Book Four - True Family
Chapter Three - The Family Is the Model for the Kingdom of Heaven
Section 4. The Family is a Model for the Heavenly Kingdom

What kind of fortune should a person in the child's position receive? They should inherit the fortune of the grandparents and parents. Why does one need grandparents? We need grandparents because they represent the living history of the past. The parents represent the present and the children symbolize the future. Children contain east and west and also north and south. They are also the center of the whole. The center of the grandparents, the center of the parents, the center of the children and the center of God -- all these are founded on true love.

Thus, loving your grandparents and respecting them means to learn and to inherit all the past. You learn the present from your father and by loving children you learn about the future. What do you inherit through your grandfather and grandmother, and mother and father? You inherit true love.

Although your grandfather and grandmother are old, they are united in true love and so your mother and father are united. So you should be like them and inherit the future. We absolutely cannot inherit the future without becoming a true family. When we look at these three generations, it is like looking at the universe. The love of the universe resides in the true family that represents the present and future.

When we look at the animal world, male and female animals love each other, and this is a textbook from which we learn about the love of the universe. Without a grandmother and a grandfather we feel unstable. Only with them can we move straight to the Kingdom of Heaven. Grandparents, mother and father, and children will all go to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Those who have loved the true grandparents, the true parents, the true children, the true family, the true nation and the true universe will go to the Kingdom of Heaven. The model and textbook for all this is the family. (162-140, 1987.4.5)

The family is a type of educational material which teaches us how to establish the Kingdom of Heaven. It comes from heaven. If a person loves all the people of his grandfather's age in the world as his own, he will go to the Kingdom of Heaven. If he loves the people of his parents' age as his own, he will be able to travel freely throughout all the nations. He will have no boundaries even when he goes to the spirit world. If he thinks of the young people of all nations as his own sons and daughters, he will be able to travel freely within the Kingdom of Heaven even though there are twelve pearly gates and directions.

Therefore, the family is a textbook which shows us how to make a connection with the Kingdom of Heaven. When you apply it to the nation, you will become a patriot, when you apply it to the world, you will be a saint, and when you practice it in heaven and earth, you will become God's children, or holy sons and daughters. People have such a desire. (137-77. 1985.12.18)

You should be able to embrace the sons and daughters of all races as well as their grandsons and granddaughters. In this way, you should stand in the position to become the owners of the family who, as true parents, love the people of the world with true love. By standing in the position to represent the family that practices true love and is connected to the original parents through God's love, you can finally enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (176-209, 1988.5.9)