Let Us Become the Ones Who Can Understand God's Sorrow
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea
October 25, 1957
Genesis 6:5-13
Prayer
Father of love! When we reflect upon the 6,000 years of history, we can see that You have not had even one moment to rest in comfort or rejoice. On the contrary, we know that You have been immersed in grief and anguish. Reflecting upon the time of Noah, also, we feel that both that time and today are causing You stains from tears of sorrow.
Please allow the sons and daughters who are gathered here today to experience Your situation, pierced with indescribable unhappiness and sorrow, whenever you, Father, took a step, with the desire to seek a lineage of faith among ignorant people. Let us also realize at this hour that the heart of the Father, who had to drive a heartbroken Noah out into the vast world of Satan, was grieving. Noah also was indescribably saddened and lonely. Beloved Father, we sincerely wish and desire for this to be done.
Prophets, who had been chosen before the will of Heaven, came as a sacrificial offering and as a symbolic being of infinite sorrow to God and to people, regardless of time. Thus, we know that Noah was not the only prophet in that position, but there were many other prophets and sages. We also acknowledge that, since the time of Noah, all prophets and sages who attended the will of God have been walking the same path as Noah.
We who are to receive the day of the final judgment, should establish ourselves before chun ryun (heavenly principles). We should also reflect as to whether we carry the heart of many prophets and sages, who, until now, had been heartbroken in sorrow. By doing so, I earnestly wish and desire You could lead us to save our faces before you, as your sons and daughters.
Please guide us not to become people who try to escape from the last judgment due to fear, but to become people who comfort your grief, experiencing your heart of infinite humility, and prepared to fight any unrighteous power to fulfill your will on earth. Beloved Father, I sincerely wish and desire this to be done.
Father, please have compassion on the children who are gathered here, and upon them, bestow the words of reproach given to Noah long ago. By doing so, please guide each of their resolutions to be not just temporary. Allow them to be your sons and daughters who, with wisdom, can have the ability, with a new determination and resolution, to overcome any obstacle caused by the billions of satans in their environment during their lifetime. Father, I sincerely wish and desire this to be done.
Father, please be with the words given at this hour. Guide the heart of the person who conveys the words and the hearts of those who receive them to be united into one, and thus allow us to move as Heaven immersed in Your grace moves. Allow us to stay still if Heaven stays still, so that we can experience your heart. By doing so, please guide us to attend the will felt in our hearts as the will that should be attended before the eternal Father. Beloved Father, I earnestly wish and desire this to be done.
At this hour, as I sincerely wish and pray for You to allow us to offer our body before You as a sacrificial offering, beloved Father, please have dominion over the remaining hours. We pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.
At this hour, I would like to speak on the title of "Let Us Become the Ones Who Can Understand God's Sorrow."
God's Grief Caused by the Human Fall
You know well that throughout the thousands of years of history, grief has been inseparable from humans. You also know that humans are not the only ones who mourn; the creation, in relationship with humans, and God, the Creator of humans based on the ideal of creation, also mourn.
When you compose yourself, and in the midway position between God and the creation, look at humans who can look up to the Heaven and look down to the creation, you will come to understand that there has been no one who can claim that he or she is liberated from grief for God, humans and the creation. As long as God's grief is not relieved, the grief of humans on earth cannot be relieved. As long as the grief of humans living on earth is not relieved, the creation created for the sake of humans cannot be relieved from grief.
Who then caused grief to God? That being is not God Himself nor the creation, but it is humans. Humans, who should have carried out God's central mission and their mission toward the creation, brought sorrow to God and the creation, due to the fall. Consequently, you should realize that you are the one who stands alone before Heaven and earth, and are destined to undergo a course of struggle, which strives to eliminate sorrow that is flowing beneath your heart.
The sorrow in your heart does not remain in you, only on the individual level, but will be connected to Heaven and all humankind. One individual's grief will affect your family, society, nation and the world. Consequently, you should realize that you are standing in an incredible position today.
With what kind of heart should we then reflect upon that? This is a question that we, all of the fallen people who are to climb up the hill of the last judgment, should be faced with. At this time when we are in adversity, after putting the load of burden down, we should be able to say proudly, "I am emancipated and I have hope, happiness, and love all things in Heaven and on earth." We should also become people who can transcend the standard in which we have already removed the sorrow of God and that of the creation. If we do not go beyond that standard, even if you are rejoicing about something at the moment, the joy will be only transient. Even if you were endowed with a grace, the grace will also be temporary, and you will be soon immersed into grief.
How then can we be freed from grief? Humans alone cannot be freed. We know through the Principle that is the reason Heaven, for thousands of years, has been guiding a providence that can bring a work of a new energy, grace and resurrection, fighting to remove grief while humans were not aware of it.
You also acknowledge that human sorrow was transformed into the sorrow of Heaven and earth. Due to the fallen humans, the path of love through which God and the creation could be united, was blocked.
Consequently, you should never give yourself up, due to your own sorrow. Before you think of your own position, you should first reflect upon the grief of God, Who has been saddened for all humankind throughout the course of history. By doing so, when you become a person who can, in your daily life, empathize with the grief of God, you would not take your sorrow solely as your own. Unless you can do it, you would not be able to climb over the hill of the judgment in the Last Days, and come forth as a person who can be qualified to comfort the heart of God. You should keep this in mind.
The Doubled Grief of God
What kind of sorrow then does God possess? This is a very important question for us. It was derived from the result that, since the fall of Adam and Eve, God could not establish the original world of creation, which was to be established through them. We should thus become the ones who can experience the grief of God.
That is, due to the fall of Adam and Eve, the ideal of creation through which they were to enjoy an eternal blessing in the garden of love centered on God's love and ideas, was frustrated. God thus came to work continuously until the present throughout thousands of years of history. To fulfill the ideal of creation that Adam and Eve could not fulfill due to the fall, God has thus been experiencing all kinds of grief while fighting Satan. We should also become a person who can empathize with such a heart of God.
We should now experience the sorrow of God at the time when Adam and Eve were lost and the sorrow of God at the time when Adam and Eve betrayed Him and fell. To do this, we should first understand God's love and how much God loves humans. Otherwise, you will never be able to experience the grieving heart of God at the time when He lost Adam and Eve. Thus, you should experience the grieving heart of God, who could not realize the ideal of creation due to the fall of Adam and Eve.
God's sorrowful heart to achieve the ideal of creation is imbedded in all of the creation. You should understand that God's providence has been to resolve the problem. Since Adam, what did all the prophets and sages, from Noah, Abraham, Moses to Jesus testify to humans on the earth? It was only to convey God's grief to the ignorant people.
Due to the human fall, God came to carry a grief for not having been able to realize the ideal of creation. Thus to fulfill it, He sent many saints and sages and came to have a double grief that He could not but watch them fighting Satan. You should understand this.
That is, many saints and sages walked a sorrowful path to introduce the ignorant people, out of whom no one has ever welcomed the will of God, and His sorrowful heart. The more they empathized with the sorrow of God, the more strongly they felt responsible for being sorrowful for the earth on behalf of God, and they had to fight Satan with the sorrowful heart of God.
They were to appear as the representatives who could be recognized for their value on behalf of the eternal will, but on the contrary, God had to feel a double grief, by watching them ridiculed and rejected by the ignorant people and even being chased from here and there. God was already sorrowful enough not to have been able to fulfill the ideal of creation, but it was indescribable grief for Him to watch many saints and sages who were destined to awaken the ignorant earthly people and fight Satan. You should not forget that God was situated to carry such a double grief.
When looking back at the time of Noah, God was overwhelmed with indescribable sorrow for 1,600 years, but he was tolerant of it. The sorrow toward humans was so overwhelming, He could never forget it even one moment. Overcoming it, to fully manifest His sorrows before all humankind and the creation, He established Noah.
Why then did God establish Noah in the position that people at that time could not understand? You should understand that the reason was to establish one person, Noah, as a representative of humans, and put him in an incomprehensible environment, to experience the sorrow and pain of Heaven, caused by humans for 1,600 years.
Saints and Sages Throughout History, Who Comforted the Grieving God
Noah tolerated people who opposed and ridiculed him in faithlessness for 120 years. Even 120 years later when a warning was given that the earth was to be judged, he accomplished his duty to God in faith. He was called a righteous person of that time. Because he was a righteous person, the more he was concerned and saddened for the society in which he was living, the more corrupted the society of that time was.
When many people were striving to live for their personal comfort, Noah alone struggled to find the laws of public righteousness, was concerned about chun ryun, and was saddened in the environment where no one wanted to belong. Because Noah was concerned with and grieved for the people of that time, God called him. You should understand this.
This is not limited only to Noah. What was the reason for all the saints and sages, until now, who were responsible for fulfilling God's will to be chosen? All of them were concerned about the corrupted earth and people of their time. With the concern for an individual, a family, a society, a nation and the world, without letting others know, because they prayed, "Does Heaven exist? If so, please save this sinful earth!" and did their best to be loyal, with a sorrowful heart toward Heaven, they could be called by Heaven.
You should understand that the heart of God, Who called for any prophet such as Noah, was indescribably pierced into grief. Even in the midst of people's faithlessness and betrayals, when a prayer of a prophet called by God rang in the air, with a grieving heart, "Oh, Father!", the prayer was not joyful to hear to humans. However, God who heard the prayer was moved by the earnest appeal, as many saints and sages throughout history have been walking a thorny path to comfort God's grieving heart.
Whenever God faced with anyone who appealed and prayed to Him with such a grieving heart, He related to that person with a sorrow welling up in His heart. You should understand that when He faced them, he was determined to restore all His desires and ideas.
However, God was not always in the position where He could freely command the saints and sages who followed Him in faith or His sons and daughters, nor could He discuss with them despite time and space. You should understand that He was to relate to them only when a certain symbolic condition was met. Thus, you should understand that God has been conducting His providence to remove His grief through a sacrificial offering during the time of the Old Testament Age, and through Jesus during the time of the New Testament Age.
Through them, God's will was not entirely fulfilled. God desires to have a direct, full give and take relationship with you, and live eternally in the realm of His love, embracing you in His bosom. By so doing, He would like to call all humankind His sons and daughters. For this, He has been controlling His desire to express all of His grievance and pain until today. You should understand this.
Today, you who are living on this earth, can reveal your own sorrow to someone, your family members or relatives, but God cannot do it. When you are also in difficulties, you can lay your feelings bare, "I am sad or I am lonely," but God could never freely express His feelings throughout many thousands of years of history even when He was sorrowful. You should empathize with such a feeling of God, Who is in such a difficult position.
You should understand that all the saints and sages throughout history first expressed the sorrow of all humans on the earth, before revealing the sorrow of their own, and when you desire to stand before Heaven, you should reflect upon your past. You should look back whether in your own living environment, you did anything small, which can be a comfort to God, who has been sorrowful throughout 6,000 years of history.
Humans Who Should Liberate the Sorrow of God
Thus you should become a person who can look at the future and can be concerned about your family, society or nation. Even if the world is shaken and thus swept into a realm of death, you should become a person who can walk a path toward Heaven. If so, you shall never perish nor shall you be cursed by God.
God is saddened because humans could not fulfill the ideal of creation due to the fall. To fulfill the ideal, He has been looking for a person who would be concerned and work hard for the earth on behalf of Him. You are thus destined to walk a path in which you should comfort God and remove grief from God, Who is in such a sorrowful position today.
Because humans are the ones who caused grief to God, they are the ones who should eliminate that grief, yet you are not well aware of this. Thus you should know this clearly, and should try hard to free Him from the grief. You should make it clear that this is the most important thing to be considered.
God has never been joyful, even for one moment in the life-course of the humans who have been established. It is because some people did their best to fulfill their mission, but He could not help but watch those who could not, at times, fully comfort His sorrow to satisfaction. God was in the position to have heart-to-heart communication with the people who were established, but He has been heartbroken that they could not complete the mission in their generation.
After a history of sorrow for 4,000 years had passed, God could finally send a person who could represent the entire history of 4,000 years and all the prophets and sages who had come throughout history, and could represent the entire cosmos. The person sent by God as a representative for Heaven, all things and all humankind is Jesus Christ, in whom you believe. The day he arrived was a joyous day for the creation, all humanity and Heaven. You should understand this.
With what then did Jesus come to the earth? He came to the earth with an indescribable sorrow as a person who could represent all the grief of humans throughout the entire history of humans and that of all things. On behalf of all humans and the creation, he came with a responsibility to relieve the sorrow imbedded during the past 4,000 years of history.
In order for Jesus to reverse the direction of fallen history, caused by the human betrayal and their subsequent deviation from God, he fought Satan, who blocked a path to a life for humans and the creation, from a new angle. In the position where he had nothing to do with Satan's lineage, he pursued one ideal of God, one hope and joy.
Jesus walked such a path for his life of thirty years or so, but no one understood and supported him. He shed blood and sweat with all of his loyalty for his entire life, to relieve God's sorrow, entangled for 4,000 years, and to fulfill the will of God, no one recognized such a heart of Jesus. He was rejected by the religious leaders and the people of Israel. Later, he had no place to stay or rest; he had to wander from village to village, from valley to valley. You should understand the circumstances of Jesus at that time.
What then was the sorrow of Jesus? The sorrow was that he could not fulfill his mission for God's will, and that he could not awaken the ignorant people and teach them the will of God. Consequently, he grieved for Judaism and the Israelites, who did not believe in him and who opposed him at that time.
God's Situation That Jesus Desired to Convey
God, who was watching Judaism and the Israelites persecuting and disbelieving in Jesus, wanted to judge them and dismiss them immediately, but He did not. You should understand such a sorrow of God. You should clearly understand that Jesus, who had come as a Savior for all humans on the earth, took instead all of their grief and that of the creation.
Thus you should now have an attitude of heart that desires to feel the sorrow of Jesus, by exploring his lonely heart. You should also desire to become a friend of Jesus Christ, who was in the sorrowful position that no one knew. If you cannot be a friend with him for a day, you can be one even for an hour. If you do not have such a heart at all, you would not be able to come forth on behalf of chun ryun nor can you comfort God's grief on behalf of humans. On the contrary, you will end in the position of a betrayer, in which you will be against Heaven. You should be able to feel the sorrow of God, Who had watched Jesus, who had to be crucified at the end, despite the fact that with a sorrowful heart, he did everything possible to fulfill the mission endowed upon him.
On behalf of all humans and the entire cosmos, Jesus was commissioned to relieve the sorrow of God and have Satan surrender, by fulfilling the will of God, but he was eventually driven to carry the cross on the hill of Golgotha, in the pursuit of others from here and there. How then would he have felt?
He perceived that all the promised wills centered on him were to be destroyed, and his life was at the end to be terminated on the cross, but he still did not betray Heaven and fulfilled his duty toward God with an unchanging loyalty. Even if humans disbelieved in him, without being swayed by it, Jesus continued to pursue his life toward chun ryun. You should keep in mind that such a life of Jesus becomes a way to hope throughout history.
You should be able to figure out the broken and sorrowful heart of God, Who could not help but watch Jesus who prayed, immediately before his death on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" God had tolerated His sorrow for 4,000 years, but because He could not have a direct dominion over His beloved sons and daughter before they make an appropriate indemnity condition, He had no choice but to wait with patience until they met a certain indemnity condition. This you should understand.
How then did Jesus live on the earth? He could not speak or act freely as you could today. Jesus could not stay in a comfortable situation. Wherever he slept, whatever he ate, in whatever direction he moved, he always manifested God's sorrow pierced into the marrow of his bones. Wherever he spoke aloud to the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Israelites, he felt such a sorrow that his bones seem to melt down, and his blood and flesh shrank. Jesus could not discuss his heart of grievance, imbedded with all the sorrows he had encountered, with the people because of their ignorance and disbelief. Today, you should not forget such a heartbroken situation of Jesus.
Jesus, who knew with what mission he was endowed from Heaven and why he came to the earth, was welling up with sorrow due to the difference between God's hope and the reality in which he was living. Such a grief could envelop Heaven and earth, but he could not be saddened with his personal situation.
Today, you should take after the approximately thirty years of the life of Jesus, which was not bound by his personal situation, but was concerned with the grief of God and all humankind throughout history, and thus tried to comfort Him. You should now reflect upon how much you were concerned with the sorrowful situation of Jesus, and also, to fulfill the will of God, how much you came to experience the sorrow.
God's Additional Sorrow Caused by Jesus' Being Crucified
Due to the fall of Adam and Eve, God failed to fulfill the ideal of creation and thus came to experience an indescribable sorrow. Therefore God desired to receive a day of hope, by having humans believe in Jesus and be comforted, but He again had to face a miserable scene in which Jesus was killed on the cross. Through one person who was established as a fruit of His hard work during the 4,000 years of history, He desired to be relieved from the sorrow and build a Kingdom of Heaven on the earth, but when the plan was frustrated, how would He have felt?
The grief then was beyond the grief that He had experienced at the time of the fall of Adam and Eve. At the time of the fall of Adam and Even, He felt a sorrow that seemed like Heaven and earth were crumbling down. At the time of Jesus' death on the cross, Jesus who had felt like the tower of God, built with God's blood, sweat and tears during the past 4,000 years, crumbled in an instance. Thus God had to start all over again. God's sorrow at the time of the fall of Adam and Eve was consequently doubled and God could not help but lament over the death of Jesus with indescribable grief.
What kind of position then are you faced with today? Today, you are descendants of Adam and Eve, who caused sorrow due to their fall. You should understand that you are also descendants of the ancestors who brought an additional grief to God, by crucifying Jesus. Nevertheless, God forgot that humans are the very ones who had betrayed Him and caused Him grief, and is continuously leading a providence centered on their descendants. All that God looks forward to is to see a day when humans and the creation are united, and thus His kingdom will be realized on the earth.
In what kind of environment then are you living today? What is the reality in which you are living? What is the situation where the world is faced with? Anyone with a meaningful will would be grieved with and lament over the current situation of reality.
Anyone who understands the mission of Jesus Christ, who had come to introduce the love of God and comfort His sorrowful heart, could not help but strike, on behalf of the entire world, his own heart filled with ignorance and darkness. It is so because the reality today is too remote from the original will of God, and is full of corruption and contradictions.
Consequently, you should pursue the one way, empathizing with God's sorrowful heart and seeking His infinite love, regardless of whether others persecute or swear at you, only to bring about a day of hope, even if you fall down while striving to establish God's nation on the earth. We are destined to fulfill the historical mission.
While carrying out the mission, even if you are faced with tragic situations from a group of faithless people, you should report it to God, Who is in the position more miserable than yours. Although God's sorrows toward humans have been immeasurable, God has never expressed it to them.
Until today, as God has been leading a dispensation to save all humankind, restraining His own sorrow, you should also fight Satan, restraining your own sorrow. Thus, even when you pray, you should forget your own personal situation, but should be focused on how you can become a person who can liberate God from Father's sorrow, and will take responsibility for all the historical grievances and the universal sorrow pierced into Father's heart. To realize the will of God, you should fight Satan. If you become such a person, even if you would die while struggling to carry out the will, you shall never perish.
Consequently, God is looking forward to seeing such a person even at this moment. He is anxious to see a person who desires to eradicate His sorrow at the risk of his own life. By injecting the original energy of an infinite life of chun ryun into such a person, God wants to relieve His sorrow and build an eternal relationship with Him. Through such a person, He desires to relieve sorrow on the levels of a family, society, nation and even the world. You should clearly understand this at this hour.
God's Wish for Humans
What then is Heaven's piercing sorrow to you? You should not be grieved with your own sorrow. If you are, you are an unfortunate person. You should become a person who should carry the grief of your family, society, nation, the world, and further, that of God, and who should liberate it from them.
Think of Noah in the old days. When he was given a warning from God that the earth would be judged through the flood 120 years later, he never forgot it even one moment, but believed in it. He had an absolute obedience in God's one word for 120 years. It is an incredible faith. Yet he was not the only one who had such an absolute faith in God's words. Abraham also was another one. When God told him to leave the land of Ur of the Chaldeans, he never forgot the words of blessing, even one moment in the wilderness. Consequently, he fought Satan every day with faith in the words of God's blessing to him.
Another person was Jacob. Because he did not forget the blessing from Isaac and the blessing from God, he could tolerate the life of hardships in Haran for 21 years. Another person was Jesus. He also attended one word from God to him, and to fulfill the word, he fought Satan during his entire life of over thirty years. As such, all the saints and sages called by God observed one word from Him and attended it with faith in their lifetime. You should clearly understand this.
What then should you do at the time when a historical sorrow is passing through you? You should first become a person who can experience God's sorrow, and the hearts of Jesus and the Holy Spirit toward God and humans, and the sorrowful hearts of many saints and sages during the past 6,000 years of history. By so doing, you should go beyond your own level, and become a person who can liberate all the historical grief and return joy and glory to God. You should never forget that God is anxious for you to become such a person even now.