1 Thessalonians 5
9 God doesn’t intend to punish us, but wants us to be saved by our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 Christ died for us, so that we could live with him, whether we are alive or dead when he comes. 11 That’s why you must encourage and help each other, just as you are already doing.
Jeremiah 39
39 1-3 In the tenth month[a] of the ninth year that Zedekiah[b] was king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar[c] and the Babylonian army began their attack on Jerusalem. They kept the city surrounded for a year and a half. Then, on the ninth day of the fourth month[d] of the eleventh year that Zedekiah was king, they broke through the city walls.
Click below to listen to or download a recording of Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s speech “God’s Ideal Family Is the Model for World Peace”, the inaugural message of the Universal Peace Federation on September 23, 2005 at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel in Washington DC. Rev. Moon speaks extensively about the Peace Kingdom Corps.:
http://visionroot.org/assets/SMM%20UPF%2009-23-05-combined.mp3
The Heart of Heaven in Relation to Elijah
Sun Myung Moon
March 15, 1959
Such was also the case with our ancestor, Noah. Noah proceeded to put the word of God into practice. God said, “Since I am surely going to judge the whole world with water 120 years from now, make yourself an ark.” There might have been many occasions when he could have doubted Heaven during the course of the internal fight. He must have felt his feebleness keenly many times. What permeated his mind was that the day was coming near when all the people of the earth would receive the judgment of being washed away in flood waters.
Let us look at Mary. She was a chaste maiden, a faithful Israelite woman who felt a deeper concern in her heart than anyone about the Israelites. She waited for the Messiah to come with a more eager heart than anyone among the Israelites, wondering when the Messiah, the leader whom Heaven had promised for several thousand years, would come.
Mary knew the heart of Heaven in sending the Messiah. The people of that time did not know the heart of Mary, who represented the Israelites. They were supposed to usher in the Messiah in this manner, but Heaven knew it was Mary alone who had such a heartistic standard.
Mary’s heart was not to strike and destroy the enemy in the name of the people. It was not to step forth as a brave soldier of battle to avenge the grief of the nation, which was moaning in distress. She knew Heaven’s sorrow and had the heart to shed tears. She knew that there had been a sorrowful historical course in the background of the nation, even though people did not know about it, and her heart grieved bitterly over the pitiful reality of the chosen Israelites, who could not stand in front of God.
As a result of her meritorious conduct in shedding tears of hope for the stately figure to appear even when he did not, and because she embraced the Shim Jung that penetrated deep into her marrow, she was able to form ties with Heaven’s historical heart. For that reason, an angel appeared unexpectedly and threw words of notification at her like a thunderclap, saying, “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.” (Luke 1:31) However, Mary hesitated and said, “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” (Luke 1:34) To this the angel said, “For with God nothing will be impossible.” (Luke 1:37) Upon listening to such words, wishing to fulfill the work of the Father, Mary said without hesitation, “Behold! I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
The heart of Mary, who tried to form ties with the heart of Heaven, was sincere. Even though her life was destroyed, and she was placed in a situation where she could have been killed, she still said, “Let it be to me according to your word.” If word got out that a virgin had conceived, Mosaic law stated that she was to be stoned to death or expelled from the people, becoming a pariah to the tribe. Even under such circumstances, in spite of knowing that no one among the Israelites would receive her favorably, Mary said, “Behold! I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” For the merit that she demonstrated, the internal heart deeply pierced by sorrow and true faith, Mary became the mother of the central figure of history, the age, the future, and all of humanity on the worldwide level, the Messiah.