Old Testament | Daily Inspiration

The Main Reason Jesus Had to Die on the Cross Was the Failure of John the Baptist

Matthew 23

²³The Sadducees did not believe that people would rise to life after death. So that same day some of the Sadducees came to Jesus and said:

²⁴Teacher, Moses wrote that if a married man dies and has no children, his brother should marry the widow. Their first son would then be thought of as the son of the dead brother.

Richard: Having children (when you are married!) is very important.

Psalm 115

¹²The Lord will not forget
    to give us his blessing;
    he will bless all of Israel
    and the family of Aaron.
¹³All who worship the Lord,
no matter who they are,
    will receive his blessing.

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

THE SECOND COMING OF ELIJAH AND JOHN THE BAPTIST

The prophet Malachi foretold that Elijah would come again: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.” Jesus testified that the prophesied coming of Elijah was realized in none other than John the Baptist: “I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. . . .” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. —Matt. 17:12-13

2.1 THE JEWISH BELIEF IN THE RETURN OF ELIJAH

Since the disciples already believed that Jesus was the Messiah, they willingly accepted his testimony that John the Baptist was Elijah. Yet how could others who did not know Jesus accept this controversial claim?

2.2 THE DIRECTION THE JEWISH PEOPLE WOULD CHOOSE

Jesus made it plain that John the Baptist was the very Elijah whom the people were so anxiously awaiting, while on the contrary, John the Baptist himself flatly negated this claim. Whose words were the Jewish people to believe? This matter obviously depended on which of the two, Jesus or John, appeared more credible and respectable in the eyes of the people of that time.

When the Jewish people of Jesus’ day compared Jesus and John the Baptist, who appeared more credible to them? Without a doubt, John’s words had more credibility. Therefore, they naturally believed John the Baptist when he denied being Elijah more than they believed Jesus’ testimony that John was Elijah. Since the people believed John, they considered Jesus’ words to be a fabrication concocted to support his dubious claim to be the Messiah. Consequently, Jesus was condemned as an impostor.

2.3 THE FAITHLESSNESS OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

Many among the Jewish leadership and people of Jesus’ day had the highest respect for John the Baptist; some even thought of him as the Messiah. Had John the Baptist announced that he was Elijah, as Jesus had testified, those who were eagerly waiting for the Messiah would have readily believed John’s testimony and flocked to Jesus. Instead, John’s ignorance of God’s providence, which led him to insist that he was not Elijah, became the principal reason why the Jewish people did not come to Jesus. Here we have come to understand that the main reason why Jesus had to die on the cross was the failure of John the Baptist.

2.4 THE SENSE IN WHICH JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS ELIJAH

We have stated previously that John the Baptist was to inherit and complete the mission which Elijah had left unfinished on earth. As recorded in the Bible, he was born with the mission to go before the Lord, “in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” Hence, in terms of his mission, John was the second coming of Elijah.

2.5 OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD THE BIBLE

We have been reading the Bible based on the unquestioned belief that John the Baptist was a great prophet. Our new insight into John the Baptist teaches us that we should dispense with the conservative attitude of faith which makes us afraid to question conventional beliefs and traditional doctrines.

View slides 33 to 53 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content:

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

You Rejected Jesus, Who Was Holy and Good

Acts 3

¹⁴You rejected Jesus, who was holy and good. You asked for a murderer to be set free, ¹⁵and 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. ¹⁶You 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.
¹⁸Violence, 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 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

Has Christ Been Divided Up?

1 Corinthians 10

¹⁰My dear friends, as a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg you to get along with each other. Don’t take sides. Always try to agree in what you think. ¹¹Several people from Chloe’s family^[a] have already reported to me that you keep arguing with each other. ¹²They have said that some of you claim to follow me, while others claim to follow Apollos or Peter^[b] or Christ.

¹³Has Christ been divided up? Was I nailed to a cross for you? Were you baptized in my name? ¹⁴I thank God^[c] that I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius. ¹⁵Not one of you can say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶I did baptize the family^[d] of Stephanas, but I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else. ¹⁷Christ did not send me to baptize. He sent me to tell the good news without using big words that would make the cross of Christ lose its power.

Richard: People of good will should focus on the commonality of the message of Christ at the Second Advent: follow your conscience centered on the Eight Sacred Textbooks and promote and spread the good news about the message of absolutely good sexual ethics and the Holy Wedding Blessing Ceremony.

Amos 9

If they escape to the peaks
of Mount Carmel,
    I’ll search and find them.
And if they hide from me
    at the bottom of the ocean,
I’ll command a sea monster
    to bite them.
⁴I’ll send a sword to kill them,
wherever their enemies
    drag them off as captives.
I’m determined to hurt them,
    not to help them.”

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

Chapter 3

Eschatology and Human History

We dwell in ignorance of history, uncertain about its origin, the
direction in which it is heading, and its final destination. To address this issue, we should first understand such fundamental matters as the purpose of God’s creation, the meaning of the human Fall, and the goal of the providence of restoration.
THE COMPLETION OF GOD’S PURPOSE OF CREATION AND THE HUMAN FALL

1.1 THE COMPLETION OF GOD’S PURPOSE OF CREATION
Human beings are endowed with emotional sensitivity to the Heart of God, intuition and reason to comprehend
His Will, and the requisite abilities to practice it. A person who relates
with God in this manner will attain perfection of his individual character. Had Adam and Eve reached perfection, being thereafter insusceptible to sin, they would have borne good children and founded a sin less family and society in complete concordance with God’s blessings. They would have founded the Kingdom of Heaven, which consists of one great family with the same parents. God gave us the mandate to have dominion over all things. Hence, to realize the ideal of creation, people of perfected character
should advance science, harness the natural world, and create an
extremely pleasant social and living environment. This will be the
Kingdom of Heaven on earth. God’s primary purpose of
creation is to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
1.2 CONSEQUENCES OF THE HUMAN FALL
Due to the Fall, human beings could not
become temples of God; instead, they united with Satan and became
his dwelling places. They failed to cultivate the divine nature; instead,
they acquired an evil nature. People with evil nature have propagated
evil through their children, constituting evil families, evil societies and
an evil world. This is the hell on earth in which we have been living. We have not built the Kingdom of God, but instead established the sovereignty of Satan.

GOD’S WORK OF SALVATION

2.1 GOD’S WORK OF SALVATION IS THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION
God intended to create a world of goodness and experience from it the
utmost joy; yet due to the human Fall, the world came to be filled with
sin and sorrow. If this sinful world were to continue forever in its pres-
ent state, then God would be an impotent and ineffectual God who
failed in His creation. Therefore, God will save this sinful world, by all
means. to save a person suffering under the yoke of sin means to restore him to his original, sinless state. In other words, God’s work of salvation is the providence of restoration.
2.2 THE GOAL OF THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION
What is the goal of the providence of restoration? It is the estab-
lishment of the Kingdom of Heaven, which in its totality is God’s good
object partner and the fulfillment of His purpose of creation.
2.3 HUMAN HISTORY IS THE HISTORY
OF THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION
Human history can be seen as the history of the providence
through which God has been trying to save fallen people and work
through them to restore the original, good world.

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2007p1-CHAPT-3-Escatology_revised-4-28-2014

No One Has Known the Root of Sin

Join us this Saturday, February 1st for a Divine Principle seminar: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/unification-principle-training .

Job 9

²⁵My life is speeding by,
    without a hope of happiness.
²⁶Each day passes swifter
than a sailing ship
    or an eagle swooping down.
²⁷Sometimes I try to be cheerful
    and to stop complaining,
²⁸but my sufferings frighten me,
because I know that God
    still considers me guilty.
²⁹So what’s the use of trying
    to prove my innocence?
³⁰Even if I washed myself
    with the strongest soap,
³¹God would throw me into a pit
of stinking slime,
leaving me
    disgusting to my clothes.

Job 15

15 Eliphaz from Teman said:

²Job, if you had any sense,
³you would stop spreading
    all of this hot air.
⁴Your words are enough
to make others turn from God
    and lead them to doubt.
⁵And your sinful, scheming mind
    is the source of all you say.
⁶I am not here as your judge;
your own words are witnesses
    against you.

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

The Fall of Man

All people have an original mind which inclines them to reject evil
and pursue goodness. Yet, even without our being aware of it, we are
driven by evil forces to abandon the goodness which our original mind
desires and to perform evil deeds which, in our innermost heart, we do
not want to do. As long as these evil forces assail us, the sinful history
of humanity will continue unabated. In Christianity, the master of these
evil forces is known as Satan. We have been utterly unable to liquidate
the forces of Satan because we have not understood Satan’s identity or
how he came to exist. This explanation of the human Fall will clarify
these issues.
THE ROOT OF SIN
No one has known the root of sin, which lies deep within and cease-
lessly drives people toward the way of evil. On the basis of the Bible,
Christians have held to a vague belief that Adam and Eve’s eating the
fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the root of sin.
1.1 THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE TREE OF
THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL
Adam and Eve fell when they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowl-
edge of good and evil. Many Christians to this day have thought that
this was the fruit of an actual tree. Why should we stubbornly adhere to a literal interpretation of the fruit when
so much of the Bible makes use of symbolism and metaphor? We would
do well to abandon such a narrow and old-fashioned attitude of faith.
To learn what the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil represents, let us first investigate the tree of life, which stood next
to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden.
1.1.1 THE TREE OF LIFE
The tree of life in fact symbolizes a man who has fully
realized the ideal of creation. Perfected Adam was to be this ideal man.
The tree of life thus symbolizes perfected Adam.
1.1.2 THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, standing beside the tree of
life, 14 was this tree which, by fulfilling its good purpose, represents the
ideal woman, perfected Eve.
1.2 THE IDENTITY OF THE SERPENT
In the Bible we read that a serpent tempted Eve to commit sin. 17
What does the serpent symbolize? We are left with the con-
clusion that the spiritual being represented by the serpent was originally
created with a good purpose, but later fell and became Satan. The serpent, which tempted human beings and
sinned, is an angel.
1.3 THE FALL OF THE ANGEL AND THE FALL OF HUMAN BEINGS
1.3.1 T HE C RIME OF THE ANGEL
And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper
dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until
the judgment of the great day; just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the sur-
rounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnat-
ural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
— Jude 6-7
From this passage we can infer that the angel fell as a result of an illic-
it sexual relationship.
1.3.2 T HE CRIME OF THE HUMAN BEINGS
We read that before they fell, Adam and Eve were both naked, and
were not ashamed. 19 After the Fall, however, they felt ashamed of their
nakedness and sewed fig leaves together into aprons to cover their
lower parts. Adam and Eve’s sexual parts were the source of their shame
because they were the instruments of their sinful deed.
1.3.3 THE ILLICIT SEXUAL ACT BETWEEN THE ANGEL AND THE HUMAN BEINGS
We can deduce that the illicit sexual relationship must have involved the angel and human beings.
1.4 THE FRUIT OF THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL
What does the fruit of this tree represent? It signifies the
love of Eve. Eve should have borne good
children through her godly love. Instead, she bore evil children through
her satanic love. Accordingly, Eve’s eating of
the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil denotes that she
consummated a satanic love relationship with the angel which bound
her in blood ties to him.
1.5 THE ROOT OF SIN
The root of sin was not that the first human ancestors ate a fruit, but rather
that they had an illicit sexual relationship with an angel (symbolized by
a serpent). Consequently, they could not multiply God’s good lineage
but instead multiplied Satan’s evil lineage.
THE MOTIVATION AND PROCESS OF THE FALL
2.1 ANGELS , THEIR MISSIONS AND THEIR
RELATIONSHIP TO HUMAN BEINGS
Angels were created by God prior to any other creation. God created angels to be His retainers, who would assist Him in creating and sustaining the universe. in Hebrews angels are referred to as “ministering spirits.” The Bible often portrays angels honoring and praising
God. Let us investigate the relationship between human beings and angels
from the perspective of the Principle of Creation. Because God creat-
ed us as His children and gave us dominion over all creation, 37 we are
meant to rule over the angels as well.
2.2 T HE SPIRITUAL F ALL AND THE PHYSICAL FALL
God created human beings with two components: the spirit self
and the physical self. The human Fall likewise took place in two dimen-
sions: the spiritual and the physical. The fall which took place through
the sexual relationship between the angel and Eve was the spiritual fall,
while the fall which occurred through the sexual relationship between
Eve and Adam was the physical fall.
2.2.1 T HE SPIRITUAL FALL
Lucifer, feeling as though he were receiving less love than he deserved, wanted to grasp the same central position in human society as he enjoyed as the
channel of God’s love in the angelic world. This was why he seduced
Eve, and this was the motivation of the spiritual fall. Lucifer, who left his proper position due to his excessive desire, and Eve,
who wanted to open her eyes and become like God 44 before the time
was ripe, formed a common base and began give and take action. The
power of the unprincipled love generated by their give and take led
them to consummate an illicit sexual relationship on the spiritual plane.
2.2.2 THE PHYSICAL FALL
Eve then seduced Adam with the hope that by uniting with him, her intended spouse, she could rid herself of the dread and once again stand before God. This was Eve’s motivation which led to the physical fall. Adam responded and formed a common base with Eve, and they began give and take action with each other. The power of the unprincipled love generated in their relationship induced Adam to abandon his original position and brought them together in an illicit physical relationship of sexual love.

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2007p1-CHAPT-2-Fall-of-Man_revised-4-28-2014-1

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

Deuteronomy 13

13 ^1-2Someday 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.” ³If 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. ⁴You must be completely faithful to the Lord. Worship and obey only the Lord and do this with fear and trembling, ⁵because he rescued you from slavery in Egypt.

Psalm 18

18 I love you, Lord God,
    and you make me strong.
²You 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.

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