Category: Old Testament

God’s Grieving Heart throughout History

Stacey, Sarah and I wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Numbers 8

This ceremony will show that the Levites are different from the other Israelites and belong to me in a special way. 15 After they have been made acceptable and have been dedicated, they will be allowed to work at my sacred tent. 16 They are mine and will take the place of the first-born Israelite sons. 

Song of Solomon

My dearest, the cities of Tirzah
and Jerusalem
    are not as lovely as you.
Your charms are more powerful
than all of the stars
    in the heavens.[a]
5 Turn away your eyes—
    they make me melt.
Your hair tosses about
as gracefully as goats
    coming down from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are whiter
    than sheep freshly washed;
they match perfectly,
    not one is missing.
7 Behind your veil are hidden
    beautiful rosy cheeks.[b]

Let Us Be Persons of Forbearance

Sun Myung Moon
May 18, 1958

Matthew 24: 1-14

God had no choice but to hold onto Adam and Eve and start the providence of restoration. For that reason, God chose Cain and Abel and Noah. By electing and establishing many other families, God has unfolded the work of the providence of restoration. The heart of God as He led the dispensation of this providential history was fretful beyond description. Nevertheless, controlling His feelings, God has endured with great patience.

Yet how many people on this earth today feel the fretful heart of the enduring God and seize God and shed tears? If there was a man on this earth who knew God’s heart like this and shed tears, he would be able to understand that while God rejoiced at the time of the creation of all things in Heaven and earth, God’s grief due to man’s fall encompassed all of the creation in heaven and earth. Continue reading “God’s Grieving Heart throughout History”

At the Second Coming There is an Invitation to a Wedding Banquet

Matthew 22

22 Once again Jesus used stories to teach the people:

2 The kingdom of heaven is like what happened when a king gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 The king sent some servants to tell the invited guests to come to the banquet, but the guests refused. 4 He sent other servants to say to the guests, “The banquet is ready! My cattle and prize calves have all been prepared. Everything is ready. Come to the banquet!”

5 But the guests did not pay any attention. Some of them left for their farms, and some went to their places of business. 6 Others grabbed the servants, then beat them up and killed them.

7 This made the king so furious that he sent an army to kill those murderers and burn down their city. 8 Then he said to the servants, “It is time for the wedding banquet, and the invited guests don’t deserve to come. 9 Go out to the street corners and tell everyone you meet to come to the banquet.” 10 They went out on the streets and brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike. And the banquet room was filled with guests.

11 When the king went in to meet the guests, he found that one of them wasn’t wearing the right kind of clothes for the wedding. 12 The king asked, “Friend, why didn’t you wear proper clothes for the wedding?” But the guest had no excuse. 13 So the king gave orders for that person to be tied hand and foot and to be thrown outside into the dark. That’s where people will cry and grit their teeth in pain. 14 Many are invited, but only a few are chosen.

Jeremiah 49

I once was pleased
    with your famous city.
But now I warn you, “Escape
    while you still can!”[t]
26 Soon, even your best soldiers
    will lie dead in your streets.
I, the Lord All-Powerful,
    have spoken.

Let Us Be Persons of Forbearance

Sun Myung Moon
May 18, 1958

Matthew 24: 1-14

24 After Jesus left the temple, his disciples came over and said, “Look at all these buildings!”

2 Jesus replied, “Do you see these buildings? They will certainly be torn down! Not one stone will be left in place.”

3 Later, as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him in private and asked, “When will this happen? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world?”

4 Jesus answered:

Don’t let anyone fool you. 5 Many will come and claim to be me. They will say that they are the Messiah, and they will fool many people.

6 You will soon hear about wars and threats of wars, but don’t be afraid. These things will have to happen first, but that isn’t the end. 7 Nations and kingdoms will go to war against each other. People will starve to death, and in some places there will be earthquakes. 8 But this is just the beginning of troubles.

9 You will be arrested, punished, and even killed. Because of me, you will be hated by people of all nations. 10 Many will give up and will betray and hate each other. 11 Many false prophets will come and fool a lot of people. 12 Evil will spread and cause many people to stop loving others. 13 But if you keep on being faithful right to the end, you will be saved. 14 When the good news about the kingdom has been preached all over the world and told to all nations, the end will come.

Prayer

The time now is similar to when the Israelites were in confusion 2,000 years ago. It is the time when the Messiah must come. We know that in such a time as this it is difficult to distinguish between the true and the false. There have been many teachers who toiled in the course of history in the past. Men have attended many leaders. However, today we are losing the center of mind which we can rely on. Continue reading “At the Second Coming There is an Invitation to a Wedding Banquet”

Boast of Jesus’ Glory by Finding the Lord at the Second Coming

Leviticus 22

31 Obey my laws and teachings—I am the Lord. 32-33 I demand respect from the people of Israel, so don’t disgrace my holy name. Remember—I am the one who chose you to be priests and rescued all of you from Egypt, so that I would be your Lord.

Isaiah

21 The Lord says: “My people,
I promise to give you my Spirit
    and my message.
These will be my gifts to you
    and your families forever.
I, the Lord, have spoken.”

The World of Ideology Which We Seek

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
May 4, 1958

Humankind today believes in all kinds of religions: Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, etcetera. However, he must not rest content with the religion he believes in as such. He should not believe only in the central figure of motive, who made him believe in a religion, or the word of the truth that appeared with him. He must tread and step above that word and understand the internal Shim Jung. You must dissect it to see what the internal Shim Jung is that is hidden inside the present state of things. You should not just set up the words of scripture as the standard of absolute salvation. This is the problem today. God’s fundamental problems will not be solved with that. Accordingly, God is seeking courageous men who can penetrate this and go over it.

Therefore, today we should not be controlled by conservative thought or by some founder of truth. You must penetrate and climb over that and reach direct negotiations with God, who set up the founder of the truth. By doing so, you should resolve the contradictory problem in the truth itself and seek and establish the standard of God’s internal Shim Jung. God is still seeking, asking the question, “Where is the group of people who can establish such a standard and step forth?” If there is such a group of people, God will not turn His face away from them. Continue reading “Boast of Jesus’ Glory by Finding the Lord at the Second Coming”

Deny the World

Judges 2

The Lord was so angry 14-15 at the Israelites that he let other nations raid Israel and steal their crops and other possessions. Enemies were everywhere, and the Lord always let them defeat Israel in battle. The Lord had warned Israel he would do this, and now the Israelites were miserable.

Amos 4

I dried up your grain fields;
your gardens and vineyards
    turned brown.
Locusts[f] ate your fig trees
    and olive orchards,
but even then you rejected me.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

The World of Ideology Which We Seek

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
May 4, 1958

The world that tried to lead people to make effort to solve the origin of the ideology of God, the Creator of the universe, was the world of truth. However, though many ascetics have inquired closely into that cause, history has flowed on and no elucidated center has yet been presented before humankind.

The history that has come down with that original unsolved problem is the history you have inherited today. Therefore, if we cannot solve this problem today, then the human history of bitter resentment will remain until later generations. Not only that, after the present time, God will not be able to solve this problem. Continue reading “Deny the World”

God Brings forth the World Level Ideology

Exodus 23

6 Make sure that the poor are given equal justice in court. 7 Don’t bring false charges against anyone or sentence an innocent person to death. I won’t forgive you if you do.

8 Don’t accept bribes. Judges are blinded and justice is twisted by bribes.

9 Don’t mistreat foreigners. You were foreigners in Egypt, and you know what it is like.

Isaiah 8

11 The Lord took hold of me with his powerful hand and said:

I’m warning you! Don’t act like these people. 12 Don’t call something a rebellious plot, just because they do, and don’t be afraid of something, just because they are. 13 I am the one you should fear and respect. I am the holy God, the Lord All-Powerful! 14-15 Run to me for protection. I am a rock that will make both Judah and Israel stumble and break their bones. I am a trap that will catch the people of Jerusalem—they will be captured and dragged away.

The World of Ideology Which We Seek

Sun Myung Moon
May 4, 1958

Why did God introduce this contradictory condition to humankind? Although the minds of human beings want to seek and establish one standard, it is impossible for the mind and body to settle in all at the same time. That is why God has taken such a direction until now. Consequently, the world of ideology relying on the mind must appear in history. That ideology is the operating principle for all of humanity. Accordingly, until the center of that ideology is settled, we must go through a history of giving up things. When this has passed through a certain course, it will be transposed from a giving-up history to a seeking history again. Continue reading “God Brings forth the World Level Ideology”