Category: Old Testament

He Will Prosper Without His Knowing How He Did It

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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Joshua 22

10-11 The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh reached the western side of the Jordan River valley[a] and built a huge altar there beside the river.

Richard: Our “altar” is Home Church, where we can build the Kingdom of God together with our neighbors.

Micah 5

7 A few of Jacob’s descendants
survived and are scattered
    among the nations.
But the Lord will let them
cover the earth
like dew and rain
    that refreshes the soil.
8 At present they are scattered,
    but later they will attack,
as though they were fierce lions
    pouncing on sheep.
Their enemies will be torn
to shreds,
    with no one to save them;
9 they will be helpless,
    completely destroyed.

Jesus Whom God Wanted To Find

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
October 18, 1959

Matthew 23:29-39

The world of heart transcends the distance of history. It transcends time and space. No matter how great an authority is or how fearful a power, it cannot block that road of love. Even the highest mountain and the whole of Heaven and earth cannot block that love. In traveling that path of heart, there cannot be any obstruction.

The central being of heart is Jesus. Therefore, he said that love will survive to the end. Because Jesus came representing God’s heart and lived in the world of the heart, his influence today is expanding. Only by becoming a group who can say that Jesus’ heart is our heart, that his mind is our mind, that we cannot separate from him for eternity can we go over any condition of the secular world with him. Then we can become his disciples and family. In the early church, Jesus’ disciples could not become members of his family. The most important problem that we must solve in this hour is to ask whether we have become people who can freely go over that boundary line into being of Jesus’ family; who can go over any obstacle and go forward for Jesus’ sake.

Where will Jesus, whom God wanted to establish, go? Where will Jesus, whom God wanted to establish on earth, stand? If this is not solved, Jesus will have nowhere to stand. Jesus, who is supposed to come to earth, will have nowhere to stand. He must come and do the will of God, but he will not have any companion. They will kill him again. They will drive him to the cross again. They will cause him anguish again. That is why we must go through the heart of the family, the heart of children, and the heart of a bride. We must be filled with longing. Since the day of promise has yet to come, we must be filled with longing and possess a desperate heart. If a person can master his feelings, transcend any awareness or any concept and experience a certain force that leads him in one direction with infinite power, he will enter the Kingdom of Heaven without fail.

Jesus came two thousand years ago. He came to this earth. But who met Jesus? A person might have met Jesus centering on Jesus himself. But there was no one who met the Jesus who had crossed over the level of the individual, then the family, then the society, then the nation and the world and who could rule over all of Heaven and earth. In order to solve this kind of problem, you must be filled with a certain heart. You cannot solve this problem without entering the world of the heart. If there were something that could solve that problem, if there were something that could move your heart, you would be pulled into it. If you see a person coming out of a church totally vexed, do not go to that church again.

Our mind seeks the world of the heart. Even radio waves do not just operate anywhere. They operate where there is a receiver. They operate where there is a reciprocal relationship. It is the same with people. If there is a person with a true conscience, a true loving standard, and a foundation of Heaven’s heart, then wherever or whenever he goes and even in an unfair and sorrowful place, he will have a way to survive and prosper without his knowing how he did it. He will prosper even when he is misunderstood. That prosperous way does not come about in a comfortable place. No one achieved an historical revolution, an historical discovery, or an historical success in a comfortable place. They began from a place where they met with death face to face. God comes to you in that place.

Therefore, when someone is about to face God, he will meet an incident. He will collide with a material problem, a problem with other people and a problem of the heart. At that time if he can turn and shout, “This is the path I will go” and goes forward, he will be able to lead people who are agonizing over numerous problems and affairs. Jesus was able to do that. When he was helping with the carpentry work of Joseph, he did not lead a comfortable life. His heart passed through a course of infinite hardship and sorrow. In a course that was historical, connected to the age and connected to the future, he crossed over in his mind all the hills of hardship and pain that mankind had gone through. Because he was able to establish a victorious standard in a showdown against Satan, he could proclaim that he was the Messiah. This is not written in the Bible.

Richard: I have to say that this year Stacey and I collided with adversity. Both of us literally faced life and death situations, and God brought us through. Praise to God, and our thanks to all of our friends and supporters!

It Is Inappropriate to Pray “Please Save Me”

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Romans 4

9 Are these blessings meant for circumcised people or for those who are not circumcised? Well, the Scriptures say that God accepted Abraham because Abraham had faith in him. 10 But when did this happen? Was it before or after Abraham was circumcised? Of course, it was before.

11 Abraham let himself be circumcised to show that he had been accepted because of his faith even before he was circumcised. This makes Abraham the father of all who are acceptable to God because of their faith, even though they are not circumcised. 12 This also makes Abraham the father of everyone who is circumcised and has faith in God, as Abraham did before he was circumcised.

Richard: Paul is saying here that not only Jews (who are circumcised), or existing followers of Rev. Moon, in the current age, will be accepted by God. All those who faithfully adhere to God’s Words and teachings (the Eight Sacred Texts and the teaching of abstinence before marriage and faithfulness in Blessed marriage in the current age) will be blessed and justified.

2 Chronicles 9

15 Solomon made two hundred gold shields that weighed about seven and a half pounds each. 16 He also made three hundred smaller gold shields that weighed almost four pounds, and he put these shields in his palace in Forest Hall.

Jesus Whom God Wanted To Find

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
October 18, 1959

Matthew 23:29-39

The time is coming for us to prepare our minds and bodies. A person should not do this preparation for himself. People who are spiritually experienced pray for themselves only at the end of their prayer. When someone prays in a spiritual state, he should first pray for God. Since it is time to meet the owner, he must pray for the well-being of the owner. Then he must pray for Jesus. When someone prays for God, he will know the historical heart of God. If he prays for Jesus, he will know the historical heart of Jesus. Then he must pray for the numerous people in Christianity who have fought for the will of God until now.

Searching through the footsteps of so many prophets from Adam’s time until now, a person should pray, “Let me become an offering to liberate them.” Then he should be able to shed tears, saying to the prophets, “I know that your sorrow still survives on earth. I want to liberate that sorrow; therefore, please support me.” After that he should pray for his sons and daughters and then for himself. That is the law of Heaven.

Before he prayed for his people, Jesus prayed for the Father. For thirty years of his life, Jesus comforted God and prayed for Him, saying, “Heavenly Father! How sorrowful You must be.” Then he prayed for the numerous prophets. “I was sent as the representative of your longings, your prophecies, your promises. I will do my utmost to live up to the standard that you have desired.”

Jesus prayed for the age with a historical heart. He prayed for Israel, which had departed from the will of God. He prayed for the Jewish faith, which did not know the will of God. He prayed for John the Baptist, who did not follow him even after testifying on his behalf. Jesus never prayed for himself. Jesus prayed, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. But do as You will, not as I will,” and he passed away without fulfilling his desire.

In the Last Days Jesus can pray for himself. The Last Days are when Jesus can praise himself. The day when Jesus’ sorrow dissolves and he comforts and returns glory to God with his heart full of joy is the Last Day. Jesus has not seen that day. He could not welcome that day because of you, because of humankind, and because of Heaven and earth. This is how miserable he is.

After seeing that our ancestors had this kind of fate, it is inappropriate to pray, “Please save me.” That is not right. I don’t know how you pray, but I do not pray like that. The prophets shed tears for the suffering of their race. Jesus cried for his people. Jesus shed tears for the Jewish faith. Therefore, if there is a person who is living the right course of faith, he should shed tears for the world, shed tears for Heaven and earth, shed tears for his race, shed tears for the church, shed tears for his family members, then at the end pray, “Give me the responsibility.”

No one knows the situation of Heaven, which has not yet welcomed the one day of liberation, the day of fulfillment. Even though many say that they are seeking the will of God, no one knows the heart of Heaven and gives his utmost to uphold that will.

Now even if everything is taken away from us and even if the world rejects us and we are in the most miserable situation, if we can become a brother of Jesus whom he recognizes, a member of his family whom he acknowledges, his bride whom he recognizes, and his children whom he recognizes, then we will have fulfilled our highest desire.

Jesus Did Not Come to Die

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Judges 3

3 These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): 3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.

5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim,[a] to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. 9 But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge[b] and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. 11 So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

Richard: There could be a parallel here. As a nation, we have turned far away from God. So could the troubles we are experienceing as a nation be a way for us to give penance? Could President Trump be someone God has inspired to fight against the corruption of “the swamp”, and help bring the nation back to a closer alignment with God?

1 Chronicle 5

23 The people of the half-tribe of Manasseh were numerous; they settled in the land from Bashan to Baal Hermon, that is, to Senir (Mount Hermon).

24 These were the heads of their families: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah and Jahdiel. They were brave warriors, famous men, and heads of their families. 25 But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors and prostituted themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them. 26 So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria (that is, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria), who took the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh into exile. He took them to Halah, Habor, Hara and the river of Gozan, where they are to this day.

Richard: Interestingly, God repeats his warning in the first reading; the nation and the people suffer due to unrighteousness in the eyes of God.

Jesus Whom God Wanted To Find

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
October 18, 1959

Matthew 23:29-39

What is the sorrow of Jesus? Where did the three disciples who were with Jesus in the hills of Gethsemane go? Where did his beloved parents and younger siblings go? Jesus longed for them all. If Jesus’ tribe had attended him centering on Joseph’s family, Jesus would not have died, but he was chased out by his family, by John the Baptist whom God had prepared, by the religious body, by the race, and by his disciples. Thus, he had to die. Without knowing these circumstances, people say that Jesus came to die. If what I say is true, people who have been believing that Jesus came to die are crucifying Jesus a second time.

Jesus is looking for people. He is seeking beloved younger brothers and sisters. Where did my beloved parents go? Where are my brothers? Where are my relatives? Where is my tribe? Where is my church? Where is my religion? In order to dissolve this sorrow, Jesus has been praying for two thousand years, “Heavenly Father, please forgive us again. I did not complete my mission as the representative of the world. I did not complete my mission to lead the Israelites. I did not complete my mission to lead the church. I did not complete my mission to lead the tribe and family. Therefore, please forgive us.” This is the truth.

What is the sadness of God? When God saw that Jesus was being betrayed by his own blood brothers, how much did He grieve? When God saw that even Jesus’ parents, who had brought him up, did not know him but separated themselves from him, how much did God grieve? After preparing for thousands of years, God sent Jesus to Joseph’s tribe. What did He feel when that tribe, which was supposed to rejoice and attend Jesus, betrayed him? What did God feel when the Jewish religion expelled Jesus? What did He feel when the Israelites betrayed Jesus? You should realize that God’s heart burst in pain when Jesus was rejected by individuals, by his brothers and sisters, by his family, by the people He had prepared, by the church, by society and by the nation.

God promised to send Jesus again. He will surely come, and he will take responsibility for this age. You who are facing the Last Days share the common fate of attending the one who comes. If the age of attending him is coming, what frame of mind should you have in order to attend him? You cannot attend him by merely believing in the Bible. When Jesus came the people of his time believed only in the Old Testament and thus failed to attend him. Moreover, you cannot attend him just by blindly believing in God. People failed to attend the prophets in the Old Testament age as well as in the New Testament age. Who is to say that the same thing will not happen in this age? We must reach the position of sons and daughters. We must become a family of Jesus. Without that we cannot attend Jesus.

Thus, we must be sons and daughters of the historical God. We must reach the position of binding a relationship with God’s heart. In this age do you think you will enter the Kingdom of Heaven just by going to Church with a Bible in your hands? Let’s see where you will go. I have often seen this kind of image. Ministers who have been boasting that they will go to the Kingdom of Heaven are in a desolate place spiritually. There are lots of people like that. Do not boast. Even if they are devoted to making their church prosper, it doesn’t mean that they are sons and daughters of God. Even if people respect you, saying that you have a Ph.D., it doesn’t mean that you are a son or daughter of God.

Similarly, if even the apostles could not become Jesus’ sons and daughters or his family members, who among the people on earth would be able to claim that he or she is Jesus’ son or daughter, that he is Jesus’ brother or sister? Why couldn’t the apostles take those positions? It is because they did not recognize the historical Jesus. They did not recognize the Jesus of the age.

Thus, for us to become his sons or daughters today, we must know the God of the six thousand years of history. We must know the historical Jesus. We must believe in the God of the age, who is leading the 2.7 billion people who comprise mankind. We must believe in the Jesus of the age. Moreover, we must believe in the Jesus of the future, the future that is unfolding from this moment into a form that is 180 degrees different from what we now know. Do you think that Jesus will come and lead people just the way they are? No. He will overturn them. At that time the spoken words, the written words, and everything will be different. That is the essential point here. You must become a better disciple than the apostles were, a better bride than the apostles, and a better brother to Jesus than the apostles were.

Jesus Did Not Have any Relatives or Kin

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John 6

53 Jesus answered:

I tell you for certain that you won’t live unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man. 54 But if you do eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have eternal life, and I will raise you to life on the last day. 55 My flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. 56 If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you are one with me, and I am one with you.

57 The living Father sent me, and I have life because of him. Now everyone who eats my flesh will live because of me. 58 The bread that comes down from heaven isn’t like what your ancestors ate. They died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever.

59 Jesus was teaching in a Jewish place of worship in Capernaum when he said these things.

Richard: This passage refers to Holy Communion. But in the current era, we need to change our lineage, which is the fruit of love and life, from Satan’s lineage to God’s lineage. This is the meaning of the Blessing ceremony of the Unification movement.

Jeremiah 37

After I had spent a long time there, 17 King Zedekiah secretly had me brought to his palace, where he asked, “Is there any message for us from the Lord?”

“Yes, there is, Your Majesty,” I replied. “The Lord is going to let the king of Babylonia capture you.”

18 Then I continued, “Your Majesty, why have you put me in prison? Have I committed a crime against you or your officials or the nation? 19 Have you locked up the prophets who lied to you and said that the king of Babylonia would never attack Jerusalem? 20 Please, don’t send me back to that prison at Jonathan’s house. If you do, I will die.”

21 King Zedekiah had me taken to the prison cells in the courtyard of the palace guards. He told the soldiers to give me a loaf of bread[j] from one of the bakeries every day until the city ran out of grain.

Jesus Whom God Wanted To Find

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
October 18, 1959

Matthew 23:29-39

Jesus came to uphold God’s dignity and to liberate the numerous saints who had sacrificed themselves to follow God’s will for four thousand years. He came to liberate the resentment of the people whom Satan had infringed upon in this world. He did not complete that work. He came to liberate that resentment, but he did not fulfill that goal. Therefore, he has to come again. We must know this clearly.

What does God want to find? What does Jesus seek with his heart’s longing? He seeks the nation of goodness. He seeks the nation of victory, glory and happiness. Did Jesus meet good people? No. His brothers and sisters chased him out. His parents drove him out. Think about that. Did God establish the Israelites so that they could do that to Jesus? Did God set up the Jewish religion in order to persecute Jesus? Did God transmit the will of the providence for four thousand years and send Jesus to Joseph’s household so that Joseph could treat him that way? Did John the Baptist eat locusts and wild honey for thirty years in order to serve Jesus in that way? Everybody passed away. Everything passed.

When Jesus came to this earth, the people abandoned him. Therefore, Jesus had to collide head on against Satan, who was following behind the people who had been prepared to welcome him. The chosen people should have welcomed Jesus and turned around and attacked Satan. But Jesus had to fight alone on the battle ground. The cross is the road where Jesus died fighting.

Jesus was supposed to give commands to the heavenly soldiers in the forefront to march against the world of Satan. But he was the only one left. Everybody disappeared. Where did the three Wise Men from the East go? Where did Anna disappear to? Where did the shepherds go? Where did John the Baptist vanish to? Where did Joseph’s family go? Where did Jesus’ brothers, sisters and relatives go? Where did the religion, the people and the nation disappear to? They all passed away. Since they all left, Jesus is praying again for the sake of his people, bearing the cross in order to make a connection, saying, “I have died for you.” Jesus thought that even though everything passed and the nation perished, God would watch over him. Therefore, he went up to Heaven and is praying again for those people.

If these are Jesus’ circumstances, what is his desire? He wants to find true disciples. The true disciple of Jesus’ desire is also the disciple of God’s desire and the disciple whom Jesus will testify to.

Did the disciples ever make a comfortable environment where Jesus could rest? Did Jesus have a family? When Jesus’ mother and younger sibling came to him, he said to them, “One who lives by the will of God is my mother and my younger brother.” In this sense Jesus did not have any relatives or kin. He did not have a family or brothers and sisters. Right? Thus, even after he passed away, he has been seeking in the spiritual world a mother, brothers and sisters, a clan, a race, a church, a nation and a world. That is the two-thousand-year history of Christianity. Because Israel was lost to Jesus and left behind nothing on this earth, he must come again. Jesus did not establish his family, his tribe, his race, his nation, or his world. Therefore, he must come again.

Is there anyone who worries that in the Last Days when Jesus comes again, he will suffer the same sorrows as before? Have you ever been his younger brother? Heaven wants to ask this question. The elderly people here, have you ever thought of loving Jesus as if you were his father and mother? Have you ever cared for the beloved son of God with the same heart that Jesus had for his people? Have you ever lived a life of faith where you lived for God’s sons and daughters, not minding whether your bones melted or whether exhaustion and hardship came upon you? Someday Jesus will come to this earth again. Why would he come? He comes again to find his disciples, whom he loves. It is the sorrow of God and of Jesus that in the course of history Jesus did not find his disciples again; he could not gather them and establish the will centering on them. It is the shame of our ancestors and the shame of history that they left behind this kind of sorrow.

Today we attend the apostles and think that they are the ones who are receiving the deep love of Heaven, but that might not be the case. In fact, it is not true. Representing all mankind, they should have comforted Jesus, but they did not. They were people who had to ask for forgiveness after Jesus died.

The Jewish Religion Was Not to Spearhead the Rejection of Jesus

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2 Timothy 4

4 When Christ Jesus comes as king, he will be the judge of everyone, whether they are living or dead. So with God and Christ as witnesses, I command you 2 to preach God’s message. Do it willingly, even if it isn’t the popular thing to do. You must correct people and point out their sins. But also cheer them up, and when you instruct them, always be patient. 3 The time is coming when people won’t listen to good teaching. Instead, they will look for teachers who will please them by telling them only what they are itching to hear. 4 They will turn from the truth and eagerly listen to senseless stories. 5 But you must stay calm and be willing to suffer. You must work hard to tell the good news and to do your job well.

Lamentations 1

20 Won’t you look and see
    how upset I am, our Lord?
My stomach is in knots,
and my heart is broken
    because I betrayed you.
In the streets and at home,
    my people are slaughtered.

21 Everyone heard my groaning,
    but no one offered comfort.
My enemies know of the trouble
that you have brought on me,
    and it makes them glad.
Hurry and punish them,
    as you have promised.

Jesus Whom God Wanted To Find

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
October 18, 1959

Matthew 23:29-39

What is the desire of God? He is hoping that a world of goodness will appear when Jesus comes. Then what is the desire of Jesus? As the victor of a good nation, he would want to rule over good citizens. By fulfilling the purpose that God desires, he would want to return victory and glory to Heaven. But we who are living on earth do not know that Jesus and God desire these things.

The Last Days, when Jesus has to come again, is the same as the time when God sent him to the Israelites two thousand years ago. The reason that God worked hard for the pitiable, chosen people for four thousand years, the reason why He guided them and led them when other nations were persecuting them and then handed them over to Jesus, was not so that they might betray him. The reason that God established the Jewish religion was not to make it into a religion that spearheaded the rejection of Jesus. In the same way that Jesus was like a lamb in front of God, the Israel people should have been the most obedient lambs to Jesus. Not only the Jewish religion, but also the whole race of Israelites should have said, “East,” when Jesus said, “East,” and “West,” when Jesus said, “West.” They should have been a race that died or lived with Jesus. God worked hard for four thousand years to create that kind of people.

When the dignity of the chosen Israel crumbled, and when God saw that Jesus could not find the children or disciples whom he wanted to find, raise up, and love, God grieved and wailed bitterly.

The citizens of that time did not know that the anxious heart of Heaven, which had endured for four thousand years, had exploded. But Jesus knew Heaven. He knew that God, who grieved looking at his situation, was a God who had persevered for four thousand years. Who ever knew the heart of Jesus as he comforted God, saying, “Father, do not resent my death. Do not resent my sorrow. Do not resent my agony,” even as he was being chased, persecuted and driven away without a place to stay or a place to lean on?

The moment that Jesus died, the Israelites whom Heaven had prepared for four thousand years became Satan’s prisoners. That was the moment when the chosen Jewish religion fell down the trap of Satan. Jesus, who respected the historical labor and historical achievements of the prophets, was appalled and mortified that God’s labor had come to naught. He asked for God’s forgiveness even while his body was being torn to pieces. But who knew that heart?

There were so many people who said that they were chosen, that they were attending God, but there were none who knew Jesus’ heart and situation, his painful cries and his heartbreaking shouts. You believe in this Jesus who could not share his situation with anyone. You believe in Jesus without knowing that he fell down, grabbing his chest, as if his heart were being ripped to pieces. In the Last Days we must show this Jesus. We must show this Jesus to the Jewish religion. We must show him to the Israelites. We must disclose him to the seven tribes of Canaan who betrayed him and to the satanic world. This is the hope of God. Was there anyone in history who revealed Jesus in this way? No one. God’s hope is to expose the true Jesus. Our hope is to manifest Jesus on this earth as the prince of victory and to attend him. This is also Jesus’ hope.

There are numerous religions today. There are many people who claim that they believe. Do not boast. History has progressed through a course of contradiction. The flow of history judges from a disinterested position. History is connected with you even in a flash of thought. In this time when fear is invading you, when you are in chaos and are losing the center, with what heart, with what relationship, and with what value are you worrying about the sorrow of Heaven? Are you prepared to remove the great sorrow of Heaven? That is the issue.