The Last Days and the Present Days

Chapter The Consummation of human history

Section IV

The Last Days and the Present Days

When Jesus talked about the coming death of Peter, Peter asked him what would become of John. Jesus answered him saying, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?" (John 21:18-22). The disciples, hearing this, thought that Jesus might return within John's lifetime. Besides, Jesus said to his disciples, "...you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of man comes." (Matt. 10:23), and again he 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." (Matt. 16:28). Because of such words, not only the disciples of Jesus, but also numerous Christians have since believed that the Lord might come in their lifetime, and always were haunted by a feeling of tension about their days being the Last Days. This is because they did not know the fundamental meaning of the Last Days.

By examining the present fulfillment of the three great blessings to man, which God set up as the purpose of His providence of restoration, we can prove that today is the Last Days. This is reason Jesus said:

From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. (Matt. 24:32-33)

1. The Phenomenon of the Restoration of the First Blessing

As already discussed in the "Principle of Creation", God's first blessing to Adam and Eve was for them to perfect their individuality. We can tell from the following phenomena that God's providence of restoring fallen man to their original state of creation with perfected individuality has reached its final stage.

The first way we can see this is from the fact that the spiritual standard of fallen men is being restored. As stated above, a man of perfection becomes one body with God in heart-and-zeal, so that man and God become able to communicate with each other fully and freely. Adam and Eve, though not quite perfect, were in the stage of communicating directly with God when they fell and caused their offspring to fall into ignorance of God.

As fallen men come to receive the benefit of the age in the providence of restoration, their spiritual standard is restored by degrees. Therefore, in the Last Days many saints reach the point where they can communicate with God, as Acts 2:17 says:

In the last days...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.

In these days, there are many believers coming forth with abilities of spiritual communication. From this we can tell that we are entering a new age in which we may restore God's first blessing after having perfected our individuality, because this is the Last Days.

Second, the historical trend of fallen men's restoration of the freedom of the original mind is further proof. Man was deprived of the freedom of coming before God because, due to the fall, he came under the dominion of Satan, and has ever since had restricted freedom. But today man's heart-and-zeal has reached the highest level, where people are in search of the original mind's freedom even at the risk of their lives. This is evidence that with the coming of the Last Days, fallen men are now entering the new age, in which they can come freely before God. They will enter the new age by perfecting their individuality, thus restoring God's first blessing to them, which has been long deprived by Satan.

Third, the original value of fallen men, which was endowed at the creation, is being restored. This is another clear proof. The original value of men, horizontally observed, is that of equality between people, and this may not appear so precious. But when vertically observed, centered on God, each and every individual bears the most august, macrocosmic value (cf. Part I, Ch. 7, Sec. I--206). Men lost their original value because of the fall. In the present age, however, the democratic ideology has reached its culmination, and men have come to pursue the original value of individuality endowed at the creation. This may be seen in the liberation of slaves, liberation of minority groups and liberation of the minor powers, together with the demand for human dignity, equality between the sexes and equality among all people. This is proof that the Last Days have come and that fallen men are now entering the new age, in which they will restore God's first blessing to men.

Fourth, the original love endowed at the creation is being restored. The world in which God's ideal of creation is fulfilled will have the form of a perfected man. People of this world, all having formed one body vertically with God, will naturally form one body horizontally with one another. Consequently, people of this world cannot but become like one body, interrelated vertically and horizontally by God's absolute love. Due to the fall, man's vertical love with God was cut off, thus causing the severance of the horizontal love among people; and so human history has been woven with struggles. Today, however, since humanitarianism is reaching its culmination, men are increasingly in pursuit of the original love.

Thus, we recognize that the present day is the veritable Last Days, in which men can perfect their individualities centered on God by restoring God's first blessing to men.

2. The Phenomenon of the Restoration of the Second Blessing

God's second blessing was for Adam and Eve to attain their true parenthood by multiplying children of goodness, and then to establish homes, societies and a world of good sovereignty. But due to the fall, Adam and Eve became evil parents multiplying evil children and thus formed a world under the bondage of the evil sovereignty. God has conducted the providence of restoring men's spiritual standard by separating men from Satan on an internal basis through religion, while on the other hand He has separated men from Satan on an external basis through various struggles and wars. Thus He has conducted His providence of restoring the sovereignty of goodness on both an internal and an external basis.

Human history, then, has been the restoration of God's second blessing to men, accomplished by the separation of men from Satan on both an internal and an external basis and by finding those children of God who will be able to attend the returning Lord, our True Parent. Therefore, we perceive from the phenomenon of the restoration of God's sovereignty on both an internal and an external basis that today is the veritable Last Days. (This restoration has appeared through the history of the development of cultural spheres centering on religion, and through the history of the rise and fall of nations.)

Let us now study how the history of the development of cultural spheres has progressed causing the present age to be the Last Days. As repeatedly discussed in the history of the development of cultural spheres, God established cultural spheres centered on religion by sending prophets and saints to fallen men. These saints established various religions in accordance with man's original mind, which was directed toward ultimate goodness. Consequently, there have emerged many kinds of cultural spheres in the history of mankind. As time has gone by, these have either united, or been absorbed by one another. In the present day there is a clear trend of one worldwide cultural sphere being established centered on Christianity. This kind of historical trend shows us that God's second blessing to men is being restored, with all the races standing side by side as brothers centered on Christ, who is the nucleus of Christianity.

What makes Christianity different from other religions is that its purpose is to restore the one great world family which God had intended at the creation. This is to be accomplished by finding the True Parents of mankind through whom all men can become children of goodness through rebirth. This signifies that Christianity is the central religion that will accomplish the purpose of God's providence of restoration.

Thus, the restoration of God's second blessing to men can be seen in the formation of one final worldwide cultural sphere centered on Christianity, in which all men will be elevated to the position of children of goodness centered on Christ and the Holy Spirit, who are the True Parents of mankind (cf. Part I, Ch. 7--205). Thus we cannot deny that we are entering the Last Days today.

Next, we shall investigate how the history of the rise and fall of nations, having progressed toward the purpose of restoring the sovereignty of goodness, is leading the present age into the Last Days. It is an error, brought about by ignorance of the fundamental providence of God, to regard the cause of struggles and wars as merely the conflict of interests among different ideologies.

Mankind has had a sinful history that began with the evil sovereignty centered on Satan, which was caused by the fall of the first human ancestors. Since God's purpose of creation is unchanging, the final goal of human history is the restoration of God's sovereignty of goodness, which is to be achieved through the separation of men from Satan. If the world of evil sovereignty were to go on without struggles and wars, this evil world would continue forever, leaving the sovereignty of goodness eternally unrestored. Therefore, God has worked His providence of restoring the heavenly sovereignty by degrees, sending His prophets and saints. Evil sovereignties have been destroyed by better ones, through the religions of goodness which God has founded.

Thus, struggles and wars have become the inevitable course through which man has had to go in order to fulfill the providence of restoration. A more detailed discussion of this question will be made in Part II. Since human history is following the providential course of restoration through indemnity, evil may sometimes seem to prevail when seen within a limited time span; but in the end it will surely be destroyed, or absorbed and assimilated into the realm of a better standard. The rise and fall of nations by wars is thus the inevitable result brought about by the providential course for the restoration of the sovereignty of goodness.

This is why God ordered the Israelites to destroy the seven tribes of Canaan. When Saul disobeyed Him, leaving some of the Amalekites alive with their cattle, God severely punished him (I Sam. 15:18-23). Thus, God not only directly ordered the Israelites to destroy the Gentiles, but even destroyed the Israelites of the northern dynasty when they turned to evil, by delivering them into the hands of the Assyrians (II Kings 17:23). We must understand that God did so in order to destroy the sovereignty of evil and restore the sovereignty of goodness. Therefore, struggles and fights between individuals of God's side are evil, because they result in the destruction of the good sovereignty itself; but for the good sovereignty to destroy the evil sovereignty is an act of goodness because it is to fulfill the purpose of God's providence of restoration.

In this manner the history of the struggle for separating sovereignty from Satan by gradually gaining lands and wealth all over the world has practically come to restore the Heavenly sovereignty. As for men, they are being restored to the Heavenly side on a worldwide basis, by going through the individual level, family level, societal level and national level. Thus the providence for the separation of men from Satan, starting from the age of clan society and going through the ages of feudalism and monarchism, has now come into the age of democracy. In present human society, we see the division into the two worlds of democracy and communism, the former being the ideology to establish the Heavenly sovereignty and the latter being that to establish the Satanic one.

In this way, human history, which started under the evil sovereignty centered on Satan, has now come to form two opposing sovereignties on a worldwide basis. As the original human nature, heading for ultimate goodness, is awakened through religion, philosophy and ethics, it produces the separation of the power of the good sovereignty from that of the evil one. These two sovereignties, with opposing purposes, can never coexist. Upon the consummation of human history, they will surely arrive at the point of intersection, causing a conflict of an internal nature centering on ideology, which may very possibly cause an external war centered on military power. Then, finally, the sovereignty of Satan will perish forever, leaving the sovereignty of God restored as the everlasting single sovereignty of Heaven.

Today is the Last Days because it is the time of intersection when the world of good sovereignty under God and the world of evil sovereignty under Satan are confronting each other in the final battle.

In human history, which has hitherto separated the good sovereignty from the evil one, the evil sovereignty sinks down to destruction while the good sovereignty rises toward prosperity, just as in muddy water the mud sinks down, while the clear water rises upward. Thus, in the Last Days, these two sovereignties of good and evil will for a period meet at the point of intersection, the former will remain forever as God's, while the latter will perish in eternal darkness.

Thus, when these two sovereignties of good and evil are at the point of intersection, it is called the Last Days. Since this is the time when the perfection of the growth stage, from which Adam and Eve fell, should be restored by indemnity, all mankind wanders about in ideological chaos, just as the first human ancestors in the Garden of Eden were confused without knowing what to do after the fall.

During the long course of the providence of restoration, there have been several occurrences of the Last Days in which the two sovereignties of good and evil came to the point of intersection. Both the time of Noah and that of Jesus were called the Last Days, with the two sovereignties at the point of intersection. But each time men failed to accomplish their portion of responsibility and were unable to destroy the sovereignty of evil; and God again had to start His providence for the separation of the good from the evil sovereignty. Consequently, we will see another intersection of the two sovereignties at the time of the Second Advent of the Lord. The course of the providence of restoration has thus repeated periodically the spiral movement of affairs going through the circular course toward the purpose of creation. This is why there have been many periods of similar nature in human history (cf. Part II, Ch. 3, Sec. I--373).

3. The Phenomenon of the Restoration of the Third Blessing

God's third blessing to men signifies Adam and Eve's dominion over the world of creation after they attained perfection. Man's dominion over the world of creation has two aspects--internal and external. We can see that in the present age the two aspects of man's dominion, lost with the human fall, are being restored.

Internal dominion means the dominion of heart-and-zeal. When a man has perfected his individuality he becomes one in heart-and-zeal with God; thus he is able to experience God's own heart-and-zeal. On the day when man, after having perfected himself, comes to love the world of creation with heart-and-zeal identical to God's, and when he receives the beauty returned by the creation, he becomes the dominator in heart-and-zeal over the world of creation. However, due to the fall, man failed to experience God's heart-and-zeal and has not been able to regard the creation with God's heart-and-zeal. Nonetheless, God has been working His providence of restoration by means of religion, philosophy and ethics, constantly elevating by degrees the spiritual standard of fallen men toward God. Thus, man in the present age is restoring his qualification as the dominator in heart-and-zeal over the world of creation.

External dominion means domination through science. If man, having perfected himself, had been able to dominate the world of creation internally with heart-and-zeal identical to that which God had over the world of creation at the time of its creation, man's scientific achievement could have reached its culmination in an extremely short time, because man's spiritual sensibility would have been developed to the highest dimension. Thus, men could have dominated externally all the things of creation. In consequence, man not only could have subdued the world of nature, including the heavenly bodies, at the earliest possible date, but he also could have brought about an extremely comfortable living environment due to the economic development that would have accompanied scientific achievement.

However, man, by losing his spiritual light due to the fall and by thus being deprived of his internal domination over the things of creation, fell to the status of a barbarian with a spiritual sensibility as dull as that of the animals. Thus, he lost the external domination over creation. Man, according to God's providence of restoration, now has restored his spiritual light. Consequently, both his internal and external dominations have, by degrees, been restored. Therefore, scientific development in the present day has also reached its highest degree. So it has come about that modern men have created an extremely comfortable living environment, due to economic developments which followed brilliant scientific achievements.

We see then that God's third blessing to men is being restored, and from this we cannot deny that today we have reached the Last Days.

As we have observed repeatedly, the development of the cultural spheres also shows that a worldwide cultural sphere is now being formed centered on one religion. Nations, too, are moving toward one worldwide structure of sovereignty, starting from the League of Nations, through the United Nations and reaching today for world government. Regarding economic development, the world is now on the threshold of forming one common market. Extremely well-developed transportation and communication facilities have reduced the limitations of time and space. Men are able to communicate with one another on the earth as easily as if the earth were the garden of a house in which people of all the different races of the East and the West lived as one family. All mankind is crying out for brotherly love.

However, a home is formed around the parents; there alone can true brotherly love occur. Therefore, upon the Second Advent of the Lord as the True Parent of mankind, all men will come to live harmoniously in the garden as one family.

From this too we may know that today is surely the Last Days. There must be one final gift which history, having thus progressed, is about to present to mankind. Thus must be the ideology of the macrocosmic nature that can bind all the strangers who now live in turmoil within one world without any true purpose, into one family centered on the same parents.