The Millennial Kingdom is an ideal world without evil or sin, a world in which God’s sovereignty is fully manifest. Hope for its advent can be found to some degree in every world religion, but it is most strongly expressed in the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity, as a firm promise of God.
Sometimes the term Kingdom of Heaven denotes a spiritual ideal, a state of bliss in the afterlife (See Chapter 5: Heaven), but that sense of the term does not do justice to the most thoroughgoing eschatological visions.
In this respect, Father Moon gives numerous clear teachings about the Kingdom to be established on earth. He has dedicated his life to fulfill God’s calling to build that kingdom, not as a future vision but as a realistic program of human renewal.
These passages survey the Kingdom of Heaven from several perspectives. First, it is a world of God’s absolute sovereignty. We note that this need not imply anything about the political system of such a world.
No regime in history, even if it claimed to be instituting God’s theocratic rule, has come anywhere close to the Kingdom in the true sense. God’s dominion is by love, not political power.
It is where goodness is vested with authority for its own sake, and God can rule through the hearts of good people. Second, the Kingdom is a transfigured world—a new heaven and new earth—where all people live as one great human family.
Giving and sharing are the norm; selfishness is unheard of. People know intimately the heart and will of God, rejoice in living by heaven’s norms, and have no inward impediments to doing good.
It is a world of peace, where nations no longer make war and people enjoy a life free from crime or oppression. Third, the Kingdom requires a transformation of the self.
Even if the world were at peace, if we still felt conflicted and disturbed, we would not feel comfortable and might continue to dwell in a private hell. Likewise, even though we might live in the most delightful environment, we could not enjoy it if our family were full of conflict and strife.
Father Moon teaches that the family is a fundamental unit of the Kingdom. Fourth, the Kingdom is a very natural place, free of artificiality or the constraint of external laws, because the spontaneous promptings of the heart would all be good.
It is a place of dazzling beauty, where people’s minds are like crystal, emanating divine light. Creation rejoices, as citizens of the Kingdom care for the environment with love and sensitivity to nature’s ways.
Finally, the Kingdom transcends death. When the earthly world and the spirit world are united, the barrier of death will come down, allowing people to freely communicate with their loved ones on the other side.
Sun Myung Moon
The World of God’s Sovereignty
The Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and His name one. Zechariah 14.9
The sovereignty on that day will be God’s. He will judge between them. Qur’an 22.56
We therefore hope in Thee, O Lord our God, that we shall soon behold the triumph of Thy might, idolatry will be uprooted from the earth, and falsehood be utterly destroyed. We hope for the day when the world will be perfected under the dominion of the Almighty and all mankind learn to revere Thy name; when all the wicked of the earth will be drawn in penitence unto Thee. Oh, may all the inhabitants of the world recognize that unto Thee every knee must bend, every tongue pledge loyalty. Before Thee, O Lord our God, may they bow in worship, and give honor to Thy glorious name. May they all acknowledge Thy kingdom, and may Thy dominion be established over them speedily and forevermore. For sovereignty is Thine, and to all eternity Thou wilt reign in glory. Daily Prayer Book, Alenu (Judaism) Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” Revelation 11.15
Sun Myung Moon
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Once the sovereignty of Satan is expelled from the earth, then God, the eternal and absolute Being transcendent of time and space, will establish His sovereignty and His truth.
On that day, God’s truth will be absolute, and hence the purpose which it serves and the standard of goodness which it sets will both be absolute.
This cosmic, all-encompassing truth will be firmly established by Christ at his Second Advent. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Fall 4.3)
Did you find your original homeland?
You did not. You never had it. Your original homeland is the Kingdom of God on earth. Is there any nation on earth that can qualify as the nation of the original homeland? No, there is no such nation.
Then, where can we expect to establish the original home nation?
It should encompass the whole planet Earth. It shall be the Kingdom of God on earth and the Kingdom of God in heaven as well.
Three major elements are required to establish a country: sovereignty, land, and people. Does God have sovereignty anywhere in the world today? No! Does God have a land to govern? No! Are there any people in the world that allow itself to be governed by God? No!
Therefore, we do not have our homeland. Eventually, God should have sovereignty over a nation called Earth and a people called Humanity. Until that day, this world is actually not a fit place for human beings to live. (155:26, October 6, 1964)
Father! Please bestow blessings upon this people and blessings upon all the people of the world. Please resolve the grief of the many spirit people waiting in heaven for the day of the Second Advent.
May it quickly be realized—the world which Thou art able to govern, the Kingdom of peace on the earth, resolving Thy grief and Jesus’ grief.
Earnestly, earnestly we ask Thee: may the day quickly come when we can return glory to Thee and rejoice together with Thee, when the earth is filled with glory and victory for eternity. (16:52, December 26, 1965)
Sun Myung Moon
A New World of Peace and Joy
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.” And he who sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment. He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son.”… And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city does not need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light shall all the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it, and its gates shall never be shut by day, and there shall be no night there; they shall bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Revelation 21.1-27
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; And all the nations shall flow to it; and many peoples shall come, saying, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; That he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Isaiah 2.2-4
In the City Joyful dwell the saints of God; Neither suffering nor sorrow is found therein; Neither anxiety to pay tribute nor any imposts; Neither fear of retribution nor of fall from eminence. In this happy land where my dwelling is, Abides unending well-being.
All who therein dwell are blessed with eternal kingship; None is there reckoned inferior to any. That city knows no decline; Its citizens are rich and fulfilled. Unlimited their freedom— None are alien there; All in true liberty abide. Says Ravidas, the emancipated cobbler, Only a citizen of that City reckon I my friend. Adi Granth, Gauri, Ravidas, p. 345 (Sikhism)
On the day when We shall roll up heaven as a scroll is rolled for the writings; as we originated the first creation, so We shall bring it back again—a promise binding on Us; so We shall do. For We have written in the Psalms, after the Remembrance, “The earth shall be the inheritance of My righteous servants.” Qur’an 21.104
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
God had a purpose when He created human beings, and if that purpose had been fulfilled, this world would be one great human family, unified in love, where all humanity would live in peace as brothers and sisters attending God as their Parent…
In the ideal world, each individual’s mind and body would be one, families would be one with each other, all ethnic groups would be one with each other, all nations would be one, the Orient and the Occident would be one, and God and humanity would be one.
That is to say, the unified world is a world that fulfills God’s purpose of creation. (81:158) “I exist for my family, my family exists for my community, my community exists for my nation, my nation exists for the world, and the world exists for God”: This is the principle of Heaven’s sovereignty.
The whole world is God’s, but since you are living for God, the world is yours as well. What is God’s—the whole world—becomes yours. Isn’t it wonderful?
When you offer what is yours for your family, your family offers itself for your nation, your nation for the world, and the world for God, then God gives everything to you. The whole world is yours; the entire universe is yours.
God’s ultimate desire is for humanity to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
There God and human beings will be totally united, from the True Parents at the center expanding to true children, true tribes and true peoples.
God will be our Father and we will be His children in a consecrated relationship that is free from sin, according to the holy Will of God that does not allow for sin.
The Kingdom of Heaven on earth will be established only when we make a world where everyone lives for the sake of others. (69:89, October 20, 1973)
In the future, there will be no more wars. Wars until now were useless fights for selfish ends. People fought simply to take from others. However, in the unified world established under God’s Kingship, everyone will live for the sake of others; therefore war will no longer be necessary.
People will no longer want to take from their neighbors; instead, your neighbors will try to give you so much that you will have to run away from them… Laws will disappear. In a world where people govern themselves with love, they will automatically fulfill the law.
When people live for the sake of each other, there will be no problems requiring recourse to the law. Higher and lower will become one, front and back will become one, left and right will become one—all will become one. (224:173, November 24, 1991)
The age is coming when God and humankind will live as one in the ideal world of creation, the world of the heart.
The age is coming when everyone will realize that living for the sake of others holds greater eternal value than living for oneself. The blind age of selfish life will pass away as we build an altruistic world of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values.
For this purpose, all should have correct knowledge about God and the spirit world and testify to the world about the heavenly path; then we can lead humanity appropriately to establish the universal family.
Therefore, let us work to establish God’s fatherland and hometown, the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, by investing ourselves for the sake of others with absolute love, unchanging love and eternal true love, looking to the day when we can offer all heavenly sovereignty to God. (December 27, 2002)
In the ideal society or nation, all people, transcending nationality and skin color, will cooperate with one another to live in harmony and happiness. With the awareness that they are all children of the one God, stemming from the one True Parents, they will relate as brothers and sisters in one global family.
Blessed central families, who have restored their lineage, the realms of ownership and heart, and who are united with the True Parents’ language and culture, will take the lead in establishing a world of freedom, peace and unity.
There, all people will live in interdependence, promote mutual prosperity and share universal values, immersed in the culture of God’s heart.
Therefore, this world will have nothing to do with corruption, injustice, war or crime. Humankind will eliminate the sources of pollution in the global environment, and love and protect nature as its true owner.
People will labor and perform their daily tasks joyfully and with a loving heart, always aiming to serve and benefit others. This will gradually equalize people’s standards of living.
Education will include highly developed technological and scientific material, but before knowledge, sports, or technology, priority will be given to the education of the heart and norms of blessed family life, to raise the chosen people who can follow the way of Heaven. (269:156-57, April 3, 1995, New Hope Farm Declaration)
Sun Myung Moon
A World of Godly People Who Possess the Kingdom within Themselves
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Romans 8.19-23
Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17.21
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son… But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment, and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?”27 And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.” Matthew 22.1-13
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31.31-34
Confucius said, “The practice of the Great Tao and the eminent men of the Three Dynasties— this I have never seen in person, and yet I have a mind to follow them. When the Great Tao prevailed, the world was a commonwealth; men of talent and virtue were selected, mutual confidence was emphasized, and brotherhood was cultivated. Therefore, men did not regard as parents only their own parents, nor did they treat as sons only their own sons. Old people were able to enjoy their old age; young men were able to employ their talents; juniors respected their elders; helpless widows, orphans, and cripples were well cared for. Men had their respective occupations, and women their homes. They hated to see wealth lying about in waste, and they did not hoard it for their own use. They hated not to use their energies, and they used their energies not for their own benefit. Thus evil schemings were repressed, and robbers, thieves, and traitors no longer appeared, so that the front door remained open. This was called the Grand Unity (Ta-tung). Book of Ritual 7.1.2 (Confucianism)
As the earthly paradise moves into its advanced stages, people’s inner attitudes towards God will directly affect more and more aspects of daily life. Those whose souls are closer to God will be so much of the same heart that they can communicate without verbalizing their thoughts and feelings. By this stage, contemplation will have become the mode of existence for everyone. God will have given them such highly refined powers of spiritual perception that they can at last see His will directly and perfectly understand what is in the hearts and minds of others. In its ultimate phase, paradise on earth will be so perfect, so unblemished, that it may be called the Crystal World. All evil and hatred will have been cleansed away. The world will have become the final realization of absolute goodness and love. Completely free from even a hint of sin or impurity, humankind at last will dwell in the heavenly abode longed for through the ages. This is the Crystal World of unity with God. Johrei (Sekai Kyusei Kyo)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
The ideal society is a place where the ideal of love is perfectly realized. It is a beautiful world, where people who have substantiated God’s love in themselves live in complete satisfaction of heart.
Their faces are beautiful, radiating eternal light. All perfected human beings shine with such internal beauty. (Way of God’s Will 1.8)
If you have not ended the fighting within yourself, then even if you lived in a world where people ceased to fight and all the nations were at peace, you would still feel improper, without any peace or happiness. The problem is in you. You must first solve the fundamental problem within yourself.
Only then, when you encounter an ideal environment in the world outside of you, will you feel its peace seeping into your heart and its happiness encompassing your soul.
Only when you create the foundation for the Kingdom of Heaven within yourself will you experience freedom and happiness in the world around you.
Your outward circumstances may be perfect, but if you have not resolved your personal problems, you will not be able to fit in with those circumstances. You will not be fully happy. (20:167, June 9, 1968)
First, you have to establish the Kingdom of Heaven as an individual. Next, you have to establish the Kingdom of Heaven as a couple. What is the Kingdom of Heaven as a couple? It is the state of matrimony where a man and woman are totally united as one.
It is not like a typical marriage where in the beginning, you tell your spouse, “I love you,” but after a few years you say goodbye and divorce… A heavenly couple is inseparable; they could lose their legs by exploding dynamite but still keep embracing with their upper bodies!
That is possible only with true love. To achieve that kind of love, your mind and body must be completely united. Then you can attain the Kingdom of Heaven as a couple.
After you realize the Kingdom of Heaven as a couple, would you be satisfied? No, you would want to realize the Kingdom of Heaven as a family. When father and mother become totally one and love each other, their son will think that he wants to marry a bride just like his mother, and their daughter will think that she wants to marry a man just like her father.
The father and mother acting as a plus guide their sons and daughters as a minus: that family unity is the Kingdom of Heaven as a family. Once we realize the Kingdom of Heaven in our families, we will finally be able to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, which is God’s ideal. (96:29, January 1, 1978)
The original Garden was to be an ideal place. There the spirit world and physical world would be open to each other, and the feelings of siblings could be communicated freely to the ends of the universe.
It would not be like the present-day world, divided among ethnic sentiments, where national sovereignties clash, and where ideologies and religions are at odds with each other. In that world, people would discuss all matters from the heart.
The heart does not discriminate by race, nationality, or other such things. Hence, people would easily be able to reconcile their differences, such as economic disparities and cultural misunderstandings. (7:37, July 5, 1959)
From perfected individuals and families up to the perfection of the cosmos, a beautiful world will emerge—the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in the spirit world. It will be a world of freedom. God also will be free, and He will be able to visit your family anytime He desires. Until now, there were barriers everywhere, blocking everyone from going where they wished.
Now all the walls and barriers that Satan created will be torn down and everywhere will be level. Then God will form the same perpendicular connection with everyone.
Around that ninety-degree axis, everything—front and back, left and right, high and low—will relate freely.
All will enter the realm of liberation and unification. That is the Kingdom of Heaven. (313:243, December 19, 1999)
A Kingdom Encompassing Both the Earthly World and the Spirit World, Where There Is No Death
Then comes the end, when he [Christ] delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15.24-26
The victorious World-Renovator and his helpers… shall make existence renovated—ageless, deathless, never decaying, incorruptible, ever living, ever benefiting, ruling at will. The dead shall rise up, life shall prevail indestructible, and existence shall be renovated at the will of God! Avesta, Zamyad Yast 19.11 (Zoroastrianism)
The holy man told them, “I’ll give you something to eat that will kill you, but don’t be afraid; I’ll bring you back to life again.” They believed him. They ate something and died, then found themselves walking in a new, beautiful land.
They spoke with their parents and grandparents, and with friends that the white soldiers had killed. Their friends were well, and this new world was like the old one, the one the white man had destroyed. It was full of game, full of antelope and buffalo. The grass was green and high, and though long-dead people from other tribes also lived in this land, there was peace.
All the Indian nations formed one tribe and could understand each other. Kicking Bear and Short Bull walked around and saw everything, and they were happy. Then the holy man of the Paiutes brought them back to life again. “You have seen it,” he said, “the new land I’m bringing.
The earth will roll up like a blanket with all that bad white man’s stuff, the fences and railroads and mines and telegraph poles, and underneath will be our old-young Indian earth with all our relatives come to life again.”
Then the holy man taught them a new dance, a new song, a new prayer. He gave them sacred red paint… Now everywhere we are dancing this new dance to roll up the earth, to bring back the dead. A new world is coming. Ghost Dance (Native American Religion)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
The Kingdom of Heaven that God desires is not established only in the spirit world. The Kingdom is established first on the earth and then in the spirit world.
Since the spirit world is formed by spirits of people who formerly lived on the earth, the spirit world and the physical world are inextricably linked.
If you want to have a substantial foundation to realize the teaching of the Kingdom of Heaven, you must live in accordance with the principles of heaven as well as the laws of human beings. By demonstrating the principles of heaven in your daily life, you connect heaven’s laws with human laws.
Furthermore, the principles of heaven do not only concern individual life; they contain the principles for families, societies, nations, the world and cosmos. You must realize these principles of heaven in yourselves. (2:226, June 2, 1957)
When as individuals we make God’s love our love, and when we extend that to families, tribes, peoples and nations, we can establish the Kingdom of God on earth and the Kingdom of God in heaven.
Upon that earthly foundation of true love, a corresponding foundation will form in the spirit world. When that foundation on earth reaches the national level, then the spirit world will also have a national foundation. Then it will automatically open and become one with the earth. (134:217, July 20, 1985)
The Kingdom of Heaven on earth will not be established unless we prepare a foundation on the earth through which we can move between the physical and spirit worlds, beyond the limitation of death.
Without the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, there will be no Kingdom of Heaven in the spirit world. You should arrange things in such a way that after you go to the spirit world, you can come back to earth at will.
That is the way to live in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and create the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven simultaneously. (146:223, July 1, 1986)
Sun Myung Moon