by Rev. Young Hwi Kim
Chapter 26
January 20, 1985
We commemorated the Day of the Victory of Love on January 2nd. The Day of the Victory of Love is the day love overcame the power of death. In order to understand this we must go back to the time of Cain and Abel. Abel was on the side of goodness and Cain was on the side of evil. There was no one who could offer Abel as a sacrifice for goodness and thus his death was in vain; he was killed and no good came of it. On the other hand Abraham's family was completely united with him and obeyed him. Based on Isaac's absolute obedience, Abraham could offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to indemnify his mistake. And because they were completely one, both were saved. Isaac was physically resurrected and Abraham was also resurrected. This is what we learn from the Divine Principle.
Jesus was the son of God. He came from God, but his physical family didn't follow him and he couldn't start his own family, so he stood completely alone; he had no one to offer as a sacrifice. Abraham had his family, therefore he could offer his son, but Jesus had no son to offer as a sacrifice. If he had a family, he could have made some condition with his family when the Jews persecuted and opposed him. But because he had no family, he himself had to be the sacrifice. This is what happened at the time of Jesus.
Satan had to retreat when confronted with Jesus' love, but he was not defeated. Many people followed Jesus after his death, but not one could enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only Paradise. Even though Jesus' love is powerful, he couldn't completely overcome the power of death. If he had, his followers would be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Why couldn't Jesus' love defeat the power of death? Which is more valuable, loving someone on God's side or someone on Satan's side? Helping someone on God's side is much more valuable. So the value of your love depends on the recipient.
Did Jesus' have anybody on God's side, completely on God's side? He had no family, tribe or nation. If he had, his sacrifice could have done something for them. But he didn't have a family; everyone was on Satan's side. This was the situation at the time of Jesus: the world belonged to Satan completely. No one was completely on God's side at Jesus' time, except Jesus himself. Thus even though he offered his life, the only ones who actually benefitted were satanic people. This age is completely different though; True Father has a family and tribe on God's side. Our church is also on God's side. So there are many people on God's side. This is one difference between our time and that of Jesus.
Father as chief priest offered Heung Jin Nim as a sacrifice, just as Abraham performed the role of a priest in offering Isaac. Did Jesus have this? No, Jesus had to offer himself as a sacrifice. Isaac could be offered because he was Abraham's son and completely united with him. Likewise Heung Jin Nim is our True Father's sinless son and completely united with Father. He was a young boy, he had committed no sins so he was completely pure; this was another condition. He has absolute love for True Parents and is completely united with them. He always wanted to protect Father and was ready to die for True Parents. This is very important.
Why was a sacrifice needed? As we know, we are blessed couples who are connected to our True Parents. The 36 couples couldn't fulfill their responsibility; we couldn't unite with True Parents and with God's will. The Unification Church wasn't united and the other Christian churches did not unite with the Unification Church, but persecuted and opposed us instead. The Free World also didn't unite with True Parents, but opposed them. So the family, tribe, society, nation and world could not fulfill their responsibility. The providential time arrived, but we still couldn't fulfill our responsibilities. A sacrifice was needed to make up for this failure and because Heung Jin Nim was prepared to die for the sake of True Parents and God, he could be offered as a sacrifice.
His family and tribe are completely on God's side, therefore his life was not offered for the fallen world only, but for the people, families and tribe on God's side. This is the difference between Heung Jin Nim's sacrifice and Jesus'. Jesus had no one but himself on God's side. Heung Jin Nim had True Parents' and God's family and tribe for whom he could offer his life. As a result his sacrifice is more valuable. It could bring unity between True Parents and True Family, True Parents and their tribe and between the Unification Church and the other Christian churches. It could also break down the barriers between all nations and between the spiritual and physical worlds. AU barriers could be broken down as a result of his sacrifice. By loving True Parents, which Jesus didn't have, and by loving his family and tribe his love could overcome the power of death and be offered for God's providence. It could be much stronger than Satan's power, so Heung Jin Nim could go to the realm of God's love. He is the first man in history to do so. So now the way to the realm of God's love is open. This is why Father could declare the Day of the Victory of Love.
Jesus became the Messiah because we can gain new life through his sacrifice. We can also receive new life as a result of Heung Jin Nim's sacrifice, thus he can also be called a Messiah. In spirit world he is called the new Messiah. He is working in the spirit world and Father is working on earth. Heung Jin Nim and Father are paying all indemnity. Heung Jin Nim already made the spiritual conditions through his sacrifice and Father is making the physical ones in Danbury. Once the conditions are made, Satan cannot accuse anymore. Father says that when he is released from prison the world will be completely changed, because of these conditions. Father is completing his final course, not for his sake but for unity. Heung Jin Nim is working to unite the spiritual world and Father is concentrating on uniting the physical world. So we are working in both worlds, centering on Heung Jin Nim and Jesus in the spirit world and Father here on earth.
What must one do in order to receive the merit of Jesus' resurrection? You must understand what Jesus did and that he was resurrected. If you don't believe that, you cannot receive spiritual salvation. Likewise to receive the merit of Heung Jin Nim's sacrifice we must understand its significance. If you deny he was offered as a sacrifice, you have no connection to him. To gain the benefit of his sacrifice we must understand it and believe in it. We also know that if we fail to recognize their hard work, good spirits cannot continue working for us. They will be happier and have more strength to work if we understand them and appreciate their work. We should also appreciate Heung Jin Nim's sacrifice and his hard work in the spirit world; we must realize that he is trying to help us. We should request his help and have the desire to work with him to accomplish God's will. We know that we need spirit world's cooperation to do great things. Without their power it's difficult to accomplish anything. So we should understand Heung Jin Nim's sacrifice and work together with him to realize God's ideal.
Some members follow spirit world's instructions blindly. If we do this, we will have nothing left in the end; our energy will be depleted and we won't even understand what we did. I've seen this happen all too often. If we blindly follow the spirit world we will become their sacrifice; they will take advantage of us. They only want us to make indemnity conditions for themselves, not for the public purpose. So we should be very careful with spirit men. It is best to use the Divine Principle as our guide. This is the best way. If we have the right understanding of Heung Jin Nim's course and Father's course, everything will be fine; we will be able to continue our work and it will further God's providence.
What is needed at this time? Unity with Father. We must unite with Father. What does this mean? To do Father's work, i.e. unite the physical world. We members and blessed couples must unite amongst ourselves and work to unite the Christian churches. These two things. This is why we visit ministers and tell them what we are doing. Once they understand us, unity will come. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for them to unite with us. Whose responsibility is it to let them know who we are and what we are doing? It's Abel's responsibility. Of course Cain has certain responsibilities, but Abel bears more. We say that we are closer to God and therefore in the Abel position, so we are responsible to bring them God's truth and let them know what we are doing. We must bring unity. This doesn't mean we have to make them members, but that we must cooperate for the sake of God, to establish God's ideal.
This year's motto is "The Creation and Building of the Fatherland". To accomplish this we need people; there can be no Fatherland without them. Where should these people come from? Those who have a living faith in God: Christians. We must work together with them to build God's Fatherland. Our members must unite and love each other and visit and unite with the churches. These are the two things we must do this year. Now we know where we stand. This is the final stage of our work. This is the 40th year since 1945. We know that God's purpose in World War II was to liberate His chosen nations, Israel and Korea. They were both liberated in 1945, but actual independence didn't come until 1948. If we count from 1948 we come to 1988. So the period from 1985 to 1988 is crucial. It will bring the fulfillment of Father's 40-year course.
Let us pray together:
Our loving Heavenly Father, we are living at the most important time in your providence. You have worked for thousands of years to bring fallen mankind back to you. But until this day you could not complete your work. Now by sending our True Parents to earth you are completing the final stage of your restoration providence. Father, you want to have your family tribe, society, nation and world. We are marching forward to build your nation. Once your nation is restored, your world will soon follow. In this way we can understand how far your providence has advanced at this time.
We must unite with our True Parents who are one with you and follow their directions so we can fulfill our missions. All of spirit world is being mobilized; many spirit men are coming down to this world. We must work together with them. But we know that our central-figure is on earth, not in the spirit world. We should work with good spirit men, not be used by them. To do this we need your truth. Without understanding the Divine Principle we cannot maintain our proper position, Father. We want to unite with you and our True Parents, completely understand the Divine Principle and fulfill our missions.
Father, we must truly bring complete unity among our members and our blessed couples this year. We must also convey our message and our mission to the ministers and priests so that all Christian churches can unite with your will. This is your desire. By uniting Christianity your ideal can be realized on Earth. Father, we want to do your will. We ask your help when we go out. We also need the help of all good spirits; with their help we can do great things we could never do alone. We pray especially for our Father in Danbury. Protect him and hasten the time of his release so we can work together with our True Father again. Today is Sunday, Father; our members will be visiting churches. Please be with them and work through them.
We pray all this in the name of our True Parents. Amen.