1. The Old Testament Age was the age of the servant

Through the Fall, humankind fell into the non-Principle realm. How far did they fall? They fell into a realm even lower than that of the angels, who are God’s servants. The princes and princesses, who were supposed to be the masters, fell to a position lower than servants, so they must go back up. From the way of the servant of servants, they should go up through the way of a servant, adopted child, illegitimate child, and child of direct lineage, and then return, through the mother, to the position of Adam, the father. This is restoration. The providence of salvation is like returning someone to the standard of health he enjoyed before he became sick. He must return to the state of having had no sickness. This is why the providence of salvation is the providence of restoration. The providence of restoration is not carried out arbitrarily. It is not that you can just "believe and be saved." (222-144, 1991.11.3)

Although human beings fell, they must go up from the position of servant of servants because they cannot abandon God. Then what does "servant of servants" mean? It means to be without a master. Fallen people must serve God loyally from the position of the servant of servants. Satan was an archangel and God’s servant. Since human beings were dragged in front of this servant, in order to return to God, they must set up the standard of having demonstrated their loyalty to God while standing as servants of servants. (17-73, 1966.11.12)

The Old Testament Age was an age when sacrificial offerings were made; thus, God could find people whom He could use as His servants. This is Old Testament history. Because human beings were lost, things were turned upside down -- people became lower than all things of creation. Human beings came to be in a worse situation than all things of creation. For this reason they had to divide all things, which were closer to God, into two and divide what belongs to God from what belongs to Satan. Such divided sacrificial offerings were not made because of God or Satan but because people failed to fulfill their responsibilities. You should know this. It is because people failed in their responsibilities that they came to receive Satan’s blood. (136-228, 1985.12.29)

From the viewpoint of the providence, the time before the Old Testament Age -- that is, before Jacob -- was the age of the servant of servants, the time from Jacob to Jesus was the age of the servant, the time after Jesus was the age of the adopted son, and the time of the Second Advent is the age of the son. Because the age of the son comes, the son must have parents. Thus, through the age of the parents, humankind returns to God. (74-121, 1974.11.25)

The Old Testament Age was the age of the servant, an age where people in the position of servant of servants were restored to the position of servant. For this reason, even Abraham was a servant, not a son. God established the way of loyalty by setting up servants of servants. In this way, God has been moving His providence forward by bringing all humankind together throughout history to take possession of the worldwide stage of evil and bring it to God’s side. Even Jacob triumphed as God’s servant rather than as God’s son. God has been working this way, restoring people from the position of servant of servants to that of servant, and from the position of servant to that of adopted son. (15-325, 1965.12.7)

Comprehensively examining the historical course of restoration, we can see that God has, until now, been leading the providence through the three stages of formation, growth, and completion. The course of restoration passes through the age of the servant, which is the Old Testament Age, the age of the adopted son, which is the New Testament Age, and the age of true children, which is the Completed Testament Age, and enters the age of true parents. The providence of salvation in the Old Testament Age offered salvation to humankind in the position of servant. Hence, in that age, without establishing a central figure who could endure from beginning to end and achieve victory, the foundation for restoration to the position of servant could not be laid. Hence, God made many sacrifices while leading the four-thousand-year history through central figures such as Noah and Abraham. (15-49, 1965.12.7)

What did God do in the Old Testament Age? Since the world became satanic, He took on the task of finding His servants by sacrificing all things and establishing people on the heavenly side. God was not even looking for adopted sons. He was looking for servants of servants. The people of the satanic world have all become Satan’s sons and daughters. God cannot take them away. Hence, God has been gathering those who have lost hope in the satanic world. It is a sad reality, but God has been collecting useless material. He has been dealing with junk. This process doesn’t just finish there. Sacrifice and going through the process of being a sacrificial offering are required. (136-222, 1985.12.29)

God tried to bring people who were not even good enough to become servants in the satanic world and made them servants of servants in God’s world. This is Old Testament history. This is why God made Jacob and Esau fight. This is why He called Noah. God took a servant of servants in the satanic world to a distant country. There, He isolated and exhausted him in order to make him God’s servant. (154-334, 1964.10.5)

Satan treats human beings as enemies. They cannot even become Satan’s servants. The Old Testament Age was the time when God worked to turn such people into God’s servants. Then, God wanted to make servants into adopted children, adopted children into children of direct lineage, children of direct lineage into brothers and sisters, and brothers and sisters into true parents by blessing them as bride and bridegroom. As the God-centered true family was lost, restoration is the work of regaining it. The feast of the Lamb was to be the occasion heralding Jesus as the True Parent. (12-29, 1962.7.15)

God commissioned His servants and taught them, "I am your father." He taught people through His servants and angels. Such was the Old Testament Age. Next, He worked through His son. This was the New Testament Age. Next, He worked through the Holy Spirit. (10-197, 1960.10.2)

So far, God’s desire has been that people be in relationship with all things of creation and with God. Hence, God has been working to pull fallen people up from the servant’s position, through the adopted son’s position, to the children’s position and parents’ position. This was in order to sever the painful connection with the Fall and enable all things, people and God to form unifying relationships so that God’s joy becomes humankind’s joy and humankind’s joy becomes the joy of all things. God wanted to boast of, present and dedicate His sons and daughters to the natural world and even to the world of angels. (11-279, 1962.1.3)

If we think about it, the Old Testament Age lasted four thousand years until the coming of Jesus. Was there a word like "Blessing"? Was it possible to bless a family in God’s name? Since it was the era of the servant, people were in the domain of the archangel, a servant. The archangel cannot be married; he must live a single life. In that God could not have a family, and God’s sons and daughters could not marry, can a servant be married? He cannot. (90-97, 1976.12.19)

In order to restore the land that was defiled, God has been leading the providence of salvation, in which He builds a relationship with humankind through the angels. God is carrying out the providence of salvation in order to once again deal with human beings, who betrayed God through the Fall and fell so miserably -- lower, even, than all things. To govern humankind, dominated and accused by Satan, God has been working to build a bridge. This work has lasted throughout the Old Testament and New Testament Ages until now. (1-282, 1956.12.16)

Originally, the Old Testament Age was a time when God was supposed to work directly with and relate to people in His glory. But the providence could not be completed because of the Fall. Therefore, in sorrow, God pioneered an alternative way of relating to people through angels, and this was the Old Testament Age. God established a standard whereby He could work through the angels. Since angels are also divine beings, they appeared to people like God and served with the mission of mediators as an expedient measure until the coming of Jesus. (1-283, 1956.12.16)

If we look at the Old Testament Age, we see that God has used angels as messengers for the sake of building God’s garden of freedom and the heavenly kingdom of liberation. If you want to enter the realm of grace where you can be liberated from the servant’s position as God’s son, you should be able to feel joyful even while losing your life. Only those who have such a free heart can go beyond the servant’s position and enter the son’s position. (4-321, 1958.10.12)

Look at the Bible. So far God has been working through the archangels in the spirit world, through His son, and through the Holy Spirit. God could not directly connect to this work in His heart. In the Old Testament Age He worked through the angels, and in the New Testament Age He worked through His son. From the heavenly viewpoint, the Old Testament Age was the age to regain the people, and the New Testament Age was the age to regain the children. (10-170, 1960.9.25)

Consider this: To restore the people of Israel, the angels in the heavenly world came and worked, the servants came and worked, and then the son came and worked. Now, the father is coming. The coming Lord is coming as a father. He will come as the True Parent, raise true children and give love. What will happen then? You will stay up all night with that one person. God loved one man, Abraham more than the people of the fallen world. He loved Moses -- one person -- more than all humankind, and He loved Jesus more than all humankind. Thus, you should know how precious each son and daughter loved by God is. (10-354, 1960.11.27)

The God Jehovah, who appeared to Abraham, was also an angel. Originally, God, being without form, is invisible, but in Genesis three people appear as God, two going to judge Sodom and Gomorrah and the remaining one talking to Abraham as God (Genesis 18:1-18). Yet they were angels sent by God, who commissioned them to work on His behalf. The people did not know this. After twenty-one years of spiritual training, Jacob went back to his hometown in Seir, where his elder brother lived, in order to satisfy his longing. Although he had waited for twenty-one years, instead of sending him off joyfully, saying "have a nice trip," God sent an angel and had him wrestle with Jacob at the Ford of Jabbok with a great shout. If Jacob had lost to the angel, the hardships of the past twenty-one years would have been in vain. So Jacob tenaciously held on to the angel and said that he would not let go until his hands were pulled off. He said he would not let go even if his arms broke. He was deadly serious! (51-344, 1971.12.5) 

God had blessed him through Isaac, and advised him to abandon everything and return to his hometown; then, why didn’t God guide Jacob and make his path smooth? When Jacob was pleading with God by the Ford of Jabbok all night with an anxious heart, why did God deal with him in such a heartless way as sending an angel to strike him, instead of giving him encouragement and advice? (3-334, 1958.2.9)

What kind of people were our ancestors of faith who lived in the Old Testament Age? Since God is invisible, even if He were to appear no one would know Him. The ancestors of faith are thus the ones God sent to reproduce His work on His behalf in a way appropriate for the age, and to help the people forge a connection with Him. For this reason, in order for us to rise to the position of God’s adopted son, we must connect with the historical relations of many people. We must go through many stages, including world representative on the individual, family, tribal, racial, and national levels -- and bind all of them together as one, representing the final destination. (77-132, 1975.4.6)

What kind of beings are angels? They are beings that should have completed the path of loyalty to God in the servant’s position and served as a protective fence for Adam and Eve. They should have created an atmosphere of glory that would have lasted forever in the heavenly world and lived happily with Adam and Eve in God’s love. In other words, the archangels were created for Adam and Eve. God, the Father of Adam and Eve, created the angels for their sake. (15-238, 1965.10.17)

Because the archangel’s fall led to Adam and Eve bringing the human world to such ruin, the angelic world is working on God’s behalf. Thus, the angelic world is fighting against Satan. The evil Satan and good angels are fighting. Only when the side of the good angels wins the battle will there be a step forward. God cannot do as He pleases. This is the Principle. (109-18, 1980.10.26)

God created the three archangels as servants for the unfallen Adam and Eve and entrusted Adam and Eve to them, asking the archangels to raise them by educating and protecting them. Why did He have to do this? It is because the archangels are in a reciprocal relationship with their subject partner -- a subject and object relationship, with the earth plane as the subject partner and the angelic realm as the object partner. God’s ideal in creating heaven and earth was to expand the horizontal realm of relationships in front of God’s true love in this dual-realm environment. (208-256, 1990.11.20)

Who should educate Adam? It is not God, but the archangels who must do this. They should protect and raise him. The responsibility rested with the archangels to supervise, guide, and educate him with care so that he would be untainted at the time of his marriage. Since the Unification Church also had to follow this rule to accomplish restoration through indemnity, I have loved the 36 couples more than my own sons. (121-240, 1982.10.27)

God is the source of life. Parents nurture the lives of their children. They are the source of life, love and protection. They protect life, give love, and nurture. So where does happiness come from? Without securing a protected domain, life is threatened, and when life is threatened, love cannot manifest. If you were to die now would love manifest? It would not. This is why a protected domain is needed. So when the protected domain is secured, who is it that it must protect? It is the archangels. After receiving life from God, who is the origin of life, Adam and Eve were in the process of receiving an education of love under the archangel’s protection. (51-173, 1971.11.21)

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