1. The New Testament Age is the age of the adopted son

When Jacob, who earned the name Israel, triumphed, he did not triumph as God’s son but as God’s servant. This way, people were restored from the position of the servant of servants to the servants’ position and then in the New Testament Age from the servant’s position to the position of the adopted child. Romans 8:23 says: "…but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." They said that they were eagerly waiting to be adopted sons who could call God "Abba, Father." Even the most ardent people of faith in the New Testament Age, whether they were ministers, elders, people holding Ph.D.s, etc., have all been adopted children before God. I am speaking to you frankly. They wanted to be adopted children. Adopted children have a different lineage. (154-257, 1964.10.3)

What does Jesus go up a step higher to? After man fell on earth, the ancestors of humankind disappeared. Therefore, when Jesus is elevated to the position of the ancestor, the Israelites will be engrafted as adopted sons and have the title of sons who can receive the right of inheritance before God. This is why Romans Chapter 8 says: "…but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." and also "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of [adopted] sonship. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’…" They could only become adopted sons. Today’s Christians are adopted children. Adopted children have a different lineage. (154-337, 1964.10.5)

An adopted son is different from the son of direct lineage. The adopted son should be able to give the son of direct lineage everything he possesses any time without hesitation, when the son of direct lineage comes, whether it is night or day. The possessions do not belong to him. Thus, even though he stands as an adopted son or was chosen as an adopted son, when the son of direct lineage is born, he should not say, "Why was this wretch born?" This is satanic nature. When God created Adam, the archangel should have been delighted to see Adam. So he cannot say, "Why was he born?" The adopted son should know this. The adopted son must protect the son. When the son of direct lineage is in the womb, the adopted son should not say, "Oh, I wish he were not going to be born." (49-135, 1971.10.9)

To be an adopted child, what do you have to do? You should be better than the servants -- better than the servants on God’s side, and better than Satan. Why do you have to be so? Satan was originally an archangel, a servant, and so no one who is not better than the servant can be an adopted child. This is according to the Principle. Then what kind of adopted child do you have to be? You should be an adopted child whose philosophy dictates that although you have received God’s inheritance, it is not yours but something to be returned to His original sons and daughters. This is the kind of adopted children that should be raised. The adopted child should offer his life for the sake of the coming sons and daughters. He should hope to see the birth of the sons and daughters of direct lineage desired by God, although this may require sacrificing everything he has, and he should always have the heart to prepare for them. Without gaining the qualifications of an adopted child, you have no relationship with the son. You should bear in mind that the one born as an intermediate being, one step above the archangel, is the adopted child. (89-203, 1976.11.22)

An adopted child has a different lineage. Originally, the one designated to be an adopted child at the start of the New Testament was John the Baptist. John the Baptist represented the archangel. He was designated as the archangel-side representative on earth who could serve Adam to the end, rather than as the archangel who had opposed God’s son Adam. But a tragic history unfolded because this John the Baptist failed to serve Jesus and become one with him. (48-92, 1971.9.5)

You should know the Old Testament Age and New Testament Age are connected through history. As servants, the believers of the Old Testament era wished to receive the benefits of being adopted children, and this is why they waited for the coming of the Messiah. In other words, their desire was to surmount the sorrowful circumstances of the servant and advance, through the Messiah, to the position of adopted child. The adopted child position is where the conditions are such that he can receive the inheritance from the parents in the absence of a son or daughter of direct lineage. So God's will, which led the servant-level Old Testament Age, guided the people so that they could maintain the desire to transcend the servant’s position and attain the benefits of welcoming God's will. This is why they have continued wishing for the time of privilege in which they could leave behind the lot of the servant and enter the realm to receive God’s inheritance. This is the philosophy of God’s elect in Israel. (42-281, 1971.3.27)

You should be restored and rise up, beginning from all things, through the victorious realm of the adopted son, through the victorious realm of the son, to the parents’ position. But no matter how devout you may be, in the New Testament Age you absolutely cannot be God’s son. (48-95, 1971.9.5)

Looking at history, the Old Testament Age used all things of creation as sacrificial offerings. They sacrificed the things of creation. The purpose of sacrificing all things was to liberate human beings and to help with the resurrection of humankind. The things of creation were sacrificed in order to restore people, to regain God’s children. In the Old Testament Age, the things of creation were used as an offering, and in the New Testament Age, God’s children shed their blood as they moved towards the realm of resurrection in this world. This has been the history centered on Christianity. In Christian history, Jesus and all individuals, families, peoples, and nations that followed Jesus have been sacrificed as offerings until the present. (166-276, 1987.6.14)

In Old Testament times, God had Moses bear witness to God’s power and ability. The people who did not believe in Him as the God of power and ability were punished. Next, the age of Jesus introduced the God of compassion. Sick people were cured... Had Jesus not cured the sick, he would not have been killed. People die of sickness to pay the price for their ancestors’ sins. Then why did he bring them back to life? Rev. Moon of the Unification Church would have cured hundreds of thousands of patients if he had tried. Even without curing the disease, even lepers can be healed if they hear our words and delight in them. All kinds of disease can be cured. (194-334, 1989.10.30)

On leaving the Old Testament Age and welcoming the new morning of the New Testament Age, Jesus declared God as the Father and elevated fallen people to the position of adopted child in order to bring them into a parent-child relationship with God. Adopted children are of a different lineage, but through the coming of the Lord they were engrafted and thus able to call God "Father" with the title of son. You should know that the establishment of the parent-child relationship with God was a heavenly secret that could be accomplished by no one but Jesus. When Jesus called God "Father," the priests and Pharisees, who were immersed in the Old Testament concepts of the time, heard it as a presumptuous word blaspheming God. You should know that Jesus’ view of God as the Father was that revolutionary. Jesus went a step higher and introduced God's love. In the Old Testament Age, Moses introduced only the God of power, God of ability, and God of judgment, without introducing the God of love. But Jesus introduced love. Although he introduced the God of love and the loving Jesus, the people of the time did not accept this. (35-276, 1970.10.25)

Since the Old Testament Age was the age of the servant, it was the age when God could not reveal His real form. God is the Father and a being of love. Since God is love itself, He is the Father of love who forgives all sins. The Old Testament law that says, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" disappeared, and through Jesus God revealed His true loving form in which He loves His enemies and forgives a brother’s faults not just seven times but even seventy times. How could a father not forgive his child’s faults? God is not someone you can see, and the person in whom the invisible God appeared as a visible God is Jesus. This is why Jesus proclaimed his oneness with God by saying in the Gospel of John: "I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Therefore, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?" This is also why Paul said, "For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8: 38-39) Jesus came for the sake of God's love. (4-296, 1958.10.5)

You should know that the time from Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, when heaven opened, to the time of his ascension, was a short period of three years. You should know that though Jesus brought out the view of God based on the parent-child relationship, he departed without being able to explain the details. He came as the Messiah of Judaism and died while pioneering the worldwide messianic course. Then, what happened to Judaism? A God who had thus far been attended as one dealing only with Judaism would not be viable. What was it that Jesus had to come and teach on this earth? He was not to teach about God exactly as was taught in the Old Testament. He had to teach about the God of the New Testament Age. The mission of Jesus, who came as the national Messiah of Israel, was to teach by saying, "Now that we are going beyond the age of the national level to the age of the global level, we must lay the foundation of making strenuous effort for the world in order to absorb it." In this way, he was to dedicate his entire life to gaining the authority and prestige of the world-level Messiah. This was what he had to accomplish during his life. (105-213, 1979.10.26)

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