Exodus 1
11 The Egyptians put slave bosses in charge of the people of Israel and tried to wear them down with hard work. Those bosses forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses,[b] where the king[c] could store his supplies. 12 But even though the Israelites were mistreated, their families grew larger, and they took over more land. Because of this, the Egyptians hated them worse than before 13 and made them work so hard 14 that their lives were miserable. The Egyptians were cruel to the people of Israel and forced them to make bricks and to mix mortar and to work in the fields.
Micah 5
Jerusalem, enemy troops
have surrounded you;[a]
they have struck Israel’s ruler
in the face with a stick.
2 Bethlehem Ephrath,
you are one of the smallest towns
in the nation of Judah.
But the Lord will choose
one of your people
to rule the nation—
someone whose family
goes back to ancient times.
Let Us Open Our Eyes Once More and Behold the Sky
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
February 15, 1959
The title of the sermon I would like to share with you is “Let Us Open Our Eyes Once More and Behold the Sky.” I will speak briefly upon this topic.
This land in which we live has not seen the new morning of the realization of God’s ideal of creation. It has slept under the power of Satan for a long time. This is how our history has been. This is how our minds have been, how all that we pursue and the hearts we seek have been. In other words, none can wake from the deep sleep in which they exist, within the realm of Satan. We understand this fact very well.
When God created Adam and Eve and blessed them, they were wide awake, and they were able to rejoice with God in the world of eternal ideology. God created Adam and Eve for this purpose. However, Adam and Eve could not grasp what kind of relationship they had with God and the ideology with which they should relate with all things. In this state of immaturity, when they were progressing toward perfection, they made the grave and sorrowful mistake of the fall. We all understand this.
God said to Adam and Eve, “When you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) He also said, “Become the master of creation and the ruler of the universe.” If their hearts had become one with the heart of God as they listened to His words, the fall would never have taken place.
There was considerable distance between the hearts of Adam and Eve and the heart of God. Adam and Eve could only connect with the heart of God by going through the period of growth and accomplishing the purpose of the word. If Adam and Eve had thought about and reflected upon the words of God every time they saw all things and the angels, then they would not have fallen. Had they thought about God and His heart with an awareness of their position and with enlightened hearts, they would have been able to discern the nature of the archangel’s words.
Adam and Eve should have always lived in the word and heart of God. When they did not live like that, the archangel tempted them.
Heaven always watches over us, whether we are asleep or awake. Even when we do not understand our value, Heaven understands and looks over us. When we do not understand our mission and responsibility, Heaven understands them.
Furthermore, God understood the value of living eternally centered on the deeply penetrating love in the realm of the eternally inseparable parent-child relationship. With this mind-set, God looked upon Adam and Eve. Yet Adam and Eve did not fathom the heart of God, and they fell. They fell not understanding their identity, not understanding what they should do and uphold, and not understanding what they should love.
If God has grief inside, it is that Adam and Eve did not recognize Him, their Creator and Protector. He was with them every second. They did not understand the heart of God, who was waiting for them to grow to a certain purpose. Because the human ancestors could not forge the vertical bond with Heaven, their descendants were ignorant of God and ignorant of their position. They did not understand to whom they belonged and what their identity was.
Because they did not understand God who protected them, who took responsibility for them and watched over them, they did not know what they should do, what they should pursue and what they should protect. Furthermore, although God was hoping to join in oneness with human beings, because they did not understand, we still do not know our purpose. We have searched for the path to love for 6,000 years.