Tag: Second Advent

The First World War Laid the Foundation for the Second Advent of the Messiah

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 202

Originally, when God as the Parent
created Adam and Eve, He reaped the
benefit of having children. At the same
time, He enabled the children to ben-
efit by having parents. God’s hope was
to raise His children to perfection. Had
this happened, it would be possible to
say that God would have harvested both
Adam and Eve.
Then, why do we need parents and
why do we need children? God is spir-
itual and human beings are physical.
The parent-child relationship is also like
this.
The invisible God bears fruit through
the visible child and then enters into the
heart of the child to reveal His value as
the visible God. The invisible God bears
fruit within the child’s heart and the
fruit of the child is then produced. It is
possible to transfer the fruit of the father
to the child. And thus, for God, both His
fruit and the parent’s fruit are produced.
They have equal value.
Then, why are parents and children
needed? Even though God possesses
love, He needs a partner to share His
love. We as children also need a partner
to share our love. This partner relation-
ship between parents and children is like
the relationship of heaven and earth. It is
a vertical relationship.

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1965

Lineage and ownership must be con-
verted to God’s side. Japan has inherited
Satan’s ownership. Adam must become
the master ahead of Satan. Before Adam
becomes the master, God must become
the owner. But God has not yet become
the owner. Adam has not become the
owner. In order to recover the owner-
ship that Eve lost, she must go out to the
world and put everything in order. That
is why ownership must be returned to
God’s side. In order to have that owner-
ship returned, it cannot be brought to
me directly. It must be brought through
my children, through Mother. It must be
done in reverse, the way it is done in res-
toration. (229-154, 1992.4.11)

Exposition of the Divine Principle
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THE WORLD WARS

4.1 THE PROVIDENTIAL CAUSES OF THE WORLD WARS

Wars break out due to such factors as conflicts of political and economic interests and clashes of ideology. Yet these are merely external causes. There are also internal causes of wars, just as there are internal and external motives for every human action.

What are the internal, providential causes of the world wars? First, the world wars have resulted from Satan’s last desperate struggle to preserve his sovereignty.

Second, the three world wars have occurred in order to fulfill the worldwide indemnity conditions to restore the three great blessings.

Third, the three world wars have occurred so that all humanity may overcome on the world level the three temptations by which Satan tempted Jesus.

Fourth, the world wars have taken place to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition to restore God’s sovereignty.

4.2 THE FIRST WORLD WAR

4.2.1 SUMMARY OF THE PROVIDENCE IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

In the political sphere, the First World War was a conflict between Abel-type democracies, which pursued the goal of the providence of restoration, and authoritarian states where Cain-type democratic ideals were thriving and which stood in opposition to the goals of the providence of restoration. It was fought between the imperialist nations on God’s side and the imperialist nations on Satan’s side. In the sphere of religion and ideology, the Cain-type nations included Turkey, a Muslim nation persecuting Christianity, and its allies, Germany and Austria-Hungary. They fought the Abel-type nations of Great Britain, the United States, France and Russia, which generally upheld Christianity. At the conclusion of the First World War, the Abel-type democracies had gained victory at the formation stage.

4.2.2 WHAT DECIDES GOD’S SIDE AND SATAN’S SIDE?

The question of which nations are on God’s side and which are on Satan’s side is decided based on the direction of God’s providence of restoration. Those who are in line with the direction of God’s providence or are acting in concert with that direction, even indirectly, are on the side of God, while those who take an opposing position are on the side of Satan.

In the First World War, the Allied Powers led by Great Britain, the United States, France and Russia were Christian nations; moreover, they had been fighting to liberate the Christians under persecution in Turkey. Thus, they stood on God’s side. On the other hand, Germany and Austria-Hungary, the leading Central Powers, supported Turkey, a Muslim nation which persecuted Christianity. Therefore, together with Turkey, they stood on Satan’s side.

4.2.3 THE PROVIDENTIAL CAUSES BEHIND THE FIRST WORLD WAR

What were the providential, internal causes of the First World War? The First World War had to take place, first, to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition to restore God’s three great blessings at the formation stage. Second, the First World War took place in order to have people on God’s side collectively overcome Jesus’ first temptation on the world level. Third, the First World War took place in order to lay the formation-stage foundation for the restoration of God’s sovereignty.

4.2.4 THE PROVIDENTIAL RESULTS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

The victory of the Allied Powers in the First World War fulfilled the formation-stage indemnity condition to restore God’s three great blessings worldwide. By overcoming Jesus’ first temptation on the worldwide level, they fulfilled the indemnity condition to restore God’s first blessing worldwide. The victory of democracy also established the formation-stage foundation for the restoration of God’s sovereignty and laid the foundation for the birth of the returning Christ, who is destined to be the Lord of God’s world.

In conclusion, with the victory of God’s side in the First World War, the foundation was laid for the Second Advent of the Messiah. From that time, the formation stage of the dispensation of the Second Advent commenced.

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2007p2-CHAPT-5-PrepPeriod-forSecond-Advent_revised-4-28-2014

They Called for the Revival of the Spirit of Early Christianity


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2 Samuel 22

37 You clear the way for me,
    and now I won’t stumble.

Isaiah 36

36 Hezekiah had been king of Judah for fourteen years when King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded the country and captured every walled city 2 except Jerusalem. The Assyrian king ordered his army commander to leave the city of Lachish and to take a large army to Jerusalem.

The commander went there and stood on the road near the cloth makers’ shops along the canal from the upper pool. 3 Three of the king’s highest officials came out of Jerusalem to meet him. One of them was Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who was the prime minister. The other two were Shebna, assistant to the prime minister, and Joah son of Asaph, keeper of the government records.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
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Chapter 5

The Period of Preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah

The period of preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah was the four-hundred-year period from the Protestant Reformation in 1517 to the end of World War I in 1918. With respect to the providence of restoration, this period is divided into three periods: the period of the Reformation, the period of religious and ideological conflicts, and the period of the maturation of politics, economy and ideology.

THE PERIOD OF THE REFORMATION (1517-1648)

The 130-year period of the Reformation began in 1517, when Martin Luther raised the banner of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, and lasted until the wars of religion were settled by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.  When the purpose of God’s providence through medieval society was not fulfilled, the direction of providential history shifted and God worked to establish anew the foundation for the Second Advent of the Messiah through the Renaissance and the Reformation. 

In the late Middle Ages, man’s original mind was repressed, its free development blocked by the social environment of feudalism and the secularization and corruption of the Roman church.  The social environment of the late Middle Ages blocked the path through which the original nature of the people could be restored. Fettered by such circumstances, medieval Europeans were prompted by the impulses of their innermost hearts to break down their social environment to open the way for the restoration of their original nature.

Medieval Europeans were to restore their original God-given nature by first severing their ties to Satan, who had defiled the society when the papacy failed its internal responsibility to restore the foundation of faith and sank into immorality. As people pursued the recovery of the internal and external aspects of their original nature, the thought of the age branched out into two movements to recover the heritage of the past, which we distinguish in relative terms as Abel-type and Cain-type. The Cain-type movement began as a revival of Hellenism, the culture and philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome. It gave rise to the Renaissance,7 whose core value was humanism. The Abel-type movement began as a revival of the Hebraic heritage of Israel and the early Christian Church. It gave rise to the Protestant Reformation, whose core value was faith in God.

1.1 THE RENAISSANCE

 It was explained above that the Renaissance grew out of the external pursuits of the original nature. The movement to revive the ancient heritage of Hellenism caught fire. Renaissance humanism thus rose to prominence. The Renaissance came to life in fourteenth-century Italy, which was the center of the study of the classical Hellenic heritage. Though it began as a movement imitating the thought and life of ancient Greece and Rome, it soon developed into a wider movement which transformed the medieval way of life. It expanded beyond the sphere of culture to encompass every aspect of society, including politics, economic life and religion. In fact, it became the external driving force for the construction of the modern world.

1.2 THE REFORMATION

As medieval Europeans sought to realize the external aspirations of their original nature, they also began to pursue its repressed internal aspirations. They called for the revival of the spirit of early Christianity, when believers zealously lived for the Will of God, guided by the words of Jesus and the apostles.

To raise funds to build St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo X began selling indulgences, which Catholic doctrine affirmed would remit the penalty for sin due in the next life. When this indulgence was proclaimed in Germany in 1517, a movement to protest this abuse ignited a fuse which exploded in the Protestant Reformation under the leadership of Martin Luther (1483-1546), a professor of biblical theology at the University of Wittenberg. The flames of the Reformation grew strong and soon spread to Switzerland under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), to France as led by John Calvin (1509- 1564), and into such nations as England and the Netherlands. The wars of religion which swirled around the Protestant movements continued for more than one hundred years until 1648, when the Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years’ War.

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God Has Been Creating the Religious, Political and Economic Environment Conducive to the Work of Christ at His Second Coming

Hebrews 11

35 Some women received their loved ones back from death. Many of these people were tortured, but they refused to be released. They were sure that they would get a better reward when the dead are raised to life. 36 Others were made fun of and beaten with whips, and some were chained in jail. 37 Still others were stoned to death or sawed in two or killed with swords. Some had nothing but sheep skins or goat skins to wear. They were poor, mistreated, and tortured. 38 The world did not deserve these good people, who had to wander in deserts and on mountains and had to live in caves and holes in the ground.

39 All of them pleased God because of their faith! But still they died without being given what had been promised. 40 This was because God had something better in store for us. And he did not want them to reach the goal of their faith without us.

Richard: With the teachings you are studying, we can fulfill “something better in store for us”.

Jeremiah 22

24 King Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, even if you were the ring I wear as the sign of my royal power, I would still pull you from my finger. 25 I would hand you over to the enemy you fear, to King Nebuchadnezzar and his army, who want to kill you. 26 You and your mother were born in Judah, but I will throw both of you into a foreign country, where you will die, 27 longing to return home.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
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THE PERIOD OF ISRAEL’S EXILE AND RETURN AND THE PERIOD OF THE PAPAL EXILE AND RETURN

 By falling into faithlessness without repentance, the people of Israel failed to realize the ideal of God’s nation founded upon the Temple. God had the people suffer hardships as exiles in Babylon. This was similar to when God had the Israelites suffer as slaves in Egypt.  The emperors and popes became corrupt and did not repent. The popes did not lay the spiritual foundation upon which the emperors could stand as the central figures for the foundation of substance. Therefore, the foundation for the Second Advent of Christ was not established. To begin a new dispensation to restore this foundation, God allowed the popes to be taken into exile and suffer captivity. In the earlier parallel period, nearly seventy years elapsed from the time King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took into captivity King Jehoiachin and his royal family, as well as prophets including Daniel and Ezekiel, priests, officials, craftsmen and many other Israelites, until the fall of Babylon and their liberation by the royal decree of King Cyrus.14 It then took another 140 years for the exiles to return to their homeland in three waves, until they fully reformed themselves as a nation united around the Will of God as proclaimed in the messianic prophecies of Malachi. Henceforth, they began to prepare for the coming of the Messiah.

This period of approximately 210 years ran from 1309, with the papacy’s seventy years of exile in Avignon, through the Great Schism, the conciliar movement and the restoration of papal authority in the Roman church, to the eve of the Protestant Reformation spearheaded by Martin Luther in 1517. Its purpose was to restore through indemnity, in the form of substantial parallels, the 210-year period of Israel’s exile and return—from Israel’s seventy years of exile in Babylon through the stages of the returning to Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple, until the reform of politics and religion under the leadership of Ezra, Nehemiah and the prophet Malachi.

THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION FOR THE ADVENT OF THE MESSIAH AND THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION FOR THE SECOND ADVENT OF THE MESSIAH

 Following the period of Israel’s exile and return, another four hundred years elapsed before Jesus came. This was the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah. Likewise, Christianity is to meet Christ at his Second Advent only after passing through four hundred years of the period of preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah, which has followed the period of papal exile and return. It should restore through indemnity in the form of substantial parallels the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah.

Upon returning from the Babylonian exile, the Israelites established the foundation of faith by repenting of their past sin of idolatry, rebuilding the Temple15 which had been destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar, and reforming their faith based on the Mosaic Law under the guidance of Ezra the scribe.16 They then began to prepare for the coming of the Messiah according to the word of the prophet Malachi. Likewise, after the papacy’s return to Rome, medieval Christians established the foundation of faith by seeking to reform the Roman church; these efforts culminated in the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther. This movement pierced the gloom of medieval Europe with the light of the Gospel and pioneered new paths of faith.

Meanwhile, among the world’s peoples, God founded religions suited to their regions and cultures by which they could make the necessary internal preparations to receive the Messiah. In India, God established Buddhism through Gautama Buddha (565-485 B.C.) as a new development out of Hinduism. In Greece, God inspired Socrates (470-399 B.C.) and opened the brilliant age of classical Greek civilization. In the Far East, God raised up Confucius (552-479 B.C.), whose teachings of Confucianism established the standard of human ethics. Jesus was to come upon this worldwide foundation of preparation, and through his teachings he was to bring together Judaism, Hellenism, Buddhism and Confucianism. He was to unify all religions and civilizations into one worldwide civilization founded upon the Christian Gospel.

 Since the Renaissance, God has been creating the religious, political and economic environment conducive to the work of Christ at his Second Coming.  Beginning with the Renaissance, progress in virtually every field of human endeavor, including politics, economy, culture and science, has increased at a rapid rate. Today, these fields have reached their zenith and have created a global environment conducive to the work of Christ at his Second Coming. In Jesus’ day, the Roman Empire ruled the vast domains around the Mediterranean Sea, integrated by an advanced and extensive transportation system reaching out in all directions. This was the center of a vast Hellenistic civilization founded on the Greek language. Thus, all the necessary preparations had been made for a swift transmission of the teachings of the Messiah from Israel, where Jesus lived, to Rome and the world. Similarly, in the present era of the Second Advent, the influence of the Western powers has expanded the democratic political sphere throughout the world. The rapid progress of transportation and communication has greatly bridged the gap between East and West, and the extensive contact among languages and cultures has brought the world much closer together. These developments characterize an environment in which the teachings of the returning Christ can freely and swiftly be conveyed to the hearts of all humankind.

View slides 52 to 71 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content:

2007p2-CHAPT-4-Parallels-betw-the-Two-Ages_revised-4-28-2014

The Time of the Second Advent of the Messiah Has Already Come

Cheon Seong Gyeong 510

Due to the Fall, God lost the true
mother and children of Adam’s family.
There have been no true sons and daugh-
ters for God. There has been no family
of God who could inherit the lineage of
His love. Our minds and bodies came
into conflict, having inherited false love,
false life and false lineage through the
fallen parents. Adam and Eve became
enemies. Bloody wars broke out among
Adam’s sons and daughters.

Richard: Here we see the basic dynamic that the world’s problems stem from the problems in the family, going back to the first family. Wars and conflicts all began there. To end this sad history, we need to restore families. That is the mission of the Lord at His Second Advent. Rev. Sun Myung Moon has successfully fulfilled that mission.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 493

Where did parental love come from?
If we are resultant beings of the First
Cause with some relationship to Him,
we have come from within some des-
tined power of this First Cause. This is
not something we as human beings can
touch. As such, have you ever heard any-
one say, “Let us revolutionize the love
with which parents love their children;
let us become the standard-bearers of
that revolution”?
Let’s suppose some parents come
forward with the idea of revolutionizing
parental love and reinventing human
history, claiming, “Even though we are
parents, we will not love our children.”
Yet, the moment their baby’s umbilical
cord is cut, a loving heart will naturally
arise in them. Every life form, wheth-
er on a higher or lower level, is created
in such a way that it cannot but love its
young. Thus, since the act of loving their
children inspires parents to invest and
use their lives as stepping stones, it is
clear that parental love brings us closest
to an eternal and unchanging standard

Exposition of the Divine Principle
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THE PERIODS IN THE AGE OF THE PROLONGATION OF THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION AND THEIR LENGTHS

The Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration has been to restore through substantial parallels the Age of the Providence of Restoration, the age of image parallels. As the periods of this age were to restore through indemnity the corresponding periods of the previous age, these periods proceeded in a parallel fashion, both in order and in length.

4.1 THE FOUR-HUNDRED-YEAR PERIOD OF PERSECUTION IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

The early Christians underwent a comparable period of suffering to restore through indemnity the foundation of faith which had been destroyed due to the mistake of the Jewish people, who did not properly follow Jesus as the living sacrifice. This was the four-hundred-year period during which Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire. The persecution abated by 313 A.D., when the Emperor Constantine formally recognized Christianity as a legal religion. In 392 A.D., the Emperor Theodosius I established Christianity as the state religion. This period was he substantial parallel to the Israelites’ four-hundred-year period of slavery in Egypt, and its purpose was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

4.2 THE FOUR-HUNDRED-YEAR PERIOD OF REGIONAL CHURCH LEADERSHIP

Since the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration has been the age of substantial parallels, it should contain a four-hundred-year period comparable to the period of the judges. What is called the period of regional church leadership began when Christianity was declared the state religion of the Roman Empire and ended with the enthronement of Charlemagne in 800 A.D. In this period, the people were led by regional church leaders—patriarchs, bishops and abbots—with multiple roles corresponding to the judges in Israel. This period wasthe substantial parallel to the four-hundred-year period of the judges,and its purpose was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

4.3 THE ONE-HUNDRED-AND-TWENTY-YEAR PERIOD OF THE CHRISTIAN EMPIRE

The parallel 120-year period of the Christian empire, also called the Carolingian Empire, began with Charlemagne’s enthronement as the emperor in 800 A.D. It ended in 919 A.D. when his royal line ceased in the eastern half of the realm and Henry I was elected king of the German lands. This period was the substantial parallel to the 120-year period of the united kingdom, and its purpose was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

4.4 THE FOUR-HUNDRED-YEAR PERIOD OF THE DIVIDED KINGDOMS OF EAST AND WEST

In the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration, the Carolingian Empire was divided into two kingdoms: the Holy Roman Empire in the east and France in the west. This four-hundred-year period of the divided kingdoms of east and west began with the division of the Christian empire in 919 and ended in 1309, when the papacy moved to Avignon, in what is now southern France. This period was the substantial parallel to the four-hundred-year period of the divided kingdoms of north and south, and its purpose was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

4.5 THE TWO-HUNDRED-AND-TEN-YEAR PERIOD OF PAPAL EXILE AND RETURN

The parallel period of papal exile and return lasted approximately 210 years. It began in 1309 A.D. when, the papacy having become corrupt, Pope Clement V was forced to move the papacy from Rome to Avignon and live there subject to the kings of France. This period continued even after the papacy returned to Rome until the Protestant Reformation began in 1517. This period of 210 years was the substantial parallel to the 210-year period of Israel’s exile and return,and its purpose was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

4.6 THE FOUR-HUNDRED-YEAR PERIOD OF PREPARATION FOR THE SECOND ADVENT OF THE MESSIAH

In the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration, we expect a parallel four-hundred-year period of preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah. In fact, it began in 1517 with Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation and has lasted until the eve of the Second Advent of Christ on the earth. As the substantial parallel to the four-hundred-year period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah, its purpose has been to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions

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2007p2-CHAPT-3-PeriodsOfHistoryTheirLengths_revised-4-28-2014

Christ at the Second Advent Will Not Die without Fulfilling the Providence of Restoration

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2124

Today, as I express my gratitude at
this meaningful event, I am mindful
of the fact that the issue of unifying the
Korean Peninsula is the solemn desire
of our people and the final act of bring-
ing the global Cold War to a conclusion.
Therefore, I would like to share with you
the basic answer for unification under
the topic, “World Unification and the
Unification of North and South Korea
through True Love.”
The unification of our country does
not just involve the unification of nation-
al territory, but rather is the blueprint for
the unification of the world that has been
divided between East and West, begin-
ning with the unification of the human
mind and body that were divided by the
Fall. Thus, this issue must be understood
from the perspective of God’s provi-
dence of salvation and must be resolved
on a providential level. The history of
humankind is the history of the provi-
dence of restoration through indemni-
ty in order to recover the original world
that was lost due to the Fall of the ances-
tors of humankind. Accordingly, histo-
ry consists of the struggle between good
and evil, God’s side and Satan’s side, in
striving for the goal of actualizing God’s
ideal of creation.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1155

Why can’t we cut Satan away at
once? Why can the almighty God not
do it immediately? It is because this
problem has to do with lineage. If God
tried to remove this lineage all at once
He would have to exterminate the entire
human race. If the blood we inherited
from Satan were to be extracted, human
beings would disappear. Even Adam
and Eve would disappear. Human-
kind would have to be totally crushed.
Why could God not eliminate Adam
and Eve and create new ones? He is not
supposed to create people anew. Love
is the alpha and the omega, the begin-
ning and the end. This became the ideal
standard. God therefore cannot strike
human beings as the object partners
of that love. You must understand this.
(188-225, 1989.2.26)

Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part

3.3 THE THIRD WORLDWIDE COURSE TO RESTORE CANAAN

3.3.1 THE SPIRITUAL COURSE TO RESTORE CANAAN UNDER JESUS’ LEADERSHIP

In the worldwide course to restore Canaan, the focus of faith for the Jewish people was Jesus himself, who came as the fulfillment of the Tabernacle. When even his disciples became faithless, Jesus had to walk the path of death and be crucified, as he had foretold, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up.” As a consequence, the Jewish people lost the one who should have been the spiritual and physical focus of their faith. They no longer had a basis upon which to begin the third worldwide course to restore Canaan as a substantial course, as the Israelites had when they commenced the third national course. Rather, Christians, as the Second Israel, were to begin this course as a spiritual course by exalting the resurrected Jesus as their focus of faith.

 Then, just as Joshua succeeded to Moses’ mission and completed the third national course, Christ at the Second Advent will succeed the mission of Jesus. He will complete, both spiritually and physically, the third worldwide course to restore Canaan.

3.3.1.1 THE SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION OF FAITH

 After Jesus gave up his body on the cross, he resumed John the Baptist’s mission spiritually. During the forty-day period from his resurrection to his ascension, Jesus triumphed over Satan and broke all his chains. By doing so, Jesus restored the foundation of faith for the spiritual course in the third worldwide course to restore Canaan.

3.3.1.2 THE SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION OF SUBSTANCE

 Through his resurrection appearances, Jesus fulfilled the dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan while standing in the position of John the Baptist in spirit. He thereby laid the foundation of faith for the spiritual course in the position of the spiritual True Parent. At the same time, from the position of a child, he secured the position of Abel for fulfilling the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature.

 God had worked the dispensation to start in Moses’ day by having him establish the foundation for the Tabernacle. However, the resurrected Jesus was himself the spiritual fulfillment of the tablets of stone, the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle. He gathered his scattered disciples from all over Galilee and worked the dispensation to start by giving them the power to perform signs and miracles.

 The resurrected Jesus stood spiritually in the position of John the Baptist and the position of Abel. The faithful believers stood in the position of Cain. By believing in Jesus and following him devotedly, they fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and restored the spiritual foundation of substance.

3.3.1.3 THE SPIRITUAL FOUNDATION FOR THE MESSIAH

 Upon Jesus’ crucifixion, his eleven remaining disciples were demoralized and scattered. After his resurrection, however, Jesus gathered them in one place and commenced a new phase of the providence: the restoration of spiritual Canaan. The disciples chose Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot and fill the vacancy among the twelve. By believing in Jesus and following him at the cost of their lives, they laid the spiritual foundation of substance and the spiritual foundation for the Messiah. Upon this foundation, Jesus ascended from the position of the spiritual mission-bearer for John the Baptist to the position of the spiritual Messiah and sent the Holy Spirit. Thereupon, Jesus and the Holy Spirit became the spiritual True Parents and began the work of giving rebirth.

3.3.1.4 THE RESTORATION OF SPIRITUAL CANAAN

 By believing in and serving the resurrected Jesus, who stands upon the spiritual foundation for the Messiah, Christians can accomplish the restoration of spiritual Canaan and enter its realm of grace. On the other hand, the physical bodies of Christians stand in the same position as Jesus’ body, which was assaulted by Satan through the crucifixion. Christians are still stained with the original sin220 and are just as much in need of purifying themselves from satanic influences as were people who lived before the coming of Jesus. Hence, Christians still must walk the course for the separation of Satan to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ.

3.3.2 THE COURSE TO RESTORE SUBSTANTIAL CANAAN UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF CHRIST AT THE SECOND ADVENT

While Moses could enter Canaan only in spirit, Joshua walked the national course as a substantial course and actually conquered the promised land. Likewise, while Jesus has been restoring Canaan as a worldwide spiritual realm, Christ at the Second Advent is to complete this third worldwide course as a substantial course and build the actual Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Christ at the Second Advent must realize, on earth, God’s ideal which was left unfulfilled at the First Coming. For this reason, he must be born on earth in the flesh.

However arduous the path he may walk, Christ at the Second Advent will not die without fulfilling the providence of restoration. This is because God’s providence to raise up the True Parents of humankind and fulfill the purpose of creation through them will be successful on the third attempt. This providence began with Adam, was prolonged through Jesus, and will bear its fruit without fail at the Second Advent.

 No matter how bitter his tribulations may be, Christ at the Second Advent will be able to lay the foundation of faith on the earth. Standing upon it, he will gather disciples of indomitable faith. He will guide these followers to fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and establish the foundation of substance. The foundation for the Messiah for the substantial course in the third worldwide course will be established without fail.

 The deepest explanation of God’s purpose of creation is revealed in terms of relationships of heart. As our invisible, internal Parent, God created human beings as His substantial children. God intended to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth through His own children, born of His heavenly lineage. The primary significance of the Fall was that the first human ancestors formed a bond of blood ties with the Archangel; therefore, all of humanity has been bound to Satan’s lineage. Every human being has been born as a child of the Devil. The first human ancestors fell to the position where they no longer had any connection to God’s lineage. Accordingly, the ultimate purpose of God’s providence of restoration is to transform fallen people, who have no connection to God’s lineage, into children born of God’s direct lineage. Let us look further at the Bible for evidence of this hidden purpose behind God’s providence.

 At Noah’s time, a direct relationship with God could not be restored due to the mistake of his second son, Ham. Nevertheless, because Noah had demonstrated utmost devotion, his family could stand in an indirect relationship with God, as a servant of servants. This was the nature of humankind’s relationship with God attainable prior to the Old Testament Age.

 Abraham, the father of faith, with his family established the family foundation for the Messiah. They and their descendants, God’s chosen people, were elevated to the position of God’s servants. This was the nature of humankind’s relationship with God attainable in the Old Testament Age.

 In the days of Jesus, the disciples, who stood upon the foundation of faith Jesus had laid from the position of John the Baptist, were elevated from the position of servants to the position of adopted children. To rise further from this state and become the children of God’s direct lineage, they should have first established the foundation of substance and the foundation for the Messiah by serving and obeying Jesus absolutely. Had Jesus stood as the Messiah upon that foundation, they could have been engrafted with him both spiritually and physically and attained complete oneness with him.

However devout a Christian may be, since the original sin passed down through the flesh has not yet been removed, he is no different from a faithful person of the Old Testament Age in the sense that both are still bound to Satan’s lineage. Christians are, at best, God’s adopted children, because they do not stem from His lineage. Christ will return and restore all humanity to be God’s true children. The returning Christ will conduct the dispensation to start based on the Word and then complete the foundation for the Messiah both spiritually and physically. Upon that foundation, he will engraft all humanity with himself, cleansing them of the original sin and restoring them to be God’s children, born of His lineage.

 Christ at the Second Advent will begin by laying, both spiritually and physically, the family foundation for the Messiah. He will then expand its scope to the clan, society, nation, world and cosmos. When this foundation is secure, he will finally be able to build the Kingdom of Heaven.

View slides 25 to 50 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content:

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