Category: Old Testament

We Are Not to Follow a Certain Leader or Serve a Certain Founder of a Religion

John 19

25 Jesus’ mother stood beside his cross with her sister and Mary the wife of Clopas. Mary Magdalene was standing there too.[c] 26 When Jesus saw his mother and his favorite disciple with her, he said to his mother, “This man is now your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “She is now your mother.” From then on, that disciple took her into his own home.

Ezekiel 3

6 Seven days after I had seen the brightness of the Lord’s glory, the Lord said:

17 Ezekiel, son of man, I have appointed you to stand watch for the people of Israel. So listen to what I say, then warn them for me. 18 When I tell wicked people they will die because of their sins, you must warn them to turn from their sinful ways so they won’t be punished. If you refuse, you are responsible for their death. 19 However, if you do warn them, and they keep on sinning, they will die because of their sins, and you will be innocent.

20 Now suppose faithful people start sinning, and I decide to put stumbling blocks in their paths to make them fall. They deserve to die because of their sins. So if you refuse to warn them, I will forget about the times they were faithful, and I will hold you responsible for their death. 21 But if you do warn them, and they listen to you and stop sinning, I will let them live. And you will be innocent.

Richard:  Why do I speak out to say what is true?  See the above reading from Ezekiel.

The Person Who Will Serve the Grieving Father

Sun Myung Moon
May 24, 1959

Matthew 23: 1-39

Prayer

Father! Sorrowful history today is moving forward as it swirls around us. Facing the sorrowful environment of life, we realize that ours is the great task of ridding history of pain and resolving Heavenly Father’s torn heart. As we have taken on such a task, we have to become sons and daughters who can bear the heart of Heaven and earth, experience the sorrow, feel the pain, and be willing to die for You thousands and thousands of times to comfort You.

During Jesus’ advent in this world, many religious groups and believers were awaiting the Messiah. They were all expecting the Messiah to come as someone even greater than their expectations. The Messiah who came was not a Messiah of happiness. Rather, he was a Messiah who embodied the sadness of humanity. He was a Messiah of pain in whom all the pain of human history culminated. We know that no one in that time ever thought that the Messiah, who came as the representative of Heaven, would come so.

We understand that history is realized based on what has gone before. We are learning the principle which tells that all events occurring in history have to reappear to be restored through indemnity. We also know of the responsibilities of the disciples in the last days to horizontally put to rest all the sorrowful remembrances of the Garden of Eden, the sorrows of the course of history that came down vertically, to return to our Father the joy of the horizontal perspective.

Father! We now desire to be loyal for the sake of the world. Do we not want to establish the heavenly promised land for humankind? We can only then become people who inherit Heavenly Father’s deeply engraved sorrow and pain. We have already realized that only those who digest pain and sorrow can appear as the inheritors of heavenly joy. Please allow us to see that those who struggle only for their peace of mind will surely perish and be defeated.

Father! We know that one cannot claim the achievement of victory if he struggles and fights for his happiness. I sincerely pray, Father, that You allow us to become those individuals who persevere in spite of sadness and pain and who say, “I will live for the lives of the whole.” Let us become those who have raised high the altar of the historic offerings and lead history. Let such people lead this perishing race and world.

To whom are we going to entrust our faith when we look at the sad and sorrowful churches, when we look at humanity, and when we look at heaven and earth in this time of sorrow? We are not to follow a certain leader or serve a certain founder of a religion. The final moment of judgment is coming in which we have no choice but to live for and attend the Father and to fight to resolve the Father’s han. Is there anyone among us who lives in shadows which our mind cannot comprehend? Please break down such shadows, and allow us to realize that those who die today struggling to fight against new sorrows will live again tomorrow. Continue reading “We Are Not to Follow a Certain Leader or Serve a Certain Founder of a Religion”

How Did Jesus Feel When He Saw All of Them Leave?

Watch the latest Richard Urban Show:  Test the Spirits:  https://youtu.be/_iM3kr3U4E4.

Zechariah 4

8 The Lord spoke to me again and said:

9 Zerubbabel laid the foundation for the temple, and he will complete it. Then everyone will know that you were sent by me, the Lord All-Powerful. 10 Those who have made fun of this day of small beginnings will celebrate when they see Zerubbabel holding this important stone.[c]

Those seven lamps represent my eyes—the eyes of the Lord—and they see everything on this earth.

Richard:  The “day of small beginnings” could mean Foundation Day, or Day of Origin, January 13, 2013 by the Heavenly Calendar.  The one who laid the foundation for the temple is True Father, Sun Myung Moon.  The temple is the Kingdom of God on earth, or Cheon Il Guk.

Ezekiel 27

10 Brave soldiers from Persia,
Lydia, and Libya
    served in your navy,
protecting you with shields
and helmets,
    and making you famous.
11 Your guards came from
    Arvad and Cilicia,
and men from Gamad
    stood watch in your towers.
With their weapons
hung on your walls,
    your beauty was complete.

Richard:  This is a funeral song for Tyre, one of the two main cities of Phonecia, written circa 586 BC.

The Person Who Will Serve the Grieving Father

Sun Myung Moon
May 24, 1959

Matthew 23: 1-39

Jesus came to bring an end to God’s sorrow. He could not have happiness and freedom. Although he appeared before God as most holy and good, he was seen as the sinner of sinners by humanity. Could there be anything more miserable than this?

There is no greater sadness than the sadness of Jesus. On this earth he was trampled, persecuted and eliminated, even though he was the prince of heaven, whom the universe should have welcomed and embraced.

Is there anyone more sorrowful than Jesus, who constantly ran into tribulation and was ultimately eliminated, unable to realize his dignity and mission fully? Jesus was castigated by none other than the people of Israel, the chosen people whom God had struggled to establish for four thousand years. He was persecuted by the Jews, whom God had loved constantly and whom He had established to uphold the will of the providence.

That was not all. Jesus was driven away by his tribe and chased out by his disciples, whom he dearly loved. If Jesus had felt humanistic sorrow, he surely would have condemned them. He was betrayed by the religious body, even though he had come for its people. He was likewise betrayed by the tribe, his relatives, and the chosen ones for whom he had come. Continue reading “How Did Jesus Feel When He Saw All of Them Leave?”

Jesus Went Through a Course of Sadness and Suffering

Judges 17

9 “Where are you from?” Micah asked.

“I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” the man answered, “and I’m on my way to find a new place to live.”

10 Micah said, “Why don’t you stay here with me? You can be my priest and tell me what God wants me to do. Every year I’ll give you ten pieces of silver and one complete set of clothes, and I’ll provide all your food.”

The young man went for a walk, 11-12 then he agreed to stay with Micah and be his priest. He lived in Micah’s house, and Micah treated him like one of his own sons. 13 Micah said, “I have a Levite as my own priest. Now I know that the Lord will be kind to me.”

Isaiah 49

49 Everyone, listen,
even you foreign nations
    across the sea.
The Lord chose me
and gave me a name
    before I was born.
2 He made my words pierce
like a sharp sword
    or a pointed arrow;
he kept me safely hidden
    in the palm of his hand.
3 The Lord said to me,
    “Israel, you are my servant;
and because of you
    I will be highly honored.”

4 I said to myself,
“I’m completely worn out;
    my time has been wasted.
But I did it for the Lord God,
    and he will reward me.”

5 Even before I was born,
    the Lord God chose me
to serve him and to lead back
    the people of Israel.
So the Lord has honored me
    and made me strong.

The Person Who Will Serve the Grieving Father

Sun Myung Moon
May 24, 1959

Matthew 23: 1-39

hat is why, after four thousand years of history since the fall of humankind, God established the chosen people and promised them, “I will send you a leader, a master, the prince of peace and freedom, the person who will become the prince of happiness.” Thus, Heavenly Father sent the long-awaited and promised individual who was to become the center of God’s happiness, the center of peace and freedom, someone who could resolve God’s sorrow and reintroduce the blessings of Heaven to humankind.

In spite of the advent of that individual, promised throughout the long course of history, the history of sorrow has continually repeated itself until now because the chosen people of Israel could not attend him, could not welcome him and live according to his will. They could not unite with him to establish the will of God and liberate the han of Heavenly Father.

Jesus Christ came as the prince of peace, the prince of happiness and freedom, the one who was to take responsibility for the sorrowful heart of the four thousand years of history after the fall. Jesus, who bore the responsibility of four thousand years of human history and God’s providence, came bearing the historical han and that of Heaven.

What course did Jesus have to go through to resolve such han? He had to go through a course of sadness and suffering. Only then would this han be resolved and the moment of joy come. You should never forget that, more than any other individual, Jesus had to experience the greatest of sorrowful and painful han that had taken place in the four thousand years of prior history. Continue reading “Jesus Went Through a Course of Sadness and Suffering”

A True Individual Has Come to Liberate Heavenly Father’s Sorrow

Luke 11

37 When Jesus finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him home for a meal. Jesus went and sat down to eat.[e] 38 The Pharisee was surprised that he did not wash his hands[f] before eating. 39 So the Lord said to him:

You Pharisees clean the outside of cups and dishes, but on the inside you are greedy and evil. 40 You fools! Didn’t God make both the outside and the inside?[g] 41 If you would only give what you have to the poor, everything you do would please God.

42 You Pharisees are in for trouble! You give God a tenth of the spices from your gardens, such as mint and rue. But you cheat people, and you don’t love God. You should be fair and kind to others and still give a tenth to God.

43 You Pharisees are in for trouble! You love the front seats in the meeting places, and you like to be greeted with honor in the market. 44 But you are in for trouble! You are like unmarked graves[h] that people walk on without even knowing it.

45 A teacher of the Law of Moses spoke up, “Teacher, you said cruel things about us.”

46 Jesus replied:

You teachers are also in for trouble! You load people down with heavy burdens, but you won’t lift a finger to help them carry the loads. 47 Yes, you are really in for trouble. You build monuments to honor the prophets your own people murdered long ago. 48 You must think that was the right thing for your people to do, or else you would not have built monuments for the prophets they murdered.

49 Because of your evil deeds, the Wisdom of God said, “I will send prophets and apostles to you. But you will murder some and mistreat others.” 50 You people living today will be punished for all the prophets who have been murdered since the beginning of the world. 51 This includes every prophet from the time of Abel to the time of Zechariah,[i] who was murdered between the altar and the temple. You people will certainly be punished for all of this.

52 You teachers of the Law of Moses are really in for trouble! You carry the keys to the door of knowledge about God. But you never go in, and you keep others from going in.

53 Jesus was about to leave, but the teachers and the Pharisees wanted to get even with him. They tried to make him say what he thought about other things, 54 so that they could catch him saying something wrong.

Richard:  Wow, this is the first time that I got the exact reading from the speech of Rev. Moon that we are studying.  God and Father in heaven are emphasizing that they are very unhappy with the current situation of “leaders” in the Unification Movement.  Especially, the Rod of Iron ministry is grieving Father, because it is not at all what he has taught in his word.  Yet, people at the Sanctuary Church are thinking that Pastor Hyung Jin is uplifting Father’s teaching, which is obviously not true:  https://youtu.be/s9zmyZbEDhE.

Ecclesiastes 11

11 Be generous, and someday
    you will be rewarded.[a]
2 Share what you have
    with seven or eight others,
because you never know
    when disaster may strike.
3 Rain clouds always bring rain;
trees always stay
    wherever they fall.
4 If you worry about the weather
and don’t plant seeds,
    you won’t harvest a crop.

The Person Who Will Serve the Grieving Father

Sun Myung Moon
May 24, 1959

Matthew 23: 1-39

The passages read were the words of a final curse that flowed out of Jesus’ sorrowful heart. He soon was to pass away on the path he had chosen, yet he was unable to establish the will in front of the Israelites, of whom he had so many expectations, dreams and hopes.

Centering on these words, I will speak to you on the topic of “The Person Who Will Serve the Grieving Father.”

People today are longing for a happy life. They also long for a world of freedom in their hearts. Yet the reality is such that what is expected and longed for in the heart is in discord with the actual aspects of our lives.

Because we cannot possess something in our hearts that will allow us to take dominion over and rid ourselves of the things that are in discord, even for a day, we cannot go where our hearts long for in spite of our desire to do so. We also feel and have felt in our lives our inability to carry out the things for which our hearts long.

Amid this reality, we see that we do not have any ideology with which to overcome ourselves, nor any means to take control over our environment. While we embrace hope and sing aloud in our lives, we always feel sorrow within our hearts. Today and yesterday, every day, we lead a life of such sorrow. Continue reading “A True Individual Has Come to Liberate Heavenly Father’s Sorrow”

Humankind Must Walk the Way of Sorrow Due to the Sin of the First Human Ancestors

1 Samuel 14

27 Jonathan did not know about Saul’s warning to the soldiers. So he dipped the end of his walking stick in the honey and ate some with his fingers. He felt stronger and more alert. 28 Then a soldier told him, “Your father swore that anyone who ate food today would be put under a curse, and we agreed not to eat. That’s why we’re so weak.”

Joshua 16

16 1-4 Ephraim and Manasseh are the two tribes descended from Joseph, and the following is a description of the land they received. The southern border of their land started at the Jordan River east of the spring at Jericho. From there it went west through the desert up to the hill country around Bethel. From Bethel it went to Luz and then[a] to the border of the Archites in Ataroth.[b] It continued west down to the land that belonged to the Japhlet clan, then went on to Lower Beth-Horon, Gezer, and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Grieving Father, Son and Daughter as They Try to Establish the Kingdom of Heaven

Sun Myung Moon
May 17, 1959

John 14:1-24

Prayer

Father, after having expressed such serious words, I cannot help feeling humbled in Your presence. How can we, who are narrow-minded, rough and lacking, develop a relationship with the world of high dimension that is far away?

We know, Father, that to have that relationship, so many ancestors of faith had to be sacrificed. To pioneer the path of life, so many pastors will have to shed tears and blood.

We have realized today that only those who can admire the blessing of glory of the Father through finding the sorrowful side in themselves. Those who are determined to be eternally victorious and to not fall down in their fight can have a day when they can call Heavenly Father “their Father” and He can call them “His sons and daughters.”

Heavenly Father! We realize how difficult it is to walk the path of faith. We understand that all humankind must walk the way of sorrow due to the sin of the first human ancestors. We realize that humankind, living with satanic thoughts, is like ghosts. The site of restoration, which we must liberate even if we have to sacrifice our lives by overcoming the hills of death, is now imminent. Continue reading “Humankind Must Walk the Way of Sorrow Due to the Sin of the First Human Ancestors”