Tabernacle Lectures (57) 5 cubits

In Luke 23, the robber on the cross received salvation. He was hanging on the cross and dying, so he was unable to do anything to receive salvation. Also, if we look at the story of the man who met robbers as he was going down to Jericho from Jerusalem, he also did not do a single thing to receive salvation. Only the Samaritan worked hard and paid the price.

In John 8, the woman who was caught cheating on her husband should have been stoned to death. But she received grace and received salvation. That story is the same. The woman did not do any hard work, but she received the forgiveness of sins by grace. When God gives salvation or gives us blessings, he does not do it as a reward for how hard he worked. He wants to give us salvation and blessings for free, by grace.

The altar points to the cross. If we look at the cross, we see that God pours his grace on man who receives grace. God prepared everything so that the one who receives grace receives grace without paying anything. In other words, Jesus is the Lamb of God who died on the cross and shed his blood. God pours his grace on us, and he prepared everything to save us. That is why we do not have to make a strong determination to do good or shed tears or work hard at something to be washed from the sins we commit. God, who pours his grace on us, has prepared everything for us.