Jesus had the responsibility for substantially subjugating Satan. To do so he had to follow the model course that God had shown in the symbol and image courses of Jacob and Moses (Deut 18:18, Jn 5:19). But, just as the Israelites under Moses had fallen into faithlessness in the wilderness, the Israelites at the time of John the Baptist fell into faithlessness, with the result that Jesus' world-wide course of the restoration of Canaan also had to progress through three attempts or courses.

A. The Foundation of Faith

The central person responsible to prepare the foundation for the dispensation of salvation at the time of the Messiah was to "make straight the way of the Lord" (Jn 1:23). This central person was John the Baptist, who was the "greatest born of women" (Mt 11:11). As was already explained in the chapter on Moses' course, the repeated faithlessness of the Israelites had given Satan the chance to invade Jesus' body, which was the incarnation of the rock and the tablets of stone. Therefore, throughout their history, God educated the chosen people to be a people who would not fall into faithlessness. He sent many prophets, especially the prophet Elijah, to teach the people to unite completely, centering on the Ideal of the Temple, which was itself the image of Jesus. However, because the Israelites repeatedly failed to have faith, Elijah's sole purpose, which was to turn the Israelites from their faithless ways back to God, was not fulfilled. Therefore, God said that Elijah would come again--to accomplish his mission (Mal 4:5). The return of Elijah was fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist (Lk 1:17; Mt 11:14; 17:13). He was the person who had the responsibility to establish the base of faith for the Messiah.

As was already explained in "Moses in the Dispensation for Restoration," beginning with the dispensation for Moses' age, an indemnity period based on the number forty (referred to as a forty- based indemnity period or a forty-period) became sufficient to meet the condition for separation from Satan. In other words, in place of making an offering, the central person who had to restore the Foundation of Faith could do so by remaining united with God's Word after establishing a forty-based indemnity period of separation from Satan. By meeting this condition, he can meet the condition of indemnity that restores the Foundation of Faith.

John the Baptist was standing on the foundation of a forty-period of separation from Satan, the four-hundred-year Period of Preparation for the Messiah, which had begun with the prophet Malachi. Through his life of asceticism, John was able to separate from Satan and establish the Foundation of Faith. John lived in the wilderness eating locusts and honey, concerned and thinking about God's Will; so the priests and people of Israel looked on his life of faith with the greatest respect.

John the Baptist was also in the Abel position for the Foundation of Substance, that is, he was the central person for establishing the Foundation of Substance. The mission of Moses had passed to Joshua, then to the prophets, including Elijah, and finally to John the Baptist. Therefore, John the Baptist was standing in the position of Moses. Moses had been the central person for the Foundation of Faith (in the parents' position) and the central person for the Foundation of Substance (in the position of the second-born). Likewise, John the Baptist had the dual mission of establishing the Foundation of Faith and standing in the Abel position as the central person for the Foundation of Substance.

The national Foundation of Substance would have been established by the Israelites' loving and obeying John the Baptist, who was their national Abel. God had already prepared the chosen people to believe absolutely in John as a special prophet of God. Everyone knew that he was a great man of God, because they had heart of the angel's prophecy about his birth, of the miracle of his father's becoming mute in the temple, and of the miracles and signs that had occurred at the time of his birth. All the people of Judea watched him with great interest from the time of his childhood. As Luke 1:65,66 says, "And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea; and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, 'What then will this child be?' For the hand of the Lord was with him." Moreover, John's faith was so exemplary that many of the chief priests and people of Israel thought that he might even be the Messiah (Jn 1:19; Lk 3:15). Thus, the people of Judea, who were in the Cain position, believed in John the Baptist and followed him as if he were the Messiah himself, and thus established the nation Foundation of Substance.

The Foundation of Faith and the Foundation of Substance established by John the Baptist together constituted the Foundation for the Messiah. The Foundation for the Messiah is people who are prepared to serve and attend the Messiah and fulfill his will. Therefore, as the representative of all the central persons who had worked so hard throughout the dispensational history to establish the Foundation for the Messiah, John the Baptist should have served the Messiah more than anyone. Furthermore, based on this historic Foundation for the Messiah, John the Baptist should have served the Messiah more than anyone. Furthermore, based on this historic Foundation for the Messiah, John the Baptist had to lead the people of Israel to believe in Jesus and follow him, establishing the situation which would have enabled Jesus to easily carry out the Dispensation for Restoration.

However, although John the Baptist had initially established this foundation and had himself testified to Jesus as the Messiah, he did not follow Jesus (Jn 1:29-34). Furthermore, John later even came to doubt that Jesus was the Messiah (Mt 11:3). Also, although he had come as Elijah, he did not understand this and denied it (Jn 1:21). Because the Israelites believed in Malachi's prophecy that Elijah would come before the Messiah, John's denying that he was Elijah confused the people so that they did not know whether to believe Jesus or John and thus had the effect of blocking the way to Jesus for the people of Israel. Therefore, the Foundation for the Messiah that John the Baptist had established did not function as a foundation for Jesus, but in fact became a barrier between Jesus and the chosen people.

The Foundation for the Messiah is the base on which God will completely fulfill the purpose of his Dispensation. Yet, this foundation did not function as the foundation to serve the Messiah, who was supposed to be the center of the dispensation, As a result, this "foundation" was in reality a failure. Although God had carefully prepared John the Baptist for Jesus, John did not follow Jesus, and thus he lost his qualification as an historic Abel. And as a result, the first course of the world-wide restoration of Canaan ended in failure.

A. The Foundation of Faith

Because of John the Baptist's faithlessness toward Jesus, the Foundation of Faith in the first course of the world-wide restoration of Canaan was invaded by Satan. The Messiah came, but the Foundation for the Messiah crumbled, leaving no place for Jesus to stand as the Messiah. Actually, the Messiah can only appear where there is a foundation free from Satan's invasion. Therefore, Jesus was compelled to meet the indemnity conditions that would restore the Foundation for the Messiah by himself, and as he did so, he acted not in the capacity of the Messiah, but in that of John the Baptist.

Since Jesus was the Son of God and was to be the Lord of Glory, he should not have had to walk the path of tribulation (1 Cor 2:8). However, John the Baptist, who was born for the mission of straightening the Lord's way (Jn 1:23; Lk 1:76), failed to accomplish his mission. Therefore, Jesus had to succeed to John the Baptist's mission and himself prepare the foundation for his own appearance as the Messiah. Thus, in the second course of the world-wide restoration of Canaan, Jesus was the central person who had to pay the indemnity to restore the Foundation of Faith.

The central person responsible to restore the Foundation of Faith could establish it by becoming one with God's Word after first establishing a forty-based period for separation from Satan. To do this, Jesus fasted for forty days and overcame the three temptations from Satan. Jesus met these conditions not as the Messiah, But as a person succeeding to the mission of John the Baptist. In other words, he met these conditions to restore the Foundation of Faith from the position of a central person involved in establishing the Foundation for the Messiah, rather than as the Messiah himself.

Let us look at the reasons for Jesus' forty-day period of fasting and praying and the three temptations. In the course of the nation restoration of Canaan centered on Moses, the rock symbolized Jesus (1 Cor 10:4) had suffered Satan's invasion because of Moses' anger at the faithlessness of the Israelites. This invasion remained as a remote basis for Satan's direct attack on Jesus, the true rock, should the chosen people become faithless again at Jesus' time.

John the Baptist was the central person who could stop this from happening--by fighting against Satan to establish the Foundation of Faith. However, John failed to believe in Jesus. With the faithlessness of John the Baptist as the immediate cause, Jesus could not continue free from Satan's direct attack and he came Satan's constant target. Therefore, Jesus himself had to meet the indemnity condition of the forty-based period of separation from Satan by fasting for forty days and overcoming Satan's attack, which was manifested in the three temptations.

In Matthew 4:1-10 we read that Satan tested Jesus through three temptations. Satan's original purpose in attacking Jesus with these temptations was not to test any external conditions or Jesus' power to perform miracles, but was specifically intended to prevent Jesus from accomplishing his purpose as the Messiah. Because the Messiah comes to restore the world intended at the time of creation, which was not established because of Satan, from Satan's point of view, the Messiah's fulfilling his purpose would mean Satan's eternal destruction. Since the Kingdom of Heaven is based on The Principle, and since Adam had failed by not following The Principle, Satan's temptations centered on The Principle, and Jesus' answers had to be based on The Principle. More specifically, the world which the Messiah must create is the world intended at the time of creation, which is the world based on the fulfillment of God's Three Blessings. Thus, Jesus had to realize God's Three Blessings, and Satan's attempt to prevent Jesus from fulfilling his purpose was through three temptations that were based on the Three Blessings.

In the first temptation, Satan appeared before Jesus and said, "...'If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread'" (Mt 4:3). The stones in Satan's possession represented the broken tablets of stone and the rock that had been struck twice by Moses, Because of the faithlessness of the chosen people, Moses had broken the tablets of stones and had struck the rock twice, providing the basis for Satan to claim the rock. The stones with which Satan tempted Jesus symbolized Jesus himself as the true rock and the true tablet of stone (1 Cor 10:4; Rev 2:17).

When the chosen people became faithless, as they had become in the wilderness, Satan was in a position to attack Jesus, who was the incarnate Word that had been symbolized by the tablets of stone. Jesus had to overcome these circumstances. Satan know well that Jesus had come into the wilderness to restore the rock, so Satan tempted Jesus to change the rock to bread, because Jesus was as hungry as the faithless Israelites had been at the time of Moses. If Jesus had become faithless and had abandoned his purpose of restoring the stone, choosing instead to command the stone to become bread in order to fill his hungry stomach, then Satan would have succeeded in preventing the Messiah from accomplishing his purpose. By keeping Jesus under his sovereignty, Satan would have had possession of the stone forever.

Jesus answer to this temptation was, "'..."Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God"'" (Mt 4:4). This means that even though man's physical body can live by eating bread, his life would not be complete. Man can become whole only if, in addition, he lives by the bread of life, that is through Christ, who is God's Word made flesh (Jn 6:35,51). Jesus' answer to Satan's first temptation means that even if he were then at the point of starvation, bread for the physical body is not the real issue. Jesus had to triumph over Satan's temptation and become the living bread of God's Word, the bread capable of giving life to all mankind.

Through his triumph over the first temptation, Jesus met the condition for again establishing himself as the true incarnation of the stones which had been lost to Satan in the wilderness because of the faithlessness of the chosen people. In other words, by overcoming this temptation (from the position of John the Baptist), Jesus symbolically restored the position of the Messiah, the model of the perfect person. Through doing this, Jesus established the foundation for restoring God's First Blessing to man, the first step toward accomplishing God's Purpose for the Creation.

In the second temptation, Satan set Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple and said, "...'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down...'" (Mt 4:6). Jesus referred to himself as a temple (Jn 2:19- 21) and believers are also called temples of God (1 Cor 3:16). 1 Corinthians 12:27 tells us that believers are members of the body of Christ. Therefore, we can understand that Jesus is the main temple and the believers are the branch temples, Satan's setting Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple means that, as a result of Jesus' triumph over the first temptation, Satan had to recognize Jesus' authority as the master of the temple. Satan's urging Jesus to throw himself down from the top of the temple was not to test Jesus' ability to perform miracles, but was to tempt him to give up his position as master of the temple, to throw himself down and be as a fallen man, thus putting an end to his restoring people as branch temples. Just as Satan dominated the world as its false master after causing Adam's fall (2 Cor 4:4; Jn 12:31), Satan would have become the master of the temple in place of Jesus, if Jesus (the Second Adam) had succumbed to this temptation.

At this point, Jesus said, "'..."You shall not tempt the Lord your God"'" (Mt 4:7). Satan is a fallen angel; a true human being is to have dominion over the angels. Therefore, a fallen angel was naturally supposed to be under Jesus' dominion. Although Satan may temporarily control the world as its false master, his attempt to stand in the position of the lord of the temple was a non-Principle act. Satan, a fallen angel, should not have tried to tempt God. Yet, he did not by tempting Jesus, for when Jesus had triumphed over the first temptation, he had restored his position as a true person and individual, and thus was the true temple and body of God.

Jesus' answer was a scolding to Satan for his non-Principle act, and it meant that Satan should leave him and stop tempting God's representative and true son. Jesus was the main temple and the True Father of mankind. By overcoming the second temptation, he established the condition that would enable him to restore believers as branch temples, that is, as his children. Through overcoming this temptation, Jesus established the foundation for restoring God's Second Blessing to man, the second step toward fulfilling God's Purpose for the Creation.

In the third temptation, Satan led Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Then he said, "...'All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me'" (Mt 4:9). Of course, in reality, there is no mountain where all the kingdoms of the world can be seen. Then, what does Satan's leading Jesus to this very high mountain mean?

Because of his fall, Adam had lost his authority as lord of the Creation and had come to be dominated by Satan; so Satan had naturally become the ruler of the Creation in place of Adam (Rom 8:20). God sent Jesus to be the perfected Adam and, thus, the lord of the Creation (God put all things in subjection under Christ (1 Cor 15:27). Satan knew this, and since Jesus had been victorious in the first and second temptations, Satan had to place Jesus in the position of lord of the Creation. This was the significance of Jesus' being led to the mountain where all the kingdoms of the world and their glory can be seen. Then, Satan tempted Jesus by offering to let Jesus be lord of the Creation if Jesus would yield to him (Satan). Satan wanted the second Adam to yield to him as the first Adam had done in the Garden of Eden.

Jesus replied, "'..."You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve"'" (Mt 4:10). Angels were created to be ministering spirits (Heb 1:14), to worship and serve God. Jesus' answer recalls this principle that Satan, a fallen angel should worship and serve God. Naturally, in accordance with this principle, Satan should also worship and serve Jesus, for Jesus was the temple of God.

By overcoming the first two temptations, Jesus had established the foundation that would enable him to restore to man God's First and Second Blessings. On this foundation he also had to restore to man God's Third Blessing, man's dominion over the Creation. Although Jesus might have gained all of the kingdoms of the world and their glory if he had yielded to Satan, his purpose as the Messiah would not have been fulfilled. Jesus answered that although Satan was offering him sovereignty over the Creation, he would not fall down and worship Satan, for he (Jesus) was the temple of God. Jesus' responses were based on The Principle, and thus he was victorious. By overcoming the third temptation, Jesus was able to meet the conditions for restoring man's dominion over the Creation. In other words, he established the foundation for restoring to man God's Third Blessing. Thus, through enduring the forty-day fast and overcoming Satan's three temptations, Jesus, in place of John the Baptist, established the Foundation of Faith.

Jesus' forty days of fasting and praying for the Foundation of Faith and his triumph over Satan's temptations established Jesus as the central person and Abel for the nation Foundation of Substance. Consequently, if the people of Israel, who were in the Cain position, had believed, served, and obeyed Jesus, who was in the Abel position substituting for John the Baptist, the nation Foundation of Substance would have been established. This Foundation of Substance and the Foundation of Faith together would have constituted the Foundation for the Messiah, and that would have enabled Jesus to shift from the position of John the Baptist to the Messiah's position.

If Jesus had been able to secure this victorious foundation on earth, then he would have been able to give total rebirth to mankind and he would have been able to completely fulfill God's Purpose for the Creation. Therefore, Jesus revealed secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven in his speaking and testified to himself through the performance of miracles--all to make his people believe in him and obey him (Jn 10:38). Because it concerned the Foundation of Substance for the national Foundation for the Messiah, it was very important for the leaders of Judaism and the people to serve Jesus and follow his will, since he was in the Abel position. However, the leaders of the people, such as the priests, the Levites, and the scribes, were in the front ranks of those who became faithless toward Jesus. The general populace also fell into faithlessness and even began to slander Jesus. And even from the early stages of Jesus' ministry, the Pharisees declared that he was a sinner (Jn 9:16,24), though he was actually without fault. On several occasions the people took up stones to throw at Jesus, even though he was teaching them the truth (Jn 8:59; 10:31). Jesus even had to take refuge for some time, because of the people's conspiracies to kill him (Jn 7:1; 8:40).

Meanwhile, Satan, who had been defeated in the temptation, had departed from Jesus "until an opportune time" (Lk 4:13). Satan's departure from Jesus until an opportune time implies that Satan did not leave Jesus completely and would be able to come before Jesus again. Since Jesus had overcome Satan's tests, Satan could no longer attack him directly; so Satan had to try to invade through the people, and he centered on the leaders who had fallen into faithlessness, finally focusing his efforts on Judas Iscariot. 1 Corinthians 2:8 says, "None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." The people's attitude toward Jesus went beyond simple ignorance about him. They developed a strong feeling of disbelief and distrust toward him, to the point where they feared him and wanted to be rid of him, and they crucified him.

Because of this faithlessness of the people, the Foundation of Substance was not established. Accordingly, the Foundation for the Messiah was not established in the second course of the world-wide restoration of Canaan. Naturally, the second course of the world-wide restoration of Canaan also failed.

A. The Spiritual Course of the World-wide Restoration of Canaan, Centered on Jesus

Because of the faithlessness of John the Baptist, the first course of the world-wide restoration of Canaan had ended in failure. Next, Jesus, himself, had tried to establish the Foundation for the Messiah. However, because the people did not follow him. and especially because his disciples became faithless, the second course of the world-wide restoration of Canaan also failed. Therefore, Jesus had to go the way of the cross. In John 3:14, Jesus says, "'And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up....'" When the people with Moses were bitten by fiery serpents and began to die, God directed Moses to raise up a bronze serpent in order to provide a way for the people's salvation. In the same way, when the people at Jesus' time became faithless, God then had to ask Jesus to go the way of the cross.

What is the meaning of the cross? As was already explained in "The Purpose of the Messiah," Jesus' messianic purpose was to complete the dispensation for salvation, that is, to fulfill the Purpose of the Creation.

Man was created with a physical self and a spirit self, and man fell both physically and spiritually. Thus the salvation should also be for both the physical and the spiritual aspects of man. When we say that we absolutely believe in Jesus and we obey Jesus this means that we are fulfilling the ideal of becoming one body with him. Jesus spoke of this when he compared himself to a vine and the believers to branches (Jn 15:5), and when he said, "'In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you'" (Jn 14:20). Unfortunately, the people did not believe in Jesus and did not become one with him. As a result, God had to allow Satan to take the physical body of Jesus to indemnify mankind's sin of faithlessness. Thus Jesus died on the cross.

Since Jesus is the root of life for all mankind, Satan's invasion of Jesus' physical body means that even saints who believe in Jesus and become one with him cannot avoid satanic invasion of their physical bodies (Rom 7:22,23). No matter how faithful believers may be, their bodies are still within the realm of Stan's invasion. Thus, they have to pray constantly (1 Thess 5:17), and their children still have Original Sin.

Because of the crucifixion, mankind lost the physical body of the savior and thus lost its physical object of faith and could not receive physical salvation. Therefore, the third course of the world- wide restoration of Canaan could not be started as a substantial course on both the physical and the spiritual planes. Instead, this course of the world-wide restoration of Canaan was a spiritual one and was centered on the resurrected Jesus.

The central person responsible for establishing the spiritual Foundation of Faith was the resurrected Jesus. In fulfilling that responsibility, he stood in John the Baptist's position. Although God let Satan take Jesus' body so that man's faithlessness could be redeemed, the foundation for spiritual salvation was established when God, using Jesus' absolute obedience as a foundation, resurrected Jesus' spirit self and placed him in a position where Satan could not invade.

Jesus said, "...'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up'" (Jn 2:19). He was obviously speaking of his own resurrection in three days. The resurrected Jesus became the central person for establishing the spiritual Foundation of Faith. During the forty days following his resurrection, Jesus established the spiritual foundation of separation from Satan. This also established the spiritual Foundation of Faith for the spiritual third course of the world-wide restoration of Canaan.

Of course the resurrected Jesus was not the same as he was when he had lived together with his disciples before his crucifixion. He was already a spirit person who transcended time and space and could not be seen by means of normal physical sight (Lk 24:16). For example: he once suddenly appeared in a closed room where his disciples were gathered (Jn 20:19); on another occasion he appeared at the sea coast of Tiberia and was not immediately recognized by his disciples (Jn 21:1-4); on still another occasion, he suddenly appeared before two disciples on their way to Emmaus and accompanied them for a considerable distance without their recognizing him (Lk 24:15,16). As a matter of fact, Mary, who was the first to encounter the resurrected Jesus, was also unable to recognize him (Jn 20:14). During the forty- day period on earth following his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples transcending time and space, and thus established the spiritual Foundation of Faith.

By establishing the Foundation of Faith, on the foundation of the central person for establishing the spiritual Foundation of Substance, that is to say, he also secured the spiritual Foundation of Power, that is to say, he also secured the Spiritual Abel position.

God could no longer deal directly with the Jewish people, for they had betrayed Jesus; so he needed a new Israel, that is a Second Israel that would follow the resurrected Jesus with absolute faith. The new Israel, in the Cain position, had to absolutely believe in and obey Jesus, the spiritual Abel, and thus establish the spiritual Foundation of Substance. Jesus made a great effort to establish the spiritual Foundation of Substance, which would establish the resurrected new chosen people who would unite with him in faith.

Acts 1:3 speaks of Jesus' disciples, saying, "To them he presented himself alive after his passion by may proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God." Jesus gathered his disciples, who had scattered after they had lost their faith, and appearing repeatedly before them, taught them to have absolute faith in him as the Messiah.

And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Lk 24:27)

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Mt 28:18-20)

And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, "You heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 1:4,5)

Jesus performed many miracles (e.g., Jn 20:19; 21:6); he instilled faith in the faithless Thomas (Jn 20:26-29); he made Peter pledge absolute loyalty to him (Jn 21:15-18); and he taught his disciples to be the roots of the new Israel. The disciples gave their lives to believe, serve and follow the resurrected Jesus, unlike the old way in which they had only weakly believed in him. Thus, they were able to establish the spiritual Foundation of Substance.

The Foundation for the Messiah is actually the foundation upon which the Messiah can save both physically and spiritually. But the resurrected Jesus, who was carrying out the mission of a spiritual John the Baptist, could restore only the spiritual Foundation for the Messiah (the Foundation for the Messiah in the spirit world), first setting up the spiritual Foundation of Faith (the Foundation of Faith in the spirit world) and then the spiritual Foundation of Substance (the Foundation of Substance in the spirit world). Jesus' original mission was not to carry out the mission of John the Baptist. Thus, once he established the spiritual Foundation for the Messiah, he stood as the spiritual Messiah.

No conditions for Satan's accusations exist in the realm of resurrection which Jesus established (in accordance with the principle of restoration through indemnity) by letting Satan take his life. Thus, the Foundation of Faith that the resurrected Jesus established on the spiritual plane is not vulnerable to Satan's invasion. The spiritual Foundation of Substance, established by believing in Jesus in one's own life, is therefore impregnable to Satan's spiritual attack, and the spiritual Foundation for the Messiah is thus a sphere which Satan cannot violate.

The most fundamental role of the Messiah is the role of the True Father. The resurrected Jesus became the spiritual True Father by restoring the Holy Spirit. The arrival of the Holy Spirit recorded in the second chapter of Acts is the arrival of the spiritual True Mother. The resurrected Jesus, as the spiritual True Father, and the Holy Spirit, as the spiritual True Mother, work together to give spiritual rebirth to believers. Therefore, anyone who believes in Jesus and the Holy Spirit, who are the spiritual True Parents, and spiritually grafts onto them stands on the spiritual Foundation for the Messiah and will have spiritual salvation (Jn 3:16).

Spiritual salvation means that believers are restored only as God's spiritual children, through spiritual parents; that is to say, only a spiritual Canaan is restored. Thus, Christians can only receive the benefit of the establishment of the spiritual Canaan, and can still have their physical bodies invaded by Satan, just as Jesus, man's mediator, had his body invaded by Satan. As a result, Original Sin still remains within man (Rom 7:25).

The Messiah must come again in order to complete salvation and restore the substantial Canaan where man can be restored both spiritually and physically as the true children of God. The Israelites, centered on Moses, spiritually entered Canaan; the second generation Israelites, centered on Joshua, substantially entered the national Canaan. (This is explained in "Moses in the Dispensation for Restoration.") Likewise, Christians, centered on Jesus, established the spiritual Canaan world-wide; and at the Second Coming, the Messiah, like Joshua, will lead Christians to establish the substantial world-wide Canaan.

If, at the Second Coming, those with the mission of John the Baptist fail to fulfill their missions, the Lord of the Second Coming himself will have to assume the role of John the Baptist and establish the Foundation of Faith for the substantial phase of the third world-wide course to Canaan. However difficult a way the Lord of the Second Coming may walk, devout people will gather around him, absolutely believing in and serving him, establishing the Foundation of Substance in the substantial phase of the third world-wide course to Canaan.

The Lord of the Second Coming must come in order to restore all mankind into God's direct lineage, as God's children. Consequently, he must be born on earth, in the flesh, just as Jesus was. He must restore, through indemnity, the tearful course that Jesus had to tread, and, on the basis of the substantial Foundation for the Messiah, he must engraft all mankind both spiritually and physically. Mankind will then finally be in God's direct lineage, having the Original Sin removed through the Lord of the Second Coming.

The spiritual phase of the third world-wide course to Canaan, which began with the spiritual Foundation for the Messiah, has expanded its territory to a global level over the last two thousand years. Just as Joshua succeeded Moses' mission and completed the national course to Canaan, so also the Lord of the Second Coming will complete the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven by completing, on a physical level, the third world-wide course to Canaan which began centered on Jesus.

Just as Jesus walked the bitter path of the spiritual restoration as a result of the disbelief of the chosen people of Israel, so also the Lord of the Second Coming will experience similar tribulation if and when the Second Israel, the Christians, fall into disbelief. And just as Jesus had to abandon the First Israel and begin a new course, centered on the Christians as the Second Israel, so also, if the Lord of the Second Coming experiences rejection by the Christians, he will begin a Third Israel.

Table of Contents
Copyright Information