Lord’s Day, Vol. 10 No. 25
Heavenly Perspective of Our Family Life
As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we all have three homes.
- Our heavenly home that is our eternal dwelling place in heaven. This is our family in heaven.
- Our church home that is our extended family bonded together by the blood of Christ.
- Our family home with father, mother and children held together by blood ties.
There is an eternal perspective to our earthly life. As we live on earth, we are preparing ourselves for that heavenly home where we will dwell in eternity.
Biblical Perspective of Our Earthly Life
- Our earthly life is the training ground for our heavenly life.
- Our earthly life is a temporal sojourn compared with our heavenly life which is eternal.
- Our earthly life is to be lived as strangers and pilgrims transiting to a better life.
- Our earthly life is not all there is to life.
Oftentimes, our earth-bound perspective causes us not to see and understand the true meaning and purpose of life. Truly, we cannot understand and see unless our Maker revealed it to us.
Father-Son Relationship
The father and son relationship on earth is a picture of the Father-son relationship we shall have for eternity in heaven.
To understand this relationship in eternity, our earthly life is the training ground. The purpose and mind of God may not be fully understood by the created being.
There is an earthly shadow and there is a heavenly significance.
The family relationship between father and son is reflective of the relationship we have with the Father in eternity. Why did we have a heavenly Father?
Existence –The word “father” means “the source and originator of”. To call someone a father is to acknowledge that you are from him. Father means “bring about, come about”. He is the father of so and so.
To call one “Father” means you are from “Him”. The function of the father is in creating you. You cannot come about until you are produced.
The concept is that we receive our existence from the Father in heaven. Earthly father is a shadow of the heavenly Father. Without our earthly father, we do not have a body. Without a heavenly Father, we do not have spiritual life and physical life. From the earthly father, we know that we cannot come about without someone producing us.
Likeness – We have a likeness to our Father in heaven – we are made in the image of God. Like father, like son! A son’s character or behaviour can be expected to resemble that of his father. We reflect the attributes or character of God.
In our Lord’s earthly life, He wholly and perfectly obeyed the will of the Father who sent Him.
Nourishing and Nurturing –Subsequent function of the father is to care and nurture, nourish, and educate, it typifies our heavenly Father maturing us spiritually.
Thank God for fathers and mothers. Hence, it is right that children honour their parents. We remember their influence on our lives. We remember their love, care and nurturing. The Bible teaches us in the fifth commandment to honour father and mother (Ex. 20:12 cf. Eph. 6:3). This is the first commandment pertaining to human relations and the only commandment with the promise of blessing. Keeping the fifth is foundational to keeping the rest of the commandments.
Steve Cole observed well, “If we truly honour our parents, we will not disgrace their name by becoming a murderer, by being unfaithful to our marriage vows, by stealing, by lying, or by the greed and discontent underlying covetousness.”
He insightfully said, “The keeping of the Fifth Commandment also works back toward the first four. If we are rebellious and disrespectful toward our parents who gave us life and sustenance, we will also probably be rebellious and disrespectful toward the Lord God, our Creator and Sustainer. Disrespect toward parents and God will also carry over into disrespect for all authority, and thus will result in a breakdown of law and order, leading to a disintegration of the very basis for civilized society. Thus, the keeping of the Fifth Commandment is not some outmoded, quaint idea to be set aside without consequence.”
DL Moody also observed well, “BEGIN IN THE HOME – The first four commandments deal with our relations to God. They tell us how to worship and when to worship; they forbid irreverence and impiety in word and act. Now God turns to our relations with each other, and isn’t it significant that He deals first with family life? “God is going to show us our duty to our neighbour. How does He begin? Not by telling us how kings ought to reign, or how soldiers ought to fight, or how merchants ought to conduct their business, but how boys and girls ought to behave at home.”
May fathers and mothers in our midst be loved and honoured by their children. Amen.
Yours lovingly
Pastor Lek Aik Wee