When viewing the larger more historical view of world political and religious aspects, one will soon find the same similarities all throughout history. Why do certain wars such as the one in Israel seem to repeat itself and not be resolved?
Why are we repeating wars based on conflicts that occurred between people who are no longer alive? Why do we continue conflicts that we did not even start?
Why Does History Repeat Itself?
This question is impossible to answer in one meager article, for it takes a very in depth look back into the history of conflicts between nations. Also, one must take a look at the beginning of conflicts and how they parallel to other time periods. This is a very brief understanding of what is called the Providence of Restoration. To take a more indepth look at history, would take a book, not a simply written page.
To get a more detailed understanding of history from God's view point of history it is best to obtain "The Divine Principle" book which this article is based upon.
God had used seemingly random wars and leaders for his good, actually had a deeper meaning.
Why does history repeat itself? The simplest way to answer is God had a plan for that dispensation using a central figure or leader, a nation and people he had prepared for one purpose. This purpose is to bring a foundation for the Messiah. In other words. Before the Messiah appeared and reappears in our time, God had an ultimate goal to bring the Messiah to a certain nation way before Jesus and prepared for him to return way before now. So what happened?
Bluntly, many of God's chosen people and nation's central leaders messed up God's plan in exchange for their own earthly interest. This explains why so many kings and nations rise and fall over and over again in history. Once they fail, God surely plans to finish his Will of world peace, yet He uses a new nation, new people and new leadership. What usually happens to the ones who failed?
The following is an overview of only a few key points in history, and will attempt to clarify the Unification viewpoint of their historical significance centered on God's restoration process. It would elongate the post if we place in all of history as the book Divine Principle tackles, to keep it short, we can only go through a few points here.
A. The Cyclical View of History (Fatalist View of History)
The ancient Greeks believed that just as the four seasons absolutely repeat, they believed that history followed the same natural course. The Greeks believed that history was destined to repeat, and humans could not affect the outcome. To them, history was just repetition of events that did not have any meaning or goal.
This viewpoint is called the fatalist view of history or "cyclical view of history". Herodotus (484-425 BC) was called the father of history, and Thucydides wrote "history of the Peloponnesian War" (460-400 BC). These two men both believed that history repeated itself. They do not believe humans can affect change to the development of history and deem history as necessary. This fatalist viewpoint does not see any goal in history and cannot offer a future image of World Peace.
B. The Providential View of History
Christianity presented a view in contrast to the Greeks view of history. Christianity believed that history has a beginning and advances in a straight line toward a definite goal led by God's providence. Christian history began with the human fall, and its history is a history of salvation leading to Judgment day.
Christians divides human history into six periods:
(1) from Adam to Noah's flood,As stated in other articles, the purpose of the Providence of Restoration is the process to restore man. To establish a base or foundation to receive the Messiah. As with the case with Moses and the Israelites and John the Baptist not continuously testifying Jesus was the Messiah, when God's providence is prolonged, the whole history must be repeated until the mistake is restored. The Process of Restoration:
(2) from Noah to Abraham,
(3) from Abraham to David,
(4) from David to the Babylonian captivity,
(5) from the Babylonian captivity to the birth of Christ, and
(6) from the first coming to the second coming of Christ.
1. The central figure must set up the foundation of faith by offering a symbolic sacrifice accepted by God which is a condition of indemnity to remove natures produced from the fall.
and
2. The central figure must establish the foundation of substance by offering substantial or real sacrifices acceptable by God.
God's chosen people were originally descendants of Abraham who established the foundation to receive the Messiah on a family level. Therefore, Israel was the chosen nation after they fulfilled the providential age of restoration in faith.
However, after the Israelites had delivered Jesus to his crucifixion, which was not God's first ideal choice to fulfill Heaven on Earth, they lost their qualification as the chosen nation.
Here is the understanding of history from God's providence of restoration viewpoint:
1. The 400-year period from Noah to Abraham was invaded by Satan, because of Abraham's failure in the offering. Therefore, during the period of slavery in Egypt, to restore by indemnity this 400-year period,
2. The posterity of Jacob were miserably persecuted by the Egyptians for the 400 years after he and the 70 kinsmen, centering on his 12 sons, had entered Egypt. In the period of the persecution under the Roman Empire to restore this period by indemnity,
3. The 12 apostles, the 70 disciples, and the Christians centering on Jesus, because of his crucifixion, had to undergo miserable persecution by the Roman Empire for 400 years in order to restore, by indemnity, the 400-year period of preparation for the coming of the Messiah which had been invaded by Satan.
Even though the bible is riddled with many of God's chosen people not completely fulfilling their mission, these three points explain why history up until Christianity conquered Rome had to repeat itself.
Moses Disbelief, Israelites Follow Canaan Idols
In the period of slavery in Egypt, the First Israel, the chosen nation, separated itself from Satan, who invaded because of Abraham's failure in the offering, by circumcising (Ex. 4:25), offering sacrifices (Ex. 5:3), and keeping the Sabbath (Ex. 16:23).
History repeats itself when God preordains a chosen people and nation and they do not complete their mission, God chooses another time, nation and people through which to work his providence.
During the First Israel's slavery in Egypt, the chosen nation was able to indemnify or pay back Abraham's failure when he failed to cut the doves in half when making an offering to God.
Even though Abraham indemnify that mistake by having to offer Issac, God still could work through Abraham's family, in order to do this, they endured 400 years of slavery.
Abraham's descendants were able to indemnify through offering of circumcising, offering sacrifices and by keeping the Sabbath holy, these conditions paid back Abraham's mistake.
After the 400 year period of slavery ended, Moses was subject to Satan by the powers of the three miracles and ten calamities and headed for Canaan. Likewise, the period of Christian persecution by the Roman Empire. This time period had to be indemnified, in other words, this time period repeated. Therefore Christians indemnified the past by offering of saints as living sacrifices, keeping the Sabbath and partaking in Holy Communion and Baptism. Then after this 400-year persecution period, Jesus in spirit along with his followers, influenced Emperor Constantine and moved him to recognize Christianity publicly in year 313. Then Theodosius I declared Christianity the national religion.
In this way, Christians came to be restored, spiritually, into Canaan, out of
the Satanic world.In the Old Testament Age in which God had worked His
providence through external conditions of offerings as indemnity. According to the law, God
subjugated Pharaoh by giving Moses external miracles and signs.After the period of slavery in Egypt had ended, Moses set up the center of the Old Testament by receiving the Ten Commandments and words on Mount Sinai. By receiving the tablets of stone, the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant, the First Israel, the chosen nation, came to set up the will to receive the Messiah.
Likewise, after the period of persecution by the Roman Empire, the Second Israel, the chosen nation, decided on the New Testament by collecting the records of the apostles as the words to fulfill spiritually the Ten commandments and the ideal of the temple of the Old Testament Age.
This laid the groundwork to receive the Lord of the Second Advent by establishing churches centering on the words of the New Testament. After the period of Jesus, he and the Holy Spirit have been leading Christians directly. In all periods throughout the biblical history, there was always a central figure such as Noah, Abraham and Jacob.
Yet, after Jesus's coming, he did not set up any one person as the central figure of the whole providence.
In the period of the judges, after the Israelites, led by Joshua and Caleb, entered the blessed land of Canaan, they formed a new nation of God's elect, centering on the judges in the new land given to each tribe. Thus they established the foundation of the Israelite feudal society.
Likewise, in the period of Christian churches under the patriarchal system of Christianity, after its liberation from the Roman Empire, which represented the Satanic world, spread the gospel to the Germanic tribes, who had moved to Western Europe because of the invasion by the Huns in the 4th century. By setting up the Germanic people as a new people of God's elect in the new land of Western Europe, they established the foundation of the Christian feudal society.
In Moses's time, in the course of restoration into Canaan by the people of Israel, set up the foundation of substance through the tabernacle as the symbolic being of the Messiah.
Therefore, after they entered Canaan, the Israelite nation in the period of judges should have exalted the will of the tabernacle under the leadership of the Judges.
But, by living among the seven tribes of Canaan, representative of Satan's world, without destroying them, the Israelites came to worship Canaan's idols after their evil customs, thus bringing about great chaos in their faith.
Likewise, in the period of Christian churches under the patriarchal system, the Christians should have exalted the will of the church as the image-entity of the Messiah.
Instead, there came about a great confusion in their faith due partially due to the influence of the many miscellaneous religions of the German people.
The Israelites received Jesus only after the 400-year period of preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Therefore, in order to restore this by indemnity, Christians also can receive the Lord of the Second Advent only after the 400-year period of preparation for the Second Coming of the Messiah. This began with the Pope's return to Rome from his life of captivity in Avignon.
Let us here observe how the background and environment were formed in each of the two periods which were the preparation periods to receive the Messiah.
At the time of the first coming of the Messiah, God sent the prophet Malachi to His chosen nation 430 years in advance, having him prophesy the coming of the Messiah which would be Jesus. He reformed Judaism, preparing Israel as the chosen nation to receive Jesus.
Meanwhile, among the Gentiles, at about the same time, God had Gautama Buddha of India (565-485 B.C.) pioneer a new base for Buddhism by improving Hinduism. Also, in Greece he had Socrates (470-399 B.C.) pioneer the period of Hellenic culture. In the Orient, He had Confucius (552-479 B.C.) set up human ethics and morality through Confucianism, thus having them establish the culture and religion suitable for the place and people in order that they may make necessary spiritual preparation to receive the coming Messiah.
God prepared this basis, foundation around the world in order to unify all the regions of various religions and cultures into one sphere of Christian culture. This explains why different countries around the world have similar history and religious background. God planned for the Christian culture to absorb and win over Judaism, Hellenism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and other religions from around the world. This was God's ideal to bring World Peace in this way.
Democratic Sphere Usher in Messiah
The Renaissance period occurred in order to restore history through indemnity. This period served as a background and environment to establish a foundation for the Second Coming of the Messiah. In addition, the rapid progress in politics, economy, culture, science and all other aspects of human endeavor that we enjoy today all began in the Renaissance period.
The political territory in Jesus's day was formed by the rise of the Roman Empire. The Roman had ease of communication in all directions, and the vast cultural territory formed centering on the Hellenic language. This established the foundation to expand the ideas of the Messiah - from Israel on Jesus, to Rome centering on Israel, and then to the world centering on Rome.
Likewise, since we are living in the days of the Lord's return, the democratic sphere, which is based on freedom, is covering almost every corner of the earth. Transportation and communication shortens the extremes between East and West. Also, due to the free exchange of languages and cultures, the ideology for the Second Advent of the Messiah can freely and swiftly flow into the hearts of all mankind.
It is easy to see this is the best foundation to spread the truth and ideology of the Second Messiah worldwide within the shortest possible time. In other words, the Internet, the ability to go anywhere in the world in under an hour is to prepare a way to spread the Messiah's message as he returns.
Return for tomorrow's post: World Peace Brings World Without Borders
Photos courtesy of: freedigitalphotos.net
Note:
The text above was taken directly from the Korean textbook, "The Divine Principle". This has been rewritten in conversational form without changing the philosophical or spiritual nature of the text. To learn more about the teachings it is based on, Reverend Sun Myung Moon, please visit, www.unificationnews.com.
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