Cheon Seong Gyeong Ⅱ - 181. The origin and value of the Blessing
10 In the Bible we learn that the human ancestors, Adam and Eve, fell. The Fall means that they failed, and failing means that they did not pass their test. Another way to look at it is that they contracted a sickness. Therefore, history began with sorrow and tears instead of joy. For sure it was not filled with blessings. Where was the word “Blessing” to have begun? The history of the Blessing should have begun with Adam and Eve. There should have been someone to receive the Blessing and someone to give it. If Adam and Eve were the ones to receive the Blessing, then God was the one to give it. In this sense, human beings were created to receive the Blessing from God. By giving them the Blessing, God would have had continuous relationships with all people. Therefore, the Blessing belongs to God and, at the same time, to human beings. (91-207, 1977.02.20)
11 Since Adam and Eve fell at the completion level of the growth stage, in the course of restoration as well, the originating point of the Blessing from True Parents begins at the completion level of the growth stage. That is the stage when you receive the Blessing. After receiving it, you then have to pass through a seven-year course before you can stand at the level of perfection. Even I have to pass through this course just as you do. It is our common destiny to have to pass through this course. (25-027, 1969.09.21)
12 The term, “the Blessing” did not begin with the Unification Church. It has been the hope in God’s innermost heart—something He has pursued and strived to fulfill while leading the providence through history. God had wanted to fulfill this hope by giving Adam and Eve the Blessing of marriage after He created them in the Garden of Eden. However, to this day, no one has ever received this Blessing. God has been in the sorrowful position of waiting throughout human history to see the realization of His hope for the Blessing. After working in history for four thousand years, God sent Jesus to this earth for the purpose of finally realizing the Blessing that He had desired to give human beings. Jesus was doing God’s providential work, but he was crucified before he could receive the Blessing. Throughout subsequent history, many Christians struggled and shed blood as martyrs, but still God’s hope remained unfulfilled. God walked the path of suffering along with them to see His dream come true, but until now He couldn’t find that day. Only with the coming of that day will His bitter grief in history be dissolved, and the dream that He has nursed throughout history be fulfilled. (30-164, 1970.03.22)
13 The Fall occurred at the completion level of the growth stage, and we have to reverse its course to be restored to the original state. Adam and Eve fell through the misuse of love. In the course of our restoration as well, when we reach the stage Adam and Eve were in when they fell, we also must overcome this problem of love. Up to the present, people have been receiving love from the false parent, Satan. To overcome this problem of Satan’s love, there is no other way but to connect to True Parents’ love, which is centered on God. Therefore, human beings, who have inherited the fallen parent’s lineage in the realm of the Fall, must meet True Parents and unite vertically with them to find their way along the path that leads beyond the realm of the Fall. The Divine Principle teaches that we must take that position. However, it cannot be fulfilled alone; it requires that men and women be paired as couples. This is the Blessing conducted in the Unification Church. Therefore, the Blessing cannot be performed based on how you want it; it must be done centered on the Parents, the vertical center. (55-137, 1972.05.07)
14 Human beings lost all things of creation due to the Fall. Satan also defiled their substance—their bodies—and took away their hearts. Everything must be restored through indemnity. Hence, we must put God at the center of our lives and resolve the problem of all things, the problem of substance and the problem of heart. Also, unless we pass through the completion stage, we cannot attain the standard of perfection. This is a principle and law. Thus, all the lost things of creation must be restored and the defiled substance of human beings must be restored. The stolen heart has to be restored as well. When we look at this horizontally, all things represent formation, substance represents growth and heart represents completion. (55-138, 1972.05.07)
15 People commonly use the word “blessing” to denote the highest value. When businesses are successful, people say they are blessed; it means that they are fortunate. They also say they are fortunate when they have a good son or daughter. However, the Blessing is to be received by men and women. What is great about the Blessing received by a man and a woman? First, it is to begin a relationship of love in the very place where life is created. This is the most precious thing. Next, the Blessing is where a man and a woman connect to the life that does not belong only to human beings, but to God, who is the center of eternal life. It is where they inherit the ideal of love where their love is not only their own love but is connected with God’s eternal love. Upon this foundation, they should strive to fulfill the ideal of life. This truly is a blessed life. (91-208, 1977.02.20)
16 The Blessing is to receive and inherit the bond with the True Parents of Heaven and Earth. Although God could not realize the relationship of heart that He wanted to have with Adam and Eve after the creation, through the Blessing thousands of generations of descendants will come forth, fulfilling God's hope for a world that will last for eternity. God’s hope that was not realized in the beginning has been bequeathed to us today. We inherit that hope as representatives of True Father and True Mother. We inherit the glorious medals and plaques that True Father and True Mother received and all their great, victorious achievements in their fight against Satan’s world. (158-021, 1967.11.10)
17 The Unification Church is the only place since the beginning of history that lays out a systematic path to the salvation of the family. That is why families that believe in the teachings and follow the way of the Unification Church will be able to receive salvation and enter the kingdom of heaven. Our mass weddings are the ceremonies that create such families. The world sneers at us and says all kinds of nasty things, but it does not know what an amazing and astonishing thing the content of the Blessing is. We must become true sons and daughters who are one with the principles of heaven and earth and who share in both the heart of heaven and the heart of human beings. We should then form families in the position of God’s true first sons and true first daughters, and live our lives on this earth with God as our center. When we do this, we can fulfill the purpose of our life as true human beings born on earth and fulfill God’s original purpose for creating human beings. This is the path true people have to follow. (41-314, 1971.02.17)
18 We stand on the foundation of the merit of True Parents, who have been walking the course of restoration. Our value is now higher than that of Adam and Eve who fell in the Garden of Eden. Therefore you are within the realm of authority where you can represent the standard of a people, tribe, family and couple, all of which Jesus was unable to attain. If you follow the standard of faith that is absolutely united with the Word, and if you are absolutely united with the life and heart of the True Parents, you can receive the Blessing from God without any problem. (76-080, 1975.01.26)
19 Centering on whom can you receive the Blessing? Centering on the Parents. They are the True Parents, in whom you can place your absolute faith. You would be punished if you received the Blessing without being able to say with absolute conviction, “I have come forth because of my relationship with True Parents, with their flesh and blood. No force in the universe can sever this relationship.” In the future, if you violate this condition and fail, your life will become miserable. You have appeared as a representative of history and the representative of your good ancestors. You stand in a solemn position, representing all your good ancestors and your tribe in this era. (30-226, 1970.03.23)
20 You will be able to return to God only if you can feel from the tips of your fingers to the ends of your toes that you have been completely reborn through the love of True Parents and are grateful for it. However, there are all sorts of things tying you down, so you must kick all of them away and move beyond them. That is the path you are destined to take, no matter how tremendously difficult it may be. How many people without even a twig to grab on have fallen into the abyss? Countless individuals, families, tribes and countless nations have been destroyed, because while on the path they fell off the cliff and died. However, if someone could build a bridge that spans the abyss between the cliffs, such a thing would be worth more than nations and even more than the world. That precious bridge has now been built for you, thanks to your relationship with True Parents. It is more valuable than receiving all of heaven and earth. (35-234, 1970.10.19)
21 Satan’s blood is churning in your veins. Therefore, after cursing and trampling on your unworthy self and repenting in shame for having nothing in you that God can accept, you must come to the place of the Blessing. True Parents suffered to open this way for you, so you need to come with love and gratitude deep in your heart. At the place of Blessing, you must not measure good or bad based on your own thought and brain. Right there your lineage is changed; your bloodline is actually changed. The place of the Blessing is the very best place you can be in the entire world. It is impossible to attain the place of the Blessing on your own; you attain it solely by virtue of the love of True Parents. When a child is born from his parents, whether he is good-looking or not, the child resembles his parents. In the same way, in the Unification Church you are taught the way to become true parents. For you, that is the blessing of blessings. (35-235, 1970.10.18) |