Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 108
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 3: The Mission of Religion in Achieving God’s Ideal
Speech 2: The New Future of Christianity, pg 371-375
The Lord will not come on the clouds
Let us go on to the third cause. At the time, the Jewish people believed that the Messiah would come on clouds. Why was this the case? In Daniel 7:13, it is prophesied, “I saw one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven.” Therefore, you need to understand that those people, who valued the Old Testament as much as their own life, could not help believing that he would come on clouds.
The ministers gathered here may say, “Reverend Moon is saying that because he doesn’t know any better. Those words refer to the Second Advent and not to the time of Jesus.” But that’s not the case at all! If everything had happened as Jesus had called for, everything would have been finished at the time of John the Baptist. All the prophecies and prophets of the Old Testament would have culminated in John the Baptist.
With the people of Jesus’ day believing that the Messiah was coming on clouds, do you think that Jesus, who was born as a man and as the son of Mary and Joseph and who had brothers and sisters, appeared qualified to be the Messiah? Christians believe that the Lord is coming on the clouds, so would they believe him if he came as a human being? It is the same today as two thousand years ago. Let us find out through the Bible if this matter posed a problem at the time of the apostles.
If you look up 2 John 1:7, you will find these words: “Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist!”
What this means is that some early Christians believed that the Lord came with only the appearance of flesh. But Christians today may have the same attitude and will oppose him if he comes as a human being. Then, according to the apostle’s words, they will be the same as antichrists. There is no way whatsoever to make excuses. All that I have spoken today is based on the Bible’s words, which you believe in. Because I love the Will of God more than anyone else, and because I hope for us all to walk the path of His providence rightly, I have no choice except to speak these words before you. You may ask, “With what authority is Reverend Moon saying these things?” Yet, I do have the authority to say such things. I met Jesus and John the Baptist in the spirit world and discussed this with them. From them, I found out that my understanding is correct. I also studied about these things in the Bible and discovered them to be true. Since both accounts match, I am sure that what I am saying is true. Why don’t you bring this to the world to see whether what you believe is right or whether what Reverend Moon is saying is right? If you do not believe it, your sons and daughters will believe it without a doubt.
What was lost at the cross
In this light, the fact that Jesus died in such a manner, when he did not come to die, remains as the sorrow of God, the sorrow of humanity, the sorrow of history, and the sorrow of the future. We have not known this. You need to understand that the Old Testament has prophesied the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, in two ways. When you look at Isaiah 9, 12, and 60, you see that he will appear as the Lord of glory, while chapter 53 of the same book prophesies that he will die a cruel death. We need to find out why it was necessary to make contradictory or dual prophecies.
We fallen human beings fear God, and we also fear Satan. This is because at one time, we will believe devoutly in God yet then betray him, pair up with Satan and attack God’s world, and then, after we are paired up with Satan, we will come back to God and attack Satan’s world. We need to know that for this reason, we fear both God and Satan.
We also need to realize that if the Jewish people had believed Jesus, he would have become the Lord of glory, yet because they did not believe him, it came to pass that he had to die on the cross. You need to comprehend the fact that his coming to bear the cross was a sudden and contingent event. Then when was it decided that he would die on the cross? Let us find the answer in the Bible.
Luke 9:30-31 says, “Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to Jesus. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” To make a long story short, it was decided at the time of the Transfiguration.
This was because Judaism was opposing Jesus, as was the nation of Israel, and even John the Baptist had taken an opposing position, and so all the footholds through which God’s Will could be fulfilled had collapsed. So God had no choice except to abandon His Will to complete the work of salvation in both the kingdom of heaven on earth and the kingdom of heaven in heaven, restoring spirit and flesh in the providence of two dimensions. He had to cut off the physical world and establish the world of spiritual salvation by having Jesus walk the path of the cross. If Jesus had not died on the cross, both sides would have been lost. Therefore, in order to bring at least spiritual salvation, God had no choice other than to hand over Jesus to be nailed to the cross. You need to clearly understand this.
Today’s Christians assert that Jesus undoubtedly came to die, based on words written in the Gospel of Matthew 16:22-23. Those words describe the scene where, when Jesus spoke of having to go to Jerusalem to die, his first disciple Peter said, “Lord, this must never happen to you.” Then Jesus turned upon him and said, “Get behind me, Satan!” Christians think that Jesus said this because he had come to die, and Peter opposed his fulfilling his mission. However, you need to clearly comprehend that this incident took place after Jesus’ death on the cross had been decided at the time of the Transfiguration, and so Jesus had no choice except to give Peter such an answer.
What would have happened had John the Baptist, the Jewish leaders, and the people of Israel believed in Jesus? The people of Israel would have become one with Jesus. The Arab realm then would have become one with Jesus, and together they would have reached out to Rome. Within forty years, Rome would have been brought to God’s side. Since Jesus conquered Rome in four hundred years after his Resurrection, centering on the living Jesus, Christians would have been able to declare the constitution of the heavenly kingdom within forty years. Then there would be no Protestantism or Catholicism today; everyone would be in the position of the people of Israel fulfilling the Will of God.
If all this had come to pass, the people of Israel would not have met such harsh circumstances in the Middle East, and Christians would not have had to shed blood so tragically. If Christianity had attained the godly foundation to move the world by bringing together the rulers of the nations, who would have hunted and killed them?
The world would have become the heavenly kingdom in accordance with the will of Jesus. The world would have been united, and there would be no need for the Lord to come again. Christians need to realize this. From this perspective, the place where Jesus died on the cross is the place where God and Jesus lost everything. The cross was not the victory of God; it was the victory of Satan, the devil. It was the place where the Son of God had nails driven into him.
On that cross, God lost the nation of Israel, the Jewish people, the global historical providence, and all the apostles. At the very end, only the thief who died on Jesus’ right-hand side stood with him. At that place, there was neither Christianity nor the beginning of Christianity. Everything was lost. From where did Christianity begin? It began after the Resurrection of Jesus, forty days later. We did not know until now that ours is not the path of the cross; it is the path of resurrection. Two thousand years of Christianity teaches us this fundamental lesson. You cannot deny this when you read the Bible. When Judas Iscariot came to help seize him, didn’t Jesus call that moment a time of darkness?
If Jesus had come to die, would he have said, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I will but what You will,” when he prayed three times at Gethsemane? If he said such a prayer because he was afraid of dying, it makes him unqualified to be the Messiah. You need to know this. Why did he say such a prayer? Was it because he was afraid of dying? Christians say, “Oh, Jesus was also a man in the flesh, and so he must have done so for fear of the pain of death.” That is not it at all. He did not pray because he was afraid of death.
He had no choice except to utter such a prayer when he pondered the fact that, once he died on the cross, all Christians in the world would have to follow the path of the cross in his footsteps. Due to his having shed his blood, the condition was set through which Satan would be able to violate the physical bodies of all Christians in the world, and so many people would be made to shed blood and make sacrifices. Moreover, he knew that the footholds prepared for four thousand years, the nation of Israel and Judaism, would be left with no stone standing upon another. When he thought about the toils of God in the four thousand years of His providence, he had no choice except to cry out such a prayer, sweating blood. You need to understand this.
That is why, at the final moment of his passing, Jesus said, “My God, why have You forsaken me?” What do you think is the meaning of this prayer? We need to know that the world being engulfed for three hours in darkness when he died means that the world that could have been realized according to God’s Will was engulfed in darkness. You have now come to understand that the Messiah did not have to die in his historical age. He came to fulfill the Will for the kingdom of heaven on earth in his age. You cannot deny it.
FFWPU, USA