4. Textbook for the Heavenly Kingdom
Every child should inherit the good fortune of his grandparents and parents. Why do we need grandparents? It is because they represent the past. Grandparents represent the living history of the past. Parents represent the present, and children represent the future. How can one family encompass East and West and also North and South?
How can it be the center of the whole universe? Its center must be true love. The center of the grandparents, the center of the parents, the center of the children and the center of God – in every case, the center is true love. When you love your grandparents and respect them, you can inherit the past completely and learn about the world that has gone by.
From your father and mother you learn about the present, and by loving your children you learn about the future. What can you inherit from your grandfather and grandmother, and mother and father? You can inherit true love.
You recognize, “Our grandfather and grandmother are old, but they are as one in true love. Our parents have become as one, too. Let’s live the same way and inherit true love, which will give us a bright future.” You should become absolute true families so that you can bequeath such love to your children, and thus secure your family’s future. The three-generation family can be likened to the universe. Representing the present and the future, such true families possess the very love that pulses throughout the universe. This is the love that we can also learn about by observing nature’s textbook: the love between male and female in the animal world.
If your grandmother were suddenly absent, your family would feel distressed. If your grandfather were absent, it would be the same. The remaining grandparent just could not feel good about it. This earthly example indicates something about heaven. When a grandfather and grandmother have lived happily together on earth, after they pass over they will live happily together in the Kingdom of Heaven. If they separated, their dwelling-place would not be heaven. Likewise, a family can live together as a family in the Kingdom of Heaven when the grandparents, mother and father, and children have been living harmoniously together on earth. Your loving relationships with true grandparents, true parents, true children, true families, a true nation and the true universe will qualify you to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The model and textbook for the Kingdom of Heaven is the true family. (162-140, 04/05/1987)
The family provides us with lessons that enable us to establish the Kingdom of Heaven. Its lessons were created by God. Any person living anywhere in the world can enter the Kingdom of Heaven if he loves every old man he meets just as he loves his own grandfather.
A person who can love everyone he meets of his parents’ age just as he loves his own parents will be welcomed everywhere. It is the same in every country. When he goes to the spirit world, he will transcend every boundary. Furthermore, a person who has the heart to regard all the young people of the world as his own sons and daughters will be able to travel freely throughout the Kingdom of Heaven. All the twelve pearly gates are open to him, and the regions in all four directions. Thus, the family provides lessons that teach us how to connect ourselves to the Kingdom of Heaven.When you apply these family lessons to loving your nation, you will become patriots. When you apply these family lessons to the world, you will become saints. When you apply these lessons for the welfare of all beings in heaven and earth, you will become God’s sons and daughters – divine sons and daughters. This is a desire that every person shares. (137-77, 12/18/1985)
You must be able to embrace the sons and daughters of all races, and their grandsons and granddaughters too. This means you have to stand as true parents, with God’s true love, and inspire your family to love all the world’s people. By abiding in God’s love and in a relationship with the original True Parents, you will be able to attain that standard of true love in your family. Only then can you enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (176-209, 05/09/1988)