Former Church Headquarters, Seoul, Korea
1 Corinthians 15:35-44
Prayer
My Father! I am aware that, although in the beginning the Father set a heart of goodness and created all things and existed as the immutable figure and standard of essential quality and true nature, humankind could not become the object of goodness of the Father. On that account, humankind could not attain the Father's ideal. Humankind came to be far away from the standard of good conscience. I am also aware that this was an object of lamentation by heaven and all created things.
Father, since we are left with the providentially fated path and mission that we have to seek to the end, even at the risk of our lives, please urge us on to be able to walk this path with Your great power of authority. Since the element of evil that invades through the body is obstructing the way of the mind that aims at goodness, Father, please guide us not to lose the battle in this fight as our minds, that aim at goodness, receive punishment from our bodies.
Father, I sincerely wish and desire that You will grab hold of us so that we may be in harmony as an immutable being, led in our minds only by the power of goodness and love. We pray that we may be able to live eternally serving and attending the Father, resembling the hyung sang of the Father as an inseparable, eternal and substantial being.
While carrying out the fight against sin through the long course of history, we have become covered with scars. The root of sin is embedded in our bones and flesh. Although we have the responsibility to clear this up, we are insufficient. Therefore, Father who has the authority of life, Father who has the authority of power, and Father who has the authority of creation, please extend again the hands of power to our minds and bodies, although we are unworthy. Get rid of all the elements of evil that are captivated by the shadow of death. I sincerely wish and desire that You will manifest in this hour heaven's direct miracle of life that can stir up the heart of victory upon receiving impetus from that one center.
I sincerely wish and desire that You will give rise to the power of resurrection in "my" own self. Allow us to become Your sons and daughters who can bring about the miracle of resurrection in place of that one center in the circumstances we are in.
Please lead us not to lament about being placed in an insufficient place. By reaping victory in the fight against enemy satans who are blocking this path, allow us to have the qualification to be the Father's true children. Beloved Father, I pray from the bottom of my heart that You will allow us to take the weapon that the heavenly soldiers used to keep in their position and to fight and win against billions of satans.
Father, since a small number of people have knelt down and prostrated themselves before the Father in this hour to tell truthfully of their being insufficient on their own, if there is something inappropriate in us, please grant us the heart of repentance. Give us the heart of wisdom that can comprehend. Allow us to have the eyes and heart that can distinguish between good and evil. Then I sincerely wish and desire that You will allow the Father's direct work to be unfolded through us in this hour so that we can rightly look and comprehend.
Since this hour is one in which we have to offer a true gift before the Father, even though there is nothing we can offer, please allow us to offer in good condition the shimjung of the original nature at least. Please remove the element of evil from the body imbued with sin and allow us, by frankly revealing ourselves before the Father, to move according to the Father's command and to be the minds and bodies suitable for the will that the Father desires. This, beloved Father, I sincerely wish for and desire.
Please uniformly bestow the grace that the Father promised upon the numerous sons and daughters who are building a lonely altar, being scattered in every direction even now. Faced with the last days, please allow the work of inspiration, the work of reform, the work of power that can accomplish Your prophesied will to be manifested everywhere Your children stay. Since I am aware that there will be many sons and daughters who are building an altar of prayer in solitude, seeking a true altar, please give a command and allow them to gather in one place so that they can face the will You have permitted. Please lead us to be the children who are not too insufficient to step forward, holding the flag of victory of the Father eternally. This, Father, I sincerely wish for and desire.
Please let the work of the Father's glorious sacred spirit unfold in this hour wherever a gathering takes place at the altar of heaven to worship. Please lead them to be altars that can bear the mission with which You entrusted this nation in the last days by manifesting the work of inspiration and the work of repentance.
Soliciting that You will govern the remaining hour according to Your will, I prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The title of the sermon that I will deliver to you today is "What Kind of Resurrection Are You Trying to Achieve?" Because Adam and Eve fell, we human beings came to be far from God's love. At any rate, Adam and Eve before the fall did not know that once they fell, the God who used to face them with joy would turn into a God of fear, and the God of the ideal would turn into a God of judgment.
The Ideal God
To us, the descendants of the fall, the time when we reciprocate with God, as the fearful God as well as the ideal God, will surely come. The reason that God has unfolded providential history in repetition was to stand as the ideal God before humankind by having them become suited to the providence. However, to the people in the realm of Satan, God will appear as a judgmental and fearful God.
Therefore, in order for us to attend God as the ideal God, we have to experience God's sorrow derived from the fall of humankind, be in the same sorrowful situation as God, and form a connection to be able to live together with God. Otherwise, God cannot appear to us as the ideal God nor as the hero of the ideal of creation.
While moving forward on the course where we attend the ideal God, we have to go through a course of struggle with satans, who are obstructing this path. This is the path of restoration through indemnity that fallen humankind must inevitably take.
In other words, if I live looking up at an ideal, I must walk the path of struggle that can rescue all humankind of the world from the horror of judgment or I will not be able to find God's ideal. You must understand this.
How is resurrection accomplished? It is not accomplished in accordance with natural law. Instead, the work of resurrection comes to be achieved on the foundation that I have overcome by fighting fear and annihilating the influence of darkness. You must consider that only the resurrected soul who has achieved a triumph over the tribulation of darkness can move up to the seat where he can relate to God's ideal.
God has been working for 6,000 years to fulfill that one will. Therefore, we must equip ourselves with the real nature of truth as the substantial beings of God's hope who are living on this earth. We must become unified with the resurrected body that prevailed over evil in battle. We will have to become one with God to attain God's ideal. When that happens, we will feel, not two, but one love between God and our mind and will be able to accomplish God's providence for the restoration of the ideal of creation. Otherwise, God's providence, which has been unfolding for 6,000 years, will be left unfinished. Therefore, we are destined to go through the course of struggle.
Because the power of Satan cannot be destroyed by the strength of fallen human beings alone during a struggle like this, God sent Jesus Christ as the hero who can destroy Satan. Jesus Christ came to this earth and lived a short life span of thirty or so years. He did not see the day of peace and happiness. In other words, as we trace his footprints, we come to realize that they are studded with traces of blood and tears shed in the battle with Satan.
We have to review in our lives today the sorrowful family life of Jesus Christ. We must become faithful believers who are ardently praying before heaven, unfolding a battle to repulse the darkness of sin, sacrificing ourselves.
The Purpose of Jesus' Walking the Path of Tribulation
The reason Jesus came to this earth and walked the path of tribulation for a lifetime of thirty or so years was to have humankind, asleep in Satan's bosom since the fall, totally awaken, and to lead them into a free environment over which God has dominion. By restoring them into true human beings, the original human beings who did not fall, are to establish the foundation of happiness and glory. Consequently, the sensations Jesus felt through all his sensory organs in his life, the shock and impulses he received, were not limited to that one day nor to one time in the realm of a restricted hour.
Although his gaze and gait were in the realm of one period at the time, his purpose and ideal were for the sake of making a connection with the love in the bosom of the eternal God. He lived with a sorrowful shimjung to become one with the doleful shimjung of God. You must understand this.
You, too, must come to feel that because Jesus lived experiencing a heart fraught with God's love and ideal, his knowledge and sensations never deviated from God's love and ideal. Therefore, the reason that he cultivated the path of struggle during his life, centered on God's love and harboring God's ideal, was to seek a figure who was like an original human being who is not fallen, having resurrected both the spirit and the body, and having gone through all the restoration course of formation, growth and completion. Jesus fought single- handedly against Satan's influence.
As the hero of the whole cosmos who could relate to God's cosmic ideal like this and who had God's love with him personally, Jesus carried on fighting, sacrificing himself to establish a standard he could offer to God after resurrecting the whole. However, because the Israelite people did not believe in him, Jesus died unable to attain God's ideal, which was to resurrect humankind, both in spirit and in body. You must understand this. The life of Jesus, from birth until the resurrection three days after he died on the cross, was to show what is to happen during our lives today and to show that we must one day go through the last times in the cosmic historical course. Consequently, we too will have to go the path of the cross like Jesus. What is more, we must fight the way Jesus fought Satan. You must understand that if we ourselves do not inherit the ideal and love for which Jesus wished, we will not be able to repulse Satan nor will we be able to attain God's ideal that was to be celebrated through Jesus.
After having attained the substantiated body of the ideal resurrected into spirit and flesh and becoming the body of God, Jesus was to carry out on the earth the cosmic work of resurrection that can give a word of command to humankind. Since he died on the cross, he has been working as the hero who attained spiritual resurrection only. This is why he is unfolding the work of accomplishing this matter through the Holy Spirit for the sake of realizing the purpose of spiritual resurrection on the earth.
Therefore, in order for us to go over the standard of cosmic resurrection that Jesus wishes for today, we must unite with the Holy Spirit, who carries out God's providence on the earth in place of him, to form an eternal relation.
Moreover, to find and establish again the lost ideal of resurrection, we must unite with the Holy Spirit and go forward, carrying out the battle Jesus fought. Otherwise, we cannot go as far as the seat where Jesus, who crossed the hill of the cross and resurrected, received the grace of resurrection from God.
When Jesus comes to this earth again, he should not repeat that path of dying on the cross 2,000 years ago. You must understand that the man who is to come again is the man who is to move forward to the seat where, by prevailing over Satan with the glory of resurrection and the authority of heaven, he is admired by the billion faithful believers.
Since the Holy Spirit is left with the mission to fight Satan after the resurrection of Jesus, after taking over that work of Jesus, battling with satans, she is unfolding the work the second time with humankind standing in the same situation as Jesus. Furthermore, she has until today been unfolding the work of establishing the worldwide Christian model through Christian believers.
When such work is accomplished, just as Jesus Christ prevailed over Satan while bearing the cross, the faithful believers and the Holy Spirit will be united. The Holy Spirit and the church will become unified and come to prevail over Satan.
The Responsibility of Faithful Believers
We must not only bear resemblance to Jesus, who prevailed over Satan by offering himself as a living sacrifice. We must also become the true Christians who can represent Jesus, who had to prevail by rallying the nation and the world as a living body. Otherwise, we cannot reap the victory while living, after indemnifying the sin that we made Jesus die on the cross. Having perceived ourselves as insufficient and lamentable, we who are going the path of resurrection should be able to advise ourselves by asking ourselves, Can I myself represent Jesus, who fought for the sake of humankind's resurrection by being crucified, and the world-level cross of faithful believers who came forward fighting devotedly?
As we come to appear in God's presence in the last days and God asks, "What kind of life did you lead for the sake of the glory of the resurrection?" We should be able to confidently answer this question without hesitation. If not, we will become selves who have nothing to do with God's ideal. When we come to pass through the difficult path of the cross, there will not be a person among us who can say with confidence that he will not repeat the mistake of the twelve disciples who were following Jesus, looking after their own bodies in fear of going the path of the cross.
We, who are in the course of history that is also the end of a century, must soberly analyze how properly we have lived for our own resurrection. We will have to ask ourselves how much we have prepared ourselves, feeling God's love, to attain God's will and ideal. Unless we ourselves are able to have the confidence to gallantly plow through that path of the cross that Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit have carried out in the fight to dissolve the grievous lamentation of 6,000 years, we cannot attain the will. If we are unable to control our bodies by ourselves, if our bodies cannot control the surroundings, if our minds are not centered as figures of immutability, we cannot attain the will. We must be equipped in both spirit and flesh to beat off the fear coming from Satan or else we cannot attain the will for which Jesus Christ has labored for 2,000 years, sending the Holy Spirit after crossing the hill of the cross after a lifetime of thirty years or so. We must heed this.
Now in the last days, what kind of attitude do we, who must surmount the gate of cosmic fear, need? You have to make the following resolution before heaven.
First, you must become those who can represent the life of Jesus Christ. If you look at Jesus' disposition, he never regretted his life, even up to the fateful moment. He tried to accomplish spiritual resurrection, although he had gone ahead through a life course of thirty or so years to accomplish God's one will only, from birth until the time of his death.
Even up to that fateful moment, Jesus neither felt sorry over dying nor reproachful of himself. Rather, he was a man who had an awe- stricken heart before God, even in death. Even while dying for the sake of heaven's will, after giving up his own life, he had that shimjung to forget himself with the attitude, I will proudly go the victorious road of death for the sake of the Father's will. God came to take the responsibility for that death on his behalf.
The important thing that we must be aware of when trying to pass the gate of judgment in the last days, after receiving the aid of the Holy Spirit substituting for the sung sang of Christ, is that we cannot help walking that course in his place, that course that Jesus Christ prevailed over in walking the path of the cross.
While carrying out the fight with Satan, standing before God's will throughout his lifetime of thirty years or so, Jesus never insisted upon himself in any way before heaven. Even when he had something to be happy about, he did not keep it for himself alone. You must understand that he lived, even when he gained a victory, without feeling it was only his own. He never felt that he alone had fulfilled the responsibility to carry out that work.
Jesus devoted his whole life until the moment of his crucifixion to God. What is more, being concerned about the mission given by God being left unfulfilled on earth, he kept the determination to fulfill the Father's will in his heart until the moment he died. You must understand that Jesus prayed for the sake of his enemies, feeling responsible for even their salvation.
Glorious Resurrection, Shameful Resurrection, Death-like Resurrection
Even if we may have received the grace of resurrection as we lead a religious life, we have to have a shimjung like that of Jesus, who did not know how to enjoy anything centering only on himself. You must be aware of the numerous miracles Jesus performed.
What kind of person should we appear as before the Lord, who basks in the glory of the resurrection after going through the path of toil? There are three types here. First, there will be the person who will render devoted service and put forth all of their heart and soul in the way Jesus atoned for the sins of all humankind, walking the road of death without complaint. Even after all this, this person will say, "I am too unworthy to be able to dare stand before the Lord. I deserve to be dead ten million times over." In other words, this is a person who has a humble mind. Even after fighting while tired and in the process of falling, by having undertaken the sin that is left on this earth, shedding tears and showing utmost integrity in his service, he says before God, "I myself am a person who is too unworthy to be able to dare stand before You."
If there happens to be a person who, when God looks at him, does not want the glory of Heaven, leaving the matter entirely to God's discretion, God will be happy. When He sees a person with a heart that is too awed before God to raise his head and with a shimjung that mind and body cannot move, God will change His sad state of mind into a happy state of mind. Even if there is any insufficiency, He would rather comfort that person than dress him down about it.
When we bow our heads before heaven with concerned minds, admitting our own insufficiency even when we have fulfilled the responsibility to step forward before Heaven, God will bestow glory upon us. By becoming a living sacrifice that moves forth as far as the point of dying, having rendered devoted service before heaven, God will bestow glory upon those concerned and sad minds. In other words, only such a man will be able to receive glorious resurrection.
Second, there will be a person who appears before God with confidence, saying, "I have given devoted service to heaven, and I have finished walking the path to be walked for heaven's sake. This will be enough to receive the Father's sanctity."
Originally, humankind was to feel unworthy as he went further and further on the path seeking heaven. What is more, only when he feels unworthy and imperfect will he find a way to supplement his own insufficiency.
On this earth there may be a person who will appear before the Father with confidence and uplifted head, saying, "I came before the Father after having followed in such and such way the path that Jesus walked." He will tell of how at one point he set up a condition that he can boast of before heaven, and that he once received recognition before heaven by working in earnest for the sake of heaven. The path that this type of person walked is different from the path that Jesus Christ walked. Therefore, he will not be able to completely cross the gate of the cross when in the other world.
Third, there will be those people who cannot stand before heaven, who cannot stand before men, and who are in the position of Heaven's enemy. They cannot stand before the billion faithful believers and the Heavenly soldiers and angels in the other world. They are the people who have nothing to do with Jesus' will. They, too, will receive a type of resurrection after death.
The person who belongs to the first type will receive the glorious resurrection. The person belonging to the second type will receive shameful resurrection. The third type of person will receive a death-like resurrection. In the final days, there will be these three types of resurrection.
Which path of resurrection are you walking today? You must analyze and see for yourselves. Consequently, if you find yourselves left with conditions to clear up, you must then resolutely liquefy them. Moreover, you must walk the course of sacrifice with heads bowed, bearing the thought that we ourselves are too inadequate to dare to stand before the Father. We should have the shimjung that feels more and more strongly about our being inadequate as we go further. Otherwise, you will not be able to enjoy eternal life, blessing and happiness after receiving all of God's created things in the garden of the ideal that is centering on God's eternal love.
When a person of the first type comes to stand before the Lord, his heart might feel oppressed with sorrow, but it will in the end become a heart filled with glory and hope. The person of the second type, who faces the Lord with the heart of hope and glory, will eventually be grief-stricken. The person of the third type will come to receive a resurrection where he cannot express unhappiness when faced with Jesus, where he cannot desire to form a connection with heaven, and where he has nothing to do with heaven eternally.
The Attitude of Faithful Believers Who Can Participate in the Glorious Resurrection
What then can you do after you have found out which type of resurrection you belong to? What kind of attitude should we assume? A happy face or a grieving face? Even when you come to attend the Lord whom you have wished and longed for during the 2,000 years by becoming people of the first type, you should become the faithful believers who know how to shed tears of gratitude with awe-stricken hearts. You should not become those who have to stand in a sorrowful situation and bow before the Lord by becoming the people of the second type.
You also should not come to stand in a position where you can never admire Jesus and God, even in dreams, by becoming people of the third type. To this type of person, even if he has a hope, that hope will originate and end in himself. Even if he takes pain in the hope of attaining a better resurrection, he will not be able to expect anything better.
As we think about this, we who believe in the Christian gospel today, we who must accomplish the will of resurrection should be able to humbly bow and bear hearts that are extremely awe-stricken, even if we come to participate in the glorious seat of the Lord when we go to the other world.
Keeping such a heart, and with the Lord's compassion and the Father's love, we must fight the enemies and win victory to attain the will of God, who wishes for the glory of Christ's resurrection. If we become unable to fulfill this matter on this earth, we will become destined to redeem it even after we go to the other world.
Therefore, as we lead a life of faith today, we must forget ourselves completely and be able to feel inadequate even when becoming sacrifices. We must be able to reproach ourselves, even when in the seat of death. We should understand that only when we become men of the original nature who are not boasting about anything before heaven will we be able to attain heaven's eternal ideal of resurrection.
The people who live with a mind like this will become concerned when they receive grace that they might cause sorrow and embarrassment before heaven while attempting to establish themselves. What is more, if there is a person who feels more inadequate in proportion to the increase of the amount of grace received, and a person who feels insufficient more profoundly ashamed of himself in proportion to the preciousness of the grace he received, even Satan cannot put him to the test.
Unless you seek for that day when you can express gratitude before the Father, after fully experiencing heaven's ideal with minds and bodies centering on heaven's love, you cannot enjoy eternal happiness. You cannot experience glorious resurrection centering on God's ideal and God's love after fulfilling the ideal for which God wishes. You must comprehend this.
Therefore, as the days go by, you must feel insufficient. You must feel deep in your marrow that God unfolds the work of resurrection, the work of re-creation centering on people like this. Only then can you go to the seat of glory that no one can go to at the time the Lord comes again. I wish that you will understand this and lead a life that reveals the glory of Christ's resurrection, becoming a sacrifice to testify to the true light in the dark world, with new resolution and determination from this time forward.
