The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1956
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The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1956 |
1 After Jesus had finished instructing
his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in
the towns of Galilee. 2 When John, who was in prison, heard about the
deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples 3 to ask him, "Are
you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?" 4
Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and
see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news
is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble
on account of me." 7 As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus
began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out
into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what
did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who
wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces. 9 Then what did you go out
to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This
is the one about whom it is written: "'I will send my messenger
ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' 11 Truly I tell
you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater
than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now,
the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent
people have been raiding it. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law
prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is
the Elijah who was to come. 15 Whoever has ears, let them
hear.
Matthew 11:1-15
Father of love! Father, who has embraced insignificant us and shown concern for us in every way in the past week, please let us not live each day according to our own will. When we think about Your grace, which leads us away from speaking words according to our own inclinations, Father, we are truly grateful.
Today these young faces have come before the Father. We know that first, our minds and bodies must become sacrifices like the gold, frankincense, and myrrh that the three wise men offered. Please allow us first to offer our minds and bodies. Please lead us not be become abominations before the holy shrine. Beloved Father, this is our most sincere desire.
We know that the Father who has exerted Himself to gather these people has passed through a doleful course of 6,000 years. We understand that since each of us has been called upon first to come before humanity with a great mission, each of our actions and struggles must manifest joy on behalf of the whole faith of Heaven.
As we understand more about the good purpose for which we have been chosen, and as we think more about the fact that You have selected us, the unworthy ones, we cannot but become contrite about our lacks before You. We have set aside all of our own mentalities, concepts, and subjective opinions and lie prostrate before the Father. Father, please hold us tight.
The wave of death has surpassed time and is in motion. We know that the reason the Father laboriously sought us and granted us grace is not because we merit it. We also know that the sorrow of the Father will continue until the day that Christ returns to earth.
Father, please take charge of the whole. Please completely reign over our bodies and minds. Do not let this meeting be a gathering in which just human beings come together. Father of love, we pray from the depth of our hearts that You will inspire us to comfort the heart of the Father who is clinging onto the 6,000-year history. We pray that the holy Trinity will dominate our minds and bodies so that we can unite with the countless men and women of faith and, as one sacrifice, offer a full bow of joy.
Father, please have sympathy for these thirty million people. We know that You have toiled for a long course of history to love these people. We know that when You were selecting us to manifest the will, You went through a lot of trouble that no one knows about.
We know that there are children of Yours who, having built the altars and having cultivated a deep relationship with the Father, are making an appeal on behalf of the people. We offer our gratitude to them. Please let a new chapter of the dispensation open before them and please give rise to great impetus. Beloved Father, we pray from the bottom of our hearts that You will groom us as the revolutionaries who can single-handedly take on the responsibility toward Heaven on behalf of the Korean people.
We know that the grief and bitterness of the people have penetrated deeply into Heaven. We know that the resentment of humanity on earth has also soaked through Heaven. Since we know that Heaven is lamenting because there is no one who can become the sacrifice to supersede this sadness in Heaven, please mobilize the children who have gathered here to solicit the Father for the sake of eradicating the resentment rooted deeply in this earth and in this whole universe. Father, we earnestly hope that You will allow us to become the sons and daughters who can step forward to face Satan and fight on Your behalf.
Please allow our minds and bodies to move in harmony and join in union centering on the one will and to sing praise to the grace of the Father. Please allow this to be an hour when we offer our full bows of gratitude for the grace of liberation.
There are sons and daughters who are lifting high the beacon of new words and carrying on the fight in the countryside. Father, please be with them wherever they stay. There is nothing else that they can rely on except this earth. There is nothing that they can lean on but the grace bestowed by Heaven. Father, since they have entered the course of universal fate that will force them to fight with countless enemies in the face of their mockery, please prod them.
Father, we wish with utmost sincerity that today You will again bestow the same grace of Heaven to overflow the minds and bodies of those who have gathered here. There are also those children who stand in lonely places to pray with concern on behalf of the will. Please guard their souls.
We earnestly request that You will grant the grace that You have planned to command and permit. Please dwell in this place during this hour. I prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.
Father, You have lived through ages and centuries and have suffered to guide the dispensation until the last days. Please allow us, who wish the dispensational will of the Father to quickly be accomplished on earth, to take responsibility for those toils of the Father on earth.
Father, we pray from the heart that You will lead us to become the proud sons and daughters who can inherit the heavenly mission centering on the Father's shrine and fight with Satan on earth for Jesus. We have read with reverence the words that You have given us today. We know that although John the Baptist, who came with a historic mission, fulfilled his mission of testifying to Jesus, he could not fulfill his mission of attending Jesus according to Heaven's expectations.
Please let this congregation that has gathered before You, sons and daughters of Yours who lie prostrate, reflect on themselves in repentance. Allow them to cleanse themselves before the Father. Please lead them to stand before the multitudes and exert themselves to fulfill the mission of God in the end of the century on His behalf. Please let them be loyal subjects who are obedient toward the heavenly mission that Heaven is demanding in this era and to respond faithfully to Heaven's call.
The time for the dispensation is limited, yet humankind, ignorant of this fact, makes unlimited wishes. There are many pitiful people who do not understand that life and death are being decided in this moment today. Father, please let the children who have gathered here pay heed to the circumstances created by the testimony of John the Baptist.
Let us now open our hearts and build the internal altar of Heaven. Please raise us as the sons and daughters who can offer ourselves with no hesitation as the sacrifice triumphant over Satan. We understand that Heaven is looking for confident and intrepid soldiers and shuns those who kneel before the enemies in servility and cowardliness. Allow Your children who have gathered here to become the brave soldiers of Heaven who can even throw away their own lives for the sake of the will. We know that the time has come when these daring soldiers are needed.
Just as John the Baptist, who lived for heavenly principles, and his followers were engulfed in the fire of the internal heart of Heaven and confronted the whole corrupt Jewish faith to reveal a new truth, please manifest the light of compassion and love before these people through us. Please do not withdraw Your extended hands of the dispensation.
Father, please bless the countless altars that are being built for the sake of this people. Please let every place be full of sons and daughters who cling onto the established denomination and build a concealed altar to become a sacrifice that prevents corruption.
Father, You have selectively called upon these lonely ones from among many people. As we follow the path because we have no other choice but to do so, we realize on our own that it is indeed a difficult path. Father, we know that we have to pioneer the one path of conflict with the fighting spirit of a pioneer and march forward as a fighter for Heaven. Please embrace these young sons and daughters who have kneeled before Your holy presence.
Since the path they are taking is the path of the Father's will, guide them to brave the fields of thorns and the rugged mountains and the high and steep peaks. Even if their bodies are torn and wounds are inflicted on them, please embolden them to pioneer everything, centering only on the will. Let the grace of Your counsel be the only thing that blossoms in their hearts.
This is not the time that we need many words of truth. It is the time when we must move hearts to reach the emotion of Heaven. It is the time when our minds must be inspired to forge unity and harmony with the whole membership centering on the will of the Father. Father, I pray from the depth of my heart that these children of Yours who lie prostrate before You will prepare themselves inside and out to rise as the original human beings who can represent Your heart.
Father, please consider with compassion these pitiful ones who are following this lonely path. Please forgive all faults of the people, and forgive the fact that they have failed to fulfill the mission that You have entrusted in them. Please encourage the sons and daughters of the Father who, unlike others, have gathered here. Since You have placed them on the front line, please do not let them become exhausted in the fight.
Father! Please grant unchanging faith until they can fight for the will at the risk of their life and usher in that day of victory. Like a bomb thrown into the enemy camp, let these children secure the one immutable center. Disregarding the environment, let them move forward to explode before the enemies for the sake of the victory of the Father's will. Father, we pray with the most sincere heart.
We have come forth with the words of truth. Father, please be with us, and lead us to move centering on one heart. Please enable us to offer all that we have, purifying ourselves as we become concerned with the will of Heaven and reflect on the will of the Father. If humanistic elements, mentality, and concepts that the Father cannot forgive are controlling our lives, Father, please strike with Your might and bring on miraculous works with Your power of re-creation. Soliciting earnestly that this may be a joyful hour when we can frankly reveal ourselves before the Father and lie prostrate as humble sacrifices, we entrust everything to You. Please govern according to Your will. We offered these words in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The title of the sermon that I want to join with you in reflecting upon is "Those Who Will Possess the Kingdom of Heaven of Hope." I will speak on this topic.
When we look at God's ideal of creation, although God also hoped for the kingdom of Heaven in the invisible world, He created all things really hoping for the concrete kingdom of Heaven in the substantial world where He could dwell. You already understand this very clearly. In other words, He created the world of creation so that as He created the kingdom of Heaven in heaven and the kingdom of Heaven on earth centering on Adam and Eve, He could enjoy the glory of both the spiritual and substantial kingdoms of Heaven.
You also know very well that due to the mistakes of humankind, in other words, due to the fall, the kingdom of Heaven in heaven and the kingdom of Heaven on earth that God yearned for disappeared without a trace. He created the kingdom of Heaven in heaven and the kingdom of Heaven on earth not for Himself but for the sake of humankind.
The purpose of God's creating the universe was to create the two kingdoms of Heaven, so that with the building of the kingdom of Heaven on earth centering on Adam and Eve, human beings who lived in the earthly Heaven can enter the eternal world of the heavenly kingdom in heaven and live there. Nonetheless, with the fall of Adam and Eve, the spiritual kingdom of Heaven and the substantial kingdom of Heaven on earth disappeared out of sight. The world in heaven and the world on earth have become worlds of sorrow in which Satan can freely bring accusations to God.
After the fall, earth and heaven, has become the sphere of Satan's activities, covering all the way up to the feet of God's royal throne. Consequently, Satan has been accusing the human beings of the spiritual and the physical worlds. The men of faith today do not understand clearly that Satan has been in action with such great power. You must feel to the marrow of your bones that when the world of creation could not fulfill its original destiny of singing and rejoicing about the glorious ideals of God centering on Adam and Eve but was completely transferred over to Satan because of man's mistake, this caused great anguish in the Father.
God has been conducting the dispensation of restoration in which He has tried to forge a relationship with humans through the angels so that He can restore this earth, which was defiled. God has been carrying on the dispensation of restoration to relate again with humankind who stand in the position of having betrayed the sacred God because of the fall. Humankind has fallen so far as to be below all things. To seize back His reign over human beings whom Satan has controlled and accused, He has laid down the bridge and has carried on the work. This came to pass through the Old Testament and the New Testament and is being continued even today.
The Old Testament era was the time when God had to perform the works personally and associate with humans with His glory. Yet because that dispensation could not be completed, possessing sadness in His heart, He had to pioneer the path through which He can relate with humankind with the assistance of the angels. Such is the history of the dispensation of the Old Testament era.
In the Old Testament era, God conveyed His will through Noah and Abraham, who were chosen as the central figures in the position of a servant. Father chose the family of Abraham and the people of Israel to elevate humankind in this land of darkness to the position where He could associate with them. Through the Israelite people, humankind gradually pioneered the path through which they could approach God.
In this way, Heaven set the one standard by which He could work through the angels. Then, by setting the condition of having completed the will of God in respect to Adam and Eve, He has been exerting Himself for 4,000 years until the coming of Jesus to build the victorious foundation on which human beings can associate with Him directly. You have to understand this.
Jesus was the person chosen to raise humankind from the position of a servant to that in which the son can deal with them. The New Testament is the gospel given for the same purpose. Because of this, since the time of Jesus, humankind was in the position to relate with God through Jesus. Humankind should have received the love of God directly, yet they could not do so. Therefore, throughout the 6,000- year history until today, what we wished for was to receive the love of the son and then go further to receive the love of God.
By receiving the love of the son and realizing the ideals of creation, you are to become the substantial sons and daughters of God who can share both the joy and sorrow of God, who has been seeking to rejoice centering on love. This is not to be done just spiritually, but these bodies must also be able to receive the love of God directly. You must understand that such a mission fell on our shoulders because of the fall of man.
Jesus had to come to this earth and guide humankind to the position where they can receive the love of God. What is more, Jesus was to elevate them to the same position of a son as himself, both spiritually and physically, and receive the love of God. Jesus came to earth with this kind of mission, but because the people did not believe in him, he could not complete the mission of elevating humankind to the position where they can receive the love of God both spiritually and physically. He pioneered only until the point where God can call us sons and daughters spiritually.
Then what is the ultimate purpose of the dispensation of the restoration of God? It is establishing one standard by which the people who exist on earth as the substantial beings of both the spiritual and the physical can live while receiving the love of God. The one who has been at work to fulfill this purpose during the 2,000 years since Jesus is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been at work since the death of Jesus until now, but she is not to personally establish the dispensational foundation upon which the will of God's ideals of creation can be perfected. Rather, she plays the role of a bridge by means of which we can go before Heaven. You must understand this clearly.
Then what kind of people are the ones who can live the life-style of the kingdom of Heaven on earth? What kind of spirits are the ones who can live in the eternal spirit world, in the kingdom of Heaven in heaven? You must understand that the kingdom of Heaven on earth is the dwelling place only for the people who have become the victors of harmony centering on the ideals of love while they were receiving the love of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Father and living with the Father on earth. The eternal kingdom of Heaven in heaven is the place where only this kind of person can go.
When we examine the standard of God's creation, such a place is the kingdom of Heaven of hope. If we recognize this, then we who are alive today must reflect in which realm we desire the kingdom of Heaven of hope, which is the purpose of God's creation.
In Revelation 14:1 it is written, "... the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads." The Christians of today's world wish for the standard of heavenly grace represented as the bride and the bridegroom. They think that this is all there is to it. However, just as in the verse, "and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads," the problem is the name of the Father.
After you believe in the bridegroom Jesus and become qualified as the bride, you are not to remain only in the love of Jesus. Using that as a stepping stone, you are then to go one step further to receive directly the love of the Father, who could not love humankind personally for 6,000 years.
This is the whole purpose of the dispensation of God, and the purpose for which Jesus was sent and has been exerting himself for 2,000 years. Yet the men and women of faith today are ignorant of this fact.
When can we step beyond the position of bride and bridegroom and, as the triumphant and eternal substantial being, can create harmony on earth and in Heaven, the eternal kingdom of Heaven, centering on the love of the Father? You are to make a relationship with this kind of love. This is the purpose of Jesus Christ and the purpose for which God is conducting the dispensation. Until now, you have maintained your faith wishing for the love of the bride and the bridegroom. Now you must hold the hands of Jesus and go before the Father to say, "Father, please relate with us as the ones who have fulfilled the will of the 6,000 years that You wished for. Father! Please love us directly." You must understand that God's dispensation cannot end until He can find this kind of person not in the spirit world, but in this substantial world. Because Jesus came to this earth and set the standard to secure the right for the love of spiritual sons and daughters, as long as the people on earth build a relationship with Jesus Christ and inherit that right of love in one harmony, there is no room for the accusations of Satan, who has been using the sins of humankind on earth as conditions to make accusations from the spirit world.
Satan took away Adam and Eve, whom God had created. Since Satan took with him not only the spirit but both the spirit and body together, Heaven has raised us believers in the faith today to take back Adam and Eve in spirit and body, away from Satan, and then to open a new way for God to be able to love them personally. You must keep this in mind.
Jesus Christ came to this earth after setting up such a wonderful, cosmic creative center as a standard. Then where did Jesus Christ put the standard of the last fight? Since the believers of the faith following Jesus had received spiritual love only from God, Jesus put the standard as their being able to receive both loves, spiritual and physical. Since the hope is to receive both physical and spiritual love, Jesus, who dispensed spiritual salvation only, cannot enjoy complete glory in Heaven. Even in Heaven, he has to pray for humankind on earth.
Similarly, since the hope of Jesus Christ has not yet been realized on the earth, numerous spiritual beings in Paradise, along with the twelve apostles, are being mobilized with this hope as a standard, centering on Jesus. You must know this.
Today, the laborious accomplishments of the angels who were helpful in providential history have been left to us in the final days. Besides that, the laborious accomplishments of numerous disciples have been left to us. We today cannot but take the responsibility for all the accomplishments and conditions made because of their laborious work throughout history. We ought to be able to resolve the resentment of thousands upon thousands of saints, who labored and helped represent the will of God's providence of the past and that of Jesus, including all spiritual beings in the spiritual world.
We who are facing the final days must receive Jesus Christ's approval when we step forward as the representatives of the past history before God. We must also win the approval of the Holy Spirit. After you pass through the stage of approval by Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the triune God will decide whether you can move forward toward God. You must know that the history up to this stage is the providential dispensation of the New Testament.
What is the approval stage? We can say that it is like the engagement step before marriage. What is the determination stage? We can say that it is the qualifying stage for us to become the bride before the holy Blessing. Then what is the last remaining stage? It is the judgment stage. It is the stage when God has the day on which He can declare to humankind, "This is an existence who can receive God's love as an eternally unchanging, substantial being. This is my beloved, with whom I can share My joys and sorrows, and who I have wished and desired as the ideal of the creation." God promulgates this to all the created beings by personally holding up His hands. This is the so-called judgment stage.
Though God has been carrying out the dispensation for 6,000 years until now, He has not yet had the day that He can judge on a cosmic level. The thing that God hands down on this day, having set such a day as a standard, is God's judgment.
You have to pass this gate of judgment, and you must receive the blessing that God granted to Adam, giving him the authority to rule over all created beings. Then you have to step forward as worthy people of Heaven and declare individually, "Father, please love me. Please look at my accomplishments representing the historical condition. Since I understand about the will that Jesus aspired to accomplish and the will that the Holy Spirit and God desired to be accomplished, Father, please bless me." Such a character has to appear on the earth in the final days.
Only after God raises a person and judges the person to be worthy will all created beings also understand that they must serve us as God's true sons and daughters. Only after we make the relationship of true sons and daughters with God will Satan succumb.
To you who are facing such a moment in providential history, upon self-analysis, it is a question of what position you will be standing in. Firstly, you must be standing in a position to receive Jesus' approval, and then in a position where you can receive the approval of the Holy Spirit. If you reflect this against the providential history, the approval stage is the Old Testament Age, the decision stage is the New Testament Age, and the judgment stage is the age of the Second Coming.
Until today, history has been coming down vertically by passing through numerous different courses. However, now the time will come when history will start opening horizontally. We who are facing the dispensation of the judgment stage ahead, after having passed through the stages of approval and determination during the history of 6,000 years, must go forward passing through the history that has flown vertically and the end-of-the century horizontal history.
What does this mean? The history of God has been that of fighting against Satan. Although God has been fighting on against Satan so badly for 6,000 years, the fight has not been settled yet. Although numerous saints and sages came and labored, they could not fulfill the will on earth as God wished. You must welcome the moment when you can say that you have fulfilled the will of the numerous saints and sages who left without fulfilling on earth. Today in these last days, countless peculiar phenomena that you cannot comprehend will appear. There will appear a man saying, "I am Elijah." Such a time will come. There will also appear a man saying, "I am Elijah, I am Moses, I am Paul," or a man saying that he is Samuel. Why do phenomena such as these occur? It is because of the principle of restoration through indemnity. In other words, it is because we must restore fully through indemnity the will that those saints left behind.
Because they could not set up the victorious standard, despite their fight against Satan centering on God's providential will in the course of restoration through indemnity, their mission has been passed on down to posterity. Accordingly, there will appear the people who take charge of their mission. Without knowing the facts, they will say that they are such providential figures as Paul and Elijah.
What we in these final days must understand is that as a substantial being, having our spirit and the body united into one, we must solely take on and pass through the whole of the approval stage dispensation and the determination stage dispensation of the 6,000 years, and the judgment stage dispensation. Only when you can accomplish this can you escape from the condition of Satan's reproaches and sneers knotted into the course of history. Only then can you step forward before God.
Now, members of the congregation, believers of faith in the final days, must broaden their minds. Humankind on earth today must seek the ideal of the kingdom of Heaven, the infinite world of Heaven, created as our ideal. The will must not be sought through Jesus Christ in the spirit world, but through humankind on the earth. You must know this.
Jesus and the Holy Spirit reside in Paradise. Since they do not have physical bodies, they cannot fulfill the will of Heaven on the earth. Accordingly, God's sons and daughters with substantial bodies cannot but establish the eternal will of Heaven on earth. They must also escape from all the conditions of Satan's reproaches and sneers, which have been thrown at them throughout the course of history for 6,000 years.
While Abraham was making the three offerings: a heifer, a goat and a ram, and a dove and a pigeon, he cut all of them in two except the birds. Therefore, God could not receive the uncut ones. You should not repeat a similar mistake. You must pass through the gate of sanctification at the last. You must be able to sanctify your individual sins, in short, the sins that you have committed and the sins that you inherited, the sins of your lineage, and all the historical sins. You must step up and stand above them. Unless you do that, you cannot become the children who will fulfill the will of God and who will rule over all created beings.
You know very well about the history of restoration through indemnity. Today you are not existential beings existing for your own sake. Even though it is said that God deals with you individually and loves you, that love is not for the sake of yourself alone. It is a love God is granting for the achievement of the ancestors who labored during the providential restoration for 6,000 years. You must know this.
Today in the final days, upon receiving God's personal voice saying that He loves you, or upon receiving a command, if you take it as an act of God's love meant for your own sake, that would be a great mistake. You must know that it took 6,000 years for you to receive this. Therefore, the love is a historical one; it is in place because of the achievements in the history of 6,000 years. You ought to know this.
Therefore, that existence must resemble God's character and equip itself with the nature of love that can last throughout the course of the dispensation of the providential will. Based on this standard, God has been developing the providential history of struggle.
Jesus Christ came as the embodiment of love after the lapse of 4,000 years of providential, restorational history. He knew that God had set him up as a substantial being who could unite numerous religions and numerous tribes into one and fulfill his mission. Therefore, even when Jesus was preaching the gospel to the Jewish people, he was not spreading his own assertions. When Jesus preached the gospel, he did it as the substantial being representing numerous saints and sages who had labored for the past 4,000 years.
Jesus preached the gospel not as a mere act of the moment. He labored when preaching the gospel so that not only all the people at that time could receive God's love, but further, that the people of the eternal future could also receive God's love. Accordingly, now that humankind has been passing God's providential will down eternally, the whole that is being passed down was started by one person, Jesus Christ. You ought to know this.
Each movement of yours is one that represents heaven and earth. For you to become God's true son is the hope of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and the hope of thousands upon thousands of saints in Heaven. They have been wishing for true sons and daughters to emerge on earth and establish a standard of victory. Also, they have been wishing for God's true sons and daughters and true substantial beings to emerge who have established such a standard. By perceiving these facts, we must not think that any one of us is a trivial existence. From this standpoint, Jesus once said, "What good is it if you lose your life even after you've acquired the whole of earth?" You should know this.
Christians are said to lead a life of religious faith. You who are gathered here are said to have a religious faith! How much have you felt of the value in the cosmic view? I mean, how much have you realized that you yourselves are God's unchanging sons? Jesus exclaimed with confidence, "I am God's son," and this is a motto that today's Christians should model themselves after. Today, at the final moment of history, Jesus is seeking a person who can step up and say, I am God's unchanging son, in the presence of God, or in the presence of Satan, or in the presence of any person. Jesus demands such an existence.
During your religious life, you have tried to build a standard of life for several decades up to this point. However, God has been searching for a person who can take on the mission on the cosmic level and carry on the fight in the course of history, who can confidently say that he is God's son. God is wishing for sons and daughters to emerge who can confidently make a vow and step forward in a dignified manner in the presence of God. God has been seeking a person who won't be servile towards Satan's blatant reproaches and sneers and who can stop an angel in Heaven and not try to push him away when he comes and who can easily stop Jesus and the Holy Spirit and not push them away when they come.
Jesus Christ died upon the cross as a sacrifice for the history of 4,000 years. He had an unchanging heart with which he could say, '"I am God's son," until the moment of his death, his body torn and stained with his own blood. Even when God denied him at the time of his death, Jesus' heart did not change, for he knew so well the meaning of the 4,000-year history of restoration. There had not been a son or daughter of God, fully, among all of God's created beings until then.
What was that single standard Jesus had set, by which he could get up and move forward after he ran into grief and fell down again? It was his understanding that he was the son whom God could love. With this understanding, Jesus could overcome any difficulty and proudly win his battles. You also must know this.
What happened to Jesus Christ, who came to this earth with this hope and aspiration and had to fulfill them in the world of humankind? What was the meaning of this untimely crucifixion? No matter how much you bewail this, beating the ground and calling down curses, Jesus' sorrow will not be dissolved.
Throughout the long history of fallen humankind, because humankind has devastated God's heart and has forgotten God's will and has betrayed God, based on the principle of restoration through indemnity, Jesus was put in a situation where he was abandoned by God for humankind.
The reason that Jesus died on the cross saying, '"Oh, Father, why have You forsaken me?" was to indemnify the sin of humankind, who had betrayed and acted against God for 4,000 years from the time of our ancestors, Adam and Eve. Because humankind had abandoned God, based on the principle of indemnity, God had to abandon Jesus.
However, Jesus did not betray God. Even when thrown into Satan's world, God's son is still God's son. Even when going into hell, God's son is still God's son. Jesus Christ labored throughout his life of thirty years having such a center in his heart and then died.
Every one of us today who believes in this Jesus must lead a life of faith so as to become the bride before Jesus, the bridegroom. You should be able to stand as God's son in place of the 6,000-year history. You must know that Heaven is seeking a person who can reproach and sneer at Satan mercilessly before God.
The many saints who lived in the course of history until now are wondering why Jesus or even the Holy Spirit have to be subjected to Satan's accusations. That is because the mission that was to be completed by a person with a perfected body and soul has not been completed yet.
Then when will this war that Jesus and the Holy Spirit have carried on for 2,000 years end? When will Satan's reproaches and sneers against God end? In order for this to end, there has to emerge a person who has the same center in his heart as Jesus, who declared confidently that he was God's son and successfully won over sin and Satan with a substantiated body for the 4,000-year history on earth. Only then can he repulse the Satan who has reproached and sneered at God for 6,000 years. Then the fight Jesus and the Holy Spirit and Satan have engaged in will be concluded. Christians ought to know this. This is the truth.
Jesus Christ in Paradise today still has the fate to save sinful humankind. Even while you take a break between prayers, Jesus has to pray on. The Holy Spirit, too, cannot take a break. God cannot take a rest. Similarly, they have marched on in the course of history without any break at all.
Now with a sense that we are God's sons, we must become offerings who can pray, "The face of God, the face of Jesus, and the face of the Holy Spirit will be saved by me." You have to save God's face. You have to save Jesus' face. You have to save the face of the Holy Spirit.
God, who is in a sorrowful position where He cannot love humankind although destined by heavenly law to love them, was internally tied up by a condition like this. Only if there emerges such an existence of whom God can declare willingly, "He is my son, who is qualified for Me to be proud of in front of heaven and earth," then Satan will not be able to reproach and sneer at Him.
As Jesus had the sense that made him say," I am God's son," there must emerge saints who will take over the laborious work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in these final days of the 6,000 year history and who can say, even upon facing the whole universe, "The will that God and Jesus Christ wish to be fulfilled is this: I am God's son taking responsibility for history." If the number of the saints who are trying to achieve this are many and if there are more saints like these in Korea than in any other country in the world, then Korea will become the central nation of the world.
Now we must know that God is seeking an existence who will take over the mission of God's son and daughter and establish a day of victory before God and boast about it before Satan. God is seeking one like this.
Though 6,000 years have passed in history, God has not been able to establish an existence whose body and spirit are united into one and declare before Satan, '"Since I am establishing My true son whom you cannot oppose, My true daughter whom you cannot oppose, you must submit." Heaven is seeking such a person. To accomplish this, the Lord of the Second Advent is coming. People say that I am crazy because I speak like this. Yet I am the righteous one. They are not thinking what they should be thinking. This is the truth. You must know this. Today, after 6,000 years of history, we must become the person who will receive the authority from God to fulfill the 6,000-year historical mission and with that authority, help the Lord when he casts judgments.
Jesus knew himself that he was God's son. Then what did he do? He fought for the sake of God's will. "I am God's son." Jesus had the sense that he was God's son that nobody knew about, that nobody declared. He could step forward confidently with the sense that he was God's son and that he had taken over God's work. There were many saints and sages in the course of history until today. However, there was no one who could say, '"I will take over all of God's work," except one. Only Jesus. That is why Jesus became the savior.
We of these final days must be able to step forward before God, who has been carrying on the dispensation of the 6,000-year history, saying, '"Since I am Father's son, Father's daughter, please let me take over the Father's work for the Father." Look at Jesus. He did not care whether he would fail or die when he was carrying on the Father's work. You must not worry whether you fail or die. There is no condition. No condition! Look at Jesus. To subjugate Satan, he moved on, not caring about what happened to his body. This is the spirit of loyalty one should have as God's son, and as a loyal subject who can take over God's work. In that spirit, he sacrificed his life without hesitation to subjugate Satan.
In these final days, since we have inherited the work left by Jesus Christ who had God's work in his charge, to subjugate Satan, we must be able to not be concerned whether we live or die. If a crowd of sanctified people emerges who know how to subjugate Satan and are willing to practice it, the world can be God's world.
Only after you inherit God's work as God's son and successfully carry it out can you receive God's love. You cannot win God's love by fighting. You ought to know this.
God created all things to build a garden of peace and love. God created humankind to have a relationship amid joy. God did not create all things wishing that heaven and earth would become the battle ground where humankind and Satan fight. It deviates from the principle of heavenly law. Therefore, to raise humankind through loving, God lets the Holy Spirit carry it out in practice for God. Similarly, humankind can come closer to God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
If you only climb up towards Heaven praying, '"Oh, Holy Spirit! Oh, Jesus! Oh, God!" then you will not be granted grace. As the final days come near, since it is the time of God's grace descending, Jesus will make his Second Coming.
Today the truth-seeking world is clearing the straight upward path. However, you must not expect only to climb up. You must be able to pass over the climbing stage depending on time and place, and come down again seeking grace and become persons who can fulfill the will of God.
Now, since we seek the grace of Heaven and try to take over God's work and be in the place of God centering on Jesus, God's son, we must know why Satan has been fighting on against Jesus and the Holy Spirit. You have to know the ways to subjugate Satan.
Do you know what is the hill that we must climb over now? It is to subjugate Satan, who has been fighting on against God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. To do that, you have to know what the shield was that Satan used in the fight and what condition Satan set up to infiltrate. If we know about these, we can subjugate Satan naturally. Only after that can God say to you, '"My eternal son."
Then what kind of existence is Satan? How does he look? I think there are many people who resemble Satan.
Before us there is the cosmic, fateful course that we must go through even after our death, if we do not succeed while living. Even if it takes hundreds of thousands of millions of years, since my spirit does not die, there is a course that the spirit must go through for me. If we do not pass forward through this course alive in the eternal course of life, we must do it even after death. Even the past saints and sages went through this course for the sake of eternal life without being concerned about their personal problems.
When Jesus stood in the wilderness to fight against Satan, since one day's fasting did not carry far enough, he had to fast for two days, for ten days, for twenty days, and for forty days. Your fate is like a fired bullet, like a fired bomb, a fate of no return. Jesus knew about this when he stood out; he could not return even if he wanted to. Everyone who joined the Unification Church, too, has stepped onto the course of no return. You have to keep this in mind.
Jesus was miserable when the wall of death stood before him. When the whole nation turned against him, when all of the people turned against him, when the disciples who were following him turned against him, he could not be miserable anymore. You must know that while others could turn around from being on the course of death, Jesus was in a situation where he could not turn around.
Today you are leading a life believing in Jesus and honoring the will of Heaven. If you lead the church, the nation, with such determination as this and plead for the sake of the world, you cannot but become God's son or daughter. You must represent the will of God and carry on God's work.
Though Jesus has gone to the spirit world, he is not resting. Even in the spirit world, when faced with suffering on the cross and with even more serious difficulties, he is fighting against Satan to save us and to save this earth. At this time, when such heavenly trials and fights are being carried on, you should have the spirit of saying, "You, Satan! If you want to come, come; if not, don't. I will move on unchanged," and not be afraid of the trials. Those kinds of people are God's people, God's sons and daughters.
Now we have to establish a family, centering on Father, as God's sons and daughters, and establish a people, a nation and a world that Father can love. Further, we must establish Heaven on earth that is acceptable before God. This is God's eternal will. By knowing all these historical facts, you can strengthen the defenses against Satan's reproaches and sneering and, further, can subjugate Satan.
From the viewpoint of the ideology of creation, where is the person who has finally become a substantial being of mind and body, God's loving son or daughter who can proudly govern the existence that was to be governed by humankind! Before we become like this, no one can go to Heaven. That is why no one has gone to Heaven until now. Paradise is a midway station in the spirit world.
To plow our way through this cosmic wall of fate, we should be able to beat off completely the attacks of Satan. Unless we become one like this, God's toils will not be appreciated. Therefore, God has been searching until today for someone who can defeat Satan completely, and for a son and daughter who can understand the laborious efforts and the heart of God. If humankind continues being ignorant of God's labor forever, Heaven on earth will not be established. Even in the spirit world, Heaven will not be established.
Therefore, now you must step forward, holding up the flag in front as a pioneer who is clearing up the straight course of victory against Satan in the battle ground on earth. You need such resolution and determination as this. If you have wished to go forward in the presence of God, you can say, '"Hundreds of thousands of Satans! Come to me. Even if the 2.4 billion people go against my way, even if heaven and earth go against me, I will still go." With resolution like this, you should make a vow and step forward before God.
Even if persecution comes from my family, from the nation, from all of humankind, even if the 2.4 billion people start kicking and struggling to get rid of the Unification Church, you have to move on with a determination that you cannot be destroyed. You should not hesitate whether to step forward or not. You must keep in mind that we are in a situation where we cannot but move because the stepping out action has already started.
Now, everyone who stepped forward to fight against Satan! You have to model yourself after Jesus Christ, who could be raised as the second Adam of victory in substitution for the 4,000-year history after winning against Satan. He kept his vow and resolution in his heart and had the sense of responsibility that he would take on God's work and fight on. Because Jesus fought with such a resolution and vow and with such a sense of responsibility, he could subjugate Satan.
Now we who are equipped with bodies and spirits, who are substantial beings, must subjugate Satan. Only when such living existences as these emerge on earth can the heart of God, who has worked laboriously for 6,000 years, and the heart of Jesus who has also labored, be comforted.
The Heaven that God can govern will become ours and the earth that God can govern will be ours. This is God's purpose of creation. You have to know that only such persons as these who, in order to accomplish God's purpose of creation, take the responsibility and fight and win can own the Kingdom of Heaven.