5) Those Who Will Be Included in the First Resurrection
In the Book of Revelation 14:1 it is written, "Then I looked, and lo, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads." In other words, in order to become a child selected by the Father, one must have not only the name of the Lamb, but also the name of the Father.
Then, who can be included in the one hundred and forty-four thousand? It's no use just having the seal of Jesus. Even if Jesus who is the bridegroom calls you as his bride, you must have the Father bless you. Therefore, if you can become a person whose hand God can take, giving His blessing, one whom God can number among those who did not fall in the Garden of Eden, then you can be included in the one hundred and forty-four thousand.
Approximately how many Christians are there among the three billion people of the satanic world? These Christians are prepared to be included in the first resurrection at the time of the Lord's second coming. But is the first resurrection that easy? Without even understanding it, how can they resurrect? What percentage of them will resurrect? All people other than those who are resurrected will be swept away. Is that so? You should never have such abstract faith. You are to save the earth. To do that, you first must completely save an individual from the satanic world. The family also has to be completely saved. The heavenly clan, tribe and nation have to be saved on earth, not in the air. They have to be saved on earth. The fall did not happen in the air. It happened on the ground. To restore means to re-create what was lost. What was lost must be found in the place where it was lost, right? It was lost on earth, so it must be restored on earth.
Human beings fell as substantial beings with mind and body. Therefore, centering on human beings, you should completely deny Satan and stand on God's side. You must stand representing Adam and Eve capable of receiving God's love as His son and daughter. Satan cannot dominate such a person. You should dominate Satan. Satan was originally an archangel. Archangels were created to be dominated by human beings. We gradually should restore that base.
You should not interpret the Bible as the Christians do today. If you believe as they do, God cannot be a God of hope for humankind. To believe that all humanity will receive judgment and only one hundred and forty-four thousand Christians will be saved is an unusually self-centered way of thinking.
The Christian talk about the one hundred and forty-four thousand and the sons and daughters with a seal of God sounds very nice. But are they talking about sons and daughters who can carry out the heavenly providence and establish a condition for restoration and for ending historical resentment? The sons and daughters whom God can seal should have the heart to shed tears for this earth and for God.
Jesus longed and hoped for the ideal of one bride and one bridegroom who could live in the realm of God's Blessing. Then, centering on the Feast of the Lamb which would fulfill God's blessing, Jesus hoped to embrace the one hundred and forty-four thousand, who would dedicate a song of joy and glory to the Father with him, the only Son. This was the desperate hope of Jesus.
Today, if Christians are to come to the Feast of the Lamb and are to be included in the first resurrection, they must prepare a holy garment. To prepare the holy garment, sincerity and perseverance are needed. You must be as sincere as possible. The glance of your eye must be sincere; your sense of smell must be sincere; you must be sincere in listening. The feeling you get through your entire body must be sincere. It is the Principle that you cannot serve God until you go through the gateway of sincerity and become a person whose heart is grateful to the body which expressed sincerity.
What is the sincerity which true sons and daughters should show from now? It is not centered on the practical stage of everyday life, but it is the sincerity of hope, of glory, of filial piety and of subordination. If you go through all these forms of sincerity, then heaven will become your heaven and Heavenly Father will become your Heavenly Father. Until now your sincerity was a sincerity for indemnity. From now on it must be a sincerity to serve God and sincerity which places you in the position to serve God. Those participating in that way will be in the first resurrection.
What are the qualifications for inclusion in the first resurrection? One is to go through the Blessing gate. This is why people eighty years old must turn young again. It might sound strange, but grandmothers and grandfathers must get married again. This is because in order to form the third Israel and to become the people of that nation, we must go through the Blessing gate.
Can you understand Jesus' hope? He was trying to follow this path, but had to die. Is this the hope of Jesus alone? No, it is not; it is the hope of us all. It is also the hope of God. This is the marriage of the Lamb. When we are born and grow as God's son and daughter and when we become a man and woman of perfected individuality, then God will marry us, saying, "Live eternally and limitlessly within my bosom." This is the Feast of the Lamb. You all should understand this clearly.