Sun Myung Moon's Words From 1959
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Sun Myung Moon's Words From 1959 |
18 When Jesus saw the crowd around
him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a
teacher of the law came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow
you wherever you go." 20 Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens
and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his
head." 21 Another disciple said to him, "Lord, first let me
go and bury my father." 22 But Jesus told him, "Follow me,
and let the dead bury their own dead."
Matthew 8:18-22
Father, although we are unfaithful, since we have come seeking You, please look down upon us with compassion. We have come forward after hearing the Father's call. Please allow our minds and bodies to be the possessions of the Father.
Please allow us to become eternally connected to You in this place. Please allow our hearts to be in resonance with Your heart. Allow our bodies to be in touch with Your sacred form. On that foundation, please allow us to build an eternal relationship and connection with You, so that we move when You move, acting in accordance with Your Will.
We know that it is not a coincidence that You have gathered us here today. You have gathered us to sever our ties with the powers of death and raise us as the offerings who have triumphed over Satan. Thus, we fervently desire for You to take charge of us as You desire. Allow us to stand as the sacrifices who can bring joy to You.
Now, please lead us not to set any self-centered condition. Guide our bodies not to possess any element that can bring harm to You. Please let us restore our original selves, the minds and hearts of which are connected only to You, whom You can govern as You Will.
Father, we know that we must become unified in harmony through Your inseparable heart of love. Please make our bodies into the temples where You personally can dwell and make our minds into the holy of holies where You can personally live. Father, we earnestly wish that You mold our minds and bodies into the foundation upon which You can personally dwell and rest in peace.
Please allow us to open the doors to our hearts now. Please remove all sinful elements. Please eliminate all elements that are not appropriate to the Will of the Father. By doing so, please allow us to become people over whom only You can rule. Allow us to become Your beings of life.
Although there may have been many faults in our lives during the past week, since we have prostrated ourselves before the Father's knees, please govern us. Please love us once again, even amid the ordeals of re-creation. Father of love, we sincerely wish that even just for this hour You will let us become sons and daughters who can be embraced inside Your bosom as burnt offerings.
This is a sacred day. Please bless all people. Bless the thirty million people and the countless religious groups. Please directly unveil the Father's hands of grace upon the many sons and daughters who yearn and long for Your heart and Your heavenly Will. Father, we sincerely desire to feel the worldwide providence that the Father is working through our minds and bodies.
Please grant the same grace upon the lonely members who are scattered all across the countryside, who are praying for the Will of the Father with deep concern. Please personally protect them. It is my fervent request that You will guide them to remain until the end, even amid tribulation and persecution. Please govern us from the beginning to the end. We pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The Father has guided us to this place, we who have been wandering without knowing our path. We prostrate ourselves before the holy presence of the Father with wounded minds and hearts.
Although we have not prepared anything to give You, please lead us and grant us Your compassionate grace. Father of love, please hold our fatigued hands and embrace our bodies, which have no place on which to lean. My Father, we ardently wish that You let this be an hour when You give us the love of the eternal world and instruct us in the name of the Father of hope for which we have yearned.
We want to face the Father with sincere and honest hearts, yet we feel so distant from You. However, in this place there are many who have pledged that they will abandon everything they have for Your sake and offer everything to You. Father, please appear before them and command them. Please let this be a moment when You personally advise us and allow us to forge a relationship of love with You.
The path we are now taking is for the Father's sake. Our very life is for the Father's sake. Everything that belongs to us is only for the sake of the Father's Will. Please personally take charge of our bodies and govern us. Please embrace us personally. By doing so, may Your will to connect with human beings be manifested through the actions of the Father's love. May the original self that You seek be molded during this hour. Father, this is our sincere wish.
We have not embarked upon this path because of our desire; rather, we have come forward because of the heavenly Will that impels us. We know Your hardships and bloody course, and we have been struggling to bring that Will to pass. Please consider our minds and bodies with compassion.
We have come seeking for the lighthouse of life that You have established. We have come yearning for the one self of which we can be proud in the presence of the Father. Father, please command us. Please allow us the grace of glory and reveal the hands of re-creation.
Please remove everything within us that is not acceptable in the presence of You. Allow only the Father's works of goodness to appear. Please let this hour be a time when the Father can personally manage the situation and when we can bow before the Father with joyful minds and bodies.
In our hearts we yearn for the new garden and long for the ideal of the new nation. Yet there are many enemies blocking this path.
Our situation forces us to fight every day. Father, please be with us. Please magnify Your stimulating power and impact during each of these hours. Father, we earnestly pray that only our sincere hearts, which yearn for the love of Heaven can operate in our daily lives and affect our environment.
Father, please look down upon this nation and people with compassion. They do not know where to go. What these people want is the altar of hope and the garden of freedom. However, no one understands the ideal world for which You have given permission or the works of Heaven. Please awaken them. We know that our responsibility toward them is great, so please allow those of us who have prostrated ourselves in the presence of the Father in this moment to complete our responsibility toward this nation.
Please allow this to be a moment when we can come to the realization that we bear the responsibility to save the humanity of this earth, who are suffering under the powers of darkness. Please allow us to renew these people with the Father's new words of truth. Please let this be the hour when we can love the humanity of this earth.
Father, please look down upon the lonely members in the countryside with compassion. They have been sent out as shepherds. As they appeal to You in this hour, please embrace them with the same grace and protect them so that they will not fall down on the battleground that stands before us. Please do not let them become stragglers.
Although we are unfaithful, we have cleansed ourselves and have come before the holy altar of the Father. Please eliminate all elements that are not acceptable to You. Please remove all self-centered doctrines, mentalities and concepts that we assert. Please let this be an hour when only You influence us and govern us.
We have entrusted everything to You. Please govern us as You Will. We pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.
Father! When we reflect, deep in our hearts, once again that the providential Will was not known, we come to the realization that although 6,000 years have passed since the fall of our ancestors, humanity has failed to fathom the heart of the Father. Moreover, we have already learned that the situation of the Father is difficult and pitiful, and that the Father's Will remains before the earth, humanity and heaven today.
We reflect upon whether we have the integrity of children who can say, "Father, I am here. Please let me comfort You." We reflect upon whether we are worthy of praise in the presence of the Father. We are forced to admit that we are far from achieving that.
When Jesus, who came as the embodiment of hope, representing the heart of the Father, comes to the earth again, those who are searching for the heart of Heaven will have to connect to his heart. We also understand that the situation of the chosen Israelites, who sense the situation of Heaven and are searching, must become united with the situation of Jesus. The Israelites should have understood that the hope of the Father who sent Jesus was for the sake of all people. Because they did not recognize Jesus, the embodiment of hope, this sorrow has been prolonged all the way to us. We sympathize with this historical sorrow.
What would we want to shout out to the Father? What would we want to seek from the Father? What would we want to obtain? Please allow us to possess the same heart as Jesus, who acted on behalf of the heart of the Father, the heart our ancestors could not attain. We understand that we have to possess the situation and hope of Jesus to obtain the same heart as the Father in the last days. We have the responsibility to pay back all the historical debts accrued toward You until now. We have joined our minds and bodies now and have prostrated ourselves before Your holy presence. Yet what qualifications do we have to call You "Father"? How can we accompany You in Your trials? What hope have we to represent the Father's hope of the 6,000 years? We are Your unworthy children, who have nothing to offer.
We understand that the Father looks down on people in such a state with sympathy. We understand that the Father's heart of compassion is great. We know that the Father, who persevered through the course of the cross, has called upon us to come. Therefore, although we are unworthy and inadequate, we have joined our two hands and have prostrated ourselves in the presence of the Father. Please have compassion upon these miserable people who have knelt before You. We wish You to awaken us with Your words, that You instruct us to become one with Your situation.
Father, if You have ever felt indignation toward us and had to hold the feeling back, please let this be the moment when Your heart is relieved. Even if You feel indignant and grievous, Father, we earnestly wish that You can resolve all those feelings through us.
Father, Jesus who came 2,000 years ago was a truly miserable person. There was no one who grasped his heart, even up to his final moment. There was no one who knew his situation and desires. Please allow us to fathom the situation of Jesus, who led a mournful and tragic life for some thirty odd years because he could not find a land or a people with a foundation to realize Your Will. Please allow us to inherit the heart of Jesus. Father, we ardently hope that You allow us to become the sons and daughters who can cherish the hope and follow in the footsteps Jesus left behind.
Where is the Jewish religion that You raised through 4,000 years? Where are the Israelite people? The Jerusalem temple You built was to pave the way for Jesus, yet it had no relationship to Jesus. The prepared Jewish sects could not connect with Jesus. The prepared people did not have any relationship with Jesus and hounded him instead. During this hour, please let many people come to understand the situation of Jesus, who found himself in such a lonely position and who felt compelled to pray for those who persecuted him.
Father, the reason we have gathered here is that we have received the commands of the Father calling us to come. Now we understand that our footsteps lead to the path of the cross. You have called us because the time has come when we must fight the sinful world with tearful gazes and connect with the heart of the Father. Father of love, allow us to feel the heart of the Father as our heart, the situation of the Father as our situation, the hope of the Father as our hope. Let the enemies of the Father be our enemies and the fight of the Father be our fight. Thus, Father, we earnestly wish that You allow us to become Your children, the ones who accomplish the hope of the Father and are offered as victorious sacrifices.
Father, please allow us to concretely experience the bitter situation of the Jesus who said, "Foxes have their holes, birds have their nests, yet the son of man does not even have a place to rest his head." This was a grievous situation that cannot be alleviated through our tears or through our death. Please allow us to go before the Father and Jesus and be embraced in the bosom of the Holy Trinity during this hour. Please let our gathering be a place where You can rest Your head and dwell.
I am now trying to convey words of truth. Please allow me to convey the Father's heart and situation, not simply give many words.
Please allow us to move silently and become united with the situation of the Father. Allow us to experience the heart of the Father as we behold His glory. Please allow us become living temples, who move in harmony with the Father.
My Father, it is our earnest desire that You build a purified altar during this hour and that You protect us so that Satan cannot infiltrate. We pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The title of the sermon I would like to share with you is "The Incarnation of Jesus, A Pioneer." I will speak upon this topic.
God exerted Himself to the utmost for the sake of saving fallen humanity. If someone sought us while we were yet sinners, someone toiled to introduce the land of blessing to us, it was not our beloved parents, children or spouse who related to us with such love. It was not a nation nor was it some saint or sage. It was none other than God Himself.
To pave the way for our hope, God has been exerting Himself until today. To alleviate our hearts and situations, to resolve everything in us that has been put out of order, He has labored and fought without rest. You must remember that God has been taking the responsibility of a pioneer throughout history.
During the 4,000 years from the fall of Adam to the coming of Jesus, God steadfastly carried on His providence, even though human beings, who should have inherited the toilsome work of pioneering, were ignorant. The garden of joy has been the goal of the providence of God, who has placed His hope in us. We have been moving toward that world through every step we have taken in history.
During the 4,000 years since the human fall, God worked through individuals and people to establish the nation of Israel. To accomplish His Will, on the foundation of the 4,000 years of His work, He sent Jesus as the hero who could inherit the entire mission of Heaven, as well as Heaven's heart and desire.
However, the faithful believers of Judaism and the Israelites, who were proud of being the chosen people, did not know Jesus. The Israelites, whom God chose on the foundation of His effort, did not receive Jesus, who came to fulfill the purpose of God's arduous works. No one received him: neither the religious sects, the society nor his family.
As a result, God's Will to pioneer experienced a setback. The Israelite people, who should have walked the path of fulfillment with Jesus, actually headed down the path of failure and death.
God labored strenuously while walking the pioneering course. Jesus came with the glorious mission to bring this Will to pass and recompense for the work God had done. However, because the chosen people did not recognize Jesus but hounded him out, he was forced to stand in the position of a pioneer, in place of the prepared Israelites.
Jesus came with the mission to attend Heaven and build the ideal world for which the chosen people hoped. However, the Israelites, who were waiting for the Messiah, did not know that Jesus was their Messiah. This is where the grief and tragedy of Heaven expanded in a new direction. We must possess the heart to mourn over this development for God and grieve on behalf of Jesus. If we do not have this heart, then we cannot fathom the heart of God who has played the role of a pioneer toward humanity nor can we understand the heart of Jesus, who appeared before the chosen people with the hope of a pioneer.
To build the foundation of joy and the garden of hope, those religious groups and people should have followed Jesus even if he spearheaded a march toward the valley of death. They should have followed him if he went to the valley of joy and happiness. Heaven made an inseparable heavenly bond with us during the 4,000 years of His effort, yet our ancestors betrayed this bond and turned their backs on Heaven's pioneering accomplishments. We must feel great indignation over this.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus looked upon the Israelite people, who had the potential to betray him, with great anxiety. He also saw that Judaism, which should have been built on the foundation of the heavenly heart, had become enslaved to the formalities of the Mosaic Law. As Jesus watched the Israelites, who did not know where their home was or in what direction they must head, he understood that God had raised him through a 4,000-year course of pioneering and had sent him with the purpose of bringing them together to pave the way for the new world. You must understand that, at that moment, Jesus could not help feeling tragic.
After he was born in a stable, Jesus led a lonely life and helped his father, Joseph, who was a carpenter. Although he lived in a limited environment, his ideas transcended the Israelites and the world to connect with the whole cosmos. This is how Jesus lived.
Joseph ordered him around, and his younger brothers and sisters, who tagged after him, did not know this. Therefore, Jesus felt unspeakably sad. Jesus came to understand the state of affairs in the world, God's inner heart found deep inside the providence, and the situation of the earth and his contemporary world. He longed for all of these situations and states of affairs to unite and move in the direction God desired. However, the heart of God, the situation of Jesus, and the state of affairs in the world went their separate ways and the result was utter confusion.
Looking over the situation, what determination must Jesus have made? After passing through thirty years of preparation, he made the determination to complete the Will of God through a life of practice. The more Jesus felt sadness in his heart, the more he called out to God; the more he felt hopeless toward the earth, the more he tried to find a solution to the situation through people.
The closer the heart of Heaven drew toward Jesus, the closer the world should have approached him, and the closer the chosen people and the religious groups should have come to him. Yet, on the contrary, though he was growing closer to God, the people were moving farther away from him. This made Jesus serious beyond our imagination.
Jesus realized that he should not hold grudges against these people, who were ignorant of the serious situation of Heaven. He thought of the path before him: overcoming their lives and opening the doors to their hearts, eventually embracing them. This is what Jesus was like. You must reflect once more upon the sad situation of Jesus, who could not assert, "I am the lord of your hope, the one for whom you have longed."
Jesus had to stand amid these tribulations and make a new determination. Jesus knew that the foundation which God had established through His pioneering work of 4,000 years was destroyed. Therefore, he knew he could not establish the ideology of Heaven on those grounds. He had to make a bold new determination amid such tragedy to confront the Israelites again. We do not realize this. Under such circumstances, Jesus prayed to Heaven, "God, please give me strength. God, please allow me to set out in a new direction. God, please let me make a bold determination both internally and externally." We must reflect upon how Jesus persevered through the thirty long years of his life, speaking silently with Heaven and having a conversation with himself in his heart.
What sense of mission did Jesus have in such a position, carrying on the mission of a pioneer for the invisible God? About God, he felt a sense of mission to pioneer and build the Kingdom of Heaven by opening the closed door to heaven. In relationship to earth, He felt the mission to pioneer the world of the people's confused and isolated minds. Furthermore, Jesus felt the mission to pioneer this sinful world of humanity again.
Jesus would not allow the history of the providence of restoration that God had spent 4,000 years guiding to fall apart. Even if the Israelites were to betray God, Jesus was determined to remain unchanging and accomplish the one purpose. When Jesus thought about the internal, heavenly connection that God had made, he could not help making this kind of bold determination. It was an important issue to Jesus to manage such a mission in the living environment of the time. When he could become such a pioneer, he could represent the chosen people and history in sight of God, and he could manifest his determination as someone in whom God could believe and of whom God could be proud.
What then did Jesus do to cope with this mission? He passed through a preparation period. Jesus tried to connect the hearts of humanity to the heart of God, and tried to accomplish the ideology that could move the universe, Heaven and people. Jesus was determined to go forward in the shoes of a pioneer, causing unity between heaven and earth, humankind and the earth, the earth and God, and God and humankind. We have to understand that it took exceptional courage on Jesus' part to make this resolution, in spite of the tragic situation with which he was faced. God raised Jesus for the sake of the chosen nation of Israel and for the sake of all the things of creation found on the earth. Hence, even if the earth was to betray him, he could not abandon his mission because the people were still there. Even if the people were to betray him, he could not abandon his mission because Heaven was still there.
During this preparation period, when Jesus' mind was filled with these kinds of thoughts and feelings, he must have made hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of pledges in his heart. During his course of moving toward this ideology, he reflected on the history of the chosen people, the Israelites, who had represented Heaven during the 4,000- year course. When he realized they could not stand on the side of Heaven, Jesus predicted that there would be innumerable difficult persecutions waiting for him in his path. He then made a new determination.
Even today, God fervently seeks and struggles to find the people of this miserable world. Jesus felt the responsibility to bring resolution to the alienation between people and Heaven. When he saw that the Israelites were not heading in the direction God had set for them, he felt infinitely sad. He knew that God sadly looked down upon this earthly world, which had not become the foundation of goodness upon which Jesus could come. Rather, it was a place upon which Satan had trampled. Yet God had exerted Himself for 4,000 years. The more Jesus thought about this, the more he was overwhelmed by grief.
Every time Jesus was overcome with such sorrow, he felt a surge of determination: "I will fight on the side of Heaven, for the sake of Heaven, humanity and this earth. No matter what kind of difficulties or persecution come my way, I will prevail over them." The resolution that Jesus made during his thirty-year preparation period was to carry out a successful battle in the future through a life of practice. He was determined that even if he was to become a sacrifice due to the ostracism of the Israelites, he would do this and that kind of path and establish such and such kinds of methods. He had many such ideas about which no one else could even think. He planned how, if they were to believe in him, he would take such and such measures; if they were not to believe in him, then he would do this and that. While no one else was concerned about Heaven, Jesus was deep in prayer. During the thirty years that he spent in the family of Joseph, he could not express joy when his brothers and sisters were joyful. When his relatives and the church were delighted, he was unable to feel delight.
There is a huge gap between the direction Heaven desires and the direction people take in their minds. Observing this, Jesus felt that it was his task to bridge the gap. The greater the gap, the greater his determination became.
Although Jesus had many things to say, he had to remain silent. You have to understand the sorrow that Jesus experienced during the thirty years of his preparation period. Even though he desperately wanted to witness to the truth by going from one place to another in Israel, he had to help with his family affairs.
What determination did Jesus make as a pioneer during the thirty-year preparation period? He determined, "I will even go toward the path of death, the road of persecution. I will go on even if I am to be destroyed." Jesus made the determination of a lifetime, that he would gain control over his living environment during his preparation period, eradicate any self-centered philosophy, resolve all relationships on the level of the people, and rectify the rituals in Judaism that placed too heavy an emphasis on the Old Testament and its laws.
For Jesus, who had to pioneer the Kingdom of Heaven and the hearts of all humanity, there was no day when his heart did not visit the realm of God's ideals at least several times. You have to understand that Jesus was this kind of person.
Although the people on the earth did not recognize the internal grief of Jesus during the thirty-year preparation period, God was on his side. When Jesus was shaving wood with a plane or was cutting a piece of wood with an ax, he wanted to experience the heart and situation of God and build the Kingdom of Heaven God desired. Even when he was taking a break after a meal, this desire of his heart did not fade away. You have to understand that there was not a moment when he did not have these thoughts.
Moreover, Jesus felt deep down in his flesh and bones that even if the 4,000-year history was to be abandoned, this value could not be abandoned. Even if the chosen Israelites were to be abandoned, such value could not be abandoned. Even if the chosen religion was to be abandoned, this value could not be abandoned. He felt that he could abandon everything he had, including his parents and relatives, but he could not abandon this value. You have to understand that his life was an unending continuation of bravery amid tragedy. In his life, he made preparations by cultivating a heart of perfect heavenly love, and he looked forward to the day of hope.
You should picture Jesus and his heart as he was making preparations for that one day, that one time. Even if the clothes that he wore were poor and the expressions on his face pitiful, his gaze was unmatched by any conqueror or pioneer of the earth.
His gaze could connect with the heart of God and see through the universe. Accordingly, as he looked at the world with this heart and perspective, he could not help feeling miserable and tortured. He could not avoid sorrow.
Considering this, we can infer how, the more intensely Jesus clung to God, who had toiled throughout history, the more he was concerned that the Israelites and his disciples might fall faithless. Jesus spent the thirty-year preparation period reticently, with this mind-set.
No matter how intensely his heart burned on the side of God, it was never for his own sake. No matter how preoccupied he became with the wishes of Heaven, no matter how seriously he looked at the world, we have to understand that it had nothing to do with the fulfillment of his own personal desires.
His gaze was for the sake of the Israelites, his heart was for the sake of the Israelites and the entire world. This is why Jesus shed endless tears. Jesus re-determined to face the path of death countless times during this preparation period. When he heard the rumor that someone was about to pass away, he felt that it was he himself. If there was someone who was unjustly persecuted or wronged, he felt that it was he who was undergoing the privations. You have to understand the heart of Jesus, who looked at all the tragic affairs of the society during his time as if they were unfolding in his life.
Jesus who came 2,000 years ago, Jesus who led a sorrowful life during the thirty years of preparation, there was no one who understood this Jesus from the depth of his heart. No one bowed before him and was able to attend him. There was not even one ugly and crippled person who did that. This is truly a tragic story. Had there been such a person, humanity today would not feel so ashamed. When we consider this, we can understand that we owe an infinitely great debt to Heaven.
As Jesus observed John the Baptist during his thirty-year preparation period, he had many expectations. Jesus, who had been looking forward to the day when he could begin his course of public ministry, finally took the first concrete step toward fulfillment. He thought the people of the time and John the Baptist would welcome him. Yet both treated him coldly and even opposed him. The sects of Judaism opposed him. Jesus, who had made such a brave and firm determination during the preparation period, was supposed to use the Israelite people as his foundation to step forward and fight with the world, but they opposed him. Consequently, he was faced with the miserable fate of having to fight with the Israelite people. You have to understand this. This is why the Israelites, who had prepared for the coming of the Messiah with great toil for 4,000 years, had to begin their mission again from the bottom.
When God's foundation of 4,000 years crumbled, Jesus had to appear before the people a second time with the same absoluteness of God's dispensation just after the fall of Adam and Eve. We must understand how sad Jesus must have been. He sought them out because they were supposed to be the chosen people, yet they drove him out.
Where could Jesus go then? The Israelites, whom God had raised through 4,000 arduous years, had betrayed Heaven and stood in the position of Satan. Who was able to understand the agonized heart Jesus felt as he looked upon the situation? This is the reason Jesus went out to the wilderness and fasted for forty days.
You have probably never thought that Jesus was such a miserable person. The people at that time did not know of such an infuriating tragedy, that Jesus, who came as the prince of Heaven, was ostracized by the people and had to starve in the wilderness and be subjected to the tests of Satan, the enemy of God. There are no words to describe the indignation of God as He watched the situation of Jesus!
Jesus, who felt such pangs of indignation in his heart, knew that God was deeply concerned about his situation. This is why he tried to suppress any expression of such feelings and demonstrated the utmost filial piety toward Heaven. When we reflect upon Jesus, we can understand that he felt the heart of God, who transcended the betrayal of Adam in the Garden of Eden and expressed deep concern for him. It was natural that Jesus would pray to alleviate his sorrow; yet he suppressed his anger and tried to comfort God. This is why he was able to open the door of hope through which he could remove the grief of the fall and guide fallen people toward God. Jesus made the determination during the thirty-year preparation period that he would live his life in service of this goal. He knew he might have to stand as an enemy before the people.
As we reflect upon this, we can see that the history of sorrow has been caused by the mistakes of our ancestors. God wanted the three disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration to comfort Jesus with the same heart of concern that Jesus had toward the people. God wanted them to pray on his behalf. It was they who should have built the altar, yet they were caught up in other thoughts. Thus, Jesus made a new determination as he received the prediction of his death in Jerusalem, and he began to make preparations for that day.
What are God's tactics? To reclaim one person, God must suffer a blow as hard as that person's worth. This is the way Heaven works. To reclaim one family, Heaven must receive a blow as hard as that family's worth. This is how that family can be reclaimed. Accordingly, to reclaim a people and raise them, God has to suffer the same amount as their worth. Jesus learned through his daily life that this is the tactic of God.
Because Jesus had to represent God, to claim a people, He had to become a sacrifice on the level of the individual, the family, the religious group, and the people. By receiving a blow, he pioneered the path of sacrifice.
Jesus came to live this way of life. Though he sought a comrade among the prepared Jewish sects, there was not even one person who welcomed him. Even in Korea today, fishermen are poor and lowly people and not well respected. You can imagine how Jesus must have felt when he had to seek out ignorant fishermen 2,000 years ago. Do you think that a person like Peter would become inspired and follow Jesus immediately after just hearing his words a few times? Although that is the way it is written in the Bible, the Bible does not elaborate upon the daily affairs in the background. You have to understand that people like Peter heard some rumors about Jesus that helped them believe in him.
Rejected by the people, Jesus came as a laborer and as a friend of the fishermen. He shared his life, heart and desires with them. He fought on with the determination that he would help satisfy their hearts' desires, even at the cost of his life. The reason such fishermen as Peter could follow him was because Jesus testified and fought with this kind of heart and mind-set.
What did Jesus do for three years after picking these uneducated disciples? In the same way that God had served and toiled for 4,000 years to raise the Israelites, Jesus chose them and served them.
Jesus had great hopes for the twelve disciples he had chosen. It was Jesus Heaven had sent to influence Judaism and govern all priests and officials. His ideology was grand, his hopes were great, and his heartistic level was high. The priests and officials of that time who did not recognize Jesus, the pioneer with God's practical ideology, were more pitiful than Adam and Eve immediately after their fall.
What did Jesus do while looking at these people? You have to understand that through the three years of his ministry, Jesus passed through the same course as God, who had walked the path of sacrifice and service for the sake of raising the people.
Therefore, Jesus searched for disciples, forgetting food and drink even when he had somehow obtained them. When he had something to wear, he gave it to his disciples, disregarding his rags. If there was some comfortable place to sleep, he let his disciples sleep there and sat in an uncomfortable place. Jesus, who lived in oneness with God and with this kind of heart and mind-set, should have brought victorious achievements through his three-year course of ministry. Yet such results did not come.
The disciples did not understand the heart of Jesus. They were trying to use him to elevate themselves. Jesus understood this and had no way to alleviate his aching heart, no matter how much he cried and lamented toward heaven and earth.
Because he had a mission that forced him to go on, he suppressed his sorrow and said to his disciples, "Those who try to elevate themselves will decline, and those who try to lower themselves will rise." (Matthew 23:12) You have to understand that he repeatedly testified to his determination, inscribed deeply in his heart, flesh and blood.
Listening to him, the disciples thought that the words Jesus spoke had nothing to do with them. Ladies and gentlemen! Please imagine how frustrated Jesus must have felt when John's mother asked Jesus to elevate her sons to a position of glory in the last days. Although Jesus had taught his disciples and instructed them so many times, they did not understand him.
Therefore, as the crowd grew, the disciples were able to express their joy through their actions, but they could not become examples to the people as Jesus was to them in his actions and teachings. They could not become sacrificial people who elevated and served Jesus. On the contrary, the other people had a hard time going before Jesus because of these disciples. Still, Jesus knew that the disciples had the responsibility to transcend themselves and fulfill the wishes of the religious sects. In turn, the religious sects had the responsibility to transcend themselves and fulfill the wishes of the people. The people, in turn, had the responsibility to transcend the people and fulfill the wishes of the world. The humanity of the world had the responsibility to transcend the world and fulfill the wishes of Heaven.
Nonetheless, no one fathomed this heart of Jesus. If there was some cause of sorrow for Jesus as he watched the disciples, who only asked him to give them blessings, this must have been the greatest cause of grief.
When the apostles were hungry, Jesus made the utmost effort to feed them. When they were in tears, he comforted them. When they despaired, he told them about the blessings of Heaven with the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. He was always concerned that they might despair or fall. We have to understand that the Gospels express this sorrowful, heartistic situation of Jesus.
The disciples should have become closer to Jesus the more he spoke to them, but they grew more distant. You have to experience the feelings of Jesus as he watched this.
As a last resort, Jesus took a towel and wash pan and washed the feet of the disciples, teaching them that serving others is the way. Because Jesus knew that this was the only way they could make a connection with Heaven, he had to tread this path. Even in his sorrow, he was watching over the disciples.
As he walked the course of restoration, Jesus was not delighted to perform miracles. If you think he performed miracles in comfort and joy, you are wrong. His actual situation was that he did not have a place to rest his body on the earth or a place to rely on in the universe, so he had to appeal to Heaven. You have to comprehend the desperate situation of Jesus, who was in such a miserable state.
When he was in a sad state wherein he felt compelled to display some compassion toward them, he raised his hands and said, "Father!" This is when the miracles took place. We have to understand that these miracles took place when Jesus shouted out of excruciating sadness. Do not think that Jesus performed miracles because he liked them or was lazy.
On the hill of Bethsaida, 5,000 people waved their arms and shouted out, "Jesus, you are our Savior. You are the chosen leader of Israel." Although they sought him out when they were to obtain some benefit from him, after some time had passed and they saw that Jesus' standard of heart was different from theirs and that his internal situation and ideals were in a different, higher state, they betrayed Jesus and turned their backs on him. All this actually happened to Jesus in his life.
No matter how much the external circumstances changed, the heart of Jesus and the path he walked could not change. This path is the one that fallen humanity must inevitably walk. However, the Israelites, who should have followed Jesus, betrayed him. The crowd that had followed him betrayed him and the disciples, who should have believed in and attended him without any doubt, cherished different hopes and had different attitudes. You have to understand that Jesus looked at them with a gaze full of sorrow and grief.
Jesus knew that he had to be persecuted on the individual level, the family level, the church level, on the level of a people and on the national level. He also knew that he had to be persecuted on the level of the Roman Empire, which represented the world at that time. Knowing this, he silently walked his course. When he climbed over the Mount of Transfiguration and then headed toward the hill of Calgary, he made the determination: "Let any persecution and ordeal come to me. I will overcome all that I must in my time." If he did not overcome them, all the preparations would have been more cause for grief, so he made his way toward the pass of death. To put this Will into practice, he made the determination that, as a sacrifice of death, he would share his flesh and blood with humanity before he left. Jesus was overwhelmed by the heart of Heaven on behalf of humanity and made a firm determination with every footstep he took. However, no one knew that he was taking those footsteps to carry out the determination that he had made during his preparation period. You have to understand this.
Jesus could not hold any grudges against the many people who ostracized him. He was more sensitive than anyone, and his indignation surpassed that of anyone else. Moreover, Jesus felt that he had the mission to pioneer the path of God's Will centered on the Israelites. Jesus understood that because the heart of God had been bound up with them through the relationships of the 4,000 years, he could not abandon them. Thus, even when they turned their backs on him, he appealed to Heaven, "Please save them through me. Please save these people through me, even though they are persecuting me. Please." Later, when his disciples also betrayed him, he prayed, "Please accomplish Your Will of salvation through me." This is the course Jesus walked.
The twelve disciples said, "Lord! We will go wherever you go," with the determination to share a common destiny with him, be it death or life. This was when Jesus appeared with the Gospels. You have to understand that the determination the disciples made: "We will follow you wherever you go," reminds one of the heart of Jesus at the outset of his ministry and when he was heading toward the garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus said, "Foxes have holes, birds in the air have their nests, yet the son of man does not have a place to rest his head," and added, "I entrust my head, heart and body to the Father's bosom." This prayer was his final desperate prayer at the garden of Gethsemane, in which he clung to God, who had overcome all sorrows and ordeals of humanity and who had toiled, and entrusted his agonized heart to Him. Jesus made the determination that in place of God's 4,000 years of suffering, he would offer himself as the sacrifice. This is the determination Jesus made in front of the fallen people who opposed him, not knowing the heart of God. We must never forget that Jesus was determined to offer himself as the sacrifice of death. In this way, the life course of Jesus came to end on a tragic note.
In other words, Jesus' life came to an end without even one true friend by his side. This was how things were for Jesus. For this reason, Jesus gave his flesh and blood as the sacrifice of history and took determined steps that defied the fear of death for the sake of presenting this new course of life to humanity. This was the life of Jesus.
Just before Jesus passed away on the cross that was dripping with his blood, he said, "My Father, my Father, why have You forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) At the end of this prayer, he said, "It is finished." (John 19:30) He said, "It is finished," not because he wanted to say that he had realized the ideal world. What he meant by this statement was that he had carried out the determination he had made during his thirty-year preparation period: "If my path becomes tragic, then I will do such and such." This statement is not to be taken as something joyful; it was his expression of his sad heart to all of humanity. We have to understand that this was his last Will, which he spoke to the ignorant people out of his grieving heart.
Humanity has longed for the day when they could pioneer Jesus' internal path of sorrow and be able to say, "I have realized everything." You have to understand that this is the day of the returning resurrection. You have to understand this clearly.
Because the course of the crucifixion is the way Jesus fought with the satanic world, Christians all over the world today are following this example. Heaven reclaims after having been hit first. The people had betrayed him. Even the twelve apostles denied him, yet it was these twelve disciples that Jesus came to visit after he was resurrected from death. God takes things back after they have been hit once. St. Stephen, who believed in Jesus, was stoned to death. When St. Stephen was killed, God was able to claim St. Paul. In the same way that Jesus reclaimed the disciples who had earlier betrayed him, Jesus performed the powers of resurrection and took Saul at a time when the followers of Jesus were being killed. In other words, he took him after suffering a blow. Moreover, after he was renamed Paul, Saul took blows in place of the twelve disciples. Who would have thought that Paul, who suffered plenty of persecution and mistreatment, would become the most important apostle and establish the foundation for Christianity?
Who struck Jesus? The Roman soldiers and the Israelites struck Jesus. The Romans took the initiative. For this reason, because the disciples of Jesus were supposed to restore through indemnity the blows that Jesus took, they had to go into Rome and be persecuted in his place.
Because there remained the task to restore through indemnity the blows that the twelve apostles, seventy followers, and the multitudes took on behalf of the people, Rome was not allowed to collapse right away.
After the period of the Roman Empire and feudal society, when the Catholic church was at the height of its power, Luther challenged the church through the religious Reformation movement, and the church struck him and the movement down. Protestantism, which suffered these blows, crossed the Pacific, and created a new culture, it built the America of today. The external Canaan on the world level was established through those Christian groups who had been chased out.
Now the time has come when the society in Israel has taken on the form of a democratic nation. Heaven will seek another group of people to take the blow once again. This is a transition period in history. History has been seeking the group of people who will take the blows. This is the time when groups who will be struck and chased out must emerge among the churches and democratic nations. The group that is being chased out will have a different ideology and mind-set than the conventional one. Why? The ideology of Jesus is not the ideology of the earth. It is the ideology of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is fundamentally different from any ideology found on the earth. We know through our study of history that the people who try to live according to this new ideology will come to the surface through a course of great changes in heaven and earth, because Jesus founded the ideology.
What kind of group of people will appear at that moment? In the concluding period of history, a group of faithful people must appear who follow the footsteps of Jesus' path toward Golgotha, a group which has been blessed by Heaven. A group must emerge who will retrace this inescapable path toward the hill of Golgotha, even if they are persecuted and driven out. Therefore, we must remember that a denomination must appear that shoulders the burden of Golgotha not on the level of Jesus, an individual, but on the level of Christianity or a church. Jesus gained what he was supposed to gain after first being struck. Since he was beaten by Rome, he took Rome. Because he pushed forward in time the movements of restoring the church, the nation and the world, he walked the individual path of Golgotha, in which he suffered blows on the individual level. Accordingly, there must emerge a religious group today that takes the blows on the level of the church and walks the path of Golgotha. A people must appear who walk the path of Golgotha on the level of a people. This is the formula course to reach Heaven in the last days.
In this age today, we have to pass through a period of preparation and a period of practice in our search for Heaven. We must seek for the original nature of Heaven. What kind of preparation must we make? In what kind of position must we stand? We have to stand in the same position as Jesus during his thirty- year preparation period. In doing so, we must prepare to represent the internal heart of Heaven and the human heart, represent all sovereignties, and determine to face conflicts by ourselves. Accordingly, a group of people certainly must appear who cross Golgotha on the world level with this kind of determination. You must understand this.
Jesus said, "It is finished," when he was passing away. Yet this is not the culminating point of the completion of the providence. For this reason, we must pioneer a course through which we can say, "It is finished," while we are still alive. The heavenly soldiers and angels, spirits and all created things must be able to bow their heads and say, "Today is the day your wishes are fulfilled. Please receive the glory." This is the time to prepare for the day we can say, "It is finished" in this way. Christians today remain faithful to go beyond the day of saying, "It is finished" as they pass away. They must be able to say the same while they are alive. Hence, you must take charge of the mission of a heavenly pioneer in this first completion stage we are in today.
Although it may seem that Jesus died for the world, he was never persecuted on the world level. He was persecuted on the level of the people. However, in this concluding age of Christianity today at the completion stage that must go over the last victorious Golgotha, you must step out to the world. Using the world stage as your foundation, you must inherit the heart that Jesus felt and the determination that he made during his thirty-year preparation period. You must copy the tactics that he used during the three years of his ministry. With these, you are to go over any kind of Golgotha, even at the risk of your life. Shouldering the responsibility to accomplish this task, you must fulfill the mission of a pioneer.
To put it another way, you must establish a new, second stage for Heaven. To do that, you must become the people who can overcome all difficulties by clinging to the internal heart of Jesus as he prayed for his enemies. You must become Christians who have inherited the mission on the world level. Without becoming this kind of person, on the day of completion when you say, "It is finished," you will not be able to meet the one glorious day.
Although Christians have repeated this incomplete path and have taken responsibility for this path as pioneers, now we must pioneer the one way of completion. Accordingly, we must inherit the first ideology, with which we have been preparing ourselves while cherishing the ideology of Heaven, and which was manifested as the second ideology. By doing so, we must first alleviate the bitterness in the heart of Jesus, and then alleviate God's bitterness from the 6,000 years. We must remain alive and usher in the day when we can say, "It is finished."
We must cover up the unfortunate historical course of fighting with Satan and cling to the victorious day when we can fight for the sake of God's glory. Moreover, you must possess the same heart as Jesus as he took the path to the cross and have the same form as his substantial body before you approach Heaven. Only when this is done can you accomplish what Jesus could not accomplish when he came to this earth with the mission of a pioneer on two fronts. We must feel deep in our hearts that we must pioneer the path of Golgotha on the level of the world, which Jesus left unfinished.
Jesus could not strike those who persecuted him and drove him away but he had to overcome the situation by praying for them and for his enemies. Today we must have the magnanimity to wish blessings upon this kind of people and be determined to triumph over death and grasp Heaven. Only when we have done that can we can usher in the one day of glory and become the children who can enter the bosom of God on the world level, the pioneers of the new garden on the world level. Please keep this in mind.
Accordingly, the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus established before he passed away, the heart of love that he sought, the world he was trying to found, must all be realized in us. When we stand as the victors with whom Satan has not even a trace of attachment, when we go forward as the new pioneers on the level of the cosmos with the glorious flag of Heaven, then the Will of the Father can be accomplished and your mission of restoration will come to a conclusion. This will bring about the complete dissolution of Jesus' bitterness. We must understand this.
Father! We are awe-stricken to receive the mission that You have vested in us, and we are grateful for the grace You have given us by moving us to the depth of our hearts with Your call.
Now we have learned that our faith does not come from our hearts; it comes from the heart of Father, to which we cannot relate without shedding tears. We have also come to know the heart of Heaven, who has clung to these miserable ones and has struggled so fiercely for us. We have learned that we are sinful people who have bowed down before Your fearful grace, before which we shed endless tears.
Father of love, we thank you for having come and visited us. You have come in delight today, but we are afraid that when You leave, You may not be able to promise us the one day of joy and praise. We have learned that it has been Your tragic course to deal with human beings who come together in joy but part in sorrow. Please allow us to yearn for You more tomorrow than today; more during our later years than in our youth.
Please allow us to become sons and daughters who can take steps forward to that profoundly deep world of the heart. Please allow us to comfort the bitter heart of the Father and to alleviate the grief of Jesus and the ancestors of history. Father, we earnestly wish that You attain the liberation of Heaven through us.
We have learned today that Jesus came with the mind-set of a pioneer. How tragic was it that his glory had to turn into pioneering! It was because John the Baptist betrayed him, the religious sects betrayed him, the Israelite people and all the people in the world turned their backs on him. As we understand that this is a fact in the history of Christianity, please let the internal heart of determination that Jesus possessed during his preparation period and public ministry spring forth within us.
Jesus confronted enemies on the level of the people and the nation, but today we have the mission to go beyond the people and confront enemies on the levels of the world and the universe. In other words, we have the mission of the last pioneers. Father, please give us the power. Beseeching from the depth of our hearts that You will guide us to become victorious and glorious children who can shoulder this responsibility and bravely walk to the end of the path of Golgotha, we offer all these words in the name of the Lord. Amen.