Category: Deuteronomy

But First He Must Suffer Many Things and Be Rejected by this Generation

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Deuteronomy 7

17 You may be thinking, “How can we destroy these nations? They are more powerful than we are.” 18 But stop worrying! Just remember what the Lord your God did to Egypt and its king. 19 You saw how the Lord used his tremendous power to work great miracles and bring you out of Egypt. And he will again work miracles for you when you face these enemies you fear so much. 20 Some of them may try to survive by hiding from you, but the Lord will make them panic, and soon they will be dead.[a]21 So don’t be frightened when you meet them in battle. The Lord your God is great and fearsome, and he will fight at your side.

Ezekiel 18

14 But suppose this evil man has a son who sees his father do these things and refuses to act like him. 15 He doesn’t eat meat at local shrines or worship Israel’s idols, and he doesn’t have sex with someone else’s wife. 16 He never cheats or robs anyone and doesn’t even demand security for a loan. He gives food and clothes to the poor 17 and refuses to do anything evil[a] or to charge interest. And he obeys all my laws and teachings. Such a man will live. His own father sinned, but this good man will not be put to death for the sins of his father. 18 It is his father who will die for cheating and robbing and doing evil.

Richard: We will discontinue the Rheamas from the Bible after today. We will be using the Completed Testament scriptures of Rev. Sun Myung Moon exclusively for our Rheamas (daily inspirational verses that we post at the beginning of the Daily Inspiration each day).

Eschatology and Messianic Hope

The Messiah

4. The Messiah’s Suffering Course

But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
Luke 17.25

In the time to come… the Patriarchs will say, “Ephraim, our righteous Messiah, though we are your ancestors, you are greater than we. For you have borne the sins of our children, and you have borne heavy punishments, such as nei-ther the former nor the latter generations have endured, and you became the laughter and the mocking of all the nations for Israel’s sake, and you sat in darkness, and your eyes saw no light. And your skin shrank upon your bones, and your body withered like a tree, and your eyes grew dark from fasting, and your strength dried up like a potsherd, and all this befell you because of the sins of our children. Is it your will that your children should enjoy the felicity which God has destined to give them in abundance? Perhaps because of the pains which you have endured in overflowing measure for their sakes, and because thou hast lain fettered in prison, your mind is not at rest because of them?” The Messiah will reply, “Patriarchs, all that I have done, I have done only for your sakes and for your children, and for your honor and theirs, so that they may enjoy the felicity which God has destined for them in abundance.” Then they reply, “May your mind be appeased, for you have appeased the mind of your Creator and our mind.”
Pesikta Rabbati 162b-63a (Judaism)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Since Christ at the Second Advent must restore through indemnity the course of the providence of restoration left unfinished at Jesus’ coming, he may have to follow a similar course. Jesus encountered disbelief among the Jewish people and had to walk a course of bitter suffering. Likewise, if Christians, the Second Israel, reject Christ at the Second Advent, he will have to go through tribulations comparable to those Jesus suffered. He will have to repeat Jesus’ painful course and restore it through indemnity, but this time during his earthly life. For this reason, Jesus said, “But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.” (Luke 17.25) (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Moses and Jesus 3.3.2)

Christian leaders today, like the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day, will probably be the first to persecute Christ at the Second Advent. Jesus came to found a new era which would fulfill the words of the Old Testament proclaimed by the prophets. He did not limit himself to repeating the words of the Old Testament, but gave new words of truth fit for the new era. The Jewish priests and scribes criticized Jesus’ words and deeds based on their narrow understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures. Their mistaken judgment led them to deliver Jesus to the cross.
Similarly, the purpose of Christ at the Second Advent is to build a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21.1-4) upon the foundation of the spiritual salvation which had been laid by Christianity in the New Testament Age. When he returns, he will not merely repeat the words of the New Testament given two thousand years ago, but will surely add new words of truth necessary for the founding of a new heaven and a new earth. However, those Christians of today whose minds are narrowly attached to the letter of the New Testament will criticize the words and deeds of Christ at his return based on their narrow understanding of the Scriptures. Therefore, it can be expected that they will brand the Lord a heretic and persecute him. This is why Jesus foretold that at the Second Advent, Christ would first suffer many things and be rejected by his generation. (Luke 17.25) (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Second Advent 4)

I, Reverend Moon, stood between God and Satan, always fighting to eliminate Satan. How could I proceed in this work without confronting Satan’s accusation? I took the burden of restitution on myself, taking the required indemnity as my portion of responsibility. This is the human portion of responsibility [to defeat Satan], which people were not able to fulfill until now. Satan knows that is the responsibility of the Messiah; therefore he mobilized all of his forces to attack me. By enduring and overcoming these attacks, I could destroy Satan’s wall in the individual, the family, the tribe, the people, the nation, the world and the spirit world. It is the Messiah’s responsibility to go through the entire course of indemnity. (131:70-71, April 16, 1984)

People Living Ordinary Self-centered Lives Lack Stimulation

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Deuteronomy 15

7 After the Lord your God gives land to each of you, there may be poor Israelites in the town where you live. If there are, then don’t be mean and selfish with your money. 8 Instead, be kind and lend them what they need. 9 Be careful! Don’t say to yourself, “Soon it will be the seventh year, and then I won’t be able to get my money back.” It would be horrible for you to think that way and to be so selfish that you refuse to help the poor. They are your relatives, and if you don’t help them, they may ask the Lord to decide whether you have done wrong. And he will say that you are guilty. 10 You should be happy to give the poor what they need, because then the Lord will make you successful in everything you do.

11 There will always be some Israelites who are poor and needy. That’s why I am commanding you to be generous with them.

2 Chronicles 21

18 After this happened, the Lord struck Jehoram with an incurable stomach disease. 19 About two years later, Jehoram died in terrible pain. No bonfire was built to honor him, even though the people had done this for his ancestors.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

Joy

2. Divine Joy Surpassing the Pleasures of the Senses

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

What is the way to live in joy and ecstasy? Most people’s eyes are too dim to see, their ears are too dull to hear, their noses are too numb to smell, their tongue too numb to taste, and their limbs too heavy to move. What is the way to live in unity—my eyes, my ears, and all my sense organs all knit together with my nervous system, all united into one? What is the shining way that will not only satisfy me in my personal life, but will also satisfy my family, clan, country, world, and even God?
(95:181, November 13, 1977)

People living ordinary, self-centered lives lack stimulation. But if your life is filled with God’s grace, you will feel newness in your spirit every day and experience your surroundings as ever new and fresh. Every morning there is something new; every evening there is something new. When God’s grace is rolling in like waves, you can feel the mystery in three dimensions. Anyone who experiences life like this is a happy person. (30:134, March 21, 1970)

When you become a child of God and dwell in His love, your joy has no limit. You breathe in and out with the entire universe. We are meant to be intoxicated by the love of God. Can the artificial intoxication provided by drugs or alcohol even remotely compare? In the realm of God’s love, every need is satisfied. All your body’s forty trillion cells are dancing together. Your eyes and ears, your hands, and all the parts of your body revel in the rapture of joy. Nothing else can ever match it. God’s love is real, and it is our highest aspiration to pursue this love. We must have it. (69:79-80, October 20, 1973)

The fact that we can rejoice this day is something to be grateful for.
But we must understand:
If we cannot link today’s joy with the joy of tomorrow,
today’s joy becomes for us as an enemy,
a condition for sorrow, difficulty and lamentation.
Joy, we know, is not only good,
and sorrow is not only bad;
the question is our investment of inner effort
to link joy and sorrow to the accomplishment of our purpose,
and how much our joy and sorrow connect
with the values of God’s Will. (43:10, April 18, 1971)

Before You Desire to Have Dominion Over The Universe, You Should First Have Dominion Over Yourself

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Deuteronomy 5

5 Moses called together the people of Israel and said:

Today I am telling you the laws and teachings that you must follow, so listen carefully. 2 The Lord our God made an agreement with our nation at Mount Sinai.[a] 3 That agreement wasn’t only with[b] our ancestors but with us, who are here today. 4 The Lord himself spoke to you out of the fire, 5 but you were afraid of the fire and refused to go up the mountain. So I spoke with the Lord for you, then I told you that he had said:

6 I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves.

7 Do not worship any god except me.

1 Kings 18

7 As Obadiah was walking along, he met Elijah. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down, and asked, “Elijah, is it really you?”

8 “Yes. Go tell Ahab I’m here.”

9 Obadiah replied:

King Ahab would kill me if I told him that. And I haven’t even done anything wrong. 10 I swear to you in the name of the living Lord your God that the king has looked everywhere for you. He sent people to look in every country, and when they couldn’t find you, he made the leader of each country swear that you were not in that country. 11 Do you really want me to tell him you’re here?

Richard: Elijah was committed to speaking the truth, no matter what.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 3

Perfection

1. Perfection Begins with Unity of Mind and Body

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

“Before you desire to have dominion over the universe, you should first have dominion over yourself”: This is the first article in the life of faith. To attain self-perfection you should have dominion over your self. In other words, you should reach the state of self-mastery, controlling your body, with no conflict or opposition between your mind and body. (37:122, December 23, 1970)

The structure of a human being consists of dual aspects: mind and body. The mind relates to the vertical standard, while the body relates to the horizontal standard. Had human beings attained God’s ideal standard at the beginning, always receiving God’s love, then whenever the bell of God’s love would ring in their vertical mind, their bodies on the earth plane would resonate with it and feel everything. Whenever the mind-like spirit self resonated vertically with true love, the body on the horizontal plane would naturally respond.
When you strike an “A” on a tuning fork, it sends waves of a certain frequency through space, and when they match the frequency of another object, that object sends its waves back. This is called resonance. Likewise, there is resonance between the mind and the body at the frequency of love. When love strikes the mind or spirit self, the body responds. Had human beings not fallen, it would have been this way. By what standard would resonance occur? The resonant frequency has to be true love. (177:216, May 20, 1988)

When your mind and body become one, God will be with you. This is a fundamental principle. Why would God be with you at that point? Because that is where love is. Love begins when mind and body become one. For love to flow, subject and object are necessary. Therefore, God is with the person who has established mind-body unity. Then his or her body becomes God’s temple.
What sort of place is God’s temple? It is a place of Sabbath rest. In what can God rest? Love. God’s temple is the place to rest in the love of God.
The highest human aspiration is to abide in the place of love—the world of heart. It is like a fountain: there is no end to love no matter how much pours out. Why does love have no end? Because God dwells there. (91:78, January 30, 1977)

God is like pure gold; there is nothing false about God. What should we do to be united with God? We should not be false people. That means our mind and body should be united, just as God’s [inter nal nature and external form are united]. That is the meaning of Matthew 5:48: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (91:321, March 1, 1977)

Each member of the family first needs to perfect his or her individual character. This requires removing the fallen nature, which has been passed down through the generations since the Human Fall. In other words, each person must be victorious in the struggle between the mind and the body. Then the world of harmony will bear fruit in that individual’s perfected character—a state of one heart, one mind and one thought. Fallen nature, which causes jealousy, envy, greed, hatred and all other evils, will never again take root in a person who has achieved that state. (March 23, 2004)

The purpose of religion is to cultivate people of character who live by the laws of the world of the heart and all the principles of the cosmos, and thereby govern the emotions of life. (6:349, May 24, 1959)

Unless you can perfectly love yourself, you cannot perfectly love God. (22:97-98, January 26, 1969)

In the Image of God He Created Him; Male and Female He Created Them

Deuteronomy 26

26 The Lord is giving you the land, and soon you will conquer it, settle down, 2 and plant crops. And when you begin harvesting each of your crops, the very first things you pick must be put in a basket. Take them to the place where the Lord your God chooses to be worshiped, 3 and tell the priest, “Long ago the Lord our God promised our ancestors that he would give us this land. And today, I thank him for keeping his promise and giving me a share of the land.”

Ecclesiastes 11

7 Nothing on earth is more beautiful than the morning sun. 8 Even if you live to a ripe old age, you should try to enjoy each day, because darkness will come and will last a long time. Nothing makes sense.[c]

9 Be cheerful and enjoy life while you are young! Do what you want and find pleasure in what you see. But don’t forget that God will judge you for everything you do.

10 Rid yourself of all worry and pain, because the wonderful moments of youth quickly disappear.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 2

Truth and Universal Law

Duality

Duality is a consistent theme throughout the cosmos. All existing beings display duality or polarity: male and female, light and dark, heaven and earth, mind and body, subject and object, the self and the whole, being and non-being. The dynamic interactions between these poles are a source of generative and creative power. This is seen in the regular cycles of nature, the alternation of day and night, and the changing seasons. Duality is portrayed mythically by the cosmic union of god and goddess, and recognized by science in the electromagnetic interactions that construct atoms and molecules. Some religions, notably Confucianism and Taoism, regard the polarity of yang (masculine) and yin (feminine) as a governing principle of nature, one that can instruct human beings on the proper way of life. Father Moon devotes considerable attention to duality, which he develops into a systematic relational ontology. He observes the interactions in nature and sees in them the basis for the principle of altruism; as giving precedes receiving in all successful relationships. Even the forces of repulsion in nature have the effect of reducing threesomes to twosomes, thus protecting the realm of creative and loving relationships that duality provides. On that basis, he also critiques the Marxist dialectic for teaching a flawed conception of reality, rooted in conflict.

  1. The Duality of Masculine and Feminine

And all things We have created by pairs, that
you may receive instruction.
Qur’an 51.49

All things are twofold, one opposite the other,
and He has made nothing incomplete.
One confirms the good things of the other,
and who can have enough of beholding His glory?
Ecclesiasticus 42.24-25 (Christianity)

The Originator of the heavens and the earth;
He has appointed for you of yourselves spouses,
and pairs also of the cattle, by means of which
He multiplies you.
Qur’an 42.11

The Great Primal Beginning generates the two pri-
mary forces [yang and yin]. The two primary forces
generate the four images. The four images generate
the eight trigrams. The eight trigrams determine
good fortune and misfortune. Good fortune and
misfortune create the great field of action.
I Ching, Great Commentary 1.11.5-6 (Confucianism)

The Creator, out of desire to procreate, devoted
Himself to concentrated ardor (tapas). Whilst thus
devoted to concentrated ardor, He produced a
couple, Matter and Life (prana), saying to Himself,
“these two will produce all manner of creatures for
me.” Now Life is the Sun; Matter is the Moon.
Prasna Upanishad 1.4-5 (Hinduism)

By the transformation of Yang and its union
with Yin, the five agents arise: water, fire, wood,
metal and earth. When these five forces are dis-
tributed in harmonious order, the four seasons
run their course. The five agents constitute the
system of Yin and Yang, and Yin and Yang con-
stitute one Great Ultimate.

Chou Tun-i, Explanation of the Diagram of the
Great Ultimate (Confucianism)

Mujahid said, “God has created all things in
pairs: He created man and woman, heaven and
earth, sun and moon, night and day, light and
dark, mankind and jinn, good and evil, morning
and evening, also all different kinds of foods and
winds and sounds. God has made all these as
signs of His greatness.”
Al-Qurtubi, Al-Thuriat Surat 17 (Islam)

So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created him; male and female
he created them.
Genesis 1.27

“Male and female He created them.” From this
we learn that every figure that does not com-
prise male and female elements is not a true
and proper figure… Observe this: God does not
place His abode in any place where male and
female are not found together, nor are blessings
found save in such a place.
Zohar 1.55b (Judaism)

All life, all pulsation in creation throbs with the
mighty declaration of the truth of Shiva-Shakti,
the eternal He and the eternal She at play in
manifestation. 11
Kularnava Tantra 3 (Hinduism)

When the upper world was filled and became
pregnant, it brought forth two children together,
a male and a female, these being heaven and
earth after the supernal pattern. The earth is
fed from the waters of heaven which are poured
into it. These upper waters, however, are male,
whereas the lower are female, and the lower are
fed from the male and the lower waters call to
the upper, like a female that receives the male,
and pour out water to meet the water of the
male to produce seed.
Zohar 1.29b (Judaism)

The Innate is twofold, for Wisdom is the woman
and Means is the man. Thereafter these both
become twofold, distinguished as relative and
absolute. In man there is this twofold nature:
the thought of enlightenment [relative] and the
bliss arising from it [absolute]; in woman too it
is the same, the thought of enlightenment and
the bliss arising from it.
Hevajra Tantra 8.26-29 (Buddhism)

Human Beings’ Growth Requires Fulfillment of their Own Portion of Responsibility

Deuteronomy 13

13 1-2 Someday a prophet[a] may come along who is able to perform miracles or tell what will happen in the future. Then the prophet may say, “Let’s start worshiping some new gods—some gods that we know nothing about.” 3 If the prophet says this, don’t listen! The Lord your God will be watching to find out whether or not you love him with all your heart and soul. 4 You must be completely faithful to the Lord. Worship and obey only the Lord and do this with fear and trembling, 5 because he rescued you from slavery in Egypt.

Psalm 18

18 I love you, Lord God,
    and you make me strong.
2 You are my mighty rock,
    my fortress, my protector,
    the rock where I am safe,
my shield,
    my powerful weapon,
    and my place of shelter.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part

The Principle of Creation

THE PURPOSE OF CREATION

ORIGINAL VALUE

4.1 T HE PROCESS AND STANDARD FOR
THE DETERMINATION OF ORIGINAL VALUE
How is a being’s original created value determined? Since its original value is determined when it participates
in a four position foundation, and since the center of this four position
foundation is God, it is God who sets the standard for its value. Since
God is absolute, the original value of an object partner determined in
relation to this standard set by God must also be absolute.

THE PROCESS OF THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE
AND ITS G ROWING PERIOD

5.1 THE PROCESS OF THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE
The universe did not suddenly spring forth complete, without regard
to the flow of time. In fact, its origin and development took an enor-
mous length of time. Therefore, the biblical period of six days for the
completion of the universe is not to be reckoned by the number of lit-
eral sunrises and sunsets. It symbolizes six ordered periods of time in
the creation process.
5.2 THE GROWING PERIOD FOR THE CREATION
When the first day of creation was completed, it states, “There was evening and there was morning, one day.” All things are designed to reach completion only after passing through a set growing period.
5.2.1 THE THREE ORDERED STAGES OF THE G ROWING PERIOD
Everything reaches perfection by passing through
three ordered stages of growth: the formation stage, the growth stage
and the completion stage. Human beings could not fulfill the purpose of their existence because
they fell without completing the three stages of the growing period.
Hence, in their renewed efforts to realize their purpose, human beings
must pass through these three stages. At what stage of the growing period did the first humans fall? They
fell at the top of the growth stage.
5.2.2 T HE REALM OF INDIRECT DOMINION
During the growing period, all beings in the creation grow by
virtue of the autonomy and governance given by God’s Principle. God,
the Author of the Principle, has regard only for the fruits of their
growth which are based on the Principle. In this way, He governs all
things indirectly. We call this growing period the realm of God’s indi-
rect dominion or the realm of dominion based on accomplishments
through the Principle.
All things reach perfection after passing through the growing per-
iod (the realm of indirect dominion) by virtue of the autonomy and gov-
ernance given by God’s Principle. Human beings, however, are created
in such a way that their growth requires the fulfillment of their own por-
tion of responsibility, in addition to the guidance provided by the
Principle. They must exercise this responsibility in order to pass suc-
cessfully through the growing period and reach perfection.
5.2.3 THE REALM OF DIRECT DOMINION
What is the realm of God’s direct dominion and what is its purpose?
Human beings abide in the realm of direct dominion when, as subject
partner and object partner, they unite in the love of God to form a four
position foundation and become one in heart with God. In this realm
they freely and fully share love and beauty according to the will of the
subject partner, thus realizing the purpose of goodness. The realm of
direct dominion is the realm of perfection.

View slides 64 to 80 below for a graphical presentation of the above content:

2007p1-CHAPT-1-Creation_revised-4-28-2014-red-part