What was his ultimate goal? Why did God bring Jesus to earth among such a people who would later crucify him?
Jesus goal was to bring the Kingdom of God here on earth on a national and global level. This was more important and an everlasting dream of God than just individually curing the sick and proclaiming the word just to the people in his vicinity. God’s vision was much greater and higher than what came to be in history.
Since we know that Jesus carried this knowledge as the final goal in his heart, then the content which he preached would not be about giving his followers good homes, good lives and blessings centered on worldly goals. He wouldn’t have preached them about having an life on earth.
Wouldn’t his teachings be focused more on his followers being sacrificed in order to save the fallen brethren of the world - not individual goal.
We can easily proclaim that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because there is a 2, 000 year foundation of Christianity which has glorified him as God. Many sacrifices have been laid to bring this proclamation to fruition.
We must remember that in his day, Jesus was not accepted by his elders. Which group would be better able to witness and testify that Jesus was the Christ: the disciples of Jesus or the priests who already had a foundation and followers.
We really cannot judge the people of his day who could not accept him as anything but a blasphemer, heretic and an outcast.
They simply could not see the Son of God within Jesus of Nazareth.
How could this be when the people of faith long-awaited the Messiah for 2,000 years? The people Jesus associated with were not at the top of society. They were a mix of harlots, tax-collectors fisherman.
The account of the woman pouring expensive oil and wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair may seem a humble story, but think if we were to witness this today.
If a woman from the church was to do the same from her heart for the founder of the Unification Church, could we say from a pious position that we would accept him as the Son of God?
The statements that Jesus was making in his day were brand new to the people and seemed to be not originating from God.
He told people that anyone who loved his or her family more than himself was not worthy of him or the Father. In other words, this means that the people of his day had to deny everyone, pick up their cross and follow him completely.
From their position, everyone opposed him because they believed that he was divindg families and destroying the family bonds and social ties.
When we observe Jesus’ three-year ministry, we see that it is a far cry from the anticipated Messiahship hoped for thousands of years. This is because no one truly understood Christ’s true mission. Everyone judged him with their sinful eyes and according to their own earth standards. People treated Jesus as they pleased.
Jesus was sometimes angered by the immoral behavior of the people in the city. He would overturn money changers’ table in the temple. By the normal standard of law, he would have been vindicated, but under the law of God, Jesus was not committing any sin. This is because civil law is not heavenly law.
Throughout history, all of the saints, prophets and righteous ones had to deny themselves and their earthly livelihood and give themselves hundred percent to God.
But this sinful world can never be hospitable to the purity of Christ.
When God summoned them, they gave up their homes, fortunes, and nations. God has summoned His champions from the individual level, family, tribal, national and worldwide levels.
To qualify as God’s champion on any level is always the same: he or she is required to have absolute and untiring faith and follow His command wherever He may lead.
God needs total obedience to His word.
Q: Then what is the Will of God?
Why does God give His people such a hard time? They have to give up so much of their lives and make so much effort to follow His way.
Our salvation is important to God, but this is not the ultimate purpose of God’s unending work to bring humanity back to our unfallen position.
God needs an individual who can be His champion for the ultimate goal of world salvation.
God summoned one family to be an instrument for the salvation of the world.
It is God’s ultimate dream to have a nation as His champion in order to fulfill world salvation. Current religions focus on the individual, saving the individual, but God’s scope is larger.
The people of Jesus’ time were anxiously awaiting the Messiah, but they could not see beyond the realm of their nation.
Just as Americans and many nations today only care for their own national glory, the people of Israel believed that the Messiah was to come to save only their nation. They could not understand the Messiah’s universal mission.
God sent the Messiah to the prepared people of Israel, the chosen people. They were to become soldiers of faith to fight for and achieve the salvation of the world.
This foundation was laid through Jacob, the champion of his family, and through Moses who was the champion of the people. Finally, the Messiah, Jesus, came to the nation of Israel, not just for the nation, but he was to become the champion of the entire world.
It is the will of God that He sacrifice the lesser for the greater.
Therefore, God will sacrifice and individual for the family or the church or nation for the sake of the world’s salvation. So, when people of faith are only thinking of their own salvation, their own heaven and nation, they are not living in accordance with the purpose of God.
The same holds true for you and me.
If we are only concerned with the salvation of our own families, then we are not worthy of God’s blessing. If we focus on only benefiting ourselves alone, our nation alone, then we are absolutely going against the will of God.
Many are so worried only about themselves going to heaven, but God will give you your own salvation while you are a champion for His will. While you work for the salvation of the world, your own salvation is already assured within that realm.
Now, there are millions of Christians in the world, but very few are devout Christians. Then when we look further among these devout Christians, how many are truly striving for the salvation of all humankind?
We must all devote ourselves to the salvation of the world!
How much harder will we work for this goal when we realize that God is not pleased with us if we live in a self-centered way.
I met Jesus personally, and I received a revelation through which I learned that God's grief is great. His heart is broken.
Today, God is working ceaselessly for the ultimate salvation of all humankind. He needs His champion to succeed in this work.
The purpose of God's church is to save the entire world. The church-God's Israel-is the instrument of God, and it was this very fact that was forgotten at the time of Jesus.
Reverend Sun Myung Moon
During the Old Testament era, in order for people to separate from Satan, they made offerings of things from creation.
At the time of the Messiah’s return, the nation was to make a physical offering based on the universal sacrifice for humanity being the Messiah. Jesus came as the sacrifice upon the altar of the Nation of Israel, but he needed human beings to accomplish their portion of the responsibility because they were to benefit from his sacrifice.
The Messiah does not come to the earth to save himself, but to save all of humanity.
Q: How did Jesus make himself into an offering?
Through showing humankind which way to go in the heavenly way. It was as if Jesus was telling the people, “What I am doing now is what you should be doing instead, but since you don’t understand, I must show it to you.”
What way of life did Jesus example? It was not a way of life to fight with other people or display his power or position.
He did not teach people through knowledge because his teachings were much deeper than that. He did not flash any wealth, but yet millions follow his way to this day.
So, what way did Jesus go?
The only crucial thing is to sacrifice oneself and establish true love.
Q: Why did suffering and sacrifice necessary in human history?
It is the exact reason why when someone does a wrong action, they suffer.
All of humanity has grossly violated God’s law and made His heavenly idea of earth impossible.
Therefore, in order to offset this wrongdoing, we are then required to suffer, or pay indemnity for our wrongdoing.
The true love of God has been lost within man and woman, also the Kingdom of Heaven on earth has been lost. Jesus showed that we could not recover this without paying the price. Jesus showed us how to sacrifice.
At the price of his own suffering, Jesus wanted to show humanity how they can overcome sin.
When Jesus came, he came with all of the love which humanity had lost at the moment of the Fall.
Let’s think realistically.
Even though Jesus was long awaited and his coming was prepared by his own people, what do you truly think was the attitude of the people? Could they easily forget all the wrongs they have done easily, or could they overcome the dreaded feeling before going before their savior in order to feel worthy.
Realistically, when any person comes the truth of the magnitude of their fallen deeds or sin, they would tremble at the mere thought of the awesome difference between themselves and the Messiah.
They would not know how to conduct themselves properly when they come to the realization of the false way of living, their wrongful behavior when they came before the pure Jesus.
After the Fall, humanity experienced such darkness around. The tears that flowed after such a mistake was so drenching that one could not see or do anything. Yet, upon meeting the Messiah, we should feel hope within us.
The Messiah comes to liquidate sin, therefore, instead of telling him what he should, our feeling should be we cannot even lift up our head and we cannot even speak at all.
Even though that people made offerings without understanding the significance, Jesus was aware that he made a sacrifice for humanity. If there is a man or woman that is willing to die for the Messiah, actual death may not be necessary.
Christianity was built upon the shoulders of such a sacrifice. Yet, when we see this standard, we clearly see that those of modern Christianity have deviated from the true teachings of Jesus.
We are able to truly live again when we completely submit ourselves without making any demands. If there is a person who is willing to die for God’s cause, then they will live and dwell in heaven.
This is what Jesus taught. We should live such a life and make a relationship with humanity, that they are willing to die for us and go to heaven based on such a foundation.
At the time of the crucifixion, all of his disciples had fled, there was no one. At the time of an offering, there is always someone who is at the altar to present the offering.
Take a moment to think what would have happened if the twelve disciples had volunteered to be sacrificed before Jesus? Instead they scattered when Jesus was being taken away. How would the history of the world have changed?
Why did Jesus ascend to heaven without his disciples? It happened because there was no one who was willing to sacrifice their lives for him. Only the thief already accused and hanging on the cross believed he was the Christ.
If even just his disciples had sacrificed for him, then God would have created heaven on earth right then based on that foundation of faith. Then, there would have not been a history of bloodshed to found the Christian faith.
Since Jesus ascended to heaven alone, it then became necessary for the disciples to shed blood and die before they could enter heaven as well. What if they were to stand and go to the cross with Jesus, then based on this foundation, he would not have to shed blood as the secondary choice.
Now, it is clear why God required bloodshed and martyrdom of the people of faith. Because they had to go the way Jesus went.
Jesus' offering was accepted as a spiritual offering; the sacrifice he offered was a spiritual one. From that time, Jesus has been working on that base to establish the spiritual foundation, from the family to the society, nation, and world, until the time when the physical offering can be made.
Since Israel was not united with the Messiah, they could not be restored completely and could not be established as God’s nation forever. Therefore, Jesus made a great secondary sacrifice to preserve and expand God’s sovereignty.
Because of this sacrifice, the Old Testament age of separating from Satan and going to God through sacrifices ended.
That is the purpose of Christianity: that all people yearn to be one with Jesus and God which means that God, Jesus and humanity are united.
Christianity emphasizes being one in heart with Christ. When he is joyful, you feel joy, when he is sorrowful you are as well.
If believers are the body of Christ, can there be more than one church or many different denominations dividing up the body of Christ? This is not acceptable to God, because it is as if Jesus’ body has been torn apart.
Christianity must be united together into one body.
Jesus’ heart is grieved seeing his own body has been shamefully divided.
Jesus came to unite everything into one through his sacrifice.
We are the ones who must adapt. Jesus did not come to be changed, we are the ones to be changed at his Second Coming.
He never said that he would do our repenting for us and bring the Kingdom of Heaven to us. He said, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” We must be absolutely clear about this point.
Jesus was in such absolute oneness with God that he did not even think of the valleys of Israel belonging to someone else but thought, “God is my God. Israel is my nation. These are my people.” He had such a seriousness of heart.
Can you say that you are of the same frame of mind and thinking?
God thought in the same way Jesus did.
Jesus was not a selfish being - he wanted to give all of his inheritance to the Christian world, to his brothers and sisters.
He wanted us to think, “This land belongs to me and I am responsible to God to re-create it in God’s way.”
Denominationalism is just a roadblock to God - we must inherit Jesus’ philosophy and ideology instead.
If preachers on Sunday morning are not able to preach or speak with conviction that this world is the home of one human family under God then they are heretics and frauds.
God created everyone to be a messiah; have characteristics of a messiah.
What about you?
Do you feel that God is your God? Do you believe the land beyond the borders of America belong to you? Do you ever think as a person of faith, that you have a responsibility to invest yourself in restoring the land in the sight of God?
We must feel totally responsible as if the world belongs to us and no one else will take care of it.
"I must take up responsibility because the churches are crumbling today. The young people are morally corrupted so I must take up the responsibility.
I can see the world crumbling because of the infiltration of communism, and so I must be responsible for communism." We each have to think in this way.
Each night when we lay down, we should think that we are Jesus lying down.
Is this a crime in light of the Bible? Not at all.
Jesus taught, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” He also said, “You are in me and I am in you.”
This means that everyone has the ability to become a representative of the Messiah.
The essence of God’s and Jesus’ ideology is to become the physical manifestation of the Messiah. As long as there are people who need to be saved and restored from the fallen world, the title of Messiah is needed.
Return for Tomorrow’s Post: Founder's Letter Upon Entering Prison
This post was rewritten from the book, God's Providence In the Scriptures - God's Warning to the World
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