The Holy Wedding 1 The turning point in providential history True Parents' Holy Wedding, held on April 11,1960, was the historic moment when the history of restoration through indemnity climbed over the mountain of indemnity at the completion level of the growth stage. The Holy Wedding of True Parents was a global and cosmic event. True Father, who came as the perfected Adam on the foundation of the long history of the providence, laid the foundation on earth to receive True Mother, the original Eve. True Father represents heaven, True Mother represents earth, and their union finally connected the spiritual world and the physical world, which had been divided. Finally the standard required to break down the wall that had separated Adam and Eve from God had been met. 13 Some historians say that in the 1960s history entered a time of great transition. The perspective of the Unification Principle is that although Korea became the base for the Christian cultural sphere to receive the Messiah, the Christian cultural sphere failed when it did not accept me. Nevertheless, we can assert that once the Holy Wedding had been held in the name of God and True Parents, history finally began turning in a new direction.
In the present circumstances, history is full of changes. It appears that humankind is declining and descending into a world of death, and that the world, beset by many divisions, is heading for destruction. But at the same time, we can realize that the scope of historical events is moving beyond national and regional levels and expanding to the world.
Ever since we entered the providential era during which we had to expand our foundation horizontally based on the bond of the God-centered lineage that we have with True Parents, the world has been beset by ideological confusion. Traditions have been falling into chaos. Things are being shaken up. Christianity also is being totally shaken up.
The Holy Wedding was held 14 years after Korea's liberation from Japan. During that time, the Christian churches in Korea were either those that were rebuilding after years underground or those that had survived because their members had followed the dictates of the Japanese and offered bows at Shinto shrines. The way began to open up by which God could lead the providence with Korea as its base and make a leap to expand to the world.
The starting point for this transition was True Parents' Holy Wedding that took place in April 1960. After the Holy Wedding Ceremony, Parents' Day was inaugurated. That was the day when we finally could clear up humankind's history, a history imprisoned by bonds of defiled love, life and lineage from the false parents. The original love, life and lineage centered on God were newly planted and began to deepen their roots on earth. Although the world that had received the fallen archangel's lineage had continued up to that point, from that day in 1960, when the True Parents emerged, the lineage of the original Adam and Eve began to take root centering on God's love. (196-218, 1990/01/01) 14 The peak, or apex, of the providence of restoration occurred in 1960. At that time I was receiving persecution from the nation and the people of Korea, from all the Christian denominations and even from some church members. I was in a desperate, life-and-death situation. Indeed, the Unification Church was at a moment of truth; its very survival was at stake. In those difficult circumstances I nevertheless proceeded with the Holy Wedding. At that point a new history began. The Holy Wedding was a historic turning point. Even historians state that 1960 was a turning point. From that point on I began resolving all the problems one by one. (052-068, 1971/12/22) 15 April 11, 1960, was the day of True Parents' Holy Wedding. Externally speaking it was an ordinary day; nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, the Holy Wedding that took place on that day made it a day totally different from any other in history. Because of that day, human history is now in the hands of one person.
At the moment of that one person's coming, were the circumstances prepared such that he could build a relationship with a nation and with the world? Did the circumstances of that moment have a strong enough foundation to pass on to him its relationships with history, with the present age, and with the future? The ceremony itself may appear to have been a simple event, but once people realize that it was the core event representing the entirety of human history, people throughout history will study the significance of that one day. (032-069, 1970/06/21) 16 Adam, the ancestor of humankind, lost the authority of dominion because, at the completion level of the growth stage, he listened to Eve and followed her desire. To restore this through indemnity, Jesus had to come to earth as a human being who, one with God's love and having a perfect character, could fulfill the purpose of creation. Then he had to find the one woman who could follow him to fulfill the Will. God created Eve from Adam; thus the re-creation of Adam and Eve must be done in the same order. Adam must be re-created first; then he must establish Eve as his Bride and start a new family in order to walk toward a perfect world.
The re-creation of Adam and Eve marks the end of the fallen era in history and the beginning of a new era. This is what happened in 1960. The establishment of that bond of love centering on True Parents was truly a cosmic event. (028-013, 1970/01/01) 17 God's purpose of creation and His work of re-creation can be realized now that Adam and Eve have received the Marriage Blessing at their Holy Wedding. God had worked to realize this ever since the first human ancestors fell at the completion level of the growth stage, and from the viewpoint of that course of restoration, all humankind today must climb to that level.
The formation stage of the growing period corresponds to the age of the servant; the growth stage corresponds to the age of adopted children; and the completion stage corresponds to the age of direct children. After history had passed through the Old Testament Age, the age of the servant, Jesus' gospel appeared on earth. At that point, human history entered the realm of adopted children. The human ancestors, still in the realm of adopted children, fell at the completion level of the growth stage. Therefore, fallen human beings must connect to the external foundation of the Son and be re-created. Then they can be elevated to the completion level of the growth stage in order to finally inherit the realm of direct children.
In short, since the completion level of the growth stage is the level from which the human ancestors fell, we have to reach that level in order to be restored. However, since the Fall took place in the process of forming their family, we cannot reach the standard that God desires unless we establish a family. That is why True Parents conducted the Holy Wedding in 1960 in the Unification Church; it was in order to reach that standard. (028-012, 1970/01/01) 18 1 fought with the spirit world and was victorious on the individual level. To win that victory I faced winds that threatened to sweep me away; they were harsher than the harshest winds on earth. Tens of millions of times I had to resolve to persevere against the powers of death. Whenever I came face-to-face with the enemy, Satan, I told myself, "I cannot collapse. I cannot die. If I die, who will establish the will of heaven? No matter how much I suffer, I have to live. Even if my four limbs are amputated and I am bed-ridden the rest of my life, I absolutely must not die." With this resolve I was able to overcome all obstacles on that incredibly difficult path.
I am the type of person who fears having my name known to the world before I establish a strong foundation. I fear becoming famous before an adequate foundation is laid. In such a case, it is a principle that Satan is bound to attack. Therefore, as 1 needed to pass my 40-year milestone without dying, I looked forward to that day while silently hoping that the time would pass by quickly. I knew I had to establish the condition of the number 40, since Abraham had established the number 40 and Jesus had come at the end of 4,000 years of history. Thus, I looked forward to passing that 40-year milestone. Hoping for many long years to reach that day, I struggled fiercely to fulfill all my responsibilities without dying so that I might stand victorious before heaven and earth. (013-039, 1963/10/16) 19 God sent Jesus after 4,000 years. He came after a long history had passed. Jesus was born after only ten months (by Korean counting) in his mother s womb, but for him to come to earth had taken 4,000 years of preparation. Because he came with such a historical foundation, Jesus was in a position to indemnify the entire history of 4,000 years. Originally he was supposed to complete the condition to indemnify that history by the age of 40, but due to the disbelief of his people he was unable to accomplish that.
So we had to indemnify that periodof history during the seven-year course leading up to the Holy Wedding in 1960.1 am sure that you all know about 40-day restoration periods. Since Jesus was unable to reach the age of 40, the course to overcome the obstacle of the number 40 remained with us. Since that indemnity course still had to be fulfilled, as the Returning Lord I had no choice but to persevere through seven years of great tribulations. The basis of this exists within the Principle of Restoration. (019-150, 1968/01/01) 20 How could I surpass the hurdle of the number 40 in 1960? How could I get past the number 40 that is based on the teaching of the Principle? Jesus died at the age of 33; he was 7 years short of achieving the number 40. That is why during the remaining seven-year period I had to face great tribulations in the human world. I was confronted with the issue of how I could overcome these obstacles. In order to overcome them, I had to go against the flow and follow the course of restoration that Jacob passed through, and all the entangled indemnity courses of the numerous forebears in the course of providential history.
I had no friends or colleagues on this path. Even those who said they would follow me ended up being burdens to me on the path that I had to take; they strewed it with thorns and created obstacles for me. There was no one to help me. (019-111, 1967/12/31) 21 The path of my life up to age 40 wasthe time for me to achieve victory on the individual level before I finally could move on and create a horizontal foundation. The purpose of that period in my life was to indemnify the history of restoration in order to establish the one Adam. Then in 1960, the time came to create the horizontal foundation on which to bring victory centering on Adam.
The victory I am talking about is the victory on the national level that Jesus was not able to reach. Therefore, based on my having reached the age of 40, the Unification Church in the 1960s had to substantially indemnify and overcome the destiny Jesus faced when he was unable to surmount the obstacles to reaching the age of 40. That is why the Unification Church in the 1960s received enormous persecution. If I, as the representative of humankind, had not had the courage to make a decisive oath in front of God that I would divide good from evil, the work of the providence would have been delayed. (075-010, 1975/01/01) 22 True Parents' Holy Wedding was a cosmic, momentous event, worthy of a great celebration on earth. Thereby the True Parents, as God's embodiments, gained the world-level victory both spiritually and physically. This was the vertical indemnity condition for resolving issues on the horizontal plane on earth. In order to be in the position to conduct the Holy Wedding, I had to restore Jesus' three main disciples who failed to support him. I had to indemnify the failure of Adam to properlyestablish a family.
Due to the Fall, Adam and Eve, the first human ancestors, were unable to form a true conjugal relationship. The Fall occurred through the act of two individuals, a man and a woman. Therefore, restoration cannot be completed by one person alone. A man cannot be restored alone, nor can a woman go to heaven alone. Nothing can be resolved without the efforts of two individuals. After restoring the positions of unfallen Adam and Eve, these two individuals are to establish the standard of the True Parents on earth. This requires the betrothal of three disciples. (022-190, 1969/02/02) 23 The goal of the providence of restoration is to restore Adam s family. Due to the failure of Adam's family, the providence moved to Noah's family. God destroyed all people on Earth through the flood judgment, except for Noah's family; then, based on that family He intended to establish a providential foundation that was beyond Satan's accusation. Then the providence moved to Abraham, Jacob, Moses and Jesus, and now it has arrived at this era. We must indemnify all of it, and the center is Adam's family.
The position of the True Parents cannot be established without the restoration of the three children whom Adam had lost. That is why Jesus absolutely needed his three disciples. They also represented the three archangels. The three archangels were not united in obedience and attendance to Adam and Eve. As a result, the world became fallen. That iswhy Jesus had to restore three disciples in order to stand in the position of the True Parent. Likewise, the Lord at the Second Advent also must have three spiritual children who absolutely obey him. Otherwise, he cannot stand in the position of the True Parent. This is the formula. I had to have three disciples who would absolutely follow me as filial sons, even in life-and-death situations in the midst of persecution.
In April of 1960,1 was able to establish these three disciples. Since the course of restoration goes in reverse, the betrothal ceremony was given first to those who stood in the children's position. Jacob's family is representative of the family realm, so the foundation for the betrothal had to be made based on the number 12. That standard should be established based on those three disciples. (022-190, 1969/02/02) 24 After the Holy Wedding in 1960,1 created holy salt. Do you know why? It was because True Parents should not use anything from the fallen world. God's Son is the Parent whom God has perfected. Everything that is defiled in the fallen world should be burned; however, since this is not possible in practice, holy salt was created as an alternative. Sprinkling things with holy salt symbolizes cleansing the things of the fallen world. Applying holy salt cleanses Satan's world and, on that condition, heaven's side is able to use the things in the fallen world. Once God's nation is established, no one will be able to use the things of the world and itsnations as they are, even their most valued antiques, without cleansing them. (267-119, 1995/01/03) |