This is an unofficial English translation prepared for tplegacy.net. It has not been reviewed or authorized by FFWPU or any official Unification Movement publishing body.
May 22, 1960 (Sunday), Former Headquarters Church.
Matthew 25:29-46
Prayer
Please let us recall once again the figure of Christ, who came 2,000 years ago to embrace the Israel that You had chosen.
That figure was filled with worry for Heaven, but no one looked upon him and worried for him. He poured out his life of more than thirty years for the sake of Father's Will alone and went forth taking that alone as the standard of his life; yet there was no one who, knowing that heart, consoled him, saying, “You are not the One who must labor,” and gave him rest.
We did not know the heart of Jesus, who was driven from this village to that village, from this town to that town; we did not know his forlorn heart that, even unable to eat or to clothe himself, dragged his weary legs to walk along the foot of the Mount of Olives to release his han. Although we have spoken the word “Lord” countless times, please forgive us for not knowing the true figure of the Lord.
Although we have heard until our ears were worn the words “the only-begotten Son of God,” we never heard of the wretched circumstances of the only-begotten Son.
Although we have heard much of the great words that Heaven grants the providence of glorious salvation to all peoples unconditionally, we did not know the figure of Jesus, the prince of faith, who went forth following the Father.
Father, now, who shall we take as our model? It was not any leader of any denomination that we should take as our model, nor was it any leader of any church. We have come to know that they cannot be those whom we can trust. We have many times fallen into despair while believing, and we, having poured all our strength and devotion, are those whose very devotion was trampled.
Now, opening our hearts, we have come to know that what we are to lean upon is not the church, not any leader of any church, not the denomination, and not any political leader on this earth.
We feel that the only thing the believer of this age must do is to attend to the figure of the Lord, hidden in history, driven by the age, who bears a deep heart.
Was there ever a day when Heaven did not yearn for such a comrade, and was there ever a day when that comrade, being persecuted, Heaven did not stand on his side?
We know the historical fact that, in the place where he fell, You fell with him, and in the place where he, lamenting, fought, You fought with him. Therefore, in such a place too, the lonely figure that can call out “Lord” is yet more yearned for.
Please let us know the fact that Father greatly yearns for the multitude that strives, with no place to lean upon, to forsake this resentful earth and become comrades of heart who lay hold of Father alone.
Father, today I have stood before them; what shall I say?
Whenever I feel the responsibility of having to go, hearing Your voice that says, “Come,” I cannot but report before Father that I am insufficient; whenever I must block the surging tide of death, I cannot but hear Father's counsel. Now, please do not let these sons and daughters who have come forth here become those who follow some person.
Please first permit them to become those who know how to be drawn by the heaven-rooted heart that is felt through their minds. We have come to know that the true and the sincere need no leader.
We have come to know that the heavenly law of kinship abides as the eternal teacher together with our conscience, that it abides as the eternal master, and that it abides as the eternal Bridegroom. Please let us know that we ourselves must be time-sensitive in seeking the original self, granted by Heaven, which is near at hand—the original self that exalts You.
There was nothing in the relative world. Therefore, Jesus too said the Kingdom of Heaven is in your heart, and we know that he longed that he be in us and we be in him. Please broaden this mind. Please humble this body.
We have come to know that our minds and bodies must be broadened and humbled. We have come to know that even if han has been born in this one breast, we must forget it and broaden the mind, and that even when hatred sprouts in facing the enemy, we must broaden the mind and forget it.
We have come to know that even if, having labored without seeking reward, we are placed in a position of being driven and treated unjustly, ours is a course in which we must invoke a blessing for them.
We have come to know why Heaven tells us to walk such a road. We have come to know that, because Heaven walked thus, it is the principle that He bids us come thus.
Although Jesus came to this earth as the King of kings, lowering the figure of the Lord of all the cosmos, he washed the feet of sinners and shed his blood for the multitude of death.
Now, please make us at least sons and daughters who, bowing their heads before that lofty character, struck with overwhelming emotion, can sob without end, having lost words.
We have come to know that such a multitude is needed. In a word-filled world, the seeking of Your person has been much, but we have come to know that there has been no bonding before Father by word.
Since we know that it can be done only by heart, please let Your sons and daughters gathered here now know where their hearts are.
Please let the heart of yearning and longing be within Father, and please let the sorrowful heart be hidden deep in our breasts.
Thus, please make us those who are remembered in Father's heart, those who are remembered in the heart of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, those who are remembered in the hearts of the prophets and martyrs of old who died for the sake of good.
We know that we cannot but become the sons and daughters of witness in this age who can stand in place of heart alone.
We are sons and daughters who have passed through the difficult road and the rough ridges, knelt before You; we earnestly desire and beseech that at this hour You bless us and command us.
We have spoken many words; what shall we now further say? Please personally take charge and govern. Please permit the heart of the one who delivers and the heart of those who face him to become one, and we earnestly desire and beseech that we become sons and daughters who, when Heaven moves, move, and when Heaven rests, rest, and form a heart-level bond and turn back, and that You become a Father who can have that heart-level bond transferred to their hearts and rejoice.
Asking that at this hour, you also be with the countless brothers who have bowed their heads with the same heart, we have prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.
Today, the title under which I would think together with you is “The Father Who Comes Seeking.” Let us think for a while under the title “The Father Who Comes Seeking.”
The God Who Would Resolve the Sorrow of the Cosmos
You know that the world in which you live is not a world in which you can sing of happiness eternally. Whether society or family, or, narrowing further, looking at ourselves, we vividly experience that lamentation remains in our body and mind.
Not only that, sometimes feeling threatened to our life, feeling threats to our living, we always experience how often we are caught in environments in which we cannot move this way or that. But even while in such environments, you must have vividly experienced that, in one corner of our minds, we fight without losing hope to refuse such a self.
If, although the heart that wishes to rejoice constantly urges the body to advance toward something, the body cannot advance to such a place and cannot walk such a step, there is no greater unhappiness than this, no greater betrayal of the mind than this.
When we think that this struggle is not a matter of one or two days but continues without end through a lifetime and through history, the important question is how to resolve ourselves today.
If I take charge of this question and resolve it, setting up a victorious standard that can be publicly recognized before all peoples, then from me, a new history, from me, a new age, from me, a new happiness, and new joy will begin.
Everything must be resolved, beginning with me. We must first know that this historical duty is laid upon each of us living on this earth.
The Human Beings Who Brought Sorrow upon God
If there is an absolute God who urges and impels the hearts of people to advance toward some destination, what would be the thing that God hopes for?
You only seek to resolve your problem, but God, transcending you and transcending this world, would resolve all the problems of the created world He made and of all heaven and earth.
Although we feel suffering and feel han while living, we can resent it before our friend at our side, our brother, or our wife and children, and vent our anger. We have such an object. But we must once again feel the fact that God bears great sorrow and suffering without having had such an object.
There is a difference of heaven and earth between the figure of the human being who fights to escape his suffering and the figure of God who comes forth fighting to resolve the suffering of the world.
However, bursting the worry, anxiety, and suffering in my breast, that is individual suffering. We must know that, however great that suffering, it cannot be compared to God's suffering.
Then did God originally create human beings in such a form?
When God created all things of heaven and earth, did He create them to sweep them into the realm of sorrow and suffering like this? No.
Originally, he created them to feel joy. He created them so that they would be in a form prepared with a joyful mind and rejoicing heart.
Therefore, in God's eyes, looking upon all things, joy must be reflected. But when He looks upon this earth today, is He set so that He can look upon all things with a joyful mind? Going further, is He set so that He can look upon human beings with a joyful heart? It is not so.
After creating all things over five days, on the sixth day God created human beings with a joyful heart.
Our ancestors of humanity, created after His own form, were beings beautiful, extremely precious, extremely worthy of being boasted of, extremely joyful, extremely glorious, and beings He extremely wished to love.
But when one part opens the depths of your breast, or each one of the cells composing your body, is there anything therein in which God can rejoice, with which God can be pleased, by which God can bestow blessing before all things? There is none.
God created all things to add to His joy and to continue the stimulation of joy. He did not create them to feel a momentary joy but to feel the stimulation of joy and the happiness that seeps into the depths of His breast whenever He faces the creation. He created them, pouring forth the highest heart.
The human being thus created—as the total integration of the entirety of God's heart, as an object of joy that could stand in place of the heart of creation of all the cosmos as a whole—was broken.
Therefore, the world of creation, created for God's joy, has changed into a world of han and sorrow, and Adam and Eve, who were the substance of joy and hope, were expelled from the Garden of Eden. As a multitude expelled before God, of course, they had to suffer.
Of course, they had to undergo sorrow. As the recompense of betrayers who forsook the heavenly law of kinship, they had to undergo sorrow and suffering.
Salvation Through the Mind
Then, for us, who came forth betraying God, there must be a destination of joy that we can seek and a method by which all sorrow can be removed. To wander seeking this is humanity, you and I, until today.
We must seek the original world, the original destination, in which we can sing with joy. We must also know the method by which all the sufferings of the darkness entangled around us can be parted. Because we have not found that destination and have not known the method by which to remove the lamentation of darkness and gloom, throughout the course of thousands of years of history, humanity has struggled in lamentation, despair, and suffering.
What we must know here is, suffering if it be suffering, sorrow if it be sorrow, the authority of darkness if it be the authority of darkness, where lies the limit of what human beings undergo? It is up to the ridge of death—up to the ridge of death.
Now, in advancing toward such a destination, even if the gate of suffering blocks our path, we must be those who, taking no thought of death, push through and break it open. Such a person can find some hope in the age, some hope of history.
Until one stakes his life and confronts in this way, God does not move. We must clearly know that we are human beings in such a position.
God has, until now, not been able to forsake human beings placed in such a position and has labored to lay hold of them again and have them return to that world in which there is only happiness. To return to that world is the purpose of salvation. The Kingdom of Heaven is a secondary issue.
On earth, although one may live in suffering, only when one can swallow that suffering and digest it as joy can one go to the Kingdom of Heaven. One who is not so absolutely cannot go to the Kingdom of Heaven. He cannot go.
Does one go to the Kingdom of Heaven if one believes? Then let us see. The Israelite people, set apart and centered upon the Will for 4,000 years, how well they believed!
For 2,000 years, from Abraham through Moses until before Jesus came, how well they kept the Law that Moses had set up! That such a multitude that had believed so well would betray Jesus, who came as the prince of faith, was not even dreamed of.
The figure of the high priests, sanctified and adorned, going into the holy of holies, seemed to stand in place of God and seemed to be the substance of faith, but such ones became enemies before Jesus. It is unfathomable.
Where have the Israelite people who believed so well gone?
You must know that the integrity of their faith was higher than the integrity of the faith of those believing in Jesus on this earth today. The standard of salvation does not lie in how much one believes. It lies in how the mind is after one has believed.
Even if, in the mind, one bears the disposition of a robber, the disposition of a thief, or the disposition of a murderer, can one go to the Kingdom of Heaven by believing?
Salvation does not come about thus. From where does salvation begin? Salvation is done from the very bottom. It is done from the foundation. That foundation is the mind. Therefore, salvation begins from the mind.
If there is a teacher who instructs to make a person of character, that teacher must first take possession of the disciple's mind. He must lead it in the direction in which that mind can develop.
Until then, he cannot make that disciple a person of character. He cannot make him a person who, prepared with a complete character, can take responsibility.
Why does God seek to save human beings?
After saving them, what will He do? The purpose of salvation is for God's joy. God has carried out the providence of salvation to recover the original joy of when He created all things.
We must be saved beginning from our minds—from the mind. Therefore, God, while embracing the history of humanity until now, has guarded the path of the mind, protected the path of the mind, and led the path of the mind, agitating the human mind to come forth. That is what God has done.
The Human Mind That Should Have Become the House of God and Jesus
Has God, for 6,000 years, only despaired and wept looking upon all things He created? No. Even Jesus, who at the cross said, “It is finished” and met his end, has not only been resting since the day he went. He is praying. What has been finished? Prayer is necessary only for the completion of a purpose.
When Jesus, in the three-year course of public ministry, went about leading his twelve apostles, what did he wish for in his heart from those apostles? He did not wish for the lump of flesh to follow him. He wished for that mind, the mind in which Jesus could enter and abide within them. To attend to Jesus, that mind must become Jesus' house. If their minds had become Jesus' house, Jesus would not have died.
When Jesus had labor to do, one had to be able to say, “Lord, I will labor in your stead”; when Jesus had to suffer, “I will suffer in your stead”; when Jesus had to grieve, “I will grieve in your stead.” Why? Because he is one to be attended to, and we are those who must serve. There is the order of high and low. This was reversed. In the three-year course of public ministry, Jesus' disciples sought to make themselves great. They sought to make themselves greater than the Lord. Their minds were placed infinitely high. Deep within their minds, the self was alive. Jesus should have been alive there, but it was not so.
On such a heart-level standard, one must form a bond with Jesus, and on the foundation of eternal victory, one must be able to proclaim, “I, eternally, eternally, even though heaven and earth perish, have taken possession of heaven and earth.”
Yet is there such a thing in the Bible?
Rather, they forsook Jesus, who came to this earth and lived a life of more than thirty years. Thus, the environment in which Satan again acts as master came about.
Although 2,000 years of history have flowed since Jesus came and went, God has not yet found the resolving point at which He can say, “This is mine eternally. No chief of Satan can take possession of this ”and exercise the actual cosmic authority before all created things and heaven and earth.
If anyone thinks He has found it, raise your hand.
Although it is His wish to open the door of the human mind and dwell within that mind, transferring all the heart of Heaven there, and through that mind to plan everything for the earth, God has not yet met a person of character with such a mind.
Therefore, Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is in your mind.”
Before yearning for the formless Kingdom of Heaven, build the substantial Kingdom of Heaven! Before hoping for the formless Kingdom of Heaven, complete the substantial Kingdom of Heaven, that is, the substantial Kingdom of Heaven!
This is what Jesus wished to assert. He said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” This does not mean that he had no house. It means he had no place to lay his mind.
Jesus did not have the foundation by which one could be bonded by the mind, rejoice in the mind, be joyful in the mind, console with the mind, and have compassion in the mind.
If there had been such a person, Jesus would not have been pitiful. Even at the cost of dying on the cross, he would not have been pitiful. Indeed, if there had been such a person, he could not have died.
Therefore, the work of God was to seek to pioneer a palace of the mind through countless seekers of the Way living on the earth. To pioneer a palace of the mind, God has been coming forth seeking until now.
Toward this earth that is the world of death, God has come seeking. The Father has come seeking.
Jesus, Who Fulfilled the Way of the Son Even While Suffering Hardship
What sort of person did Jesus come seeking?
He did not come seeking those who held authority like Pilate. He did not come seeking the high priests and teachers of the Law of imposing bearing and dignified power. He did not come seeking those who threw out their chests and held up their faces. He came seeking those who, though without sin, had a mind like that of a sinner, who, though they had something to eat, did not eat; though they had something to wear, did not wear; though they had a place to live, said they themselves could not live; who said, “Please forgive the sin of the people.
Please open the realm of death of the world's humanity. Please remove the suffering of the people.” He did not come seeking those who punish, rebuke, and curse the people who betrayed God, but came seeking the multitude who, in the opposite position, had pity on them and shed tears.
Because of such twists and turns, God and the world stand opposed; therefore, the place where the world rejoices is the place where God grieves, and the place where God grieves is the place where the world rejoices.
If you look at the history of the Jewish nation, you can know that when the Israelite people rejoiced together with the world, God grieved. Therefore, God came forth seeking and seeking, struggling. He did not come to this earth with the authority of a prince. He came seeking from the very lowest place on earth.
You must know the history of restoration well.
What sort of age is the Old Testament Age?
It is the age in which He worked through servants. The age in which He worked through angels—that is, heavenly servants.
What sort of age is the New Testament Age?
Passing through the age of servants, it is an age that has risen one step beyond the Old Testament Age. The New Testament Age is the age in which God, having labored for 4,000 years, the servants having laid the foundation and pioneered an environment in which the Son could be protected, sent the Son and worked. Thus, it keeps rising.
What sort of servants were the servants? Servants who poured out all loyalty, servants who, to attend God, were driven in their age. You must know this. Among the prophets of old, who was there who was welcomed before the chosen Israelite people? Thus, after laboring for 4,000 years through the driven among the servants, He sent the Son.
What did the Son do upon coming to this earth?
He did not seek to receive glory. Therefore, like many Christians today, hoping for self-centered joy or satisfaction is unforgivable. Whom did Jesus, who came as the Son, come seeking?
Did he go to Pilate's court, stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Pilate, and openly debate the great way of heaven and earth?
He could not. Did he sit knee-to-knee with the high priests, debate, and protest, “You wretches, you are those who have trampled the integrity of Israel that Heaven set up, having labored for 4,000 years to choose”? He could not.
Did he go into some village, gather the Israelite people, and say, “Let us live together with me forever”?
He could not. Did he say, “That God labored for 4,000 years to choose and set you up was because of me; therefore, pour out all loyalty for my sake and attend to me”? He could not. He was not exalted as the only-begotten Son of Heaven, the Crown Prince of Heaven.
Who would have known that Jesus would fall so?
Who would have known that his standing and all his environment would fall so? Did God, looking upon that, rejoice and say, “Oh, well done”? He did not. He did not.
Jesus, who came to this earth, knew that for 4,000 years the servants had, according to the law, set up integrity in place of Heaven, and therefore he could not but set up his standing before them.
Even at the cost of being placed in the wretched environment of suffering and being driven, he could not give up the bond that “God is my Father, and I am God's Son.” And knowing the heart of God, who had come seeking the Son for 4,000 years, he could not but resolve, even at the cost of dying, to become a filial son before Heaven.
Thus, Jesus, thinking of the integrity that the servants had set up, set up the integrity of the Son in the position of the Son.
Therefore, even on the cross, he said, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” (Matt. 26:39)
Jesus had resolved, “My body is not my own.
God has said that I am the Alpha and the Omega; therefore, the place I must go is in His stead, and since I have come to be through Him, I must live a life based on Him, and I must walk the road of fulfilling His purpose.”
Therefore, however much difficulty there was, in order not to leave a historical name of unfilial sin before the heart of the original Father, he crossed over all those difficulties and kept fully to the way of the Son.
What is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is the Mother Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, before God, is the Daughter. Thus, those who appeared on this earth as God's Son and Daughter are Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Then what did Jesus and the Holy Spirit do? Because they could say, “Your Son is I, Your Daughter is the Holy Spirit. Is it not Your Will to find the earth, to find me, to find the Holy Spirit?
Therefore, Your Will is in us, and our will is in this earth. We are taking responsibility for this earth.” From the day Jesus came, the work of God was transferred to Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Thus, when there are people on the earth who sin, in their stead, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, in the position of Son and Daughter, have offered the offering of atonement to God. We must know that they have come forth seeking thus.
We know that when the Last Days come, the Lord of the Second Advent will come.
Then, with what purpose will the coming Lord come to this earth?
Since the age of servants has passed and the age of the Son has passed, the coming Lord will come as Father. He comes in the glory of the Father.
Coming in the glory of the Father, what will he do?
He will breathe the heart of the Father into each human being. It is not the heart of the Son. It is not the heart of Jesus. It is the heart of the Father.
After Jesus came to this earth as the Bridegroom and welcomed the Bride, what was he to do?
He had to go before God and receive the blessing. With God's love, he had to embrace all peoples in his bosom and receive the blessing before God.
Standing in such a position, Jesus and the Holy Spirit could not, embracing all peoples, advance before God and receive that blessing. To receive that blessing, the historical standard of the Father must be set up on this earth. Therefore, the Lord of the Second Advent, who comes hereafter, is coming to raise the work of the Father.
Human Beings Who Must Be Prepared with the Father's Inner Form and Outer Form
Raising the work of the Father, he will breathe the heart of the Father into our fallen human minds and recreate the inner form of the Father.
Look at Genesis 1:27:
“God created man in his image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
It is not Jesus' image. It is the Father's image.
Where lies the highest purpose of salvation? It lies in establishing the image and the inner form of the Father. For that, God has labored until now.
You must know God's circumstances as He has come passing through such a course of restoration of labor.
For that reason, God has not, until now, ceased coming to seek our pitiful human beings living on the earth, human beings who deserve to die ten million times.
Today, you have not become a complete person of character like Jesus. On this earth, there live human beings of myriad forms. Religions, too, are of myriad forms. Therefore, the forms in which Father faces them are also of myriad forms—you must know this.
When we look back upon history, we must consider in what kind of figure Father came seeking us. He labored over the long span of 6,000 years to find one insignificant me.
We must know that, if I cannot bring to its conclusion the Will of Father who came seeking and go to the spirit world, God must again face me with a heart of anguish.
Because we are human beings who began with the eternal bond of heart, until we, having prepared the moment in which God's heart and the human heart can meet at one place and rejoice together, cross over the standard at which it can be applied to the value of the whole, God is always sorrowful.
Father, in such a position, is even now coming seeking the human beings who are on this earth. Even in this hour, when you have come here today and are offering worship, the Father is coming seeking. Even to that place of death where the surge of death pounds, Father is going seeking.
Why must God stand in such a position?
Originally, human beings and God were in the relationship of Father and Son and Daughter. After creating all things of heaven and earth, God created human beings, pouring forth the highest energy.
If there was heart, He poured it out one hundred percent; if there was mind, He poured out the mind; if there was body, He poured out the body. Therefore, even in the Bible, He has said such words. He said, Pour out all your mind, all your will, all your nature.
The Father's Heart in Facing the Child
Why did God create Adam and Eve as such precious beings?
To send them on errands? No. To send on errands, He created angels. Then for what did He create them? He created them to make sons and daughters. He created them in a relationship in which He could say, “I am the Father, and you are my son and daughter; if you grieve, I grieve, and if you rejoice, I too rejoice.”
Parents here who have children will know this. However unfilial the child, even if he becomes a murderer and is bound behind iron bars, the parent's heart, transcending the iron bars, moves toward that child.
If even fallen human beings are so, how much more is it with God, who abides as the original heavenly heart itself! No suffering can remove this heart. No sorrow can remove this heart. No grief, no indignation can erase this heart. Because such a bond exists, God cannot forsake fallen human beings but lays hold of them and comes forth.
Looking into it, He was such a Father. Have you ever fulfilled the mission of a son before such a Father?
Have you ever fulfilled the mission of a daughter?
We must reflect and lament that we were a wicked multitude that did not even think of such things. We cannot resent anyone.
Even if there is, right before our eyes, a sworn enemy who has caused our blood to congeal, we cannot resent him. However wronged a position we are in, we cannot resent. Because if my taking revenge on the enemy could be publicly recognized by the heavenly way, the humanity of this world would all have to die. Therefore, he said, Do not avenge yourself. Why? Because God cannot do so…
Human beings, in the position of children, have committed a fundamental wrong against God, who is the Parent. But who can sever the original bond between God and human beings, this entanglement of feeling at the level of the heart? No one.
Therefore, the work of salvation to save human beings, too, is done with love—love. Not faith, not hope, but love. What remains in the very end is love. Therefore, if there are sons and daughters who, holding fast to the Father who labored for 6,000 years, can weep, Satan cannot drag them away.
If some sons and daughters can call Him “my Father,” who could deny that they are children of that Parent, however much Satan is the enemy? He cannot.
Has God, who stands in the position of Father, ever played the role of Father? He has not. He waited and longed for the position in which He could say, “My beloved Adam, my beloved Eve, you are my son, you are my daughter.
Even though heaven and earth may change, who could deny that I love you and you love me?” —but human beings fell without His meeting that time. Therefore, we are to restore this. We are to find it again.
God came forth, holding fast to the people that wept together with history. He came forth holding fast to the people who wept for the sake of Heaven. He came forth holding fast to the people who were driven for the sake of Heaven. He came forth holding fast to the multitude that, for the sake of Heaven, was cursed and, for the sake of Heaven, was put to death.
God knows the circumstances of human beings better than human beings themselves. Therefore, He can forgive the sins of human beings. Because He knows all too well the cause and result of that sin, He forgives sin and does not remember it. Moreover, because He knows even what the heart of the human being was at the time of the sin, Heaven cannot remember the sin.
The Forlorn Father Who Comes Seeking the Lost Child
God comes seeking with such a standard, but He comes seeking from the very end. When the fallen children were driven, He became their forerunner.
The Moses driven from the palace, who stood before the Israelite people—it was not Moses who stood, but God who stood. Not Moses alone wept. We must know that God wept more than Moses.
I sometimes think this thought: that God is like Kim Sat-gat, with a wanderer's bundle on his back. In fact, it is so. Having no place to lay down the load on His back, He sought to lay it down upon the Israelite people, but because that people betrayed Him, He became one shouldering that bundle again and wandered the world.
Who knew that pierced mind and that boiling heart? Whether the person is outstanding or not, it is fine. Whether known or unknown, learned or unlearned, that is not the issue.
Who could be the filial son and filial daughter who acknowledge God's mind?
Where could the family that attends God be? Where could the people who attend God be? This is the issue.
Although the earth is broad and the humanity living upon it is many, there is no child who, holding fast to the Father who has become a wretched wanderer, sheds tears for Him. To make such a child, He must teach all of, “I am your Father, I have labored thus and so”—truly a grievous fact.
Originally, God is the One who governs all the cosmos and the One who must appear before the children with infinite love. But because he never had a child, He has become the Father who struggles with a sorrowful and forlorn figure. How pitiful it is. You must know this.
As in the words you saw today, when one most insignificant orphan with a pitiful figure passes before you, the one who, saying, “There goes Father,” lays hold of him and sheds tears, is the one who attends Father.
Furthermore, when a beggar is passing in shabby garb, the one who, knowing it is Father coming seeking him, sheds tears saying, “Father too is going like that,” is the one who attends Father. The principle that to entertain a passing wayfarer is to entertain Father comes forth from this.
True Filial Sons and Daughters
How does one become a true filial son?
One must grasp Father's circumstances through experience. One must know all the circumstances Father has undergone in the past days. What sort of Father is our Father? He is the Father who, when His beloved son or daughter goes to the place of execution, sheds tears before the gallows. He is the Father who, although not a sinner, sheds tears before the sinner.
Although the perfect Father, you must know that He is the Father who has not participated in the place where the unfortunate of this earth go.
The reason Father seeks such a place is that He has the bond of Father and child with human beings. When you pray, if you pray in a comfortable place, you cannot receive grace. While recalling the figure of Father, you must walk an actual course that can stand in place of that Father.
When Jesus stood in the position of being driven and betrayed before the people, do you know what kind of prayer he offered, having gone into a quiet mountain valley? He did not pray, “Father, please give me a blessing and let me live in comfort.” Whenever he was driven and chased, he prayed, “Father, it is grievous. How greatly have You walked such a road in the historical course?” He prayed, “These tears that I shed are tears in place of Father!”
If one is a true shepherd, a true son or daughter, even though his clothes be shabby and his body wounded, he will, forgetting his figure and his wounds, think of Father, who walked a road yet more forlorn, and entangled with Father's heart, will shed tears. Only such a one can go to the heavenly Kingdom.
If you are a believer, you must be able to weep even before a silent mountain peak. Why? Because, looking upon that mountain and thinking of the time when God was creating all things of heaven and earth, the breast cannot help but burst.
You must know that there is no created thing upon which God did not leave the trace of tears. Whenever you face a fine scene, you must be able to call out “Father” and shed tears. Why? Because Father, throughout the long span of 6,000 years, was driven by sons and daughters and wept many times. This is not what is said by imagination. It is a fact.
Although your hand is a part of your body, until you enter the state in which, forgetting it, you can hold fast to that hand and weep, you cannot say you have experienced Father. Do you understand what this means? None other than the one who, seized by the feeling, “The left hand is the hand of the beloved son, the right hand is the hand of the beloved Father,” holds his hand and writhes in the state of “Father!” “My son!” can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
When you pray, you must go to such a state. Have you entered such a state? When, forgetting one's own self, one weeps for hours unbeknownst to oneself, one comes to know that Heaven weeps thus. Crossing over such a state and saying, “Father!” — Then it becomes real.
The noun “Father” is many. There is my father, others' fathers, bad fathers, and good fathers. Some loving fathers love, and some fathers do not love. Some fathers seek to profit from me. But you must know that there is the Father who weeps, facing me.
The Father Whom We Must Attend in Our Mind and Console
God, even while crossing over the ridges of death, has come forth holding fast to these human beings. You must know that He is the Father who, breaking through the body rotting in the world of death, wishes to transfer to the mind His mind, His heart, all of Himself, and then bestow blessing.
You must certainly attend the Father who has come forth through such a historical process; in what kind of place will you attend Him? Have you prepared a place to attend to Him? Where is that place?
Where are the Israelite people who were prepared to prepare the place to attend? Is the place to attend God the house in which you live? Is it the country in which you live? It is not. Why? Because nowhere on this earth is a place to be trusted. Because it is a place where one cannot rest.
Therefore, first, centering on my mind, I must become an eternal, unchanging figure and attend Father deep in my mind. After first attending Father at the center of the mind, we must form a new family centered on that Father, become Father's society, Father's family, and Father's I. Has this country become so?
Has this world become so? Has any country today on this earth, said to believe well in Heaven, become so? It has not.
Then where will you attend, Father?
In the depths of each one's mind. If I have attended Father deep in my mind, what next must I do? I must console Father. With what kind of mind must I console Him? Knowing He is the laboring Father, knowing He is the Father who, to meet me, has come seeking for 6,000 years, I must console Him. Knowing that He has come as One yet more tragic than the protagonist of any tragic film in the world, I must attend to that, Father.
Look at the figure of Father, who has come seeking from Adam's family. Father set up Cain and Abel and sought to bring the great work of the heavenly law of kinship to its conclusion, but Cain struck and killed Abel.
Looking upon Abel's death, what would have been God's heart? It was God who was struck.
In Noah's time, it was so by Ham's mistake; in Moses' time, it was so by the unbelief of the Israelite people; in Jesus' time, too, it was so by the unbelief of the Israelite people.
I Am the Sinner Who Killed the Father
From the Fall until now, humanity has woven a history of tragedy. God's providence is tragedy. There is no comedy.
Today, we are looking at the history in which the program of tragedy has continued, the wretched scene of tragedy. In that scene of tragedy, who fell and who wept aloud? God. Countless prophets fell in God's stead, and countless saints fell in God's stead. All of this on whose account? Because of “me.” If we were to watch such a film, there would be no one who would not weep aloud.
Not only that. Our ancestors seized and killed Jesus, who came to this earth as the Father of all peoples. We are the descendants of villains worse than murderous robbers.
Jesus came as the latter Adam. Because the first Adam fell, he came again as the perfected Adam, as the True Father of humanity. Because the first Adam became the false father, the latter Adam came as the True Father, having to give birth to all peoples again. He had to give them life again. Therefore, there is resurrection; there is salvation.
Since we seized and killed Jesus, who came as such a One, we are murderous robbers. We must think of this and pray. Stop the talk of, “Oh! Father, my conscience is burdened with nothing.” We are the murderous robbers who killed the Father. You must know this.
However sin-hardened a sinner, the moment one knows one has killed the Father, one cannot but weep aloud. That is why the salvation of all peoples can be accomplished. We not only killed the Father but are also like a yellow horde of bandits who beat down the sons, the servants, and all the people of God.
We must feel such things and repent. While in prison, I have been together with those condemned to death many times.
If there is a road by which they can escape suffering and live, they will do anything. For the road of their life, they will kill a thousand or ten thousand people. There is such a world. Whenever I looked upon such things, I felt much.
Historically, although we are human beings who have committed sins for which we deserve to go to hell, think of Jesus, the Crown Prince of God, who went to the gallows, saying He would save such human beings.
Since we drove out and killed such a noble One as a traitor, can we be forgiven? At the level of the heart, we are sinners who cannot be forgiven.
Only by standing in the place of awakening to the fact that I am the foremost sinner among the sinners of the world can one know even a little of the heart of God, the heart of Jesus. We are criminals. We did not welcome the Father who came seeking, but mistreated Him. We took up the spear and pierced His side, set the crown of thorns upon His head, and drove the nails into the cross.
Looking into it, that One was our Father. To repent of the sin of having killed that Father is the way of Christianity. You must repent with such a heart and receive God's recognition again.
When we look at the matter of Jesus' coming to and being killed on this earth from a human position, how indignant it is. We must make Him forget that indignation. The only thing that can make Him forget that indignation is in the heart. Without faith, it cannot be done. There is nothing apart from the heart.
How pierced must the Father's heart be to say, “Because I took no thought of even the road of death to find one such as you, on the day you alone are found, I can forget all the sufferings of ten million matters. Because the road I came is for the sake of finding one such as you, on the day I find you alone, I can forget several ridges, several ridges of grievance.”
Therefore, you must become people who, awed, know how to shed tears. You must become people who think, How earnest must be that heart that says He will forget the unforgettable fact of crime?. To meet such sons and daughters is Heaven's hope. To go seeking such sons and daughters has been the purpose of the providence of salvation until now.
Sons and Daughters Who Bear the Father's Burden in His Stead
Now, we who must advance before Father must become individuals who, even saying the one word “Father!”, do not know where to put themselves.
If it is so, even when one has sinned in the world, how much more for us, who have countless histories of sin before Heaven? Now you must possess the heart, holding fast to that one heart, “Your sorrow is my sorrow and Your joy is my joy; if You grieve, I too grieve, and if You laugh, I too will laugh.
If You move, I too will move, and if You rest, I too will rest.” There is nothing apart from that one. However well one believes, however much one masters the Bible, it is not enough. We must know that pierced heart, that one mind.
Until such sons and daughters appear on this earth, God cannot stop His seeking footsteps at any one place and unpack the bundle He has wandered with for 6,000 years. Whether the house is large or small is not relevant.
Even a stone for a seat is fine. From the mind, the bond of the heart is formed; to form that bond, Father comes seeking. Although there are countless believers on the earth, is there among them one who has prepared to attend Father? Think of it.
You have come here, having been driven and driven and driven again, struggled and struggled and struggled. What must you, who have come thus, now know? I do not hope only that you read the Bible much. I do not desire that you pray much or do this or that.
What I desire is that you become people who, at the word “Father,” tears come first, and even in a downpour, take no thought, but silently take down Father's traveling bundle and bear it in His stead.
Even if Father came as a beggar, become sons and daughters who can, without hesitation, shoulder everything in His stead and prostrate themselves before Him.
Sons and Daughters Who Can Become the Standard of Judgment
If they are such sons and daughters, when the Lord comes to this earth, is taken up in the glory of Heaven, and ascends the throne of the King of kings to govern all peoples, He will never say He does not know them. Therefore, in a pitiful position, one must become a person who, with the heart of the Kingdom of Heaven, knows how to attend to Him.
Whenever the teacher tells you, there is little difference between an evil person and a good person. However good one is, how much better can one be? When God looks at it, the difference is less than a sheet of paper.
If you, from God's position, look upon the 2.7 billion of humanity, no one can be resentful. However much someone may be your enemy, he cannot be resented.
With such a heart, after meeting the Father who comes seeking, you must follow the road that Father walks and do the work that Father does together with Him. Father is longing for you to become such sons and daughters.
You have met God. Since you have met Him, now you must let Him unpack all the bundles. Now he is no longer a prisoner. You must become sons and daughters who take charge of Father's difficult work and, contending to be first, come forward saying, “Where will You go? Father, I will go ahead.” God is longing for such sons and daughters.
If there were such sons and daughters in this heaven and earth, God would pour out all blessings upon the place where they are. If there were a community of such sons and daughters gathered, He would draw out and give them all the grace that had come down upon all the denominations of the world. Therefore, in the Last Days, He has said that He will take from the one who has not and give to the one who has.
Subsequently, He will judge the wicked of the historical course until now. Whom will He set up to judge?
He will set up His Son to judge. He will set up the condition that “My Son was thus and so” and have the judgment carried out according to that standard. Therefore, sons and daughters who can attend Father and of whom Father can boast must appear before the world's humanity.
Only thus can He judge with sons and daughters as the standard. He does not judge by guesswork. He sets up sons and daughters who can stand before the glory of victory and judge through them. Because they struck the Father walking the wretched road, because they betrayed Father, because they said they did not know Father, that Father too can rightly do so.
Because God judges only after having undergone everything Himself, that judgment is the judgment of justice.
Do you think God sits on the throne of infinite glory and judges?
He is not such a God. God personally undergoes it. Therefore, He is the God who knows the circumstances of human beings more than anyone, the God who knows the heart of human beings better than anyone.
Thus, regardless of high or low rank, you must be able to attend and console the Father who comes seeking the place where you stand.
Unless you have an environment in which you can feel, both at the level of heart and bodily, the joy of having attended Father on the earth, when the Lord comes to this earth, there will be no way to escape judgment. You must advance up to this standard.
You who have come forth here, in what kind of place have you attended the Lord?
Have you attended to Him even in a place like that of a beggar?
If there are sons and daughters who, even in such a place, saying, “Ah, that Father appeared in such a place—I am awed,” do not know where to put themselves, cannot lift their faces, and are too embarrassed to show their unkempt figures to move about—Heaven will hold fast to them and weep aloud, calling, “My son, my daughter.” Have you done so?
The Unification Church is not an organization that seeks to receive grace in glorious or fine places. We have come forth to fight against the multitudes that seek to receive grace in such places.
We must go. Toward what place must we go?
We must go toward the place where the fierce, raging wind is sweeping. If we do not go, Father must come suffering, so we must come forth to pioneer that place.
Even if it is a battlefield where death and a fierce fight unfold, we must go seeking.
If not, Father must come seeking, so even at the cost of dying and being torn apart, we must go.
We must go toward that place. We must not attend Father in a sheltered nest.
Knowing that Father is the One who comes seeking not a comfortable place but a place of suffering, we must become sons and daughters who know how to attend to that Father, who shoulder the entire burden of suffering of that Father, who know how to bear all responsibility for the road of hardship of that Father, and come forth.
Although the number is minimal, there is no concern. Because God works through such a multitude. When this comes about, even though God might seek to turn His face away, He cannot.
If there are people in the world who have confidence in this field, those people will rule the world. Not only that, but it will rule heaven and will have the authority to judge even the heavenly armies and angels. That Father is coming with such a glorious gift is wonderful.
Until many sons and daughters appear on this earth who, transcending people, transcending borders, and transcending East and West, can call out “Father” and take responsibility for everything, this heaven and earth cannot become the heavenly Kingdom.
The world is going toward that place. In past days, all the trends of East and West had nothing whatever to do with these people, but they are coming to bear upon these people more and more.
You must have felt this well even through the recent summit conference. Although they are people who have nothing to do with us, when their breasts tremble, ours too come to tremble. Thus, the world is approaching me. Looking into it, this world has appeared as the offering of judgment in my stead.
The Master of Heart
Therefore, now you must become those who can take responsibility for everything and tread upon it and rise. You must not become the master of authority but the master of heart. You must become the master of the heart, with more tears than anyone, with more compassion than anyone.
What humanity finally hopes for is not the Way. They want the Way, but the Way is not the ultimate object. Nor is it any sovereignty. Above all, do not human beings desire happiness foremost?
Suppose today all humanity puts forth some “ism” and the entire world enters within the realm of that “ism.” Then will all be at peace and happy?
Although they say they are fighting for freedom and fighting for happiness, are they truly fighting for happiness and freedom? We know well that they are not. A small minority may be free and happy, but viewed by the true concept of happiness and freedom, those are illusory.
Heart, the heart that is the source of life—if there are sons and daughters who, with this heart, can rejoice together with the heavenly heart, who, when God moves, move, and when God rests, rest, and who, with the feeling of looking and hearing together with God, can face this world, then they are the greatest of happy people. Such people are needed in this age. Therefore, we desire that.
Until now, we have struggled to attend to the Father who has labored in the midst of hardship; but from now on, we must possess the heart, “I will become the filial son who attends, better than anyone, the Father who comes in glory.”
Of course, we must attend to Father in a difficult environment, but when the garden of happiness opens and Father appears with the authority of the Creator before all phenomena of heaven and earth, we must also be able to attend to Him.
Even in the world of the original goodness of creation, in that glorious and proud world, we must possess the heart of becoming filial sons and filial daughters. Filial sons and filial daughters are not needed only in this present age.
Not only in times of suffering but also in times of joy, it must be so. Even when the time of glory has come, one must be able to say, “If by my dancing, Father rejoices, I will dance as much as it takes to console Him.
If by my singing Father is joyful, I will sing as much as it takes to make Him joyful.” One must possess such a heart at least.
It is by being driven into a place of sorrow, by being made to walk such a road, that it can be done quickly; that is why He has us walk such a road.
After attending Father in such a place and crossing one ridge, we must possess the bearing of sons and daughters of whom Father can boast before all phenomena of heaven and earth, all created things, saying, “This is my son and my daughter.”
Possessing such bearing, having fulfilled the loyalty and integrity of filial son and filial daughter before Father seated on the throne of glory, we must possess the heart of hoping that all the created world can bow its head.
If you have such a heart, who could view you with hatred?
Because you do not seek to attend to Father in the place of hardship and from the start hold such a heart, Satan accuses. But after passing through such a process, even being proud is permitted. God too recognizes it. Yet because people leave God behind and seek to ascend alone, they all topple over.
We must attend to the Father of hardship first and then attend to the Father of glory. Having attended the Father of hardship is not having fully attended, Father.
Absolutely, it is not having fully attended to Him. Even if I am pitiful, silently walking the road of sorrow, with the heart of a son of Father, I call out “Father," and that is the only occasion of making Father shed tears. Therefore, not only in such a place but in the place of glory must we attend, Father.
We must go to the place where, fully prepared with the qualifications of a son, in the place of glory, we can attend Father eternally. God, too, is seeking sons and daughters who can participate from the place of suffering to the place of glory. Should it not be so?
Looking from this position, in all the world, there are no people as pitiful as our Korean people. Yet, you never lose heart. Even though we are placed in such an unfortunate and difficult position, if God comes seeking us here, we will be able to attend Father in a position closer than anyone.
If the heart is thick, through that foundation of heart, we must be able to endure and cross over this difficult environment and console the Father who comes seeking to this place.
If we become so, when we go to heaven, we will be qualified to attend Father most closely in the most glorious place. Therefore, do not lose heart.
However the world boils, however society changes, the single-hearted devotion toward the heavenly heart must not change. Even at the cost of my body being torn and falling, the promise to attend Father must by no means change.
Even in such a place, we must possess the spirit of, “If I welcome the time of glory, the day of glory, I will do thus and so for Father.” Rather than that, going to that nation, I will receive glory and be attended; we must be able to say, “At that time I will do thus.”
You must clearly know that only when there is even a little something of thinking of Father in the position of a child is there the possibility of removing the han of 6,000 years and becoming the embodiment of glorious hope.
You must know that, attending well the Father who comes and lifting Him as the Father of glory, we must advance to the place where, in the Father's stead, when we say to Satan, “You wretch!”, Satan can flee.
Father, please forgive that we have shed infinite tears because of our difficulties. When we were challenged, we ground our teeth and tore at our breasts. Please let us know how unforgivable a behavior this was before, Father.
Father, please let us know that this is the kind of thing that may be expected of betrayers who have forgotten Heaven's sorrow, and is something that the multitude that knows Heaven's sorrow could not entertain even in dreams.
We have come to know that to rejoice even in sorrow, to rejoice even challenged, and to give thanks even unto death is the only way to fulfill even a little of our responsibility before Father and is what can avoid shame before the figure of the Father who comes seeking.
Now, what is the issue in what kind of place are we?
Have we, at any one moment, welcomed Father who came seeking, fed hungry Father, given drink to thirsty Father, clothed naked Father, visited Father who was distressed, called upon Father who was sick? You said such a place is always the place where Father can be attended. We are awed. You said that what was done to the very least is precisely what was done to You.
Father, we have come to know that the Will is not accomplished by ourselves alone. Please let us know that, beyond ourselves as individuals, the whole is needed.
We have come to know that we must become offerings for the whole, and we have come to know that to sacrifice the small for the sake of the great is the historical iron rule.
Especially, we have come to know that to set up the Will of the heavenly providence, a great sacrifice must be paid; therefore, please cause us to suppress our sorrow and worry more about Father's sorrow, suppress our worry and worry more about Father's worry, and suppress our indignation and worry more about Father's indignation.
Please let us know that, if we become such sons and daughters, the heart of Heaven will be with us.
We were the ones who, when we had our suffering, forsook You; we were the ones who, when we had our sorrow, reported it before You; we were the ones who, when we had our indignation, appealed before You to take charge of that indignation.
We have come to know that this is not the way of the filial son, not the way of the loyal subject and the faithful wife.
We have come to know that, even if we are placed in a place of sorrow, in a place of death, if You are undergoing indignation, we cannot but be those who would shoulder that indignation; and we have come to know that, even if we stand on this earth in a difficult place where it is difficult to stand, if You are in such a place, we must remove You from that place.
Father, what shall we now further say?
At this hour, even one person who vows to become a son and daughter who, in mind, stands in Your stead, would be enough. Failing that, of what use is what has been cried out until now?
Father! Please open the doors of their minds, that You may abide there, that You may resolve Your han bound up in the course of restoration, and that the joy and glory of our attending Father in our minds may extend to all the things of this entire heaven and earth of the world.
Since we have come to know that Father infinitely longs for that day, please make us also those who, for the sake of that day, fight and fight, weep and weep, and advance.
We earnestly entreat and desire that You make us those who know how to set up the standard of mind, “I will be loyal before Father thus,” and run forth even up to the altar of glory of attending Father.
At this hour, please personally take charge of and govern all the words as Father's own; please make our lives Your own, and we earnestly entreat that You personally govern, and we have prayed all things in the name of the Lord. Amen.