Category: John

We Should Possess a New Ideology and Hope

John 5

39 You search the Scriptures, because you think you will find eternal life in them. The Scriptures tell about me, 40 but you refuse to come to me for eternal life.

Jeremiah 25

17 I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and I went to the kings of the nations and made each of them drink some. 18 I started with Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, and the king and his officials were removed from power in disgrace. Everyone still makes insulting jokes about them and uses their names as curse words. 19 The second place I went was Egypt, where everyone had to drink from the cup, including the king and his officials, the other government workers, the rest of the Egyptians, 20 and all the foreigners who lived in the country.

The Ideal Kingdom of Heaven, Our Hope

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
February 22, 1959

Matthew 3: 1-17

We know that from the day of the fall, people have fought, longing for the lost ideal nation, holding onto hope, and experiencing endless hardships. The environment in which we live is supposed to be a joyful one; yet, we suffer unhappiness, not connecting to all the conditions of happiness for which we have longed in our minds. We must remember again that human beings stand in this situation because we lost the Kingdom of Heaven that God established as the ideal of creation.

God created all things in six days. God created Adam and Eve as the masters of all things. Adam and Eve were to have dominion over all things in God’s ideal garden of creation in His place. At the same time, they could enjoy God’s glory. They were the center of glory, the center of victory and the focus of happiness, able to be in harmony before heaven and earth. Adam and Eve appeared in this manner in the presence of heaven and earth, but they lost their position and failed their responsibility. From that day forth, this earth was transformed into a place of sadness, hardship and death.

If there is someone who claims this is not true, that person is denying his own mind, historical fact and the reality of our lives. People on earth today must realize that they are living in an uncertain and precarious land. They must realize that they are living in a harsh environment of fear and death. Continue reading “We Should Possess a New Ideology and Hope”

The Heart of Jesus in his Everyday Life

1 Kings 8

1-42 Foreigners will hear about you and your mighty power, and some of them will come to live among your people Israel. If any of them pray toward this temple, 43 listen from your home in heaven and answer their prayers. Then everyone on earth will worship you, just like your people Israel, and they will know that I have built this temple to honor you.

John 20

17 Jesus told her, “Don’t hold on to me! I have not yet gone to the Father. But tell my disciples that I am going to the one who is my Father and my God, as well as your Father and your God.” 18 Mary Magdalene then went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord. She also told them what he had said to her.

Richard:  Jesus could not allow Mary Magdalene to embrace him, as he did not have the foundation on earth to be able to receive his bride.

The Incarnation of Jesus, A Pioneer

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
February 1, 1959

Matthew 8: 18-22

No matter how much the external circumstances changed, the heart of Jesus and the path he walked could not change. This path is the one that fallen humanity must inevitably walk. However, the Israelites, who should have followed Jesus, betrayed him. The crowd that had followed him betrayed him and the disciples, who should have believed in and attended him without any doubt, cherished different hopes and had different attitudes. You have to understand that Jesus looked at them with a gaze full of sorrow and grief.

Jesus knew that he had to be persecuted on the individual level, the family level, the church level, on the level of a people and on the national level. He also knew that he had to be persecuted on the level of the Roman Empire, which represented the world at that time. Knowing this, he silently walked his course. When he climbed over the Mount of Transfiguration and then headed toward the hill of Calgary, he made the determination: “Let any persecution and ordeal come to me. I will overcome all that I must in my time.” If he did not overcome them, all the preparations would have been more cause for grief, so he made his way toward the pass of death. To put this Will into practice, he made the determination that, as a sacrifice of death, he would share his flesh and blood with humanity before he left. Jesus was overwhelmed by the heart of Heaven on behalf of humanity and made a firm determination with every footstep he took. However, no one knew that he was taking those footsteps to carry out the determination that he had made during his preparation period. You have to understand this. Continue reading “The Heart of Jesus in his Everyday Life”

Jesus Grave Shim Jung

1 Corinthians 16

13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.14 Do everything in love.

John 5

1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The Sorrowful Heart of Jesus as He Went to the Mountain

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
January 25, 1959

Matthew 17: 1-8

For whom did Jesus come to the earth? Although he came for the sake of history, the age, the nation and the church, his path was full of pathos. Since he knew that his sorrow would not end simply as his own, but would be expanded as the sorrow of history, the age and the future, he was consumed with anxiety.

For this reason, Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane. We should be able to feel sadness about this matter. The place where Jesus, the Savior of all people and the King of Kings, shared his final sorrow was not in the home of a disciple. It was not in a Jewish church nor a palace of the Jewish state. The place to which he went to decide everything in consultation with God was the garden of Gethsemane, where there were no visitors that late night. We should know this. Continue reading “Jesus Grave Shim Jung”

Seek the Substance

My latest blog post: Is Abstinence from Sexual Activity Outside of Marriage the Expected Standard for School Age Children?

Judges 21

3 The Israelites met and sent messengers to the men of Benjamin at Rimmon Rock, telling them that the Israelites were willing to make peace with them. 14 So the men of Benjamin came back from Rimmon Rock, and the Israelites let them marry the young women from Jabesh. But there weren’t enough women.

Richard:  I take this to mean that the lineage of God is so important that it is imperative for it to continue.  This is part of a very interesting story in the book of Judges.  Check it out here and also the chapter before.

John 6

6 Jesus answered, “I tell you for certain that you are not looking for me because you saw the miracles,[g] but because you ate all the food you wanted. 27 Don’t work for food that spoils. Work for food that gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give you this food, because God the Father has given him the right to do so.”

28 “What exactly does God want us to do?” the people asked.

29 Jesus answered, “God wants you to have faith in the one he sent.”

Oh, Where Shall I Go?

Sun Myung Moon
January 18, 1959

Matthew 7

As you know through the Divine Principle, we humans lost God’s Word, God’s substance and His love by betraying His Word. What was God’s heart like when He gave the Word, when He created the substance, and when He tried to love through this substance?

We are the ones who lost God’s Word, lost the original substance and the substance of love. It is we who lost God’s garden of the ideal. Thus, we should realize that we are sinners who cannot be proud of ourselves. We cannot find the ground of peaceful rest in our hearts nor can we be subject over events.

Although God wanted to come to us with the substance and a loving heart, since humankind has lost the substance, love and Word, God could not come directly as the substance. Therefore, Jesus came representing the substance, yet he left without completing the actions of the substance. Continue reading “Seek the Substance”

God’s Word Brings Life

Genesis 45

45 Since Joseph could no longer control his feelings in front of his servants, he sent them out of the room. When he was alone with his brothers, he told them, “I am Joseph.” 2 Then he cried so loudly that the Egyptians heard him and told about it in the king’s[a] palace.

John 4

5 The woman replied, “Sir, please give me a drink of that water! Then I won’t get thirsty and have to come to this well again.”

God and Humanity Should Live Together
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
January 11, 1959

John 14: 6-12

We are not alone in our sighs. When we look to either side of us, we hear the sighs of our brothers. When we lift up our eyes and look at the world, we hear the sighs of humankind. Moreover, when we behold all things, we hear all things sighing. When we lift our heads and see the world of Heaven through our hearts, we hear the sigh of Heaven. Have you ever felt such an amazing thing?

Have you ever cried along with this sighing, holding onto that lamentation with both mind and body? Have you ever had a Shim Jung such that you could embrace all the lamenting things of creation, seized by a higher sigh as you worry about the sighs of our Creator above all things? Have you ever desired to cry with Heaven, people and all things? Although we do not have such a heart, we should at least recognize that as Heaven searched for us with a lamenting Shim Jung, we were the most undutiful sons, the greatest traitors before Heaven. If Heaven exists, all of humankind are unforgivable traitors. Continue reading “God’s Word Brings Life”