The Heart of Jesus as He Overcame Death

Numbers 28

9-10 On the Sabbath, in addition to the regular daily sacrifices,[b] you must sacrifice two rams a year old to please me.[c] These rams must have nothing wrong with them, and they will be sacrificed with a drink offering and four pounds of your finest flour mixed with olive oil.

Psalm 55

23 But what about those people
    who are cruel and brutal?
You will throw them down
    into the deepest pit
long before their time.
    I trust you, Lord!

The Religious Person’s Attitude

Sun Myung Moon
March 29, 1959

Hebrews 11:1-32

Jesus is the one in whom we believe today and who sacrificed his life for this faith. No religious people have known about this since history began. No one on earth knew how to grab hold of Jesus and cry over this. Carefully considering this matter in this light, the mind with which you can weep unrestrainedly for the sorrow of Jesus must linger in you and overwhelm you. Otherwise, you cannot be considered a religious person who is proceeding toward the heavenly kingdom. That is how I feel.

As we come to look at this pitiful people now, we have to feel sorrow regarding their fate. As we see religious denominations fighting with one another and splintering into fragments, we must watch it from the position of being inseparably related to it. Only when you know how to feel sorrowful, having a mind like that of Jesus on behalf of history, the present period, and future descendants, can you leave at least the condition of receiving the blessing granted to Israel to your descendants on the earth. You must know this.

Viewed in this light, the right attitude of a religious person is to deny himself completely. Only when he crosses the hill of death can he form ties of happiness with Heaven and say at the time of passing on, “Father, I have accomplished all that Jesus did.” He should be able to end the ties of sorrow and bitter resentment that he has formed and embrace the moment when he can sing of ties interlocked with happiness. We should know that these people will possess the kingdom of eternity; they will live in the heavenly kingdom. God’s will is to seek out these kinds of people. Continue reading “The Heart of Jesus as He Overcame Death”

Jesus Felt Great Sorrow

Cheon Seong Gyeong 589

What is sin? Sin arises from private
standpoints. Ruin also comes about in
the private sphere. Evil is the same. When
private matters are pursued beyond a
certain degree, they manifest evil. Pri-
vate matters have certain limits; when
exceeded, sin, evil and ruin result.
Then, where is the position that can
be eternally good, eternally prosperous
and eternally fortunate? Where is the
position that can prevent sin, evil and
ruin? It is the public position. Even when
you eat, do so in a public position. When
you work, manage from a public stand-
point. When you speak, digest the situa-
tion with public words. In this way, live
connecting all aspects of your lives with
public matters. Such people cannot go to
hell even if they try. (31-163, 1970.5.24)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 589

This is fundamental to building the
Kingdom of Heaven. The formula is the
same. The relationship between God and
God’s son is absolute; it is a bond that
no one can break. No one can sever the
father and son relationship. In a similar
way, when the husband and wife become
one in love, no one can divide their love.
Even God cannot divide it. It is eternal.
The question is whether you have
become a united couple, as a brother
and a sister like Adam and Eve, who
can attend the True Parents. Another
question is whether God’s love and the
Parents’ love can dwell in your family.
In other words, are you conveying the
love of God and Parents through your
own love such that your sons and daugh-
ters are born and nurtured in this loving
environment? This is a serious question.
You should know that if you do not do
this, the door of the family Kingdom of
Heaven will not open. (137-185, 1986.1.1)

The Religious Person’s Attitude

Sun Myung Moon
March 29, 1959

Hebrews 11:1-32

Numerous other prophets and sages walked the path that Moses walked. Four thousand years after the fall of Adam and Eve, the second ancestor of humanity, Jesus Christ, came. He took upon himself the responsibility for all the faults of the fallen Adam, bearing in his body the sorrow of Heaven, the sadness of all humankind, and the grief of all things in the universe. He took charge of all conditions of deathly darkness that drew lamentation and sorrow from Heaven for the sake of breaking them down. Let us think about Jesus.

What kind of person was he? Going back over the four-thousand-year history, Jesus pined for people who had not felt the fear that results from culpable acts and who had not perceived sorrow by reason of their sins. Namely, he yearned for the original Adam and Eve whom God had created, having been deeply touched by the sense and Shim Jung of goodness. Jesus had to restore and replace the original selves of Adam and Eve, who should have been the good, truthful ancestors of humanity. His belief that he had come on behalf of God’s ideology of creation was greater than any circumstances society could present to him and greater than any other tendency in his mind.

Therefore, if Jesus felt loneliness, that loneliness was connected with Heaven. When Jesus came to fathom God’s loneliness, he could no longer feel lonely. Every time hope or ideology sank deeply into his mind, he felt the responsibility to introduce that hope and ideology to humankind. Continue reading “Jesus Felt Great Sorrow”

Noah’s Ties With Heaven Were Greater than those With His Relatives

Acts 3

Peter then took him by the right hand and helped him up.

At once the man’s feet and ankles became strong, and he jumped up and started walking. He went with Peter and John into the temple, walking and jumping and praising God. 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:  I believe in miracles.

Isaiah 23

23 This is a message
from distant islands
    about the city of Tyre:[a]
Cry, you seagoing ships![b]
Tyre and its houses
    lie in ruins.[c]
Mourn in silence,
you shop owners of Sidon,[d]
    you people on the coast.
Your sailors crossed oceans,
    making your city rich.

The Religious Person’s Attitude

Sun Myung Moon
March 29, 1959

Hebrews 11:1-32

Why was only Noah able to keep unshaken faith in God’s will, while all people, including the people in his tribe and people on good terms with him, betrayed it? He knew that the ties he had formed with Heaven were greater than the ties he had with his brothers and sisters, his relatives, and even his life. When misery came, he longed for the infinite world with a bowed head, shedding tears with a deeply touched Shim Jung. You should not forget this.

Abraham and Moses were in the same situation. The Pharaoh’s dazzlingly gorgeous palace was an environment of maximum freedom, in which Moses lived in splendor. However, he gave all that up because he realized that God’s providential hands were extended to him through historical ties and through the flesh, blood and bones of his ancestors. As he became better informed of the culture of Egypt and more knowledgeable about everything in the enemy country, Moses became increasingly sad inside the Pharaoh’s palace because he could not share in the historical situation of Israel, the chosen people. He might have grieved over his inability to understand the people’s sorrow. Though his environment was very free and comfortable, when he became deeply moved by the realization that he was a descendant of the chosen people, Moses became hostile toward the Pharaoh’s palace and stepped forth, regarding the Egyptians as his enemies. We must be aware of this.

Moses put the royal court of the Pharaoh behind him and proceeded forward seeking the Israelites, the people with ties to Heaven. Moses knew of the will and embraced such a Shim Jung. However, the Jewish people, who were ignorant of the will, could not recognize Moses as such. This became cause for penetrating historical sorrow and lamentation.

When the people whom Moses had sought out abandoned him, Moses ended up leading the life of a shepherd for forty years in the Midian wilderness. Though he had to walk such a path, Moses kept his principles and the integrity of being Heaven’s chosen. Even if his body were to fall down, Moses ardently wished to bequeath his faith to someone. The more intensely he wished for that, the more tears he had to shed, thinking of the Israelites groaning under the ruthless tyranny of Pharaoh.

While the Israelite people were asleep and in a state of ignorance, Moses prayed for their sake, raising his face and looking to the land of blessing, Canaan. Unable to sleep, he would pour out his heart. He led a life of contrition before Heaven with a sorrowful heart toward the people. Because he led such a life, Moses was fit to assume the responsibility of the central figure of that period. He could become the representative of Heaven. Throughout history, we have learned that Heaven set up Moses in front of the Israelites, who were falling down, to seek and re-establish the history of His relations with Israel and humankind.

Sun Myung Moon
March 29, 1959

Hebrews 11:1-32

Why was only Noah able to keep unshaken faith in God’s will, while all people, including the people in his tribe and people on good terms with him, betrayed it? He knew that the ties he had formed with Heaven were greater than the ties he had with his brothers and sisters, his relatives, and even his life. When misery came, he longed for the infinite world with a bowed head, shedding tears with a deeply touched Shim Jung. You should not forget this.

Abraham and Moses were in the same situation. The Pharaoh’s dazzlingly gorgeous palace was an environment of maximum freedom, in which Moses lived in splendor. However, he gave all that up because he realized that God’s providential hands were extended to him through historical ties and through the flesh, blood and bones of his ancestors. As he became better informed of the culture of Egypt and more knowledgeable about everything in the enemy country, Moses became increasingly sad inside the Pharaoh’s palace because he could not share in the historical situation of Israel, the chosen people. He might have grieved over his inability to understand the people’s sorrow. Though his environment was very free and comfortable, when he became deeply moved by the realization that he was a descendant of the chosen people, Moses became hostile toward the Pharaoh’s palace and stepped forth, regarding the Egyptians as his enemies. We must be aware of this. Continue reading “Noah’s Ties With Heaven Were Greater than those With His Relatives”

You Have Been Drawn Into Motion that You Cannot Understand

Cheon Seong Gyeong 587

What are the laws of heaven? They
are to promote public righteousness.
Book 5 • Earthly Life and the Spirit World 588
Private matters belong to Satan, and
public matters belong to God. Go the
way of public righteousness. Even if
everyone opposes you on this course, if
you are not disturbed by the opposition
but go the way of hardship with vitality,
you will become a person of heaven who
will welcome spring. (47-270, 1971.8.29

Cheon Seong Gyeong 588

People today struggle internally and
externally at the crossroads between
good and evil, and public and private,
in their daily lives. In many cases, they
vacillate between the two and finally fall
into a self-centered, private lifestyle. Yet
those who do that will perish. Therefore,
they must repent for their past self-cen-
tered, private lives, grit their teeth, and
push themselves back into public life.
People tend to waver between these two
lifestyles. They are more inclined toward
living privately, and end up distancing
themselves from the public good. This
has been your life of faith until today.
Therefore, all those with a private life-
style must repent. (31-242, 1970.6.4)

The Religious Person’s Attitude

Sun Myung Moon
March 29, 1959

Hebrews 11:1-32

To gallantly travel the path of difficulty, the path of persecution and death while walking the path of faith, there is something you must feel first. You must feel that your birth and your being of a particular nation or group was not the result of your individual wish. You will not be able to deny that you were born on this earth by having been drawn into motion that even you yourselves cannot understand. When we think again about how the motive of my being originated and was given to me, how I was to go through this kind of course and am a resultant being, we must not boast of ourselves or our beings. We must boast about the being who has something to show off within the ideological realm of history, the whole, and the future.

Unless you have this kind of conviction and feeling now, a more complicated matter than you might think will occur in your path of faith. Sorrowful and difficult things will take place. You will face undeserved death. You will easily abandon your ties with the heavenly principles. You will stand in a position where it is easy for you to betray Heaven. Continue reading “You Have Been Drawn Into Motion that You Cannot Understand”

“I” and the Kingdom

Luke 4

18 “The Lord’s Spirit
    has come to me,
because he has chosen me
to tell the good news
    to the poor.
The Lord has sent me
to announce freedom
    for prisoners,
to give sight to the blind,
to free everyone
    who suffers,
19 and to say, ‘This is the year
    the Lord has chosen.’”

Luke 18

Jesus took the twelve apostles aside and said:

We are now on our way to Jerusalem. Everything that the prophets wrote about the Son of Man will happen there. 32 He will be handed over to foreigners,[f] who will make fun of him, mistreat him, and spit on him. 33 They will beat him and kill him, but three days later he will rise to life.

34 The apostles did not understand what Jesus was talking about. They could not understand, because the meaning of what he said was hidden from them.

The Religious Person’s Attitude

Sun Myung Moon
March 29, 1959

Hebrews 11:1-32

The title of the sermon I am about to give you is “The Religious Person’s Attitude.” I will speak briefly upon this topic.

You have flattered yourselves that you are religious. We have gone forth not longing for this nation in the present state of affairs, but longing for the eternal kingdom. You have neither seen nor been to that kingdom. You simply proceeded forward, believing that the word you had heard was true.

We cannot consider that the intrinsic qualities of faith jell with all conditions of reality. I believe that, for those trying to lead a true life of faith, this only happens when the great infinite Heaven, the garden of eternal ideology that we cannot even imagine, has a reciprocal relationship with the being called “I.” Heaven will press me constantly and warmly to make an effort to attain the ideology in reality. The path of faith continues upon that basis alone.

The kingdom we long for cannot be elucidated by dreams or imagination or even by wise conjecture. That world is necessary for us. It is the limitless world of the ideal; the world of goodness, happiness, love, and the ideology of which we dream. That world is the heavenly kingdom of faith in which we wish to live. From a worldly point of view, those who keep faith with the intrinsic qualities of that world might be seen as extremely pitiful, terribly lonely, or ultimately sorrowful. It depends upon how you view them. If there is one who feels and experiences Heaven’s heart, even in such a situation, and feels the shock and the stimulus of that realm of the heart, no matter what kind of persecution, suffering or death tries to block the way, nothing can stop him from going this path. Continue reading ““I” and the Kingdom”