Sun Myung Moon
May 16, 2003 (Planned release date)
2. The Providence Centering On Esau And Jacob
1) God's Providential Secrets Hidden in the Scriptures
Eve deceived and seduced her husband, Adam. Then later she rejected even God. Therefore, through the history of restoration through indemnity, human beings had to pay indemnity to restore the negative consequences that occurred in the process of the fall.
In the process of God's providence for restoration, as seen in the Old and New Testaments, there were many episodes which we cannot understand in terms of simple human ethics. No one could explain the providential secrets that are hidden in these scriptures. Sometimes we see conflicting content between the Old and New Testaments.
Sometimes it's hard to tell this is holy scripture. There seems to be no relationship between the stories in the Old Testament and those of the New Testament, and sometimes there seems to be a lack of historical consistency. In spite of all this, the Old and New Testaments are actually connected as one. This is the secret of God's providence. After the completion of the providence, all these secrets will be revealed. So far no one has revealed God's providential secrets, which explain how the Old and New Testaments are connected as one.
If you look in Matthew, Chapter One, there are four licentious women named Bathsheba, Tamar, Ruth and Rahab. Why do the names of such immoral women appear? There are reasons. The book of Matthew in the New Testament parallels the book of Genesis in the Old Testament. The sad, historical episodes that are recounted in Genesis are referred to again in Matthew. In other words, the Bible repeats the stories in order to reveal that the new history has its roots in those sad stories which are recorded in Genesis.
2) Jacob Steals the Birthright from Esau
After the failure of Adam's family, God continued the providence for restoration centered on Abraham's family. Of Abraham's two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, the second son, Isaac, represented God's side. Centered on Isaac the history of separation began. just as Eve deceived her husband and God, Isaac's wife, Rebecca, deceived her husband Isaac and her first son Esau, and took the side of Jacob, the second son. This historical story of Rebecca deceiving her husband and son to help Jacob is an enigma in Christian history which has never been explained.
Why did Rebecca do this? It was to reclaim God's offspring from Satan. Rebecca was chosen and placed in the position to lay the foundation for God's offspring to dissolve God's resentment. She understood her position very well. She knew that her position was to help Jacob and have him naturally subjugate Satan in order to restore the birthright.
One day Esau came back from hunting and was very hungry. Jacob bought Esau's birthright with a bowl of porridge. Actually the birthright should be unchangeable. It is the position in which to receive God's eternal tradition, and is passed on to one's descendants. Yet Esau sold this birthright to his younger brother for a bowl of porridge. Jacob, unlike his elder brother, knew the precious value of the birthright. He knew the value of Abraham's lineage, which had been given God's blessing and love. He inherited the birthright from his older brother at the risk of his life. How did he do this? As you know, he bought the birthright from his brother for a bowl of porridge. In doing so he claimed, "Now I'm your elder brother."
According to God's providence there was no other way to subjugate Satan and restore the fallen world except by reversing the positions of the first and second sons. Knowing this, Jacob used his wisdom to subjugate his brother naturally. Rebecca, knowing that she had to indemnify the position of Eve, who deceived her husband and God, deceived her husband and son. God took the side of Jacob and Rebecca. Why? Until today Christians have not understood why God would side with Jacob and bless him after he had deceived his father and brother. This has been an enigma that no one could explain.
Actually, God's providence for restoration is to pursue the realization of His ideal through such obscure methods, which no one understands.
3) Jacob Inherits From God His 21-Year Course
God could not force Jacob to receive his inheritance. This foundation had to be laid by Jacob himself
When Esau tried to kill him, Jacob left his home and fled to the land of Haran, where he stayed with his Uncle Laban for 21 years and endured the hard life of a servant. Jacob went through this 21-year course of suffering to lay the foundation for the tribal blessing. Through all his difficulties Jacob maintained an unchanging determination to fulfill God's will. Finally he acquired Leah and Rachel and a certain amount of wealth, and returned to his homeland.
He strove to lay the foundation and prepare himself to subjugate his brother naturally upon his return.
On the return home, Jacob offered everything to his brother. "I don't need wives or property; I only need your welcome and formal recognition that you gave me your birthright and blessing." That was Jacob's prayer and position.
In this way Jacob offered all that he had, and Esau welcomed him. So, centering on Jacob, Esau could receive the blessing of God and they could enter the realm of the chosen people of Israel.
Because of this victory God's providential history could continue through the generations, and God could maintain His hope and look forward to the day of liberation, when His resentment would be dissolved.
3. The History Of The Restoration Of The Birthright In The Womb
1) Perez and Zerah
Jacob's son Judah had three sons, Er, Onan and Shelah. The first son Er married Tamar, but he died early. Then Tamar lived with the second son Onan, but he also died. God's providence was in crisis, as this could have been the end of Judah's lineage, which was to inherit the blessing from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So Tamar disguised herself and went to the street and seduced Judah, and became pregnant. She did this because she wished to continue the inheritance of God's blessing from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Tamar risked her life in order to pass on this inheritance to Judah's lineage.
Tamar became pregnant with twins. When she was about to give birth, the hand of one child came out first. The midwife said, "This one came out first, so he must be the elder brother," and she tied a red string around his wrist. Then he drew back into the womb, and the other child was born first. He was named Perez, which means "breaking out." Afterwards the child with the red string on his wrist was born, and was named Zerah.
Why did God push aside the first son, Zerah, and have Perez born first? When Rebecca was pregnant, she had asked God why the two children were fighting in her womb. God told her that two nations were struggling in her womb, and that the elder one would serve the younger one. Why?
Likewise, two brothers struggled in Tamar's womb. When Tamar asked God why, He told her the same thing He had told Rebecca, that two nations were struggling in her womb, and that the elder one would serve the younger one.
We can see that in this providential episode the second son restored the birthright in the womb. Why did this happen? This is a secret that Christians have never known.
2) Providence in the Womb
The providential event in which Jacob took the birthright from Esau took place when Jacob was in his thirties. When you look at the fundamental issue, God's intent was to restore the birthright through the history of separation from the time of the womb. Otherwise Satan would continue to claim human beings based on his blood relationship with them. In that case, God could not claim human beings as His own. So He carried out the providence of separation in the womb.
Because of the human fall history began with the separation of human beings into God's side and Satan's side, beginning in the womb. Since God wanted to restore His original blessed lineage, He had to lay a foundation to unite these two worlds, also beginning in the womb. This was the only way that indemnity could be paid for the providence for restoration to advance.
Under Jewish law at that time, when a widow became pregnant or was accused of adultery she could be stoned to death. Yet in order to resolve God's resentment and restore the birthright, Tamar bravely accomplished a mission which no one else could do. What kind of prayer do you think she offered to God?
I'm sure Tamar prayed like this, "Oh God, I miss your blessing. I just want to continue your blessed lineage, so please forgive me. No matter how many times I face death, if only I could continue the blessed lineage of Judah through this adulterous behavior, I have no other wish."
With this kind of desperation, Tamar was willing to face even death in order to fulfill God's will and resolve His resentment. Tamar's filial piety and obedience to God's will was truly amazing. God had to work His providential history through this kind of complicated situation.
So God blessed Tamar, and Judah's family lineage could be resumed.
In other words, God could finally, through Tamar's lineage, indemnify in the womb the fallen course of Cain and Abel and lay His long-cherished victorious foundation on earth. As God wished and had predetermined, He could change the birthright and prepare Tamar's lineage for the birth of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.
From this time a new arrangement in the history of Israel was made possible. If this had not occurred, even though Jesus Christ had been born from the womb, Satan could still have accused him. In other words, as previously explained, without the victorious foundation in the womb Jesus Christ could not have been born. Now the nation of Israel could appear on this foundation, with the birthright and its authority restored in the womb. Because of Tamar's victorious foundation, through her lineage Jesus Christ could be born.
3) When Could the Messiah Come?
You may think that upon this foundation the Messiah could come immediately, but that was not the reality.
Why? Nations had already been established in the Satanic world, but Israel had only set up a people. The people of Israel could not confront the nations of the Satanic world. So God prolonged history for 2000 years.
He blessed the Israelites, saying, "Grow up quickly!" With this blessing, the Israelites sought to establish a nation. This prolonged the history of Israel for 2000 years. In this time, centering on Judaism, the Israelites built a nation. At the same time God made a promise to the Israelites saying, "I will send you a Messiah."
Who is the Messiah? What kind of person is he? The Messiah is the first son of God. The term "the only begotten son of God" originates here. You speak of Jesus Christ as the "only begotten son of God" without knowing this historical background. The "only begotten son" means the one who receives God's first love. He has the right to be called the "only begotten son" because the tainted blood of the fall has been cleansed; he stands in the position to love and receive love from God directly; and he comes in the position to pay all the indemnity to clean away the stains left by Satan. That's why we call him God's only begotten son. No one in the 2000 years of Christian history has understood this.
The way of Christianity should have been determined based on a clear understanding of these fundamental things. But Christianity today is not like that. Without knowing the fundamental essence of a problem, you cannot find a solution. Likewise, if Christianity today wants to be the religion of hope which can offer solutions to human problems, it must first know these fundamental things. Yes, what Christianity needs most is God's tradition.
The Messiah is the person who receives God's love and comes to earth as God's only begotten son, who has been liberated from Satan through indemnity to purify the tainted satanic blood. But as I said earlier, the Messiah could not yet come. He could come only after the nation of Israel was established. He had to come to the Abel realm, with God's birthright, as the representative of a nation.
4. The Birth Of Jesus And The Messianic Mission
1) The Birth of the Only Begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ
When Jesus was born, the Israelites had established Judaism and were working toward the unity of church and state. They were preparing themselves to confront the Roman Empire. At this time, finally, God's only begotten son was born.
In order to give birth to Jesus, Mary followed a course with which her parents and husband did not agree. Have you ever thought about why Mary did this? Eve denied God, her father, and Adam, her husband, and fell. So, according to the principle of restoration, "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, an ear for an ear," God had to take this back from Satan.
Mary was engaged to Joseph. That was the same position Eve was in, engaged to Adam. In order to restore the Fall through indemnity Mary had to take a dangerous course, going exactly the way opposite to Eve's.
Under Jewish law, an adulterous woman could be stoned to death. In spite of this, Mary, for the sake of God's will, determined to offer herself as a sacrifice. Denying her engagement with Joseph, she became pregnant with Jesus. You must know this. From the moment Mary was pregnant, there was absolutely no condition for Satan to accuse Jesus, or to claim that any trace of his love relationship remained in him.
Because Jesus was born upon the foundation of indemnity laid by Tamar and the Israelites, Satan could not claim that any trace of his love remained. So finally, the new son of God's hope could appear. From the very moment Mary was pregnant, Jesus was the son of God.
Because Jesus was born in the center of God's love, the words "only begotten son" are correct. You must know there has never been anyone like Jesus Christ, who was born upon such a foundation of restoration through indemnity.
You must know that Jesus was the saint of saints. You should not have blind faith. There is no perfection in ignorance. It is so difficult to complete the Will of God, even after you understand it. Even though the mighty omniscient God wanted to see His Will fulfilled, Adam and Eve fell. Do you think you can accomplish God's Will in ignorance? No way!
When Mary was pregnant with Jesus, she was in the position of Eve, Rebecca and Tamar. She deceived her husband, her father-in-law, and her own father. What did she do? She became pregnant. Her position was to indemnify on God's side Eve's relationship with the Archangel by becoming pregnant. Rev. Moon is not arbitrarily giving you the clue to the solution of this enigmatic problem. I discovered these things while pursuing the love and heart of God, who has been working His providence to save mankind.
The issue of the holy birth of Jesus Christ has been controversial in Christian society. You may wonder how I found out about this. What do you think, is Jesus Christ the son of man or the son of God?
Here I can tell you clearly, Jesus Christ could be the son of God because he was born from the womb upon the foundation of indemnity, laid through the history of separation between Cain and Abel, and the first son and the second son. In other words, when he was born after ten months in the womb, he was already sanctified as God's son. You must know this clearly.
2) The Family Lineage of Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God
The book of Matthew in the New Testament corresponds to Genesis in the Old Testament. So the fall of man was recorded in Genesis, and the course of restoration was recorded in Matthew.
In Matthew you find the lineage from Abraham to Jesus Christ, recorded as the "genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham." In the third verse, the birth of Perez and Zerah from Judah and Tamar is recorded. Why do you think the record of Tamar, an adulteress, appears at the beginning of the New Testament? There also appears the fact that Boaz was born from Ruth, and that David fathered Solomon with Uriah's wife. In verse 16, the record says that "Mary gave birth to Jesus, called Messiah." Why did the Bible record these immoral, unholy and unforgivable episodes?
I think the writer of Matthew must have known the background of Jesus' birth. Otherwise, why would he record this kind of unpleasant story? You must know why. Not only these, but there are many more sad historical stories in the Bible that we don't fully understand. We must open up these hidden things and establish a solid Christian tradition, otherwise Christianity will be shattered, will become Satan's prey, and will eventually disappear.
Jesus Christ was born of Mary, the central woman who could resolve the historical resentment of God, with faith in God's Will beyond life or death. So through the 4000 years of Jewish history, God found restored Adam, unstained, with no trace of fallen lineage. In I Corinthians 5:45 Jesus is referred to as the "second Adam." These words "second Adam" represent the restored son of God, who can receive God's love as a result of God's 4000-year providential history for salvation, restoration and recreation. This has never before been understood. I think this is the first time you've heard such an explanation, isn't it?
3) The Mission of the Messiah and the Position of Jesus Christ
The Messiah was the true man that God, humankind and all creation had been waiting for. He came as the embodiment of love, to speak the truth in perfect unity with God's love. His every action was motivated by love.
He led his life not in a conventional way, but in accordance with the standard of God's true love. He sought to save this world not by worldly methods and tactics, but centering on God's true love. This is what the Messiah was.
Starting with such a person, the movement of true love could spread forth throughout the world. If this true individual married and formed a family, centered on this family a clan, tribe, nation and world could have been completed. This was the universal hope shared by God, humankind and all creation.
Two thousand years ago Jesus came with this Messianic ideal, but unfortunately he couldn't complete this mission. Even though he was the first true son of God, came to this world and initiated the movement of true love centered on God's love, when we consider that the Messianic mission was to form a family of true love upon the foundation of individual perfection, and then expand it to the tribe, nation and world, we cannot deny that it remained incomplete. Christians today who believe in Jesus may oppose this idea, but no one can deny the historical facts.
Yes, Jesus Christ was unfortunate in that, even though he had attained individual perfection, he had no chance to establish the tradition of God's love on the family level by finding a woman to take the objective position in relation to him as subject. Therefore until today no single family has appeared centered on God's true love. The traditions of true conjugal love based on Messianic authority, true parental love recognized by God, and true children's love have never been established.
If this kind of family had been established, then naturally, automatically, through the process of history centering on this family, vertically and horizontally, the tribe, nation and one world of God's love would have emerged.
But since Jesus couldn't establish the family tradition of God's true love, the central foundation which could please God, humankind and all creation, could not be established. Since the family centered on God's love was not established, the true clan, tribe, nation and world could not be established. (1981.5.10)
4) What Kind of Being is the Holy Spirit?
What was God's Will? First, it was to set up the standard of perfect man and woman. Then, to establish God's family centered on His love.
However, was God's family established? No, it was not. Jesus knew God's Will and believed in it. But because the people of Israel did not believe in Jesus, Judaism and the 4000-year historical foundation for Jesus Christ collapsed, and he died miserably on the cross. Who has understood the terrible plight of Jesus until today? No one.
Now you know because Rev. Moon is telling you. If this is true, how glad Jesus must be that we now know. The completion of God's family was impossible unless Jesus Christ, the bridegroom, had been able to find a bride to become the True Mother. Without Jesus' family, the Will of God was not completed.
After Jesus died, when 120 disciples were gathered in prayer on the day of the Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended. The Holy Spirit was the Mother spirit. Jesus was in the position of the Father, and the Holy Spirit was the Mother spirit. The one who knows a man best is his wife; no one is more completely united with her husband than his wife.
Precisely what kind of being was the Holy Spirit? If Eve had been perfected she would have become the substantial mother. But because of the fall, the essence of Eve was taken back by God. This essence was to return as a substantial image when Jesus Christ took a bride. But since Jesus lost the foundation to become a bridegroom, the spirit could not come down and Jesus could not take the position of substantial parent.
So he had to take the position of spiritual parent with the Holy Spirit. Otherwise he would not even have had the foundation to lead God's providence.
Therefore Christian believers speak of the necessity of receiving the Holy Spirit. Why do they need the Holy Spirit? Because Eve, the wife, committed sin, women have to take on the pain of giving birth. Therefore the Holy Spirit works to bring rebirth to Christians. To be redeemed, we need the love of Jesus and also the love of the Holy Spirit. That's why Christians speak of receiving the Holy Spirit.
5) Spiritual Restoration through True Parents
Two thousand years ago Jesus Christ came as the second Adam. He came as the Messiah with the mission of True Father, to save all mankind. But because he went the way of the cross, the True Parents couldn't appear in the flesh. As a result, spiritual redemption was made possible, but physical redemption was never realized. In short, until today, there have been no True Parents who could bring both physical and spiritual salvation.
So we have to be born again through the second coming of the Messiah, who comes in flesh and spirit as the True Parent. Now we believers must be born again to a new life from the mother's womb, conditionally or symbolically. This is the way we are walking. Until today, the Holy Spirit has played the role of mother. So we have to be born again through the mother's spirit and Jesus' spirit.
Of course we are born from our mother's womb, but when we look beyond that, the origin of our life is from our father. We can change and restore our lineage by going back to our mother's womb, but we still have not received our father. Until today, with the power of the mother-the Holy Spirit-Christians have awaited the father, the origin of life, and hoped to return to Jesus. Before the fall, the lives of his sons and daughters already existed as seed in Adam's body. The seed which will become a son or daughter exists in the father's body.
From the fundamental point of view, spirit and body must be born together. So to start again, our spirit and body must return to the position of the seed.
To complete this providence, Christ must come as a parent. So we must be reborn as restored life through the Lord of the Second Advent. When you reflect on the content of Rev. Moon's teachings, you will know clearly whether or not you need the Messiah.
Jesus said to Nicodemus, "You will not see the Kingdom of Heaven unless you are born again." Nicodemus asked, "How can I be born again? Can I return to my mother's womb?" Jesus said to him, "You are a well known rabbi, a famous teacher in Israel. How could it be you don't know this?" Jesus was really speaking of this principle.
In Christianity, the resurrection and new life refer to this. Blood lineage is restored through the mother. Original sin must be cleansed and tainted blood restored to God's lineage through the mother.
Yet to be re-created as a pure new life and born again is only possible through the True Father's body. Only through the True Father can complete salvation of spirit and body occur. In this way sinless children could be born with no need of salvation, eligible to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Now you know how difficult the process of restoration is! Rev. Moon not only had to discover this truth, but also had to fulfill it. Now I am teaching you this for free. You are like students who receive a diploma without studying! You must know what a precious position you are in.
6) The Ultimate Goal of the Providence is to Establish True Parents
The extension of the individual is the society, nation and world. If you want to liberate mankind, you have to begin with the individual. The individual is also the key to the liberation of the family. Eventually, the movement to liberate nations and the world must also be carried out by a group of individuals. To accomplish this goal, God created the institution of religion to lead people closer to God.
What is the ultimate goal of the providence? Generally people have understood that the mission of religion is to do something good for the world. Religious people have thought so too.
From the point of view of God's will, philanthropy is a secondary purpose of religion. The first purpose is to establish the True Parents. In order to indemnify the history of mankind born from evil parents, God's biggest problem is how to set up a person born from good parents.
The evil world started from the individual and spread to the family, clan, tribe, nation and world. In order to build the same foundation God has to expand the realm of the Archangel and the clan. From there, gradually, He can build the realms of the adopted son and the natural son. In the realm of the natural son there are Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel, who were born from fallen parents, fought with each other and separated. Unless the foundation of complete unity between Cain and Abel is established, the realm of the Fall cannot be overcome.
The realm of the Fall could only be overcome by setting up the foundation of substance. Even if humankind could reach the completion stage, Satan's sinful lineage would not thereby be cleansed.
To cleanse original sin we need the Messiah. Therefore for fallen man, the foundation of faith, the foundation of substance, and the foundation for the Messiah are absolutely necessary. The final problem is to complete the change of blood lineage by receiving the Messiah upon the prepared foundation. Then all people could stand in the position of God's true children. Because of the fall of Adam and Eve, there was no way for Cain and Abel to unite vertically. Adam and Eve were in the position to be restored through Cain and Abel, so they too had no vertical connection with God.
Therefore, we who seek the realm of God's true children must meet True Parents, who can connect us vertically with God. Without restoring the position of children before the fall, we cannot enter the completion stage with God. No matter how strong their faith in God, no matter how united Cain and Abel were, unless they restored the foundation of their parents before the fall they could not find the way to advance vertically.
To solve this problem we must restore God's position as True Parent.
3) The Ultimate Purpose of the Providence for Salvation
In human history, before the world was invaded by Satan, the nation was invaded. Before the nation, the church. Before the tribe, the family, and before the family, the individual was invaded. So God had to work the providence centered on the individual first. God was not able until now to work His providence for salvation centered on the family. God's providence centered on Christianity was the providence centered on the individual, not on the family. So Christians stress individual salvation through faith in Christ. There is no salvation for the family, tribe, nation or world.
Then how can salvation come to the family, tribe, nation, world, and even the spiritual world? It is absolutely impossible for human beings to find this way through their own ability. It is possible only through the Lord of the Second Advent.
After the fall of man, for six thousand years God laid the foundation of the providence for salvation centered on the salvation of the individual.
That was because individual salvation had to precede the salvation of the family, tribe, nation and world.
The ultimate goal of the providence of salvation goes beyond the individual; it is to liberate and save the family, tribe, nation and world. Until this is done, God Himself cannot be liberated. When God's perfect goal of the providence for salvation is attained, in other words, when even hell and all the spiritual world are liberated, on that day God will declare the perfection of the ideal, proclaiming, "My will is done! Hallelujah! March forward into My world, under the dominion of My love."
In the providential history of God, He was not able to complete even the way of individual perfection. This was made clear in the promise that the Messiah would come again. The fact that Christians have maintained their faith until today, waiting for the second advent of the Messiah, testifies to this.
The history of Christianity is the history of preparing the foundation to receive the Lord of the Second Advent. By uniting many clans, tribes and nations under one Christian culture, God laid the foundation for the coming of the Messiah.
Way Of Unification - Part 1
by Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Section 3. The Current Of God's Providence
1. From Israel To Rome
1) The Israelites Should have United with Jesus Christ
It was not God's will that Jesus should be accused of heresy and so go the way of the cross. Do you think God chose the Israelites and prepared them through 4000 years of faith and suffering for the mission of killing Jesus Christ? If you truly believe that this was the mission of the chosen people, I could say you are crazy. No, God did not prepare Israel for 4000 years to kill Jesus. God did not prepare the Israelites to make villains for the murder of Jesus.
Even though Jesus was born as the first son of man, he did not have the power and authority of the first son. He had only the position of Abel.
The authority and power of the first son was denied him. Because he was in Abel's position, when the external, Cain realm (the Israelites) denied the Abel realm (Jesus), Jesus had no way out. Therefore, the sorrowful events of history took place.
When the Israelites opposed him, Jesus Christ was alienated from Abel's position. That's why Jesus said of his mother Mary, "What has she to do with me?" These were painful words. Do you know why Jesus said these words? No one knows or has revealed the reason. When the Israelites became the Cain side, Jesus on the Abel side became the enemy of Judaism. He became the object of ridicule and criticism. At the same time, the Romans viewed him as a revolutionary against Rome. Owing to all this, God's will could not be completed, fundamentally because the Cain realm, the Israelites, did not unite with him.
Jesus called out on the cross, "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?" Why do you think he prayed like this? Do you think he would have prayed so if he had completed the will of God? He couldn't carry out God's will completely.
How he longed to unite with the Israelites! Jesus came to establish one nation and one world centered on God's love. Even though he yearned for the Israelites to unite with him, they did not believe in him. So the first Israel crumbled and the second Israel, Christianity, inherited the lineage. In other words, because Israel did not accept Jesus and his will, God carried out His providence for the next 2000 years through Christianity.
2) What if the Israelites had Welcomed Jesus Christ?
If Jesus had not died, what would have happened? His hope for world unification would have been realized. He would have completed God's Will.
First, Jesus would have united Judaism, the Jewish tribes and nation, and the Arab region in which the descendants of the twelve tribes were living. Jesus' goal was to bring unification, centered on one religion, of all tribes, nations and the world. Even though this was Jesus' mission, he was killed just three years after he began it. He should not have died at the age of 33.
Rather, he should have lived until he had completed the Will of God by saving all the people and the world and becoming King of Kings.
The Bible clearly states that God sent his only begotten son Jesus Christ because He loved this world. If the Israelites had united with Jesus, God would surely have realized His Will.
Let's look at the situation of Israel at the time of Jesus. The Roman Empire, the strongest empire in the world, was declining and becoming spiritually impoverished. A revolt or radical revolutionary change was likely. This was the situation at the time of Jesus' birth. At that time in the Orient, Indian civilization had developed centering on Buddhism and Chinese civilization centering on Confucianism.
As a religious leader, which direction would Jesus have gone after the unification of Judaism? He would have gone to the countries of Buddhism and Confucianism. If the Israelites had welcomed Jesus, the Messianic idea would have easily spread throughout the Middle East, India and the Far East, as well as the Roman Empire and all of Europe. Jesus would surely have united the world in his own time.
In other words, if the twelve tribes of Israel had united with Jesus in walking this religious way, the entire Arab world would easily have united with him. Upon this foundation he would have won over the Roman Empire, Europe and all of Asia. Jesus would have established a new religious realm and would have become the King of Kings. Even if the Roman Empire had opposed him, with the support of the Buddhist and Confucian powers in the East, Jesus could have united the world in his time.
Unfortunately Jewish people rejected Jesus and he was sent to his death; the hope of the unified world was lost.
Let's think over what would have been established if the Israelites had welcomed and united with Jesus. If that had happened Jesus would have become the King of Israel, united his disciples, and brought unity among all the descendants of Abraham including the twelve tribes of Jacob and the Arabs. They all would have become part of the family of God's children.
Jesus would have secured the sovereignty of God centered on the nation of Israel, and established the Constitution of the Heavenly Kingdom. At that time, once God's sovereignty had been substantially realized in a nation, no one would have dared to challenge it. The nation that God wished to establish through Adam would have been realized through the second Adam, Jesus Christ the King. The Roman Empire would have knelt down before God as prophesied in Isaiah Chapter 9:7-9: "The Lord thunders; He sits on the throne of David; He has set up His throne and His judgment seat. He will judge the world with justice and try the cause of the peoples fairly. So may the Lord be a tower of strength for the oppressed, a tower of strength in time of need."
After Jesus went to the cross his disciples had to go through all kinds of bloody persecution and suffering, and march toward Rome with bare hands. Eventually, within 400 years, the Roman Empire did kneel down in front of these bare-handed people. If Jesus had lived to lead these people, surely in his own time he could have brought the Roman Empire under God's control.
At that time the Roman Empire was the center of the world. God had prepared the Roman Empire for the sake of the restoration of the whole world. Once the Roman Empire had been transformed into the Kingdom of Heaven, it would have been easy for the rest of the world to follow.
If Jesus had established the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth in Rome, Roman power would have been used in spreading his message throughout the world. Jesus would have gone on to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth all over the world. If that had happened, today there would be no churches-Roman Catholic, Methodist, Church of Christ, Presbyterian, etc., would not exist.
There would have been no denominations. When you arrive at your destination, you no longer need your car. We would all have been citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom. Christian history would not have been written in blood; there would have been no martyrs, and no cross hanging in churches. Had this happened the mission of the Messiah would have been completed, and there would have been no need for Christ to come again.
The betrayal of Jesus was a miserable event. Because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, God could not realize His ideal in the Garden of Eden. Because of the chosen people's betrayal of Jesus Christ, God could not realize the Kingdom of God on Earth.
3) The Israelites Didn't Know the Will of God
Even though the Israelites had been waiting for the Messiah, they didn't recognize him when he came. Why did they fail to attend him? The reason is simple. The Messiah came to earth to save the world and all mankind. God had chosen the Israelites not for their own sake. You must know this. He did not choose the Unification Church for its own sake. God did not choose Rev. Moon for his own sake, but for God and for the world.
In the Bible, John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten son, that whoever believed in him would not die, but have eternal life." God gave his only son not for the sake of Christianity. Christians must be aware of this. Jesus came not for Christianity, he came for all mankind. Jesus was not the Messiah only for the Christians. If they are not aware of this the Christians will surely perish.
The Israelites didn't understand this. They thought the Messiah, the King of Kings, would come to bring them blessings and glory after he conquered the Roman world. But that was not God's Will. God's Will was that the Messiah would come and sacrifice the Israelites for the sake of the world, teaching them the heart of God to serve all mankind. Only after winning over all mankind would the day of glory come to them. Do you understand?
The expectations of the Israelites were at cross purposes with the Will of God. The Will of God and the Messiah was to save the world and humankind, and to straighten out history. The Israelites thought the Messiah came for the people and nation of Israel and their history. So they had divergent purposes. When Israelites looked at the Messiah they couldn't believe their eyes, so instead of welcoming him they opposed him. They expected the Messiah to win support from Rome and eventually to govern Rome. But they couldn't believe that this Messiah could do that.
The Israelites had received the blessing as God's chosen nation to lead the world. But since they were at cross purposes with God they could not reach their destination, and the chosen people who should have attended God and served His purpose failed to serve God and were punished. For 2000 years they wandered around the world without a nation.
4) God's Blessing Moves to the Italian Peninsula
Why do you think God put so much effort into setting up Judaism, as well as Buddhism and Confucianism in the Orient? This was all for the Messiah. God set up a worldwide realm of religious culture so that when the Messiah came it could provide peripheral support for him. Christianity had to endure 400 years of persecution and sacrifice in Rome to indemnify history and establish the Christian culture centered on the Roman Empire.
So where did God's blessing go when it was taken from the Israelites? It went to the Italian peninsula.
Because of his death Jesus' spirit and body were separated. Thereafter two main cultural spheres developed: the physical culture of humanistic Hellenism and the spiritual culture of theistic Hebraism. The Roman Empire, representing Jesus' body, first accepted Hellenism, under Satan's dominion. So Christianity was persecuted in Rome for 400 years.
God set up Christianity as the national religion in Rome only after the Christians endured 400 years of persecution, bloodshed and indemnity, finally winning over the hearts of the Roman people. After the Roman Empire recognized Christianity, the period of the Patriarchs began. How did the Patriarchs handle the situation? They were dogmatic, authoritarian and divided, and so they could not rise above the national level and take up their worldwide mission.
5) History of Judaism and the Roman Catholic Church
Why couldn't the Israelites receive Jesus Christ? They thought that when the Messiah came he would immediately conquer the Roman Empire and the Israelites would control the whole world. But that was not God's Will.
His Will was not to have the nation of Israel spiritually conquer Rome and the neighboring countries and control the world. God's Will was rather to use Israel as a sacrifice for the sake of Rome, the neighboring countries and the world. God's Will is not confined to one nation; His idea is to go beyond the nation. His Will is not limited to one religious denomination; it goes beyond the denomination. However the Israelites, stubbornly concerned with their own national interest and authority, did not trust Jesus, who advocated internationalism. This resulted in horrendous tragedy.
As in Israel, in Rome God's Will was not to remain in one nation. It was to save all humankind. Did Rome accomplish its mission? No it didn't. Due to corruption in the Roman Catholic Church, it could not unite the world into one Christian culture. If at that time the Roman Empire had united with the Roman Catholic Church to pursue God's will, unswervingly going the sacrificial way of the cross to complete their mission, they could have saved the world. However, what did the Roman Catholic Church actually do? It centered on the Pope and forsook God's Will. It subjugated many nations and boasted of its authority.
In John 3:16 the Bible says: "God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten son, that whoever believed in him should not die, but have eternal life." Do you think this message was intended to save individuals? No, it was intended to save the world. God's love was not only for individuals. It was not only for Christianity. God's love was for the world. This world included the Roman Empire and the nations of the Orient. What did God intend to do after Israel welcomed the Messiah?
He wanted to save the world, then, with all mankind proclaiming "Hallelujah!" He wanted to make Israel the central nation of the world. But Israel wanted immediate glory as soon as the Messiah came. The Catholics also wanted immediate glory and the expansion of papal authority.
2. From Italy To England
1) God's Blessing Moved from Italy to England
When the Roman Catholic Church did not fulfill its responsibility, God's blessing inevitably had to move elsewhere. When God withdrew His blessing from Rome the Medieval Age became the Dark Age, and the proud Roman Catholic authorities were brought down in the midst of humanistic ideology.
At this time God initiated the new Protestant movement and opened the way for world salvation once again. God bestowed His blessing on the English Protestant movement, centering on Henry VIII, who led the movement to oppose the Catholics and change the constitution of the church. So God's Will left Rome and moved to England, and a new providence for world salvation began.
Thus the small island nation of England, developing its ocean-going capabilities, quickly became a world power. The world said, "The sun never sets on the British empire."
God blessed England not for the British themselves, letting them conquer the world and enjoy the cream of civilization just for themselves, but for the sake of world salvation. In other words God blessed England because, upon its world foundation, He wanted to save the world. At that time England should have been aware of God's Will and internally united with the Puritans, who dreamed of an ideal country centered on God's Will. Then England should have spread God's Word throughout the world on the foundation of its colonies. If she had done so, England would surely have been able to unite and save the world.
In reality, what did England do? It was unaware of its mission and colonized other nations for its own interests. It failed to become a nation for the sake of world salvation, and exploited the world for its own sake. The Anglican Church tightened its authority, supported the government and forgot about world salvation, and persecuted the Puritans who advocated new religious freedom. God's Will to save the world centering on England came to a dead end.
The Puritans, who advocated religious liberty, struggled against the authoritarian monarchy. Finally they crossed over to the new continent of America, at the risk of their lives. Beyond denomination, beyond nationality, these Puritans pioneered America centered on God's Protestantism. They strove to build the ideal country of God. They left behind their homeland, which had persecuted and oppressed them for their faith, to save the world and build an ideal world in which they could serve God freely. So they united and pioneered America and laid a religious foundation that matched England's. Here people were able to establish a world level Abel Christian realm, in opposition to the world level Cain Christian realm, by uniting the Protestant forces. In this way God began the providence of restoring the Catholics, in the position of the first son, through the Abel Protestants.
2) The Anglican Church and the Puritan Movement
You know what happened between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, don't you? Henry had no son and wanted to divorce Anne, but he faced great opposition. The Catholic Church opposed him, so he wanted to change the law in order to justify his divorce. He left the Catholic Church and set up his own Anglican Church. This is history.
Henry should not have done this. He should have repented about this. Yet he opened a new providential stage by uniting with the new Protestant movement on the national level. Queen Elizabeth was Protestant. She welcomed Calvinism. Through the Statute of Westminster, Article 33, Queen Elizabeth laid the foundation for England to accept Calvinism. It was God's Will for England to defeat Spain and strengthen its ocean-going power.
England inherited all the historical foundation of God's blessing to Christianity. At that time if England, beginning with Henry VIII, had embraced all European Protestants for three generations, England would have become the kingdom of freedom, the elder brother and mother nation. It should have embraced all Europeans who sought religious freedom.
The name of England is the United Kingdom. Literally this name transcends the nation. England, once only a small island and the base of pirate gangs, became the mighty British Empire. The sun never set on the British Empire. This was not because they were so capable. It was possible because, after the failure of the Roman Empire, God needed a new central nation in which to set up a new tradition and a new path.
That's why God blessed England and enabled it to conquer throughout the world. If England had united with God's Will there would have been no nation of America. The world would have been united at that time. But the way that the British colonized and exploited India for 300 years was not God's Will.
God made a good foundation upon which England could have united its colonies in Asia. Isn't that so? If England had known God's Will and marched forward with the Protestants to unite the new nations for the sake of world salvation, then England would have been able to establish a world culture. Today's America wouldn't have existed. Isn't that so?
The Puritans tried to reform the Anglican Church and establish God's ideal in England. They sought to build God's ideal church and nation. But since the British monarchy persecuted them, they had to go to the far-off land of America to seek freedom of faith.
3. God's Blessing To America
1) The Protestant Movement and the American Pioneers
We can see that the medieval Roman papacy had forgotten God's Will to save the world, because they were corrupt and consumed by their own ecclesiastical authority and dogma. They had forgotten the world, seeing only their own power and foundation, and negating all forces that opposed them. Originally they should have been thinking they were ready to sacrifice themselves to save the world. Instead they thought only of protecting their own power and glory.
Since God's Will was to save the world, He could not allow this situation to continue. He had to either destroy it or rejuvenate it, so He initiated the Protestant movement. Martin Luther came and directly confronted the papacy. His thought was to love God and to teach the world the ideas of equality and freedom. He believed that this was God's desire, and that God would help him.
In England, the Puritan movement tried to influence Parliament and form a new government centered on God. But the government didn't accept this movement and continued to oppress it. The Protestants who sought freedom to worship God were persecuted all over Europe.
These movements arose naturally. The leaders of the Protestant movement dreamed of a church in which they could freely serve God and move beyond the medieval Roman papacy. In the course of this movement they became aware of a new continent. In search of freedom from the dogmatic, totalitarian European church, the Pilgrim fathers, dreaming of a world where they could freely practice their faith, crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived on the American continent. They came in search of freedom to worship God and to build the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth on this new, free continent.
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean was a dangerous undertaking at that time. To gain religious freedom, the Pilgrims left their beloved parents and homes, forsaking their families and homeland. Believing only in God and relying on His love, they set out on their voyage. They never resented God, no matter what difficulties and trials they faced. These people kept their faith and determination to build a nation where they would be free to practice their faith. They relied absolutely on God.
On board ship they prayed to God when they were ill, and remained united centered on God. God must have been moved by their faith, watching them overcome great difficulties and suffering for His sake.
"You are the first people since human history began to take such risks for My sake. You forsook your families and nation, so I will give you a better nation, better tribes and clans than those you have given up." This must have been God's determination.
You know that the Mayflower arrived in New England in winter. It was November, the weather was cold and the Pilgrims didn't have enough food. Some of them died of hunger. Yet even though these amazing people were dying, they kept some seed to plant for the next year.
They certainly had the faith that God would open their way in the future, and build through them a nation of freedom and blessing. That's why they walked even the way of death happily, leaving behind seeds for their children to plant. They could bless their descendants while going through a difficult sacrificial way themselves. They did this only because of their faith in God. You may know that the last 41 survivors made an agreement in the name of God. The fact that the ancestors of America kept their faith until the last moment before they died was an historical event.
Without faith, could they have prayed to God in gratitude with their last breath? You must know that your ancestors strove always to attend God, day and night, wherever they went. God, knowing the corruption of the Roman papacy, readily bestowed His blessing upon these American ancestors.
The Pilgrims had a different motive from other emigrants in leaving their homeland. They left in pursuit of a nation that could save the world and be a fatherland of faith. This was a great thing. This idea was in accordance with God's hope, who wanted to save the world beyond the Roman Catholic Church. So God could not help but bless them.
American citizens, God blessed America not only so you could have good meals and good times. God blessed America to save the world. America must not betray God's Will. God wants to work centered on America. If your ancestors had come to America for their own sakes, God would never have blessed them like this. These early immigrants to North America came only in search of the freedom to worship God, nothing else. But they found God and freedom and money also. The immigrants to South America were the opposite. They went in search of money. They side-lined God, and went in search only of money. They went at the same time and in the same position as the northern immigrants, but they lost God and freedom and money. Now those countries are underdeveloped.
It is a miracle that America became a first-rate world-level nation in 200 years. This was only possible with God's protection and blessing.
2) America's Independence and God's Blessing
Ladies and Gentlemen, the bicentennial of American independence is approaching. Let's think for a moment of the position of the people who led the campaign for independence in 1776. The leaders of this movement were traitors from England's point of view. How could traitors bring the independence of this big country, which has become a first-rate country? Do you think God blessed these traitors?
General George Washington was defeated in every battle, at first. Finally, at the decisive time at Valley Forge Washington must have prayed like this, "God, it should not happen that these people, who came to this land in search of freedom of faith, should be taken back by a totalitarian government that is no different from the Catholics. Please bless us to build a nation of religious liberty, and the world of Your ideal."
England was proud of its authority and military power. George Washington had nothing. He was in the position of David confronting Goliath, believing that God was more powerful than an army. No one imagined that Goliath could be killed with a stone from a sling. Washington went into battle with his thoughts focused on God. He prayed as he marched, he prayed as he fought. The soldiers on the frontline prayed to God, and the people behind the lines prayed too.
Religious leaders never serve the will of God in their homeland. God always asks them to leave home; it is His tradition to bless such people. Likewise he blessed and protected those who left their homeland of England.
God led the American revolutionaries to victory so they could build the United States of America, because their dream of a land of religious liberty was in line with His ideal. Don't you think America won with the help of God?
In England, the British people united with the monarchy and fought. In America, God's loving sons and daughters united with Him and fought. So America won, to build a new Christian nation of religious freedom. The American people, from the Congressmen to the common folk, were always proud and grateful to God because He led them to victory.
The American Congress always opens with prayer. Surely America is a nation blessed by God. Even on the money is written, "In God We Trust!" This nation was formed as a microcosm of the world, with the purpose of protecting religious freedom centered on Protestantism.
3) God's Blessing to America through the World Wars
When God blessed America it was made up of Protestants who had come over from England. From that time, the American people had to unite centered on God in order to save the world and establish God's sovereignty. For the sake of their mission and world salvation, they were to sacrifice themselves and serve the world.
God built America into the leading nation of the world through the victories of World War I and World War II.
Because Israel had rejected Jesus Christ and failed its responsibility, the Asian nations of India and China were in Satan's realm. But after World War II, nations under Satan's dominion returned to God's side.
Because of the American victory in two world wars, a world-level spiritual empire was established, centered on Christian culture, as the second Israel.
Then where was America to go? It had to circle back to Asia and, centered on Christianity, to create one powerful cultural sphere by uniting the nations that were drifting with no strong national foundation. The times had changed. The era of the nation was passing, and the era of the world was approaching. Who do you think gave this blessing to America? God did. God blessed America in order to win the world, centered on Christianity. Did America accomplish its mission?
Originally, the United States should have done as General Douglas MacArthur recommended. It should have destroyed the Communists completely at that time. Once America had brought the authority of totalitarian Germany and Japan back to God's side, it should have been able to keep it at all costs. Who do you think was responsible for the division of the Korean peninsula? America! Here America went against God's Will, and as a result of its mistake Satan crept back in.
Through World War II the Christian world received God's blessing. All Christian believers, in gratitude for this blessing, should have united in a strong determination to fulfill God's Will, offering their tears, blood and even their lives. But they failed to do this. Under the banner of their victory in World War II, America, united and centered on God, should have created a new spiritual culture and launched an all-out crusade for world salvation. But America was not thinking of God's Will. Instead, the rise of individualism, money-worship and materialism led the people into corruption.
America lost its value and mission to lead the world, forgot God's Will, and became ethically corrupt, and the once-blessed Christianity began to decline. Communism, which denied God and defined religion as an "opiate," spread all around the world, aiming finally at the United States. Today on American campuses, especially among young intellectuals, Communists are very active in underground operations.
4. To Korea Through Japan
1) The Cyclical Principle in the Development of Human Civilization
Where could the fruit of American culture settle? It was not to remain in America, but to spread to Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, then circle back. Even though God blessed America, when America failed, God expected Asia to inherit His will.
Where can we go from here? We must first melt down America, then cross the Pacific Ocean to Asia. We have to go to Asia. From this point of view, today's American policy is headed in the wrong direction. It's Europe-oriented policy is not correct.
Civilization has moved in cycles from continent to peninsula, and from peninsula to continent and then to islands. Why has Japan grown so fast? In Asia, Japan substitutes for England, which failed its mission. Japan has opposed Western culture and taken over its blessing. In Asia, Japan is in the position England was. It was supposed to raise and nurture the rest of Asia. When Japan tried to dominate other nations for its own sake it became a Satanic nation, and declined.
Japan and England are in the same position. The United States inherited England's civilization, and at the same time Japan copied and inherited England's civilization.
Japan omitted the name of God though, replacing it with that of it's own female goddess, Amaterasu Omikami. Was this female-centered nation on God's side? It was on Satan's side. Knowing that God had an eye on Asia as the center of His providence, Satan tried to use Japan to claim Asia.
But the most important country in Asia is Korea. You must know this. God wanted to bring a new Pacific civilization to the Asian continent through Japan. To reach the continent it had to go through a peninsula. This is the principle of the development of civilization. It traveled in a reverse way from Europe. Japan was in the position of England, and Korea in the position of the Italian peninsula.
America had to go through Japan, Korea, China, the Middle East and Africa in order to encircle the world. To encircle is to unite. Then, European civilization and Asian civilization would have become one. The Middle East and Africa would have become one, and the providential work would have been done.
2) God's Will to Bless Japan as an Economic Superpower
God's Will, which had been centered on America, now moved to Japan. When you read the Divine Principle you find the idea of "parallel providential periods." Human history has moved according to consistent providential formulas set up by the living God. Thus divine providence guided history through these parallel periods. In other words, history sometimes repeats itself and sometimes takes a reverse course. God's providence, centered on the American continent, had to go through a nation that was an island like England; that was the island nation of Japan. Thanks to God's blessing Japan has become a world economic superpower. God blessed Japan to indemnify the failure of England. God developed Japan as an economic power to indemnify the position of England, for the sake of world salvation. But did the Japanese ever have this kind of thought?
They rather centered on their goddess, Amaterasu Omikami, and persecuted Christians. After World War II Japan became a hotbed of the Communist movement.
If Japan had fallen into Communist hands, peace in the Far East would have been impossible, and even America would have been endangered. The Communization of Japan was the secret strategy of Russia and Kim Il Sung's North Korea in the Far East. Rev. Moon saw through this strategy and initiated a powerful anti-Communist movement in Japan. To my understanding, unless the leaders and the people armed themselves with the ideology of Victory over Communism, Japan would decline. Who could lead this movement? Japanese Christians should have done this. Did they do so? No. They were set back by the Communists. In this situation I fought against Communism, which had a powerful background in Japan, at the risk of my life. Now I have established a victorious foundation in Japan.
3) God's Providence Moves to the Korean Peninsula
Did Japan complete its mission to save the world? No it didn't. So God's providence moved on to Korea, to work centered on this peninsular civilization. If Jesus had not lost his body he would have established a God-centered civilization on the Italian peninsula. Now the Second Advent of Christ was made possible on the Korean peninsula.
Korea is very similar to Italy. It's a peninsula, and it's climate and environment are very much like Italy's. Not only that, but also Korea paralleled the Roman papacy. Rome had only a spiritual papacy, but Korea had to establish both a spiritual and physical papacy.
New cultures begin on continents. Now, representing Satan's sovereignty, Communist power swept over India and China. Korea, in the position of Rome, was divided into South and North. Ladies and gentlemen, do you know at what age Kim Il Sung became premier? He was 33. At this age Jesus Christ should have become the King of Israel. Do you know why the North Koreans call their leader, Kim Il Sung, "Aboji," meaning "father?" In the Unification Church members say they are attending "True Parents." This similarity is not accidental. Even though you may misunderstand these words, it's all right. Even if you oppose me it will not stop God's providence.
4) God Gives Korea a Historical Mission
Korea is a country blessed by God. Because God has a desperate desire to clear away His historical resentment, Korea must complete the mission given by God. All the complicated knots of history must be untied on the Korean peninsula.
The representative history of separation for the sake of God's providence is taking place on the Korean peninsula. Just as Cain and Abel fought each other in Adam's family, so the Korean people, who are brothers of one lineage, are fighting, aiming guns at each others' faces. The Korean demilitarized zone is not only the line of confrontation between democratic South Korea and Communist North Korea.
It is the frontline of the historical confrontation between God and Satan. North Korea represents the Cain realm; South Korea represents the Abel realm.
Therefore, if the Abel-type Unification Church and the Cain-type established churches unite and build up their substantial power and foundation, then Abel South Korea will be able to subjugate Cain North Korea, not by force, but by love. It will be no problem to demolish the demilitarized zone. Every problem will dissolve at once.
The area north of the demilitarized zone has symbolically been captured by a red dragon. The south has been caught by a white dragon. Do you know what Panmunjom means, symbolically? It represents "the twelve pearly gates" of the Bible. Panmunjom is the frontline of God and the frontline of Satan.
This is the place where God can make His accusations, and Satan can also make his accusations. It is the only place in the world where God and Satan accuse each other simultaneously.
Then, ladies and gentlemen, do you know why the demilitarized zone was set up like this? Because the Korean peninsula is the place of the final showdown, where God's sorrowful history will be resolved. Here Satan will confront God with all his might, to his last breath.
If South Korea has the substantial ideological power with which to completely digest Kim Il Sung in North Korea, then Korea will earn the title as the one who saved the world from the power of Communism. To win this title is this nation's historical, God-given task. So I clearly declare, we Christians must unite to complete the historical mission given by God to this nation.
If the Korean church and people fail to prepare the foundation to inherit God's fortune, God may leave Korea and the Korean church. Japan and America are also God's countries. The era of the nation is passing.
If Korea fails to complete its mission, God will look for another nation. History does not remain in one place, it keeps flowing on.
5) Korea Must Initiate a New Adamic Culture
Korea is the third Israel, which inherited the providential mission of the first and second Israels. Korea, by all means, must see the fulfillment of God's providence. The fruit of all world civilizations should culminate on the Korean peninsula. We must be the foundation for the establishment of one world centered on God. We must initiate the new era of the Adam culture here in Korea.
How can one world centered on God be established? One world means the world in which God's Will is perfected. There the Adam culture will be realized, which transcends the tribe and nation and creates one perfect world centered on God.
If you and I unite, love our enemies, unreservedly love God, love and serve our nation more than ourselves and our families, and if this is done in every family and church, then Communism will perish automatically. At the Yoido "Save the World" Rally, I requested Unification Church members from 60 nations to pray for Korea. If we all together pray hard for the sake of God's Will and for the future of this nation, then Korea will be able to realize the Adam culture centered on God's will.
Through its sorrowful history of suffering God taught this nation to feel His heart, and to overcome its national sorrow by working to fulfill His Will through the Unification Church.
5. The Mission Of Christianity From The Viewpoint Of God's Will
1) Who Will Take Responsibility for This World?
What is God's Will? Of course, God's Will is to save individuals. But His Will is also to save the world. Individuals need salvation, but God needs an individual who believes in Him and wants to be saved for the sake of the world.
God wants a representative family, but He wants it for the sake of the world. God wants a representative tribe, also for the sake of the world. God wants a representative nation which declares it will take responsibility to save all nations of the world. Don't you think God wants this?
The Jewish people and the nation of Israel thought the Messiah would come only for themselves; that's why they failed to receive the Messiah. They had no idea that the Messiah would come to unite them to save the world. God's idea and that of the nation of Israel were at cross purposes.
From this viewpoint, Jacob was the representative of the family, Moses was the representative of the tribe, and Jesus came as the representative of the nation and the world, with the central mission of saving the world. Isn't that true?
God's will is not only for one denomination. He wants to sacrifice one denomination for the sake of world salvation. Today many Christians think, "I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, so I can go to the Kingdom of Heaven." If you believe in Jesus only for your own salvation, it is not in line with God's providential point of view. We never think of the whole world. Very few people think beyond the salvation of their own family and their own nation.
Today, from the viewpoint of God's will, one should desire individual salvation for the sake of the world, and family salvation too for the sake of the world. Tribal and national salvation should also be for the sake of the world.
Way Of Unification - Part 1
by Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Section 2. Korea As The Third Israel (Part 1)
1. The First Israel And God's Will
1) The Beginning of the Realm of the First Israel
Now, what we have to know is the meaning of Israel in the Bible. What is the meaning of Israel? Israel! "Human being" includes man and woman. Israel does not mean that man defeats woman or woman man. It does not mean that you are the victor over any person, any family or any environment. If so, why do we call it victory? It means that we are victorious in the fight with Satan.
The word "Israel" came from the era of Jacob. After suffering through twenty-one years of drudgery, on his way back to Canaan Jacob triumphed in wrestling with an angel at the ford of Jabbok. The word "the realm of Israel" began then. Whom did Jacob triumph over? He triumphed over an angel, who was substituting for the Archangel. What is the Fall? It means that man was defeated by the Archangel. For this reason, to realize salvation and restoration, man had to fight the angel substituting for the Archangel and make him surrender.
Well, what was the essential plan of Jacob who received the name "Israel"? That is another problem. Jacob, who triumphed as an individual in his struggle with Esau to win the birthright and then ran away, knew that God was with Abraham, whom He had blessed, and had the ardent heart to stand on God's side. In spite of being the second son, Jacob tried to form a family which could inherit God's blessings, and pursued such a family before everything else. For these reasons, there are some anecdotes of immorality in the Bible. But judging from the viewpoint of the providential history, it was in the nature of things.
After suffering through twenty-one years of drudgery, to accomplish the Will, Jacob returned from Haran to Canaan. What was the reason behind that? He thought of a new family. The family was not his own family. He may have missed seeing Esau's family and Abraham's, and returned. Centering on these blessed families and his family, and wanting the land to become a territory on which the universal God's Will could be fulfilled, on his way back to Canaan he triumphed in wrestling with an angel.
The motivation to gain the word "Israel" was not to enable to Jacob's family to live well. Jacob returned centering on the three generations of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Nobody had more hope that these blessed families would prosper than Jacob did. If a family stands God's side, the satanic world is deprived of the family; therefore, a country is in doubt. Consequently, if the satanic world is robbed of the country, the world, heaven and earth become questions.
Thereupon, on the foundation of the whole clan, with his family as the center, Jacob fought. His property mattered little to Jacob, and his servants didn't matter to him. At the sacrifice of these things, he hoped that the whole clan would prosper and that the three generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in obedience to God's command, would center on the realm of Israel which took the victory with the great God's Will, and he wanted the clan to develop into a worldwide people. You have to know that as God had blessed Abraham that his descendants would flourish like the innumerable stars in the sky, Jacob kept the Will in his mind and hoped the worldwide people would be in the realm of God, and so went through the battlefield.
Then whom did Jacob triumph over? He triumphed over Satan. There are many families and clans, but the situations in which they are placed. . . Jacob, centering on his family with twelve sons and daughters led by him, began the course. To be based upon the ideal Will of God led by Abraham's, Isaac's, and Jacob's clan as well as Jacob's family, the blessing of Israel was initiated. To be magnified, longing to be a representative people who could go to the ideal world, they started as a successful people going toward the great world in the future and the ideal of God. It was God's original Will and the royal responsibility that the chosen Israel people might be the model. As the Will and responsibility united, the beginning of Israelite realm was possible. Heaven developed this Israel people, with its twelve tribes, built the state of Israel and the religion of Israel-Hebraism. Through the long history of four hundred years, God built the religion and state of Israel and promised the Advent of the Messiah. "I will send the Messiah. Though you fall into any difficult situation, if you receive him, the difficulty will be settled." This was the Messiahism which God promised to the people of Israel. (168-301)
2) The Direction the Religion and People of Israel Would Choose
As you know, Israelites underwent troubles in Babylon. Escaping from the life of prisoners, Israelites returned to Israel in three waves. The returning Israelites established a temple with new materials. Harkening to the prophets, they gambled to improve the religion internally, and the state externally. God prepared the foundation for the Messiah through the four hundred years.
If the Israelites would receive the Messiah, what would happen? God's Will of the Messiah's advent was not only for Israelites but also for the whole world. The Messiah should be received not only in the physical world but in the spiritual world as well. Why so? Since man fell, Satan ruled the physical world, and hell was formed in the spiritual world. Hell came into being. The territory ruled by Satan is expanded from the earthly hell to the heavenly hell. Therefore, we have to become free starting on earth. If man had not fallen, the earthly hell would not have been formed. An ideal heaven would have been formed. Because due to the Fall, the two worlds turned into territories ruled by Satan, we have to restore them. We have to overcome.
If so, who can overcome? To overcome the course one has to go along the same road as Israel. The road is not two, but one. What is the road the chosen nation and religion of Israel had to undergo? It is universal. The mission is universal. Even though God chooses the specific people of Israel, they have to fulfill the mission not for themselves but for humankind.
Including the Jewish religion, there are numerous religions in the world. There are Buddhism, Confucianism, and Hinduism. The religions are various, but they must not fight one another. After being established, they must go to the one world together. The races of the whole world must not fight one another, but must become one. There must be the thought that can lead religions not to fight, but to unite.
We need the thought that can unify religions and rally the chosen people. Because the realization of God's ideal of creation is universal, the chosen religion and people have to keep the thought which corresponds to the ideal of creation. (168-303)
3) God's Will of the Dispensation for Salvation through the First Israel
The Israelite people were placed as a colony under the tyranny of the Roman Empire. But they thought that, as they were the chosen people, if the Messiah would come down, they could all at once break down Rome, make all the world give in, and turn the whole world around their little fingers. As the coming Messiah would judge the world and freely handle everything with authority, they hoped that Israel could form the privileged base and act as leader. That is, they hoped to dominate the world. Next, they were thinking that they would become the center and the highest class even through sacrificing the whole world.
But the Will of God is different. Israel is a small country. The Israelite religion is a small one. Centering on that religion, God wanted to govern and make the world one. God wished to save the world. But Israel took no regard for the world. If Israel doesn't sacrifice for the world, the world can't be connected, and if the Israelite religion doesn't sacrifice for the world's religions, there is no way to make them unite.
The Israelite people have to unite humankind and religions and connect as one body with religion as inner and nation as outer. The Israelite nation and the Israelite people were in such a situation.
Then, what mission did the Messiah coming in obedience to God have? Through the religion and state of Israel, even if they are sacrificed, the Messiah's mission is also to solve the environments in Asia, such as Buddhism of India and Confucianism of China. God knew it. The Messiah knew it and came down. Further, the Messiah must save the Roman Empire, an enemy.
Such was the thought of God and the Messiah; on the other hand, the people of Israel and the religion of Israel wanted to make all of the East as well as Rome their servants, and dreamed of the world they could dominate. As such, it was good as a dream. After the Israelite realm prevailed at the world level, establishing God's complete religious territory, it might become possible; but in the situation of Israel it was not possible yet. The providence of God is not so. It is through the state of Israel and the religion of Israel's sacrifice that the providence of God has to win over the numerous religious realms of the Orient and the Roman realm of Hellenism. This is the God's providence. This is the issue.
If so, for what did the Israelites hope through the unification of the Israel state centering on Hebraism? Priests and the Jewish leaders thought the same. They thought that if the Lord would descend upon them, they would be installed in the highest positions and could turn the world around their little fingers.
That thought is wrong. God's providence for salvation is a global providence. The providence for salvation is the providence for all the people. It is not the providence for specific people in a specific religious realm centering on a specific religion. The providence for salvation liberates all the people and all the nations.
Why would God liberate all the nations? God would make all one nation where God's Will could be fulfilled. Why would God rally all the religions? God would make them all one to fulfill his Will. So we should return to the world God originally wanted to realize. That is a problem. (168-304)
4) Cause of the First Israel's Failure
Despite the advent of the Messiah in Israel, why did not the religion and the state of Israel unite with him? Although Jesus worked miracles with an ardent heart, made an environment in which no one could give offense to the Will of God, and tried to lead them, why did the Israelites send Jesus to the cross! Because the Hebraism leading the people of Israel and the state was a religion centering on a specific people. The people of Israel is a specific people, and through the religion with the people as the center what is to be realized is a specific world. It is to restore the specific world.
Then, what is the specific world! There are a state and a people which are liberated from the satanic world and can always unite as the realm of Israel. The specific world consists of them. God's original will of sending the Messiah is to make such a world. So, through sacrificing the Judaic religion, the state of Judea is led rightly. Through sacrificing the religion and the state, the world is led rightly. Since the state has to obey the Will of God, it must not center on its families and people, but lead by the world ideology which places all other people above its people. Why couldn't the First Israel fulfill God's Will? Because they centered only on themselves, they didn't think about anything except the people and the religion of Israel. This was the problem. They thought the religion and the people of Israel were above everything else. That is wrong. Their prime concern and God's were different.
God thinks the most important thing is the unification of the world through the nation and the people of Israel, and the unification of the religions through sacrificing the religion of Israel. The Israelite religion and nation had to make the world and its religions united. God and the Messiah wished that this movement on the earthly world could liberate also the hell of the spiritual world under this standard.
The Messiah, who is the center of faith, manifested before the Israeli people. There was a difference. "We don't know anything except the Commandments of Moses. That is best," Israelites said. The Commandments of Moses were just to settle the war between Judea of the two tribes of the southern Kingdom and Israel of the ten tribes of the northern Kingdom. It was just a war to save the people of Israel. They knew God's Will of the Old Testament, but they by no means thought of God's Will beyond the Old Testament to save the world. Because the Israelites couldn't see the world beyond the Old Testament, they couldn't accept the Messiah. That is the cause for the First Israel's ending in failure. (168-306)
2. The Second Israel Centering On The Spiritual Standard
Jesus came down as the Father and the Holy Spirit descended as the Mother of humankind. But they didn't become the parents of both body and soul, but have worked as spiritual parents. The death of Jesus on the cross wasn't a victory over Satan with unified body and soul. Jesus was killed by Satan. The body of Jesus was given to Satan and only the soul of Jesus resurrected. As Jesus was resurrected after forty days and gathered his disciples, the Second Israel began centering on the spiritual standard Such has been the 2,000-year history of Christianity until now.
Then, where is the First Israel? The First Israel perished. Judea as the first Israel perished due to the death of Jesus, and the Second Israel appeared. God had led, protected, and brought up the Israelites, who waited for the Messiah for 4,000 years, so God sent the Messiah on that foundation. But the people would not accept the Messiah and expelled him to the road of death on the cross. So this people stood with the enemies of God.
The Israelites became a stateless people from then and could become independent only after the Second Advent of the Messiah. In the process of the world's indemnification of the sin of the death of Jesus, the people eventually came to be in trouble for much of the 2,000 years. After condemning Jesus, who descended as an ancestor of all people, and causing his bloody death, the people of Israel have been through much trouble as a stateless people.
The Israel of that era was an authoritative nation both in soul and body. On this foundation, Jesus had the responsibility for liberating the nation and for recovering the world; but the Israelites didn't accept the Messiah and expelled him to death. Therefore, Jesus had to go to the spiritual world.
Nevertheless, Jesus had performed his duty of loyalty and filial piety which could establish God's Will. Going to the road of death also, as a substitute for all the people, the Messiah tried to fulfill the mission and the responsibility of Heavenly bonds and establish the morality of loyalty and filial piety: "0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Mt. 26:39) For this reason, even though Jesus died, Satan couldn't conquer his standard of devotion, and the spiritual standard of Israel was erected due to his spiritual resurrection.
Christianity is the spiritual Second Israel, not one of spirit and body. Accordingly, Christians have been persecuted everywhere. The Israelite people became a wandering people, a stateless people, and hoped to become a substantial nation with a spiritual foundation. This is the 2,000-year history of Christendom till now. (19-207)
3. Korea Chosen As The Third Israel
The Orient could have been unified. There was a foundation upon which Judaism could embrace religions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and the Zoroastrianism of the Middle East. God's providence was to restore the territory, saving the realms of the religions, and to center on the East, through Jesus' work. But it would go the opposite way due to the death of Jesus and the sacrifice of his body. It would enter Rome, go around the world, and return to the East.
From the Vatican, God's providence moved through America via England. It took 2,000 years. It moved purely. By the principle of restoration through indemnity, reverse phenomena occur. England corresponds to Japan and Korea is a peninsula that corresponds to the Roman peninsula where the providence was centered before England. Through these phenomena, the formation of the foundation which indemnified and liquidated the failures and unfinished work could prevent Satan from entering. This is why the providence runs the course according to the principle of indemnity.
The coming world will move centering around Asia. Why so? Jesus was divided into body and mind. If he had not been divided, but had remained intact, the world would have come to center on the territory of Asia, through the absorption of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and the religions of the Middle East, which would make one realm of religious culture and absorb Rome. Once Rome was absorbed, the battle would be won. However, the original religious foundation was stolen due to the death of Jesus. Satan took Jesus' body. Rome took the body. We have to go the reverse way, for restoration. The hope and ideals of Christians, keeping God's will in their minds, should be to center on both state and church and so be in the position to go toward a unified world. However, they lost the bases of nation and established religion and became a piteous throng entering Rome.
They had to pay the price with the blood of 400 years to restore those bases. They had to indemnify. Then, if the period is coming, where does it enter? It moves into a state on a peninsula, like Rome's, via a state as an island country. In Asia, Japan is like England. Therefore the culture of Japan follows the English culture.
Then what is the role of Korea? Korea is in the position of Rome. It is like the Vatican. Well, what is Korea? Korea has to be a country to save all religions of the era and all human beings, according to God's Will, and establish the unified world and the unified heaven. Why? Because the era of the terminal culture is coming. The era is representative of the papal realm which ruled the world with the Vatican and peninsula as the center.
When North and South are unified under this situation and can manage the religions of the world and all the people, the religious realm of God's Will manifests. The realm of people and the realm of state are built up by God's Will.
Korea was divided into North and South. What is the Fall? It is the division of soul and body. In the worldwide sense, the North is materialism and the South is spiritualism. This seems to correspond to the fruits of the Fall. Therefore, both fight each other. Body and soul fight. This is in progress. Now where are the Communistic world and the Democratic world? Both are completely exhausted. Complete exhaustion. Then, what is the Principle of our Unification Church? It is the substance to form the realm of the Third Israel. Korea has to become the Third Israel with the ideology of the Second Advent.
Considering the Korean race, in spite of the long history of 5,000 years, the people are special. The Korean hates to be under the control of anyone. He would play the head role everywhere, would not be devoted to anyone.
If so, what is the privilege which Korea has to possess? Only by inheriting God's thought; shall Korea have this privilege. God's thought. What is the thought? It is "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Like this, you have to keep God's thought in your mind. The thought of God is to save the world. To save the world, God places a religion at the head. So, even though sacrificing itself, the religion has to save the world. (168-311)
4. The Ideology The Third Israelite People Should Embrace
"The specific concept the Third Israelite people should embrace." This expression is not easy. What is the specific concept? It is the unification of North and South. Why so? The Fall is the state of division. We have to unite the divided. The division means that mind and body are split, and the spiritual world and the physical world are split. They were scattered throughout the world, and they meet again at one point. They flowed into the world and meet again at one point. This phenomenon is that Korea is divided into North and South and meet again at one point.
One is the leading nation of materialism; the other is the leading nation of theism. Who are there? Kim Il Sung is Father? The Reverend Moon of the Unification Church is Father also? (laughter) There are two Fathers. Therefore, each of them asserts that all are his sons and daughters. A serious thing is happening. Each asserts all as his own sons and daughters. Kim Il Sung is saying the people of South Korea have to be his children, and the Reverend Moon is saying the people of North Korea have to be his children. What a salient event! (laughter) In this event, God's side, to liberate North Korea, has to triumph through embracing God's thought. Well, does Kim Il Sung embrace God's thought? With the laborers and peasants he killed the upper and middle classes as reactionary elements. There is no religious ideology. Only the materialistic ideology exists. But Rev. Moon has both the materialistic concept and the spiritual concept.
In history, if we understand the falls of the First and Second Israels, then centering on the Third Israel, we must unify all of the religions and embrace the ideology of the unification of all the world. We must melt it not with fist or power, but with love through 10 years, 20 years, a thousand years, or myriad years. Even if a woman is evil, if she meets a good husband, and falls in love with him, she may repent. She is returned with love, not with money. You must know that the repentance happens through the heart realm of love. Repentance outside of the heart realm of love is deceitful and false. No one knows when and how it changes.
What ideology does the realm of the Third Israel have? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. As I become an only begotten Son who loves the world, I must be resolved to sacrifice. To liberate all the world and all the people, I must sacrifice. I must be resolved to sacrifice to liberate the religious world and all the religions. That religionists are moaning . . . . It is difficult to believe in a religion, isn't it? We should become free from this difficulty. Humankind are greatly moaning in deep misery.
The gulf between rich and poor, North and South, cannot be settled but by you. You should recognize such things, and struggle to bear a heavy burden, work when the others rest, and be awake when the others sleep. You should swear to move forward on the road. You have to know that as the number of such people increases, a new hope is gradually appearing in the world. (168-328)
5. Korea Is The Final Providential Nation
1) The Korean People Have Survived 5,000 Years of History
The Korean people have received the most blessings and have the superior background. No one can find any other people who have such a background. However, the Korean people are not securely settled yet.
We call our history a history of 5 millennia don't we? Five millennia is a long time. However, what have we done in this long history of 5 millennia? What have we done? Even now, when I travel the countryside on the Kyung-bu line, I can still see some straw-thatched houses. Well, some people still like to live in straw-thatched houses, but it's totally unlovable. Other countries' pig houses are probably better than these straw-thatched houses. In fact, some travelers said Korea has well-developed pig farming, but they actually saw these straw-thatched houses when they said it. They thought that these straw-thatched houses are pig houses. This is really a shame.
What's happened to the country which has the history of 5 millennia? What can we be proud of? Nothing. But, there is something we can be proud of. Korea is a small county. How can we describe it? Should it be described as a small mole on a pretty face? Imagine a pretty woman who has this mole on her face. Would the woman be happy when she put the make-up on her face? She would be very unhappy. It wouldn't be so hard to take it out of the face. She would just have to endure a short moment of pain taking it out.
Take a good look at the Korean peninsula in Asia; it is very beautiful. However, I feel really bad about the small geographical size.
But, why have such people lived in misery? If we had lived well, then we would have been robbed. Do you understand? If we had had a rich life, then robbers would definitely have taken our wealth. If bad guys wouldn't have done anything, God would have done something bad to us.
2) All Religions Have Flourished in Korea
A. Despite The Long History Of Invasions, The Korean People Worshipped God
As you know, the Korean peninsula is divided, North and South, and is a land where Eastern and Western culture and ideologies confront. What you people have to study more about is that the Korean people are one tribe and at the same time, a tribe who has a history of many invasions. Korea was once occupied by China and has served other countries, such as Japan and Russia.
Especially, Korean women were proud of not getting married with other countries' men. Korean women were especially serious about keeping their virginity. Korean people, though a small people, always expect a day when they will be on the top of the world, which shows an enthusiastic character. We have such a mind. That's what makes us different from other people.
For that reason, Korean people often call other people China-nom, Russia-nom, Japan-nom, America-nom, etc. We treat other people as if we face bad guys. We call American people America-nom. Other than the Israelites, if you look at the history of mankind, wouldn't the Korean people be the world representative of people who suffered among the big countries?
Historically, when we received such tremendous pain, it was not because we did something wrong, but because we are surrounded by powerful countries. In that perspective, Korean people are the true representative of suffering people who had many invasions. Even today, the fact that we are facing the confrontation of North and South, and Eastern and Western culture, is not, by any means, motivated by Korean people. Through historical change, we are suffering in the confrontation of Communism and democracy. This is, also, a suffering course, on the worldwide level.
Well, why am I telling you this? Even undergoing hardship, there is one special characteristic that no other people have. That's the spirit of worshipping God and keeping hope, praying, "Please, let our hope be realized," while enduring suffering and hardship. We became as one carrying down this spirit to our descendants. No other people have this characteristic. Ordinary people would easily blame God and think, "If there is a God, why would He let our people suffer?" Despite the hardships, the Korean people have kept this position, the opposite of ordinary people. This characteristic makes the Korean people so special.
B. People Of Strong Faith
Historically, which people have a fiery faith? I found that the Korean people, who had never heard of God, or saints and sages, without any concept of a subject of prophecy, had a burning fire of faith in God. You people can disagree. But, I have discovered it.
Is truly a miracle that this people, on a finger-nail-size peninsula, has undergone such hardship and kept 5,000-year history, 5 millennia. Take a good look at Korean history. Korea has a history of receiving such an enormous number of invasions. Other countries ate it and spit it out and swallowed it and spit it out. When they spit it out, it was skinless. However, with a strong bond of people's spirit, the Korean people have persisted and expected the day of hope. Because there was hope in the people's spirit, which has kept the Korean peninsula alive, the Korean people have persisted until today. Don't you agree that God would send the Messiah to this kind of people? I think so. I hope you agree with me.
Also, in the emotional aspect, no other people have more affection than the Korean people. Korea also has been called a country of courtesy. Confucianism entered in this country and flourished. Buddhism also entered and flourished. So did Christianity. But, now, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity, which once were the hope of religion, have come to a dead end. However, what we have left is the people's spirit. Centering upon the people's spirit, we are firing up a strong passion that can bum down all the ideologies.
In the Far East, Korean people are no greater than other people in their faith or hopeful outlook. When you study the history of Korean Christianity, it has a short history of only 70-80 years. However, despite its short history, Korean Christians have unprecedented superior faith that can never be found in any other country in the world. When it comes to faith, Korean people have such an undefeated mind, no less than that of other people.
I intended to comfort you by saying these words. I have traveled to many famous places. I didn't have much interest in a beautiful country, like Switzerland. It wasn't that exciting. However, if you drive a car on the roads in Korea, you'll realize that is truly the natural park of the future. There are the beautiful peaks of the mountains. You can build nice houses there.
Korean people, who were born such a country, are especially smart. They must be smart and their minds must be clean. In this perspective, Korean people are very close to being the people of faith. Buddhism in the Koryo era, Confucianism during the Yi dynasty, and Christianity in the modern age all have unprecedented records of flourishing in Korea which affected the national cultural background. So, because Korean people are born in such a blessing of beautiful natural benefits, they are gifted with being smart and having a clean mind. Therefore, I assume that they are close to being the people of faith. I think that when this kind of people becomes one with God, a whole new phenomenon will occur.
Throughout history, because our people have centered their lives on religious teachings, we still have the spirit of subconsciously centering on religious teachings. There are no other people who have such a strong faith. If people are going through some difficulties, they go to spiritually-open fortune tellers living out in nature these days. Korean people have such a spirit of cherishing the teachings of nature.
C. All Religions Have Flourished In Korea
Today, there are many nations in the world. Among these nations, there have been many nations who have contributed to humankind; but which nation has a history of its sovereignty being derived from its religious ideas? There are many nations that have history of one religion, but there's only one nation, Korea, in which many religions have entered and dominated the government and all people's way of life.
Generally, when you look at Korean religions, from the Shinra to Koryo eras, Buddhism was practiced and flourished. Not only did it affect the way of life, it also dominated the trend of thought and government. Regardless of the religions' origins, or the founders, all religions flourished in Korea. Buddhism started in India, but via China it entered into the Korean peninsula and dominated the government. After that, in the Yi dynasty, Confucianism entered and dominated the government and incorporated a social system. In the modern age, despite a short history here, Christianity came in as a strong influence on people's lives.
All religions can have fruits in these people. They are the people who, even after enduring hardship in a long history of suffering, are concerned for the sake of the world, and are pursuing one great goal of humankind. God must need this kind of people.
In God's perspective, he would be looking for the country where all the religions he created have flourished. It is an undeniable fact that the Korean people are the only people capable of bearing these religious fruits.
Buddhism started in India, but it went to Korea via China. It was not India or China where Buddhism bore fruit; it was Korea. Indeed, Buddhism flourished in Korea. Centering on the Shinra era, Buddhism not only bore the fruit of a brilliant cultural establishment, it also produced such a monk as Won-hyo, who incorporated the teachings of Buddhism in the society. This was really a history-making moment.
The same goes for Confucianism. Throughout 500 years of the Yi dynasty, all people were practicing the teachings of Confucianism as the standard of virtue in their lives. The whole system in the country was set by Confucianism. The teacher Tae-kye Lee, one of the important figures of Confucianism history, pioneered the new areas of the teachings.
Also, Christianity had the same impact on the Korean people. Korean Christianity has only a 100-year history, but it weakened the social trend of thought that was in accordance with Buddhism and Confucianism, and established a new culture and way of thinking. In the Christian sphere, Korea would be the prime representative of all Christian countries in Asia. It is an amazing fact that the way of life and government are newly incorporated by the Christian culture. Well, this leads to the point that in the historical relationship centering on the background of the world's religions, the Korean people are connected with God's providence.
When we look at India, China, Japan, or other great countries in Asia, none are like Korea. No other countries have such special characteristics. China, Japan, and India cannot show such strong Christian faith. Only Korea is the representative of Christian countries in Asia.
Although, in the modern age, old religious practices, such as those of Buddhism and Confucianism, have diminished, and -- especially with the corruption of Western culture -- Christianity has lost its original base, only Christianity in Korea is still developing. That's interesting. That's truly an interesting phenomenon.
D. Korea Has A Traditional Ideology Of God's Providence
Generally speaking, Korean people are used to the Buddhist way of life, the Confucianist way of life, and the Christian way of life. People in their 40s and 50s especially. These people have lived in the environment in which they all can be used to the three major religions. In the history of a nation, or in world history, from the religious point of view or the moral point of view, in the country centering on God's providence, a person who walked the course of suffering on the worldwide level must receive a worldwide blessing from God. This is familiar in our teachings of the Divine Principle.
Then, what do we mean by this idea? This ideology makes the world whole and peaceful. We can come to the conclusion that the Korean people, being incorporated by the three major religions, are a part of God's plan where they can carry out God's providence. In other words, in God's plan, all religions must unite, and then the internal standard would unite with the external standard. That's for the sake of world peace, only for world peace! The goal of politics must be world peace. Then, why is that? Look at the fact that the Korean peninsula has been invaded more than 930 times. It is very obvious that the Korean people would shout for peace. No one has ever thought of the fact that the Korea people have this traditional subconscious.
Then, how can we bring about the unification of North and South Korea? How can we get together as one and realize a world of peace? We must unite centering on God, and then realize peace. The same applies to God's point of view. God's hope is to make all mankind as one and realize peace. In the Last Days, providentially, the Korean people are the special people who have inherited the traditional ideology of God's providence.
Therefore, we need an ideology which can unite all the religions, and then we need love that can realize the world of peace. These are the two conclusions. If there is God, God would think like that.
In this perspective, we must realize the fact that today the unification ideology must come out on the foundation of historical and traditional ideology. Therefore it is an obvious conclusion that the unification ideology is an inevitable result of this traditional path of history, in which not only should it make Christianity one, but it should also make all religions as one, and then realize the world of peace. You must know this fact for sure.
3) Korea Is the Final Providential Nation
A. Korea Representing The Confrontation Of Communism And Democracy
We can consider that, in God's point of view, Korea is the final nation of faith. In other words, Korea must become a nation where God's providence can be realized. So, the new ideal world must start there.
Because the history of humankind must be in accord with God's providential point of view, the end of the fallen history of humankind must coincide with the last days of God's restoration providence. For that reason, the hope of all humankind and the ideal nation is Korea. Further, Korea represents the ideal heaven on earth where all humankind can live. Thus, the ideals of God and humankind are in accord, God's restoration providence will end, and all historical hopes will be realized in Korea. That's where the grand opening of heaven's gate will occur. However, now Korea is not even close to this ideal; Korea is divided North and South, and between the East and the West. In these Last Days, the gap between countries of the East and the West, problems with the differences between Eastern and Western cultures, the economic difference between North and South, and the disharmony of the five skin colors of humankind are the thus far unsolvable problems of the world.
Look at the powers of Satan and God in this world. Satan has more power than God. It is because of the Fall. Hence, the world ideologies are divided, with materialism, representing Cain, located in the North, and theism, representing Abel, located in the South. With that in mind, Korea is the representative of the confrontation of world Communism and democracy. Providentially speaking, Korea is the final nation of the powers of God and Satan. The war is not only for South and North Korea, but also a war between Moscow and Washington, DC.
B. The Demise Of Western Culture
Countries which worship God through a religion throw away all material things. Therefore, all the countries which worship God or gods are poor. Even today, some tribes in Taiwan just enjoy their lives eating bananas and dancing around, and worship their own god. Religious people generally sacrifice themselves, and live for the perfection of their personality. Hence, centering on any religious practice, you should throw away all material things.
Comparing both the East and the West, which side can develop the spiritual culture more deeply? It is the East. What makes me say so? It is because the East is poorer than the West. Which side started civilization first? It was the East. Then, why is the West richer than the East, which started civilization first? The Eastern ideologies approached the spiritual world, internal world, not the material world. Therefore, they threw away all the material things. Who, then, took all these material things thrown away by the Eastern people? Thieves took them. What kind of people were there when England was first formed? They were pirates who built the country of England. In God's providence, however, there was a need of managing other countries, and God let these people take care of their own countries and develop them.
Accordingly, where should the material world go now? It started in the Western sphere. If it goes back to the Western sphere, then the world will come to an end. In the Western world, there is no God. Then, where would be the destination of the Western culture? Material should completely surrender to spirit. The physical body must completely surrender to the mind. The same principle applies to the spheres of Eastern and Western cultures. Once the Eastern world, representing the spiritual sphere, realizes its position, the Western world must completely submit and surrender to the Eastern world.
In the period from the end of the 20th century into the 21st century, the time will come when, if people of the Western world don't know about the Eastern culture in Asia, they won't be well treated, nor welcomed. For that reason, the historian Toynbee prophesied the end of the Western culture. He also said that unless a whole new religious foundation and a new civilization centered on the Eastern culture and civilization, and which can unite Christianity, is formed, the world will come to an end. This is true.
Then, which country will serve that role in Asia? Is it China? But China became a Communist country. India is the next candidate. What is in India? In India there are religious practices, such as yoga. This became a big matter in American society. Today, in India, there are some spiritual practices and religious teachings, and especially the teachings of Buddhism, that have a big impact on people. However, these teachings and practices are not suitable for today's society. Japan would be the next available candidate; but Japan is not a country of a great religion. Japan is a country of small religions that do not contain the traditional religious thoughts and do not have a background which can be compared with global-level trend of thoughts.
In this perspective, let's look at Korea. Now Korea is undeniably faced with the inevitable flow of history, in which Korea must establish a new culture centering on Christian culture and Oriental thoughts. These historical moments are coming to us. We have to observe these moments very carefully. Furthermore, we must realize that we are in a very important situation.
In the perspective of the trend of thought, Korea became an example of world culture. Korea has dealt with many nations. We have dealt with many peoples of the world's countries, which center on the United States. However, no ideologies offered by these countries are suitable for the Korean people.
This Korean peninsula is divided in half, and the North is dominated by Communists. North Korea became the focal point of Communism, and South Korea has become the focal point of the democratic sphere. However, the Korean people are not truly contributing to either Communism or democracy. We are in this situation.
C. Korea Is The Place Where All Cultures Are Concentrated
Korea is the most interesting country among the Asian countries.
Korea has been preserving a unique oriental culture and way of life for 5,000 years. In other words, the most genuine oriental culture has been maintained in Korea. Also, the world's major religions have flourished in Korea. Christianity, the core of Western culture, has laid its roots and is developing daily. Despite the fact that churches around the world become vacant, churches in Korea are filled with Christians praying and singing day and night.
Korean Christianity is a fruit of Hebraism, the root of spiritual civilization. Christianity, which was prophesied by ancient Hebrew prophets, was carried down by Christian saints, and has become one of major religions today, has its roots in Hebraism. On the other hand, North Korea has borne the fruit of Hellenism, totally opposite to Hebraism. This is Communism -- atheism centered on materialism, denying God. Two worlds of opposite ideology are confronting each other in the Korean peninsula.
The Korean War was a representation of the war between these two worlds of opposite ideology. It was not just a war between North and South Korea, but it was the war between Communist countries and free countries in the UN. Therefore, we can say that the Korean peninsula is a microcosm of the world. All the important matters in the world occur in small scale in the Korean peninsula. The solutions to the problems of Korea are not only for Korea, but are the solutions for the problems of the world.
Where is the center in Asia? Korea is the one. Therefore, the problems of Korea extend to the problems at the global level. The most troublesome people in Asia are the Korean people. Korean people would never be cooked by others. They are very smart and very precise in the systematic- information industry.
In recent years, major fights broke out over Korea. The Japan-Russia War, the Japan-China War, and the war between Japan and the US were all caused by takeovers of the Korean peninsula.
Why did it happen like that? Why did it have to happen like that? Why did Korea, in recent years, become the most troublesome country in Asia and in the world? Today, Korea is the only country in which Communism and democracy are confronting each other. Korea has persisted from the beginning to the end. Winning fights in the Korean peninsula depends on whether or not people fight under the name of God. For this reason, God's providence lies on Korean people's shoulders, and, at the same time, Satan is trying to take over the people of Korea. In this point of view, we can say, "Oh, because we know God's providence very well, we have been persecuted and undergone hardship. But, God has created the base in the Korean peninsula!" In the historical point of view, God's providence is related with the history of Korea. For that reason, I can conclude, "Ah, Korean people are wise, and were definitely chosen by God!" A person like Rev. Moon was born in this kind of land.
So, what Rev. Moon did so far is to gather together all the Asian civilizations. In Asia, Rev. Moon is a leading person among anti-Communists. Rev. Moon is the one who has established the new religion and tried to revolutionize the world.
The place that serves as a mediator, bringing material things from the West to the East, would be the place of hope. This place is Korea, the troublesome country of the 20th century. Isn't that right? [Yes] Korea is the center of the problems. That's why there's hope in Korea. Korea, the bridge between the West and the East, can be the origin of the new culture, and is the beginning of the new relationship that can bear fruit. That's why Korea is the place where all civilizations are concentrated.
4) Formation of the Realm of Unified Global Culture Centering on the Korean Peninsula
The difference between the ancient Jewish people and the Korean people is that the Jewish people didn't have global-level thoughts. This is the problem. Judaism did not have the background Korean people have. It was only Korea that combined all major religions in the oriental sphere. Providentially, if Jesus had not been crucified, he would have united Indian and Chinese culture centering on Judaism. Representing the Indian culture, Buddhism entered into Korea, and Confucianism represents the Chinese culture. Representing the Western sphere, Christianity won the victory in the Roman Empire and finally came into Korea and bore fruit. Therefore, replacing the Jewish nation, Korea became the base of God's blessings.
A fruit of India is Buddhism, which was sown in Korea. The Confucianism of China was also sown in Korea. So, the cultural harmony that was intended to be made in Jesus' time, was sown and flourished in Korea. Do you understand? After Jesus' time, Christianity failed to unite the world centering on the foundation of such blessings. After 2,000 years, God has found the base in Asia, Korea, where the unification of the Buddhist sphere, Confucian sphere, and Christian sphere will form the whole new world of unification. Providentially, is an undeniable conclusion.
Centering on the Vatican in Rome, a new civilization and the unification of the Western world were formed; However, the papacy weakened. Hence, not only could they not unite the Western world, but also the unification of the Eastern world could not occur. Accordingly, centering on the Unification Church, the realm of culture which can bring the unification of East and West must be formed. The realm of the new culture at the global level must be established. Therefore, just as 1,200 years of Western history centering on the Western culture has been exalted by the Western powers, so, centering on Asia, in the Korean peninsula, a new eternal culture must be formed through the history of a new millennium. This is indemnity for the failure in the Roman peninsula.
Then, why is a peninsula important? The Mediterranean is like a woman's womb. It is woman's private part. That's why they established the Atlantic cultural sphere. The Korean peninsula is like a man's genital. Japan is described as a woman, and dominates the Pacific cultural sphere today. That's why I started fish farming in the Pacific Ocean, Alaska, and South America. The reason why I started this is that the natural resources from the ocean have a direct relationship with the land resources. Proportionally speaking, resource-wise, the ocean dominates the land. It is a different shape, but water can be compared with the land's air, and fish symbolize the land's people.
So, from now on, as in the Roman peninsula, which generated the Atlantic cultural sphere, centering on the Korean peninsula we are entering into the new era of kingship, an ideal era of the unified cultural sphere. This is God's providence.
Way Of Unification - Part 1
by Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Section 2. Korea As The Third Israel (Part 2)
1. The First Israel And God's Will
1) The Beginning of the Realm of the First Israel
Now, what we have to know is the meaning of Israel in the Bible. What is the meaning of Israel? Israel! "Human being" includes man and woman. Israel does not mean that man defeats woman or woman man. It does not mean that you are the victor over any person, any family or any environment. If so, why do we call it victory? It means that we are victorious in the fight with Satan.
The word "Israel" came from the era of Jacob. After suffering through twenty-one years of drudgery, on his way back to Canaan Jacob triumphed in wrestling with an angel at the ford of Jabbok. The word "the realm of Israel" began then. Whom did Jacob triumph over? He triumphed over an angel, who was substituting for the Archangel. What is the Fall? It means that man was defeated by the Archangel. For this reason, to realize salvation and restoration, man had to fight the angel substituting for the Archangel and make him surrender.
Well, what was the essential plan of Jacob who received the name "Israel"? That is another problem. Jacob, who triumphed as an individual in his struggle with Esau to win the birthright and then ran away, knew that God was with Abraham, whom He had blessed, and had the ardent heart to stand on God's side. In spite of being the second son, Jacob tried to form a family which could inherit God's blessings, and pursued such a family before everything else. For these reasons, there are some anecdotes of immorality in the Bible. But judging from the viewpoint of the providential history, it was in the nature of things.
After suffering through twenty-one years of drudgery, to accomplish the Will, Jacob returned from Haran to Canaan. What was the reason behind that? He thought of a new family. The family was not his own family. He may have missed seeing Esau's family and Abraham's, and returned. Centering on these blessed families and his family, and wanting the land to become a territory on which the universal God's Will could be fulfilled, on his way back to Canaan he triumphed in wrestling with an angel.
The motivation to gain the word "Israel" was not to enable to Jacob's family to live well. Jacob returned centering on the three generations of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Nobody had more hope that these blessed families would prosper than Jacob did. If a family stands God's side, the satanic world is deprived of the family; therefore, a country is in doubt. Consequently, if the satanic world is robbed of the country, the world, heaven and earth become questions.
Thereupon, on the foundation of the whole clan, with his family as the center, Jacob fought. His property mattered little to Jacob, and his servants didn't matter to him. At the sacrifice of these things, he hoped that the whole clan would prosper and that the three generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in obedience to God's command, would center on the realm of Israel which took the victory with the great God's Will, and he wanted the clan to develop into a worldwide people. You have to know that as God had blessed Abraham that his descendants would flourish like the innumerable stars in the sky, Jacob kept the Will in his mind and hoped the worldwide people would be in the realm of God, and so went through the battlefield.
Then whom did Jacob triumph over? He triumphed over Satan. There are many families and clans, but the situations in which they are placed. . . Jacob, centering on his family with twelve sons and daughters led by him, began the course. To be based upon the ideal Will of God led by Abraham's, Isaac's, and Jacob's clan as well as Jacob's family, the blessing of Israel was initiated. To be magnified, longing to be a representative people who could go to the ideal world, they started as a successful people going toward the great world in the future and the ideal of God. It was God's original Will and the royal responsibility that the chosen Israel people might be the model. As the Will and responsibility united, the beginning of Israelite realm was possible. Heaven developed this Israel people, with its twelve tribes, built the state of Israel and the religion of Israel-Hebraism. Through the long history of four hundred years, God built the religion and state of Israel and promised the Advent of the Messiah. "I will send the Messiah. Though you fall into any difficult situation, if you receive him, the difficulty will be settled." This was the Messiahism which God promised to the people of Israel. (168-301)
2) The Direction the Religion and People of Israel Would Choose
As you know, Israelites underwent troubles in Babylon. Escaping from the life of prisoners, Israelites returned to Israel in three waves. The returning Israelites established a temple with new materials. Harkening to the prophets, they gambled to improve the religion internally, and the state externally. God prepared the foundation for the Messiah through the four hundred years.
If the Israelites would receive the Messiah, what would happen? God's Will of the Messiah's advent was not only for Israelites but also for the whole world. The Messiah should be received not only in the physical world but in the spiritual world as well. Why so? Since man fell, Satan ruled the physical world, and hell was formed in the spiritual world. Hell came into being. The territory ruled by Satan is expanded from the earthly hell to the heavenly hell. Therefore, we have to become free starting on earth. If man had not fallen, the earthly hell would not have been formed. An ideal heaven would have been formed. Because due to the Fall, the two worlds turned into territories ruled by Satan, we have to restore them. We have to overcome.
If so, who can overcome? To overcome the course one has to go along the same road as Israel. The road is not two, but one. What is the road the chosen nation and religion of Israel had to undergo? It is universal. The mission is universal. Even though God chooses the specific people of Israel, they have to fulfill the mission not for themselves but for humankind.
Including the Jewish religion, there are numerous religions in the world. There are Buddhism, Confucianism, and Hinduism. The religions are various, but they must not fight one another. After being established, they must go to the one world together. The races of the whole world must not fight one another, but must become one. There must be the thought that can lead religions not to fight, but to unite.
We need the thought that can unify religions and rally the chosen people. Because the realization of God's ideal of creation is universal, the chosen religion and people have to keep the thought which corresponds to the ideal of creation. (168-303)
3) God's Will of the Dispensation for Salvation through the First Israel
The Israelite people were placed as a colony under the tyranny of the Roman Empire. But they thought that, as they were the chosen people, if the Messiah would come down, they could all at once break down Rome, make all the world give in, and turn the whole world around their little fingers. As the coming Messiah would judge the world and freely handle everything with authority, they hoped that Israel could form the privileged base and act as leader. That is, they hoped to dominate the world. Next, they were thinking that they would become the center and the highest class even through sacrificing the whole world.
But the Will of God is different. Israel is a small country. The Israelite religion is a small one. Centering on that religion, God wanted to govern and make the world one. God wished to save the world. But Israel took no regard for the world. If Israel doesn't sacrifice for the world, the world can't be connected, and if the Israelite religion doesn't sacrifice for the world's religions, there is no way to make them unite.
The Israelite people have to unite humankind and religions and connect as one body with religion as inner and nation as outer. The Israelite nation and the Israelite people were in such a situation.
Then, what mission did the Messiah coming in obedience to God have? Through the religion and state of Israel, even if they are sacrificed, the Messiah's mission is also to solve the environments in Asia, such as Buddhism of India and Confucianism of China. God knew it. The Messiah knew it and came down. Further, the Messiah must save the Roman Empire, an enemy.
Such was the thought of God and the Messiah; on the other hand, the people of Israel and the religion of Israel wanted to make all of the East as well as Rome their servants, and dreamed of the world they could dominate. As such, it was good as a dream. After the Israelite realm prevailed at the world level, establishing God's complete religious territory, it might become possible; but in the situation of Israel it was not possible yet. The providence of God is not so. It is through the state of Israel and the religion of Israel's sacrifice that the providence of God has to win over the numerous religious realms of the Orient and the Roman realm of Hellenism. This is the God's providence. This is the issue.
If so, for what did the Israelites hope through the unification of the Israel state centering on Hebraism? Priests and the Jewish leaders thought the same. They thought that if the Lord would descend upon them, they would be installed in the highest positions and could turn the world around their little fingers.
That thought is wrong. God's providence for salvation is a global providence. The providence for salvation is the providence for all the people. It is not the providence for specific people in a specific religious realm centering on a specific religion. The providence for salvation liberates all the people and all the nations.
Why would God liberate all the nations? God would make all one nation where God's Will could be fulfilled. Why would God rally all the religions? God would make them all one to fulfill his Will. So we should return to the world God originally wanted to realize. That is a problem. (168-304)
4) Cause of the First Israel's Failure
Despite the advent of the Messiah in Israel, why did not the religion and the state of Israel unite with him? Although Jesus worked miracles with an ardent heart, made an environment in which no one could give offense to the Will of God, and tried to lead them, why did the Israelites send Jesus to the cross! Because the Hebraism leading the people of Israel and the state was a religion centering on a specific people. The people of Israel is a specific people, and through the religion with the people as the center what is to be realized is a specific world. It is to restore the specific world.
Then, what is the specific world! There are a state and a people which are liberated from the satanic world and can always unite as the realm of Israel. The specific world consists of them. God's original will of sending the Messiah is to make such a world. So, through sacrificing the Judaic religion, the state of Judea is led rightly. Through sacrificing the religion and the state, the world is led rightly. Since the state has to obey the Will of God, it must not center on its families and people, but lead by the world ideology which places all other people above its people. Why couldn't the First Israel fulfill God's Will? Because they centered only on themselves, they didn't think about anything except the people and the religion of Israel. This was the problem. They thought the religion and the people of Israel were above everything else. That is wrong. Their prime concern and God's were different.
God thinks the most important thing is the unification of the world through the nation and the people of Israel, and the unification of the religions through sacrificing the religion of Israel. The Israelite religion and nation had to make the world and its religions united. God and the Messiah wished that this movement on the earthly world could liberate also the hell of the spiritual world under this standard.
The Messiah, who is the center of faith, manifested before the Israeli people. There was a difference. "We don't know anything except the Commandments of Moses. That is best," Israelites said. The Commandments of Moses were just to settle the war between Judea of the two tribes of the southern Kingdom and Israel of the ten tribes of the northern Kingdom. It was just a war to save the people of Israel. They knew God's Will of the Old Testament, but they by no means thought of God's Will beyond the Old Testament to save the world. Because the Israelites couldn't see the world beyond the Old Testament, they couldn't accept the Messiah. That is the cause for the First Israel's ending in failure. (168-306)
2. The Second Israel Centering On The Spiritual Standard
Jesus came down as the Father and the Holy Spirit descended as the Mother of humankind. But they didn't become the parents of both body and soul, but have worked as spiritual parents. The death of Jesus on the cross wasn't a victory over Satan with unified body and soul. Jesus was killed by Satan. The body of Jesus was given to Satan and only the soul of Jesus resurrected. As Jesus was resurrected after forty days and gathered his disciples, the Second Israel began centering on the spiritual standard Such has been the 2,000-year history of Christianity until now.
Then, where is the First Israel? The First Israel perished. Judea as the first Israel perished due to the death of Jesus, and the Second Israel appeared. God had led, protected, and brought up the Israelites, who waited for the Messiah for 4,000 years, so God sent the Messiah on that foundation. But the people would not accept the Messiah and expelled him to the road of death on the cross. So this people stood with the enemies of God.
The Israelites became a stateless people from then and could become independent only after the Second Advent of the Messiah. In the process of the world's indemnification of the sin of the death of Jesus, the people eventually came to be in trouble for much of the 2,000 years. After condemning Jesus, who descended as an ancestor of all people, and causing his bloody death, the people of Israel have been through much trouble as a stateless people.
The Israel of that era was an authoritative nation both in soul and body. On this foundation, Jesus had the responsibility for liberating the nation and for recovering the world; but the Israelites didn't accept the Messiah and expelled him to death. Therefore, Jesus had to go to the spiritual world.
Nevertheless, Jesus had performed his duty of loyalty and filial piety which could establish God's Will. Going to the road of death also, as a substitute for all the people, the Messiah tried to fulfill the mission and the responsibility of Heavenly bonds and establish the morality of loyalty and filial piety: "0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Mt. 26:39) For this reason, even though Jesus died, Satan couldn't conquer his standard of devotion, and the spiritual standard of Israel was erected due to his spiritual resurrection.
Christianity is the spiritual Second Israel, not one of spirit and body. Accordingly, Christians have been persecuted everywhere. The Israelite people became a wandering people, a stateless people, and hoped to become a substantial nation with a spiritual foundation. This is the 2,000-year history of Christendom till now. (19-207)
3. Korea Chosen As The Third Israel
The Orient could have been unified. There was a foundation upon which Judaism could embrace religions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and the Zoroastrianism of the Middle East. God's providence was to restore the territory, saving the realms of the religions, and to center on the East, through Jesus' work. But it would go the opposite way due to the death of Jesus and the sacrifice of his body. It would enter Rome, go around the world, and return to the East.
From the Vatican, God's providence moved through America via England. It took 2,000 years. It moved purely. By the principle of restoration through indemnity, reverse phenomena occur. England corresponds to Japan and Korea is a peninsula that corresponds to the Roman peninsula where the providence was centered before England. Through these phenomena, the formation of the foundation which indemnified and liquidated the failures and unfinished work could prevent Satan from entering. This is why the providence runs the course according to the principle of indemnity.
The coming world will move centering around Asia. Why so? Jesus was divided into body and mind. If he had not been divided, but had remained intact, the world would have come to center on the territory of Asia, through the absorption of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and the religions of the Middle East, which would make one realm of religious culture and absorb Rome. Once Rome was absorbed, the battle would be won. However, the original religious foundation was stolen due to the death of Jesus. Satan took Jesus' body. Rome took the body. We have to go the reverse way, for restoration. The hope and ideals of Christians, keeping God's will in their minds, should be to center on both state and church and so be in the position to go toward a unified world. However, they lost the bases of nation and established religion and became a piteous throng entering Rome.
They had to pay the price with the blood of 400 years to restore those bases. They had to indemnify. Then, if the period is coming, where does it enter? It moves into a state on a peninsula, like Rome's, via a state as an island country. In Asia, Japan is like England. Therefore the culture of Japan follows the English culture.
Then what is the role of Korea? Korea is in the position of Rome. It is like the Vatican. Well, what is Korea? Korea has to be a country to save all religions of the era and all human beings, according to God's Will, and establish the unified world and the unified heaven. Why? Because the era of the terminal culture is coming. The era is representative of the papal realm which ruled the world with the Vatican and peninsula as the center.
When North and South are unified under this situation and can manage the religions of the world and all the people, the religious realm of God's Will manifests. The realm of people and the realm of state are built up by God's Will.
Korea was divided into North and South. What is the Fall? It is the division of soul and body. In the worldwide sense, the North is materialism and the South is spiritualism. This seems to correspond to the fruits of the Fall. Therefore, both fight each other. Body and soul fight. This is in progress. Now where are the Communistic world and the Democratic world? Both are completely exhausted. Complete exhaustion. Then, what is the Principle of our Unification Church? It is the substance to form the realm of the Third Israel. Korea has to become the Third Israel with the ideology of the Second Advent.
Considering the Korean race, in spite of the long history of 5,000 years, the people are special. The Korean hates to be under the control of anyone. He would play the head role everywhere, would not be devoted to anyone.
If so, what is the privilege which Korea has to possess? Only by inheriting God's thought; shall Korea have this privilege. God's thought. What is the thought? It is "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Like this, you have to keep God's thought in your mind. The thought of God is to save the world. To save the world, God places a religion at the head. So, even though sacrificing itself, the religion has to save the world. (168-311)