Category: Old Testament

Understand the Heart of Jesus

Who on earth understood the heart of Jesus? Since there was no one who experienced heavenly sorrow in seeing his careworn figure, a sorrow which struck to the depth of the heart, we know that Heaven could not help lamenting over those people.

Joshua 22

4-25 We built that altar because we were worried. Someday your descendants might tell our descendants, “The Lord made the Jordan River the boundary between us Israelites and you people of Reuben and Gad. The Lord is Israel’s God, but you’re not part of Israel, so you can’t take part in worshiping the Lord.”

Your descendants might say that and try to make our descendants stop worshiping and obeying the Lord. 26 That’s why we decided to build the altar. It isn’t for offering sacrifices, not even sacrifices to please the Lord.[g] 27-29 To build another altar for offering sacrifices would be the same as turning our backs on the Lord and rebelling against him. We could never do that! No, we built the altar to remind us and you and the generations to come that we will worship the Lord. And so we will keep bringing our sacrifices to the Lord’s altar, there in front of his sacred tent. Now your descendants will never be able to say to our descendants, “You can’t worship the Lord.”

But if they do say this, our descendants can answer back, “Look at this altar our ancestors built! It’s like the Lord’s altar, but it isn’t for offering sacrifices. It’s here to remind us and you that we belong to the Lord, just as much as you do.”

Jeremiah 36

36 During the fourth year that Jehoiakim[a] son of Josiah[b] was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, 2 since the time Josiah was king, I have been speaking to you about Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Now, get a scroll[c] and write down everything I have told you, 3 then read it to the people of Judah. Maybe they will stop sinning when they hear what terrible things I plan for them. And if they turn to me, I will forgive them.”

God and Humanity Should Live Together
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
January 11, 1959

John 14: 6-12

Prayer

Father, please enable us to understand the grieving heart of Jesus, who had to speak to the beloved disciples about the imminent end of his own earthly life and his departure to the Father’s land. In a temporal sense, we are separated from Jesus by 2,000 years; yet time can be transcended in the world of Shim Jung. Hence, please arouse the fire of direct experience where we can envision Jesus with a disheartened countenance and saddened heart as he earnestly admonished his disciples. This is a scene for which we humans cannot help yearning.

Who on earth understood the heart of Jesus? Since there was no one who experienced heavenly sorrow in seeing his careworn figure, a sorrow which struck to the depth of the heart, we know that Heaven could not help lamenting over those people. Please enable us to sympathize in our hearts with the sorrow of Jesus. Without even one disciple who understood the heavenly Shim Jung and who called out “Lord!” He had to live under constant suspicion and thus ended his woe-filled life. Continue reading “Understand the Heart of Jesus”

Don’t have the mentality of slaves

Deutoronomy 15

Moses said to Israel:

12 If any of you buy Israelites as slaves, you must set them free after six years. 13 And don’t just tell them they are free to leave— 14 give them sheep and goats and a good supply of grain and wine. The more the Lord has given you, the more you should give them. 15 I am commanding you to obey the Lord as a reminder that you were slaves in Egypt before he set you free. 16 But one of your slaves may say, “I love you and your family, and I would be better off staying with you, so please don’t make me leave.” 17 Take the slave to the door of your house and push a sharp metal rod through one earlobe and into the door. Such slaves will belong to you for life, whether they are men or women.

Richard:  We should not have the mentality of slaves.  Rather we should be free and sovereign people.

Ezekiel 12

22 Ezekiel, son of man, you’ve heard people in Israel use the saying, “Time passes, and prophets are proved wrong.” 23 Now tell the people that I, the Lord, am going to prove that saying wrong. No one will ever be able to use it again in Israel, because very soon everything I have said will come true! 24 The people will hear no more useless warnings and false messages. 25 I will give them my message, and what I say will certainly happen. Warn those rebels that the time has come for them to be punished. I, the Lord, make this promise.

Let Us Regain the Victorious Nation
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
January 4, 1959

Genesis 1:27

Genesis 2: 15-17

Acts 1

Prayer

Father, we have learned that You have been working providentially to be the True Parents and master of human beings, who have fallen into an extremely low and base position. We have learned that Jesus has worked for 2,000 years to stand as the parent of the church and of the nation.

We know that now the time has come when we should achieve the parenthood of the cosmos, the nation and the family. Without standing in the position of the family true parents, we cannot complete the position of the national true parents. Without completing the position of the national true parents, we cannot complete the position of the universal true parents. We have learned that this tremendously important matter is determined by us alone. Today, please allow us to indemnify the sorrow of restoration and to come before You by fully satisfying the condition of hope You desire. Please allow us to go through true brotherhood and proceed to the position of the True Parents in this way. Allow us to be able to bear the historical mission, according to which we should form the true family after achieving true Parentship. We then should continue to the nation through the family and on to the position of universal parents through the nation.

Please allow us to understand that our lives, centered on our families, is not simply for our families, but for the nation. Let us have the heart of living for the sake of the nation. If there is a family taking responsibility for the nation, grant that family the heart to live beyond the nation, for the sake of heaven and earth. We realize that we can only resolve Your great sorrow by being thoroughly possessed of such a heart. Therefore, Father, allow us to follow Your Will from today. As we sincerely desire to achieve brotherly unity and extend the Father’s Will of glory, we pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.

The Importance of Brotherly Unity in Serving God

1 John 3

11 From the beginning you were told that we must love each other. 12 Don’t be like Cain, who belonged to the devil and murdered his own brother. Why did he murder him? He did it because his brother was good, and he was evil. 13 My friends, don’t be surprised if the people of this world hate you. 14 Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life. But if you don’t love each other, you are still under the power of death.

Isaiah 35

3 Here is a message for all
who are weak,
trembling,
    and worried:
4 “Cheer up! Don’t be afraid.
Your God is coming
    to punish your enemies.
God will take revenge on them
    and rescue you.”

Let Us Regain the Victorious Nation
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
January 4, 1959

Genesis 1:27

Genesis 2: 15-17

Acts 1

In this age, we need to fulfill the responsibilities of the family, the nation and of the world. You should know that this is why we receive so much persecution. Through our offering the condition of accomplishing the national mission from the stance of the family and church, even through persecution, God tries to place us on the foundation of His 6,000 years of providential work. You should know that this Will exists. Standing before this Will, the countless spirits from the time of Jesus stand in the position of the first Israel. The saints who believed after Jesus came and left stand in the position of the second Israel. Those who are on the condition of perfection today stand in the position of the third Israel. Since standing in the position of the third Israel is the purpose of the course of the bridegroom, we should follow the reverse path.

Since the third Israel is to love, without going through the purpose of love, one cannot make a connection with God. Hence, the first Israel in the spiritual world must go through the second Israel, the Christians on the earth. The Christians, the second Israel, must go through the third Israel. Moreover, the third Israel should establish the standard of the mediator. You must establish this position in the areas of the individual, the family, the church and the world.

With this Will before you, you now know well on what stage you are. I thank you that you call me “Teacher,” but unless you meet the condition of restoration, the teacher cannot do anything about it. Continue reading “The Importance of Brotherly Unity in Serving God”

Prepare the Foundation of Brotherhood

1 kings 17:19

9 “Bring me your son,” Elijah said. Then he took the boy from her arms and carried him upstairs to the room where he was staying. Elijah laid the boy on his bed 20 and prayed, “Lord God, why did you do such a terrible thing to this woman? She’s letting me stay here, and now you’ve let her son die.” 21 Elijah stretched himself out over the boy three times, while praying, “Lord God, bring this boy back to life!”

22 The Lord answered Elijah’s prayer, and the boy started breathing again. 23 Elijah picked him up and carried him downstairs. He gave the boy to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive.”

24 “You are God’s prophet!” the woman replied. “Now I know that you really do speak for the Lord.”

2 kings 12

6 The fines that had to be paid along with the sacrifices to make things right and the sacrifices for sin did not go to the temple. This money belonged only to the priests.

Let Us Regain the Victorious Nation
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
January 4, 1959

Genesis 1:27

Genesis 2: 15-17

Acts 1

Where are we standing now? We have not yet entered the position of the family True Parents. We must gain this position, but it cannot be done without cost. Why? Since the fall occurred, to rise again, the bridge of brotherhood must be constructed. Even if we must sacrifice all that we have, we should set up the standard of having indemnified the historical condition of resolving grudges to find the True Parents and to become true parents ourselves. Otherwise, Heaven cannot tolerate you.

What then is your task? Since you must serve the Parents, you should prepare the foundation of brotherhood. This is the meaning of the trinities. Only when the brothers and sisters of a trinity prepare the center to serve the heavenly parents, and the three and twelve brothers become one can they receive the qualification to be a heavenly family. This family should extend beyond the parents. It should assume the form of representing the church, the nation and the country. On this basis, it should prepare the standard for serving the Parents. Continue reading “Prepare the Foundation of Brotherhood”

To Become a Member of the Heavenly Family

Leviticus 7

28 The Lord also told Moses 29-30 to say to the people of Israel:

If you want to offer a sacrifice to ask my blessing, you must bring the part to be burned and lay it on the bronze altar. But you must first lift up[f] the choice ribs with their fat to show that the offering is dedicated to me. 31 A priest from Aaron’s family will then send the fat up in smoke, but the ribs belong to the priests. 32-33 The upper joint of the right hind leg is for the priest who offers the blood and the fat of the animal. 34 I have decided that the people of Israel must always give the choice ribs and the upper joint of the right hind leg to Aaron’s descendants 35 who have been ordained as priests to serve me. 36 This law will never change. I am the Lord!

Richard:  God has specific rules and parameters, the most important being abstain from sex before marriage and maintain faithfulness in marriage.

Jeremiah 4

I heard the Lord say,
    “My people ignore me.
They are foolish children
who do not understand
    that they will be punished.
All they know is how to sin.”

23 After this, I looked around.
The earth was barren,
    with no form of life.
The sun, moon, and stars
    had disappeared.

Let Us Regain the Victorious Nation
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
January 4, 1959

Genesis 1:27

Genesis 2: 15-17

Acts 1

Moses, however, did not know the meaning of the twelve tribes and the seventy elders in the providential Will. Jesus, however, knew that he had to realize the historical connection by choosing three, twelve and seventy disciples on the earth. For this reason, he made this providential effort. Jesus absolutely had to stand on the national foundation with this preparation.

Yet the responsibility to prepare the national foundation belonged to John the Baptist, not Jesus. The failure of John the Baptist resulted in the disintegration of the national foundation and the shattering of all the effort of the 4,000-year providence. Hence, we know that Jesus embarked upon the second course in which he went back to Adam’s family and tried to establish three disciples, twelve disciples, seventy elders, and 120 disciples. We should know, however, that since the chosen Israelites were all abandoned by God, the fishermen and Gentiles, who had not previously believed, inherited this blessing.

After Jesus departed, where did the tribe of the three disciples go? Nowhere. After Jesus departed, where did the tribe of the twelve disciples go? Nowhere. Although they set up the condition with respect to the Word, the seventy elders and the 120 disciples could not establish the conditions in substance. We should know that without restoring this, God’s Will can never be fulfilled. Continue reading “To Become a Member of the Heavenly Family”