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The 72 Couples: Restoring Cain and Abel tribes
The 72 Couples Marriage Blessing Ceremony was held on June 4, 1962, at the original Cheongpa-dong headquarters church in Seoul. The 72 Couples were established as two types, Cain and Abel, and they indemnified on the tribal level what the 36 Couples indemnified on the family level.
It was at the time of the 72 Couples Blessing that True Father organized the Marriage Blessing Ceremony Committee, which published an explanation of the purpose of the Blessing ceremony. The 72 Couples Blessing Ceremony was held in three rounds of 24 couples each.
1. Conflict was initiated by Adam and Eve's sons, Cain and Abel. They passed their spiritual corruption on to their descendants and so created a world of strife, bringing the world to ruin. All this needs to be rectified through paying indemnity. As part of this, sons and daughters of 36 generations have to establish the condition of having united in front of God without conflict.
This is why I established the 72 Couples, which is 2 times 36, with the 72 being divided into Cain and Abel. By establishing these 72 Couples, I built a historic ancestral foundation on which Cain and Abel can build the four-position foundation without fighting. This means I established an absolute realm of reconciliation that can be a bulwark against Satan. (019-121, 1967/12/31)
2. God's hope does not stop with individual salvation. He longs for the salvation of the family and the tribe as well. Therefore, it is not enough to just have the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel.
The leaders of the branch tribes are also necessary. There have to be 36 couples representing Cain and 36 representing Abel, so I horizontally connected these two groups of couples, internally and externally, and established them as the 72 Couples. This was done to, begin the salvation of the horizontal world. They will become the tribal leaders. The realm of tribal leaders will arise.
(115-279, 1981/11/22)
3. The 72 Couples correspond to Jesus' 70 disciples. The 72 Couples represent the tribe that Jesus tried to organize through his 12 apostles and 70 disciples. In other words, the 72 Couples are the restored tribe of Jesus' 12 apostles and 70 disciples in the form of families.
To put it another way, the 36 Couples and the 72 Couples are the same as the 12 tribes of Israel and the 70 disciples of Jesus. They are the restored representatives that can lead the people of Israel. This is the model by which we have recovered the basic numbers that God has been seeking through Israel. (054-293, 1972/03/26)
The 124 Couples: The first public Blessing ceremony
The 124 Couples Marriage Blessing Ceremony was held on July 24, 1963, at the Seoul Citizens' Hall. The 124 Couples represent the world and symbolize Jesus' 120 disciples. The 124 Couples Marriage Blessing Ceremony was the last ceremony to consist only of Koreans and the first to be held publicly.
After the ceremony, the newlywed couples drove in a motorcade of 150 cars through downtown Seoul, attracting the attention of tens of thousands of passersby.
4. The 124 Couples Blessing was the first time we held our marriage Blessing ceremony publicly. These couples represented the entire world. I judged that it was time to set up 124 Couples as representatives of the world.
This is because, from the perspective of the Christian realm and of the present world, Korea is the leading nation, which promotes the providence of God for the future good of the world. The 124 Couples represent the world. I conducted the 36 Couples and 72 Couples Blessings within our church.
Through the tom, we were securing the internal foundation centering on our church, similar to how the foundation of a people was built through the course of Judaism.
Next, from the external standpoint, we were expanding to set a worldwide foundation to connect to the global Christian cultural sphere in history, centering on the 124 Couples.
There had to be 124 member nations of the United Nations when the 124 Couples were blessed, and there were. In Korea, a nation representing all others, this Blessing was a condition of historical importance on the world level establishing an internal condition of indemnity. (110-123, 1980/11/10)
5. The number 120, which is 10 times the number 12 of Jesus' 12 disciples, is the number that represents the horizontal world. This is why I blessed 120 needed to include match 120 disciples. Technically, there could have been 120 couples, but I blessed a total of 124. The extra 4 couples represent the 4 directions.
The 124 Couples, who represent Jesus' 120 disciples, also represent the world. This does not mean that those couples have the authority to govern and control the world, but rather that as world representatives, they can serve as the basis on which I can establish world-level indemnity conditions.
This is how establishing the 124 Couples set the condition for God to be able to work in an unprecedented way on the world level. When the number of United Nations member nations topped 120, we entered the Last Days.
(016-063, 1965/12/26)
6. When I blessed the 124 Couples, I included four husbands who were ex-convicts. I needed to include such people in the group. The work of heaven is not the work of condemning people but rather of saving everyone. God seeks to redeem all people, not only religious believers but conscientious people who are non-believers as well as those who have sinned and those who are in prison.
Therefore, I established representatives of the nation on the world level, created a door for the family, and opened it. Thereby all people in the world can enter, including those who have sinned and are languishing in jail. As the foundation to achieve this purpose, I established the Blessing of the 124 Couples.
(100-172, 1978/10/14)
7. The 124 Couples Marriage Blessing Ceremony was truly magnificent. After the ceremony, all the couples got in taxis and drove around Seoul. The people on the streets were amazed by the motorcade of 150 taxis. The city of Seoul and the nation of Korea were turned upside down.
Don't you think this wedding ceremony is one that every man and woman would find worth trying just once? We will wait and see whether the world will follow us or not. I plan to bring non-Koreans to take part in the next Blessing. (012-346, 1963/08/11)
The 430 Couples: Indemnifying 4,300 years of Korean history
The 430 Couples Marriage Blessing Ceremony was held on February 22, 1968, at the Seoul Citizens' Hall. The 430 Couples restored through indemnity the 4,300 years of Korean history.
By including one Japanese couple, True Parents set the condition of connecting the Blessing to non-Koreans. After the ceremony, the brides and bridegrooms rode separately in tour buses and cars in a motorcade through downtown Seoul.
8. The Blessing of 430 Couples took place when the Unification Church had not yet been able to pay indemnity on the national level in Korea. What does the number 430 mean?
The year the Blessing ceremony was held corresponds to the year 4,300 in the Dangun Era, and also to the 430 years of Israel's suffering in Egypt and the wilderness. With the goal of the liberation of a people, which was the ideal of the people of Israel, the 430 Couples Blessing opened a path for all Korean citizens to stand before God's Will.
This is the path to the marriage partnership ideal. It is useless to open a path centered on the ideals associated with the individual, as religions until now have tried to do.
The Unification Church has opened up the path to the marriage partnership ideal in every direction. We therefore need to mobilize all the people of this nation and substantially establish indemnity conditions within our generation.
(055-170, 1972/05/07)
9. The year that marked year 4,300 since the founding of Korea was the year that 430 Couples received the Blessing. Therefore, the 430 Couples joined the Blessing as representatives of the Korean clans.
Even if some Korean surnames were not directly included among them, all were included when we consider relatives of the participating couples through their mother's side or their fathers. The 430 Couples brought people from every family name. Every type of person was included, even those who had committed unforgivable sins.
The way of salvation was opened to all the people of Korea, even to those who could not stand in front of heaven because of the sins committed in could4,300 years.
A line leading to redemption was attached to each one of them, and a bridge of salvation was laid down. Thus, a path was paved by which Korea could naturally survive and connect to the heavenly kingdom. (133-197, 1984/07/10)
10. The numbers 3 and 4 symbolize heaven and earth. When you multiply 4 and 3 you get 12, the number of harmony. The number 12 represents all numbers and harmony between heaven and earth. This is why after 4,300 years the Blessing corresponding to the number 430, containing 3 and 4 was held in the Republic of Korea.
This Blessing signifies that all Korean families, regardless, can now freely enter the kingdom of heaven at any time. This is what the 430 Couples Blessing accomplished. On the national level, the Blessing of the 430 Couples established the standard for anyone to be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.
(075-151, 1975/01/02)
11. Starting in 1960, I progressed from the 36 Couples Blessing to 72 Couples and 124 Couples. And I intend to bless 430 couples as we cross the final hurdle of the seven-year course. The number of blessed couples has to be greater than the number 666.
The number 6 is the number of Satan, who is in the position of God's enemy. We have to go over this number. This is why a total of 760 couples, including the already married couples, will have received the Blessing within seven years. (019-113, 1967/12/31)
12. Now that I have restored Eve and the archangel, I have fulfilled my responsibility as Adam. When the time comes that I can love my sons and daughters in the family environment brought by the restoration of Eve and the archangel, the age in which good people pay indemnity will change to an age in which evil people pay indemnity to benefit good people.
From now on, we will enter a realm of good fortune for the Unification Church. When you receive the Blessing, become one, and set the four-position foundation on the family level as tribal messiahs, progressing in all directions like me, heavenly fortune will shine upon you. Heaven's providence of restoration cannot proceed except through this principle.
We cannot build the kingdom of heaven without reclaiming this physical world. Therefore, your families have to become completely one with True Parents' family. A branch cannot exist without its root.
When I blessed the 430 Couples, I asked them to become tribal messiahs. In other words, I asked them to carry out the same mission as Jesus and the Holy Spirit, that is, to work as the substantial embodiments of the resurrected Jesus and the Holy Spirit to save their tribes. I asked them to take on not just the spiritual mission but also that of the substantial tribal messiah. (040-217, 1971/02/01)
The 43 Couples from 10 nations
During their Second World Tour in 1969, True Parents officiated at the marriage Blessing ceremony of 43 Couples from 10 nations. They said that this Blessing was linked to the 430 Couples in Korea and signified connecting the Blessing to the entire world.
True Parents blessed 13 couples (seven newly engaged and six already married) at the Washington, D.C. church on February 28; eight couples (seven newly engaged and one already married) in Essen, Germany, on March 28; and 22 couples (12 newly engaged and 10 already married) at the Tokyo church on May 1.
13. The world now revolves around the second seven-year course, which started in 1968. Just as Cain and Abel fought, the left wing and right wing are fighting worldwide. We need to resolve this conflict and develop a new family, a new society, a new nation, and a new world.
This is the view of the Principle and is the mission of the Unification Church. This is why, on January 1, 1968, I established God's Day. It was the day of victory on this earth for the Unification Church. Shortly thereafter, I conducted the 430
Couples Blessing. I had to connect this victorious day horizontally to the world, so I blessed the 43 Couples while on my 1969 world tour. This was an extension of the 430 Couples Blessing in Korea.
By conducting the 43 Couples Blessing, I connected 10 nations on the horizontal level. We need to globalize everything that we have accomplished in Korea. (058-223, 1972/06/11)
14. The 43 Couples Blessing was largely intercultural. Everyone was matched internationally, such as American with German, Dutch with English, and so on. In most cases, Tos I did not match the Blessing candidates with someone from their country.
To restore the world, we need to transcend our attachment to our, people and instead love the world. This is why I conducted a marriage Blessing ceremony with people from different countries. All of them were thrilled to participate, and it brought me great joy to look at them.
After I bestowed the Blessing, I asked what they would like to do for Korea. They said they would do anything I asked of them. Never before in history has an Asian man single-handedly inspired people so profoundly in Europe. In light of this, I once again came to realize how formidable the Unification Principle truly is.
(022-229, 1969/05/02)
15. Through the Blessing of 430 Couples, Korea came to stand in the position of connecting to the Unification Principle. What this means is that, even though most Korean people may not believe in the Unification Church, they can reap the benefit of being the Third Israel because we have established an indemnity condition for them to do so through the 430 Couples. Thus, the nation of Korea has become the realm of the chosen people.
After blessing the 430 Couples, I needed to carry out the work of expanding this realm of the Republic of Korea and its citizens worldwide. I first needed to choose the holy grounds, and then I had to engraft them to the 430 Couples.
This is why I chose holy grounds in 40 nations during my First World Tour and blessed 43 Couples during my Second World Tour. I determined to connect Japan, America, Several, and Germany through the 43 Couples, who were the counterparts of the 430 Couples. This was a global, historic task.
As a result, it has become possible even for the world's innumerable nonbelievers to enjoy the benefits of the realm of Israel in this age of horizontal restoration, the same benefits as those enjoyed by those who inherited the traditions of the Jewish or Christian faith, whether over the past 4,000 years or today. Such a foundation has been established. (110-124, 1980/11/10)
Blessings of married couples
The first marriage Blessing ceremony for already married couples was held for 26 couples at the original Cheongpa-dong headquarters church in Seoul, on February 8, 1963. And on April 7 a second Blessing ceremony was held for 27 couples.
These were couples who had married and formed families before joining the Unification Church. Most of them were church elders who had contributed greatly to the church in its early years. True Parents emphasized that these already married couples needed to provide an example and be a protective fence for the younger blessed couples. Several such Blessings have since taken place.
On April 10, 1992, the marriage Blessing ceremony of 1,267 already married couples from all over the world was held immediately before the founding rally of the Women's Federation for World Peace.
This ceremony brought together couples from 33 nations, including Korea and Japan. Notably, True Parents announced that, through the participation of 45 couples from nine Middle Eastern countries, the Blessing was opened to the public at large, transcending religion and nationality.
16. The already-married, couples are those who married and formed families on their own before joining the Unification Church. For them to be recognized as families of God's ideal, the husband has to become a historic, representative central figure in God's work, restoring his family based on the Principle.
Furthermore, he has to become a man who can inherit the historical tradition. A man with a family is a representative person who can inherit completely the original tradition of upholding the work of God, as practiced by our ancestors from Abel to Noah, Abraham, and Moses. Then what ideology, worldview, already-married, and life course must such a man, who is the head of his family, adopt?
The answer is, in such a newly blessed, already married couple the husband needs to love his wife more than ever before.
When he does this, this husband and wife will transcend and put aside their earlier conjugal love relationship and, as a blessed couple, dwell in a new bond of love higher than the world has ever known. (058-171, 1972/06/11)
17. The already married blessed couples need to stand as a protective fence around the blessed couples who are, newly married. To put it another way, they need to become the couples who can indemnify the mistakes of Abel in history and whom Abel can trust in the family-level providence of God.
In the past, the differences between the two types of couples caused conflict between them. Now, however, the already married couples need to be mentors to whom the others can come with any problems they may have. Moreover, couples have to sincerely care for and to.
The already married couples are like elder brother couples. Cain is the elder brother. Abel is the younger brother. You are all brothers. The already-married brothers are the elder brothers, and they have that position regardless of whether they want it or not.
Therefore, when it comes to prayer, who needs to pray more? In the past, those in the Abel position prayed more. To devotion save Cain, Abel offered extensive devotion to God. However, in this age, a devotion a to Cain-type couples needs to be to devotion to Abel-type couples. (058-182, 1972/06/11)
18. Since the already married couples lived together as husband and wife before the church, their present is a little different from their past. Since both the man and the woman are in the same position as before, even though they must never do so, they can easily fall back into old habits.
The question is, what has changed for them after receiving the Blessing?
They have renewed their family through the Blessing, so it must become a historic family. In their previous married life, they may have lived for the sake of each other, but now the husband has to live for his wife and the wife for her husband in a new and different way. That is, now they must not simply live for each other's sake but go beyond that and live for the sake of God.
Since Adam and Eve failed to live for the sake of God, they fell and instituted a family of sorrow. When the already married couples can comfort God's innermost heart and liberate Him from His grief, they will create a foundation on which God can hope for sons and daughters who will seek Him. (058-174, 1972/06/11)
19. The children born to and are different from the children who were born before their parents received the Blessing. The blessed children are also remarkably different from their parents.
The responsibility to determine that remarkable difference lies first with the husband and then with the wife, but the couple has to fulfill this responsibility together. Then what must this couple do? The wife must not attend a fallen husband and the husband must not attend a fallen wife.
When all is said and done, they will be able to boast that they have established the standard of the unfallen Adam and Eve and have attended each other virtuously.
Therefore, you need to know that as an already married couple, your position is now at an in from what it was in the past. As couples who have received the Blessing, and as already married couples who have been tied together again, you have to become one with God's Will.
If you fail to become one, you will indeed lose honor in front of heaven. In the past, we continued to weave a history of sorrow because we stood in the position of not knowing God's Will. Now that you have been newly connected based on the Will, if you repeat your past lifestyle, traditions, and habits, you will evoke a second sorrow in heaven. Such a thing must never happen.
Therefore, you need to become dramatically different from the way you were before. You already married couples have the responsibility to initiate a new flow of history and to establish a new tradition. (058-175, 1972/06/11)
20. The already married blessed couples need to know that the previously unwed blessed couples are closely watching them. Since the previously unwed couples have just started their families, they're not very knowledgeable about spousal relations.
When it comes to raising children, they can easily watch how the already married couples are doing it and follow their example. In light of this, the already married couples are in a most important position.
They need to set an example that is dramatically different from their past. If they do not do this, they will not be able to stand as families of heaven's ideal.
The already married couples are in the position of Cain. As Cain-type families, they need to set an example in front of the previously unwed couples and assist them to the greatest extent possible. Unless the Unification Church could couples establish such a tradition, there would be no way to redeem the innumerable couples around the world who married on their own. (058-177, 1972/06/11)
21. I have granted amnesty and opened a path to the Blessing even to those who lived as they liked in their families. Through this, these mothers and fathers can be recognized as having the same value as those standing in the position of the unfallen Adam and Eve or unfallen sons and daughters of the heavenly kingdom.
If the Unification Church recognizes them as such, the entire world has to do so as well. Through the founding of the Women's Federation for World Peace and the movement for women's liberation, I opened the door by which Adam and Eve, who had fallen at the family level, already married couple's wedding return to the level of an unfallen family.
I am granting amnesty to all families in the world outside the Unification Church. This is not something that happens every day. After this period passes, already married couples will have to go to a tribal messiah to receive the Blessing. Tribal messiahs are those who will bless them. (233-055, 1992/07/30)
22. In the morning, when it is time for the sun to rise, it rises naturally. In the same way, even through difficult circumstances, I created an environment where everyone in the world can receive the Blessing.
This is historic. The Blessing began in 1961, and it was globalized Spirit 1992. We waited patiently until 1992 and then started to expand it. From that point, we conducted Unification Church Blessing ceremonies for the public. We did this maintaining the dawn of the era of women. (325-317, 2000/07/02)
23. Christianity and Islam see each other as enemies and cannot even dream of uniting. Nonetheless, they need to become one. This is why True Father and True Mother blessed them in the International Couples Blessing Ceremony on April 10, 1992.
Because Jesus was crucified, he could not find his Bride, who was to be the True Mother. But I resolved everything through the wedding, This Blessing created the realm of the resurrected Jesus on the national level.
In that position, I went beyond Rome and came to stand on the worldwide level. Transcending 2,000 years of history, I have built and restored a victorious domain and have thus established True Mother in the worldwide realm of Eve.
This is why the era of women's liberation is coming. It is the end now. Everything will be completed when I have finished blessing everyone. The path that leads to hell will be turned around 180 degrees. (230-055, 1992/04/15)
24. Now, all blessed couples across the world have risen to the same level. Regardless of whether they are Christian or believe in another religion, I am exercising my prerogative as a True Parent to establish all couples on the same level. I blessed Abel too, bless Cain.
This is why I am establishing them in the same position. The parents of blessed couples married on their own and even opposed the Unification Church. As tribal messiahs, you need to raise your parents to the position of the unfallen Adam and Eve.
By doing so, they can connect to True Parents at the center at all levels: family, tribe, people, nation, and world. This is why at the time of the World Culture and Sports Festival in August 1992, I will open the door to all married couples around the world. When they receive the Blessing, the path will open for them to enter the realm of heaven's lineage. (233-201, 1992/08/01)
Singles Blessing
The first Singles Blessing ceremony was held on March 28, 19,63 at the original Cheongpa-dong headquarters church in Seoul. Those who could not be matched and blessed with a spouse on earth, due to considerations such as age, were allowed to receive the Singles Blessing so that they would eventually be able to meet their spouse in the spirit world.
Forty-one members, one man, and 40 women, participated in this ceremony. All had been members for at least six years and were at least 60 years of age. Since then, many single blessing ceremonies have been held.
25. I asked those who were 60 years or older, and too old to marry a physical partner even if they wanted to, to gather on Parents' Day 1963. I did so and created a model for their family paradise in the world after death. Until now, paradise has not been for families. In it, people have not had a spouse.
Their situation was the same as that of the angelic world. At this time, however, abiding by the principle of partnership, I need to equip elderly people on earth so they can reserve their place in the family paradise of the spirit world.
According to God's original intention, the kingdom of heaven in the spirit world is a place where one is surrounded by one's family: parents, and. But if our members 60 years and older are unable to form families, I need to create a kingdom of heaven for them that is like God's originally intended paradise.
I must protect these people. At least I need to promise them that if they die and go to the spirit world without a spouse on earth, they will have one there.
(152-037, 1963/03/03)
26. Only when I, in the position of Adam, restore fallen Eves, can their spouses be restored through them as restored Eves. What this means is, that to restore Eve now, she comes to stand on heaven's side and can save her future husband.
Adam fell by listening to Eve, so once you become a restored Eve through this ceremony you will need to receive a man in the spirit world who will listen to your words, and make him one with you and store him.
You will find a spouse candidate in the spirit world, and become engaged. It begins with this Blessing ceremony for the restoration of Eve. It is followed by a ceremony to restore love spiritually through holy wine. Once you have done these, then when you go to the next world you can choose your Many Spirits to be offered men a recouple.
Many spirit men are waiting there hoping to be chosen as a partner. You have this privilege. However, the fact that you have this privilege does not mean you can go there first and tell someone, “Let us live together.” You have to wait until I go. I have to go to the spirit world to give you my consent. You cannot do just as you please. (101-310, 1978/11/07)
27. Heavenly Father, at 5:53 in the afternoon of November 7, 1978, I am performing the engagement ceremony of 101 couples, and I pray that You will permit it in Your holy name.
Please allow this connection, by which Your daughters on earth and Your sons in the spirit world can be united. By matching Your daughters on earth with Your sons in the spirit world, I am bestowing upon them the right to form families when they go to the eternal world in the future, in the name of heaven and every name of True Parents.
So Heavenly Father, please accept them. I know that every one of them will remain as the objects of adoration hoped for by all spirits in the spirit world. I have determined right here and now the one connection by which after they have spent some time on this earth, they can go to the spirit world and be linked to their spouse.
So Father, please grant this. I hope that, in this way, they can form eternal relationships of husband and wife when they go to the spirit world by becoming one with their spouse in the name of True Parents.
So Heavenly Father, please permit this. I wish to open the way for those here on earth to receive the Blessing conditionally, and for it to become substantial when they arrive in the spirit world. So Father, please allow this. I pray that You will permit the engagement of these 101 couples and that You will also permit their future wedding ceremony. (101-310, 1978/11/07)
Sun Myung Moon