Category: Old Testament

You Must Be Able to Say “It is Finished” While You Are Alive

1 Peter 1

22 You obeyed the truth,[d] and your souls were made pure. Now you sincerely love each other. But you must keep on loving with all your heart. 23 Do this because God has given you new birth by his message that lives on forever. 24 The Scriptures say,

“Humans wither like grass,
and their glory fades
    like wild flowers.
Grass dries up,
and flowers fall
    to the ground.
25 But what the Lord has said
    will stand forever.”

Our good news to you is what the Lord has said.

Richard:  The Word is powerful and brings the dead to life, so to speak.

Lamentations 3

Then I remember something
    that fills me with hope.
22 The Lord’s kindness never fails!
If he had not been merciful,
    we would have been destroyed.[c]
23 The Lord can always be trusted
    to show mercy each morning.
24 Deep in my heart I say,
“The Lord is all I need;
    I can depend on him!”

Richard:  What a great hymn of praise!

The Incarnation of Jesus, A Pioneer

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
February 1, 1959

Matthew 8: 18-22

In this age today, we have to pass through a period of preparation and a period of practice in our search for Heaven. We must seek for the original nature of Heaven. What kind of preparation must we make? In what kind of position must we stand? We have to stand in the same position as Jesus during his thirty- year preparation period. In doing so, we must prepare to represent the internal heart of Heaven and the human heart, represent all sovereignties, and determine to face conflicts by ourselves. Accordingly, a group of people certainly must appear who cross Golgotha on the world level with this kind of determination. You must understand this.

Jesus said, “It is finished,” when he was passing away. Yet this is not the culminating point of the completion of the providence. For this reason, we must pioneer a course through which we can say, “It is finished,” while we are still alive. The heavenly soldiers and angels, spirits and all created things must be able to bow their heads and say, “Today is the day your wishes are fulfilled. Please receive the glory.” This is the time to prepare for the day we can say, “It is finished” in this way. Christians today remain faithful to go beyond the day of saying, “It is finished” as they pass away. They must be able to say the same while they are alive. Hence, you must take charge of the mission of a heavenly pioneer in this first completion stage we are in today. Continue reading “You Must Be Able to Say “It is Finished” While You Are Alive”

The Heart of Jesus in his Everyday Life

1 Kings 8

1-42 Foreigners will hear about you and your mighty power, and some of them will come to live among your people Israel. If any of them pray toward this temple, 43 listen from your home in heaven and answer their prayers. Then everyone on earth will worship you, just like your people Israel, and they will know that I have built this temple to honor you.

John 20

17 Jesus told her, “Don’t hold on to me! I have not yet gone to the Father. But tell my disciples that I am going to the one who is my Father and my God, as well as your Father and your God.” 18 Mary Magdalene then went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord. She also told them what he had said to her.

Richard:  Jesus could not allow Mary Magdalene to embrace him, as he did not have the foundation on earth to be able to receive his bride.

The Incarnation of Jesus, A Pioneer

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
February 1, 1959

Matthew 8: 18-22

No matter how much the external circumstances changed, the heart of Jesus and the path he walked could not change. This path is the one that fallen humanity must inevitably walk. However, the Israelites, who should have followed Jesus, betrayed him. The crowd that had followed him betrayed him and the disciples, who should have believed in and attended him without any doubt, cherished different hopes and had different attitudes. You have to understand that Jesus looked at them with a gaze full of sorrow and grief.

Jesus knew that he had to be persecuted on the individual level, the family level, the church level, on the level of a people and on the national level. He also knew that he had to be persecuted on the level of the Roman Empire, which represented the world at that time. Knowing this, he silently walked his course. When he climbed over the Mount of Transfiguration and then headed toward the hill of Calgary, he made the determination: “Let any persecution and ordeal come to me. I will overcome all that I must in my time.” If he did not overcome them, all the preparations would have been more cause for grief, so he made his way toward the pass of death. To put this Will into practice, he made the determination that, as a sacrifice of death, he would share his flesh and blood with humanity before he left. Jesus was overwhelmed by the heart of Heaven on behalf of humanity and made a firm determination with every footstep he took. However, no one knew that he was taking those footsteps to carry out the determination that he had made during his preparation period. You have to understand this. Continue reading “The Heart of Jesus in his Everyday Life”

There Was Not Even One Person Who Welcomed Jesus

1 John 4

4 Dear friends, don’t believe everyone who claims to have the Spirit of God. Test them all to find out if they really do come from God. Many false prophets have already gone out into the world, 2 and you can know which ones come from God. His Spirit says that Jesus Christ had a truly human body. 3 But when someone doesn’t say this about Jesus, you know that person has a spirit that doesn’t come from God and is the enemy of Christ. You knew that this enemy was coming into the world and now is already here.

4 Children, you belong to God, and you have defeated these enemies. God’s Spirit[a] is in you and is more powerful than the one that is in the world. 5 These enemies belong to this world, and the world listens to them, because they speak its language. 6 We belong to God, and everyone who knows God will listen to us. But the people who don’t know God won’t listen to us. That is how we can tell the Spirit that speaks the truth from the one that tells lies.

Isaiah 51

You are in trouble and drunk,
    but not from wine.
So pay close attention
22 to the Lord your God,
    who defends you and says,
“I have taken from your hands
the cup filled with my anger
    that made you drunk.
You will never be forced
    to drink it again.
23 Instead I will give it
    to your brutal enemies,
who treated you like dirt
    and walked all over you.”

The Incarnation of Jesus, A Pioneer

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
February 1, 1959

Matthew 8: 18-22

What are God’s tactics? To reclaim one person, God must suffer a blow as hard as that person’s worth. This is the way Heaven works. To reclaim one family, Heaven must receive a blow as hard as that family’s worth. This is how that family can be reclaimed. Accordingly, to reclaim a people and raise them, God has to suffer the same amount as their worth. Jesus learned through his daily life that this is the tactic of God.

Because Jesus had to represent God, to claim a people, He had to become a sacrifice on the level of the individual, the family, the religious group, and the people. By receiving a blow, he pioneered the path of sacrifice.

Jesus came to live this way of life. Though he sought a comrade among the prepared Jewish sects, there was not even one person who welcomed him. Even in Korea today, fishermen are poor and lowly people and not well respected. You can imagine how Jesus must have felt when he had to seek out ignorant fishermen 2,000 years ago. Do you think that a person like Peter would become inspired and follow Jesus immediately after just hearing his words a few times? Although that is the way it is written in the Bible, the Bible does not elaborate upon the daily affairs in the background. You have to understand that people like Peter heard some rumors about Jesus that helped them believe in him. Continue reading “There Was Not Even One Person Who Welcomed Jesus”

The Thoughts of Jesus

Acts 8

36-37 As they were going along the road, they came to a place where there was some water. The official said, “Look! Here is some water. Why can’t I be baptized?”[c] 38 He ordered the chariot to stop. Then they both went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

Richard:  We have the life giving water and element of God’s love and truth and the grace of Christ’s salvation.  We should offer that water to others!

Jeremiah 30

12 The Lord said:

My people, you are wounded
    and near death.
13 You are accused of a crime
    with no one to defend you,
and you are covered with sores
    that no medicine can cure.
14 Your friends have forgotten you;
    they don’t care anymore.
Even I have acted like an enemy.
And because your sins
    are horrible and countless,
I will be cruel
    as I punish you.
15 So don’t bother to cry out
    for relief from your pain.

16 But if your enemies try to rob
    or destroy you,
I will rob and destroy them,
and they will be led as captives
    to foreign lands.
17 No one wants you as a friend
    or cares what happens to you.
But I will heal your injuries,
    and you will get well.

The Incarnation of Jesus, A Pioneer

Sun Myung Moon
February 1, 1959

Matthew 8: 18-22

What determination did Jesus make as a pioneer during the thirty-year preparation period? He determined, “I will even go toward the path of death, the road of persecution. I will go on even if I am to be destroyed.” Jesus made the determination of a lifetime, that he would gain control over his living environment during his preparation period, eradicate any self-centered philosophy, resolve all relationships on the level of the people, and rectify the rituals in Judaism that placed too heavy an emphasis on the Old Testament and its laws.

For Jesus, who had to pioneer the Kingdom of Heaven and the hearts of all humanity, there was no day when his heart did not visit the realm of God’s ideals at least several times. You have to understand that Jesus was this kind of person. Continue reading “The Thoughts of Jesus”

Jesus Bold Determination Before Heaven

Luke 22

41 Jesus walked on a little way before he knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you will, please don’t make me suffer by having me drink from this cup.[f] But do what you want, and not what I want.”

43 Then an angel from heaven came to help him. 44 Jesus was in great pain and prayed so sincerely that his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood.[g]

45 Jesus got up from praying and went over to his disciples. They were asleep and worn out from being so sad. 46 He said to them, “Why are you asleep? Wake up and pray that you won’t be tested.”

Isaiah 2

This is the message[a] that I was given about Judah and Jerusalem:

2 In the future, the mountain
with the Lord’s temple
    will be the highest of all.
It will reach above the hills;
    every nation will rush to it.
3 Many people will come and say,
    “Let’s go to the mountain
of the Lord God of Jacob
    and worship in his temple.”

The Lord will teach us his Law
from Jerusalem,
    and we will obey him.
4 He will settle arguments
    between nations.
They will pound their swords
and their spears
    into rakes and shovels;
they will never make war
    or attack one another.
5 People of Israel, let’s live
    by the light of the Lord.

The Incarnation of Jesus, A Pioneer

Sun Myung Moon
February 1, 1959

Matthew 8: 18-22

Two thousand years ago, Jesus looked upon the Israelite people, who had the potential to betray him, with great anxiety. He also saw that Judaism, which should have been built on the foundation of the heavenly heart, had become enslaved to the formalities of the Mosaic Law. As Jesus watched the Israelites, who did not know where their home was or in what direction they must head, he understood that God had raised him through a 4,000-year course of pioneering and had sent him with the purpose of bringing them together to pave the way for the new world. You must understand that, at that moment, Jesus could not help feeling tragic.

After he was born in a stable, Jesus led a lonely life and helped his father, Joseph, who was a carpenter. Although he lived in a limited environment, his ideas transcended the Israelites and the world to connect with the whole cosmos. This is how Jesus lived. Continue reading “Jesus Bold Determination Before Heaven”