Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 379
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 9: The Role of Nations in Realizing World Peace
Speech 16: The Status of Korea, Japan, and the United States from the Providential Viewpoint, pg 1416-1418
One reason for the lack of faith in Jesus in his time
When you look at chapters 9, 11, and 60 in the book of Isaiah, you find testimony that the Savior will appear majestically as the Lord of glory. Yet chapter 53 of the same book prophesies that the Messiah will suffer. You need to know that the type of prophecy that would be fulfilled depended on the people. Because the people did not believe in Jesus and receive him, the prophecy in chapter 53 of Isaiah was realized. That which would have come to pass if the people had believed in him was left unfulfilled. That providence was prolonged to conclude at the Second Advent.
Based on the principle of restoration through indemnity, the New Testament also gives dual prophecies with regard to the coming of the Messiah, in exactly the same manner as the Old Testament. In Revelation 1:7, it is prophesied that the Lord of the Second Advent will certainly come on the clouds. First Thessalonians 5:2, on the other hand, says that the Messiah will come like a thief in the night. How can he come like a thief and at the same time come on the clouds of heaven? Some Christians today believe that he will come on the clouds; they ignore the prophecy that he will come like a thief in the night.
Therefore, we have to be wise and learn from the actual circumstances of the Old Testament Age. Although it may be possible for the Messiah to come on the clouds, he could just as well come as an average-looking human being.
Now we need to learn the reason the religious and political leaders killed the Messiah when he came, despite the fact that they were the heirs of a tradition that had long awaited and expected God to send them the Messiah.
The Book of Malachi in the Old Testament corresponds to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. Malachi 4:5-6 states, “I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents ” We need to take seriously this definitive prophecy, which appears at the very end of the Old Testament.
Elijah was the prophet who ascended to heaven in a chariot of fire nine hundred years before the coming of Jesus. People believed that Elijah, who had ascended in this way, would return in the same way to announce the Messiah. What could they do when Jesus proclaimed himself to be the Messiah, even though there was no sighting of Elijah coming from the sky?
The people naturally asked the disciples of Jesus that if their teacher was indeed the Messiah, where was Elijah? The disciples went to Jesus for the answer, and the scene of their asking him is the gist of Matthew 17:10-13.
It is recorded, “And the disciples asked him, ‘Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ He replied, ‘Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased.’ Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.”
When they heard this answer, the people of Israel reacted with even greater disbelief. They reproached Jesus, accusing him of attaching the name of Elijah to John the Baptist simply to justify his false claim to be the Messiah. Furthermore, they called Jesus a blasphemer who was going to ruin Judaism and the nation of Israel. John 10:20 testifies that many said he was possessed by a demon.
As can be seen, the standpoint of the people of Israel opposed God’s Will and His providence in sending Jesus. God sent the Messiah for the sake of all people, to fulfill His Will on earth. Because Jesus’ religious community did not support him, he died with such a tangled matter in his heart. Our ignorance of this is tragic—we need to be aware of this wretched history.
Jesus appeared based on the faith of generations of Jewish people who were waiting for the Savior. However, and in fact, the accomplishment of God’s Will through Jesus was to extend beyond their religion and nation to save the entire world. The hopes of the chosen people on earth went in one direction, and the Will of Heaven went in another.
The same situation occurred when the Lord returned. The foundation prepared for the Lord of the Second Advent turned into nothing more than the Christian foundation of faith, that is, their hope for their salvation alone. However, the Lord of the Second Advent comes to achieve the world desired by God, the salvation of all people—nothing less than the ideal world as originally created.
This world is not just a religious realm where you can attain salvation by believing in your religious tradition. The Messiah comes to realize the world of true love through the True Parents, a world that has nothing to do with the Fall. This will be a world where religion is unnecessary, a world that will have graduated from the school of religion.
The essence of the Creator God is true love. True love is the altruistic love of giving and giving again and not remembering it. I have lived my whole life investing and giving myself for the Will of God to establish the kingdom of heaven through this true love.
The three nations at the center of the providence—Korea, Japan and the United States—are in the position to set an example by being models of the ideal world of peace. Only when they live for the sake of the world and the whole, giving magnanimously to others in accordance with the heavenly way, will they attain great prosperity and the infinite blessings of God. If they pursue only their own national profit, they will not be able to maintain their status as the center of the providence, and they will even come to lose what they have.
FFWPU, USA