Matthew 18:15-35
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea
There should come a time when you feel you are carrying a historical debt within yourselves. When we are born on earth, we first receive the blood and flesh of our parents. After that, our lives are benefited by the earth. Going further than that, in our minds, we begin to realize that eternal Heaven has formed a connection with us and has protected our lives thus far.
Although people of all sorts and conditions appear outwardly to be in a happy position, why are they unable to feel happiness in reality? The cause resides not in those people themselves. It is because they have a reciprocal relationship with something, yet are not able to comprehend it.
The Cause of Human Misery
What is the cause of human misery? Humankind has been using the word "happiness" without experiencing even one moment of complete enjoyment and happiness, having shed light upon the cause of human misery. Through the experience of history, we know very well that, though we have used the word "happiness," in reality, we could not experience a happy life.
Why, then, could humankind not attain happiness and satisfaction? It is because we have incurred an remarkable debt. This is the crux of the matter. Unless we clear away the burden of debt, happiness eludes the individual, the church, the state and the world.
You know very well that the history of unimaginable sorrow and struggle developed long before you were born. From the point of view of our own lives, we know very well that we live at the intersection of limitless conflict between our minds and bodies. As we come to consider our situation very carefully, we realize that we are not aware of the fact that we owe a remarkable debt before Heaven and earth. For that reason, many people, who find it unthinkable that we could indemnify the burden of that debt that our ancestors left before Heaven and the earth, conclude that we are beings of sorrow who are doomed to live with the inherited blood lineage of sin and evil.
While Heaven is struggling and striving to lead us to an ideal world, what should we do? We should acknowledge that we owe a debt before Heaven and the whole creation. We should lift our hands in supplication. We must also concede that there is no way for us to clear away the debt incurred. When we analyze ourselves, we realize that our minds and bodies, even our families, are not our own.
When will the day come when we can boast that these are ours? When can we boast before all things in nature that we are beings of immutability? This is a matter of historical importance which the whole of humankind must resolve under a common ideology. We bear a debt to our three formative parents: we owe the debt incurred to the parents of our flesh and blood; we owe the debt incurred to the land that gave our body its composition; and we owe a debt incurred to the life-connection received from Heaven. Man cannot be free of the relationships of the three formative parents. When we analyze our life, we owe debt to the land in the aspect of materials, we owe an unspeakable debt to the parents of our flesh and blood, and we owe a great debt to Heaven. Have you people, today, ever keenly felt that you owe such a debt?
When you think of this, there should be times when you realize you must bow your heads to the land. When you think of the debt incurred to your parents, you should be able to bow your heads before them also. Our minds are cloven with the debt that resulted from Heaven's struggling and striving to help us seek the eternal ideology centered on such a shimjung.
For that reason, Heaven will ask you if you ever bowed your heads and were awe-stricken by the effort Heaven has made for you. Our parents, who raised us, will ask the same. When you come to be in such a situation, the issue is whether you are ready to appear with confidence saying, "I have come forward after having cleared away all the debts that were left to me and my posterity."
Today, we should be aware that we carry such an environmental debt. Moreover, you should know that God has been toiling to awaken a person who can clear away all the historical debts that humanity bears.
Jesus Came to Clear Away the Historical Debt and Comfort Heaven
Today, you neither know nor realize that you must pay off the debt you are carrying. However, to let humankind clear off the debt they bear and be able to move forward in one direction, God, the Creator of humankind, has unfolded a providence throughout the long course of history. He has done this though humankind does not think of or even dream of having such a concern. If you come to understand God's providential dispensation as such, you should examine yourself in a probing manner to determine with what attitude of mind you should express your appreciation.
We thought Heaven was unconcerned about us. We loved ourselves and made frantic efforts for the sake of our own pleasure. Yet since the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God has toiled continuously for the long period of 6,000 years to guide humankind to break away from the history of sin and evil thrust onto us through the blood lineage and surrounding us in society. You should understand this. Because many ancestors in the course of history betrayed and rejected Heaven, God is in the position of having to chastise and punish humankind. However, on the contrary, God has been subjected to the sorrow of receiving rejection from humankind. Besides that, God could not relinquish His hold on humankind for even a moment, so He has toiled for us.
Why did Heaven go through the toilsome course of history for the benefit of humankind and for the sake of our ancestors? The reason was that if God could not help humankind restore the burden and debt through indemnity, then the efforts made by God in the toil of 6,000 years would be in vain.
The ideology of the truth that humanity had been seeking would have come to naught. If God had not put His hands to it, no one would know the result, but now that He has put His hands to it, God will surely find the person who can indemnify and clear away the historical debt humankind has incurred on this earth for 6,000 years.
God will make an effort, today and tomorrow, to enable humankind to indemnify and clear away the historical debt. Having raised a chosen people and having laid a bridge, as He endured the several thousand years of history up to this point, God tried to clear away the historical sin and debt. For that reason, God is now seeking one race of chosen people. Furthermore, God is seeking one church. At the same time, He is seeking one individual. You must feel in your minds that God is like this.
God was to govern the whole universe, intoxicated with happiness and glory. Because of whom, did His position change into one of such intricacies as these? Of course, this happened because of humankind. As you realize this, you should hold onto God and console Him. However, comforting Him from the individual dimension will not console His mind. Without having the mind that can connect to the shimjung of historical grief and the body and mind that can experience the whole dimension, you must realize that you cannot liquidate the historical sorrow and the realistic sadness that have pierced God to the very marrow.
There is a historical standard by which, one way or the other, Heaven cannot help raising one person equipped with such a mission as this, who can represent the church and the race. That is why God has toiled to seek and raise such an individual. The figure that He sought and raised up after toiling for 4,000 years was Jesus Christ.
For that reason, though Jesus Christ was only one individual, behind him was the historical connection, the connection of that period, and the connection with the future. Jesus' course was fraught with all of this, yet no one knew that. Jesus did not live for the sake of his own happiness and pleasure. He did not hope for the sake of his own glory. Departing from all such things, Jesus worried about how to clear away the historical debt that humankind had incurred over the 4,000 years.
By shielding humankind from Satan and from Satan's conditions of ridicule, Jesus attempted to seek and raise people by becoming the one triumphant figure before Heaven. You must understand that Jesus stepped forth to clear away all of that historical debt, staking his life on it.
A Point of Difference Between Jesus and the Chosen People
For that reason, though Jesus spoke for that era, he also spoke for all the people who had come and gone in the history of 4,000 years, billions of spirit people. The word that Jesus transmitted was the word for the descendants of countless numbers of generations throughout eternity in the future. Jesus spoke the word with such a conviction.
Nevertheless, though Jesus was propagating such a word, no one wanted to become a friend through connecting to Jesus' shimjung. The Israelites could not find the path they had to take. The elected chosen people, who were to be embraced in the bosom of Heaven, rejected his words. Therefore, Jesus was faced with a shimjung of unspeakable grief.
Jesus shed tears of grief which represented the shimjung of God, who had toiled for 4,000 years. Jesus was the substantial embodiment of the hope the many prophets had cherished over the course of 4,000 years. He stood in such a position that if he shed tears, the many prophets who had gone to the spirit world could not help shedding tears with him. As we think of this, we can begin to understand that our ancestors could not fulfill their responsibility before Jesus. We must realize that the historical mission to fulfill that responsibility has been left to us today, their descendants.
Jesus' viewpoint of the universe was not only to connect with the 4,000-year history, but also to be linked with the viewpoint of the world then. He was also connected with the future. However, the people of that time, who were following Jesus, tried to live with a self- centered view of life and a self-centered world view. There was a great disparity between Jesus and the way of life and thought of people of that time.
Jesus labored to indemnify all of humankind's sins and debts.
Nevertheless, he could not form a close relationship with the people who owed that debt of sin. For that reason, Jesus came to be in a grievous position, such that he could not help feeling the painful shimjung of God, who had been toiling for 4,000 years concerning the Israelites. Has this extremely difficult situation been resolved between Jesus and humankind? No, it has yet to be resolved. The one hour in which Jesus' shimjung of pain can be concluded, along with our shimjung, is the hope of God, who has labored until today. It is the hope of Jesus and our hope today. For that reason, you today must feel that the historical sorrow dwells in every cell of our beings. What is more, because we are beings who cannot ignore time identity, the sadness of the period in which we live lurks in us. Furthermore, the responsibility to resolve the resentment of the future lies within us. You must feel this.
Jesus came to this earth and shed tears to indemnify the debt of humankind. Because of that, Jesus could not help elbowing his way through the path of tears, the path of betrayal, risking his life. In addition, even after his resurrection, Jesus could not help continuing to work for the sake of humankind on the earth. Born into life on this earth, Jesus tried his utmost to alleviate humanity's historical, sorrowful shimjung.
What did Jesus wish to leave behind? Jesus tried to leave behind people who could become God's sons and daughters, people who would have resolute determination to bear the responsibility to clear away all the historical grief by putting their bitter shimjung on the line. They were to have experienced in their own bodies the traces of the tears of good people who were violated by Satan before the presence of Heaven, earth and Satan. Jesus knew that unless such true sons and daughters of God emerged, God could not help staying in an eternally miserable position. Jesus wept, knowing that the disciples who were following him and others would walk the path of martyrdom, the bloody path of Golgotha for 2,000 more years and be miserable.
The Right Attitude of Life for the One Who is Responsible for the Future
Who is responsible for the future? It is each of you today. God cannot be responsible. If God had been able to take responsibility, the long period of 6,000 years would not have been necessary. God does not carry out the responsibility and mission fully. We must carry them out today.
For that reason, Jesus came to this earth representing humankind. Centering on the soul and body, he had to liquidate all the debts of 4,000 years of history. There was not to be any debt subject to the ridicule of Satan after the time of Jesus. However, since Jesus died without being able to fulfill the will, many human beings have inherited that debt again as an unpaid burden. As you look back on this, you must realize that Jesus could not lift up his head before God and has built an altar of atonement, praying.
In this kind of situation, no matter how much one cares for oneself and tries to enjoy wealth and honors and revel in peace, he will not be able to feel happy. No matter how much one tries to satisfy himself, he cannot be content. You should know that the billions of faithful believers in Heaven and all humankind on this earth are anxiously longing for the one day when all of them can rejoice together.
Accordingly, each of you must realize that your hands cannot become tired. Behind your hands the blood which was shed in history has left its trace. What is more, even if your body may feel quick with life, you must know that this body is blotted with demerits and has been repeatedly torn. You should not just feel happy because there is something to feel happy about personally. Instead, you must know that your happiness was generated by the merit of the historical sacrifices made. On top of that, you must substantially feel that the tears and blood which Heaven shed, in the course of sacrifice, could fill the valley of this land. It all came into being because of you.
If we cannot alleviate the grief which overshadowed Jesus' life, who then will be responsible for the historical sadness that pierces the depth of God's heart? The more humans pursue the way of truth, the more awe-stricken they feel before Heaven. Because we are in a position where each has to pay off the debt individually, you must give for the sake of the individual. Furthermore, you should be able to give for the sake of Heaven. Such a course is left to you.
Accordingly, you will now feel your mind pointing you in a direction to expand further and further. The human who restrains such a mind and tries to move and live for his own sake or solely for the sake of his own family will not be forgiven. The person who moves forth, putting his own nation first, will also be struck down. That same result will apply in the case of the state. Therefore, the direction we have to take today is to become individuals who center on Heaven's ideology and expand to the level of the family and the state, and even to the level of the world. Therefore, you must now live beyond your own level as an individual, for the sake of the tribe, the people, the state and the world. Going further, you must live for the sake of the resentment which has festered during the history of the 6,000 years. Heaven seeks this kind of individual, family, nation and state.
What is the reason? God, Who created the whole of Heaven, earth and all things, is the leading character who has to govern the whole of Heaven and earth. He is not a being who merely controls one province. For that reason, to become God's sons and daughters who can call God their Father, you should at least give a thought to the world God is pursuing. You can make a connection with God only when you do that.
The many doctrines and thought systems up to this point are going through transitions. Once a united ideology is formed on the earth, this must build into a form of cosmic thought that can unite with God, the original being of the universe. This remains as the inevitable historical unifying point.
The Person Whom Jesus Will Seek
Jesus prayed at Gethsemane, "not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39) The "will" in this case included not only the ideology of the past, the present and the future; it also included the ideology of the creation.
Whenever an individual tried to stop Jesus from giving, he would cut that individual off. Whenever a family tried to stop him, he would cut off that family. If society stopped him, he cut off that society. If the state stopped him, he cut off that state. Accordingly, when the time comes when Jesus wishes to give for the sake of Heaven and earth and there happens to be something that stops him from doing it, he will cut that off.
We have stepped forth indemnifying the comprehensive will of Heaven today, hoping for the world of the ideology of Heaven. As Heaven has raised us up and loved us for 6,000 years, we must become people who possess such a mind also. We must remember that Heaven wishes each of us to become such a person.
The principle of the world is the law of give and take. Accordingly, the people of a nation who cares for the world will govern the world. When you come to the end of your life, in that fatal hour, what kind of word will you leave behind before you die? Dying on the cross after having been crucified and hounded as a heretical ringleader, Jesus said, "It is finished." (John 19:30) As Jesus fought with Satan at the risk of his life, he worried about the people of the world. Accordingly, each of you should become a person who can pray on the day you breathe your last breath, "Father, it is finished."
What kind of person will Jesus seek on this earth? He is seeking one leading character who will inherit his mission, crying out, "Father! Jesus!" who can say, "It is finished." We should open our minds and become people who do not worry for the sake of today's people of this nation, but for the sake of tomorrow's people of this nation. We should step forth as people who worry not for the sake of today's world, but for the sake of tomorrow's world. We must go a step ahead.
What is the reason? Since we have come to know the will of Heaven ahead of others, we should seek the one worldwide ideology that men on earth do not know. Accordingly, one figure has to appear who can have such a mind and step ahead, surmounting the reality. Only when he can indemnify the realistic sorrow of Heaven and tread over all things that are historically inconsistent will he be able to set up the conditions to indemnify all the perplexities of history and liquidate them. For that reason, once you penetrate the mysteries, you will come to realize that Jesus in Heaven is envious of the faithful believers of the last days. The billions of believers in the spirit world, including God, are envious of them. Besides that, this land and all human beings in the course of history are searching for this kind of person, transcending time and place.
Therefore, you must now discern if this is the time for the providential dispensation for the world or for the individual or for the people of a nation. You must also discern if it is time to live for your own sake or for the sake of something else. When you can live pursuing the cosmic heavenly kingdom ideology beyond the world and you call for God, God will then bestow the blessing of the whole world upon you. Yet because they have not scaled the hill of creating a new world, making great strides, human beings today are still under the control of history and the habitual environment leading to the present.
Who has the courage to cross over that? We do not mind walking the path of crucifixion, the path of tribulation. We should go over any kind of path. We should cross the path that Jesus Christ left, the last path of Golgotha, without dying. You should not become a person like Mary Magdalene, who was rejected when she tried to seize the resurrected Jesus. If there had been one person who could guide the way, clinging onto Jesus at the time, if there had been one true disciple on earth, we would not have found the Bible so difficult to understand. We would not have struggled in the unknown world of faith.
Be a Sacrificial Offering for the Sake of Clearing Away the Debt
You have toiled, up to this point, for the sake of your own salvation, not for the sake of God. There has been no one to date who completely indemnified his sin and about whom God could feel happy. What kind of person will he be who can comfort God by having indemnified all of his historical debt? He will be a person who toils of his own accord while belonging to the realm of the goodness of Heaven. He will not let the Father be concerned over his sin. In that sense, the more such vanguards of the new era emerge amongst the people of a nation, toiling for the sake of the will of Heaven, the better chance the people of that nation will have to take possession of Heaven's ideology of absolute authority and educate the world.
Although Jesus went through the path of crucifixion to fulfill the will of salvation, he could not comfort God completely and succeed in fulfilling the will of total salvation. For that reason, we who are faced with the last days have to attain that while we wear this physical body.
Jesus wishes the faithful believers of the last days to seek and attain the level of such a heartistic standard. He also wishes them to become people who can toil in his place. You must know that only when you become such people will you, for the first time, be able to stand before Heaven as the qualified ones who have indemnified all debts incurred throughout history. Jesus left without being able to say everything he wanted to say after coming to this earth. Jesus said, "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now." (John 16:12)
Today, in this transitional period in history, Heaven wishes to see people emerge who can, not only indemnify such an enormous debt as this, but bless the individual with God. Filled with delight and happiness, holding hands, they can bless the denomination, the people of the nation and the humanity of the world. Going further, they can bless the many spiritual beings in the spirit world. You must know this clearly.
Accordingly, you must now realize that you, the infinitesimal beings of today, have such an enormous connection with Heaven. You must also know that each of you must become a person who has the confidence to step forth as the one sacrificial being who has cleared away all the debt left before Heaven and earth. You then will meet the requirements of having indemnified all historical debts for the first time.
