Category: Isaiah

You Rejected Jesus, Who Was Holy and Good

Acts 3

14 You rejected Jesus, who was holy and good. You asked for a murderer to be set free, 15 and you killed the one who leads people to life. But God raised him from death, and all of us can tell you what he has done. 16 You see this man, and you know him. He put his faith in the name of Jesus and was made strong. Faith in Jesus made this man completely well while everyone was watching.

Richard: Jesus did not come to die. God prepared the chosen people of Israel to receive Him. See the Divine Principle Study below.

Isaiah 60

I will bring bronze and iron
    in place of wood and stone;
in place of bronze and iron,
    I will bring gold and silver.
I will appoint peace and justice
    as your rulers and leaders.
18 Violence, destruction, and ruin
will never again
be heard of
    within your borders.
“Victory” will be the name
    you give to your walls;
“Praise” will be the name
    you give to your gates.

Richard: This is a prophecy that should have been fulfilled at the time of Jesus coming, if the chosen people of Israel had received Him.

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

The Messiah: His Advent and the Purpose of His Second Coming

The Messiah: His Advent and the Purpose of His Second Coming

The word “Messiah” in Hebrew means the “anointed one,” signifying a king. The chosen people of Israel believed in the Word of God as revealed through the prophets, which promised that God would send them a king and savior. Such was their messianic expectation. God sent this Messiah in the person of Jesus Christ. “Christ” is the Greek word for Messiah. The Messiah comes to fulfill the purpose of God’s work of salvation.

SALVATION THROUGH THE CROSS

1.1 THE PURPOSE OF JESUS’ COMING AS THE MESSIAH

 Jesus came as the Messiah for nothing less than the complete salvation of humanity; he was to fulfill the goal of the providence of restoration. Jesus was supposed to establish the Kingdom of Heaven, first on the earth.

1.2 WAS SALVATION COMPLETED THROUGH THE CROSS?

  Did Jesus’ crucifixion, which brought us redemption from our sins, fulfill the purpose of the providence of restoration? If so, we would expect that faithful believers in Jesus would have restored their original nature and built the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Yet in the entire history of Christianity, there has been no one, no matter how devout, who lived his life in inseparable oneness with God. Not one person has ever experienced God’s Heart in its full intensity or possessed a divine nature. There has never been a believer who had no need of redemption or a life of ardent prayer and devotion.  Christian parents continue to transmit the original sin to their children. The grace of redemption by the cross has neither fully uprooted our original sin nor perfectly restored our original nature.

1.3 JESUS’ DEATH ON THE CROSS

 Was Jesus’ death on the cross the most desired Will of God? Let us first examine the words and deeds of the disciples as recorded in the Bible.  Next, let us examine from the viewpoint of God’s providence whether the crucifixion of Jesus was inevitable as the predestined Will of God.  Next, let us examine the words and deeds of Jesus himself to ascertain whether his crucifixion was in fact the way to completely accomplish his mission as the Messiah.

 God’s clear intention for the chosen people of Israel, whom He had led through all manner of difficulty from the time of Abraham, was to send them a Messiah and build an eternal Kingdom on earth. Nevertheless, when the Jewish leadership persecuted Jesus and led him to the cross, Israel lost its qualification to be the founding nation of God’s Kingdom. Within a few generations, the people of Israel would be scattered over the face of the earth. They have suffered oppression and persecution ever since. This can be viewed as the tragic consequence of the mistake their ancestors committed when they condemned to death the Messiah, whom they should have honored, thereby preventing the completion of the providence of restoration. Moreover, not only the Jews, but also many faithful Christians have shouldered the cross as their portion for the collective sin of having killed Jesus.

View slides 1 to 16 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content. For more detail, view the entire text: https://tparents.org/Library/Unification/Books/DP06/DP06-14.pdf .

2007p1-CHAPT-4-The-Messiah-_revised-4-28-2014

The Four Position Foundation Is God’s Eternal Purpose of Creation

Read the latest Urban Life Training Newsletter: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/newsletters/337-newsletter-01-21-20 .

Romans 4

4 Money paid to workers isn’t a gift. It is something they earn by working. 5 But you cannot make God accept you because of something you do. God accepts sinners only because they have faith in him. 6 In the Scriptures David talks about the blessings that come to people who are acceptable to God, even though they don’t do anything to deserve these blessings. David says,

7 “God blesses people
    whose sins are forgiven
and whose evil deeds
    are forgotten.
8 The Lord blesses people
whose sins are erased
    from his book.”

Isaiah 1

15 “No matter how much you pray,
I won’t listen.
    You are too violent.
16 Wash yourselves clean!
I am disgusted
    with your filthy deeds.
Stop doing wrong
17     and learn to live right.
See that justice is done.
Defend widows and orphans
    and help those in need.”

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

The Principle of Creation

1.2 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOD AND THE UNIVERSE

In light of our understanding of the dual characteristics, the relationship between God and the universe can be summarized thus: The
universe as a whole is a substantial object partner to God. It is composed of individual embodiments of truth, each a unique manifestation
of the dual characteristics of God at either the level of image or of symbol, as governed by the Principle of Creation.

UNIVERSAL PRIME ENERGY, GIVE AND TAKE ACTION,
AND THE FOUR POSITION FOUNDATION

2.1 UNIVERSAL PRIME ENERGY
God, the Creator of all things, is the absolute reality, eternal, self-existent and transcendent of time and space. The fundamental energy
of God’s being is also eternal, self-existent and absolute. It is the origin of all energies and forces that allow created beings to exist. We call
this fundamental energy universal prime energy.

2.2 GIVE AND TAKE ACTION
Through the agency of universal prime energy, the subject and
object elements of every entity form a common base and enter into
interaction. This interaction, in turn, generates all the forces the entity
needs for existence, multiplication and action. The interaction generating these forces through this process is called give and take action.
2.3 THE FOUR POSITION FOUNDATION WHICH REALIZES THE THREE
OBJECT PURPOSE THROUGH ORIGIN-DIVISION-UNION ACTION

2.3.1 ORIGIN-DIVISION-UNION ACTION
The process of God’s creation in which out of God, the Origin, two entities are separately manifested
and reunited in oneness—is called origin-division-union action.
2.3.2 THE THREE OBJECT PURPOSE
As a result of origin-division-union action, four positions are formed:
the origin at the center, the subject partner and the object partner (distinct substantial object partners to the origin in the pattern of its dual
characteristics), and their union. Any one of the four positions may
assume the position of subject partner and engage the other three as
its object partners, forming a communion of three object partners. When
each of the four then acts as the subject partner and enters into give
and take with the other three revolving around it, they fulfill the three
object purpose.
2.3.3 THE FOUR POSITION FOUNDATION
When through origin-division-union action, the origin, the subject
partner and object partner projected from the origin, and their union all
fulfill the three object purpose, the four position foundation is established.
The original significance of the number four derives from the fourposition foundation. The original significance of the number three also
derives from it, because it is the fulfillment of the three-object purpose.
The four position foundation is realized by God, husband and wife, and
children; they complete the three stages of origin-division-union action.
Hence, the four position foundation is the root of the principle of three
stages. Furthermore, each of the four positions in the four position
foundation takes on three object partners in fulfilling the three object
purpose. In total there are twelve object partners; hence, from it derives
the original significance of the number twelve. The four position foundation is the fundamental foundation of goodness. It is the realization
of God’s purpose of creation. It is the fundamental foundation for the
life of all beings, providing all the forces necessary for their existence
and enabling God to abide in them. Therefore, the four position foundation is God’s eternal purpose of creation.

View slides 26 -50 below for an illustrated slide show of the content above.

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

Home Church Is a Microcosm of the World

Romans 6

15 What does all this mean? Does it mean we are free to sin, because we are ruled by God’s wonderful kindness and not by the Law? Certainly not! 16 Don’t you know that you are slaves of anyone you obey? You can be slaves of sin and die, or you can be obedient slaves of God and be acceptable to him. 17 You used to be slaves of sin. But I thank God that with all your heart you obeyed the teaching you received from me. 18 Now you are set free from sin and are slaves who please God.

19 I am using these everyday examples, because in some ways you are still weak. You used to let the different parts of your body be slaves of your evil thoughts. But now you must make every part of your body serve God, so that you will belong completely to him.

20 When you were slaves of sin, you didn’t have to please God. 21 But what good did you receive from the things you did? All you have to show for them is your shame, and they lead to death. 22 Now you have been set free from sin, and you are God’s slaves. This will make you holy and will lead you to eternal life. 23 Sin pays off with death. But God’s gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Isaiah 1

10 You are no better
    than the leaders and people
of Sodom and Gomorrah!
    So listen to the Lord God:
11 “Your sacrifices
    mean nothing to me.
I am sick of your offerings
    of rams and choice cattle;
I don’t like the blood
    of bulls or lambs or goats.

12 “Who asked you to bring all this
when you come to worship me?
    Stay out of my temple!
13 Your sacrifices are worthless,
    and incense is disgusting.
I can’t stand the evil you do
    on your New Moon Festivals
or on your Sabbaths
    and other times of worship.
14 I hate your New Moon Festivals
    and all others as well.
They are a heavy burden
    I am tired of carrying.

15 “No matter how much you pray,
I won’t listen.
    You are too violent.
16 Wash yourselves clean!
I am disgusted
    with your filthy deeds.
Stop doing wrong
17     and learn to live right.
See that justice is done.
Defend widows and orphans
    and help those in need.”

Richard: God is telling us to return to basics. Follow His word, do Home Church, know your neighbor, love you neighbor, help your neighbor.

Selected Passages from the Words of Rev. Sun Myung Moon about Home Church

Today’s Word magazine, September 1981 pp. 7 – 8

It’s your means of salvation
In order to find salvation, we must:
( 1) Pass through the judgment by words, judg-
ment of character and judgment of heart. All of
you understand that we cannot go to heaven
without passing through these three types of
judgment.
(2) Become a True Parent.
(3) Become a central figure in heaven and on
earth.
(4) Help others reach salvation. How many people
have you helped to attend the two-day workshop,
the 21-day workshop, and so on up to the 70-day
workshop? The number of people you have helped
to go through these courses is related to your
personal salvation.
(5) Gain 84 disciples. Everyone should begin his
course of witnessing, with the primary objective
of gaining 84 spiritual children. The number 84
represents the 12 disciples and 72 elders at Jesus’
time, which added together make 84. In addition,
those 12 disciples include the three disciples,
representing the three stages of growth. (2/3/79)

It brings you great benefit
Home church is the greatest gift God and True
Parents can give mankind. It has never existed
before and will never recur in the future. When
you make this gift your own by fulfilling it, you
will definitely become a son or daughter of God.
For the entire 60 years of my life, I have been
preparing this precious gift for you.and now I
freely give it to you; you can make it yours in six
months. This is an incredible opportunity. (4/15/79)

Home church is a very precious blessing for
you, because through it I am giving you a
condition to go beyond the fall of man. (5/27/79)

The extent to which you carry out the home
church providence determines your level of per-
sonal maturity. Perhaps two thirds of your
spiritual growth will take place through home
church and perhaps the other third will come
through other activities. When you follow Father’s
instructions here absolutely and become successful
in your home church, you will inherit four things:
material, man, spirit world and God. (3/29/79)

Home church is the place where you can receive
the worldwide inheritance; you will receive the
individual inheritance, family inheritance. clan
inheritance, tribal inheritance and national inherit-
ance. Through the home church providence you
will also receive liberation from satanic accusa-
tion. (2/25/80)

What you have in home church is a microcosm
of the world, and by practicing there what I have
accomplished on the worldwide scale, you are
entitled to receive what I have inherited from God.
(5/26/79)

When you become completely victorious, your
360 homes will become your home. All 360 people
will say, You have been hungry for so long-please
come to our house for supper: you have lost so
much sleep-please take this bed as your own and
rest. When they see how hard you have worked,
they will all say. Sit down and take life easy; let me
do your job for you. If people really see God in
you, they will surely say this to you. ( 117/79)

We talk about hope and faith. What higher hope
is there than to look forward to the day when the
people in your home church area welcome you?
When you go around knocking all the walls down,
you will eventually find the 12 gates open to you,
and you will finally arrive at the central point you
should occupy. Then you will become a successful
13. At that moment you will have finished the
historical indemnity centering on yourself. You
will have achieved something no one ever dreamed
of achieving, and you will occupy the central
position with God’s approval. ( 1/13/80)

We Have to Live in a New World with New Hopes

Numbers 11

21 Moses replied, “At least six hundred thousand grown men are here with me. How can you say there will be enough meat to feed them and their families for a whole month? 22 Even if we butchered all of our sheep and cattle, or caught every fish in the sea, we wouldn’t have enough to feed them.”

23 The Lord answered, “I can do anything! Watch and you’ll see my words come true.”

Isaiah 16

13 The Lord has already said all of this about Moab. 14 Now he says, “The contract of a hired worker is good for three years, but Moab’s glory and greatness won’t last any longer than that. Only a few of its people will survive, and they will be left helpless.”

Members Who Will Live In God’s Family

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
September 27, 1959

Matthew 12: 46-50

With what will God judge on the judgment day? God judges with the conditions of restoration through indemnity based on the foundation of His heart of the past, present and future. When Mary Magdalene met the resurrected Jesus, she did not know that Jesus could not let her hold him. That is how it is. Do you think that one can go to Heaven just by believing? The thought may be good. But if you believe that, no matter how hard you try, you will never have anything to do with Jesus. It won’t do, even if you receive the words and put them into practice. No matter how faithfully you live by it, you will not be able to connect yourself to the embodiment. Why? It is because you are ignorant.

For this reason we should repent. We should repent and cleanse ourselves of all wrong elements. Why repent? For six thousand years, since the time of Adam’s family until today, our ancestors had to uphold the will of Heaven and fulfill God’s wishes. Yet they could not complete these responsibilities. We should shoulder the responsibility for this sin and repent. God is not just the God of the future. He is the God of the past. We have to understand God as the God who is working to cleanse all historical sins, and we should build a relationship with Him and purge our sins.

Moreover, since God is the God of the past, we have to purge the sins of this age. After having cleansed all the sins of the past and the future, we have to establish one new standard of the future and sing of the glory of the Father; that place is the Kingdom of Heaven, where we can live eternally.

Only after that can we form a heavenly family which does not even think about the sins of the past. This is the realization of God’s hope. Then we are to be recognized as sons and daughters of the heavenly family and live eternally. Such people do not need to believe in Jesus. They do not need Jesus. They do not need Christianity. They do not need faith. The place they go after they live a normal life on earth is the Kingdom of Heaven.

After the age of hope comes, God will not look back at the six-thousand-year history. There is no need to flip through the pages of sorrowful history. After the arrival of an age where we can say that this is certainly the standard based upon which solutions can be obtained through our minds, bodies and hearts, we do not need to flip back through the refuse of the past.

Ladies and gentlemen. People nowadays are interested in antiques. Do you know why that is? It is because we are searching for the original things which were lost. We have to find the antiques that Adam and Eve lost long ago, six thousand years ago, which could have connected us to God. After that we have to cut our relationship with the age of antiques and enter another era when we struggle to find new things. This world today is an accursed world which destroys and devours all new things that emerge. That is not true for the era of hope. The world that we hope for is a world where new things are valued. Since God’s nature values new things, we have to move toward that age.

For this reason people block the path we are walking. They tell us to turn around and go back to the past. They tell us to go deep into our minds. This is why Buddhism teaches us to enter a state of meditation. The reality of life on earth and its sorrow is that we have to seek our original selves and original minds. Yet after we go back to the past and resolve it all, we would never want to think about the past. God’s goal is to destroy it all and leave no part of it behind.

We have to live in a new world with new hopes. That is what the past of a people is like. Roman culture was revival of the Hellenistic culture. They studied the older culture and brought it out again and integrated it with the new reality. That is not what we should do in the future. Of course, it is good to study history. However, that is not the standard of our hope. Until now our fate has been to return to the past and return to Heaven. From now on it should be new.

There Was Nothing More Sorrowful than the Death of Jesus

1 Corinthians 16

13 Keep alert. Be firm in your faith. Stay brave and strong. 14 Show love in everything you do.

Isaiah 48

Your nation would be blessed
    with more people
than there are grains of sand
    along the seashore.
And I would never have let
    your country be destroyed.

20 Now leave Babylon!
    Celebrate as you go.
Be happy and shout
    for everyone to hear,
“The Lord has rescued
    his servant Israel!
21 He led us through the desert
and made water flow from a rock
    to satisfy our thirst.
22 But the Lord has promised
that none who are evil
    will live in peace.”

Members Who Will Live In God’s Family

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
September 27, 1959

Matthew 12: 46-50

Where and how does a meeting take place? It does not take place due to sweet words or good deeds alone. It comes about when there is an intense longing. How will the Lord look? What will his hands, eyes and nose be like? In the end what will determine whether or not you can meet him is the desire you have to touch and see him. This has nothing to do with the Jesus who spoke the words. It has nothing to do with God. When you meet, salvation is not attained by calling out the words of Jesus. You have to long for the substantial Jesus.

We cannot see Jesus no matter how intensely we desire to. Why doesn’t the Jesus who promised to come again come? Jesus told his disciples that he would come back soon. Why doesn’t he come? Why is this so? What is the reason that he cannot come when so many disciples and followers desperately want to see him and meet him? When there is someone who longs for him so badly that he is oblivious to the passage of time, he will certainly be able to meet him. There is a way this will happen.

We are orphans. God sees us as orphans. No matter how great the external family environment may be for someone on earth, in God’s eyes, he is still only an orphan. We have lost our true parents, our true brothers and sisters, our true spouses, and our true children. We are like orphans. Since this is how we are, how can we be at peace? Our hearts are pushing us. What are they pushing us to do? They are asking us to look for our original parents, brothers and sisters, brides and children. However, no matter how many times we circle around the earth in search of them we may not find them. Since we cannot find these even among the words of truth, where can we find them?

The beginning point of resolution is to put oil on our foreheads, enter the secret chamber and be overwhelmed with the desire to see the Father. If there is a way for the Father and the Lord to seek us, you should be ready to brave any path of death or any difficult mountain path, determined to move forward. Jesus went the path of Gethsemane and Golgotha while looking for such sons and daughters. Since he was not successful in his search, he went the path of death. We who long for the one day when we can meet our original parents, long for the day when we can cling to him and call him Father and Lord, how many hours have we shed tears?

Now the time has come when Christians all over the world must solve this problem. We have to yearn to see him more intensely than we yearn to see our own sons and daughters or anything else in the world. We must want to touch his clothes and hands, since he is our Father. We should be able to give all of our minds and bodies upon meeting him and share everything of our past upon entering his bosom, and receive consolation for all our difficulties and labors. We must understand that this is our highest hope.

We should long for the person more than we long for the words or his deeds. After we long for the person, we should long for his mind.

In the past some Jews were able to cling to Jesus. However, has there been even one person who related to him as if Jesus were his own parent whom he longed for, as if Jesus was the parent that he had lost and had been yearning to meet again? When God sent his only son to the earth as the Father of all people and the King of Kings, would He have sent him to be mistreated? God wanted people to honor him as the central person of history, the father of all people, someone everyone longed for and wanted to meet many times over. However, no one of his time treated him like that. This was the sorrow of Heaven and made Heaven most indignant. Although he came to give his blood and flesh for his children, his children pointed knives and weapons at him. How could it be a happy memory for Heaven? If Heaven ever had a cause for deep sorrow, there was nothing more sorrowful than the death of Jesus.