"He said, 'Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
Genesis 22:12
01Offering
21:5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 And Sarah said. "God has made laughter for me; every one who hears will laugh over me."
7 And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would suckle children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
8. And the child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
From the time Abraham left the homeland he loved, in other words, from the moment that he received the order from God to leave Ur of the Chaldeans, he had to lead a life of misfortune such as he had never experienced. He had to feel a sorrowful heart like no other seeker of Heaven had ever experienced.
He did not have any relatives there. Furthermore, he did not have any comrades. He did not have any friends. Even then, he had to be responsible for the heart encompassing all the misfortunes of humanity, taking responsibility for the whole history of restoration.
We need to understand the unfortunate life of Abraham, who had to overcome everything with the mindset that regardless of what kind of misfortune, tribulation, sorrow, difficulty, and pain came his way, he would fulfill the will of God.
Although Abraham greatly exerted himself until the time he built the altar and offered the three great sacrifices, he did not even know that the internal sorrow centering on the sacrifice would confront him.
Thus, we must reflect upon the position of Abraham. He was in an environment of misfortune. He should have known that he was representing a historical mission and the mission of the age. Likewise, he should have known that he must also represent the mission of the future generations and the mission of Heaven. However, his thoughts could not reach that far.
He thought that by climbing over the hill of external misfortune, everything would be resolved. He did not know that he had to resolve not just the misfortune of that time, but also the misfortune of the future.
Abraham should have set the one standard point of restoration in the eternal history of humanity, but he could not accomplish that. Therefore, although he overcame the life of external misfortunes and went as far as offering Isaac as a sacrifice, that did not put the matter to rest.
The internal misfortune has been passed down until today. Abraham, who was responsible for the historical misfortunes, was in a miserable situation.
Abraham was concerned, asleep or awake and in every moment, that if he neglected the fact that he was the sacrifice centering on the will of God, then God's will could not be realized.
Furthermore, he mourned for Heaven, and he decided that he would offer himself for the sake of Heaven. You have to understand the heart of Abraham.
Let Us Climb Over the Hill of Historical Misfortune
January 19, 1958
22:1 After these things God tested .Abraham, and said in him, "Abraham." And he said ...Here am I."
2 He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac. whom you love, and go to the land of Mori'ah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
3 So Abraham rose early in the mooring, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.
If there is someone who responds, “Father, I am here,” to the voice of God, who has been calling out for His sons and daughters on the earth, then even if his hands are ugly, his heart has been wounded, and his appearance is humble, he will never perish.
This is because he can represent the sorrow of God, and his heart can connect with the heart of Heaven. The basic rule of the heavenly principles is that the path such a person is walking cannot be blocked, even if the whole world is mobilized.
Because Jesus understood this kind of basic principle, he mourned for the sake of the Israelites who betrayed him. He shed tears for the sect that persecuted him. He wished blessings upon the enemies who were putting him on the cross.
If the people of faith today are trying to stand as the bride before Heaven with Jesus the Bridegroom, yet have not experienced the sad heart that Jesus and the prophets and saints of the past felt, then they must repent.
Sons and daughters must emerge who know how to mourn over Heaven, the nation, and the world.
If people are seeking happiness even as God is mourning, they will surely be ruined. This kind of nation will come to ruin.
God has been calling for you through the countless prophets and saints during the thousands of years of the course of history. For those of you who are receiving the grace of God, today is the time when you must look back on your past, examine what kind of attitude you have and what position you are in, and make a cold appraisal.
Only when you become sons and daughters whom the Father can welcome with outstretched arms, can you finally stand before the Father, who has been calling out to you with an ardent heart?
To achieve that, you must climb over all the hills of sorrow, pass through all paths of the cross, and, as a free and liberated person. Be able to attend the eternal Father, saying, “My Father.”
When these sons and daughters emerge, God's joy will begin. This was the historical hope; the day this hope is realized is the day of the Second Advent. Christianity is supposed to play the central role in actualizing this.
You must never turn away from the historical calling. You have to understand that God does not call human beings only at the end of history. He is calling us even now.
He Is Calling Us
January 5, 1958
Abraham took three days to reach the place on Mt. Moriah where he was to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. This three-day period for purifying Isaac was to begin a new course in the providence.
Thenceforth, three days have been required for the separation of Satan at the start of new dispensations. We find many instances of such periods in the history of the providence.
When Jacob was setting out from Haran with his family to begin the family course to restore Canaan, there was a three-day period for the separation of Satan. (Gen. 31:20-22) Moses, too, led the Israelites through three days for the separation of Satan as they left Egypt to begin the national course to restore Canaan. (Exd. 8:27)
When Jesus began the worldwide spiritual course to restore Canaan, he spent three days in the tomb to accomplish the separation of Satan.
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3
22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together
7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"
8 Abraham said, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.
If Abraham had maintained the same heart that he had when he abandoned his homeland and had worried only about the will of God, If he had attended the altar with all his heart and energy, then he could not have made a mistake while making the symbolic offerings, he would have understood that he was in an extraordinary position. By pouring out all of his faith and energy, he would have come forward with the determination to become one with God.
Having failed in making the first sacrifice, Abraham needed the sacrifice of Isaac as a substitute for the offering to inherit the will of God again. In other words, he required his son to unite with him and with Noah.
This is the reason he searched for the place where his heart and his son's heart could bear fruit in oneness. Abraham won the recognition of Heaven at the very moment he placed Isaac on the altar on the mountain of Moriah and was about to strike him with a knife.
Let Us Not Weaken Our Determination Toward Heaven
February 23, 1958
When Abraham was prepared to slay his son, the son God promised, he demonstrated the utmost loyalty to Heaven. This act of faith was tantamount to Abraham killing himself, a self that had been defiled by Satan due to his earlier failure in the symbolic offering.
Accordingly, when God saved Isaac from death, Abraham was also resurrected to life, now loosed from all the ties with which Satan had bound him when his symbolic offering was defiled. Furthermore, Abraham and Isaac attained inseparable oneness in their fidelity to God's will.
Though Isaac and Abraham were two different individuals, when God brought them back to life, they became as one person in the sight of God.
Even though the dispensation through Abraham had failed and was prolonged through Isaac, as long as Isaac succeeded, Isaac's victory would become Abraham's victory.
Therefore, God would be able to regard Abraham as not having failed and the dispensation as not having been prolonged.
It is not clear how old Isaac was when Abraham offered the boy as a sacrifice. He was old enough to carry the wood for the sacrifice, and when he saw there was no lamb to be offered, he inquired of his father about it. (Gen. 22:7) Isaac was old enough to understand his father's intentions.
We can infer that he helped his father, even though he knew that his father was preparing to offer him as a sacrifice.
If Isaac had resisted his father's attempt to offer him as a sacrifice, God definitely would not have accepted the offering. In fact, Isaac demonstrated a faith as great as that of Abraham. Together, their faith made the offering successful and there was no way for Satan to retain his hold on them.
In making the offering, Isaac and Abraham underwent a process of death and resurrection. As a result, two things were accomplished. First, Abraham succeeded in the separation of Satan, who had invaded him because of his mistake in the symbolic offering.
He restored through restitution the position he had occupied before he had made the mistake and transferred his providential mission to Isaac from this restored position.
Second, by faithfully obeying God's will. Isaac inherited the divine mission from Abraham and demonstrated the faith that qualified him to make the symbolic offering.
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3
22:11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham," And he said, "Here am I."
12 He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now 1 know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
Abraham even obeyed the order of God to offer as a burnt sacrifice his precious son, Isaac, who was born when Abraham was 100 years old. That command constituted the one courageous condition that was unprecedented in history.
That event was the condition that represented heaven and earth and decided the fate of events in heaven, events on earth, and of many millions of matters.
Although Abraham was ignorant of this, he made a sincere attempt to place his son on the altar and sacrifice him after he had received the order to offer Isaac.
Think about the heart of Abraham, who was trying to strike his beloved son with the knife. His mentality truly transcended the reality. In his time, who could have recognized that kind of faith?
The adventurous deed of Abraham indicated that he belonged to Heaven and that his family belonged to Heaven. It indicated that he as well as his family and all of their belongings would follow the commandment of God. He realized this fact while he was making a burnt offering of his only son.
22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord will provide; as it is said to this day. "On the mount of the Lord it shall he provided."
15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven,
16 and said, "By myself I have sworn," says the Lord, "because you have done this, and have not withheld your soft, your only son from me"…
God's heart was higher than that of the elderly couple (Abraham and Sarah) who were willing to kill and offer their only son.
The Way of Goth Will
On God's Words, Character
After the divine mission had passed from Abraham to Isaac, Abraham offered the ram provided by God as a substitute for Isaac.
This was the symbolic offering by which Isaac restored the foundation of faith. Since Isaac had carried the wood for the sacrifice, we can infer that he participated in the offering of the ram.
Thus, even though it is written that Abraham made the symbolic offering, Isaac, who had united with Abraham and inherited his mission, was given providential credit for the offering.
In this way, Isaac, having inherited Abraham's mission, made the symbolic offering and restored through restitution the foundation of faith.
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Part II, Chapter 1, Section 3
24:1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.
2 And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all that he had. "Put your hand under my thigh,
3 and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and of the earth that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell,
4 but will go to my county and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac."
From the viewpoint of the Principle of Creation, God and the parents created the spouse. Therefore, in following the law of re-creation, it is essential that God and the father and mother, not ourselves, select the spouse.
Blessing and Ideal Family
Chapter 4.1.1
Marriage is not supposed to take place haphazardly. It is not to be done between individuals who meet in the street while coming and going. If two people marry just because they feel attracted to one another, some disaster could happen just as they get married.
Then we would realize that there was something mysterious about their fate. It was because they did not fit well with each other. A pine tree must be grafted to a pine tree. Some types fit correctly. When you realize this, you must deal with the blessing of marriage this time with new and better attitudes.
Do not have the attitude that you want to pass through the blessing in a position that centers on yourself. You should know that your marriage is not for yourself; it is for the nation and even for the world. Moreover, you must take to heart that your marriage is for the sake of your descendants.
Blessing and Ideal Family
Chapter 4.1.2
24:66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.
67 Then Isaac brought her into the tent and took Rebekah, and she become his wife; and he loved her.
When a normal man is distressed, he can look to God, and God can embrace him. At his side, his wife will console him, and his children will come and be with him. In every direction, he has a friend.
Contrary to current thinking, no matter how perfect a man may seem, unless he can find a wife and form a relationship of love, he is helpless in his search for happiness. No matter how beautiful a woman may be, unless she can find love with a spouse, there is absolutely no place she can find happiness. She has to find God and children. Without these elements where would that beautiful woman go to find happiness?
You have been thinking about heaven, but what is the nature of heaven? This love is the very core of heaven. Do you understand that when people lose loved ones, as when a husband loses his wife or children lose their parents, they are in agony?
Why do we feel so sad in such a case?
The universal power tries to preserve the family relationship and make the ideal prosper. But if one part of that ideal form dies, then that portion is lacking from this universal form. We feel sad because we want to supplement the area that was lost. That is what is expressed in our sorrow.
God cannot change this formula. God must also find that center point of love where He can reside. Some people think that if they just pray hard enough, they can find God.
Maybe they can temporarily, but how can they dwell with God all the rest of their lives? They cannot do that through prayer alone.
Man is composed of a masculine aspect and also a feminine aspect. A man alone does not have God and he does not have his children. There is no such thing as a perfect man by himself. The greatest man is only half of a whole if he does not have God, his wife, and his children.
For women, the same is true. Only after finding a spouse and coming together in love will they be perfect. Is there any justification for men to live together with men, or women with women? That is denying one's chance of the continuance of his existence.
When a person is born, whether male or female, that person is born for the sake of someone of the opposite sex. That is the very origin of birth. No one, not even the greatest person on earth, was born for himself.
When they come into unity and in love, they can become a father and mother. A woman may go to college to understand her life and she can study philosophy and religion, but the simple answer is that she was born for the sake of a man. That is fantastic. That is the undeniable truth.
The Original Family and the Family of Today
March 8, 1987
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