Heavenly Family

From Church of God Knowledge Encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Members of a Family / Father, Mother, Children
Members of a Family / Father, Mother, Children

The heavenly family is the eternal family consisting of God the Father, God the Mother, and God’s children. God Almighty, the Creator, is the One whom human beings believe in, and also the Father and Mother of those who will be saved. We can understand the heavenly family through the earthly family, which is its shadow. The heavenly family is related by blood through the Passover. Those who inherit God’s blood through the Passover enjoy the blessing of eternal life as God’s children and heirs of heaven.

Family, the Culmination of Love

Emperor penguin family

Family is the culmination of love. A home is a place where a couple who have been married through love, give birth to children, and raise them with love. Love between family members—marital love, paternal love, maternal love, brotherly love, and filial love—is the main virtue of a happy life.[1] Parents’ love for their children is unconditional, and it is common for animals as well. Spiny fish and emperor penguins have strong paternal love. A father spiny fish supplies fresh oxygen to his eggs, and fights with invaders, without eating anything for fifteen days. When the eggs hatch, he runs out of energy and dies. The dead father becomes food for the hatched young.[2][3] A father emperor penguin incubates his egg for about two months. He stops eating and protects the egg from the severe cold of -60°C [-76°F] and predators. Maternal love is commonly observed in birds and mammals.

Not only small living creatures, but also human beings, who have intelligence, follow their instincts instead of reasoning when it comes to the danger of their children. There are media reports about parents who gave up their lives to save their children: a mother who died after refusing anticancer therapy for a baby in her womb, a father who held her son in her arms in a crashing cable car, a mother who was sacrificed after pushing her child out in front of an oncoming truck, and so on.[4][5][6] Regardless of the age or region, the family is the nest of life, based on love.

There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human, are created, strengthened, and maintained.


Winston S. Churchill

Relationship Between the Heavenly Family and the Earthly Family

The family is God’s institution of love, and God wants them to love one another and be at peace.[7][8] The earthly family, which is united in love, is a shadow, and the reality is the heavenly family. When God commanded Moses to build the tabernacle, He showed him the heavenly sanctuary on Mount Sinai and told him to build it according to the pattern shown to him.[9] Referring to the incident, Apostle Paul explained that an earthly thing is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.


They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”

Hebrews 8:5


The role of a copy and shadow is to help people understand its reality. Through the model [copy] of globe, we can see the earth at a glance. In the same way, we can guess the shape of a hand with the hand’s shadow. The reason God made a copy and shadow of what is in heaven on the earth, is to let us know the principle of heaven through that. God not only had Moses build the sanctuary, but He also created many things on this earth to let us know about the kingdom of heaven.[10][11] One of them is the family system. Family, the smallest unit of a society, began when God created the first men, Adam and Eve, and putting them together as a couple.[12][13] According to God’s word, “Be fruitful and multiply,” Adam and Eve gave birth to children and formed a family. We can understand the heavenly family through the earthly family, which God formed through mankind.

Members of the Heavenly Family

We can understand who are the members of the heavenly family, through the earthly family, which is its shadow. A family generally consists of a father, a mother, and children.[14] It is the same with the heavenly family, which is the reality of the earthly family.

Father

Dictionaries define father as a man who gave birth to a child, or as a man in relation to his child or children.[15] The New Testament teaches us that God is our Father.


Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!

Hebrews 12:9


Everyone who is born on this earth has his or her father. The Bible tells us that we should honor the Father of our spirits, by explaining our respect for our human fathers. It shows that we have our spiritual Father as well as our human fathers. Our spiritual Father is God, who breathed into human beings the breath of life [soul].[16] Just as you call the man who gave birth to your body father, you ought to call God, who brought your soul into existence, Father. Jesus taught His disciples that God is our Father.


“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, . . .’ ”

Matthew 6:9


The Lord's Prayer, which Jesus taught, begins with the phrase, "Our Father in heaven." "Our Father in heaven" indicates God.[17] Until then, the relationship between the Israelites and God was firmly established as a king and his people or a master and his servant.[18][19] However, Jesus came and taught that God is our Father. Jesus’ teaching that God is our Father implies that there is a family in heaven, too. It is because Father is a title used at home. Just as there is the family system on this earth, there is the family in heaven. Likewise, just as there is a father in the earthly family, there is God the Father in the heavenly family.

Children (Brothers and Sisters)

The title of father is based on the fact that he has child(ren). A man without a child or children cannot be called father. God is called Father because He has children.


“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

2 Corinthians 6:17–18


God is the Father of those who will be saved, and they are the sons and daughters of God. At the same time, those who will be saved become brothers and sisters to each other. Just as there are a father and children as the members of the earthly family, there are God the Father and His children in the heavenly family.

Mother

The mother is the backbone of a family. Without a mother, no children can be born; and without children, no one can be a father. The existence of the mother in the earthly family shows that there is the mother in the heavenly family, which is the reality, too.


But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.

Galatians 4:26


“Above” refers to heaven, the kingdom of heaven, and “our” refers to those who will be saved. God’s people who will be saved are the members of the heavenly family and they are the children of God the Father and God the Mother. Just as the mother plays the decisive role for a child to receive life, the heavenly children receive eternal life from God the Mother. Therefore, only when we believe in God the Mother as well as God the Father can we become part of “our” in Galatians 4:26 and be saved. Through the scene where God created man, we can know that there is God the Mother.


Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26–27


When God created man, God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” As a result, male and female were created. This shows that there is a male image of God "the Father" and a female image of God "the Mother." Just as sons and daughters in the earthly family have their father and mother and are born in the image of their parents, God’s sons and daughters have their Father and Mother.

Blood-Related Through the Passover

God’s children become the heavenly family through the Passover, and receive eternal life from Heavenly Father and Mother.
God’s children become the heavenly family through the Passover, and receive eternal life from Heavenly Father and Mother.

A family is related by blood. Among many relationships that a person has with others, the family is distinguished from other human relationships because they are related by blood. “Blood is thicker than water” means that familial bonds will always be stronger than other relationships. This proverb can be seen in many languages.[20] Just as the children of the earthly family, which is a shadow, inherit the blood of their parents, the children of the heavenly family inherit the blood of God.


Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life . . .”

John 6:53–54


Eating Christ’s flesh and drinking His blood means to inherit God’s blood. By inheriting the blood of God who lives forever, we can become God’s sons and daughters and live forever. Jesus commanded us to keep the Passover of the new covenant as a way to eat and drink His flesh and blood.


So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. . . . While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

Matthew 26:19, 26-28


While keeping the Passover with His disciples, Jesus gave them bread, calling it “My body,” and gave them wine, saying, “This is My blood." The New Covenant Passover contains the love and sacrifice of God, who endured the pain of being torn and shedding blood on the cross only for the salvation of His children. Those who engrave such love in their hearts with sincere faith and participate in the Passover ceremony can inherit God's blood, become part of the heavenly family, and receive eternal life. Just because we call God "our Father" with our mouth, we do not qualify to be His children. By keeping the Passover of the new covenant,[21]we become related with God by blood. The Passover is the truth that confirms we are God’s children who have inherited the blood of God.

Just as Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you,”[22] the children who realize God’s love through the Passover will love one another as one body. Thus, Apostle Paul said that the members who participated in the Passover bread not only became one body with Christ, but also became one body altogether by participating in the same loaf of bread.[23] By keeping the Passover, we become one family in God and love one another as if we love our own body. The heavenly family is a community of love, just as the earthly family, which is a shadow, is.

Glory of God’s Heirs

The Bible says that God’s children are the heirs of God who is the King of kings, and teaches us the attitude we should have as God’s heirs.


The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Romans 8:16–18


God’s heirs reign forever and ever in heaven.[24] The kingdom of heaven God has prepared for His children is described as follows: No eye has seen it, no ear has heard it, and no mind has conceived it.[25] However, the glory comes after suffering. Like the saying, “The one who wants to wear the crown, bear its weight,”[26]regardless of age or country, the children of the royal family receive a strict education.[27] Their educational process is somewhat painful, but it is inevitable to become a king with knowledge and virtues. God’s heirs, too, go through hardships on the earth to receive the crown of life.[28] Their suffering is insignificant, compared with the glory that they will enjoy in heaven. God’s children belong to heaven and they have a spiritual body like an angel.[29] In this world, they become children and parents as well according to the flesh, but when they leave this world and stand before God, they are in the same position as God's children. The heirs of heaven have brotherly love for each other in Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother,[30] and visit every star in the universe.[31]

See also

External links

Related videos

  • Sermon: Heavenly Family and Earthly Family Testified Through the Bible

References

  1. "Harvard's longest study of adult life reveals how you can be happier and more successful". CNBC. October 31, 2017.
  2. "Stickleback". Britannica.
  3. "Penguins and Their Chicks: Super-Parents". Penguins International. August 14, 2019.
  4. "Oklahoma cancer patient trades her life so her baby could survive". THE OKLAHOMAN. October 16, 2011.
  5. "Eitan Biran: the cable car crash survivor at centre of custody battle". Support the Guardian. September 17, 2021.
  6. "A Heart Aching Maternal Love Story in 2013, Mother Dies by a Truck Saving Her Daughter with Intellectual Disability". Busan Ilbo. May 8, 2013.
  7. "Ephesians 5:22–25".
  8. "Ephesians 6:1–4".
  9. "Exodus 25:40".
  10. "Romans 1:20".
  11. "Revelation 4:11".
  12. "Genesis 1:27–28".
  13. "Genesis 2:18".
  14. "Nuclear Family Meaning: What is it and why is it called Nuclear Family?". Marca. March 24, 2022.
  15. "Father". Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
  16. "Genesis 2:7".
  17. "Matthew 6:8".
  18. "Exodus 4:10".
  19. "Psalms 47:2".
  20. "Blood is thicker than water". Cambridge Dictionary.
  21. "Luke 22:19–20".
  22. "John 13:34".
  23. "1 Corinthians 10:16–17".
  24. "Revelation 22:5".
  25. "1 Corinthians 2:9".
  26. Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, pg. 60, Henry IV, Part II, William Shakespeare, George Steevens
  27. "Education of the Heirs of the Joseon Dynasty". The JoongAng. May 6, 2018.
  28. "Revelation 2:10".
  29. "1 Corinthians 15:49".
  30. "Matthew 23:8–9".
  31. Ahnsahnghong (January 1, 2011), "Chapter 18 The Soul Made of God's Breath of Life, Chapter 22 What Will Become of Our Body at the Resurrection?, VISITORS FROM THE ANGELIC WORLD", Melchizedek Pub. Co., Ltd