You are our Father.Abraham did not know us and Israel did not
acknowledge us. You are our Father;our Redeemer from everlasting is
your name. (Isaiah 63 : 16 )
Philip said, “Show us the Father.” Jesus says to him, “Those who see me
see the Father.How then are you saying, ‘Show us the Father’? Believe me
that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” (John 14 : 7 – 11 ; 12 : 45 )
The following passages show that in the heavenly meaning “mother”
stands for the Lord’s church:
I saw a city, the holy New Jerusalem, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband.(Revelation 21 : 2 )
The angel said to John,
Come. I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb,
and he showed him the holy city Jerusalem (Revelation 21 : 9 , 10 ).
The time for the Lamb’s weddinghas come; his bridehas prepared her-
self. Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
(Revelation 19 : 7 , 9 ; see also Matthew 9 : 15 ; Mark 2 : 19 , 20 ; Luke 5 : 34 , 35 ;
John 3 : 29 ; 19 : 25 , 26 , 27 )“The New Jerusalem” means the new church that the Lord is establish-
ing today (see Revelation Unveiled 880 – 881 ). This church, not the one
before it, is the “wife” and “mother” in this sense. The spiritual offspring
that are born from this marriage are acts of goodwill and true insights
related to faith. The people who have these things from the Lord are
called “the children of the wedding,” “children of God,” and “those who
are born of him.”308 An important idea to grasp is that a divine field of heavenly love con-
stantly radiates from the Lord to all people who embrace the teaching of
his church. Like little children in the world with their father and mother,
these people obey the Lord, stay close to him, and want to be nourished,
that is, instructed by him.
From this heavenly field an earthly field arises. It is a field of love for
babies and children. It is absolutely universal. It affects not only people
but also birds and animals, including even snakes. In fact, it affects not
only animate things but also inanimate things. In order for the Lord to
have an effect on inanimate things as he does on spiritual things, he cre-
ated a sun that is like a father to the physical world and an earth that is