 0od is come, and hath gi en us an understanding, that we may -now him that is true, even in his Son 1esus 6hrist. This is the true God, and eternal li+e () 1ohn 7#!8$.9 The Core of the Divine Truth %he A&ostle Paul said in his e&istle to the :&hesians that he has been gi en this grace, 5to ma-e all men see what is the +ellowshi& o+ the mystery, which +rom the beginning o+ the world hath been hid in 0od, who created all things by 1esus 6hrist# to the intent that now unto the &rinci&alities and &owers in hea enly places might be -nown by the church the mani+old wisdom o+ 0od (:&hesians "# ;<28$.9 %he A&ostle Paul stated that there was a di ine mystery hidden +or centuries, which then by the church is made -nown to all men on earth, as well as to the angels. ,hat -ind o+ di ine truth is so im&ortant that the residents o+ earth and hea en should -now it( )t is true that 0od had created the uni erse and two beings with intelligence, sel+ awareness, and +ree will, which are angels and humans. %hus, these two beings can choose either to worshi& 0od or to rebel against .im. 0od ne er re&ented .is decision in this matter. .e ho&es that these two beings will choose to act &ositi ely towards .im. Lo e, honor, and worshi& will only be meaning+ul +rom the &oint o+ iew o+ the reci&ient i+ they are bestowed by a being with intelligence, sel+ awareness, and +ree will. =obody li-es to be res&ected and lo ed by a robot. Angels, under the leadershi& o+ Luci+er, started the +irst rebellion against 0od. %hose +allen angels are then called de ils in order to di++erentiate them +rom the still loyal angels. .umans, Adam and : e, who were &ut in the 0arden o+ :den, were +aced with two -inds o+ tree, each o+ which re&resented a statement o+ attitude towards the 6reator. ,hy should there be choices( %he answer is to &ro e to Adam and : e that they indeed had +ree will and to &ro e their heart towards 0od. >n+ortunately, they chose to trust satan more than 0od, so they decided to eat the +orbidden +ruit. .uman-ind +ell into sin, and it became im&ossible +or them to a&&roach 0od who is Most .oly (.ebrew 2!# 23$. %o see 0od, and to enter hea en, a man?s sin must be settled +irst. %here is only one way to settle sin, that is through death +or the wages o+ sin is death (@ome 4# !"$. Sin cannot be settled by good deeds or any other human e++orts, so entering hea en is ne er due to human e++orts. Be+ore Adam and : e ate the +orbidden +ruit, 0od had told them the conse*uence o+ disobedience which was death.

Since the +all o+ humans, 0od had &romised a Sa ior who would be &unished +or e ery belie er. Adam and : e had once doubted 0od, so i+ they wanted to be sa ed +rom death &enalty through the Sa ior, they had to re&ent and trust in 0od's &romise. A+ter that, a sim&le symbolic worshi& was introduced, which was the slaying o+ lambs (or other sacri+icial animals$ on the altar. %hose sacri+icial animals re&resented the Promised Sa ior, and the slaying o+ them re&resented the death &enalty. %his worshi& would always remind human to the &romise o+ 0od to send a Sa ior. Abel +ollowed this symbolic worshi& &recisely, while 6ain disobeyed by re&lacing the animals with +ruits o+ the ground. At that time, +athers +unctioned as the &riests (such as 1ob$, and as the &illar and ground o+ the truth. Man did not &er+orm this symbolic truth +aith+ully, and the situation degenerated to the &oint where, at the time o+ =oah, only he alone remained +aith+ul. 0od wi&ed all humans out o+ the +ace o+ the earth eAce&t =oah and his +amily. %he +irst thing =oah did when he came out o+ the ar- was build an altar unto the Lord, and too- o+ e ery clean beast, and o+ e ery clean +owl, and o++ered burnt o++ering on the altar. Bne o+ =oah's sons, .am, begat 6ush and 6ush begat =imrod. >nder =imrod the human race once again rebelled against 0od. So 0od con+ounded their language so that human beings were scattered based on their language grou&s. The New Era of Physical Symbolic Worship Abraham was chosen to become a nation that would -ee& the symbolic worshi& introduced by 0od in order to remind all human beings o+ .is &romise. )n short, Abraham's descendants were brought out o+ :gy&t a+ter sacri+icing a lamb +or each house and stri-ing its blood on the two side &osts and on the u&&er door &ost o+ the houses, thus +orming a cross. At the Mount o+ Sinai, they were o++icially made a nation. 0od then re ealed the %orah to Moses as their national constitution and re&laced the &riesthood o+ +athers with the Aaronic &riesthood. %he )sraelites were established as the -ee&ers o+ the symbolic worshi& until the coming o+ the Sa ior who was re&resented by it. %he ser&ent o+ brass made by Moses in the wilderness, and the roc- gushing out water both re+erred to the &romised Sa ior. 1esus 6hrist said that all that was written in the %orah, =abium (Pro&hets$, and Kethubim (.oly ,ritings$ &ointed towards .im (Lu-e !3# 33$. Cinally, 1ohn the Ba&tist a&&eared and &ointed to the &romised Sa ior. .is a&&earance &ut an end on the whole chain o+ symbolic worshi& ordained in the Bld %estament (Matthew 22# 2", Lu-e 24# 24$. A+ter that time, the time o+ symbolic worshi& ended since 1esus who was symboliDed by it had come. Cor e eryone in the Bld %estament time who re&ented and belie ed in the 6BM)=0 Sa ior, his sins would be counted as settled through 6hrist, since 1esus re&laced his &osition, bearing the &enalty o+ all his sins. Meanwhile, e eryone in the =ew %estament time who belie es in the Sa ior who .AS come to bear the &enalty o+ his sins will be called a saint. : eryone, +rom Adam unto the last man on earth, is sa ed by 1esus' sacri+ice on the cross. Babies and demented &eo&le who can't &ossibly understand the sal ation message and thus can't re&ent and trust 1esus, can obtain sal ation without any res&onse needed because Adam's sins were settled by 6hrist (@ome 7# 2E<2;$. %he Aaronic &riesthood was ended and re&laced by the &riesthood o+ belie ers, e en a royal &riesthood () Peter !# ;$. %he church, a grou& o+ belie er who ha e re&ented, is the &illar and ground o+ the truth re&lacing the )sraelites' &osition () %imothy "# 27$. 0od ordained two ceremonies as reminders +or the belie er o+ the gos&el e ents that ha e sa ed them. Cirst is ba&tism, in which a belie er is &ut under water as a symbol o+ death and burial, and then raised u& again as a symbol o+ resurrection. !

Second is the Lord's Su&&er to remind the belie ers o+ the body (symboliDed by bread$ and blood (symboliDed by wine$ o+ 6hrist on the cross. )n a biblical church, there must not be a &osition o+ &riest, because e ery belie er is a &riest +or himsel+ and 1esus 6hrist is the 6hie+ Priest. %here must not also be &riestly acti ities, such as blessing o+ the church members by the &astor at the end o+ a ser ice. %he Lord's Su&&er must not be called 5.oly 6ommunion9 because there is no communion that can ma-e us holy. )t should be the 5Lord's Su&&er,9 that is the last su&&er that 1esus had as a reminder to the belie ers o+ 6hrist. %he lamb on the altar is a symbolic ceremony o+ the coming sal ation &rocess while ba&tism is a symbolic ceremony o+ the sal ation &rocess that has ha&&ened. )n the Bld %estament time, 0od ne er a&&ro ed lambs to be re&laced by +ruits o+ the earth (such as done by 6ain$, and 0od surely will not a&&ro e ba&tism to be re&laced by +lag ceremony or by s&rin-ling o+ water. Moreo er, 0od will not a&&ro e those who ne er &er+orm ba&tism, because it will mean eliminating the symbolic worshi& that re&resents the 0os&el o+ Sal ation. )n the boo- o+ 1ude it is written, 5,oe unto themF Cor they ha e gone in the way o+ 6ain, and ran greedily a+ter the error o+ Balaam +or reward, and &erished in the gainsaying o+ 6ore9 (1ude 2# 22$9 %he way o+ 6ain was actually the re&lacing o+ sacri+icial animal with egetables or +ruits that had no meaning whatsoe er. Spiritual Worship Era Since the a&&earance o+ 1ohn the Ba&tist, the whole chain o+ Bld %estament has been +ul+illed, not cancelled, but +ul+illed. %hat's why we don't need to sacri+ice any lambs, and we are allowed to eat any meat, since the &hysical worshi& era has been ended. 0od said to the Samaritan woman, 5But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshi&&ers shall worshi& the Cather in s&irit and in truth9 (1ohn 3# !"$. ,orshi& in s&irit and truth means that we are no longer constrained by time and &lace, or &hysical &osture, since s&iritual worshi& is in essence the attitude of our hearts towards God at all times %he s&iritual worshi& with our hearts is not a ritual. Actually, 6hristians gather together e ery Sunday not +or worshi& ceremony, but +or the assembling o+ the church. %here is singing, bible studying, and e erything else which are &ositi e +or the de elo&ment o+ the church. )n the assembly, e erything must be done decently and in order () 6orinthians 23# 38$. %he assembly o+ 6hristians is sometimes called 5worshi&9 due to in+luence +rom other religious conce&ts. )ndonesian Bible )nstitution added the word worship (or ibadah in )ndonesian language$ which is not in the original teAt o+ .ebrew 28# !7 &ossibly due to )slamic conce&t in+luence which is still rooted in symbolic worshi&. 6hristianity has entered into the era o+ s&iritual worshi& o+ the hearts with truth. )t is not right to tell &eo&le to raise their hands to worshi&, since we worshi& with our hearts not with our hands. )t is also not right to tell &eo&le to enter into worshi&, since we worshi& continually, we don't enter in and come out o+ worshi&. %his di ine truth is what Paul said hidden +or centuries, and is now being mani+ested by the church which is the body o+ 6hrist. %his truth, a+ter being taught orally by the a&ostles, was ins&ired by the .oly S&irit to be written then canoniDed to a boo-. A+ter the last re elation was gi en at Patmos island, there is no more re elations. %his conce&t is called closed canon system. %he closing o+ the canon is not due to inabilities or limitations o+ 0od, but because the truth in it is standard, de+inite, and +inal. Cor anyone who understands the truth, i+ a &erson claims that he recei es re elation, &ro&hesies, or s&ea-s in tongues, those things cannot come +rom 0od. A+ter the Bible canon was closed "

with the last re elation at Patmos island to A&ostle 1ohn, the Bible has become the only 0od's word, and not only one o+ 0od's words. All s&ecial re elation &rocess has been ended by 0od so that we can ha e a standard o+ truth which is de+inite. )t does not mean that 0od is not able or that we limit 0od's ability. )t is to ensure that we ha e a de+inite standard o+ truth. Since then, all gi+ts and &ositions related to the re elation &rocess ha e also been ended, such as# the gi+t o+ &ro&hesying, the gi+t o+ s&ea-ing in tongues, the gi+t to &er+orm miracles, and the gi+t to s&ea- in wisdom without learning +irst. Dear readers, once again, this is the di ine mystery that A&ostle Paul said was hidden +or centuries, and now is owned by the church which is the body o+ 6hrist to be made -nown to all men on earth and all angels in hea en. Don't you thin- that you should own it( %hose who own it ha e li+e, since the essence o+ truth is 0od .imsel+, who is li+e. %he &rice o+ this truth will increase o er time. )t can e en cost you your head. %hat's why you must buy it now.