View of the Principle of the Providential History of Salvation

Distinguished guests, members of the Women's Federation for World Peace, and Ladies and Gentlemen. From the bottom of my heart I appreciate that you have chosen to share your precious time to attend this meeting.

It feels like only yesterday that 150,000 women from around the world gathered together in April, 1992 to declare the founding of the Women's Federation. They were filled with determination to embrace the family and society with the fragrance of love and to give hope, like buds in springtime, to humankind.

Since that time, members of the Women's Federation have devoted themselves to building a beautiful human society by providing moral guidance to our young people, and by giving a more wholesome care and guidance to families and societies around the world.

In a few short years humankind will enter the 21st century and begin the history of the Third Millennium. At this important moment, I would like to speak on the topic "View of the Principle of the Providential History of Salvation." My discourse will provide you with an in-depth understanding of the direction for the future era.

The completion and perfection of the relationship between God and humankind, centering on True Love, requires people to accomplish a condition of responsibility to reach total unity with God. So God gave the first ancestors the commandment, knowing that they had to pass through a growth period to reach perfection. Their obedience to the commandment was necessary for his first children to be bequeathed the most precious thing, True Love.

Originally, True Love was to be gained through life experience, and understood through internal realization. True Love is not something that can be learned through words, a written text or from schooling. It is experienced completely only in life. Created as newborn infants, Adam and Eve were to perfect themselves gradually through lifelong, experiences of the heart of True Children, True Brother and Sister, True Husband and Wife, and True Parents. Only after they had experienced the True Love of God in its entirety would they have become the ideal ancestors of humankind who had perfected the Purpose of Creation.

Every Person desires that their object of love be ten million times more, or even infinitely more, valuable than themselves. In the same way, God desires that humankind, His object of love, become infinitely valuable. If a someone perfects himself, then that person obtains a God-like value by attaining God's divinity and perfection.

God is absolute, but He cannot realize His ideal of True Love alone. That is because love, unfailingly, requires an object -- a beloved. At this point, we should understand how True Love in both God and in humankind begins and is perfected. What would happen if God had not chosen man as His absolute object of love, and instead sought to begin and perfect love through another method? In that case, God and man would have pursued the ideal of True Love with different motivations, directions and purposes. God would have chosen an object above humankind to achieve His ideal of love and, similarly, humankind's ideal of love would not have any direct relationship with God.

God, as the subject established humankind as the object of His True Love. Accordingly, God can fulfill his ideal of True Love only through humankind. The fulfillment of God's purpose of creation is the ideal world where the absolute love of God and mankind are united. Humankind was created as the greatest object of the love of God. Therefore, humankind is the only being in all creation that embodies the nature of God. He is born the visible body of the invisible God. If a person perfects himself, he becomes the temple of God, a visible substantial body in which God can freely and peacefully dwell.

The overall ideal of the absolute True Love of God is realized and perfected through humankind in a vertical relationship of parent and child.

God created Adam first. He was to be the son of God and at the same time the substantial body of God Himself. Later, God created Eve as the object of Adam so that they could perfect horizontal love, which is the ideal of conjugal love. Eve was to be the daughter of God and His substantial body. At the same time, as the bride of Adam as she substantially perfected the ideal of the horizontal love of God.

The place in which Adam and Eve are perfected, accomplishing their first love by marrying under the blessing of God is precisely the place where God meets His substantial bride. This is because God's ideal of absolute love descends vertically and joins where the ideal of horizontal love between Adam and Eve is realized horizontally. God's True Love and the True Love of humankind join and perfect themselves at the same point.

God's act of creation was inevitable. And we cannot imagine such a creation without a purpose. There was only one reason why God needed creation: to realize the ideal of True Love. God developed life from the simplest and lowest levels up to the level of man in pairs, subject and object and positive and negative, to form reciprocal relationships under the ideal of love. The creation's ideal of love and God's ideal of ultimate love are not separate or different. This Principle of Creation is at work to perfect the absolute love of God through the perfection of the love of man and woman in the human world. This is the reason why in the beginning God created Adam and Eve as one man and one woman.

God's purpose of creation was for Adam and Eve to obey the commandment of God, who is the subject of True Love, and perfect themselves as True man and True woman. Furthermore, they were to become a True couple united in the True love of God. Then, by having sons and daughters from that True love, they would have become True Parents who can live in happiness. When Adam and Eve perfected themselves in True Love they would have fulfilled God's desire to wear a substantial body. And when they perfected themselves as a True couple, the ideal of God's absolute love would have been perfect.

By Adam and Eve having children of goodness, becoming True Parents, God would have established Himself substantially as Eternal Parent. From this point, citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven would have infinitely expanded in the afterlife of the spiritual world based on myriad generations of descendants in the physical world.

But Adam and Eve, the human ancestors, fell away from God. When they were expelled from Eden, they had not yet had children. Having driven them out, God could not follow behind them in order to bless their marriage. The entire human race has thus descended from our failed ancestors. Humanity has multiplied without any direct relationship whatsoever to the love of God.

My dear friends:

Could the fall of man have been the result of having eaten the fruit of a tree? That fall of Adam and Eve was an immoral sin against the ideal of the True Love of God. Adam and Eve should have obeyed the commandment when they were in a stage of imperfection, that is to say, during they were in a period of growth. Eve was tempted by the archangel, who is symbolized by a serpent, and she fell spiritually. She later tempted Adam, who was also immature, to also eat the fruit of good and evil, and they then fell physically.

The only possible sin that could have been fatal for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where they were in communication with God and living in joy, was the sin of illicit love. The consummated love of the human ancestors, because it was supposed to be the perfection of God Himself, should have been an event of jubilant and perpetual happiness for God, Adam and Eve and the universe. It should have been a happy ceremony in which the love, life and lineage of God would be established within humankind. To the contrary, however, Adam and Eve covered their lower parts and hid themselves behind the trees, trembling in fear. By disobeying heavenly law, they established an immoral relationship as the basis for false love, false life and false lineage. As descendants of Adam and Eve, all of humankind is born with original sin. The fall gave rise to every person's conflict between mind and body. And our societies are filled with tainted love and people do things that contradict the desire of their original minds.

Seen from the viewpoint of the ideal of love, all love relationships in the animal and plant kingdoms are carried out only for reproduction. Human beings are the only exception. Humankind enjoys freedom in the conjugal relationship of love. This is humanity's special privilege as the lord of all creation. God gave the blessing and infinite joy of love to his son and daughter. The True freedom that God allowed is premised upon man's responsibility. If the individual was to insist upon and practice freedom of love without responsibility, how much confusion and destruction would take place? Achieving the highest ideal of human love is possible only when one takes responsibility in love.

We can think of this sense of responsibility in three way. The first responsibility is for a person to become the subject of freedom, knowing how to cultivate and control oneself and thanking God for the freedom of love. This responsibility for a love relationship should not be taken merely because of the law or the eyes of others. Instead, a man should demonstrate responsibility through his own self-control and self-determination within the life-committing vertical relationship with God.

Second is our responsibility toward the object being. By nature, people do not want to share the love of their personal beloved shared with others. Horizontal conjugal love, which differs from the relationship of vertical love between parents and children, loses its perfectible character at the moment husband and wife are divided. The Principle of Creation requires that they become one in absolute love. In love, each spouse has the responsibility given by love to live absolutely for the sake of one's object.

The third responsibility of love is toward children. The love of parents is the basis for the children's pride and happiness. They would wish to be born through the total and harmonious unity of parents in True Love, and they would wish to be raised in that kind of love. The most precious responsibility of parents is not only to externally rear their children, but also to offer them life elements of True Love that can perfect their spirituality. This is why the family is so valuable. The daily experience and heart of True Children, True Brothers and Sisters, True Spouses and True Parents cannot be acquired in any place other than the family.

If Adam and Eve had become a couple of True Love centered upon God, God could have dwelt in Adam as His substantial body and thus loved Eve. What is more, Adam and Eve could have become True Parents who substantially embodied God, and become the origin of goodness itself, a life of goodness and a lineage of goodness.

Due to the fall, however, Adam and Eve became the substantial body of Satan and ended up becoming the original evil couple, evil parents and evil ancestors. Their union became the root of evil love, evil life and evil blood lineage. Because humankind is born as the descendants of the adulterous Satan, who is the enemy of God, all people inherit this lineage of evil parents.

Dear members of the Women's Federation, how great must have been the pain of God when, by the fall, our human ancestors destroyed His ideal of True Love? Humankind should have been the sons and daughters of God, but do not know God Himself as their original parents. Although His sons and daughters serve Satan, God has worked for the providence of salvation. Because He is an absolute being, and His ideal of creation is also absolute, He has carried out the providence of salvation even amid great sadness. God's providence of salvation is the Providence of Restoration, which means to recover the lost purpose of True Love. The Providence of Salvation is also the Providence of Re-creation.

Based on this point, the root of the Providence of Salvation is how to find the seed of the original child, the human being who will fulfill the ideal of creation. That which God abhors--the life and blood lineage that began with the false love of the adulterer Satan--must be cleansed. The essence of the providence is how to provide for the birth of the True Parent, the Savior united with the True love, life and lineage of God.

With the fall, the ancestors of humankind did not fulfill their responsibility. They became dominated by an immoral lineage from Satan. Thus, God Himself cannot directly return humankind to its original position. Furthermore, God can neither unconditionally accept humankind, who went to the side of Satan, in a position of goodness nor reject them. So God uses the strategy of placing a central figure on the side of goodness in order that, by being struck first, that figure establishes the indemnity condition to recover what was lost. Satan strikes first but as a result takes the losing position. The First and Second World Wars and the Cold War are good examples. The side that struck first, lost.

From an overall perspective of the Providence of Restoration, the foundation of cooperation between mother and son was very important. This was so at the time of Jacob, Moses and Jesus. God was working his providence to separate satanic life and lineage by establishing the foundation of cooperation between a mother--to fulfill the responsibility of Eve, the originator of the fall--and the second son of the family.

God cannot directly relate to the first son who is in the position of having a direct blood relationship with Satan, who through the fall first occupied humankind. God has been restoring the blood lineage of goodness by having the second son, who represents the side of goodness, establish a condition. Then God had the first son, who represents the side of evil, become subordinate to the second son.

In the family of Adam, God carried out the providence of establishing the second son, Abel, and having him subordinate the first son, Cain. Even though Eve had fallen, as a mother she could have made an effort to create unity between the two brothers. In the end, Cain murdered Abel and the providence of salvation, not achieving its desired end, was prolonged.

At the time of Noah there was also a required formula of cooperation between mother and son. But that formula of meaningful cooperation was not realized until the time of Rebekah and Jacob.

The human fall was committed by three beings: Adam, Eve and the Archangel. The Archangel seduced Eve, causing the spiritual fall, and later fallen Eve seduced Adam, causing the physical fall. The result was that they turned their back on God. The fallen Archangel became Satan. The Providence of Salvation is the Providence of Restoration. And the Principle of Restoration can be achieved only by going in a 180 degree opposite direction.

God lost Adam, who had the seed of True Love and True Life. So God must find a son who has the new seed and is free from satanic accusation. Just as God created Adam at the time of the creation, God must prepare a son who has no relationship to the fall, according to the Providence of Restoration. This is the basis for the Messianic idea. The Messiah is apart from the life of people who have a fallen lineage and who are under the dominion of Satan, and comes as a True Person who engrafts fallen man into the seed of new life. The Messiah has his roots in God, and comes as the Second Adam, who wipes away all that was committed by the first Adam. This is the reason why God cannot send a superman who will only work through miracles as the Messiah.

In order for a son to be born on the earth with this seed of God's love and life, there must first exist a mother. The mother cannot give birth to this child in a conventional way. It must happen through the formula of restoration. All the cooperation between mother and son in the providence of restoration is a preparation and a condition for the Son of God to be born with the seed of new life, free from satanic accusations. Mother and son, by making conditions to avoid Satan's attacks and by subordinating the first-born son who represents evil, restore the love, life and lineage that were taken over by Satan.

In the Bible, which records the providential work of God, there are many stories that are difficult to understand. For example, Rebecca deceived her husband Isaac and her first son Esau, and helped her second son Jacob to receive the blessing. God placed Himself on the side of that mother and son who used methods which, at first glance, were apparently unjust. And yet God blessed them for their actions.

In Adam's family, Cain and Abel fought outside the womb, resulting in the death of Abel, the second son.

Then came Jacob. On the merits of many godly people who paid indemnity and sacrificed after the time of Abel, Jacob at last caught up with Satan at the level where he first dominated humankind. Then Jacob dealt with his twin brother, Esau. At the ford of Jabbok, Jacob set up the condition of spiritual victory over the angel. Through winning over Esau, who is in the position of the substantial body of the Archangel, Jacob was blessed as the first victor in history. Jacob was given the name "Israel," but by then he was already in his fortieth year.

Since Satan sowed the seed of false love within the womb of Eve, giving birth to evil life, God needed to purify a mother's womb from which the heavenly Son could be born. That separation from Satan had to be made in a period from the time of conception to age forty, so even Jacob's victory did not meet that criteria. The great mother who assumed the responsibility of meeting this condition was Tamar Tamar had married Er, the eldest son of Judah. But Er displeased God and he died. According to the custom of that time, Judah gave Tamar his second son, Onan, to have a child for Er. But Onan, knowing that Tamar's child would not be his own, spilled his semen on the ground. This was a sin in the eyes of God, for which Onan died.

Then for a husband Tamar wanted Shelah, the third son of Judah, but Judah did not give him to her. Judah thought that his two sons had died because of Tamar, so he was afraid that Shelah would die and end the family lineage.

But Tamar had a conviction to continue the lineage of the chosen people. To do that, she disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law, Judah, and became pregnant with twins. At the time of birth, the first of the twin sons stretched out his hand from the womb to be born first. But he was pulled back into the womb, and the second son was born first, taking the position of the elder brother. This eldest son was Perez. Thus, within the womb of Tamar, the first and second sons fought, achieving the separation and restoration in the womb. Upon this condition, the Messiah could be conceived out of the blood lineage of the chosen people and on the base of the nation of Israel, that could deal with the Roman Empire 2,000 years later. Now, the victorious foundation on the national level could be formed in the womb of a mother free of Satanic accusation, prepared for the seed of the Son of God. This was the Holy Mother Mary, who emerged in the mainstream of God's providence.

Mary, who was already engaged to Joseph, received from the Archangel Gabriel the surprising message that the Messiah would be born through her (Luke 1:31). The practice in those days was that if an unmarried woman became pregnant, she should be killed. But Mary accepted the will of God with absolute faith, saying, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; Let it be to me according to Your word." (Luke 1:38)

Mary consulted with the priest Zachariah, who was her relative and highly respected. Zachariah's wife, Elizabeth, with the help of God was pregnant with John the Baptist. She said to Mary, "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (Luke 1:42-43). With these words she testified to the coming birth of Jesus.

In this way, God let Mary, Zachariah and Elizabeth know about the birth of the Messiah before anybody else. All of them had the very important mission of serving Jesus, as well as following the will of God. Zachariah's family let Mary stay in their house. Jesus was conceived in the house of Zachariah.

Elizabeth and Mary were cousins on their mother's side. But according to God's providence, they were in a relationship of Elizabeth as elder sister (Cain) and Mary as younger sister (Abel). Mary received the help of Elizabeth in the presence of Zachariah. And through this cooperation, the lack of unity between Leah and Rachel in Jacob's family was indemnified by Zachariah's family on the national level, thus allowing Jesus to be conceived. For the first time in history, there could be born on earth, free of satanic accusation and through a prepared womb, the seed of the Son of God--the seed of the True Father. In this way, the only begotten Son of God who could own the first love of God, was born for the first time in history.

Mary had to achieve something which could not be understood by common sense, nor be easily tolerated under the law of those times. Mary, Elizabeth and Zachariah had been spiritually moved. They followed the revelation that came from God, and unconditionally believed that it was the will and desire of God.

Although the Son of God could be born on earth, he needed a wall of protection in order to grow up safely in the satanic world and fulfill the will of God. God had hoped that these three persons in the family of Zachariah would establish that protective foundation. There are many points to consider with regard to how much the three had to dedicate themselves to protecting and serving the Son of God, and how long they should have been united.

In the Bible it is recorded, "And Mary stayed with her (Elizabeth) about three months, and returned to her home." (Luke 1:56). After that, there is no record in the Bible of any further communications between Mary, Elizabeth and Zachariah. From this point on, difficulties began for Mary and Jesus. The family of Zachariah should have been, until the very end, the wall of protection for Jesus.

A short time later, Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant. How great must have been his shock at that moment! Mary, his beloved financee, without having had any relationship with him, had become pregnant after a three-month stay in another place. It was natural for Joseph to question Mary about who the baby in her womb belonged to. What would have happened if at that time Mary had explained everything candidly? If everything were exposed, it could have been the end of a clan. So Mary simply responded that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

Mary's pregnancy began to show and the people of the surrounding area became aware it. What would have happened if Joseph had declared that he didn't know anything about it? But Joseph was a righteous man. He believed in the revelation of God and defended Mary, saying the pregnancy was his responsibility. Mary may have been ridiculed for becoming pregnant during her engagement, but she had avoided death by stoning.

Joseph, who loved Mary, protected her this way in the beginning. However, there was a great deal of anguish in the depths of Joseph's heart. Once Jesus was born, his suspicions about the father of Jesus only increased and his heart ached. As Jesus grew older, they became more distant in heart. And because of this, family problems frequently arose. Jesus was viewed as an illegitimate son, and without the protection of Zachariah's family and the love of Joseph, he grew up with an indescribable loneliness in his heart.

Jesus was aware of his path as the Messiah, and he lamented these lonely circumstances and the serious obstacle they were to fulfilling the will of God. The Messiah is the True Parent and for that mission he should have received his substantial bride. Jesus was the one who had to had to restore, at the very root, the false love by which the Archangel had caused the fall of Eve, who was growing up as the sister of Adam. Consequently, Jesus, in the place of Adam as the Son of God, should have received as his bride the younger sister of an Archangelic-position figure. That bride was to have been none other than Zachariah's daughter, the younger sister of John the Baptist. In order to fulfill this in a world where Satan plays the role of owner and lord, Jesus needed a foundation of protection formed by the absolute faith of that family. Unfortunately, the entire foundation ended up collapsing around Jesus.

This would not have happened if Zachariah and Elizabeth, who had received the revelation and spiritual grace from God, had maintained that absolute faith. If they had fulfilled their responsibility, Mary would have been continually in contact with them, even after her three-month stay at their house. The family of Zachariah was chosen by God so that even after the birth of Jesus, they would protect, serve, and witness to the Messiah as representatives of the entire world. They not only should have served Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah with utter devotion, but they should have learned the will of God through Jesus and followed him absolutely. Also John the Baptist, who was born to serve Jesus, should have fulfilled his responsibility to guide everyone he led to repentance to believe in Jesus and to receive salvation.

But unfortunately, though Zachariah, Elizabeth and John the Baptist testified to Jesus as the Son of God, there is no indication that they served him as such, according to the evidence. The respected priest Zachariah was simply a spectator. John the Baptist stood in a position not related to Jesus. The circumstances blocked the people from following Jesus, and made his path very difficult. And once this family had lost their faith in Jesus, looking at him through human eyes, there was no room for them to help him receive his bride.

We should also consider the influence that Joseph and Mary's relationship had on Jesus. Mary had the position to restore Eve and Tamar through indemnity, so she should have remained only as the fiancee of Joseph. From a providential point of view, they could not be husband and wife. It was God's desire that they not have sexual relations either before or after Jesus' birth. Joseph had loved Mary even after the birth of Jesus, but Mary should have wanted to separate from Joseph to raise Jesus as the Son of God.

But the real circumstances did not make this easy to do. Even though Mary's original mind told her that she should not do so, she had sexual relations with Joseph. They had children, resulting in the repetition of the mistake that Eve had made. With this condition, Satan invaded them. With the exception of Jesus, everyone came under the dominion of Satan: his father, his mother, his Abel-type brothers (John the Baptist and his brothers), and his Cain-type brothers (the children of Joseph).

Once someone has been invaded by Satan, he loses all spiritual grace and inspiration. Trust in God, as well as a sense of gratitude to Him, is lost. One begins to see everything with human eyes. Even Mary did not help Jesus with the wedding he desired. But she opposed it. This was the direct reason that Jesus could not receive his bride. He could not become the True Parent, and this forced him to go the way of the cross.

Jesus' words to Mary at the wedding of Cana, "Oh woman, what have you to do with me?" (John 2:4), reveal a reproachful heart to a mother who helped in the weddings of others but who neglected to help Jesus to receive his bride, the most important requirement of the providence. With this perspective now we can understand why Jesus asked, "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" (Matthew 12:48).

Faced with the opposition of Mary, Zachariah, Elizabeth, and finally John the Baptist, Jesus gave up hope for their protection, as he sought to fulfill his mission. Therefore, Jesus left his home in search of a new spiritual foundation to restart the providence of salvation.

Now without a family and household, Jesus lamented, "The foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head" (Matthew 8:20). With his family-level foundation lost, Jesus left in search of a foundation to replace it. That was the three-year course of Jesus.

Finally, as people disbelieved and the disciples lost faith, Jesus took Satan's attack, and as his foundation crumbled he went the way of the cross. Originally, Jesus came to the earth as the Messiah to give blessings to his disciples as well as all humankind. He was to build the sinless Kingdom of Heaven. But because of the lack of faith in him, he could not receive his bride, he could not become the True Parent, and he could not accomplish his mission. Because of that, he promised that he would return.

The Lord of the Second Advent comes to perfect the foundation of God's Providence of Restoration, left uncompleted by Jesus. That is to say, he comes as the original True seed to complete the ideal of creation. He comes to complete the ideal of True Parents who are the origin of True love, True life, and the True lineage of God. He comes on the foundation of the victorious providence of God's side up to the time of Jesus. In other words, he stands upon the victorious foundation developed by Jesus, and finds the bride that Jesus could not find, and they become the True Parents to save all humankind.

Therefore, through the blessing of new marriages that spiritually change blood lineage, the True Parents will be able to give all humanity salvation as people become True persons grafting to the True love, True life and True lineage of God. Furthermore, the Messiah will establish a True Family, creating the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Thus, it is the International Holy Weddings that establish a new blood lineage when the Lord of the Second Advent comes in the flesh.

On the level of the great worldwide family, the Lord indemnifies that which was lost in the family of Adam, and restores the True elder sonship, True parentship and True kingship that should have been perfected in Adam's family. He will transform this world into the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth under the dominion of God, opening the Kingdom of Heaven in the Spiritual World for registration. Humanity will enter into the era of kingship both spiritually and physically centered on God, and establish a world of victory, freedom, happiness and unity, and creating the Heavenly Kingdom on earth and in the spiritual world, which is God's ideal of creation. This is the View of the Principle of the Providential History of Salvation.

My dear members of the Women's Federation for World Peace: The new age we are facing now should be prepared and led by women. Our women should be the vanguard in fulfilling God's eternal blessing of marriage. We should take the main role to make concrete the cornerstone of a True family and society. This will lead to the world of True peace and happiness which will open gloriously before us. I wish for each of you to become a True pioneer of a new history. Thank you. God bless you and your families.