Since the Messiah is the one who comes bearing the grieving heart of God, to relieve God's sorrow here on earth, he cannot come among a people who are satisfied by their material abundance. Since the nation which is to receive the Messiah must become the object of God's heart-since its people must become sons and daughters of the same heart as God's-that nation cannot avoid the way of suffering.

The First and Second Israel both had to tread the way of suffering and hardship; likewise, the Third Israel must tread the same way. The history of the utmost misery, especially the extreme example of suffering in modem times, has been the model course which the Third Israel had to take. Thus, even while undergoing the life of suffering and misery, this nation, Korea, has been faithfully inheriting the good tradition of filial piety and loyalty, and even at the height of its national power, never provoked or first invaded a neighboring nation. God's strategy has been that of winning victory from the position of being attacked, quite different from the intent of invasion or aggression. Despite innumerable foreign invasions, the fact that the Korean people have maintained their homogeneous lineage and subjectivity of culture is simply amazing. Even amidst its persistently sorrowful history it has cherished its education as a nation.