Sermons of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon
Let Us Regain the Victorious Nation
Genesis 1:27-28, 2:15-7, Acts 1:1-9
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea
January 4, 1959
Prayer
Beloved Father, thank You for allowing us this day of the new year. We have come before You in this first hour, so please allow us to offer You a true bow, without blemish. Let this be a joyful hour for You. We eagerly desire that You forgive our having been disloyal to You. Guide us to become able to abandon all we have for the sake of the providential Will and to more than faithfully serve Your altar. Please lead us in this hour. We sincerely desire that You accept our bodies and minds as we offer them to You. Please be present and give us Your words of command.
Father, all we have been fighting for this year, centering on the Will, must bear victorious fruit. Please allow us to exert all our effort and bring pleasing results to You. We sincerely pray that You grant the grace that Your sons and daughters can enjoy and bestow a mark of victory upon Your chosen ones. Everywhere lonely brothers and sisters across the country bow before You, spread Your loving and gracious hands and send Your grace of compassion.
We sincerely desire that You allow us to be the sons and daughters who can manifest full loyalty to Your Will for the whole. We sincerely pray that You extend Your loving hands and compassionate grace everywhere Your name is used. Please take charge of all the affairs here today. We prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The title of today's speech is "Let Us Regain the Victorious Nation," meaning "Let Us Regain Israel." Since "Israel" means victory, I will speak on the title "Let Us Regain the Victorious Nation."
The Providential History for the Sake of Restoring the Lost Love
In the passage just read from Genesis, it says that God created man and blessed him. Yet this blessing was not a realized blessing; it was a blessing of promise. Thus, Adam and Eve aspired to the day when they could dominate all things with great hope. God asked Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said, "In the day you eat of it, you shall die." (Genesis 2:17) Thus, Adam and Eve were to live and cherish the blessed hope in their hearts. Only when they believed in and followed the Word could they start a family as the son and daughter who could fulfill God's Will. This was the Principle.
We human beings must have a hope. Next, after we possess hope, we should make an eternal relationship. A relationship is made through the process of faith. We can receive God's love when our hope and faith are realized. This is the Principle. For this reason, Paul said in I Corinthians 13, "And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." We human beings, however, have lost hope and faith through the fall. By losing hope and faith, we have lost love centered on God. We should know that the 6,000-year history of the providence of restoration was for the sake of restoring this love.
Now, in place of Adam and Eve, we should have, as our hope, the blessing God allowed before all things and heed and adhere to God's admonitions and prohibitions to make this hope our own. It cannot be otherwise. Only when we possess God-centered hope and faith and then win in the life of praxis can we realize the level of individual restoration where we can receive God's love. We should know that any individual, family, church, and even all things are placed within this realm. God created the world with such an ideal. Since all these were lost through the fall, humanity has been searching for hope, faith and love until now.
Thus, if we reconsider the 6,000 years, in the Old Testament Age, effort was exerted with hope in view. In the New Testament Age, effort was made in search of faith. Thus, you should know that the coming Completed Testament Age is the age when one gives effort in search of love.
In the Old Testament Age, which was the providential age to find hope, circumcision was the condition for chosen people. In the New Testament Age, baptism of water and fire (through the Holy Spirit) established faith before God. You should know that in the coming Completed Testament Age, you can enter into the loving relationship with God by receiving His seal of love.
What has the 6,000 years of history sought to achieve? It has sought to regain the hope, faith and love which were lost due to the fall. God has been toiling to regain them. Today, however, we should have passed beyond the time of hope and faith and be in the age of love. Yet we remain in the age of faith.
What did hope symbolize? It symbolized God's new Word. What did faith symbolize? It meant becoming true sons and daughters of God. Faith was sought to establish true sons and daughters. In the future, God's love will be established only when the individual self is complete and the family is found.
We Should Restore the Kingdom of Heaven with Hope, Faith and Love
In the 6,000 year work of restoration, God has been able to be the God of hope and the God of faith, but never the God of love. What then must we do?
Based on the God of hope and the God of faith, we should create an environment in which we can serve the God of love. Now is an important time when such circumstances must be attained. So far, a life of faith has been a matter of finding one's individual self; that is, to restore a sinless original individual in the position of the lost Adam and Eve.
Now what is it that God wants in the end? First, He wants to find a family where individuals are united centering on God's love. Centering on the family He can love, God then wants to find the tribe, nation and world which unfold from it. This is the whole Will of God.
Thus, before the times of hope and faith pass by, we should attain all hope and faith. Our individual selves should amalgamate the fruits of the entire 6,000 years of God's providence: that is, they should take the shape of perfect Adam and Eve. We should then form a new family centered on God's love. You should know this.
Jesus came to the earth with the promise of the heavenly kingdom, but he left without fulfilling it. Saints and sages of the past witnessed to Heaven, but left without realizing their intentions. Thus, we must reclaim the heavenly kingdom, which has been sought after by all historical hopes and faiths, the garden of victory.
What then must we do today? We must find an individual who will please God, and then a family that will please God. To find the family, you must find true parents, a true couple, and true brothers and sisters.
The history of God's providence was for the sake of regaining this. Thus, the Old Testament Age symbolized hope, and the New Testament Age symbolized faith. In the future, there will come the age that symbolizes love. That can be called the "Completed Testament Age." That connection is being extended from Heaven to the earth.
Hence, before Jesus came, the people of the Old Testament Age were individuals of hope for God. The New Testament people at the time of Jesus were objects who could establish faith for God. In the Completed Testament Age, however, God will try to find an individual who can love beyond those who represent hope and faith. You must know that this is the entire Will for which God has been leading the providence for 6,000 years.
In the last days, if you want to stand before God as a sacrifice of love or a substantial being who possesses love, you should be able to represent God's wish, hope and faith. Along with meeting this qualification, you should resolve the sorrow of God's inner shimjung, with which He grieved, suffered and was mistreated for 6,000 years. Only then can you receive God's love.
Because of this love, God's sorrow, pain and battle came into being. Therefore, in order for you to receive God's love, you should first resolve His sorrow and pain and take over His battle. You then should receive God's blessing as He says, "You are proud sons and daughters who fought in My place and won." Only then can you receive God's love.
The Saints Who Should Become God's Beloved Israel
Today we should receive God's love, but we do not need God's love as it was received in the ages of hope and faith. We should go past the age of grudges and receive God's direct blessing, with which He says, "I love you alone." Only when you resolve the sorrows of heaven and earth through the conditions of love can you make a husband-wife relationship with Jesus and receive God's love. This is the general content of the providence of restoration.
If you become an individual able to receive God's love, you represent the Old, New and Completed Testament Ages. Thus, you must accomplish one will, uniting with the spirits in Paradise, the Christians now on earth, and the saints of the new age who will emerge at the time of the Second Coming.
You know well that, in the last days, the people of the past who lived in the realms of faith oriented to hope and faith, the countless spirits of the Old and New Testament Ages, cannot stand before God and receive God's love without going through the Completed Testament people. Hence, we must win over everything in heaven and earth and become a substantial fruit of history.
Looking at the entire providence of Heaven, the spirits now in Paradise are the Israel of hope. The Christians now on earth are the Israel of faith. In the future, a new world of Israel must come. This is the Israel of love. Thus, you should be an Israel who can receive God's love. You should become an Israel who has proof of love. Only then can you complete the condition of having passed the ages of hope and faith and stand before God without shame. You must realize this. With this in mind, we call the saints before Jesus the first Israel, the saints after Jesus who believe in him the second Israel, and those who will serve the Second Coming and live in the realm of God's direct love are the third Israel.
For this reason, the people who stand in the position of the third Israel are ones who appear in history for the first time. They are the first people since the creation of the world who can represent God's shimjung and relate to God directly, upholding the word "love." If such people do not appear, God's providence of hope and faith will all be shattered. Hence, we must be able to feel how important is our mission.
There are representatives of the second Israel living here on earth. In the spiritual world, there are representatives of the first Israel. The third Israel, whom God can command, has not yet been formed. Furthermore, the formation of the tribe, church and family has not been accomplished.
In relation to what God wants to do on the earth, from the times of Jacob, Moses and Jesus, He has been establishing such heavenly numbers as twelve brothers, twelve elders, and twelve disciples. By establishing all the Principle numbers of Heaven, God unifies all the people in heaven and earth, through connecting them to one order. This is the purpose of God's providence. The door of the heavenly kingdom will then open, but the door of the heavenly kingdom should not be opened only in heaven. It has to be opened and widened on the earth as well.
The Meaning and Importance of Tribal Formation
We should know that the heavenly gate, constrained under the limitation of locality, has been gradually widened because the believers in Jesus have been increasing in number. This is God's hope. Thus, in the last days, you should become glorious by winning over Satan for the sake of the Will of restoration and by representing heaven and earth. For this, all of creation now must go through the heavenly gate.
Today the question is to which tribe you belong. No matter how many denominations of Christianity there are now, they must belong to one of twelve tribes, representing the twelve disciples. Yet there has been no tribal formation through which God can control, move and command the earth. God worries about this earth even today.
The twelve tribes in Moses' time represented the twelve brothers in Jacob's age. The people from Abraham to Moses who were instituted as the chosen people were of the national type of restoration, representing the tribes of the providential age, centering on Jacob. Hence, the children who multiplied for the 400 years, centering on the twelve tribes, all had to belong to a tribe. The people within the realm of the Mosaic tribes had to be subsumed into the realm of the tribes of Jesus, centering on the twelve disciples, for they had the mission of worldwide restoration. The nation of Israel, which had been formed through Moses, had to be organized into Jesus' tribes, centering on the twelve disciples. We know that such a restoration mission remains to be done.
If Jesus had not died and the Will had been realized, the spirits of the Old Testament could have become the second Israel. Those who believed in Jesus and received the true love of Heaven could have become the third Israel. Since this was not achieved, however, the Will concerning the second Israel remained unfulfilled. Moreover, because of this lack of fulfillment, the Will has been prolonged. Even now, 2,000 years later, Christians are carrying out the mission that originally belonged to the chosen people at the time of Jesus. We should understand that that Jesus could not organize the tribes, centering on the twelve disciples, through which he could take the command of Israel on the earth was the sorrow of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Today, then, we should realize the purpose of God and Jesus. What should be done first? We should organize a tribe God can set up on the earth representing the entire world. In a tribal formation, there are the twelve sons of Jacob, the twelve elders of Moses, and the twelve disciples of Jesus. The relationship between Jacob and his twelve sons was that of father and son. Thus, the relationship between Moses and the twelve elders should have been like that of father and son, yet it failed to become so. Jesus and his disciples should have had a father-son relationship; yet they failed to do so. We should know that this is the basis upon which a condition of sorrow remained in the course of the providence of restoration.
If the Israelites had served Moses as the father of their nation, if they had made a father-son relationship with him, recognizing him as the God-installed father of the nation who could lead them into heavenly victory and had they gone to Canaan in such a relationship, they never would have betrayed Moses. Yet, since Moses and the twelve tribes failed to make a father-son relationship, they could not feel any sadness, even when Moses felt sorrow. Since their relationship began to tear apart, God's Will to restore through love was shattered, and the chosen 600,000 Israelites fell in the wilderness.
The Conditions Required for Tribal Formation
After this, centering on Joshua and Caleb, the Israelites entered into Canaan and lived there. Their hope was to receive the Lord.
Why was Jesus necessary? Since they failed to serve Moses as the father of the nation, they had to wait for the day they could receive the father of the world. In other words, they waited and prepared for the Messiah who would come as the true father. If, after the birth of the Messiah, they had respected the heavenly Will and had made a father- son relationship with Jesus along with the disciples, they could have never separated from Jesus. Also, the disciples could have never separated from one another. We know that Israel's inability to make a father- son relationship to receive the love of Jesus and God has become a sorrow of history today.
Thus, in this time, we should find representatives like the tribal leaders for which God has been looking and create a father- son relationship centered on the love of the returning Lord. Otherwise, God's providential Will cannot be completed. You should understand this.
We human beings, however, who have been going through the course of restoration, came to stand in the position of having lost everything by betraying the Will of God, who led the providence for 4,000 years through Jacob, Moses and Jesus. We are standing in the position of having destroyed the Will of God, who worked for 4,000 years from Adam to Jesus. Thus, we should take responsibility for the sins of the nation, and for all the effort of the 2,000 years since the time of Jesus.
Hoping to bear such a responsibility, to organize new tribes, and to be related to Jesus as father and son are the current situations we Christians face. Thus, you should take all that your ancestors have left undone as your inheritance and go on, looking to form the tribes in a reverse way.
How is the tribal formation carried out? To become a part of the nation of Israel, one had to receive circumcision in the time of Abraham and baptism in the time of Jesus. You should know, however, that from now on one must receive the seals of Jesus and the Father. This is an important issue in our making a new tribal formation. You need the seals of Jesus and the Father. God has been leading the providence for 6,000 years for this. To pass beyond the Old Testament Age of hope and New Testament Age of faith and enter into the Completed Testament Age of love, we must establish the position where God can grasp us and love us.
Today you are in such a process. After you have become a perfected and consecrated individual, you should strive for the original family of Adam, which God tried to establish. In this way you become brothers and sisters of Adam.
The people, who lost their parents, have gone through a historical course whereby the brothers and sisters united and regained the parents. One must find it from Adam's family through Noah and Jacob's families. Thus, after an individual gains recognition from the Father, there comes a time when he has to reach out for his brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters are not simply my siblings. Only when the Parents who establish the standard to complete the 2,000 years of God's providence from Adam to Jacob and who are able to represent the heavenly family appear will there be the twelve brothers. Similarly, in the course of the providence of restoration, after our individual selves receive recognition from the Father, we should go through the number three of Adam's family, number three of Noah's family, number three of Jacob's family, and then the number twelve of Jacob's family. Furthermore, after going through this, we should go through the number seventy and then the number 120, in the form of disciples.
Now is the time to find true brothers and sisters. Only after true brothers and sisters are found can True Parents be found. We do not find brothers and sisters after the Parents. The Parents can be found only after the brothers and sisters. Looking from this standpoint, there are many who live in the reverse way. Thus, if someone seeks True Parents, he should know that without going through true brothers and sisters, True Parents cannot be served.
The Reason the Numbers Three and Twelve had to be Restored
What God is most worried about now is not that there are no True Parents representing Heaven, but that there are no true brothers and sisters. You should know this. Jesus, who had to take responsibility for such a providential Will, chose the three disciples and the twelve to place them in the position of true brothers and sisters. We should know the sad fact, however, that by the failure of the three and twelve disciples to unite, the way of restoring the Parents was destroyed.
We should know that only when we go through the position of true children and the gate of the True Parents can we receive heavenly love, which has remained as the hope of the 6,000 years of providence. This time will inevitably come. Hence, you should win in the Cain-Abel conflict within yourselves. Before God, we are the bride and Jesus is the groom. Jesus is the Abel and we are the Cain. We should be united with Jesus, the Abel.
What should we do to be united with Jesus? The bride cannot go by herself and receive the bridegroom, Jesus. She can meet him only when she is united with the brothers and sisters. Jesus comes with the name of the bridegroom. What shall be sought after going through the gate of the bridegroom? The lost family of Heaven will be sought. It must be found.
What shall we do first as we pioneer the path to victory and seek to receive God's true love? In regard to the mind and body, we must subdue the sins of the mind and become able to completely and freely control the body in daily life, according to the mind's direction. Taking the bridegroom, Jesus, as the Abel, my body in the position of the bride and Cain should become completely one with him. This is not the end of the matter. The problem is that after I become completely one with the bridegroom, Jesus, I must reach the people who represent the three disciples Jesus tried hard to find. I must also find people who will represent the twelve disciples.
Why did Jesus seek the three disciples? He had to stand in the position of true Adam by restoring three disciples representing the three sons of Adam's family. Where did the nation of Israel begin? It began from Jacob. Only after the three people representing the three sons of Adam's family were found at the time of Jacob was the victorious condition established. Furthermore, based on the three sons, the twelve disciples had to be united and establish a victorious foundation on the earth. Since the three and twelve disciples all betrayed him, however, Jesus could do nothing but die.
Thus, in order for us to stand in the position of Jesus' bride today, we should fulfill the few conditions through which he tried to create an ideal family on the earth, but which he left unrealized owing to his death. Otherwise, we cannot meet the Lord as the bride.
The course of restoring the number three of Adam's family in our church is the organization of trinities. Thus, if you cannot become one centering on the trinity, you cannot come before God.
By the unity of the trinity, we can fulfill God's Will, which seeks to restore what was lost in Adam's family. In the time of Jacob, 2,000 years later, the providential Will was carried on with twelve brothers. Likewise, only when the twelve disciples become one, based on the number three, can you serve the Parents and enter into the realm of the tribe where you represent one tribe. This was the absolute standard to indemnify the 2,000 years' of history from Adam to Jacob. Therefore, Moses and Jesus also had to walk this path.
To Become a Member of the Heavenly Family
Moses, however, did not know the meaning of the twelve tribes and the seventy elders in the providential Will. Jesus, however, knew that he had to realize the historical connection by choosing three, twelve and seventy disciples on the earth. For this reason, he made this providential effort. Jesus absolutely had to stand on the national foundation with this preparation.
Yet the responsibility to prepare the national foundation belonged to John the Baptist, not Jesus. The failure of John the Baptist resulted in the disintegration of the national foundation and the shattering of all the effort of the 4,000-year providence. Hence, we know that Jesus embarked upon the second course in which he went back to Adam's family and tried to establish three disciples, twelve disciples, seventy elders, and 120 disciples. We should know, however, that since the chosen Israelites were all abandoned by God, the fishermen and Gentiles, who had not previously believed, inherited this blessing.
After Jesus departed, where did the tribe of the three disciples go? Nowhere. After Jesus departed, where did the tribe of the twelve disciples go? Nowhere. Although they set up the condition with respect to the Word, the seventy elders and the 120 disciples could not establish the conditions in substance. We should know that without restoring this, God's Will can never be fulfilled.
In the age of the Second Coming, which must bear the worldwide mission, the person of the Second Coming has to establish the foundation Jesus tried to create to realize the Will. Otherwise, he cannot complete the mission of restoration.
Therefore, Heaven will first realize the standard of finding the three disciples. The three should be able to live and die together representing Heaven. Next, the number twelve should be found. This is the minimum foundation for Heaven. The next thing we must do is to create the families of the heavenly kingdom, because in order for there to be a people, families must first exist. Thus, we can serve the Parents only after finding the family. This is the reverse way.
The Old Testament Age was the age of reclaiming a people. The New Testament Age was that of reclaiming the children. The Completed Testament Age is that of reclaiming the Parents. Since the age of restoring the family began from the New Testament Age, Jesus introduced love and founded the principle of love.
In what positions are we, we who must go through the age of restoration into the age of the ideal? Although Jesus came with the responsibility of carrying out the elder son's mission and standing before God on the earth, he did not fulfill it. It has been prolonged another 2,000 years. Thus, our mission is to restore this through indemnity. We should know that we, the saints in the last days, are in such an important position.
What should you do to become a member of the heavenly family? You must satisfy the minimum requirement of Heaven; that is, the number lost in Noah's family. When you fulfill the number three, however, can you then stand before God? Not yet. Because the number representing the three sons of Adam's family was completed in the time of Jacob, now not only the condition of three brothers, but also the condition of twelve must be satisfied. You should know that only then can we establish on the earth the standard of restoring the heavenly family and come before God. Men and women all have this responsibility. You can progress toward the position of the parents in the new age only when you restore the three brothers, centering on yourself.
What are the last days? It is the time when the Parents appear. The cosmic parents, the national parents, and the family parents appear. Only when you model yourselves after the cosmic parents and parents of the church can you go searching for the family parents.
Conditions for Becoming a Heavenly People
In the 6,000-year history of the providence of restoration, God has led the dispensation for humankind from the position of the True Parents and cosmic Parents. Jesus and the Holy Spirit did the providential work with the second Israel from the position of the national parents.
Since Jesus represented the mission of the nation and of the church, he stood in the position of chief priest. Thus, you should follow Jesus and become chief priests and true parents of the family who can stand before God. You should know that this is the central point of providence which God must establish on the earth in the last days. Hence, in the position of the parents of the church, Jesus left behind the word of the Second Coming in order to continue toward the position of worldwide parents.
The one who comes with the mission of the worldwide chief priest is the True Parent of the world. That is how it goes. Looking upon this earth today, however, there are no true parents of the cosmos, of the church, nor of the family.
How does one become a true parent? Each one should serve the parent of the church, who is in the position of the chief priest of the church. Without this, one cannot become a parent of the family. In turn, the parent of the church cannot act as such without serving the cosmic parent. Since this providential pattern remains incomplete, God's Will has not been fulfilled thus far.
What should we do now, we who must conclude the entire mission of restoration? First, we should find and serve the cosmic parents and churchly parents. Only then is one qualified to become a family parent.
A country has a representative, a tribe has the tribal representative, and a family has a family representative. Since a person has a connection with the whole world, he can become part of a heavenly people only when he serves the parents of the cosmos, the church and the family.
For what is it that the whole of humankind is searching today? They are looking for the cosmic parents. Christians desire for the parents of the church to appear. The time when the cosmic parents appear is the day of the Second Coming. Yet the providence of bringing together the parents of the church has not been fulfilled yet.
Heaven's providential Will has been upheld for 6,000 years, yet the mission of the Second Coming still remains. Who should take the responsibility of the chief priest centering on the church? Although the providence of the groom and bride has been achieved within the realm of promise, no one has yet proceeded to the position of the True Parents who can live centering upon the church. Until the position of the True Parents is determined, the True Family, constituted of True Children, cannot be attained. Furthermore, until the position of the cosmic Parents is determined, the position of the church Parents cannot be determined.
Today, even though fallen people have parents, they are not True Parents, recognized by God. Our task in the last days is to serve the cosmic, church and family parents while we are alive. In other words, we should serve the parents of three generations. The family represents the people, the church represents the children, and the cosmic parents represent the True Parents.
People living on the earth today are outside the realm of True Parents' love, which is approved by God. The sad fact is that the flesh and blood relationship with the parents does not extend into the spiritual world. You must realize that only when the family, church and cosmic parents and the love of God mingle and harmonize can we enter into the whole love realm of the 6,000 years and lift up our faces before God. This is the path we human beings must tread.
Our Position and Task
Where are we standing now? We have not yet entered the position of the family True Parents. We must gain this position, but it cannot be done without cost. Why? Since the fall occurred, to rise again, the bridge of brotherhood must be constructed. Even if we must sacrifice all that we have, we should set up the standard of having indemnified the historical condition of resolving grudges to find the True Parents and to become true parents ourselves. Otherwise, Heaven cannot tolerate you.
What then is your task? Since you must serve the Parents, you should prepare the foundation of brotherhood. This is the meaning of the trinities. Only when the brothers and sisters of a trinity prepare the center to serve the heavenly parents, and the three and twelve brothers become one can they receive the qualification to be a heavenly family. This family should extend beyond the parents. It should assume the form of representing the church, the nation and the country. On this basis, it should prepare the standard for serving the Parents.
After this, it must assume the form of the church and prepare to serve the worldwide Parents. Although the family standard was set up in the time of Jacob, it was destroyed through the disbelief of the descendants. Although the national standard of the family and parents was set up in the time of Moses, it was dismantled again through disbelief. Although Jesus came and tried to prepare the worldwide standard of the family, this Will was shattered through lack of faith.
Thus, even though a person has hope and faith today, he does not have love. We lost hope, faith and love through the fall. Therefore, those of us who have the destiny to regain these should have new hope and new faith. Furthermore, we should create a brotherhood that can harmonize with the new hope and faith and achieve oneness. You must manifest, in your substantial being, the standard that can represent the entire Will. The Will was sought after through hope from the time of Jacob and through faith from the time of Jesus. Only when we have satisfied all these substantial conditions can God call us "people of hope and faith."
Hitherto, people have looked at God with hope and faith. When a substantial being appears on the earth who brings together hope and faith, God can have hope in him. God's love can only make a connection with the world when God can have hope and trust in us.
Conjugal love will come only when parental love is established in your center, according to the principle of restoration through indemnity. Furthermore, only with parental and conjugal love can brotherly love come into being. That is the way it is. Parental love is one. Conjugal love multiplies centering on the parents, and brotherly love multiplies representing the couple. Parental love starts with one and gradually extends itself. In search of this, we fallen people start with the smallest stage of brotherly love. The ideal world cannot be constructed without starting off with brotherly love.
How Do We Serve the True Parents?
How do we serve the True Parents? We should become true couples and form true families. Only then can we serve the True Parents. It is good that you trust and follow me, but other people should be able to trust and follow you as you trust and follow me. This way you should produce the family Jesus tried to find, then all people will become brothers and sisters. I have organized the trinities to bring this about. Thus, when you do things in the future, you should not do it alone. You should not go witnessing alone.
When such a trinity stands in the position of the parents, they should not let the brothers and sisters go along by themselves, but should go with them. A family is formed only by combining the parents and siblings. In order for this to assume a national form, one family should become twelve. The national conditions can be carried out only with numbers above ten.
Why did Jesus install the 120 disciples? It was ten generations from Adam to Noah, and twelve from Noah to Jacob. Since the vertical result that represents the entire 2,000 years is twelve, i.e., the twelve sons of Jacob, Jesus took the vertical number twelve as the center. To establish the number that represents the twelve generations from Noah to Jacob and the ten generations from Noah to Adam twelve is multiplied by ten, making the number 120. This is the number representing all the numbers to be restored. This is why I strongly encouraged you to go witnessing last time. One should witness to 120 people while on earth. If this is too much, then witness to at least twelve people; yet one should not just stop at twelve people. If he does not achieve the goal of 120 people, he should make 120 horizontally. The mission of restoration will be accomplished only when he brings at least 120 into horizontal harmony.
Today you have the responsibility to build a victorious country. In the victorious country, there should be the True Parents, who represent the victorious heaven and earth and all the religions of the world. There should also be the True Parents who represent the family. Looking at this horizontally, the church assumes the social character and the country symbolizes the world. Thus, unless you make horizontal and vertical relationships, you cannot possess a family as a citizen of the country.
You must follow this path, for this is the way to the heavenly kingdom. Therefore, the one in charge of a family should fulfill the responsibility of the family. The one who takes charge of a church should carry out the responsibility of the church. The one who has a greater mission should realize the responsibility of the greater mission, then the shape and movement become identical. The difference lies only in the scope of the mission. The pattern and method of life are the same. The only difference is whether the area is greater or smaller. Hence, you should meet the condition of indemnity to represent the world from the position of a family. You should know that the ideal of the cosmic True Parents will be accomplished only when one establishes it representing the nation and church. We should understand how precious our responsibility on the earth is in accomplishing the ideal of restoration.
Moses' course is Jesus' course, and Jesus' course is our course. Moses led the 600,000 people, centering on the twelve tribes and seventy elders. Jesus performed his mission centering on the twelve disciples, seventy elders, and 120 disciples. If the Israelites had followed Jesus, he could have started on the worldwide foundation. Since the people failed to uphold this, however, he could not realize the Will and died on the cross.
The task of those of us who live in the age of re-indemnification to make three becomes twelve, twelve become 120, 120 become 600,000, and even greater numbers through unity. Only then can God fully exercise His authority centering on the whole providence. You should know this. Only then can we progress beyond the national level. Hence, you should continue with hope in view. You are preparing for the day of hope.
The Reason We Offer the Condition of Restoration, Even Amid Persecution
In this age, we need to fulfill the responsibilities of the family, the nation and of the world. You should know that this is why we receive so much persecution. Through our offering the condition of accomplishing the national mission from the stance of the family and church, even through persecution, God tries to place us on the foundation of His 6,000 years of providential work. You should know that this Will exists. Standing before this Will, the countless spirits from the time of Jesus stand in the position of the first Israel. The saints who believed after Jesus came and left stand in the position of the second Israel. Those who are on the condition of perfection today stand in the position of the third Israel. Since standing in the position of the third Israel is the purpose of the course of the bridegroom, we should follow the reverse path.
Since the third Israel is to love, without going through the purpose of love, one cannot make a connection with God. Hence, the first Israel in the spiritual world must go through the second Israel, the Christians on the earth. The Christians, the second Israel, must go through the third Israel. Moreover, the third Israel should establish the standard of the mediator. You must establish this position in the areas of the individual, the family, the church and the world.
With this Will before you, you now know well on what stage you are. I thank you that you call me "Teacher," but unless you meet the condition of restoration, the teacher cannot do anything about it.
In the process of finding the True Parents, what do the true brothers and sisters need to establish? They should plant on the earth a love that is greater than any brotherly love within the 6,000 years of fallen lineage. Without this, Heaven cannot say, "Oh, you are brothers and sisters I can recognize." Only after going through the course of true brotherhood can you enter the realm of grace where you can be the parents of the family. You should not do this for your sake. You should stand in the position of the family parent for the sake of the national and cosmic parents. You must do this. No matter how talented you are, you must go through this course of indemnity as the condition.
Without accomplishing this, you cannot be victorious parents of Israel, victorious brothers and sisters of Israel, or victorious people of Israel. Thus, the family should be formed after organizing the brothers and sisters and being recognized by Heaven. Then families should come together to form the order for the sake of constituting the nation.
Since world Christianity, representing the twelve tribes sought by God, only has the name of Israel and not the order, they cannot provide the foundation upon which God can operate. Therefore, to install the footing for God's operation, we should reorganize the scattered order of Israel and make the worldwide foundation for restoration. Such is our responsibility.
Today we are engaged in witnessing. Witnessing is for the sake of finding brothers and sisters. When the brothers and sisters increase in number, a tribe comes about. When tribes increase in number, a nation comes about. When nations increase in number, a country comes about. When countries increase in number, a world comes about. Even if we sincerely want to find a true brother, we cannot do it alone. You and I must combine efforts. Only then can we stand before the Father. One can serve the family parents through brotherly unity. A church can serve the parents of the church through brotherly unity with other churches. The world and its countries must love one another and unite as brothers and sisters before serving the cosmic Parents.
We Should Restore the Lost Order
Now we are living in the age when we must carry out this historical mission. Therefore, we must restore the lost order with our hands. In order for us to stand before God in this way, however, we need to go through the family. Jesus is now only in Paradise because he did not go through a family.
The Will of the 6,000-year providence is for the sake of going through the family. Since no one has ever passed through the gate of the family, however, God's love has never been found in this world. Since Jesus could not go through the gate of the family, he left behind the task of his return. In the spiritual world, he stays in Paradise, an intermediate stage. Thus, we can go through the nation only after going through the family. It cannot be otherwise. The family belongs within the realm of the nation. The nation belongs within the realm of the country. Thus, we should know that we have an important responsibility to combine families and organize a nation, to organize nations and constitute a country, and to organize countries and form a world.
Therefore, if you are living for the sake of your family, your relationship with God will be severed. You should think that even though your life centers around your family, you live for the sake of the nation and world. Thus, when one lives representing the family, that family should live representing the nation. When one lives representing the nation, he should live representing the world. When one lives representing the world, he should live representing heaven and earth. We must create this new history. Thus, we have an important responsibility to organize the family, nation and world and to restore the new garden of victory.
This year you should move according to my plan. The brothers and sisters should restore the family by learning from parental love. Families should come together to save the nation. Learning from the shimjung of Jesus, we should love our brothers and sisters and become able to serve the Parents.
Without such a standard of heart, you can never become victorious sons and daughters. Without becoming victorious children, you will never be able to found a victorious family. Without a victorious family, the whole Will of the restoration of founding a new country will not be fulfilled. You should know this and keep today's word in your hearts.
Prayer
Father, we have learned that You have been working providentially to be the True Parents and master of human beings, who have fallen into an extremely low and base position. We have learned that Jesus has worked for 2,000 years to stand as the parent of the church and of the nation.
We know that now the time has come when we should achieve the parenthood of the cosmos, the nation and the family. Without standing in the position of the family true parents, we cannot complete the position of the national true parents. Without completing the position of the national true parents, we cannot complete the position of the universal true parents. We have learned that this tremendously important matter is determined by us alone. Today, please allow us to indemnify the sorrow of restoration and to come before You by fully satisfying the condition of hope You desire. Please allow us to go through true brotherhood and proceed to the position of the True Parents in this way. Allow us to be able to bear the historical mission, according to which we should form the true family after achieving true parentship. We then should continue to the nation through the family and on to the position of universal parents through the nation.
Please allow us to understand that our lives, centered on our families, is not simply for our families, but for the nation. Let us have the heart of living for the sake of the nation. If there is a family taking responsibility for the nation, grant that family the heart to live beyond the nation, for the sake of heaven and earth. We realize that we can only resolve Your great sorrow by being thoroughly possessed of such a heart.
Therefore, Father, allow us to follow Your Will from today. As we sincerely desire to achieve brotherly unity and extend the Father's Will of glory, we pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.