The providence of restoration in the Completed Testament Age
32 What does the Completed Testament refer to? It refers to the fulfillment of God's covenant to establish the ideal of creation. Then what does the Completed Testament Age refer to? Adam and Eve were supposed to be God's children and complete the ideal of creation, but they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. The Completed Testament Age occurs when they return as the son and daughter on God's side, the ones who can finally represent God's kingship on the world level. On this foundation, we will be able to return to a world that has nothing to do with the Fall, where God will welcome individuals, families, tribes, peoples, nations and the world. (266-325, 1995.01.01)
33 What is the Completed Testament Age? The Completed Testament Age is the time when humankind advances toward God's ideal, which is based on families on earth that center on the Parents' love, a new world free from Satan's accusation. The Completed Testament Age, from the point of view of the Principle, is the realm of the Parents who have completed their portion of responsibility. A covenant entails responsibility. The Fall was the failure to fulfill the human portion of responsibility. The Old Testament refers to the old covenant, the New Testament refers to the new covenant, and the Completed Testament that we are now talking about refers to the time of completing the covenant. Completing the covenant means that all the people of the world complete their portion of responsibility. Because of the prior failure to fulfill human responsibility, our responsibilities as individuals, families, tribes, peoples, nations, the world and cosmos still remain before us. What is more, Satan's world came into existence. Since Satan came into existence because of our failure, we now need to fulfill our responsibility in order to eliminate him. (131-098, 1984.04.16)
34 Looking at God's providence, we can see that it consists of three stages. They are the Old Testament Age, the New Testament Age and the Completed Testament Age. Christians believe that everything was finished with the Old and New Testaments, but that is not the case. They do not know that the Completed Testament Age lies in front of them. Jesus must return to complete the Will; we call this the Completed Testament. We have the Old Testament and the New Testament; those covenants should be completed, should they not? The Lord of the Second Advent comes to this earth to complete the Will. (243-100, 1993.01.03)
35 The Completed Testament Age is the age of fulfillment. We should fulfill its covenant on the levels of the individual, family, tribe, people, nation and world. All these levels should be linked, centered on God's love, God's life and God's lineage. In this way, we will establish one lineage, one love and one life as the tradition. When this happens, Satan will have to leave. This is done by the work of engrafting, which will naturally remove our connection to Satan's lineage. (226-276, 1992.02.09)
36 In the Old Testament Age, the things of creation were sacrificed to pave the way for the Son and, in the New Testament Age, the Son offered himself as a sacrifice to pave the way for the Lord of the Second Advent, the True Parents. In the Completed Testament Age, True Parents sacrifice themselves in order to bring God's vertical love to the earth. In relation to humankind, God is the vertical Parent of true love. True Parents are the horizontal Parents, whose true love is aligned at a ninety-degree angle with the vertical Parent. On the foundation of this vertical and horizontal love, God's love and life will be able to burst forth for the first time. With the virtuous union of husband and wife with God, new blood ties between them will expand, based on the love of True Parents. In this way, the seed of life that began in God's love based on the standard of the original Principle will appear on earth for the first time in human history. (208-340, 1990.11.21)
37 The Old Testament Age was the age when the things of creation were sacrificed to find sons and daughters. In the New Testament Age, sons and daughters were martyred to pave the way for the coming of the Parents. When the Parents come to the earth, they will pave the way for God to come. The mission of the True Parents is to build a horizontal base for the vertical Father, encompassing all the peoples of the world. As the True Father's horizontal realm of heart unfolds, the Heavenly Father's vertical realm of heart will naturally unfold and settle there. When God reaches the point where He can embrace both vertical and horizontal love, for the first time He will make the transition to the age when He can go beyond the fallen- world, attain the core position, and reestablish His original, ideal authority. Then He will say, “Everything is accomplished.” (177-346, 1988.05.22)
38 We look at God as the Lord of our hope and the Lord of our faith. He is also the Lord of our love. God, the Lord of hope, faith and love, guided human history through the Old Testament Age, which represents hope, and the New Testament Age, which represents faith. Therefore, henceforth we need to go through the Completed Testament Age, which represents love. What is the one main element of the Completed Testament Age, that is, the age of the Lord of the Second Advent, which will remain unchanging forever? It is God's love. God's love is the central element overall; it is also the ideal element overall. For the sake of this love, people have walked their providential courses with hope and faith. Nevertheless, if you do not now walk the providential course of love, the foothold of unity on earth will crumble. God needs to set this up, centering on love. (1-090, 1956.06.06) |