Acts 3
7 Peter then took him by the right hand and helped him up.
At once the man’s feet and ankles became strong, 8 and he jumped up and started walking. He went with Peter and John into the temple, walking and jumping and praising God. 9 Everyone saw him walking around and praising God. 10 They knew that he was the beggar who had been lying beside the Beautiful Gate, and they were completely surprised. They could not imagine what had happened to the man.
Richard: We should give others a helping hand up on our journey in life. Lift someone up in words and deeds today.
Psalm 94
Then they say,
“The Lord God of Jacob
doesn’t see or know.”
8 Can’t you fools see?
Won’t you ever learn?
9 God gave us ears and eyes!
Can’t he hear and see?
10 God instructs the nations
and gives knowledge to us all.
Won’t he also correct us?
11 The Lord knows how useless
our plans really are.
12 Our Lord, you bless everyone
that you instruct and teach
by using your Law.
13 You give them rest
from their troubles,
until a pit can be dug
for the wicked.
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
November 9, 1958
What kind of people would the people of the heavenly kingdom be? They are the throng who steps forth under the flag of service. For that reason, to save a certain race today, we must distribute everything we own for that race. If that is not enough, we must become the people who know how to give even their lives. These are the very people of the heavenly kingdom. God is in a situation where He has to gather this kind of person and accomplish the ideology of the heavenly kingdom.
Since you have come to know that Jesus wishes to fix the value of true ownership upon this earth, you should think about yourselves. Jesus said, “Do not be anxious, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?'” (Matthew 6:31) This was the word of warning that seemed contradictory to the people of that age.
Why did Jesus speak such words? The heavenly ideology of ownership remained to be restored even at the cost of not eating, drinking and dressing well for 6,000 years.
If there is a certain race that is starving and miserable, God is in a more miserable situation than that race. If a certain race feels mortified, God is in a situation where He feels more mortified.
Nevertheless, God is more concerned about us than we are. When Jesus saw that the people who should have understood this could not understand it and worried only about themselves, he spoke such words. Accordingly, if there is a person today who seeks His kingdom and His righteousness as the word of Jesus said to do, he should lay aside his hunger and anxiously appeal to Heaven, saying, “How many good people are subjected to starvation like myself on the earth?” It is not strange for one who cannot stand in a position of goodness to be subjected to starvation, but people who are in a position of goodness should not face starvation. We must feel concern for the sake of such people. We must realize that we are saddled with this kind of fate. That is why Jesus spoke such words, willing that even if one is not able to wear things and eat, one can still make effort to build the kingdom and the people God can own.
Since it is said that God exists, what kind of people would He then choose? What kind of people would He choose to keep as His children? He would look for the person who goes beyond his hunger and his difficulties, who is able to give his blessing for the sake of others with uplifted hands. He would look for a person who knows how to go beyond his vexation and sorrow and cry out of concern for God’s vexation and sorrow.
Therefore, looking at his enemies from the top of the cross where his own fate hung in the balance, Jesus was unable to say, “Oh, Heaven! Eternal Heaven! Please administer divine punishment upon them.” Instead, he lifted his hands and invoked blessing upon them. You must know that such a heart is the heart of the heavenly kingdom. It is none other than the heart of God.
On the basis of this principle then, when we look carefully at our own religious life and Christianity, which is said to believe in God, how many people are there who are worthy of the heavenly kingdom? Going farther, where is the race that God can eternally claim as His own? Where is the land that God can claim as His kingdom? Where are such things, such a person?
You all wish to go to the Kingdom of Heaven. Not only that, from time to time we happen to see people who confidently claim, “Ah! The Kingdom of Heaven is mine.” When we see such people, we come to wonder how anyone could declare that so confidently, more certain of the aspect of ownership than God Himself.
Since even God Himself cannot stand in a position where He claims that the heavenly kingdom belongs to Him, and since Jesus also cannot stand in a position where he claims that the heavenly kingdom belongs to him, how can they do so? Jesus is still in a position where he prays to Heaven. God also is making effort as of this moment.
What is the reason billions of people in the spirit world are cooperating for the sake of the earth and are unable to lead a joyful life in the seat of liberation, the seat of glory? Why would they have to stand in such a place? From the time of the creation of the world to the present, God has been unable to stand in a position in which He could realize the heavenly kingdom and claim it as His own. In spite of God being in such a situation, some faithful believers on the earth today are speaking so, contrary to the principles of the heavenly way.