Luke 23
40But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.d ”
43Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Exodus 28
9“Take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel 10in the order of their birth—six names on one stone and the remaining six on the other.11Engrave the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones the way a gem cutter engraves a seal.
Let Us Be a Victor for God
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
June 30, 1957
Chung Pa Dong Church
Seoul, Korea
The topic of the speech I would like to share with you today is “Let Us Be a Victor for God.” Due to the human fall, God who created Heaven and earth has never experienced joy and glory with the creation during the long history past, through which He has been leading the dispensation of restoration. You must already know this.
In other words, God has never received a day of victory in which He could be happy. The reason does not lie with God, but with humans who were created as the masters of all things. Thus, the day of victory cannot come with the effort of God alone, but it also needs the efforts of humans, besides those of God. Otherwise, God and the creation cannot receive a day of glory with triumph.
Then what is the purpose of God’s creating all things? It is to watch all things singing with God’s love and returning glory to Him, centered on humans who have fulfilled the purpose of goodness. All should rejoice in this. Due to the human fall, God’s purpose of creation was not achieved. To restore human beings, He has been leading a long battle of 6,000 years of history.
God, who has not been able to receive a day of universal victory since the creation, desires to see the day of victory through humans on earth. Thus, unless earthly people do not restore or recover that day, we cannot defeat Satan, who violates humans on earth. Nor can we eliminate the power of Satan, who makes accusations against humans before God in heaven.
Consequently, God does not mind any toil, any sacrifice, or any battles. Until this moment, He has been a shield to restore each of you.
When viewed from this standpoint, we can understand what God’s wish is. God wants to establish each of you as an individual and separate the enemy Satan who caused the human fall from you. Thus, the evil history of Satan will be concluded. We should become people who can fulfill the wish of God, come forth in pride before God and all things, and return the victorious glory to God. Then, finally, the purpose of God’s providence, which He led through His hard work, will be realized. Humans have been trying to witness such a day of victory, but until the present, it has not been fulfilled.
However, God sent a man who could find the day of victory for humans. This was Jesus Christ. He experienced the internal heart of God, who has been leading a dispensation to restore all humankind through a long history. He experienced all the unjust circumstances of humans. Thus, he came as a representative who could bring victory out of the battles with Satan.
Therefore, being faced with Satan, who is blocking the path to attain the will of God’s dispensation and the will that humankind wishes for, you should take over the lifetime undertaking of Jesus Christ, who fought valiantly as the historical man in charge, representing all things with the heart of the Lord of creation. Also, in your own life, unless you practice the life that Jesus wished for, not only the sorrow of Jesus but also that of God and all humankind will be again embedded on the earth. You should understand this.
Then what kind of life course should we take? We should go with the responsibility to inherit the will of Jesus Christ, who came for the fulfillment of God’s will. We should fight to bring about a day in which God and humans can rejoice together. This is more important than anything else.
The life of Jesus was not to live for himself as an individual. It was a life during which, in silence, he took on the responsibility alone for heaven above and earth below, that is, for all the creation. He did this to bring about a day when God’s will would be achieved.
Jesus did not make a distinction between day and night. Also, he did not care about persecution from the visible world. He was a courageous man who fought Satan, who was blocking his path, in an invisible place that people did not recognize or see, carrying responsibility for all of humankind.
Therefore, today all of us should attend Jesus as a vanguard and uphold his will. Thus, wherever he goes, we should go with him. If he fights, we should also fight with him. That is, we should share the same joy and pain and continue to fight to accomplish the will of God in His providence of restoration, which is the wish of all humankind.
Further, Jesus lived for his people and the world, taking responsibility for 4,000 years of history and the many lives in the spirit world. He did not fight for himself alone. It does not necessarily mean that he was fighting only for his people or the world. He fought to fulfill the will of God, with the mission of upholding heavenly principles beyond history and the universe.
Such battles continued throughout his lifetime of thirty years. Even 2,000 years after his death, it is still being continued. You should understand and feel deeply in your bones that although humans can take time to rest, he has been unceasingly fighting along with the Holy Spirit only to fulfill God’s wish and thus find the day of hope for which all humankind wishes.
It was lamentable for Jesus to die on the cross due to the failure of humans when he came to earth to save them. Nonetheless, even after his death, still carrying the sins of humans, he has been walking the course of the cross to Golgotha. We should reflect upon our past, thinking about what kind of life of faith we have had toward Jesus.