The following is excerpted from Rev. Hwang's first early Sunday sermon of the New Year, given January 9, also at the Headquarters Church in Seoul.

We have been expressing good will to people on meeting the new millennium and New Year. We usually greet people by saying Sae hae bok manni bad-eu-seyo, "May you receive abundant good fortune in the new year." By such a greeting people normally think of health, honor, monetary fortune and promotion at work. But for those of us who are going the providential way it has a different meaning.

So what is true fortune for us? The person who was given the greatest bok in the Bible was Abraham. In Genesis Chapter 12:2, when God summons Abraham, He promises to give him fortune. God gives special grace to Abraham, saying that he will be the origin of blessing [English version: that he would be a blessing].

As we already know, we cannot find great material blessing in Abraham's life. After his call, his life was one of continuous suffering and trials. However we cannot deny that he went the eternal way of life after receiving blessing from God.

Therefore, to those of us who are going the way of God's will, blessing does not mean material value. Rather, true blessing carries the notion of providential, spiritual or internal value. From this point of view, when we greet each other at the beginning of the year, I feel the true way to greet one another is to say "Please endure more hardship and please carry more providential burden."

From this point of view, suffering is blessing. When we have a heavy responsibility that means we have more commitment to God. The fact that we carry heavy responsibility can be evidence that God trusts us.

One thing we have to think about beginning a new year and millennium is how we can go the way of God's will throughout the generations of our own descendants without their becoming absorbed by fallen culture. We must begin the New Year on a level where we consider this point more deeply.

The year of 1999 was providentially very important. We determined that the whole year was the complete fruition period of the providence and made a lot of effort. I would like to thank all of the members for making so much effort during last year.

Now the 20th century has passed and the 21st century, and a new millennium, has begun under the blessing of True Parents. Already a few days have passed but no external change is apparent. Last year we speculated that many changes might occur in politics, finance, and society, but no sudden change has yet occurred.

However, the course of the internal providence is now changing rapidly. This year, True Parents gave us a new motto. As we know, the mottoes True Parents give us have significance from the viewpoint of the history of the providence. This year's motto is "The Cosmic Expansion of True Love is the Perfection of the New Millennial Kingdom of God." It clearly has a different providential meaning from past mottoes. Last year, it was "The Cosmic Expansion of the True Blessing and the Rooting Out of the Satanic Blood Lineage." And prior to that the 1998 motto was "To Be Proud of and to Love True God Absolutely is to Complete the 360 Million Couples Blessing and Eradicate the Blood Lineage of the Satanic World." So mottoes in recent years included Satan as a major concept. But from this year it is completely different. Just as My Pledge and the Family Pledge are different in quality, we can see that the mottoes up until last year and that of this year have a different focus.

My Pledge was a confession of faith during the era of battling with Satan. When compared to the Family Pledge, My Pledge was a confession of faith admitting the actual sovereignty of Satan. Family Pledge is different from the point of view that it is a confession of faith not admitting the sovereignty of Satan. Similarly, until last year mottoes expressed a providential task in relation to Satan, but this year True Parents have given us a motto the content of which dismisses Satan's sovereignty.

"The Cosmic Expansion of True Love is the Perfection of the New Millennial Kingdom of God" has the meaning of a new world settling on the earth. Its purpose is the completion of the Kingdom of Heaven in the new millennium. Perfecting the eternal world of God's original creation is a providential task that can be accomplished through the cosmic expansion of true love. This is what this year's motto means. From this point of view, what meaning does the year 2000 have providentially? The year 2000 is the first year of the building of the Kingdom of Heaven. When will the first year of the realization of the Kingdom of God on earth be? Of course, True Parents will clarify this after history unfolds. No one knows if the beginning of the Completed Testament Age, or the Foundation Day for the Nation of the Unified World, or the Declaration of the Realm of the Cosmic Sabbath for the Parents of Heaven and Earth, for example, is the founding year.

However, looking centered on the mottoes that have appeared during the course of the advancement of God and True Parents' providence, we can see that the year 2000 could well become the first year of the completion of the Kingdom of Heaven. By the calendar, the beginning of the year 2000 will be January 1, but from the providential point of view we can say that it begins from the 6th day of the first month of the lunar calendar (True Parents' Birthday). Looking from the point of view of the time of the providence, the new era begins from True Father's 80th birthday. Marking from this day, the completion of the eternal Kingdom of Heaven on earth will begin.

If we look from a broader viewpoint, and examine what True Parents have said in their speeches, the beginning of the realm of the Cosmic Sabbath for True Parents was July 7, 1997, by the lunar calendar. Moreover, Father has said that during a seven-year course beginning from that time, the providence will be completed. Thus, while the year 2000 might be the first year of the completion of the Kingdom of Heaven, when we expand the scope to looking at a period, True Father said the Kingdom of Heaven will settle on this earth through a course of seven years beginning from July 7, 1997 and ending July 7, 2004.

The 360 million couples became the standard to win back sovereignty from Satan. And based on this restitution of sovereignty, the realm of the Sabbath was declared. Centering on the realm of the Sabbath, the sovereignty of God will settle on this earth through this seven-year course.

We consider 1945-1985 the period spent in the wilderness. And we have called the period from 1985-1992 the time of settlement. This period was like the repetition of the seven years from 1945-1952. During this time, the Lord of the Second Advent should have become one with his bride, Christianity. However, Christianity could not receive the Lord of the Second Advent and therefore a wilderness period ensued. And on the basis of the Day of Total Victory (Il Seung Il), August 16, 1985, Father again began a seven-year course. The result of this seven-year course should have been unity with Christianity. But since Christianity could not fulfill this mission, the Women's Federation for World Peace was born with the mission of the bride and a new providence of becoming one with the bride began. Therefore, through the Women's Federation for World Peace, the proclamation of the Messiah was made in 1992.

Then, from 1993, the Completed Testament era began. The year 2000 is the eighth year of the Completed Testament age. After seven years of the Completed Testament age we reached the year 2000. During this period, the providence of the restoration of elder sonship (the right of the elder son), parentship and kingship (royal authority) were completed. The providence of the restoration of kingship was completed in 1997. The seven-year period would have ended in 1999, but it was shortened and the providence of the restoration of kingship was completed on July 15, 1997. On this foundation, the declaration of the realm of the Sabbath was achieved, and passing through the seven-year course beginning from the point of this declaration, we can understand the providence for the settlement of kingship (royal authority) on earth.

Therefore the year 2000 will be the founding year of the building of the Kingdom of Heaven, and by expanding this a little we can say that the eternal dominion of God will settle on this earth through the seven-year course starting from the Declaration of the Realm of the Sabbath in 1997. During the True God's Day celebration, True Parents gave us a new providential explanation. They said that True Parents would complete all of their courses on earth through the seven-year period form the Declaration of the Realm of the Sabbath.

How will the Kingdom of Heaven be constructed? What is the secret of building the Kingdom of Heaven? Among the words that True Father shared over the God's Day period, he spoke of there being one principle by which the Kingdom of Heaven would be built, from the lower animals to the cosmos. This principle in creation was "existing for the sake of others," the fundamental principle of the existence of all things God created on this earth. A being's existence is not possible unless it is there for others. On the 33rd True God's Day, True Parents reaffirmed to us that this principle of existing and living for others is the fundamental foundation for the realization of the Kingdom of Heaven. "Living for others" is an eternal principle for the realization of the world of the original creation, from the small to the large including the universe. It is the principle of true love. We are saying "Cosmic Expansion of True Love" and this means the ultimate ideal world of altruistic life, the key to the realization of the heavenly kingdom.

So how should we live during the coming year? How can we maintain the lifestyle of the people of the Kingdom of God? Only by living for the sake of others. If this one point could be instilled into the hearts of all people, conflicts would be resolved and the world would become good.

How can we settle such peace on earth? Will it be possible, as True Parents have stated, to realize the millennial Kingdom of God? This will be possible through the cosmic expansion of true love, which, expressed another way, is "living for others" as True Parents have mandated.

Three years have already passed since 1997. If we live for the sake of others for the next four years, the Kingdom of Heaven and God's sovereignty will be realized on earth.

[Originally published in Today's World, January 2000]

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