Way Of Unification - Part 1 |
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by Rev. Sun Myung Moon |
Section 1. Providential History
1. The Perfect World Of Creation
What is God's will? This seems like an extremely simple question, but it is really an extremely difficult question. Even if you would ask a famous theologian this question, he could not give you an easy answer. But in order to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth we must clearly understand the will of God, because it is the very foundation, center, and turning point in the history of salvation. Therefore, to define the Will is the most important task of all.
Then, what is the will of God in the view of the Unification Church and in the understanding of Rev. Moon? It is to complete the ideal of creation, that is, the purpose of creation. God created everything with a certain purpose, so the will of God is to fulfill His purpose of creation. Who were the center of that purpose? Adam and Eve. So I see the purpose of God's creation as realizing the ideal of creation, centering on Adam and Eve.
Then what is the realization of the ideal? It is the establishment of the four position foundation. The four position foundation is the foundation of the family centered on God, in which God-centered Adam and Eve, completely united in love as an ideal couple, multiply children.
Once this four position foundation had been formed, Adam and Eve, united as one body centered on God, could not have left the realm of God's love.
If Adam and Eve, centered on God, had formed an ideal family, then God's will would have been completed in Adam's family. They would have attended Heavenly Father above, and stood in the position of human ancestors to their descendants below. Their family would have become the origin of love. This family would have been the foundation upon which God, Adam and Eve could have become one body, united in love, thus completing God's ideal.
If God's will had been realized on this foundation of conjugal love and children's love, one culture would have been formed on earth, centered on Adam. It would not be like today, with many different cultures and civilizations formed by peoples of many nations. Centered on Adam, there would have been one culture, one ideology, and one civilization. If things had happened this way, all cultures, history, customs, languages, traditions, etc., would have been unified.
Also, within the circle of God's love, ideal families, ideal tribes and ideal nations would have formed, expanding into one unified world in which Adam's ideal would have been realized. just as the roots, trunk and leaves of a tree are connected in one life, all people, centered on love, would have attended Heavenly Father, and lived in harmony as brothers and sisters, to establish an eternal ideal world centered on God. This was the original worldview of God.
People in this world would need neither salvation nor a Messiah. Why? Because they would be good sons and daughters of God.
2. The Fall Of Man Was A Mistake Of Love
The Bible contains a warning not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is because therein lay the potential to destroy the relationship between God and man. This is the origin of the problem. The Divine Principle clearly explains this fact. The Divine Principle is a great message to those who do not understand the facts of the fall of man. It is a message that can save those who are suffering in this world.
We must not think the fruit is the literal fruit of a tree. It is not the fruit of a tree. Why would God create a fruit that could lead to the road of human struggle and suffering for a million years? Rev. Moon's teaching that the fall occurred centered on love is more logical than anything else. As a result of the fall of man, two kinds of love appeared: good love and evil love.
A mature person is one who knows true love. On the contrary, a fallen person is one who does not know true love.
It is natural that at the age of 16, 17 or 18, the eyes of Adam and Eve would have opened to the opposite sex. just as we are intoxicated by the fragrance of a flower in bloom, Adam and Eve would naturally have been attracted to each other as they matured. Even God would have been captivated by this fragrance. Adam and Eve, united in mind and body centered on God's love, would have become the core of the cosmos. They would have entered into an orbit in which they would control all love.
It was exactly at this point that they were derailed. If they had not been derailed, God, Adam and Eve would have completely united into one.
If they had been united like this, God, Adam and Eve could never have separated from each other. Their offspring, from generation to generation, would have united in tribes, nations and the world. This would have resulted in a wonderful world, the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
It is amazing that Rev. Moon came and revealed how the fall of man was caused by love. Nobody can deny this, which is explained logically and systematically, based on historical background.
The human ancestors, Adam and Eve, had to grow through adolescence toward a certain point in time. They should have understood why they had to wait for that time. Why did they have to wait? Because of love. They needed a period of time in which to mature and prepare themselves for love.
During this period of growth they fell into trouble centered on love, and God had to retreat. Only such an accident of love could have caused the fall of man. No other kind of accident could have brought so much trouble to God and man, could have caused such trouble throughout history and had such a cosmic, shocking effect.
The fall of the human ancestors was not caused by eating the fruit of a tree. The cause was not that simple. Since the fall was an accident related to blood lineage, it resulted in the original sin which has been passed on until today.
Through an illicit love relationship Eve became one with the Archangel, and then Adam became one with Eve, who had already united with the Archangel. As a result, Adam and Eve became husband and wife and formed a family centered not on God but on the Archangel. Because of this all their descendants inherited Satan's blood lineage.
Originally, the first and second sons of Adam and Eve should both have been God's sons. But since Adam and Eve had a fallen love relationship with the Archangel, their first and second sons belonged to Satan. According to the original ideal of creation, love decides ownership. In a love relationship, according to the Principle, the subject and object own each other. According to this principle, since Adam and Eve fell through an illicit love relationship with the Archangel, their offspring could automatically be claimed by Satan.
3. The Appearance Of Fallen Man And The Fallen World
1) As A Result Of The Fall, Man Has Two Masters
God is supposed to rule everything, day and night, by love. Because the standard of His rulership is love, beyond time and space, God Himself needs love in order to rule. We can conclude that without love, existence has no meaning. This ideal was lost because of the fall. The fall was caused by love. The origin of love is not the eye or the mouth. The fall occurred through the sexual organs with which man and woman unite. Because of the fall, everything was destroyed.
The meeting place of love is the place where all the senses come together. But because of the fall this standard was destroyed, resulting in great loss to the cosmos. In order to return to the original position, we have to go through the process of re-creation. As a result of the fall, man has two masters. If there were only one master it would be easy to return to Him. But since there are two, it is not easy.
Ordinarily, created beings would easily harmonize with their true master, God, without any conflict. But now we have one minus and two plusses, with one of the plusses in rebellion against God. A strong opposing force came into being. Satan works with this external force, while God works with an internal force. As a result, there are two conflicting subjects within one man. Satan became the external subject of man, while God remained the internal subject.
Man is in a constant state of conflict between these internal and external forces. This is what the struggle between the physical mind and the conscience is all about.
Throughout a man's life his spirit and body should be united; likewise his mind and conscience should be united. But in reality they rebel against each other and move in all different directions. Sometimes they are pulled in one direction, and sometimes they lose all sense of direction. Not only did Adam and Eve become this kind Of being, but all their offspring were placed in the same situation. Ten people move in ten different directions. This is the fallen world that has come about on earth.
2) The Conflicting Character of Human Beings is the Result of the Fall
Today we understand that within one individual the mind and body are often in conflict, torn by opposite desires. The original mind pursues good desire, while the wicked mind pursues evil desire. These two desires battle each other fiercely, each with a different purpose. Where does this conflict, the separation between mind and body, come from? It is the result of the fall of the human ancestors. Because of the fall, mind and body are in constant conflict with each other, families struggle, societies struggle, nations engage in bloody struggles, wars, etc. This struggle and suffering cannot be avoided.
What was the fall? The mind and body lost their own positions. If there were a person who really embodied God's ideal, he would stand before the cosmos as original man. His mind and body would be in their right positions. If there were such a person, all the surroundings would dance to his tune. Losing that position was the result of the fall.
The mind wants to go east, the body wants to go west. It's strange, isn't it? The mind's desire is different from the body's desire. Looking at this situation, we cannot deny the fact of the human fall.
Man was born unconsciously, in accordance with God's absolute purpose. Therefore, although man should be physiologically aligned with God's purpose, today his mind and body seek different directions. We cannot deny this.
I am I, my mind is I, my body is I. But in reality I don't know if my mind is really my mind, or my body is really my body. Originally my mind and body should have been inseparable, united in a single purpose so that not even God could separate them.
3) Fallen Man and the Fallen World
Now let's look into the appearance of fallen man and the fallen world.
In the Bible, John 8:44, Jesus said to the evil people, "You are of your father the devil." Because of the fall of man, man had to surrender to the false parent, Satan. Man changed his parents. He discarded his true parent, God, and united with the false parent, Satan. So the first man and woman became the son and daughter of Satan. Under this false father Adam and Eve, without God's permission and blessing, became an illegal couple. When they had children, the children automatically came under the false parent. They were born not as children of God, but as children of Satan. Adam multiplied children with original sin, and thus formed the sinful world. Why? Because Adam and Eve were not centered on God.
Since then our world has been a world of sin, distrust, crime, hatred and war. Nations and societies have become insensitive to pain, and destroyed each other. This is Hell on Earth. The lord of the earth is Satan, not God. So in the Bible, John 12:3 1, it is said "the Prince of this world shall be driven out."
We all know that the cosmos was created by God. We also know that God created man. But God never became our Master. That is because man changed his master. Man betrayed God and united with the false master, Satan. So Satan has been the parent of all mankind.
The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth is one family centered on God, in which all human beings are brothers and sisters. In this unified world there would be only one tradition and one culture. There would be no racial discrimination, no struggles with language, no division between nations, no ideological conflict, no killing and no war.
When we look at today's reality after imagining this heavenly ideal, we come to the painful realization that the world we live in is the opposite of God's ideal. Today we see division between mind and body in every individual.
Today's world is divided. Throughout human history, people have fought and killed each other because of divisions between nations, languages, cultures, traditions, races, ideologies and love. No matter how you look at this world, it cannot be called the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Yes, we are living in Hell on Earth. This is the result of the fall of our ancestors, Adam and Eve. To say that they fell means that they turned against God. It means that they fell away from God. So human history began without God, and has continued up until today as the history of betrayal of God.
4) The Cause of This Unreasonable and Contentious World
When you took at the world today, you can see that it's full of conflict, contention, struggle, suffering and sorrow. So the Buddhists refer to this world as a sea of bitterness. The founders of all religions, as well as saints and sages, have tried to save humanity from this sea of bitterness, but none of them succeeded and the task remains.
Why do we have to live in a sea of bitterness? It is an obvious contradiction that the world is like this while people have always wished to live in a peaceful, happy, ideal world. If God were omniscient and almighty, He would certainly never create this kind of contradictory world. God is perfect and absolute. So we can see that man fell. Nobody can refute this.
The universal religious worldview is to see the human fall as the cause of this unprincipled world. To say that man fell means that he fell from his original position. Originally human beings were in the position to walk toward God while striving for perfection. As God wished and willed when He created the original human beings, they should have gone through a period of growth in order to blossom and bear fruit. But unfortunately, while within this growth period they fell and failed to blossom. Simply, they fell.
If you fall, what do you have to do? You have to climb back up. God, too, had to save fallen mankind. Because of the fall, mankind is living in this sinful and contradictory world. If God did not care and deserted human beings in this fallen world, then He would be an incapable God. So He must save this world and restore man to his original position.
The main teachings of all religions concern the salvation of this world and restoration to the original ideal world. In order to bring about goodness and justice in this sinful world, and to create an ideal world in which man can enjoy eternal happiness and peace, all religions strive to teach the principle of salvation. This is the essence of religion, and its basic task and mission.
4. Human History Is The History Of Smuggle Between Good And Evil
1) God's Providence to Restore Fallen Man
What do you think God would do with this fallen world? At first you may think that since man was damaged and failed his test, God would throw him away. But that would never happen. God created human beings with the ideal of eternity. He created them as His eternal objects of love. Therefore we can conclude that as long as human beings fail to be His perfect objects of love, God remains an imperfect God. Why? Because God can only gain the title of Eternal Subject of Love through human beings, his objects of love.
Therefore, until today God has worked through religion to carry out His providence for re-creation, in order to realize the original purpose of love. He has directed providential history, through which the true religion of love could appear.
How could God recreate His ideal son and daughter from fallen sons and daughters?
Saving a person who has fallen into the water means pulling him back onto land, where he was before. Saving fallen man, which is recreation, means restoring him to his original position before the fall. In other words, since human beings failed to realize God's ideal of love, God, through re-creation in accordance with the Principle of Creation, will move them back to their original position. There they will lead their lives centered on God's ideal love.
Therefore fallen man absolutely the needs religion through which he can realize the ideal of love, and all religions which have emerged from the deep will of God's providence will teach the nature of love.
Because of the fall of man, there has been no way to set any ideal standards. Man is already divided into two separate directions, so no matter how strong a person is, he cannot control his body with his mind and move both in the direction of goodness. If man could bring unity between his mind and body centered on love, he could live harmoniously without struggle. If there had been no fall mankind, centered on God's love, would have become united with God as one body.
God is not the kind of God to just stand by while human beings are living in this fallen world. He has worked until today to lay the foundation for re-creation through religion, in order to recreate the ideal world which He has wanted from the very beginning. This is God's providence for salvation.
2) Human History is God's Providence for Salvation
Today, people who do not live a life of faith do not understand God's intervention in human history. History has been made not only by man; God has been working His providence behind the scenes. Human history has always been interwoven with God's providence.
Why has God intervened in human history? Because God created man, brought him into existence, to realize His ideal of creation. So no matter how many mistakes man makes, God cannot realize His ideal without man on stage.
So, even though man doesn't know it, human history is moving toward the realization of God's ideal of creation. This is what we call salvation.
All religions speak of salvation. Their aim is salvation, which leads to a new world, which opens the ideal world and connects man to the eternal world. Then what is the way of salvation? It is to return to the original state, before man became ill. We in the Unification Church say the history of salvation is the history of restoration. It is returning, centered on the original standard. Why do we need to speak of salvation and restoration? Because man fell.
What was the fall? There would have been no fall if human beings had been under God's direct dominion, standing in the realm of ideal unity with Him. From the very beginning, people should have centered their lives on God, bound in an inseparable father-son relationship with Him.
Their living place, centered on God, would not be a place of sorrow and sadness, pain and suffering. It would be a place of happiness, joy and satisfaction. But because of the fall this place was lost.
What was the reason for this loss? What was the cause? Did God cause it?
Did He make man like that? No! It was because of the Archangel. It was because the Archangel seduced human beings. When they were in the position to grow, to be perfect, Satan, the Archangel, raped the first human ancestors. The sad, distorted history of mankind started right there. So we must restore this.
What was the fall? It was mankind falling under Satan's control. Satan controlled mankind. Therefore, history unfolded while the descendants of Adam and Eve were locked within the realm of Satan's dominion.
The human environment, on the levels of the individual, family, clan, tribe, nation and world, has never been under God's dominion. Rather, it has have evolved under Satan's dominion. This was not God's original will. This was not the ideal human desire. Because this was not God's will or mankind's ideal, God and man together must take the historical responsibility of throwing off this fallen dominion.
To do this, God has been working with many nations behind the scenes, setting up various religions. So in the East there is Oriental religion, and in the West there is Western religion. God has been guiding them to the world level, toward one world religion. At the same time He has been guiding all ideologies toward one unified world ideology.
3) Human History is the Struggle Between Good and Evil
If there had been no fall, we surely would have had a Fatherland that God could like, love and be happy with. This earth would be our Fatherland, and it would be called the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Since this Fatherland would have been established centered on God and related with His love, God would dwell there, and His love would overflow there.
Therefore it would be impossible for human beings not to know God. By experiencing God's love, we would all know what love was. All people would be brothers and sisters in a single family. These kinds of people who lived as God's family in the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth would go to the Kingdom of Heaven in the spiritual world when they finished their physical lives on earth.
The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth should have been humankind's original homeland. But because of the fall our Fatherland, the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, was not realized. Therefore no one could go to the Kingdom of Heaven in the spiritual world after completing life on earth.
What was the result of the fall? The human mind and body were divided, husbands and wives were divided, parents and children were divided, so they all struggled against each other. Since this world, centered on man, fell under the dominion of Satan, human history has been interwoven with division and struggle. Unity with God would have enabled human beings to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but since they failed to unite with God, they were pulled away by Satan.
Fallen people are scattered all over the earth. People living in the frigid, temperate and tropical zones are divided into the white, yellow and black races. People, divided into five races, all pursue their own self-interests. This has brought about the history of struggle on all levels: between individuals, families, tribes and nations, and throughout the world.
Human history has developed slowly, through the process of struggle and war. Wars represent the struggle between good and evil. Satan controls the evil side while God controls the good side. Ever since the fall, history has been the history of war. Behind everything, God and Satan are at war. In these battles, not only God and Satan but also good and evil spirits in the spiritual world have been mobilized and involved.
Good spirits support the good side, bad spirits support the evil side.
Therefore the entire physical and spiritual worlds have been mobilized in the providence of God to reclaim fallen mankind.
Throughout human history Cain and Abel, or Satan's side and God's side, have been battling. In conclusion, human history has been woven by the struggle between good and evil.
When we look at the flow of history we can see the struggle between good history and evil history. If there had been no fall there would have been no struggle between good and evil. But because of the fall, this struggle came into existence.
Although originally goodness should have been the center of history, evil became the center. Although goodness should have come first, evil came first. Goodness should have had the upper hand, but evil took the upper hand. So we know that the origin of all historical struggle was the struggle to reverse all these improper positions.
So what shall we do now? Restoring our original position is our highest goal, and the greatest goal of God and His providence. In other words, we know that restoring the original state of the earth is the final task of both God and man.
The person who can accomplish this task will dominate history. This person must carry out the mission of a new age on the providential path, and turn history around to the right direction. This person will initiate the transformation of history from evil to good.
What will be the turning point? It will not be what you think it will. It will not be the turning point for an individual or the turning point of an age; it will not be the turning point for a regime in one nation.
It will be the turning point of God's providence, in which this whole world will be turned upside down in order to restore its original condition. Without going through this process the world cannot be made new. That's why we talk about a turning point.
4) History is the Struggle Between Hellenism and Hebraism
Ladies and gentlemen, history has been the struggle between Hellenism and Hebraism. Why did Hebraism appear in history? Why has it caused so much controversy? Among religions, God-centered theism has the longest history. Christianity, which inherited the longest religious tradition until the time of the Unification Church, reformed history and became the mainstream of history.
Then why is Hellenism controversial? Humanistic thought originated with Greek humanism. This is the oldest form of such thinking. History has been the struggle between humanistic ideology and theistic ideology.
What are the characteristics of Hebraism? It stresses tradition and the continuity of history. But while Hellenism changed according to the environment of the time, Judaism has maintained its traditions until the present time. When you see movies about early Catholics, you also hear the word tradition. What is tradition? It means continuity. Can Jesus-centered Christianity be changed? No, it cannot. We can tell that God has been with Christianity by the fact that it has had a major influence on mainstream history from ancient times, through medieval times, until the present. Therefore Christianity has become the world's dominant religion.
5. God's Providential History Of Salvation Through Religion
1) God's Providential History of Salvation through Religion
What is the will of God? It is to perfect Adam through the process of re-creation history. Upon the victorious foundation of perfected Adam, Eve could be perfected.. Upon the foundation of perfected Eve, the children and the family could be perfected. In order to set up a foundation for the children to be perfected, a substantial circle must be set up representing the clan and the nation. This is the essence of the providence for salvation. It is essential for the completion of the providence for salvation.
Since human history began, many saints and sages have come and gone. Their work, in a nutshell, was to establish and develop religions. In history, many religions have appeared, and some have continued until today. Religion has evolved through several stages: the religion of the servant, the religion of the adopted son, the religion of the son, and the religion of the parents.
Human culture has developed in four directions; east, south, north and west. Likewise, many religions have appeared in different regions, suited to their own environments, in the roles of the religion of the servant, the religion of the adopted son and the religion of the son. Of course, even the religion of the servant contains providential rituals and teachings about the son and the parents.
The path of these many religions is the path to complete God's ideal of creation. The religion of the servant established that path. The religion of the adopted son continued on the same path on the foundation of the religion of the servant. The position of the adopted son substituted for the position of the son, who experiences God's heart, God's environment and God's will. The adopted son receives the parents' inheritance if there is no son.
After the religion of the adopted son came the religion of the son. What happened when the religion of the son appeared? This religion teaches us clearly who our parents are. It not only tells us who our parents are, but also establishes one unified realm of heart.
In the age of the servant and the age of the adopted son, God could not establish the standard of heart of the son. But when the son finally appeared, he became the central object in relation to the Parent, the subject. It was a historical moment when God, the Parent, had His first son and was able to love him. In this moment, for the first time since the creation, God saw His cherished hope fulfilled.
This consummation of the providential history of restoration shows us that Christianity, which inherited Jewish tradition and went through the mainstream historical course, is the central religion of all religions.
In Christian history, the Old Testament age was the era of the servant. Entering the New Testament age, the era of the adopted son opened. To inherit the position of the son we need the ideology of the Messiah. The Messiah is the son who can receive God's love. That's why Jesus Christ is the only son of God. "Only son" means the only one before God. It means he is the first son centering on God's love. Centered on Christianity and its providential background, God was able to guide history to the present age and build up the democratic world which has dominated 20th century civilization.
Now human history has come to the end. Here, at the consummation of human history, we talk about the Last Days. What does this mean? After the completion of the Messianic son's mission, in order to connect with the Parents' mission, Jesus is in the position of the bridegroom and all human beings are in the position of the bride. Together the bridegroom and his bride bring in the religion of the Parents. Therefore the Last Days are the time when the children's era comes to an end and we move on to the parents' era.
What is the hope of children? It is to look upon the parents they have never seen, to find the parents who have been lost, to meet the parents they have never known. It is to receive love from their parents. The Last Days are not a time of fire and destruction as today's Christians believe. The Last Days are the time when the children's hope is fulfilled and the parents appear and, centered on God's love, build God's family, society, nation and world. The people will be educated by the parents and reunited with God's love, and the sovereignty of evil will be transformed into the sovereignty of good. This time of transformation is the Last Days. To carry out this role and mission a new religion has been born, raised up and gradually developed.
What is the Unification Church? The Unification Church speaks of True Parents and True Children. Many religions have appeared and disappeared. Their teachings are all one-sided. But the Unification Church proclaims the religion of the parents. That is the difference. Here the parents we speak of are not just the parents of others. Centering on God, they are the parents who stand in the position of ancestors by inheriting the fundamental parental tradition. They are not the parents of one generation in today's society. They are the parents who bring rebirth to sinful human beings, engraft them to themselves to give them the title of true children, and take care of them, until every human being has been saved. This is the position of the parents we speak of in the Unification Church.
Then, what will happen to the peripheral religions? They will not perish. When a seed sprouts, the first leaves fall as new ones appear. In the same way the early religions will pass away. The religion of the servant will disappear. The religion of the adopted son will disappear. The religion of the son will be connected with the religion of the parents, as its root, and a new unified religious world will come about.
2) The One Religion that God, Man and All Creation Hope For
Mankind has been endlessly struggling with evil forces. Throughout the course of history, people have incessantly sought to change the evil world into a good world centered on religious movements. Even though each nation has had its own unique language, culture, tradition and history, their religions have all pursued goodness and have sought to save this sinful world. The God of goodness developed the history of human cultures centered on religions which pursued goodness, and expanded them to the worldwide level.
In other words, God worked to transform this world into a world of goodness through the development of Christian culture in Europe, Muslim culture in the Middle East, Hindu culture in India, and the Far Eastern culture in Korea, China and Japan centered on Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.
If there were a God of goodness, what would He hope? He could not endlessly work His providence centered on so many religions. In other words, God wanted to reveal one religion on the world stage. Eventually He wanted to reveal one perfect religion which could represent His true Will and bring it about. That was God's hope.
This hope of God is also the hope of humankind. Since the beginning of history people have yearned for the original, normal relationship with God and have striven to realize it. Actually, this has been both the deepest desire and the greatest task of every age, which people have desperately pursued throughout their long history. Only the one unified religious culture which represents God's true Will can save all humankind from sin.
God wanted one religion and one religious culture which could fulfill the ideal of all human beings. Only this religion and culture could unify the whole world and restore the original father-son relationship between God and man. God longed for the birth of this culture, which all people had hoped for, and all religious people had yearned for. Not only God and man yearned for this one religious culture. All the physical, created world shared the same longing.
What kind of religion should this one religion be? Its teachings should be consistent with God's hope, humankind's hope and the hope of all creation. This religion must start from the true individual who is united with God, and who holds the true religious ideal. But God seeks not only one true individual. He seeks a unified world, through the one religion which is brought by a true individual.
From one true individual and true family, God wants to build a true nation and a true world.
God cannot save the world all at once, because it is a fallen world, under Satanic sovereignty. Therefore God started a movement to expand, slowly, the one true world, beginning with one person and expanding to the world level.
3) The Ultimate Purpose of the Providence for Salvation
In human history, before the world was invaded by Satan, the nation was invaded. Before the nation, the church. Before the tribe, the family, and before the family, the individual was invaded. So God had to work the providence centered on the individual first. God was not able until now to work His providence for salvation centered on the family. God's providence centered on Christianity was the providence centered on the individual, not on the family. So Christians stress individual salvation through faith in Christ. There is no salvation for the family, tribe, nation or world.
Then how can salvation come to the family, tribe, nation, world, and even the spiritual world? It is absolutely impossible for human beings to find this way through their own ability. It is possible only through the Lord of the Second Advent.
After the fall of man, for six thousand years God laid the foundation of the providence for salvation centered on the salvation of the individual.
That was because individual salvation had to precede the salvation of the family, tribe, nation and world.
The ultimate goal of the providence of salvation goes beyond the individual; it is to liberate and save the family, tribe, nation and world. Until this is done, God Himself cannot be liberated. When God's perfect goal of the providence for salvation is attained, in other words, when even hell and all the spiritual world are liberated, on that day God will declare the perfection of the ideal, proclaiming, "My will is done! Hallelujah! March forward into My world, under the dominion of My love."
In the providential history of God, He was not able to complete even the way of individual perfection. This was made clear in the promise that the Messiah would come again. The fact that Christians have maintained their faith until today, waiting for the second advent of the Messiah, testifies to this.
The history of Christianity is the history of preparing the foundation to receive the Lord of the Second Advent. By uniting many clans, tribes and nations under one Christian culture, God laid the foundation for the coming of the Messiah.
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