Former Church Headquarters
John 1: 24-34
Prayer 1
My loving Father! Your children, who were scattered in all regions and directions, have come together before Your knees and have bowed down, longing for Your love. Please, dominate our minds now, and please let the yearning for Your holy sung-sang be the only thing that remains in our minds. Please allow our bodies to cultivate the beauty of Your hyung-sang and be intoxicated in silence by the grace of inspiration. Father, I sincerely wish and desire this.
This earth has sunken into darkness. We know that the mission to rescue the earth from the darkness is upon the shoulders of such insignificant persons as we.
Father of love! Father of compassion! By ourselves alone we do not have the power to distinguish good from evil and to increase goodness. Therefore, loving Father, please allow the power of the goodness and love that You have hidden in Heaven to be manifested. Allow us to exercise goodness even in humble situations, and allow us to obtain the glory, to bow before You, Father, and to bring the glory of resurrection out into the light with all our minds and souls.
Father, please purify the minds of the many children who have bowed down before You now. Father, You must touch each of their hearts with Your hands of sanctification, to lift the veil and to purify each of their minds and bodies. You must eradicate all the undesirable elements within them, so please be their personal guide and master of distinction between good and evil, as well as the master of their hearts. My Father, I pray sincerely that You will guide us to eliminate evil by distinguishing between good and evil, and that we may be offered before Your holy presence through the one center.
Father! Since we have gathered here, please allow this time to be an opportunity when we can awaken to the inadequacies of our own selves before the manifest presence of the Father's hyung-sang. In this hour, please allow us to discover the reality of ourselves, we who have collaborated with the power of sinfulness in the past and who have entered the realm of death. Let us divulge ourselves before Father and before the glorious altar of goodness. Please eradicate all of our undesirable habits of the past and our concepts which have prevented us from having faith in You.
Loving Father, I sincerely wish and desire that we may use this opportunity to receive new stimulation in goodness and, realizing the new value of Father's sung-sang, be shaken in our minds and bodies. I pray sincerely that You will unfold the works of repentance and inspiration in this moment. Please remove all the inappropriate and wrong elements of sin and evil in this moment, Father. Father, please intervene personally and be fully at work among the crowd, in which only the elements of glory that You can govern have gathered. Please govern them.
Father, as far as I know, lonely groups of people scattered all across the land are bowing before Heaven for the sake of humankind this evening. Father, You who are the friend of lonely people, please allow them to maintain unchanging loyalty and fidelity toward Heaven no matter what kind of environment or situation they find themselves in. Even if the mocking of Satan has created a great block, please make them into the brave soldiers of Heaven who can step over this, and guide them to accomplish Your wish and the mission entrusted to them in the last days. Father, I sincerely hope that the immutable power of Heaven will be with them so that they can continue to fight.
On this evening, please descend with the works of the Trinity upon those countless altars that have gathered on behalf of humanity. Beloved Father, we sincerely hope that with the Trinity, You will prophecy about the mission of the whole that You are going to accomplish in the last days, and that You will unveil to the 2.4 billion people of humanity Your original will, which You must find. establish and manifest on the earth.
From the beginning to the end, please let them, as the entrusted sacrifice, form the altar which You can be delighted in, so that only the miracles, the power and the glory which can stand as evidence to the holy body of joy may be manifested. I pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.
Prayer 2
Loving Father! Command us, and create the environment in which we can represent the position of the Jewish people who stood before John the Baptist when he saw Jesus appearing before him as the representative of the heavenly way, and who stood on the shores of the Jordan River and cried out to Heaven. Though our hearts may be far away in historical time, please allow us again to have the blessing that would enable us to hear the voice of John the Baptist who, centering on Heaven, cried out with a pained heart, "Look, there is the lamb of God who bears the sin of this world." These are indeed awe-inspiring, fearsome and dignified words.
Although many people, saints and sages have come to and gone from this earth, there was not even one who could confidently step forward and proclaim that he had taken up the burden of all the sins of humanity. The words of John the Baptist, which testified to Jesus, set the new, historical standard for re-creation.
Please allow us the joyful blessing that can let us fathom the heart of John the Baptist, who found the one who could take care of all the detestable sins of humanity. Let us entrust all our sins into the hands of Jesus and let us bow toward Heaven.
Please transform our environment today into the environment of the Jewish people who received the grace of liberation. Please let their heart be manifested in our environment. Let us realize that there is no one happier than the one who has found the master to whom he can transfer all of his sins.
Please allow us to feel the happiness of having entrusted our life and all that we have and of having offered gratitude in an environment of freedom. Allow us to feel the joy of someone who possesses Heaven. Please let us realize once more that Jesus has come to the earth and has taken over the burden of our sins.
Please take charge of all the sins of those who have gathered here, and allow only goodness to remain and fill the place. Please let us entrust all the sinful elements to Jesus Christ. Loving Father, we sincerely wish that You will allow us to be overwhelmed with a powerful urge which would galvanize us to return glory to the Father and to comfort the sorrowful heart of Jesus.
Look down upon the children who have gathered here with compassion. Please do not let the heart of the speaker and the heart of the listener be divided into two. Please grant the power of resurrection that can give us new life, and the words of re-creation that will enable us to sacrifice ourselves. Give us the grace that would empower our mind and body to cut the chain of sin and, relying on the words of re-creation, restore our original image. Loving Father, we earnestly hope that this may be done.
We have entrusted everything unto You, so please grant us what You intend. I pray in the name of the loving Lord. Amen.
The topic of the speech today is "Why Did Jesus Become the Little Lamb Who Bore All the Sins of This World?" I will speak briefly on this topic.
The Background of the Advent of Jesus
God created humankind as the central beings who can substantially feel His internal ideals. In doing so, God hoped to establish the concealed beauty, love and glory of Heaven as the eternal course through the life of Adam and Eve. He tried to build a world of uninterrupted happiness.
Due to the fall of man, this original will of God was undermined in a fundamental way and, against the wishes of God, humankind established Satan in the position of God and dwelt within the realm of Satan's dominion. Humankind, who should have served God by returning glory and happiness to Him, worshipped Satan instead and continued with this shameful history. You already know this fact very well.
Moreover, God has been leading the dispensation until now because He has to realize glory centering on human beings; He has to make His will to give love material by centering on human beings, and He has to give advice centering on human beings. On the contrary, Satan has been carrying on the battle to destroy the glory of God, the love of God, and the life of Heaven, has shackled humankind in his own domain and has been fighting to keep them in bondage.
Unless the original human being whom God is looking for, a hero who can attack Satan appears, there is no way to return glory to God, nor love, nor life. To find this one central figure, God has been toiling for 4,000 years, leading the dispensation forward. Jesus was the person whom God finally raised as the center of faith, the representative of humankind, whose mission was to testify to the glory, love and life of God.
The Responsibility of Jesus
What was the mission Jesus was supposed to fulfill when he came to the earth? It was to restore the glory, love and life of God. However, sin prevented this from being accomplished. Sin prevented humanity from returning glory to God, prevented them from feeling the love of God, and hindered them from feeling the life of God, so that they could not settle on His love and life as the center of eternal life.
What was the reason behind this? Because of the fall, hereditary and individual sin permeated the whole creation, centering on humankind. Therefore, the mission Jesus was supposed to accomplish on earth first was to carry on the battle of pulling out the root of the sin that pervaded the creation. He had to do this before he could restore the glory, the love and the life of God. To dig out the root of sin, Jesus bore the sins of humanity on his own shoulders.
Why did Jesus have to carry sin on behalf of others? Human beings were committing sins. Furthermore, human beings did not know the truth. Jesus Christ came to the earth to save humanity, bringing with him the glory, love and eternal life of God, yet there was one condition that obstructed his way. This was none other than sin, which is intertwined like one gigantic steel net, woven throughout this person and that person, this organization and that organization, this society and that society, this nation and that nation. Without voluntarily eradicating this sin, this earth will never see the glory of God, the love of God and the life of God.
God has been working through men to exterminate sin. When human beings eradicate sin, the glory, the life and the love of God can be bestowed upon them. God caused them to wipe out sin to make them realize the master of whom they had not been aware. As a result, we can serve that master as the representative of the glory of Heaven, the love of Heaven and the life of Heaven. If we can do this, then there is no power that can sever the relationship between Jesus, who has been anointed by Heaven as the center, and us.
Yet due to the fall, until the consummation of this world, the burden of sin exists in the relationship between us, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This burden of sin is found in the family, society, nation, world and in all of heaven and earth, so the fact that someone has arrived who can take care of all the sins in heaven and earth is the happiest news and gospel of salvation and triumph.
Have we entrusted our sin to Jesus? Moreover, have our families entrusted their sins to Jesus Christ? Have our society and our nation entrusted their sins to Jesus Christ? Has our world entrusted its sins to Jesus Christ? The question is, how many believers remain on the earth who have not yet escaped from the realm of sin?
What You Must Do in Your Daily Life of Faith
What you have to do in your daily life of faith is take all of your sins and entrust them to Jesus. Have you transferred all of your sins to Jesus? You must ask yourself this. There must emerge on earth someone who can say, "Father! I cannot purge the sins that remain within me by myself. I entrust them all to you." Otherwise, the ideals of Jesus can never be realized. If even now the burden of sin still lingers in me and if there still remain the elements of grief caused by sin in my family, my society, nation, world and in heaven and earth, then Jesus' ordeal of the cross will be prolonged. You must understand that even in this hour, your deeds are prolonging Jesus' ordeal of the cross.
Today we must offer the prayer of repentance, "Please take charge of all my sins." You must say, "Lord, please take my sins away." Unless we combine our minds and bodies, combine with the mind and body of Jesus, and walk a course of revolution with our own hands, as well as with the hands of Jesus, and penetrate through to the bottom of sin, we cannot say to the Holy Spirit and to Jesus that we have eradicated our sins.
What is the meaning of the will Jesus proclaimed: that he is going to come to the earth to take care of all sins? Due to our fall, we have lost God, the Master of life, we have lost True Parents, and we have lost Jesus, who came as the one center who can protect and love us. Now, after Jesus takes charge of all sins in the world and in heaven and earth, Satan will be engaged in the ultimate battle with Jesus. If you do not entrust all of your sins to Jesus and God, then Jesus cannot intervene in your affairs as your master, even if he wants to. You must understand this.
From a humanistic perspective, Jesus can be viewed as the most unfortunate person. We must understand the heart of Jesus. His heart was such that he wanted to bear all the burdens of sin in this universe. Humanistically speaking, Jesus was a miserable person. When Jesus came to this earth, there had never been anyone as unfortunate as he. Although he came to the earth to find and to give blessing, there was not even one person who, knowing his wishes, served him with the attitude, "Jesus is my eternal, ideal and unchanging master." Although he came for the sake of the people, for the nation, the world and for heaven and earth, Jesus the anointed one was an unspeakably unfortunate person. There was no one who welcomed him and believed in him based on the words he spoke and the actions he carried out. Similarly, from a humanistic point of view, the environment Jesus found himself in was extremely precarious.
As a human being, Jesus must have felt the same emotions you do. Jesus bore the burden of the sins of humanity both of the past and of the future, because people had no way to purge their sins themselves. Yet he forgot his own ordeals and comforted the lonely individuals who were resentful about their sins. We must comfort the internal tribulations, the anguish and the sorrow of Jesus, the one who came to take charge of the sins of humanity.
Of course, we should mourn about sin. Yet when you mourn, you should never allow it to penetrate into Heaven directly. The Holy Spirit is the one who came to comfort us in our grief. Thus, we must receive the cooperation of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in order to free ourselves from sin. Otherwise, the worries of Jesus, who is in charge of our sins, will not be removed from earth as well Heaven.
The Holy Spirit is in charge of obtaining pardon from Heaven for our sinfulness. This is because humankind does not have a direct relationship with either God or Jesus, who are in Heaven. Therefore, we must receive the cooperation of the Holy Spirit who is working on the earth. The way to redemption has been opened because of the crucifixion of Jesus, but the one who actually toils to take charge of our sins is the Holy Spirit. You must understand that the Holy Spirit stands in the position of a mediator for our sake, representing us miserable sinners.
What kinds of ordeals is the Holy Spirit going through? The exertion of Jesus, who passed away on the cross while responsible for our sins, and the ordeals of the Holy Spirit, crying with us when we cry and being hung on the cross when we are hung on the cross, are very much with us today. Even today, he is undergoing the crisis of crucifixion for your sake. You must understand this clearly. When the toils of Jesus and the exertion of the Holy Spirit are combined as one with us in the middle, and we reach the standard that God requires, then all the sins that we have committed on the earth will be redeemed.
Our Responsibility Toward the Work of the Holy Spirit
We have wrongly thought until now that we were the only ones exerting ourselves to prepare for the coming of Jesus, but we must understand that in the background there is the Holy Spirit, who has toiled more strenuously than we. Since the ordeals of the Holy Spirit are greater than those of humankind, Jesus wants to work through the Holy Spirit to represent the glory of Jesus and rally humankind together. Without ushering in this kind of occasion, there is no way that Jesus can come to the earth again and stand firmly as the master of humanity.
Consequently, when we face evil and go forward, we must be aware of the fact that because of the sins we committed, the Holy Spirit exerted herself on the earth for us, and Jesus had to die on the cross. Moreover, wherever we go in heaven and earth, we must realize that we are sinners who have no way to be unshackled from the grievances of Heaven. We must now be awakened to this sin and offer all of our minds and bodies. Accordingly, first we must rely on the work of the Holy Spirit and assist Jesus in his work to take the burden of toil off his shoulders. The ordeals of the Holy Spirit, Jesus and God must be brought to an end through us before there can be a consummation of the will of Heaven, which has labored to take charge of our sins. What is more, we can finally find the one Master only now. This is what you must understand.
Jesus came to the earth as the son of man and passed away. He came to the earth as a man. As you can see in the spirit world, because Jesus has a substantial body with whom we can have a direct conversation, when our spiritual senses are open, we can comfort and express gratitude to Jesus. You cannot do this with the Holy Spirit. The reason is that the Holy Spirit does not have a body. Jesus came to the earth in a substantial body, as the master of Heaven and as the center of the world of creation. Nonetheless, because the Holy Spirit could not possess a substantial body until now, there is no way to directly comfort her for her ordeals. During the 2,000 years of toilsome history, the ideology of the bride and bridegroom was established to extinguish this source of grief, but Christians today do not understand this. When will there be the appearance of the substantial Holy Spirit on the earth who can become the bride of Jesus?
The crime we have committed is not just that of having caused Jesus Christ to cross the pass of death; it also involves our having caused the Holy Spirit to walk a similar course of suffering. If we can liberate them from that suffering and grief, we can return happiness and glory to Jesus, but the Holy Spirit must await fulfillment.
When we entrust our sins to them, the Holy Spirit takes charge of them first. After that, Jesus Christ takes them over, and then they are purged by God, but we do not know this process so well. If there come forth believers who understand this task and mission, then the Holy Spirit's work of inspiration will be manifest before the whole of humanity.
What then are we to do now that Jesus Christ has left after having come to the earth? We are to find the master in the position similar to the bridegroom, Jesus, and the mistress who is in the position similar to the bride, the Holy Spirit. By so doing, we receive the grace of atonement. What is more, we can cling to the Holy Spirit and Jesus and say, "Holy Spirit and the Holy One and God! Please bless us." If you cannot do this, then the sufferings of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the last 2,000 years cannot bear fruit on the earth.
Why did Jesus come to take responsibility for the sins of the world? This was for our sake, so that we can possess freedom. Finding the master is so that we, humankind, can restore our original self and transfer from the position of being dominated by Satan to the position where we can dominate him. Consequently, after you finish walking your course, you are to be free children, exterminating Satan and becoming free of sin.
