God’s Homeland and Cheon Il Guk

1. God’s kingdom is the place where true freedom, faith, and ideals bear fruit; the place occupied by true families who have achieved true love, true life, and true lineage. We are marking the beginning of God’s millennial kingdom overflowing with eternal true love and true happiness. I have promoted true family values because the family formed by a union between a true man and a true woman, where God can dwell, is the center of the realm of Sabbath throughout heaven and earth. Through such families we will realize, here on earth, the Garden of Eden described in the Bible. (315-218, 2000.02.02)

What kind of place is God’s kingdom?

2. God’s kingdom is the place where heaven and earth are united. “God’s people” refers to all the people in the spirit world and on earth. A country in this world normally considers all the people living within its territory its citizens. In the same way, all the land within the borders of a country is considered that country’s territory. God’s kingdom, however, includes heaven and earth, the tangible and intangible worlds under God’s sovereignty, as its territory. In addition, the countless spirit selves who lived Godcentered lives on earth, those living God-centered lives in today’s world, and their future descendants will all be citizens of the heavenly kingdom. No one can deny this because it is a part of God’s eternal, unchangeable, cosmic Will. Therefore, you should center your life on this Will and this ideology. The entire universe has collectively waited for this ultimate accomplishment; hence, once this transition occurs, the universe can finally be unified. (014-297, 1965.01.10)

3. The hope of all people is to establish God’s kingdom. It is the realization of this goal that we call the kingdom of heaven. Your country is not of this world but in heaven. Human beings should not live for the present world but should live for the heavenly kingdom. Furthermore, you are not owners of the countries within this world, but owners of the heavenly kingdom. (024-226, 1969.08.17)

4. We long for God’s kingdom because it is the place we find love. It is the place where, rather than temporary love, there exists the eternal love that transcends time. It is also a place where we can receive praise and acknowledgement for the entirety of our value. It is the place where people are eternally happy. This is why all people yearn for the heavenly kingdom. (025-284, 1969.10.05)

5. The new millennium is the time for the completion of the six-thousand-year providence of salvation and the time to build the original heavenly kingdom based on the ideal of creation. This is the Completed Testament Age, through which the promises of the Old and New Testaments are fulfilled. This is the age of the new heaven and new earth, where there are no more tears or death, or sad, painful cries to be heard. This is the age of unconditional true love, in which the water of life, as clear as crystal, is freely given and shared. This is the age when the spirit world and earth become one and God’s kingdom is established both in heaven and on earth. This is the time when the new age of full transcendence, full immanence, full authority and omnipotence will open through the realm of the eldest son, the parents, and the king. It is the time in which the direct dominion of the living God is realized. (315-218, 2000.02.02)

6. The earth is the hometown of all humankind and the spirit world is the eternal homeland, where all people are destined to arrive after achieving perfection. The time has come to realize the global family ideal on earth, centered on the Heavenly Parent, and thus to move from “One Nation under God” to “One Heaven and Earth under God.” Accordingly, we have to bear in mind that the fundamental relationship between God and humanity is that of Parent and child and that, upon that foundation, we each have an active role to play in transforming the cosmos, that is, the spiritual and physical worlds, into our homeland and hometown. (315-219, 2000.02.02)

7. Jesus came to establish the homeland of God. The prophets and patriots of history worked to build this same homeland. In order to establish the kingdom of heaven, one perfect man must appear. This man must gain the recognition of heaven and earth, marry, have children, and then establish a tribe, a people and a nation. He must restore the relationship between Cain and Abel, engraft them to himself, and build the homeland of God’s dominion in this world. The prophets and patriots of history yearned for this throughout their lives. However, they were unable to establish the kingdom of heaven on earth that begins from an individual and expands to the family, tribe, people, nation, and world. Therefore, we have to abandon the path along which we have been heading and move forward in the right direction. (015-278, 1965.10.30)

8. Since the eternal kingdom of God follows one direction centered on a single purpose, its light cannot help but radiate powerfully in a hopeful and pleasing manner. Even if gray clouds roll in, that light will pierce them. Shadows appear when clouds block the light of this world. However, the light of the heavenly kingdom can pierce through the clouds. Just as intense heat burns away impurities, when the light and heat of the heavenly kingdom strikes them, the clouds will disappear. (086-304, 1976.04.11)