On this Easter morning, Bo Hi Pak reminds the congregation that our movement was born on Easter Sunday morning in 1936 when Jesus first appeared to Father. Using the Divine Principle as a guide, he explains the true meaning of death and resurrection.

Good morning. Happy Easter to you and to our Spanish brothers and sisters upstairs. Today the world celebrates Easter. When you read the Bible, in John 11:25-26 Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die." This is the most powerful declaration of Jesus Christ. The title of this morning's Sunday service is "I Am the Resurrection."

In the Christian world, Easter Sunday must be regarded as the greatest celebration of all, although the entire world celebrates Christmas, the birth of Jesus, in such a hectic manner. But the most important holiday is Easter because we celebrate the triumphant victory of Jesus Christ. The power of resurrection is the power of salvation. Therefore, Easter Sunday is far more than Easter bunnies or lilies or eggs.

For the Unification Church, Easter has a very special meaning. The Unification movement was born on Easter. In 1936, early on Easter Sunday morning, Jesus Christ manifested himself to Reverend Sun Myung Moon, then 16 years of age, on a mountainside in northern Korea. Jesus gave him the mission to succeed at what was left undone 2,000 years ago. Jesus promised the young man, Reverend Moon, that he would work with him all along to fulfill the task. That was the beginning of the Unification Church.

Reverend Moon accepted the challenge. Thereafter, for nine years, Reverend Moon went in and out of the spirit world and encountered the living Jesus numerous times. In the presence of Almighty God, he discovered the most formidable truth, known to us today as the Divine Principle. This is the origin of the Unification Church. So today we celebrate the beginning of our movement, the origin and the root of this church.

What the Divine Principle has given to the world is the true meaning of Easter. In the Christian world today, regardless of the denomination, there is still a lack of understanding of the true meaning of resurrection. But the Divine Principle, in black and white, reveals to the world the true and precise meaning of resurrection.

There are two common schools of thought regarding the resurrection. In the first, resurrection means raising from the dead or passing from death to life. Many people believe that someday all those who have died throughout human history will come alive again. One scientist estimated that more than 130 billion people would come back to life. That would create an immediate problem: how to feed them. The McDonald's hamburger chain boasts that in 10 years they sold 30 billion hamburgers. In order to feed 130 billion people, it would take 40 to 50 years to give each person one hamburger. I don't think President Carter could handle such a problem. It is beyond human capability.

It seems to be illogical. It seems to be impossible. But many Christians literally believe that will be the case. Why? Because they base their belief in the Bible. Read Ezekiel 37:5: "Thus says the Lord God to these bones [God is speaking to the bones]: Behold I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord." So God would put flesh back on the bones of 130 billion people. Ezekial 37:12 says, "Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people." So one day all the cemeteries will open up.

There is another school of thought that believes that once we accept Christ, or we meet the coming of the Lord up in the clouds of heaven, we shall never die. Never die, period. Again, that belief is based on the Bible. They believe physical death here on earth resulted from the sin that Adam and Eve committed. Once we cleanse the sin, we are no longer sinners; then physical death will be no more.

One denomination believes that if they wash their robes of sin, they can live here on earth for many thousands of years. Again their belief is based on the Bible. As I read earlier in John 11:25-26 Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die." And Revelation 21 promises that God "will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." It is clearly said there shall be no more death. After Christ comes, no more death. So they literally believe that once we accept and meet the Christ, we are going to live here forever.

In fact, for 2,000 years Christians lived in that faith. But they died. Everybody dies. So today I tell you, we have confusion in our world. We have confusion in our faith. The scientific mind of the 20th century cannot be certain of what the Bible says. So we need enlightened truth. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. We need liberation. We need freedom. And I tell you, the Divine Principle, revealed through Reverend Moon, given by God, has the answer.

Today I would like to share a portion of the Principle. Right in the beginning of the Bible, God Himself mentions death. Genesis 2:17 says, "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." This is the first time the Bible mentions death. Unfortunately, even though that commandment was given to Adam and Eve, what did they do? They didn't obey. They violated the commandment. They ate the forbidden fruit. And did they die? The Bible says that Adam and Eve, after eating the fruit, lived another 900 years.

Did God lie to them? No. God is truth. God will never lie. Then did the Bible record what happened incorrectly? No, the Bible is the word of God. So we need to understand the definition of death. What we think about death and what God thinks are two different things. We think of death as the destruction of the physical body. My pulse stops. We think that is death. But God looks at death as something else. The moment Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they surely died, and ever since, death has reigned.

Death in God's terms is invisible death. It does not take place in a physical or visible form. It took place quietly, but absolutely. That death is separation from God. You think you are alive. I think I am alive. But in the sight of God, we are dead people if we don't have God. The separation from God is true death. Therefore, the moment Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they were separated from God, and they died.

The Gospel of John says, "in him was life." In the universe we have only one life. The life of God. God is life. We are supposed to partake of the life source of God. I always use the analogy of an electric bulb drawing light from the powerhouse. That is God's position. We are in the light bulb position. Therefore, the moment the connection between light bulb and powerhouse is broken, no matter what, that light bulb is dead. It doesn't function. That is what happened. Adam and Eve broke that power line the moment they ate the fruit. At that very moment, Adam and Eve were no longer alive in the sight of God. That is why the Bible says the wages of sin is death. As it says in 1 Corinthians 15:22, "for as in Adam all die." So because the first forefather died spiritually, separated from God, succeeding generations were born dead. Furthermore, Romans 5:17 says that "because of one man's trespass, death reigned." Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, death reigns.

More than 130 billion people have lived on earth. In the sight of God they existed here as biological life. They came on the surface of the earth and vanished. They had no impact on God's life. They have been nothing to God. Think of how terrible and shocking a consequence that is. That is the real death mankind suffered. I don't know how many people live in New York today, but in the sight of Goal, not many are alive. Here in America, in the sight of God, how many people are alive? What a smelly world of corpses we are living in.

Last year in November some shocking news spread through the entire world: the Guyana tragedy. When the U.S. police landed in Guyana and went into the people's temple, they saw one corpse after another, bodies rotting in the jungle heat. But think about it, God has been walking through the Guyana jungle of this world for 6,000 Biblical years. Smelly, intolerable jungles of death. You can imagine how the heart of God has been broken again and again. The police could only pack up the corpses and send them back to the United States to be buried. That is all they could do. But God is different. In Isaiah 46:11 God promised, "I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it." I will do what? I will bring it back to life. That is why Jesus came.

Jesus came entrusted and empowered by God with the power to resurrect the death of mankind. But you don't have to die to resurrect. Not at all. We are already dead. Now is the time to resurrect. You don't have to wait for physical death to resurrect. That is why Jesus said, "I am the resurrection." Jesus did not say, I will die on the cross and I will be resurrected. Jesus said, I am the resurrection. I am the life. I am the way. In order to come to the Father, you come through me. That is the prescription God gave to mankind. All mankind has to do is accept the resurrection. God brought down to earth the walking resurrection: the living Jesus. He is the resurrection. He is already triumphant. All mankind has to do is believe in him and accept him. Jesus had the power to resurrect all mankind 2,000 years ago. He didn't have to go through the cross. He didn't have to go through three days in the tomb. He is the resurrection, and the moment people receive him and accept him as the Messiah, they are instantly given the resurrection.

However, what happened? Instead of accepting him, they crucified him. And today the Christian world believes Jesus came solely to die on the cross. I tell you, if he came solely to die on the cross and that was the only way he could save mankind, the entire New Testament is wrong. Jesus did not say, wait until I die, then you will be given salvation. No. Jesus said, I forgive your sins. My daughter, arise, walk, be saved. Acceptance of Jesus brought forgiveness of sin. Passing from death to life took place at that moment. Jesus was not issuing a raincheck. Jesus was not saying, wait until I die.

One day one of the disciples asked Jesus what he could do to be doing the work of God. Jesus did not say, wait until I die on the cross. Jesus did not say, wait until after I shed my blood. Jesus said [John 6:29], "this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom He has sent." Your job is solely to believe in him whom God has sent. All you need to do is accept Jesus. Suppose Jesus' wish was fulfilled. Suppose everybody in Israel accepted Jesus as the son of God. Who would dare crucify Jesus on the cross? Who would dare?

I want you to understand, this is a revolutionary declaration to the Christian world today. Jesus was murdered. St. Peter said it, St. Stephen said it. And St. Paul said it in 1 Corinthians 2:8: "None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." If they had known who Jesus was, the rulers of that age would not have crucified him. What an incredible mistake mankind has made.

Jesus was crucified. People saw him die. He went to the tomb for three days. God dramatically demonstrated victory by raising Jesus and letting the world see him. But if mankind 2,000 years ago accepted Jesus in the first place, that would not have been necessary. All the people needed to do was accept him.

God has given you two bodies, one for the physical world and one for the spiritual world. Your real body is encased within this physical body. You think this outer one is real. I can eat, I can laugh, I can smile, I can touch, I can see. You think, oh, I don't want to live a ghost life. You don't want it because you don't know it. Once you are given spiritual eyes, you will see the true world and you won't want to live this physical life for another 200 years. Why? You will see that this world is just a carbon copy of the real, eternal world. This is a shadow world. Upstairs is real. Of course, this physical body is important. Without the physical body you cannot nourish your spiritual body. Unless you do the will of God with this physical body, your spirit body will not grow. That is why we need this life. It is very important.

However, when the time comes to go upstairs, we won't need this clumsy body anymore. We will turn it back to nature. After all, the 180 pounds of my body came from rice, vegetables, beef, and chicken. Where are they from? They came from the soil. We borrowed 180 pounds of soil for probably less than a hundred years. But these hundred years are important. Why? Because this is the time you come to know and love God and love your neighbor. By doing so, you protect your spirit body which is inside. That is the real body you are going to live in upstairs for eternity. But you must earn it here on earth. This is a good deal. We invest for 100 years and we receive eternity.

One day Jesus took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, up a high mountain. Matthew 17:2-4 describes what happened: "And he [Jesus] was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garment became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, `Lord, it is well that we are here; if you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.' " How amazing-tired, pale Jesus, probably wearing an old garment, was transformed. They could see him shining like the sun, with a dazzling garment. They could barely look at him because there was so much light. But it was such a wonderful thing to behold. The disciples for the first time saw a different aspect of Jesus. But Jesus was not alone. Moses and Elijah, who had been dead for many hundreds of years, were standing there. Peter felt so wonderful. He suggested, Jesus, let us build three small houses, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Let's live here. He didn't want to go anywhere. It felt so good.

At that moment, do you know what had happened? God opened Peter's spiritual eyes. He saw the spirit man of Jesus, which was shining like the sun. He saw Jesus' permanent body, which did not need any resurrection. By accepting Jesus we are all supposed to be given the same resurrection. We are supposed to shine like Jesus, with a shining body, which we call in the Divine Principle, the divine spirit. With this spirit we are permanently elevated into the future world to live there forever in the love of God.

That was the plan. But because the people crucified Jesus, that dispensation was delayed another 2,000 years. We must wait for the Lord to come a second time. It is a mandate of history. New York, America, humanity will never be perfected without welcoming the son of God once again. He will come to the earth and declare, "I am the resurrection." He will not say, wait until I die and then I shall resurrect you. Not at all. Once we receive that resurrection by knowing him, accepting the Christ, we will not only be elevated into the kingdom of heaven upstairs, but we will start to live in that kingdom here on earth. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Christ's coming is the resurrection. Death shall be no more. Do you know what that means? It does not mean this physical body will not crumble. It will. At a certain time you will no longer need it. But you shall fear no death. You have been afraid of death because it has been an unknown quantity. You don't know what will happen the second after death. You don't know if you will be there or if you are going anywhere. The fear of death, that is the real death. But once you accept the Christ and your spirit man receives enlightenment like the sun, you no longer live in fear of death.

I'm sure Linda is here today. Where are you? She must be here somewhere. Right there. Hi, Linda, how are you? When Linda is in her home she goes out during the day and plays all around the neighborhood. But I bet you dollar to donuts, she won't go out at night. "Oh, mommy, I'm scared." Same neighborhood, same places she plays during the daylight, but at night she doesn't want to take even one step outside of the house. Why does the night scare her? Because of the darkness. Unknown quantity. She can't see what is only one foot away from her. That is what is scary about death. We don't know what it is like. But once you now the truth, there will be light. You are no longer in darkness. You shall see the way you are going, what is your mission, where you will live after your lifetime here on earth.

This earthly life is like living in a small, cubbyhole apartment, almost like a prison. But someday someone will invite you to come live in a mansion. This is all yours, all yours as long as you want it. It is 1,000 times better than the cubbyhole. You are more than glad to take off your old clothes and put on a new garment and move into the new mansion. That is what physical death is all about. If there had been no fall, there would be no darkness. You would know your destination, so there would be no fear of death. You will make a natural transformation from one life to another.

You are going to resurrect right here on earth. Right here, right now. The entire resurrection may not come all at once. But today you resurrect this much, tomorrow you resurrect this much more, and soon you reach your destination. That is what you are doing here. That is why you came here. That is why this service is important. That is why coming to the Unification Church is so important. That is why coming to the Unification workshop is so important. Know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

In Luke 9:59-60, Jesus said to one man, "Follow me." But the man said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." Jesus, my father died; let me go bury my father and then I will come back and follow you. Well, this is certainly a logical request. I want to go bury my father and then come back and follow you. Most logical. But do you know what Jesus said to him? Jesus said, No! Leave the dead to bury their own dead. Jesus was looking at the world from God's viewpoint. As far as God is concerned, your father who has physically died and the people around him were already dead. All corpses. You have no time to fool around with those people. Let them take care of their business. Leave the dead people, who are the worldly people, to take care of their own dead. Your job is to follow me. This is an emergency. I have come to bring you resurrection. Your job is be resurrected by following me and then bring the resurrection to the people.

My dear brothers and sisters, today we must heed the teaching of Jesus. Follow me. Leave the dead to bury their own dead. Today there is no more important task for you and me than to seek the coming of the Lord who will declare, "I am the resurrection." That is the first and foremost job. There is no time to do anything else. It is a wise man and wise woman who will do that. The Unification Church members are wise people. We have leaders who guide us clearly. Last Sunday I declared, "Let us be crazy for God." I want us to be proud once again on Easter Sunday, 1979, to be crazy for God. There is no moment to spare for anything else. Jesus said, love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul. This is my first and greatest commandment. Yes, let's act on it. This Easter you can receive resurrection. It is available to you right now. You have no time to waste your energy anywhere else. We need our strength to tackle the business we need to do. Remember once again, Jesus declared the emergency. He said, follow me. Leave the dead to bury their own dead. Let us attend to the business of life, the business of resurrection. Not for our own sakes but for the sake of New York, the sake of this nation, the sake of this world. Let us pray.

Prayer by Bo Hi Pak:

Most loving Heavenly Father, thank You very much for Your life, for Your beauty, for Your excitement, and above all for Your love. Above all we thank You for the truth which takes us out of darkness. We are saved in Your truth, in Your love, because we know the person who declares, I am the resurrection. Thank You, Father. Those brothers and sisters who came, bestow upon them the joy of resurrection. Those brothers and sisters who could not come, be with them today. Guide them into the resurrection. Thank You, Father, until we gather together again next Sunday for a most inspiring and glorifying service. Father, protect all of us in Thy bosom. Thank You, Father. All these things we pray in the name of Christ, Your Son. Amen.

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