God's Work in the Providence of Restoration

We have previously stated that God, as a being of dual characteristics, created man and all things in the relationship of subject and object, and they are to respond to each other in Give and Take Action, establishing a harmonious union, fulfilling the purpose of goodness.

In addition, we have also shown that man betrayed God and made Satan the false master, thus initiating this sinful world. To save mankind and such a world, God began His providence of restoration in order to restore man and the world to its original sinless state.

Now, let us look at the way God has been working for the purpose of restoration throughout human history.

Does human history consist solely of the roles individual men have played? It is man's experience that he can hardly shape the course of his own life or personal history, much less human history. Therefore, who did what, when and how does not truly tell the whole story behind human history. From God's point of view, man's history is the entire record of His dispensation to save this world. In short, history is the history of restoration, revealing everything God has tried to do to reach this objective.

Because the purpose of God's restoration providence is to restore men and the world to the point where they have fulfilled the purpose of creation, man's history can be defined as the history of God's dispensation to restore the purpose of creation.

Fallen Man as the Origin of the Dual Natures of Good and Evil

As was already explained in the section on the fall of man, man fell while still growing to perfection to become the substantial ideal of creation. As a result, fallen man has come to have the potential for both good and evil. In other words, man, who is still imperfect, contains both the original goodness given by God as well as the evil nature that he inherited from the fallen angel. This evil element from the fallen angel is the original sin.

The proportion of these two natures that individuals have is not always the same. In fallen man, the evil nature is so well developed that it easily manifests itself in his actions. On the other hand, man's foundation of goodness is so imperfect that it has to be constantly encouraged and conscious effort has to be made before it can bear results.

If a man has perfected God's original purpose of creation and has become as perfect as his Heavenly Father (Matt. 5:48), his center of thought, action and life automatically comes to rest on God. Such a man is good and his personal history would also be good. Such men will form good families, a good nation and good world establishing the history of goodness. This was God's ideal. However, due to the fall of man, the history of evil and sin began. But as shown in Isaiah 46:11, God will surely restore the world and its history to what He originally planned in the purpose of creation.

History as the Struggle between Good and Evil

Throughout this fallen world which Satan rules as its false master, God's efforts to divide good from evil have continued, and as a result, most of human history is composed of the struggles between good and evil. Fallen man united with Satan with his mind and commits sin through his body, yet man also has his original mind created by God still within him, and it always remains directed toward God. Man is caught in the midway position. On one hand, the evil sovereignty of Satan is trying desperately to hold on to man, while on the other hand, the good sovereignty of God is striving to win man to His side. Thus, there is always a continuing battle to win man over to one side or the other. This is the true picture of human history: good and evil are in conflict in this world.

After man's fall, Cain's murder of his brother, Abel, was the first such incident to be recorded in the Bible, and this is the reason why history has been the history of conflict and war regardless of East or West. Although the scope of the struggle varied from that among individuals, families and societies, to nations and groups of nations, ultimately these conflicts have all been the conflicts of good and evil, God's side and Satan's side, as the chief protagonists behind the scenes of history.

At times the struggle involved property, land and people; at other times, idea or beliefs. But actually all of these are just reflections of this struggle between God and Satan. God as the being of goodness is trying to restore things of goodness to be used in His ultimate providence of goodness and Satan is trying to maintain his evil position and power. This struggle then appears in the actions of human life and history.

What is the Driving Force of History?

Then, what is the real driving force of history? When we say history stems from the dispensation of God, does history advance solely by the plan and working of God? If the goal of history is to fulfill the purpose of creation, do the conflicts between good and evil automatically progress toward realizing the purpose of creation? If this is so, how can we explain the many injustices and tragedies in history, such as the prevalence of evil or the sacrifice of people on the side of goodness?

In the beginning, God gave the first human ancestors a commandment which they were to observe until their perfection. The purpose of creation was to be accomplished not simply by the plan and workings of God, but by man fulfilling his comparatively small portion of responsibility, obeying God's commandment. In order to fulfill the purpose of creation, man's effort is as absolutely essential as God's.

But man may or may not fulfill his responsibility toward God - When men do accomplish their responsibility, God's plan comes to be concretely reflected in history and restoration progresses. But when men fail to fulfill their responsible part, God's plan for that time is frustrated, and Satan's will comes to be reflected in history instead. Thus, man can accomplish or fail his responsibility. The reason human history appears as nothing but a constant reenactment of sinful history with the prospect of an ideal world seemingly so distant is not because God is impotent or not absolute, but because so few men accomplished their portion of responsibility to fulfill God's providence.

God is absolute eternal and omnipotent; therefore, His purpose of creation or restoration is also absolute. God's will of restoration is surely to be accomplished as is said in Isa. 46:11. Therefore, though one man fails to fulfill his responsibility, God, after a period of time, restores the same foundation and conditions as before, and chooses another man to carry out the same mission. This is precisely the reason why we see very similar incidents and events appearing over the long history of God's dispensation, even over periods of two to four thousand years. We call this reappearance of similar events or periods providential time-identity.

The Messiah and Human History

In God's providence, He must first restore a true man to accomplish His purpose of creation and through him restore a family, society, nation and world of His ideal creation. God sends the Messiah to the world as a model of a true man. Therefore the Messiah is indeed the most valuable fruit of the providential history. As a result, God cannot just send the Messiah to the world without any preparation. This is because, due to the fall of man, mankind has been serving a false master, and if the Messiah were sent without a prepared environment, the sinful world would surely try to eliminate him. God first chooses a few individuals, from the evil ones, who can honor and obey Him, and through these people, He creates families and nations separated from Satan's side so that they can serve as a foundation of faith upon which the Messiah can arrive.

God chose the families of Abraham and Jacob and raised up the tribe of Israel to prepare this people as a landing site for the Messiah. God likewise worked with Christianity for the last two thousand years to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ. Consequently, the history of the Israelites before the coming of Jesus and the history of the Christians after Jesus comprise the mainstream of human history.

Central History and Auxiliary History of the Providence of Restoration

God's will is to restore all the people of the world. But first, God works a model dispensation through this central flow of history while conducting the histories of other nations in supporting roles, later grafting them to the central history to include them in the overall salvation.

From the providential viewpoint, the history of religions also occupies the central part of God's dispensation, because they are to educate man's mind and spirit towards accomplishing the goals of the restoration of mankind. Other fields, such as politics, economics, science and culture are meant to improve man's living environment, and thus their histories can be considered auxiliary ones.

With history viewed in this way, we can begin to understand the meaning and significance of the events of the history of the Jewish people as told in the Old Testament. It is not merely a history of a tribe and nation, but it is the central history through which God operated His providence of salvation.

The history of the Jewish people centering around Judaism together with the history of Western civilization centering around Christianity is the clearest manifestation of God's dispensation, and, astonishingly, we can derive a consistent formula which is applicable to all histories. With this formula, it becomes possible to forecast future historical courses.

The Principle of the Providence of Restoration

By what principles does God carry out His providence of restoration?

After failing from the top of the growth stage, man has been under satanic dominion. Before being able to restore such a man, God must first separate him from Satan. In order to completely separate man from Satan leaving no condition by which Satan can invade again, a man must rid himself of original sin. However, original sin cannot be removed until man is born again through the Messiah, who comes as the True Parent. Therefore, fallen man must go through the course of separation from Satan, returning to the top of the growth stage before being able to meet the Messiah, where he will be born again, and then must follow him to achieve perfection, thus fulfilling the purpose of creation.

Therefore, for fallen man, there are two paths to follow: the path of restoration one must go through to be born again and then the path of the Principle, following the Messiah, to reach perfection.

After being born again through receiving the Messiah the course of the Principle requires man to be completely obedient to the Messiah, following with all his strength until reaching perfection.

The Foundation for the Messiah

What is the path of restoration until the time of meeting the Messiah? By what principle does God conduct the providence of restoration until He sends the Messiah? These questions can be understood by knowing the principle of preparation for the Messiah. It is the same principle by which God prepared the foundation upon which to send the Messiah. The Messiah comes to the top of the growth stage, from which man originally fell. Therefore the essence of God's providence until the coming of the Messiah is to enable people to indemnify and restore the foundation upon which God can send the Messiah. Fallen man cannot reach the top of the perfection stage alone. So God gave fallen man some condition to fulfill to be restored to the top of the growth stage.

So, it is man's responsibility to prepare this foundation to receive the Messiah. What condition is necessary in order to prepare the foundation for the Messiah? Restoration must be achieved through reversing the steps of man's fall. What conditions are necessary to reverse the steps of the fall back to the top of the growth stage, which was lost by Adam and Eve when they fell?

First, Adam and Eve failed to believe in God's word's and lost the foundation of faith. Secondly, Adam and Eve could not maintain their original character as the son and daughter of God before the angel, who was created as a servant; therefore they lost the foundation of substance.

Therefore, the foundation for the Messiah which fallen men must restore is to indemnify and restore the original foundation of faith and foundation of substance. Then, what is the condition necessary to indemnify and restore the foundation of faith?

Adam and Eve lost this foundation by failing to believe in God's words and by failing to observe His commandment while going through their growth period. In order to indemnify and restore this, first a central figure of faith is needed in place of Adam and Eve; second, a conditional object must be prepared, and third, a certain period of faith in God must be undergone.

The foundation of faith is the vertical foundation between man and God. Since man fell by not believing in God, it is the purpose of the foundation of faith to indemnify and restore this lost vertical relationship. Throughout the entire history of restoration, so many providential figures offered God a certain condition of faith to indemnify and restore the foundation of faith.

Then, what is the condition to indemnify and restore the foundation of substance?

If Adam and Eve had stood firmly on the foundation of faith, they would have become perfect substantial beings as children to God, and would have established a principled horizontal relationship with the archangel, to form the original relationship of creation.

But in reality, Adam and Eve lost both the foundation of faith and substance, becoming beings with fallen nature, dominated by the archangel, contrary to God's original desire.

Therefore, in order to indemnify and restore the foundation of substance, men must offer a condition to remove the fallen nature, which was inherited from the archangel, and restore the proper horizontal order which was lost.

On the basis of the principles of the restoration providence just explained, let us look into how the history of restoration has been carried out.

The Providence of Restoration Centering on Adam's Family and Noah's Family

The Divided Offering

Because Adam himself failed, it would stand to reason that he be the one to make an offering before God. But instead, God had the next generation make the offering. Why was this so? In other words, in restoring the foundation for the Messiah, why could not Adam become the first central figure of faith?

According to the Principle of Creation, man is created to deal with only one master. Adam was in a position to deal with two masters, God and Satan. Therefore, God could not work His providence with such a man. If God could deal directly with fallen Adam, and with his offerings, then Satan could also claim he had a basis to deal with Adam and his offering because of their blood relationship. But with Adam still having two masters, God would not be able to work His providence.

Therefore, He had to conduct the providence of dividing Adam, the origin of the two natures of good and evil. For this purpose, God gave Adam two sons, representing good and evil respectively. God put them in the respective positions to deal with either God or Satan by making their offerings.

Then, between Cain and Abel, who would represent God's side and who Satan's side? Both Cain and Abel were the fruit of Eve's fall. Consequently, this question was to be decided according to the course of the fall of Eve. As previously explained, Eve's fall consisted of two kinds of illicit love affairs: the first, the spiritual fall through love with the archangel, and the second, the physical fall through love with Adam. Both are the same in that they are fallen actions; however, the latter was more forgivable since it was because Eve wanted to be forgiven and return to God that she committed the second fallen act. Cain symbolized the first fallen act of love with the archangel, and thus was placed in the position to deal with Satan. Abel symbolized the second fallen act of love with Adam, and thus was placed in the position to deal with God. The second fall was the more forgivable act, thus enabling God to deal with man through Abel.

After Satan occupied the principled world which God had created, Satan began to bring about the non-principled world against God's will. Therefore, God separated Cain from Abel before He began to work His providence. Cain, as the first-born son., was to represent Satan's side and Abel, the second-born, was to represent God's side.

Each was now in the position to deal with only one master. In Gen. 4:7 God said to Cain, "Why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching at the door; it's desire is for you but you must master it." This shows that Cain was placed in a position to deal with Satan. When the Israelites fled out of Egypt, God smote not only all the first-born of the Egyptians but also of their cattle (Ex. 12:29). Also, God loved the second son Jacob and hated the first son Esau while they were still in their mother's womb (Gen. 25:23). And in the case of Jacob's blessing of his grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, he blessed them by crossing his hands to lay the right hand on the head of Ephraim, the second son (Gen. 48:14). These are all examples of how God placed every second-born child in the favored position.

Based on this principle, God placed Cain and Abel in their respective positions to make their offerings. God could accept Abel's offering (Gen. 4:4) because he was in a position representing God and made the offering acceptably (Heb. 11:4). Thus, God received Abel but rejected Cain. However, it certainly was not God's permanent will to accept Abel and reject Cain. Cain had to set up a condition of indemnity in order to separate from evil and move towards the side of goodness.

The Condition of Indemnity to be Established by Cain

Then what was this condition of indemnity? It is the condition to restore the foundation of substance. Because Cain had the fallen nature, he could not be the object of God, who is the subject of goodness. He had to establish some condition to remove the evilness within him so that he could become a person to whom God could respond.

Since the first human ancestors fell due to the archangel, inheriting and passing on his fallen nature, the only acceptable condition was to reverse this process of the fall. The archangel, who separated himself from God, must love Adam from the same position as God, and through obeying and humbling himself before Adam, go through him as a mediator to come back to God, thus coming to perfection; but he failed to do that. Therefore, the condition of indemnity to remove the fallen nature must be established in the reverse order of the fall. After their offerings, Cain was in the position of the archangel and Abel in that of Adam; therefore, 'Cain was to love Abel and through him come closer to God by continuing to obey and humble himself before Abel to establish the condition of indemnity. However, in actuality, Cain killed Abel and repeated the process of the fall of the archangel. This act was not simply the crime of an elder brother murdering his younger brother, but it meant that the satanic side had struck God's side, frustrating God's effort to separate good from evil in Adam's family, and losing the side of goodness.

What Cain failed to achieve was the necessary basic condition of indemnity for any individual separated from God to come nearer to God; thus, that condition remained to be fulfilled. Observing this principle within ourselves, our mind, which directs us toward goodness (Rom. 7:22) is in the position of Abel, while our body, tending to serve the law of sin (Rom. 7:25), is in the position of Cain. Consequently, only when our body obeys and is--. subjugated by our mind, will our individual body be made pure (sinless). However, in reality, because of the dominance of our fallen nature, our body always rebels against the command of our mind, repeating the same actions as when Cain killed Abel. Therefore, we continue to do evil.

Since all fallen men stand in the position of Cain, by humbling themselves, and by serving, obeying and loving the Messiah as Abel, men can attain salvation.

Man had become deceitful above all things (Jer. 17:9), so in order to come to God, God made man go through the created things which are now in Abel's position. God carried out His providence by having man make offerings according to this principle.

As was explained earlier, the foundation upon which the Messiah can come is the restored foundation of faith and foundation of substance. In Adam's family, a successful foundation of faith was laid by Abel's making an offering which God could accept. With the same successful sacrifice Abel also qualified himself to become the central figure to establish the foundation of substance. However, as a result of Cain's killing Abel, they failed to establish the condition of indemnity to remove the fallen nature, thus collapsing the foundation of substance, and in turn, failing to form the foundation for the Messiah. Thus God's providence could not be fulfilled in Adam's family.

God's will to accomplish salvation by sending the Messiah is constant and unchanging. But when man fails to accomplish his responsibility, God's providence does not yield success and God must later find another person from among his descendants to continue the providence.

The Foundation of Faith to be Laid by Noah's Family

For example, utilizing the foundation of heart and loyalty established by Abel, God chose Seth, Adam's third son, to take the place of Abel (Gen. 4:25). And from among Seth's descendants God chose Noah's family to substitute for Adam's family and recommence His providence. Noah's family first had to establish the foundation of faith and then had to restore the foundation of substance. Then the foundation to receive the Messiah would be indemnified and restored.

Noah was a righteous man in the sight of God (Gen. 6:9). Thus he became the central figure of the providence and for 120 years built the ark as a conditional object, laying the foundation of faith acceptable to God.

Because of the vertical relationship with God which Noah established through his absolute faith, a history of judgment could begin. God exercised the flood judgment to destroy the rest of mankind because they would not change their evil ways and stand on God's side along with Noah (Gen. 6:13).

Ham's Failure

Noah's family, having stood on the successfully laid foundation of faith, then had to set up the foundation of substance. Just as with the first son Cain and second son Abel in Adam's family, Noah's first son Shem and second son Ham had to indemnify and restore the foundation of substance by making an acceptable offering with utmost loyalty to God.

To do this, the second son Ham, had to become inseparable in heart with his father, Noah, who established the foundation of faith and became the central figure of God's providence.

However, Ham failed to be completely one in heart with Noah, and showed a lack of faith in his father (Gen. 9:20-26), who was in the position to be completely separated from Satan. Thus Ham came into the position where Satan could invade and claim him. This is why Noah cursed Ham's son, Canaan, to be a slave to his brothers (Gen. 9:25).

Because of Ham's failure, the foundation of substance was not established. As a result, God could not fulfill His providence with Noah's family, which he had restored after 1,600 years of waiting and forty days of judgment through the flood.

The Providence of Restoration Centering on Abraham and Isaac

Abraham's Offering

God had to continue His dispensation to fulfill the purpose of creation and He called Abraham on Noah's foundation of heart-and-zeal. Abraham was to become the central figure to restore the foundation of faith in the providence of restoration centering on his own family.

Abraham offered the sacrifice of the doves, ram and heifer as the conditional objects to restore the foundation of faith (Gen. 15:9). According to Gen. 15:10-13, Abraham cut the offerings in two and laid each half over against the other, but he did not cut the doves in two. Birds of prey, symbolizing Satan came down upon the carcasses and Abraham drove them away. Then God appeared to Abraham and said to him: "Know of a surety that your descendants will be sojourners in the land that is not theirs, and will be slaves there, and they will be oppressed for 400 years…" (Gen. 15:13). Thus, because Abraham did not cut the doves in two, the Israelites had to suffer 400 years of slavery in Egypt.

Why was it such a sin, deserving of such punishment, not to cut the doves in two? The entire purpose of the providence of salvation is to separate good from evil in men and in the world, so as to destroy the evil and preserve the good, and eventually restore the purpose of creation. Therefore, that which is not divided in two remains belonging to Satan and leaves no part which God can claim. Accordingly, Abraham's offering was given to God externally, but internally it was given to Satan, and thus it became sinful. Therefore, after Abraham's failure in the offering, God ordered him to offer his only son Isaac as a burnt offering (Gen. 22:2). To offer his own son in that way was even more difficult for Abraham then offering his own life. But Abraham displayed absolute obedience and loyalty by making a successful offering of denying himself to indemnify his sin. Thus He established the condition to qualify his son Isaac to be resurrected in Abraham's position and succeed in his mission.

Isaac's Family Set Up in Place of Abraham's Family

Therefore, after the successful offering of Isaac, the central figure for the foundation of faith in Abraham's family became Isaac. Because of Isaac's absolute obedience to Abraham, God resurrected him from death and he could inherit his father's mission. Then Isaac helped Abraham offer a ram in his place as God commanded (Gen. 22:13), and indemnified and restored the foundation of faith along with Abraham.

The condition which Isaac's family had to establish was the foundation of substance, and this remained for his own two sons, Esau and Jacob to establish successfully.

God's activities with Jacob's family, from external appearance according to Scripture, raise many questions. Why did the twins Esau and Jacob fight even while in their mother's womb? (Gen. 25:22-23). Why was Jacob born with one hand grasping Esau's ankles (Gen. 25:26). Why did Jacob take the birthright from his brother? (Gen. 25:32-34). Why did Jacob cleverly deceive his blind father to gain his blessing? (Gen. 27:18-19). And why did God so love and protect Jacob throughout his life?

From the providential viewpoint, Jacob and Esau were the repeated pattern of separating Abel and Cain and therefore they represented the sides of good and evil respectively. Jacob, through his 21-year experience of drudgery in Haran, prepared himself so that ultimately his elder brother Esau was able to receive him with love and humility. Outwardly this seems merely the case of an elder brother being able to love his younger brother, but from the providential viewpoint, the deeper meaning is that for the first time in human history the satanic side was subjugated by the heavenly side. Thus God blessed Jacob, giving him the name "Israel," and gave His blessing to the three generations of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as their God.

The Origin of the Chosen People

We can see, then, that God first locates a victorious individual and a victorious family that have fulfilled the conditions of indemnity, and centering around them, raises a chosen people. Thus, the fact that the Israelites became God's chosen people is due to Jacob's individual victory in subjugating the satanic side.

Jacob's course set the pattern for the subjugation of Satan and this pattern was to be followed by Moses and all other prophets. And because a nation must also follow this pattern, the history of the Israelite nation shows the model course which a nation must go through in the national level providence; for this reason, the history of the Israelites until the coming of Jesus is the central focus of the providential history.

Although it does not seem to have any personal consequence to us today, the Bible greatly emphasizes the details of the history of the Israelites for the reason just mentioned.

In Rom. 9: 11 we read that God "hated" Esau even while in the womb. The fact that God hated him simply means that God was merely working according to the Principle to fulfill His providence of restoration through indemnity by placing Esau in Cain's position.

After Esau's completing his own responsibility by loving and receiving Jacob, he could then stand on the position of restored Cain and finally receive the equal love and blessing of God (Gen. 36:7).

When Esau and Jacob successfully established the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance, the foundation to receive the Messiah, long sought since Adam's time, was laid for the first time. However, because Abraham had already failed in his first offering, his descendants still had to go through the indemnity of 400 years of slavery. Therefore, God internally expanded His providence to the national level upon the base of the family foundation for the Messiah established by Isaac's family. Externally, however, Isaac's descendants still had to undergo the 400 years of slavery as indemnity for Abraham's failure in the first offering.

Thus, Jacob's 12 sons and 70 family members went into Egypt, which represented the satanic world, and remained there in captivity for 400 years. These events had the purpose of raising a chosen people, whom God could later separate from Satan so that He could receive them with love. God could then bring the chosen people back to Canaan to establish the national level foundation for the Messiah and upon that foundation, the Messiah could come, consummating the restoration providence.

God sent so many prophets to the Jewish people and protected them with much love, solely so that on that foundation after subjugating Satan, He could send them the Messiah, who is the fruit of the providence and the personification of the temple.

The tradition established by Jacob's subjugating Esau was to enable the people of Israel to fulfill Cain's position. Representing and taking responsibility on behalf of all mankind, they were to love, obey and serve the Messiah who was to come as the Abel for all the people.