Let Us Become the One Who Attends the Lord Who Has Come for the Sake of all Humankind
December 23, 1956
Former Church Headquarters
Matthew 8:18-34
Prayer 1
Father, as we think about Your granting us the grace that You have, we the worthless come before You and call you, "Father!" We are truly grateful. We cannot but thank You for sending Your beloved Jesus to us, we who should be leading a life bearing Your inveterate enmity, uttering the moaning sound of death every day of our lives. Thank You for unrolling to us the grace of redemption. Please allow us to become the children who know how to recompense for the grace by first offering our minds and bodies before the grace of the triune God, who has made constant laborious efforts throughout the several thousand years of history for this, and before the toils of the Father who has shined the light of hope on the earth, which is in darkness.
Father, we thank You for granting us the grace that we can experience in our heart Your wonderful grace this morning, that our bodies, which have been buried in darkness, may be submerged in the stream of life hidden in Heaven, and that we who have been buried in death may be linked to the arteries of the Father's cosmic love. Father, please let us feel deeply in our hearts in this hour that there is no way for us to recompense for the grace of the Father, even if we offer all of our minds and bodies. Please let us become those who get overwhelmed with shame even if they offer all of their minds and bodies. Please allow us to feel insufficient of our own accord, even if we offer all of our minds and bodies.
Father, since we came before You with all of our strength, with all of our devotion, and with all of our minds and bodies, please look at us with compassion. Please forgive us. In spite of having offered ourselves as living sacrifices before the Father, we have not done so until this time, this day. Guide us to be equipped quickly with an offering that the Father can appreciate with joy and of which the Father can be eternally proud.
Father, Your sons and daughters gathered here are a small group of people. Please allow them to realize that You are demanding for this nation to be the sacrifice of victory. Lots of sacrifice is required in order for this nation to keep from being swept away by the wave of death.
We are prostrated with gratitude before the grace that You raise us and guide us with, we who are worthless, in this hour. Please accept us as a sacrifice who can take over all fields of the Father's concern, and who can dissolve the basis of the Father's concern, and who can liquidate the battle ground between good and evil and return the glory of victory before Heaven.
Father, please accept this audience first as a living sacrifice with joy. Next, please guide us to be able to build the altar of victory that the Father is seeking. Further, please let us demonstrate Father's will of compassion in the face of this nation and all humankind. Beloved Father, we sincerely wish and pray this.
Father, please allow us to be able to understand Your situation, in which You have raised those who are worthless and given them directions regarding the holy mission of the cosmic level. Please allow us to be able to experience Father's heart with deep-rooted concern. Please allow us to be able to feel Father's bones-and-muscle- aching lamentation. Even if we get exhausted in the fight, please allow us to experience the Father's sorrowful position and heart and be comforted of our own accord.
Father, please let us gather our strength to fight of our own accord and step out again whenever we face the anxious hyung-sang of the Father, who is calling us. Please allow us to become sons and daughters who move without stopping for the sake of Heaven. This we sincerely wish and pray.
Father, this time when the year is about to change, if there was something about us that did not fulfill the mission that You put us in charge of for the past year, Father, please have forbearance. Since the mission that Heaven put in our charge is one that corresponds to the idea of history of the heavenly level, beyond the idea of history of the worldwide level, if there is something about us that was leading life centering on our own selves for the past year, please forbear with us. Please forbear that we have thought of the mission You put in our charge too lightly.
Father, please allow us to have all the inadequacies that we have shown before the Father for the past year liquidated, and allow us to have new minds, a new resolution, and a new vow. Please allow this hour to be one in which we can repent for ourselves being inadequate before the will of the Father. Father, we sincerely wish and pray this.
Father, since the road we are taking is the course of the fate of the cosmic level in which we cannot but walk hurriedly, the course of battle throughout our lives, please allow us not to get exhausted along the way. Please allow us not to be discouraged along the way. Do not let a matter of great regret to be developed by us by looking back while walking on. Father, we sincerely wish and pray this.
We have stepped on the course of the fate of the cosmic level that we cannot but take. We have stepped on the course that we have to walk on even after our death, if we do not walk on it while living. Please allow us to feel insufficient even if we offer all of our minds and bodies. Please allow us to feel insufficient even if we offer all of our true hearts.
Since we are of inadequate bodies, Father, please allow that only our hearts that are wishing for Your compassion govern the whole of our lives. Father, we sincerely wish and pray this.
Since we know that lonely families are spread in all directions with the words that the Father has promised and allowed and are taking pains to pray before the Father, holding onto lonely altars of offering, please protect them wherever they are. Please become their friend, sympathizing with their sorrowful hearts. Let that comfort their minds. We sincerely wish and pray in this hour that You grant us the grace that we may bow with unified minds and bodies before the one grace, and before one will, centering on one glory.
Father, we know that members of numerous denominations are praying with sorrowful hearts before the Father in this hour. Reveal the signal-fire of compassionate love over Your pitiful sons and daughters who do not know about the time and the period. Please display the signal-fire of words of compassion. We sincerely desire and pray that You establish quickly for us the altar of glory, that all of us may unite into one after being embraced quickly in the bosom of the love of the Father, who is to embrace and return the glory of happiness. We pray that we can subjugate Satan after building the altar of victory. Wishing that the grace of compassion be with Your sons and daughters
who are praying for the sake of Heaven, spreading out in all directions in this hour, we pray all these words in the name of the Lord. Amen.
Prayer 2
Please allow the land of goodness to be established. We know that since the original garden that Father created was a garden equipped with goodness, love, beauty, and the shield of eternal righteousness, it was a world of which Satan could not take advantage.
Father, since the standard of hope that my own self wishes are the glory of the truth of love, the goodness of love, and the beauty of love all hidden within the Father, Father, please open the gate of the heart to Your sons and daughters who are gathered here. We wish that You will grant us the grace of the eternal love that the Father has been hiding within Him.
There are words of the Father's tears that the Father has already promised to give. There is the mission that the Father has given, and there is the will that the Father wishes to manifest through worthless us. Please demonstrate to us without hesitation the holy grace of Heaven and the Father's absolute power and omnipotence, and the holy Father's glory. Please reveal Yourself as the fire of the Holy Spirit. Reveal the grace of glory. Please start the history of the revival of re-creation. Father, we sincerely wish and desire this.
Is there still any element of evil that cannot be accepted before the Father? Please govern with the hands of compassion all elements that are unacceptable and fix them. Please allow it to be an hour of happiness for these elements to be kneaded into the original goodness itself. Father, we sincerely wish and desire this.
Father, please raise those who are pitiful and insufficient. Call up and raise the things that have the element of falling again. Then please guide them not to become those who do not know the heart of the Father, who is crying out to have His eternal wish realized and who is hurting so badly like this.
Please allow us to feel with our minds and bodies in this hour Father's heart, which has been doleful and deeply sorrowful for 6,000 years. Let us become sons and daughters who are heartbroken to console the Father in his sorrow. Father, we sincerely wish and pray that You allow us to become earnest sons and daughters who can say toward Heaven, though we are powerless, since I offer You all of this, Father, please give us courage and strength that we can fight with.
Among the thirty million people, we have stepped forward into this course that others oppose, and have come climbing over the hill of difficulty, being beaten numerous times. Father, You cannot but give us more strength and courage. You cannot but grant the shield of the victory of Heaven. Since we cannot but carry on the last fight, the last decisive battle, wearing the heart of righteousness and the armor of righteousness, Father, please allow all of Your sons and daughters gathered here to have a united heart and one hyung-sang.
Please allow us to become those who can return the glory of victory after subjugating Satan in the last decisive battle. Please allow us to justify ourselves as Your sons and daughters of whom You can be eternally proud.
Since Heaven has to uphold its dignity for having called upon us, please protect us and allow us to become the living sacrifice that is loyal to You and that You can be proud of before all created beings. Father, we sincerely wish and pray this.
Father, though the course on which we have fought until this day was a rough one, please allow us not to become those who get disappointed upon understanding that the course we will take after this is the course of struggle. Our nationality is neither this nation nor any other nation on this earth. What we can lean on is Heaven, and what we wish for is nothing but the Father's will to be fulfilled. Since there remains the course of the fight and the hill of difficulty until we get registered in the Book of Life in the end, please allow us not to become those who will be concerned in their heart even if the course of trouble and persecution stands in our way.
We who have been called upon by God, please allow us to become the incarnation of the Father's love and the incarnation of fire. Please allow us to become the foundation of victory that can establish the garden of goodness by liquidating evil and having minds and bodies in which goodness can dwell. Father, we wish and pray this sincerely.
Father, please govern the hearts of the many sons and daughters who are present here. Please allow them to know their own selves. Please allow them to become the children who can preserve the Father's honor, who are working laboriously, and are concerned and sorrowful.
Allow us not to play the hypocrite and not to put on an outside appearance. Please guide them to be truthful. Please allow us to dissect ourselves and divulge all of our subjectivity, concepts, and assertions in the presence of the Father and get it liquidated. Allow this hour to be one in which we offer on the Father's altar the fragrance of eternal life and only the elements that the Father can possess.
Father, please penetrate into us with eyes of burning flame. Please allow each of us to repent before the Father for all that is to be repented about of our own accord, and to feel that we are standing before the court of the last judgment. Please grant us the grace to be embraced in the bosom of the glory of the Father. Grant us the dispensation of compassion, and please hold onto the mind and body of each of us. Father, we pray sincerely. Wishing sincerely that You will allow only the will of the Father to flow over the audience gathered here and make them take action, we pray in the name of the Lord.
Prayer 3
Please let our heart grab onto the heart of Jesus, who toiled laboriously 2,000 years ago, and to honor the mission of Heaven. Please let our minds and bodies be equal to Jesus' tribulations when we face his anxious hyung-sang, he who presented himself as the representative of heaven and earth.
Allow us to receive and be equal to all the contents delivered through Your words. When we think about the Scripture that says, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head," we know that though the minds and bodies of Your sons and daughters gathered here are the holy temples, there still remains a dispensation of grievance resulting from their failing to attend God's only begotten son, Jesus Christ, the crown prince, who was born for the sake of Heaven.
Although our ancestors have been building the rampart of grievance for several thousand years, this rampart is not getting any lower as days go by. Rather, Satan is building this rampart up higher, resorting to lots of deceptions.
We must know that all humankind in the world today has the responsibility to break down this rampart of enmity that our ancestors created, and that we, too, have the responsibility. We thought that it was only Jesus' grievance that he had walked the sorrowful path alone.
However, as we realize that the grievance has been left to us as our own, we discover that it is we who have to go forward toward Heaven with tears flowing.
Now as we look at the rampart of all the sins committed by our ancestors, holding our sorrowful heart in our arms, we come to realize that we ourselves are too feeble. Therefore, Father, please allow us to inherit the power of the Father with which we can force this sin out.
Father, what we have is nothing. Father, when you look at these Korean people, are they not the most pitiful people amongst all of humankind in the world? And even among this pitiful people, we who are worthless and seasoned with loneliness, are in a more miserable position.
However, Father, we know that the worldwide level blessing is submerged in Heaven. We know that the love of the Father is submerged deep in the heart of the Father.
Father, even if we are in a lonely position, please let us clear the barrier of tears to establish the garden of harmonization. Since we know that the Father is concerned about us in His heart, please allow us to become those who march forward ceaselessly, without hesitation.
Now, since we step forward honoring Your command, please allow us to become the good sons and daughters of Heaven who can run toward the way of accomplishing the hope, while living or after death. Father, we sincerely wish and desire this. Please allow that there be not even a single living soul among the sons and daughters in this audience gathered here who gets told with the same sadness-provoking word, "No, do not follow me," as when a teacher of the law came to Jesus and said, "Teacher, if you wish, I will follow you."
When I come to stand before Jesus of my own accord, I come to realize that I cannot but become a sacrificial being. I wish to become good enough that the Jesus of love, Jesus of goodness, Jesus of compassion, Jesus of patience, Jesus who is fully equipped with the wholeness of the nine different fruits of the Holy Spirit, who appears with an anxious look, can take a single fruit among the nine possible fruits of the Holy Spirit from my own self.
Please allow us not to become those who do not understand the internal grief of Jesus Christ, who could not but say, "Do not come the way you were coming, and do not wish what you wished," because there was nothing to be taken when he wanted to take. Father, we sincerely wish and desire this. Please allow the whole group of people gathered here at this time to become the sons and daughters who comply with Jesus when he said, "Forget everything and follow me," and who can be called upon thus.
This hour, we cannot but become Your sons and daughters, who without hesitation, prepare themselves and move forward when Father comes to command for the sake of the garden of hope that You wish to be established, the will that the Father will be happy about when it is fulfilled. Therefore, since we have the responsibility to take the historical lamentations of 6,000 years into our charge and to fight against Satan, please allow us to become heroes of victory who can fight with an indomitable and good heart, being equipped with a new resolution, a new determination, and a new pledge. Father, we pray this sincerely.
Now we wish that through Your words, before the grace You granted, You take charge of this hour in which we can be happy, in which the grace of love can stay, and in which the glory manifests itself as heavenly pride. We, too, wish to take charge. Wishing this sincerely, we pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The title of the speech that I want to reflect on together with you is "Let Us Become the One Who Attends the Lord Who Has Come for the Sake of All Humankind." I will speak briefly on this topic.
God's Ideal of Creation and the Result of the Human Fall
God, humankind and all things had to be united into one eternally, centering on one ideal of creation. However, because humankind, who is in the middle of Heaven and all things, made a mistake, all came to get divided into their several ways. All things went their own ways, Heaven went its own way, and humankind went their own ways. Therefore, to restore the world of the original nature of creation, God could not help but carry out the dispensation of restoration, starting from all things, and going next to humankind and then finally to Heaven. You should not be those who do not know about the Father's situation.
Today's people, we who were born with the fallen blood lineage, who are residing temporarily as a fallen tribe, must become those who feel first with their hearts and bodies that God's heart has been touched by sorrow. Though we have fallen without exception, as long as the relationship that God has created with us remains, and as long as the Father exists who is working laboriously to fulfill the providential will, we must not think as if we were standing in a meaningless situation. Even if your own selves are wicked, even if you are situated in a wicked position, you must become of your own accord one of those who recognize the tear-stained trails of the toilsome efforts of the Father, who has carried out the dispensation through the course of history, within you.
In short, the providence of restoration is to seek us again and restore us. Besides that, we must know that the ideal of the original nature of creation and the internal aspirations that remain within God are there within us in the final days. Now then, we must know that the grief of God who stays as an invisible God has touched on the heart of our own selves, and the traces of the toilsome effort of God who carries on the work of the dispensation of restoration invisibly, has remained within us as the grounds of our aspirations.
We who are on this earth must feel our heart being broken as badly as God's and must make toilsome effort, as God did, leaving trails of tribulation. We must become those who will bend their bodies and minds and have feelings of grief that can replace the broken-hearted feeling of the heart of goodness of God's original nature, which is what God has been cherishing as a hope.
Also, we must know that God is there, wishing even this day that the figure will emerge who has the heart of tribulations that can substitute for God's laborious effort, and who can manifest the tribulations of the invisible God with a visible, substantial body. Moreover, we must know that the Father has been searching for a religion of hope that can discern between right and wrong in all historical religions and realize your hope. All of you gathered here today cannot but step forth to a position where you can experience in your heart that the Father has been longing for the emergence of a true saint on this earth whose mind will be suffused with tears, whose body can be stimulated asleep or awake, standing or acting, during a certain moment in the course of life or in an instant of the hour.
The Purpose of the Advent of Jesus and the Disbelief of the Jewish People
Now then, the ideal of creation that the invisible Father wanted to enjoy has remained as bitterness in His heart due to the fall of humankind. The happiness and glory after creating humankind and all things, and God's wish that all would be proud of God's love and share His joys and sorrows, intoxicated with the ideal of goodness were all lost. The figure who came with the mission to unravel this was Jesus. The figure who came as a substantial being to unravel the core of God's internal lamentation representing the 4,000-year history of God's toilsome effort, and representing humankind and all created things was this very Jesus Christ. Then where was the existence who should have attended Jesus, who had waited for Jesus, and could have enjoyed happiness with Jesus eternally!
The Jewish people then should have known that Jesus Christ was the figure who represented God's internal heart and the heart of the deep- rooted bitterness. He came as the substantial, visible figure of God, who would unravel God's bitterness.
However, there was no one among the Israelites who knew about the internal providential will of God, who wished to be comforted through Jesus Christ and praised Jesus saying, "This person is the figure who can unravel the resentment of God's heart, God who has lamented for 4,000 years. He is the eternal existential being that the Father has been searching for," one who could sympathize with the heart of hope of God and attend Jesus.
The bitterness of the invisible God must be dissolved through visible humankind. The figure who could represent God's lamentation and the lamentation of all humankind was Jesus.
However, Jesus never had a happy day in his whole life. This was because the tears of lamentation of God who had cried for 4,000 years had touched his heart. Also, not even one came forward before Jesus feeling Jesus' lamentation deeply. All humankind should have become united into one with Jesus and dissolved God's bitterness. Reflecting on the course of Jesus' life, there was no one like this. Therefore, we should deeply impress upon our minds that the traces of this lack have been passed down to us today.
It had never occurred to the expectant Israelites, even in their dreams, that the Messiah, God's only begotten son and Heaven's crown prince, would emerge in such a sorrowful and haggard shape as this. Therefore, Jesus searched for someone who could attend him. While seeking, he carried it out not for his own sake, but as the representative of God's internal heart. Jesus searched for someone who could share the bitterness of God from the time of his birth, who could represent God's toilsome effort starting from the time of his birth, and could represent God's hope starting from the time of his birth. He could not find someone like this even up to the time he climbed over the hill of the cross after passing through a thirty or so year life course.
Since all of humankind has attended Jesus who died on the cross, how come nobody attended the living Jesus who came with God's eternal life and could transplant that love into humankind? The responsibility is with humankind. Although Jesus came as the embodiment of God's hope, to resolve the grief of God and to get rid of the course of God's toilsome effort and to build a garden of hope, our ancestors did not fulfill their responsibility to hold the grief of Jesus in their arms, and to carry his tribulations themselves, to lead a life of understanding and entertaining his aspirations. That was the sin of our ancestors.
Then what is it that Jesus wants from us today? Since what God had wished was to dissolve all of His bitterness through the single body of Jesus, and it has been prolonged due to our ancestor's failure to fulfill the responsibility, the grief of God has remained as has that of Jesus. The toilsome effort of God has remained, as has that of Jesus. The aspiration of God has remained, as has that of Jesus. Besides that, all of it has been extended even to the Holy Spirit.
What Jesus Wants From Us Today
Today we have the responsibility to resolve the grief of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that has extended throughout the history of 2,000 years. You must understand this.
The one who can dissolve the bitterness of the 6,000 years of lamentation hidden in the heart of God, who can represent the toilsome effort during 6,000 years, must emerge. The one who will manifest God's 6,000 year aspiration on this earth has to emerge from among us. The one has to be sought among us.
Now, when you step forth and stand before the wonderful grace of the Father or the grace of Jesus Christ, you should not consider the day you are doing it to be a beginning. When you come to stand before the Father, you are not standing in your private capacity. You must realize that when you lead a life of faith, you are not doing it by staking your course of life; you are doing it while staking a 6,000- year history.
Even when you stand in a position where you repent for your own sin before the Father, you must realize that this is not only repenting about yourself but also repenting for 6,000 years. When you have a grateful heart before the grace and love of the Lord, you must not think you are being grateful in a private capacity, within a certain realm of time. We must become those who can feel gratitude representing the whole providential dispensation that the Father has been carrying on, the horizontal dispensation and the vertical dispensation and a standard of fulfilled hope. Similarly, Jesus has been wishing for the emergence of a figure on earth who will resolve God's grief, who will take on God's toilsome effort for God, who can fulfill God's hope.
Jesus, who came to resolve the will of Father as a substantial being, died with the fate to return because he did not complete his work. Therefore, Jesus will come again searching for you who are worthless, with the heart of sorrow that represents the history of 6,000 years. He will come searching for you not only with the grief of 4,000 years but also with the grief of 2,000 years added to that. Also, he comes not only with sorrow but also with the bitterness of the toilsome effort of 2,000 years.
Our Responsibility Toward the Returning Jesus
What is the responsibility of humankind when Jesus, who will come seeking with the aspirations of 6,000 years, appears before us? It is for us to take charge of the heart of Jesus, the sorrow of Jesus, and the burden of the toilsome effort of Jesus, as a substantial being in place of Jesus.
Because the Israelites distrusted and opposed Jesus, he went to die on the cross. There was no one among the Israelites who would know and trust and attend Jesus as the one who had come to resolve the grief of the 4,000 years of the toilsome effort of the Father. Therefore, to complete this task, Jesus has to return.
We of the final days, who have to liquidate the history of 6,000 years, must have the heart that can say, standing alone before the triune God, "Please entrust me with God's sorrow as my own sorrow. Please entrust me with God's toilsome effort as my own toilsome effort. Please entrust me with God's aspirations as my own aspirations." And even though you are individual beings, you cannot but become those who prepare for the day of Jesus' coming with a heart that says you can represent heaven and earth. You cannot but become Christians of such a world as this.
You who must prepare for Jesus' Second Coming must again reflect upon the life of Jesus Christ, who came and went. You must become those who feel the circumstances of the time of Jesus' birth, of the time of Jesus' life, and of the time of Jesus' death as those of their own.
You must own the same sense of responsibility as that of Jesus, who felt that it was his responsibility to redeem all humankind, holding the sorrowful heart of God. You must own a heart that feels as if you are lying personally in the stable of Jesus who was laying alone after being born in the land of wickedness.
What do you mean by saying that Jesus was born in a stable, although Jesus is the crown prince of Heaven? Naturally, if Jesus was filled with sorrow, the extent of God's internal sorrow watching Jesus was beyond description.
Upon looking at these facts, you must feel your sorrow penetrating into your bones. Besides that, you who are faced with the final days must feel the responsibility that you have taken the mission that Jesus assumed. You alone are in charge.
We should be able to look upon it as ours: the circumstance of Jesus who was in an unspeakably miserable situation, receiving cold treatment though he had come for the sake of all humankind. If there had been a suitable person who could offer comfort to Jesus for his sorrow on this earth, Jesus would have wanted to reveal all of his hope to the person while holding onto him.
However, the Israelites, who had been chosen by God through the time and tide of 4,000 years, and the Jewish sects and denominations prepared for the sake of Jesus Christ, did not know who Jesus was. They had nothing to do with Jesus, who was lying in a stable in Bethlehem. This made God go through sorrow again. There was no one who took sides with Jesus.
Now we must become those who will gather the bitterness of God and of Jesus and can dissolve it. Only then can we get rid of the condition of Satan's encroachment on our bodies. Since you know that the Lord of the Second Coming will appear on this earth representing the history of 6,000 years, you should please not stand such a position as the Israelites did. Their faith was not centered on Jesus, not centered on the Messiah, and not centered on God. It was centered on themselves. The Messiah was surely to come and they knew about it. However, no one made preparations to attend the Messiah.
When the Magi from the East called out that they had come to worship Jesus, who was lying in the stable in Bethlehem, the whole of Jerusalem was disturbed. Fortune-tellers from foreign lands had come to visit Jesus. However, a disturbance like this was not something pleasant.
Preparation for the Sake of the Lord Who is Returning
All of you who have faith in God today should not stay in a similar situation as the Jewish church was in, which committed a mistake. Now you should be able to make preparations for the sake of the coming Messiah, and you should not only resolve the sorrow of Jesus by yourselves, you should also be able to return glory to him. Such a responsibility as this has been left to you. These days, when you reach a sacred position where you can consult with the Father, you will be given many commands such as, "Do this" or "Do that."
When the Lord came on the earth, he would eat, he would wear clothes, he would be staying somewhere, and he would be active. However, the Jewish people, who had been waiting for the Messiah to come, did not know about this and so did not wait for him and did not make preparations to attend him. There was no one who was waiting for him with even a single pair of clothes ready for him to wear.
If there had been someone who had made preparations with a sincere heart, when the Magi from the East came to Jerusalem and when all of the Jewish people were disturbed with the hearing of it, they would have followed the Magi and gone searching for Bethlehem. However, only the Magi from the East were on the road.
Our ancestors, who were following God, who were said to be doing the will of God, have left traces of sorrow in the sins they committed. You of today should not be standing in the same situation. You should be able to make preparations to be able to attend the coming Lord with your minds and bodies, within and without.
We of today, who are facing the final days, what is it that the Christians of the whole world must do? If the Jewish people, who were wishing the Messiah would come, had prepared a place to stay when the Messiah was born, Jesus would not have been laid down in a stable. In the same manner, we must become the Christians who can prepare a place for him to stay when the Messiah is born.
Gifts For the Coming Lord
You must not consider it a matter of happiness that Jesus was born in a stable, being wrapped in swaddling clothes. Jesus was the figure that all humankind together should have honored in the most glorious position, more than anybody on this earth, more than anybody in history. He is the figure who should have been liked and praised by all humankind as the son of God. Besides, he was Jesus, whom all humankind should have been proud of in the presence of Satan.
Then what would the sorrow of God have been like as He watched the scene where the Jewish people were not attending Jesus? You must understand such sorrow as this.
Therefore, now, in place of the heart of God and having understood the sorrowful heart of Jesus of 2,000 years ago, you must become those who will prepare gifts internally, without anybody knowing. The gifts of Heaven cannot be shown in the presence of Satan. That is why the most precious gifts never reveal themselves, as you notice in the Bible. Why? It should not be that someone knows about this first. Only the one who must know should know about this first. If Satan knew about this first, he would retain a lingering desire for it. That is why it should not be revealed.
While you make the preparations for the sake of the Lord who comes for the sake of the world, you will have to prepare a precious gift that is not found on this earth, which you cannot exchange with anything else on this earth. In order for the Lord not to feel any difficulty either in his heart or in his body when he is present and active, you must find and prepare the foundation of attendance with your bodies. Why is this so? Because the most precious thing, more than anything else in this world, is your body.
Because he is such a precious figure and a substantial being who can substitute for the whole universe, when the son of the Father, the only begotten son whom Father loves comes, you must establish a foundation of peace where he can rest forever. Then by having your minds and bodies united into one, when Jesus comes again, you must become the hands and feet of Jesus. You must substitute for the life course of Jesus, and you must attend Jesus so that he feels tranquility and comfort. You must become one who can fight the fight that Jesus carried on 2,000 years ago in place of Jesus.
Jesus has been fighting for 2,000 years, so you must now be determined to take full charge of that fight with Satan and prepare even the shield to be used in that fight. Furthermore, while you identify with the situation at the birth of Jesus, you must at the same time feel the heart of Jesus while he was living on the earth.
The Tears and Prayer of Jesus
Now if you truly try to seek the Father, and if you seek Jesus' bosom of love, then you will shed tears. God could not divulge His sorrow even while suffering for 4,000 years. Jesus lived with the substantial shedding of tears. Although only three or four such instances are recorded in the Bible, in actuality, there were numerous times when, unbeknownst to others, Jesus shed tears.
When God was looking down upon the Jewish people whom He had loved through the thousands of years of dispensational history, there was not one moment that He did not shed tears. Jesus shed tears every time he prayed before God. Every time he encountered a difficult and lonely situation, he felt grief, with God on his side as the only one who understood him. Nonetheless, he could not reveal his sorrow to his disciples. You must understand this situation of Jesus.
It was not just one or two times that Jesus climbed the Mount of Olives and prayed through a sleepless night. He did not just pray in the Garden of Gethsemane once. While he was traveling the path of hardships, Heaven was the only one in whom he could confide his mournful situation. Yet he did not pray to place his sorrow on the shoulders of Heaven. On the contrary, he prayed that he could single- handedly bear all the sorrows. He appealed, "Father! I am going to bear the grief that You feel as You look down upon me. Father! Please be comforted through me! I am going to resolve Your sorrow. Please do not be so sad." What is more, he prayed, "Father, I will be responsible for the efforts of 4,000 years, so please do not worry. I am here. Please do not worry, because Your hope remains."
Jesus kept sorrow inside as he grew up. This means that Jesus underwent grief ever since his childhood because people did not attend him.
Jesus grew up as a step-son in Joseph's family. Although all the people in his town talked about him, he lived a life of reticence. Although he understood in his heart the great and amazing will of Heaven that could not be revealed, he grew up as a normal child. You must not think that his life of thirty years as a carpenter was comfortable. What a pitiful life it was! Jesus should have stood in the most lofty position among the Jewish people and have manifested the joy and glory of the Father. Instead, he lived with a hatchet and plane in his hands to help support the livelihood of Joseph's family.
If there are sons and daughters who want to uphold the will of God today, true sons and daughters who want to remove grief and bitterness from God's heart, then they must consider the life of Jesus their model course. If you want to fathom the life that Jesus lived, you must be moved deeply by the heart of Jesus, the amazing grace. Feeling that heart, you must enter the same difficult position. Then you will feel that the sorrow of Jesus has transcended time and life, and that there was not even one peaceful moment in the life of Jesus.
Nonetheless, Jesus, who came for the sake of the earth, felt great anguish about channeling the sorrow that he suffered on earth toward Heaven. Today, those people who believe in Jesus commonly try to direct their own crosses and sorrows to Heaven. We do not believe in Jesus to do that. The person who can say, "The sorrow of Heaven was caused by me, so I will bear it on my own shoulders. God, please do not worry," is the person who has become connected to the dimensions of Jesus' conviction and life.
Are You My Friend?
Now since there remain the footprints of Jesus' grief, which show that he lived the thirty years of his life in tears, you have the responsibility to resolve this. Jesus lived the thirty years of his life in sorrow and finally passed away while bearing the cross. Yet you must understand that even when he was crying out at the last moment, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? (Father, why have You forsaken me?)" his heart was overwhelmed by the desperate desire to fulfill the will.
If you look at the world today with the mind-set, "I am a friend of Jesus," then you will not be able to look at this world without shedding tears. Jesus shed tears with every step he took and with every movement he made. There was not a moment he did not shed tears. If there is someone among the faithful believers of today who sheds tears with a repentant heart before Heaven, just as Jesus did, then that person will become a friend of Jesus.
If in each church and each family there is someone who can understand the heart of Jesus and shed tears on behalf of God, then in those places, unlimited life and love will surely be present even without making a request to God. You must understand that God demands this of Christians, that they connect with the situation, emotions, and the contents of Jesus' life.
Today if the Lord of the Second Advent comes to this earth, he will ask, "Have you indeed become a friend of mine, I who spent thirty years in hardships?" What is more, he will ask, "To what extent have you shared the anguished heart of God? How many days have you lived feeling the sorrow of the world?"
You must understand that because humankind could not serve Jesus who came to the earth, humankind made the condition to give Jesus over to Satan to be crucified. You must overcome this condition.
Why are we alive today? It is because before this body dies, before soil enters these eyes, we must become the people who fulfill loyalty to the full extent and cling onto the life of Jesus in tears. We must become true people who can erect those things in the life of Jesus trampled upon. Therefore, while you are alive, you must fully accomplish this responsibility.
Therefore, today you are not simply yourselves. You must not think that you are merely the person of the years that you have lived so far. You must realize that each of you is a person who bears the universal mission to consummate in your lifetime the dispensation of the restoration of God that combines the 4,000 years from Adam and Eve to Jesus and the 2,000 years since Jesus until now.
Thus, just as Jesus stood boldly before the enemies, you must also remain bold, even when you are suffering the tribulation of crucifixion. Even when you are shedding tears, you are not to mourn for your own sake. When you cry, you are not to cry for your own sake. If you are to cry, you must cry for the sake of Jesus. Then how happy Jesus would be, he who lives for your sake and thinks about you. What is more, God will understand your situation. Even when you shed tears, you must shed tears with this kind of heart. There is no need for someone who cries for the sake of himself. Only those who cry for the sake of Jesus and the love of God and repent can become the sons and daughters of God.
When you confront the hardships of the crucifixion, if you truly feel the love of the Father and feel that you dwell within the realm of the Father's love, then you won't be able to pray. I have felt that before. Even when I bore on my shoulders a massive burden that seemed to weigh a thousand tons, I did not pray, "Father, please lighten my load." You must never offer such a prayer.
God, who loves you, understands your situation very well. If you pray, "Father, I am bearing this kind of heavy burden," to the Father who is already deep in sorrow, then you will add another load of grief to His anguished heart.
You are to understand even these subtle points and relate with God and Jesus. If there are even just a few people among this thirty million people who have this kind of attitude, then they can prevent this nation's grief. You must never shed tears because of your own lamentations.
Jesus Went Through a Great Deal to Console the Father
Although Jesus came to the earth with a universal mission, he suffered hardships throughout his life. Nonetheless, he did not pray to alleviate that anguish. Instead, he went through a great deal of trouble to console the wounded and anxious heart of the Father. Meanwhile, Jesus took great pains to forgive the ignorance of the people. Because he stepped forward to substitute for the ordeals of God, whether he lived or died, he lived with the singular determination to glorify the will of God. Jesus did not care whether God recognized him, or whether people on earth recognized him. Whatever place and time, he lived for the sake of the will.
Although Jesus came to completely accomplish the will, he did not complain or despair just because he had to die on the cross. Even when he entered the position of death, he did not speak in his own defense. As you all know, Jesus did not try to vindicate himself even while he was passing through the court of Pilate, even on the hill of Golgotha to be crucified on the cross. He was the champion of no self- vindication. He could feel that even the opposition that he received from the people was his own responsibility. We who believe in Jesus Christ must pass through the course of Jesus who was born and Jesus who lived, and then become his friend.
Jesus did not become a friend of life but a friend of death. Although countless people walked the path of death in the course of history, Jesus is the only one who became the friend of death on behalf of the deaths of all people. He died on behalf of all people.
Consequently, Christianity is religion of death and sacrifice, and the Christian truth is the truth that prevails over death. Jesus' activities were to destroy him. Even then, you must understand, it was the course of Jesus to love without any grudges.
Because Jesus was a friend of death, even when death pressed itself upon him, he was not concerned about it. You have to understand that he lived a life with room to die for the sake of his enemy.
In the end, even God said to Jesus who hung on the cross, "I do not know him." At that moment, Jesus cried out, "Father, why have You forsaken me?" but he did not cry out because he feared that the hope would be shattered and all of his life would be in vain. He cried out because he was concerned that, due to his death, he would have to leave without being able to complete the will of the Father. He was not concerned about whether God sent him to Heaven or hell, because he fulfilled his personal responsibility. Jesus, who had to become a friend of death, tried to be content with his own situation of death and tried to accomplish his mission through his death.
Although Jesus came with universal love, there was none who understood this. Although he came with such an amazing grace, once he stepped forward to become a friend of death, he did not harbor any lingering attachments. Though Heaven did not treat him as a being of hope when he had come for the sake of realizing the hope of Heaven, Jesus did not rebel or hold grudges.
When we go in pursuit of God, we will encounter the ultimate pass. Even if you were to pour out all of your heart and soul, in the end there will come a time when Heaven will deny any knowledge of you. The reason that Heaven does not recognize you is that the worldwide mission lies before us. Similarly, because Jesus also had to take charge of a worldwide mission, he had to undergo such an experience. A similar thing will also happen to you. There will come a time when even if you are to remain extremely loyal and offer all of your life to cling onto the Father, Heaven will not recognize you.
But you must be able to say that, dead or alive, the will of the Father is the only thing that matters to you. What is more, if you were to have any hope, you must only have the one hope of fulfilling the will of the Father. You should be the owner of the heart that says, "Not eating well and not wearing good clothes are joyful things."
The Ultimate Pass on the Road that Seeks God
You today must never believe in Jesus to enter Heaven. Those who believe in Jesus to die will go to Heaven. If you believe in Jesus to die a noble death rather than to lead a good life, then your faith will become extremely precious. The twelve disciples who believed in Jesus to gain a good life, where did they go when Jesus died?
You are not to believe for the sake of leading a good life for yourself. You must believe to offer your life as a good sacrifice; in other words, to die a noble death.
To do that, we must follow the example of Jesus' life. We have the responsibility to champion the life of Jesus on behalf of history. We have the responsibility to possess his life. Only when we possess the life of Jesus can we come to possess the love of Jesus. Only when you attend Jesus can you receive the love of Jesus. What is more, you must cultivate a faithful character that can resemble the 2,000-year suffering course of Jesus.
Not only that, since the dispensation of God was prolonged for 6,000 years, you can attend the one who is to come to take charge of, and on behalf of, the 6,000 years of the dispensation. When the Father or the Lord appears before you, you must welcome the Lord and attend him. This should not be limited to just one or two hours but should last for eternity.
Then what must you do to attain the qualifications to become the bride who can serve the Lord? More than anything else, you must be able to be responsible for God's 6,000 years of sorrow and comfort Him.
Then you must go before the Lord of suffering and be able to say, "I will do this and that. I will serve you like this and that. I have prepared like this and that." You must have made universal preparation and say, "Lord, please come. Lord, please appear." Such a faithful believer will never perish.
Such a great mission lies before us. Yet many people do not understand this. What is more, they do not understand that the internal heart and internal hope of Jesus revolves around each of us. What will happen to such people? Those who are ignorant will perish. There will come a time when they pound their own chests in regret.
To Attend the Lord Who Is to Come
The responsibility of a son is to serve with the heart and mind, to attend with the body, and to attend by mobilizing the society, the world, and heaven and earth. Yet today you cannot even serve God in your hearts. You must understand that you have not even begun attending Jesus yet.
You should remember that by attending with your heart, body, society, nation, world, and heaven and earth, glory will fill not only your own individual self, but also your family, your society, nation, world, and the whole created world. You probably never even imagined that such a cosmic mission rests upon you.
You who bear this kind of mission and have gathered here out of the ordinary should not be small-minded. You also must not be base or foolish. Even when you go before many enemies, you must remain bold and audacious. You have the responsibility to serve Jesus, who is to come with the universal glory and love. You are the ones who must step up to the universal position with your heart and substantial body.
But there is no need for the Christians who prayed for their own sake and for the sake of their families and were content with that. There is also no need for the Christians who are content to be concerned only about their own churches. Even if every one of the thirty million people is all Christian, even if the whole of humanity are Christians who can represent the people and believe in Jesus, there must be a representative Christian who can stand on behalf of the 2.4 billion people of humanity.
If we are the qualified ones who can dominate over all the angels in the spirit world. We must be able to say before them that we have accomplished these kinds of valuable deeds. It is Jesus who came to do this very thing.
Jesus who came to fulfill such a great mission, Jesus, whom we should attend with such utmost earnestness, how have we, who rest our hopes in Jesus, lived our lives? We are so shameful. Even if we were to shed tears for 6,000 years because we feel such great shame, it will not be enough. Even if we were to pound our chest and lament for 6,000 years, it still would not be enough. We who are in this position must never be ungrateful.
Even if you were to die right now, even if you were to be stepped on and trampled upon, your heart of fidelity and loyalty must never change. You should be able to stand dignified before all things in the universe as the sons and daughters of Heaven.
Sons and Daughters of Fidelity and Loyalty
You stand on a difficult road. You stand on the fateful road which you cannot choose not to travel on. You who stand on this fateful road must walk on it while maintaining your conviction and internal loyalty for the rest of your life.
You must shed tears. You must repent and mourn, "I was meant to serve the world-level Lord, the universal Lord, the Lord who can climb over the 6,000-year history and embrace the eternal ideal world. But until now, I was content just to serve the Lord of the family or the Lord of the people and the nation. That was all I could do."
Do you of today feel that you have the responsibility and mission for this era? Have you ever thought that you would be the one to fulfill the ideal that the whole of humanity has been hoping for since the beginning of time to the day that the ideals of creation are completed? Have you ever felt that sense of mission?
In addition, you must have the latitude of mind to pray, "I am confident that I am more than capable of accomplishing this kind of mission." When you pray from this kind of position, then you do not have to pray a lot. If there is someone who stands in such a position, it only takes one word, "Father!" for all to be expressed. There is no need for explanation. There is no need for theories.
We have entered the position in which, moved by direct impulse, we must step forward without hesitation and attend before we are given the command to do so. We have come forward with this kind of treasure. You who have embarked right now, are you subject to some condition of accusation? In your path, have you come to a stop and now stand stagnant in a certain stage? During your life, what level have you reached? You must begin from the individual level and passing through the family, society, national, and world levels, you must reach heaven and earth. You must understand that such a cosmic mission rests on you. This is the only way that you can meet the Lord.
Jesus Christ must find a true person who can attend him and, being unshackled from the sighs of the 6,000 years, cling to him and shed tears of gratitude, saying, "Father, the one whom You have longed to find is here. Father! Please be happy." Heaven will give the glorious answer, "Yes, it is true." The day when this takes place must dawn upon humankind.
You must never forget that you have to fight on until the day when you can receive the glory of such triumph, the love of the Father and eternal life; when you can become the bride who represents all things, all forms, and the whole universe, the sons and daughters who can live eternally with the Father, sharing all His ordeals and happiness.