218. The Providential History of Salvation, Part 2

Book 2: A Model for the Family Ideal and World Peace
Part 2: The Path to Exemplary Families and Global Harmony
Chapter 4: The Providential History of Salvation from the Viewpoint of the Principle, Part 2

The providence of the restoration of lineage centered on Tamar

For a son to be born on earth with this seed of God's love and life, there first must exist a mother. Such a mother cannot give birth to this child in a conventional way; conception must happen in accordance with the formula of restoration. All the cooperation between mothers and sons in the providence of restoration is a preparation and a condition for the son of God to be born with the seed of new life, free from satanic accusation. By making conditions to avoid Satan's attacks and by subordinating the firstborn son who represents evil, mother and son restore the love, life and lineage that were taken over by Satan.

The Bible, which records the providential work of God, contains many stories that are difficult to understand. For example, Rebekah deceived her husband, Isaac, and her first son, Esau, and helped her second son, Jacob, receive the blessing. God took the side of that mother and son, and although they used methods that at first glance seem unjust, God still blessed them for their actions.

In Adam's family, Cain and Abel fought, and their struggle resulted in the death of Abel, the second son. Then came Jacob. On the merits of many godly people who paid indemnity and sacrificed after the time of Abel, Jacob at last reached the level at which Satan first dominated humankind. Jacob had to deal with his twin brother, Esau. At the ford of Jabbok, Jacob set up the condition of spiritual victory over the angel, and through winning over Esau, who was in the position of the archangel, Jacob consequently was blessed as the first victor in history and was given the name Israel (Gen. 32:28).

By then, however, Jacob was forty years old. Satan had sown the seed of false love within the womb of Eve, which gave birth to evil life. Therefore, God needed to purify a mother's womb from which the heavenly son could be born. That purification period of separation from Satan had to begin at the time of conception and continue to the age of forty. Even though Jacob was victorious, he made only one step toward meeting that criterion. The great mother who assumed the responsibility to meet this condition was Tamar.

Tamar had married Er, the eldest son of Judah, but Er displeased God and he died. According to the custom of that time, Judah gave Tamar to his second son, Onan, that they might bear a child for Er. Onan, knowing that Tamar's child would not be his own, spilled his semen on the ground. This was a sin in the eyes of God, for which Onan died. Then Tamar wanted Shelah, the third son of Judah, for a husband, but Judah did not give him to her. Judah thought that his two sons had died because of Tamar, so he was afraid that Shelah would die and end the family lineage.

Tamar had the conviction that she was meant to carry on the lineage of the chosen people. In order to do that, she disguised herself as a prostitute, slept with her father-in-law, Judah, and became pregnant with twins. At the time of birth, one of the twin sons, Zerah, stretched out his hand from the womb to be born first. When he was pulled back into the womb, the second son, Perez, was born first, taking the position of the elder brother.

The reversal of position that resulted from Tamar's first and second sons fighting within the womb was the condition that separated them from Satan. This became the condition for the restoration of the womb, which made it possible for the Messiah to be conceived in the lineage of the chosen people. Thus the foundation was prepared for the nation of Israel to stand up to the Roman Empire 2,000 years later. The victorious foundation on the national level could then be formed in the womb of a mother free from satanic accusation, prepared for the seed of the son of God. On this foundation, the Holy Mother Mary emerged in the mainstream of God's providence.

Jesus alone could possess God's first love

Mary, when she was engaged to Joseph, received from the archangel Gabriel the surprising message that the Messiah would be born through her (Luke 1:31). In those days, if an unmarried woman became pregnant, she was killed. However, Mary accepted the Will of God with absolute faith, saying, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

Mary consulted with the priest Zechariah, who was her relative and was highly respected. Zechariah's wife, Elizabeth, with the help of God, was pregnant with John the Baptist. Elizabeth said to Mary: " … Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Luke 1:42-43). With these words she testified to the coming birth of Jesus.

In this way, God let Mary, Zechariah and Elizabeth know about the birth of the Messiah before anybody else. All of them had the absolutely crucial mission of following the Will of God and serving Jesus. Zechariah's family let Mary stay in their house. Jesus was conceived in the house of Zechariah.

Elizabeth and Mary were cousins on their mothers' side. According to God's providence, they were considered sisters, with Elizabeth as the elder (Cain) and Mary as the younger (Abel). Mary received Elizabeth's help in the presence of Zechariah. Through this cooperation, Zechariah's family, on the national level, indemnified the lack of unity between Leah and Rachel in Jacob's family, and their failure in mother-son cooperation. This allowed Jesus to be conceived. For the first time in history, there could be generated on earth, free of satanic accusation and through a prepared womb, the seed of the son of God, the seed of the True Father. In this way, the only begotten son of God, the owner of the first love of God, was born for the first time in history.

Mary had to achieve something that could not be understood by common sense nor easily tolerated under the law of those times. Mary, Elizabeth and Zechariah had been spiritually moved. They followed the revelation that came from God and unconditionally believed that it was the will and desire of God. 

Although it was possible for the son of God to be born on earth, he needed a wall of protection to grow up safely in Satan's world and fulfill the Will of God. God had hoped that these three people in the family of Zechariah would establish that protective foundation. There are many points to consider with regard to how seriously the three had to dedicate themselves to protecting and serving the son of God, and how long they were to have been united with each other. 

In the Bible it is recorded, "And Mary remained with her [Elizabeth] about three months, and then returned to her home” (Luke 1:56). After that, there is no biblical record of any further communication between Mary and Elizabeth and Zechariah. From the time Mary left Zechariah's house, difficulties began for Mary and Jesus. The family of Zechariah ought to have been the wall of protection for Jesus until the very end.

A short time later, Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant. How shocked he must have been at that moment! Mary, his beloved fiancée, without having had any conjugal relations with him, had become pregnant after a three-month stay in another place. It was natural for Joseph to question Mary about who the baby in her womb belonged to. What would have happened if, at that time, Mary had explained everything candidly? If she had exposed everything, it could have been the end of a clan. So Mary simply responded that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

Mary's pregnancy began to show, and the people of the surrounding area became aware of it. What would have happened if Joseph had declared that he didn't know anything about it? However, Joseph was a righteous man. He believed in the revelation of God and defended Mary, saying the pregnancy was his responsibility. Mary may have been ridiculed for becoming pregnant during her engagement, yet she avoided being stoned to death.

Joseph, who loved Mary, protected her this way in the beginning. However, there was a great deal of anguish deep in his heart. Once Jesus was born, Joseph's suspicions about the father of Jesus only increased and his heart ached. As Jesus grew older, the two became more and more distant in heart. And because of this, family problems frequently arose. Jesus was viewed as an illegitimate son and, lacking the protection of Zechariah's family and the love of Joseph, he grew up with an indescribable loneliness in his heart.

Jesus' solitary three-year course

Jesus was aware of his path as the Messiah, and he lamented in his heart his lonely circumstances and the serious obstacle they presented to fulfilling the Will of God. The Messiah is the True Parent. To fulfill that mission, however, he needed to receive his substantial bride. Jesus had to reverse, at the very root, the false love by which the archangel had caused the Fall of Eve, who originally was growing up as the sister of Adam. Consequently, Jesus, in the place of Adam as the son of God, ought to have received as his bride the younger sister of someone in an archangelic position. That bride was to have been none other than Zechariah's daughter, the younger sister of John the Baptist. To fulfill this in a world where Satan plays the role of owner and lord, Jesus needed a foundation of protection formed by absolute faith. Tragically, the entire foundation ended up collapsing around him. 

This would not have happened if Zechariah and Elizabeth, who had received the revelation and spiritual support from God, had maintained absolute faith. If they had fulfilled their responsibility, Mary would have been in contact with them continually, even after her three-month stay at their house. God chose Zechariah's family as the foremost representatives of the entire world, so that even after the birth of Jesus they would protect, serve and witness to him as the Messiah. They not only would have served Jesus as the son of God and Messiah with utter devotion, they would have learned the Will of God through Jesus and followed him absolutely. Also, John the Baptist was born to serve Jesus and ought to have fulfilled his responsibility to guide everyone whom he led to repentance to believe in Jesus and receive salvation.

Unfortunately, although at first Zechariah, Elizabeth and John the Baptist testified to Jesus as the son of God, there is no evidence that they served him as such. The respected priest Zechariah was simply a spectator. John the Baptist stood separate from Jesus. These circumstances blocked the people from following Jesus and made his path very difficult. Once this family lost faith in Jesus, looking at him through human eyes, there was no possibility for them to help him receive his bride. 

We also need to consider the influence that Joseph and Mary's relationship had on Jesus. Mary had to restore the positions of Eve and Tamar through indemnity, so she was supposed to have remained as only the fiancée of Joseph. Providentially, they could not be husband and wife. It was God's desire that they not have sexual relations either before or after Jesus' birth. Joseph still loved Mary after Jesus' birth; however, Mary ought to have separated from Joseph and raised Jesus as the son of God.

The real circumstances did not make this easy to do. Even though Mary's original mind told her that she was not to do so, she had sexual relations with Joseph and they had children, which was a repetition of Eve's mistake. With this condition, Satan established a claim on them. With the exception of Jesus, the whole family came under the dominion of Satan. Everyone who should have helped protect him—his father, his mother, his Abel-type brothers, John the Baptist and his brothers, and his Cain-type brothers, and the children of Joseph—all ended up on Satan's side.

When Satan influences someone, that person loses all spiritual support and inspiration. Trust in God, as well as any sense of gratitude to Him, is lost. One begins to see everything through human eyes. Mary did not help Jesus with the wedding he desired. She even opposed it. This was the direct reason that Jesus could not receive his bride, and could not become the True Parent. Ultimately, this compelled him to go the way of the cross.

Jesus' words to Mary during the wedding at Cana, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?" (John 2:4), reveal a reproachful heart to a mother who helped in the weddings of others while neglecting to help Jesus receive his own bride, the most important requirement of the providence. With this perspective, we can now understand why Jesus asked, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" (Matt. 12:48).

Faced with the opposition of Mary, Zechariah, Elizabeth and finally John the Baptist, Jesus gave up hoping to gain their protection as he sought to fulfill his mission. Therefore, Jesus left his home in search of a new spiritual foundation to restart the providence of salvation. Now without a family and household, Jesus lamented, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matt. 8:20). Having lost his family-level foundation, Jesus sought to replace it. This was his three-year course.

The history of the providence of salvation from the viewpoint of the Principle

In the end, as people disbelieved and the disciples lost faith, Jesus endured Satan's attack, and, as his foundation crumbled, he went the way of the cross. Originally, Jesus came to the earth as the Messiah to give blessings to his disciples and all humankind. He was to build the sinless kingdom of heaven. Because of the lack of faith in him, Jesus could not receive his bride, they could not become the True Parents, and he could not complete his mission. This is why he promised to return.

The Lord of the Second Advent comes to complete the foundation of God's providence of restoration left uncompleted by Jesus. That is to say, he comes as the seed of the original true child to complete the ideal of creation. He comes to complete the ideal of True Parents, who are the origin of the true love, true life and true lineage of God. He comes on the victorious foundation of the fundamental providence of God's side up to the time of Jesus. He also stands upon the victorious foundation of Jesus' life and will find the bride whom Jesus could not find. Together they become the True Parents to save all humankind.

Through the marriage Blessing that passes on God's original lineage, the True Parents will be able to give salvation to all humanity. People will become true persons engrafting into the true love, true life and true lineage of God. Furthermore, the Messiah will establish a true family; creating the kingdom of heaven on earth. Thus, when the Lord of the Second Advent comes in the flesh, this new lineage will be established through international marriage Blessings.

On the level of the great worldwide family, the Lord indemnifies that which was lost in the family of Adam and restores the true right of the eldest son, true right of the parents, and true right of the king that Adam's family was to have realized. He will transform this world into the kingdom of heaven on earth under the dominion of God, which will open the kingdom of heaven in the spirit world for registration. Humanity will enter the era of kingship, both spiritually and physically, centered on God, establishing a world of freedom, peace, unity and happiness, and create the heavenly kingdom on earth and in the spirit world, which is God's ideal of creation. This is the View of the Principle of the Providential History of Salvation. I hope that in the future all of you can also receive this joyous new marriage Blessing.

Thank you very much.

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