Ep 406 - The Providence Of Salvation And Jesus
The Providence of Salvation and Jesus #41
We just heard a report from Tom McDevitt (about last night’s Rally of Hope).
Did you watch the “Prayer Rally for the Salvation of the Homeland” last night? Did you listen to True Mother? I was so happy to see True Mother in good health. And True Mother's words were very powerful. As soon as True Mother's words are translated into English, I will deliver them to you soon.
Today I'd like to talk about “The providence of salvation and Jesus” from True Mother Hak Ja Han Moon: An Anthology, Book 1.
Even till now, God has been unable to fulfill His purpose of creation. Humankind has had to go through such indescribable difficulties in their history as anguish, adversity, disease and famine because God was not with them. Though He desired to be with them, He could not approach them, for they were the people of a world under Satan's dominion. Over the course of history, God established innumerable religions to enlighten humankind. In the Old Testament Age, He chose the people of Israel and educated them through Judaism. The ultimate purpose of the Old Testament Age was to send the Messiah. The purpose of sending the Messiah is to send a true person to the wrongful world and purify its society. (16 Part 1 The Life Course of Hak Ja Han Moon as True Mother)
Speaking of True Mother, she said that humankind has suffered many hardships and sacrifices, but the reason they could not solve the problems was because God could not be with them.
Since I have been involved in our movement -- now more than 46 or 47 years -- I can see the times changing so quickly. God’s current providence requires something based on our current situation and also based on the development of God’s providence.
The era of preaching, lectures, and seminars is already over. The present age is an age when individuals, families, and groups need to show and testify to how God lives and works in every place where they gather.
Therefore, each home, church, and workplace must become a place where God lives and works. Each morning and evening we have a meeting and take time for each to testify to how God lived and worked.
Now people don’t want to hear theory any more.
Now is the time to show God through our lives.
They want to hear directly the testimony of how God works through our daily life.
Do you know why many families are falling apart today and the church is going down the road? This is because it does not show the living and working God. If we just live humanistically, horizontally, or centered on ourselves, we cannot experience God living and working under any circumstances.
We no longer want a God of ideas or concepts. We all want to see God living and working in us.
Do you think that God is living and working through our Morning Devotion? Does this morning’s Devotion solve your problems and find answers? Do you have a better relationship with the people (with whom) you give and receive? If not, this Morning Devotion has nothing to do with God.
That is why from now on we need to testify that God is a living God. We have already learned so many things from the Divine Principle and from True Parents’ word. The important thing is how to practice (what we have learned) and how to testify that God is a living God. That is why we need to spend more time hearing testimony from the people, how they meet God, how he works through their daily life.
However, He could not carry out the Will of Heaven with people who, due to ignorance, only think about themselves. God sent the Messiah after raising the people of Israel for 4,000 years, but they could not receive him. Thus, the Messiah could not fulfill God's Will, and instead had to die on the cross. Even today, Jewish people do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. Only a handful of Israelis are Christians. Think for a moment about what a difficult course of history God has had to follow. Until now, all we have done is to ask God for everything. We did not even try to know what God is like and what His circumstances are like. (2006.07.21, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)
True Mother said God could not carry out the Will of Heaven with people who, due to ignorance, only think about themselves.
An ignorant person refers to a person who does not know God and lives centered on himself, even if he has many external abilities.
If you are self-centered, you will always wander, be skeptical of life, get tired easily, and be unable to see the future at all. I don't know where and how to solve the problem.
But when I invite God into my life, my life completely changes. It changes my quality of life. Always grateful, happy and full of joy. You gain faith and confidence that you can solve everything in the power of God.
Consider the history of the people of Israel recorded in the Bible. For a very long time, Heaven raised the people of Israel and promised to send the Messiah. But when He did send the Messiah, what happened to make the people of Israel and the Jewish priests force Jesus to go the path of the cross? You need to know this sorrowful history. Was Jesus a man or a woman? Since he was a man, from the viewpoint of God's purpose of creation, he should have met a woman. And the person who should have brought this about was his mother, Mary. The Bible, however, tells us about the time when they attended a relative's wedding in Cana, and Mary said to Jesus that there was no more wine and asked him to provide some more, and he replied, “Woman, what have you to do with me?” Even though she knew Jesus was sent by God, Mary failed to grant his wish. As a result, Jesus was driven to the path of the cross. (2006.08.04, Kingston, Jamaica)
This is very important content.
True Parents said that one of the reasons Jesus did not achieve His will was because he did not receive the cooperation of Jesus' mother, Mary.
We will study the Bible and the words of True Father about this.
John 2:1-4: Jesus at a Wedding in Cana. 1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
This is a really sorrowful situation -- how Jesus expressed his mind to his mother, Mary. Based on this Bible verse, (let’s study) how True Father described this Bible content.
The Sorrow of Jesus, Who Could Not Be Received as the Messiah
Had Joseph and Mary had the same determination while Jesus was growing up as they had at his conception, they would have been able to block the path of the cross for him. We are aware that because the mother and son failed to complete the internal and external circumstances through cooperation, Jesus abandoned his home and went forth to look for disciples. For that reason, when asked by Mary to make water into wine at the marriage feast at Cana, Jesus said, "Woman, what have you to do with me?" (John 2:4) When we think about this, we realize that Mary did not understand Jesus.
True Father is saying that the most decisive reason why Jesus went to the cross was that there was no mother-child cooperation between Mary and Jesus. Mary couldn't keep her first motivation.
According to True Father, the reason Mary could not continue her first motivation was because of the disharmony of Mary and Joseph. In the end, Mary had a human interaction with Joseph, and when Mary's standards fell horizontally, she lost her original mission and saw Jesus from a human point of view. If a person who has received the Holy Spirit from God fails to keep the command, the Holy Spirit leaves and (he) judges from a very human point of view when it falls to a horizontal standard.
So Jesus left his family and went out to find his disciples. Mary's important responsibility was to play a central role in finding a spouse for Jesus through mother-child cooperation and helping Jesus build a family.
But when Mary, who should have found Jesus' spouse, was worried that the wine had run out at the wedding feast in Cana, she saw Jesus and asked him to perform a miracle and make wine out of water. So Jesus, who was very upset, looked at his mother and said, "Woman, what have you to do with me?" He did not say “Mother” but “woman.” What are you talking about? Jesus was so upset! He did not say, “Mother.” (Rather,) “Hey woman, what have you to do with me? What are you talking about?”
Even if it is a parent-child relationship -- even though you are my mother and I am your son -- if they do not agree with each other and do not have one heart, they become neighbors without any relationship.
We must remember that Jesus' heart was sorrowful, as he looked at all the people who did not believe in him. Yet he could not confide in anyone. Jesus' heart ached, not because his circumstances were sorrowful and difficult, but because his mother, brothers and relatives did not recognize who he was. We must understand that this fact was the grief of Jesus' grief.
In the end, where did God's providence of restoration fail to be fulfilled or extended? It was all (in the) family. Look at Adam's family, why they failed their mission, struggling between husband and wife, struggling between brothers, struggling between parents and children. There was no cooperation between Eve and Eve’s children, Cain and Abel. Why did Noah's family fail? (Because of) the relationship between mother and children, the relationship between father and sons. Why did Abraham's family struggle? Some parts, Jacob and Esau. And also why did Jesus have to go through such suffering and be crucified on the cross? What was the main reason now that True Father was saying? There was no cooperation between Jesus' mother, Mary, and Jesus. Also, one of the main struggles was in the relationship between Mary and Joseph. According to True Father’s spiritual experience there was all kinds of disunity and disharmony between Joseph and Mary. Joseph doubted Mary. “Where did this baby come from?” “Hey Mary, where did this baby come from?!” Wow! In the beginning both of them received the Holy Spirit, but on the way they became very humanistic, and both of them lost their first motivation and lost God’s Holy Spirit.
Everyone had problems (in the) family. This was the greatest sorrow (for God).
What is the biggest problem for our blessed families today? It has nothing to do with the world. It's not about the church. It is not the problem of Cain and Abel in the organization. You should know that the biggest problem is in my family. That is why True Father also said that Jesus' greatest sorrow was that his family and relatives did not recognize the value of Jesus.
Even among our blessed families in our movement, what is the biggest problem? The biggest problem is in our own families. All central figures’ families, what was the biggest problem? It was in their families. Oh my God!
Deeming Jesus' sorrow as truly your own, Jesus' pain in his life as truly your own, you must be able to embrace, in your heart, the comprehensive Will for which Jesus worked for 2,000 years until now. It must be your will. We can congratulate Jesus only when we get to know the shimjung of Jesus as he grew up and died on the cross in pain as an adult. We can then connect with Jesus. With Jesus as the condition, a relationship then can be formed between God and us. We must know this.
My brothers and sisters, what is the most important thing to learn from Jesus' course and the central figures in the providence of restoration? First, how important it is for a husband and wife to become one!
Look at Adam’s family, the relationship between Adam and Eve as husband and wife. Look at Noah’s family, the relationship between Noah and his wife. Look at Abraham, why he could make some great conditions in the relationship between Abraham and his wife. Isaac’s couple as husband and wife. And Jacob’s couple as husband and wife. In some cases they were successful because of beautiful unity between husband and wife. Why did some cases fail? Because the husband and wife did not make harmony. How important it is that a husband and wife become one! This is God’s main providence throughout human history.
Second, how important is mother-child cooperation. Eve could not take care of Abel and could not take care of Cain. Then Cain killed Abel. Wow! My God! In Noah’s family, even though he made a foundation of faith, why did he fail with the foundation of substance? Because there was no mother-child cooperation between Noah’s wife and her own children. Noah’s wife did not become the mediator between Noah and her children. Noah’s wife should have respected Naoh, and then all children needed to connect to their father. How important Mother-Child cooperation is!
In our life of faith in the family, the mother (sometimes) criticizes (her husband): “Your daddy is like that. Your daddy has a problem. This guy has a problem. He does not care for my family. He cannot make money.” She always criticizes the father in front of children, then that family becomes a complete disaster. Completely. Because there is no cooperation between mother and child.
Thirdly, how important is the relationship between brothers and sisters, that is, the relationship between Cain and Abel. In Adam’s family, (it was) the Cain and Abel relationship. In Noah’s family (the issue was) among the boys. In Abraham’s family, (it was) the Cain-Abel relationship between Jacob and Esau. Even in Jesus’ family...
So my family is the most important thing. Whoever wins in the family wins everything. My family is the most front line. In fact, my home is a battlefield. Meeting and witnessing to Christian pastors and ACLC pastors is not the front line. My home is the front line.
In Adam’s family where was the front line? At their home. In Noah’s family where was the front line? In their home. In Abraham’s family, where was the front line? At their home. All the struggles and the problems were in the family. It was the same in Jesus’ family.
There is God and Satan in my family. If we become one at home, we can meet God, and if we do not become one at home, we can meet Satan every day in our family.
Therefore, we need to gain victory in our family. As a husband I need to think how my wife can gain the victory. As a wife, I need to think how my husband can gain victory. And parents need to think how their children can gain victory, and the children need to think how their parents can gain victory. Wow! This morning I again and again realized … Of course, we are visiting Christian ministers and meeting people, serving our nation and neighbor. That is also very important.
But what is God’s most important providence? It is not outside, not in the working place. It is at my home. The front line of front lines is what? Where? At home. Look at Adam; he failed in his family. Look at Noah; he failed in his family. Why did Jacob need to run away and go to Laban’s house? Because there was not complete unity between Jacob and Esau. Why did Jesus need to get out of his home? Because there was no unity between Mary and Joseph. Look at that! Where is the main problem? In the home. How important this is. We need to realize this point.
Living Divine Principle: Who is God? (1)
God is:
• The subject and harmonious union of original internal nature and original external form.
• The harmonious union of original masculinity and original femininity.
• The subject partner having qualities of internal nature and masculinity towards the universe.
Based on this EDP content recently I talked about who God is. Yesterday I talked about “God is my eternal parent.” Today I will focus on “God is the subject of the Three Great Subjects thought.”
1, God is my eternal parent.
2. God is the subject of the Three Great Subjects thought
3. God is absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal.
4. God is a God of love.
5. God is a God of heart.
6. God is the Word.
7. God is dual characteristics.
8. God is the original absolute Sex.
9. God is a being of character.
10. God is the origin of Principle, law and order.
God Is the Subject Being of Our Eternal Three Great Subjects Thought
<203-360> Among all parents, who is the greatest parent? It is God, the vertical parent. Among all teachers, who is the greatest teacher? It is God, the vertical teacher. Among all lords, who is the greatest lord? It is God, the vertical lord (King). God, who is connecting the True Love of the vertical position to the base, can become a parent, can become a teacher, and can become a lord.
<211-116> The three great subjects thought that Rev. Moon is advancing are the ideas of True Parent, True Teacher, and True Lord. Centering on what? On True Love, True Love. Centering on working for the benefit of others; on investing and investing more.
God is the subject of Three Great Subjects thought:
1. God is the greatest Parent (heart)
2. God is the greatest Teacher (conscience/truth).
3. God is the greatest Owner (responsibility)
1. Father said, God is the greatest Parent (heart)
Why is God the greatest parent? This is first because (with) the heart of God as parent, he has unconditional love of giving and giving and giving and forgetting, completely forgetting what he has given. Secondly, the heart of the parent is unconditional sacrifice and forgetfulness, sacrifice and sacrifice and sacrifice and completely forgetting what he has sacrificed, then sacrificing more. True love always requires sacrifice. When parents raise their children, how do they raise their children without sacrifice? True love always requires sacrifice. Third, the parental heart unconditionally invests and invests and forgets. A parent’s heart constantly invests because the object partner should be better than the parent, even 100 times or 1,000 times (better). Fourth, the heart of a parent unconditionally lives for the sake of others. That is why God is the greatest parent. His heart is amazing. Who is greater than God? Nobody.
2. Father said God is the greatest Teacher (conscience/truth).
God teaches me through my conscience to never compromise with evil. God constantly teaches me until I become a true person, until I completely overcome evil. My parents and teachers teach me limited by time and space constraints. But God is not limited by time and space. If I go the wrong way, God will teach me forever. He is never tired. He continuously guides me.
3. God is the greatest Owner (responsibility)
Right? He is the greatest owner centering on responsibility. God is the owner of the universe and all things. God is the lord of the sun, moon, earth, sea and all heavenly bodies, heavenly cosmos. God emphasizes my responsibility to humans as the owner of all things. I must inherit God’s creativity and become a second creator. God and I are jointly responsible for all things as co-creators. With that comes responsibility. We must participate in God’s creation and inherit, manage and develop everything.
Wow! God is the greatest parent. God is the greatest teacher. God is the greatest owner.
In order for me to inherit God's Three Great Subjects Thought, first, I must experience God's heart through the 4 great realms of heart in my family. After the family, you need to go to school, Right? Second, I have to study God's Word and truth centering on my conscience at school. What is the truth? What is good? What is evil? You learn from the school. Third, after you graduate from school, you need to go to the society, right? I must have a sense of ownership centered on my responsibilities in society and at work. You must become an owner of CIG who loves the country, the world, and the environment, more than anyone else. True Father is really guiding us, amazing things!
Today’s Youth Ministry: Jacob’s Course - Lessons Learned From Leah Who Forgot Her Position (3)
1. Let me tell you a story. This is a true story. A woman introduced here one day received a revelation from God and joined our church. Today I would like to introduce some of her testimonies.
This is a very, very long time ago when we started our church, early in our church. This is the woman’s testimony.
2. A long time ago, there was a big wealthy family called the Kim family in Pyeongan-do, Korea. This Kim family eagerly looked forward to a son, but did not have a son. In the past, Koreans valued the tradition of having a son the most, and if there were no sons, they blamed their wives for it. In the past, Korean tradition believed that not having a son to pass on to future generations would be a great sin against one's ancestors.
3. Then, when the Kim family did not have a son, the wife of the Kim family was deeply concerned and brought a woman as a concubine who could bear a son in her place. However, this concubine served this wife with the utmost sincerity. When this concubine entered her husband's room and sleep with him, she was so apologetic to the wife that she was at a loss for what to do. It is said that the concubine always lived as a sinner. Seeing her being so apologetic, the wife was so moved and later rejoiced when her husband and the concubine became one.
4. Because the concubine was so sincere, God led her to a church. It is said that one day, God gave a revelation to the concubine and told her to go to a Presbyterian church in a village called Cheolsan and believe in Jesus.
5. When you look at this, you can learn that God will be moved and guide you if you have a heart to serve someone who can hate you, even when you are in the most difficult situation or in a situation that is unfair in some way. Such a woman is almost one in a thousand women. We can see that God doesn't look at a person's outward appearance, but at the person's sincerity and heart.
6. When this woman went to the Presbyterian Church, received the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues, and began to shake her body, the people of the church were accusing her of possessing a demon. She was persecuted and kicked out of the church, being accused of what kind of Holy Spirit she would receive as a woman who entered another house as a concubine to have a child. However, because that woman had good faith and always received the Holy Spirit to do works, many young people flocked to the church, repented and believed in Jesus. But wherever she went, she suffered persecution and was eventually driven out again and again. Sometimes she was even taken into custody at the police station.
7. But one day, this woman received a revelation from God and proclaimed that the Second Advent is coming to Korea. And she proclaimed that the coming Lord will proclaim that man’s Fall was rooted in sexual infidelity. Then she told people to wait and not get married until the Second Coming. So, her son didn’t get married for a long time, but later got married after he found out the will in our church.
8. In Jacob's family, if Leah had served her younger sister Rachel with the utmost sincerity like this woman, it would have been a wonderful family. If this had happened, Leah's heart level would have been very high, and there would have been no discord with Rachel.
9. Even though Leah was an older sister, she should have loved and served her sister as if she had loved her husband, because Leah was in the same position as having stolen her sister's husband. When we look at the relationship between brothers and sisters, we see many same examples. If the father loves the younger brother more than the older brother, the older brother should serve his younger brother as his father, but he can’t. We need to serve someone who’s receiving more love than ourselves thinking the person is my Abel. The place between brothers is a place where it is easy to be envious and jealous of each other. But as an older brother, if you love your younger brother more than your father, you can subdue your own father and younger brother at the same time.
10. In families around the world, such events often occur. For example, if a man and woman get married and have children, and the wife dies first, the husband often lives with another woman. It is often the case that the later wife takes care of the first wife's children. However, children born to the first wife often do not like the stepmother who came later. In this case, what should the children do with the stepmother?
11. Children should not distance themselves from her because she is not their own mother but need to think that ‘I need to love her for she is a woman that father loves.’ In this way, the family will be harmonious in no time.
12. Also, the stepmother, who came in later, should respect and love them more than the children she gave birth to. This is where their level of heart goes up. Events that can impress God happen. But when the children of the ex-wife see that their father loves the stepmother who came in later, they think that they have lost their father.
13. Few people in today’s fallen world have a level of heart that can surpass this. Many families live with these concerns. The original world is a world centered on love.
14. Who is Abel? Abel is not the one who was born first. The one with lots of love is Abel. The first person to serve others is Abel. God wants to stay with those who have lots of love.
15. That is why the Unification Church tells us to serve our own Abel as God. In addition, spiritual children must learn to serve their spiritual parents like God. Based on this principle, in our home, husbands should serve their wives like God. And a wife should serve her husband like God. When a married couple serves each other and becomes one, they are a married couple who go beyond the foundation of faith and fulfill the foundation of substance where God comes.
We can learn from Leah’s and Rachel’s relationship. Some ask why Jacob had four wives. We need to know that that was not Jacob’s intention to do that. It was God’s providence. Jacob needed to have 12 children providentially. That is the process of the restoration.
Of course, True Parents came as the messiah. When we set up a very clear system centering on the ideal family, there is only a one-man-and-one-woman system. In the process of restoration in order to restore the blood lineage, oh, you can see Jesus’ ancestors’ background. You look at that. Many women’s roles this and that, very complicated. We do not know the process of the restoration of the blood lineage.
We need to understand that Jacob thoroughly denied himself and absolutely followed God’s direction. That is why we need to think centering on God’s point of view. However, True Parents came as the messiah, and everything cleared up based on a one-man-and-one-woman system.
What is the purpose of restoration? The conclusion is how to level up my heart -- overcoming jealousy, struggles, problems and then overcoming, even loving our enemy -- and to raise up my heart, upgrade my heart, and inherit God’s heart to become a champion of heart -- finally to establish an ideal family centering on graybins(? gratitude?) of heart. Divine Principle guidance is really amazing. Also, we can learn through our central figures: how I can become an ideal person, ideal couple, ideal brothers and sisters, ideal children.♦