Epiphany 2021: Honoring Jesus

Today, Christians around the world observe Epiphany—the annual holiday commemorating the Three Wise Men’s visit to baby Jesus and his baptism by John the Baptist. A Greek word meaning ‘manifestation,’ Epiphany celebrates the reveal of Jesus Christ to the world. Two thousand years later, a spiritual revelation between Jesus and Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon led to a new truth from God, giving rise to the global Unification movement.

Rev. Moon learned that Jesus’s crucifixion upset God’s providence, necessitating the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus, persecuted by the people of his day and denied being a messianic figure by John the Baptist, passed his mission to save humanity onto Rev. Moon. With teachings derived from Christianity, the late Rev. Moon and his wife Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon spent more than six decades promoting world peace and unity centering on God’s love and ideal families. 

Below is an excerpt from Rev. Moon’s 1980 speech “Jesus and Christianity from the Standpoint of God’s Will,” emphasizing the important foundation of Jesus’s mission.

Speech excerpt:

“Jesus was born the King of Kings, out of a long line that goes all the way back… Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, also had a long, complicated story… She deceived her parents-in-law as well as her husband. It was inevitable that she was the object of criticism from everyone, as she was supposed to have been a virgin. She found herself in a position where she was to be stoned to death. It may be assumed that in her relationship with Joseph there were frequent quarrels. In the eyes of the Jewish people, Jesus was an illegitimate child. 

Jesus, the only Son of God, grew up in this tragic environment. But he came to the world as a Messiah who had the complete birth right in an Abelian Age on a national level. No wonder he could make judgmental remarks toward Judaism and Israel’s government…

Although God sent Jesus as a Messiah to fulfill Adamic civilization centered upon God on this planet, the people of Israel killed him. It was not God’s Will that Jesus should be branded as a heretic and crucified on the cross. It was heartbreaking to hear Jesus cry out in anguish just before his death, ‘Father, Father! Why hast thou forsaken me?’

Jesus came to this world to build a nation and world centered upon God’s love. But Israel rejected Jesus’s teachings, and as a result, history became a history of perdition. When the first Israel rejected Jesus, God continued His Providence through the second Israel, the Christians, on the worldwide level, for the last 2,000 years.

Jesus’s teachings were supposed to unite his people, but because he died upon the cross, he could not become the King of Kings. God did not send him to start just another faith. It was His Will to save the world through Jesus. Thus Christianity, which is the substantial body of Jesus, has the mission to save the whole world.

However, Christianity after the death of Jesus has been sectarian. God clearly declares: ‘He so loved this world that He has sent His only Son.’ He did not send Jesus because He loved one person or church in particular, but to save the world.” —Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon

Rev. Moon responded to God’s call, taking on the responsibility passed down from Jesus, whose life was sacrificed to bring humanity spiritual salvation. Today let us honor Jesus’s mission and his manifestation to the world.

You can read Rev. Moon’s full speech here.

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