You should change your entire neighborhood, centering on God’s will, with the new experience and training that you have received in foreign lands. You must not follow the old habits of your neighborhood. You must invest yourselves as God invested Himself in creating his object of love out of nothing. These two, subject and object partners, must unite as one. The spirit world will cooperate when you get to the highest position among all the people of your hometown. Wait and see whether this is the truth or not. And you must make and use many videotapes for witnessing. (179-27, 1988.6.15)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1050
Even when you are speaking, the one who speaks words that are beneficial is Abel, and the one who speaks words that harm others is Cain. When you benefit someone else, you are bringing benefits to him; but when you are doing something for your own sake, it is the same as harming that person. For this reason, the public position is the place whose purpose is to benefit others, and the private position is the place where one lives for the sake of one’s own benefit. In this way, centering on public and private, Abel and Cain, as well as good and evil, are differentiated. You must understand this. (56-85, 1972.5.14)
Original Substance of the Divine Principle
Principle of Creation
For today’s study, please view slides 160 to 163 below. The conscience centers on what it thinks is right. However, without study of the Truth, this is a relative standard that differs from God’s standard.
Who did you say that the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth resembles? Us. It resembles us. Individuals such as us gather together and that forms a nation. Just as I have my own mind, the nation must have sovereignty. Just as I have a personal identity, there must be a national people. And just as people interact with the created universe, so a nation must have its national territory. Within this basic principle, the people control the national territory, and the sovereignty governs the people. This national territory, people, and sovereignty are the three essential elements that form a nation. That is how things are. If you look at human beings, the basic principle is that our mind controls our body, and our body controls nature. Because of this principle, if you look at the entire world, the definitive conclusion is that it consists of heaven, earth and mankind. What did you say that Heaven is? It is the same as the human mind, so it is also the same as the sovereignty. Humankind is the nation’s citizenry, and the earth is the created world. In the end, whom does the nation resemble? It all resembles your individual self.
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1062
In Blessed Families, the man stands as a physical representative of Jesus and the woman stands as a physical representative of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Blessed families should dash forward to rescue the Korean people without delay, just as Jesus and the Holy Spirit did for the people of Israel. Thus Blessed families can begin their mission as tribal messiahs. (21-284, 1968.12.1)
Devotion
3. Devotion to God as a Bride for Her Bridegroom
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
God is the eternal Lord of our bodies and the eternal Lord of our hearts. Consider the most loving couple in the original world: The wife will not resent the husband for loving God more than he loves her. Likewise, the wife may love God more than she loves her husband, but the husband will not complain, “Why do you love God more than you love me?” The Kingdom of Heaven is the world where both husband and wife rejoice to see such a thing. God is our Subject Partner, transcending any earthly love. He is the eternal Lord of our bodies. As long as God embraces us in His bosom, as long as we dwell within His garden, we do not mind if we die right there. Since our hearts are united with their eternal Lord, what more could we ask for? (7:255, September 20, 1959) Continue reading “How Can God and Human Beings Become One?”
The issue at hand is how you can accomplish 160 couples. That is the mission of the tribal messiah. In this manner, by bringing together the 160 couples, centering on your family, you can then connect to the 160 nations. That is how you can perfect the family of Adam which was lost. So, do you absolutely need the 160 couples, or not? Why do you need them? It is so that you can inherit everything won by God and True Parents. The word “inherit” signifies having everything liberated and becoming like God. Do you finally understand how important tribal messiahs are? Without them, you cannot follow True Father. What that means is that you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. That also means that you cannot liberate the satanic world. That is why you need to fulfill the mission of tribal messiahs, no matter what hardships come your way. Only by fulfilling this mission can you enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only then can you be registered. Otherwise, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (268-85, 1995.3.5
Eschatology and Messianic Hope
The Kingdom of Heaven
4. A Kingdom Encompassing Both the Earthly World and the Spirit World, Where There Is No Death
Then comes the end, when he [Christ] delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15.24-26
The victorious World-Renovator and his helpers… shall make existence renovated—ageless, deathless, never decaying, incorruptible, ever living, ever benefiting, ruling at will. The dead shall rise up, life shall prevail indestructible, and existence shall be renovated at the will of God! Avesta, Zamyad Yast 19.11 (Zoroastrianism)
The holy man told them, “I’ll give you something to eat that will kill you, but don’t be afraid; I’ll bring you back to life again.” They believed him. They ate something and died, then found themselves walking in a new, beautiful land. They spoke with their parents and grandparents, and with friends that the white soldiers had killed. Their friends were well, and this new world was like the old one, the one the white man had destroyed. It was full of game, full of antelope and buffalo. The grass was green and high, and though long-dead people from other tribes also lived in this land, there was peace. All the Indian nations formed one tribe and could understand each other. Kicking Bear and Short Bull walked around and saw everything, and they were happy. Then the holy man of the Paiutes brought them back to life again. “You have seen it,” he said, “the new land I’m bringing. The earth will roll up like a blanket with all that bad white man’s stuff, the fences and railroads and mines and telegraph poles, and underneath will be our old-young Indian earth with all our relatives come to life again.” Then the holy man taught them a new dance, a new song, a new prayer. He gave them sacred red paint… Now everywhere we are dancing this new dance to roll up the earth, to bring back the dead. A new world is coming. Ghost Dance (Native American Religion)
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
The Kingdom of Heaven that God desires is not established only in the spirit world. The Kingdom is established first on the earth and then in the spirit world. Since the spirit world is formed by spirits of people who formerly lived on the earth, the spirit world and the physical world are inextricably linked. If you want to have a substantial foundation to realize the teaching of the Kingdom of Heaven, you must live in accordance with the principles of heaven as well as the laws of human beings. By demonstrating the principles of heaven in your daily life, you connect heaven’s laws with human laws. Furthermore, the principles of heaven do not only concern individual life; they contain the principles for families, societies, nations, the world and cosmos. You must realize these principles of heaven in yourselves. (2:226, June 2, 1957)
When as individuals we make God’s love our love, and when we extend that to families, tribes, peoples and nations, we can establish the Kingdom of God on earth and the Kingdom of God in heaven. Upon that earthly foundation of true love, a corresponding foundation will form in the spirit world. When that foundation on earth reaches the national level, then the spirit world will also have a national foundation. Then it will automatically open and become one with the earth. (134:217, July 20, 1985)
The Kingdom of Heaven on earth will not be established unless we prepare a foundation on the earth through which we can move between physical and spirit worlds, beyond the limitation of death. Without the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, there will be no Kingdom of Heaven in the spirit world. You should arrange things in such a way that after you go to spirit world, you can come back to earth at will. That is the way to live in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and create the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven simultaneously. (146:223, July 1, 1986)
In the heavenly world of the future, the time for living off a monthly salary will pass away. As couples, you must pay complete indemnity. Throughout the ages of history, the rule of all creation has been absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience. Because of love, you also need faith and you also need obedience. Because of love. Even the God of the entire universe is obedient to infinite love. God invests and then forgets, and so we also invest and forget what we have invested. This is obedience.
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1542
A perfected human being should become a citizen of the one global nation that is also God’s kingdom. Which country do you belong to? Among those of you gathered here, some may be American, some German, some Korean, and so on, but where is God’s kingdom? This world, earth, is your nation as well as mine. Where is our hometown? This world is our hometown. We are not concerned with national boundaries and things like that. Neither are we concerned about the differences between blacks and whites. All of us are God’s children. (79-247, 1975.8.24
Eschatology and Messianic Hope
The Kingdom of Heaven
3. A World of Godly People Who Possess the Kingdom within Themselves
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
The ideal society is a place where the ideal of love is perfectly realized. It is a beautiful world, where people who have substantiated God’s love in themselves live in complete satisfaction of heart. Their faces are beautiful, radiating eternal light. All perfected human beings shine with such internal beauty. (Way of God’s Will 1.8)
If you have not ended the fighting within yourself, then even if you lived in a world where people ceased to fight and all the nations were at peace, you would still feel out of place, without any peace or happiness. The problem is in you. You must first solve the fundamental problem within yourself. Only then, when you encounter an ideal environment in the world outside of you, will you feel its peace seeping into your heart and its happiness encompassing your soul. Only when you create the foundation for the Kingdom of Heaven within yourself will you experience freedom and happiness in the world around you. Your outward circumstances may be perfect, but if you have not resolved your personal problems, you will not be able to fit in with those circumstances. You will not be fully happy. (20:167, June 9, 1968)
First, you have to establish the Kingdom of Heaven as an individual. Next, you have to establish the Kingdom of Heaven as a couple. What is the Kingdom of Heaven as a couple? It is the state of matrimony where a man and woman are totally united as one. It is not like a typical marriage where in the beginning you tell your spouse, “I love you,” but after a few years you say good-bye and divorce… A heavenly couple is inseparable; they could lose their legs by exploding dynamite but still keep embracing with their upper bodies! That is possible only with true love. To achieve that kind of love, your mind and body must be completely united. Then you can attain the Kingdom of Heaven as a couple.
After you realize the Kingdom of Heaven as a couple, would you be satisfied? No, you would want to realize the Kingdom of Heaven as a family. When father and mother become totally one and love each other, their son will think that he wants to marry a bride just like his mother, and the daughter will think that she wants to marry a man just like her father. The father and mother acting as a plus guide their sons and daughters as a minus: that family unity is the Kingdom of Heaven as a family. Once we realize the Kingdom of Heaven in our families, finally we will be able to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, which is God’s ideal. (96:29, January 1, 1978)
The original Garden was to be an ideal place. There the spirit world and physical world would be open to each other, and the feelings of siblings could be communicated freely all the way to the ends of the universe. It would not be like the present-day world, divided among ethnic sentiments, where national sovereignties clash, and where ideologies and religions are at odds with each other. In that world, people would discuss all matters from the heart. The heart does not discriminate by race, nationality, or other such things. Hence, people would easily be able to reconcile their differences, such as economic disparities and cultural misunderstandings. (7:37, July 5, 1959)
From perfected individuals and families up to the perfection of the cosmos, a beautiful world will emerge—the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in spirit world. It will be a world of freedom. God also will be free, and He will be able to visit your family anytime He desires. Until now, there were barriers everywhere, blocking everyone from going where they wished. Now all the walls and barriers that Satan created will be torn down and everywhere will be level. Then God will form the same perpendicular connection with everyone. Around that ninety-degree axis, everything—front and back, left and right, high and low—will relate freely. All will enter the realm of liberation and unification. That is the Kingdom of Heaven. (313:243, December 19, 1999)
From God’s position, these ancestors will support the process of bring-ing blessings to their descendants. That effort must be made. When the spirit world comes to help, would you like your beloved relatives to come and help or would you rather some old man from a neighboring village came? When an old man comes down and helps, you must offer him a portion of what you receive. Thus, now is the time when we should run all night lest someone should come and usurp the results of your effort. When you explain this, everyone will want to have a picture of True Parents.
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1241
The British royal household’s 518 carat diamond was nothing but a shiny stone to the native people. Who would have known then that diamonds would one day become the most precious jewels in the world? People saw it shining and reflecting light, and thought it was a piece of glass. It is the same in the case of the Blessing. In one way or another, you have received the Blessing. Though it is as precious as a diamond, all of you are thinking that it is merely a piece of glass, of no particular value. You do not know the true value of it until I explain it to you. Then everyone will realize and say, “Oh! It is that precious!” (83-240, 1976.2.8)
Eschatology and Messianic Hope
The Kingdom of Heaven
3. A World of Godly People Who Possess the Kingdom within Themselves
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8.19-23
Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17.21T
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son… But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?”27 And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.” Matthew 22.1-13
Behold, the days are coming, says the lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31.31-34
Confucius said, “The practice of the Great Tao and the eminent men of the Three Dynasties—this I have never seen in person, and yet I have a mind to follow them. When the Great Tao prevailed, the world was a commonwealth; men of talent and virtue were selected, mutual confidence was emphasized, and brotherhood was cultivated. Therefore, men did not regard as parents only their own parents, nor did they treat as sons only their own sons. Old people were able to enjoy their old age; young men were able to employ their talents; juniors respected their elders; helpless widows, orphans, and cripples were well cared for. Men had their respective occupations, and women their homes. They hated to see wealth lying about in waste, and they did not hoard it for their own use. They hated not to use their energies, and they used their energies not for their own benefit. Thus evil schemings were repressed, and robbers, thieves, and traitors no longer appeared, so that the front door remained open. This was called the Grand Unity (Ta-tung). Book of Ritual 7.1.2 (Confucianism)
As earthly paradise moves into its advanced stages, people’s inner attitudes towards God will directly affect more and more aspects of daily life. Those whose souls are closer to God will be so much of the same heart that they can communicate without verbalizing their thoughts and feelings. By this stage, contemplation will have become the mode of existence for everyone. God will have given them such highly refined powers of spiritual perception that they can at last see His will directly and perfectly understand what is in the hearts and minds of others. In its ultimate phase, paradise on earth will be so perfect, so unblemished, that it may be called the Crystal World. All evil and hatred will have been cleansed away. The world will have become the final realization of absolute goodness and love. Completely free from even a hint of sin or impurity, humankind at last will dwell in the heavenly abode longed for through the ages. This is the Crystal World of unity with God. Johrei (Sekai Kyusei Kyo)
