Sun Myung Moon's Words From 1959
|
|
Sun Myung Moon's Words From 1959 |
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to
his disciples: 2 "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit
in Moses' seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell
you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they
preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other
people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a
finger to move them. 5 "Everything they do is done for people to
see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their
garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the
most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted
with respect in the marketplaces and to be called 'Rabbi' by others.
8 "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have one
Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth
'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are
you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the
Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those
who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves
will be exalted. 13 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven
in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let
those enter who are trying to. 15 "Woe to you, teachers of the
law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to
win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them
twice as much a child of hell as you are. 16 "Woe to you, blind
guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing;
but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that
oath.' 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple
that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, 'If anyone swears by the
altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the
altar is bound by that oath.' 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the
gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, anyone
who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And
anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who
dwells in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God's
throne and by the one who sits on it. 23 "Woe to you, teachers
of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your
spices -- mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more
important matters of the law -- justice, mercy and faithfulness. You
should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24
You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. 25 "Woe
to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean
the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed
and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the
cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 27 "Woe
to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are
like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on
the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.
28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous
but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. 29 "Woe
to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build
tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30
And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would
not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of
those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what
your ancestors started! 33 "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How
will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending
you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and
crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town
to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that
has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood
of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple
and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this
generation. 37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets
and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your
children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and
you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39
For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is
he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
Matthew 23:1-39
We know that Heavenly Father resides in a world of infinite patience and endeavor. We know the heart and will of the Father. You have dealt with all human sin since the first ancestors. We cannot help bowing our heads in shame before You. You have walked a path of great effort and perseverance to uncover beings of the original creation.
I earnestly pray that You allow us to extend ourselves and welcome You with our minds and bodies. Our Father has been struggling to persevere with our ancestors. He fought with them to hold onto humankind throughout the long years of history, treating those years as if they were one day.
We realize that so many people on this earth avoid the path of hard work. Only a few seek the path of understanding Your circumstances and trying to keep Your heart in both mind and body.
When we realize that there are only a few who are loyal to the Father, a few who prepare the altar to become offerings, a few who express the Father's heart of patience on this earth, we see how miserable our Heavenly Father is. We cannot help seeing that Heavenly Father grieves over humankind, in spite of His love for them. He shows concern and strives for humankind.
My Father! Please hasten the coming of the day when the situation of the Father can be seen and understood by humankind on earth. We earnestly hope that the Father's situation can be deeply felt in the hearts of humankind.
Father, on this holy day today, there are many who kneel in front of You and expect Your blessing. Please do not let us be the kind who do not realize that blessing belongs to Heaven and the way of endeavor, suffering and patience belongs to humankind.
We know that not many of Your sons and daughters return to Heaven what is Heaven's, and take responsibility for what is humankind's. Please guide us so that we do not become such shameful people in front of You.
If we have any joy, please let us render it to You. If we have happiness and gratitude, let us render them also to You. I sincerely hope and pray that You allow us to become Your sons and daughters, who take on the sad and sorrowful way of the Father as their own.
Are there any sons and daughters of Yours here who were tossed about in the storms of life during this last week and who became exhausted in the fight, unable to unite with the Father's heart? The exhausted minds are looking for a resting place, and the exhausted bodies are looking for the grace of being embraced in the Father's bosom. Please, Father, embrace their minds and take hold of their bodies so that they know where to go. I desperately pray, Father, that You allow this time to be one of fulfilling our responsibilities and a grace-filled time of reawakening.
Father! Please lead our hearts and sinful concepts in the right direction. Please do not take Your hand of sympathy away from the bowed heads. Have pity on our minds, as we desire with all our hearts to find Your heart of sympathy. I sincerely hope and pray that this may be a time when You will be with us personally.
We know that even today lonely members all over the nation are kneeling down and appealing to You, their bodies exhausted with battle. Please place Your hand of indiscriminate blessing over them. I sincerely pray that You will protect them to be sanctified people who can win out in spite of persecution and who can get up in spite having fallen, in order to erect an altar and bow in front of You.
Please bless this miserable race of people, and bless the many religious bodies. I earnestly ask and hope that You allow them to become a race of people and religious groups who leave and offer everything for Your will. Please allow them to live for the great cause and gather for the great will in the last days.
As we leave everything to You, please have dominion over us from the beginning until the end. Never allow Satan to invade us.
Sincerely asking that You allow us this time to reveal the joy and glory of the Father, safeguarded by a myriad of holy saints, I pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.
At this time, we want our hearts to be where the Father's heart is and our bodies to be where the Father's holy body is by reflecting upon our whereabouts. We are longing for the day when we can live together with the Father. Please let those of us who are running to the Father with longing hearts become sons and daughters who will bring forth the glorious day in which we can live together with the Father and return recitations of thanks and joy to Him. Let us harmonize all of Your creation. Since our minds and bodies are created to resemble Your image, Father, we earnestly ask and hope that we will become the sons and daughters who perfectly resemble You.
Father! Human beings do not know that Your sorrowful heart is embedded in the soil, and traces of the grievous tears of Heaven soak the footsteps of human history. We cannot help acknowledging that we are the descendants of traitorous human beings and do not know that Heaven's grief hovers around our minds and bodies. We cannot restore Heaven's honor; thus we cannot receive Heaven's trust.
Father, there is no one on earth who can dry Your tears, who can comfort Your sorrowful heart, or who can safeguard the way You are walking. Therefore, if there is anxiety on earth, it is Heaven's anxiety embedded on earth. If there is sorrow on earth, it is Heaven's sorrow embedded on the earth. If there is rancor, it is Heaven's rancor embedded on this earth. Therefore, people living on this earth are destined to become offerings of sorrow and to go the path of sorrow.
Now is the time, in the midst of despair, to shout with our last strength, "Father! Please help us." The last days are drawing nearer when we should cry out, "Father, please come to humankind with a heart of love." In such a time, who is to grieve over the Father's heart and cry clinging to the Father's mind? When there is such an individual, that person can be called a true son or a daughter of the Father and can be the Father's substantial object.
Father, You have brought strength into our minds. We are longing for the cause that will allow us to feel Your desperate and indignant heart. We want to be in touch with the source of such a heart. Please allow us the blessing of being one with such a heart. We realize that if we were one with that heart, we could not help exposing our shortcomings and repent on behalf of sinful humankind.
Father, You worry about us after having chosen us, we are so unworthy, insufficient and weak. Yet we know we must become the saints who will prepare the foundation for You to appear in glory by comforting Your grieving heart of sorrow. Please guide us with Your power and authority. If there is anyone who has the image of sin and evil entangled within him, please grant Your loving arms and subjugate him and make a new person of him.
We know that the power of having created and blessed humankind belongs to the Father. Please embrace us in Your bosom and in Your hands. Remove everything but that which belongs to the Father. Loving Father, I sincerely pray that You will guide us to become Your sons and daughters who can be claimed as Yours; that we may not fall short of being able to make an offering in front of Your glory.
Even though we have been swept off the path of faith by the forces of myriad satans, we still have a heart of concern for the Father. Please take hold of Your sons and daughters who are present here today.
Since those gathered here came forth with the resolve to march forward for the Father until the last day and hour of victory, Father, please allow them to become heavenly saints who dash into the garden of victory with unchanging hearts. Please let the myriad satans, no matter how many of them surround us, disappear in the presence of our hearts which want to be devoted to the cosmos. My Father, I earnestly pray that You may work Your power and authority to allow our minds and bodies to participate in the work of resurrection.
Please do not let this be a place where only we participate. Please bless the millions of wretched people. Please bless the many religious bodies that have lost their direction and destiny. Bless Your numerous sons and daughters who are struggling as their lives are threatened. In these last days, please foretell the coming of the substantial being of life to this wretched humanity, and link them to Your side.
Father, I sincerely pray that You quickly allow the coming of the day when You can bless the sons and daughters with proud hearts which reveal the majestic glory of the Father. Although we may run into trials and difficulty, we have already made a determination to become offerings for our Father. Let us never become sons and daughters who lose such a heart to Satan. Father, I desperately pray that we may become sons and daughters who will bow our heads in front of You, that our whole selves, no matter what happens, may be taken and offered as Yours. We have already given up and left our bodies and minds to You.
We leave everything to You, Heavenly Father. Please do not let this time be dominated by us. Let it be dominated by You.
Please watch over every lonely member. I pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.
In this time, there is nothing that I want to convey. Please convey what You want to convey. Please take dominion over this gathering, as I only want to see things within Your will come to pass.
Please help our minds and bodies not to be subjugated by any other thought, even for this one hour only. Please allow this to be a time when we agree with the things with which the Father agrees, decide on the things on which the Father decides, and harmonize with the things with which the Father harmonizes. Father, please be the cause, and let us be the result. I sincerely pray, Father, that You shape our minds and bodies so that we may move as You move.
Please bless this day. I earnestly pray that You will protect with Your arms of blessing all those lonely members far away who are praying together at this time.
Father, we realize that the passage of the Bible we have read was about the final words of a curse that flowed out of Jesus' desperate heart as he found himself unable to do anything even, after making every effort. If such words ever come to our ears in these last days, allow us to open our hearts' doors, bow, and receive them with bowed heads. Father, I sincerely pray that there will be many sons and daughters who will open their ears with the desire to listen and open their eyes with the desire to see.
Please have dominion over those gathered here. Embrace them in Your loving bosom, and advise them with new words. I sincerely pray that this will be a time when we may be embraced in Your bosom.
Let there be no distance between the heart of the one trying to convey the message and the hearts of those who are receiving it. Please let the heart of the one trying to convey move the hearts of those receiving. Let the hearts of those receiving sensitize the heart of the one conveying so that You may directly guide this time and that this hour may be a time of giving and taking with the Father. I sincerely pray that You will, please, allow us to be sanctified offerings. Please allow the spirit of the Trinity to take dominion and guide us so that the forces of darkness will never invade us. I pray all these things in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The passages read were the words of a final curse that flowed out of Jesus' sorrowful heart. He soon was to pass away on the path he had chosen, yet he was unable to establish the will in front of the Israelites, of whom he had so many expectations, dreams and hopes.
Centering on these words, I will speak to you on the topic of "The Person Who Will Serve the Grieving Father."
People today are longing for a happy life. They also long for a world of freedom in their hearts. Yet the reality is such that what is expected and longed for in the heart is in discord with the actual aspects of our lives.
Because we cannot possess something in our hearts that will allow us to take dominion over and rid ourselves of the things that are in discord, even for a day, we cannot go where our hearts long for in spite of our desire to do so. We also feel and have felt in our lives our inability to carry out the things for which our hearts long.
Amid this reality, we see that we do not have any ideology with which to overcome ourselves, nor any means to take control over our environment. While we embrace hope and sing aloud in our lives, we always feel sorrow within our hearts. Today and yesterday, every day, we lead a life of such sorrow.
Such sorrowful people have congregated and amassed to form a nation and the world. Through the course of history, we clearly see that such an individual has propagated into a society, a nation, the world, and a history of sorrow.
Humankind is not alone in this sorrowful history. Because humankind is walking a sorrowful course, everything that belongs to humankind is also placed in this sorrowful environment. Furthermore, there is the Creator, the Absolute Being, who takes dominion over humankind and endeavors to bring back the world of one ideology by governance of the heavenly laws. Yet He cannot possess happiness in looking at this world either because of humankind, who still carries on a sorrowful history.
We cannot avoid the fact that the more sorrowful events are in our lives, in our society, and in this world, the more they influence the heavenly domain which is working the providence beyond this world. That is the reality.
While we cannot deny the existence of Heavenly Father, who has worked the providence with humankind for six thousand years since the fall, there is an incomparable difference between the sorrow of Heaven and the sorrow you feel in your generation. If a true individual comes who will eliminate this world's sorrow, liberate Heavenly Father's sorrow, and bring forth an ideology capable of establishing a peaceful nation on this earth, that individual will have to pass through every difficulty and experience desperation, starting from the sorrow of personal tribulation, all the way to the sorrow of the tribulations of humanity.
Furthermore, he would have to delve into the whole sorrowful and desperate heart of Heaven to come out with something that can resolve it. If that is not achieved, the world of humanity cannot push aside the sorrowful and miserable history to establish the world of peace, the world of happiness, and the garden of freedom inviolable by sorrow. Look deep into your heart and ask yourself: "Do I hear a certain answer when I ask who I am, and for whom and for what purpose I am struggling?" If you cannot get an answer of definite conviction and value, your heart of misery will be in proportion to the seriousness of the question you are addressing.
If you were able to liquidate all of history's han and the many hidden tales of Heaven, how would you approach this question? With what determination, in what form, and with what attitude? If Heavenly Father relates to humankind and cannot yet resolve the deep han that dwells in His heart in spite of His historic pleas and efforts, and that has been the reality, then who will appease His sorrowful heart? We have to realize that the cause of the existence of such a han originated not from Heavenly Father but from humankind.
The history of han will repeat itself over and over again. It will continue to be separated, age after age, from God's dispensation, if humankind fails to understand their role as the ones responsible to resolve His han and fails to fulfill that mission.
As long as God exists, He will continue to search for the one who will stop the flow of sorrowful history and liquidate the han of Heavenly Father and humanity. God has fought until now to find and establish such an individual. It is certain that He has dominated history so that such an individual will be able to attend Heaven.
It is time for us to reconsider and remind ourselves of this point again. Heavenly Father has promised to send such an individual. Heavenly Father has continuously fought to establish that individual. He has also suffered much repeated pain to keep that individual alive.
Yet Heavenly Father still holds onto a heart of sorrow, as no one in the course of history ever attended that individual. No one ever held onto that individual. Our sole destiny is to fight on and follow this course of God's han. We should think about this again.
Heavenly Father is a being of han. He is filled with sorrow. He cannot reveal or express this sorrowful heart. He did not cause His deeply etched sorrow. It has been caused by humankind. God has led human history in hope of seeing the day when His heart of han can be liberated. Still bearing this han, He has worked the providence through establishing different ages and has continuously endeavored to pioneer the future. We should realize that such a Heavenly Father exists.
Knowing as we now do that the will of God was an effort to establish an individual who could liberate such a han and also keep that individual alive, we should all have desperate hearts in this time of the historic last days to allow Heavenly Father to bless all of us and this race of people to bring forth the day of the liberation of God's han. We should never forget that God has so much han, and that it is our role as historically indebted humankind to resolve God's sorrow through attendance.
You should be aware that even now Heavenly Father is going through all sorts of difficulties to save humankind, to liberate the han of humankind, and to eliminate all of humankind's sorrow. When an individual can feel that, he will cease to take the old path. He will liquidate it and reorganize his life. It is time to feel such passion in our hearts. When we are unable to feel it, we should be prepared to meet the sorrowful day of judgment.
We should remind ourselves of the heavenly mission we bear as sons and daughters. We are to bear the sorrowful heart of Heavenly Father, who bears sorrow even at this moment. Side by side with God, we are to liquidate this world of han. We have to be aware of our responsibilities and obligations as the descendants of fallen humankind. We must fight with our lives so that we can liberate the sorrowful heart of Heavenly Father.
That is why, after four thousand years of history since the fall of humankind, God established the chosen people and promised them, "I will send you a leader, a master, the prince of peace and freedom, the person who will become the prince of happiness." Thus, Heavenly Father sent the long-awaited and promised individual who was to become the center of God's happiness, the center of peace and freedom, someone who could resolve God's sorrow and reintroduce the blessings of Heaven to humankind.
In spite of the advent of that individual, promised throughout the long course of history, the history of sorrow has continually repeated itself until now because the chosen people of Israel could not attend him, could not welcome him and live according to his will. They could not unite with him to establish the will of God and liberate the han of Heavenly Father.
Jesus Christ came as the prince of peace, the prince of happiness and freedom, the one who was to take responsibility for the sorrowful heart of the four thousand years of history after the fall. Jesus, who bore the responsibility of four thousand years of human history and God's providence, came bearing the historical han and that of Heaven.
What course did Jesus have to go through to resolve such han? He had to go through a course of sadness and suffering. Only then would this han be resolved and the moment of joy come. You should never forget that, more than any other individual, Jesus had to experience the greatest of sorrowful and painful han that had taken place in the four thousand years of prior history.
Christians today believe in Jesus Christ. They believe in him as the king of kings, the only begotten son of God, and as their Savior. They understand him to be the prince of peace and happiness who will bring happiness to them. You have to realize that before we understand such positive aspects of Jesus, we should understand him as the prince of sadness, the prince of pain, and the prince of han who bears the sorrow of all humanity.
For whom was Jesus' heart filled with the han of history? It was for his contemporaries, and for Heavenly Father, who was holding onto those people. Jesus' heart of han emanated from the heart of Heavenly Father, and was to be revealed to humankind.
Yet no one was able to inherit his sorrow-filled heart. No one was able to fight side by side with Heavenly Father and win against evil to resolve the han. Therefore, we should realize that not only was the sadness of Jesus great when he realized this; the sadness of Heavenly Father who had sent him was even greater. Thus, the history of this land is filled with han. This age is filled with han, and we ourselves are also filled with han. Much as we would like to eliminate the han of history, the han of this age, and our han, we are not able to do so.
Our destiny lies where we merge with the one individual who can take responsibility for all of the han. This is why Jesus, who died and resurrected to rise to heaven, has to come to this miserable land to liquidate the sorrowful history. That is the Second Coming.
The Han of Heavenly Father and the Attitude of Faith the Believers of the Last Days Should Have
We say we love God. God has loved humanity for six thousand years. The greatest sadness is that which is felt by a loving heart; the greatest pain is that which is felt by a loving heart. The greatest happiness is that which is felt by a loving heart.
We say that Heavenly Father is love, but has He ever felt happiness? No. We have to understand that in dealing with fallen humanity and in loving humankind, Heavenly Father has never seen a day of happiness. We thought that God was the God of love and that He was always enraptured in joy, happiness and peace, but that is not so. Humanity today has to realize this. No one on earth understands that the greater God's desire to save humankind, the greater the pain in His heart, since He possesses a heart of love. No one understands the pain of Heaven deep within that heart of love.
Humankind knows that God is love and that He is the subject of love. Humankind does not know the heart behind the bloody history which God has suffered for humankind.
What must believers realize in the last days? As we have known the God of love, we have to know the sorrow that saturates Heavenly Father's heart. We should know the pain that fills Him. The moment has come to realize this.
Even if heavenly joy through love can be allowed in this world, such joy cannot be given to believers who long for personal happiness. That is because joy is a happiness which must be granted through history. It is a hope that is promised to history. Happiness and hope come about not on my terms, but on the terms of the history that is pulling me forward.
Therefore, as God is love, an individual longing to hold onto God must also hold onto the sorrow within the heart of Heavenly Father and the pain that besmirches His heart of love. We have to clearly understand that only such individuals can inherit the happiness of God's love.
What is the han of Heavenly Father? It is not that no one believes in God. It is not that there are no people who realize God is there. If the God of love does have han, it is that no one understands the sadness and pain that fill His heart. You have to realize that such is the sorrow of Heavenly Father. That is His han.
What kind of people should we become to end the sorrow of humanity and receive the last days that will liberate the han of Heavenly Father? We should be people who can carry the heart of sadness and pain in God's place, and say, "Please love humanity." We have to start with this attitude. Instead of being concerned about ourselves and asking God to love us, we should think of humanity and ask Him to love humanity. If there is an individual who can live in accordance with such a heart, that person is testifying about the heavenly sorrow to this world, and he or she has experienced the pain of Heavenly Father.
Jesus came to bring an end to God's sorrow. He could not have happiness and freedom. Although he appeared before God as most holy and good, he was seen as the sinner of sinners by humanity. Could there be anything more miserable than this?
There is no greater sadness than the sadness of Jesus. On this earth he was trampled, persecuted and eliminated, even though he was the prince of heaven, whom the universe should have welcomed and embraced.
Is there anyone more sorrowful than Jesus, who constantly ran into tribulation and was ultimately eliminated, unable to realize his dignity and mission fully? Jesus was castigated by none other than the people of Israel, the chosen people whom God had struggled to establish for four thousand years. He was persecuted by the Jews, whom God had loved constantly and whom He had established to uphold the will of the providence.
That was not all. Jesus was driven away by his tribe and chased out by his disciples, whom he dearly loved. If Jesus had felt humanistic sorrow, he surely would have condemned them. He was betrayed by the religious body, even though he had come for its people. He was likewise betrayed by the tribe, his relatives, and the chosen ones for whom he had come.
If Jesus had held resentment and a desire to condemn, he would have brought on them the greatest curse, beyond all expression. Nevertheless, Jesus forgot himself and worried instead for the people who had their own sorrowful han throughout their history. We have to understand this situation of Jesus.
We thought Jesus was the prince of heaven, but that was not the case. That was the case later. Jesus was the prince of sadness who represented history as he carried on after thoroughly experiencing the desperate heart and the deep han of the many saints and sages who had come to rid the sorrow throughout history, who had lived longing for goodness and the will. He had to bear the burden of all humanity, lost in the pitch-dark world and suffering, mourning in anguish under Satan's dominion. Jesus was the prince of sadness and pain, who had to take responsibility internally for all sorrowful hearts and who had to bear the burden of suffering externally so that all might be resolved in front of Satan and a foothold of victory set in front of Heavenly Father. We have to realize this.
We also have to understand that God's heart is filled with even greater sorrow than the sadness of Jesus, the pain of Jesus, and the han of Jesus. Heavenly Father had to observe Jesus going through such sadness and pain for the sake of humankind.
God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and He desired for them to mature perfectly. When Adam and Eve fell, lost freedom, and the ideology in the garden to live peacefully and happily along with God, it was an event of unfathomable suffering. We have to understand that God cannot forget the sorrowful heart He had when He witnessed Adam and Eve, who were to live eternally with Him, leaving His bosom, being violated and taken away by Satan.
Jesus came to turn around the four thousand years of the sorrowful history of humankind, liquidate it, and establish the joyous world of restoration. Where was the race of people who were to attend him? Where was John the Baptist, who was to uphold him? Where were the disciples who were to take on the providence? They had all gone away.
God did not choose the Israelites to have Jesus go a sorrowful path of suffering. If He had sent Jesus to be killed, there is no way He would have tried for four thousand years to establish the Israelites as the chosen people. They were the people who were to attend Jesus, the religion that was to champion him. John the Baptist was to serve Jesus, and the disciples were to be loyal subjects to him. Yet they all deserted him. How did Jesus feel when he saw all of them leave him?
He had come for the world, but had to desert the world. He had come for the race, but had to desert the race. He had come for the religious body, but had to desert it also. This was the fate of Jesus, and this is the sad reality.
That is why Jesus walked to the Mount of Olives repeatedly. Walking alone, what did Jesus pray for with every step, pleading with Heavenly Father? He had greater concern for the sadness of Heavenly Father who had sent him, than for his own undeserved misery.
It was the will of God to send Jesus so that he would be harmonious with the people and lead them in building ideal nations everywhere. When Jesus prayed desperate prayers to Heavenly Father, knowing that such a path was blocked, his prayer was to console God, rather than to evade his own personal suffering, because God's sorrow was greater than his. We have to see this.
As Jesus was heading toward the cross, he prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt." (Matthew 26:39) Because Jesus had this heart and he realized that Heavenly Father's sorrow and han must be greater than his in having to put him in such a situation, Jesus' heart of sorrow could unite with the heart of God's historic sorrow. We have to realize that this took place at the moment of his death on the cross.
The death of Jesus was an event that intensified the sorrow in the heart of Heavenly Father, sorrowful since the fall of Adam four thousand years before. Yet Heavenly Father could still pioneer the course that would resolve the deep han through judgment on this world, since Jesus had suffered for God's pain and did not regret his death. Thus, for two thousand more years, history has progressed until today.
The first Israel has shattered due to the death of Jesus; but the course of redemption centering on the resurrected Jesus became the course of the second Israel. Thus, it is time to bring together the Christians who are spread over the world as the second Israel.
In the past, the first Israelites were proud of being the chosen people. It is now up to the Christians, the second Israelites, to instill the ideology of the second Israel and to rise as a whole to establish heaven, the promised land of Canaan. God has mobilized the second Israelites, spread throughout the world, to establish the heavenly citizenship. He has sought Israel with the authority to clear history of judgment.
When will the sad heart of God, who was bearing the sorrowful history, be liberated? The first Israelites, who took pride in being the chosen people, were chased out and violated by Satan. The second Israelites, who can be proud of their heavenly citizenship, should cast out the satanic world. We should realize that it is the only way the sorrowful history can be terminated. It is the beginning point of liberation in the presence of God, who has endeavored throughout the sorrowful history, and in sight of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, who went through many tragedies and sufferings in the two thousand years after Jesus' death.
In this time of the consummation of history, we should repudiate the history full of han. Going beyond this world and sorrowful humanity, we have to experience the sadness and pain that lie deep in the heart of Heavenly Father. You have to realize that now is the time to keep all the historic tragedies and deep resentment in your hearts, and become God's sons and daughters who have the determination to make an all-out attack on countless satans, the cause of this han.
It is because of Satan that this world has become so. It is Satan who has led this world. It is Satan who has created the realities of this age. Today's believers should be able to bear God's pain and sadness and move forward with the authority of heavenly people to liquidate the relationship with Satan, who has caused this historical han. We should understand that God is wishing for one movement, one race, and one sovereignty to appear in this world which can accomplish that.
What do we have to do to become so? Through the principle of restoration, we Unificationists understand that our life of faith must be based on our experience with God's heart. God is not our Father in name only; we have to experience Him as our real and living Father. We have to bear the heart of eternal sorrow and cry in Heavenly Father's stead, as He did when He observed the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
We then have to experience the eternal sorrow of God as He observed Cain murdering Abel. Every time our ancestors were sent to be responsible for the heavenly mission, Noah, sixteen hundred years after the fall, Abraham, four hundred years after that, Moses, four hundred after that, and Jesus, sixteen hundred years after that, we have to experience God's sad heart as He watched them fighting it out in sadness and misery.
We then have to experience the sad hearts of God's representatives of the providence throughout the six thousand years of history. We have to be saddened in place of all people who live in this world today.
If we cannot possess a burning heart and experience the han, pain and sadness to liberate God's heartfelt indignation and the historic indignation, we cannot stand as the hope of the last days for which Jesus and God long. We cannot go forward toward the position of the bride.
Among the believers of today, the last days, one who lives a true life of faith will unknowingly face the challenges of experiencing numerous sorrows of heart. He must overcome such tribulations.
The last days is the time to liquidate all causes of the han of history, the han of the age, and the han of the future. Those of us who are seeking this last day should be able to cry in tears along with sorrowful history, to cry with the age, and to cry with the future.
God's happiness will be introduced by people who would forget their happiness and stand in a position to have no choice but to go forward, bearing the responsibility for humankind's sadness and pain.
We believe that God is love. Many teachings show that God is love. How much of a life of faith have you lived filled with a heart of love? Have you carried the heart of God and gazed upon history filled with sorrow and worried about the sorrowful will of God and tried to fathom His sorrow-filled heart? Have you realized that greater sadness and pain than joy exist in the heart of Heavenly Father, who wants to invite humankind through His loving heart and who desires to embrace us? We have to experience such a heart.
The loyal heart of Jesus toward Heavenly Father is thus expressed: "Father! Looking at You is truly heartbreaking. The pain is beyond words when I see You and think of Your will and humanity, who will be eternally sad." Jesus believed that God should be without sadness and pain. He said, "When there is joy, have that as Yours, but please leave sadness and pain to me." We have to realize that Jesus' desire to return everything joyous to Heavenly Father is the content of the Gospels.
We have been struggling to receive the blessing of Heaven. Who will pave the way to introduce us to the blessing of Heaven and find this Heavenly blessing for us? Who will pave the path? Who will bear the responsibility of paving this path and foundation? This road cannot be paved by happiness.
The history of Christianity is a history of sadness and pain. Christianity is a religion of sadness and pain. Any religion that emphasizes "the way" moves forward in a similar fashion, not only Christianity.
Have you experienced the moment when you toiled over the historic sorrow and sadness of humankind? Have you experienced the moment when you toiled over the historic pain of humankind? You should experience it, even with death if you have not yet experienced it. That place of sadness is hell.
That is why the believers of this world had to overcome the sadness and pain of hell in this world. Only then can you taste the happiness of heaven before death. This is the heavenly principle. What kind of individual can save a race? The individual has to feel the sadness and pain of that race deep in his bones. What kind of individual can save the world? It is not the advanced nation of today's America. Do not have expectations of America. America can be a servant to the world, but America cannot dominate it. It might be a different story if they were a people who knew the sorrow of the world. It might be different if they understand the pain of this world. Not knowing the sadness and pain of this world, they cannot dominate it.
We know that the loyal subject of a nation is a pioneer who desires to bear all the nation's sadness and pain. Who then are the people who can establish the new ideology for the coming new age and restore this world? They are ones who would cry with the sorrow of the world and agonize over its pain. The joy of the world can start from these people. This is an iron rule.
The people of Korea are a miserable race. They have gone through a long course of history, but they have nothing to say to other races, and they do not have any content or national characteristic. They have nothing of which to be proud; but these people will be able to educate the world and receive the love of God if they can bear the heart God desires for the 21st century's new age of culture. They can do so if they become the people who struggle with the sorrow and pain of humanity, and what is more, struggle with the sadness and pain of Heavenly Father.
From what position was Jesus chosen to be the king of kings? He was not chosen to be the king of all kings sitting on the throne of a luxurious palace, proud and happy before all people. On the cross, he held the misery of history and humanity. He was obsessed with wanting to become the instigator of God's love to humanity. He was obsessed with wanting to have such a heart. That is why he could be the Savior of all humankind and the champion who shines brightly amid the world's sad course of history. We should understand that he became someone of whom the course of suffering God has gone through can be proud. He became the prince who can stand forth on the sad and painful course of history and the future history of faith. Herein lies the reason numerous spirits who went the sad course of history before him have to serve Jesus as their Savior. For this reason, although Jesus came and went, humankind today serves him as their Savior. It will remain so in the future.
An individual who hopes to fulfill the desire of Jesus and become the bride should not be satisfied with a faith that centers on the self. In bearing the historic burdens and pains of Heavenly Father, in worrying for His sake and in place of Jesus, we should have the heart to offer our joy to Heavenly Father and take on His suffering and sadness as our own. Such a person can dominate heaven, earth, and even hell.
Therefore, please forget all your old notions of faith. Cut yourself off from the concept of going to heaven by faith. Please get rid of this concept of faith. Jesus lived without thinking of himself as the heavenly prince. Why should he have died if he thought of himself as the prince of Heaven? He did not think of such a thing. As someone responsible for this world's pain and sadness, he left behind words of pleading, saying, "Father, do as You will."
What sort of heart does today's humankind have? There will only be despair for the people who cry in their sorrow and struggle with their pain. Yet there is hope for the people who cry and suffer for the race and the world, transcending themselves. That is why an ideology that can hasten the people toward this path has to appear to the people of Korea. God's way of faith has to be established with the people of Korea. The Unification Church has been proposing this.
In the heart and spirit of the Unification soldier, there should not be an attitude of believing to be saved. That person should possess the heart of believing in order to save the race, save humanity and, furthermore, to open wide the doors of hell so that even the spirits in hell can be saved. If you do one thing with such a heart, that task will equal millions of tasks. Jesus was able to be the historical Messiah because this is what he did.
You have to ask yourself when you walk into a church: what is the purpose of the steps you are taking? Are you going to take care of the problems of your personal life? If so, then you cannot be the sons and daughters of God. You will be mere citizens or servants. You cannot become God's son or daughter.
If you want to become heavenly sons and daughters, then you have to rise as the pioneers of the liberation movement to liberate God and humanity from their sorrows, representing all humankind over whom God has wept. You have to arm yourself with a mental and ideological weapon to charge against the enemies as soldiers in the heavenly battle. You have to go forth and arm yourself not with a selfish ideology, but with an ideology that can embrace the cosmos. You have to realize that is the only way for you to become heavenly sons and daughters.
Now Heavenly Father has opened the door of providential restoration, and He is looking for the individual representative, the family representative, the representative of the race, and the national representative among the believers of the last days. Where are such individuals? Such an individual, such a family, such a nation, and such a world as God seeks are nowhere to be found. One should not be self- centered. That is why, even when you do hold onto your life-consciousness, do not forget to possess the life-consciousness of the world and heavenly law. Such awareness is needed. It is foolish to live according to the awareness derived from one's limited experience as if it were all the value in life. History will laugh at such a person. This age and heavenly law will also laugh. World-consciousness exists, transcending our awareness. Heavenly-consciousness exists, transcending world-awareness. Therefore, you should open your heart and be newly born so that you can transcend world-awareness, go over the hills of pain and suffering felt through heavenly-awareness and finally say, "Heavenly Father, please receive us."
Jesus walked such a path. He passed through the path of sorrow and pain. When he encountered the new ideology, the new breath of life, and the force of new awareness, he was able to overcome the realm of death and be resurrected. Likewise, you should realize that one can rise as a glorious citizen and glorious son or daughter for whom God is looking in this last day era of the Second Coming only if you are a person who brings the bright light of the cosmos to this world, which is struggling to remove its past historic mask, and establish the new self-awareness. Only from this position can one be qualified as someone who has passed through the historic han, someone who has resolved God's han, and can rise holding Heavenly Father's happiness in this age.
When we once again look back and think about God's position, His sorrow was to see His beloved sons and daughters being persecuted. What, then, is the purpose of Heavenly Father leading in such a way, bearing the han of having His beloved son Jesus die on the cross and the han of having so many believers suffer death throughout the two thousand years of history since Jesus' crucifixion? It was for us.
It was for us that Heavenly Father has endeavored until now; it was for us that He has walked the path of han. It was for the world. Therefore, you have to realize that you are indebted to Heavenly Father and that you are being led by Him.
You yourself have to become the prince of sadness and the prince of pain to look at the people of this world today and horizontally experience Heavenly Father's heart, which He has been feeling throughout history. You can then say to Him, "I have come to You, transcending all sorrow and pain. Heavenly Father, please be glorified through me." We should have the determination to live and die with humanity, breaking down the hills of death in this reality, breaking down the hills of pain and sorrow and overcoming all of today's tribulations so that we may experience heavenly joy.
Thus, we should become a person who can say to God, "Father, look at me and be pleased. Humanity, look at me and be pleased. Cosmos, be pleased in looking at me." Only when such an individual appears can God's han be resolved.
We have to realize that if we can become such a person and are able to attend God as my Father whom I want to see, receive and live with, then the han, sorrow and pain of God and history can be resolved. You have to realize that only by becoming such a person can you become the sons and daughters of the unified palace.
Father! Sorrowful history today is moving forward as it swirls around us. Facing the sorrowful environment of life, we realize that ours is the great task of ridding history of pain and resolving Heavenly Father's torn heart. As we have taken on such a task, we have to become sons and daughters who can bear the heart of Heaven and earth, experience the sorrow, feel the pain, and be willing to die for You thousands and thousands of times to comfort You.
During Jesus' advent in this world, many religious groups and believers were awaiting the Messiah. They were all expecting the Messiah to come as someone even greater than their expectations. The Messiah who came was not a Messiah of happiness. Rather, he was a Messiah who embodied the sadness of humanity. He was a Messiah of pain in whom all the pain of human history culminated. We know that no one in that time ever thought that the Messiah, who came as the representative of Heaven, would come so.
We understand that history is realized based on what has gone before. We are learning the principle which tells that all events occurring in history have to reappear to be restored through indemnity. We also know of the responsibilities of the disciples in the last days to horizontally put to rest all the sorrowful remembrances of the Garden of Eden, the sorrows of the course of history that came down vertically, to return to our Father the joy of the horizontal perspective.
Father! We now desire to be loyal for the sake of the world. Do we not want to establish the heavenly promised land for humankind? We can only then become people who inherit Heavenly Father's deeply engraved sorrow and pain. We have already realized that only those who digest pain and sorrow can appear as the inheritors of heavenly joy. Please allow us to see that those who struggle only for their peace of mind will surely perish and be defeated.
Father! We know that one cannot claim the achievement of victory if he struggles and fights for his happiness. I sincerely pray, Father, that You allow us to become those individuals who persevere in spite of sadness and pain and who say, "I will live for the lives of the whole." Let us become those who have raised high the altar of the historic offerings and lead history. Let such people lead this perishing race and world.
To whom are we going to entrust our faith when we look at the sad and sorrowful churches, when we look at humanity, and when we look at heaven and earth in this time of sorrow? We are not to follow a certain leader or serve a certain founder of a religion. The final moment of judgment is coming in which we have no choice but to live for and attend the Father and to fight to resolve the Father's han. Is there anyone among us who lives in shadows which our mind cannot comprehend? Please break down such shadows, and allow us to realize that those who die today struggling to fight against new sorrows will live again tomorrow.
Are Your sons and daughters out there wandering on the path of lamentation and death, engulfed in the incomprehensible pain of the universe? Please allow them to realize that their lives depend on a moment.
It was because of humankind that life or death depends on a moment, and because of humankind that sorrow, lamentation and pain had to come about. I deeply pray, Heavenly Father, that You allow us to realize that since humankind started all this, the only way for us to relate to You is for humankind to liquidate all this, to establish the heavenly ideology on this earth, the garden of happiness, and to search for Heavenly Father.
Please let these words spoken today never be forgotten in the hearts of Your sons and daughters. Please let those gathered here put their sad lives behind them. Allow them to become people of pride who can overcome the sorrowful heart and sorrowful history in spite of the existence of this sorrowful race, this sorrowful world, and sorrowful Heaven. As victors with joyous hearts, let them be able to say, "Father, please do not be sad. Your long-awaited sons and daughters of glory have come. Please embrace us."
Father! With our effort and sacrifice, please allow us to stand as sons and daughters who can be a joy to this world. Sincerely praying that we can pave the road that will bring forth such sons and daughters before You, even if we must become a sacrifice thousands of times over, Father, we pray all these things in the name of the Lord. Amen.