On the Day of Resurrection (Summary of sermon)
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea
April 17, 1957 (Easter)
Luke 23:50-56
The day of resurrection is the day that God has been longing for from the moment of man's fall to the time of Jesus' coming. Moreover, the Jewish people, as well as the whole of humanity and all things, singularly long for the one day that they can be liberated from the state of the fall and resurrected; in other words, the day of resurrection. To put it another way, God has been yearning for the establishment of the day of substantial resurrection for 4,000 years, and Jesus also hoped to usher in the day of substantial resurrection.
However, because of the ignorance of the Israelite people, Jesus was hung on the cross, and as a result, he passed away without fulfilling the mission of substantial resurrection. Therefore, until today, after 2,000 years have passed, this day of substantial resurrection has remained as the hope of all humanity and all things.
How many people do you think there were who knew the historical fact that the entire responsibility and the universal mission of the 4,000 years during which God led the dispensation of restoration rested on Jesus? Was there even one person who realized the heart of Jesus, who had wishes centering not on himself, but wished to realize the historical and universal wishes of God? Was there even one person who knew Jesus' heart of hoping only for the day that all in Heaven and under Heaven could sing the song of resurrection before God? Jesus never forgot that wish for even one minute during the thirty years of his life and led a most distressful life. Although the Israelite people did not believe in Jesus because of their ignorance, Jesus sacrificed all of his life and walked his course to provide them with the historical and universal hope, the glory of resurrection. No one understood this fact.
If you do not understand how much Jesus has exerted himself and how many pains he has taken for this one hope, the resurrection, from the time of his birth to the time of his death, then the value of that resurrection of Jesus will have nothing to do with you. Furthermore, you will not be able to even offer gratitude for that grace of resurrection.
When Jesus looked upon ignorant humanity, he realized that because of their faithlessness, he would walk a difficult path from then on. Therefore, Jesus forgot all about his own difficulties and walked a path of hardships unknown to others, with a desperate and painful heart in an attempt to establish the time of resurrection before them. He hoped that the difficult path that humanity had to walk, the path of death, would ultimately not be passed down to succeeding generations, yet humanity did not understand this at all.
However, the friends that Jesus wanted were not friends of the kingdom in Heaven, but people on the earth. Yet why was it that rather than people, Heaven, became his friend? The Israelite people should have stood in the position of a friend who understands the heart of Jesus, but because they did not fulfill their obligation, Heaven had to take the position of friend, instead. You must understand this situation and become true people who represent the heart of Jesus, not in Heaven but on earth, realizing the hope of Jesus who wanted genuine friends on earth.
Because of the resurrection of Jesus, all things have been able to experience the joy of receiving a new master. Human beings could embark upon the path of a new beginning. Jesus could taste the joy of victory in the spiritual battle, and God, who has been accused by Satan for 4,000 years, has tasted the joy of being liberated from the accusations at least externally because of the resurrection of Jesus.
You have to understand that in this way, because of the resurrection of Jesus, joy flowed in and below Heaven. However, Jesus' bliss of victory toward Satan was something that he should have had during his life, not after he passed away. The delight of God due to the resurrection of Jesus should also have been joy over both internal and external victory over Satan. Consequently, because of the death on the cross, the greater joy that God, and all of humanity, is entitled to have, has been passed down as an unfulfilled hope until today. Accordingly, the mission rests upon you to return greater universal bliss to Heaven. Besides that, you must also be able to feel that joy.
The joy of the spiritual resurrection of Jesus could not become the joy that all things, human beings, Jesus and God should possess eternally, so that joy on the one hand was mingled with sorrow. It was joy of a lesser importance. Only when you establish this non-essential joy as the universal joy on this earth, and establish the joy as eternal joy that carries no trace of sorrow, can God rejoice in your resurrection, more than the joy He felt over the resurrection of Jesus.
Only by doing this, can you truly taste the bliss of God through the joy of Jesus' resurrection. Assuming this is the hope and duty of each of you, you must claim the hope that Jesus had toward the world as your own and claim the duty of Jesus as your own.
To do this, before you take delight in the day of resurrection, you must think about the toilsome course of Jesus and the 4,000-year long toilsome course of God. By walking this path of tribulation on your own, you should lead a life of faith that can realize the hope that remains before God and return eternal joy to God.