Romans 8:12-27
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea
Prayer
Father, we know that You need not speak many words to those of us You have gathered here today. All we need is the heartfelt desire to be embraced in the Father's bosom. We know that when You call us, "My beloved sons and daughters" with a heart of longing which springs forth from the depth of Your being, we can be filled completely. This is the moment when liberation is completed.
Father, when we hear Your heavenly voice, let us be fully intoxicated in Your loving heart. You know that we long for the moment when we can be overwhelmed by a heart of longing and can transcend our conscious thoughts to be embraced in Your bosom. Please grant us such a blessing.
We pray sincerely that You will guide us not to understand Heaven through the words we will receive, but rather to understand Heaven through the deepest part of our hearts. Please lead us not to seek salvation through the words. Rather, guide us to sing songs of life before the Father with our hearts. In this way, please allow us to understand how arduous and painful the Father's path has been. Let us humbly bow our heads and offer You consolation.
If we possess anything valuable, please lead us not to keep it as our own. If we possess anything worthy of pride, please lead us not to consider that the source of our pride.
If we have a goal in our life, guide us to seek it with our hearts. If there is to be some substance to our life, please let our one heart be that substance.
Many people have come before the Father. Please guide them to find on their own who they live for, what purpose they live for, and in what direction they are heading. These pitiful ones have no master to claim them. We know that if someone can be recognized as one whom others want to share their hearts with eternally, there can be no greater joy.
Father. We have come to realize that the Father who calls us with the heart of eternal life, the eternal ideology, and eternal love dwells within our hearts. What belongs to the Father belongs to us and what belongs to us belongs to the Father. The Father longs for sons and daughters who can sing and rejoice based on one ideology. We yearn for the time when, after serving the Father and offering all glorious elements to the Father, we can rejoice and be proud before all of Heaven and earth.
Father, You understand all this. Please connect our hearts and move everything of the past, both in Heaven and on earth, and bring them into harmony in the world of heart. Please allow this to be a moment when we can make a firm determination in a state of surpassing joy. May that determination bring glory.
I am about to give the words of truth. I do not want to convey just the contents of the words. Please work through me to convey Your words and let us fathom the heart of the Father and discover our true selves.
We know that Satan works to put a gap between the heart of the speaker and the hearts of the listeners. Therefore, please let this be an hour when we can unite in one heart and serve the Father together. I prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The title of the speech I am about to give is "The True Sons and Daughters of Heavenly Father Who Will Remain in the Last Days."
To Become True Sons and Daughters of God
No matter how great one's power, how lofty one's character, or how much glory one may possess, there is not even one person who can confidently claim he or she is the true son or daughter of God. This is true of all humanity. To become a true son or daughter, one has to have true parents. One has to go through the relationship of a true family and possess some quality of being connected to true brothers and sisters. Otherwise, one cannot create the environment of a son or daughter and cannot stand in that position.
If God exists and has been carrying on a providence, what is the ultimate purpose He has been seeking? It is none other than to find someone He can call "My true son" and "My true daughter." God's ultimate purpose is to usher in the day when He can stand connected to this true son and true daughter through the eternal heart, linked to all relationships of the world. He wants to share the words "Father" and "sons and daughters." We must understand that God is longing for that day.
If there is a Creator, the origin of the universe and the center of the entire existing world, the ideal world that this center desires is not some phenomenal world on this earth. The world that God desires is not some conceptual world in Heaven or some external world. The world He desires is a place where everything is in the flow of love, which moves the relationships of the heart, where people can be called sons and daughters of God. Therefore, no matter how great God is, even if He is the Creator and an absolute being, He hopes for people with such qualities.
History seeks what is true. It pursues true people, a true nation, and a true world. We all have the desire to become true people.
Then what relationship among relationships sets the standard? It is the parent-child relationship between God and human beings. The heart which originates from this relationship will not be conquered by any power; it is eternal, unchanging and unique. The power of this heart is absolute. Therefore, when one emerges with this authority, all existing beings will have to bow before him in humility. When one acts with this authority of the heart, all of Heaven and earth will follow. This is the iron-clad rule of the universe. If this is not true, the purpose that we deeply cherish cannot be realized, and the one absolute relationship cannot be achieved.
For this reason, no matter how lofty and great God may be, His greatest sorrow is not having seen the day when He can call people His own sons and daughters. If people are created through these heavenly relationships, the failure to raise up such sons and daughters is the source of greatest sorrow. This is also the greatest sorrow of humanity.
If God has true sons and daughters whom He can call His own, that by calling them He can forget the toils of the past six thousand years and all the grief of the past, then this will be the beginning of the liberation of Heaven. Humanity will finally then be able to sing the song of joy. We should predict the coming of such a time.
If there is a last day for humanity and the heavenly principles, what kind of day should it be? That should be a day when God can pronounce to human beings, "You are my true sons and daughters whom I cannot deny for eternity. My sons and daughters, now all my grief has been alleviated." It should be a day when God can comfort you and rejoice with you with an open and free heart. Only when such a day comes, only when such sons and daughters appear on earth, will the new ideal world begin.
However, until now there has not been such a son or daughter. We have not been able to establish a day when the relationship of true sons and daughters can be secured. Those in whom God can take pride as His true sons and daughters have not yet appeared. Unless such people appear, God's will and the hope of humanity cannot be fulfilled.
The Toil of God and the Mission of Religion in Finding True Sons and Daughters
We know that we are fallen descendants. No matter how great a person of this world may be, no matter how much one may boast of one's tradition and one's contributions to history, these are no more than the pride of fallen descendants. Even if one is full of confidence and commands the power to penetrate the sky from the earth, that is still no more than the power of a fallen descendant. Because people are so bound and dwell within an environment which is unacceptable to God, the human world is a sinful world which stands opposed to Heaven. People are sinful, and this is a sinful world. You all understand this very well.
The true sons and daughters of God are of the highest goodness and loftiness. We who live on the earth are infinitely evil and lowly. How can this gap be bridged? The purpose of God's work of salvation is to eliminate this gap. In order to bridge this gap and bring these two together, God has been working hard for six thousand years. Even though human beings were unaware of it, God has continued on a bloody struggle on the hidden side of history.
No one reflects upon how one can pay back this toil of Heaven. No one is looking up to Heaven with deep bitterness for Heaven's struggles.
What is prophesied by those who use the name of religion, or a leader who claims to be religious? They teach us to understand the content of God's work in history through the course of our lives and to build a relationship with God in heart through our own feelings.
However, religious people have ignored or forgotten the relationships which connect hearts to hearts and are attached to the phenomena which are manifested outwardly. The great task of religion has been to become free from the fallen relationships and get in touch with the world of the heart. This is to possess the heart upon which God has been holding onto humanity and has persevered through all sorrows and pain and has fought against all the suffering in history. However, religions have failed to reach this state and carry on the work to complete human history and connect the hearts of all people.
So sincere is Heaven's desire to find true sons and daughters, He longs for true sons more and more as He passes through each generation with an aching heart. This is how He has been toiling for the sake of humanity.
In order to fulfill this one purpose, God has raised up an individual, a family, a people, a nation, and a central worldwide teaching. He has carried on His providence centering on them. God has labored so arduously for the sake of accomplishing this one purpose. In spite of this, the Israelites, who should have been responsible to accomplish this purpose, all disappeared. The 600,000 Israelites God led out of the Pharaoh's palace disappeared into nowhere. This was also the case with Noah's family, in whom God invested 120 years of sweat and tears. The same was true with the altar of Abel. All disappeared into nowhere.
As we understand history and the providential will of God more deeply, we can fathom how deep God's sorrow is. God's ideology should begin with an individual and expand out through a family, a people, a nation, a world, and the universe centered on true sons and daughters. Even though this is the ideal deep inside of God's heart, no one on earth can say, "I am a true son who can fathom God's eternal heart." No one can say, "I am an eternal daughter who can comfort God's heart and liberate Him from His sorrows." There is no family, people, nation, or world which can serve God centering on such sons and daughters.
The Last Days and the Returning Christ
What is the purpose God is seeking? The mission of restoration that we know today is to connect children of goodness to a family, a people, a nation, a world and a universe. Accomplishing this mission is the work of salvation, the will of the providence, and the purpose of Heaven's principles. We should understand this.
We often say that these are the Last Days. What kind of time is the Last Days? It is a time when true sons and daughters appear and govern all the Heavens and earth according to the laws of Heaven. The Last Days is the time when these sons and daughters appear and alleviate all the historical bitterness. They bring an end to the history of sorrow and pain and realize the one day when people can sing of joy and happiness. It is such a watershed time.
Who do people say will come in the Last Days? The Bible states it clearly. It says that the Lord will come. Who is the Lord? He is the returning Christ. Who will the returning Christ be? He is someone whom God has sought by mobilizing all the forces in Heaven and earth. He is someone to whom God can say, "You are my son who can live in my heart, my body, and in the world I created for eternity."
Before he passed away, Jesus taught us that he was the bridegroom and we are his brides. These words foretell that with the appearance of the Lord who can become God's son, there must also emerge on the earth brides who can become God's daughters. In this way, sons and daughters will live together, and they will live together with God who has been seeking them. In that moment, the position of true sons and daughters is not limited. It is a day when the world which comes into relationship with these sons and daughters will be mobilized at once and praise Heaven.
What should humanity pray for before God, who has been persevering together with humanity, mourning with humanity, and who fought alongside humanity? It is, "God, please let there appear the true son for whom You have been longing." What kind of person is that true son? He is someone who is worthy of being the true son and a true bridegroom. He will seek for a true bride to become the True Parents of humanity.
God has been working in history to bring the people to the true son and daughter and connect them together. This is God's work of salvation.
In the Bible verse that we read today, it is written, "Since you have received the spirit of adopted sons, you call God Father," and "we who received the first fruits of the Holy Spirit wait to become adopted children." From this we can deduce that no matter how devout a person on earth may be, at most he can only become an adopted son before Heaven. In what form will the son of Heaven appear? There are those who are not sons, and there are adopted sons and true sons. Isn't this true in this world? There are sons who are not our own sons. When we don't have our own sons, we may have adopted sons who will carry on the lineage. Then there are the true sons. The same principle is at work in Heaven and earth.
In this land today, confusion arises from the intersection and collision of good and evil. This makes what is true appear false and what is false appear true. This is the reality. Heaven has been passing through history with the determination and heartfelt desire of finding true sons and daughters. Yet who are the true sons and daughters on the earth? People do not know. Probably no one knows. God has to raise up those who are not His sons in this world as His adopted sons and then bring them up further as children of His direct lineage. This is the work of God's providence of restoration.
The relationship of a son has to be built through the lineage. Only when one's own lineage is directly connected or when the lineages of one's father or ancestors is connected may one use the words "sons and daughters." This is how it is in this world. The same is true for Heaven's principles.
From the moment Adam and Eve were created as the first ancestors of humanity, God's heart should have flown through their bone marrow and come together in one point of unity. All of God's ideals should have been manifested in them. If this had been accomplished, we would have become children of God's direct lineage. However, due to the Fall, we have become related to another, undesirable lineage. Therefore, no matter how great we may think we are, we can only become adopted children who have a different lineage. No matter how many efforts one may have made for the sake of the providential will, and even if one were to bring another person's son and carry on the lineage, the most one can do is to fulfill it through an adopted son. This has been the core of the providence of restoration in the New Testament, which Jesus has been guiding until today, based upon the Gospel.
Can God call these adopted sons His own true children? That is not possible. The same is true in the outside world. When someone who has suffered through some pain and grievances shares his feelings with another person, that second person can only imagine how he feels, unless he is fully connected to the heart of the first person. Another person may say, "That is probably how it feels." Yet another person may question, "Is that how it feels?" But someone who has experienced the same thing and is connected in heart will feel the same pain in his heart as he listens to the other person share his sufferings. Only then can you say they are in the same position. Don't you think this is true?
The Hope of Humanity and the Purpose for Which Jesus Returns
What does humanity hope for? It is to do away with this notion of being an adopted son before God and become the true children of His direct lineage. This is the ultimate purpose which humanity wants and history pursues; this is the central purpose of God, who has been fulfilling the providential will. Only then can we say that the purpose of salvation has been achieved and the providence of salvation brought to a conclusion.
If the almighty God, the origin and center of love, loves us as adopted sons, we do not want that kind of love. We seek to become sons and daughters who can penetrate deep into the core of His heart.
No matter how religious one's life may be, and even if one calls God his father, there are many different kinds of fathers. Some will call Him "Father" from a position of not being His son. Some may call Him "Father" from the position of an adopted son. However, what is the ultimate purpose which Heaven demands, which will not disappear until the end? It is not to have an adopted son but to have true sons and daughters of the direct lineage. This stands above and beyond the position of an adopted son.
In the Bible, it is written that Jesus restores the relationship of an adopted son. Even if the world is satisfied with achieving only that, this salvation cannot be complete. Many Christians have passed away to the next world, but the Paradise they went to is only a waiting room before entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, the reason Jesus said that he would return was not to make us adopted sons but to forge direct relationships.
God longs for sons and daughters who are one with Him in heart, who do not act based on lessons or commands but who act and build relationships based on the manifestation.
For this reason, even the saints and sages of the past did not attain their ideal if they were not worthy of calling God their father and if God could not call them His own son or daughter. You have to understand this clearly.
This is what is unique about Christianity. Jesus called God his own father and proclaimed himself God's only son. Jesus was the incarnation. He established the one standard to pierce through the core of Heaven and the foundation of the universe, and to conquer the world of the heart. From this we can understand that Jesus was the Messiah for all people.
What is the Messiah or savior? He is someone who can be the standard to save people who dwell in the realm of death. Therefore, if there is something unique and worthy of pride that Christianity possesses it is this. When the relationship of parent-child is forged with God, no matter how lofty God is, even if He is the absolute subject partner of goodness, He is our Father. Then what belongs to God belongs to us, and we will belong to God. This is the highest hope of humanity. Even if God has been relating to people with the highest standard of love, if He cannot guide humanity to the destination of that love, He must be false. If He cannot do this, then we can only conclude that God has guided the providence only to satisfy His own desires and greed, not for the sake of establishing the ideal of human beings and for everyone's sake. For this reason, God seeks true sons and daughters.
The Reason God Seeks True Sons and Daughters
When we examine the sixty-six books of the Bible, we find that St. Paul spoke about this issue. By believing in Jesus, who passed away with no relationship with sin, we can receive the benefit of being adopted sons. However, this was not the ultimate purpose for which Jesus came.
God's intention in sending Jesus was that humanity be connected to God's true son, Jesus, and that they be engrafted onto him. Jesus said in the Bible, "I am the vine and you are the branches." In this way, God intended to have the people living in the satanic world (who are not His children) pass through the stage of being His adopted sons and eventually become His direct children. Yet, because the people of his time did not believe, Jesus could not teach them how to become God's direct children. He was able to explain only how to become His adopted children.
Why do we await the coming Lord? Why does humanity in Heaven and on earth await the day of Jesus' return? No matter how great one may be, everyone is at most an adopted son of God. Christ is to return with the mission of establishing the relationship of the heart with which people can become God's direct children. Hence, it is only natural that all people in Heaven and earth would await that day. We should understand Jesus, who came with this mission.
What kind of day is the day of the Second Advent to those of us who are awaiting the day of the returning Lord? We cherish the idea of the bride and struggle to realize that purpose. That day is a day when God can reveal all the tribulations He has gone through during the past six thousand years; a day when He forgets all the sorrows and sufferings of the six thousand years. When God beholds His son whom He has been seeking so ardently, all His sorrows, suffering and grief will disappear. He will be able to say, "My son, welcome." That is the day Heaven has waited for and humanity on the earth has yearned for throughout the long course of history.
We can emerge as the masters of creation, the masters of the true garden that God blessed Adam and Eve with before their Fall, when we step beyond the limit of being adopted children and come forward with the authority to claim the position of God's direct children. Then we can claim that the Father's Kingdom of Heaven is our own Kingdom of Heaven and that we can govern the world that the Father governs.
Even if we were to govern all things in creation, if we lack some quality through which we can connect with them, they will be unwilling to be ruled by us. True sons and daughters should be able to alleviate all the historical bitterness. For this reason it is written in the Bible, "The creation awaits the day when God's sons will appear." The creation does not want those who are not recognized as true sons and daughters. Thus, today we must persevere through the course to remove all of Heaven's sorrows and bitter grief.
What Position Do You Stand In?
What should we do in this time which everyone says is the Last Days? This is the crucial question. Ladies and gentlemen. Please examine yourselves. What position do you stand in? Do you truly have a relationship of heart with Heaven, such that when the Father acts, you act together with Him? When the Father stops, do you stop? When the Father mourns, do you mourn with Him? When the Father rejoices, do you rejoice together? Even if you do not share the same body, do you have the inner content through which you can connect with the world of the heart? Do you have such a relationship?
No matter how grandiose your external environment may be, if you do not have the right heart, they are all ephemeral things which will one day disappear. This is true in this world. No matter how priceless the possessions of your beloved sons and daughters may be, if they die, their belongings have no value.
We have learned that becoming true sons and daughters through the relationship of the heart is the highest purpose that Heaven and humanity can pursue. Given this, please examine yourselves critically as to which stage you have progressed to. Our lives revolve around the work of liberation, through which we must become true sons and daughters. It is undeniable that our heavenly fate compels us to walk this path.
How can we explain our course on this path? There is only one way to go around it. We are to center on God's heart. For this reason, you should objectively criticize the state of your heart. This is a time when you should do this.
Given that this is the direction Heaven is heading in and that such is the day the Father desires, what state have you reached? If you have reached the state of true sons and daughters where your hearts are connected, you have no need for prayers. You just have to call out "Father," and you will be overwhelmed with such a shock that will shake your flesh and blood. The heart of the Father will pierce through your heart. Had we attained this state, we would have been able to resolve all grief stemming from the Fall, and we would not be able to commit any of the wrong doings of the sinful world.
When I think about how, after understanding history and the sorrowful heart of God, I have struggled so hard to sever all ties of sin which have brought God so much pain, I feel dreadful. What kind of feeling have you felt? Please criticize yourselves. How close have you come to qualifying as the ideal son before God, who has been searching for children with this relationship of heart? If you do not know whether or not you have a relationship of heart, you certainly are not worthy of being a son. Someone who is qualified to be an adopted son should at least understand the suffering of his father superficially, even if he does not understand the whole story. Even if he cannot feel it as his own experience, even if he cannot assert it in his heart, he should at least be able to empathize. Have you reached that state at least?
Jesus came as the true father of humanity and the true son of God, yet he died on the cross. He probably came with the one determination which God had toward human beings for four thousand years. Every limb and organ of Jesus' body represented the ideal which Heaven had tried to realize through human beings for four thousand years. He was the true son God searched for with yearning. Therefore, Jesus' eyes represented the eyes of God for four thousand years. His ears represented the ears of God for four thousand years. His mouth represented the mouth of God for four thousand years. The same must have been true of Jesus' feelings and body. He was the culmination of history and an historical incarnation. Hence, Jesus said, "I came to complete the law." The law's purpose was the same as his.
What Kind of Man Was Jesus?
When Jesus looked at Israel, the Jews and Judaism, he grieved. Although they had been under the realm of God's love for four thousand years, now they had become a nation, a people and a religion which God could no longer embrace or love. Although they had walked a four-thousand-year history of close relationship with God, they failed to recognize Jesus, who came as the master of the four-thousand-year history.
How could this be? The people of that time did not know. They were ignorant. The Israelites who were living in the last chapter of the four-thousand- year history should have felt that they were in the part of the realm of God's love where Adam and Eve were just before their Fall. If God's providence is one of restoration, and restoration means to recover something that has been lost, what is God trying to recover? God is trying to restore His lost sons and daughters. He is looking for His lost Adam and Eve.
Though you are gathered here today, you who are living in the Last Days need ancestors who will fight with Satan for six thousand years without being killed. In other words, you need ancestors who can overcome the connections of the Fall and attain the authority of victory and go before the Father with pride. Although Adam should have become the good ancestor, he died due to the Fall, and God has been exerting Himself for the six thousand years since Adam in order to find a person on the earth who is not fallen.
Christianity describes Jesus in various ways. However, when you understand the truth, you will find that many of them are not true. We have rejected them and have made a firm determination. There are true and false, and there are what appears to be true and what appears to be false.
The True Son God Is Trying to Raise Up
What do we mean when we say that we have not understood Jesus accurately nor served him properly? Ever since Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden and could not grow up inside God's bosom, Jesus was able to appear before Israel only after four thousand years of fierce battle with Satan. Yet the Jews did not understand this. If the Jews of that time had submitted themselves to Jesus, the failures of Moses during the Exodus, the failures of Noah's family, the failures of Abraham's family, and the murder of Abel could have been all corrected as victories. Jesus embodies such tremendous value. He was the living incarnation of history. He was the living incarnation whom God had been seeking throughout the four thousand years of His providence. Although Adam died, since the heart of the Father who had been raising him up did not die, that was the living incarnation.
In the last days, many people will come forward with the teaching that they are the center of the universe. However, what is the purpose of the providence of God who has been working through the six thousand years? It is recovering what was lost. What kind of man is Jesus, who was sent due to Adam's mistake? He is the second Adam. Christians claim that Jesus is God Himself, but they are mistaken. It is written in the Bible that Jesus is the last Adam.
The true son whom God is seeking now is the third Adam. Before the third Adam can stand in the position of the true son, it does no good to claim to be a bride or an adopted son. Although Jesus came with the glory of a son, he could not play the role of a son. In order to act as one, all the necessary preparations must be completed in Heaven. Then it is not enough to have just a son. The preparations can be complete only when there is a bride.
What was lost in the Garden of Eden? Adam and Eve were lost. Adam and Eve were to become the true ancestors of humanity. However, because the true ancestors of humanity were lost, the true ancestors must be restored.
Jesus is in the position of a father. He is like the father of humanity. The Holy Spirit is a mother spirit, the mother of humanity. The purpose of the Second Advent is to manifest substantially on the earth the true mother and true father.
The Last Days are when true sons and daughters appear before humanity. What kind of time is that? Since we have become the descendants of the Fall and have lost the linear relationship with true parents when we lost the true ancestors, the Last Days are the time when the reverse path is taken and the sons and daughters lost in the Garden of Eden are to be recovered. God's work is to forge relationships with a reversal process, the work of restoration, to elevate people to the position of adopted children. If you think that what I am saying is wrong, then go to the spirit world and protest. If you were to ask, "So and so said this, but is this true?" then they would reassure you that it is true.
The time of fantastic and illusory notions of faith has passed. The time of believing in a conceptual God and living under such concepts is also behind us. You should attain a certain standard where your flesh, bones and heart come together in oneness so that you can call God your father and be able to boast of the father-son relationship after connecting your heart to the heart of the Father, who has been exerting Himself for six thousand years.
Humanity, which is seeking Heaven and the world of purpose, should walk this path. For this reason in the East they have advocated Confucian ethics: give all of your heart and soul for Heaven, exert yourself for the sake of your parents, become a patriot, and uphold chastity in order to build heavenly relationships in your immediate environment. In the East, people upheld internal trends of thought, while the West is more external. It will come around to the external sphere. You wait and see.
The time of the success of the adopted children is the twentieth century up till now. The ideal world which will come is the time that the true sons and daughters will become successful. Wouldn't that be natural if God existed? The past was a time when the children of others prospered; now is the time when adopted children based in the democratic sphere centering on Christianity prosper. The time after this period is when true sons and daughters live in prosperity. That is the time of the Second Coming and the time of the ideal that Christians are waiting for.
What should we do to become true sons and daughters who can rise to such positions, whom God will seek? You should not boast about how you have been a devout believer for so many years. All those who seek happiness based on the name of Jesus, saying, "I am a minister of this church; I am a leader of that church; through my efforts so many people have come to know Jesus and follow him," are not worthy. Why? It is because during the six thousand years of the providence, God has never had one day or one moment when He was truly happy. How can a father who is so desperately seeking for true sons and daughters be happy when He has not yet found them?
In the course of history there have been a lot of people who enjoyed themselves. There have been people with power and authority who have received glory in place of God. Yet God, who has been struggling for four thousand and six thousand years, searching for His sons and daughters, never had such moments of happiness. God, who should enjoy glory and happiness, has never had such a time.
The Situation of God and the Life of Jesus
God is the lord of sorrow and pain. Although God desires to be happy and glorified, He has never had a source of joy and glory. What does He have instead? You have to understand that God is a God of sorrow and agony, burdened with the grief of the Fall and stories of pain and sadness. Isn't this true?
We think that the Kingdom of Heaven is a garden of joy, but that is not true. You go and see for yourselves. No matter how hard you look for a cause of joy, you will not find any. God, who should command all the authority to rule the world and possess only glory and joy, has lost all joy and glory, all the fruits of goodness, and the elements of the ideal. Only sorrow and anguish remain. This is truly mournful. There is nothing more grievous and sad than this in the entire universe. Those who are genuinely overcome with grief over this and call out "Father" in desperation and humility are sons and daughters close to the heart of Heaven.
Jesus came to this earth as the King of Kings. He came with the recognition from Heaven as the one with the authority of the leader. However, from the moment of his birth, he did not have even one moment of happiness. Although he appeared as the Savior for the sake of humanity on the earth and to save all people, he could not receive glory. Before he could receive glory, he had to pass through a world of agony and a path of sorrow.
Why was it so? It was because Jesus was responsible to pay indemnity for the four thousand years. To become the King of Kings, first he had to pass the qualification as the prince of sorrow and pain. Otherwise, there was no way to comfort the many spirits who had endured sorrow for Heaven while they were on earth.
For this reason, Jesus, who lived some thirty odd years with three years of public ministry, walked a sorrowful path. When he shed tears, he wandered through the valley of tears which his ancestors had shed in the past. Jesus labored arduously as he inherited the path of the people who had cried out in tears as they crossed over the hill of death, stained with the blood of the four-thousand-year history. Eventually, Jesus walked the path of the cross. Today many of us think that Jesus was a prince of love, joy and glory; he was actually a prince of agony and sorrow.
The Judgment in the Last Days
There will come a day of judgment in the last days. When the day of judgment comes, how will Heaven appear? Heaven does not say, "I have this and that element of joy and glory. Why haven't you attained similar elements?" The basis of the judgment is whether or not you understand the sorrowful and painful history of humanity and God, during which God fought fiercely for six thousand years. You have to understand that the traces of God's work can be found in this history. Those who are trying to stand before God with the glory of a son and the hopes of a daughter will be asked by Heaven how much they have mourned over this history and how much suffering they have borne. At that time, those who say "Not at all" will not receive the glory of a son.
Look. On the hands and feet of Jesus are the nail marks. On his head is the crown of thorns, and in his heart there is the wound inflicted by a spear. Although Jesus passed away, Christians today do not understand that he had to cross over the hill of death in order to alleviate God's bitter grief after becoming the prince of sorrow and anguish. Since Jesus passed the test of qualification of the heart, he appeared as the leader in the realm of the heart and spirit. What kind of savior was he? A savior of the body? No. he was the savior of the heart and spirit whom we long for from the depth of our beings, with whom we want to live for the rest of eternity. Jesus was able to become the Savior with the deepest and unchanging heart and standard of heart, based upon which he could wash away the heartaches of God and erase God's historical anguishes from human history.
Let us consider this issue once more. The Last Days are near. The Last Days will certainly come, and in those Last Days, how will Heaven conduct the judgment? You have to understand this clearly. It will surely come true. You who are devout, you who want to believe, should understand this clearly. In the last days, God will not appear smiling and filled with joy. The same will be true with the Lord. When Mary Magdalene tried to cling onto the resurrected Jesus and called out, "My Lord!" Jesus told her not to hold onto him. Why? We have to understand clearly that only after we are connected to the sorrowful heart of Jesus and pass through a course of experiencing the pains and sorrow of Heaven can we hold onto Jesus.
When you call out to the Father after having experienced sorrow and agony yourself, look upon the Father's appearance. His eyes have never stopped crying for six thousand years. His ears have never ceased hearing the mockery and criticisms of His enemies for six thousand years. His mouth could not speak the words He wanted to share for six thousand years. He was starving together with the people who were starving. The Father's hands are stained with blood and sweat. His footsteps are the same. They have crossed the steep and rough path of Golgotha many hundreds and thousands of times. The Father's body is wounded, and on Him are the marks of many beatings unjustly suffered.
Who caused all this suffering to the Father? He suffered because of pitiful humanity. Whenever we think about this, we should feel deeply sorry and repentful. When we call Him, we should have the mind-set, "A sinner like me can never erase the sufferings of the Father, even if I die many thousands of times. A sinner like me can never wipe the tears of the Father, no matter how many thousands of times I were to die." Have you ever called out to Him with such a heart? If you have not, then you should repent deeply.
The Meaning of the Verse "Bear Your Cross and Follow Me."
We fear the day of judgment and want to avoid it. Jesus proclaimed, "Love me more than you love anyone else in the world. Bear the cross and follow me." This is the first iron-clad rule. This is the most central message in the Bible and the Gospel. Only when you can say that you have substantially lived through history, experiencing the sorrow and pain of history as your own, can you stand before the judgment of God and Jesus who have been working throughout history.
Many believers today believe that on the judgment day the Lord will come and host an elaborate celebration of marriage in Heaven, in the world of glory. They are sure they will be invited. That is ridiculous. What if that does not happen? Those people will hold a grudge against God and oppose Christ when he returns.
We who are standing before the Father are the descendants of the lineage which was ruined by sinfulness in history. For this reason, even if we were trampled upon thousands of times, we should still feel humble before the toils and sorrow of God, who mourns together with history. However, because the Father's will is to push forward the providence of salvation, we have no choice but to depend on God's desire to seek us and say, "If it is possible, please have compassion toward us." If one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven without this kind of mind-set, then anyone can enter it. Nevertheless, that is not how the Kingdom is.
We who should stand before the judgment today should proclaim that God lives amidst infinite sorrow, and we should reveal the course that God has passed through in history. What is the grief of God and Jesus? It is the fact that although they are true and right, they are framed to be false and pretentious. There cannot be greater sorrow than this. What is the anguish of Jesus? It is the fact that he was blocked from walking the path to find his own children and his beloved bride. There can be no greater anguish than this. Finding one's own sons and daughters requires a path which climbs over Calvary; hence, on this earth there remain both the Golgotha of Jesus' day and the untrodden path to Golgotha on the world level.
People today understand the Second Advent as waiting for the glory of the Lord who comes to represent the glory of Heaven. However, do not expect to meet the resurrected Christ without the proper preparation. Before the resurrected Christ appears, you should remain alive and be able to climb over the hill of Golgotha on the world level, the crossroads where you have to put your mind and body as well as your life at stake. Then you should pray, "Father, do not do as I will, but as Thou will." This is why it is written that in the Last Days there will be seven years of great chaos. Those who persevere to the end will be saved.
The person who can participate in the joyful garden of the Lord as his bride is the victorious prince who overcame the pain of the six-thousand-year history. He is the prince of sorrow who can represent humanity in embracing the heart of sorrow. The Lord desires to receive such people as his brides.
In our path to grace, we must deny the elements of joy. Why? God has never had a happy moment. He was never a master over all the things that He created, and He was robbed by Satan of Adam and Eve, to whom He wanted to give His blessing and build a happy family. This is why Heaven and earth are filled with grief. How piercing God's sorrow must have been when He saw that everything He should rule over was lost to Satan's dominion, and His children and all of His creation were violated. Nevertheless, because there is no one to whom God can express His grief, He has been burning inside throughout the long history and has continually suffered pain. Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever deeply reflected upon this?
The Path that the Members of the Unification Church Should Walk
You members of the Unification Church are pitiful people. However, if you can hear the voices which Jesus or God heard during the two thousand and the six thousand years, you should be grateful. If you shed tears before the people, and if your heart aches when you behold humanity, you should be grateful. If your eyes overflow with tears in looking at humanity and you are lost in thought as to how to solve humanity's problems, you should be grateful. If you do not have enough to eat, and even when you do your throat is blocked by grief, you are truly blessed. Even when you have a difficult personal situation yet choose to remain quiet, you are truly blessed. Do you feel indignant that you cannot engage in a fierce battle with Satan even if you have hands that can take him on in a fight? Be grateful. Do you have a sorrowful heart which is patiently waiting for the one day, even if you can make brave steps forward before the expanding forces of Satan? Be grateful.
God is not found in a faraway place. When you think that God is far away, He is near you. When you feel that He is close to you, He is far away. For those who boasted that Heaven stood close to them, God was actually far away. Those who were sorry that they were far away from God did not know that God was standing next to them.
Do not grieve that your suffering is intensifying; do not mourn that you are faced with persecution. You should be able to say, "Please allow me to shoulder the sorrow that afflicts the Father's heart. Please let me shoulder the anguish that pierces the Father's heart. If I were ever to be falsely accused by Satan or be wronged by him, please allow me to take this by myself and pay indemnity for all the sorrows and pains of history." If there are sons and daughters who can call out to the Father like this and struggle with all their strength and with tearful hearts, the Father will grab them. He will do so without fail.
We do not seek glory. If there is any glory, it belongs to the Father. Sorrow and pain are all that belong to us. We should prepare our minds to digest these sorrows and pains as sources of life. You should feel embarrassed and unworthy when God says, "My child" and embraces you. Then, on the day of judgment, the day that a proclamation will be made before the sad and painful history, God's hands will seek you out even as you kneel down, unable to raise your head.
We should long for the Kingdom of Heaven while we are in a sad situation and living a painful life. We should comfort the sorrowful Lord in mournful history, comfort the Lord of suffering in painful history. If there is someone who praises God and comforts Him even as he himself suffers sorrow and pain, no one can defeat that person. This is our standard. This is the path that the members of the Unification movement should walk.
We do not need many people. We do not need great multitudes. We need people who can say, "Father, I am not the only one suffering. Humanity is suffering all over the world. How many countless people are more miserable than I," even in grief and pain. We need people who can then strive to shoulder humanity's grief as their own responsibility. This was the path Jesus walked.
Heaven has sought true sons and daughters. When you call out "Father" while you are holding the Father's hands and say, "His hands are similar to mine," or while you are looking at the Father you say, "His situation is similar to mine; His heartaches and worries are similar to what I suffered in the past," your words will eliminate all the misfortunes of history and become the decisive condition for happiness. We the members of the Unification movement, Christians, and all faithful people in the world and in Heaven should understand this.
I do not know your circumstances or your states of mind, but if you feel something deep in your heart right now, that feeling is not false. If you feel, "That is true; that is how it should be," then you should make a determination for your life based on that. You should fight based on that and fall down clinging to it. Those who do so will be qualified to become true sons and daughters of the Father who wants to embrace you in the day of judgment.
