THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION

Introduction

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. 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.

A. The Principle of restoration through Indemnity

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.

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.

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. 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 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.

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.

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.

Who should make indemnity conditions? We ourselves must fulfill the necessary indemnity conditions as our portion of responsibility.

2. The Foundation for the Messiah

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.

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.

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 Word (John 1:14) with perfect character, fulfilling God's first blessing.

2.1 The foundation of Faith

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.

Second, an object for the condition must be offered.

Third, a numerical period of indemnity must be completed.

2.2 The Foundation of Substance

Becoming perfect incarnations requires that first we be cleansed of the original sin through the Messiah.

Fallen people can establish the foundation of substance by making an indemnity condition, the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature. By making thefoundation of substance, he can receive the Messiah, be cleansed of the original sin, and ultimately restore his original nature.

B. 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. 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.

I. THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION IN ADAM'S FAMILY

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. The Foundation of Faith

To restore through indemnity the foundation of faith, fallen people must set up an object for the condition. For Adam's family, this object was a sacrificial offering.

To restore the foundation of faith, there must also be a central figure. Yet nowhere in the biblical record do we find Adam offering a sacrifice. Instead, his sons Cain and Abel offered them. 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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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.

3. The Foundation for the Messiah in Adam's Family

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? 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.

II. THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION IN NOAH'S FAMILY

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. (Gen. 4:25) From among Seth's descendants, God chose Noah's family to substitute for Adam's family and commenced a new chapter in His providence.

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.

1. The Foundation of faith

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. In this sense, Noah was the second ancestor of humanity.

Noah was called when "the earth was filled with violence."(Gen. 6:11) 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.

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. Furthermore, Noah was a righteous man in the sight of God.(Gen. 6:9) For these reasons, he was qualified to make the symbolic offering to God by building the ark.

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. 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.

After the ark was completed, God judged the world with the flood for forty days. What was the purpose of the flood? God brought about the flood judgment, eliminating sinful humanity in order to raise up a family who would relate only with Him.

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. (Gen. 8:6-7) Let us examine what future providential situations this foreshadowed. 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.

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. 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.

Ham, Noah's second son 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 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.

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.

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