God’s unchanging Will

27 God is the Absolute Being. Therefore, He must accomplish what He has purposed, and He must bring His Will to pass. In order to rectify the situation that arose after the Fall, God must put Adam and Eve into a repair shop, remake them into people who can receive God’s original love, and place them in the ideal positions they had prior to the Fall. Then, having restored them as the Parents, God must connect all His children to them. Because God is in the situation where He must do all this, He had to begin the providence of salvation. (114-014, 1981.05.14)

28 God’s Will cannot change. Although there are countless people in the world, there is only one way to advance toward the accomplishment of God’s Will. There is only one way because God is absolute. There cannot be two ways. You cannot just go this way and that as you please. God’s way is one straight fine. (71-271, 1974.05.05)

29 The absolute God must have His own view of history, and His view of history is revealed in His providence. As He pursues the course of His providence, there are some people who follow the providence and others who do not. In short, there are two kinds of people: those who lead a life of faith and those who do not. The Will of God is seen in His striving to bring all the cultural spheres, east, west, north and south, into one world. His ideal is definitely one. God’s Will, and His purpose in having us pursue it, is not to lead us on the path to destruction but to guide us on the way to liberation and peace. Therefore, He must be directing human history toward the final destination of peace, the world of unity. (173-079, 1988.02.07)

30 What if you and I loved each other based on God’s love and in alignment with God’s Will? How beautiful it would be! It is our cherished hope to constitute such a family, such a clan, people and nation. What if we belonged to such groups, where we were welcomed, where we could breathe, and where we could interact, giving and receiving with the heart of subject partners? Would it not be exciting? Suppose you, in the position of a subject partner, could expand yourself to the infinite world, shrink yourself to the minutest of worlds, and bring these two worlds together in harmony? Suppose by doing that, you could make God’s heart beat with excitement—would that not be marvelous? If you were like that, God would follow you wherever you go. If you were to hide out somewhere, God would be in trouble. At such a height of awareness, unity becomes possible. (51-083, 1971.11.01)

31 Even if the external providence is completed, unless we also complete the internal providence that goes along with it, the whole purpose cannot be fulfilled- This is the viewpoint of the Principle. Then, which is more important: the internal or the external? Between the two, the internal is more important. This is because the internal issues are for God, while the external issues are for human beings. From this point of view, we cannot help but regard God’s Will as of paramount importance. God’s Will is to raise up one person who is internally united with Him, and through that person to form an internally united family, through that family an internally united tribe, and through that tribe an internally united people and nation. This is God’s plan. (52-226, 1972.01.01)

32 Salvation is the process of changing the sinful world into a sinless world. We need to understand that this is what salvation means; it is restoration. Originally, God’s Will was not salvation. Therefore, we have to return to God’s original Will. The purpose of the Messiah’s coming is to fulfill God’s Will. Then what is God’s Will for the Messiah? It is to save humankind from Satan, the devil, and then eventually to cast him out. Satan is on this earth today, ready to accuse you whenever you commit sin. He must be expelled. Satan has violated and devastated humankind. God intends to save all people by eliminating him from the planet Earth forever. (70-314, 1974.03.10)

33 If anything is important to God, surely it is to fulfill the Will. And to fulfill the Will, nothing is more important than fulfilling God’s ideal of creation. But God cannot fulfill the Will and the ideal of creation by Himself. The fulfillment of the Will is not only up to Him; its success or failure depends ultimately on His counterparts. These counterparts were Adam and Eve. Before God created them, He made all things of creation. After He created Adam and Eve He made them the center of the creation. God desired that these central beings become the fruits of victory. However, whether those human beings would fulfill this could not be determined by God, but only by each person. (65-169, 1972.11.19)

34 Since human beings were born from fallen, that is, false, parents, they cannot relate directly with God, no matter how great their effort. That is to say, they have no base upon which to build an internal relationship with the Creator of heaven and earth. However, we human beings have a bond with God, who created us not to fall but to attain perfection according to the standard of the Principle of Creation. Based on this bond, God had us fulfill our responsibility again through a second course, the providence of restoration. Its purpose is to raise us up to the position we had prior to the Fall. As a result of the Fall, human beings had plummeted into a realm devoid of the Principle. In other words, we fell into a world outside of the Principle where God, even though He wanted to, could not intervene. (42-276, 1971.03.27)

35 Human beings are trapped in a pit of bitter sorrow that has nothing to do with God. It stands to reason that they cannot escape from it unless they make God their subject partner and the driving force of their life. God knows that originally, according to the Principle of Creation, He and human beings should be joined in a parent-child relationship. Therefore He tries to bring them back to the position of His children. But it is not an easy task. Compared to the process of creation, the course of restoration is far more difficult. God has had to walk a path of tribulation many times more difficult. God has been working through history to provide a ladder for human beings, who fell into the realm devoid of the Principle, and pull them up. (42-277, 1971.03.27)

36 After the Fall of Adam’s family, God started His providence centered on Abel. Because the parents made a mistake, God began the providence with the children. The purpose of His providence is to fulfill the Will. What, then, is the purpose of the Will? It is to complete the ideal of creation, the purpose of creation. Completing the purpose of creation means to realize the ideal of unity in love. This ideal of unity in love was not realized in Adam’s family. This is what we call the Fall. Thus, the Fall was not only the Fall of the Will but also the Fall of heart. In order to restore, that is, to recreate this, God called Abel and began His work. Abel’s will was not to have remained separate from God’s Will; they were to have become the same. But was Abel’s viewpoint the same as God’s? Of course, Abel’s position as an individual was different from that of God, who deals with the Will in its entirety. Nevertheless, as he proceeded for the Will, he should have moved in the same direction as God with respect to the Will. In this regard, Abel was supposed to unite with Cain to complete the providence of salvation. The challenge for him was to become one with Cain. (109-013, 1980.10.26)

37 To this day, fallen human beings have not attained eternal value. Their value is nothing that the world can approve of, either on earth or in heaven. Therefore, fallen human beings still have the mission to restore the value of their life on the individual level, and going beyond that to the world level, and finally to recover eternal life in heaven. In this way God established His providential Will, and to this day He has been seeking to fulfill His purpose to have all human beings realize their life to the fullest value. Where is the conclusion in this? It will not end with you as an individual, or even with the world. We must recover life of such value that God can rejoice in it through the unity of heaven and earth, life in which the entire world can rejoice and in which every individual can rejoice. Only then will God’s providence of salvation finally come to an end and Satan’s world come to an end, and relative concepts of morality would come to an end. All fallen human beings have the responsibility to pioneer this course, to recover the original value of life. (2-009, 1957.01.06)

38 The struggle to eliminate the original sin started in Adam’s family. Providential history began with the separation of Cain and Abel in Adam’s family. God loved Abel and had him offer a sacrifice. In making that offering, he had to be absolutely obedient to God’s Word. If Satan came against him, he would have to overcome Satan’s opposition as well. Abel prevailed over all the challenges in his environment and properly made his offering with the utmost devotion in accordance with God’s desire. In doing so, Abel surpassed fallen Adam by being absolutely obedient to God’s word. Next, Abel was supposed to become a substantial being that would have nothing to do with Satan for eternity and be permanently one with God. Then he would have attained the position to receive God’s love totally. He would have been liberated from the evil sovereignty and would have entered the sovereignty of goodness. (53-041, 1972.02.06)

39 When will the day come when a special human being emerges who will substantially manifest as the Lord and realize God’s Will? Unlike any other created being in heaven and on earth, the Lord will fully manifest anew on a higher plane all of God’s hidden internal character. It has been God’s objective to welcome this one astonishing and exciting day. Having determined it, God has toiled endlessly throughout history to accomplish it through the providence of restoration. (1-228, 1956.11.11)

40 In order to save human beings, God has suffered through a history of unceasing indemnity, filled with incredible hardships. Although God has the power to reclaim human beings by destroying the devil, He will not do that. It is God’s original Will to raise human beings in true love and have them build families, tribes, peoples, nations and the world with love. Therefore He has to keep forever the heart that He had prior to the Fall. Even though, through their fall, Adam and Eve left God’s heart, God cannot force them to return to Him. It is because they already had formed a love relationship with the devil. A love relationship, once engaged, determines ownership; it determines the right of inheritance. It determines the right to live together, the right to share the same position, and the right to participate in each other’s work. With respect to all these rights, Adam and Eve came totally under Satan’s ownership. (211-300, 1991.01.01)

41 As a consequence of the Fall, God was unable to have a day of joy, the ancestors of humankind were unable to have a day of joy, and all things that God created for Himself and for human beings were unable to have a day of joy. It is only natural that if their owners are sad and suffering, those who follow them cannot experience joy either. Because God and human beings fell into a place of sorrow, the things of creation could not avoid the same fate. In the Bible, Romans 8 says that the whole creation is groaning. Not only is the creation groaning; all people are also groaning. God, who is the subject partner of humankind and of the creation, is also groaning. Human history started not in joy but in sorrow. God’s providence is His effort to restore this sorrowful history to a joyful history. That is salvation. (58-207, 1972.06.11)

The providence of restoration leading toward the original world

42God has been toiling throughout the providence for the sole purpose of realizing His Will. What is the final destination of God’s Will? It is where God and human beings live together, sharing joy and sorrow. When we fulfill God’s long-cherished hope and Will, and when we come to have a relationship with Him such that He and we can eternally share each other’s joys and sorrows, then God will become our true Father and we will become His true children. When this happens, we will desire what God desires and we will live in harmony with all creation, offering glory to God and forever singing hymns in praise of His wisdom, benevolence and grace. God, humankind and all creation are waiting for the coming of this day. The Will is the ideal of God’s creation, and it is also the everlasting ideal for fallen human beings. Hence, once the Will is fulfilled, God and human beings will become one body. Then, we will rejoice when God rejoices, and God will rejoice when we rejoice. God’s desire will be our desire and our desire will be God’s desire—the two will be one, in harmony. We will give God the joy of the eternal ideal, and we too will experience eternal joy. (2-315, 1957.07.07)

43God should have become the owner of this world. If human beings had established a relationship of love with God and formed the family of His children, they would have gone on to form a tribe, a nation and world. Needless to say, that would have been the world governed by God and the nation governed by God, families governed by God and individuals governed by God. However, due to the Fall, everything, from the individual to the family, the tribe, the people, the nation and the world, is opposing God. This is the fallen world that has resulted from fallen history. If God were to leave the world as it is, He would not be able to establish the world of eternal love that He desires, in accordance with the ideal of creation. Furthermore, for God to restore His authority as the Absolute Being, He must consummate the ideal of creation that He originally intended. He keeps this standard, even as He has been rectifying the world’s evils and leading this world toward the ideal world He originally planned. This is God’s providence for the fallen world. (63-152, 1972.10.14)

44 To this day, God’s hope is that human beings will connect with all things of creation and with Him. That is why God has been working to raise up fallen people from the servant’s position to the adopted child’s position, the direct child’s position and the parent’s position. This is in order to sever our painful connection with the Fall and enable all things, human beings, and God to form relationships of total oneness. Then God’s joy becomes our joy, and our joy becomes the joy of all things. God wants to proudly present His sons and daughters to the natural world and even to the world of angels, and to live for their sake. We human beings are not in the original state in which God created us to live. Yet we still have an emotional nature, experiencing emotions such as sadness and joy. In particular, we can feel joy and sorrow by relating with our counterparts. It is human nature to be proud of our joy. When our counterpart’s joy becomes our own, we want to show it off. The same is true of God. God feels delight when He sees us filled with joy, and we human beings are happy when we experience God rejoicing with us over our joy. That is the joy of giving and receiving. (11-280, 1962.01.03)

45 It is not possible to return to the original world by human effort alone. Therefore God is working to raise us up—this is the providence of restoration. The providence of restoration would be easy if we human beings cooperated, but up till now we have not cooperated with God’s providence. Despite this situation, God managed to expand His providence from the individual to the family, tribe, people, nation and world. The internal and external difficulties God has encountered in the course of this are beyond description. From an external perspective nations and peoples may have suffered, but in front of God they cannot speak of it. This is even more so for individuals. Except for a handful of human beings, there has been no one, either on earth or among those who lived and then went to the spirit world, who can declare in front of God that they suffered in order to cooperate with Him. This is an undeniable fact. Given that people are like this, God Himself took responsibility to lead them. He personally took up the fight, and He labors hard to this day. (11-280, 1962.01.03)

46 For six thousand years God has been working hard for the sake of the multitudes of humankind. After six thousand years of toil, we hear that we are now in the Last Days. What, then, are the Last Days? In this world, there are people who live in the position of a true servant, people who live in the position of a true adopted child, and people who live in the position of a true child. Upon the foundation of the birth of a group of people who are in the position of true children, the True Parents will come. This is the concept of the Second Coming. That is why the Bible speaks of the day when the bride has made herself ready for Jesus. One Father and one Mother must appear on earth. The Marriage of the Lamb is the moment when we can finally start building on earth our lost original home. In order to build that home, we must have the Parents and we must have brothers and sisters. Upon this foundation we can propagate children, and from them will unfold the original tribe, people, nation and world. Then, finally, the existing evil world will be vanquished. This is how the providence of restoration progresses toward the world of goodness. (156-037, 1965.12.07)

47 Due to the Fall, human beings fell into the realm devoid of the Principle. Angels are God’s servants; in comparison to them, how far did human beings plummet? They plummeted into a realm lower than that of angels, lower than servants. They were to be princes and princesses, and as such, the lords of the angels, but they fell to a position lower than servants. Hence they have to climb back up. From the position of a servant of servants, they must climb to the positions of a servant, an adopted child, a stepchild, and a child of direct lineage; and then through the mother to reach the position of the father. This is restoration. The providence of salvation is to bring human beings back to the standard of health they enjoyed before they became sick. That is why the providence of salvation is the providence of restoration. The providence of restoration is not carried out at random. (222-145, 1991.11.03)

48 In order to recover the world defiled by the Fall, God has been leading the providence of salvation by building relationships with human beings through the angels that remained on His side. God has been pursuing the providence of salvation in order to once again relate to human beings, even though they betrayed the glorious God through the Fall and fell to such a miserable state, lower than the things of creation. Human beings are under Satan’s dominion and subject to his accusation, yet God has worked to bridge the gap between Himself and us so that He might govern us. He has continued this work through the Old Testament Age and the New Testament Age, even to this day. (1-282, 1956.12.16)

49 Why has God endured a path of suffering through the many millennia of the providence of restoration? Is it simply because He has a kind heart? Why has God continued His providence of salvation for the tens of thousands of years of human history without becoming exhausted? It is not because He is all-knowing and almighty. It is because He is on the path of love, seeking His beloved sons and daughters. Love has the great power to triumph over all the tribulations in its way. With love, we feel as if a thousand years are but one day. (109-282, 1980.11.02)

50 God’s true love is such that He gives and forgets what He has given, and gives and forgets again. Because of this, God has been able to continue the providence of salvation until now. Centering on true love, God continues to lead history by repeatedly investing and forgetting how much He invested. Even in the world today, God keeps on giving. He continues investing, through individuals and through organizations. God created the universe based on His essential love. In recovering the universe after it fell, God has to unceasingly maintain that original standard of investment in order to realize the ideal of true love. Otherwise, He cannot regain His authority as the Absolute Being. (210-230, 1990.12.23)

51 Even though people commit sin, God does not just say, “Hey, you! Why did you sin?” He knows well the situation of people who sin. He cares for them more than for Himself. To sorrowful people He comes with a heart of sorrow; to suffering people He comes with a heart of suffering; and to people feeling wronged He comes with a heart of indignation. Yet, how much have you empathized with the heart and circumstances of God? He comes into our life empathizing with our situation. Moreover, He comes to us with a heart that affirms, “Although you betrayed me, I am still your Father.” Because He has such a heart, He has been reaching out to us for six thousand years. (9-232, 1960.05.29)

52 Children inherit their parents’ flesh and blood. That is why when their mother sheds tears, they should be able to connect with her and weep with her. When their father sheds tears in sorrow, they should naturally be able to sympathize with him. And yet, how difficult it has been for God to raise and nurture His children to feel that way toward Him! No matter how much God weeps, human beings ignore His tears. No matter how sorrowful He is, human beings do not feel His sorrow. This is because human beings were born from the flesh and blood of Satan. Satan rejoices to see God in sorrow and exults when he sees His ruin. With human beings linked to such a being, God has to go through so much trouble to guide them and teach them the direction of the path they must forge! God could not have led the providence if He did not have a heart to live for the sake of others and a heart that is caring and compassionate, whether for a single individual or for a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand or more. (42-257, 1971.03.21)

53 A dismal history of pain and sorrow began on the earth from the day of the human Fall. This was not God’s original plan or purpose. God did not want a world like this, nor did we want to be born in such a world. Therefore, God wants to eradicate this miserable, sorrowful and painful history. He is taking steps to deal with this fallen world, with the purpose of restoring the world that He originally hoped to create, a world of peace, happiness, freedom and goodness. This is the way of restoration and the way of salvation. (14-047, 1964.05.03)

Why God established religions

54 54 God has been seeking to recover His relationship with fallen human beings and the lost ideal garden. Through the course of restoration, He is striving to rebuild the garden where once, prior to the Fall, He joyfully related to Adam and Eve. From that state of joy, He wants to create and build a world through which He can realize His ideal. This is the history of the providence of salvation that God has been leading, and this is the history of restoration we must pass through. Therefore, as you go through the course of restoration, surrender yourself to the ways of Heaven. Examine yourself objectively from that standpoint and then reflect seriously about where you stand and the situations in which you struggle. God established religions out of His love. It is through religions that God has been trying to teach human beings their proper position and give them direction. Throughout history God has been looking for us, seeking, through the path of religion and based on our faith, to bring us back to Him. (4-069, 1958.03.09)

55 If Adam and Eve had not eaten the fruit of good and evil and had not fallen, they would have married within God’s realm, inherited His love, life and lineage, and become His children. Such people would have had no need for the Savior. They would have had no need for spiritual nurturing. As God’s children in the original world of creation, they would naturally have connected to God, totally one with Him in mind and body. The problem arises from the struggle between mind and body. If your mind and body are not united on earth, you will have to make them one in the spirit world even if it takes millions of years. They need to be united based on true love. Without true love it is impossible to make oneness. True Parents are the representatives of true love, who teach the way of true love. The teaching that they bring can uproot all the sins of history. When we practice it, we can finally achieve liberation. (232-089, 1992.07.03)

56 Religion does not exist to fulfill people’s desires; it exists to fulfill the Will of God. Once we have fulfilled God’s Will, then it becomes possible to fulfill our human desires. This is the Principle of Creation, the purpose for which God created human beings. The fallen world has not seen an age when God’s Will was fulfilled; hence it has not seen an age when human desires were fulfilled. Therefore, to this day human history has been focused toward the ideal world, the original world of a higher dimension of life. The goal of this pursuit is not to fulfill any one purpose based on human desire; it is to fulfill God’s Will. From that point, pursuits for the fulfillment of human desire can begin. This is God’s providential view of history. God’s Will is, first of all, the perfection of Adam and Eve. Then it is the perfection of the spirit world, the perfection of the angelic world. God is the center, and it is He who has been leading the providence of salvation toward the fulfillment of His Will. (115-237, 1981.11.22)

57 The fulfillment of God’s Will is not what the people of this world are pursuing. God’s Will has nothing to do with material conditions. It has nothing to do with worldly knowledge or power. What is the condition that God is seeking? It is the standard of perfection based on love. The world’s various religions, although from different historical backgrounds and different ages, have been pursuing this purpose. That is why every religion teaches a concept of benevolence or love. What kind of love meets the standard for perfection? The love of God for Adam is not only for Adam, and the love of God for Eve is not only for Eve. The love of God for Adam and Eve is to flow through the family, tribe, people and nation, and through all their future descendants. From one ideal husband and wife centered on this love, the ideal family of love, the ideal tribe, people, nation and world of love can arise. (115-238, 1981.11.22)

58 Religions were established by God; among them are the mainstream religions of His mainstream people. To advance the providence to realize God’s ideal, God wants to connect a mainstream religion with a central people and a mainstream thought. God’s plan is to set up a mainstream religion as the foundation for the realization of His ideal, and then on that foundation to establish a people and a nation through which to bring His ideal into reality. Without these two, a mainstream religion and a central people, there is no way for the human race to inherit God’s ideal of creation. Therefore, in history, God sets up a people who can inherit His ideal, based on the religion that is closest to Him. That religion connects individuals, families, tribes, peoples and nations to the world that can inherit God’s ideal. This is the way of God’s Will and the path by which humankind is to inherit God’s ideal. (172-263, 1988.01.24)

59 The path of religion is to enable people to start living centered on God’s Will. Therefore, religions exist for people to follow the way of God’s Will. Because God’s Will is absolute, it is eternally one. It cannot be two. Therefore, the person who lives centered on God’s absolute Will is living the life of the kingdom of heaven on the individual level. A family that lives that way is living the life of the kingdom of heaven on the family level, together with God. If all people throughout the world live in unity, focusing on God’s Will for the world—beyond the levels of one people or one nation—the world will become the kingdom of heaven on earth. (182-050, 1988.10.14)

The providential person who moves heavenly fortune

60 The way of the Will is one. The Will moves in one direction, not two. There is only one place where the Will can settle. Look at the people living on earth today: they each take a direction in life based on their own will as they determine it to be. Everyone chooses differently and goes in a different direction. Following their own volition, they pursue various avenues to success and places to settle. (186-054, 1989.01.29)

61 God’s original Will at the time of creation was for God and human beings to live in harmony, in one love and centered on the one Will. All of heaven and earth were to live in the joyous reality of His love, and with His love at the center of their lives, they were to live as one. Yet due to the Fall of Adam and Eve, God’s love remained as only His love. That is, God’s love was supposed to create relationships with and among human beings, but being unable to forge those relationships, it departed from them and from the entire world of creation. Hence, the ideal that God envisioned in the beginning remains unfulfilled. The love that He hoped for remains unrealized as well. Nevertheless, God will fulfill the Will by all means. That is the reason God has led the providence for six thousand years and continues leading it to this day. (1-088, 1956.06.06)

62 We are now in the process of fulfilling God’s hope, which is our ultimate purpose. As you move forward in that process, you should be able to fulfill the promises you make in faith. If you fulfill them and even go beyond that limit, then you will begin paying back the Lord, whose flesh and blood we received in these Last Days. In this context, what should you do? You should be able to stand boldly for Jesus, in front of him and behind him, at his right side and at his left side, above him and below him, acting on his behalf. You should stand boldly for the Holy Spirit, in front of her and behind her, at her right side and at her left side, above her and below her, acting on her behalf. You should stand boldly even for God, in front of Him and behind Him, at His right side and at His left side, above Him and below Him, acting on His behalf. We must bring God’s Will for human beings in heaven and on earth to a conclusion, for only in this way can Jesus’ will be fulfilled and Gods Will be fulfilled. It may seem as though we are insignificant individuals, but in submitting to God’s Will our value is tremendous. (1-156, 1956.07.08)

63 You are the ones who have to carry out the final remaining adventurous mission on the level of the universe at the conclusion of six thousand years of history. Since this is a universe-level mission, in order to meet it you must also be on the level of the universe. You must be courageous and filled with inner determination to carry out this mission. If your life of faith falls short of what is needed for God’s Will, what will happen? Up to the present, God’s history progressed when individuals took a bold course that transcended ordinary reality. Hence, you too must go through the gate of an adventurous universe- level course. Only then can you uphold the flag of final victory, sing “Hosanna” in front of God, and stand in the position of His brides before the entire universe. If you are to become God’s princes and princesses, you must overcome all conditions without stumbling, and weather any circumstances, even persecution or ridicule. You must set a standard of boldness that transcends ordinary reality. (1-274, 1956.12.02)

64 You must attend the Lord in the manner that gives Him the maximum freedom, the greatest glory and the greatest joy. In order to do this, you must make every effort to free the Lord from all the conditions throughout history that permit Satan to accuse Him. If you become this kind of person, then when you call “Father!” God will come to you. He will come even before you call Him. This is the standard you need to set in your daily life. God is looking for one person whose character reflects His universal love, a person whose character has such value that he can stand in the position of Jesus and stand in the position to represent history. Jesus wants him to then gather people of like nature and recover the nation, the world and all of heaven and earth. This is God’s desire. (2-055, 1957.02.17)

65 The reason God continues to lead providential history, even repeating it, is to inspire people to respond to His providence. Only in this way can He stand in front of humankind as the God of the ideal. Yet to human beings who live in the realm of Satan, God appears as the fearful God of judgment. To attend God as the God of the ideal, we must be able to experience the grief that was caused Him by the human Fall. We must be able to establish a relationship in which we can abide with Him in His grief. Otherwise, God cannot appear to us as the God of the ideal and cannot appear to us as the Lord of the ideal of creation. On the way to attend the God of the ideal, our path requires that we fight the evil forces that constantly try to block us. This is the path of restoration through indemnity that is required of fallen human beings. (2-097, 1957.03.06)

The providence of salvation according to the Principle

66 We know that God’s providence is the providence of restoration. What is the providence of restoration? It is taking actions to recover and reinstate what has been lost. In other words, it is the work of re-creating human beings through the Word. Because the human beings, whom God created, completely lost the Word, they need to be created again. We fallen people lost the Word by which we can align our mind and body and experience constant joy in our heart. Hence, we must find the Word, namely, the truth. The Word is also called the truth. The truth is the principle that governs any system. At the same time it is the root of Heaven’s principles. That is why the world seeks for the truth to this day. However, the true Word in all its fullness has not yet appeared. Since there has been no true Word, there has been no one who could embody true life. Since no one has embodied true life, there has been no one who could embody true love. Since no one has embodied true love, the true cosmos, the true heaven and earth, have not emerged. (7-085, 1959.07.19)

67 God’s providence of restoration is not guesswork. Since the providence of restoration is the work of re-creation, and it is the work of recovering what was lost, God must do it based on certain principles. God is carrying it out according to the principles of creation. Because God lost human beings as a result of the Fall, even though God created them, they are standing in the position as if God did not finish creating them. So God has to bring them back to the conditional position of having created them again. (48-086, 1971.09.05)

68 The providence of salvation is the providence of restoration. The providence of restoration is the providence of re-creation. How is the providence of re-creation carried out? During the creation, what did God create first? He created the world of angels first. Then He made all things. Then He created Adam and Eve. These were the three stages of His creation. History likewise has developed to this day through this three- stage principle. That is because all of history has been within the realm of the work of re-creation. In order to save fallen human beings, God has had to pursue a course based on the work of re-creation. (84-069, 1976.02.22)

69 Through the providence of salvation, God seeks to restore the form of the original ideal. Hence the providence of salvation is the providence of restoration. Then, by what sort of providence does God carry out the providence of restoration? It is by the providence of re-creation. For the providence of recreation, we must reinvest on God’s behalf the same kind of love that He has invested repeatedly to form relationships of love with human beings. That is the only way we can become His ideal creations. For this reason the Bible says: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:37) There is also a third commandment: You shall love all things of creation as you love your mother and father, your spouse and your children. These are the first, second and third commandments. Practice these, and you will achieve everything. You will enter the realm of God’s ideal that combines vertical love with horizontal love. This leads to the actualization of that ideal. (180-185, 1988.08.22)

70 Even as Satan strives to subvert and destroy God’s Will, God strives to advance the process of re-creation with each victory He wins over him. This cannot be done randomly. Paying indemnity cannot be done in a haphazard way. God has to go back to the point where the process of creation started. This is what you learn when you study the entire providence of salvation, namely that God has been conducting the providence of salvation by the providence of restoration through indemnity. Evaluating the whole of history, we find that first it is the providence of salvation, second it is the providence of restoration through indemnity, and third it is the providence of re-creation. Accordingly, we can say that the providence of salvation is the providence of restoration. It is the providence to bring human beings back to their original position. If a patient who is hospitalized and on the verge of death is revived, he says, “I am saved!” In the same way, salvation means to return to the original position or state. Furthermore, the providence of salvation is the providence of restoration through indemnity. You cannot go back to the original point without investing; you have to pay indemnity. (264-271, 1994.11.20)

71 God’s providence of salvation is the providence of restoration, and the providence of restoration is carried out through indemnity. The providence of restoration cannot be done for free. Sins that were committed must necessarily be indemnified. Paying indemnity means to separate from Satan. When you commit sin, you fall into the realm of Satan’s possession. When you pay indemnity you can separate yourself from Satan and return to your original position. How much sin have fallen people committed throughout the long course of history to this day? How can we indemnify all the sins committed by all evil people? Although most people do not know it, good people have been paying that indemnity by being sacrificed. It is the same for national sins. The sins that nations committed in the past are being paid for by the sacrifice of some of its good people. Unless they make sacrifices, no indemnity is paid. Looking further, this is the path along which humankind has developed, all the way up to the world level. In the process, numerous good people sacrificially offered themselves. They paid indemnity for all the sins committed by humankind so that the world could return to its proper state. (242-229, 1993.01.02)

72 Throughout human history, it was by paying indemnity that a separation was made between good and evil, a separation was made between happiness and sadness, and a separation was made between the way that brings blessings and the way that brings punishment. It is the same throughout the world. Therefore, God’s providence of restoration must also proceed by indemnity. There are no exceptions. Indemnity became necessary as a result of the Fall. Those who live their lives without realizing that they are fallen people are living as though they are on the path of the Fall every day. Because of the Fall, God became the God of sorrow, even as He leads the course of the providence of restoration. And God became the God of pain. Yet sorrow and pain were not the end of it; He lost every precious thing that He cherished. To restore that which He lost, God must go the way of pain; to recover them He must again suffer in sorrow. This is what God must endure as He strives to reclaim what He has lost. (288-291, 1998.01.01)

73 The Fall caused God to lose what was most precious to Him. It is not the case that the Fall only affected human beings, with God having nothing to do with it. God and human beings are in a parent-child relationship. That relationship is in order to realize the ideal of love—the ideal of oneness between them based on love. However, because human beings separated from God, that ideal of unity in love cannot be found. That is what God lost, and that is what He needs to recover. However, just following the course of indemnity is not enough to recover the ideal of oneness in love that God is seeking. To recover this ideal, there needs to be a program for re-creation. Human beings need to be remade based on a blueprint, just as a blueprint is needed for manufacturing a product in a factory. (288-292, 1998.01.01)

The role and mission of the Messiah

74 God’s purpose in calling the Israelites to the land of Canaan was to have them complete a victorious foundation as one people. Upon that foundation, they were to build a kingdom in Canaan under Heaven’s sovereignty and prepare the foundation for the coming of the Messiah. The people of Israel were to attend the Messiah as the central person who would rule over their country. Then they were to defeat Satan’s world and complete God’s providence of restoration together with the Messiah. Although that was their mission, the people of Israel and their religious leaders did not know it. In those days, there were those among them who thought that when the Savior came, they would automatically become the nation that could rule the world. They did not grasp that they had to complete the history of restoration by first gaining victory on the level of a people and then on the level of the nation before they could achieve a victorious worldwide foundation. (13-181, 1964.03.15)

75 Unless individuals attain perfection, they cannot form families with a new and higher awareness. And without such new families, a new people and a new nation cannot emerge. Therefore the Unification Church has come forth with a focus on bringing about the perfection of individuals through True Parents. God longs to complete the restoration of the individual. It has taken six thousand years, until today, to substantiate one perfect man. God has been toiling with the goal to bring forth that one perfect man; this has been the whole purpose of His providence of restoration, transcending time. Then, by centering on the one perfect man, God’s intention is to recover one woman and form the model for the perfection of the family. This is the messianic teaching. God desires to conclude the providence of restoration by setting up the bridegroom and the bride according to this messianic teaching. By doing so, God plans to lay the foundation for all of human life. The way of life and the teaching that the Messiah brings are the eternal standards that all human beings need to follow. (21-301, 1968.12.08)

76 Another formula in God’s providence of restoration is that before sending the Messiah, He works to set up one central religion and one central nation. God called the Israelites and Judaism. God planned to send Jesus upon that foundation and then expand that realm of goodness by having all humankind unite with him. In this way He would restore the world and realize the ideal of the kingdom of heaven. If the Israelites and Judaism, which God had prepared over four thousand years, had received Jesus, united with him and upheld the one Will in a sacrificial way, then Jesus would have united the Arab world and Asia, connected them to the Western world, and spread the Will quickly to the ends of the earth. In that way, Jesus could have established the kingdom of heaven on earth under God’s sovereignty. (88-209, 1976.09.18)

77 Adam possessed the seed of true love and true life. After God lost Adam, He had to recover the Son, a man having the new seed. This Son has to be a man having no condition for Satan to accuse. Just as God made Adam first at the time of creation, in the providence of restoration, which is the providence of re-creation, God has to first set up a Son who has nothing to do with the Fall. This is the root of the messianic teaching. The Messiah is the true man with the new seed of life. He guides people of the fallen lineage to deny their life and then engrafts his new seed onto them. Even though the Messiah is rooted in God, as the second Adam he must clean up what Adam did. This is the reason God cannot send the Messiah as a superman having God’s almighty power. (277-204, 1996.04.16)

78 The Savior is God’s representative who can dissolve the bitter sorrow in God’s heart, the sorrow that was brought by the first human beings’ failure to fulfill God’s love in accordance with His Will. Because they never realized God’s love, all people are in despair and filled with bitter sorrow. The Savior is the one who dissolves this bitter sorrow and brings God’s love to fulfillment. He comes to help people attain this original love. The Savior does not come to feed those who are hungry physically. He comes to liberate God. A man is liberated when he has a wife of true love. When a man has a wife who loves him and remains with him eternally, there is no imprisonment. He is free. Does God, the original central being, enjoy that kind of freedom? He is a sorrowful God, who, while searching for love and investing His love, had to forget how much He invested, only to invest again. (209-096, 1990.11.27)

79 God, by all means, has to restore the ideal of true love and peace that He has held onto since the beginning. God’s providence of salvation is the providence to restore that original state; in other words, it is the providence of restoration. For the providence of restoration, God set up religions and expanded the realm of goodness. The Messiah whom God sends is responsible to complete the providence of restoration. Therefore the Messiah must come as the True Parents and quickly recover everything, starting from the root. Jesus, who came as the Messiah, had the mission of the True Parents. He came with true love to give rebirth to all humankind and to restore them as true individuals and as true husbands and wives, so that they too could become true parents. Unfortunately he could not complete this mission due to the disbelief of those on earth, and he departed with the promise to return. He must come again as True Parents in order to restore completely God’s ideal of creation. (279-208, 1996.08.20)