Sermons of Rev Moon - July 26, 1959 - The True Sons and Daughters of Heavenly Father Who Will Remain in the Last Days 3

[대태양/김현수]

The Situation of God and the Life of Jesus

God is the lord of sorrow and pain. Although God desires to be happy and glorified, He has never had a source of joy and glory. What does He have instead? You have to understand that God is a God of sorrow and agony, burdened with the grief of the Fall and stories of pain and sadness. Isn't this true?

We think that the Kingdom of Heaven is a garden of joy, but that is not true. You go and see for yourselves. No matter how hard you look for a cause of joy, you will not find any. God, who should command all the authority to rule the world and possess only glory and joy, has lost all joy and glory, all the fruits of goodness, and the elements of the ideal. Only sorrow and anguish remain. This is truly mournful. There is nothing more grievous and sad than this in the entire universe. Those who are genuinely overcome with grief over this and call out "Father" in desperation and humility are sons and daughters close to the heart of Heaven.

Jesus came to this earth as the King of Kings. He came with the recognition from Heaven as the one with the authority of the leader. However, from the moment of his birth, he did not have even one moment of happiness. Although he appeared as the Savior for the sake of humanity on the earth and to save all people, he could not receive glory. Before he could receive glory, he had to pass through a world of agony and a path of sorrow.

Why was it so? It was because Jesus was responsible to pay indemnity for the four thousand years. To become the King of Kings, first he had to pass the qualification as the prince of sorrow and pain. Otherwise, there was no way to comfort the many spirits who had endured sorrow for Heaven while they were on earth.

For this reason, Jesus, who lived some thirty odd years with three years of public ministry, walked a sorrowful path. When he shed tears, he wandered through the valley of tears which his ancestors had shed in the past. Jesus labored arduously as he inherited the path of the people who had cried out in tears as they crossed over the hill of death, stained with the blood of the four-thousand-year history. Eventually, Jesus walked the path of the cross. Today many of us think that Jesus was a prince of love, joy and glory; he was actually a prince of agony and sorrow.

The Judgment in the Last Days

There will come a day of judgment in the last days. When the day of judgment comes, how will Heaven appear? Heaven does not say, "I have this and that element of joy and glory. Why haven't you attained similar elements?" The basis of the judgment is whether or not you understand the sorrowful and painful history of humanity and God, during which God fought fiercely for six thousand years. You have to understand that the traces of God's work can be found in this history. Those who are trying to stand before God with the glory of a son and the hopes of a daughter will be asked by Heaven how much they have mourned over this history and how much suffering they have borne. At that time, those who say "Not at all" will not receive the glory of a son.

Look. On the hands and feet of Jesus are the nail marks. On his head is the crown of thorns, and in his heart there is the wound inflicted by a spear. Although Jesus passed away, Christians today do not understand that he had to cross over the hill of death in order to alleviate God's bitter grief after becoming the prince of sorrow and anguish. Since Jesus passed the test of qualification of the heart, he appeared as the leader in the realm of the heart and spirit. What kind of savior was he? A savior of the body? No. he was the savior of the heart and spirit whom we long for from the depth of our beings, with whom we want to live for the rest of eternity. Jesus was able to become the Savior with the deepest and unchanging heart and standard of heart, based upon which he could wash away the heartaches of God and erase God's historical anguishes from human history.

Let us consider this issue once more. The Last Days are near. The Last Days will certainly come, and in those Last Days, how will Heaven conduct the judgment? You have to understand this clearly. It will surely come true. You who are devout, you who want to believe, should understand this clearly. In the last days, God will not appear smiling and filled with joy. The same will be true with the Lord. When Mary Magdalene tried to cling onto the resurrected Jesus and called out, "My Lord!" Jesus told her not to hold onto him. Why? We have to understand clearly that only after we are connected to the sorrowful heart of Jesus and pass through a course of experiencing the pains and sorrow of Heaven can we hold onto Jesus.

When you call out to the Father after having experienced sorrow and agony yourself, look upon the Father's appearance. His eyes have never stopped crying for six thousand years. His ears have never ceased hearing the mockery and criticisms of His enemies for six thousand years. His mouth could not speak the words He wanted to share for six thousand years. He was starving together with the people who were starving. The Father's hands are stained with blood and sweat. His footsteps are the same. They have crossed the steep and rough path of Golgotha many hundreds and thousands of times. The Father's body is wounded, and on Him are the marks of many beatings unjustly suffered.

Who caused all this suffering to the Father? He suffered because of pitiful humanity. Whenever we think about this, we should feel deeply sorry and repentful. When we call Him, we should have the mind-set, "A sinner like me can never erase the sufferings of the Father, even if I die many thousands of times. A sinner like me can never wipe the tears of the Father, no matter how many thousands of times I were to die." Have you ever called out to Him with such a heart? If you have not, then you should repent deeply.

The Meaning of the Verse
"Bear Your Cross and Follow Me."

We fear the day of judgment and want to avoid it. Jesus proclaimed, "Love me more than you love anyone else in the world. Bear the cross and follow me." This is the first iron-clad rule. This is the most central message in the Bible and the Gospel. Only when you can say that you have substantially lived through history, experiencing the sorrow and pain of history as your own, can you stand before the judgment of God and Jesus who have been working throughout history.

Many believers today believe that on the judgment day the Lord will come and host an elaborate celebration of marriage in Heaven, in the world of glory. They are sure they will be invited. That is ridiculous. What if that does not happen? Those people will hold a grudge against God and oppose Christ when he returns.

We who are standing before the Father are the descendants of the lineage which was ruined by sinfulness in history. For this reason, even if we were trampled upon thousands of times, we should still feel humble before the toils and sorrow of God, who mourns together with history. However, because the Father's will is to push forward the providence of salvation, we have no choice but to depend on God's desire to seek us and say, "If it is possible, please have compassion toward us." If one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven without this kind of mind-set, then anyone can enter it. Nevertheless, that is not how the Kingdom is.

We who should stand before the judgment today should proclaim that God lives amidst infinite sorrow, and we should reveal the course that God has passed through in history. What is the grief of God and Jesus? It is the fact that although they are true and right, they are framed to be false and pretentious. There cannot be greater sorrow than this. What is the anguish of Jesus? It is the fact that he was blocked from walking the path to find his own children and his beloved bride. There can be no greater anguish than this. Finding one's own sons and daughters requires a path which climbs over Calvary; hence, on this earth there remain both the Golgotha of Jesus' day and the untrodden path to Golgotha on the world level.

People today understand the Second Advent as waiting for the glory of the Lord who comes to represent the glory of Heaven. However, do not expect to meet the resurrected Christ without the proper preparation. Before the resurrected Christ appears, you should remain alive and be able to climb over the hill of Golgotha on the world level, the crossroads where you have to put your mind and body as well as your life at stake. Then you should pray, "Father, do not do as I will, but as Thou will." This is why it is written that in the Last Days there will be seven years of great chaos. Those who persevere to the end will be saved.

The person who can participate in the joyful garden of the Lord as his bride is the victorious prince who overcame the pain of the six-thousand-year history. He is the prince of sorrow who can represent humanity in embracing the heart of sorrow. The Lord desires to receive such people as his brides.

In our path to grace, we must deny the elements of joy. Why? God has never had a happy moment. He was never a master over all the things that He created, and He was robbed by Satan of Adam and Eve, to whom He wanted to give His blessing and build a happy family. This is why Heaven and earth are filled with grief. How piercing God's sorrow must have been when He saw that everything He should rule over was lost to Satan's dominion, and His children and all of His creation were violated. Nevertheless, because there is no one to whom God can express His grief, He has been burning inside throughout the long history and has continually suffered pain. Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever deeply reflected upon this?

The Path that the Members of
the Unification Church Should Walk

You members of the Unification Church are pitiful people. However, if you can hear the voices which Jesus or God heard during the two thousand and the six thousand years, you should be grateful. If you shed tears before the people, and if your heart aches when you behold humanity, you should be grateful. If your eyes overflow with tears in looking at humanity and you are lost in thought as to how to solve humanity's problems, you should be grateful. If you do not have enough to eat, and even when you do your throat is blocked by grief, you are truly blessed. Even when you have a difficult personal situation yet choose to remain quiet, you are truly blessed. Do you feel indignant that you cannot engage in a fierce battle with Satan even if you have hands that can take him on in a fight? Be grateful. Do you have a sorrowful heart which is patiently waiting for the one day, even if you can make brave steps forward before the expanding forces of Satan? Be grateful.

God is not found in a faraway place. When you think that God is far away, He is near you. When you feel that He is close to you, He is far away. For those who boasted that Heaven stood close to them, God was actually far away. Those who were sorry that they were far away from God did not know that God was standing next to them.

Do not grieve that your suffering is intensifying; do not mourn that you are faced with persecution. You should be able to say, "Please allow me to shoulder the sorrow that afflicts the Father's heart. Please let me shoulder the anguish that pierces the Father's heart. If I were ever to be falsely accused by Satan or be wronged by him, please allow me to take this by myself and pay indemnity for all the sorrows and pains of history." If there are sons and daughters who can call out to the Father like this and struggle with all their strength and with tearful hearts, the Father will grab them. He will do so without fail.

We do not seek glory. If there is any glory, it belongs to the Father. Sorrow and pain are all that belong to us. We should prepare our minds to digest these sorrows and pains as sources of life. You should feel embarrassed and unworthy when God says, "My child" and embraces you. Then, on the day of judgment, the day that a proclamation will be made before the sad and painful history, God's hands will seek you out even as you kneel down, unable to raise your head.

We should long for the Kingdom of Heaven while we are in a sad situation and living a painful life. We should comfort the sorrowful Lord in mournful history, comfort the Lord of suffering in painful history. If there is someone who praises God and comforts Him even as he himself suffers sorrow and pain, no one can defeat that person. This is our standard. This is the path that the members of the Unification movement should walk.

We do not need many people. We do not need great multitudes. We need people who can say, "Father, I am not the only one suffering. Humanity is suffering all over the world. How many countless people are more miserable than I," even in grief and pain. We need people who can then strive to shoulder humanity's grief as their own responsibility. This was the path Jesus walked.

Heaven has sought true sons and daughters. When you call out "Father" while you are holding the Father's hands and say, "His hands are similar to mine," or while you are looking at the Father you say, "His situation is similar to mine; His heartaches and worries are similar to what I suffered in the past," your words will eliminate all the misfortunes of history and become the decisive condition for happiness. We the members of the Unification movement, Christians, and all faithful people in the world and in Heaven should understand this.

I do not know your circumstances or your states of mind, but if you feel something deep in your heart right now, that feeling is not false. If you feel, "That is true; that is how it should be," then you should make a determination for your life based on that. You should fight based on that and fall down clinging to it. Those who do so will be qualified to become true sons and daughters of the Father who wants to embrace you in the day of judgment.