Restoring the right of the eldest son
4 When was the lineage leading up to Jesus changed? This is the question. When we look at his lineage from the perspective of the Cain-Abel relationship, what happened? The change of lineage had to take place in the womb of a mother. The fact that the son on Satan’s side was born first violated Heavens law; this had to be changed in the mother’s womb. Therefore, God’s work through Cain and Abel was to have the younger brother restore the right of eldest son. How was it done? It was by reversing their positions after birth. Hence, even for all humankind, after their birth their positions have to be reversed; with their levels gradually narrowing down from the world, nation, people and so on, until the positions were reversed on the closest level-for instance the twins, Esau and Jacob. It was easier to reverse the positions through twins. (139-300, 1986.01.31)
5 We have to establish the rights of both the elder and younger sons on God’s side and go beyond the realm of the Fall; only then can we stand for the first time in the original world that has nothing to do with the Fall. This is the original ideal of creation. As God is absolute, His ideal also remains absolute. In order to achieve the original ideal, at some point in history we must go through a course of restoration through indemnity. (134-306, 1985.08.16)
6 How difficult it is to restore the right of the eldest son! Countless religious people were sacrificed for this purpose. Christianity underwent dreadful persecution under the Roman Empire for four hundred years, and much blood was shed in order to subjugate the domain of Satan’s world. In Rome, the early Christians built deep and extensive caves called the Catacombs. There they buried the corpses of their ancestors underneath their altars and lived inhaling those odors day and night. They lived under such conditions because they believed it was for God’s will. Otherwise, who could do such a thing? Under normal standards, no one could. Imagine how much God has suffered. You have no idea how much effort He has made throughout history. (140-205, 1986.02.09)
7 Each of you has been called to establish a clan in which you can claim the right of the eldest son. In order for your clan to receive blessings, they must first support your right as the eldest son; then they can receive the blessings that you would like to bestow upon them. The right of the eldest son is not for you yourself. You must connect it to the vertical heavenly world centered on the coming Lord. You cannot do this through only the horizontal, physical world. Since I came to know this path, it was inevitable that I would set up the logic of living for the sake of others. We were born for the sake of others. Man was born for the sake of woman, and vice-versa. You must not have the concept of “myself.” (136-131, 1985.12.22)
8 To reach God, we need to pass through seven levels, from the individual to the family, tribe, people, nation, world and cosmos. When we have fulfilled restoration through each of these seven levels, we can reach the position of the original eldest son who has nothing to do with the Fall. Adam and Eve were the first son and first daughter. The first son and daughter were to go through the realm of indirect dominion and connect to the realm of direct dominion while receiving the love God has for His elder child, rather than the love He has for His younger children. Therefore, the position and right of the elder child must be restored at each level as we go up. This is the battle I have been fighting. (138-135, 1986.01.19)
9 Because Adam and Eve fell and lost their relationship with God, there was no way for Cain or Abel to unite vertically with God either. Since fallen Adam and Eve had no standard by which to make a vertical relationship with God, their failure had to be restored through Cain and Abel. Adam and Eve having lost this vertical standard, for us to recover the right of God’s legitimate children, what we require is True Parents, who establish the vertical relationship, and their children who will become totally one with these Parents. These are the two conditions that are needed. We cannot ascend to this level in the position of adopted children. Unless we stand in the position of their legitimate children who have nothing to do with the Fall, we cannot become one with God and rise to the standard of perfection. Therefore, we must pass through that stage. Even if we say we are God’s children, or that Cain and Abel have become one, until the foundation of the True Parents who are untouched by the Fall is achieved, there is no way for us to rise vertically. That is why God had to set up the standard of True Parents. (55-137, 1972.05.07)
10 As in the time of Cain and Abel, the brothers Esau and Jacob fought—but in the womb. At that time, Rebekah wondered why her two children were fighting in her womb, and she prayed to God about this. God told her, “Two nations are in your womb... and the elder shall serve the younger.” (Gen. 25:23) They had to go through such a fight in order that the position of the elder son could be restored by the younger son. (139-303, 1986.01.31)
11 Esau and Jacob, the older and younger brothers, were born as twins so they could completely understand each other’s hearts. In the case of twins, when the younger brother is sad the older brother also is sad. That is how they connect to each other. Through these twins, who were so close to each other, God carried out the providence of restoration. The person who had to accomplish this restoration was the mother. After the Fall, Eve as a mother gave birth to Cain, so this time a mother had to carry out the process of restoration through mother-son cooperation. Here the mother worked with Jacob to take the, birthright, the right of the eldest son from Esau by deceiving Isaac. (139-301, 1986.01.31)
12 The right of the eldest son is recovered through mother-son cooperation. When the older brother Esau returned from hunting, he sold his right as the firstborn son to Jacob for bread and lentil stew. This set the condition for Jacob to restore the right to be the eldest son. Because Esau sold his birthright to Jacob, Esau had to surrender to him in reality. If he had not sold his birthright, Jacob and Rebekah would not have been entitled to take it by deceit. It could not have happened without such a condition. This is how Jacob could have the opportunity to be given the name “Israel.” In other words, for the first time the right of the eldest son was restored, and this marked the emergence of the realm of Israel. The right of the eldest son was changed through twin brothers, but it had not yet been changed within the womb. Then what happened? The fourth son of Jacob was Judah. Judah had three sons, and his first daughter-in-law was a woman named Tamar. Tamar knew the value of the lineage blessed by God. Therefore, she was willing to do whatever was necessary to inherit that lineage. (139-301, 1986.01.31)
13 Tamar conceived two children, and they struggled in her womb. When she prayed to God, God answered Tamar as He had answered Rebekah the mother of Esau and Jacob, which was by saying: “Two nations are in your womb... and the elder shall serve the younger (Gen. 25:23) In the same way, Perez and Zerah were born to set the condition of two clans struggling in the womb with the purpose that the older would serve the younger. During their birth, the older brother Zerah’s hand came out first. The midwife tied a red string to it. His was a symbol representing future generations and was a forewarning that communism would appear among his descendants. However, Perez recovered the right of the elder by pushing his older brother aside in order to be born first. This was the first time the second son restored the first son’s position in the womb. He was given the name Perez, meaning “he who made a breech at birth” while pushing his brother out of the way. In this way, God worked with Rebekah and Tamar through a course of struggle to change the lineage. Finally, within the womb, the first son was made the second son and the second son was made the first son. The right of the eldest son began from that point in the history of the Israelites. From then on, God could help them at any time. Whenever anyone attempted to destroy them, Heaven struck back. The history of Israel records that that God mercilessly struck any Gentile nation that tried to destroy the Israelites. (139-303, 1986.01.31) |