Pyeong Hwa Gyeong (008) - View of the Principle of the Providential History of Salvation
6. Jesus can solely possess God’s first love Mary, when she was engaged to Joseph, received from the archangel Gabriel the surprising message that the Messiah would be born through her. (Luke 1:31) In those days, if an unmarried woman became pregnant she was killed. However, Mary accepted the Will of God with absolute faith, saying, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)
Mary consulted with the priest Zechariah, who was her relative and was highly respected. Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth, with the help of God, was pregnant with John the Baptist. Elizabeth said to Mary, “...Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:42-43) With these words, she testified to the coming birth of Jesus.
In this way, God let Mefry, Zechariah and Elizabeth know about the birth of the Messiah before anybody else. All of them had the absolutely crucial mission of following the Will of God and serving Jesus. Zechariah’s family let Mary stay in their house. Jesus was conceived in the house of Zechariah.
Elizabeth and Mary were cousins on their mothers’ side. According to God’s providence, they were considered sisters, with Elizabeth as the elder (Cain) and Mary as the younger (Abel). Mary received Elizabeth’s help in the presence of Zechariah. Through this cooperation, Zechariah’s family, on the national level, indemnified the lack of unity between Leah and Rachel in Jacob’s family, and their failure in mother-son cooperation. This allowed Jesus to be conceived. For the first time in history, there could be generated on earth, free of satanic accusation and through a prepared womb, the seed of the Son of God, the seed of the True Father. In this way, the only begotten Son of God, the owner of the first love of God, was born for the first time in history.
Mary had to achieve something that could not be understood by common sense, nor easily tolerated under the law of those times. Mary, Elizabeth and Zechariah had been spiritually moved. They followed the revelation that came from God, and unconditionally believed that it was the will and desire of God.
Although the Son of God could be born on earth, he needed a wall of protection to grow up safely in Satan’s world and fulfill the Will of God. God had hoped that these three people in the family of Zechariah would establish that protective foundation. There are many points to consider with regard to how seriously the three had to dedicate themselves to protecting and serving the Son of God, and how long they were to have been united with each other.
In the Bible it is recorded, “And Mary remained with her [Elizabeth] about three months, and then returned to her home.” (Luke 1:56) After that, there is no biblical record of any further communication between Mary and
Elizabeth and Zechariah. From the time Mary left Zechariah’s house, difficulties began for Mary and Jesus. The family of Zechariah ought to have been the wall of protection for Jesus until the very end.
A short time later, Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant. How great must have been his shock at that moment! Mary, his beloved fiancée, without having had any conjugal relationship with him, had become pregnant after a three-month stay in another place. It was natural for Joseph to question Mary about who the baby in her womb belonged to. What would have happened if, at that time, Mary had explained everything candidly? If she had exposed everything, it could have been the end of a clan. So Mary simply responded that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
Mary’s pregnancy began to show, and the people of the surrounding area became aware of it. What would have happened if Joseph had declared that he didn’t know anything about it? However, Joseph was a righteous man. He believed in the revelation of God and defended Mary, saying the pregnancy was his responsibility. Mary may have been ridiculed for becoming pregnant during her engagement, yet she avoided being stoned to death.
Joseph, who loved Mary, protected her this way in the beginning. However, there was a great deal of anguish deep in his heart. Once Jesus was born, Josephs suspicions about the father of Jesus only increased and his heart ached. As Jesus grew older, the two became more and more distant in heart. And because of this, family problems frequently arose. Jesus was viewed as an illegitimate son and, lacking the protection of Zechariah’s family and the love of Joseph, he grew up with an indescribable loneliness in his heart. |