As already stated above, the purpose of the providence of restoration is ultimately to establish the foundation to receive the Messiah. Therefore, as the providence is prolonged, the providence to restore that foundation must repeat itself. Meanwhile, in order to establish the foundation to receive the Messiah, first, the central figure in the providence of restoration must set up the foundation of faith by offering symbolic sacrifices, acceptable to God, by using certain conditional objects, during certain periods of time; second, he must establish the foundation of substance by offering substantial sacrifices, acceptable to God, after laying the condition of indemnity to remove the fallen nature.
Therefore, the course of the providence of restoration, the repetition of the providence to restore the foundation to receive the Messiah, was, after all, the repetition of the providence to restore, by indemnity, the symbolic offering and the substantial offering. Consequently, the age of the providential time-identity, formed by the repetition of the providential course to restore the foundation to receive the Messiah, was, after all, formed by the historical facts in the providence to restore, by indemnity, the two offerings mentioned above.
Let us now study the character of each providential age in accordance with such principles. To grasp the character of the age, we need an understanding of the central nation in charge of the providence, and the central historical sources concerning it. The history of mankind has been formed by the histories of numerous nations. Meanwhile, God, by choosing a special nation from among all the nations, and having it walk the typical providential course of restoration to establish the foundation to receive the Messiah, directs the chosen nation to be the center of His providence and to lead the history of mankind. The nation chosen for such a mission is called the “nation of God’s elect”, or “God’s chosen people”.
The nation of God’s elect consisted originally of the descendants of Abraham, who established the family-level foundation to receive the Messiah. Therefore, the central nation, having fulfilled God’s providence in the providential age of restoration, was Israel, the chosen nation. Therefore, the history of the Israelite nation becomes the historical material of the providential history of restoration in this age.
However, after the Israelites had delivered Jesus to his crucifixion, they lost their qualification as the chosen nation. Jesus, who foresaw this, once told them so in the parable of the vineyard, and concluded, “…the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.” (Matt. 21:43). Paul also said that not all who are descended form Israel belong to Israel, but the people of God’s will and promise are the “Israel” (Rom. 9:6-8). In reality, the central nation, which has fulfilled the dispensation of the providential age of the prolongation of restoration beginning with Jesus, has not been the Israelite nation, but the Christians, who inherited God’s providence of restoration left unaccomplished. Consequently, Christian history becomes the historical source for the providential history of restoration in this age. In that sense, if we call Abraham’s lineal posterity of the Old Testament Age the “First Israel”, the Christians of the New Testament Age may be called the “Second Israel”.
When we compare the Old Testament with the New Testament, the five books of law (Genesis to Deuteronomy), twelve books of history (Joshua to Esther), five books of verses (Job to the Song of Solomon) and seventeen books of prophecy (Isaiah to Malachi) in the Old Testament correspond to the Gospels, Acts, Letters of the Apostles, and Revelation, respectively. However, in the books of history of the Old Testament, the whole 2000-year history of the “First Israel” is recorded while, in Acts of the New Testament, only the history of the “Second Israel” (Christians) of Jesus’ day is written. In order to study and comprehend the divine providence of God from the time of Jesus to the present, we must refer to the history of Christianity as a source of reference, in addition to “Acts” of the New Testament. Therefore, Christian history becomes the historical source which comprises the providential history of restoration after Jesus. By comparing the characters of each period which has formed the providential age of restoration, and the providential age of the prolongation of restoration, connected by the time-identity centering on the histories of the “First Israel” and the “Second Israel”, we can understand more clearly that human history has been created according to a consistent, formal providence of the living God.
SECTION I – THE PERIOD OF SLAVERY IN EGYPT AND THE PERIOD OF PERSECUTION BY THE ROMAN EMPIRE
The 400-year period from Noah to Abraham was invaded by Satan, because of Abraham’s failure in the offering. Therefore, during the period of slavery in Egypt, to restore by indemnity this 400-year period, the posterity of Jacob were miserably persecuted by the Egyptians for the 400 years after he and the 70 kinsmen, centering on his 12 sons, had entered Egypt. In the period of the persecution under the Roman Empire to restore this period by indemnity, the 12 apostles, the 70 disciples, and the Christians centering on Jesus, because of his crucifixion, had to undergo miserable persecution by the Roman Empire for 400 years in order to restore, by indemnity, the 400-year period of preparation for the coming of the Messiah which had been invaded by Satan.
In the period of slavery in Egypt, the First Israel, the chosen nation, separated itself from Satan, who invaded because of Abraham’s failure in the offering, by circumcising (Ex. 4:25), offering sacrifices (Ex. 5:3), and keeping the Sabbath (Ex. 16:23). Therefore, during the period of persecution by the Roman Empire also, the Second Israel, the chosen nation, had to separate itself from Satan by performing the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism, offering the saints as living sacrifices, and keeping the Sabbath. After the 400-year period of slavery in Egypt had ended, Moses subjugated Satan by the powers of the three great miracles and ten calamities, and headed for the land of Canaan, leading the First Israel, the chosen nation, out of Egypt. Likewise, in the period of persecution by the Roman Empire, after the 400-year persecution of the Second Israel ended, Jesus influenced Emperor Constantine spiritually, and moved him to recognize Christianity publicly in 313, and finally could have Theodocious I declare Christianity the national religion.
In this way, Christians came to be restored, spiritually, into Canaan, out of the Satanic world.In the Old Testament Age in which God had worked His providence by external conditions of indemnity, according to the law, God subjugated Pharaoh by giving Moses external miracles and signs. But, since the New Testament Age is the period in which God worked His providence with internal conditions of indemnity, according to the Word, God then worked through spiritual reformation.
After the period of slavery in Egypt had ended, Moses set up the center of the Old Testament by receiving the Ten Commandments and words on Mount Sinai. By receiving the tablets of stone, the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant, the First Israel, the chosen nation, came to set up the will to receive the Messiah. Likewise, after the period of persecution by the Roman Empire, the Second Israel, the chosen nation, decided on the New Testament by collecting the records of the apostles as the words to fulfill spiritually the Ten commandments and the ideal of the temple of the Old Testament Age. They thus broadened the ground to receive the Lord of the Second Advent by establishing churches centering on the words. In the period after the coming of Jesus, Jesus and the Holy Spirit have been leading Christians directly, so God has not set up any one person as the central figure of the whole providence, substituting for God, as He did in the previous period of providence.
SECTION II – THE PERIOD OF JUDGES AND THE PERIOD OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES UNDER THE PATRIARCHAL SYSTEM
The period of Judges is the 400-year period in which the 15 judges including 12 judges beginning with Othniel and the succeeding three (Samson, Eli and Samuel) were guiding the Israelites. These judges were each filling multiple functions as prophet, chief priest, and king, which were shared by several individuals in the next period. Therefore, the feudal society of Judaism began from that time. In the period of Christian churches under the patriarchal system of the New Testament Age, the patriarchs held duties corresponding to those of the judges in respect to leading the Christians.
In the period before Jesus, the patriarchs were establishing the foundation to receive the Messiah both spiritually and physically, centering on the First Israel. Therefore, the politics, economy, and religion of that time were under the guidance of a single leader. However, in the course after Jesus, they were creating the spiritual kingdom centering on Jesus, the spiritual King of Kings, on the spiritual foundation to receive the Messiah already established. Therefore, the Christian world or society as the “Second Israel” is a spiritual kingdom without land, with the resurrected Jesus as its king.
Since the patriarchs had the mission of the judges in erecting the spiritual kingdom, they had, at times, to become prophets, chief priests, or kings ruling the parish. As a result, the Christian feudal society began from this time.
In the period of the judges, after the Israelites, led by Joshua and Caleb, entered the blessed land of Canaan, they formed a new nation of God’s elect, centering on the judges in the new land allotted to each tribe. Thus they established the foundation of the Israelite feudal society. Likewise, in the period of Christian churches under the patriarchal system of Christianity, after its liberation from the Roman Empire (the Satanic world), spread the gospel to the Germanic tribes, who had moved to Western Europe because of the invasion by the Huns in the 4th century. By setting up the Germanic people as a new people of God’s elect in the new land of Western Europe, they established the foundation of the Christian feudal society.
We have already discussed in detail, in the section on the providence of restoration centering on Moses, the fact that, in the course of restoration into Canaan by the people of Israel, they set up the tabernacle as the symbolic being of the Messiah and at the same time as the conditional object substituting for Abel, in order to establish the foundation of substance. Therefore, the Israelite nation in the period of judges should have exalted the will of the tabernacle under the leadership of the Judges. But, by living among the seven tribes of Canaan without destroying them, the Israelites came to worship their idols after their evil customs, thus bringing about great chaos in their faith.
Likewise, in the period of Christian churches under the patriarchal system, the Christians should have exalted the will of the church as the image-entity of the Messiah, and, should have exalted it at the same time, as the conditional object substituting for Abel, under the leadership of the patriarchs. But, partially due to the influence of the many miscellaneous religions of the German people, there came about a great confusion in their faith.
SECTION III – THE PERIOD OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE PERIOD OF THE CHRISTIAN KINGDOM
Upon entering the period of the United Kingdom, the period in which the judges led the First Israel was over. The prophets under direct command of God, the chief priests serving the tabernacle and the temple, and the king ruling the people were in a triangular position, each having to accomplish his leading mission centering on the purpose of the providence of restoration. Therefore, in the period of the Christian Kingdom, which restored this period by indemnity as the substantial time-identity also, the period of the patriarchs’ leading the Second Israel was over; and the monasteries corresponding to the prophets, the popes corresponding to the chief priests, and the kings ruling the people had to lead the Second Israel, centering on the purpose of the providence of restoration. Christianity at that time was divided into the five great parishes of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome. The Roman patriarch, holding the superior position among them, was supervising other parishes, and he was called by the special title of “Pope”.
In the period of the United Kingdom, Moses’ “ideal of the tabernacle” presented itself as the “ideal of the temple”, centering on the king, thus establishing a kingdom. This was the image-course, showing that in the future Jesus would come as the substantial temple, and erect a kingdom as King of Kings (Is. 9:6). Likewise, in the period of the Christian Kingdom, the City of God written by St. Augustine as his Christian ideal at the time of the Christians’ liberation from the Roman Empire, was at this time realized by the Emperor Charlemagne in the form of the Christian Kingdom which was the Kingdom of the Franks from the time of Emperor Charlemagne. This was the image-course, showing that in the future Christ would come again as King of Kings, and erect a kingdom. Therefore, in this period, the king and the pope should have realized the Christian ideal in perfect oneness centering on God’s will. Thus, the spiritual kingdom without land established centering on the pope and the substantial kingdom centering on the king should have become one, centering on the Christian ideal, If so, at that time, religion, politics, and economy would have become one, and the foundation to receive the Messiah of the Second Advent would have been realized then.
The central figure to restore the foundation of faith in the period of the United Kingdom was the king, who was to realize God’s Word, given by means of the prophets. Prophets and chief priests, being in the position of substituting for God’s Word, would stand in the position of Abel in their age. However, in the course of the providence of restoration, they had to restore the substantial world from the position of the archangel, representing the spiritual world. Therefore, after having ordained a king on the spiritual foundation which they established for him, they had to stand in the position of Cain before him. Accordingly, the king must rule the nation according to the words of prophets, and the prophets must obey the king from their position as his subjects. Therefore, the central figure to restore the foundation of faith in this period was the king.
In reality, in the 800th year from Abraham, the prophet Samuel ordained Saul under God’s command, making him the first king of the First Israel, the chosen nation of God (? Sam. 8:19-22, 10:1-24). If King Saul, standing on the 400-year foundation of the period of judges, had accomplished his 40-year reign in a way acceptable to God, he could have stood in the position of having restored, by indemnity, the 400-year period of slavery in Egypt and Moses’ 40-year period in Pharaoh’s palace, thus being able to establish the foundation of faith on the 40-day foundation of separation from Satan. Accordingly, if Saul had erected the temple as the image of the Messiah on that foundation, and exalted it, he could have stood in the position of Moses, having succeeded in the first nationwide restoration of Canaan, finally erecting the temple and exalting it. Again, if the chosen people of Israel had absolutely obeyed the king, exalting the temple on the foundation of faith centering on King Saul, they could have established the foundation of substance, thus laying the foundation to receive the Messiah. However, King Saul, having rebelled against God’s command, given through the prophet Samuel (I Sam. 15:1-23), failed to erect the temple. King Saul, who thus failed to erect the temple, was placed in the position of Moses, having failed in the first nationwide restoration of Canaan.
In this way, the providence of restoration centering on King Saul was prolonged through the 40-year period of King David to the 40-year period of King Solomon. Just as Abraham’s will had been realized at the time of Jacob after passing through that of Isaac, the will of erecting the temple by King Saul, who was also in the position of Abraham, was realized at the time of King Solomon after passing through that of King David. Nevertheless, since King Solomon left the position of Abel for the substantial offering by falling into lust, the foundation of substance became a failure. Accordingly, the foundation to receive the Messiah, which was to be established in the period of the United Kingdom, was also a failure.
In the period of the Christian Kingdom, all the conditions belonging to the period of the United Kingdom had to be restored by indemnity, as substantial time-identity. Therefore, the central figure to restore by indemnity the foundation of faith of this period was the king, who was to realize the Christian ideal of the monastery and the pope. The pope was in the position of the chief priest, who had exalted the will of the prophets in the period of the United Kingdom. Therefore, after having ordained the king on the spiritual foundation he had set up for the king to realize the Christian ideal, he had to obey the king from the position of his subject, while the king had to rule the people by exalting the pope’s ideal. In reality, for this purpose of the providence, Pope Leo III ordained and crowned Emperor Charlemagne in 800 A.D., thus making him the first king of the Second Israel, “the chosen nation of God”.
Emperor Charlemagne, who stood on the 400-year foundation of the period of Christian churches under the patriarchal system, having restored by indemnity the 400-year period of judges as substantial time-identity, now stood on the 40-day foundation of separation from Satan like King Saul. Consequently, the foundation of faith of this period was supposed to be established when Emperor Charlemagne practiced the Christian ideal by exalting the words of Christ on this foundation. In reality, Emperor Charlemagne could establish this foundation by becoming king, ordained by the pope. Therefore, if the Second Israel of that time had absolute trusted and obeyed the king, standing in such a position, the foundation of substance could have been established them, and the foundation to receive the Messiah of the Second Advent also could have been accomplished. By doing this, the spiritual kingdom which was established, centering on the Pope and the substantial kingdom centering on the king could have become one on the spiritual foundation to receive the Messiah, and the Lord could have come again on that foundation, thus establishing the kingdom of the Messiah. Nevertheless, the king left Abel’s position of offering the substantial sacrifice, by failing to exalt God’s will, and the foundation of substance was not established. Accordingly, the foundation to receive the Messiah of the Second Advent was also a failure.
SECTION IV – THE PERIOD OF THE DIVIDED KINGDOMS OF NORTH AND SOUTH AND THE PERIOD OF THE DIVIDED KINGDOMS OF EAST AND WEST
The period of the United Kingdom began with King Saul and continued through King David and King Solomon. But because King solomon worshipped the gentile gods that his wives had been worshipping (I Kings 11:4-9), it was divided after three generations into the Northern Kingdom of Israel, centering on the ten tribes in the position of Cain, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, centering on the two tribes in the position of Abel. Thus came the period of the divided kingdoms of North and South.
Likewise, the Christian Kingdom, established by Emperor Charlemagne, also was divided into three–the East Franks, the West Franks, and Italy–at the third generation because his three grandsons quarreled with one another. However, since Italy was under the rule of the East Franks, it was actually divided into East and West. Meanwhile, the East Franks rose greatly under King Otto I, calling themselves the Holy Roman Empire. The Empire ruled over West Europe in the name of the Roman Emperor, trying to secure both political and religious power. Thus the East Franks stood in the position of Abel against the West Franks.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel, centering on Jeroboam, the exile from the Kingdom of Solomon, had 19 kings in 260 years. Through their killing one another, the royal families changed 9 times, and not one king was righteous. Consequently, God destroyed 850 prophets of Baal and Ashera by showering fires over the altar on Mount Carmel through the prophet Elijah, sent from the Southern Kingdom of Judah (I Kings 18:19-40). He also sent many other prophets like Elisha, Jonah, Hosea and Amos, having them evangelize at the risk of their lives. Nevertheless, the Northern Kingdom of Israel continued to worship evil spirits without repenting, so God delivered them into the hands of Assyrians to be destroyed. They were completely deprived of the qualification of God’s elect for eternity (II Kings 17:17-23).
Meanwhile, the Southern Kingdom of Judah, centering on Rehoboam, the Son of Solomon, continued from King David to King Zedekiah in one orthodox line, producing many righteous kings out of the 20 who ruled for 394 years. After King Josiah, many unrighteous kings appeared in succession and, by falling into idol worship influenced by the Northern Kingdom, they were taken captive to Babylon.
Whenever the people of Israel stood in the position contrary to the ideal of the temple, God continued to send prophets, four major and twelve minor ones in all, encouraging them to arouse movements of internal reformation. However, the people did not repent, even at the prophets’ advice, and God had to work His providence of external chastisement by delivering them into the hands of the Gentiles, such as Chaldea, Syria, and Babylon.
In the period of the divided kingdoms of East and West, which restored this period by indemnity as substantial time-identity, the Vatican was corrupted; and renowned monastics, such as Thomas Aquinas, St. Bernard and St. Francis, around the movement of internal reformation by giving advice. However, the ruler still tended to fall and be corrupted without repentance, and God worked His providence of external purge by delivering them into the hands of the Gentiles. This was the providence behind the Crusades. When the Holy Land of Jerusalem belonged to the Caliph, the Christian pilgrims were received with hospitality. But after the occupation of Jerusalem by the Seljuk Turks upon the fall of the Caliphate, they were persecuted, and the successive kings, in rage, raised the Crusades to restore the Holy land. The Crusades, which began in 1096, had seven expeditions in about 200 years, but they were defeated again and again.
In the period of the divided kingdoms of North and South, the peoples of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah were all taken captive by the Gentiles. Thus the autocratic society of Israel finally collapsed. Likewise, in the period of the divided kingdoms of East and West, the papal power completely lost its authority and supremacy with the defeat of the Crusades, and the national spirit lost its center. Besides, due to the deaths of the many feudal lords and knights who maintained the feudal society, the people lost their political base. Also, the tremendous amount of war expenditures as a result of the repeated loss of battles left them utterly impoverished. At this point, the Christian autocratic society finally began to collapse.
SECTION V – THE PERIOD OF JEWISH CAPTIVITY AND RETURN AND THE PERIOD OF PAPAL CAPTIVITY AND RETURN
The Jewish people, by falling into faithlessness without repentance, failed to restore the ideal of the temple. Therefore, in order to fulfill this will again, God allowed the Jewish people to be taken captive into Babylon, the Satanic world, to suffer slavery there just as He had let the Israelites go into Egypt, the Satanic world, to suffer slavery in order to restore by indemnity the failure of Abraham in his offering.
Likewise, as already discussed above, God established the period of the Christian Kingdom in order to build the Kingdom of the Messiah. This kingdom could be built by establishing the foundation to receive the Messiah of the Second Advent, centering on the pope and the king, and by handing over the throne and the kingdom to the King of Kings who would come again as the Messiah on that foundation (Is. 9:6, Luke 1:33). But the kings and the popes who were to establish the spiritual foundation on which to set up the king as the central figure of the foundation of substance, fell into corruption without ever repenting. They therefore failed to establish the foundation to receive the Messiah of the Second Advent. God, in order to work anew His providence of restoring this foundation, allowed the Pope to be taken captive and suffer slavery.
In the period of the Jewish captivity and return, there was the 70-year period in which King Jehoiakim, Daniel, and other members of royalty, together with the ministers of the government, officials, craftsmen, and many other Jewish people, were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar the king od Babylonia (Jer. 39:1-10, II Chron. 36:11-23, II Kings 24-25). There was also the 140-year period which lasted from the time of the Jews’ liberation by King Cyrus’ royal decree after Persia had destroyed Babylon until the time when they could return to their land for the third time to set themselves up as the nation centering on the prophet Malachi to prepare for the Messiah. In the period of papal captivity and return, which restored this period by indemnity as substantial time-identity, they had to walk a similar course.
Because of their immorality, popes and priests gradually lost the confidence of the people. The defeat of the Crusades also resulted in the collapse of papal authority. Meanwhile, after the Crusades, the feudal system collapsed, and the modern state was established. With gradual expansion of the royal power, the conflict between pope and king became violent. Thus Pope Boniface VIII came into conflict with the French King Philip IV and was even imprisoned by him for a time. One generation later, Clement V, who was elected as pope in 1305, moved the Vatican from Rome to Avignon of Southern France in 1309. There the successive popes lived as captives for 70 long years, under the restraint of the French kings. After that, Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1377.
After his death, the cardinals elected Urban VI, the Archbishop of Bari in Italy, as Pope. However, the cardinals, being mostly Frenchmen, repelled Urban VI before long and set up another Vatican in Avignon of Southern France by electing Clement VII as Pope. This division continued until the next century, when the reformation council solved the problem. The cardinals held a conference in Pisa, Italy, in 1409 and dismissed both popes, designating Alexander V as the lawful Pope. However, the two popes opposed the dismissal, and the three popes stood in triangular positions for the time being. Afterwards, they held the General Council of Constance, with many members present, such as the Bishops and Archbishops, including theologians, royalty, and envoys, and dismissed the three popes at once, electing Martin V as Pope.
Thus the cardinals were deprived of their right to elect the pope, and it was shifted to that conference, which insisted upon holding the sovereign power of the Roman Church (1418). This conference was later held in Basel, Switzerland, for the purpose of making the organization of the Roman Church into the body of a constitutional monarchy. Nevertheless, the pope did not like the idea of the congregation having the controlling power. Not only was he not present at the conference, but he even tried to adjourn the meeting. Despite the fact, the assembly members held the meeting, but it was automatically dismissed in 1449. Thus, the plan to establish the body of a constitutional monarchy in the Roman Church came to naught, and absolute papal monarchy, lost since 1309, restored its function.
Leaders of many conferences held in the 14th century tried to remove the corrupted popes and priests by setting up the laymen as representatives and giving this conference the supreme power and authority. Nevertheless, the papal power resumed the status prior to the popes’ imprisonment, and they condemned to capital punishment all the leaders of the Reformation, such as Wycliffe and Huss. It was from this moment that the Protestant movement of Religious Reformation began to spread. Thus, the period of approximately 210 years from the time when the pope was taken captive into Avignon in 1309 A.D. until the Religious Reformation took place in 1517, centering on Luther, was the period in which to restore by indemnity, as the substantial time-identity, the 210-year period from the time of the Jewish captivity for 70 years in Babylon until they aroused both political and religious reformation centering on Malachi.
SECTION VI – THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH AND THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION FOR THE SECOND COMING OF THE MESSIAH
The Israelites received Jesus only after the 400-year period of preparation for the coming of the Messiah, after their return to Jerusalem from Babylon. Therefore, in order to restore this by indemnity, Christians also can receive the Lord of the Second Advent only after the 400-year period of preparation for the Second Coming of the Messiah, which began with the Pope’s return to Rome from his life of captivity in Avignon.
The vertical condition of indemnity for the 4000-year history of the providence of restoration since Adam, in which the providence to restore the foundation of faith through the 40-day period of separation from Satan was prolonged again and again by continual invasion of Satan, was to be restored by indemnity horizontally in this final period of providential history. For this, there came the period of preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Therefore, in order to restore this period, by indemnity, as the substantial time-identity, there must be the period of preparation for the Second Coming of the Messiah in which to restore by indemnity, horizontally, in this final period of providential history, the vertical condition of indemnity for the 6000-year history of the providence of restoration since Adam.
The Israelites, who had returned from their captivity in Babylon, were restoring the foundation of faith by erecting the temple destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar and by studying the law, thus arousing the movement of reformation in their faith under the guidance of the prophet Malachi, in repentance of their past sin of having worshipped evil spirits. Likewise, the medieval Christians after the pope’s return to Rome were restoring the foundation of faith by arousing the movement of religious reformation centering on Luther, and by pioneering a new way of faith, according to the light of the gospel, breaking through the gloom of the medieval Dark Ages.
The period of preparation for the coming of the Messiah was the period in which to restore by indemnity as the image time-identity, the approximately 40 years of preparation period, from the time of Jacob’s return from Haran to Canaan until his entering into Egypt. The period of preparation for the Second Coming of the Messiah is the period in which to restore this period by indemnity, as the substantial time-identity.
Accordingly, all the Christians of this age had to walk the way of many hardships and tribulations, just like Jacob’s family until they met Joseph in Egypt, or the Israelites until they met Jesus. Since the providential age of restoration was the age in which to set up the faith toward God by the external conditions of the Law and offerings, the First Israel, in the period of preparation for the coming of the Messiah, walked the way of external tribulations under the rule of the Gentile nations such as Persia, Greece, Egypt, Syria, and Rome. However, since the providential age of the prolongation of restoration was the period in which to set up faith toward God by the internal conditions of prayer and faith centering on Jesus’ words, the Second Israel, in the period of preparation for the Second Coming of the Messiah, had to walk the way of internal tribulations. In this period, as a result of humanism, which was the leading ideology of Renaissance (the ideology of Enlightenment following it), and the freedom of faith propagated after the Religious Reformation, religion and ideology experienced a great chaos. Also, the Christians had to suffer unspeakable internal trials.
Thus, in order to restore by indemnity, as the substantial time-identity, the 400-year period of preparation for the coming of the Messiah, the 400-year period of preparation for the Second Coming of the Messiah came about. Let us here study how the background and environment were formed in each of the two periods which were the preparation periods to receive the Messiah.
At the time of the first coming of the Messiah, God sent the prophet Malachi to His chosen nation 430 years in advance, having him prophesy the coming of the Messiah. He reformed Judaism, preparing Israel as the chosen nation to receive the Messiah. Meanwhile, among the Gentiles, at about the same time, God had Gautama Buddha of India (565-485 B.C.) pioneer a new base for Buddhism by improving Hinduism, and had Socrates of Greece (470-399 B.C.) pioneer the period of Hellenic culture. In the Orient, He had Confucius (552-479 B.C.) set up human ethics and morality through Confucianism, thus having them establish the culture and religion suitable for the place and people in order that they may make necessary spiritual preparation to receive the coming Messiah. Jesus, coming on the prepared basis, intended to unify all the regions of various religions and cultures into one sphere of Christian culture by absorbing and winning over Judaism, Hellenism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and all the rest of the religions.
The period of the Renaissance occurred in order to restore by indemnity, as the substantial time-identity, the period of making the environment which God provided to prepare for the coming of the Messiah, when his coming was imminent. Therefore, the period of the Renaissance served to establish the background and environment of the period for the Second Coming of the Messiah. Accordingly, the rapid progress in politics, economy, culture, science and all other aspects of human endeavor as we see today began abruptly in the period of the Renaissance. This progress developed the background and environment of the period so that we may today receive the Messiah. In Jesus’ day, the vast political territory formed around the Mediterranean Sea by the rise of the Roman Empire with its ease of communication in any direction and the vast cultural territory formed centering on the hellenic language could establish the level foundation on which to be able to expand rapidly the ideas of the Messiah–from Israel centering on Christ, to Rome centering on Israel, and then to the world centering on Rome.
Likewise, since today is the day of the Second Coming, the democratic political sphere, based on freedom, is covering almost every corner of the earth with the rise of the great powers. The distance between East and West is extremely shortened owing to the rapid progress in transportation and communication, and due to the free interchange of languages and cultures, the ideology for the Second Advent of the Messiah can freely and swiftly flow into the hearts of all mankind. All these are the level territory perfectly provided by God. There is no question of this becoming the best foundation on which to make the truth and ideology of the Messiah worldwide within the shortest possible time by rapidly spreading it, when the Lord of the Second Advent comes.
SECTION VII – THE DEVELOPMENT OF HISTORY FROM THE STANDPOINT OF THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION
As already discussed in the “Principle of Creation”, the Kingdom of heaven on earth is a world made in the image of a perfected man. In consequence, the fallen world may be regarded as an image of fallen man. Therefore, we can understand the movement in the whole of mankind’s sinful history by observing the life of fallen man.
We cannot deny the fact that fallen man possesses the original mind headed for good and the evil mind headed for bad in rebellion against the commands of the original mind, constantly at war with each other. Nor can we deny that the good deeds following the commands of the original mind and the bad deeds following the commands of the evil mind are in conflict with one another in one body. Thus, human society, where the individual bodies which have bitter fights going on in themselves live in disharmonized horizontal relationships, is a society of struggle and conflict. Meanwhile, human history is nothing other than men’s social lives interwoven with struggles flowing down vertically and experiencing constant change as time goes by. Naturally, this history must necessarily unfold with struggles and wars.
Nevertheless, man is ever struggling in the midst of the persistent fight between his original mind and his evil mind to follow goodness by repelling evil. Accordingly, his deeds also assume the direction of good conduct gradually by resisting bad conduct. Even in the fallen man there is the original mind in action heading for good. Therefore, he can participate in God’s providence of restoration, fulfilling by degrees the purpose of goodness.
Consequently, it is evident that history made by such men, has been heading for good by repelling evil, even in the vortex of the mixture of good and evil. Therefore, the ultimate world for which history is headed can be none other than the Kingdom of Heaven in which the purpose of goodness is realized. So we must understand the fact that struggles and wars are also phenomena in the course of separating good from evil, in order to fulfill the purpose of goodness. Therefore, though at times the battle may result in the temporary triumph of evil, history, after all, will be changed into the providential course of fulfilling the purpose of greater good. From this viewpoint, we may understand the fact that human history has developed toward good by constantly repeating its action of separation of good from evil, according to God’s providence of restoration.
Meanwhile, due to man’s lineal relationship with Satan, Satan has realized in advance, centering on fallen men, the type of world similar to that which God intends to realize in the future. As a result, human history has formed a non-principled world in the pseudo-form of the Principle. Consequently, at the close of the sinful history of mankind, the non-principled world in the pseudo-form of the Principle, centering on Satan, will be realized before God will restore the Kingdom of heaven on earth; this is the world of communism. Thus, Satan realizes, in a non-principled way prior to God, what God intends to realize. We see from this that in the providential course of restoration, false things present themselves in the form of true ones before the true ones appear. The Bible verses prophesying the appearance of the false Christ before the coming of the true one can be elucidated only by such a principle.
1. THE DEVELOPMENT OF HISTORY IN THE PROVIDENTIAL AGE OF RESTORATION
The society first formed by fallen men was a primitive collective society. This was a society in which men fulfilled each other’s needs, centering on Satan. This was what Satan realized in a non-principled way in advance of the collective-cooperative society which God intended to realize centering on perfected men. If there were no struggles and divisions in such a society of Satan, it would continue forever, and God’s providence of restoration would never be realized.
Nevertheless, as explained above, there are two minds at war in every fallen man and this conflict within the mind, appearing in men’s actions, would create conflicts between individuals. Therefore, the primitive collective society could not maintain peace. Moreover, as that society developed into a society in which the financial interests of the people mutually differed, the struggle has naturally developed to a greater scale. Thus, by the action of the original mind of man which tended toward taking part in God’s providence of restoration, division was created through the fights from the early days of primitive collective society centering on Satan.
Seeing the course of the development of the sinful history of mankind centering on Satan, we find that following the primitive collective society, the clan society was formed, and feudal society grew out of that. Feudal society finally expanded its territory and sovereignty to form a monarchic society. This is because God intended to call good individuals out of the sinful world and establish a clan society of goodness centering on them, next forming a good feudal society which would finally become the kingdom of goodness with its territory and sovereignty of goodness able to receive the Messiah. Satan, knowing this in advance, walked such a course ahead of God.
In reality, God called Abraham out of such a sinful world to be the center of goodness. By having him multiply offspring with the capacity of serving God’s will, He established the Israelite clan society. Later, the descendants of Abraham went into Egypt and developed there from a clan to a tribe. After their return to Canaan, they formed a period of judges, and the society centering on the Judges was the Israelite feudal society. Why then do we call it a feudal society? The primary characteristics of a feudal society are, first, its political system with the relationship of master and servant, on the assumption of the latter’s serving and obeying the former; and second, its economic system of self-supply within the territory of the blockade. The period of Judges formed a society with these characteristics. That is, a portion of land was allocated to each tribe of the Israelite nation which had returned into the land of Canaan, and the tribes formed a feudal society, centering on the Judge, who was in the position of a feudal lord. Therefore, we call this the Israelite feudal society.
The character of the feudal society compelled its people to obey, in absolute submission, the ideology and leadership of their feudal lord. Accordingly, as long as their lord stood in God’s will, the people naturally stood on the side of God. In addition, being in such a relationship, they could live in circumstances in which they suffered no Satanic invasion. Consequently, the significance of the clan society’s having developed into feudal society was to prevent Satanic invasion by taking Satan’s possession back to the heavenly side and forming greater territory belonging to divine sovereignty. Since this is God’s providence, Satan counter-planned in order to maintain his sovereignty by forming a Satanic feudal society in advance, since he was aware of God’s will.
Meanwhile, the feudal society came in order to establish the foundation for the monarchic society with greater sovereignty and territory. That is, with the Israelite feudal society, God formed small units of territory with their sovereignty, people, and economy belonging to the heavenly side, able to prevent Satanic invasion. Then, in order to strengthen and expand into greater heavenly sovereignty for its people and territory, by uniting the small units of territory, there came the Israelite monarchic society, which was the period of the United Kingdom, beginning with King Saul. As already mentioned, Jesus came as the King of Kings, in all respects (Rev. 11:15). Therefore, God formed the Israelite monarchic society in order to provide the foundation on which the Messiah could come and reign as King of Kings.
God intended to establish the Israelite monarchic society under this providence, so Satan attempted to prevent God’s providence by forming a monarchic society, centering on him, ahead of God. Therefore, we see that before the period of the United Kingdom, the kingdom of Egypt erected its first dynasty on the side of Satan more than twenty centuries before Christ; this kingdom lasted for 30 dynasties. The ancient kingdom of Babylon had already unified the whole of Mesopotamia at the time of King Hamurabi in the 18th century B. C.; and the kingdom of the Hittites became the greatest power in the East centering on Syria in the 14th century B.C. Thus in the Satanic world, according to the action of the original mind of man in correlation to God’s providence, a kingdom higher in standard of goodness and another more evil fought constantly, resulting in the separation of good and evil. Therefore, if at that time King Solomon had served God’s will to the end, he could have unified all the Eastern countries by showing his excellent political abilities, after having absorbed the three great civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Crete (Minoan). Further, he could have formed a worldwide territory enabling the Messianic ideal to be realized. However, due to the fall of King Solomon, God had to work His providence of tearing down this monarchic society.
Thus, the kings of the period of the United Kingdom failed to provide the foundation on which to restore God’s sovereignty by establishing the foundation of faith. Therefore, God finally divided the kingdom into those of North and South. God let the Northern kingdom be destroyed by the Gentile nation of Assyria (Assyria become the strongest, erecting the first “World Empire” by conquering the central part of the Mideast including Egypt in the 8th century B.C.). When the Southern kingdom of Judah, having served God’s will, soon rebelled against Him, God allowed it to fall into the hands of New Babylon (after the fall of the Empire of Assyria, the Chaldeans erected the kingdom of New Babylon or Kingdom of Chaldea with Babylon as its capital).
After the fall of the Kingdom of Judah, God kept the Jewish throne vacant until the coming of the Messiah by having the Jewish people belong to many gentile nations. Especially, by having the Jewish people belong to the sphere of Hellenic civilization, which was going to be the foundation of democracy, God provided a society of a democratic type (around his elect) so that later, if the Jewish people should receive the Messiah upon his coming, he might become their king, according to the will of the people. However, since the will of the Jewish people was to crucify Jesus instead of enthroning him, the purpose of God’s 2000-year providence of restoration, which He intended to realize centering on Abraham’s lineal descendants, was fulfilled only spiritually.
2. THE DEVELOPMENT OF HISTORY IN THE PROVIDENTIAL AGE OF THE PROLONGATION OF RESTORATION
(1) The Providence of Restoration and European History
The Roman Empire, which had persecuted Christianity, finally surrendered before the crucified Jesus at the end of the 4th century and decreed Christianity as its national religion. However, if in the beginning the Jewish people had become one in faith and service to Jesus as the Messiah, the ancient united world on the Mediterranean Sea, centering on the Roman Empire, would necessarily have been moved and inspired by Jesus in his lifetime, and they would have erected a kingdom centering on Jerusalem, exalting Jesus as their king. However, due to the Israelites’ faithlessness, the Jewish nation was destroyed, and the Roman Empire, which was to be the foundation for the kingdom of the Messiah, began to decline until in 476 Western Rome was destroyed by Odoacer, chieftain of Heruls. Thus, God’s providence of restoration was shifted from Judea, the land of bitter grief, to West Europe, which was the territory of Western Rome. Accordingly, the spiritual providence of restoration by Christianity, after Jesus, has been accomplished with Western Europe as the basis. Therefore, the providential history of restoration of this age developed only in Western Europe. For this reason, the course of development of history discussed by historical materialism is applicable only to the history of Western Europe. In this way, the Christian history centering on Western Europe became the central historical source for the formation of the providential age of the prolongation of restoration.
(2) Mutual Relations Between the History of Religion, History of Economy, and History of Politics
We have already studied in the “Principle of Creation” that God created man with the dual aspects of physical man and spirit man in order to have him dominate the two worlds; namely, the visible world and invisible world. Therefore, if man had not fallen, his spirit man and physical man could have grown and been perfected together; and his intellect, both spiritual and physical, could have formed a perfect harmony at the same time in man’s physical life. However, due to the fall, man fell into ignorance of both the spiritual side and the physical side. From this point, man’s spiritual ignorance has been enlightened by religion while his ignorance of physical reality has been overcome by science, as already discussed (cf. Part I, Ch. 3, Sec. V, 1–129).
As stated, man’s spiritual ignorance has gradually been overcome as he searched for the invisible “world of cause” through religion. Since religion does not fulfill everyone’s immediate needs, the development on the spiritual side may be active (by leaps) with specific persons, but it is usually very slow with the rest. We can see this from the fact that even today, when religion is popularized worldwide, there are many people whose spiritual aspect is no better than that of ancient men.
On the other hand, man’s physical ignorance has been greatly overcome by the scientific research of the “world of result”, the natural (or physical) world which is familiar to everyone. Science is of immediate necessity to everyone because it develops our everyday life. Therefore, the way out of the ignorance of physical reality is rapid and broad, and open to many. Thus, in religion, the object we search for is the invisible world of cause, which is transcendent, while in science we search for the visible world of result, which is tangible. Therefore, up to the present, religion and science have been in conflict with each other as forces which admit to no logical compromise. Besides, Satan, who is holding sovereignty over the world of creation, is constantly invading and undermining men in their everyday lives. Therefore, the way of religion, until now, has been thought to be something man cannot go through without abandoning his everyday life. Naturally, religion has not been in harmony with science, which is pursuing the benefit of the physical world. God originally created, first, man’s physical body, which is external, and then his spirit, which is internal (Gen. 2:7). Therefore, as we will discuss precisely in Section I of the next chapter, His providence of restoration, according to the principle of re-creation, must also undergo the process of providence, from the external to the internal. Seen from such a principle of providence, it is evident that religion and science have trodden the course of development disharmonized with each other.
This kind of dissonance is also found in the relationship between religion and economy. That is because the economy, like science, belongs to the physical world, and it develops in an especially close relationship with the progress of science. Regarding this relationship, the history of religion is in accordance with God’s internal providence, and the history of economy is in accordance with His external providence. However, religion and economy cannot help differing from each other in their direction and rate of developmental progress. Therefore, in order that we may grasp the development of history in Western Europe, which has undergone the course patterned after God’s providence of restoration, we must study the history of Christianity and economy separately.
However, as in the case of religion and science, religion and the economy also cannot develop freely without a relationship, because these two have the divided missions to restore the internal and external lives of fallen men. Therefore, like religion and science, religion and economy have formed respective histories of Christianity and economy by their relationships with our social life, although they may have conflicted with each other in some aspects. Religion and economy relate to our social life through politics. This is especially evident in Western Europe, which was strongly Christianized. Politics in Western Europe should have harmonized through social life, the economic development following the radical development of science and the movement of Christianity, which had not yet been able to take any clear direction in the providence of restoration. Therefore, the political history of Western Europe headed for a new direction. Consequently, in order to grasp accurately the historical development for the providence of restoration, we must study separately the political history also. As an example, let us study the course of development of the history of Western Europe toward the end of the 17th century.
Seen from the history of religion, Christian democratic society was already formed in this period. With the collapse of the spiritual kingdom under the pope’s absolute authority, which took place due to the Religious Reformation in 1517, medieval men were liberated from the life of faith, and their subjection to the pope, and everyone could lead the life of faith freely, centering on the Bible. However, politically, this period saw the rise of the absolute monarchic society, while seen from the aspect of the history of economy, the feudal society existed under the system of the manor. Thus the society in this period was a democratic society in the aspect of religion, a monarchic society in the aspect of politics, and a feudal society in the aspect of economy. So in order to grasp the character of this age form the viewpoint of the providence of restoration, we must consider their courses of development separately.
Then, we must know why the historical development in the period of the providence of restoration (the Old Testament Age) had not undergone such a process. In the ancient society, since science was at a standstill, the development of economics was stagnated. The Israelites of the Old Testament Age, when their mode of life was the same for all, led a simple life under a social system of the master-servant relationship in which they had to obey the strict law at the command of their leader. Therefore, their religious life was, actually, their social life. Accordingly, in this period, religion, politics, and economy could not enjoy separate development.
Let us now study the manner in which history developed, seen from the standpoints of religion, politics, and economics, in the providential age of the prolongation of restoration (New Testament Age).
We have already clarified above that the clan society on the Heavenly side was formed by the division of Satanic primitive collective society by the tendency of man’s original mind in relation to God’s providence of restoration, which brought about the separation of the men of God’s will. Likewise, with the crucifixion of Jesus, God’s chosen nation fell to Satan, and God could not work His providence of restoration with the society as it was. Consequently, God divided the society, and by calling upon devout Christians, He established the Christian clan and society.
Just as in the Old Testament Age the 70 people centering on Jacob’s 12 sons had started their providential course by forming the Israelite clan society, the 70 disciples and 12 apostles centering on Jesus started their providential course by forming the Christian clan society. Since the Christian clan society was a primitive Christian society, there was no need of any organized system in the politics and economy at that period. Accordingly, in this period, religion, politics and economy could not enjoy any separate development.
Christian clan society gradually prospered while being persecuted bitterly by the Roman Empire, finally forming Christian tribal society. Then, the Western Roman Empire fell at last in 476 A.D., due to the great movement of nations which began in the latter part of the 4th century. When Christianity spread among the German people, a vast Christian society was established.
Following the clan society in the course of development of history is the feudal society. Feudal society was born when, around the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, royal power diminished and nations fell into a state of disorder. From this time, Christian society of Western Europe began to have its religion, politics, and economy differentiated, each having its own separate course of development. Feudal society was made of a political system according to the master-servant relationship created among the major, middle, and minor feudal lords and the knights under the premise of obedience and service, and of the economic system of self-sufficiency of the manor system. The land was divided among the lords. The king, as one of the feudal lords, had his power decentralized. Each lord held possession of a certain allocation of land, granted by his king, and having hid independent land, he could exercise even the authority of judicial right. In consequence, the land was almost like a private possession apart from the national power over it. Such private possession of land was called a manor.
Some lower grade nobility donated private lands to certain feudal lords or temples in order to be protected by the ruler, and they were given the land again in the form of loan. This was another type of manor. Thus, manors existed all over the country. Knights of the lowest class received an allocation of a manor, each serving his feudal lord as a private soldier, while the king or the lord possessed hundreds or even thousands of manors.
The religious aspect also developed toward the same direction as the feudal society discussed above, centering on Christianity. This is called Christian feudal society. That is, the patriarch, the archbishop, and the bishop had positions, each corresponding to a major lord, medium lord, and minor lord; just as the king was one of the feudal lords, the pope was also one the patriarchs. There also was a religious type of government system under an absolute master-servant relationship. The bishops, possessing the feudal lands donated by the believers, were similar to the feudal lords, who enjoyed a powerful position among the many classes of feudal society.
Next, studied from the economic aspect, this period was that in which the ancient slavery system was shifted to the manor system. Accordingly, common people came to possess land from this time. Thus, the social position of the people under the land system of this period was separated roughly into four classes: the nobility, the yeoman, the serf and the slave.
In this way, God could provide the foundation in which to erect, later, the kingdom on the Heavenly side by establishing the feudal society around the Germanic people whom He had elected, and by strengthening the small units of heavenly territory in the three aspects of religion, politics, and economy on the foundation of the fallen Western Roman Empire.
(5) Monarchic Society and Imperialistic Society
Monarchic society came after the feudal society in the course of the development of history. Then, in what way was the monarchic society, seen from the political aspect of Western Europe, formed? Each of the states erected by the Germans who had moved into West Europe existed for short period except the kingdom of the Franks, which continued for a long time. The Franks were a tribe of West Germans, who, after having established the Merovingian kingdom, united with Christianity. By absorbing Roman civilization, they formed in West Europe a Roman world with a Germanic heritage. After the fall of that kingdom, Charles Martel expanded his power by expelling the Moors, who had invaded in the southwest, while his son Pepin erected the Carolingian kingdom. Charlemagne, Pepin’s son, who had thought highly of St. Augustine’s theory of theocracy, intended to establish a monarchic nation with that theory as the national ideology as soon as he became king. Charlemagne established a powerful kingdom of the Franks by unifying Central Europe and stabilizing the security of West Europe, which was in chaos because of the great movement of the nations.
The Christian monarchic society that followed the Christian feudal society in the religious aspect was a society of the spiritual kingdom without land, established centering on the pope on the spiritual foundation to receive the Messiah. Pope Leo III ordained Charlemagne in 800 A.D., crowning him as the emperor and giving him the divine right. Thus, the spiritual kingdom which had been established centering on the pope, and the kingdom of the Franks which had been erected politically, united with each other and formed the Christian Kingdom.
The period of the Christian Kingdom was the period of time-identity with the period of the United Kingdom in the Old Testament Age. The purpose of the monarchic period’s following the feudal period was to form a greater heavenly sovereignty for its people and its territory by uniting the feudal society. Accordingly, if the pope, who had been establishing the foundation to restore the substantial world from the standpoint of the archangel, had obeyed the king from the position of Cain after his blessing of the king, and if the king had established the Christian Kingdom completely in God’s will by running the government to realize the Messianic ideal, following the pope’s ideology, this very period could have become the Last Days, in which they could receive the Messiah. Thus, if the truth that could solve completely the conflicting problems of religion and science through one unified theme had appeared at that time, the foundation to receive the Messiah of the Second Advent could have been established then on that foundation through the religion, politics, and economy developing at that time toward a direction with one accord, centering on one ideology.
Therefore, the feudal society should have ended completely at that time with the coming of the period of the Christian Kingdom. Nevertheless, since the popes and kings acted apart from God’s will, the original ideal of Charlemagne failed to be realized and the strong foundation of the feudal system did not collapse, continuing until long after that. Accordingly, religion, politics, and economics were still separated from one another; the spiritual kingdom centering on the pope and the substantial kingdom centering on the king took contradictory positions, and separated.
In this way, Charlemagne, who had erected the kingdom on the foundation of the matured feudal system, could not tear down the barriers of feudalism. Therefore, he was, in fact, in the position of no more than a great feudal lord. The Christian Kingdom thus having failed to establish the kingdom capable of receiving the Messiah of the Second Advent, the feudal system was more and more strengthened; the feudal society of many classes in the aspect of politics, saw its prime until the rise of the society of absolute monarchy. As the feudal classes began to decline from the middle of the 17th century, the power of the feudal lords, which had been decentralized, was centralized around the king. In this way, the king, enthroned with “the divine right of kings” as his political ideology, came to enjoy absolute power. It may be regarded to have happened between the middle of the 17th century and the French Revolution in 1789 that the king actually formed the monarchic society in the political aspect, apart from the position of a feudal lord in the feudal class society.
Next, what was the consequence of the Christian monarchic society seen from the position of the history of religion? Since the popes of this age were secularized, without being able to stand in God’s will, they gradually walked the way of spiritual decline. Moreover, the dignity of the Pope dropped due to the failure of the Crusades, and the papacy fell into a titular position by the Pope’s imprisonment in Avignon in southern France. Thus, the Christian monarchic society, which was the spiritual kingdom centering on the Pope, continued until the outbreak of the Religious Reformation in 1517.
As for the course of economic development in this period, the feudal system of economy persisted, even in the absolute monarchic society in which the political system was centralized after the decline of the feudal system. Thus, not only in the aspect of agricultural economy, but also in the other economic spheres which had been turning to capitalism, the economic system until the French Revolution could not transcend the limits of feudalism. That is, even the independent farmers (yeomen), who relied on the power of the king in order to resist the rule of the feudal lord, could not remove themselves from the limitations of the feudal system, while the manufacturers, who conspired with the king, knowing the disadvantage of the feudalistic division, finally ended up by becoming feudalistic mercantilists themselves.
If feudal society is followed by monarchic society in terms of political structure, then what would follow feudalism in terms of economy? This would be the capitalistic society, and the imperialistic society following it. The centralization of capital is a characteristic of capitalism, especially of imperialism, just as centralization of power in politics is a characteristic of monarchism. Capitalism began to bud out from the beginning of the absolute monarchic society in the middle of the 17th century and gradually entered its maturity after the period of the industrial revolution in England.
In this way, capitalistic society arose in order to develop the small-unit economic foundation which had been secured through the feudalistic economic system into a large-unit foundation. Further, in order to restore a worldwide foundation of economy, capitalism moved to the stage of imperialism. What we must remember here is that the pattern of God’s providence of restoration had been formed centering on Western Europe. Accordingly, the imperialism discussed here also indicates what has developed centering on Western Europe.
The imperialistic idea which had expanded in West Europe motivated the Christian nations of West Europe to obtain colonies all over the world, before and after World War I. Thus, the world progressed, radically, into the Christian cultural sphere.
The age of democracy followed the age of monarchism. Meanwhile, the reason that the age of monarchism came was to erect the kingdom capable of receiving the Messiah as King. However, this age having failed to fulfill such a mission, God destroyed this society and set up democracy in order to work a new providence for the reconstruction of the Messianic kingdom.
Democracy is a principle under which the people are given the sovereignty of running the government for themselves by their own will. Consequently, the purpose of democracy is to break down Satanic dictatorship and to set up a new political system, enabling the fulfillment of the providence of restoration to receive the Messiah as King. As history goes on, man’s spirit becomes brighter and brighter, under the benevolent influence of the age through the providence of restoration. Therefore, man’s original mind, in correlation with that providence, comes to seek after religion unconsciously. This original mind in search of religion, after all, inquires into Christianity, which God provided as the final and ultimate religion.
This is, in fact, the reason that today’s world is on the way to form one sphere of Christian culture. Naturally, as history draws near its consummation, the will of the people inclines to be Christian-like, and the democratic government following the will of the people is also forced to be changed into that of Christianity. Thus, when the Messiah comes again into the society under the democratic government well matured by the Christian spirit, he will be able to set up God’s sovereignty on the earth by the will of the people, thus restoring the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. We must know, therefore, that democracy is, ultimately the political principle of God’s final providence to annihilate the dictatorship on Satan’s side and to restore, according to the will of the people, the sovereignty of God centering on the Lord of the Second Advent. Thus, the democratic spirit that arose against the absolute monarchism in the late 18th century motivated the democratic revolution in England, America and France, collapsing the monarchic society and establishing the foundation of democratic society. We have studied democracy from the viewpoint of the development of history, but democracy seen from the providential progress of the Hebraic and hellenic ideals will be handled in the next chapter.
Next, concerning the course of the development of history in the religious sphere, we have seen that the coming of the age of Christian Democracy, after the Religious Reformation of 1517 A.D., caused the collapse of the spiritual kingdom without land centering on the pope. The Christian democracy, through religious reformation, caused the collapse of the spiritual kingdom that had been under the pope’s dictatorship. Originally, that kingdom centering on the pope, as discussed above, should have realized a kingdom capable of receiving the Messiah of the Second Advent by the pope’s becoming one with the king. However, the pope failed to carry out this mission. Just as democracy was brought about in order to break down the dictatorial sovereignty of the absolute monarchic society, so the Christian democracy came in order to tear down the dictatorial sovereignty of the pope, who was proceeding apart form God’s will. It was natural that after the Religious Reformation, there came the age of Christian democracy in which everybody could freely seek God, centering on the Bible, without having to go through the medium of the pope or the priests. In this way, in the aspect of religion, too, they entered the age in which believers could seek their way of religious faith, according to their free will, without being subjected to anybody or anything. Thus, Christian democracy came to create a Christian-like social environment in which people could freely go, at a future time, to the Messiah of the Second Advent in whatever manner and form he might come again.
On the other hand, in the course of the development of economic history, socialism came about in order to break imperialism and to establish a democratic economic society by the same law of development. Thus, World War I may be regarded as the war for the imperialistic nations to obtain colonies, while toward the end of World War II, national democracy made its appearance to tear down imperialistic colonial policies, forcing the great powers to abandon their colonial politics and to liberate the lesser powers. Accordingly, the age of capitalistic economy was shifted into the age of socialistic economy, with the collapse of imperialism as the turning point.
It is only too natural for the Satanic world, which is headed toward a communistic society, to advocate socialism. This is because Satan would attempt to realize, in advance, the course of the heavenly side going toward the socialistic system of economy, though the directions and contents of the two may differ from each other.
Seen from God’s principle of creation, man’s original value endowed at the creation must be equal between any two individuals. Consequently, God intends to give everyone an equal environment and equal conditions of life, just as human parents would to their children. Therefore, production, distribution, and consumption must have the same organic relationship with one another as that between the stomach, heart and lungs of the human body. So there should not be any competition over the market because of excessive production, nor any accumulation or excessive consumption which would bring obstruction to the purpose of the life of the whole, due to unfair distribution. There must be a necessary and sufficient amount of production, distribution in fair and proper quantities, and reasonable consumption for the general purpose, just as in the liver of the human body there should be an appropriate reserve for the smooth operation of the entire body.
Man, having been created with such an ideal, cannot help demanding such a socialistic system of life since he quite naturally searches for his original nature, striving after the democratic freedom at the consummation of the providential history which will enable the restoration of the original ideal. If the will of the people should demand this, the politics according to the will of the people must also go in the same direction. Therefore, there will ultimately have to come a socialistic society centering on God. We can find a socialistic idea even in ancient Christian society, while the ideal of “Utopia” by Thomas More of England in the 16th Century was also socialism, and the ideology based on Owen’s humanism in the period of the industrial revolution of England was also as such, together with the Catholic socialism and Protestant socialism, brought about by the Christian idea of Kingsley of England. All these must be regarded as coming from the natural expression of man’s original nature, which is headed for the ideal of creation.
(7) The Principle of Coexistence, Co-prosperity, common-cause–and Communism
The benevolent influence of the age of God’s providence of restoration helps to develop man’s original nature endowed at the creation, which was prevented from displaying itself by Satan’s invasion. Therefore, in accordance with such spontaneous desires, endowed at the creation, men unconsciously search for the world of God’s ideal of creation with ardent aspiration. Consequently, man’s original mind, headed for a socialistic society of the heavenly side, comes after all to advocate the principle of coexistence, co-prosperity and common-cause, finally realizing the ideal world in which God’s purpose of creation is actualized. This is the true Kingdom of heaven on earth centering on the Lord of the Second Advent.
Satan, always trying to realize God’s providence in advance, is steering his way toward the world of communism by advocating so-called “scientific socialism” based on materialism. Communists say that human history, having developed from a primitive communistic society, is now going back to a communistic society, but without knowing its cause. God, having once promised man to realize the Kingdom of Heaven on earth after His creating man, permits Satan, who had his blood relationship with man first, to realize his non-principled world in a pseudo-form of the Principle in which Satan realized in advance the imitation of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, which God is going to restore.
Democracy came about in order to replace the political dictatorship of monarchism and to win the sovereignty back to the hands of the people. Likewise, the Heavenly side is trying to realize the principle of coexistence, co-prosperity and common-cause, after going through socialism, in order to break down the imperialistic system of economy in which the state property is monopolized by a certain individual or class, and to establish a system of economy in which all people may equally enjoy the wealth. Meanwhile, the Satanic side is trying to realize communism, in advance of God. Accordingly, socialism presents itself to realize an economic society of a truly democratic type.
We have previously clarified the fact that the history of the providence of restoration, centering on Western Europe, has been separated into the three aspects of religious history, political history, and economic history, each developing through a formulary course. How, then, will these be able to provide the foundation for the ideal of the Second Advent by completing the providential history, in which they unite with one another on the same course of history? We have also clarified above that the development of history has been made in three divisions because religion and science, which were to overcome man’s spiritual and physical ignorance were not unified as one theme. Accordingly, in order that history, having thus developed under three different aspects, may be concluded into one focal point in which to realize one ideal, the new truth, which can solve the problems of religion and science under one unified theme, must manifest itself.
Then there will come a political society in which all mankind, having been unified into the heart and bosom of God through the religion based on the truth, will realize the ideal of creation on the economic foundation centering on God’s ideal. This is the true Messianic Kingdom based on the principles of coexistence, co-prosperity and common-cause.
