Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea
Genesis 3:1-14
We can understand the origins of humanity's grief through the verses in the Bible. We can also learn within the Bible that the first human ancestors were chased away from the bosom of God.
God created all things based on the ideal of creation. After that, He created Adam and Eve as the central beings of the universe who could attend God and rejoice with all things. Yet because of their fall, God's purpose of creation remains unfinished. God has regretted creating humankind. This is the sorrow of God and the lament of all things.
The Heart of God, Who Was Calling for Fallen Adam
The happiness and hope of humankind, who should have enjoyed their life centering on the ideology of eternal goodness, was cut off at this point. God and humankind should have enjoyed eternal joy and peace centering on the eternal ideology. Yet the hope of the Creator and of all things has been fundamentally destroyed. We must realize deep inside that this is where the sorrow of God and of humankind can be found.
When God created all things, He poured out all His heart and soul. You know very well through the Divine Principle that He poured out all His energy, especially when He was creating Adam and Eve. Through exhausting toil, God created them as the temple where He could dwell.
When God created all things, it was for the sake of letting them live with humankind for eternity. It was done so that God could be happy when people were happy. God established this purpose of creation. Because of the fall of Adam, God could not experience even a moment of this joy. You must keep in mind that this is the reason God is trying to re-create this time again.
You must fathom the painful heart of God who called out to Adam, "Adam, Adam," after Adam and Eve fell. God was in the position to abandon Adam and Eve, who had abandoned Him, the Creator, but God looked for Adam, calling out, "Adam, Adam!" We must realize that God was not just calling for the two people, Adam and Eve. It was a historical calling.
Until today, people on earth have been ignorant of the internal heart of God who called out to Adam after the creation. The voice that called out to Adam, at that time, became the words of sorrow that represent the 6,000-year history of grief today. We have to understand that God called Adam with the sorrowful heart that represented all the grief inside the fallen realm after the creation of the world. Although 6,000 years of long history have passed since Adam, we have to know that God is connecting the events of that time to the present era and is calling out to us, the second Adam and Eve, in the same manner.
The people of faith who have served the will of the dispensation after the fall have mourned for the earth that cannot hear the voice of God calling for Adam and Eve. They grieved on God's behalf because they could feel this heart.
We must realize the distressed heart of God, who was calling for Adam and Eve after the fall. This was the heart of the Father who felt indescribably heartbroken when He saw that Adam had entered the forbidden place and fallen. When we grab onto that heart and mourn with the same heart, God can continue again in His dispensation of restoration toward people on the earth. You must never forget that God has been calling out to you by setting up countless prophets and saints throughout the course of history until now.
The voice calling out to fallen Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is still heard today. After the fall, for 1,600 long years of history, God called for Adam with the same ardent heart. Clinging to the one person, Noah, who could remain loyal to Heaven, He was finally able to call out, "Noah! Noah!" You must learn to listen to this historical voice.
The Ancestors Who Suffered in Order to Liberate God
God called Noah in order to be liberated from the bitter heart, which was broken when Adam and Eve fell. However, was there anyone who fathomed the heart of the Father? There was no one on earth who knew that God worried for 120 years after calling Noah for the sake of the one day when the grief would be removed. If there are those among you who have experienced the heart of God that grieved after losing Adam and Eve, then you will not be able to relate to God without shedding tears.
Adam should have remained in the position of the blessing. If there is someone on the earth who feels the mourning heart of God at the time that Adam was chased out from the bosom of God, then he must repent before God on behalf of Adam.
The sorrow of Heaven began from the fall of Adam. God felt a deep bitterness because of this. He is pleading and appealing to you out of grief, even at this moment. If we understand this fact, then we will not feel satisfied, even if we cry and mourn until our bones, flesh, mind and body are deeply pierced.
Among the prophets and saints who came in the course of history, among the ancestors who stepped forward on behalf of God, there is none who shed tears of sorrow. Those who represented God did not avoid the path of suffering. This was what Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did. This was true for them as individuals, and it was true even for Moses, who represented the people. It was true also for Jesus, who came on behalf of the world, the Savior of all people.
Today we must mourn to the same degree that God mourns. When God feels highly indignant, we must simultaneously feel indignant.
Adam and Eve forgot God. After abandoning God, they tried to seek joy centered only on themselves. This has been left behind during history as a condition of sadness. This mournful earth was created from the selfish actions of Adam and Eve, who betrayed the will of God and neglected the heavenly principles. The sorrow of God began when humankind neglected the sorrow and indignation of Heaven and sought satisfaction and comfort for themselves. Therefore, we must become the fruit of the tears, shed by the prophets and saints who came during the course of history.
We must become the representative of Heaven who suffers hardships and agony. Coming to know about the sorrow, grudges and distress of Heaven, we must battle with evil. While doing so, we must fulfill our mission of supporting the Father, Jesus, the historical prophets and saints, and comforting Heaven. The Father must be looking for this kind of person. All of our ancestors, who have lived on the earth, also have been seeking this kind of person.
Ladies and gentlemen, in the new life that you are now leading after clearing away your life until now, how many hours have you suffered the rejection and ridicule of all people, in place of Heaven, from a position of hardship? Because fallen humanity is living in the sad course of fateful history, people who seek Heaven cannot avoid this kind of path. This is the ironclad rule of the fallen world.
Therefore, in the course of history, God was the God of those who mourned. While He was unfolding the will of the dispensation, God grieved while watching His sons and daughters being violated by the evil forces. However, God does not want to always live in sorrow. You have to understand that it is the hope of God to be liberated from sorrow, grief and distress and usher in the day of joy as soon as possible.
Although 6,000 years of history have passed since the fall of man, until today there was not even one son and daughter who could usher in the one day of hope and sing the glory of Heaven together. Consequently, the Christianity that God raised is a religion of tears. Christianity is the religion of the cross.
The Path Jesus Walked and the Path the Chosen People Walked
Before the footsteps of Jesus Christ, who was driven out by the Israelites, there lay the path of the valley of tears, the path of the cross. Jesus was ostracized by his family and chased out by Judaism. Jesus Christ was accused of being a cult figure and was chased out by the Israelites and the entire nation of Israel. Fathoming his situation and heart, we can understand that the path he walked was for the sake of the Israelites and his tribe. The path the Israelites took and the path Jesus took were opposites. The greater the gap between the two, the greater the sorrow and bitterness of God. You have to understand that the course of faith during the 2,000 years after Jesus was a history of conflict carried on to turn these contradictory paths into reciprocal ones.
Please set yourself in the middle of all things of creation. After dividing your mind and body, please make a comparison and criticism. Please be criticized before God. Be criticized before the prophets and saints of history and before the true shepherds, who are persevering through the path of sorrow and pain despite the tears they shed. You will not have anything to boast about. The more you think about it, the more you will not be able to deny that you deserve to face the repercussions of sin.
Our countless ancestors have passed through the altar of a history of blood and tears. Today God is trying to place you on top of the altar and establish you as the fruit of the victory. If you turn away from the will without knowing this, where will this people go? Where did the tribe that opposed God's chosen Abraham go? Where did the Israelites who did not feel pain in their heart with Isaac and Jacob go? They had to struggle in misery. They fell into sorrow and lament.
Moreover, how was it at the time of Moses? The ignorant people did not understand the distressed and burning heart of Moses who climbed Mt. Sinai and appealed to Heaven for forty days without eating anything, for the sake of the people. If the people had understood his distressed heart and shared his grief, they would not have fallen down in the wilderness. They would not have made conditions to allow the nation of Israel to later subject Jesus to the cross. Moreover, the history of sin would not have continued until today. Because this was not done, the suffering of God was indescribably great. Until now, God has been walking the path of the cross and has been establishing religions throughout history.
If we are to leave something behind in history of which we can be proud, then to represent the heart of God, we must be able to say, "Oh Father! Please hand that sorrow over to me." The people who step forward praying, "We will shoulder the burden that God is bearing," will not decline. However, if an individual, society or a nation does not understand the sorrow, indignation and hardships of God, then it will decline. It is the same for all.
If the faithful people of the Last Days understand this historical tradition and provide the protection, feeling this sense of responsibility, they must then partake in the sorrow of God and shed endless tears of which others are not aware. They must receive the persecution of which others are not aware. Even as they are suffering the pain of which others are not aware, they must never make excuses for themselves. Jesus was this kind of person. How many people in the world can follow his example?
If there are the sons and daughters of God among these people, who walk the path through which they can receive the blessing of God and judge sins on behalf of all humanity and the world, then God's statesmanship will be transferred to them. The universal mission will also be fulfilled through them.
Therefore, we must shed tears on behalf of the sorrow of God. We must shed tears for the sake of humanity, whom the Father loves. We must shed tears on behalf of the sorrow of Noah. We must shed tears on behalf of the sorrow of the 6,000 years, which include the 4,000 years from Adam to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, to Moses, to Jesus, and the 2,000 years since Jesus.
If there is someone who can respond, "Father, I am here," to the voice of God, who is calling out for His sons and daughters on the earth, then even if his hands are ugly, his heart has been wounded and his appearance is humble, he will never perish. This is because he can represent the sorrow of God and his heart can connect with the heart of Heaven. The basic rule of the heavenly principles is that the path he is walking cannot be blocked even if the whole world is mobilized. Because Jesus understood this kind of basic principle, he mourned for the sake of the Israelites who betrayed him. He shed tears for the sect that persecuted him. He wished blessings upon the enemies who were putting him on the cross.
The Qualifications to Stand Before God
If the people of faith today are trying to stand as the bride before Heaven and Jesus, the bridegroom, yet have not experienced the sad heart that Jesus and the prophets and saints of the past felt, then they must repent. Despite the fact that sons and daughters must emerge, who know how to mourn over Heaven, the nation and the world, if people are seeking happiness even as God is mourning, they will surely be ruined. This kind of nation will come to ruin.
God has been calling for you through the countless prophets and saints during the thousands of years of the course of history. For those of you who are receiving the grace of God, today is the time when you must look back on your past, examine what kind of attitude you have and what position you are in, and make a cold appraisal.
What is God prophesying to the world by raising us? The time when we can shed tears for ourselves has passed. Since now is the time of a world ideology, the time when we can shed tears for the family has also passed. The sorrow of God has passed through the stages of the individual, family, society and people and has even passed the national course. Now God mourns for the world.
Each of you stands in the position of Adam and Eve, who lived in the Garden of Eden. Only when you become sons and daughters, whom the Father can welcome with outstretched arms, can you finally stand before the Father, Who has been calling out to you with an ardent heart. To do that, you must climb over all the hills of sorrow, pass through all paths of the cross and, as a free and liberated person, be able to attend the eternal Father saying, "My Father." When these sons and daughters emerge, God's joy will begin. This was the historical hope. The day this hope is realized is the day of the Second Advent. Christianity is supposed to play the central role in actualizing this.
You must never turn away from the historical calling. You have to understand that God does not call human beings only at the end of history. He is calling us even now. There are many denominations in the world of the truth that has progressed centering on goodness until now. Now the time has come when we must find, among them, the true shepherd who is connected to the heavenly principles. Those who are stepping forward to walk any kind of path of death and tribulation to meet and follow the shepherd must first partake in the grief of Heaven.
The leaders of the religious world today must understand this situation of Heaven. If, on the contrary, they assert only their own views and fight with each other, their denominations will decline.
You who have embarked upon a path that is different from others must, for the sake of the people, bring an end to the works of the fall that have come down from the ancestors. You must wish for one person to appear who can help you go before God. You must know that the day this hope is realized is the day of the Second Advent.
Not having the sons and daughters whom He can bless and rejoice over is God's grief and sorrow. Not having a kingdom centered upon Him is God's sorrow. Not having a people centered on Him is God's sorrow. Not having a country and a world centered on Him is God's sorrow.
You have to understand what God wants in raising you. You have to understand that He is watching over you while He is feeling the deep distress of the past, present and the future.
Whom is God going to choose and elect as the heir of Abraham? To whom is He going to transfer the blessing of Israel and Jacob? To whom is He going to hand over the tasks of Jesus? God's hope is to find the one person who can fulfill this. This remains as the condition that must be set in this era.
The Path of the People Who Have Received the Royal Summons
When we look back at human history, we can know that for 6,000 years, God has been unspeakably sorrowful. As it was for Jesus, the Holy Spirit and our ancestors, there has come a time when we must take on the responsibility on their behalf and liberate God from His grief.
When we look at the corruption of this era, we can understand that before us lies the historical, fateful path of Golgotha on the level of the people, which we must cross over with tears. It is our inescapable fate to walk through this path. It is the will of the dispensation that we leave victorious accomplishments here. When we look at the history of the dispensation, we can fathom the heart of God, Who mourned over humanity in the past, is mourning in the present, and even for the future.
When Israel ostracized Moses, who was responsible for them as a people, Israel broke apart. When Israel ostracized Jesus, who came with the responsibility for the world, Israel became a people who had to wander all around the world. This is a fact of history.
Although our people do not have anything of which to be proud, if we become a pitiful people before the world centering on Heaven, in other words, if this nation stands in a position more miserable than any other nation on behalf of the world, there can be hope here. If we shed sad tears while starving and lamenting for the world in that kind of position, we can come alive again, even from death. This people will lead the world in the future if that takes place.
We must protect the path Jesus walked with a humble attitude. Protecting the path Moses walked, we must climb over the historical hill and bring an end to the inadequate past on behalf of the position of the first Adam and Eve. We must attain again the original ideology of the creation. We must usher in the day when we become the sons and daughters to which God can relate in joy and receive the blessing and glory of the Father in harmony with all things. Only then can we enter the Kingdom of Heaven. After you overcome all historical sorrows and pass over the hill of sadness, you can finally participate in God's joy.
Excerpt from "Summary of Sermons" Vol. 28.
