We are now in the process of fulfilling God’s hope, which is our ultimate purpose. As you move forward in that process, you should be able to fulfill the promises you make in faith. If you fulfill them and even go beyond that limit, then you will begin paying back the Lord, whose flesh and blood we received in these Last Days. In this context, what should you do? You should be able to stand boldly for Jesus, in front of him and behind him, at his right side and at his left side, above him and below him, acting on his behalf. You should stand boldly for the Holy Spirit, in front of her and behind her, at her right side and at her left side, above her and below her, acting on her behalf. You should stand boldly even for God, in front of Him and behind Him, at His right side and at His left side, above Him and below Him, acting on His behalf. We must bring God’s Will for human beings in heaven and on earth to a conclusion, for only in this way can Jesus’ will be fulfilled and God’s Will be fulfilled. It may seem as though we are insignificant individuals, but in submitting to God’s Will our value is tremendous. (1-156, 1956.07.08)
The meaning of the bread and wine Jesus broke and gave
You will know well that God, who carried out the history of salvation through the Providence of resurrection for four thousand years, because with the Providence of resurrecting Jesus alone He could not join and conclude the will of the heavenly world and the will of the earthly world, set up a new covenant and by this has carried out the Providence of joining the will of heaven and earth and finding the original garden He promised.
Here we see that the cup Jesus gave and the bread Jesus broke and gave were precisely the new covenant. Since Jesus came and departed, we have received that Jesus’ flesh and blood; you must know that this stood in place of the whole of the life that must be accomplished and at the same time stood in place of the whole of truth.
What does receiving Jesus’ blood and Jesus’ flesh symbolize?
It does not speak of the flesh and blood of Jesus as one individual. Spoken of largely, it means heaven and earth; spoken of in small, it means the center and the individual. Also, the flesh symbolizes truth and the blood symbolizes spirit.
All this Jesus gave to us unconditionally. And the one person of Jesus thus given — the matter confined to himself was of course a matter, but you must know that the matter of any being whatsoever in heaven and on earth that is connected centering on him, was entirely his matter.
What is it that was blocked between God and human beings?
Heaven’s will ought to appear upon the earth, and the whole situation upon the earth ought to be brought to a conclusion in Heaven’s will and moved toward one purpose, but this was blocked. And so Jesus, who was the protagonist of love, has toiled until now, symbolizing that one will which would appear standing in place of Heaven’s victorious glory.
That God toiled for four thousand years and established the one person of Jesus symbolizes that one can possess the whole of heaven and can possess the whole of the earth. That is why a person who believes in Jesus can possess the whole of heaven and can also possess the whole of the earth. Yet we are entrusted with the whole will of Providence, by which what is thus possessed must not be brought to a conclusion as one’s own alone but, having possessed it, must again be returned before Heaven.
Because Jesus set up a new covenant and departed, after he died there remained a condition by which the spiritual world and the physical world had to be linked centering on people, that is, on the apostles who follow Jesus. Had Jesus not died, heaven and earth would have been linked centering on Jesus; but through his death Jesus came to stand in place of the condition of heaven, and the Holy Spirit came to stand in place of the condition of the earth.
The person who stands in place of the will of Jesus and the Holy Spirit
Then who will be the person who can stand in the middle position of heaven and earth and stand in place of Jesus’ will, the person who can stand in place of the Holy Spirit’s will? You must not forget that it is the apostles who have come forth believing the words of the new promise upon the earth until now, or ourselves.
Where does Jesus’ desire lie?
That desire is not in the heavenly world. Where does the desire of human beings lie? That too is not upon the earth. Jesus’ desire must be connected to the will of the earth, and the desire of human beings upon the earth must be connected to the will of the heavenly world.
Accordingly, you must become one offering standing in place of heaven and earth, as the holy body standing in place of that blood and flesh which Jesus personally broke and gave, centering on Heaven.
If it is not so, Jesus and the Holy Spirit can never for all eternity become one. The Holy Spirit will continue the work upon the earth on her own, and Jesus will have no choice but to continue the work in heaven on his own.
What are those words in which Jesus said to his disciples, “Eat my blood and eat my flesh”? You must not forget that contained therein is Jesus’ fervent heart (심정): “Though I depart, take all that has entered within the realm of the Providence of Heaven’s nature and accomplish my desire.”
The blood the disciples received from Jesus symbolized Jesus’ spiritual aspect, and the flesh symbolized the physical aspect; that is, it manifests the Holy Spirit. And thus Jesus and the Holy Spirit desired to be established as central beings who, through that blood and flesh, could furnish one holy body and go forward toward one purpose. And of that blood and flesh of Jesus, the blood symbolized heaven, and the flesh symbolized the earth. Accordingly, you must know that Jesus’ great hope and aspiration were manifested therein.
Now, after becoming a holy body through the Holy Spirit, your minds must be connected to the holy body of Jesus. This symbolizes the process of the history of Restoration. When Adam and Eve too were created, the body was made, and the soul was made. That is, the flesh was made and afterward life was breathed into the nostrils, and Adam and Eve were created. Just as one person was made by joining the principles of two conditions in this way, so in the course of the Providence of Restoration, because the Holy Spirit centering on Jesus, set up a new covenant, since then until now the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, in which the heavenly world and the earthly world are joined, has been linked.
When you think of this, you must know how important a responsibility is laid upon us today.
You must know that heaven is swayed according to the movements of worthless apostles, of worthless ourselves. You who stand in place of the apostles! In you, who have received Jesus’ holy body, the life force of Jesus, which can stand in place of God, must appear. The work of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which can stand in place of heaven, must appear. And thus, when you go forward united as one before Jesus’ will of restoring the whole created world, when you turn left, heaven too will turn left, and when you turn right, heaven too will turn right. As you move, heaven too will move.
If you do not set up and conclude a standard by which heaven can move through human beings, Jesus and the Holy Spirit will appeal against you. The cosmic mission Jesus left behind accuses you. When we think of this today, we must feel that through us, who are insignificant and nothing at all, Jesus seeks to accomplish a strong cosmic will that can sway the heavenly world and sway the earthly world.
Jesus has no authority to decide without human beings. The Holy Spirit too has no authority to decide. The authority of decision lies solely with us human beings.
Repaying the blood and flesh received from Jesus
The New Testament history until now has been a history of saying, “Please do it for us.” It has been a history within a limited realm of demanding for the sake of hope. It was the New Testament history that remained in a position unable to escape a certain limit. We must go beyond those words of the New Testament. We must go beyond the history within that limited realm and know how to receive Heaven’s grace.
We must become people who can go forward with the whole value of Jesus, who sought with his own one person to possess everything of heaven and earth, and, going beyond the limited realm of that New Testament, can say, “Father! Give me a new promise.”
You must manifest in your lives today the appeal of Jesus’ blood and the appeal he made while his flesh was torn upon the cross. Even for us to go to the heavenly world, a human responsibility that must be fulfilled has been promised through Jesus. Yet it must not stop at a promise.
You must know that if we cannot possess in our own one person the whole grace and the whole hope and the whole life until now, and, with the ideal of my one life, go beyond that limit and set up and conclude upon the earth a standard by which we can give with an easy mind, there is no way to resolve Jesus’ grievance.
We are now remaining in a process of fulfilling hope. We are in a process of looking toward some purpose and accomplishing that hope. If you have moved in this process, you must be able to conclude the promise of faith you set up. You must know that a self that has gone beyond such a limit is a being that repays, at the final one time, the receiving of the Lord’s blood and flesh.
In this sense, what must I do?
I must dare to be able to stand in place of the front and back, left and right, above and below of Jesus, and the front and back, left and right, above and below of the Holy Spirit, and the front and back, left and right, above and below of God. You must know that if we do not establish upon the earth the day of the limit that is brought to a conclusion through human beings, who are the will of the heavenly world and at the same time the will of the earthly world, neither Jesus’ will nor God’s will can be accomplished. And when we think of such a will, you must know that the value of us who are insignificant today is exceedingly great.
What is the one thing Jesus asked of his disciples when he broke and gave them his blood and flesh? They are the words,
“And he took the cup and gave thanks and said, ‘Take this and divide it among yourselves’” (Luke 22:17).
You must not forget this. Since we have received this blood and flesh of Jesus, if only we stand in place of Jesus’ mission and go forward taking responsibility for the matters of heaven as well, God’s will will be accomplished. This is the desire of the heavenly world.
We today have a responsibility at the Last Days to form relationships among ourselves on the condition of having received Jesus’ blood and flesh, and to go seeking the altar of victory. You must keenly feel such responsibility of ours.
The Lord’s will in asking us to love one another
The principle that comes down from above does not change. Then this unchanging principle of above and below, and the relationship that must be connected to left and right — who will find it?
You must find it. Jesus and the Holy Spirit have come forth aiming in one direction alone as an unchanging center, even though history changes and the age changes.
Just as Jesus and the Holy Spirit gave and received, we must form such a relationship among ourselves. You must know that if such a relationship cannot be formed, an altar upon which God can work cannot be accomplished upon the earth.
Do you know the heart of that Jesus who shared out his own blood and flesh? It was an indescribably bitter heart. Even in the world today, a person who knows the will, a person who would be for the will, seeks to manifest the will while crossing alone, in a bitter and wretched position, trials in which the marrow of the bones melts away.
Accordingly, you must know what the heart of Jesus is like as he beholds people who have not felt this, people who do not know how to face such a will.
If one does not understand such historical circumstances, one cannot even share the horizontal holy communion among yourselves. That is why we today need a life that manifests the love of the holy body — that is, that can share among ourselves that heart of love which Jesus shared when he was linked with God and when he was linked with the Holy Spirit.
You must know the will of Jesus’ request that you share a heart of love with one another, in order that, connecting individual to individual, connecting religious body to religious body, and going beyond the religious body, all may in some form enter into one realm centering on Heaven’s love.
You must know that anyone among you today who does not have a comrade to whom he can give his own self and from whom he can receive that self in return is a pitiable person. And the Holy Spirit before Jesus has been giving and receiving with him, because even though people change, the Holy Spirit does not change.
Accordingly, you must fight, standing in place of the work of the spiritual world, on such a standard of giving and receiving.
Now the time has come for us to conclude the one final hope Jesus left behind.
What must be done for you to connect this one hope to left and right?
First, you must become people who know how to serve upon the earth. You must become people who fight upon the earth and are martyred. You must know how to serve the righteous upon the earth.
Today you must bear in mind what Jesus said. He said, “He who serves all people becomes one who is served,” and said, “He who would exalt himself is humbled.” What is this? It is one center of living that we today feel on the horizontal plane. Therefore we must know how to serve anyone, and be able to become the friend of all, and also know how to protect them.
To fulfill the new covenant
Now that the words of the New Testament have been promised, we must feel that inner heart with which Jesus gave his command. And while fathoming his heart, we must know how to fathom even his ideal and its practical aspects. And thus we must accomplish the will of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in their place. If such a will is not accomplished in us, at the Last Days the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit will be withdrawn.
If the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is withdrawn, then on the day it is withdrawn I must become a self who stands alone and knows Jesus’ desire and the Holy Spirit’s desire and can walk in their place the practical course Jesus walked, a self in a position of being able to hold a new ideal in place of Jesus and the Holy Spirit and to guard it.
We are people who have received the blood and flesh of Jesus’ new promise.
What is the mission that remains for us who are such?
It is to fulfill the new covenant. For that, my own self must be able, in the Last Days, to win victory against Satan even without the cooperation of the Trinity. Then what is the center by which one can win victory against Satan? It is knowing how to act as Satan cannot act. One must be able to do what Satan cannot do.
The essence of Satan is arrogance. The essence of Satan is envy. The essence of Satan is being only for oneself. That is why the teachings of Jesus and the Holy Spirit are “Be gentle and humble,” “Sacrifice,” “Become an offering.” These are all things Satan cannot do.
If Satan were to be gentle, he would have to repent of all sin before God and turn around. If Satan had no jealous heart, this whole world today would quickly return before Heaven.
Therefore, you must furnish in your own one person the elements opposed to Satan. Further, you must not remain within that limited realm but must go beyond that limit and enter into the realm of the new promise. And thus, when you set up one unchanging center, you will be able, as ones who have received Jesus’ blood and flesh, to fulfill the will of the new promise.
You must clearly know that if you do not stand in a position where, through you, what God could not discuss with Jesus and what Jesus could not share with the Holy Spirit can be discussed again — that is, if you do not stand as central beings who stand in place of all the standards of heaven and earth — then Jesus’ will of promise is not accomplished, and at the same time the will of the new promise that God desires cannot be accomplished either.
Today, even though we possess nothing of the world, we must completely possess the body and mind of Jesus. We must be recognized by Heaven as one central value standing in place of heaven and earth. And that recognized value of ours must not remain within any limited realm. We must become beings of such value that no being whatsoever in the heavenly world can but welcome us.
Jesus’ blood and Jesus’ flesh do not apply upon the earth alone. They are not applied upon the earth alone. Just as the course of faith applies in the heavenly world as well, so they apply in heaven too. Therefore, if we have completely received Jesus’ blood and flesh, my desire is completed in the heavenly world and completed upon the earth as well. And that which is completed stands in place of Jesus’ desire in the heavenly world and stands in place of the Holy Spirit’s desire upon the earth.
And thus the two must become one and take charge of the work Jesus and the Holy Spirit were doing, and let Jesus and the Holy Spirit rest, and go forward to the standard where we can promise again with God.
You must bear in mind that only then does God’s new work, the whole providential history of Heaven, take hold of a standard of victory through you and proceed.
