Book Review: The Rod of Iron Kingdom by Hyung Jin Sean Moon
Revelation 11
12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.
13 At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Proverbs 22
Start children off on the way they should go,
and even when they are old they will not turn from it.
7 The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is slave to the lender.
8 Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity,
and the rod they wield in fury will be broken.
9 The generous will themselves be blessed,
for they share their food with the poor.
The Sorrowful Heart of Jesus as He Went to the Mountain
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
January 25, 1959
Although Satan “showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” and said to Jesus, “All these I will give you if you will fall down and worship me,” (Matthew 4:12) Jesus resolutely rejected Satan. In this way he established the standard of victory in front of Satan. You should consider the situation of Jesus. In this fashion, he won the standard of the self who could connect to the sorrows of history and the age. Jesus then had to descend the mountain and look for the chosen Israel and the Jewish church, as the footing for the historical connection.
Jesus went to the Israelites and the Jewish churches with the victorious standard from the wilderness course, yet they did not welcome him. Instead of welcoming him, they persecuted him wherever he went. He met with opposition and ridicule. Having to go the wilderness course after being rejected the first time was already enough to provoke hard feelings and anger. When Jesus saw the Jewish church and the Israelite nation opposing him, the one who had returned to them with a victory over Satan, his heart was consumed with inexpressible pain and sorrow. We should contemplate the position and situation of Jesus.
In difficult circumstances of persecution, to turn back the nation and church to God, Jesus prayed on the mountain top and fought against Satan throughout his three years of public life. Yet he saw no fruit. Consequently, he finally went up to the Mount of Transfiguration with the heart to awaken the ignorant people, even if he had to undertake his death.
After realizing that no human effort would bring about the result, he came forward with an ardent heart to save the people, who had the ties of history and the age and who were linked to the heavenly Shim Jung. He was determined, even if he had to die as a sacrifice and shed his blood and flesh, but the place he visited with such a heart was not a great palace. It was neither the house of a disciple who received him, nor the house of the people of the state, nor the house of a member of the Jewish church. It was a mountain, the Mount of Transfiguration. You should look carefully at the sorrowful heart of Jesus as he walked to and fro with no place to go.
Jesus had to take the woeful wilderness course, because the ancestors did not have faith and failed to carry out their responsibilities. Although he wandered about for three years looking for the one who could understand the heavenly heart, he failed and had to go to the mountain again. We should reflect on the sad heart and footsteps of Jesus today. When Jesus went to the wilderness, he set out to embrace the nation with the standard of winning over Satan. When he went to the Mount of Transfiguration, however, he discarded all previous resolutions and set out to give his body to the nation, determined to face death. If someone can imagine the figure and heart of Jesus as he climbed the mountain then, if someone can experience the sorrow as his own and behold Jesus with such a heart, he will be able to experience the sorrow of Jesus toward Heaven, the nation and the church.