REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON
SPEAKS ON
The Providence of God
and the Nature of the Adventure
That Transcends Reality
December 2, 1956
Headquarters Church, Seoul, Korea
Luke 22:24-46
Prayer 1
Father, You have been guiding a history of strenuous labor until
today for the sake of the whole of humanity. You have been guiding the
mission to dismantle the walls of grief and resentment that are deeply
rooted in Heaven. Through the words of truth, we now understand that
we are the ones who must bring down this wall of resentment erected in
Heaven. We have come to realize that when that resentment is dissolved
on earth, the link with Heaven will be created.
Please allow us to heed the fact that the Father is calling upon us,
the people of this age. Since You have chosen us as Your representatives
and have raised us as Your sons and daughters before the whole of
humanity, please allow us to reveal only the glory of the Father
through our bodies. Let our every deed manifest only the goodness and
righteousness of the Father.
By doing so, please let us create harmony centering on love everywhere
we have a gathering. Beloved Father, please allow the songs of victories
offered to You fill the whole universe.
Heaven does not forget us even in this hour and is reaching out
for us, commanding us to do the much-desired will that it seeks from
us. Yet when we contemplate whether we respond readily to that calling
and whether we have become the sacrifice of harmony before the Father,
we are left to beg Your forgiveness for not having realized these ideals
and for still stagnating in an inadequate, imperfect and unprepared state.
Please allow us now to open the gates to our hearts, and through new
repentance, become the sanctified sacrifice so that the bitter resentment
that permeates Heaven can be rooted out with our hands. Furthermore,
Father, we hope from the depth of our hearts that You will allow us to
become sons and daughters of Yours who can usher in the day of happiness.
The ultimate wall of tribulations of the last days blocks our
path. Before us lies the course of conflict that we must travel through
with our lives. Father, please do not let us become immature and base
ones who become bitter toward Heaven and fall down in the middle of this
course of conflict.
We are already firmly determined to offer our minds and bodies as
sacrifices, so please accept them, though they are lacking. Beloved
Father, it is our utmost wish that You will guide us to become Your sons
and daughters, who, as the offered sacrifices, can entrust everything
to the Father and await the Father's commandments.
Father, this is a sacred hour. Father, this day is a sacred
day. Father, please let this whole year become a sacred year. Please bless
these children of Yours, who have gathered here representing the people
in every place they gather. Please raise the flames of the sacred spirit
that is hidden deep in Heaven. Deliver the works of the sacred spirit that
You have promised for the last days. Please pour it down as one would pour
down water. Father, please let there be many sons and daughters who can
bring down the wall of resentment. Father, based on this, please allow
every place they gather to become both a hidden and a manifest altar
from which they can bring victory in the universal battle. Please allow
us to respond to the direct commandment of Heaven to become victorious
in the universal fight and bring the beacon of victory to the Father.
Father, Your children have gathered here in this hour, so please reign
over each of their minds and bodies. If there are those who still cannot
transcend their own self-centered thoughts, then please allow them to
discard them. Please guide them to become living sacrifices before the
Father. Let this be an hour when they are humbly and meekly offered as
the sacrifice. My Father, I humbly and earnestly ask that You allow them
to have a share in the grace of joy and the grace of harmony.
There are many sons and daughters who are wounded and
exhausted. Father, please counsel them with compassion, so that the
inspirations of this hour can govern their lives. Please do not let them
lose the standard in their life course. Let there arise from within
them the powerful and shocking stimulation of life. Please allow them
to feel and experience the Father's love and be immersed in it. Father,
we pray from the depth our hearts that on account of this, You will allow
all of us to offer gratitude and harmonize the many millions of faithful
people on earth, so that we can persuade them to offer gratitude before
Your holy throne and to build the altar of victory.
Father, we wish that through us, the unworthy, You will fulfill the
will that You desire and seek to manifest. We have entrusted everything to
You, so please reign over us. We prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.
Prayer 2
Father, we have stepped forward with the utmost zeal representing
Heaven, but we are too inadequate. Since we who have nothing wish to
remain before You, please allow us to go forth and cry out aloud without
any hesitation. Father, please look down with compassion upon our minds
and bodies, which have been wounded in various ways during our attempt to
take after the heart of God that no one knows about; wounded while we were
following the path of the will that others falsify.
There were times when we shed tears in solitude and held grudges
against Heaven. Although You have promised us the day of hope which is
near, and although You have granted the ultimate fruit of the will to
those who have been following with persistence, we worry that we cannot
cope with it. We are overwhelmed with a great sense of awe before You.
Father, please govern Your sons and daughters who have gathered
here. Please grant the Father's will of happiness to manifest itself
within our minds and bodies. Please remove wrong thoughts, ideologies, and
concepts with Your presence and reign. Father, based on this foundation,
please allow us in this hour to bring about the works of inspiration
that can completely eradicate the bitter resentment rooted deeply
within Heaven.
Please grant the heart of repentance to spring forth from within
us. Strike our bodies with might so that the evil elements can be
liquidated and only the elements of goodness can be revealed before the
Father who lives in eternal presence. Please bless us so that we can
respond to the Father's goodness with our original nature and character,
and creating harmony based on the Father's love, enable the Father to
look upon our beauty with delight. At the same time, may the faithful
believers of Heaven be caused also to unite in consonance and return the
song of glory to the Father. Father, we make this wish from the depth
of our hearts.
Even in this hour, the dark surge of sin is trying to invade
each of our minds and bodies. Please grant us the strength and the
capability. Please guide us to the realization that as the number of the
sons and daughter who gather increases, the Cain and Abel relationship
becomes more manifest. Lead us not to stand in the Cain-type position.
Please allow us to become Abel-type sacrifices and voluntarily
fulfill all of our responsibility as substantial sacrifices. Please
allow us to act for Abel to bring the Cain-type people to submit to the
Father. Father, we earnestly hope and desire that Your works of might
and ability will be unfolded before the whole in the hour.
Father! In this hour, please let us heed in our hearts that the
mission You have entrusted us with now is not for our own salvation and
liberation. Please let us understand that the fate of this people rests
on us today. Please allow all of the 2.4 billion people of the world to
set the condition of appeal to Heaven and earth through us.
Father, please hold us until the day when we who stand in this
magnificent and serious path of life and death cling onto Heaven with
our right hands and strike Satan with our left hands, until we can
reap victory and raise our hands to return the glory of Hosanna to
the Father. Please govern the whole of the sons and daughters who
have gathered in this hour. Please let there be no one among these
participating sons and daughters who hold the root of sin in their hearts
and resist repentance. Appear with the power to eliminate and explode
all the bitter roots of sins they harbor in their hearts.
Please let that which belongs to Satan and that which belongs to God
be separated in this hour, so that we can be offered before the Father
as the sanctified sacrifices of joy. Father, we make this appeal from
the bottom of our hearts.
Your lonely sons and daughters, Your sons and daughters who have
dispersed throughout the countryside with the words of the new gospel,
I know that they must be kneeling alone and facing difficulties in their
attempt to walk the path of sacrifice. Father, please be with them.
Your lonely sons and daughters who are coping with the will before
the time is ripe, please do not let them become exhausted in their
fight with Satan. Father, who has been providing protection until now,
we wish for Your grace of protection to continue even after this hour,
so that wherever we may be, please permit us to represent Your will and
to resolve the resentment rooted deep within You. Please guide us so that
even at the cost of offering our lives as a sacrifice, we can inherit the
bitter heart of the Father and offer gratitude toward Heaven. Please,
beloved Father, raise us as the embodiment of beauty in whom You can
take delight and who can return the glory of Hosanna, so that we can
quickly and fully accomplish the will of Heaven.
There are many altars who have gathered before the Father's presence on
behalf of the people today. Be with them to lead them away from building
the altar of evil out of their ignorance of the will. Let the works of
the inspiration of Heavenly Father dawn upon this hour on the religious
groups who have gathered representing the people so that every one of
them can join their hearts and combine their altars to offer themselves
as the one altar of victory to the Father.
Please take charge and reign over everything in this hour. Please
operate only the will of happiness in this hour. Manifest only the will
of happiness. Wishing for these things with the most sincere heart,
I prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.
Prayer 3
Father, these words of truth are the truth of re-creation. We
know that You are grieving over the absence of the embodiment of truth
on earth, about which You have proclaimed in the Garden of Eden, "It is
good, it is good." We know that as long as there the condition remains
unfulfilled to reclaim the words of goodness that were lost, we cannot
find the embodiment of goodness.
Father, please divulge the words of goodness to this
congregation. Father, I pray from the depth of my heart that You will
renew Your commandments with the reclaimed words of goodness. Through
their minds and bodies, I pray for the Father's special dispensation
of re- creation, which can produce the embodiments of goodness amid
the congregation.
I have stepped forward with the truth, so please let both the speaker
and the listener become one in their hearts. Father, we know that when
one secures the reciprocal base and becomes the source of pride, then the
whole can be molded through that person. Please come seeking the sons and
daughters of Yours here whom You have raised. By establishing the center
of words and producing the works of conditions, allow them to overcome
the power of Satan. Moreover, Father, we humbly and fervently desire
that if our minds and bodies are enslaved inside the realm of Satan,
then please allow us to divide ourselves with the truth to be able to
receive the Father's seal of purification.
At such a time there is no need for many words. Until now we have
heard and come to know many words of truth, but Father, we know that
we need the power to give life to our minds. Please do Your works with
power and ability.
Father, we sincerely hope that You will remove all evil concepts
and manifest the words of truth that have the power to resurrect, and
that You will give rise to the works of re-creation and resurrection.
Please lead us to become those who fathom the heart of the Father, who
wishes to see the perfection of one beauty in this hour. More than by any
other means, through the heart of profound inner experience: the feelings,
concepts, and repentance based on such inner experiences of the heart,
we wish that in this hour we can be offered as one sacrifice. We prayed
all things in the name of the Lord. Amen.
In the words I have recited today, there are words that Jesus
spoke as he faced the ultimate cross and made the adventurous
determination. Therefore, the title of the sermon that I want to reflect
upon with you is "The Providence of God and the Nature of the Adventure
that Transcends Reality." I will speak briefly on this topic.
We who follow the faith today are traveling through the course of
ceaseless conflicts, with the day of universal judgment lying ahead of
us. This path is not a smooth course. Therefore, if you cannot erect
the adventurous center and secure the victorious center with which you
can cast away the judgment of the universe's bitter grief, then you will
become losers in the historical course and losers in the life course.
The Ultimate Universal Judgment and Our Own
Understanding
Therefore, you must keep in mind that the history of God's dispensation
forecasts the providence that begins and concludes adventurously. The
environment and the various conditions that enable us to freely lead a
life of faith were not results of your efforts. The reason that we can
call out to God and lead our life of faith in this kind of freedom is
because our ancestors have crossed over countless hazardous passes. You
must understand this. You must also realize that if you cannot feel this
deep down in your bones either in your life or in your course of faith,
then you cannot cross the ultimate pass of universal judgment.
Before doing that, you must first understand the reason Heaven has
called upon us. We must be able to explain by ourselves our identity,
we who are passing over the hill of grief and resentment of the 6,000-
year history.
What is more, we must reflect on such questions as: Have we erected
the center of freedom that will enable us to cross over the pass of
universal bitterness blocked off due to the resentment of history and
Satan? Have we come to possess the victorious center from which we can
confidently step above the standard of the judgment of resentment that
lies ahead of us in the future? Which state has your life of faith reached
today? Until the day that the whole dispensation of Heaven is completed
through the historical course by passing through the practical course
and the course of the future, we must form the bond with Heaven and
contemplate the various problems of the past, the present, and the future.
Now if we assume that Heaven wills to raise us up to rest the
whole mission of the last days on us and manifest the glory of victory
through us, then that will must be the representation of the will of
the dispensation of the 6,000 years. What is more, the criterion by
which Heaven is trying to seek and raise us up is crossing the pass of
the ultimate judgment. In other words, it is the new standard of the new
heaven and earth. Accordingly, if you cannot set the standard of the new
heaven and earth and the victorious environment of freedom in which you
can live for eternity without any constraints, then you cannot emerge
as victors before the dispensation of God.
When we reflect on the past, Heaven elevated us today not just to save
us. He raised us up as the culmination that can resolve the historical
grief and bitterness. You must heed this and get rid of the resentment
that has accumulated from the time of Adam. Moreover, you should resolve
the adventurous resentment of Noah and unravel his adventurous life.
The adventurous lives of those who came after him, from Abraham to
Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets and sages of history, you must
take charge of the works left unfulfilled by them and, using them as the
one basis, establish the center that will empower you to confidently step
above the standard of judgment in the future. Otherwise, you must remember
that you will become a straggler in the historical battle with Satan.
Noah Traveled the Path of Adventure
Let us now reflect back on our ancestors of the past. When we look
at the life of Noah first, we will find that it was not a smooth and
even life. How do you think Noah must have felt when he received the
commandment, "I will judge the world with water 120 years from now,
so build an ark on the top of Mount Ararat"? It was not a feat that
took twelve days, nor twelve years. It took 120 years. The commandment
to build an ark on top of Mount Ararat was completely out of step with
the reality of that time.
When you look at the actual situation of Noah, who carried out that
kind of commandment, he might be considered a truly insane person,
one who was fully out of touch with his time. Noah, who received
such enormous directives from God, made a firm determination within
himself. He persevered not for one day, but for a period of 120 years,
wishing for that one day to come. You must understand that Noah was
truly the adventurous champion, unprecedented in the 1,600 years of
prior history. He was raised before Heaven representing that history.
Noah, who maintained absolute faith in the commandment as the will of
the covenant, did not pay much attention to all those conditions. Once he
decided, he did not care whether God intervened or whether the people of
the world cursed at him. Since he had already embarked on the path for
the sake of the will, putting his life on the line and having forsaken
it, none of these matters posed any problem. Thus, he silently traveled
through the course of ordeals that continued for such a long period of
120 years.
Noah must have faced criticisms in his family. Society must have
greatly reproached him. Yet nobody could stop the footsteps of Noah,
who began his journey to single-mindedly pioneer the heavenly path that
humankind does not understand and has not traveled before, the path that
no one in the course of sixteen hundred years had walked before. You
must keep in mind that Noah was an adventurous person who could cast
aside all opposition, even if the environment of society of that time
obstructed him and all the people of the world pushed him back.
Noah made headway with dogged determination, regardless of what kinds
of tests and tribulations he faced. After 120 years passed, he could
erect the one restored family that Adam's family had lost. You must
understand such a historical background.
The same thing was true for Abraham. When Abraham received the
commandments from God to leave Ur of the Chaldeans, this was no easy
matter for him. When God ordered him to abandon the mountains and rivers
of the homeland dear to his heart as well as all of his relatives and
neighbors, he was greatly distressed. From the humanistic perspective,
it was an impossible deed.
Abraham, who received the commandment of God, transcended the
environment in which he had lived up to that time. Transcending the
family, he abandoned the life that he had led happily until then and
went on his way. Such an action as Abraham's would never have taken place
under the usual circumstances in that time. Even if there were those who
centered their thoughts on the will and were concerned about the will,
no one could have stood beside Abraham and proclaimed, "Yes. The path
you are taking is true, so please guide me."
Abraham started his journey with an unwavering heart that disregarded
whether the world understood him. He had the mind-set to leave Ur of
the Chaldeans for eternity. When he thus took his steps according to the
way that God led, he climbed over all the steep mountains and crossed
the pass of death with great persistence.
The Faith of Abraham Transcended Reality
God seized the first son of the idol seller, Terah, and put him in
that position. Abraham, who had that calling, made the firm determination,
"In the path that I am walking now, my center will never change, even if
my beloved parents hold me back, even if my beloved friends dissuade me,
and even if my beloved brothers and sisters pull me back." That was not
all. Abraham even obeyed the order of God to offer as a burnt sacrifice
his precious son, Isaac, who was born when Abraham was one hundred years
old. That command constituted the one adventurous condition that was
unprecedented in history. That event was the condition that represented
heaven and earth and decided the fate of events in heaven, events on
earth, and of many millions of matters. Although Abraham was ignorant
of this, he made a sincere attempt to place his son on the altar and
sacrifice him after he had received the order to offer Isaac.
Think about the heart of Abraham, who was trying to strike his beloved
son with the knife. His mentality truly transcended the reality. In
his time, who could have recognized that kind of faith? The adventurous
deed of Abraham indicated that he belonged to Heaven and that his family
belonged to Heaven. It showed that he as well as his family and all of
their belongings would follow the commandment of God. He realized this
fact while he was making a burnt offering of his only son.
He tried to offer Isaac with the attitude, "Although I have given birth
to this son, because he is Your possession, I will offer him to You,"
and he tried to break away from the environment of practical reality. You
must understand the center of the faith of these historical ancestors.
This holds true also for Jacob and Moses. When God raised them up, He
did not allow them to travel a smooth and easy path. Jacob was engaged in
the battle to seize the elder sonship from the time of his birth. Moses
also faced conditions of conflict from the time of his birth.
Moses Walked an Adventurous and Revolutionary Path
God called upon Moses and raised him at the time the Jewish people
were suffering 400 years of tribulation in the land of the enemy,
Egypt. Moses was protected by his mother for three months under the
fearsome tyranny of the Pharaoh. After that, he was taken in by the
daughter of the Pharaoh and he lived in the palace for forty years.
You might have thought that Moses' life in the palace of Pharaoh was
splendid and magnificent. However, Moses, who upheld the providence,
was not an Egyptian citizen, though he was living in the palace of the
Pharaoh. As each day passed by, the thought that he was a member of the
chosen people of God and the thought that he represented Israel penetrated
deeply into his heart. When Moses left the palace after adhering closely
to the principles of Israel alone for forty years, he beat an Egyptian
to death because he saw an Israelite suffer mistreatment at the hands
of the Egyptian. Irrepressible indignation burst out from within him.
After that, he fled the palace. Cherishing the blessed providence
of Israel in his heart, he began the life of a shepherd in the Midian
wilderness. His life was in no way peaceful or comfortable. There was
no one from any era who could understand why Moses would abandon such
a splendid palace as the Pharaoh's and live as a shepherd. Nonetheless,
Moses did not despair. He began building a hidden altar that others did
not know about for the sake of Heaven and Israel. On this foundation,
God chose him in the year that he turned eighty and groomed him as the
hero who could remove the resentment of the people.
After that, all the footsteps Moses took were adventurous. Because
he kept the transcendent center of the dispensation of God close to his
heart, his whole life transcended reality. What he saw, as well as the
battles that he engaged in, all transcended reality. When Moses went
to the palace of the Pharaoh under the direction of God, God should
have blessed and protected Moses, who was carrying out His commands.
Instead, He blocked the path of Moses and tried to kill him. Why did
God try to impede and kill Moses, who was carrying out His orders? This
simply should not take place in actual reality. This is something that
human beings cannot comprehend.
According to practical common sense, there is no way that this pass
could be crossed. Nevertheless, since Moses was already determined, with
a heart yearning to fulfill the one will even at the risk of his death,
he passed through the condition of a test set up by God and Satan. In this
way, Moses, who became convinced of the transcendent existence of God
and performed more than ten miracles in the palace of the Pharaoh, was
an unprecedented adventurous revolutionary on the universal scale. You
must understand this. Similarly, Moses did not succumb to anyone's
opposition. With transcendent faith toward the will, he led the 600
thousand Israelite people out of Egypt. When you look at this, you should
realize that the whole life of Moses was a path of transcendent adventure.
Jesus Prepared Himself for an Adventurous History
Moses came as the representative of the restoration of a people. After
Moses, Jesus came as the one with the mission to restore the world. Jesus
knew that during the 4,000 years of history, countless prophets and
sages had lived a lifestyle that transcended their practical reality for
the sake of accomplishing the will of God. What is more, he felt to his
bone marrow that he himself was indeed the one who was responsible for
completing the will that the prophets and sages could not fulfill when
they had participated in the dispensation of God.
After reflecting on history, Jesus realized that even up to his time,
the countless prophets and sages had resentment and grief and that
the dispensation of restoration had not been consummated. Therefore,
he made a firm determination to bring this to pass.
He was truly determined to walk through the course of transcendent
adventures for the sake of pioneering the course of 4,000 years. You must
understand that Jesus was someone who had the determination to walk the
course that summed up all the hazardous courses of the saints and sages.
Because Jesus was born with the mission to bring the hazardous history
on the universal level to an end, from the moment of his birth, he walked
a path of adventure. Indeed, his whole life was one of transcendent
adventure. What is more, in the end, even the path of death that hung
Jesus on the cross was a path of adventure that transcended reality.
Then what was the foundation of the life of Jesus? It was a life that
was to bring to full consummation the 4,000-year history and bring to an
end the danger-ridden course where God's resentment was deeply rooted. It
was a transcendent, victorious life not found before in this world. It
was a life that sought to lay a new, victorious foundation.
The Heart of Obedience of Mary and Joseph
What you must understand now is that Jesus was born through the body
of Mary. What fate would have befallen the providence of God if there had
been no one like the holy mother Mary for Jesus, who had to come to live
an adventurous life? If there had been no one like the holy mother Mary,
in other words, had there been no woman of Heaven, Jesus could not have
even been born. If there were no foundation of adventure-undertaking
sacrifice like Mary's, then the birth of Jesus could not have taken
place. Jesus had to pass through a hazardous course to be born with a
new life.
When the angel appeared before the virgin Mary and told her,
"You will be pregnant, and you will bear a son," Mary answered him,
"I do not know any man, so how could this be?" The angel answered again,
"God, who is omnipotent, has chosen you." At that time, Mary replied,
"Lord, I am a humble servant, so do as You will." These words embodied
the universal adventure.
Though Mary knew that according to the laws of her time, an unmarried
woman with a baby would be stoned to death immediately upon discovery,
she transcended the environment of practical reality and said, "Lord,
do as You will. I am only a humble servant, so do as You will. I am
Yours even if you kill me or even if I meet my doom. Please do as You
will." Heaven gave birth to Jesus because there was a substantial,
living sacrifice, Mary, on earth.
This is not all. Even in the life of faith that you are leading,
there are many hazardous paths of which you are not aware. Joseph,
who received a revelation about the pregnancy of his fiancée, Mary
through a dream, tried to sever his relationship with her because of
many humanistic difficulties. The news that his fiancée was pregnant
caused him much humanistic pain and anxiety. Joseph tried to save Mary,
taking responsibility for all the things that had happened. That was
not an easy thing. It transcended reality.
Therefore, you today have the mission to walk the path that Jacob
and Joseph walked, and to walk even the paths that Jesus and Mary
walked. Accordingly, you must be aware of the fact that before you
lies the transcendent scene, the hazardous pass that must be crossed by
transcending practical reality.
Jesus Walked the Path of Transcendent Adventure
from the Moment of His Birth
People could not recognize Jesus, who contained within his heart the
sorrow of the 4,000-year history, and who was determined to offer himself
up as the sacrifice even at the risk of his life. People did not realize
that he was the Messiah, the savior of all humankind. When we look at
that, we can realize that the life of Jesus transcended reality beginning
from his birth, that he lived a life of new, ideal adventure. You must
understand that today this remains as the incomplete will that is being
sought after in the time of the Lord of the Second Advent.
Looking at the life of Jesus, he was concerned about the providence
from the time he was growing up in the family of Joseph and Mary. His
younger brothers (and sisters) reproached and accused him. Joseph did
not have the same heart toward Jesus in Jesus' thirty years of life
as he did initially. Joseph loved his own children more than he loved
Jesus. You must understand that this is the reason Jesus could not have
a family environment that was socially acceptable at the time.
The life of Jesus, in which he lived as a stepson and eventually
died on the cross, transcended reality in all of its aspects. As he
encountered all kinds of troubles in his family environment, he quietly
overcame them all. His last work, when he appeared with the providence
and finally proved that he was the Messiah of all human beings, was also
counter to reality.
Because Jesus surpassed the realm of laws, which had been established
as the creed of Judaism through a long history, and superseded it with a
new gospel of Heaven, wherever he went and wherever he resided, he was
not welcomed. Driven out by his family, John the Baptist, and Judaism,
he did not have any place upon which to rest. Nonetheless, though he
had no place to rely on, he did not look for a source of comfort.
Jesus, who understood the will of God, proclaimed the gospel of the
New Testament. Initially, when John the Baptist testified to Jesus,
there came into being an environment in which all the Jewish priests and
officials could have recognized him. Yet as Jesus walked the three-year
course of his public ministry, Jesus' position gradually declined until
eventually only fishermen and women of little importance followed him.
For Jesus, who had to manifest the ideals of God, the promise had to be
eternal and the will had to be eternal, but in reality, he could not find
them no matter how hard he tried. You must understand how incomparably
miserable the heart of Jesus was at the time he gathered a crowd of
five thousand on an empty hill and offered prayers of grace for them,
and also when he was praying desperately in front of the tomb of Nazareth.
During the 4,000-year history, countless prophets and sages led
adventurous lives with bold determination and swallowed internal agony for
the sake of God's will. Yet none even came close to the sorrow of Jesus.
Jesus had to penetrate through the bitter and grievous heart of the
4,000 year history and rise up to console God's heart of internal anguish.
The people who were following Jesus were not the kind that the
Jewish people would welcome. They were not ones that the believers of
Judaism recognized. Jesus had to walk a path that no one welcomed in the
social and religious realms. Wherever he went, he could not find a free
environment to stay in.
The Bitter Heart of Jesus
When Moses was leading the multitude of 600 thousand, he was blocked
in front by the Red Sea. Behind him, the chariots of the Pharaoh were
rushing toward them. On behalf of the 600 thousand people who were afraid
of dying, Moses confronted the situation head on with the unwavering
belief that he could prevail in that trial of death. You must understand
that by persisting on that path, he could have sacrificed the multitude
of 600 thousand.
The same thing is true when Jesus could feed the crowd of 5,000 with
a handful of fish and bread. Looking down upon the countless crowd spread
across the hill at sunset, Jesus' heart was, in practical terms, a heart
that could not be found in anyone else on earth. Truly, it was a heart of
great adventurous spirit that should be restored back to Heaven. Because
Jesus cried out with this kind of heart, he could cause miraculous works
of re-creation.
We must fathom Jesus who had an adventurous birth, Jesus who walked
hazardous paths in his life, and Jesus who set the standard of an
adventurous spirit even when he was at last nailed on the cross. When
we look at that, Jesus did not lead an insignificant and bland life. It
was not a polite and fashionable lifestyle.
You who have faith must re-examine yourself and match your life to
the life course of Jesus. If you have the desire to become the bride
of Jesus Christ, then you must understand his life from the moment of
his birth through his thirty years of adventurous life to the hill of
Golgotha. You must understand his life of humiliation and adversity to
the fateful path of the cross, the hazardous path of death.
Indeed the life of Jesus began as an adventure and ended as an
adventure. Every hour, we must feel deep within us the agonizing heart
of Jesus who came as the bridegroom but had to walk the lonely path of
death: Jesus who passed away for our sake; Jesus who died to save us.
If there were a gift that you could give to Jesus in these last days
today, what would it be? It would be possessing the anxious heart of
Jesus Christ who passed through the adventurous course at the risk of
his life and becoming the most remarkable sacrifice that cannot be found
any other place in the whole world and universe: the unique offering of
universal adventure.
Accordingly, you must now understand the bitter heart of God, who has
traveled through the historical course up to now and who has risen from
the most lowly position. You must lead your life with the determination
to die for the sake of the will. Think about it. If Jesus Christ, who
died for the sake of earth condemns the earth, then there is no one who
has the right to condemn it more severely.
However, Jesus did not come for his own sake. First, he came for
the sake of history, for the sake of the Jewish faith and the Israelite
people. He came for the sake of the disciples who were to follow him. On a
larger scale, he came for the sake of the people, the nation, the world,
and the universe. This is how he lived his life. Even his death was not
for his own sake.
Yet who remained faithful to the path that Jesus walked? In the pass
of death, he was betrayed by his beloved disciples. He was left alone
to take responsibility for everything. Think about it! If he were going
to become bitter and hold a grudge against the earth, then even if he
were to weep ceaselessly, pounding the earth, he would not have been
able to fully resolve the resentment of the thirty years. There was no
way that he could be compensated for the ordeals that he suffered. On
the contrary, Jesus was concerned that humanity would suffer under the
yoke of Satan. With a heart of compassion, even in the moment of death
on the cross, he prayed for the sake of the Jewish people who betrayed
him, the disciples, and humanity who betrayed him. Because he was a
man of sorrow, he could become their friend even when the ancestors of
this earth appealed on the basis of the 4,000 year history and all of
humankind. He could pray for the sake of the people who opposed him and
the enemies who struck him. Such a thing had never even been heard of
in the 4,000 years of human history. Moreover, you must understand that
this was the work of universal adventure done to dismantle the wall of
sin rooted deeply in heaven and earth.
If Jesus is the king of all kings, then for you to become the queen
of this king, you must believe in his promise. Without fearing death,
you must entrust everything to the will and lead your life.
Jesus walked this kind of path. The life of Jesus was this kind of
life. The hope of Jesus was living for the sake of the will and dying
for the sake of the will in that manner.
We Must Walk the Adventurous Path
Following the Examples of
Our Ancestors and Jesus
Then what is the task that lies before us? What is that which we must
be aware of? We must understand Jesus, who solicited for blessing to
fall upon humanity even at the moment of death, and who took away with
him all the internal sorrows that penetrated deeply into his bitter heart.
Among the people who believe in Jesus, there are many who pray to
the Father that He will grant blessings to them. Before beseeching for
blessings, you must first understand the grief that is immersed deep
inside His heart. Not only that, you must even understand the life of
Jesus and the course of crucifixion. You must understand today that
there was deep sorrow behind the hazardous course, which humankind is
not aware of and only Jesus and God understand. You must fathom Jesus'
heart of internal sorrow that he could not speak about.
By doing so, you could say, "Lord! I will resolve all Your resentments
and those of history. Please prod us on. Please guide us to fulfill
the will that You hoped to realize through all the people of history.
Let us not fall down but rise up as venturesome sacrifices who can
supersede the universal history and eradicate the bitter grief that
countless prophets and sages have left behind them."
The hope that we have now is in accomplishing the will that Jesus
Christ left behind on the earth as the remaining task. It is our fate
to bring new fulfillment to the will of Jesus Christ. History flowed
down through the hazardous course of the individual, family, society,
nation, and the world. Therefore, when an individual among Christians
attempts to accomplish the will, hazardous elements are added to that
individual's path. It is the same for the family, society, nation,
and the world. You must understand that such an adventurous gateway
lies before you. Accordingly, you must be able to offer yourself as
a sacrifice of adventurous spirit on behalf of your venture and life,
which stand in front of the forked road of life and death and the place
of universal judgment. You must offer it on behalf of the life of the
people and the humanity of the world.
What is more, you must be able to copy the life courses of the prophets
and sages and Jesus Christ and apply them in whatever environment or
time you might live in. Moreover, no matter who at what moment in time
sets forth any condition, you must have the determination and audacity
to step forward and appeal to the whole universe and proceed forward as
the representative of the will of Heaven.
We Must be Offered as the Venturesome Sacrifice
Today, when the day of the Second Advent is near, you must carry on the
one venturesome, universal task that remains as the last remnant of the
6,000 year history. If that task is universal, then you must also become a
universal being. You must understand that only when you step forward with
adventurous internal determination will you be able to fulfill that task.
If the will of God is fulfilled apart from the life of faith that
we live, then how would it be? Until now, the history of God has gone
forward through the venturesome course that transcended practical reality.
Only when you pass through such a universal and venturesome gateway
can you lift high the flag of ultimate victory and go before the Father
to sing the victory song. Then you can represent the position of the
universal bride. Moreover, you will not be subject to any condition
when this takes place and only then. Even if there are persecutions
and humiliations in some environment, you can still become the prince
of Heaven who sets the standard of transcendent adventure. You must
understand that only the ones who have the determination to become this
kind of prince can bear the ultimate responsibility for the will of
God's dispensation and become the bride of Christ who can manifest glory.
Prayer
At this moment, when the last days of history are shedding light in
various places of heaven and earth, even if we are experiencing grief,
that one ray of light is shining upon our minds and bodies. Father, please
be present with those who have the mark of life, the power of life. Please
manifest Your mighty works so that the faithful Christians of today can walk
that universal adventurous path that remains before them.
Father! The life of faith that we have led until now was centered on
ourselves. When did we decide to live a venturesome life for the sake
of Jesus and Heaven? When did we pray before the Father, "I will become
an adventurous sacrifice"? If there are no such people among the sons
and daughters who have gathered here today, Father, please lead them to
repent. Please do not allow them to become abominable people who do not
fear the awe-inspiring dispensation of Heaven. Father, we entreat from
the depth of our hearts that You will allow us to pray earnestly before
You to represent the universe and to walk a venturesome path.
Father, Your sons and daughters who have gathered here have been
starving for the life that transcends reality. Their life has not been
normal. If one were to use the word "fanatical," there cannot be a more
fanatical life than theirs. However, when we evaluate it based on the
past, the present, and the future, then that cannot be considered an
untoward lifestyle.
Please lead us not to become cowardly ones who betray the Father
on this path of universal agony and adventure. Father, please extend
Your hands of power. Please allow us to understand that the path Jesus
walked is the model course we must travel. Passing through the works of
resurrection and rebirth, let us cultivate a new center of life. Father,
we wish with utmost earnestness that You will let us secure a foundation
for the new life and walk the course that heaven and earth can recognize,
after gathering new strengths.
Please let the words spoken today become the words of truth that give
life to the sons and daughters who have gathered here and penetrate deeply
into their flesh and bone. Guide us to offer ourselves as the eternal
sacrifices of victory. Through them, please set the conditions of appeal
to resolve the resentment of Heaven. Soliciting with deep earnestness,
I prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.
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