Exposition of the Divine Principle

Part II

Introduction to Restoration

The providence of restoration refers to God’s work to restore human beings to our original, unfallen state so that we may fulfill the purpose of creation. As discussed in Part I, human beings fell from the top of the growth stage and have been held under Satan’s dominion ever since.1 To restore human beings, God works to cut off Satan’s influence. Yet, as was explained in Christology, we must have the original sin removed before we can sever Satan’s bonds and be restored to the state before the Fall. This is possible only when we are born anew through the Messiah, the True Parent. To explain further: we first need to go through a course to separate Satan from ourselves. We do this in order to restore ourselves in form to the spiritual level which Adam and Eve had reached before the Fall-the top of the growth stage. On this foundation, we are to receive the Messiah and be reborn, and thereby be fully restored to the original state of human beings before the Fall. Finally, by following the Messiah, we should continue our growth to maturity where we can fulfill the purpose of creation.

Since the providence of restoration is God’s work of re-creation, which has as its goal the fulfillment of the purpose of creation, God works this providence in accordance with His Principle. In the course of the providence of restoration, this principle is called the Principle of Restoration. Let us study how the providence of restoration is to be accomplished.

Section 1: The Principle of Restoration through Indemnity

1.1 Restoration through Indemnity
Before discussing the Principle of Restoration through Indemnity, we must first understand in what position, due to the Fall, human beings came to stand in relation to both God and Satan. If the first human ancestors had not fallen but had reached perfection and become one in heart with God, then they would have lived relating only with God. However, due to their Fall, they joined in a kinship of blood with Satan, which compelled them to deal with him as well. Immediately after the Fall, when Adam and Eve had the original sin but had not yet committed any subsequent good or evil deeds, they found themselves in the midway position-a position between God and Satan where they were relating with both. As a consequence, all their descendants are also in the midway position. Take, for example, a person in the fallen world who does not believe in Jesus but leads a conscientious life. As long as he leads a virtuous life, Satan cannot drag him into hell; yet God cannot bring him to Paradise either as long as he does not believe in Jesus. He remains in the midway position. His spirit ends up abiding in an intermediate region of the spirit world which is neither Paradise nor hell.

How does God separate Satan from fallen people who stand in the midway position? Satan relates with them on the basis of his connection with them through lineage. Therefore, until people make a condition through which God can claim them as His own, there is no way God can restore them to the heavenly side. On the other hand, Satan acknowledges that God is the Creator of human beings. Unless Satan finds some condition through which he can attack a fallen person, he also cannot arbitrarily claim him for his side. Therefore, a fallen person will go to God’s side if he makes good conditions and to Satan’s side if he makes evil conditions.

For example, when Adam’s family was in the midway position, God instructed the children, Cain and Abel, to offer sacrifices that they might come into a position where God could work His providence through them. Yet because Cain killed Abel, the condition was made which allowed Satan to claim them instead. God sent Jesus to fallen people that they might stand on God’s side through the condition of believing in him. Unfortunately, when he came, many rejected him and remained on Satan’s side. This is the reason Jesus is both the Savior and the Lord of judgment.

What, then, is the meaning of restoration through indemnity? When someone has lost his original position or state, he must make some condition to be restored to it. The making of such conditions of restitution is called indemnity. For example, to recover lost reputation, position or health, one must make the necessary effort or pay the due price. Suppose two people who once loved each other come to be on bad terms; they must make some condition of reconciliation before the love they previously enjoyed can be revived. In like manner, it is necessary for human beings who have fallen from God’s grace into corruption to fulfill some condition before they can be restored to their true standing. We call this process of restoring the original position and state through making conditions restoration through indemnity, and we call the condition made a condition of indemnity. God’s work to restore people to their true, unfallen state by having them fulfill indemnity conditions is called the providence of restoration through indemnity.

How does a condition of indemnity compare with the value of what was lost? We can answer by listing the following three types of indemnity conditions.

The first is to fulfill a condition of equal indemnity. In this case, restoration is achieved by making a condition of indemnity at a price equal to the value of what was lost when one departed from the original position or state. Acts of restitution or compensation are indemnity conditions of this type. The verse “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,”2 refers to this type of indemnity condition.

The second is to make a condition of lesser indemnity. In this case, restoration is achieved by making a condition of indemnity at a price less than the value of what was lost. For instance, when someone owes a huge debt, if the creditor displays good will in forgiving a portion of the debt, then the debtor can pay back less than the total amount and still satisfy the entire debt. The outstanding example of this is redemption through the cross. Merely by fulfilling a small indemnity condition of faith in Jesus, we receive the much greater grace of salvation, which entitles us to participate with Jesus in the same resurrection. By making the indemnity condition of baptism by water, we can be spiritually born anew through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, by taking a piece of bread and a cup of wine at the sacrament of Holy Communion, we receive the precious grace of partaking in Jesus’ body and blood. All these are examples of conditions of lesser indemnity.

The third is to make a condition of greater indemnity. When a person has failed to meet a condition of lesser indemnity, he must make another indemnity condition to return to the original state, this time at a price greater than the first. For example, because Abraham made a mistake when offering the sacrifice of a dove, ram and heifer, he had to meet a condition of greater indemnity to rectify his failure. God thus asked him to offer his only son Isaac as the sacrifice. In the days of Moses, when the Israelites failed to believe in God’s promise during their forty days of spying in the land of Canaan, they had to fulfill a condition of greater indemnity by wandering in the wilderness for forty years, calculated as one year for each day of the failed spy mission.3

Why is a condition of greater indemnity necessary when an indemnity condition is set up for the second time? Whenever a central figure in God’s providence makes a second attempt to fulfill an indemnity condition, he must fulfill not only his own unfulfilled condition; in addition, he must make restitution for the failures of the people who came before him.

Next, let us study the method of fulfilling indemnity conditions. For anyone to be restored to the original position or state from which he fell, he must make an indemnity condition by reversing the course of his mistake. For instance, because the chosen people reviled Jesus and sent him to the cross, to be saved and restored to the original position of God’s elect, the chosen people must go the opposite way: love Jesus and willingly bear the cross for his sake.4 This is the reason Christianity became a religion of martyrdom. Furthermore, human beings caused tremendous grief to God by violating His Will and falling. To restore this through indemnity, we must seek to regain our pure, original nature and comfort God’s Heart by living in obedience to God’s Will. Similarly, because the first Adam forsook God, his descendants ended up in the bosom of Satan. Accordingly, in order for Jesus, the second Adam, to take people out of the bosom of Satan and return them to God, he had to worship and honor God even after being forsaken by Him. This is the complicated reason behind God’s abandonment of Jesus on the cross.5 Finally, a nation’s laws impose punishment on criminals for the purpose of setting the indemnity conditions necessary for maintaining order in society.

Who should make indemnity conditions? Earlier, we learned that human beings should have become perfect by fulfilling their responsibility; they then would have had the authority to govern even the angels. Yet the first human ancestors failed in their responsibility and thereby fell to the state where they were dominated by Satan. To escape from Satan’s domination and be restored to the state where we rule over him, we ourselves must fulfill the necessary indemnity conditions as our portion of responsibility.

1.2 The Foundation for the Messiah
The Messiah comes as the True Parent of humanity because only he can remove the original sin by giving rebirth to humanity, born of fallen parents.6 For fallen people to be restored to their original state, we must receive the Messiah. Before we can receive the Messiah, however, we must first establish the foundation for the Messiah.

What indemnity conditions are required for establishing the foundation for the Messiah? To answer this question, we must first understand how Adam was to have realized the purpose of creation and how he failed to do it, because the condition of indemnity is made by reversing the course of the deviation from the original path.

For Adam to realize the purpose of creation, he was supposed to fulfill two conditions. First, Adam should have established the foundation of faith. The person to lay this foundation was Adam himself. The condition to establish this foundation was to keep strictly to God’s commandment not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In fulfilling this condition, Adam would have passed through a set growing period, which was the time allotted for him to fulfill his portion of responsibility. This period represents some numbers of providential significance. Hence, the growing period may be thought of as a period to fulfill certain numbers.

The second condition which Adam was supposed to fulfill in order to realize the purpose of creation was to establish the foundation of substance. After Adam established an unshakable foundation of faith, he was then to become one with God, thereby establishing the foundation of substance. This means he would have become the perfect incarnation of the Word7 with perfect character, fulfilling God’s first blessing. In this way, had he not fallen, Adam would have completed the purpose of creation. For a fallen person to establish the foundation for the Messiah, he must pass through a similar course: establishing first the foundation of faith and then the foundation of substance.

1.2.1 The Foundation of Faith
Because Adam disobeyed the Word of God and fell, he could not establish the foundation of faith. Hence, he could neither become the perfect incarnation of the Word nor complete the purpose of creation. To restore the basis upon which they can complete the purpose of creation, fallen people must first restore through indemnity the foundation of faith which the first human ancestors failed to establish. There are three aspects to the indemnity condition required for restoring the foundation of faith.

First, there must be a central figure. From the time Adam failed to establish the foundation of faith, God has been looking for central figures who could restore the lost foundation of faith. God had Cain and Abel offer sacrifices for this purpose. Likewise, God called men such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the kings and John the Baptist for the purpose of raising them up as central figures.

Second, an object for the condition must be offered. When Adam lost faith in God, he lost the Word of God which had been given him for the fulfillment of the condition to establish the foundation of faith. As a result, fallen people could no longer directly receive the Word of God to restore the foundation of faith. It then became necessary to offer objects for the condition as substitutes for the Word. Human beings were degraded by the Fall to a status lower than the things of creation, as it is written, “the heart is deceitful above all things.”8 Hence, in the age prior to the giving of the Old Testament, people could establish the foundation of faith by offering a sacrifice or its equivalent, such as the ark, procured from the natural world. Thus, the foundation of faith also functioned as the foundation to restore all things, which had been defiled by Satan. In the Old Testament Age, either the Word as revealed in the Law of Moses or representatives of the Word-such as the Ark of the Covenant, the Temple and various central figures-served as objects for the condition, substituting for the original Word. In the New Testament Age, the Word as revealed in the Gospels and Jesus, the incarnation of the Word, were the objects for the condition. From the standpoint of human beings, these objects for the condition were offered for the purpose of establishing the foundation of faith. From God’s perspective, the offering of objects for the condition would secure God’s ownership of the dispensation.

Third, a numerical period of indemnity must be completed. Questions such as why the length of this indemnity period should be based on certain providential numbers and what lengths those numerical periods have, will be discussed later in detail.9

1.2.2 The Foundation of Substance
As earlier stated, for fallen people to complete the purpose of creation, we must become perfect incarnations of the Word, a state our first ancestors failed to attain. Becoming perfect incarnations requires that first we be cleansed of the original sin through the Messiah. Before we can receive the Messiah, however, we need to lay a foundation for him, which is accomplished when we establish the foundation of substance on the basis of the foundation of faith. After receiving the Messiah and being restored to the position of the first human ancestors before their Fall, a path still remains to be trod: we must become one with the Messiah centered on the Heart of God, then follow him along the uncharted path to the summit of the growing period, and thus finally become perfect incarnations.

Fallen people can establish the foundation of substance by making an indemnity condition, the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. When the first human ancestors fell and acquired the original sin, they could not realize their God-given original nature. Instead, they harbored the primary characteristics of the fallen nature.10 By making the indemnity condition to remove this fallen nature, a fallen person can lay the foundation of substance by which he can receive the Messiah, be cleansed of the original sin, and ultimately restore his original nature. In later chapters, we will discuss how this condition may be fulfilled.11

Section 2: The Course of the Providence of Restoration

2.1 The Ages in the Course of the Providence of Restoration
Let us now present an overview of the entire course of history since the time of Adam, as reckoned in the Bible, and survey the providential ages which comprise it. God’s providence to have fallen people establish the foundation upon which they could receive the Messiah, and thence complete the purpose of creation, began with Adam’s family. However, God’s Will was frustrated when Cain murdered Abel. Ten generations later, the unfulfilled Will was passed down to Noah’s family. God judged the evil world with the flood in order to set apart Noah’s family and conduct the providence of restoration. God intended to complete the providence by establishing the foundation for the Messiah in Noah’s family and sending the Messiah on that basis. Yet due to the fallen act of Noah’s second son, Ham, the providence for Noah’s family and the ark failed. As a consequence, the ten generations and the forty-day flood which God had
set up to prepare for this providence were lost to Satan.

After four hundred years had passed in order to restore through indemnity what had been lost to Heaven’s side, God’s Will was entrusted to Abraham. If Abraham had established the foundation for the Messiah on the family level exactly as God had intended, the foundation would have expanded to the national level, and thereupon the Messiah would have come. However, because Abraham failed in the symbolic offering, God’s Will was frustrated once more. Consequently, the biblical two thousand years from Adam to Abraham,12 during which God had sought a father of faith who could receive the Messiah, was claimed by Satan. Yet Abraham’s situation differed from that of Noah. Although Abraham failed in the symbolic offering, the family foundation for the Messiah was eventually fulfilled through the three generations of Abraham’s family: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. On that basis, God multiplied the chosen people in Egypt and expanded the foundation for the Messiah to the national level. For this reason, Abraham is called the father of faith.13 If we judge the significance of the age strictly by its outcome, we can understand that the two-thousand-year period from Adam to Abraham was for the purpose of finding one father of faith who could lay the foundation to begin the providence of restoration. Thus, God’s work of restoration can be said to have begun with Abraham.

However, due to Abraham’s mistake in making the symbolic offering, the two thousand years from Adam to Abraham were lost to Satan. Hence, a period had to be set up in which those lost years could be restored through indemnity to God’s side; this is the significance of the two-thousand-year period from Abraham to Jesus. If Abraham had not failed in making the symbolic offering, the Messiah would have come and stood upon the national foundation for the Messiah built by Abraham’s immediate descendants, and the providence of restoration would have been completed at that time. Likewise, had the Jewish people believed in and attended Jesus, they would have supported him to stand representing the nation as the living sacrifice before God. They then would have laid the national foundation for the Messiah. Jesus, standing as the Messiah on that foundation, could then have completed the providence of restoration.

However, just as Abraham failed in his symbolic offering, the Jewish people failed to make their offering on the national level when their leaders sent Jesus to the cross. Thus, a period of two thousand years-this time from Abraham to Jesus-was lost yet again to Satan. As a consequence, a parallel period had to be set up in which the earlier two-thousand-year period could be restored through indemnity to God’s side. This is the significance of the two-thousand-year period from Jesus’ time until today. During this age, founded upon the cross of Jesus, Christians must establish the worldwide foundation for the Messiah.

2.2 Categorization of the Ages in the Course of the Providence of Restoration
The ages in the course of the providence of restoration show the progressive development of God’s providence. They may be categorized according to six criteria.

2.2.1 The Ages Categorized with Reference to God’s Word
(i) During the two-thousand-year period from Adam to Abraham, people had not yet fulfilled sufficient indemnity conditions to receive God’s Word directly. At most, fallen people made indemnity conditions through offering sacrifices; but in doing so, they laid the foundation for the next period when God could begin to work His providence of restoration based on the Word. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence to lay the foundation for the Word.

(ii) During the two-thousand-year period from Abraham to Jesus, humanity’s spirituality and intellect developed to the formation stage based on the Word revealed in the Old Testament. Hence, this period is called the formation stage of the providence, or the Old Testament Age.

(iii) During the two-thousand-year period from Jesus until the Second Coming, humanity’s spirituality and intellect developed to the growth stage based on the Word revealed in the New Testament. Hence, this period is called the growth stage of the providence, or the New Testament Age.

(iv) During the period when the providence of restoration is to be completed after the Second Coming of Christ, humanity’s spirituality and intellect are to develop through the completion stage based on the Completed Testament Word, which will be given for the fulfillment of the providence of restoration. Hence, this period is called the completion stage of the providence, or the Completed Testament Age.

2.2.2 The Ages Categorized with Reference to God’s Work of Resurrection
(i) During the two-thousand-year period from Adam to Abraham, people offered sacrifices to lay the foundation to commence the Old Testament Age, when God would begin His work of resurrection. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence to lay the foundation for resurrection.

(ii) During the two-thousand-year period from Abraham to Jesus, people could be resurrected to the form-spirit level based on the Old Testament Word and the merit of the age in the providence of restoration. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence of formation-stage resurrection.

(iii) During the two-thousand year period from Jesus to the Second Advent, people could be resurrected to the life-spirit level based on the New Testament Word and the merit of the age in the providence of restoration. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence of growth-stage resurrection.

(iv) During the period when the providence of restoration is to be completed after the Second Coming of Christ, people are to be fully resurrected to the divine-spirit level based on the Completed Testament Word and the merit of the age in the providence of restoration. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence of completion-stage resurrection.

2.2.3 The Ages Categorized with Reference to the Providence to Restore through Indemnity the Lost Periods of Faith

(i) During the two-thousand-year period from Adam to Abraham, God laid the foundation for the Old Testament Age. Although this period was lost to Satan, God, by raising up Abraham, could commence the Old Testament Age, in which He would restore this first period through indemnity. Hence, this period is called the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration (through indemnity).

(ii) During the two-thousand-year period from Abraham to Jesus, God restored through indemnity the previous period of two thousand years-lost to Satan due to Abraham’s mistake in the symbolic offering-by working predominantly through the people of Israel. Hence, this period is called the Age of the Providence of Restoration (through indemnity).

(iii) During the two-thousand-year period from Jesus to the Second Advent, God has been restoring through indemnity the Old Testament Age-lost to Satan due to Jesus’ crucifixion-by working predominantly through Christianity. Hence, this period is called the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration (through indemnity).

(iv) During the period when the providence of restoration is to be completed after the Second Coming of Christ, God will work to restore through indemnity the entire course of the providence of restoration, which has been lost to Satan. Hence, this period is called the Age for Completing the Providence of Restoration (through indemnity).

2.2.4 The Ages Categorized with Reference to the Expanding Scope of the Foundation for the Messiah
(i) During the two-thousand-year period from Adam to Abraham, God laid the family foundation for the Messiah by raising up Abraham’s family on the condition of the sacrifices they offered. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence to lay the family foundation for the Messiah.

(ii) During the two-thousand-year period from Abraham to Jesus, God worked to lay the national foundation for the Messiah by raising up Israel based on the Old Testament Word. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence to lay the national foundation for the Messiah.

(iii) During the two-thousand-year period from Jesus to the Second Advent, God has been laying the worldwide foundation for the Messiah by raising up worldwide Christianity based on the New Testament Word. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence to lay the worldwide foundation for the Messiah.

(iv) During the period when the providence of restoration is to be completed after the Second Coming of Christ, God will complete the cosmic foundation for the Messiah by working throughout heaven and earth based on the Completed Testament Word. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence to complete the cosmic foundation for the Messiah.

2.2.5 The Ages Categorized with Reference to Responsibility
(i) During the two-thousand-year period from Adam to Abraham, God laid the foundation upon which to conduct His providence in the subsequent Old Testament Age, a providence which was to be fulfilled by God shouldering the responsibility. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence to lay the foundation for God’s responsibility.

(ii) During the two-thousand-year period from Abraham to Jesus, God took responsibility as the Creator of human beings and carried out the providence of restoration at the formation stage. God worked with the prophets and personally shouldered the first responsibility to defeat Satan. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence based on God’s responsibility.

(iii) During the two-thousand-year period from Jesus to the Second Advent, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, who assumed the missions of Adam and Eve, have conducted the providence of restoration at the growth stage. Jesus and the Holy Spirit have shouldered the second responsibility to defeat Satan as they work to restore fallen people. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence based on Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s responsibility.

(iv) During the period when the providence of restoration is to be completed after the Second Coming of Christ, the people of faith on earth and in heaven are to bear the third responsibility to defeat Satan, the fallen archangel, and complete the providence of restoration. They are to achieve this in accordance with the Principle of Creation, which lays out the way for human beings to gain the qualification to rule the angels. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence based on the believers’ responsibility.

2.2.6 The Ages Categorized with Reference to the Parallels in the Providence
(i) During the two-thousand-year period from Adam to Abraham, the foundation for the Messiah was restored by fulfilling parallel indemnity conditions of a symbolic type. Hence, this period is called the age of symbolic parallels.

(ii) During the two-thousand-year period from Abraham to Jesus, the foundation for the Messiah was restored by fulfilling parallel indemnity conditions of an image type. Hence, this period is called the age of image parallels.

(iii) During the two-thousand-year period from Jesus to the Second Advent, the foundation for the Messiah has been restored by fulfilling parallel indemnity conditions of a substantial type. Hence, this period is called the age of substantial parallels.

Section 3: The History of the Providence of Restoration and I

As an individual, each one of us is a product of the history of the providence of restoration. Hence, the person who is to accomplish the purpose of history is none other than I, myself. I must take up the cross of history and accept responsibility to fulfill its calling. To this end, I must fulfill in my lifetime (horizontally), through my efforts, the indemnity conditions which have accumulated through the long course of the providence of restoration (vertically). Only by doing this can I stand proudly as the fruit of history, the one whom God has eagerly sought throughout His providence. In other words, I must restore through indemnity, during my own generation, all the unaccomplished missions of past prophets and saints who were called in their time to carry the cross of restoration. Otherwise, I cannot become the individual who completes the purpose of the providence of restoration. To become such an historical victor, I must understand clearly the Heart of God when He worked with past prophets and saints, the original purpose for which God called them, and the details of the providential missions which He entrusted to them.

Yet there is no one among fallen humanity who can become such an historical victor by his efforts alone. For this reason, we must understand all these things through Christ at the Second Advent, who comes to fulfill the providence of restoration. Moreover, when we believe in him, become one with him, and attend him in his work, we can stand in the position of having fulfilled horizontally with him the vertical indemnity conditions in the history of the providence of restoration.

The path which all past saints walked as they strove to fulfill God’s providential Will is the very path we must walk again today. Beyond that, we must continue on to the end of the path, even walking trails they left untrodden. Therefore, fallen people can never find the path that leads to life without understanding the particulars of the providence of restoration. Herein lies the reason why we must study the Principle of Restoration in detail.

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Chapter 1: The Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration

Section 1: The Providence of Restoration in Adam’s Family

Even though the Fall resulted from human failure, God has felt responsible to save fallen humanity.1 Therefore, God immediately began His providence to restore fallen people by having Adam’s family lay the foundation for the Messiah.

Due to Adam’s kinship of blood with Satan, he was in the midway position, relating with both God and Satan.2 For a fallen person standing in the midway position to be purified, come to God’s side and establish the foundation for the Messiah, he must fulfill a condition of indemnity. Consequently, for the providence of restoration to be accomplished in Adam’s family, the members of his family had to make certain conditions of indemnity to restore the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance. On these two foundations, the foundation for the Messiah was to be established, and the Messiah could have come to Adam’s family.

1.1 The Foundation of Faith
To restore through indemnity the foundation of faith, fallen people must set up an object for the condition. Due to his faithlessness, Adam lost the Word of God, which had been given him in order to fulfill the condition necessary to establish the foundation of faith. He fell to the position where he could no longer receive the Word of God directly. Consequently, in restoring the foundation of faith, Adam had to faithfully offer in a manner acceptable to God some object for the condition, substituting for God’s Word. For Adam’s family, this object was a sacrificial offering.

To restore the foundation of faith, there must also be a central figure. One would expect that the central figure in Adam’s family be Adam himself. It would seem that Adam should have offered the sacrifice, and that whether or not he made the offering in an acceptable manner would have determined success or failure in laying the foundation of faith.

Yet nowhere in the biblical record do we find Adam offering a sacrifice. Instead, his sons Cain and Abel offered them. What was the reason for this? According to the Principle of Creation, human beings were created to serve only one master.3 God cannot conduct His providence in accord with the Principle with someone who serves two masters. If God were to accept Adam and his offering, Satan would use his ties of kinship with Adam as a condition through which to make a counter-claim upon him and his offering. In that case, Adam would be placed in the unprincipled situation of having to serve two masters: God and Satan. Since God could not conduct such an unprincipled providence, He took the course of symbolically dividing Adam, who embodied both good and evil, into two entities, one representing good and the other representing evil-an arrangement in line with the Principle. For this reason, God gave Adam two sons, representing good and evil, and set them in positions where each dealt with only one master, God or Satan. After setting up this arrangement, God had the two sons offer sacrifices separately.

Cain and Abel were both sons of Adam. Which one of them was to represent goodness and relate with God, and which was to represent evil and interact with Satan? Both Cain and Abel were the fruits of Eve’s fall; hence, their relative positions were determined according to its course. Eve’s fall was consummated through two different illicit love relationships. The first was the spiritual fall through her love with the Archangel. The second was the physical fall through her love with Adam. Certainly, the two relationships were both fallen acts. Yet between the two, the second act of love was more in line with the Principle and more forgivable than the first. Eve’s first fallen act was motivated by her excessive desire to enjoy what it was not yet time for her to enjoy and have her eyes opened, like God.4 This desire led her to consummate a relationship of unprincipled sexual love with the Archangel. In comparison, Eve’s second fallen act was motivated by her heartfelt longing to return to God’s bosom after she realized that her first fallen relationship had been illicit. This desire led her to
consummate a relationship with Adam, her intended spouse according to the Principle, even though God did not yet permit it.5

Cain and Abel were both fruits of Eve’s illicit love. God discriminated between them based on Eve’s two illicit acts of love and accordingly placed Cain and Abel in two opposing positions. In other words, since Cain was the first fruit of Eve’s love, signifying Eve’s first fallen act of love with the Archangel, he was chosen to represent evil. Therefore, he was in a position to relate with Satan. Since Abel was the second fruit of Eve’s love, signifying Eve’s second fallen act of love with Adam, he was chosen to represent goodness. Therefore, he was in a position to relate with God.

For his part, Satan had seized control of the creation, which God had created by the Principle, and established an unprincipled world having only the outward form of God’s intended universe. In the original, principled world, God intended to raise up the eldest son and have him inherit the birthright. Therefore, Satan felt a stronger attachment to the elder son than he did to the younger. Since Satan had already claimed the universe, he vied with God for the elder son, Cain, who was more valuable to him. Because Satan had a strong attachment to Cain, God chose to deal with Abel.

The Bible attests to the discrimination between first- and second-born sons. For example, God said to Cain, “If you do not do well, sin is couching at the door.”6 From this we may understand that Cain had a base to relate with Satan. When the Israelites were about to flee Egypt, God struck the firstborn of the Egyptians, even the firstborn of their livestock,7 because the Egyptians, as Satan’s vassals, stood in the position of Cain. When the Israelites were returning to the land of Canaan, only the Levites, who were in the position of the younger son Abel, were allowed to carry the Ark of the Covenant.8 It is written that God loved the second son Jacob and hated the first son Esau even while they were still inside their mother’s womb.9 They were placed in the positions of Cain or Abel based solely upon the distinction of who was to be the firstborn son. When Jacob was blessing his two grandchildren, Ephraim and Manasseh, he crossed his hands and laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, the second son in the position of Abel, to give him the first and greater blessing.10 According to this principle, God placed Cain and Abel in a position where each could deal with only one master, and had them offer sacrifices.11

When Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices, “The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.”12 Why did God accept Abel’s offering but reject Cain’s? God received Abel’s sacrifice because he stood in a proper relationship with God and made the offering in a manner acceptable to Him.13 In this way, Abel successfully laid the foundation of faith in Adam’s family. He serves as an example that any fallen person can make an offering acceptable to God provided he satisfies the necessary conditions.

God did not reject Cain’s sacrifice because He hated him. Rather, because Cain stood in a position to relate with Satan which gave Satan rights over the sacrifice, God could not accept Cain’s sacrifice unless he first made some condition justifying its acceptance. The example of Cain shows that in order for a person who has a connection with Satan to return to God’s side, he must make a requisite indemnity condition. What indemnity condition should Cain have made? It was the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature.

1.2 The Foundation of Substance
Had Cain fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature, God would have gladly accepted his sacrifice. The foundation of substance would then have been laid in Adam’s family. How should Cain have made the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature? The first human ancestors fell by succumbing to the Archangel, from whom they inherited the fallen nature. To remove the fallen nature, a person must make an indemnity condition in accordance with the Principle of Restoration through Indemnity, by taking a course which reverses the process through which human beings initially acquired the fallen nature.

The Archangel fell because he did not love Adam; rather, he envied Adam, who was receiving more love from God than he. This was the cause of the first primary characteristic of the fallen nature: failing to take God’s standpoint. To remove this characteristic of the fallen nature, Cain, who stood in the Archangel’s position, should have taken God’s standpoint by loving Abel, who stood in Adam’s position.

The Archangel fell because he did not respect Adam as God’s mediator and did not receive God’s love through him; rather, he attempted to seize Adam’s position. This was the cause of the second primary characteristic of the fallen nature: leaving one’s proper position. To remove this characteristic of the fallen nature, Cain, who stood in the Archangel’s position, should have received God’s love through Abel, who stood in Adam’s position, respecting him as God’s mediator. In this way, Cain should have maintained his proper position.

The Archangel fell when he claimed dominion over Eve and Adam, who were his rightful lords. This was the cause of the third primary characteristic of the fallen nature: reversing dominion. To remove this characteristic of the fallen nature, Cain, who stood in the Archangel’s position, should have obediently submitted to Abel, who stood in Adam’s position. By accepting Abel’s dominion, Cain should have rectified the order of dominion.

God told Adam not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam should have conveyed this Will to Eve, who in turn should have conveyed it to the Archangel, thus multiplying goodness. Instead, the Archangel conveyed to Eve his evil will that it was permissible to eat of the fruit. Eve in turn conveyed this evil will to Adam and led him to fall. This was the cause of the fourth primary characteristic of the fallen nature: multiplying evil. To remove this characteristic of the fallen nature, Cain, who stood in the Archangel’s position, should have been receptive to the intentions of Abel, who stood closer to God, and learned God’s Will from him. Thus, Cain should have made a foundation to multiply goodness.

There are many instances in human life which correspond to the situation of Cain and Abel. When we look within ourselves, we find that our innermost mind delights in the law of God.14 It is in the position of Abel, while our body, which serves the law of sin,15 is in the position of Cain. We can become good only if our body obediently follows our mind, which directs us toward goodness. All too often, however, our body rebels against the mind’s directions, repeating by analogy Cain’s murder of Abel. This is how evil grows within us. For this reason, the religious way of life requires that we make our body submit to the commands of our higher mind, just as Cain should have submitted to Abel and followed him.

We can also see this in the practice of making offerings. Since we fell to the position of being “deceitful above all things,”16 the things of creation stand in the position of Abel. Hence, through offering them we can go before God. To give another example, the universal tendency to seek out good leaders and righteous friends stems from our innermost desire to come before God through an Abel figure who is closer to God. By uniting with him, we can come closer to God ourselves. The Christian faith teaches us to be meek and humble. By this way of life, we may meet our Abel figure and thus secure the way to go before God.

In relationships at every level of society-from those between individuals to those at the level of families, communities, societies, nations and the world-we find that one party is in the role of Abel and the other is in the role of Cain. In order to restore society at each level to the state originally envisioned by God, those in the Cain position should respect and obey those in the Abel position. Jesus came to this world as the Abel figure to whom all of humanity should have submitted and followed. For this reason, he said, “no one comes to the Father, but by me.”17

If Cain had yielded to Abel and thus fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature in Adam’s family, they would have established the foundation of substance. Together with the foundation of faith already laid, Adam’s family would have established the foundation for the Messiah. The Messiah would then have come to them and restored the original four position foundation. Instead, Cain killed Abel. In murdering Abel, Cain repeated the sin of the Archangel. That is, he re-enacted the very process which had given rise to the primary characteristics of the fallen nature. Adam’s family thus failed to lay the foundation of substance. Consequently, God’s providence of restoration through Adam’s family could not be fulfilled.

1.3 The Foundation for the Messiah in Adam’s Family
The foundation for the Messiah is established by first restoring through indemnity the foundation of faith and then establishing the foundation of substance. With regard to their requisite sacrifices, the foundation of faith is restored by making an acceptable symbolic offering, and the foundation of substance is established by making an acceptable substantial offering. Let us examine the meaning and purpose of the symbolic offering and the substantial offering.

The three great blessings, which are God’s purpose of creation, were to be realized when Adam and Eve, having perfected their individual character, became husband and wife. They were to give birth to good children, raise a good family, and master the natural world. However, due to the Fall, the three great blessings were lost. The way to restore them requires us to take the opposite course. First, we must establish the foundation of faith by making the symbolic offering, which fulfills a condition of indemnity for the restoration of all things and a condition of indemnity for the symbolic restoration of people. Next, we must establish the foundation of substance by making the substantial offering, which fulfills an indemnity condition for the restoration of first the children and then the parents. On this basis, we can establish the foundation for the Messiah.

We can consider the meaning and purpose of the symbolic offering in two ways. First, as discussed above,18 Satan gained dominion over the natural world through his domination of human beings, its rightful rulers. For this reason it is written, “the whole creation has been groaning in travail.”19 Thus, one purpose for making the symbolic offering of all things is to enable all things to stand as God’s actual object partners in symbol. It fulfills an indemnity condition for the restoration of the natural world to its original relationship with God. Second, since human beings fell to a position lower than the things of creation,20 in order for them to come before God, they must go through all things. This follows from the Principle of Creation, which requires that one approach God through that which is closer to Him. The second purpose for making the symbolic offering is thus to fulfill an indemnity condition for the symbolic restoration of human beings.

The substantial offering, on the other hand, is an internal offering. Following the order of creation, in which God created all things first and human beings afterwards, this internal offering to restore human beings can only be made on the basis of an acceptable symbolic offering. After the symbolic offering fulfills an indemnity condition both for the restoration of all things and for the symbolic restoration of human beings, we must make the substantial offering, which fulfills an indemnity condition for the complete restoration of human beings. The substantial offering means fulfilling the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. This is essential for the actual restoration of human beings. The substantial offering is carried out when a person in Cain’s position honors the person in Abel’s position and sets him above himself as an offering. Through this, they fulfill the indemnity condition to be restored as good children. At the same time, it is also reckoned as the indemnity condition for the restoration of their parents. In this manner, the substantial offering can meet God’s expectation.

How can we understand the indemnity condition for the restoration of the parents? To establish the foundation for the Messiah in Adam’s family, Adam should have been the one to establish the foundation of faith by making the symbolic offering. However, as explained above, Adam could not make the offering, because if he had tried, his two masters, God and Satan, would have contended over it-an unprincipled situation. In addition, there is another reason from the aspect of feeling and heart. Fallen Adam was the very sinner who caused God the heartache and grief which was to last many thousands of years. He was not worthy to be the beloved of God’s Heart, with whom God could work directly to further the providence of restoration.

Accordingly, God chose Adam’s second son Abel in his stead and had Abel make the symbolic offering. Abel fulfilled the indemnity conditions for the restoration of all things and the symbolic restoration of human beings. If Cain and Abel had then fulfilled the indemnity condition for the restoration of the children by making an acceptable substantial offering, their father Adam would have shared in the victory of this foundation of substance. Thus, Adam’s family would have established the foundation for the Messiah.

Before the substantial offering can be made, the central figure of the offering, the one who is to be offered, must be chosen. God had Abel make the symbolic offering for two reasons: first, to have him establish the foundation of faith in Adam’s place; second, to qualify him to be the central figure of the substantial offering.

Cain was the one to fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature, yet his accomplishment would have resulted in the entire family of Adam fulfilling the condition. How was this possible? It may be compared to the situation of the first human ancestors, who could have helped God accomplish His entire Will had they obeyed His Word. It may also be compared to the situation of the Jewish people of Jesus’ day, who could have helped Jesus accomplish his will to bring complete salvation to humankind had they believed in him. If Cain had yielded to Abel and fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature, both children would have been regarded as having fulfilled the indemnity condition together. Cain and Abel were the offspring of Adam, the embodiment of both good and evil. Had they unshackled themselves from Satan’s chains by fulfilling the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature, then Adam, their father, also could have separated from Satan and stood upon the foundation of substance. Thus, the foundation for the Messiah would have been established by the family as a whole. In short, had Cain and Abel succeeded in making the symbolic and substantial offerings, the indemnity condition for the restoration of the parents would have been fulfilled.

When Abel made his sacrifice in a manner acceptable to God, he fulfilled the indemnity condition to restore Adam’s foundation of faith and firmly secured his position as the central figure of the substantial offering. However, when Cain murdered Abel, they re-enacted the Fall, in which the Archangel murdered Eve spiritually. Needless to say, they did not fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and failed to make the substantial offering. Hence, neither the foundation of substance nor the foundation for the Messiah could be established. God’s providence of restoration in Adam’s family came to naught.

1.4 Some Lessons from Adam’s Family
The failure of God’s providence of restoration in Adam’s family teaches us something about God’s conditional predestination of the accomplishment of His Will and His absolute respect for the human portion of responsibility. From the time of creation, God predestined that His Will be accomplished based on the combined fulfillment of God’s portion of responsibility and the human portion of responsibility. God could not instruct Cain and Abel on how to properly make their sacrifices because it was their portion of responsibility that Cain make his sacrifice with Abel’s help.

Second, even after Cain killed Abel, God began a new chapter of His providence by raising Seth in Abel’s place. This shows us that God has absolutely predestined that His Will shall one day be fulfilled, even though His predestination concerning individual human beings is conditional. God foreordained that Abel succeed as the central figure of the substantial offering contingent upon fulfilling his own portion of responsibility. Therefore, when Abel could not complete his responsibility, God chose Seth in his place and carried on His efforts to accomplish the Will, which is predestined to be fulfilled without fail.

Third, through the offerings of Cain and Abel, God teaches us that fallen people must constantly seek for an Abel-type person. By honoring, obeying and following him, we can accomplish God’s Will even without understanding every aspect of it.

The providence which God worked to accomplish through Adam’s family has been repeated over and over again due to the faithlessness of human beings. Consequently, this course remains as the indemnity course which we ourselves must walk. The providence of restoration in Adam’s family thus provides us with many valuable lessons for our own path of faith.

Section 2: The Providence of Restoration in Noah’s Family

Cain killed Abel, thereby preventing the providence of restoration in Adam’s family from being accomplished. Nevertheless, God had predestined absolutely the fulfillment of the purpose of creation, and His Will remained unchangeable. Hence, upon the foundation of the loyal heart which Abel demonstrated toward Heaven, God chose Seth in his place.21 From among Seth’s descendants, God chose Noah’s family to substitute for Adam’s family and commenced a new chapter in His providence.

It is written that God judged the world by the flood: “And God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth.’”22 This shows us that Noah’s time was the Last Days. God intended to accomplish the purpose of creation after the flood judgment by sending the Messiah upon the foundation laid by Noah’s family. For this reason, Noah’s family was responsible to fulfill the indemnity condition to restore the foundation of faith, and then the indemnity condition to restore the foundation of substance. They were to restore through indemnity the foundation for the Messiah, which Adam’s family had failed to lay.

2.1 The Foundation of Faith

2.1.1 The Central Figure for the Foundation of Faith
In the providence of restoration through Noah’s family, Noah was the central figure to restore the foundation of faith. God called Noah ten generations or sixteen hundred biblical years after Adam for the purpose of fulfilling the Will which He had intended to realize through Adam. Accordingly, God bestowed His blessings upon Noah, “be fruitful and multiply,”23 much as earlier He had bestowed the three great blessings upon Adam.24 In this sense, Noah was the second ancestor of humanity.

Noah was called when “the earth was filled with violence.”25 Enduring all kinds of derision and mockery, he worked for 120 years on a mountain to build the ark in absolute obedience to God’s instructions. Upon this condition of faith, God could bring on the flood judgment centered on Noah’s family. In this sense, Noah was the first father of faith. Although we commonly regard Abraham as the father of faith, in fact, Noah was to have had that honor. As we shall see, it was due to his son Ham’s sinful act that the mission of the father of faith was transferred from Noah to Abraham.

In the case of Adam, it was explained that although he should have been the central figure to restore the foundation of faith, he could not offer the sacrifice himself. Noah’s situation was different. He was called by God upon the foundation of Abel’s loyal and faithful heart in making an acceptable symbolic offering. In regard to his lineage, Noah was a descendant of Seth, who had been chosen to replace Abel. Further-more, Noah was a righteous man in the sight of God.26 For these reasons, he was qualified to make the symbolic offering to God by building the ark.

2.1.2 The Object for the Condition in Restoring the Foundation of Faith
The object for the condition by which Noah was to restore the foundation of faith was the ark. The ark was full of symbolic significance. Before Noah could stand in place of Adam as the second human ancestor, he first had to make an indemnity condition for the restoration of the cosmos, which had been lost to Satan due to Adam’s fall. Hence, the object for this condition, which Noah had to offer in an acceptable manner, should symbolize the new cosmos. He offered the ark as this object.

The ark was built with three decks, symbolizing the cosmos which had been created through the three stages of the growing period. The eight members of Noah’s family who entered the ark represented the eight members of Adam’s family who, having been invaded by Satan, had to be restored through indemnity. Thus, the ark symbolized the cosmos; Noah, its master, symbolized God; the members of his family symbolized humanity; and the animals brought into the ark symbolized the entire natural world.

After the ark was completed, God judged the world with the flood for forty days. What was the purpose of the flood? According to the Principle of Creation, human beings were created to serve only one master. Since humankind was under bondage to Satan, full of corruption and debauchery, for God to relate with them He would have to assume the position of a second master. That would be unprincipled. Therefore, God brought about the flood judgment, eliminating sinful humanity in order to raise up a family who would relate only with Him.

Why did God choose a forty-day period for the flood? The significance of the forty-day period should be understood in terms of the meaning of the numbers four and ten. The number ten signifies unity.27 It was ten generations after Adam when God called upon Noah to restore through indemnity the Will which He could not fulfill through Adam. By fulfilling a period of indemnity containing the number ten, God meant to bring the dispensation back into unity with His Will. Furthermore, since the goal of restoration is to complete the four position foundation, God worked to raise up each of these ten generations by setting up an indemnity period to restore the number four. In total, the period from Adam to Noah was an indemnity period to restore the number forty. Due to the lustfulness of the people of those days, however, this indemnity period of the number forty was defiled by Satan. The dispensation of Noah’s ark was God’s new attempt to complete the four position foundation. Therefore, God set the period of the flood judgment at forty days as the indemnity period to restore the number forty, which had been defiled when the earlier period was lost to Satan. By fulfilling this numerical period of indemnity, God intended to restore the foundation of faith.

The number forty thus became characteristic of dispensations for the separation of Satan, which are necessary for restoring the foundation of faith. There are many examples of this: Noah’s forty-day flood; the four hundred years from Noah to Abraham; the Israelites’ four hundred years of slavery in Egypt; Moses’ two forty-day fasts; the forty days of spying in Canaan; the Israelites’ forty years of wandering in the wilderness; the forty-year reigns of King Saul, King David and King Solomon; Elijah’s forty-day fast; Jonah’s prophecy that Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days; Jesus’ forty-day fast and prayer in the wilderness; and the forty-day period from Jesus’ resurrection to his ascension.

In the Bible we read that at the end of forty days of rain, Noah sent forth from the ark a raven and a dove.28 Let us examine what future providential situations this foreshadowed, as it is written, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.”29 By building the ark and passing through the forty-day flood judgment, Noah fulfilled an indemnity condition for the restoration of the cosmos. The flood corresponds to the period of chaos before the creation of the universe when “the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.”30 Accordingly, the works which God performed around the ark at the end of the forty-day flood symbolized the entire course of history following God’s creation of heaven and earth.

What was foreshadowed when Noah sent forth the raven, which circled about looking for a place to land until the waters subsided? It signified that Satan would be looking for a condition through which he could invade Noah’s family, just as the Archangel vied for Eve’s love soon after the creation of human beings, and just as Satan couched at the door looking for an opportunity to invade the offerings of Cain and Abel.31

What was foreshadowed when Noah sent forth the dove three times? Although it is written in the Bible that Noah sent out the dove to see if the water had subsided, that was not its only purpose. Certainly Noah could have looked out the opening from which he set forth the dove to examine the situation for himself. The sending forth of the dove had a deeper significance connected with the mysterious Will of God. Seven days after God proclaimed the flood judgment through Noah, the flood began.32 Forty days later, the dove was first sent out. It flew about but then returned to the ark because it found no place to land, and Noah took it back inside.33 The dove, when it was sent out the first time, represented the first Adam. God created Adam with the hope that His ideal of creation, which He had cherished from before time, would be realized in Adam as the perfect incarnation of the divine ideal on earth. Due to Adam’s fall, however, God could not realize the divine ideal on earth through him. God thus had to withdraw His ideal from the earth for a time and postpone its fulfillment to a later date.

Seven days later, Noah sent forth the dove a second time. Still the water had not yet dried, and again the dove returned. This time it carried in its mouth an olive leaf, indicating that there would be a place for it to land the next time.34 The dove, when it was sent out the second time, symbolized Jesus, the second Adam, whose coming would be God’s second attempt to realize the perfect incarnation of the divine ideal on the earth. These verses foreshadowed that if the chosen people were to disbelieve in Jesus at his coming, then he would have “nowhere to lay his head”35 and thus would not be able to realize God’s complete Will on the earth. In that situation, Jesus would have to go to the cross and return to God’s bosom, leaving behind the promise of the Second Advent. The dove returned to the ark because the water had not yet dried up. By analogy, had more of the Jewish people faithfully attended Jesus, he would have found a secure place to stand among them. He would not have been crucified and would have gone on to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

After another seven days had passed, Noah sent out the dove for the third time. This time the dove did not return to the ark, for the ground was dry.36 The dove, when it was sent out the third time, symbolized Christ at the Second Advent, who is to come as the third Adam. This foreshadowed that when Christ comes again, he will surely be able to realize God’s ideal of creation, which will never again be withdrawn from the earth. When the dove did not return, Noah finally disembarked from the ark and walked upon the earth, which had been purged of sin and made new. This foreshadowed that when the ideal of creation is realized on the earth through the work of the third Adam, the new Jerusalem will descend from Heaven and the dwelling of God will be with men.37

The foreshadowing in this story should be interpreted in light of the principle explained earlier: God’s providence of restoration may be prolonged if the person entrusted with the providence fails in his responsibility.38 Due to Adam’s faithlessness and failure to complete his responsibility, Jesus had to come as the second Adam. Furthermore, if the Jewish people were to disbelieve in Jesus and thus fail to complete their responsibility, Christ would certainly have to come again as the third Adam. Just as the creation of heaven and earth took a seven-day period, the seven-day intervals for sending forth the dove indicate to us that the restoration of heaven and earth requires certain providential periods of time.

2.2 The Foundation of Substance
Noah successfully restored through indemnity the foundation of faith by fulfilling the dispensation of the ark and thereby making a symbolic offering acceptable to God. In doing so, Noah fulfilled both the indemnity condition for the restoration of all things and the indemnity condition for the symbolic restoration of human beings. Upon this foundation, Noah’s sons, Shem and Ham, were then to have stood in the position of Cain and Abel, respectively. Had they then succeeded in the substantial offering by fulfilling the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature, they would have laid the foundation of substance.

For Noah’s family to make an acceptable substantial offering, Ham, Noah’s second son, was to restore the position of Abel, Adam’s second son. He was supposed to become the central figure of the substantial offering, just as Abel was the central figure of his family’s substantial offering. In Adam’s family, Abel had successfully made the symbolic offering in Adam’s place to restore through indemnity the foundation of faith and to be qualified as the central figure of the substantial offering. In the case of Noah’s family, it was Noah, not Ham, who made the symbolic offering. Therefore, for Ham to stand in the position of Abel, as one who has succeeded in making the symbolic offering, he had to become inseparably one in heart with his father, Noah. Let us examine how God worked to help Ham become one in heart with Noah.

The Bible reports that when Ham saw his father lying naked in his tent, he felt ashamed of Noah and took offense. Ham stirred up the same feelings in his brothers, Shem and Japheth. Swayed by Ham to feel ashamed of their father’s nakedness and turning their faces so as not to behold the sight, they walked backwards and covered their father’s body with a garment. This act constituted a sin, so much so that Noah rebuked Ham, cursing his son to be a slave to his brothers.39

Why did God conduct this dispensation? Why was it such a sin to feel ashamed of nakedness? To understand these matters, let us first recall what constitutes sin.40 Satan cannot manifest his powers-including the power to exist and act-unless he first secures an object partner with whom he can make a common base and engage in a reciprocal relationship of give and take. Whenever a person makes a condition for Satan to invade, it means that he has allowed himself to become Satan’s object partner, thereby empowering Satan to act. This constitutes sin.

Next, let us examine why God tested Ham by having him behold Noah’s nakedness. We saw that the ark symbolized the cosmos, and that the events occurring immediately after the dispensation of the ark represented the events which took place immediately after the creation of the cosmos. Hence, Noah’s position right after the flood was much like that of Adam after the creation of heaven and earth.

Adam and Eve before the Fall were close in heart and innocently open with each other and with God; as it is written, they were not ashamed of their nakedness.41 Yet after they fell, they felt ashamed of their nakedness. They covered their lower parts with fig leaves and hid among the trees of the garden, fearing that God would see them.42 This shame was an indication of their inner reality, for they had formed a bond of blood ties with Satan by committing sin with their sexual parts. By covering their lower parts and hiding, they expressed their guilty consciences, which made them feel ashamed to come before God.

Noah, who had severed his ties to Satan through the forty-day flood judgment, was supposed to secure the position of Adam right after the creation of the universe. God expected that the members of Noah’s family would react to Noah’s nakedness without any feelings of shame and without any thought to conceal his body. God wanted to recover the joyful heart which He had felt when looking at Adam and Eve in their innocence before the Fall by taking delight in the innocence of Noah’s family. To fulfill such a profound wish, God had Noah lie naked. Had Ham been one in heart with Noah, regarding him with the same heart and from the same standpoint as God, he would have looked upon his father’s nakedness without any sense of shame. He thus would have fulfilled the indemnity condition to restore in Noah’s family the state of Adam and Eve’s innocence before the Fall.

We can thus understand that when Noah’s sons felt ashamed of their father’s nakedness and covered his body, it was tantamount to acknowledging that they, like Adam’s family after the Fall, had formed a shameful bond of kinship with Satan and were thus unworthy to come before God. Satan, like the raven hovering over the water, was looking for a condition to invade Noah’s family. He attacked the family by taking Noah’s sons as his object partners when they in effect acknowledged that they were of his lineage.

When Ham felt ashamed of his father’s nakedness and acted to cover it up, he made a condition for Satan to enter; hence his feeling and act constituted a sin. Consequently, Ham could not restore through indemnity the position of Abel from which to make the substantial offering. Since he could not establish the foundation of substance, the providence of restoration in Noah’s family ended in failure.

Is it always sinful to regard nakedness with a sense of shame? No. Noah’s was a special case. In the position of Adam, Noah had the mission to remove all of Adam’s conditions which had left him vulnerable to Satan’s attack. By demonstrating that they neither felt ashamed of Noah’s nakedness nor would attempt to cover it, Noah’s family would have fulfilled the indemnity condition to restore the position of Adam’s family in its original innocence before it had joined with Satan in a kinship of blood. Therefore, this was an indemnity condition which only Noah’s family was required to fulfill.

2.3 Some Lessons from Noah’s Family
It is difficult for anyone to understand how Noah persisted in building the ark on the mountain over 120 long years, all the while enduring harsh criticism and ridicule. Ham knew well that his family had been saved by his father’s labors. Considering these things, Ham should have had such respect for his father that he would overcome his personal offense at Noah’s nakedness and have some understanding of it. Yet instead of trusting Noah, who had been justified by Heaven, Ham criticized him from a self- centered perspective and showed his displeasure by his actions. His disrespect had the effect of frustrating God’s long labors to work His providence through Noah’s family. We, too, need humility, obedience and patience to walk the path toward Heaven.

Next, the providence in Noah’s family teaches us about God’s conditional predestination of the fulfillment of His Will and His respect for the human portion of responsibility. God found Noah’s family after sixteen hundred years of preparation. He guided Noah for 120 years while he constructed the ark and raised up his family at the cost of sacrificing the rest of humanity in the flood. However, even though they had been His beloved in the providence of restoration, when Ham made his seemingly small mistake, allowing Satan to taint them, the entire Will centering on Noah’s family came to naught.

Finally, the providence through Noah’s family teaches us about God’s conditional predestination of human beings. Despite the fact that God had striven arduously for a long time to find Noah and raise him up as the father of faith, when his family could not fulfill its responsibility, God, though regretful, did not hesitate to abandon him and choose Abraham in his place.

Section 3: The Providence of Restoration in Abraham’s Family

Due to Ham’s fallen act, the providence of restoration in Noah’s family was not fulfilled. Nevertheless, God had absolutely predestined that the purpose of creation would one day be realized. Therefore, upon the foundation of Noah’s heart of loyalty toward Heaven, God called Abraham and commenced a new chapter in the providence of restoration with his family.

Abraham’s family was to restore the foundation for the Messiah, which Noah’s family had left incomplete, and receive the Messiah upon that foundation. Thus, as Noah before him, Abraham had to restore through indemnity the foundation of faith, and his sons had to restore through indemnity the foundation of substance.

3.1 The Foundation of Faith

3.1.1 The Central Figure for the Foundation of Faith
In the providence of restoration in Abraham’s family, the central figure to restore the foundation of faith was Abraham. God chose Abraham to inherit the mission of fulfilling the Will which He had tried to fulfill with Noah. However, Abraham could not inherit this mission unless he first restored through indemnity all the conditions which had been given to Noah to fulfill, but which were lost to Satan due to Ham’s sin.

The first conditions which Noah’s family lost to Satan were the ten generations from Adam to Noah and the forty-day period of judgment. Therefore, Abraham had to restore through indemnity another ten generations. Each of these ten generations was to restore the number forty, which represented the flood judgment. Once the forty-day flood ended in failure, the restoration of each generation had to span its entire length; this could not be accomplished in only forty days. The providence to restore the flood in each of those ten generations had to take a longer period of time: forty years. This is similar to the situation in Moses’ time, when restoration of the failed forty-day spying mission required the people to wander in the wilderness for forty years.43 Therefore, after an indemnity period of ten generations and four hundred years had passed since Noah,44 God chose Abraham to inherit Noah’s mission.

The next set of conditions which Noah’s family lost to Satan was the position of the father of faith and the position of Ham, who was to take up the role of Abel. Therefore, Abraham could not stand in Noah’s position without first restoring through indemnity the roles of the father of faith and of Ham. To assume the role of the father of faith in place of Noah, Abraham had to make a symbolic offering in faith with a loyal heart, just as Noah did when he built the ark. Next, how could Abraham restore the position of Ham? Ham was to have represented Abel, the most beloved of God: both were second sons and chosen to be the central figures of the substantial offering. Since Satan claimed Ham, according to the principle of restoration through indemnity, God needed to claim someone whom Satan loved most. This is the reason God called Abraham, who was the firstborn son of Terah, an idolator.45

Abraham was to inherit the mission of Noah and thus the mission of Adam. In this capacity, he represented restored Adam. As God had blessed Adam and Noah, God also blessed Abraham:

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves. -Gen. 12:2-3

After receiving this blessing, in obedience to God’s command, Abraham left his father’s house in Haran and entered Canaan with his wife Sarah, his nephew Lot, and all his belongings and servants.46 In this sense, God set Abraham’s course as the model course for restoring Canaan, which Jacob and Moses would walk in their days. Jacob and Moses would take their family members and all their belongings out of Haran and Egypt, respectively, and bring them back to Canaan while suffering many hardships along the way. Abraham’s course also foreshadowed the course which Jesus would one day walk: to take humanity and all things out of Satan’s world and bring them back to God’s world.47

3.1.2 The Objects for the Condition Offered for the Foundation of Faith

3.1.2.1 Abraham’s Symbolic Offering
God commanded Abraham to offer a dove and a pigeon, a ram and a goat, and a heifer.48 These were the objects for the condition which he offered to restore the foundation of faith. But before he could make the symbolic offering, Abraham had to demonstrate right faith, just as Noah before him was accounted righteous prior to building the ark as his symbolic offering. The Bible does not explain clearly how Noah demonstrated his faith. But from the verse, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God,”49 we can deduce that Noah demonstrated faith before he was deemed worthy to receive God’s commandment to build the ark. In truth, those who walk the providence of restoration must continually strengthen their faith.50 Let us investigate how Abraham strengthened his faith in preparation for making the symbolic offering.

Since Noah was the second human ancestor, for Abraham to restore the position of Noah, he also had to assume Adam’s position. For this reason, he was required to make a symbolic indemnity condition to restore the position of Adam’s family before he could make the actual symbolic offering.

In this regard, the Bible gives an account of a trip Abraham made to Egypt because of a famine.51 When they entered Egypt, Abraham instructed his wife Sarah to pose as his sister because he was afraid that the Pharaoh might desire her. Abraham feared that the Pharaoh would have him killed if he found out that he was Sarah’s husband. Indeed, at the Pharaoh’s command, Abraham handed Sarah over to him while she posed as his sister. Thereupon, God chastised the Pharaoh, Abraham took back his wife along with his nephew Lot and the abundant wealth which the Pharaoh had given him, and they left Egypt.

Without knowing it, Abraham walked this providential course to make a symbolic indemnity condition to restore the position of Adam’s family. When the Archangel took Eve-capturing under his dominion all of Eve’s descendants and the natural world-Adam and Eve were still brother and sister. For Abraham to make the indemnity condition to restore this, he was deprived of Sarah, who was playing the role of his sister, by the Pharaoh, who represented Satan. He then had to take her back from the Pharaoh as his wife, together with Lot as the representative of all humanity, and wealth symbolizing the natural world. This course which Abraham walked was the model course for Jesus to walk in his day. Once he had fulfilled this indemnity condition, Abraham was deemed ready to make the symbolic offering.

What was the significance of Abraham’s symbolic offering? For Abraham to become the father of faith, he had to restore through indemnity the position of Noah, whom God had intended to raise up as the father of faith, as well as Noah’s family. Furthermore, he had to restore the position of Adam and his family. Abraham was thus required to offer in an acceptable manner objects for the condition to restore all that Cain and Abel were supposed to accomplish through their sacrifices, and all that Noah’s family was trying to accomplish through the dispensation of the ark. Abraham’s symbolic offering consisted of objects with such symbolic meanings.

Abraham offered three types of objects as the condition for his symbolic offering: first, a dove and a pigeon; second, a ram and a goat; and third, a heifer. These three sacrifices symbolized the cosmos, which was completed through the three stages of the growing period. The dove represented the formation stage. When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist at the Jordan River, the Spirit of God descended and alighted upon him in the form of a dove.52 This is because Jesus came to bring completion to the Old Testament Age, which, as the formation stage of the providence, was symbolized by the dove. Moreover, there was a second reason for the vision of the dove alighting on Jesus. Jesus was to restore Abraham’s mistake in offering this dove, which, as we shall see, Satan snatched away.

The ram represented the growth stage. Once Jesus had brought fulfillment to the Old Testament Age, thus restoring everything represented by the dove, he commenced the New Testament Age at the growth stage of the providence, when everything represented by the ram was to be restored. After John the Baptist testified that he had seen the Spirit descend on Jesus as a dove-meaning that Jesus was the one to complete the formation stage of the providence-he testified that Jesus would begin the growth stage mission, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!”53

The heifer represented the completion stage. It is written that once, when Samson put forth a riddle to the Philistines, they obtained the answer by having Samson’s wife press him to reveal it. Samson said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle,”54 here metaphorically calling his wife a heifer. Jesus came as the bridegroom to all humanity. All devout believers should become his brides, awaiting the time of his return. After these brides celebrate the marriage of the Lamb with Jesus, their bridegroom, they are to live in the Kingdom of Heaven in oneness with him as his wives (in a metaphorical sense). Therefore, the Completed Testament Age following the Second Advent of Jesus is the age of the heifer, or the age of the wife. The reason why some spiritual mediums have received the revelation that the present era is the age of a cow or heifer is because we are entering the completion stage.

What were the three sacrifices to indemnify? Abraham was to restore by this offering all that God could not restore through the symbolic offerings made by the families of Adam and Noah-offerings that were made properly but then forfeited to Satan due to subsequent failures. Abraham’s offering was also to make a symbolic indemnity condition as restitution for their failures in making the substantial offering. In other words, the purpose of Abraham’s symbolic offering of the three types of objects for the condition was to restore in his generation (horizontally) all the indemnity conditions which had accumulated in the course of the providence (vertically) through the three generations of Adam, Noah and Abraham.

Why did Abraham place the three sacrifices-the dove and pigeon, the ram and goat, and the heifer, symbolizing the formation, growth and completion stages-on one altar? Before the Fall, Adam was responsible to grow through all three stages in his one lifetime. Similarly, Abraham, now in the position of Adam, was supposed to restore, all at once, the long providence which God had conducted through the three providential generations of Adam (formation), Noah (growth) and Abraham (completion). Through one offering, he could restore all the defiled conditions containing the number three. The symbolism of Abraham’s sacrifice reveals God’s Will to fulfill the entire providence of restoration once and for all.

Now let us study how Abraham made the symbolic offering:

He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a she-goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in two, and laid each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and lo, a dread and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know of a surety that your descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and will be slaves there, and they will be oppressed for four hundred years.” -Gen. 15:9-13

Because Abraham did not cut the dove and pigeon in two as he should have, birds of prey came down and defiled the sacrifices. As a result of his mistake, the Israelites were destined to enter Egypt and suffer hardships for four hundred years. Why was it a sin not to cut the birds in half? This question can be understood only with the help of the Principle.

Let us first investigate the reason why Abraham was instructed to cut the sacrifices in half. God’s work of salvation aims to restore the sovereignty of goodness by first dividing good from evil and then destroying evil and uplifting the good. This is the reason Adam had to be divided into Cain and Abel before the sacrifice could be made. This is the reason why in Noah’s day, God struck down evil through the flood judgment and winnowed out Noah’s family as the good. God had Abraham cut the sacrifices in two before offering them, with the intention of doing the symbolic work of dividing good from evil, which was left unaccomplished by Adam and Noah.

The sacrifices were to be divided, first, to restore the situation in Adam’s family in which Abel and Cain were divided into a representative of good and a representative of evil. Second, it was to restore the situation of having divided good from evil during the forty days of Noah’s flood. Third, it was to make the symbolic condition to separate a realm of good sovereignty out of the universe ruled by Satan. Fourth, it was to make the condition to sanctify the offering by draining out the blood of death, which had entered fallen humanity when they were bound in blood-ties to Satan.

Why was it a sin not to divide the offering? First, not dividing the offering has the significance of not dividing Abel from Cain. Without being divided, the offering could not be acceptable to God because it did not provide Him with an Abel-type object partner which He could take. Consequently, the mistakes Cain and Abel had made in their sacrifices were not restored. Second, not dividing the offering was tantamount to repeating the failure of the providence in Noah’s time, when good and evil remained undivided despite the flood. Like the failure of Noah’s family, Abraham’s failure to divide the offering also deprived God of His good object partner. Thus, it repeated the mistake which made the dispensation of the flood a failure. Third, not dividing the offering meant there was no symbolic condition to separate a realm of God’s good sovereignty out of the universe under Satan’s dominion. Fourth, because the blood of death was not drained out of it, not dividing the offering meant it could not be a sanctified offering acceptable to God. In other words, when Abraham offered the birds
without first dividing them, it meant that he offered what had not been wrested from Satan’s possession. His mistake had the effect of acknowledging Satan’s claim of possession over them.

The dove, symbolizing the formation stage, remained in Satan’s possession. Consequently, Satan also claimed the ram, symbolizing the growth stage, and the heifer, symbolizing the completion stage, both of which were to be fulfilled based upon the formation stage. Since it had the effect of handing over the entire symbolic offering to Satan, not dividing the birds constituted a sin.

Next, let us examine what is meant by the verse that birds of prey descended upon the carcasses. Since the Fall of the first human ancestors, Satan has always been stalking those with whom God worked to fulfill His Will. When Cain and Abel were making their sacrifices, Satan was couching at the door.55 In the story of Noah, the raven circling about signifies how Satan was looking for an opportunity to invade Noah’s family right after the flood.56 Similarly, when Abraham was making his symbolic offering, Satan was on the lookout for an opportunity to seize the sacrifice. He profaned it as soon as he saw that the birds were not divided. The Bible describes this by the image of birds of prey descending upon the sacrifice.

Abraham’s mistake in making the symbolic offering caused the offering to be defiled. All the conditions God intended to restore through it were lost. As a consequence, Abraham’s descendants had to suffer oppression and slavery for four hundred years in the land of Egypt. Let us investigate the reason for this.

God called upon Abraham and commanded him to make the symbolic offering at the completion of a four-hundred-year period for the separation of Satan. This period had been set up to restore through indemnity the ten generations from Adam to Noah and the forty-day period of the flood judgment, lost to Satan due to Ham’s sin. It was also the indemnity period necessary to establish Abraham as the father of faith when he completed the symbolic offering. When Abraham’s mistake in the symbolic offering allowed Satan to claim the offering as his, that four-hundred-year period was also lost to Satan. To re-create on the national level the situation before Abraham’s failure in the symbolic offering, which was itself parallel to when Noah was called upon to build the ark, God set up another four-hundred-year period for the separation of Satan. During this period, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. By enduring through this period, the Israelites were to restore-this time on the national level-the situations of Noah and Abraham at the outset of their missions as the fathers of faith, thereupon also laying the foundation for Moses to begin his mission. Hence, this period of slavery was both the time when the Israelites were being punished for Abraham’s mistake and the time when they were laying the foundation to cut off ties to Satan and commence God’s new providence.

As explained earlier, God had hoped to fulfill, all at once, the dispensations in the formation, growth and completion stages by having Abraham successfully make the symbolic offering of three types of sacrifices on one altar. Contrary to this plan, Abraham failed, repeating the mistakes of the past. Consequently, the providence centered on him was prolonged through the three generations of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

3.1.2.2 Abraham’s Offering of Isaac
After Abraham failed in the symbolic offering, God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Isaac as a burnt offering.57 In this way, God began a new dispensation for the purpose of restoring through indemnity Abraham’s failure. According to the principle of predestination, when someone whom God has foreordained to accomplish a certain portion of His Will fails to complete his responsibility, God does not use him a second time. Why, then, did God work with Abraham again when he had him offer Isaac?

We can advance three reasons. First, the number three represents completion.58 God’s Principle requires that when the providence to lay the foundation for the Messiah takes place for the third time, it must be brought to completion. Therefore, God’s providence to lay the foundation for the Messiah, which began in Adam’s family as the first dispensation and continued in Noah’s family as the second dispensation, had to conclude in Abraham’s family, which was the third dispensation. For this reason, Abraham was given the opportunity to fulfill a condition of indemnity, albeit at a greater price, and thereby make symbolic restoration of all he had lost when he failed in the earlier symbolic offering. This greater indemnity condition was the offering of his son Isaac as a sacrifice.

Second, as was explained earlier, when Abraham was making his sacrifice, he was in the position of Adam. Satan had attacked both Adam and his son Cain, defiling the family over the course of two generations. Hence, according to the principle of restoration through indemnity, God could work to take back Abraham and his son Isaac over the course of two generations.

Third, we learned that Noah could make the symbolic offering of the ark himself, even though he was in the same position as Adam who could not make the sacrifice directly. This is because he stood upon the merit of Abel, who had demonstrated a faithful heart when he succeeded in the symbolic offering. When Abraham was called by God, he stood on the merit of both Abel, who succeeded in the symbolic offering at the formation stage, and Noah, who succeeded in the symbolic offering at the growth stage. Upon this double foundation, Abraham was to make the symbolic offering at the completion stage. Accordingly, even though Abraham failed, God could raise him up and give him another chance to make an offering based on the accumulated merit of Abel’s and Noah’s faithful hearts.

Before he could offer Isaac as a sacrifice, Abraham once again had to demonstrate right faith by repeating the symbolic indemnity condition for the restoration of Adam’s family, as he had when he was about to make the symbolic offering. This is the reason Abraham once again put Sarah in the position of his sister and let her be taken by a king, this time Abimelech of Gerar. After she became the king’s wife, Abraham took her back. This time Abraham also took back with him slaves, who symbolized humanity, and riches, which symbolized the natural world.59

How did Abraham offer Isaac?

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” 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.” -Gen. 22:9-12

Abraham’s faith was absolute. In obedience to God’s command, he was about to kill Isaac, his only son, intending to offer him as a burnt offering. God intervened at that moment and told Abraham not to kill the boy.

Abraham’s zeal to do God’s Will and his resolute actions, carried out with absolute faith, obedience and loyalty, lifted him up to the position of already having killed Isaac. Therefore, he completely separated Satan from Isaac. God commanded Abraham not to kill Isaac because Isaac, now severed of all ties to Satan, stood on God’s side. We must also understand that when God said, “now I know . . .” He revealed both His reproach to Abraham for his earlier failure in the symbolic offering and His joy over the successful offering of Isaac. Because Abraham succeeded in his offering of Isaac, the providence of restoration in Abraham’s family could be carried on by Isaac.

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. Thence-forth, a three-day period has 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.60 Moses, too, led the Israelites through a three-day period for the separation of Satan as they left Egypt to begin the national course to restore Canaan.61 When Jesus began the worldwide spiritual course to restore Canaan, he spent three days in the tomb to accomplish the separation of Satan.

3.1.2.3 Isaac’s Position and His Symbolic Offering in the Sight of God
It was explained earlier that although Abraham’s symbolic offering ended in failure, there remained some grounds in the Principle for the foundation for the Messiah to be established centered on him. Yet since he had failed to fulfill his responsibility, Abraham was not qualified to repeat the symbolic offering himself.62 Somehow, God had to find a way to regard Abraham as though he had not failed in the symbolic offering or caused the prolongation of the providence. To achieve this, God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering.

God had previously promised Abraham that He would raise up a chosen people from the lineage of Isaac, saying:

Behold, the word of the Lord came to him, “. . . your own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

-Gen. 15:4-5

When Abraham was prepared to slay his son, even the son of the promise, he demonstrated utmost loyalty to Heaven. This act of faith was tantamount to Abraham killing himself-a self which 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 own 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,63 and when he saw there was no lamb to be offered, he inquired of his father about it.64 Isaac was apparently 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 the 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 indemnity 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 which qualified him to make the symbolic offering.

After the divine mission had passed from Abraham to Isaac, Abraham offered the ram provided by God as the substitute for Isaac:

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. -Gen. 22:13

In fact, 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 indemnity the foundation of faith.

3.2 The Foundation of Substance
Isaac thus became the central figure to restore the foundation of faith in place of Abraham. He established the foundation of faith by making the symbolic offering of the ram in a manner acceptable to God. To establish the foundation for the Messiah in Isaac’s family, the foundation of substance had to be laid next. For this purpose, Isaac’s sons, Esau and Jacob, had to be placed in the divided positions of Cain and Abel respectively. By making the substantial offering, they were responsible to fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and lay the foundation of substance. If Abraham had not failed in the symbolic offering, Isaac and his half-brother Ishmael would have stood in the positions of Abel and Cain. They would have been responsible to fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature which Cain and Abel did not accomplish. However, because Abraham failed in the offering, God set up Isaac in the position of Abraham, and Esau and Jacob in the positions originally intended for Ishmael and Isaac. It was then up to Esau and Jacob to fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature.

For the purpose of making the substantial offering, Esau and Jacob were in the same positions under their father Isaac as Cain and Abel in relation to Adam, and as Shem and Ham in relation to Noah. Isaac’s eldest son Esau represented Abraham’s first symbolic offering defiled by Satan, while the second son Jacob represented the offering of Isaac by which Satan was separated. Moreover, Esau assumed the role of Cain as the representative of evil, while Jacob stood in the position of Abel as the representative of goodness. Esau and Jacob began fighting inside their mother’s womb65 because they were in these opposing positions. Even then, God loved Jacob and hated Esau,66 but this was for a providential reason: they were supposed to restore through indemnity the mistakes which Cain and Abel had made in their offering.

However, before Esau and Jacob could fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and make the substantial offering, Jacob first had to fulfill the indemnity condition to restore the position of Abel. In all, Jacob had the following missions: First, he should fulfill the indemnity condition to restore the position of Abel, the central figure of the substantial offering. Next, he should make the substantial offering. Finally, as will be discussed in the next section, Jacob would enter Egypt to commence the four-hundred-year course of indemnity required of his descendants because of Abraham’s mistake in the symbolic offering.

Jacob made the indemnity condition to restore the position of Abel in the following manner. First, Jacob fulfilled the condition of victory in the fight to restore on the individual level the birthright of the eldest son. Because Satan took dominion over the universe created by God, Satan assumed the position of the eldest son. God was cast in the position of the second son, from which He had to work His way toward restoring the birthright. For this reason, God has favored second sons over firstborn sons, as in the case of Esau and Jacob: “I have loved Jacob but I have hated Esau.”67 Jacob, as the second son who had the responsibility to restore the birthright of the firstborn son, cleverly obtained it from Esau in exchange for some bread and a pottage of lentils.68 Because Jacob highly valued the birthright and worked to reclaim it from his brother, God had Isaac bless him.69 On the contrary, God did not bless Esau, because he thought so little of his birthright that he traded it for a bowl of lentil pottage.

Second, Jacob went to Haran, which represented the satanic world. After suffering through twenty-one years of drudgery, he triumphed over Laban in the fight to restore the birthright by gaining family and wealth as his due inheritance. After winning this victory, Jacob returned to Canaan.

Third, on his way back to Canaan, the land of the promised blessing, Jacob triumphed in wrestling with an angel at the ford of Jabbok, thereby restoring dominion over the angel in a substantial struggle. Through these three victories, Jacob restored through indemnity the position of Abel. Thereupon, Jacob became the central figure of the substantial offering.

Esau and Jacob thus secured the positions in which Cain and Abel had stood at the moment when God accepted Abel’s offering. Accordingly, for Jacob and Esau to fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature, Esau needed to love Jacob, respect him as his mediator to God, obediently submit to Jacob’s directions, and finally, multiply goodness by inheriting goodness from the bearer of God’s blessing. Indeed, when Jacob returned to Canaan with his family and wealth after enduring twenty-one years of hardship in Haran, he moved Esau to overcome his former hostility:

And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. And he put the maids with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

-Gen. 33:1-4

When Esau opened his arms and affectionately welcomed Jacob, they fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. For the first time, the foundation of substance was laid successfully.

When Jacob and Esau succeeded in making the substantial offering, they restored through indemnity the previous failures in making substantial offerings: the failures of Cain and Abel in Adam’s family and of Ham and Shem in Noah’s family. Their victory in the providence centered on Abraham also restored through indemnity, horizontally in one family, the long vertical course of history in which God had been working to restore the foundation of substance.

Esau had been in the position to be hated by God from the time he was inside his mother’s womb70 only because he had been given the role of Cain, who was on Satan’s side, for the purpose of setting up an indemnity condition in the providence of restoration. Once he submitted to Jacob and completed his portion of responsibility, he stood in the position of restored Cain and was at last able to receive God’s love.

3.3 The Foundation for the Messiah
God’s work to lay the foundation for the Messiah, which He first tried to establish in Adam’s family, had to be conducted three times because the central figures of the providence of restoration could not fulfill their portion of responsibility. The third attempt was in Abraham’s time, yet even this was prolonged when he failed in the symbolic offering. Isaac and his family inherited the Will and laid the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance. At last, the foundation for the Messiah was established. One would expect that the Messiah would have come on the earth at that time.

However, the foundation for the Messiah also requires a social environment conducive to his coming. The foundation must make it feasible for this satanic world to be restored into God’s Kingdom ruled by the Messiah. In the providence in Adam’s and Noah’s families, there were no other families which could possibly attack or corrupt the central family. If either of these families had laid the foundation for the Messiah on the family level, the Messiah could have come without opposition. However, by Abraham’s time, fallen people had already built up satanic nations which could easily overpower Abraham’s family. Hence, even though the foundation for the Messiah was laid at that time, it was a limited foundation, on the family level. The Messiah could not have safely come on that foundation. A foundation of a sovereign state was needed to cope with the nations of the satanic world.

Such support would have been necessary even if Abraham had not failed in the symbolic offering, but had succeeded with his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, in making the substantial offering to lay the family foundation for the Messiah. It still would not have been safe for the Messiah to come until Abraham’s descendants had multiplied in Canaan and established a national foundation for the Messiah. As it was, though the descendants of Isaac had established the family foundation for the Messiah, they would leave their homeland and suffer in a foreign land for four hundred years as the penalty for Abraham’s mistake. Despite their suffering in Egypt, they would flourish and consolidate as a people. They would return to Canaan and build the national foundation for the Messiah as a sovereign nation prepared for the Messiah and his work.71

A course of indemnity had been placed upon the shoulders of Abraham’s descendants due to his mistake in the symbolic offering. Jacob was to begin this course of indemnity, not Isaac. Indeed, the one who shoulders the major burden in walking the course of indemnity is the Abel-type person who serves as the central figure of the substantial offering. Abel in Adam’s family, Ham in Noah’s family, Isaac in Abraham’s family, and Jacob in Isaac’s family carried the major burdens in walking the indemnity courses set down for their families. Among them, Jacob was the only Abel figure who stood upon the foundation for the Messiah. Therefore, he would walk the model course for the separation of Satan, setting the pattern for the Messiah to follow at his coming.72

Jacob’s family stood upon the foundation for the Messiah which had been completed in Isaac’s family. Inheriting the position of Isaac’s family, they set out to complete the dispensation entrusted to Abraham by taking responsibility for Abraham’s sin and embarking upon the four-hundred-year course of indemnity. In Isaac’s family it was Jacob, in the position of Abel, who walked the entire course of indemnity. In Jacob’s family it was Joseph, the son of Rachel-Jacob’s wife on God’s side-who was to secure the position of Abel by entering Egypt and walking the course of indemnity. After being sold into slavery by his brothers and brought to Egypt, Joseph rose to the office of prime minister of Egypt by the age of thirty. He witnessed the realization of a prophecy which God had given him in his dreams while he was still a child.73 First, Joseph’s half brothers, born of Leah-Jacob’s wife on Satan’s side-entered Egypt and surrendered themselves to him. Later, all of Jacob’s children entered Egypt, and finally they brought their father to Egypt. In this way, Jacob’s family began the indemnity course to build a nation which would one day receive the Messiah.

Jacob, as the central figure who laid the foundation for the Messiah in Isaac’s family, was responsible to shoulder Abraham’s sin. He was also responsible to embark upon an indemnity course to realize on the national level the Will which had been entrusted to Isaac. Therefore, as was the case with Abraham and Isaac, God regarded Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as the same person with respect to His Will, even though they were three different individuals. Accordingly, Jacob’s success meant Isaac’s success, and Isaac’s success meant Abraham’s success. The providence of restoration centering on Abraham, though it was extended to Isaac and Jacob, came to be regarded in the sight of God as having been accomplished in Abraham’s own generation without any prolongation. It is written, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”74 This verse indicates that although they were three generations, God regarded as one generation these ancestors who collectively accomplished His Will.

God intended to fulfill the goal of His providence by establishing the national foundation for the Messiah and sending the Messiah to that prepared nation. To accomplish this, God had Jacob’s family enter Egypt, the satanic world, where they would suffer as slaves for four hundred years. Then, as promised to Abraham, God would raise them up as the chosen people and bring them back to Canaan.

The foundation for the Messiah established in Isaac’s family became the basis upon which to begin the course of indemnity to establish the national foundation for the Messiah. The period of two thousand years from Adam to Abraham was in effect the period to lay the basis for this national providence to begin in the next era.

In conclusion, Jacob was victorious in taking responsibility for the indemnity course to pay for Abraham’s mistake. By using his wisdom for the sake of God’s Will, Jacob triumphed as an individual in his struggle with Esau to win the birthright. He entered Haran and, as a family, triumphed in a twenty-one-year struggle with his uncle Laban to win the birthright. On his way back from Haran to Canaan, Jacob was victorious in the fight with the angel. He was the first fallen man to fulfill the indemnity condition to restore dominion over the angel. Thereupon, he received the name “Israel,”75 signifying that he set the pattern and laid the groundwork upon which the chosen people would be established. After returning to Canaan with these victories, Jacob won Esau’s heart, and together they fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature.

Jacob thus victoriously completed the model course to bring Satan to submission. Moses, Jesus, and even the people of Israel would walk this course after the pattern set by Jacob. The history of Israel can serve as a good historical source for understanding the course to bring Satan to submission on the national level. For this reason, it is central to the study of the providence of restoration.

3.4 Some Lessons from Abraham’s Course
First, Abraham’s course demonstrates that God’s predestination concerning the manner in which His Will is fulfilled is conditional. The providence of restoration cannot be fulfilled by God’s power alone; it can only be fulfilled in conjunction with the human portion of responsibility. Hence, although God called upon Abraham for the purpose of fulfilling the providence of restoration, when he failed to complete his responsibility, God’s Will was not fulfilled.

Second, Abraham’s course demonstrates that God’s predestination concerning human beings is conditional. Although God preordained Abraham to be the father of faith by succeeding in his offering, when he could not complete his responsibility, this mission extended to Isaac and Jacob.

Third, Abraham’s course shows us that when human beings fail to complete their responsibility, the fulfillment of God’s Will is always delayed, and its restoration requires fulfillment of a greater indemnity condition. In Abraham’s case, God’s Will was to be accomplished by merely sacrificing animals; upon his failure, however, it had to be accomplished by offering his beloved son, Isaac, as a sacrifice and had to be completed through Isaac and Jacob.

Fourth, Abraham’s cutting the sacrifices in two provides a lesson that each of us must divide our own self as an offering to separate good from evil. A life of faith involves putting ourselves in the position of an offering. Only by dividing good from evil in ourselves can we become living offerings pleasing to God. We should constantly separate good from evil within ourselves, according to the standard of God’s Will. If we neglect to do this, a condition is set up for Satan to invade.

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Chapter 2: Moses and Jesus in the Providence of Restoration

The Bible contains many secrets concerning God’s work of salvation. It is written, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.”1 However, without knowing the principle behind God’s providence, people have been unable to discern the mysteries concealed in the Bible. The biblical account of a prophet’s life is not merely a record of history. Rather, through the life course of a prophet, the Bible discloses the way for fallen people to walk. In particular, we shall examine how God set up the providential courses of Jacob and Moses as models for Jesus’ course to save humankind.

Section 1: The Model Courses for Bringing Satan to Submission

We learned that in the providence of restoration in Isaac’s family, Jacob was the central figure who laid the foundation of substance. He secured the position of Abel and labored to bring Satan to submission and fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. Jacob’s entire course became the model course for Moses and Jesus. Jesus came to bring Satan to submission in substantial terms. Before Jesus, Moses walked a course for the subjugation of Satan that was the image of the course Jesus would walk. Still earlier, God had Jacob walk a course that was a symbolic representation of Jesus’ course. Moreover, Jacob’s course is the model for the course which the Israelites and all of humanity must walk to bring Satan to submission and attain the goal of the providence of restoration.

1.1 Why Jacob’s Course and Moses’ Course Were Set Up as the Models for Jesus’ Course
The goal of the providence of restoration is attained when human beings bring Satan to voluntary submission and become his master. They must do this by fulfilling their given portion of responsibility. Jesus, as the Messiah and the true human ancestor, came to help all people of faith bring Satan to voluntary submission. By himself, he pioneered the course to bring Satan to complete submission and has since guided people of faith to follow his example.

Satan, who does not meekly surrender even before God, would by no means readily surrender to Jesus, much less to ordinary believers. Therefore, God, who takes responsibility for human beings, whom He created, called upon Jacob and worked through him to show us, in symbolic form, the course for bringing Satan to submission.

Moses was able to subjugate Satan by following the pattern of the model course which was revealed symbolically in Jacob’s course. In his course, Moses developed this to the level of image. Similarly, by building on the pattern of Moses’ course, Jesus came to substantially bring Satan to submission. By walking in Jesus’ footsteps, people of faith can also bring Satan to submission and master him. When Moses said, “The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from your brethren as he raised me up. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you,”2 he was referring to Jesus. Jesus would stand in a position comparable to Moses and follow Moses’ course as the model in order to walk the worldwide providence to restore Canaan-the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise.”3 By this he meant that he was following
the model course which God had revealed to him through Moses. Moses thus prefigured Jesus.

1.2 Jacob’s Course as the Model for Moses’ and Jesus’ Courses
Jacob pioneered the course to bring Satan to submission. This course takes the path opposite to the way by which Satan corrupted humanity. Moses and Jesus went through courses after the pattern of Jacob’s course. Let us study these courses together in this section.

(1) The first human beings should have been absolutely determined to keep God’s commandment not to eat of the fruit, yet they fell at the risk of their lives when the Archangel tempted them. Accordingly, for Jacob to complete the restoration of Canaan at the family level-that is, return to Canaan with his family and wealth and there restore the foundation to receive the Messiah-he had to triumph in a fight at the risk of his life with an angel, representing Satan. Jacob was desperate to overcome this trial as he wrestled with the angel at the ford of Jabbok. He triumphed and received the name “Israel.”4 In this trial, it was God who tested Jacob by putting the angel in the position of Satan. God’s purpose in doing this was not to make Jacob miserable, but to help him secure the position of Abel and complete the restoration of his family by winning the qualification to rule the angel. Furthermore, through the angel playing the leading role in the trial, the way was opened for the angelic world to be restored.

In the case of Moses, before he could guide the Israelites into Canaan and thus complete the national restoration of Canaan, he first had to overcome a life-threatening trial in which the Lord tried to kill him.5 We must understand that God gives such tests to people because He loves them. If Satan rather than God gave such tests and people were to fail, they would become Satan’s prey. Similarly, Jesus had to overcome a trial before he could embark upon the worldwide restoration of Canaan-that is, to guide humanity into the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. He battled with Satan at the risk of his life and triumphed over him when he fasted for forty days and was tempted in the wilderness.6

(2) Since our fallen nature was acquired when Satan defiled our flesh and spirit, Jacob had to fulfill a comparable condition to remove it. For this reason, to restore the position of Abel for the fulfillment of the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature, Jacob purchased the birthright from Esau with bread and lentils,7 which symbolized flesh and spirit. To repeat this course in Moses’ day, God fed the people with manna and quail,8 also symbolizing flesh and spirit, and thereby strengthened their gratitude toward Him and heightened their awareness of being the chosen people. Through this provision, God wanted the people to obey Moses and fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature on the national level.

Jesus said: “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. . . . I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”9 Besides confirming that he walked the model course set by Moses, Jesus meant by these verses that all fallen humanity should become one with him in flesh and spirit. By faithfully following and uniting with Jesus, who at that time stood in the position of John the Baptist,10 they would have fulfilled the worldwide indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. By then devotedly attending Jesus as the Messiah, they were to restore their original nature.

(3) Due to the Fall, Satan defiled even the human corpse. Jacob’s body was sanctified with the blessing which he had received in life. In death, the disposition of his corpse also fulfilled a condition of purification; thus the embalming took forty days.11 In the case of Moses, the archangel Michael contended with the Devil over the proper disposition of his body.12 We know that Jesus’ body disappeared, to the bewilderment of the authorities, leaving an empty tomb.13

(4) At the Fall, Satan corrupted the first human ancestors during their growing period. To restore through indemnity this defilement, God has been working to set up conditions based on certain numbers, such as the number three, which signify the growing period.14 When Jacob began his journey from Haran to Canaan, there was a three-day period for the separation of Satan before Laban was notified of his absence.15 When Moses guided his people out of Egypt into Canaan, there was an initial period of three days.16 Joshua lodged at the Jordan River for three days before he crossed it.17 When Jesus was about to begin the worldwide spiritual course to restore Canaan, he spent three days in the tomb.18

Jacob had twelve sons19 in order to restore through indemnity in his generation (horizontally) the indemnity conditions accumulated (vertically) through the twelve generations from Noah to Jacob, which had been lost to Satan. In Moses’ day, there were the twelve tribes20 and Jesus had twelve disciples21 for similar reasons. To fulfill an indemnity condition to separate Satan from the seven days of God’s creation which he had defiled, there were seventy members of Jacob’s family,22 seventy elders in Moses’ time,23 and Jesus’ seventy followers,24 all of whom played central, providential roles in their respective eras.

(5) A staff, which smites evil, leads the way and provides support when one leans on it, is a symbol of the Messiah.25 Jacob crossed the Jordan River and entered the land of Canaan while leaning on a staff.26 This foreshadowed that one day fallen humanity will cross the waters of this sinful world and arrive on the shore of the ideal world by following the Messiah: smiting injustice, following his guidance and example, and depending on him. Moses guided the Israelites across the Red Sea with a staff.27 Jesus at his Second Coming will guide humanity across the turbulent waters of this fallen world to reach the shore of God’s ideal with the rod of iron, symbolizing himself.28

(6) Eve’s sin implanted the root of sin in the lineage of humankind, which bore fruit when Cain killed Abel. Since it was a mother and son who allowed Satan to enter and bear the fruit of sin, according to the principle of restoration through indemnity, a mother and son must separate from Satan through their joint efforts. Jacob could not have received the blessing and separated from Satan without his mother’s devoted support and wise advice.29 Moses could not have escaped death and been in the position to serve God’s Will if not for his mother’s help.30 Finally, Mary saved Jesus’ life by fleeing with him to Egypt, escaping from King Herod who sought to kill him.31

(7) The central figure entrusted with God’s Will in the providence must return from Satan’s world to God’s world. This is why Jacob journeyed from Haran, the satanic world, to Canaan,32 and Moses journeyed from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan.33 After Jesus had taken refuge in Egypt shortly after his birth,34 he returned to Galilee.

(8) The ultimate purpose of the providence of restoration is to eradicate Satan. Signifying this, Jacob buried the idols under an oak tree.35 Moses tore down the golden calf, burned it with fire, ground it to a powder, scattered the powder upon the water, and made the Israelites drink it.36 Jesus came to destroy this evil world by bringing Satan to submission with his words and power.37

Section 2: The Providence of Restoration under the Leadership of Moses

2.1 Overview of the Providence Led by Moses
The providence of restoration led by Moses was built upon the foundation for the Messiah laid in Abraham’s family. Nevertheless, the Principle still required Moses himself to lay the foundation for the Messiah by restoring through indemnity the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance. Whenever the central figure for the providence changes, the new central figure cannot inherit the providential Will without first completing a similar responsibility of his own. Furthermore, in this case, the foundation had to be laid anew because the scope of the providence had expanded from a family to a nation. As we shall see, in the providence of restoration led by Moses, the indemnity conditions required to lay these foundations were quite different than before.

2.1.1 The Foundation of Faith

2.1.1.1 The Central Figure to Restore the Foundation of Faith
Moses was the central figure to restore the foundation of faith. A foundation of faith had to be laid anew to begin the course to return to the promised land of Canaan upon the conclusion of the four hundred years of slavery incurred because of Abraham’s mistake in his symbolic offering. Before we study how Moses established the foundation of faith, let us first examine the providential position of Moses in relation to Jesus, and then in the next section investigate how he was different from all the previous central figures who were called to lay the foundation of faith.

First, Moses was put in the position representing God, acting in His stead. God told Moses that he should be as God to Aaron.38 He also said, “See, I make you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.”39

Second, God set up Moses to prefigure Jesus. By having Moses stand in God’s position before Aaron and the Pharaoh, God set him up to prefigure Jesus, the only incarnation of God. By prefiguring Jesus, Moses pioneered the path for Jesus to one day walk. Like John the Baptist after him,40 Moses was to make straight the way for Jesus.

As the descendant of Jacob, who had established the foundation for the Messiah, Moses could serve as a central figure in the Age of the Providence of Restoration. In his providential path, Moses built upon the tradition and deeds of his ancestor, Jacob. Their courses served as models for the path which Jesus would later walk.

Moses also stood on the foundation which Joseph had laid when he entered Egypt. Joseph’s life, too, prefigured that of Jesus. As the son of Rachel (Jacob’s wife representing God’s side) and the younger brother of the sons of Leah (Jacob’s wife representing Satan’s side), Joseph stood in the position of Abel. He narrowly escaped his older brothers’ scheme to kill him, and when he was sold off to merchants, he entered Egypt as a slave. Yet he rose to the rank of prime minister of Egypt by the age of thirty. His brothers and father came to Egypt and humbly bowed before him, fulfilling a prophetic dream he had as a child.41 Based upon this providential victory, the Israelites entered Egypt and commenced a period of hardships for the purpose of severing Satan’s ties. Joseph’s course foreshadowed the course which Jesus would later walk. After coming to the satanic world, Jesus would endure a path of hardships and emerge as the King of Kings at the age of thirty. He was to bring all of humanity, including his forefathers, into submission, cut all their ties to the satanic world, and restore them to God’s realm.

Moses’ infancy, childhood and death also prefigured the course of Jesus. At his birth, Moses was in danger of being killed at the hands of the Pharaoh. After his mother nursed him in concealment, Moses entered the Pharaoh’s palace and was brought up safely among his foes. Likewise, Jesus was born into a situation where he was in danger of being killed by King Herod. Jesus’ mother took him, fled to Egypt, and raised him in concealment there. Later, she brought him back to King Herod’s realm where he grew up safely among his foes. After Moses’ death, no one knew the whereabouts of his body;42 this foreshadowed what would happen to Jesus’ body after his death.

2.1.1.2 The Object for the Condition in Restoring the Foundation of Faith
Moses was in a position different from earlier central figures who were entrusted with laying the foundation of faith. Unlike Abel, Noah and Abraham, Moses did not need to make a symbolic offering. Rather, he could restore the foundation of faith merely by obedience to God’s Word while fulfilling a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan.45 There are three reasons for this difference.

First, Moses stood on the foundation of the three successful symbolic offerings by Abel, Noah and Isaac. They had completed the providence based on making symbolic offerings.

Second, symbolic offerings were objects for the condition made necessary as substitutes for the Word, because after the first human ancestors lost God’s Word at the Fall, people were not able to receive God’s Word directly. Hence, during the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration (the age from Adam to Abraham), sacrifices had been offered as objects for the condition in laying the foundation of faith. However, by Moses’ time that age had come to a close. Humanity had entered a new era, the Age of the Providence of Restoration (Old Testament Age), when they could once again receive God’s Word directly. Thus, there was no longer any need of a symbolic offering in laying the foundation of faith.

Third, as the providence which had commenced with Adam’s family was prolonged again and again, certain conditions of indemnity were needed to restore the providential periods which had been defiled by Satan. When Noah was laying the foundation of faith, he had to pass through a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan while living in the ark. Abraham could make the symbolic offering to lay the foundation of faith only after he restored the previous period of four hundred years and thus stood on the foundation of a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan. The Israelites suffered four hundred years of slavery in Egypt to fulfill a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan and thereby restore the foundation of faith claimed by Satan due to Abraham’s mistake. Likewise, in the Age of the Providence of Restoration, a central figure could lay the foundation of faith as long as he stood firmly upon the completion of the dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan by upholding God’s Word, now that an object for the condition was no longer required to serve as its substitute.

2.1.2 The Foundation of Substance
In the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration, God worked to lay the family foundation of substance. Upon entering the Age of the Providence of Restoration, God worked to lay the national foundation of substance. Since Moses stood as God to the people and represented Jesus, he stood in the position of parent to the Israelites when laying the national foundation of faith. Concurrently, Moses was the prophet with the mission to prepare the way for Jesus. Hence, he stood in the position of a child to Jesus, who was to come as the True Parent. Therefore, with respect to the Israelites, Moses stood in the position of Abel as the central figure for the national foundation of substance.

We recall that Abel made the symbolic offering from the position of a parent in Adam’s stead and was thereby entitled to make the substantial offering from the position of a child. Likewise, Moses stood in the dual positions of parent and child. When he restored through indemnity the foundation of faith, he stood in the position of a parent. He thereby secured the position of Abel for the foundation of substance, for which he stood in the position of a child.

Once Moses had secured the position of Abel, the Israelites, standing in the position of Cain, were supposed to fulfill the national indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature through their obedience to Moses. By doing so, they would establish the national foundation of substance.

2.1.3 The Foundation for the Messiah
Moses was to restore through indemnity the national foundation of faith, and the Israelites under Moses’ leadership were to restore through indemnity the national foundation of substance. This would have constituted the national foundation for the Messiah and the basis for a sovereign nation to which the Messiah could come. The Israelites were then to receive the Messiah, be reborn through him, be cleansed of their original sin, and restore their original nature by uniting with God in heart. In this way, they were to attain the ultimate goal of becoming perfect incarnations.

2.2 The National Courses to Restore Canaan under the Leadership of Moses
Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt, the satanic world, with miracles and signs, led them across the Red Sea, and had them wander through the wilderness before entering the promised land of Canaan. This foreshadowed the course on which Jesus would one day lead Christians, the Second Israel. With miracles and signs, Jesus would bring Christians out of lives of sin and lead them safely across the troubled sea of evil. He would take them through a desert devoid of life-giving water before guiding them into the Garden of Eden of God’s promise. Just as the national course to restore Canaan under the leadership of Moses was prolonged as three courses because of the Israelites’ faithlessness, the worldwide course to restore Canaan under the leadership of Jesus had to be undertaken three times because of the disbelief of John the Baptist and the Jewish people of that day. To avoid redundancy, a close comparison between Moses’ course and Jesus’ course will not be made here. Still, the parallels will become plain when one compares this section with the next.

2.2.1 The First National Course to Restore Canaan

2.2.1.1 The Foundation of Faith
After four hundred years of slavery in Egypt, the indemnity period required of the Israelites due to Abraham’s mistake came to an end. In order for Moses to become the central figure to restore the foundation of faith and be qualified to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he as an individual had to inherit the four-hundred-year national indemnity period and complete a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan. In addition, Moses had to restore through indemnity the number forty, which unfallen Adam should have fulfilled to establish his foundation of faith.46 To achieve these purposes, Moses was brought into the Pharaoh’s palace, the center of the satanic world, and he spent forty years there.47

While in the palace, Moses was educated by his mother, who, unknown to anyone, was hired to be his nurse. She secretly imparted to him the consciousness and pride of belonging to the chosen people. Despite the comforts of palace life, Moses maintained unshakable loyalty and fidelity to the lineage of Israel. After forty years, he left the palace, “choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.”48 Hence, during the forty years of his life in the Pharaoh’s palace, Moses fulfilled the dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan and thereby restored the foundation of faith.

2.2.1.2 The Foundation of Substance
Moses was in the dual position of parent and child. When he laid the foundation of faith, he also secured the position of Abel for the foundation of substance. The Israelites, who were in the position of Cain, were supposed to follow and obey Moses in faith. By inheriting God’s Will from Moses and multiplying goodness, they would fulfill the national indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and lay the national foundation of substance. The Israelites were to lay the foundation of substance by following Moses from the time they left Egypt until they entered the blessed land of Canaan.

God commenced the dispensation to start the course with Moses’ act of killing an Egyptian. Seeing one of his brethren being mistreated by an Egyptian taskmaster, Moses was incited by his burning love for his people; he struck and killed the man.49 In a way, this was an expression of God’s heart of burning indignation as He looked down upon the affliction of His people.50 At that moment, whether or not the Israelites united with Moses would determine if they could successfully begin the course to return to Canaan.

When Moses killed the Egyptian, God used this act to achieve the following: First, the Archangel induced the first human ancestors to fall and Cain to kill Abel; these were the conditions by which Satan has controlled the progression of sinful history from the position of the eldest son. Therefore, before God could begin the providence to restore Canaan, someone on God’s side should fulfill the condition to restore this through indemnity by prevailing over someone on the side of Satan who stands in the position of the eldest son. Second, this act effectively cut off any lingering attachment Moses had to the Pharaoh’s palace and placed him in a situation where he could never return. Finally, by this act, God desired to induce the Israelites to trust Moses by showing them he was a patriotic Israelite. As we shall see, these were comparable to the reasons why in the second national course to restore Canaan, God struck all the firstborn among the Egyptians and their livestock.

The Israelites, upon witnessing Moses’ act of killing the Egyptian, should have been deeply inspired by his love for Israel, as was God. Had they felt this way, they would have respected Moses, trusted him and followed him with ardor. Then, through Moses’ leadership, God would have brought them directly into the land of Canaan where they would have established the foundation of substance. In fact, they would not have had to cross the Red Sea or wander through the Sinai wilderness, but would have taken the straight route to Canaan by way of the land of the Philistines. In a twenty-one-day course, they would have restored Jacob’s twenty-one years in Haran.

Later, in the second national course, God had reason to distrust the Israelites because their previous failure to follow Moses had aborted the first national course. It is written: “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest the people repent when they see war, and return to Egypt.’”51 During the second national course to restore Canaan, God led the people across the Red Sea and in a detour through the wilderness because He had reason to fear they might turn faithless and return to Egypt without completing their journey.

2.2.1.3 The Failure of the First National Course to Restore Canaan
Had the Israelites (Cain) wholeheartedly obeyed Moses (Abel) and followed him to return to Canaan, they would have fulfilled the national indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and laid the foundation of substance. On the contrary, however, when they saw Moses strike and kill the Egyptian, they misunderstood him and spoke ill of him:

When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together; and he said to the man that did the wrong, “Why did you strike your fellow?” He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. -Exod. 2:13-15

Moses was left with no choice but to escape from the Pharaoh. Reluctantly forsaking the Israelites, he fled into the wilderness of Midian. The foundation of substance was shattered, and the Israelites’ course to restore Canaan under the leadership of Moses would be repeated a second and eventually a third time.

2.2.2 The Second National Course to Restore Canaan

2.2.2.1 The Foundation of Faith
When the first national course to restore Canaan ended in failure due to the disbelief of the Israelites, Satan claimed the forty years of Moses’ life in Pharaoh’s palace during which he had laid the foundation of faith. Hence, for Moses to begin the second national course to restore Canaan, he had to lay anew the foundation of faith by completing another period of forty years to restore through indemnity his lost forty years in the palace. This was the purpose of Moses’ forty-year exile in the wilderness of Midian.52 During this forty-year period, the Israelites’ lives in Egypt became even more miserable as the penalty for their disbelief in Moses.

Moses went through a second dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan during the forty years he spent in the wilderness of Midian. There he restored the foundation of faith needed to embark upon the second national course to restore Canaan. God then appeared before Moses and said:

I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites . . . and now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt. -Exod. 3:7-10

2.2.2.2 The Foundation of Substance
Once Moses restored the foundation of faith in the wilderness of Midian, he also secured the position of Abel. Accordingly, as in the first national course to restore Canaan, if the Israelite people in the position of Cain had believed in and followed Moses with unquestioning faith and obedience, they would have entered the promised land, the land of milk and honey. In so doing, they would have fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and laid the foundation of substance.

God worked the dispensation to start the first national course to restore Canaan when Moses struck and killed an Egyptian. Similarly, to work the dispensation to start the second national course to restore Canaan, God granted Moses three signs and ten plagues with which to prevail over the Egyptians. The reasons God had Moses strike the satanic side were, as already elucidated: first, to restore through indemnity the position of the eldest son which Satan had defiled; second, to cut off the Israelites’ attachment to Egypt; third, to let the Israelites know that Moses was sent by God.53 There was yet another reason why Moses could strike the Egyptians. Although the Israelites had already completed the due indemnity period of four hundred years as slaves in Egypt, they had suffered thirty additional years of affliction.54 God heard their cries and groaning and answered them with compassion.55

The three signs which God provided for Moses and Aaron to perform foreshadowed the work of Jesus. The first sign was given when God commanded Moses to cast down his staff, and it became a serpent.56 When Aaron later performed this sign before the Pharaoh at Moses’ command, the Pharaoh summoned his magicians and had them cast down their staffs, which also became serpents; but Aaron’s serpent devoured their serpents.57 This sign symbolically foreshadowed that Jesus would come as the Savior and destroy the satanic world.

The staff symbolized Jesus. Just as the staff displayed miraculous power in front of Moses, who represented God, Jesus was to come with such power and perform miracles before God Himself. Moreover, a staff provides protection and support for people to lean on; it smites injustice and leads people on the right path. Symbolizing Jesus, Moses’ staff disclosed the missions which Jesus was to accomplish at his coming.

The transformation of Moses’ staff into a serpent also symbolized the work of Jesus. Jesus likened himself to a serpent, saying, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up.”58 He also said to his disciples, “Be wise as serpents.”59 Jesus meant by this saying that he came as the good serpent of wisdom who entices and leads fallen people on the path of goodness. He was thus to restore through indemnity the Fall caused by the evil serpent who cunningly tempted the first human ancestors. Therefore, his disciples were to learn Jesus’ wisdom and guide the sinful people in the way of goodness. Moreover, when Moses’ serpent devoured the magicians’ serpents, it signified that Jesus would come as the heavenly serpent to swallow up and destroy Satan, the evil serpent.

The second sign was given when Moses, upon God’s command, put his hand into his bosom and it became leprous. Then God commanded him to put his hand into his bosom a second time, and it was healed.60 This miracle foreshadowed symbolically that Jesus would come as the second Adam and, together with his would-be Bride (the second Eve, later manifested in the Holy Spirit)61 perform the work of redemption. The first time Moses put his hand into his bosom and it became leprous symbolized the Archangel embracing Eve to his bosom, an act which tainted humanity with incurable sin. The second time Moses put his hand into his bosom and it was healed foreshadowed that Jesus, the True Father, would come and restore his Bride, the True Mother, and that they would embrace humanity to give them rebirth “as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.”62 Restoration would then be complete.

To perform the third sign, God instructed Moses to pour water from the Nile on the ground and it would turn to blood.63 The symbolism of this sign lies in water, an inorganic substance, being transformed into blood, the substance of life. Water is a biblical symbol for the fallen multitudes64 who have no life in them. Thus, this sign foreshadowed that Jesus and the Holy Spirit would come and resurrect fallen humanity, deprived of life, to become the living children of God. God had Moses and Aaron perform these three signs in order to fulfill symbolic indemnity conditions upon which Jesus and the Holy Spirit would later come to Israel as the True Parents. They would restore the original four position foundation which had been lost to Satan and give rebirth to all humanity as their children.

When Moses, who was not eloquent, asked God for someone to speak on his behalf, God provided Moses’ older brother Aaron,65 and also Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister.66 This symbolically foreshadowed that Jesus and his would-be Bride, the incarnations of the Word,67 would come and restore human beings-who had lost the Word at the Fall-as the incarnations of the Word. In the course to restore Canaan, Aaron and Miriam were given the mission to uphold the will of Moses, who was in the position of God, and to exercise leadership on his behalf. In the future, Jesus and the Holy Spirit would uphold the Will of God in the worldwide course to restore Canaan and take on the mission to redeem our sin.

At God’s command, Moses went to meet the Pharaoh. On his way, the Lord appeared before him and tried to kill him. Moses’ life was saved when his wife Zipporah circumcised their son.68 She helped Moses overcome the trial and saved their family. This circumcision made it possible for the Israelites to be liberated from Egypt. It foreshadowed that even when Jesus came, God’s work of salvation could not be accomplished unless the people underwent an internal circumcision.

Let us examine the deeper significance of circumcision. When the first human ancestors fell through a sexual relationship with Satan, they inherited the blood of death through the male sexual organ. In the course for fallen people to be restored as God’s children, God established the rite of circumcision as a condition of indemnity: cutting the foreskin of the male sexual organ and letting blood flow from it. Circumcision signifies removing the blood of death. Circumcision is also a sign of the restoration of man’s right of dominion and a sign of promise that God will restore people as His true children. There are three types of circumcision: circumcision of the heart,69 circumcision of the foreskin,70 and circumcision of all things.71

Through the ten plagues, God had Moses liberate the Israelites from Egypt.72 This, too, foreshadowed that in the future Jesus would come with miracles and signs to save God’s chosen people. When Jacob was suffering twenty-one years of hardship in Haran, Laban cheated Jacob ten times and did not give him his due wages.73 Likewise, in Moses’ course, which was patterned after Jacob’s course, the Pharaoh not only continued to afflict the Israelites beyond the preordained time period, he also deceived them ten times with the false promise that he would release them. As recompense for this, God was entitled to strike the Pharaoh with the ten plagues. Among them, the ninth and tenth plagues had particular significance.

For the ninth plague, God blanketed Egypt in thick darkness for three days, while in the places where the Israelites dwelt there was light.74 This foreshadowed that when Jesus came, darkness would blanket Satan’s realm while light would shine upon God’s people, and the two sides would be separated. For the tenth plague, God killed all the firstborn among the Egyptians and their cattle, while instructing the Israelites to paint lamb’s blood on the lintel and door posts of their houses so that the angel of death would pass over them. The firstborn of the Egyptians, on the satanic side, were in the position of Cain. God struck them in order to restore the Israelites, in the position of the second son Abel, to the position of the eldest son. Satan had seized the position of the eldest son and thus took the lead in the course of history, leaving God in pursuit.75

This plague foreshadowed that at Jesus’ coming, the side of Satan would perish, while God’s side, in the position of the second son, would be saved by the redemption of Jesus’ blood. Moses brought abundant wealth out of Egypt.76 This foreshadowed the restoration of all things, to take place at Jesus’ coming.

After each plague, God hardened the Pharaoh’s heart.77 There were several reasons for this. First, by repeatedly manifesting His powers, God wanted to show the Israelites that He was God.78 Second, God wanted the Pharaoh to make his best efforts in holding on to the Israelites before forcing him to give them up; then the Pharaoh would realize how powerless he was and abandon any lingering attachment to the Israelites after they left. Third, God wanted the Israelites to cut off their attachment to Egypt by provoking in them strong feelings of hostility against the Pharaoh.

God worked the dispensation to start the first national course to restore Canaan when Moses killed the Egyptian. However, this course was aborted when the people distrusted Moses. In the dispensation to start the second national course, God granted the Israelites the three signs and ten plagues. When the Israelites witnessed these miracles, they came to believe that Moses was truly sent by God as their leader. They believed and followed Moses, the Abel figure who had laid the national foundation of faith. Hence, the Israelites could embark upon the second national course to restore Canaan.

However, the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature required more of the Israelites than a short-lived trust in and obedience to Moses while he was working these miracles. Due to their previous failure to fulfill this condition, Satan had claimed the entire providential course to restore Canaan. Now the Israelites had to restore that course by remaining faithful and obedient to Moses for the duration of their journey. Only in this way would they fulfill the national indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. Until they had traversed the wilderness with unwavering faith in Moses and entered the land of Canaan, the national foundation of substance would not be established.

The dispensation to start the second national course to restore Canaan was conducted with greater grace than that of the first course. Yet, since the prolongation had been due to their disbelief, the indemnity condition which the Israelites would have to fulfill was correspondingly heavier. In the first course, if the Israelites had followed Moses, they would have been led along the direct route by way of the land of the Philistines and would have entered Canaan in twenty-one days-a period corresponding to Jacob’s twenty-one-year course in Haran. However, in the second course, God did not lead the people along the direct route. He was worried that when they encountered the warlike Philistines, they might again turn faithless and return to Egypt.79 Instead, God led them across the Red Sea and through the wilderness in a long detour. God planned to bring them into Canaan after twenty-one months.

Thus, the Israelites began a twenty-one-month wilderness course under Moses’ leadership. Let us study this course and examine how it served as the model course for Jesus to lead humanity on the worldwide course to restore Canaan.

When the Pharaoh grudgingly gave Moses permission for the Israelites to make sacrifices in Egypt, Moses demanded more, saying:

It would not be right to do so; for we shall sacrifice to the Lord our God offerings abominable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us? We must go three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he will command us. -Exod. 8:26-27

Moses asked for three days’ leave with the intention to deceive the Pharaoh and lead the people out of Egypt altogether.

This three-day period had the same significance as Abraham’s three-day journey to Mt. Moriah, which he needed in order to sever his ties to Satan before he could offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Since Abraham’s time, this has been the indemnity period required for the separation of Satan at the outset of a providential course. When Jacob embarked upon the course to restore Canaan, there was a three-day period when he cut off ties to Satan by deceiving Laban and leaving Haran.80 Likewise, at the outset of this national course, Moses asked for a leave of three days with the intention of deceiving the Pharaoh and liberating his people from bondage. Jesus, too, would begin the spiritual course of restoration only after passing through three days for the separation of Satan before his victorious resurrection.

The Israelites, who numbered some 600,000 according to the Bible, departed from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month by the Hebrew calendar.81 They upheld God’s Will throughout the three-day journey to their first campsite at Succoth. From that time forth, God granted them the grace of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to guide their way.82 The pillar of cloud which led the Israelites by day (yang) symbolized Jesus, who would one day lead the people of Israel in the worldwide course to restore Canaan. The pillar of fire by night (yin) symbolized the Holy Spirit, who would guide them as the feminine Spirit.

At the shore of the Red Sea, upon God’s command, Moses stretched out his staff and parted the waters; then he led the Israelites across on dry ground. The Egyptians chasing them in chariots were drowned when the waters closed up and engulfed them.83 As was explained earlier, Moses represented God before the Pharaoh,84 and Moses’ staff symbolized Jesus, who would manifest God’s power in the future. Hence, this miracle foreshadowed what was to happen when Jesus came. Satan would pursue the faithful ones who followed Jesus in walking the worldwide course to restore Canaan, but Jesus would raise the rod of iron85 and strike the troubled sea86 of this world. The waters would divide and reveal a smooth path upon which the believers would walk, while Satan in pursuit would perish.

The Israelites crossed the Red Sea and arrived at the wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth day of the second month. From then until the day they arrived at habitable land, God fed them with manna and quail.87 The manna and quail signified the life-giving flesh and blood of Jesus, which God would provide during the worldwide course to restore Canaan. Thus, Jesus said:

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. . . . I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever . . . unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. -John 6:49-53

When the Israelites left the wilderness of Sin and camped at Rephidim, there was no water for the people to drink. God commanded Moses to strike the rock at Horeb that water might spring forth from it. Moses did so and gave the people water which saved their lives.88 St. Paul wrote, “The Rock was Christ.”89 Accordingly, the miracle of water from the rock foreshadowed that the Messiah would save all humanity with the water of life, of which Jesus said, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.”90 The two tablets of stone Moses received on Mt. Sinai symbolized Jesus and his would-be Bride; the rock, which was the root of the tablets of stone, symbolized God. When Moses struck the rock and gave the people water, this laid the foundation upon which Moses could receive the tablets of stone and build the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle.

Joshua fought with the Amalekites at Rephidim. Whenever Moses held up his hands, the Israelites prevailed; whenever Moses let his hands drop, they suffered a reverse. Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a pile of stones and held his hands up on the left and the right, thus enabling Joshua to vanquish the king of the Amalekites and his troops.91 This also foreshadowed what would happen when Jesus came. Joshua symbolized the believers, the Amalekites symbolized the satanic world, and Aaron and Hur symbolized Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Aaron and Hur holding up Moses’ hands and enabling Joshua to vanquish the Amalekites foreshadowed that faithful people who worship the Trinity-God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit-will defeat every devil who confronts them.

2.2.2.3 The Providence of Restoration and the Tabernacle
The Israelites received the tablets of stone, the Tabernacle, and the Ark of the Covenant. Let us first examine how they received them. The Israelites arrived in the wilderness of Sinai at the beginning of the third month, after their victory over the Amalekites.92 Moses then took seventy elders and climbed Mt. Sinai to meet God. Moses alone was called to the summit of Mt. Sinai, where God commanded him to fast for forty days to receive the Ten Commandments inscribed on the tablets of stone.93 During his fast, Moses received God’s instructions concerning the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle.94 When the forty-day fast was over, Moses received two tablets of stone, inscribed by the finger of God with the Ten Commandments.95

When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the two tablets of stone and went before the Israelites, he found them worshipping a golden calf. During Moses’ absence, they had instructed Aaron to make it, and when he had fashioned it, they proclaimed that this was the god who had led them out of Egypt. Moses’ anger burned hot when he saw this. He threw down the tablets of stone and broke them at the foot of the mountain.96 God appeared again to Moses and told him to carve another pair of stone tablets identical to the first pair, promising that He would inscribe the Ten Commandments on them again. Moses presented himself before God on the mountain and fasted for forty days a second time. God dictated the Ten Commandments to Moses, and Moses wrote them on the tablets.97 Moses took these tablets and went before the Israelites again. This time they honored Moses. In obedience to his directions, they built the Ark of the Covenant and constructed the Tabernacle.98

2.2.2.3.1 The Significance and Purpose of the Tablets of Stone, the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant
What did the tablets of stone signify? When Moses received the tablets of stone inscribed with God’s Word, this signified the passing of the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration, when fallen people could relate with God only through sacrifices, and the beginning of the Age of the Providence of Restoration, when they could relate with God through the revealed Word. It was previously explained that if Adam and Eve, who were created by the Word, had become perfect, they would have become the incarnations of the Word. Instead, they fell and lost the Word.99 Moses received the two tablets inscribed with the Word at the end of a forty-day period for the separation of Satan. This signified the symbolic restoration of Adam and Eve as incarnations of the Word. Accordingly, the two tablets symbolized restored Adam and Eve, and also symbolized Jesus and his would-be Bride who were to come as the incarnations of the Word. Christ is symbolized in the Bible by a white stone,100 and it is written, “the Rock was Christ.”101 As symbols of Jesus and his would-be Bride, the tablets of stone were also symbols of heaven and earth.

Next, what did the Tabernacle symbolize? Jesus likened his body to the Temple in Jerusalem.102 We who believe in him are called God’s temples.103 The Temple was thus a representation of Jesus in image. If the Israelites had succeeded in the first course to restore Canaan under Moses’ leadership, then as soon as they entered the land of Canaan they would have built the Temple and prepared to receive the Messiah. Yet due to their disbelief, the first course was aborted at the start. In the second course, God led them in a roundabout way across the Red Sea and through the wilderness. God could not have them build the Temple, but instead had to settle for the Tabernacle, which could be moved from place to place, as its substitute. Like the Temple, the Tabernacle was a representation of Jesus, but in symbol. When God commanded Moses to build the Tabernacle, He said, “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”104

The Tabernacle was divided into two parts: the holy place (sanctuary) and the most holy place (holy of holies). Only the high priest could enter the most holy place, and only once a year when making the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement. The most holy place was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. Here was the place where God made Himself present. It symbolized the spirit of Jesus. The holy place contained a lampstand, an incense altar and a table for the bread of the Presence, which were tended daily by the priests. It symbolized the body of Jesus. Furthermore, the most holy place symbolized the spiritual world, while the holy place symbolized the physical world. When Jesus was crucified, the curtain between the holy place and the most holy place was torn in two, from top to bottom.105 This meant that Jesus’ crucifixion laid the basis for spiritual salvation, when the gate was opened between spirit and flesh, or between heaven and earth.

What did the Ark of the Covenant symbolize? Enshrined in the most holy place, the Ark contained the testimonies to God’s covenant. It contained the two tablets of stone, which symbolized Jesus and his would-be Bride and heaven and earth. It also contained manna, the main staple of the Israelites during the wilderness course, which symbolized the body of Jesus. The manna was placed inside a golden urn, which symbolized the glory of God. The Ark of the Covenant also contained Aaron’s staff, which had demonstrated God’s power by budding and putting forth sprouts.106 The Ark thus represented the cosmos and, at the same time, was a smaller representation of the Tabernacle.

The mercy seat was placed on top of the Ark of the Covenant. Two cherubim made of hammered gold were placed on either end of the mercy seat, overshadowing it with their wings. God promised that He would personally appear above the mercy seat, between the cherubim, and there He would give guidance to the Israelites.107 This foreshadowed that when Jesus and his Bride, symbolized by the tablets of stone, come and cleanse the people’s sins, God would appear over the mercy seat and open a path between the cherubim which had blocked the way to the tree of life in the Garden of Eden.108 Everyone would then be able to come before Jesus, the tree of life, and receive the fullness of God’s Word.

For what purpose did God give the tablets of stone, the Tabernacle, and the Ark of the Covenant? When the Israelites set out for the wilderness after completing the four-hundred-year indemnity period incurred due to Abraham’s mistake in the offering, God struck the Egyptians with signs and plagues and drowned a host of Egyptian soldiers who tried to follow the Israelites across the Red Sea. The Israelites could not return to Egypt, not only because God’s Will forbade it, but because they had become bitter enemies of the Egyptians. They had no choice but to complete the journey to Canaan; God had driven them to the point of no return. Nevertheless, the Israelites repeatedly fell into faithlessness during their journey. In the end, there was danger that even Moses might act faithlessly. To cope with this situation, God set up an object of faith, one which would remain unchanged even though the people might change. As long as even one person revered the object with absolute faith, God could continue the providential Will through him. That person would inherit the mission to attend the object of faith, as a baton is handed from one runner to the next in a relay race.

The Tabernacle, enshrining the Ark of the Covenant and the tablets of stone, was this object of faith. Since the Tabernacle represented the Messiah, when the Israelites built the Tabernacle, it signified that the Messiah had already come in a symbolic sense.

The Israelites were to revere and honor the Tabernacle as if it were the Messiah and to return to the blessed land of Canaan under Moses’ leadership. Thus, they would establish the national foundation of substance. Even if all the Israelites were to fall into faithlessness along the way, as long as Moses continued to exalt the Tabernacle, the people would then be allowed to indemnify their faithlessness and be restored upon Moses’ intact foundation. Furthermore, if even Moses were to become faithless, as long as any single Israelite exalted the Tabernacle in Moses’ place, God could work through that person to restore all the people.

If the Israelites had trusted Moses and entered Canaan in the first national course, Moses’ family would have served in the role of the Tabernacle, and Moses himself would have fulfilled the roles which were taken by the tablets of stone and the Ark of the Covenant. Moses’ family would have become the bearer of the heavenly law. The Israelites could then have built the Temple in the land of Canaan without any need for the tablets, the Ark, or the Tabernacle. These were given as the means of salvation only after the people had become faithless. The Tabernacle, as the representation in symbol of Jesus and his would-be Bride, was needed only until the construction of the Temple. The Temple, as the representation in image of Jesus and his would-be Bride, was needed only until the Messiah’s coming as the Temple incarnate.

2.2.2.3.2 The Foundation for the Tabernacle
Just as a foundation must be laid before we can receive the Messiah, a foundation had to be laid before the Israelites could build and exalt the Tabernacle, the symbolic representation of the Messiah. Needless to say, to establish the foundation for the Tabernacle, foundations of faith and substance for the Tabernacle had to be laid. Let us investigate how the Israelites were to lay these two foundations under the leadership of Moses.

Moses was to follow God’s instructions and lay the foundation of faith for the Tabernacle by fasting and praying for forty days, a period for the separation of Satan. Upon this foundation of faith for the Tabernacle, the Israelites were to faithfully obey and support Moses as he worked to realize the ideal of the Tabernacle. They would thus fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and lay the foundation of substance for the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle in this discussion includes the tablets of stone and the Ark of the Covenant.

The First Foundation for the Tabernacle

Human beings were created on the sixth day to become the incarnations of the Word.109 Hence, to give the Word of re-creation to fallen people for their restoration, God first had to restore the number six, representing the period of creation defiled by Satan. For this reason, God sanctified Mt. Sinai by covering it with clouds of glory for six days, and on the seventh day He appeared and called Moses from amidst the clouds. From that moment, Moses began his fast of forty days and forty nights.110 God directed Moses to set up a forty-day period for the separation of Satan in order to establish the foundation of faith for the Tabernacle, the symbolic Messiah. God saw that this was necessary because the Israelites had fallen into faithlessness after crossing the Red Sea.111

As mentioned above, the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature during the Israelites’ course to restore Canaan could not be fulfilled by their believing and following Moses only for the short time that he manifested God’s power. Rather, its fulfillment required that the people maintain such faith and obedience until they entered Canaan, built the Temple, and received the Messiah. Likewise, to fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and lay the foundation of substance for the Tabernacle, the Israelites should have faithfully obeyed Moses from the moment he climbed the mountain to undertake the forty-day fast until they had finished constructing the Tabernacle. However, while Moses was fasting and praying on the mountain, the people all fell into faithlessness and worshipped the golden calf. Consequently, the foundation of substance for the Tabernacle was not established.

Since human beings themselves had lost the basis for the Word, it is their portion of responsibility to recover the basis upon which to receive it again. Hence, God does not intervene in people’s actions when they are working to restore the Word. For this reason, although God had led the Israelites with signs and miracles, He did not intervene when they sinned.

When Moses saw the people worshipping the idol and dancing around it, he raged in anger. He threw down the tablets and shattered them.112 As a result, Satan invaded the foundation of faith for the Taber-nacle. As was explained above, the two tablets of stone symbolized Jesus and his would-be Bride, who were to come as the restored second Adam and Eve. This event foreshadowed that if Jesus came and found the Jewish people faithless, he might have to die on the cross without completing his original God-given mission with his would-be Bride.

The faithlessness of the Israelites at Mt. Sinai undermined God’s providence to establish the foundation for the Tabernacle. It nullified God’s arduous efforts to separate Satan from the people and cultivate their obedience to Moses. Due to their continued faithlessness, God’s providence to establish the foundation for the Tabernacle had to be prolonged through a second and then a third attempt.

The Second Foundation for the Tabernacle

The Israelites proved faithless in the dispensation to receive the tablets of stone, and hence to build the Tabernacle, but because they stood on the foundation of having drunk the water from the rock at Rephidim-the symbolic root of the tablets-they were given a second chance. God appeared before Moses after he had broken the tablets and promised him another inscription of His Word. This time, God required that Moses himself carve the blank tablets upon which He would write the inscription. Furthermore, Moses could not restore the tablets of stone or build the Tabernacle around them without first restoring the foundation of faith for the Tabernacle by fulfilling once again a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan. Therefore, Moses had to fast forty more days before he could obtain the second pair of tablets with the inscription of the Ten Commandments113 and establish the Tabernacle as the object of faith. This time, the Israelites faithfully waited for Moses to return. Moses’ successful efforts to restore the broken tablets by forty days of fasting, and the Israelites’ faith in him, foreshadowed that Jesus, though crucified, could return and make a new beginning in his work of salvation if the believers devotedly fulfilled the indemnity condition to receive him during the forty days of the Lord’s resurrection- a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan.

By remaining faithful while Moses was fasting on the mountain, and then obeying his instructions to build the Tabernacle, the Israelites fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. This laid the foundation of substance for the Tabernacle, and hence the foundation for the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was built by the first day of the first month of the second year.114 However, as was mentioned earlier, the foundation of substance in the second national course to restore Canaan required much more than the mere construction of the Tabernacle. In fact, until they entered Canaan and built the Temple, the Israelites were supposed to honor the Tabernacle more than they valued their own lives; they were to keep the same faith until they received the Messiah.

On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the Israelites set out from the wilderness of Sinai, arrayed in formation around the Tabernacle and led by the pillar of cloud.115 Yet before long, they began to complain about their hardships and murmur against Moses. Even after God destroyed their camp in His burning wrath, the Israelites did not repent. They continued to complain, lamenting that they had nothing to eat but manna. They were resentful toward Moses and longed for the meat, fruit, vegetables and luxuries of Egypt.116 Thus, the Israelites failed to maintain the second foundation for the Tabernacle, and it was invaded by Satan. The providence to restore this foundation was prolonged to a third attempt.

The Third Foundation for the Tabernacle

Although Satan defiled the second foundation for the Tabernacle, Moses’ faith and devotion to the Tabernacle remained unchanging. Therefore, the Tabernacle stood firmly upon the foundation of faith which Moses had laid, while the Israelites still stood upon the foundation of having drunk the water from the rock at Rephidim.117 The rock, we recall, was the root of the tablets of stone, which was at the center of the Tabernacle. Upon this foundation, the Israelites were allowed to attempt yet another dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan. By obeying Moses, who still honored the Tabernacle, they were to restore through indemnity the foundation for the Tabernacle in their third attempt. The forty-day mission to spy out the land of Canaan was given as the condition to achieve this.

God had Moses choose a leader from each of the twelve tribes of Israel and send them to spy out the land of Canaan for forty days.118 When they returned, all the spies except Joshua and Caleb presented faithless reports:

The people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large . . . [it] is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature . . . and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them. -Num. 13:28, 32-33

They concluded that the Israelites could not capture Canaan’s fortified cities or defeat its people. Upon hearing this report, the Israelites again murmured against Moses. They called for another leader who would take them back to Egypt. Only Joshua and Caleb called for the people not to be afraid but to attack the Canaanites in obedience to God’s command:

Do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us; their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them. -Num. 14:9

The Israelites did not accept this exhortation and attempted to stone Joshua and Caleb. At that moment, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, and God said to Moses:

How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs which I have wrought among them? -Num. 14:11

But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure. -Num. 14:31-34

As a result of their lack of faith, the third foundation for the Tabernacle ended in failure. Their twenty-one-month course in the wilderness was extended to forty years.

2.2.2.4 The Failure of the Second National Course to Restore Canaan
Due to the Israelites’ faithlessness, the foundation for the Tabernacle was invaded by Satan three times. Therefore, the national indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature was not fulfilled, and the foundation of substance for the second national course to restore Canaan was not laid. Consequently, the entire second national course to restore Canaan ended in failure. God’s providence was prolonged to a third national course.

2.2.3 The Third National Course to Restore Canaan

2.2.3.1 The Foundation of Faith
Because the Israelites turned faint-hearted upon hearing the report of the faithless spies, the second national course to restore Canaan ended in failure. The forty years Moses had spent in the wilderness of Midian to restore the foundation of faith were invaded by Satan. As a result of the failure of the mission to spy out the land, the people had to wander in the wilderness for forty years, one year for each day of the forty-day spy mission, until they returned to Kadesh-barnea. For Moses, this forty- year period was to separate Satan, who had invaded the previous foundation of faith, and to restore through indemnity the foundation of faith for the third course. Moses honored the Tabernacle with faith and loyalty throughout the entire forty years of wandering in the wilderness. By the time he returned to Kadesh-barnea, he had completed the foundation of faith for the third national course to restore Canaan. Accordingly, he also secured the position of Abel for the foundation of substance.

2.2.3.2 The Foundation of Substance
The foundation of substance for the second course ended in failure when, due to the people’s persistent disbelief, Satan defiled the foundation for the Tabernacle. However, at least the foundation of faith for the Tabernacle remained, preserved by Moses’ continued devotion. If, upon this foundation, the Israelites had faithfully followed Moses through the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, thus establishing the basis for the separation of Satan, they would have set up the foundation of substance for the Tabernacle and completed the foundation for the Tabernacle. If they had then honored and obeyed Moses and entered Canaan in faith, they would have completed the foundation of substance for the third national course to restore Canaan. For Moses, the forty years of wandering in the wilderness was the period required to establish the foundation of faith for the third national course. For the Israelites, the
goal for this period was to accomplish the dispensation to start the third course. They were to do this by establishing the foundation for the Tabernacle, thereby returning to the state of grace which they had enjoyed in the second course when they first constructed the Tabernacle under Moses’ direction.

2.2.3.2.1 The Foundation of Substance Centered on Moses
The tablets, the Tabernacle, and the Ark of the Covenant became necessary in the second course only because the Israelites lost faith in the wilderness. Soon after they crossed the Red Sea, they forgot the three signs which God had granted when conducting the dispensation to start. To restore this through indemnity, God tested the people through a forty-day period while Moses was on the mountain. He then gave them three manifestations of divine grace: the tablets of stone, the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle. Moreover, God had granted the ten plagues, which were to restore Laban’s ten deceptions of Jacob in Haran. Yet when the Israelites lost faith even after witnessing these, God attempted to restore the ten plagues through indemnity by giving the Ten Commandments. If the Israelites had renewed their faith by honoring the three manifestations of divine grace and obeying the Ten Commandments, they would have returned to the state of grace they had enjoyed when they left Egypt under the power of these miracles.

Accordingly, in the third course the Israelites should have completed the forty-year indemnity period by following Moses in faith and obedience through the wilderness. After they returned to Kadesh-barnea, they should have stood with Moses upon the foundation for the Tabernacle and exalted the tablets, the Tabernacle and the Ark. Had they done so, they would have stood in the position they had enjoyed at the completion of the dispensation to start the second course, when God struck the Egyptians with the three signs and ten plagues. The tablets were a smaller representation of the Ark; the Ark was a smaller representation of the Tabernacle; hence, the tablets were a smaller representation of the Tabernacle. The Ark and the Tabernacle may thus be represented by the tablets or their root, the rock. Therefore, the third national course to restore Canaan was to begin at Kadesh-barnea upon completing a dispensation to start based on the rock. Henceforth, had the Israelites honored the Tabernacle with faith and devotion and followed Moses into Canaan, they would have fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature required for the foundation of substance in the third national course.

How did God intend to conduct the dispensation to start based on the rock? During the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites again fell into complaint and faithlessness. To save them, God instructed Moses to strike the rock with his staff that it might yield water and give drink to the people.119 Moses should have struck the rock only once. The awe-struck Israelites then should have united with him, thereby standing with him upon the foundation for the Tabernacle. In this way, they would have fulfilled the dispensation to start based on the rock.

However, when Moses heard the people murmuring against him and complaining that they had no water to drink, he raged in uncontrolled anger and struck the rock twice. Whereupon God said to him:

Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. -Num. 20:12

By striking the rock twice when he should have struck it only once, Moses undermined the dispensation to start based on the rock. As a consequence, he was not permitted to enter the promised land. He could only gaze upon it from a distance at the end of his life.120

Let us investigate why Moses should have struck the rock just once, and why his striking it twice constituted a sin. The rock is a symbol for Jesus Christ.121 Since Christ came as the tree of life,122 the rock may also be seen as the tree of life. The tree of life is also a symbol for perfected Adam in the Garden of Eden; hence the rock symbolized Adam in perfection.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam should have matured to become the ideal represented by the rock. Yet when Satan struck him and caused him to fall, Adam could not become the tree of life or the rock which could give his descendants the water of eternal life. Therefore, the waterless rock, before Moses struck it the first time, symbolized fallen Adam. To indemnify Satan’s act of striking Adam and preventing him from becoming the rock which could give the water of life, God had Moses strike the rock once. When he hit the rock once and it yielded water, Moses fulfilled an indemnity condition to restore Adam as the water-giving rock. The rock, struck once, symbolized Jesus who was to come and give fallen humanity the water of life. Therefore, Jesus said:

Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. -John 4:14

Thus, God intended that Moses strike the rock once as an indemnity condition for fallen Adam to be restored in the person of the second, perfected Adam-Jesus. However, when Moses struck the rock the second time, after it had already brought forth water, it represented the possibility that Jesus might be struck. In other words, Moses’ act of striking the rock twice in anger at the faithlessness of the Israelites set up the condition that when Jesus came, if the Jewish people were to turn faithless, Satan would have grounds to confront Jesus, the fulfillment of the rock. This is why Moses’ act constituted a sin.

Although Moses’ act of breaking the tablets of stone could be restored, his mistake of striking the rock the second time could not be restored. Why is this so? In the context of the providence of restoration, the tablets of stone and the rock were related as external and internal. The tablets of stone, inscribed with the Ten Commandments, were the core of the Mosaic Law and the heart of the Old Testament. The Israelites could receive the salvation available in the Old Testament Age by upholding the ideals contained in the tablets. In this sense, the tablets of stone were an external representation of Jesus who was to come.

The rock, on the other hand, not only symbolized Christ; as the root of the tablets of stone, it also symbolized God, the origin of Christ. The tablets of stone were external; the rock was internal. If we liken the tablets to the body, the rock corresponds to the mind; if we liken the tablets to the holy place, the rock corresponds to the most holy place; if we liken the tablets to the earth, the rock corresponds to heaven. In short, as an internal representation of Christ, the rock had greater value than the tablets of stone.

As an external representation of Jesus, the tablets of stone also symbolized Aaron. Aaron was an external representative of Jesus as he stood before Moses, the representative of God.123 When the Israelites pressured Aaron to make the golden calf,124 Aaron himself lost faith, and this led to the breaking of the tablets. Nevertheless, Aaron could be revived because he repented while still standing upon the foundation of having drunk the water from the rock at Rephidim.125 When he did so, the tablets of stone symbolizing Aaron could also be refashioned and restored based on the internal foundation of the water from the rock. However, since the rock-the root of the tablets of stone-symbolized not only Jesus but also God, his origin, striking the rock the second time could not be undone.

What were the consequences of striking the rock twice? Moses struck the rock the second time because he was overcome by uncontrolled rage at the people’s faithlessness.126 He acted under the influence of Satan, even on Satan’s behalf. Consequently, the dispensation to start which God had intended to carry out based on the rock was defiled by Satan.

Although externally Moses’ act of striking the rock a second time proved to be a satanic act, still in a deeper, internal sense he gave drink to the people with the water which flowed from it and saved their lives. This reaffirmed the prophecy God had given earlier127 that the external Israelites, those who were adults when they left Egypt, could not enter Canaan as was promised, except for Joshua and Caleb. Moses, too, would die without fulfilling his long-cherished dream of entering the promised land.128 On the other hand, the internal Israelites, those who were children at the time of the Exodus from Egypt or were born during the wilderness course when the people drank water from the rock and honored the Tabernacle, would enter Canaan under the leadership of Joshua,129 who succeeded Moses.130

Since Moses’ act of striking the rock twice allowed Satan to invade, we would not expect the rock to have yielded water. How, then, was it possible for water to flow from it? Moses had already brought forth water from the rock at Rephidim131 in the second national course to restore Canaan, thus laying the foundation to bring forth water from the rock. The tablets of stone, the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant erected upon this foundation were sustained into the third national course, despite the people’s faithlessness, by Moses’ unwavering devotion. He firmly maintained the foundation of faith for the Tabernacle, which he had laid during his forty-day fast. Although Moses’ faith faltered in a moment of anger, his heart toward God remained unchanging. Furthermore, Joshua had laid the foundation for the Tabernacle through his absolute faith during the forty days of spying, and he continued to uphold the tablets, the Tabernacle and the Ark from that time forth. Thus, the foundation to bring forth water from the rock, which had been established at Rephidim, remained intact centered on Joshua. In sum, although the second dispensation based on the rock was invaded by Satan externally due to Moses’ outward act of faithlessness, it remained sound internally. The rock brought forth water for the people due to Moses’ and Joshua’s internal attitude of unswerving faith and devotion.

When Moses struck the rock the second time, he in effect struck it from the position of Satan. Satan, therefore, took possession of the stone. Accordingly, when in Jesus’ time the people disbelieved, Jesus, as the fulfillment of the stone, had to personally enter the wilderness and recover the stone. This is the reason behind his first temptation, when Satan challenged him to turn the stone into bread.

Due to the faithlessness of the Israelites, Moses became enraged and struck the rock twice. This gave Satan a lien on his body, which bound Moses to die outside the promised land. However, he was able to enter Canaan in spirit because he had brought forth water from the rock by virtue of his indomitable faith. This foreshadowed what could happen when Jesus came as the true manifestation of the rock. If the Jewish people disbelieved, Jesus’ body would also suffer attack by Satan, even to the extent of being hung on the cross. He would die before completing the restoration of Canaan worldwide. Nevertheless, he would still be able to accomplish the spiritual portion of restoration through his resurrection.

Shortly after this episode, the Israelites again complained along the way, and God sent fiery serpents which bit and killed many of them. When they repented, God had Moses make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, that anyone might look at it and be saved.132 The fiery serpents symbolized Satan, the ancient serpent133 who had caused Eve to fall; the bronze serpent set on the pole symbolized Jesus, who was to come as the heavenly serpent. This foreshadowed what might happen in Jesus’ time, as he said: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up.”134 Although God let the Israelites fall prey to the satanic serpent when they became faithless, He saved their lives with the bronze serpent when they repented and renewed their faith. Likewise, in Jesus’ time, if the people were to disbelieve, God would have to leave them vulnerable to Satan’s attack, and Jesus would have to be hung on the cross as the heavenly serpent to save humanity. Whoever then repented of his faithlessness and believed in the redemption by the cross would be saved. Indeed, the episode of the fiery serpents was a remote cause of Jesus’ walking the path of the crucifixion to begin the course of spiritual salvation.

When the Israelites were faithless and Moses struck the rock twice, God declared that Moses would not be permitted to enter the land of Canaan.135 Although Moses desperately prayed to God and begged God to allow him to enter Canaan,136 he was denied entrance and died outside its borders. After his death, his body was buried in a valley in the land of Moab, but no one knew the place of its burial.137 This also foreshadowed what might happen to Jesus: if the people were to reject him, he would be crucified. Even though he might pray desperately to avoid this fate and realize the Kingdom of Heaven-as he in fact did in the Garden of Gethsemane when he prayed, “let this cup pass from me”-he would die unable to accomplish this goal. Furthermore, after his death no one would know the whereabouts of his body.

2.2.3.2.2 The Foundation of Substance Centered on Joshua
When at Kadesh-barnea Moses struck the rock twice, the dispensation to start the journey to Canaan, which was to have been based on the rock, was not brought to pass. Although Satan invaded externally, nevertheless the foundation which Moses had laid internally when he had brought forth water from the rock at Rephidim remained intact, and he could bring forth water from the rock at Kadesh-barnea for the people to drink. This set the pattern for what would follow. The external Israelites born in Egypt, who became faithless in the wilderness, all perished except for Joshua and Caleb, who had shown firm faith during the forty-day mission to spy out the land.138 The internal Israelites, the younger generation who were born and raised in the wilderness when the people drank water from the rock and were upholding the Tabernacle, entered the land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua.

God instructed Moses to commission Joshua in his stead:

Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him; cause him to stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight. You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey. -Num. 27:18-20

When the people were beset with fear upon hearing the reports of the spies, only Joshua and Caleb remained firm in their faith upon the foundation of faith Moses had laid through the Tabernacle. With absolute faith and loyalty, they thus established the foundation for the Tabernacle and would honor it to the end. Although Moses’ faith faltered later on, the tablets of stone, the Ark and the Tabernacle all remained intact upon the foundation for the Tabernacle which Joshua laid.

Therefore, God worked the dispensation to start the course anew, this time based on the water from the rock, by elevating Joshua to Moses’ place and having the internal Israelites obey him and stand with him upon the foundation for the Tabernacle. On this basis, they were to enter the land of Canaan, where they were to fulfill the national indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. In this way, God intended to establish the foundation of substance centered on Joshua in the third national course.139

When Moses had satisfactorily accomplished the period of forty years in the wilderness of Midian, God appeared before him and commanded him to guide the Israelites to the land of Canaan, the land of milk and honey.140 Likewise, when Joshua accomplished with faith and devotion the period of forty years of wandering in the wilderness, God personally called him to serve in the position of Moses, commanding:

Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. . . . As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and of good courage; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. -Josh. 1:2, 5-6

Upon receiving this direction from God, Joshua summoned the officers of the people and conveyed God’s instructions to them.141 They replied:

All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. . . . Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage. -Josh. 1:16-18

They pledged with their lives to follow Joshua. In succeeding Moses’ mission to restore Canaan, Joshua prefigured Christ at the Second Advent, who will come to complete the mission which Jesus left unfinished. Just as Joshua’s course was to restore through indemnity Moses’ course, the course of Christ at the Second Advent must restore through indemnity, both physically and spiritually, Jesus’ course of spiritual restoration.

In the second national course, Moses sent twelve spies to Canaan.142 Upon the foundation of heart laid by the two spies who had faithfully completed their mission, Joshua sent two men to spy out the fortified city of Jericho.143 When they returned from Jericho, the two spies made a faithful report: “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands; and moreover all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of us.”144 The younger generation of Israelites raised in the wilderness all believed the spies’ words, and this faith indemnified the sins of their parents, who had not properly completed the previous forty-day mission to spy out the land.

Having pledged with their lives to obey Joshua, who stood upon the foundation for the Tabernacle, the internal Israelites could stand with him on that foundation. By restoring the dispensation to start based on the water from the rock, they assumed the same position as their parents had when, under Moses’ leadership, they had participated in the dispensation to start at the Exodus from Egypt when God provided the three signs and ten plagues. Just as the Israelites under Moses’ leadership had passed through a three-day course before they crossed the Red Sea, the Israelites under Joshua’s leadership passed through a three-day course before they crossed the Jordan River.145 In the second national course, after the three-day course was completed, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire led the Israelites to the Red Sea. Similarly, after the Israelites under Joshua’s leadership completed the three-day course, the Ark of the Covenant led them to the Jordan River.146 The tablets lying at the center of the Ark, and the pillars of cloud and fire both symbolized Jesus and his
would-be Bride.

Moses used his staff to guide the way and split the Red Sea in two. Likewise, Joshua placed the Ark of the Covenant in front of the troops to guide their way. When the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant entered the Jordan River, its waters parted, opening the way for the people following the Ark to walk on the riverbed.147 Moses’ staff symbolized Jesus; similarly, the Ark containing the tablets of stone, manna and Aaron’s staff symbolized Jesus and his would-be Bride. Therefore, the parting of the Jordan River before the Ark, which allowed the Israelites to enter the land of Canaan safely, foreshadowed what would happen in the presence of Jesus and his Bride: sinful humanity, symbolized by water,148 would be divided between the righteous and the wicked and face the judgment. All faithful believers would then complete the restoration of Canaan worldwide.

Upon reaching the Jordan River, God commanded Joshua, saying:

Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, and command them, “Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.” -Josh. 4:2-3

And thus the people did:

The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped in Gilgal, on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. -Josh. 4:19-20

What did this foreshadow? As was discussed earlier, the stone symbolized Jesus. Accordingly, when the twelve leaders representing the twelve tribes each carried a stone from the middle of the Jordan River after its waters had been divided by the Ark, it foreshadowed what the twelve disciples of Jesus, representing the twelve tribes, should do at his coming: uphold him at the very place where his Word judges this sinful world and divides it into good and evil.

After they took the twelve stones and set them up in the camp at Gilgal in the land of Canaan, Joshua said, “So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty; that you may fear the Lord your God for ever.”149 This foreshadowed that the twelve disciples of Jesus should become one in heart; only then could they complete the restoration of Canaan worldwide, that all the people of the world might praise the power of God eternally.

Just as Jacob built a stone altar wherever he went, the representatives of the twelve tribes, descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob, gathered together the twelve stones and built an altar in praise of God. They were eventually to construct the Temple. This foreshadowed that the twelve disciples of Jesus should join together and honor Jesus as the Temple. For this reason, when his disciples were not uniting, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”150 The twelve disciples in fact failed to unite with each other, and one of them, Judas Iscariot, even sold Jesus to his foes. Only after Jesus suffered crucifixion and resurrected after three days was he able to bring together his scattered disciples. The disciples then honored the resurrected Jesus as the spiritual Temple. Only at his Second Coming will his followers be able to serve him as the incarnate Temple.

When the Israelites left Egypt and set out for the land of Canaan, they observed the feast of Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.151 Likewise, the Israelites under Joshua’s leadership, who encamped at Gilgal, observed the feast of Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month of that year. Afterward, they set out for the city of Jericho. When they began to live on the produce of the land, God stopped giving the manna which He had been providing for forty years. From that time forth, they were to make a living with their own sweat. Furthermore, until they had overthrown every last satanic city, they had to strive to the utmost to fulfill their responsibility.

As they approached Jericho, in accordance with God’s command, the Israelites put forty thousand soldiers at the forefront while seven priests blew seven trumpets as they marched behind the soldiers. Following behind them was the Ark of the Covenant carried by the Levitical priests, and the rest of the Israelite army marched at the rear. The Israelites marched around the fortified city in this formation once a day for six days, but this caused no change in the city. With patience and obedience, the people were restoring through indemnity the six-day period of creation which had been invaded by Satan. After they faithfully endured through six days, on the seventh day the seven priests circled the city walls seven times, blowing the seven trumpets, and Joshua said to the people: “Shout; for the Lord has given you the city.”152 The people raised a great shout and the city walls tumbled down. The conquest of Jericho153 foreshadowed that by the power of Christ and the work of his followers, the satanic barrier between Heaven and earth will crumble. Once dismantled, this wall will never be erected again. Thus, Joshua proclaimed:

Cursed before the Lord be the man that rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates. -Josh. 6:26

Joshua then launched attacks on the enemy with insurmountable force. He defeated thirty-one kings altogether.154 This foreshadowed that Christ will come as the King of Kings to build the unified Kingdom of Heaven on earth by bringing all gentile kings to complete surrender and winning the hearts of their people.

2.2.3.3 The Foundation for the Messiah
We have learned that the Israelites failed in the second national course to restore Canaan when they could not fulfill the forty-day mission to spy out the land as a condition to separate Satan. To pay indemnity for this failure, during the third national course they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. During this period, Moses laid the foundation of faith for the third course, and the Israelites stood upon the foundation for the Tabernacle. Yet Satan defiled these two foundations due to the people’s faithlessness and Moses’ mistake of striking the rock twice. Consequently, the older generation of Israelites, except for Joshua and Caleb, perished in the wilderness. Joshua and Caleb had faithfully fulfilled the forty-day spy mission while standing upon the foundation of faith for the second course and the foundation of faith for the Tabernacle which Moses had laid. They thereby established the foundation for the Tabernacle. The younger generation of Israelites crossed the Jordan River while bearing the Ark of the Covenant with utmost faith under the leadership of Joshua, who succeeded Moses. Then, destroying the fortified city of Jericho, they entered Canaan, the promised land. Based on this victory, they laid the foundation of substance in the third national course and established the foundation for the Messiah for this course-albeit as a people without sovereignty.

The family foundation for the Messiah had been fulfilled in the days of Abraham. His descendants passed through a four-hundred-year course of indemnity as slaves in Egypt before they could enter Canaan and there complete the national foundation for the Messiah. This required more than merely entering and conquering Canaan. As was discussed earlier in detail,155 fallen people had already founded powerful nations such as Egypt, led by satanic rulers who opposed God’s providence of restoration. Therefore, even though the national foundation for the Messiah was established under Joshua’s leadership, it would be necessary to build a sovereign kingdom from which the Messiah could confront the satanic nations of the world. However, once the younger generation of Israelites entered Canaan, they also became faithless. Hence, God’s providence was prolonged again, and would suffer repeated setbacks until the time of Jesus.

2.3 Some Lessons from Moses’ Course
Throughout history, people of faith have read the biblical account of Moses and thought it was merely a record of Moses’ life and Israel’s history. No one truly understood that God intended to reveal by this account certain secrets of the providence of restoration. Jesus only intimated it, saying, “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise.”156 He passed away without divulging the true significance of Moses’ course.157

In these pages, we have revealed how Moses walked the model course or formula course for the providence of restoration. By making a comparison between this section and the next section, readers will understand more clearly how, through Moses’ course, God foreshadowed the path Jesus would walk. Yet even by studying the providence centered on Moses alone, we cannot but come to the conclusion that God exists and has been guiding human history toward the realization of one absolute purpose.

Moses’ course also demonstrates that the actual outcome of a person’s life depends upon whether or not the person fulfills his portion of responsibility, regardless of God’s foreordained plan for him. God’s predestined Will cannot be achieved through the person entrusted with its fulfillment if he does not complete his portion of responsibility. Specifically, God foretold that He would have Moses lead the Israelites into Canaan, the land of milk and honey, and commanded him to carry this out. Nevertheless, when Moses and his people did not fulfill their responsibility, only Joshua and Caleb among the first generation entered Canaan. The rest died in the wilderness.

Moreover, God does not intervene in the human portion of responsibility but acts only upon the actual result a person brings. Although God guided the people with amazing signs and miracles, He did not interfere in their actions when they worshipped the golden calf while Moses was away on the mountain. He did not intervene to restrain Moses when he struck the rock twice. When they did so, they were carrying out their portions of responsibility which were theirs alone to fulfill. However, once they had acted either to fulfill their responsibility or to fail in it, God regarded their result and acted accordingly.

Moses’ course demonstrates the absoluteness of God’s predestined Will. God predetermines absolutely that His Will be fulfilled and continually attempts to accomplish it until it is done. Thus, when Moses could not complete his responsibility, God found a successor, Joshua, and worked determinedly to accomplish His Will through him. In general, when someone in the Abel position whom God has chosen does not complete his given mission, someone in the Cain position who has demonstrated the utmost devotion will replace the Abel figure and inherit his mission. Jesus described a comparable situation when he said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”158

Moses’ course shows that the greater one’s mission, the greater the test one will face. Because the first ancestors fell when they did not believe in God but turned away from Him, central figures restoring the foundation of faith must overcome a test in which God abandons them. Moses had to overcome a trial in which God tried to kill him159 before he could rise as the leader of the Israelites.

With the Fall as a condition, Satan bound human beings in a relationship with him. Consequently, God does not grant grace to people without a necessary condition, for if He were to do so, Satan would make accusations. Therefore, when God is about to give grace, He puts the person through a test, either before or after the grace, to prevent Satan’s accusation. Moses’ course provides examples of this. God granted Moses the grace to begin the first course to depart from Egypt only after he had completed the test of living in the Pharaoh’s palace for forty years. God granted him the grace to begin the second course to depart from Egypt only after he had completed the test of living in the wilderness of Midian for forty years.160 Only after giving the test in which God tried to kill Moses161 did He grant the three signs and ten plagues.162 Only after giving the test of the three-day course163 did God grant the pillars of cloud and fire.164 Only after giving the test of crossing the Red Sea165 did God give the grace of manna and quail.166 After giving the test of the battle with the
Amalekites,167 God granted the grace of the tablets of stone, the Tabernacle, and the Ark of the Covenant.168 The grace of the water from the rock169 was given only after the test of wandering for forty years in the wilderness. When God sent the fiery serpents, the people’s repentance was the condition for God to give the grace of the bronze serpent.170

These are lessons which Moses’ course teaches us.

Section 3: The Providence of Restoration under the Leadership of Jesus

In the beginning, Adam should have governed the angels;171 but due to his fall, human beings came under Satan’s dominion and formed a hellish world. To restore this through indemnity, Jesus came as the second Adam to personally bring Satan to submission and establish the Kingdom of Heaven. However, Satan, who does not submit even to God, would by no means readily yield to Jesus and people of faith. Therefore, taking responsibility for having created human beings, God raised up Jacob and Moses and revealed through them the model course by which Jesus could subjugate Satan.172

Jacob walked the symbolic course to bring Satan to submission, while Moses walked the image course. Their courses pioneered the way for Jesus to walk the actual course. In walking the worldwide course to restore Canaan, Jesus followed the model demonstrated in the national course to restore Canaan when Moses was working to subjugate Satan.

God told Moses, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”173 By “a prophet like you,” God was referring to Jesus, who was to walk the same course Moses walked. When Jesus said, “the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise,”174 he meant that God had revealed the model course through Moses and that he was following in Moses’ footsteps. Let us examine the providence of restoration centered on Jesus, drawing relevant comparisons between the three national courses to restore Canaan under Moses’ leadership and the three worldwide courses to restore Canaan under Jesus’ leadership.

3.1 The First Worldwide Course to Restore Canaan

3.1.1 The Foundation of Faith
In the first worldwide course to restore Canaan, the central figure entrusted with the mission to restore the foundation of faith was John the Baptist. From what position was John supposed to accomplish this mission? In the national course to restore Canaan under Moses’ leadership, Moses broke the tablets of stone and struck the rock twice. This set up conditions for Satan to strike the body of Jesus-the fulfillment of the tablets and the rock-should the Jewish people of his day not believe in him.

For Jesus to be released from this condition, the chosen people entrusted with the mission to prepare for his coming should have united around the Temple, the image representation of the Messiah who was to come. However, over the years the Israelites repeatedly lapsed into faithlessness and thus multiplied conditions for Satan to attack Jesus. To erase these conditions, God sent the prophet Elijah. Elijah worked to separate Satan by defeating the prophets of Baal and Asherah, 850 altogether,175 and then ascended to heaven.176 Yet, because Elijah did not complete his entire mission he had to return.177 John the Baptist was the prophet who came as Elijah178 to complete this unfinished mission to separate Satan and make straight the way of the Lord.179

The Israelites had suffered hardships in Egypt for four hundred years without a prophet to guide them. They finally met Moses, the one man who could lead them into Canaan as a nation in preparation to receive the Messiah. In a similar fashion, the Jewish people suffered all kinds of tribulations under the oppression of the gentile nations of Persia, Greece, Egypt, Syria and Rome without a prophet to guide them during the four-hundred-year period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah, which began at the time of the prophet Malachi.180 They finally met John the Baptist, the one man who could lead them to the Messiah, who was coming to restore Canaan worldwide.

Thus, John the Baptist, like Moses, was called on the foundation of a four-hundred- year period for the separation of Satan. Moses had learned to love his brethren and the traditions of his fathers while living in the Pharaoh’s palace. Likewise, John the Baptist learned the way of faith and obedience to Heaven and made preparations for the Messiah while living on locusts and wild honey in the wilderness. His life was so exemplary that many people, including the priests and Levites, wondered whether he might be the Messiah.181 In this way, John the Baptist successfully established the dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan and was able to lay the foundation of faith for the first worldwide course to restore Canaan.

3.1.2 The Foundation of Substance
Since John the Baptist stood in the same position as Moses, he likewise stood in the dual positions of parent and child. From the position of parent, he restored through indemnity the foundation of faith. From the position of child, he secured the position of Abel for the fulfillment of the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature.182 John the Baptist recovered a foundation on the world level comparable to that of Moses when he laid the foundation of faith for the first national course after forty years inside the Pharaoh’s palace.

In Moses’ day, God’s desire at the first dispensation to start was that the Israelites develop trust in Moses when they witnessed him killing an Egyptian taskmaster. The Israelites were then to leave the satanic world of Egypt and travel to the land of Canaan. In John the Baptist’s time, however, the Jewish people were not to leave the Roman Empire and set out for another land. They were to remain within the empire, win over its people, and restore the empire to God’s side. God conducted the dispensation to start by encouraging the Jewish people to believe in John through the miracles surrounding his life.

At John’s conception, an angel gave a wondrous prophecy concerning the child. When his father Zechariah did not believe it, he was struck dumb, and his speech returned only after he circumcised and named the child. Through these and other miracles, the Israelites were convinced that John was a prophet sent by God:

Fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea; and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him. -Luke 1:65-66

Moreover, John led an illustrious life of prayer and asceticism in the wilderness, living on locusts and wild honey. The general public and even the priests admired him so highly that many thought he might be the Messiah.183

When Moses finished the forty-year indemnity period in the Pharaoh’s palace and killed the Egyptian, the Israelites should have been deeply inspired by his love for his people and followed him with faith. They would have then gone straight into Canaan, without having to cross the Red Sea or wander in the wilderness, and without need of the tablets of stone, the Ark of the Covenant or the Tabernacle. Likewise, the Jewish people in Jesus’ time were to believe in and follow John the Baptist, whom God had raised up through miracles and signs as the focus of their faith. Thus, they would fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and lay the foundation of substance, thereby immediately establishing the foundation for the Messiah.

3.1.3 The Failure of the First Worldwide Course to Restore Canaan
The Jewish people stood upon the foundation of faith laid by John the Baptist and followed John as if they were following the Messiah.184 Thereupon, they brought an end to the Old Testament Age and were ready to embark upon a new course to restore Canaan worldwide. Yet, as was explained earlier,185 John the Baptist harbored doubts toward Jesus, even though he had testified to him. He sent a delegation and asked Jesus, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?”186 He denied that he was Elijah even though he in fact came to fulfill Elijah’s mission.187 This not only blocked the Jewish people’s path to Jesus, it even led them to oppose him. In effect, John left the position of Abel, depriving the Jewish people of the central person with whom they could fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. This blocked their way to complete the foundation of substance or the foundation for the Messiah. Consequently, the first worldwide course to restore Canaan was aborted. As was the case in Moses’ days, it was prolonged to a second and then a third course.

3.2 The Second Worldwide Course to Restore Canaan

3.2.1 The Foundation of Faith

3.2.1.1 Jesus Takes On the Mission of John the Baptist
In relationship to Jesus, the perfect Adam, John the Baptist came in the role of the restored Adam. He was to establish the foundation for the Messiah, thus completing all the unfinished missions of the central figures of the past who had labored to restore the foundations of faith and substance. Upon this foundation, he was to present all the fruits of providential history to Jesus and guide the Jewish people, who trusted and followed him, to receive Jesus. Finally, he himself should have attended Jesus with faith and devotion.

Even though John the Baptist did not know it, the baptism which he gave to Jesus at the Jordan River188 was in truth a ceremony of offering Jesus all of John’s lifelong accomplishments for the sake of God’s Will.

Nevertheless, because John the Baptist gradually came to doubt Jesus and finally even undermined his work, the Jewish people, who had the highest esteem for John, were compelled to disbelieve in Jesus.189 Consequently, the foundation of faith which John had laid for the first worldwide course to restore Canaan was invaded by Satan. Jesus himself now had to take on John’s mission and restore through indemnity the foundation of faith in order to set out on the second worldwide course to restore Canaan. When Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness, it was to separate Satan for the very purpose of restoring the foundation of faith; however, for this he lowered himself to assume the position of John the Baptist.

Jesus, who came as God’s only begotten Son and the Lord of Glory, was not meant to walk a path of suffering.190 Rather, it was for John the Baptist, born with the mission to make straight the way of Jesus,191 to go through tribulations. However, because John did not complete his responsibility, Jesus had to undergo suffering in John’s place. Jesus enjoined Peter not to reveal to the Jewish people that he was the Messiah192 because, although he was the Messiah, he had assumed John’s role for the purpose of beginning this phase of the providence.

3.2.1.2 Jesus’ Forty-Day Fast and Three Temptations in the Wilderness
Let us examine the remote and immediate causes behind Jesus’ forty-day fast and his three temptations. In the national course to restore Canaan, when Moses stood before the rock, he turned faithless and struck the rock twice. As a result, the rock, symbolizing Jesus,193 was defiled by Satan. This act affirmed the possibility that centuries later, when Jesus came to walk in the footsteps of Moses’ course, John the Baptist might become faithless and Satan could then attack Jesus, the fulfillment of the rock. Moses’ act also affirmed the possibility that Satan might invade the foundation of faith laid by John the Baptist. Hence, Moses’ act of striking the rock twice was the remote cause which, should John lose faith, would compel Jesus to endure a forty-day fast and face three temptations in the wilderness for the purpose of restoring the foundation of faith.

John the Baptist actually did become faithless194 and Satan invaded the foundation of faith which John had laid. This was the immediate cause of Jesus undertaking a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan by fasting for forty days and overcoming the three temptations. By doing this from the position of John the Baptist, Jesus restored through indemnity the foundation of faith.

It is written that after forty days, Satan tested Jesus three times. First, he showed Jesus stones and tempted him to turn them into loaves of bread. Next, he took Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple and challenged him to throw himself down. Finally, Satan took Jesus to a very high mountain and offered to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would fall down and worship him.195

What was Satan’s purpose in giving Jesus the three temptations? In the beginning, God created human beings and gave them three great blessings-perfection of individual character, multiplication of children, and dominion over the natural world196-by which they might accomplish the purpose of creation. By inducing the first human ancestors to fall, Satan deprived humankind of the three great blessings and thus prevented the fulfillment of the purpose of creation. Jesus came into the world to accomplish the purpose of creation by restoring these blessings. Therefore, Satan tempted Jesus three times in an attempt to prevent him from restoring the three blessings and accomplishing the purpose of creation.

How, then, did Jesus confront and overcome the three temptations? First, let us examine how Satan came to be in a position to impose temptations on Jesus. Satan first took such a dominant position when, in the national course to restore Canaan, he claimed possession of the rock and the tablets of stone, which symbolized Jesus and his would-be Bride. This was possible because Moses broke the tablets of stone and struck the rock twice in anger at the faithlessness of the people. In the worldwide course, when John the Baptist failed his responsibility, the Jewish people became as disbelieving and disobedient as the Israelites were in Moses’ time. Therefore, as God had already foreshadowed in Moses’ course, Satan rose to a position of power from which he could impose temptations on Jesus.

After Jesus completed the forty-day fast in the wilderness, Satan appeared before him and tempted him, saying, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”197 Satan had possession of the stone. He had claimed the water-giving rock and the tablets of stone based on the condition first set by Moses’ mistakes and then brought to fruition by John the Baptist’s faithlessness. Moses had first obtained the stone after fulfilling dispensations of forty for the separation of Satan in the wilderness. To purify and recover the stone, Jesus fasted in the wilderness for forty days. Satan was well aware that Jesus went into the wilderness for this purpose, and his intention in giving the first temptation was to keep the stone in his possession. Jesus suffered from hunger in the wilderness, just as the Israelites had in Moses’ day. When the Israelites could not overcome their hunger but fell into faithlessness, this eventually let Satan claim possession of the stone. Likewise, if Jesus were to lose faith and satisfy his hunger by turning the stone into bread, abandoning his effort to restore the stone, Satan would possess the stone forever.

Jesus’ answer to this temptation was, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”198 Originally, human beings were created to live on two kinds of nourishment. The body lives on the nourishment obtained from the physical world, while the spirit lives by receiving the love and truth of God. However, since fallen people cannot receive the Word directly from God, their spirits have life by the words of Jesus, who came as the incarnation of God’s Word.199 Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. . . . unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”200 He meant that a person does not live a complete and wholesome life merely by eating bread to keep his body alive. His life is not full unless he lives by Jesus, who came as the life-giving nourishment for the spirit.

Indeed, the stone in Satan’s hands-signifying the rock and the tablets of stone which Moses had lost-symbolized the very self of Jesus201 who was being subjected to this temptation. In his reply, Jesus meant that although he was starving, he was less concerned about obtaining the bread which could keep his body alive than he was with becoming the incarnate Word of God who could nourish every spirit with life. With that heart, Jesus was determined to triumph over Satan. Furthermore, this test was conducted so that Jesus might re-establish the position of the Messiah, the one who has attained perfection of his individual character, by overcoming the temptation from the position of John the Baptist. Jesus defeated Satan because he spoke and acted in full accordance with the Principle. By his victory over this temptation, Jesus fulfilled the condition to restore the individual nature to perfection and thereby established the basis for the restoration of God’s first blessing.

Next, Satan brought Jesus to the pinnacle of the Temple and challenged him, saying, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.”202 Jesus referred to himself as the Temple,203 and it is written that Christians are temples of God204 and members of the body of Christ.205 From this we can understand that Jesus is the main temple while the believers are like branch temples. Jesus came as the Lord of the Temple. Even Satan had to acknowledge his position; thus he put Jesus on the top of the Temple. When Satan dared Jesus to throw himself down, it meant that he wanted to usurp Jesus’ position as the Lord of the Temple by enticing Jesus to fall from that position to the lowly state of a fallen person.

At that moment Jesus answered him, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”206 Originally, angels were created to be governed by people who have realized their God-given nature. Hence, even fallen angels should rightfully submit to Jesus, their Lord. Accordingly, it was an unprincipled act for an angel to attempt to usurp the position of the Lord of the Temple from Jesus. Jesus’ response meant that Satan should not test God by tempting Jesus, the incarnation of God, who works His providence in strict accordance with the Principle. Moreover, by prevailing in the first temptation and restoring his individual character as the incarnate Temple, Jesus had already secured the position of the Lord of the Temple. Therefore, Satan had no condition to tempt Jesus again, but should have retreated at that point. By overcoming the second temptation, Jesus, the main temple, the bridegroom and the True Parent of humanity, opened the way for all people of faith to be restored to the positions of branch temples, brides and true children. Jesus thus established the basis upon which to restore God’s second blessing.

Finally, Satan took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all things under heaven and all their glory, saying, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”207 Due to Adam’s fall, human beings lost the qualification to be the lords of creation. They fell under the dominion of Satan, who usurped Adam’s position as the creation’s master. Coming in the capacity of a perfected Adam, Jesus was the Lord of creation, as it is written, “For God has put all things in subjection under his feet.”208 Because Satan knew this from his understanding of the Principle, he led Jesus to the top of the mountain in recognition of his position as the Lord of creation. Satan then tempted Jesus, hoping that Jesus, the second Adam, might also submit to him as Adam had submitted in the beginning.

Jesus replied, “Begone, Satan! for it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”209 Angels were created as ministering spirits210 to revere and serve God, their Creator. By his answer, Jesus indicated that according to the Principle even a fallen angel like Satan should worship God; by the same token, he should honor and attend Jesus, who came as the body of the Creator. Furthermore, by overcoming the two previous temptations, Jesus already had laid the basis upon which to restore God’s first and second blessings. Upon this foundation, he would naturally restore God’s third blessing and govern the creation. Jesus said, “Begone, Satan!” because there was no longer any basis for Satan to contend with Jesus over the natural world, which already stood on the firm foundation of his victory. By prevailing in the third temptation, Jesus set up the condition to restore dominion over the natural world-God’s third blessing.

3.2.1.3 The Result of the Forty-Day Fast and the Three Temptations
According to the Principle of Creation, God’s purpose of creation is to be realized only when human beings pass through the three stages of origin, division and union and establish the four position foundation. However, Satan blocked this ideal while the first human ancestors were still in the process of building the four position foundation. Therefore, in the course of the providence of restoration, with its prolongations through three stages, God has tried to restore through indemnity all that was lost by working to fulfill dispensations of forty for the separation of Satan. Jesus prevailed over the three temptations and fulfilled the forty-day fast as a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan. Thereupon, Jesus restored through indemnity, all at once, the following conditions which God had been seeking to fulfill through all the dispensations of forty for the separation of Satan throughout history.

First, in the position of John the Baptist, Jesus restored through indemnity the foundation of faith for the second worldwide course to restore Canaan. In so doing, Jesus restored all that had been offered to God over the course of the providence for the purpose of laying the foundation of faith, including: the offerings of Cain and Abel, Noah’s ark, Abraham’s sacrifice, Moses’ Tabernacle and King Solomon’s Temple. Furthermore, Jesus restored through indemnity, all at once, all the dispensations of forty for the separation of Satan conducted during the four thousand years since Adam, lost despite the best efforts of central figures to lay the foundation of faith. These included: Noah’s forty-day flood judgment, the three forty-year periods in the life of Moses and his two forty-day fasts, the forty-day mission to spy out the land, the Israelites’ forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the four hundred years from Noah to Abraham, the four hundred years of slavery in Egypt, and all other periods characterized by the number forty which had been lost since the Exodus.

Second, by rising from John the Baptist’s position to the position of the Messiah, Jesus paved the way for the fulfillment of God’s three great blessings and the restoration of the four position foundation. Having successfully made his offering, Jesus stood as the fulfillment of the tablets of stone, the Ark of the Covenant, the Tabernacle, the rock and the Temple.

3.2.2 The Foundation of Substance
Jesus came as the True Parent of humanity, yet he restored through indemnity the dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan while standing in the position of John the Baptist. Therefore, after he restored the foundation of faith (and rose to the position of Messiah and True Parent) he stood in the position of a parent. At the same time, when he secured the position of Abel for fulfilling the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature, he stood in the position of a child (still in the role of John the Baptist with respect to that condition). In that capacity, Jesus through his forty-day fast attained the same position on the world level that Moses had assumed just after he had laid the foundation of faith for the second national course to restore Canaan by enduring a forty-year exile in the wilderness of Midian.

God conducted the dispensation to start the second national course to restore Canaan by providing the three signs and ten plagues. God conducted the dispensation to start the third national course to restore Canaan by having the people uphold the three manifestations of divine grace-the tablets of stone, the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle-and obey the Ten Commandments. These, as we recall, were given upon the foundation for the Tabernacle to restore the three signs and ten plagues lost due to the faithlessness of the Israelites. Jesus was the fulfillment of the three manifestations of grace and the Ten Commandments. Therefore, God conducted the dispensation to start the second worldwide course to restore Canaan based on Jesus’ own words and miraculous deeds. If the Jewish people (Cain) had been moved to believe in and follow Jesus, who was in the position of John the Baptist (Abel), they would have fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and restored the foundation of substance. The foundation for the Messiah would thus have been laid. Standing upon this foundation, Jesus would have risen from the position of John the Baptist to the position of the Messiah. Then, by engrafting all people with himself,211 humankind would have been reborn, cleansed of the original sin, and would have become one with God in heart. They would have restored their original, God-given nature and built the Kingdom of Heaven on earth in Jesus’ day.

3.2.3 The Failure of the Second Worldwide Course to Restore Canaan
When the first worldwide course to restore Canaan ended in failure due to John the Baptist’s faithlessness, Jesus took John’s mission upon himself and suffered hardships in the wilderness for forty days. Thus, Jesus restored through indemnity the foundation of faith for the second worldwide course to restore Canaan. It is written that Satan, who was defeated in the three temptations, left Jesus’ side “until an opportune time,”212 indicating that Satan had not left Jesus for good but might confront him at a future date. As a matter of fact, Satan did confront Jesus, working primarily through the Jewish leadership, the priests and scribes who disbelieved in Jesus. In particular, Satan confronted Jesus through Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed him.

Due to the faithlessness of such people, Jesus could lay neither the foundation of substance nor the foundation for the Messiah for the second worldwide course to restore Canaan. The second worldwide course thus ended in tragic failure.

3.3 The Third Worldwide Course to Restore Canaan

3.3.1 The Spiritual Course to Restore Canaan under Jesus’ Leadership
In discussing the third worldwide course to restore Canaan, we should first understand in what respects this course was different from the third national course to restore Canaan. As was explained in detail, the focus of faith for the Israelites in the third national course was the Tabernacle, the symbol of the Messiah. Even when the Israelites fell into faithlessness, the Tabernacle remained intact, standing upon the foundation of faith for the Tabernacle which Moses had laid during his forty-day fast. When Moses also became faithless, the Tabernacle remained intact, preserved by Joshua’s stewardship and the foundation for the Tabernacle which he had laid during the forty-day mission to spy out the land.

However, in the worldwide course to restore Canaan, the focus of faith for the Jewish people was Jesus himself, who came as the fulfillment of the Tabernacle. When even his disciples became faithless, Jesus had to walk the path of death and be crucified, as he had foretold, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up.”213 As a consequence, the Jewish people lost the one who should have been the spiritual and physical focus of their faith. They no longer had a basis upon which to begin the third worldwide course to restore Canaan as a substantial course, as the Israelites had when they commenced the third national course. Rather, Christians, as the Second Israel, were to begin this course as a spiritual course by
exalting the resurrected Jesus as their focus of faith. Foreseeing this, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”214

Then, just as Joshua succeeded to Moses’ mission and completed the third national course, Christ at the Second Advent will succeed the mission of Jesus. He will complete, both spiritually and physically, the third worldwide course to restore Canaan. Accordingly, unless the returning Christ comes in the flesh, as Jesus did, he cannot inherit Jesus’ mission, much less fulfill the purpose of the providence of restoration.

3.3.1.1 The Spiritual Foundation of Faith
When the second worldwide course to restore Canaan ended in failure due to the Jewish people’s rejection of Jesus, the foundation of faith which Jesus had laid during his forty-day fast from the position of John the Baptist was lost to Satan. After Jesus gave up his body on the cross, he resumed John the Baptist’s mission spiritually. During the forty-day period from his resurrection to his ascension, Jesus triumphed over Satan and broke all his chains. By doing so, Jesus restored the foundation of faith for the spiritual course in the third worldwide course to restore Canaan. This is the heretofore undisclosed reason behind this forty-day period. How, then, did Jesus lay the spiritual foundation of faith?

God had personally been guiding His beloved chosen people until the time Jesus appeared as the Messiah. Yet from the moment they turned against His only begotten Son, God tearfully had to turn His back and allow Satan to lay claim to them. Nonetheless, God’s purpose in sending the Messiah was to save the Jewish people and all humanity. God was determined to save humankind, even though it meant delivering Jesus into the hands of Satan. Satan, on the other hand, was fixed on killing one man, Jesus Christ, even though he might have to hand back all of humanity, including the Jewish people, to God. Satan knew that the primary goal of God’s four-thousand-year providence of restoration was to send the Messiah. He thought that by killing the Messiah he could destroy the entire providence of God. In the end, God handed over Jesus to Satan as the condition of indemnity to save all humankind, including the Jewish people who had turned against Jesus and fallen into Satan’s realm.

Satan exercised his maximum power to crucify Jesus, thereby attaining the goal he had sought throughout the four-thousand-year course of history. On the other hand, by delivering Jesus to Satan, God set up as compensation the condition to save sinful humanity. How did God achieve this? Because Satan had already exercised his maximum power in killing Jesus, according to the principle of restoration through indemnity, God was entitled to exercise His maximum power. While Satan uses his power to kill, God uses His power to bring the dead to life. As compensation for Satan’s exercise of his maximum power in killing Jesus, God exercised His maximum power and resurrected Jesus. God thus opened the way for all humanity to be engrafted with the resurrected Jesus and thereby receive salvation and rebirth.

It is clear from the biblical record that the resurrected Jesus was not the same as he had been when he had lived with his disciples before his crucifixion. The resurrected Jesus was no longer a man seen through physical eyes, because he transcended time and space. He appeared to his disciples inside a room with closed doors.215 He accompanied two disciples traveling toward Emmaus for a long distance. Yet they did not recognize him until much later, when he made himself known, at which point he suddenly vanished out of sight.216 By passing through the forty-day period of his resurrection and thereby separating Satan, Jesus laid the foundation of faith for the spiritual course. He thus opened the way to redeem humanity’s sins.

3.3.1.2 The Spiritual Foundation of Substance
Through his resurrection appearances, Jesus fulfilled the dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan while standing in the position of John the Baptist in spirit. He thereby laid the foundation of faith for the spiritual course in the position of the spiritual True Parent. At the same time, from the position of a child, he secured the position of Abel for fulfilling the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. This spiritual foundation of faith which Jesus laid for the third worldwide course to restore Canaan was comparable to the foundation of faith which Moses laid for the third national course through forty years in the wilderness.

God had worked the dispensation to start in Moses’ day by having him establish the foundation for the Tabernacle. However, the resurrected Jesus was himself the spiritual fulfillment of the tablets of stone, the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle. He gathered his scattered disciples from all over Galilee and worked the dispensation to start by giving them the power to perform signs and miracles.217

The resurrected Jesus stood spiritually in the position of John the Baptist and the position of Abel. The faithful believers stood in the position of Cain. By believing in Jesus and following him devotedly, they fulfilled the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and restored the spiritual foundation of substance.

3.3.1.3 The Spiritual Foundation for the Messiah
Upon Jesus’ crucifixion, his eleven remaining disciples were demoralized and scattered. After his resurrection, however, Jesus gathered them in one place and commenced a new phase of the providence: the restoration of spiritual Canaan. The disciples chose Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot and fill the vacancy among the twelve. By believing in Jesus and following him at the cost of their lives, they laid the spiritual foundation of substance and the spiritual foundation for the Messiah. Upon this foundation, Jesus ascended from the position of the spiritual mission-bearer for John the Baptist to the position of the spiritual Messiah and sent the Holy Spirit. Thereupon, Jesus and the Holy Spirit became the spiritual True Parents and began the work of giving rebirth. Ever since the descent of the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost,218 the resurrected Jesus as the spiritual True Father and the Holy Spirit as the spiritual True Mother have worked in oneness to grant spiritual rebirth by spiritually engrafting believers with themselves. This is the work of spiritual salvation,219 which established a realm of resurrection inviolable by Satan.

Even though we may by faith unite with Jesus in spirit, our bodies are still liable to Satan’s attack, as was the case with Jesus himself. In other words, our physical salvation still remains unaccomplished. Still, if we believe in the resurrected Jesus, he will guide us to enter spiritually his realm of resurrection, which is invulnerable to satanic invasion. There we are released from the conditions which allow Satan to accuse us, and we are spiritually saved.

3.3.1.4 The Restoration of Spiritual Canaan
By believing in and serving the resurrected Jesus, who stands upon the spiritual foundation for the Messiah, Christians can accomplish the restoration of spiritual Canaan and enter its realm of grace. On the other hand, the physical bodies of Christians stand in the same position as Jesus’ body, which was assaulted by Satan through the crucifixion. Christians are still stained with the original sin220 and are just as much in need of purifying themselves from satanic influences as were people who lived before the coming of Jesus. Hence, Christians still must walk the course for the separation of Satan to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ.221

The resurrected Jesus is the spiritual fulfillment of the Temple. He realized worldwide the ideal of the Tabernacle which Moses had upheld in the national course to restore Canaan. The most holy place and the holy place, representing the spirit and flesh of Jesus, were fulfilled as spiritual realities through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The ideal of the mercy seat has been realized through the works of salvation given by Jesus and the Holy Spirit, enabling God to appear in their works and impart His Word. On the mercy seat, where God’s Word is proclaimed, the cherubim that had blocked our path since the Fall were parted, opening our way to enter the Ark of the Covenant and receive Jesus, the Tree of Life. There we can partake of the manna provided by God and witness the greatness of God’s power that once caused Aaron’s staff to bud.222

As we have learned by studying Moses’ course, the delays in God’s providence were not predetermined, but were caused by people’s faithlessness. Likewise, Jesus’ crucifixion and the need for his return were not originally predestined by God.

3.3.2 The Course to Restore Substantial Canaan under the Leadership of Christ at the Second Advent
We have already explained why the third worldwide course to restore Canaan began as a spiritual course, not as a substantial course like the third national course to restore Canaan. This spiritual providence began when, upon the spiritual foundation for the Messiah, Jesus could stand as the spiritual Messiah and his followers believed and obeyed him. This providence has passed through a long two-thousand-year course of history, expanding to construct a worldwide spiritual dominion.

While Moses could enter Canaan only in spirit, Joshua walked the national course as a substantial course and actually conquered the promised land. Likewise, while Jesus has been restoring Canaan as a worldwide spiritual realm, Christ at the Second Advent is to complete this third worldwide course as a substantial course and build the actual Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Christ at the Second Advent must realize, on earth, God’s ideal which was left unfulfilled at the First Coming. For this reason, he must be born on earth in the flesh.223

Since Christ at the Second Advent must restore through indemnity the course of the providence of restoration left unfinished at Jesus’ coming, he may have to follow a similar course. Jesus encountered disbelief among the Jewish people and had to walk a course of bitter suffering. Likewise, if Christians, the Second Israel, reject Christ at the Second Advent, he will have to go through tribulations comparable to those Jesus suffered. He will have to repeat Jesus’ painful course and restore it through indemnity, but this time during his earthly life. For this reason, Jesus said, “But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.”224

At the First Coming, Jesus at the end had to forsake the First Israel, which had been called for his sake, and elect the Christians as the Second Israel to commence the new spiritual providence. Similarly, at Christ’s Second Coming, if the Christians reject him in disbelief, he will have to abandon them, raise up a Third Israel, and work with them to bring the providence to its fulfillment on the earth. If the Lord’s forerunners, who are entrusted with missions like that of John the Baptist, do not complete their responsibilities, then he will have to lower himself to assume the role of John the Baptist and establish the foundation of faith for the substantial course in the third worldwide course to restore Canaan. In such an eventuality, he will walk a path of suffering.

However arduous the path he may walk, Christ at the Second Advent will not die without fulfilling the providence of restoration. This is because God’s providence to raise up the True Parents of humankind225 and fulfill the purpose of creation through them will be successful on the third attempt. This providence began with Adam, was prolonged through Jesus, and will bear its fruit without fail at the Second Advent. Moreover, as will be discussed below,226 God’s spiritual providence of restoration during the two thousand years since Jesus’ day has prepared a democratic social and legal environment which will protect Christ at the Second Advent. Jesus was killed after being branded a heretic by the Jews and a rebel by the Roman Empire. In contrast, even if Christ at the Second Advent is persecuted as a heretic, in the democratic society to which he will come, such accusations will not be sufficient grounds for him to be condemned to death.

Therefore, no matter how bitter his tribulations may be, Christ at the Second Advent will be able to lay the foundation of faith on the earth. Standing upon it, he will gather disciples of indomitable faith. He will guide these followers to fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and establish the foundation of substance. The foundation for the Messiah for the substantial course in the third worldwide course will be established without fail.

When Moses was the central figure in the third national course to restore Canaan, God worked the dispensation to start based on the rock. When Joshua was the central figure, God conducted the dispensation to start based on the water from the rock, which is more internal than the rock. Similarly, at Jesus’ coming, God conducted the dispensation to start through miracles and signs, but at Christ’s Second Advent God will conduct the dispensation to start based on the Word, which is more internal than miracles and signs. As was explained earlier,227 although human beings were created through the Word,228 due to the Fall they could not fulfill its purpose. To accomplish the purpose of the Word, God has been working His providence of restoration by setting up external conditions of obedience to the Word. Finally, at the consummation of providential history, God will again send the Christ, the incarnation of the Word, and complete the providence of salvation based on the Word.

The deepest explanation of God’s purpose of creation is revealed in terms of relationships of heart. As our invisible, internal Parent, God created human beings as His substantial children. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, as the substantial object partners to God in the pattern of His dual characteristics. As God’s first substantial object partners, they were meant to be the Parents of humankind. They were meant to become husband and wife, bear and raise children, and form a family intertwining the heart of parents, the heart of husband and wife, the heart of brothers and sisters, and the heart of children. Their family would have manifested the true love of parents, the true love of husband and wife, and the true love of children. This would have been the four position foundation which realizes the three object purpose.229 In this manner, God intended to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth through His own children, born of His heavenly lineage.

The primary significance of the Fall was that the first human ancestors formed a bond of blood ties with the Archangel; therefore, all of humanity has been bound to Satan’s lineage.230 Every human being has been born as a child of the Devil.231 The first human ancestors fell to the position where they no longer had any connection to God’s lineage. Accordingly, the ultimate purpose of God’s providence of restoration is to transform fallen people, who have no connection to God’s lineage, into children born of God’s direct lineage. Let us look further at the Bible for evidence of this hidden purpose behind God’s providence.

Adam’s family, whose members committed the Fall and the first murder, was bereft of any relationship with God. At Noah’s time, a direct relationship with God could not be restored due to the mistake of his second son, Ham. Nevertheless, because Noah had demonstrated utmost devotion, his family could stand in an indirect relationship with God, as a servant of servants.232 This was the nature of humankind’s relationship with God attainable prior to the Old Testament Age.

Abraham, the father of faith, with his family established the family foundation for the Messiah. They and their descendants, God’s chosen people, were elevated to the position of God’s servants.233 This was the nature of humankind’s relationship with God attainable in the Old Testament Age.

In the days of Jesus, the disciples, who stood upon the foundation of faith Jesus had laid from the position of John the Baptist, were elevated from the position of servants to the position of adopted children. To rise further from this state and become the children of God’s direct lineage, they should have first established the foundation of substance and the foundation for the Messiah by serving and obeying Jesus absolutely. Had Jesus stood as the Messiah upon that foundation, they could have been engrafted with him both spiritually and physically and attained complete oneness with him.

Jesus is the only Son of God, sinless and born of His direct lineage. He is the true olive tree who came to engraft all fallen people, the wild olive trees, with himself.234 By thus joining them in oneness with himself, he was to cleanse them of the original sin and restore them as children born of God’s lineage. This is the work of rebirth, which was to have been conducted by Jesus and his Bride.235

Unfortunately, even Jesus’ own disciples lost faith, and Jesus died on the cross without having ascended from the position of John the Baptist or commenced the duties proper to the Messiah. After his resurrection, Jesus began his spiritual course. He laid the spiritual foundation of faith through the forty days from his resurrection to his ascension-a period for the separation of Satan-while standing in the position of spiritual John the Baptist. His disciples repented and returned to serve him with faith; thus, Jesus and his disciples established the spiritual foundation of substance and the spiritual foundation for the Messiah. Upon this foundation, Jesus stands as the spiritual Messiah and has been engrafting his faithful followers with himself-though only spiritually. As a result, faithful Christians have been elevated to become God’s spiritual children. This has been the nature of humankind’s relationship with God attainable from the time of Jesus until today.

In this spiritual providence of restoration, the spirit world has been restored first, just as in the order of creation God made the spirit world first. Humanity has been elevated to stand as God’s object partners, but only spiritually. However devout a Christian may be, since the original sin passed down through the flesh has not yet been removed, he is no different from a faithful person of the Old Testament Age in the sense that both are still bound to Satan’s lineage.236 Christians are, at best, God’s adopted children, because they do not stem from His lineage. This explains why St. Paul lamented, “we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons.”237

Christ will return and restore all humanity to be God’s true children. He will return in the flesh and be born on the earth, as at his First Coming. He will restore through indemnity the course of his First Coming by walking it again. As was explained above, the returning Christ will conduct the dispensation to start based on the Word and then complete the foundation for the Messiah both spiritually and physically. Upon that foundation, he will engraft all humanity with himself, cleansing them of the original sin and restoring them to be God’s children, born of His lineage.

At the First Coming, Jesus laid a family foundation by choosing twelve disciples and appointing three of the twelve as his chief disciples. In this, he intended to restore through indemnity the position of Jacob, who had been the central figure for the family foundation for the Messiah. By raising up seventy followers, Jesus then expanded the scope of his foundation to the clan level. In the same manner, Christ at the Second Advent will begin by laying, both spiritually and physically, the family foundation for the Messiah. He will then expand its scope to the clan, society, nation, world and cosmos. When this foundation is secure, he will finally be able to build the Kingdom of Heaven.

God’s purpose in raising up the people of the First Israel was to prepare the foundation for Jesus, that he might accomplish the goal of building the Kingdom of Heaven when he came. When they turned against him, God elected the Christians to be the Second Israel. Similarly, God’s purpose in raising up Christianity was to prepare the foundation for Christ at the Second Advent to achieve the goal of building the Kingdom of Heaven. If the Christian world should likewise turn against him, God will be left with no alternative but to forsake them and elect a Third Israel. Therefore, although Christians in the Last Days may enjoy great blessings, in fact, like the Jewish people of Jesus’ day, their situation is extremely precarious. They are liable to fall into disgrace and great misfortune.

3.4 Some Lessons from Jesus’ Course
First, Jesus’ course instructs us about God’s predestination of His Will. God predestines absolutely that His Will be accomplished and then works unceasingly until it is fulfilled. When John the Baptist failed his mission, Jesus tried to accomplish God’s Will at any cost, even to the extent of taking on John’s esponsibility. When disbelief on the part of the Jewish people frustrated his attempts to build the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus still remained absolute in his determination and promised to fulfill the Will at his return.

Next, Jesus’ course demonstrates that God’s predestination concerning the manner in which His Will is to be accomplished through an individual or a nation is conditional, not absolute. That is to say, although God may have chosen a certain individual or nation to accomplish a purpose in the providence of restoration, if he fails to complete his responsibility, God will surely choose another person or nation to continue His work. Jesus chose John the Baptist to be his chief disciple, but when he failed to complete his responsibility, Jesus chose Peter to replace him. Jesus chose Judas Iscariot to be one of his twelve disciples, but when Judas failed, Matthias was chosen to take his place.238 Similarly, God chose the Jewish people to accomplish the central responsibility in His providence of restoration, but when they failed, their mission passed to the Gentiles.239 These instances illustrate that when God chooses a person or a nation to accomplish His Will, He never predestines in absolute terms whether that person or nation will, in fact, accomplish the Will.

Jesus’ course also demonstrates that God does not interfere with a person’s efforts to fulfill his portion of responsibility, but treats him according to the results of his actions. God must have known that John the Baptist and Judas Iscariot were losing their faith. He certainly had the power to stop them from sinning. Yet God did not interfere at all in their faith, but dealt with them only based on the results of their deeds.

Finally, Jesus’ course shows that the greater a person’s mission, the greater the test he will confront. Jesus came as the second Adam. To complete his mission, he had to restore through indemnity the position Adam had occupied prior to the Fall. Since Adam became faithless and forsook God, Jesus had to restore Adam’s mistake by enduring when God forsook him, all the while showing unchanging faith. Therefore, Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness and forsaken by God on the cross.240

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Chapter 3: The Periods in Providential History and the Determination of their Lengths

Section 1: Parallel Providential Periods

Examining the course of human history, we often find cases where the various circumstances of a period in history are repeated in similar form during a later age. Some historians are impressed by these phenomena and point out that history progresses in a spiral movement. Yet they do not understand the underlying cause. When a period of history repeats the events of a previous period, albeit with differences in scope and degree, the two periods are called parallel providential periods. As will be explained below, the reason for using this terminology is because the principal cause behind these parallels lies in God’s providence of restoration.

How do parallel providential periods come about? The course of history has been shaped by various events in the providence of restoration, which drives history toward a fixed goal. When a central figure in the providence fails his responsibility to restore the foundation for the Messiah, the providential period centering on that person comes to a close. Yet, since God has predestined the absolute and eventual fulfillment of His Will,1 He chooses another person to carry on the mission and opens another historical period in the providence to restore through indemnity the foundation for the Messiah. Since this new period restores through indemnity the previous period, a course with similar events will be repeated. This is how the periods come to be parallel to one another.

However, parallel periods do not have exactly the same form and content, because the central figure in a particular period must restore in his time (horizontally) the unfulfilled indemnity conditions of the previous periods (vertically). The more the providence of restoration is prolonged and past indemnity conditions accumulate, the heavier will be the conditions of indemnity which the new central figure must fulfill. Consequently, the new parallel period will differ from the previous parallel period in content and scale.

The three stages of the growing period may be classified according to different degrees of manifestation: the formation stage is a manifestation in symbol, the growth stage in image, and the completion stage in substance. Likewise, in the development of history, the parallel periods in the providence of restoration have repeated similar events according to this pattern. Thus, the entire history of the providence of restoration may be divided according to the form of the parallels: the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration is the age of symbolic parallels, the Age of the Providence of Restoration is the age of image parallels, and the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration is the age of substantial parallels.

Next, let us examine the main factors which determine the formation of parallel providential periods. Parallel providential periods recur because of repeated dispensations to restore the foundation for the Messiah. Accordingly, the factors which determine the formation of parallel providential periods are: first, the three conditions necessary for the foundation of faith (the central figure, the object for the condition and the numerical period of indemnity) and second, the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature, which is necessary to restore the foundation of substance.

Based on these factors, two characteristics of parallel providential periods stand out. First, the lengths of the parallel providential periods are determined based on a fixed number of generations or years of the indemnity period necessary for restoring the foundation of faith. In the providence of restoration, when a central figure has failed to complete his responsibility and caused the prolongation of the Will, God repeats His work through other central figures until the final restoration of the lost foundation of faith is achieved. In each dispensation, the numerical period of indemnity for restoring this foundation must be repeated in some form. For this reason, the parallel periods in history have similar lengths, each representing the same fixed number of years or generations. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss this matter in detail.

Second, the parallels in history are shaped by the other three providential factors: the central figure and the object for the condition offered for the foundation of faith, and the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature for the foundation of substance. The goal of the providence of restoration is ultimately to restore the foundation for the Messiah. Accordingly, when the providence is prolonged, the various dispensations involved in restoring this foundation are also repeated. Since the foundation for the Messiah can be established only by first laying the foundation of faith through the symbolic offering and then laying the foundation of substance through the substantial offering, providential history has been repeating dispensations to restore these two offerings. These dispensations have shaped the parallels between providential periods. We will elaborate on this matter in the next chapter.

Section 2: The Number of Generations or Years in the Periods of the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration

2.1 Why and How the Providence of Restoration Is Prolonged
God’s providence for humankind to lay the foundation for the Messiah, receive the Messiah, and attain the ultimate goal of restoration was prolonged from Adam’s day through the days of Noah, Abraham, Moses and finally to Jesus’ day. When Jesus was killed without accomplishing his ultimate purpose due to the people’s disbelief, the providence of restoration was prolonged again until the time of the Second Coming.

Why has the providence of restoration been prolonged? This question can only be answered with an understanding of the principle of predestination. According to this principle, since God absolutely predestines His Will, He surely will realize it one day. However, whether God’s Will is fulfilled through any particular individual is conditional upon the fulfillment of his portion of responsibility, which is in addition to God’s portion of responsibility. Accordingly, when the Will is not fulfilled because the responsible person fails, God will choose another person in a different era to take his place. God will continue His work until its complete fulfillment, prolonging the providence in the process.

Let us next examine how the providence of restoration has been prolonged. According to the Principle of Creation, God is a being of the number three. All things created in His likeness manifest themselves through a three-stage process with respect to their mode of existence, movement and growth. For any entity to fulfill the purpose of creation by establishing the four position foundation with its spherical motion, it must go through the three stages of origin division-union action and engage in interaction with three object partners to achieve the three object purpose. The providence to restore the purpose of creation is one of re-creation based on the Word. Therefore, whenever the providence of restoration is prolonged, it may extend to as many as three stages. On the basis of the Principle of Creation, up to three attempts are allowed.

For example, when in Adam’s family Cain and Abel failed to make the substantial offering, the dispensation was repeated in the families of Noah and Abraham, and fulfilled on the third attempt. When Abraham made his mistake in the symbolic offering, the dispensation was prolonged through Isaac and fulfilled by Jacob. The courses to restore Canaan under the leadership of Moses and Jesus each were extended to three courses. When King Saul failed to build the Temple, this dispensation was prolonged through two more kings: David and Solomon. God’s ideal of creation, which was not realized with Adam, has awaited a second and a third providence for its realization: through Jesus, the second Adam, and then through Christ at the Second Advent. Common proverbs, such as the Korean saying “If not accomplished at the first attempt, it surely will be done at the third,” exemplify this aspect of the Principle expressed as everyday wisdom.

2.2 Vertical Indemnity Conditions and Horizontal Restoration through Indemnity
To inherit and complete the missions of his predecessors in providential history, a central figure responsible for the providence of restoration must fulfill, in a short time, all the indemnity conditions which his predecessors tried to fulfill. If this central figure also fails in his mission, all the indemnity conditions he tried to fulfill are passed down to the next person entrusted with the same responsibility. The conditions which accumulate in the course of providential history due to central figures’ failures to complete their responsibility are called vertical indemnity conditions. The task of the central figure to fulfill all these conditions in a short time is called horizontal restoration through indemnity.

For example, Abraham had to restore horizontally through indemnity all the vertical indemnity conditions which Adam’s family and Noah’s family before him had tried to fulfill. In offering the three sacrifices at one time on the same altar, Abraham was to restore horizontally through indemnity the vertical indemnity conditions accumulated during the three dispensations of the prolonged providence. The three offerings represented all the conditions which Adam and Noah could not fulfill, as well as those which Abraham had to fulfill as the new central figure.

Jacob, in his course, had to fulfill in a short time a condition to horizontally restore through indemnity the vertical indemnity conditions accumulated through the twelve generations since Noah. For this purpose, he was given twelve sons from whom descended the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jesus employed this method to restore horizontally through indemnity all the accumulated vertical indemnity conditions left unfulfilled by the forefathers, prophets and kings who had led the providence during the four thousand years of biblical history until his time. For instance, Jesus chose twelve disciples and seventy followers in order to restore in a short time the vertical indemnity conditions which had accumulated from Jacob’s course, in which God had worked with Jacob’s twelve sons and seventy kinsmen, and from Moses’ course, in which God had worked with the twelve tribes of Israel and seventy elders. Moreover, Jesus fasted for forty days to restore horizontally all the vertical indemnity conditions in the form of dispensations of forty for the separation of Satan, which were required for the foundation of faith. In this sense, we can understand that each central figure in the providence of restoration stands not only for himself as an individual, but represents all the forefathers, prophets and sages who had the same mission in the past. He bears within him the
fruits of their labors in history.

2.3 Horizontal Restoration through Indemnity Carried Out Vertically
Sometimes horizontal restoration is achieved through a vertical dispensation which may span several generations. This was the case with the providence of restoration in Abraham’s family. By making an acceptable symbolic offering, Abraham was supposed to restore horizontally through indemnity all the vertical indemnity conditions which had accumulated due to the mistakes of Adam’s family and Noah’s family. His mistake in the offering caused yet another failure and delay in the providence. As was explained above, since this was the third attempt in the providence to restore the family foundation for the Messiah, the Principle required that his family accomplish God’s Will without fail. Therefore, in spite of his failure, God sought a way to regard Abraham as if he had not made the mistake, but had restored horizontally the vertical indemnity conditions without any prolongation. To this end, God set up a special dispensation: He had Abraham, Isaac and Jacob fulfill the necessary indemnity conditions while regarding these three individuals as one person with respect to His Will. Therefore, despite this vertical prolongation through three generations, Jacob’s victory and Isaac’s victory became Abraham’s own victory, as if achieved in his generation without any delay.2 The oneness of these three generations is signified by God’s appellation of Himself as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”3

Thus, God could credit Abraham with having fulfilled, in his own generation, the horizontal indemnity conditions which he had failed to complete, by completing them vertically through the generations of Isaac and Jacob. This type of restoration is called horizontal restoration through indemnity carried out vertically.

2.4 Numerical Indemnity Periods for Restoring the Foundation of Faith
A central figure has to fulfill one or more numerical indemnity periods in order to restore the foundation of faith.4 Let us examine the reasons for this. God exists upon His Principle, which has a numerical aspect. The universe, with human beings at its center, was created based on numerical principles to be the unfolding of the dual characteristics of the invisible God as His substantial object partner. This is the reason science, which seeks to discover the external laws governing the universe, progresses through research conducted with the aid of mathematics. The first human ancestors were to become complete by passing through a growing period characterized by certain numbers, thus laying the foundation of faith. In their perfection, they were to embody the quality of these numbers. We must investigate these matters because restoration of the foundation of faith requires not only that we offer an object for the condition, symbolizing the universe in bondage to Satan, but also that we pass through a numerical period of indemnity to restore the numbers defiled by Satan.

Based upon what numbers were the first human ancestors, prior to the Fall, to lay the foundation of faith? What numbers were they to have embodied in their perfection? We learned in the Principle of Creation that no entity can exist or thrive without first forming a four position foundation. Accordingly, Adam and Eve in their immaturity had to each form a four position foundation for their existence. Each position in the four position foundation is to pass through the three stages of the growing period, making a total of twelve. Furthermore, each position in the four position foundation accomplishes the three object purpose by taking three object partners, making a total of twelve object partners and fulfilling the twelve object purpose. Hence, the growing period during which Adam was to establish the foundation of faith was a period for fulfilling the number twelve. While in their immaturity, the first human ancestors were to lay the foundation of faith based on the number twelve, and in perfection they were to attain the twelve object purpose and thus embody the quality of the number twelve.

Due to their fall, Satan defiled this number. Therefore, a central figure in the providence of restoration must pass through a period of indemnity to restore the number twelve in laying the foundation of faith. Only on that basis can he lay the foundation of substance for the restoration of the perfect embodiment of the quality of the number twelve.

Some examples of the indemnity period to restore the number twelve are: the 120 years it took Noah to build the ark, the 120 years of the providence to restore Canaan under Moses’ leadership, and the 120 years from when Abraham was called by God until Jacob purchased the birthright from Esau for some bread and lentils. As we will discuss below, this last period was to be restored by the 120-year period of the united kingdom in the Old Testament Age, and in the New Testament Age by the corresponding 120-year period of the Christian empire under Charlemagne and his sons.

The maturation process during which Adam and Eve were laying the foundation of faith also required a period to fulfill the number four. They were to pass through the three stages of the growing period and enter the realm of God’s direct dominion, which is the fourth stage. At that point, they would have completed the four position foundation. By thus fulfilling the number four, the first human ancestors were to become its perfect embodiments. Due to the Fall, this number was defiled by Satan. Therefore, central figures in the providence must complete an indemnity period to restore the number four in laying the foundation of faith. Only on that basis can they lay the foundation of substance for the restoration of the perfect embodiment of the quality of the number four.

It was already explained that indemnity periods to restore the number four are necessary to restore the foundation of faith.5 Examples include: Noah’s forty-day flood judgment, Moses’ forty-day fasts, the forty-day mission to spy out the land of Canaan, Jesus’ forty-day fast, and the forty days of the ministry of the resurrected Jesus.

The growing period is also the period to fulfill the number twenty-one. The first human ancestors were to have become the perfect embodiments of the number twenty-one by laying the foundation of faith through a period based on the number twenty-one and then realizing the purpose of creation. However, due to the Fall, this number was defiled by Satan. Hence, central figures in history must complete an indemnity period to restore the number twenty-one in laying the foundation of faith. Only on that basis can they lay the foundation of substance for the restoration of the perfect embodiment of the quality of the number twenty-one.

To understand the significance of the number twenty-one, we should first understand the significance of the numbers three, four and seven in the Principle. God, whose dual characteristics exist in harmonious oneness, is a Being of the number three. The creation is perfected when it attains oneness with God in the four position foundation. Thus, for an individual to become perfect, he must form within himself a four position foundation in which the mind and body form a trinity, the center of which is God. For a man and a woman to become a perfect husband and wife, they must build a four position foundation in which they form a trinity with God as their center. For the universe to reach its perfection, it must form a four position foundation in which human beings and the natural world form a trinity with God as their center.

Furthermore, for created beings to realize a four position foundation by becoming one centered on God, they must first pass through the three stages of the growing period and complete the three object purpose. For these reasons, the number three is the number of Heaven, or the number of perfection.

When a subject partner and an object partner form a trinity by becoming one centering on God, the resulting union is an individual embodiment of truth which completes the four position foundation. Having thus secured the status of God’s creation, it comes to have position and extension in the four directions: north, south, east and west. In this sense, the number four is the number of the earth.

When a created being passes through the three stages of the growing period and builds the four position foundation, it becomes perfectly established in the qualitative dimensions of time and space, respectively. Thus, every creation becomes the perfect embodiment of the number seven, which is the sum of the number of Heaven and the number of earth. This is the reason why the Bible recounts the creation of heaven and earth as having taken seven days. Just as the period of creation fulfills the number seven, any period for attaining completion may be regarded as a period to fulfill the number seven. Looking at the three stages of the growing period in this manner, the period to complete the formation stage, the period to complete the growth stage, and the period to complete the completion stage are each periods which fulfill the number seven. In total, the entire growing period may be regarded as a period to fulfill the
number twenty-one.

Examples of indemnity periods of the number twenty-one include the following: After the flood, God had Noah send out a dove three times to foreshadow His providence, which was to be carried out in three stages. The dove was sent out in seven-day intervals; hence the entire period adds up to twenty-one days.6 When Jacob walked the family course to restore Canaan, he labored in exile in Haran before returning home to Canaan, enduring three seven-year periods which add up to twenty-one years. In the Old Testament Age, there was the 210-year period of the Israelites’ exile in Babylon and their return to Israel, which was to restore through indemnity this twenty-one-year course of Jacob. In the New Testament Age, there was the 210-year period from the papal captivity in Avignon to the eve of the Reformation, which was also to restore through indemnity the twenty-one-year course of Jacob.

The growing period is also the period to fulfill the number forty. The first human ancestors were to perfectly embody the quality of the number forty by laying the foundation of faith based on the number forty and then realizing the purpose of creation. Satan’s attack at the Fall defiled this number. Hence, the central figures in the providence must fulfill an indemnity period to restore the number forty in laying the foundation of faith. Only on that basis can they lay the foundation of substance for the restoration of the perfect embodiment of the quality of the number forty.

To understand how the number forty is fulfilled in the growing period, we must first study the significance of the number ten. If we divide each of the three stages of the growing period into three sub-stages, we arrive at a total of nine levels. Herein lies the significance of the number nine in the Principle. As a numerical unfolding of the dual characteristics of the invisible God, each of God’s creations passes through the nine levels of the growing period. Each then fulfills its purpose of creation when it becomes one with God in the realm of His direct dominion, which constitutes the tenth level. For this reason, we call the number ten the number of unity. God set up the ten generations after Adam to fulfill the indemnity period to restore the number ten before he called upon Noah. By this condition, God wanted to have Noah complete the Will which Adam had left unfinished, and then have him become one with God.

In the four position foundation which Adam and Eve should have established, each position was to pass through the ten levels in their course to maturity, fulfilling in total the number forty. Thus, the course of their maturation was a period to fulfill the number forty, and their four position foundation would have become the perfect embodiment of the number forty. Some examples of indemnity periods of the number forty set up to restore this foundation include: the forty days from the time Noah’s ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat until he sent out the dove, the forty years of Moses’ life in the Pharaoh’s palace, his forty-year exile in the wilderness of Midian, and the forty years in the wilderness during the national course to restore Canaan.

We can deduce that there are two types of periods of the number forty in the providence of restoration. One type is an indemnity period to restore the number four; in restoration, it is multiplied by the number ten, the number of unity, to form forty. The second type is the indemnity period to restore the number forty itself, which Adam should have fulfilled before the Fall, as was just described. The forty years in the wilderness for the national course to restore Canaan was set up to restore both these types of periods of forty at the same time. It restored through indemnity the forty-day spy mission and Moses’ forty-day fast, which were periods to restore the number four. It also restored through indemnity Moses’ forty years in the Pharaoh’s palace and forty years in the wilderness of Midian, which were periods to restore the number forty. Such a phenomenon occurs when the central figure for the foundation of faith is restoring through indemnity horizontally all the vertical indemnity conditions in the history of the providence.

When such a dispensation to horizontally restore periods of the number forty is again prolonged, it can be extended by a rule of multiplication by ten, because the required period of indemnity may have to be expanded through ten stages. Thus, a period of forty years may be expanded to four hundred or even four thousand years. Examples include: the four-hundred-year period from Noah to Abraham, the four hundred years of slavery in Egypt and the four thousand biblical years from Adam to Jesus.

Let us summarize the numerical periods of indemnity a central figure in the providence must fulfill to restore the foundation of faith. Had the first human ancestors not fallen, they would have laid the foundation of faith based on significant numbers, including twelve, four, twenty-one and forty. When they then accomplished the purpose of creation, they would have become the perfect embodiments of the quality of these numbers. Yet due to their fall, all these numbers were claimed by Satan. Therefore, the central figures in providential history must fulfill numerical periods of indemnity to restore the numbers twelve, four, twenty-one and forty before they can restore the foundation of faith. Only on that basis can they lay the foundation of substance for the restoration of the perfect embodiment of the quality of these numbers.

2.5 The Parallel Periods Determined by the Number of Generations
According to the Bible, God chose Noah to shoulder the providence ten generations and sixteen hundred years after Adam. Let us examine what significant numbers were restored by the sixteen hundred years and the ten generations.

The number ten is the number of unity with God. The course of growth to maturity requires a period to fulfill the number ten, through which Adam and Eve were to become the perfect embodiments of the number ten. When this number was defiled by Satan due to their Fall, God sought a central figure in order to restore this number and begin His work to unite the people with Himself by restoring them as perfect embodiments of the quality of the number ten. For this purpose, God would require the central figure to complete an indemnity period to restore the number ten. This is why God called Noah ten generations after Adam.

It was discussed earlier that the first human ancestors were to pass through a course to maturity which fulfilled the number forty and thereby become perfect embodiments of the number forty. For fallen people to become the central figures who will pave the way for the restoration of perfect embodiments of the number forty, they must establish the four position foundation necessary for restoration and then fulfill an indemnity period to restore the number forty. Each position of the four position foundation should fulfill the indemnity period to restore the number forty, yielding an indemnity period to restore the number 160. Moreover, since fallen people were to fulfill this number through ten generations-ten signifying unity with God-they had to complete an indemnity period of the number sixteen hundred. This is the reason the period from Adam to Noah was sixteen hundred years, by biblical reckoning.

After the failure of the providence of restoration in Noah’s family, God waited four hundred years, until another ten generations had elapsed, before calling Abraham to carry the burden of the providence. Set according to the number of generations, the period from Noah to Abraham was parallel to the period from Adam to Noah, and was to restore that earlier period through indemnity.

It was discussed earlier why this period was made four hundred years.7 God had Noah endure the forty-day flood judgment for the purpose of accomplishing the goal of the providence of restoration, which He had pursued by setting up the ten generations and sixteen hundred years. When this forty-day flood judgment was defiled by Satan due to Ham’s mistake, God had to work through another central figure to restore it. From Adam to Noah, God worked to fulfill indemnity periods to restore the number 160 in each of ten generations. In the parallel period of ten generations from Noah to Abraham, God set each generation as the indemnity period to restore the number forty, which is derived from the flood judgment.

The failure of the forty-day flood judgment had to be restored through a period of the number forty. Since the restoration of each subsequent generation had to span its entire length, it could not be fulfilled in only forty days. Hence, God set the indemnity period to be fulfilled by each generation as forty years. A day of the flood was indemnified by a year, just as in Moses’ time when the failure of the forty-day mission to spy out the land was restored through forty years of wandering in the wilderness.8 Since the dispensation in which each generation was set as a forty-year indemnity period continued through ten generations, the entire span of the indemnity period came to be four hundred years.

2.6 Providential Periods of Horizontal Restoration through Indemnity Carried Out Vertically
As explained earlier, each central figure of the providence is called to restore horizontally all the vertical indemnity conditions accumulated up to his time. Hence, the longer providential history is prolonged, the heavier the indemnity conditions will be for the central figures of later generations to fulfill horizontally. In the providence of restoration in Adam’s family, there were as yet no vertical indemnity conditions because the providence had just begun. Therefore, the foundation for the Messiah could have been laid quite simply by Cain and Abel properly making the symbolic offerings and the substantial offering. It would have merely required that once Abel had made his offering in a manner acceptable to God, Cain should have obeyed and followed Abel to fulfill the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. In regard to the numerical indemnity periods to restore the foundation of faith, these could have been completed in the short time necessary for making the symbolic and substantial offerings. However, when the providence of restoration was prolonged due to the failure of Adam’s family, vertical indemnity conditions began to accumulate in the form of various numerical indemnity periods. Therefore, in restoring the foundation of faith, the central figures since Adam’s day have had to complete numerical indemnity periods to restore such numbers as twelve, four, twenty-one and forty.

In the case of Noah, he was supposed to restore in his time all of these vertical indemnity conditions. To restore the foundation of faith, he had to go through several numerical indemnity periods: 120 years to build the ark, forty days of the flood judgment, twenty-one days during which he sent out the dove three times at seven-day intervals, and the forty-day period from the time the ark came to rest on Mt. Ararat until he sent out the dove.

Noah faithfully fulfilled these numerical indemnity periods, but due to Ham’s mistake they were invaded by Satan. Consequently, they were again left behind as vertical indemnity conditions. Abraham had the opportunity to restore them all at once through his symbolic offering. However, because Abraham failed in his offering, the indemnity periods could not be restored horizontally. They then had to be restored vertically: by prolonging the fulfillment of His Will through Isaac and Jacob, God worked to fulfill in succession indemnity periods to restore the numbers twelve, four, twenty-one and forty.

In the providence in Abraham’s family, the following indemnity periods, which should have been fulfilled horizontally, were instead carried out in vertical succession to restore the foundation of faith: 120 years from the time Abraham left Haran until Jacob purchased the birthright from Esau with bread and a pottage of lentils; forty years from that time until Jacob was given the blessing of the eldest son by his father Isaac and received God’s blessing on his way to Haran;9 twenty-one years from that time until he completed his toil in Haran and returned to Canaan with his family and wealth;10 and forty years from the time Jacob returned to Canaan until his family entered Egypt at Joseph’s invitation. In this way, the indemnity conditions which could not be restored horizontally were completed as extended vertical periods of fixed lengths.

Section 3: The Periods in the Age of the Providence of Restoration and Their Lengths

The Age of the Providence of Restoration, which was the age of image parallels, was to restore through indemnity the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration, the age of symbolic parallels. Let us investigate the periods in this age and how their lengths were determined.

3.1 The Four-Hundred-Year Period of Slavery in Egypt
Noah laid the foundation of faith after fulfilling the forty days of the flood judgment for the purpose of separating Satan. When this foundation was shattered due to Ham’s mistake, God tried to raise up Abraham to the same position as Noah by commanding him to make a symbolic offering while standing upon the foundation which had been laid through the intervening period of four hundred years. However, due to Abraham’s mistake, this foundation was defiled by Satan. To recover this foundation of four hundred years, God had the Israelites undergo four hundred years of slavery in Egypt11 and separate Satan once more. The period of slavery in Egypt was the image parallel to the period of sixteen hundred years from Adam to Noah in the age of symbolic parallels. It was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

3.2 The Four-Hundred-Year Period of the Judges
It is recorded that King Solomon began to build the Temple 480 years after the Exodus from Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign.12 Since King Solomon’s reign followed the forty-year reign of King Saul13 and the forty-year reign of King David, we can deduce that there was a period of approximately four hundred years from the time the Israelites entered Canaan until the enthronement of King Saul. This was the period of the judges.

The Israelites under Moses were to secure the foundation of having separated Satan through their slavery in Egypt, thus restoring on the national level the foundation upon which Abraham had stood-the foundation of having separated Satan laid during the four hundred years from Noah to Abraham. However, after they entered Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, Moses’ successor, they again turned faithless, allowing Satan to again defile this foundation of four hundred years. The Israelites needed to undergo another period for the separation of Satan before they could restore this foundation through indemnity. The period of the judges, which ran approximately four hundred years from the time the people entered Canaan until the enthronement of King Saul, was set up for this purpose.

The period of the judges was the image parallel to the period of the four hundred years from Noah to Abraham in the age of symbolic parallels. It was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

3.3 The One-Hundred-and-Twenty-Year Period of the United Kingdom
The Age of the Providence of Restoration was set up to restore through indemnity the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration. Therefore, Abraham, who commenced this providential age, was in the position of Adam; Moses was in the position of Noah; and King Saul was in the position of Abraham. Abraham was a transitional figure; he was responsible both to consummate the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration and to begin the Age of the Providence of Restoration. Abraham was called to lay the family foundation for the Messiah as the basis for the national foundation for the Messiah. God had to lay the family foundation for the Messiah without fail in Abraham’s day because it was His third attempt. Likewise, in King Saul’s day, God was working to establish the national foundation for the Messiah for the third time. Hence, God again had to accomplish this providence without fail.

Due to his mistake in his symbolic offering, Abraham did not restore all at once the conditions inherited from Noah’s course in the form of the various numerical periods necessary to restore the foundation of faith, specifically: 120 years, forty days, twenty-one days and forty days. Therefore, the horizontal restoration of these periods had to be extended vertically. They became successive indemnity periods of 120 years, forty years, twenty-one years and forty years in the generations of Abraham’s family.

King Saul was to restore Abraham’s position on the national level. By building the Temple, King Saul should have restored in a short time all the indemnity conditions in the form of numerical indemnity periods which had been set up to restore the foundation of faith in Moses’ time. These included: 120 years (the three forty-year courses in Moses’ life), forty days (the period of Moses’ fasts), twenty-one days (the first national course to restore Canaan), and forty years (the wilderness course in the national course to restore Canaan). Nevertheless, King Saul was disobedient14 and failed to fulfill God’s Will. As in Abraham’s time, the horizontal restoration of these indemnity periods had to be extended vertically into successive periods: the 120 years of the united kingdom, the four hundred years of the divided kingdoms of north and south, the 210 years of Israel’s exile and return, and the four hundred years of preparation for the advent of the Messiah. After all these periods, the people of Israel were finally ready to receive the Messiah.

The period of the united kingdom was to restore the 120 years of Moses’ life, during which he made three attempts to lay the foundation of faith for the national course to restore Canaan. Let us examine this parallel more closely. After the Israelites had endured four hundred years of slavery to separate Satan, Moses laid the foundation of faith through his forty years in the Pharaoh’s palace. He then tried to lead the people into the land of Canaan, where he was to build the Temple. However, due to the people’s faithlessness, this course was prolonged twice. Moses had to lay the foundation of faith anew through the forty-year course in the wilderness of Midian and again through the forty-year course of wandering in the wilderness. Likewise, Saul was enthroned as the king of Israel after the Israelites had restored the four hundred years of slavery in Egypt through the four-hundred-year period of the judges. During the forty years of his reign, King Saul was to lay the foundation of faith by restoring through indemnity Moses’ forty years of life in the Pharaoh’s palace. He was then to build the Temple. Yet when King Saul became faithless, God’s Will to build the Temple was prolonged through the two forty-year reigns of King David and King Solomon, thus constituting a total of 120 years for the period of the united kingdom.

This period was the image parallel to the period of 120 years in the age of symbolic parallels from the time Abraham left Haran until Jacob purchased the birthright from his brother. It was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions. Just as the dispensation which began with Abraham was fulfilled after its prolongation through Isaac and Jacob, God’s dispensation to build the Temple, which began with King Saul, was extended to King David and King Solomon before it was finally fulfilled.

3.4 The Four-Hundred-Year Period of the Divided Kingdoms of North and South
Had King Saul accomplished the dispensation to build the Temple during the forty years of his reign, among the indemnity periods which he would have restored horizontally was Moses’ forty-day fast, which had been carried out to recover the Word as revealed on the tablets of stone. Once King Saul lost faith, this indemnity period had to be restored as a vertical extension of horizontal restoration. This was the origin of the period of the divided kingdoms of north and south, which lasted nearly four hundred years. It began when the united kingdom was divided into Israel in the north and Judah in the south, and it lasted until the people of Judah were taken into exile in Babylon.

This period was the image parallel to the forty-year period in the age of symbolic parallels, from Jacob’s purchase of the birthright from Esau until he received the blessings of Isaac and God15 and went into Haran. It was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

3.5 The Two-Hundred-and-Ten-Year Period of Israel’s Exile and Return
The people of the northern kingdom of Israel broke their covenant with God, and as a result, they were taken into captivity by the Assyrians. The people of the southern kingdom of Judah also sinned against God. As a result, they were taken into exile by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. After they spent nearly seventy years as captives, Babylon fell to King Cyrus of Persia, who issued a royal decree liberating them. From that time, the Jewish people began a gradual return to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple. Ezra the scribe led the last group of returning Jews to Jerusalem and Nehemiah rebuilt the city wall. Inspired by the prophecy of Malachi,16 the people began preparations to receive the Messiah. This period came to an end approximately 210 years after the Jews were first taken into exile in Babylon and about 140 years after their liberation by the Persians. This was the period of Israel’s exile and return.

Had King Saul accomplished the dispensation to build the Temple, one of the indemnity periods which he would have restored horizontally was the twenty-one-day period when Moses was meant to lead the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan in the first national course. After King Saul lost faith and this dispensation failed, this indemnity period had to be restored as a vertical extension of horizontal restoration. The 210-year period of Israel’s exile and return was set up for this purpose.

This period was the image parallel to the twenty-one-year period in the age of symbolic parallels, which extended from the time Jacob received the blessing of the eldest son from Isaac until he returned to Canaan, and was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions. It was to restore three seven-year periods: After arriving in Haran, Jacob worked seven years in order to marry Rachel but was given Leah; he worked seven more years for Rachel; he then worked seven years acquiring wealth before he returned to Canaan.17

3.6 The Four-Hundred-Year Period of Preparation for the Advent of the Messiah
After the Jewish people returned from exile to their homeland of Israel, they re-established their faith, rebuilt the city wall and, based on Malachi’s prophecy, began as a nation to prepare for the Messiah. From that time until the birth of Jesus was a period of four hundred years, the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah.

Had King Saul accomplished the dispensation to build the Temple, one of the indemnity conditions he would have restored horizontally through indemnity was the forty years of wandering in the wilderness in the third national course. After King Saul lost faith and this dispensation failed, this indemnity period of forty years had to be restored as a vertical extension of horizontal restoration. The four-hundred-year period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah was set up for this purpose.

This period was the image parallel to the forty-year period in the age of symbolic parallels extending from the time Jacob returned to Canaan until his family entered Egypt at the invitation of his son Joseph. It was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

Section 4: The Periods in the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration and Their Lengths

The Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration has been to restore through substantial parallels the Age of the Providence of Restoration, the age of image parallels. As the periods of this age were to restore through indemnity the corresponding periods of the previous age, these periods proceeded in a parallel fashion, both in order and in length.

4.1 The Four-Hundred-Year Period of Persecution in the Roman Empire
Jesus came at the outset of the New Testament Age to complete the Will which had been entrusted to Abraham, the father of faith, who commenced the Old Testament Age. We recall that the Israelites had to endure a four-hundred-year period of slavery in Egypt to restore, on the national level, the foundation of faith which had been shattered due to Abraham’s mistake in the symbolic offering. The early Christians underwent a comparable period of suffering to restore through indemnity the foundation of faith which had been destroyed due to the mistake of the Jewish people, who did not properly follow Jesus as the living sacrifice. This was the four-hundred-year period during which Christians were persecuted in the Roman Empire. The persecution abated by 313 A.D., when the Emperor Constantine formally recognized Christianity as a legal religion. In 392 A.D., the Emperor Theo-dosius I established Christianity as the state religion. This period was the substantial parallel to the Israelites’ four-hundred-year period of slavery in Egypt, and its purpose was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

4.2 The Four-Hundred-Year Period of Regional Church Leadership
The next period in the Age of the Providence of Restoration was the four-hundred-year period of the judges, when judges led the Israelite tribes. Since the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration has been the age of substantial parallels, it should contain a four-hundred-year period comparable to the period of the judges. What is called the period of regional church leadership began when Christianity was declared the state religion of the Roman Empire and ended with the enthronement of Charlemagne in 800 A.D. In this period, the people were led by regional church leaders-patriarchs, bishops and abbots-with multiple roles corresponding to the judges in Israel. This period was the substantial parallel to the four-hundred-year period of the judges, and its purpose was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

4.3 The One-Hundred-and-Twenty-Year Period of the Christian Empire
When the people of Israel unified as a nation under the leadership of King Saul, they began the 120-year period of the united kingdom, which continued through the reigns of King David and King Solomon. The parallel 120-year period of the Christian empire, also called the Carolingian Empire, began with Charlemagne’s enthronement as the emperor in 800 A.D. It ended in 919 A.D. when his royal line ceased in the eastern half of the realm and Henry I was elected king of the German lands. This period was the substantial parallel to the 120-year period of the united kingdom, and its purpose was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

4.4 The Four-Hundred-Year Period of the Divided Kingdoms of East and West
Since the Temple’s holiness was not properly upheld in the period of the united kingdom, the kingdom was eventually divided into two kingdoms: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Thus began the four-hundred-year period of the divided kingdoms of north and south. In the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration, the Carolingian Empire was divided into two kingdoms: the Holy Roman Empire in the east and France in the west. Although when the Carolingian Empire was first divided, it was split into the kingdoms of the East Franks, the West Franks and Italy, Italy soon reverted to the rule of the East Franks and together these constituted the Holy Roman Empire, while the West Franks consolidated as the Kingdom of France. This four-hundred-year period of the divided kingdoms of east and west began with the division of the Christian empire in 919 and ended in 1309, when the papacy moved to Avignon, in what is now southern France. This period was the substantial parallel to the four-hundred-year period of the divided kingdoms of north and south, and its purpose was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

4.5 The Two-Hundred-and-Ten-Year Period of Papal Exile and Return
During the period of the divided kingdoms of north and south, the kingdom of Israel in the north perished at the hands of the Assyrians because its people had fallen into corruption and idolatry. The kingdom of Judah in the south also became faithless and failed to uphold the holiness of the Temple; consequently, its people were taken into exile in Babylon, the satanic world. Over the next 210 years, they suffered in exile, returned to Israel, rebuilt the Temple, and renewed the covenant. The parallel period of papal exile and return also lasted approximately 210 years. It began in 1309 A.D. when, the papacy having become corrupt, Pope Clement V was forced to move the papacy from Rome to Avignon and live there subject to the kings of France. This period continued even after the papacy returned to Rome until the Protestant Reformation began in 1517. This period of 210 years was the substantial parallel to the 210-year period of Israel’s exile and return, and its purpose was to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

4.6 The Four-Hundred-Year Period of Preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah
After the Jewish people were liberated from their exile in Babylon and returned to Jerusalem, they reformed their religious and political life. Based on the prophecies of Malachi, they began preparations to receive the Messiah. After the four-hundred-year period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah, Jesus came to the Jewish people. To restore that period through indemnity in the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration, we expect a parallel four-hundred-year period of preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah. In fact, it began in 1517 with Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation and has lasted until the eve of the Second Advent of Christ on the earth. As the substantial parallel to the four-hundred-year period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah, its purpose has been to restore that earlier period through parallel indemnity conditions.

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Chapter 4: The Parallels between the Two Ages in the Providence of Restoration

Since the ultimate purpose of the providence of restoration is to lay the foundation for the Messiah, if it is prolonged, the dispensations to restore this foundation must be repeated. We know that to establish the foundation for the Messiah, a central figure must make a symbolic offering acceptable to God by employing an object for the condition and passing through a required time period. In addition, he must lay the foundation of substance by making an acceptable substantial offering upon fulfilling the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. In the course of the providence, the repetition of dispensations to restore the foundation for the Messiah has meant, in effect, the repetition of dispensations to restore through indemnity the symbolic
offering and the substantial offering. The historical record illuminates the parallels between providential periods caused by the repetition of dispensations to restore through indemnity the foundation for the Messiah. The Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration was to restore the Age of the Providence of Restoration through parallel indemnity conditions of a substantial type. Let us examine the comparable characteristics of each providential period from this standpoint.

First, however, we need to identify what groups of people have had the central responsibility for God’s providence and the historical sources which can shed light on their history. Human history consists of the histories of countless peoples. Nevertheless, God has specially chosen certain people to walk the model course of restoration to lay the foundation for the Messiah. God puts them at the center of His providence and guides them by His Principle. Their history, in turn, steers the course of human history as a whole. A nation or people entrusted with such a mission is called God’s chosen people.

God’s first chosen people consisted of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who had established the family foundation for the Messiah. Therefore, the nation centrally responsible for God’s providence in the Age of the Providence of Restoration was Israel. The Old Testament, which records the history of Israel, provides the source material with which to study the history of the providence in that age.

However, from the time that they rejected Jesus, the Jewish people lost their qualification to be centrally responsible for God’s providence. Foreseeing this, Jesus uttered the parable of the vineyard, saying:

The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it. -Matt. 21:43

St. Paul said in anguish over his kinsmen, the Jewish people:

For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants . . . it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants. -Rom. 9:6-8

Indeed, the people who became centrally responsible for the providence in the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration were not the Jews, but rather the Christians. They assumed the mission to accomplish God’s unfulfilled providence of restoration. Accordingly, the history of Christianity provides the source material for understanding providential history in this age. In this sense, the descendants of Abraham in the Old Testament Age may be referred to as the First Israel, and the Christians in the New Testament Age may be called the Second Israel.1

When we compare the Old Testament to the New Testament, the five books of the Law (Genesis to Deuteronomy), the twelve books of history (Joshua to Esther), the five books of poetry and wisdom (Job to the Song of Solomon) and the seventeen books of prophecy (Isaiah to Malachi) in the Old Testament correspond to the Gospels, Acts, the Letters of the Apostles and Revelation, respectively. However, while the books of history in the Old Testament record most of the two-thousand-year history of Israel, the Book of Acts records only the history of the earliest Christians in the generation after Jesus’ death. To find historical records pertaining to God’s work of restoration in the New Testament Age with a scope comparable to those found in the Old Testament, we must consult in addition the entire history of Christianity from Jesus’ time to the present day. On this basis, we can compare the histories of the First and Second
Israels and their impact on the character of each period in the two providential ages. Recognizing a pattern of parallel periods, we come to know more clearly that history has been shaped by the systematic and lawful providence of the living God.

Section 1: The Period of Slavery in Egypt and the Period of Persecution in the Roman Empire

After Jacob entered Egypt with his twelve sons and seventy kinsmen, their descendants suffered terrible abuse at the hands of the Egyptians for four hundred years. This was for the restoration of the four-hundred-year period from Noah to Abraham-a period for the separation of Satan-which had been defiled due to Abraham’s mistake in his offering. The corresponding period of persecution in the Roman Empire was to restore this previous period through parallel indemnity conditions. Jesus’ twelve apostles and seventy disciples were the first of many generations of Christians who suffered severe persecution in the Roman Empire over a period of four hundred years. By enduring this suffering, they were restoring through indemnity the four-hundred-year period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah-a period for the separation of Satan-which had been defiled due to the Jewish people’s mistake in not honoring Jesus as a living sacrifice but leading him to the cross.

In the period of slavery in Egypt, the chosen people of the First Israel kept themselves pure by circumcision,2 by making sacrifices3 and, as they left Egypt, by keeping the Sabbath.4 During the period of persecution in the Roman Empire, the Christians as the Second Israel lived a life of purity by performing the sacraments of baptism and holy communion, offering themselves as sacrifices, and keeping the Sabbath. In both periods, they had to follow this way of pure faith to separate Satan, who was constantly assailing them due to the condition of previous mistakes by Abraham and the Jewish people.

At the end of Israel’s slavery in Egypt, Moses brought the Pharaoh to his knees by the power of the three signs and ten plagues. He then led the Israelites out of Egypt and set out for the land of Canaan. Likewise, toward the end of the period of persecution in the Roman Empire, after Christians had drunk the cup of persecution to the fill, Jesus increased the numbers of believers by moving their hearts with his power and grace. By stirring the heart of Emperor Constantine, Jesus led him to recognize Christianity in 313 a.d. Jesus inspired Theodosius I in 392 a.d. to establish Christianity as the state religion. Christians thus restored Canaan spiritually inside the Roman Empire, the satanic world. In the Old Testament Age, God worked through the external indemnity conditions set by the Mosaic Law; likewise, God had Moses defeat the Pharaoh through the external power of miracles. In the New Testament Age, when God worked through the internal indemnity conditions of faith, He manifested His power internally by moving the hearts of people.

When the period of slavery in Egypt was over, Moses on Mt. Sinai received the Ten Commandments and God’s Word revealed in the Law, which formed the core of the Old Testament Scriptures. By setting up and honoring the tablets of stone, the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle, he paved the way for the Israelites to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. Likewise, at the conclusion of the period of persecution in the Roman Empire, Christians gathered the writings which had been left behind by the apostles and evangelists and established the canon of the New Testament. Based on these writings, they sought to realize God’s ideals spiritually, ideals which had been enshrined in the Ten Commandments and the Tabernacle in the Old Testament Age. They built up churches and expanded their foundation to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ. After Jesus’ ascension, the resurrected Jesus and the Holy Spirit guided Christians directly. Hence, God did not raise up any one person as the central figure responsible for His entire providence, as He had earlier.

Section 2: The Period of the Judges and the Period of Regional Church Leadership

Upon inheriting the mission of Moses, Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan. For the next four hundred years, fifteen judges governed the Israelite tribes: thirteen judges from Othniel to Samson recorded in the Book of Judges, as well as Eli and Samuel. The judges filled the various responsibilities of prophet, priest and king, which became separate offices in the later periods. Israel in this period was a feudalistic society with no central political authority. In the New Testament Age, the period of regional church leadership was set up to restore the period of the judges through parallel indemnity conditions. In this period, regional church leaders-patriarchs, bishops and abbots-led Christian society. Like the judges of the Old Testament Age, they had duties similar to those of prophet, priest and king. As in the time of the judges, Christian society in this period was a feudalistic society under these local authorities.

In the age before Jesus, when God was working with the First Israel to establish a national foundation for the Messiah both spiritually and physically, politics, economy and religion tended to have a national focus. On the other hand, in the age after Jesus, Christians were building a spiritual kingdom under the leadership of Jesus, who stood upon the spiritual foundation for the Messiah. Their loyalty transcended national barriers, for they were serving the resurrected Jesus as the King of Kings. Therefore, the spiritual kingdom of Jesus was not confined to any one nation, but expanded to the far-flung corners of the globe.

The period of the judges began after the Israelites were liberated from slavery in Egypt and the younger generation united solidly under the leadership of Joshua and Caleb to enter the land of Canaan. They parceled out the territory among their clans and tribes. Settling in villages united around the judges, the people consolidated into a chosen nation and established a simple feudalistic society. Likewise, the period of regional church leadership in the Christian era began after the liberation of Christianity from the persecution of the Roman Empire, the satanic world. Christians spread the Gospel to the Germanic peoples, many of whom had migrated to Western Europe in the fourth century to escape the invading Huns. In their new land of Western Europe, God raised up the Germanic tribes as a new chosen people and established an early form of feudal society, which later matured into the feudalism of the Middle Ages.

As we discussed earlier, when the Israelites set out for Canaan, they first built the Tabernacle as the symbol of the Messiah and the object for the condition to decide who would stand in the position of Abel for the foundation of substance.5 In the period of the judges, the Israelites should have exalted the Tabernacle and remained obedient to the direction of the judges. However, instead of destroying the seven Canaanite tribes, the Israelites lived among them and were influenced by their customs. They even took to worshipping their idols, thus bringing great confusion to their faith. Likewise, in the period of regional church leadership, the Christians were supposed to exalt the Church, which was the image of the Messiah, and follow the directions of its bishops and monastic leaders. The Church was the object for the condition to determine who would have the position of Abel. However, they became influenced by the religion and culture of the pagan Germanic tribes, which brought great confusion to the Christian faith.

Section 3: The Period of the United Kingdom and the Period of the Christian Empire

When the period of the judges came to a close and the First Israel entered the period of the united kingdom, the functions of the judge were apportioned to the offices of prophet, priest and king. The prophets received instructions directly from God, the priests kept charge over the Tabernacle and later the Temple, and the king governed the nation. Each carried on their distinct missions in guiding Israel to accomplish the goal of the providence of restoration. The purpose of the period of the Christian empire was to restore the period of the united kingdom through parallel indemnity conditions. Thus, when the period of regional church leadership came to a close, the missions of these leaders were apportioned to the offices of monastic leaders corresponding to the prophets, the pope corresponding to the high priest, and the emperor, who ruled the people. They were responsible to guide the Second Israel to accomplish the goal of the providence of restoration. In the previous period, the Christian Church had been divided into the five patriarchates of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople and Rome, with Rome dominant in the West. The pope, as the Roman patriarch was called, supervised all the bishops and abbots in Western Europe.

In the period of the united kingdom, the kings established the kingdom of Israel around the Temple, thereby manifesting the ideal of Moses’ Tabernacle which was first conceived at the time of the Exodus. This was the image course for building the Kingdom of Heaven ruled by Jesus, which he would one day come to establish as the King of Kings.6 Likewise, in the period of the Christian empire, Charlemagne’s empire realized the ideal of the Christian state as set down in The City of God by St. Augustine-who lived when the Christians had just been liberated from the oppression of the Roman Empire, a time parallel to that of Moses. Once again, this was the image course for building the Kingdom of God, which Christ, as the King of Kings, will one day return to establish. Accordingly, in this period, the emperor and the pope were to realize the ideal Christian state by uniting wholeheartedly to follow the Will of God. The spiritual kingdom ruled by the pope, which had been founded upon the spiritual foundation for the Messiah, and the temporal kingdom ruled by the emperor should
have united based on Christ’s teachings. Had they done so, religion, politics and economy would have harmonized, and the foundation for the Second Advent of Christ would have been established at that time.

In the period of the united kingdom of Israel, the king was the central figure for restoring the foundation of faith. He was responsible to carry out the Word of God, which was given through the prophets. Before the king was anointed, the prophet and the high priest were to represent and teach the Word of God, and thus they stood in the position of Abel. Their mission, as required by the providence of restoration, was to restore the physical world from the position of the archangel, representing the spirit world. However, after they laid the foundation upon which the king could stand, and anointed and blessed him as the king, they were to take the role of Cain before him. The king was to rule his kingdom according to the guidance of the prophets, and the prophets were to obey the king as his subjects and counselors.

About eight hundred years after Abraham’s descendants entered Egypt, by God’s command the prophet Samuel anointed Saul as the first king of Israel.7 King Saul stood upon the foundation of the four hundred years under the judges. Had he completed the forty years of his reign in accordance with God’s desires, he would have stood in the position of having restored through indemnity the four hundred years of slavery in Egypt and Moses’ forty years in the Pharaoh’s palace. Thereupon, King Saul would have fulfilled the dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan and laid the foundation of faith. If, upon this foundation, King Saul had built and exalted the Temple, the image of the Messiah, he would have then stood in the position Moses should have occupied had he not failed in the first national course to restore Canaan, but had built the Temple in Canaan and glorified it. If the Israelites had then stood upon this foundation of faith and faithfully followed King Saul as he honored the Temple, they would have laid the foundation of substance. The foundation for the Messiah would have been established at that time.

However, because King Saul disobeyed the commands of God given through the prophet Samuel,8 he was in no position to build the Temple. Upon his failure, King Saul found himself in the same position as Moses after he had failed in the first national course to restore Canaan. As was the case with Moses, the providence of restoration through King Saul was extended. Forty years of King David’s reign and forty years of King Solomon’s reign would pass before the foundation of faith was laid and the Temple built. Furthermore, as we discussed earlier, King Saul was also in the position of Abraham. In the same manner that the Will entrusted to Abraham was finally brought to pass through Isaac and Jacob, God’s Will to build the Temple through King Saul had to be continued through the reign of King David and was finally realized during the reign of King Solomon. Nevertheless, King Solomon left the position of Abel for the substantial offering when he fell into lust with his many foreign wives, who turned him away from God.9 Hence, there was no way for Israel to establish the
foundation of substance. The foundation for the Messiah, which should have been laid in the period of the united kingdom, was not realized.

In the period of the Christian empire, all the conditions pertaining to the united kingdom had to be restored through parallel conditions of indemnity. Once again, the central figure to restore the foundation of faith was the emperor. He was responsible to actualize the Christian ideals set forth by the leading monastics and the pope. The pope, for his part, stood in a position comparable to the high priest of Israel, who received God’s commands through the prophets. He was responsible to lay the spiritual foundation upon which the emperor could realize the ideal Christian state. After crowning and blessing the emperor, the pope was to obey him as one of his subjects in temporal matters. The emperor, in turn, was to lift up and further the spiritual work of the papacy in his realm.

Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne and blessed him as the first emperor of Christendom in 800 a.d. Charlemagne stood upon the foundation of the four-hundred-year period of regional church leadership, which restored through indemnity, in the form of substantial parallels, the four-hundred-year period of the judges. Therefore, like King Saul, he stood upon the foundation of a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan. By faithfully living according to the teachings of Jesus in his work to realize the Christian ideal of the state, he was to establish the foundation of faith. Indeed, when Charlemagne was crowned emperor, he achieved this foundation. Had the Second Israel absolutely believed in and followed Charlemagne, the foundation of substance would have been laid, and thereby the foundation for the Messiah would have been established. In other words, the spiritual kingdom led by the pope and the earthly kingdom led by the emperor were to fully unite upon the existing spiritual foundation for the Messiah. Christ would then have returned upon this solid ground and built his Kingdom. However, the emperors did not remain obedient to God’s Will and left the position of Abel for the substantial offering. Neither the foundation of
substance nor the foundation for the Second Advent of the Messiah was established.

Section 4: The Period of the Divided Kingdoms of North and South and the Period of the Divided Kingdoms of East and West

Because King Solomon was led by his wives and concubines to worship idols, the united kingdom of Israel was divided upon his death, having lasted only three generations.10 The kingdom of Israel in the north, which was founded by ten of the twelve tribes, was in the position of Cain, while the kingdom of Judah in the south, which was founded by the two remaining tribes, was in the position of Abel. This was how the period of the divided kingdoms of north and south began.

The Christian empire also began to divide in the third generation. Charlemagne’s grandsons partitioned it into three kingdoms: the East Franks, the West Franks and Italy. The descendants of Charlemagne were in bitter and constant conflict with each other. The remnants of the Christian empire soon coalesced into two kingdoms, with Italy reverting to the rule of the East Franks. The kingdom of the East Franks flourished greatly under Otto I and came to be called the Holy Roman Empire. Claiming to be the heir of the Roman Empire, it ruled parts of Western Europe and sought to secure dominion over both politics and religion. The Holy Roman Empire stood in the position of Abel in relation to France, as the kingdom of the West Franks came to be called.

The northern kingdom of Israel was founded by Jeroboam, who had lived in exile in the days of King Solomon. It was ruled by nineteen kings over some 210 years. Through repeated assassinations, its short-lived royal families changed nine times; not one king was righteous in the sight of God. Nevertheless, God sent the prophet Elijah, who prevailed in the contest with 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mt. Carmel when God sent down fire upon the altar.11 Other prophets, including Elisha, Jonah, Hosea and Amos, spread the Word of God at the risk of their lives. Yet since the northern kingdom continued to worship foreign gods and did not repent, God had the Assyrians destroy them and took away their qualification as the chosen people forever.12

The southern kingdom of Judah was established by Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. Its royal house continued in one dynastic line from David to Zedekiah, producing many righteous kings out of the twenty who ruled the kingdom for its nearly four hundred years of existence. Nevertheless, a succession of evil kings, combined with influence from the northern kingdom, led to much idolatry and corruption. Consequently, the people of the southern kingdom were taken into exile in Babylon.

In the period of the divided kingdoms of north and south, whenever the Israelites violated their covenant with God, straying from the ideal of the Temple, God sent many prophets-such as Elijah, Isaiah and Jeremiah-to admonish them and move them to repentance and internal reform. However, because the kings and the people did not heed the warnings of the prophets and did not repent, God chastised them externally by sending gentile nations such as Syria, Assyria and Babylon to attack them.

During the parallel period of the divided kingdoms of east and west, the papacy was corrupt. God sent prominent monks such as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi to admonish the papacy and promote internal reform in the Church. Since the papacy and the Church did not repent, but sank further into corruption and immorality, God chastised them externally by letting their people fight the Muslims. This was the providential reason behind the Crusades. While Jerusalem and the Holy Land were under the protection of the Abbasid Caliphate, Christian pilgrims were received with hospitality. After the Caliphate collapsed and the Holy Land was conquered by the Seljuk Turks, cries of alarm went out that Christian pilgrims were being harassed. Outraged, the popes raised the Crusades to recover the Holy Land. There were eight Crusades, beginning in 1095 and continuing sporadically for about two hundred years. Despite some initial success, the Crusaders were defeated again and again.

The period of the divided kingdoms of north and south came to an end when gentile nations took the people of Israel and Judah into exile. They put an end to the monarchy in Israel. Likewise, at the close of the period of the divided kingdoms of east and west, the papacy had completely lost its prestige and credibility after the repeated defeats of the Crusades. Christianity thus lost its center of spiritual sovereignty. Moreover, since the lords and knights who had maintained feudal society were decimated by the Crusades, feudal society lost its political power and vigor. Since the papacy and the feudal lords had spent enormous funds to pursue these unsuccessful wars, they were left impoverished. Monarchic Christianity began to erode.

Section 5: The Period of Israel’s Exile and Return and the Period of the Papal Exile and Return

By falling into faithlessness without repentance, the people of Israel failed to realize the ideal of God’s nation founded upon the Temple. To make another attempt at fulfilling this Will, God had the people suffer hardships as exiles in Babylon. This was similar to when God had the Israelites suffer as slaves in Egypt to restore through indemnity Abraham’s mistake in the symbolic offering.

In the period of the Christian empire, God worked through the pope and the emperor to establish a kingdom prepared for Christ at his Second Coming. God’s intention was that ultimately they would bequeath the empire and the throne to the Messiah when he would come as the King of Kings and build God’s kingdom13 upon that foundation. Yet the emperors and popes became corrupt and did not repent. The popes did not lay the spiritual foundation upon which the emperors could stand as the central figures for the foundation of substance. Therefore, the foundation for the Second Advent of Christ was not established. To begin a new dispensation to restore this foundation, God allowed the popes to be taken into exile and suffer captivity.

In the earlier parallel period, nearly seventy years elapsed from the time King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took into captivity King Jehoiachin and his royal family, as well as prophets including Daniel and Ezekiel, priests, officials, craftsmen and many other Israelites, until the fall of Babylon and their liberation by the royal decree of King Cyrus.14 It then took another 140 years for the exiles to return to their homeland in three waves, until they fully reformed themselves as a nation united around the Will of God as proclaimed in the messianic prophecies of Malachi. Henceforth, they began to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. In the period of papal exile and return, which was to restore this period through indemnity in the form of substantial parallels, Western Christianity had to walk a similar course.

The popes and priests, sunk in immorality, gradually lost the confidence of the people. The authority of the papacy sank even lower due to the repeated defeats of the Crusades. The end of the Crusades saw the gradual collapse of the feudal system in Europe and the emergence of modern nation-states. As the power of secular monarchies grew, the conflict between the popes and the kings escalated. In one such conflict, King Philip IV, “the Fair,” of France imprisoned Pope Boniface VIII for a time. In 1309, Philip forced Pope Clement V to move the papacy from Rome to Avignon in southern France. For seventy years, successive popes lived there subject to the kings of France, until 1377 when Pope Gregory XI returned the papal residence to Rome.

After Gregory’s death, the cardinals elected an Italian, the Archbishop of Bari, as Pope Urban VI. However, a group of cardinals, mostly Frenchmen, rejected him, elected another pope, Clement VII, and established a rival papacy in Avignon. The Great Schism continued into the next century. To resolve this impasse, the cardinals from both camps held a council in Pisa, Italy, in 1409, which dismissed both the Roman and Avignon popes and appointed Alexander V as the legitimate pope. The two popes, however, refused to resign, creating for a short time the spectacle of three contending popes. Shortly afterwards, cardinals, bishops, theologians, royalty and their envoys gathered for the General Council of Constance (1414-1417). It dismissed all three popes and elected Martin V as the new pope, effectively ending the Great Schism.

The Council of Constance insisted that the general councils of the Church had supreme authority, greater than that of the pope and with the power to elect or depose him, and directed that subsequent councils be held at regular intervals. Thus, it sought to reorganize the Roman church as a constitutional monarchy. However, in 1431, when delegates gathered for the next council, held in Basel, Switzerland, the pope tried to adjourn the meeting. The delegates refused to leave and carried on in the pope’s absence, but to no effect; in 1449, they finally disbanded. The plan to institutionalize a constitutional monarchy within the Roman church came to naught, and the papacy recovered the authority it had lost in 1309.

The leaders of the conciliar movement in the fifteenth century had tried to reform the corrupt papacy by setting up a representative council composed of bishops and laymen and giving it supreme authority. Nevertheless, the papacy ended up reasserting its full authority, as it had not enjoyed since before its exile. Furthermore, these councils condemned more fundamental reforms as promoted by John Wycliffe (1330-1384) and Jan Hus (1373-1415), who was personally invited to attend the Council of Constance only to be burned at the stake. At that point, the die was cast for the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation.

This period of approximately 210 years ran from 1309, with the papacy’s seventy years of exile in Avignon, through the Great Schism, the conciliar movement and the restoration of papal authority in the Roman church, to the eve of the Protestant Reformation spearheaded by Martin Luther in 1517. Its purpose was to restore through indemnity, in the form of substantial parallels, the 210-year period of Israel’s exile and return-from Israel’s seventy years of exile in Babylon through the stages of the returning to Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple, until the reform of politics and religion under the leadership of Ezra, Nehemiah and the prophet Malachi.

Section 6: The Period of Preparation for the Advent of the Messiah and the Period of Preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah

Following the period of Israel’s exile and return, another four hundred years elapsed before Jesus came. This was the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah. Likewise, Christianity is to meet Christ at his Second Advent only after passing through four hundred years of the period of preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah, which had followed the period of papal exile and return. It should restore through indemnity in the form of substantial parallels the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah.

During the four thousand years of God’s providence of restoration from Adam to Jesus, vertical indemnity conditions had accumulated due to Satan’s repeated defilement of dispensations to restore the foundation of faith through periods of forty for the separation of Satan. The period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah was intended to be the final period of providential history in which all these conditions would be horizontally restored through indemnity. Likewise, the period of preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah is intended to be the final period of providential history, when all the vertical indemnity conditions which have accumulated during the six-thousand-year history of the providence of restoration since Adam’s day are horizontally restored.

Upon returning from the Babylonian exile, the Israelites established the foundation of faith by repenting of their past sin of idolatry, rebuilding the Temple15 which had been destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar, and reforming their faith based on the Mosaic Law under the guidance of Ezra the scribe.16 They then began to prepare for the coming of the Messiah according to the word of the prophet Malachi. Likewise, after the papacy’s return to Rome, medieval Christians established the foundation of faith by seeking to reform the Roman church; these efforts culminated in the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther. This movement pierced the gloom of medieval Europe with the light of the Gospel and pioneered new paths of faith.

One purpose of the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah was to restore through indemnity in the form of image parallels the approximately forty years of Jacob’s preparation to enter Egypt. This was the period in his life from his return to Canaan from Haran until he and his family entered Egypt. The period of preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah is to restore this period through indemnity in the form of substantial parallels. Accordingly, Christians in this period have had to suffer tribulations and hardships as Jacob’s family did until they met Joseph in Egypt, or as the Jews did before they met Jesus. Specifically, in the Age of the Providence of Restoration, people were justified before God by such external conditions as keeping the Mosaic Law and offering sacrifices. Therefore, during the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah, the First Israel had to suffer external hardships at the hands of the gentile nations of Persia, Greece, Egypt, Syria and Rome. During the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration, Christians have been justified before God by internal conditions of prayer and faith according to the teachings of Jesus. Hence, in the period of preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah, the Second Israel has had to walk a path of internal tribulations. The ideologies of Renaissance humanism and the Enlightenment, as well as the call for religious freedom which arose from the Reformation, have created a profusion of philosophies and theologies, causing great confusion in the Christian faith and turmoil in people’s spiritual lives.

The period of preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah has also been restoring, through parallel indemnity conditions of a substantial type, the internal preparations and external environment for the worldwide reception of the Messiah, which had first been set up during the four hundred years of the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah.

In preparation for the First Coming of Christ, God sent the prophet Malachi to the chosen people 430 years beforehand to arouse in them a strong messianic expectation. At the same time, God encouraged the Jews to reform their religion and deepen their faith to make the internal preparations necessary to receive the Messiah. Meanwhile, among the world’s peoples, God founded religions suited to their regions and cultures by which they could make the necessary internal preparations to receive the Messiah. In India, God established Buddhism through Gautama Buddha (565-485 b.c.) as a new development out of Hinduism. In Greece, God inspired Socrates (470-399 b.c.) and opened the brilliant age of classical Greek civilization. In the Far East, God raised up Confucius (552-479 b.c.), whose teachings of Confucianism established the standard of human ethics. Jesus was to come upon this worldwide foundation of preparation, and through his teachings he was to bring together Judaism, Hellenism, Buddhism and Confucianism. He was to unify all religions and civilizations into one worldwide civilization founded upon the Christian Gospel.

Since the Renaissance, God has been creating the religious, political and economic environment conducive to the work of Christ at his Second Coming. This has been the age to restore through indemnity, in the form of substantial parallels, the earlier period when God had set up the worldwide environment to prepare for the coming of Jesus. Beginning with the Renaissance, progress in virtually every field of human endeavor, including politics, economy, culture and science, has increased at a rapid rate. Today, these fields have reached their zenith and have created a global environment conducive to the work of Christ at his Second Coming. In Jesus’ day, the Roman Empire ruled the vast domains around the Mediterranean Sea, integrated by an advanced and extensive transportation system reaching out in all directions. This was the center of a vast Hellenistic civilization founded on the Greek language. Thus, all the necessary preparations had been made for a swift transmission of the teachings of the Messiah from Israel, where Jesus lived, to Rome and the world. Similarly, in the present era of the Second Advent, the influence of the Western powers has expanded the democratic political sphere throughout the world. The rapid progress of transportation and communication has greatly bridged the gap between East and West, and the extensive contact among languages and cultures has brought the world much closer together. These factors have fully prepared an environment in which the teachings of the returning Christ can freely and swiftly be conveyed to the hearts of all humankind. This will enable his teachings to bring rapid and profound changes all over the globe.

Section 7: The Providence of Restoration and the Progress of History

The Kingdom of Heaven on earth is a society whose structure is formed in the image of a perfect person.17 Likewise, fallen society may be regarded as formed in the likeness of a fallen person. We can better understand the history of societies built by sinful humanity by examining the inner life of a fallen person.

A fallen person possesses both an original mind, which prompts him to pursue goodness, and an evil mind, which fills him with evil desires and rebels against the promptings of the original mind. Undeniably, the two minds are constantly at war with each other, inclining us toward shifting and conflicting behaviors. Since human society is composed of individuals who are constantly at war within themselves, interactions among them cannot help but be full of discord and conflict. Human history has consisted of people’s conflict-ridden social relationships constantly changing with the course of time. Hence, it has necessarily unfolded in strife and warfare.

Nevertheless, in the midst of the persistent fight between the original mind and the evil mind, people are ever striving to repel evil and follow the way of goodness. As they gain ground in their striving, their efforts bear fruit in righteous deeds. Because of the activity of the original mind within himself, even a fallen person can respond to God’s providence of restoration and join in furthering the goal of goodness. Progress in history thus originates with individuals who, even amidst the vortex of good and evil, make determined efforts to reject evil and promote goodness. Therefore, the world toward which history is progressing is the Kingdom of Heaven, where the goal of goodness will be realized.

We must understand that conflicts and wars are interim phenomena to separate good from evil in the pursuit of this ultimate goal. Even though evil may triumph at times, God will use it to steer history toward the fulfillment of a greater good. In this respect, we can recognize that the progress of history toward goodness is driven by a process of constantly dividing good from evil according to God’s providence of restoration.

Meanwhile, on the basis of his relationship of blood ties with the first human beings, Satan has worked through fallen people to realize, in advance of God, a perverted form of the ideal society which God intends to realize. As a result, in human history we witness the rise of unprincipled societies which are built upon twisted versions of the Principle. At the end of human history, before God can restore the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, Satan will have built an unprincipled world in a distorted image of the Kingdom: this is none other than the communist world. This is an instance of how Satan, who had a head-start in the course of history, has always mimicked God’s plans in advance of God. In the course of the providence of restoration, a false likeness precedes the appearance of the true.18 Jesus’ prophecy that false Christs will appear before the Second Advent of Christ19 can be elucidated by this aspect of the Principle.

7.1 The Progress of History in the Age of the Providence of Restoration
Some historians have held that the first society built by fallen people was a primitive collective society. From the viewpoint of God’s providence, the primitive societies which fallen people built were centered on Satan. Though Satan may have tried to build a collective society where people shared their possessions with each other, it would still have been only a defective imitation of the society which God intends to build through people of perfect character: a society characterized by interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values. Regardless of the form, this satanic primitive society could not have been free of struggle and division. If it had been, it would have perpetuated its existence forever without change, and God’s providence of restoration could never have been fulfilled.

In reality, the two minds at war within a fallen person give rise to internal conflicts which manifest themselves through his actions and cause him to be in conflict with others. Therefore, it would have been impossible for a satanic primitive society pursing the goal of collective living ever to maintain peace. As primitive societies evolved into larger-scale societies with different economic and social relations, these conflicts inevitably evolved in a corresponding manner. Due to the activity of the original mind calling people to respond to God’s providence of restoration, divisions between relative good and evil surely arose in primitive societies under satanic sovereignty.

When we examine the course of social development guided by Satan, we find that clan societies arose out of the divisions between individuals in primitive societies. These societies have tended to expand in scope, with clan societies developing into feudalistic societies and then into monarchic societies by increasing their territory and power. Satan preempted this pattern ahead of God, because he understood God’s plan to call good individuals out of the sinful world and have them build a good clan society, then expand to a good feudalistic society, and finally reach the stage of a good kingdom with territory and sovereignty sufficient for the Messiah to come and accomplish his work.

God called Abraham out of the sinful world to be the standard-bearer of goodness and blessed him with descendants who would uphold the Will of God. God raised up Abraham’s descendants into the first Israelite clan society. They entered Egypt as a clan society, but by the time they left Egypt for Canaan, they had grown into a tribal society. Israelite society in the period of the judges was a feudalistic society. A feudalistic society in this discussion refers to a society with a political system characterized by master-servant relationships of service and obedience and an economic system composed of self-sufficient units in small, isolated territories. In the period of the judges, Israelite society had such characteristics. When the Israelites entered Canaan, a portion of land was allocated to each tribe. The judges who ruled these territories played a role similar to that of bishops and feudal lords in early medieval Europe.

It is the nature of a feudalistic society that its people espouse the beliefs of their lord and obey his commands. As long as the lord remains faithful to the Will of God, his people will follow him and stand on God’s side. Living in a political system built on master-servant relationships and having a self-sufficient economy largely isolated from the outside world, they have considerable capacity to withstand Satan’s invasion from outside. The main reason that a clan society develops into a feudalistic society is to bring property and people, which had belonged to Satan, back to God’s side. By expanding the territory under God’s sovereignty, they are better placed to ward off Satan’s invasion. Understanding this divine providence, Satan tried to preserve his rule by preempting it and forming his own feudalistic societies many centuries earlier.

The providential purpose of the feudalistic society of early Israel was to lay a foundation for the establishment of a monarchic society with greater territory and more powerful sovereignty. The monarchic society amalgamated the smaller units of political and economic sovereignty secured by the earlier feudalistic society into a single territory with a large population, a strong economy and a well-defended sovereignty. This was done with the establishment of the united kingdom of Israel founded by King Saul.

Jesus was to come as the King of Kings.20 God built the monarchic society in Israel to prepare a strong enough foundation for him to come as the Messiah and rule as King of Kings.

Long before this, Satan understood the providence to receive the Messiah behind the construction of the monarchy and had formed his own monarchic societies to block God’s providence. Many centuries before the founding of the united kingdom of Israel, the first dynasty of Egypt had been founded, and pharaonic Egypt continued through some thirty dynasties. The ancient kingdom of Babylon had ruled all of Mesopotamia during the reign of King Hammurabi in the eighteenth century b.c., and the Hittites ruled supreme over the Near East in the region of Syria during the fourteenth century b.c. Even within the satanic world, there was constant warfare between relatively good kingdoms and relatively evil kingdoms, resulting in the separation of good from evil. This drive toward goodness is rooted in the original mind, which responds to the call of God’s providence of restoration.

Had King Solomon served God’s Will until the end, he could have exercised his God- given political skills to unify the nations of the Near East. He could have assimilated the Egyptian, Minoan and Mesopotamian civilizations, which were weak at that time. He thus would have built a worldwide dominion to which the Messiah could come and realize God’s sovereignty on earth. Unfortunately, Solomon fell into idolatry. Consequently, God had to begin a dispensation to dismantle this monarchic society which He had so painfully built up.

Since the kings of the united kingdom of Israel did not lay the foundation for the Messiah, nor complete the groundwork upon which God could restore His sovereignty, God eventually divided the kingdom into two: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. When they continued to transgress against God’s Will, God let the northern kingdom of Israel be destroyed at the hands of the gentile nation of Assyria. The Assyrians in the eighth century b.c. had conquered the entire ancient Near East, including Egypt, to build the first world empire. The kingdom of Judah upheld God’s Will for a time, but then rebelled against Him. Hence, God allowed it to fall into the hands of the neo-Babylonian Empire, which had supplanted Assyria as the second world empire.

After the fall of Judah, God kept the throne of Israel vacant and put the Jewish people under the control of successive gentile empires for most of the period leading up to the coming of the Messiah. Most notably, God placed them in the Hellenistic cultural sphere, which laid the ideological framework for democracy. God fashioned Israel’s society in the form of democracy in order that when the Messiah came, he could be hailed as their king by the will of the people, who should have welcomed him wholeheartedly. However, the Jewish public did not so elevate Jesus. Without public support, he was crucified. Consequently, at the consummation of the providence which had begun two thousand years earlier with the calling of Abraham and his descendants out of the sinful world, its purpose was attained only spiritually.

7.2 The Progress of History in the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration

7.2.1 The Providence of Restoration and the History of the West
The Roman Empire, which had persecuted Christianity, finally knelt before the crucified Jesus in the fourth century and adopted Christianity as the state religion. Nevertheless, the original providential role of the Roman Empire, which had unified the ancient world around the Mediterranean Sea, was to lay the foundation for Christ’s kingdom on earth. Had the Jewish people believed in Jesus as the Messiah and united with him, the Roman Empire would have been won over by Jesus during his lifetime. Jesus would have been honored throughout the empire as the King of Kings. He would have established a worldwide dominion with Jerusalem as its capital. However, because the Jewish people disbelieved, Judea was destroyed and the Roman Empire was fated to decline. After a century of barbarian invasions, the Western Roman Empire came to an end in 476 a.d.

In this manner, the center of God’s providence of restoration shifted from Judea, the land of God’s bitter grief, to Western Europe, formerly the territory of the Western Roman Empire now occupied by the Germanic tribes. Accordingly, the spiritual providence of restoration based on Christianity has been conducted primarily in Western Europe. Only in Western Europe has the history of this era progressed strictly according to the pattern set by the providence of restoration.21 The history of Christianity in Western Europe provides us with information about the events which shaped the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration.

7.2.2 The Mutual Relations between Religious History, Economic History and Political History
To enable human beings to rule both the spirit world and the physical world, God created them as the dual entities of spirit self and physical self.22 Had human beings not fallen, their spirit self and physical self would have reached perfection together. Their spiritual intellect and physical intellect would have joined in complete harmony during earthly life. After human beings fell and became ignorant of both the spiritual and physical worlds, God worked to overcome spiritual ignorance through religion and physical ignorance through science.23

Religions have helped fallen people gradually overcome their spiritual ignorance by stimulating their latent original mind to activity. They have been teaching people to focus their lives on the invisible, causal world of God. Since not everyone feels an immediate need for religion, only a few exceptional people attain spiritual knowledge rapidly. For the vast majority, spiritual growth remains a slow process. We see this from the fact that even today, with religions widespread throughout the world, people’s spiritual level is often no better than that of people in ancient times.

On the other hand, everyone is familiar with the findings of science, which have greatly enhanced our knowledge of the physical world. Since science deals with practical matters, everyone feels a strong need for it. Thus, the increase in humankind’s knowledge of the physical world has generally been widespread and rapid. Furthermore, while the objects of religious study are in the intangible, transcendent world of cause, scientific research examines tangible, material objects in the world of result. Hence, to this day religion and science remain theoretically irreconcilable. Moreover, because Satan, who holds sovereignty over the universe, attacks and corrupts people through their life in the world, religions teach one to deny the world. As such, religions cannot easily harmonize with science, which seeks to improve life in the world. We know that in the beginning, God created the outward physical body of human beings before imbuing them with their inner spirit.24 The providence of restoration, which is a work of re-creation, follows the same pattern, from the external to the internal. From this providential perspective, it is evident that during their course of development, religion and science are often at variance, even in conflict.25

The same discord is found in the relationship between people’s religious and economic life. Like science, economic activities deal with the practical world. Indeed, economic progress bears a close relationship to the development of science. Accordingly, religious history, based on the internal development of God’s providence, and economic history, based on the external development of His providence, have taken divergent directions and have progressed at different rates. Therefore, to grasp the progress of the history of the West, which has followed the pattern set by God’s providence of restoration, we must examine the history of Christianity and Western economic history separately.

As with the relationship between religion and science, religion and economy are related in that they are responsible for restoring the internal and external aspects of fallen people’s lives. Although religion and economy, like religion and science, seem to develop at variance with each other, they are related in the life of society. Thus, there has been some mutual influence between the history of Christianity and economic history.

Religion and economy are integrated with our life in society through politics. Especially in Western Europe, politics has sought to connect economic development, which has closely followed the progress of science, with the path of Christianity, which has often lacked a clear sense of its providential direction. Western political history has pioneered a path through which to harmonize religion and economy. Therefore, to accurately grasp the progress of history as it moves toward the goal of the providence of restoration, we must also investigate separately the history of politics.

As an illustration of how the courses of religious, political and economic development have progressed separately, let us sketch the historical situation of Western Europe toward the end of the seventeenth century. With respect to the history of religion, democratic values had already taken root in the Christianity of this period. Christianity of a monarchic polity under the rule of the papacy had fragmented with the Protestant Reformation in 1517. The people of Europe, whose life of devotion in medieval times had been subject to the papal hierarchy, were gradually liberated to lead a Christian life based on their own reading of the Bible. With regard to the politics of this period, absolute monarchy was at its height. Economically, feudal society based on the manor system persisted in many parts of Europe. Thus, the same European society was becoming democratic with respect to religious life while remaining monarchic with respect to political life and feudal with respect to economic life.

We also should clarify why the development of history through most of the Old Testament Age was not characterized by this pattern of separate development. In ancient Israel, the progress of science was extremely slow. Hence, its economic life did not develop, and its society had little specialization. The people led a simple life under a social system in which religion was an integral part of their daily life. Bound by master-servant relationships and the strict code of the Mosaic Law, they had to obey their rulers in matters both political and religious. In that age, religion, politics and economy did not progress separately.

7.2.3 Clan Society
Let us examine the progress of history in terms of religion, politics and economy during the New Testament Age. The inclination of the original mind to respond to God’s providence of restoration generally brings about divisions in a society centered on Satan. Those who follow God’s Will are singled out in this process and may gather to form a clan society on God’s side. The birth of the Christian clan society followed this pattern. With the crucifixion of Jesus, the Jewish nation had fallen to Satan’s side and God could not continue with His providence of restoration in that society under such circumstances. Consequently, God broke up that society, calling devout believers out of it to establish a Christian clan society.

In the Old Testament Age, Jacob’s twelve sons led his seventy kinsmen to form Israelite clan society and set out on the course of the providence. Similarly, in the New Testament Age, Jesus’ twelve disciples led his seventy followers to form the Christian clan society and commence God’s new providence. Christian clan society was composed of rudimentary communities with little or no structured political or economic system. In this period, religion, politics and economics did not progress independently.

Despite severe persecution, Christian clan society gradually prospered in the Roman Empire around the Mediterranean Sea and developed into a Christian tribal society. Battered by the mass migrations of peoples which began in the latter half of the fourth century, the Western Roman Empire fell by 476 a.d. Christian society expanded greatly as Christianity was brought to the Germanic peoples who migrated into this territory.

7.2.4 Feudalistic Society
With the progress of history, clan society developed into feudalistic society. A feudalistic society was born in Europe when, around the fall of the Roman Empire, imperial authority waned and the empire sank into chaos. In this society, religion, politics and economy would eventually divide and take separate paths.

In the early days of this feudalistic society, particularly among the newly-Christianized Germanic tribes, free peasants and warriors were ruled by local princes. Political power was diffused among many lords, each ruling over his territory in the absence of any national authority. Feudalistic society in Europe then gradually developed into a political system based on master-servant relationships at every level, as between lords of different ranks and their knights, and the self-sufficient economy of the manor system. After the fall of the Carolingian Empire, mature feudalism would spread everywhere in Europe. Land was divided into many manors, each ruled by a feudal lord. These lords were responsible for all aspects of life in their manors and had supreme judicial authority. Farmers traded their private land to the feudal lords or monasteries in exchange for military protection, and their land was returned to them as a fief. Vassal knights received manors from their feudal lords in return for service as their private soldiers. While a lower ranking knight might own only a single manor, each king or great lord possessed hundreds or thousands of such manors, which he distributed as fiefs to his vassals. The kings had limited power and were no more than great feudal lords.

Religious life in Europe during the period of regional church leadership developed along the same lines as the early feudalism of its political and economic life; hence it may be termed feudalistic Christianity. Patriarchs, archbishops and bishops assumed positions corresponding to major, medium and minor feudal lords. As a king was only one of the great feudal lords, the pope was only one of the five patriarchs. The political structure within the Roman Catholic church was founded upon strict hierarchical relationships between master and servant. A bishop or abbot had a social rank and power comparable to a secular feudal lord. Acting as the lord of his church estates, he could, if necessary, raise an army from the ranks of his vassals.

With respect to economic life, this period began with a time of transition from the slave society of ancient Rome to the manor system. Some of the land in this period began to be owned by a free peasantry. In terms of land tenure, people’s status in this period could be classified into four grades: nobility, free peasantry, serfs and slaves.

In this way, out of the ashes of the Western Roman Empire, God raised a feudalistic society among the newly-Christianized Germanic peoples whom He had chosen to lead the providence. By strengthening small units under godly sovereignty in the spheres of religious, political and economic life, God laid the groundwork to establish a godly kingdom.

7.2.5 Monarchic Society and Imperialism
With the progress of history, feudalistic society developed into monarchic society. Politically, how did European monarchic society arise? The kingdoms built by the Germanic peoples in Western Europe were all short-lived, except for the Kingdom of the Franks. The Frankish kings of the Merovingian dynasty received Christianity and absorbed the heritage of Roman civilization to form a Germanic-Roman world in Western Europe. After the Merovingian kings lost power, Charles Martel became the effective ruler of the Franks. He expanded the kingdom by defeating the Moors, who had invaded from the southwest. His son, Pepin the Short, became the first Carolingian king and was the father of Charlemagne. Charlemagne thought highly of St. Augustine’s vision of a Christian kingdom and made it the guiding principle of the realm. Charlemagne’s empire unified western and central Europe, bringing stability to lands which had formerly been in turmoil due to massive migrations.

In the sphere of religion, monarchic Christianity, which followed feudalistic Christianity, was a spiritual kingdom which transcended national borders. It was established under the rule of the papacy and upon the spiritual foundation for the Messiah. In 800 a.d., Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor and gave him the Church’s blessing. By this act, the pope passed on to him the central responsibility for the providence. The spiritual kingdom under the papacy and the Kingdom of the Franks under Charlemagne united and formed the Christian empire.

The period of the Christian empire was parallel to the period of the united kingdom of Israel in the Old Testament Age. In both cases, a monarchic society followed a feudalistic society for the purpose of consolidating a greater sovereignty, population and territory on God’s side. It was explained earlier that the pope had been leading the Church from the position of archangel in order to pave the way for an earthly kingdom. But after crowning the emperor and giving him God’s blessing, the pope was then to serve him from the position of Cain.26 The emperor, in turn, was to uphold the teachings of the papacy and carry on political work to realize a kingdom fit to receive the Messiah. Had they thus built the Christian empire in full accordance with the Will of God, this period would have been the Last Days of human history, when the Messiah could have come. The new truth would have then appeared to resolve the problems of religion and science as an integrated human endeavor, guiding religion, politics and economy to progress in one unified direction based on God’s ideal. On this basis, the foundation for the Second Advent of the Messiah was to have been established. Moreover, with the dawning of the period of the Christian empire, feudalism should have come to a complete end.

However, the popes and the emperors deviated from the Will of God. This made it impossible for them to realize Charlemagne’s founding ideal. As a result, feudalistic society was not dismantled; on the contrary, it grew stronger over the next several centuries. Religion, politics and economy remained divided, with the spiritual kingdom ruled by the papacy coming into frequent conflict with earthly kingdoms ruled by kings.

The Christian empire failed to build a unified kingdom to which the Messiah could come. Charlemagne built his empire when the foundation of early feudal society was ripe for consolidation into a strong monarchy. However, he never fully subjugated the vested powers of the feudal lords. Instead, the feudal system strengthened, with the Holy Roman Emperor reduced to just one of the great feudal lords.

The feudal system would dominate Europe until the rise of absolute monarchy in the seventeenth century. With the decline of feudalism at that time, the previously decentralized powers of the feudal lords came to be concentrated in the hands of kings of large nation-states. The kings came to command absolute power and justified it by the doctrine of the divine right of kings. Absolute monarchies flourished until the French Revolution in 1789.

In the sphere of religious history, what were some of the trends during the period when Christianity led by the papacy had a monarchic structure? The popes fell away from God’s Will and became secularized; they were on the path of spiritual decline. Due to repeated defeats in the Crusades, the papacy lost its authority, and during its exile in Avignon, it was deprived of power and dignity. With the Protestant Reformation in 1517, Western Christianity ceased to be a unitary spiritual monarchy.

When we examine the progress of economic life, we find that feudal economic arrangements persisted even when political feudalism was being replaced by absolute monarchy. Capitalism was growing in the cities and towns, where manufacturers and merchants joined forces with the kings and fought against the constraining feudal system. New agricultural arrangements arose in the countryside, where independent farmers sought the aid of the king to resist the rule of the feudal lords. Still, neither of these economic developments could entirely displace feudalism, which continued until the French Revolution.

In the progress of economic history, feudalism was followed by capitalism, which was accompanied by the age of colonial expansion. As the consolidation of political sovereignty was the goal of absolute monarchy, monopolization of finances and capital was the goal of powerful capitalists. Capitalism arose concurrently with the rise of absolute monarchy in the seventeenth century and flourished during and after the Industrial Revolution. Capitalism’s purpose in the providence was to promote the accumulation of capital and the centralization of economic activity to an extent impossible under feudalism; this was even more the case with imperialism.

The imperialist drive for colonial expansion which began in this period had, as its providential purpose, the establishment of a worldwide economic, political and religious foundation. This discussion focuses on European imperialism alone, because the course of God’s providence of restoration was centered on Western Europe. Competition among the nations of Western Europe led to their scramble for colonies all over the globe before World War I. This enabled the entire world to progress into Western Christian civilization.

7.2.6 Democracy and Socialism
The age of monarchy gave way to the age of democracy. We recall that the purpose of monarchic society was to construct a kingdom which could support the Messiah and his reign. When this dispensation was not accomplished during the Christian empire, however, God began a process that would eventually tear down monarchic societies and raise up democracies in their place in order to commence a new providence for rebuilding a sovereign nation fit to receive the Messiah.

Democracy is based on the sovereignty of the people; it is government of, by and for the people. Its purpose is to destroy the political monopoly of monarchy, which had deviated from God’s Will, and to establish a new political system capable of accomplishing the goal of the providence of restoration, namely, to receive and support the Messiah as the King of Kings.

How can democracy accomplish its purpose? With the flow of history, humankind’s spirituality has become enlightened due to the merit of the age in the providence of restoration. People’s original minds respond to the providence and seek religion, often without their knowing why. Eventually, people will come to receive Christianity, which God is raising to be the highest religion. In this way, the world today is converging to form a single civilization based on Christian ideals.

As history nears its consummation, the will of the people inclines toward Christian values. Democratic governments which abide by the will of the people also gradually become more Christian. Thus, when the Messiah returns to societies under the rule of democratic governments well-matured by the Christian spirit, he will be able to establish God’s sovereignty upon the earth with the wholehearted support of the people. This will be the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. We need to understand that democracy was born to undermine satanic monopolies of power for the purpose of God’s final providence to restore, by the will of the people, a heavenly sovereignty under the leadership of the returning Christ.

The democratic movements which rose against the absolute monarchies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries gave rise to revolutions in England, America and France. These revolutions destroyed monarchic societies and gave birth to today’s democratic societies. The different forms taken by democracy according to the providential trends of Hebraism and Hellenism will be discussed in the next chapter.27

The progress of history in the religious sphere moved to the stage of democratic Christianity after monarchic Christianity was shattered by the Protestant Reformation of 1517. Through the Reformation, democratic forces within Christianity dismantled the spiritual kingdom over which the papacy had commanded sole authority. God’s original desire was that the Christian empire unite with monarchic papal Christianity to build the kingdom to which the Messiah would come. However, when the popes failed in their responsibilities, the monarchic Christianity over which they had all authority had to be dismantled. This has been the mission of democratic Christianity, just as the mission of political democracy has been to destroy the absolutist sovereignty of secular monarchy. Accordingly, after the Protestant Reformation, the way was open for people to freely seek God through their own reading of the Bible, without the mediation of the priesthood. People were no longer subjected to the authority of others in their religious life, but could freely seek their own path of faith. Democratic Christianity has thus created a social environment which allows all people to seek freely for Christ at his return, regardless of the manner in which he may come.

Similarly, with the progress of economic history, socialist ideals arose which undermined imperialism and fostered a democratic form of economy. Although some historians have regarded World War I as a war fought by imperialist nations over colonies, in fact, soon after its conclusion the democratic spirit rose to prominence and began to undermine colonialist policy. At the end of World War II, the great powers began to divest themselves of their colonies and liberate the nations under their control. Upon the fall of imperialism, capitalism began to evolve into a form of economy which would foster equal and common prosperity.

It is only natural for the satanic realm, which reached its apogee in communism, to promote socialism. This is because Satan always attempts to realize, in advance of God, a defective imitation of the divine plan. God’s plan is to develop a socialistic economy, although with a form and content utterly different from the state socialism that communism actually established.

According to God’s ideal of creation, God confers upon each individual the same original value. Just as parents love all their children equally, God desires to provide pleasant environments and living conditions equally to all His children. Moreover, in an ideal society, production, distribution and consumption should have the same organic relationship as exists between the functions of digestion, circulation and metabolism in the human body. Thus, there should not be destructive competition due to over-production, nor unfair distribution leading to excessive accumulation and consumption, which are contrary to the purpose of the public good. There should be sufficient production of necessary and useful goods, fair and efficient distribution of these goods, and reasonable consumption which is in harmony with the purpose of the whole. Just as the liver provides a reserve of nutrients for the human body, adequate reserves of capital should be maintained to ensure smooth operation of the entire economy.

Because human beings are created to live in an ideal society, they will inevitably pursue a socialistic ideal as they strive for freedom and democracy and further search into their original nature. This is particularly true at the consummation of providential history, when this ideal can actually be realized. As this natural desire springs forth from within, politics in democracy, which is shaped by the will of the people, will also move in that direction. Eventually, a socialistic society embodying God’s ideal will be established. Early Christians lived according to this ideal in some respects by sharing all their goods in common.28 Thomas More’s Utopia, written in sixteenth-century England, and Robert Owen’s humanistic socialism during the Industrial Revolution in England each expressed a vision of the socialist ideal. Catholic and Protestant socialist movements have also shared this vision, one example being Charles Kingsley’s advocacy of Christian Socialism in England of the mid-nineteenth century. Their inclination toward socialism originated from the natural impulse of the original mind as it pursues the ideal of creation.

7.2.7 The Ideals of Interdependence, Mutual Prosperity and Universally Shared Values versus Communism
The merit of the age in God’s providence of restoration has furthered the development of man’s original nature, which had not been manifested due to Satan’s grip on human life. Responding to the promptings of their inmost hearts, people everywhere have ardently aspired to the world of God’s ideal where the purpose of creation is fulfilled. In seeking for a socialistic society on Heaven’s side, their original mind has drawn them to the ideals of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values. The world in which these ideals will finally be realized is none other than the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, under the leadership of the returning Christ.

Since Satan mimics God’s providence in advance, the satanic side has advocated “scientific socialism” based on the theories of dialectical and historical materialism and has built the communist world. The theory of historical materialism asserts that human history began as a primitive collective society and will be consummated with the creation of an ideal communist society. The evident errors of this theory are due to the fact that it does not take into account the fundamental cause of historical progress. After creating human beings, God promised to realize the Kingdom of Heaven. However, because Satan had formed kinship relations with people before God did, God had to permit him to construct an unprincipled world through fallen people in a distorted imitation of the ideal society which God intends to accomplish on the earth. The communist world is this unprincipled world built by Satan.

Democracies of two types arose with the purpose of dismantling absolute monarchy and transferring sovereignty to the people. Likewise, movements to further the ideals of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values arose on God’s side, while communism was born on Satan’s side, in order to demolish economic systems which concentrated a society’s wealth in the hands of a privileged few. Each of these movements has sought to establish a system which would distribute wealth more equally among people. The aspirations to socialism on both sides have arisen in their providential striving to realize a society based on a truly democratic economic system.

It was explained earlier that in the history of Western Europe as steered by the providence of restoration, the three aspects of religion, politics and economy have progressed separately through their own paths of development. How can they come together at one point at the consummation of providential history to lay the foundation for the Second Advent of Christ? A fundamental cause of this separate development was the divergence of religion and science, which are endeavors to overcome humanity’s spiritual and physical ignorance. For the paths of religion, politics and economy to converge and realize God’s ideal, a new expression of truth must emerge which can completely integrate religion and science. The religion founded upon this truth will lead all of humanity to become one with God in heart. Such people will build an economy in accordance with the divine ideal. These will be the foundations for a new political order which can realize the ideal of creation. This will be the messianic kingdom built on the principles of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values.

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Chapter 5: The Period of Preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah

The period of preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah was the four-hundred- year period from the Protestant Reformation in 1517 to the end of World War I in 1918. The character of this period was already summarized in comparison with the parallel period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah, but a more detailed examination will be made here. With respect to the providence of restoration, this period is divided into three periods: the period of the Reformation, the period of religious and ideological conflicts, and the period of the maturation of politics, economy and ideology.

Section 1: The Period of the Reformation (1517-1648)

The 130-year period of the Reformation began in 1517, when Martin Luther raised the banner of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, and lasted until the wars of religion were settled by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The character of this period was shaped by the Renaissance and the Reformation, both products of medieval feudal society. When the purpose of God’s providence through medieval society was not fulfilled, the direction of providential history shifted and God worked to establish anew the foundation for the Second Advent of the Messiah through the Renaissance and the Reformation. Therefore, we cannot understand the nature of this period without studying these two events.

Let us begin by looking back at medieval society and examining what influences it exerted upon the original nature of the people of that age which led them to embark upon the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation. In the late Middle Ages, man’s original mind was repressed, its free development blocked by the social environment of feudalism and the secularization and corruption of the Roman church. Faith is the path each person must walk in search of God. Faith should be nurtured through a direct vertical relationship between God and each individual. Yet in that age, the papacy and the clergy, with their rituals and dogmas, constrained the people’s devotional life. Moreover, the rigid social stratification of feudalism did not allow for religious freedom. Meanwhile, religious offices were bought and sold. Bishops and priests often exploited their offices to lead lives of luxury and decadence. As a consequence, the papacy lost its sanctity and became no different than other institutions of worldly power. It lost the ability to guide the spiritual lives of the people. In this way, the social environment of the late Middle Ages blocked the path through which the original nature of the people could be restored. Fettered by such circumstances, medieval Europeans were prompted by the impulses of their innermost hearts to break down their social environment to open the way for the restoration of their original nature.

Our original nature may be divided into two aspects: internal and external. Let us examine this with reference to the Principle of Creation. As the substantial object partners to God in image, we resonate with His dual characteristics and bear the likeness of His original internal nature and original external form. The give and take between our internal nature and external form is the basis upon which we exist and thrive. Accordingly, our original nature seeks to fulfill two types of desires: internal and external. When God conducts the providence to restore us, He accommodates these two pursuits of our original nature.

God created the physical self of the first humans before creating their spiritual self.1 Accordingly, in the providence of restoration, God recreates us by restoring first what is external and then what is internal. It was explained earlier2 that we fallen people can make the substantial offering, which is internal, only after successfully completing the symbolic offering, which is external. After these are achieved, we establish the foundation for the Messiah, which is even more internal.

The process of restoring fallen people’s relationship to God has also progressed from external to internal. God first restored people to the position of servant of servants3 in the period prior to the Old Testament Age by having them offer sacrifices. Next, He restored people to the position of servants4 in the Old Testament Age through the Mosaic Law. In the New Testament Age, God has restored us to the position of adopted children5 through our faith. Finally, in the Completed Testament Age, He will restore us to the position of true children through heart.6

In the same way, God first worked to restore our external social environment through science and then worked to restore our spirituality through religion. In the order of creation, angels, who are external, were created before people, who are internal. In restoration, God first raises up the angelic world, which is external, and mobilizes it for restoring the external, physical world centering on the human body and then the internal, spirit world centering on the human spirit.

Medieval Europeans were to restore their original God-given nature by first severing their ties to Satan, who had defiled the society when the papacy failed its internal responsibility to restore the foundation of faith and sank into immorality. As people pursued the recovery of the internal and external aspects of their original nature, the thought of the age branched out into two movements to recover the heritage of the past, which we distinguish in relative terms as Abel-type and Cain-type. The Cain-type movement began as a revival of Hellenism, the culture and philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome. It gave rise to the Renaissance,7 whose core value was humanism. The Abel-type movement began as a revival of the Hebraic heritage of Israel and the early Christian Church. It gave rise to the Protestant Reformation, whose core value was faith in God.

The trends of Hebraism and Hellenism had formed long ago and had encountered each other several times in the course of prior history. From 2000 b.c., the Minoan civilization flourished on the island of Crete, succeeded by the Mycenaean civilization on the Greek mainland. By the eleventh century, these civilizations had created a Cain-type Hellenic civilization, whose guiding ideology was humanism. Around the same time in the Near East, the Abel-type Hebraic civilization was born, with Jewish monotheism as its guiding ideology. This was the period of the united kingdom. Had the kings of Israel in that period laid the foundation for the Messiah and received him, this flourishing Hebraic civilization could have assimilated the waning Hellenic civilization to form one worldwide civilization. However, when the kings failed to fulfill the Will of God, this dispensation was not accomplished. Instead, after the Jews were taken into exile in Babylon, they returned only to be put under subjection to the Greeks in 333 b.c. and then to Rome in 63 b.c. Thus, during the centuries leading up to and including Jesus’ time, Hebraism was placed under the dominion of Hellenism.

Had the Jewish people honored Jesus and united under him, the Roman Empire would have become the messianic kingdom under the reign of Christ. Hebraism then would have assimilated Hellenism to form one worldwide Hebraic civilization. Instead, when Jesus was rejected and this providence was frustrated, Hebraism remained under subjection to Hellenism. In 313 a.d., Emperor Constantine officially recognized Christianity by the Edict of Milan. From that time on, Hebraism gradually began to overcome Hellenism. By the beginning of the eighth century, it had formed two civilizations: Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholic Christianity.

Had the popes and emperors who were responsible for restoring the foundation of faith in the Carolingian period not become faithless, the foundation for the Second Advent of the Messiah would have been established at that time. Hebraism would have completely assimilated Hellenism to form one worldwide civilization. Instead, their faithlessness and immorality allowed Satan to corrupt the guiding medieval ideology, which was founded upon Hebraism. As a consequence, God had to conduct a new dispensation for the separation of Satan. Just as God had divided fallen Adam into Cain and Abel to separate Satan, God divided the prevailing ideology of the Middle Ages into two trends of thought: the movements to revive Cain-type Hellenism and Abel-type Hebraism. These bore fruit in the Renaissance and the Reformation, respectively.

The Hellenic trend of thought, revived by the humanism of the Renaissance, soon took a dominant position over the Hebraic trend. This period was thus to restore through parallel indemnity conditions that phase in the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah when the Jewish people were under the dominion of the Greeks and Hebraism was under subjection to Hellenism. We recall that only by Cain submitting to Abel could Satan be separated from Adam, thereby laying the foundation of substance necessary for receiving the Messiah in Adam’s family. Likewise, only by Cain-type Hellenism submitting to Abel-type Hebraism could Satan be separated from the prevailing spirit of the age. Then the foundation of substance necessary for receiving Christ at the Second Advent could be established worldwide.

1.1 The Renaissance
It was explained above that the Renaissance grew out of the external pursuits of the original nature. What values were the medieval people pursuing? Why and how did they pursue these values?

According to the Principle of Creation, we are created to attain perfection by fulfilling our given responsibility of our own free will, without God’s direct assistance. We are then to attain oneness with God and acquire true autonomy. Therefore, it is the calling of our original nature to pursue freedom and autonomy. A person of perfect character understands the Will of God and puts it into practice through his own insight and reason, without the need to rely on revelations from God. Hence, it is only natural that we pursue reason and understanding. We also are endowed with the God-given right to master the natural world, to tame and cultivate it in order to create a pleasant living environment, by investigating the hidden laws of nature through science. Hence, we value the natural world, pursue science, and esteem the practical life.

In medieval feudal society, the original human nature had long been repressed. Hence, people were all the more ardent in their pursuit of these values, which arose from the external promptings of their original nature. They began to probe into the classical heritage of Hellenism, which they imported from the Muslims as a result of expanded contacts with the East after the Crusades. The classical Greeks and Romans had pursued the external aspirations of the original human nature. They valued freedom, autonomy, reason, the natural world and the practical life. They developed the sciences to a considerable degree. Since these were in full accord with the desire of the original nature in medieval man, the movement to revive the ancient heritage of Hellenism caught fire. Renaissance humanism thus rose to prominence.

The Renaissance came to life in fourteenth-century Italy, which was the center of the study of the classical Hellenic heritage. Though it began as a movement imitating the thought and life of ancient Greece and Rome, it soon developed into a wider movement which transformed the medieval way of life. It expanded beyond the sphere of culture to encompass every aspect of society, including politics, economic life and religion. In fact, it became the external driving force for the construction of the modern world.

1.2 The Reformation
The providence of restoration centering on the medieval papacy did not bear fruit due to the secularization and decadence of the Church leadership. Consequently, as the people advocated humanism, they also rebelled against the ritualism and rules of the Church which were constraining their free devotion. They fought against the stratified feudal system and papal authority which deprived them of autonomy. They protested the medieval view that faith required unquestioning obedience to the dictates of the Church in all areas of life, which denied them the right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience based on their own reading of the Bible. They also questioned the other-worldly and ascetic monastic ideal which devalued the natural world, science and the practical affairs of life. Out of these grievances, many medieval Christians revolted against the rule of the papacy.

Accordingly, as medieval Europeans sought to realize the external aspirations of their original nature, they also began to pursue its repressed internal aspirations. They called for the revival of the spirit of early Christianity, when believers zealously lived for the Will of God, guided by the words of Jesus and the apostles. This medieval movement to revive Hebraism began with John Wycliffe (1324-1384), a professor of theology at Oxford University, who translated the Bible into English. He asserted that neither the papacy nor the priesthood could determine the standard of faith, but only the Bible itself. Demonstrating that many of the dogmas, ceremonies and rules of the Church had no basis in Scripture, he denounced the priesthood for its decadence, exploitation of the people and abuse of power.

The Protestant Reformation thus had roots in fourteenth-century England, when papal dignity was at a low point. Similar movements for reform also arose in fifteenth-century Bohemia and Italy, but they were crushed and their leaders executed. To raise funds to build St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo X began selling indulgences, which Catholic doctrine affirmed would remit the penalty for sin due in the next life. When this indulgence was proclaimed in Germany in 1517, a movement to protest this abuse ignited a fuse which exploded in the Protestant Reformation under the leadership of Martin Luther (1483-1546), a professor of biblical theology at the University of Wittenberg. The flames of the Reformation grew strong and soon spread to Switzerland under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), to France as led by John Calvin (1509-1564), and into such nations as England and the Netherlands.

The wars of religion which swirled around the Protestant movements continued for more than one hundred years until 1648, when the Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years’ War. Protestantism triumphed in Northern Europe, while among the peoples of Southern Europe the Roman Catholic church solidified its influence.

The Thirty Years’ War between Protestants and Catholics was fought on the soil of Germany. However, this conflict was not simply a religious war. More than that, it was a civil and political conflict to decide the fate of the German states. The Treaty of Westphalia, which concluded this war, was both a religious settlement which established an accommodation between the Protestants and Catholics and a political settlement which resolved international territorial disputes among such nations as Austria, France, Sweden and Spain.

Section 2: The Period of Religious and Ideological Conflicts (1648-1789)

The period of religious and ideological conflicts refers to the 140 years beginning with the secure establishment of Protestantism at the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 and ending with the French Revolution in 1789. As modern people continued to pursue the internal and external desires flowing from their original nature, they could not avoid divisions in theology and disputes among philosophies which arose as they exercised freedom of faith and thought.

As previously discussed, God has worked His providence of restoration throughout the course of history by repeatedly separating those representing Abel from those representing Cain, from the individual level to the world level. In the Last Days, this fallen world is divided into the Cain-type communist world and the Abel-type democratic world. Just as the foundation of substance could have been laid in Adam’s family had Cain submitted to Abel and obeyed him, in the Last Days the Cain-type world is to submit to the Abel-type world to establish the worldwide foundation of substance. This is necessary before we can receive Christ at the Second Advent and realize the unified world. For this to happen, the two views of life which would later mature into these two worlds had to be developed in this period.

2.1 The Cain-Type View of Life
The pursuit of the external aspects of the original nature first aroused a movement to revive the ancient heritage of Hellenism and gave birth to the humanism of the Renaissance. Renaissance humanism opposed medieval culture by elevating the dignity of human beings and the value of the natural world over devotion to God and religious dedication. The medieval mind had prized obedience to God while belittling the natural world and regarding the human body as base and even sinful. The Renaissance established a new perspective on life, one which exalted the value of human beings and nature and sought to understand them through reason and experience, logic and experiment. Spurred by the progress of natural science, this view of life gave rise to two major schools of modern philosophy: rationalism, based on the deductive method and empiricism, based on the inductive method.

Rationalism, founded by the French philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650), maintained that the investigation of truth can be founded only on man’s innate reason. After doubting every truth received from history and tradition, Descartes was left with only his reason, as expressed in the proposition, “I think; therefore, I am.” From this first principle, he used the deductive method to affirm knowledge about the external world. Although Descartes accepted and even tried to prove the existence of God based on reason, later rationalists ended up doubting or even denying God’s existence.

The English philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626) founded empiricism, which held that truth can be investigated only through one’s experience. This school asserted that the human mind is like a blank sheet of paper (tabula rasa). It held that to attain new knowledge, one must erase all prejudices and try to comprehend the truth through experience and observation of the external world. Rationalism, which valued human reason while turning away from God, and empiricism, which prized human experience and experimental science, both did away with mysticism and superstition. Whether by using reason or empirical observation to guide human life, they both tended to divorce human beings and the natural world from God.

The Renaissance launched these two currents of thought, which were rooted in humanism. Instead of facilitating the internal inclination to seek God, it gave birth to a view of life which encouraged people to follow only external pursuits. This blocked their path to God and led them toward Satan’s realm. For this reason, it is called the Cain-type view of life. By the turn of the eighteenth century, the Cain-type view of life had broken down the verities enshrined by history and tradition. All matters in human life came to be judged by reason or empirical observation. Anything deemed irrational or other-worldly, including belief in the God of the Bible, was thoroughly discredited. People’s energies were narrowly directed toward the practical life. Such was the ideology of the Enlightenment, which developed out of the two trends of empiricism and rationalism. The Enlightenment was the driving force behind the French Revolution.

Representative of this Cain-type view of life was deism, founded by the English philosopher Edward Herbert (1583-1648). Deism propounded a theology rooted entirely in human reason. Deists rejected the notion that there could be any harmony between revelation and reason, a traditional view held since the time of Thomas Aquinas. They limited God to a Creator who set the universe in motion and left it to run of its own accord according to the laws of nature which He had set up. They denied that people had any need of divine revelation or miracles.

In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the German philosopher G.W. F. Hegel (1770-1831) made a comprehensive synthesis of eighteenth-century idealism. However, many of the followers of Hegel were influenced by the atheism and materialism of the French Enlightenment and propounded the school of left-wing Hegelianism, which turned the logic of Hegel’s dialectic on its head. D.F. Strauss (1808-1874), a left-Hegelian, wrote The Life of Jesus, which denied the Bible’s accounts of Jesus’ miracles as fabrications by his credulous followers. Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) argued in The Essence of Christianity that God was nothing other than the projection of people’s inward psychological nature. Their arguments became foundational for modern atheism and materialism.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) systematized the logic of the left-wing Hegelians as dialectical materialism. They were influenced by Strauss and Feuerbach and also by French socialism. They combined dialectical materialism with atheism and socialism to create the ideology of communism. In this way, the Cain-type view of life, which budded after the Renaissance and grew through the Enlightenment into atheism and materialism, matured into the godless ideology of Marxism, which became the cornerstone of the communist world of today.

2.2 The Abel-Type View of Life
Some people regard the progress of history from the medieval to the modern world as a process which has alienated people from God and religion. This is because they view history according to the Cain-type view of life. The original nature, however, not only pursues external values; it also seeks internal values. As medieval people were prompted by their original nature to pursue internal values, a movement arose to revive Hebraism which bore fruit in the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation spawned philosophies and religious teachings which developed a multi-dimensional view of life seeking to realize the God-given, original nature of human beings. We call this the Abel-type view of life. Even as the Cain-type view of life led away from God and faith, the Abel-type view of life guided modern people to seek God in a deeper and more thoughtful way.

The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) analyzed philosophically the internal and external pursuits of the original nature, thus pioneering the Abel-type view of life in the philosophical sphere.8 In his Critical Philosophy, he assimilated the conflicting theories of empiricism and rationalism. According to Kant, our various sensations occur by contact with external objects. These alone may give us the contents of cognition but cannot actualize the cognition itself. To have full cognition, one must possess certain forms of intuition and thought (which are a priori and transcendental) with which to unify the various contents (which are a posteriori and experiential) through a synthetic judgment. These forms of intuition and thought are the very subjectivity of the self. Therefore, cognition is actualized when the various sensations coming from external objects are integrated and unified with one’s subjective forms by the spontaneous action of thinking and understanding. Thus, Kant overturned empiricism, which held that cognition is determined by external objects, and established a new theory that cognition is governed by the subjective mind. Kant’s philosophy was succeeded by a number of idealist philosophers: Johann G. Fichte (1762-1814), Friedrich Schelling (1775-1854) and G.W. F. Hegel. Hegel, in particular, pioneered a new philosophy based on the Hegelian dialectic. Their idealism solidified the Abel-type view of life in the field of philosophy.

In the religious sphere, new movements emerged which opposed the prevailing influence of rationalism in religion and stressed the importance of religious zeal and the inner life. They valued mystical experience over doctrines and rituals. For example, Pietism appeared in Germany under the leadership of Philip Spener (1635- 1705). This movement had a strong conservative bent and adhered to the traditional faith while simultaneously emphasizing mystical experience.

Pietism spread to England and flourished among the faithful there, giving rise to new church movements including Methodism, founded by the Wesley brothers (John, 1703-1791, and Charles, 1707-1788). Their work brought about a great revival in England, which had been in a state of spiritual stagnation.

George Fox (1624-1691), the English mystic who founded the Quakers, asserted that Christ is the inner light which illuminates the souls of believers. He insisted that unless one first receives the Holy Spirit, joins in mystical union with Jesus and experiences Christ’s inner light, he cannot understand the true meaning of the Bible. The Quakers endured severe persecution in England but eventually prospered in America.

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a renowned scientist whose spiritual senses were awakened; he began a systematic investigation of the spirit world and discovered many of its secrets. Although his research was long ignored by theologians, recently, as increasing numbers of people have communicated with the spirit world, its value is gradually being recognized. In these diverse ways, the Abel-type view of life was maturing to form the democratic world of today.

Section 3: The Period of Maturation of Politics, Economy and Ideology (1789- 1918)

The religious and philosophical conflicts in the previous period coalesced into the Cain-type and Abel-type views of life. At the outset of this new period-the period of maturation of politics, economy and ideology-the two views of life matured, taking their separate paths. As they matured, they founded two different forms of society with distinct social structures: a Cain-type society and an Abel-type society. At the same time, politics, economy and ideology (the sphere of religion and philosophy) progressed to the stage just prior to the transition into the ideal world. This period lasted from the French Revolution, through the Industrial Revolution, to the end of the First World War.

3.1 Democracy
The earlier discussion of democracy in the context of the progress of history was limited to the social changes which led to its emergence.9 Here, we will examine the internal developments behind the rise of today’s democracy, specifically the ideological tides on which it rose out of the swells and eddies of history.

In the period of the Christian empire of the ninth century, God had intended that the spiritual kingdom ruled by the papacy and the earthly kingdom ruled by the emperor unite to form a Christian monarchic society as a foundation for the messianic kingdom. This would have established the foundation for the Messiah. A strong messianic kingdom would have brought an early end to feudalism in Europe. Yet because this providence was not realized, feudalism persisted, while Europe’s political, religious and economic histories took separate paths of development. The political power of the feudal lords began to wane after the Crusades, declined further during the Renaissance and the Reformation, and became feeble by the time of the Enlightenment. By the seventeenth century, the feudal lords had yielded much of their political power to the kings, who built centralized nation-states and ruled them as absolute monarchs. The kings justified their supreme power by the doctrine of the divine right of kings.

The social causes of the rise of absolute monarchy included, first, the rise of new citizen classes which allied themselves with the kings to fight the feudal lords. Second, in the economic sphere, there arose a need for powerful states with mercantilist economic policies which could protect and control trade to further their national economic interests. The powerful foundation of a nation-state was needed to overcome feudalism and dominate an economy based on trade.

The rise of absolute monarchy is also connected with the progress of providential history, which requires that feudalistic society consolidate into monarchy. However, after God’s providence to establish His Kingdom in the Carolingian period failed because the popes and emperors at that time did not unite, the ensuing feudal society under papal rule became corrupt. Developing according to the course which Satan had preempted, it gave birth to monarchic societies on Satan’s side.

Let us now examine the ideological trends behind the demise of absolute monarchy with reference to the providence of restoration, which was headed toward the rise of the communist world based on the Cain-type view of life and the democratic world based on the Abel-type view of life. Since medieval feudal society ran counter to both Hebraism and Hellenism, these two ideologies worked in tandem to tear it down as they established societies built upon the Cain-type and Abel-type views of life. Similarly, the absolute monarchies which followed the Protestant Reformation deprived people of freedom of faith, which was a value propounded by democratic Christianity. Absolute monarchy thus ran counter to the goal of the Abel-type view of life. Moreover, the vestiges of feudalism in that society constrained the progress of the citizen class as advocated by leading atheists and materialists, thereby countering the goal of the Cain-type view of life. Therefore, these two views of life worked in tandem to tear down absolute monarchy. They established Cain-type and Abel-type
democracies, which would eventually mature into the communist world and the democratic world.

3.1.1 Cain-Type Democracy
Cain-type democracy arose out of the French Revolution. France at the time of the French Revolution was in the grip of the Enlightenment. The thought of the Enlightenment was rooted in the Cain-type view of life and was deviating into atheism and materialism. Swayed by the Enlightenment, French citizens were awakened to the flaws of absolute monarchy. There was also a widespread desire to tear down the remnants of the feudal system, which was still entrenched in the society.

The French Revolution was ignited in 1789 by popular calls for democracy from a citizenry schooled in the Enlightenment. They sought to overthrow the power of the ruling class, eradicate the remnants of feudalism, and establish freedom and equality for ordinary citizens, the Third Estate. The French Revolution established democracy with the proclamation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Nonetheless, the democracy born out of the French Revolution was a Cain-type democracy. Although it destroyed absolutism, it sought to firmly secure the Cain-type view of life. The leading thinkers behind the French Revolution were Enlightenment figures such as Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and Jean Le Rond D’Alembert (1717-1783), who adhered to atheism or materialism. Furthermore, despite its ideals of individual freedom and equality, the actual course of French democracy in the years of the revolution and afterward tended toward totalitarianism.

In this way, those espousing the Cain-type view of life championed the Enlightenment and gave rise to the French Revolution, thus establishing Cain-type democracy. It completely blocked the inclination of the human spirit to seek for God. As it continued to develop with its sole focus on the external aspects of life, it would later be systematized into Marxism in Germany and Leninism in Russia, eventually forming the communist world.

3.1.2 Abel-Type Democracy
From their very origins, the democracies which emerged in England and the United States were different from the democracy born out of the French Revolution. The latter was a Cain-type democracy founded by atheists and materialists, who were raised in the Cain-type view of life, as they attempted to dismantle absolutism and feudalism. The English and American democracies, on the other hand, were founded by sincere Christians, the fruits of the Abel-type view of life, and were born out of their victorious fight with absolutism to win religious freedom. Hence, these are Abel-type democracies.

Let us examine how Abel-type democracy was established in England and the United States. In England, James I (r. 1603-1625) strengthened absolute monarchy and the state church while persecuting Puritans and other dissenting Christians, many of whom fled to other European nations or to the American continent in search of religious freedom. His son Charles I (r. 1625-1649) was met with rebellion by the Presbyterians of Scotland, who rallied around the National Covenant in 1640. The Puritans, who formed the core membership of the English Parliament, then launched the Puritan Revolution under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell in 1642.

Later, after Charles II (r. 1660-1685) restored absolute monarchy and strengthened the Anglican church against all other Christians, and his son James II (r. 1685-1688) declared himself a Catholic, Protestant leaders invited William of Orange (r. 1688-1702), his son-in-law, who was at that time Stadtholder of the Netherlands, to intervene. In 1688, William landed in England with his troops to defend religious freedom and civil rights. Upon his enthronement, William approved the Declaration of Rights offered to him by the Parliament, which recognized the Parliament’s independent rights. This became foundational for the English constitutional monarchy. Since the revolution of 1688 was accomplished without bloodshed, it came to be known as the Glorious Revolution.

Although there were external causes of these English revolutions, such as the citizens’ desire for political freedom from the ruling class including the nobility and the Anglican priesthood, the more internal cause was the drive to gain religious freedom.

Many Puritans and dissenting Christians who had been persecuted in England emigrated to the American continent to obtain religious freedom. They founded an independent nation in 1776 and established American democracy. Born out of the Abel-type view of life, Abel-type democracy has developed from these beginnings into the democratic world of today.

3.2 The Significance of the Separation of Powers
The concept of the separation of powers into three branches of government was advocated by Montesquieu (1689-1755), a leading thinker of the Enlightenment. It sought to prevent the concentration of political power in the hands of a single individual or institution, as was the case with political absolutism. The idea was proclaimed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man during the French Revolution.

From the beginning, the separation of powers was to be characteristic of the political structure of the ideal society which God has been working to realize. Yet here again, as we observe throughout the course of the providence, Satan was defectively mimicking an aspect of the Principle ahead of its realization by God. Let us then briefly examine the political structure of the ideal world.

The universe, as we have seen, is patterned after the structure of a perfect human being. By the same token, the ideal world to be built by fully mature people is also to resemble the structure and functions of a perfect individual.10 By analogy with the human body, whose organs function in accordance with the subtle commands of the brain, all the institutions of the ideal global society are to abide by the desires of God. Just as the commands of the brain are transmitted to every part of the body through the peripheral nervous system branching out from the spinal cord, in the ideal world God’s guidance is conveyed to the entire society through Christ, who corresponds to the spinal cord, and God-loving leaders, who correspond to the peripheral nervous system. The peripheral nervous system branching out from the spinal cord corresponds to a nation’s political parties. Thus, in the ideal world, people of God led by Christ will form organizations analogous to today’s political parties.

In the human body, the lungs, heart and stomach maintain harmonious interaction in accord with the directions of the brain, transmitted through the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system. By analogy, the three branches of government in the ideal world-the legislative, judicial and executive branches will interact in harmonious and principled relationships when they follow God’s guidance as conveyed through Christ and people of God. Just as the four limbs of the body move according to the commands of the brain for the welfare of the individual as a whole, the economic institutions of the ideal world, corresponding to the limbs, will uphold the desire of God and promote the welfare of the entire world. Just as the liver stores nourishment for the entire body, in the ideal world there will always be a certain reserve to be tapped as needed for the public good.

Since every part of the human body has a vertical relationship with the brain, horizontal relationships are naturally established between the different organs to form an integrated organism. Likewise, in the ideal world, because people’s horizontal relationships with each other are rooted in their vertical relationship with God, they will form one integrated and interdependent society in which they share all their joys and sorrows. In this society, to hurt someone else will be experienced as hurting one’s own self. Hence, its citizens simply will not want to commit crime.

Let us now examine how, in the providence of restoration, God has been working to restore this ideal social structure. In the course of Western history, there was a time when the functions of the three branches of government and the political parties were concentrated in one individual, the king. This was modified from time to time when the king dominated the government, while the Church under the leadership of the papacy played a role similar to that of a political party. The political system underwent a fundamental change at the time of the French and American Revolutions when the government was divided into the three branches-legislative, judicial and executive and political parties took on distinct roles. With the establishment of constitutional democracy, the framework for the ideal political system was set up.

Thus, political systems have changed over the course of history because fallen human society was being restored to the ideal society, the structure and functions of which will be patterned after a perfected individual. Today’s democracies, characterized by the three separate branches of government and a proliferation of political parties, resemble the structure of a healthy human body to some extent. Nevertheless, because of the Fall, today’s democracies in fact bear more of a likeness to the body of a sick or injured person. They cannot fully display their original qualities and functions in their full potential. Since the political parties are ignorant of the Will of God, they may be compared to a nervous system which is unable to transmit directions from the brain. Since constitutions are not written in accordance with the Word of God, the three branches of government currently function like internal organs which cannot sense or respond to the commands of the brain because the peripheral nerves have been severed. They lack order and harmony, and suffer continual conflicts among themselves.

Therefore, Christ at the Second Advent will remedy the illness of the present political system that it may reflect God’s design by restoring people’s vertical relationship with God. This will unleash society’s true potential.

3.3 The Significance of the Industrial Revolution
God’s ideal of creation cannot be fulfilled merely by forming a world without sin. God blessed human beings to have dominion over the universe.11 We are to seek for the hidden laws of nature and advance science and technology to create a pleasant living environment. Religion and science have shouldered their respective responsibilities for helping fallen people overcome the internal and external aspects of their ignorance. Therefore, in the Last Days of history, we can expect not only the emergence of a truth which can guide people to completely alleviate their spiritual ignorance; we may also expect the progress of science to solve all the mysteries of the physical universe.12 Together, they will bring human society to the stage just prior to the realization of the ideal world. Thus, we can understand that the Industrial Revolution which began in England arose out of God’s providence to restore the living environment to one suitable for the ideal world.

The economic structure of the ideal society also resembles the structure of a healthy human body. Production, distribution and consumption should have an organic, interdependent relationship such as that which exists between the digestive, circulatory and metabolic systems. There should not be destructive competition due to overproduction; nor should there be excessive accumulation or overconsumption due to unfair distribution, which would be contrary to the welfare of all people. There should be adequate production of necessary and useful goods, fair distribution to supply what is sufficient for people’s needs, and reasonable consumption in harmony with the purpose of the whole.

The mass production born of the Industrial Revolution led England to claim vast colonies as sources of raw materials and markets for goods. In so doing, the Industrial Revolution opened up a vast territory for the propagation of the Gospel. Accordingly, it contributed to both the internal and external aspects of the providence of restoration.

3.4 The Rise of the Great Powers
We have seen how after the Renaissance, the unitary worldview of medieval Europe was divided into Cain- and Abel-type views of life. These gave rise to two types of political revolutions and founded two types of democracies, both of which were greatly strengthened as a result of the Industrial Revolution. The two types of democracies were on the course to form the democratic and the communist worlds.

Following the Industrial Revolution, spurred by the rapid progress of science, industrialization created economies characterized by over-production. The great powers of Europe, which felt an urgent need to pioneer new lands as markets for their products and as sources of raw materials for their factories, grew strong as they competed with each other in the scramble for colonies. Thus, two factors-the two trends in ideology and the course of economic development following the progress of science-caused the later political division of the world into two blocs: the democratic world and the communist world.

3.5 Religious Reforms and Political and Industrial Revolutions since the Renaissance
The Cain-type movement which began with the revival of Hellenism overthrew the medieval world and gave birth to the humanism of the Renaissance. As this movement developed further, moving in Satan’s direction, it gave birth to the Enlightenment, which may be regarded as the second renaissance in the current of ideology. Enlightenment thought further matured in the satanic direction, giving birth to historical materialism, which is the core of communist ideology. This may be regarded as the third renaissance.

Since the satanic side mimics in advance the providence of God, we may expect that God’s providence calls for three stages of revolution to take place in each of the three spheres of religion, politics and economy. In the sphere of religion, the first reformation took place under Martin Luther’s leadership after the first renaissance. A second reformation was launched after the second renaissance by the spiritual movements led by people such as the Wesley brothers, Fox and Swedenborg. From our examination of the progress of history, it is evident that a third reformation will occur following the third renaissance. Indeed, the state of today’s Christianity desperately calls for such a reformation.

In the political sphere, we can surmise that reform also is taking place in three stages. First, medieval feudal society collapsed under the weight of the first renaissance and the first reformation. Next, absolute monarchy was destroyed by the forces unleashed by the second renaissance and the second reformation. Finally, the communist world was formed by the political revolutions brought on by the third renaissance. Through the coming third religious reformation, the democratic world on God’s side will triumph in the ideological war and bring the communist world on Satan’s side to its knees. Then the two worlds will unite into one Kingdom of Heaven on earth under God.

The economic changes which follow the religious and political reforms have been progressing in three industrial revolutions. The first Industrial Revolution originated in England and was based on the steam engine. A century later, the second Industrial Revolution took place in many advanced nations based on electricity and the gasoline engine. The third Industrial Revolution will flower by safely tapping the power of the atom; it will construct a pleasant living environment for the ideal world. In the centuries of preparation prior to the Second Advent of the Messiah, the three stages of revolutions in the three spheres of religion, politics and industry, which followed the three renaissances, have been a necessary course for the construction of the ideal world, as required by the principle of development through three stages.

Section 4: The World Wars

4.1 The Providential Causes of the World Wars
Wars break out due to such factors as conflicts of political and economic interests and clashes of ideology. Yet these are merely external causes. There are also internal causes of wars, just as there are internal and external motives for every human action. Human actions are decided by the free will of the individual, who is trying both to respond externally to the situation with which he is confronted and to follow his internal tendency toward the Will of God and the advancement of His providence of restoration. Therefore, the good or evil of a human action should not be judged only by external motives. The same can be said of the world wars, which have resulted from the worldwide collision between the actions of numerous individuals arising from their free will. Accordingly, we cannot grasp the providential significance of the world wars by focusing only on conflicts of political and economic interests, ideological clashes and other such external causes.

What are the internal, providential causes of the world wars? First, the world wars have resulted from Satan’s last desperate struggle to preserve his sovereignty. Since the Fall of the first human ancestors, Satan has been building defective, unprincipled imitations of God’s ideal world. Aiming to restore the ideal world of His Principle, God has been in pursuit, gradually expanding His dominion by reclaiming it from the unprincipled world under Satan’s bondage.13 Accordingly, in the course of the providence of restoration, a false representation of the ideal appears before the emergence of its true manifestation. The biblical prophecy that the antichrist will appear before the return of Christ is an illustration of this truth.

Human history under Satan’s evil sovereignty will end with the Second Advent of Christ. Then it will be transformed into the history of humanity abiding in the realm of God’s good sovereignty. At that time, Satan will put up a last-ditch fight. When the Israelites were about to leave Egypt in the national course to restore Canaan, Satan worked through the Pharaoh to wage a bitter struggle to keep them in bondage. By virtue of this, God’s side was entitled to strike him with three supernatural signs. Similarly, in the Last Days, Satan has been putting up his last struggle to undermine God’s side as it has prepared itself to embark upon the worldwide course to restore Canaan. God’s three counterattacks to Satan’s aggressions have manifested themselves as the three world wars.

Second, the three world wars have occurred in order to fulfill the worldwide indemnity conditions to restore the three great blessings. Upon creating human beings, God gave them three blessings: to reach individual perfection, multiply as an ideal family and have dominion over the creation.14 By fulfilling these blessings, our first ancestors were to build the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth. Since God Himself created human beings and blessed them, He did not annul these blessings just because they fell. God had to allow fallen people to build an unprincipled world that has imitated the three blessings, though defectively, under Satan’s leadership. Accordingly, at the consummation of human history, unprincipled worlds have emerged which have realized defectively the outward form of the three blessings: an individual championing Satan’s causes, multiplication of satanic children, and the conquest of the world under Satan’s domination. To fulfill the worldwide indemnity conditions to restore God’s three great blessings, three world conflicts must break out by which God can prevail over these satanic worlds through the three stages of formation, growth and completion.

Third, the three world wars have occurred so that all humanity may overcome on the world level the three temptations by which Satan tempted Jesus. As Jesus’ disciples, Christians are to follow the course of their Teacher and overcome the three temptations which he confronted in the wilderness as individuals, families, nations and at the world level.

Fourth, the world wars have taken place to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition to restore God’s sovereignty. Had the first human beings not fallen but reached perfection by passing through the three stages of the growing period, they would have realized the world of God’s sovereignty. Similarly, worldwide restoration must pass through three stages. The restoration of this world requires that it first be divided into Cain-type and Abel-type worlds, and that there be three final wars in which the heavenly, Abel-type world prevails over the satanic, Cain-type world. This is a condition to restore through worldwide indemnity Cain’s murder of Abel. After that, the world of God’s sovereignty can be established. Accordingly, the world wars are the final global conflicts in human history, restoring horizontally through indemnity the purpose of all the wars that have been waged for the restoration of God’s sovereignty in the vertical course of the providence.

4.2 The First World War

4.2.1 Summary of the Providence in the First World War
Absolute monarchy had come to an end as a consequence of the Cain-type and Abel-type democratic revolutions, which had arisen out of the Cain-type and Abel-type views of life. The Industrial Revolution which followed cleared away the remnants of feudalism and led to the ascendancy of capitalism. This was followed by the age of imperialism.

In the political sphere, the First World War was a conflict between Abel-type democracies, which pursued the goal of the providence of restoration, and authoritarian states where Cain-type democratic ideals were thriving and which stood in opposition to the goals of the providence of restoration. It was fought between the imperialist nations on God’s side and the imperialist nations on Satan’s side. In terms of economic interests, this war was a conflict between more established and newly industrializing capitalist nations over colonies. In the sphere of religion and ideology, the Cain-type nations included Turkey, a Muslim nation persecuting Christianity, and its allies, Germany and Austria-Hungary. They fought the Abel-type nations of Great Britain, the United States, France and Russia, which generally upheld Christianity. At the conclusion of the First World War, the Abel-type democracies had gained victory at the formation stage.

4.2.2 What Decides God’s Side and Satan’s Side?
The question of which nations are on God’s side and which are on Satan’s side is decided based on the direction of God’s providence of restoration. Those who are in line with the direction of God’s providence or are acting in concert with that direction, even indirectly, are on the side of God, while those who take an opposing position are on the side of Satan. Therefore, whether or not an individual or nation belongs to God’s side or Satan’s side is not always in agreement with the judgment of our common sense or conscience. For example, someone who is ignorant of God’s providence may judge that Moses’ killing of the Egyptian taskmaster was evil. Yet, it may be regarded as a good act because it was in line with God’s providence. Likewise, the Israelites invaded the land of Canaan and killed many Canaanites seemingly without much justification. To someone ignorant of God’s providence, their action might seem evil and cruel; nevertheless, it was just in the sight of God. Even if there were more good-hearted people among the Canaanites than among the Israelites, at that time the Canaanites collectively belonged to Satan’s side, while the Israelites collectively belonged to God’s side.

Let us further investigate this concept in the sphere of religion. Since the goal of every religion is goodness, every one of them belongs to God’s side. However, when a religion obstructs the path of another religion which stands closer to the center of God’s providence, it will find itself standing on Satan’s side. A religion is given a mission for its age, but if, after its time of responsibility has passed, it becomes an obstacle to an emerging religion which comes with a new mission for the next age, then it stands on the side of Satan. Before the coming of Jesus, Judaism and its believers stood on God’s side. However, when they persecuted Jesus, who came with a new mission-which among other things would have fulfilled the purpose of Judaism-they moved to the side of Satan, irrespective of how faithfully they had served God in the past.

In the modern world, systems which espouse the Abel-type view of life belong to God’s side while those which espouse the Cain-type view of life stand on Satan’s side. For example, no matter how ethical and sacrificial a materialistic thought rooted in the Cain-type view of life may appear from a humanistic perspective, it still belongs to Satan’s side. For this reason, the communist world can be judged to be the satanic world. On the other hand, since the democratic world, which grants religious freedom, is based on the Abel-type view of life, it may be judged to be on God’s side.

Christianity was established as the central religion with the ultimate mission to fulfill the goals of all religions.15 Hence, any nation which persecutes Christianity or obstructs its progress, either directly or indirectly, stands on Satan’s side. In the First World War, the Allied Powers led by Great Britain, the United States, France and Russia were Christian nations; moreover, they had been fighting to liberate the Christians under persecution in Turkey. Thus, they stood on God’s side. On the other hand, Germany and Austria-Hungary, the leading Central Powers, supported Turkey, a Muslim nation which persecuted Christianity. Therefore, together with Turkey, they stood on Satan’s side.

4.2.3 The Providential Causes behind the First World War
What were the providential, internal causes of the First World War? The First World War had to take place, first, to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition to restore God’s three great blessings at the formation stage. Satan has been constructing in advance a defective imitation of God’s ideal world, which was to have been established by Adam. Hence, there should appear at the end of history an unprincipled world which has realized a distorted, outward form of the three blessings at the formation stage, led by an antitype of Adam on Satan’s side. God’s side should then prevail over this unprincipled world to fulfill the indemnity condition.

In fact, Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) of Germany, who launched the First World War, was this antitype of Adam on Satan’s side. He was in the formation-stage likeness of one who has attained individual perfection. He displayed the form of having fulfilled the blessing of multiplying children by advocating Pan-Germanism, and displayed a form of dominion over the creation by implementing his policy of world hegemony. In this manner, the Kaiser realized an unprincipled world completing a satanic imitation of the three great blessings at the formation stage. The First World War was to fulfill the worldwide formation-stage indemnity condition to restore, in the future, the world where the three great blessings will actually be completed centering on God.

Second, the First World War took place in order to have people on God’s side collectively overcome Jesus’ first temptation on the world level. In light of the meaning of Jesus’ three temptations, we can recognize that God’s side had to prevail in the First World War to fulfill the indemnity condition to restore God’s first blessing worldwide. By prevailing in his first temptation in the wilderness, Jesus recovered himself, symbolized by the rock, and laid the foundation to restore perfection of individual character. Likewise, by prevailing in the First World War, God’s side not only was to defeat Satan’s world and its center, it also was to build God’s world and lay the foundation for its own center, Christ at the Second Coming. This was to be the basis upon which the returning Christ could be born and perfect his individual character.

Third, the First World War took place in order to lay the formation-stage foundation for the restoration of God’s sovereignty. Democracy arose to bring an end to authoritarian monarchic regimes and as the final political system with the mission to restore God’s sovereignty.16 In the First World War, God’s side was responsible to be victorious and expand its political territory to Christianize the world. By thus establishing a vast and firm political and economic foundation, it would secure the formation-stage foundation for the democratic world and, at the same time, the formation-stage foundation to restore God’s sovereignty.

4.2.4 The Providential Results of the First World War
The victory of the Allied Powers in the First World War fulfilled the formation-stage indemnity condition to restore God’s three great blessings worldwide. By overcoming Jesus’ first temptation on the worldwide level, they fulfilled the indemnity condition to restore God’s first blessing worldwide. The victory of democracy also established the formation-stage foundation for the restoration of God’s sovereignty. With the defeat of the satanic world and its ruler, the Kaiser, the world on God’s side won the formation-stage victory and laid the foundation for the birth of the returning Christ, who is destined to be the Lord of God’s world.

Contemporaneous with this, communism was established in Russia. Stalin soon rose to power as the antitype of Christ at the Second Advent on Satan’s side. Since Christ comes with the ideals of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth-interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values-the satanic side tries to realize these ideals in advance by building an imitation of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, led by the satanic counterpart to Christ at the Second Advent.

In conclusion, with the victory of God’s side in the First World War, the foundation was laid for the Second Advent of the Messiah. From that time, the formation stage of the dispensation of the Second Advent commenced.

4.3 The Second World War

4.3.1 Summary of the Providence in the Second World War
The spiritual origin of modern democracy lies in the people’s striving to realize the values of the Abel-type view of life. Democracy follows the internal and external aspirations of the original human nature and will certainly develop in the direction of God’s ideal world. Fascism, on the other hand, constrains people from following the aspirations of their original nature. In the Second World War, democracy, while standing upon the formation stage victory attained in the First World War, defeated fascism and secured victory at the growth stage.

4.3.2 The Nature of Fascism
When economic depression overwhelmed the world in the 1930s, some nations tried to break out of it by adopting fascism. This was the road taken by Germany, Japan and Italy, which felt isolated and beset by adversity.

What, then, is fascism? Fascism denies the fundamental values of modern democracy, including respect for the individual and his basic rights, freedoms of speech, the press and association, and the parliamentary system. Race or nationality is the ultimate value, to be upheld by a strong nation-state. Individuals and institutions exist only for the benefit of the state. Under fascism, individuals cannot claim freedom as their inviolable right; they are to sacrifice their freedom in their duty to serve the state. The guiding political principle of fascism holds that all power and authority should be entrusted in one supreme leader rather than distributed among people. The personal will of the leader dictates the governing ideology for the entire nation. Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany, and the leaders of Japan’s militaristic government were dictators of the fascist type.

4.3.3 The Nations on God’s Side and the Nations on Satan’s Side in the Second World War
In the Second World War, an alliance of the democratic nations of the United States, Great Britain and France led the nations on God’s side. Satan’s side was the alliance of the fascist nations: Germany, Japan and Italy. What determined that the former stood on God’s side and the latter on Satan’s side? The Allies stood on God’s side because their political systems were democracies, the political system for the final stage in the providence of restoration founded upon the Abel-type view of life. The Axis Powers, on the other hand, stood on Satan’s side because they upheld fascism, which was anti-democratic and stemmed from the Cain-type view of life. Moreover, the Allies and Axis Powers were separated into God’s side and Satan’s side because the former nations supported Christianity while the latter opposed and persecuted Christianity.

Germany, the leader of the Axis Powers, deprived people of their basic freedoms, and its ideological oppression denied them their religious freedom. Furthermore, Hitler massacred six million Jews. After concluding a concordat with the pope, Hitler attempted to subordinate the churches under the control of cooperative bishops while corrupting Christianity into a nationalistic neo-paganism based on primitive Germanic religion. In protest, some Protestants and Catholics put up bitter resistance.

Japanese militarists during the Second World War forced every church in Korea to install a kamidana, an altar for the Japanese Shinto gods, and compelled Korean Christians to worship at Shinto shrines. Those Christians who did not comply were imprisoned or killed. Korean Christians who had fled to Manchuria in search of religious freedom were brutally massacred. These measures against Korean Christianity were intensified toward the end of the war.

Italy supported Germany’s cause as one of the Axis Powers. Against the general thrust of God’s providence, Mussolini promoted Catholicism as the state religion with the selfish intention to use it for unifying the people under his fascist regime. On these grounds, Germany, Japan and Italy during the war may be classified as the nations on Satan’s side.

4.3.4 The Providential Roles of the Three Nations on God’s Side and Satan’s Side
One purpose behind the Second World War was to fulfill the worldwide condition of indemnity at the growth stage to restore God’s three great blessings, as was meant to occur at the time of Jesus. In the beginning, it was due to the Fall of Adam, Eve and the Archangel that God’s three great blessings were not realized. Therefore, in the restoration of the three blessings, there necessarily have to be three actors taking these respective roles. Thus, God spiritually restored the three blessings in the providence of spiritual salvation through the joint efforts of the resurrected Jesus as the second Adam, the Holy Spirit representing Eve,17 and angels. Accordingly, during the Second World War, the three nations on God’s side representing Adam, Eve and the Archangel led the fight against the three nations on Satan’s side, which also represented Adam, Eve and the Archangel. The victory of the nations on God’s side would make a growth-stage indemnity condition for the restoration of the three great blessings. Satan, who was aware of this providence, took the lead by mustering the three nations representing Adam, Eve and the Archangel on his side and had them attack the three nations on God’s side.

The United States, as a masculine type of nation, represented Adam on God’s side. Great Britain, as a feminine type of nation, represented Eve on God’s side. France, as a mixed type of nation, represented the Archangel on God’s side. On Satan’s side, Germany, as a masculine type of nation, represented Adam; Japan, as a feminine type of nation, represented Eve; and Italy, as a mixed type of nation, represented the Archangel. In the First World War, the United States, Great Britain and France had represented at the formation stage these three positions on God’s side, while Germany, Austria and Turkey took these positions on Satan’s side.

The Soviet Union, a nation on Satan’s side, participated in the Second World War on God’s side. How was it possible? When medieval society could not fulfill its providential purpose, it became a hindrance to both God’s side and Satan’s side, which then divided and began developing along paths leading to the maturation of the democratic world and the communist world. The Cain-type and Abel-type views of life worked in tandem to break down medieval feudal society and later, absolute monarchy and imperialism. Just as God’s providence progresses while riding on the currents of its time, Satan’s effort to build an unprincipled imitation of the ideal world is also bound to the currents of its time. When the prevailing social order obstructs the formation of new societies, including those furthering Satan’s goals, Satan joins in the fight to destroy it.

In a similar fashion, fascism had become an obstacle to both Satan’s side and God’s side. Because the providence of restoration through indemnity required that God temporarily permit Satan’s side to form the communist world, the Soviet Union in the Second World War was allowed to join forces with the nations on God’s side to destroy fascism, in order that it might quickly build up its communist state. Nevertheless, as soon as the Second World War was over, the communist world and the democratic world separated like oil and water.

4.3.5 The Providential Causes behind the Second World War
The internal, providential causes behind the Second World War were as follows: First, the war broke out to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the growth stage to restore God’s three great blessings. The ideal world where God’s three blessings are fulfilled, which could not be realized by Adam due to the Fall, was to have been realized by Jesus, whom God sent as the Second Adam. Yet this ideal was realized only spiritually because Jesus died on the cross. Since Satan tries to realize in advance a defective imitation of the ideal world, at the consummation of history, there will surely emerge an unprincipled world which has realized defectively the outward form of the three great blessings at the growth stage under the leadership of a satanic antitype of Jesus. God’s side must prevail over this world and thereby fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the growth stage required for the restoration of the ideal world, where the three great blessings are fully realized centering on God.

Hitler was the satanic antitype of Jesus. Though his will was totally contrary to Jesus’, certain aspects of Hitler’s life mimicked in a perverted manner some of the events in Jesus’ life: his grandiose vision, his single life and the disappearance of his corpse are examples. Hitler was also the satanic antitype of perfected Adam at the growth stage. He made a travesty of the blessing of the multiplication of children by advocating the purity of the German people as the master race and mimicked the blessing of dominion over the creation by his policy of world conquest. In this manner, Hitler realized an unprincipled world with a satanic form of the three blessings, fulfilled at the growth stage. By prevailing in the Second World War, God’s side was to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the growth stage to restore the ideal world of God’s three blessings.

The second providential cause behind the war was to have the people on God’s side overcome Jesus’ second temptation on the world level. In light of the meaning of Jesus’ three temptations, we can recognize that God’s side had to prevail in the Second World War to fulfill the indemnity condition to restore worldwide God’s second blessing. As Jesus laid the foundation for the restoration of children by overcoming the second temptation in the wilderness, God’s side was to lay the worldwide growth-stage foundation for democracy by triumphing in the Second World War.

The third providential cause behind the war was to lay the growth-stage foundation for the restoration of God’s sovereignty. By the victory of God’s side in the First World War, the democratic world had secured its formation-stage foundation. Working to build the Cain-type world, Satan’s side also benefited from the collapse of Czarist absolutism during the First World War and laid the formation-stage foundation for the communist world. During the Second World War, the communist world and the democratic world built their separate growth-stage foundations before parting company at the conclusion of the war. Building this growth-stage foundation for the democratic world restored the growth-stage foundation of God’s sovereignty.

4.3.6 The Providential Results of the Second World War
The victory of God’s side in the Second World War fulfilled the growth-stage indemnity condition to restore God’s three great blessings worldwide. Having the significance of overcoming Jesus’ second temptation on the world level, the victory fulfilled the indemnity condition to restore God’s second blessing worldwide. Finally, by laying the growth-stage foundation for the democratic world, it established the growth-stage foundation to restore God’s sovereignty.

While Hitler was the antitype of Jesus on Satan’s side, Stalin was the antitype of the Second Advent of Christ on Satan’s side. The fact that Hitler and his nation were destroyed, while Stalin and his foundation of worldwide communism grew strong, indicated that the time for building the spiritual kingdom under the leadership of the resurrected Jesus had passed, and the age for building a new heaven and new earth18 under the leadership of Christ at the Second Advent had begun.

At the conclusion of the Second World War, the growth stage of the dispensation of the Second Advent commenced. Many Christians began receiving revelations about the return of Jesus, and God’s spiritual works began occurring throughout the world. Since then, the established churches have become increasingly confused, divided and secularized; they have been gradually losing the heart of their spiritual life. These are phenomena of the Last Days, occurring on account of God’s final providence to unify all religions through the new, ultimate expression of the truth.

4.4 The Third World War

4.4.1 Is the Third World War Inevitable?
We know that because God gave the first human ancestors the blessing to rule the universe, when Satan works through fallen people to create an unprincipled imitation of the world where this blessing is fulfilled, God has to allow it. On the heels of Satan, God conducts His providence to claim back Satan’s world and its fruits. At the consummation of human history, Satan’s side and God’s side will strive until they each attain sovereignty over a world. This is why the democratic world and the communist world stand confronting each other. Consequently, it became inevitable that there be world wars, first to divide and then to unify these two worlds.

The First and Second World Wars had the providential purpose of dividing the globe into the communist world and the democratic world. Afterward, yet another war must take place to bring about their unification. This conflict is the Third World War. It is inevitable that the Third World War take place; however, there are two possible ways it may be fought.

One way to bring Satan’s side to surrender is through armed conflict. However, at the conclusion of the conflict, there should come an ideal world in which all humanity is to rejoice together. This can never be built merely by defeating enemies in battle. Afterward, they must be brought to submission internally, that everyone may be reconciled and rejoice sincerely from the bottom of their hearts. To accomplish this, there must come a perfect ideology which can satisfy the desires of the original nature of all people.

The other way this war may be fought is as a wholly internal, ideological conflict, without the outbreak of armed hostilities, to bring Satan’s world to submission and unification in a short time. People are rational beings. Therefore, a perfect, unified world can be established only when people submit to one another and participate in unification through a profound reawakening.

By which of these two ways will the Third World War actually be fought? It depends upon success or failure in carrying out the human portion of responsibility.

From where will the ideology essential to the resolution of this conflict and the establishment of the new world come? It surely cannot come out of the communist world, rooted in the Cain-type view of life, since the Cain-type view of life opposes the internal aspirations of the original human nature. Rather, this ideology must arise out of the democratic world, which is rooted in the Abel-type view of life. Nonetheless, it is a fact of history that no conventional ideology among those prevailing in the democratic world can effectively defeat communist ideology. Therefore, a hitherto unknown ideology will emerge from within the democratic world. For the new ideology to be born, there must first arise a new expression of the truth. This new truth is the essence of the Abel-type view of life and the core of democracy. As has been the case in the past, when the new expression of truth appears, it may contradict the old expressions of truth in which many people have believed. Hence, even the democratic world will be divided into two camps which, like Cain and Abel, will be pitted against each other. When the new truth secures a victorious foundation in the democratic world and then conquers communist ideology, the unification of the world will be achieved based on the one truth.

Satan knew God’s plan to unify the world through the one truth and presented a false imitation of the truth in order to unify humanity centering on himself. This false truth is dialectical materialism. Dialectical materialism denies the existence of any spiritual reality, setting up an explanation of the universe based on a wholly materialistic logic. In denying the existence of God, it also denies the existence of Satan. Thus, in promoting dialectical materialism, Satan was effectively denying his own reality, even risking his own demise. Satan understood what would unfold at the close of human history and knew well that he would surely perish. Accepting that this was not the time to be worshipped, he rose in a monstrous denial of God, even at the sacrifice of himself. This is the spiritual root of dialectical materialism. As long as the democratic world lacks the truth which can overturn this evil doctrine, it will always be vulnerable and on the defensive. For this reason, someone on God’s side must proclaim the perfect truth.

4.4.2 Summary of the Providence in the Third World War
The Third World War is the final conflict in the providence of restoration. Through this war, God intends that the democratic world bring the communist world to submission and build the ideal world. Leading up to the First World War, the nations on God’s side had expanded their political and economic dominion by claiming colonies throughout the world, to be used by God for His providence. At the conclusion of the war, these nations laid the worldwide formation-stage foundation for democracy. Through the Second World War, they laid the worldwide growth-stage foundation for democracy, thereby firmly consolidating the democratic world. During the Third World War, God’s side is to found the perfect Abel-type view of life based on the new truth and complete the worldwide completion-stage foundation for democracy. God’s side is then to guide all of humanity into one unified world. In summary, the Third World War is the last
great war at the close of history, when God’s side restores horizontally through indemnity all that was lost to Satan throughout the three stages of the prolonged providence.

4.4.3 The Providential Causes behind the Third World War
As was explained above, whether the Third World War is waged by force of arms or as an ideological conflict depends upon the responsibility of the people who are serving the providence of God. Regardless, it is inescapable that this worldwide conflict take place.

What are the internal, providential causes behind the Third World War? First, the war has to take place to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the completion stage to restore God’s three great blessings. When Jesus could accomplish the providence of restoration only spiritually due to the disbelief of the people, it became necessary that he return and restore the world of God’s ideal both spiritually and physically. Yet, since Satan realizes in advance a defective form of God’s ideal, at the consummation of history there will emerge an unprincipled world with the pretense of having restored the three great blessings under the leadership of a satanic antitype of Christ at the Second Advent. By prevailing over this satanic world, God’s side is responsible to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the completion stage to restore the ideal world in which the three great blessings are fulfilled centering on God.

Stalin was the satanic antitype of Christ at the Second Advent. He was idolized as a perfect human being. By advocating the solidarity of farmers and workers in opposition to the democratic world, he mimicked the blessing of the multiplication of children, and by his policy of worldwide communist domination, he achieved the outward semblance of the blessing of dominion over the creation. Stalin thus created a vast communist world which realized defectively the outward form of the three great blessings. We must understand that the communist world is the unprincipled and flawed imitation of the world of God’s ideal, which will be characterized by interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values founded in God.

Second, the Third World War has to take place to have the people on God’s side overcome Jesus’ third temptation on the world level. In light of the meaning of Jesus’ three temptations, we recognize that God’s side must prevail in the Third World War to fulfill the indemnity condition to restore worldwide God’s third blessing. As Jesus established the foundation to restore dominion over the creation by overcoming the third temptation in the wilderness, God’s side must win in the Third World War to restore human beings’ dominion over the entire universe.

Third, the Third World War has to take place to lay the completion-stage foundation for the restoration of God’s sovereignty. God’s side must be victorious in the war to destroy the communist world and return all sovereignty to God. Then the ideal world will be established based upon the principles of heaven and earth.

4.4.4 The Providential Results of the Third World War
Long ago, God intended to conclude His providence of restoration in Adam’s family by working through Cain and Abel. Instead, Cain murdered Abel, commencing the sinful history of humanity. God began the dispensation of dividing good and evil to restore the failure in Adam’s family on the individual level and developed it through the levels of family, clan, society, people and nation. The time has come when God conducts this dispensation on the world level. God intends to restore through indemnity the entire providence, which was prolonged to the third stage, by winning victory in the three world wars, which belong to the final chapter of providential history.

In the beginning, the first human ancestors lost their connection of heart to God when they fell prey to the tempting words of Satan. Through the internal, spiritual fall and the external, physical fall, they inherited the lineage of Satan. Therefore, the providence of restoration can be completed only after fallen people restore their heart toward God through God’s life-giving Word, are saved both spiritually and physically, and inherit God’s lineage.19

The victories of God’s side in the three world wars will fully restore through indemnity all these aspects of the providence of restoration. They will make possible the realization of God’s ideal world, for which God has labored with unremitting tears over the centuries of human misery since the Fall.

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Chapter 6: The Second Advent

Jesus clearly foretold of his return.1 Yet he added that no one knew of the day and hour of his return, not the angels, not even himself.2 Hence, it has been commonly thought unwise to speculate about the date, place and manner of the Second Advent.

Nevertheless, we can deduce from the words of Jesus, “But of that day and hour no one knows . . . but the Father only,”3 and the verse, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets,”4 that God, who knows the day and hour, will surely reveal all secrets about the Second Advent to His prophets before He carries out His work.

Although Jesus said that the Lord will come like a thief,5 it is also written that for those in the light, the Lord will not come covertly, like a thief.6 When we reflect upon the events at Jesus’ First Coming, we realize that he came like a thief to the priests and scribes who were in darkness, but to the family of John the Baptist, which was in the light, God plainly revealed Jesus’ birth beforehand. When Jesus was born, God divulged this secret to the three wise men, Simon, Anna and the shepherds. Jesus said:

But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare; for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man. -Luke 21:34-36

Thus, Jesus strongly suggested that the secret of the time, place and manner of his return will be revealed to the faithful people who are vigilant, that they may prepare for the day of the Second Advent.

In the providence of restoration, God always revealed to His prophets what He would do before He carried it out. The flood judgment in Noah’s day, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the birth of Jesus are only a few examples. Accordingly, regarding the Second Advent of the Lord, God will certainly give prophecies to those faithful believers who are in the light and have ears to hear and eyes to see. As it is written:

And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. -Acts 2:17

Section 1: When Will Christ Return?

We call the time of Christ’s Second Advent the Last Days. As it was already explained, we are living in the Last Days today.7 We can thus understand that today is truly the time of Christ’s return. From the standpoint of providential history, Jesus came at the conclusion of the two-thousand-year-long Old Testament Age, the Age of the Providence of Restoration. The Principle of Restoration through Indemnity leads us to infer that Christ is to return at the end of the two-thousand-year-long New Testament Age, the Age of the Prolongation of the Providence of Restoration, which has been restoring the previous age through substantial parallel conditions of indemnity.

As was discussed in detail with reference to the First World War, soon after the defeat of Germany and the Kaiser (the antitype of Adam on Satan’s side), Stalin (the antitype of Christ at the Second Advent on Satan’s side) rose to power and built up the communist world.8 This meant that the time was drawing nigh when Christ would return and restore through indemnity the ideal world characterized by interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values. We can thus conclude that the period of the Second Advent began soon after the end of the First World War.

Section 2: In What Manner Will Christ Return?

2.1 Perspectives on the Bible
God reveals well in advance all the essential matters of His Will in parables and symbols, in order that people living in any age can understand the demands of the providence for their time and for the future according to the level of their intellect and spirituality. The fact that God used parables and symbols in the Bible has inevitably resulted in many divergent interpretations. This is a major reason why the churches have become divided. In interpreting the Bible, therefore, the most important matter is to find the right perspective.

For example, consider John the Baptist. For two thousand years we read the Bible with the preconception that John completed his given mission; therefore, its passages appear to support this. But when we re-examined the Bible more closely from a different standpoint, we could clearly recognize that John the Baptist in fact did not complete his mission.9

Until today many of us have read the Bible with the preconceived notion that Jesus will come on the clouds with signs and wonders. This is based on such words of Jesus as:

They will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds. -Matt. 24:30-31

If we adhere closely to a literal interpretation, the biblical evidence indeed seems to point in that direction. However, the idea that Christ will return on the clouds is totally unacceptable to the scientific mind of the modern age. We find it necessary to probe more deeply into the Bible from another standpoint to grasp the true meaning of such verses.

This new perspective is suggested by our earlier investigation of the biblical passages concerning John the Baptist. The prophet Malachi had foretold that Elijah would return before the coming of the Messiah.10 As they eagerly awaited that day, many Jews believed that Elijah, who had ascended to heaven, would come down from heaven in the same way he had ascended. Contrary to their expectation, however, Jesus boldly claimed that John the Baptist, the son of Zechariah, was Elijah.11 If we believe Jesus’ testimony, the return of Elijah was never meant to take place in the miraculous manner many Jewish people expected. In fact, it occurred through the birth of a child. In like manner, many Christians to the present day believe that Jesus will return on the clouds. However, what we have learned about the actual return of Elijah suggests another possibility: that Christ’s return may be fulfilled through the birth of a child, just as at the First Coming. From this new perspective, let us closely re-examine the biblical verses concerning the Second Coming.

At the First Coming of Jesus, many of the learned men of Israel thought that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem as a descendant of King David.12 Yet there were undoubtedly many other Jews who expected the Messiah to come on the clouds. This belief was based on their reading of the prophecy of Daniel, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man,”13 and other prophecies of supernatural events in the Last Days.14 Therefore, the Pharisees and Sadducees questioned Jesus, demanding that he show them a sign from heaven as proof that he was the Messiah.15 Without any of the supernatural signs from heaven foretold in the Bible, they could not readily accept him as the long-awaited Messiah. The belief that the Messiah should come supernaturally persisted after the death of Jesus, even among some heterodox Christians who believed that he had not come in a body of flesh. The apostle John condemned those believers as antichrists:

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. -II John 7

Many Christians assert that the prophecy in Daniel concerns the Second Advent of Christ. However, in the Old Testament Age, God was working to fulfill the entire purpose of the providence of restoration with the coming of Jesus, as the Bible attests: “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John,”16 and “For Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has faith may be justified.”17 Thus, before Jesus himself began speaking about his return, no one ever even imagined a Second Advent. It is obvious that no Jew at the time thought this verse in Daniel referred to anything other than what they believed to be the first and only coming of the Messiah.

Contrary to the expectations of many faithful Jews who believed on biblical grounds that the Messiah would come on the clouds with signs and portents in the heavens, Jesus was born on the earth as a child in a lowly family. Hence, we should re-examine the Bible from the perspective that the Second Advent of Christ may not take place in a miraculous way. It may, in fact, take place in the same manner as the First Advent.

2.2 Christ Will Return as a Child on the Earth
Jesus made a number of predictions foretelling what would happen to the Lord at his return:

But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. -Luke 17:25

If Jesus were to return literally on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and with the trumpets of angels,18 would he not readily be accepted and honored, even by this sin-ridden world? Returning in such a manner, there is no way he would ever suffer persecution or rejection.

Why, then, did Jesus foretell that he would face such a miserable situation upon his return? The Jews of his day were eagerly looking forward to the day when Elijah would come down from heaven. He was supposed to come before the Messiah as his herald, as Malachi had prophesied.19 Instead, before the people had heard any news of Elijah’s return, Jesus, a man of lowly birth, came like a thief, claiming to be the Messiah. Therefore, they despised Jesus and persecuted him.20 As Jesus reflected upon his situation, he foresaw that at the Second Advent, the Christians awaiting his return would once more fix their gaze upon the sky. Hence, they would be likely to persecute Christ at the Second Advent when he is born in the flesh and appears unexpectedly, like a thief. They would condemn him as a heretic, just as Jesus was condemned. That is why he foretold that the Lord would suffer and be rejected by his generation. This prophecy can be fulfilled only if Christ returns in the flesh; it cannot possibly come true if he comes on the clouds.

Jesus said:

I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth? -Luke 18:8

As the world enters the Last Days, increasing numbers of Christians are striving to develop stronger faith. How can they all fall into faithlessness at the Second Advent of the Lord if he literally comes on the clouds of heaven amidst the sounds of angels’ trumpets and the glory of God? This prophecy also cannot be fulfilled if Christ returns in a supernatural manner.

In Jesus’ day, many Jews thought the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and emerge as their king,21 but only after Elijah had returned from heaven. Contrary to this expectation, before Elijah had appeared, a carpenter’s son from Nazareth stepped forward and presented himself as the Messiah. It is thus understandable that Jesus could not find any believer among the Jews faithful and zealous enough to follow him even to the point of death. Jesus grieved over this situation and lamented that something similar might happen upon his return. He foresaw that at the Second Advent, the believers would be looking only toward heaven, thinking that Christ will return on the clouds in glory. Therefore, when Christ does in fact return to the earth as a man of humble origins, he may not find any faith, as was the case in Jesus’ day. This prophecy in Luke can never be fulfilled unless the returning Christ is born on the earth.

Some scholars interpret this verse to mean that the tribulations in the Last Days will be so severe as to cause all believers to become faithless. Yet in the course of the providence, no tribulation, no matter how bitter, has effectively blocked the way of the faithful. How much less so in the Last Days, when faithful Christians are eager to pass through the last gate to Heaven! It is the universal nature of faith that the greater our trials and tribulations, the more zealously we seek God’s salvation.

Jesus once said:

On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.” -Matt. 7:22-23

If a Christian is so faithful as to perform miracles in the name of the Lord, then how much more ardently would he believe in and serve the Lord when he comes on the clouds in great glory? Wouldn’t Jesus then receive him warmly? Why, then, did Jesus speak as if he would reject such faithful Christians upon his return? If the returning Christ rejects such devout believers, who in the Last Days can possibly be saved? This prophecy also cannot be fulfilled if Jesus comes on the clouds.

In Jesus’ day, there must have been many Jews whose faith was so ardent that they could perform miracles in God’s name. Yet, since they believed that Elijah himself would descend from heaven before the Messiah came, it was hard for them to accept that Elijah was present among them as John the Baptist-all the more so because of John’s denial.22 Hence, they did not accept Jesus as the Messiah and ostracized him from the community. Consequently, Jesus had to abandon them in tears. In like manner, at the Second Advent of Christ, those Christians who expect his miraculous and glorious appearance will almost certainly reject him if he comes in the flesh of humble birth. No matter how faithful they may be, the Lord will be left with no choice but to abandon them because they will have transgressed against God.

The series of prophecies concerning the Last Days in Luke, Chapter 17, cannot possibly be fulfilled if Christ returns in a supernatural manner. These verses can be explained only on the premise that Christ will return by being born on the earth. Let us examine each of them closely.

The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed. -Luke 17:20

If the Lord comes on the clouds or in some miraculous way, the Kingdom of God will arrive in a manner conspicuous to everyone. Even at the First Advent, the Kingdom of God had already arrived on the earth with the birth of Jesus. Yet the Jewish people could not see it, for since they were still waiting for the return of Elijah from heaven, they could not believe in Jesus. Likewise, at the Second Advent, although the Kingdom of God will dawn upon the earth with the birth of Christ, Christians who believe that he will come on the clouds accompanied by supernatural events will disbelieve in the Lord and thus not see the Kingdom of God.

Behold, the kingdom of God is within you. -Luke 17:2123

In Jesus’ day, those who believed in and followed him had already partaken of the Kingdom of Heaven in their hearts. Likewise, at Christ’s Second Advent, because he will be born on the earth, the Kingdom of Heaven will be realized first in the hearts of those who believe in him and follow him. When these individuals increase in number to form societies and nations, the Kingdom of Heaven within will gradually be manifested in the world as an outward, visible reality. Accordingly, Jesus meant that the promised Kingdom of Heaven will not be realized in an instant, as it would if Christ were to return on the clouds.

You will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it. -Luke 17:22

If the Lord comes on the clouds with the sounds of angels’ trumpets, everyone will be able to see him. Who, then, would desire to see the day of the Son of man and not see it? Yet Jesus foretold that the people will not see the day. At Jesus’ First Advent, the day of the Son of man dawned upon the earth with his birth, yet the disbelieving Jews could not see the day. Likewise, at the Second Advent of Christ, the day of the Son of man will have dawned with his birth on earth. Yet many Christians will not be able to see the day because, convinced as they are that he will come in a miraculous way, they will not believe in him or follow him even after encountering him. Even though the day of the Son of man will have already come, they will not be able to see it.

And they will say to you, “Lo, there!” or “Lo, here!” Do not go, do not follow them. -Luke 17:23

As was discussed earlier,24 in the Last Days Christians who have attained a certain spiritual level may receive the revelation that they are the Lord. Not understanding the basis in the Principle for such a revelation, they are likely to proclaim themselves to be the Messiah and thus become antichrists before the Lord to come. Therefore, Jesus spoke these words as a warning not to be misled or confused by such people.

As the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of man be in his day. -Luke 17:24

When Jesus was born, the news of the birth of the King of the Jews reached King Herod and troubled all of Jerusalem.25 At the Second Advent, advances in transportation and communication will allow the news of the Second Advent to travel to the far-flung corners of the globe, East and West, with lightning speed.

As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of man. -Luke 17:26 26

When Noah knew that the flood judgment was imminent, he called the people to enter his ark.27 Yet they did not heed his words, and all were drowned. Similarly in the Last Days, Christ will return in the flesh and call to the people to enter the ark of truth. Yet Christians who stubbornly fix their gaze upon the sky, expecting to see miraculous signs of the Lord’s appearance, will not heed the words of truth proclaimed from the earth. Instead, they will reject the Lord as a heretic. Heedless as the people of Noah’s day, they will have failed to serve God’s providential Will.

Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. -Luke 17:33

Would anyone have to risk his life to follow the Lord if he comes on the clouds with the sounds of angels’ trumpets? Because Jesus returns through a physical birth, he will appear to be a heretic to Christians who expect him to come in a miraculous way. Hence, those who follow him must be ready to face even death. The verse means that if the people believe in and follow him at the risk of their lives, they will live. If on the other hand, swayed by worldly circumstances, they turn against him and retreat from him to save their own skins, death will befall them.

Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together. -Luke 17:37

Thus Jesus answered a query about the place of the Second Advent. We recall that birds of prey descended upon the dove and pigeon which had not been properly divided on Abraham’s altar.28 This taught us that Satan is always looking for an opportunity to claim what is not sanctified. We can thus understand the meaning of Jesus’ enigmatic reply: just as vultures gather around a carcass to eat it, and devils gather around those who are spiritually dead to claim them, the Lord, who is the source of life, will come to a place of abundant spiritual life. Jesus meant by these words that the Lord will appear among the faithful believers. At Christ’s Second Advent, people of ardent faith will gather together in one place with the assistance of many spirits.29 This will be the place of life where the Lord will appear. Jesus was born among the chosen people, who worshipped God most faithfully. In particular, he revealed himself as the Messiah to those who had the faith to follow him and become his disciples.

Since Christ will be born on the earth at his Second Advent, it is written: “She brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne.”30 The rod of iron here signifies the Word of God, with which the Lord will judge the sinful world and restore the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. It was earlier explained in detail31 that judgment by fire is judgment by the Word.32 Hence, the Word of Jesus, which will be our judge on the Last Day,33 is the same Word by which heaven and earth will be cast into the fire of judgment,34 and is the very breath of the Lord’s mouth by which he will slay the lawless one.35 The Word Jesus speaks is also called “the breath of his lips” and “the rod of his mouth.”36 It is symbolized by the rod of iron, as it is written, “He shall rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces.”37

The verse speaks of a male child, who is born of a woman and is caught up to God and to His throne. Who, then, is born of a woman as someone worthy to sit on God’s throne and rule all the nations with the Word of God? He can be none other than Christ at the Second Advent, who will be born on the earth with a new name known only to himself.38 He will rule as the King of Kings and build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. At the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, there is a record of the four adulterous or gentile women in Jesus’ lineage.39 This shows that the Savior of humankind is to be born as a sinless man out of a sinful lineage to save all the descendants of sinful lineages. Many Christians have interpreted the woman in the above verse as the Church.40 They drew this interpretation based on the premise that Christ at the Second Advent would come on the clouds.

Some Christians believe that the Second Advent of Christ occurs whenever Jesus comes to dwell within the hearts of people41 through the descent of the Holy Spirit.42 Jesus has been dwelling within the hearts of faithful believers ever since his resurrection and the Holy Spirit’s descent at Pentecost.43 If this were truly the Second Advent, then it already took place two thousand years ago.

Moreover, some denominations teach that Jesus will return as a spirit. However, immediately after his resurrection from the tomb on the third day, Jesus appeared before his disciples with the same appearance as he had during his earthly life. Ever since that time, he has freely visited and taught many Christians who have attained a high spiritual level. Thus, this sort of Second Coming also first took place two thousand years ago. If these were correct understandings, then we would have no reason to anticipate the historical Second Advent and look forward to it as the day which will fulfill our most cherished hopes.

Even though Jesus’ disciples had frequent encounters with the resurrected Jesus who appeared to them in spirit, they still awaited his Second Advent. We can deduce that they were not anticipating the Second Advent to be Jesus’ return as a spirit. For example, when Jesus appeared in a vision to the apostle John, he said to him, “Surely I am coming soon,” to which John replied, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”44 Here, Jesus and John both clearly distinguished Jesus’ spiritual appearances from the Second Advent. This shows that Christ at his Second Advent will not come as a spirit. He will be born as a child on the earth, just as at the First Advent.

There are several reasons in the Principle why Christ must return as an earthly man. God created both the incorporeal world and the corporeal world. Then God created human beings with the aspects of both spirit and flesh, intending for them to rule over the two worlds in fulfillment of His blessings.45 Due to Adam’s Fall, human beings lost the qualification to be lords of the two worlds. Consequently, the creation was deprived of its true masters and has been lamenting and longing for the appearance of the children of God who can truly rule it.46 Jesus, the perfected Adam, came as the perfect Lord of the two worlds.47 By engrafting all believers with himself48 and bringing them into oneness with him, he intended to make them qualified to be the lords of the universe.

Nevertheless, when the Jews turned against Jesus, God had to commit his body to the cross as a ransom for the redemption of humanity. Since Jesus’ physical body was delivered into the hands of Satan, physical salvation was left unaccomplished. Jesus ascended from this earthly world with the promise that he would return and complete the salvation which he had realized only spiritually.49 In the meantime, there has not been even one person on the earth who has attained perfection both spiritually and physically, ruled the spiritual and physical worlds, and brought them into harmony. This is the reason Christ cannot return only in a spiritual body. As at the First Advent, he must come as a human being and grow to perfection in both spirit and flesh. Then, by engrafting all humanity with himself both spiritually and physically, he is to guide them to perfection both in spirit and flesh and make them qualified to be the lords of both the spiritual and physical worlds.

Jesus was originally supposed to restore the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. He was to become the True Parent of restored humanity and the king of God’s earthly kingdom.50 However, due to the people’s disbelief, he could not accomplish this original Will of God, but went to the cross promising to return at a later time and surely fulfill it. Accordingly, at the Second Advent, Christ is again responsible to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and there become the True Parent and king of all humanity. This is another reason why, as at his First Coming, Christ at his Second Coming must be born on the earth.

The redemption of sins is possible only through an earthly life.51 To redeem our sins on the earth, Christ must come as a man on the earth. The salvation which Jesus provided through his crucifixion, however, is limited to the spiritual dimension. It does not resolve the original sin, which is transmitted through our physical bodies and remains active within us. Therefore, Christ must come again to provide complete salvation to humanity, including physical salvation. He certainly cannot achieve this if he comes only as a spirit. He must come in a physical body, as at his First Coming.

We have thus clarified that Christ’s Second Coming will not be a spiritual coming, but a physical coming similar to the First Coming. Even supposing that Christ were to come back in spirit, it would be perplexing that the spirit, transcendent of time and space and perceptible only to the spiritual senses, would ride on clouds composed of matter. On the other hand, if the Second Advent were to occur through Christ’s sudden appearance in the flesh, riding on the clouds, how could he stay aloft? Where would he reside prior to his appearance? Some people may object to such questions, arguing that for the omnipotent God nothing is impossible. However, God cannot ignore His own laws and principles. God does not and need not work His providence in violation of His own Principle by having Christ, who should return in flesh no different from our own, reside in outer space and then return borne on clouds. In conclusion, we have demonstrated beyond any doubt that the Second Advent of Christ will take place through his physical birth on the earth.

2.3 What is the Meaning of the Verse that Christ Will Return on the Clouds?
Since Christ’s return will take place through his birth on earth, what can be the meaning of the biblical prophecies that he will come on the clouds? To probe into this matter, we must first investigate what the clouds represent. The following passage is typical:

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. -Rev. 1:7

According to this verse, everyone should be able to see Christ when he returns. When St. Stephen was martyred, only he and those faithful Christians whose spiritual senses were open were able to see Jesus sitting at the right hand of God.52 Likewise, if Jesus is to descend from the spirit world as a spirit, then only those believers whose spiritual senses are open will be able to see him; thus not every eye would see Christ when he comes again. The biblical prophecy that everyone will see the Lord can be fulfilled only if he returns in the flesh. Since a body of flesh cannot ride on the clouds, the clouds in the verse must symbolize something else.

In the same passage, it is also written that even those who pierced Jesus will see his return. Those who pierced Jesus were Roman soldiers. However, those Roman soldiers will not be able to see the Lord at his return. To behold the returning Lord, those soldiers must be resurrected; but according to the Bible, those who will be resurrected at Christ’s return are only those faithful Christians who participate in the first resurrection. The rest of the spirits will be resurrected only after the passage of “a thousand years” in the Kingdom.53 Therefore, “every one who pierced him” must be a metaphor describing some other group of people, not the Roman soldiers. In fact, it refers to those Christians alive at the time of the Second Advent who hold fast to the belief that Jesus will return on the clouds. When Christ returns to the earth through a humble birth contrary to their expectation, they will not recognize him but will persecute him. If “every one who pierced him” is a metaphor, then the clouds in the same verse should also be metaphorical.

What do the clouds actually symbolize? Clouds are formed by the evaporation of impure water from the earth. In the Bible, water often symbolizes fallen people.54 We may deduce that clouds symbolize devout Christians whose hearts dwell in heaven and not on the earth because they have been reborn and raised from their fallen state. The Bible and other sacred scriptures also use the symbolism of clouds to indicate the multitudes.55 We sometimes find this figure of speech used in casual conversation. In Moses’ course, the pillar of cloud which guided the Israelites by day represented Jesus, who was to come as the leader of Israel; the pillar of fire by night represented the Holy Spirit who, as Jesus’ counterpart, would guide Israel by the fire of inspiration. We can conclude that Jesus’ coming on the clouds signifies that he will emerge from among a group of reborn believers to become the leader of Christians, the Second Israel. Recall that when Jesus was asked about the place of his return, he replied, “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.”56 Jesus meant by this that he will return to the place where faithful believers have gathered, which basically signifies the same thing as the biblical prophecy that Christ will return on the clouds.

When we interpret the clouds metaphorically in this way, it is evident that at his First Coming Jesus himself symbolically came down from Heaven on the clouds. It is written, “The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven,”57 and “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.”58 Even though Jesus was born on the earth, from the standpoint of the providence and with regard to his true value, he indeed came from Heaven. This is also the true meaning of the prophecy in Daniel59 which foretold that Jesus would come on the clouds.

2.4 Why Did Jesus Say that the Lord Will Come on the Clouds?
There are two reasons why Jesus prophesied that the Lord will return on the clouds. First, it was to prevent the delusions of antichrists from creating confusion among believers. If Jesus revealed plainly that he would return through a physical birth, then it would have been impossible to prevent false messiahs from causing great confusion. Since Jesus emerged as the Messiah from a humble background, anyone from any social stratum with a certain level of spirituality could claim to be his Second Advent and dazzle the world with a great delusion. Fortunately, since most Christians have expected Christ to return on the clouds and have fixed their gaze upon the sky, this turmoil has been largely avoided. Now, however, since the time is full, the truth that Christ will return through a physical birth must be revealed.

Second, it was to encourage Christians who were walking a difficult path of faith. There are other occasions when Jesus gave paradoxical words to encourage his followers to accomplish God’s Will as rapidly as possible. For example, he said, “Truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes.”60 This led his disciples to believe that the Second Advent would take place in the near future. When Jesus told Peter of his approaching martyrdom, Peter asked him what would become of the disciple John. Jesus replied, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”61 Jesus also said, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”62 These sayings led the disciples to think they would meet the returning Jesus in their lifetime. The hope of Jesus’ imminent return inflamed the zeal of his disciples and gave them the strength to overcome persecution by Judaism and the Roman Empire. Encouraged by the ardent hope of the Second Advent, they were filled with the Holy Spirit63 and established the early Christian Church, even amidst great adversity. Jesus wanted to inspire and encourage his disciples, who would be carrying a heavy cross. For this reason, he prophesied that he would come on the clouds in the power and glory of God and accomplish everything at lightning speed.

Section 3: Where Will Christ Return?

If Christ comes again as a man born on the earth, he will certainly be born among a people who are chosen by God in accordance with His predestination. Where is the place God has chosen for Christ’s return? Who are the people chosen to receive him?

3.1 Will Christ Return among the Jewish People?
Some Christians expect that Christ will come again among the Jewish people, based on several passages from the Bible: “And I heard the number of the sealed, a 144,000 sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel,”64 and “Truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes.”65 However, to interpret these verses in this way is to misunderstand God’s providence.

On this matter, Jesus uttered the parable of the vineyard:

“Hear another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them. Afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them . . . “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.” -Matt. 21:33-43

In this parable, the householder represents God, the vineyard represents God’s work, the tenants entrusted with the work represent the Jewish people, the servants represent the prophets, the son of the householder represents Jesus, and the other tenants who harvest the fruits represent some other nation which can receive Christ at the Second Advent and realize God’s Will. By this parable, Jesus conveyed that he will not come again to the people who persecuted him. God will take away the mission previously entrusted to them and give it to another people who can produce its fruits upon Christ’s return.

Why, then, does the Bible seem to portray Christ as returning to Israel? To answer this question, we must first inquire as to the meaning of Israel. “Israel” means the one who has prevailed. Jacob received this name upon defeating the angel who wrestled with him at the ford of Jabbok.66 Jacob wrestled with the angel to secure the position of Abel for the foundation of substance. By successfully securing the position of Abel and making the substantial offering, Jacob established the family foundation for the Messiah. His descendants, who inherited the responsibility for God’s providence upon this foundation, are called Israel or the chosen people. The term “Israel” thus signifies the people of God who have triumphed through their faith and does not necessarily apply to everyone who comes out of Jacob’s lineage. Thus, John the Baptist said to the Jews, “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”67 Moreover, St. Paul said, “For he is not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal,”68 and “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.”69 They reproached those Jews who boasted that they were the chosen people based only on their lineal connection to Abraham, even though they were not in fact living according to the Will of God.

It can be said that the descendants of Jacob were Israel at the time of their departure from Egypt under Moses’ leadership, but they no longer were when they turned against God in the wilderness. Therefore, God swept them away in the wilderness and led only the younger generation into Canaan; these God regarded as the true Israel. Of the descendants of Abraham who entered the land of Canaan, the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel, who transgressed against God, perished because they lost their qualification as God’s chosen people. Only the two tribes of the southern kingdom of Judah, who continued to uphold the Will of God, remained the chosen people who could eventually receive Jesus. Nevertheless, when they led Jesus to the cross, they also lost their qualification to be the people centrally responsible for God’s providence.

Who became the chosen people after Jesus’ crucifixion? They were none other than the Christians who inherited the faith of Abraham and took on the mission which Abraham’s descendants did not complete. St. Paul wrote, “Through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous,”70 testifying that the center of God’s providence of restoration had shifted from the Jews to the Gentiles.71 Therefore, the chosen people who should lay the foundation for Christ at the Second Advent are not the descendants of Abraham, but rather the Christians who have inherited the faith of Abraham.

3.2 Christ Will Return to a Nation in the East
As Jesus explained through the parable of the vineyard,72 when the Jewish people, like the tenants in the parable who killed the son of their master, led Jesus to the cross, they lost their providential mission. Which nation, then, will inherit the work of God and bear its fruits? The Bible suggests that this nation is in the East.

The Book of Revelation describes the opening of a scroll sealed with seven seals:

And I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals; and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I wept much that no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. Then one of the elders said to me, “Weep not; lo, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” -Rev. 5:1-5

The Lion of the tribe of Judah signifies Christ; it is he who will open the seven seals in the Last Days. After six of the seals are opened:

Then I saw another angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice . . . saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand. -Rev. 7:2-4

This indicates that the seal of the living God will be placed on the foreheads of the 144,000 in the East, where the sun rises. These chosen ones will accompany the Lamb at his return.73 We can thus infer that the nation which will inherit the work of God and bear its fruit for the sake of the Second Advent is in the East. There Christ will be born and received by the 144,000 elect of God. Which among the nations of the East is chosen to receive the Lord?

3.3 The Nation in the East is Korea
Since ancient times, the nations in the East have traditionally been considered to be the three nations of Korea, Japan and China. Among them, Japan throughout its history has worshipped the sun goddess, Amaterasu-omi-kami. Japan entered the period of the Second Advent as a fascist nation and severely persecuted Korean Christianity.74 China at the time of the Second Advent was a hotbed of communism and would become a communist nation. Thus, both nations belonged to Satan’s side. Korea, then, is the nation in the East where Christ will return. Let us examine from the viewpoint of the Principle the various ways in which Korea has become qualified to receive Christ at the Second Advent. As the nation to which the Messiah returns, Korea had to meet the following qualifications.

3.3.1 A National Condition of Indemnity
For Korea to become a nation fit to receive the Messiah, it had to fulfill a national dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan for the cosmic-level restoration of Canaan. Why was Korea given this condition of indemnity? If Christ returns to Korea, the Korean people are destined to become the Third Israel. In the Old Testament Age, the descendants of Abraham who upheld God’s Will and endured persecution in Egypt were the First Israel. The Christians, who were persecuted as heretics by the Jews as they honored the resurrected Jesus and carried on the providence of restoration, became the Second Israel. Christ at his return is likely to be similarly condemned as a heretic by the Christians of his time, in accordance with the prophecy that he will suffer and be rejected by his generation,75 as was Noah in his days. If so, God will have to abandon the Christians who are persecuting Christ, just as He abandoned the Jews who rejected Jesus.76 Then the Korean people, who will attend the returning Christ and support him to complete the third chapter of God’s providence, will become the Third Israel.

The First Israel suffered four hundred years in Egypt. This was to fulfill a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan as required to set out on the national course to restore Canaan. The Second Israel had to prevail over the four hundred years of persecution in the Roman Empire to fulfill a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan, as required to commence the worldwide course for the restoration of Canaan. As the Third Israel, the Korean people had also to suffer under a nation on Satan’s side for a period which fulfills the number forty. Thereby, they could fulfill a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan as required to commence the cosmic-level course to restore Canaan. This was the forty-year period during which Korea suffered untold hardships as a colony of Japan.

Korea was an early objective of Japan’s imperialist policy. The Ulsa Treaty of Protection, concluded in 1905 by Hirohumi Ito of Japan and Wan-yong Lee of Korea,77 imposed on Korea the status of a Japanese protectorate. All of Korea’s diplomatic rights were given over to the care of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Japan.

Japan stationed a governor-general and appointed military officials in every district to control all of Korea’s domestic affairs. In a short time, Japan had forced its will upon the Korean people, dictating their politics, diplomacy and economic affairs. Japan forcibly annexed Korea in 1910. The Japanese committed atrocities against the Korean people, imprisoning and executing many patriots and depriving the people of their freedom. When a movement for independence broke out on March 1, 1919, the Japanese killed thousands of civilians in every part of the peninsula. At the time of the great Kanto earthquake in 1923, the Japanese made scapegoats of innocent Koreans living in Tokyo and massacred many of them. Meanwhile, many Koreans who could no longer endure Japanese oppression gave up their homes and fled to the wilderness of Manchuria in pursuit of freedom. There they endured untold hardships and gave their hearts and souls for the independence of their homeland. The Japanese military searched from village to village for these loyal Koreans. In some villages, they herded young and old alike into a building and set it on fire, burning them alive. Japan continued such tyranny right up to the day of its fall.

The Koreans who were killed in the March 1 independence movement and in the wilderness of Manchuria were predominantly Christians. Toward the end of its colonial rule, Japan embarked on a notorious policy to stamp out independent Christianity in Korea. Christians were forced to worship at Shinto shrines; those who did not comply were imprisoned or executed. When Emperor Hirohito of Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, the Korean people were finally liberated from their bondage.

The Korean people suffered for forty years, from the Ulsa Treaty of Protection of 1905 to their liberation in 1945. Their suffering paralleled the hardships of the First Israel in Egypt and the Second Israel in the Roman Empire. Korea’s independence movement was led mainly by Christians, both at home and abroad; it was the Christians who suffered the most under Japan’s tyranny.

3.3.2 God’s Front Line and Satan’s Front Line
In the Last Days, the world is divided into the democratic world and the communist world. Because he had given Adam the blessing of dominion, God had to give Satan a free rein to create through Adam’s descendants an unprincipled world. God has had to follow in pursuit, working to restore the unprincipled world to His side. When Christ returns to restore this fallen world to its original state as created by God, he will surely work to save the communist world. No doubt the nation to which he returns will play the central role in this dispensation. Korea, the nation where Christ will return, is the place most dear to God and most abhorred by Satan. It is the front line for both God and Satan, a place where the forces of democracy and the forces of communism collide. This line of confrontation is Korea’s thirty-eighth parallel, which was drawn to fulfill the providence of God.

At the point of confrontation between God and Satan, a sacrifice must be offered as the condition to determine the outcome of their struggle. The Korean people were this sacrifice, placed on this front line of battle to be offered for the sake of the restoration of the universe. Therefore, God divided the Korean nation, just as Abraham’s sacrifices were supposed to be divided. This is the reason behind the division of Korea by the thirty-eighth parallel, which split it into two nations: one Cain-type and the other Abel-type.

The thirty-eighth parallel is the front line of battle between democracy and communism. At the same time, it is the front line of battle between God and Satan. The Korean War, which raged across the thirty-eighth parallel, was not merely a civil war; it was a conflict between the democratic world and the communist world. Moreover, it was a conflict between God and Satan. Because this war had worldwide significance for the accomplishment of the providence of restoration, the armed forces of the member states of the United Nations were mobilized for the first time. Even though the participating nations may not have understood this providential significance, they were acting in line with God’s Will for the liberation of the spiritual fatherland.

At the fall of the first human ancestors, God’s side and Satan’s side parted ways from a single point. Life and death, good and evil, love and hate, happiness and sorrow, fortune and misfortune, all have divided from a single point and come into continual conflict with each other in human history. These divided realities consolidated separately into the Cain-type and Abel-type worlds, which eventually matured to form the democratic world and the communist world. When these two worlds came into global conflict, it was centered on the Korean peninsula. Religions, ideologies, political forces and economic systems all came into conflict and caused great confusion in Korean society, which then had worldwide impact. This is because phenomena which took place in the spirit world unfolded as physical reality in Korea, the central providential nation, and were magnified worldwide. This outbreak of social and ideological chaos was a clear sign that a new world order was fast approaching. As Jesus once said, “As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.”78

When the disciples asked Jesus of the place of his return, he said, “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered.”79 Eternal life and eternal death collide in Korea, the front line of the battle between God and Satan. Devils, symbolized by the eagles, gather in this land in search of the spiritually dead, while the returning Lord comes to this land in search of the people of abundant life.

3.3.3 The Object Partner of God’s Heart
To become the object partners of God’s Heart, we must first walk a path of blood, sweat and tears. Ever since human beings fell under the dominion of Satan and came to oppose God, God has been grieving with the heart of a parent who lost his children. God has labored continually in the sinful world to save immoral and wretched human beings who are nonetheless His children. Moreover, in His efforts to recover His rebellious children, time and time again God had to let the most righteous and beloved ones be sacrificed to the satanic world, even delivering Jesus, His only begotten Son, to the cross. God has been grieving in this way every day since the human Fall.80

Accordingly, an individual, family or nation who is fighting the satanic world for the sake of God’s Will cannot avoid the path of blood, sweat and tears. How can we, as loyal and faithful children, be comfortable and complacent and still expect to remain the object partners of our Heavenly Father, who is suffering in deep agony?

The nation which can receive the Messiah should become the object partner of God’s Heart by demonstrating filial piety. That is why it must walk a path of blood, sweat and tears. Both the First Israel and the Second Israel walked a path of suffering. The Korean people, the Third Israel, have done likewise. Their miserable history was the path required of the chosen people of God. One can never be certain what great blessings such a path of affliction may eventually bring.

The nation qualified to stand as the object partner of God’s Heart must be a people of goodness. The Korean people, a homogeneous race with a four-thousand-year history, rarely invaded other nations. Even during the Kokuryo and Silla periods, when they boasted impressive military might, they used their forces only to thwart invaders. Considering that a fundamental nature of Satan is to aggressively encroach upon others, it is clear that the Korean people are qualified to stand on God’s side. God’s strategy is to claim victory after His side has been attacked first. Although countless prophets and saints have been sacrificed in the course of history, and even Jesus died on the cross, time and again God claimed victory in the end. Although Satan’s side was the aggressor in the First and Second World Wars, in the end victory was won by the nations on God’s side. Similarly, the Korean people have been invaded numerous times by foreign powers. God’s true intention in having them endure these tribulations was to have them stand on His side and secure the final victory.

The Korean people are by nature endowed with a religious character. Their religious inclination has led them to strive always for that which transcends physical reality and is of more profound value. From ancient times, when their culture was still primitive, the Korean people have evinced a strong desire to worship God. They did not have a high regard for religions which superstitiously deified nature or strove for happiness in temporal life. They have always revered the virtues of loyalty, filial piety and chastity. Their fondness for folk tales which express these virtues, such as “The Tale of Shim-ch’ong” and “The Tale of Ch’un-hyang,” stems from this powerful underpinning of their culture.

3.3.4 Messianic Prophecies
The Korean people have long cherished a messianic hope, nurtured by the clear testimonies of their prophets. The First Israel believed in the testimonies of its prophets81 that the Messiah would come as their king, establish the Kingdom and bring them salvation. The Second Israel was able to endure an arduous path of faith due in part to their hope in the return of Christ. Similarly, the Korean people, the Third Israel, have believed in the prophecy that the Righteous King will appear and found a glorious and everlasting kingdom in their land. Clinging to this hope, they found the strength to endure their afflictions. This messianic idea among the Korean people was revealed through the Chonggamnok, a book of prophecy written in the fourteenth century at the beginning of the Yi dynasty.

Because this prophecy foretold that a new king would emerge, the ruling class tried to suppress it. The Japanese colonial regime tried to stamp out this notion by burning the book and oppressing its believers. After Christianity became widely accepted, the idea was ridiculed as superstition. Nevertheless, this messianic hope still lives on, deeply ingrained in the soul of the Korean people. The hoped-for Righteous King foretold in the Chonggamnok has the appellation Chongdoryong (the one who comes with the true Word of God). In fact, this is a Korean prophecy of the Christ who is to return to Korea. Even before the introduction of Christianity to Korea, God had revealed through the Chonggamnok that the Messiah would come to that land. Today, scholars affirm that many passages of this book of prophecy coincide with the prophecies in the Bible.

Furthermore, among the faithful of every religion in Korea are those who have received revelations that the founders of their religions will return to Korea. We learned through our study of the progress of cultural spheres82 that all religions are converging toward one religion. God’s desire is for Christianity of the Last Days to become this final religion which can assume the responsibility of completing the goals of the many religions in history. The returning Christ, who comes as the center of Christianity, will attain the purposes which the founders of religions strove to accomplish. Therefore, with respect to his mission, Christ at his return may be regarded as the second coming of the founder of every religion.83 When the second comings of the founders of the various religions appear in Korea in fulfillment of the diverse revelations, they will not come as different individuals. One person, Christ at the Second Advent, will come as the fulfillment of all these revelations. The Lord whose coming has been revealed to believers in various religions, including the Maitreya Buddha in Buddhism, the True Man in Confucianism, the returning Ch’oe Su-un who founded the religion of Ch’ondogyo, and the coming of Chongdoryong in the Chonggamnok, will be none other than Christ at the Second Advent.

Finally, we witness revelations and signs being given to spiritually attuned Christians testifying to the Second Coming of Christ in Korea; they are sprouting in profusion like mushrooms after a rain. God’s promise that He will pour out His spirit upon all flesh84 is being fulfilled among the Korean people. As devout Christians make contact with spirits from various levels of the spirit world, from the lower realms to Paradise, many are receiving clear revelations that the Lord will come to Korea. However, the current leadership of the Korean Christian churches is fast asleep. Spiritually ignorant, they go about their ministries oblivious to these signs of the times. This is similar to what happened in Jesus’ time. The priests, rabbis and scribes, who should have been the first to recognize the birth of the Messiah, remained entirely ignorant of it because they were spiritually blind. The astrologers and shepherds who received revelations were the ones who knew of Jesus’ birth.

Jesus said, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to babes.”85 He was lamenting over the spiritual ignorance of the Jewish leadership of his time, while on the other hand, he was grateful that God bestowed grace upon pure and uneducated believers by revealing His providence to them. In today’s Korean Christianity, at a time parallel to Jesus’ day, similar phenomena are taking place, albeit in more complex ways. Through pure and innocent lay believers, God has been revealing many heavenly secrets concerning the Last Days. However, because they would be chastised as heretics if they were to proclaim them in public, they are keeping these truths to themselves. Meanwhile, like the priests, rabbis and scribes of Jesus’ time, many Christian clergy take pride in their knowledge of the Bible and their ability to interpret it. They take pleasure in the reverence they receive from their followers; they are content to carry on the imposing duties of their offices; yet, to God’s grief, they are entirely ignorant of God’s providence in the Last Days.

3.3.5 The Culmination of All Civilizations
Spiritual and material civilization, built upon religion and science-the quests to overcome the two aspects of human ignorance-must be brought into harmony. Only then can we resolve the fundamental problems of human life and realize the world of God’s ideal.86 In the world Christ comes to realize, science will be highly developed. It will be a society with the highest level of civilization, one in which all civilizations which have developed through the vertical course of providential history will be restored horizontally under the leadership of the Lord. Therefore, the spiritual and material aspects of civilization developing from religion and science, which have flourished all over the world, will be embraced and harmonized in Korea as guided by the new truth. Then they will bear fruit in the ideal world of God’s deepest desire.

First, the essences of all civilizations which developed on the land should bear fruit in Korea. The ancient continental civilizations which arose in Egypt and Mesopotamia bequeathed their fruits to the peninsular civilizations of Greece, Rome and Iberia, and thence to the island civilization of Great Britain. This island civilization passed on its culture to the United States, a continental civilization. Then the direction was reversed, with the United States passing on its culture to the island civilization of Japan. Now these fruits are to be harvested in the peninsular civilization of Korea, where Christ is to be born.

Next, the essences of civilizations born on the shores of rivers and seas should bear fruit in the Pacific civilization to which Korea belongs. The river civilizations which arose on the shores of the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates Rivers passed on their cultures to the civilizations in the vicinity of the Mediterranean Sea: Greece, Rome, Spain and Portugal. These bequeathed their fruits to the civilizations on the Atlantic Ocean: notably, Great Britain and the United States. All these fruits will be harvested in the civilization of the Pacific Ocean, which links together the United States, Japan and Korea.

Last, civilizations born out of different climate zones should bear fruit in Korea. In the round of the seasons, living things begin their life and multiplication in spring, flourish in summer, bear fruit in autumn, and store their reserves in winter. The cycle of spring, summer, autumn and winter is repeated not only year by year, but also day by day: morning corresponds to spring, afternoon to summer, evening to autumn, and night to winter. The four phases of human life-childhood, youth, middle age, and old age-also fit this pattern. Human history, too, unfolds according to the seasons, because an aspect of God’s Principle underlying His creation is the harmonious, seasonal circle of life.

God created Adam and Eve in the springtime of human history. Accordingly, history was supposed to begin from the temperate-zone civilization of Eden. Then, in its summer season, it should have moved to a tropical civilization; in autumn, to a cool-zone civilization; and it should have reached its culmination in a frigid-zone civilization analogous to the winter season. However, due to the Fall, human beings were degraded to the level of savages. Instead of building a temperate-zone civilization, they prematurely came to live in the tropical zones as primitive men. On the continent of Africa, they built the tropic-zone civilization of Egypt. This continental civilization passed on its culture to the peninsulas and islands where cool-zone civilizations developed. They bequeathed their fruits to the frigid-zone civilization of the Soviet Union. Now this current is to culminate in the formation of the temperate-zone civilization of the new Eden. This should certainly take place in Korea, where all civilizations are to bear fruit.

Section 4: Parallels between Jesus’ Day and Today

The period of the Second Advent is parallel to the time of Jesus. The situations unfolding in Christianity today are similar to those which took place in Judaism at Jesus’ time. Let us examine some of these parallels.

Today’s Christianity, like the Judaism of Jesus’ day, adheres too rigidly to institutional authority and ceremonies, while internally it is corrupt. At the time of Jesus, many priests and scribes had become enslaved to ritualism and legalism, and their spiritual life was corrupt. Therefore, Jews with sincere faith flocked to Jesus, that accused heretic, to slake their spiritual thirst. Similarly, in today’s Christianity, many leading clergymen and priests are captive to their authorities and enamored of their rituals while their spirits grow dimmer each day. Hence, devout Christians are wandering about the mountains and plains in search of the true path. They are seeking new leaders who can guide them out of this spiritual wilderness and show them the way to the inner light.

Christian leaders today, like the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day, will probably be the first to persecute Christ at the Second Advent. Jesus came to found a new era which would fulfill the words of the Old Testament proclaimed by the prophets. He did not limit himself to repeating the words of the Old Testament, but gave new words of truth fit for the new era. The Jewish priests and scribes criticized Jesus’ words and deeds based on their narrow understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures. Their mistaken judgment led them to deliver Jesus to the cross.

Similarly, the purpose of Christ at the Second Advent is to build a new heaven and a new earth87 upon the foundation of the spiritual salvation which had been laid by Christianity in the New Testament Age. When he returns, he will not merely repeat the words of the New Testament given two thousand years ago, but will surely add new words of truth necessary for the founding of a new heaven and a new earth. However, those Christians of today whose minds are narrowly attached to the letter of the New Testament will criticize the words and deeds of Christ at his return based on their narrow understanding of the Scriptures. Therefore, it can be expected that they will brand the Lord a heretic and persecute him. This is why Jesus foretold that at the Second Advent, Christ would first suffer many things and be rejected by his generation.88

When people receive revelations about Christ at the Second Advent or hear his words, they will respond in ways similar to the way the Jews in Jesus’ day responded. God did not reveal the news of the birth of Jesus to the priests and scribes, but to gentile astrologers and pure-hearted shepherds. This is like the case of a father who, due to the ignorance of his own children, has to confide in his step-child. Likewise, God may well reveal the news of the return of Christ first to lay people, to marginal spiritual groups and churches which the mainstream treats with disdain, or to conscientious non-believers. Only later may the news reach the mainstream Christian clergy who are unthinkingly keeping to their conventional ways of faith. In Jesus’ day, those who sincerely received the Gospel were not the Jewish leaders, but simple common folk and Gentiles. Likewise, at Christ’s return, simple Christians and non-Christians will accept the Lord’s words before the Christian leadership, which regards itself as God’s elect. This is the meaning of Jesus’ parable of the marriage feast. When the invited guests, the leading men of the community, declined the king’s invitation:

He said to his servants, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.” And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. -Matt. 22:8-10

Both in Jesus’ day and at the Second Advent, many devout believers who set out on the path of faith with the hope of entering Heaven may actually find themselves in hell. In Jesus’ day, because the priests and scribes had the responsibility to guide God’s chosen people, they should have been the first to recognize that the Messiah had come and should have led the Jewish people to him. To help them fulfill their mission, Jesus took the initiative; he visited the Temple and taught them the Gospel before teaching anyone else.89 However, when they did not receive him, Jesus had no choice but to search the shores of Galilee and take disciples from among the fishermen there. He had to minister to the dregs of society and associate with sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes. Eventually, the priests and scribes persecuted him to the point where he had to accept the fate of the cross. They committed this murder, believing that they
had done a righteous deed by eliminating a dangerous heretic and blasphemer. Then they continued on with their customary clerical duties for the rest of their lives, reciting the Holy Scriptures, paying their tithes, and making sacrifices at the Temple, all with the assurance that they were headed toward Heaven. Instead, after they passed on, they found themselves most unexpectedly in hell. Ironically, the very path upon which they had set out to reach Heaven had led them astray.

Recognizing that similar events may occur in the Last Days, each of us should seriously examine ourselves. Many Christians today are dashing on a path which they believe leads to Heaven. Yet if they take a wrong step, their path may actually lead them to hell. This is why Jesus once said that he will rebuke many devout believers in the Last Days, even those whose dedication is so strong that they can cast out demons and perform miracles in his name: “I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.”90

In truth, no one faces a more precarious situation than believers who live in such a transition period of history as exists today. No matter how much faith we have demonstrated in our lives, if we, like the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day, take the wrong step of turning against the returning Christ, all our efforts will have been in vain. Of these people, Daniel had said, “Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but those who are wise shall understand.”91

Section 5: The Chaotic Profusion of Languages and the Necessity for Their Unification

If human beings had not fallen, we would have formed one global family, which may be likened to a body whose members are all interlinked with each other with God as their head. Then all would have shared a common language; there never would have risen a profusion of tongues unintelligible to one another. The reason various languages arose and prevented free communication between peoples is that, once their vertical relationship with God was severed at the Fall, all horizontal relationships between people were also cut off. Humanity then splintered, dispersed to different geographical locations, and formed isolated communities.

There is also a biblical account giving spiritual insight into the confusion of languages. This is the story of the Tower of Babel.92 Noah’s descendants had shared a common language. One day, the descendants of Noah’s second son Ham, who had sinned against God, built the Tower of Babel to exalt themselves even above God, thus furthering the will of Satan. When the descendants of Shem and Japheth, who stood on God’s side, helped with the construction, God brought such confusion to their languages that they could no longer communicate with each other to further the will of Satan.

As offspring of the same parents, all of us have the same feelings of joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure. Yet we cannot share our deepest feelings with one another because we speak different languages. Is not this one of humanity’s greatest misfortunes? If we are to realize the ideal world of one global family which can honor Christ at the Second Advent as our True Parent, surely our languages must be unified. As expressed in the account of the building of the Tower of Babel, chaos was brought to our languages when we exalted the will of Satan. The principle of restoration through indemnity requires that we participate in the construction of God’s tower and the glorification of God’s Will as the way to unify all languages.

Based upon which language will all languages be unified? The answer to this question is obvious. Children should learn the language of their parents. If Christ does indeed return to the land of Korea, then he will certainly use the Korean language, which will then become the mother tongue for all humanity. Eventually, all people should speak the True Parents’ language as their mother tongue. All of humanity will become one people and use one language, thus establishing one global nation under God.

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