If we do not realize God's love, we cannot be joyful always or give thanks in all circumstances, nor can we give glory to God.

About 2,000 years ago, when the apostles understood the love of Christ Jesus who was sacrificed even to death on the cross, the good news about Him was rapidly spreading to many people of the world. In these last days, too, when we understand our heavenly Mother's love and our heavenly Father's will, we will lead all our lost family to Zion.

Mother's endless love and sacrifice

Long ago, there was a mother who had a young son suffering from a serious disease. She devoted herself to nursing her son for several days.

One day, a traveler dropped into her house and asked for a glass of water from her. She entered the kitchen to bring some water and food to the traveler. When she came back, she found that the traveler was gone with her loving son.

In deep grief, she began to seek every place for her son, calling his name like mad. The night grew late. The mother was getting anxious about her lost son. With an ardent wish to search for her lost son, she walked on and on. While wandering, suddenly her foot slipped, and she fell into a big lake. Then the god of the lake appeared and said to the mother.

"If you give me your crystal-clear eyes, I'll let you cross the lake."

Only with an earnest desire to seek her missing son, she plucked out her two eyes right away and gave them to the god of the lake, so that she could cross the lake.

Losing her sight, she went where her feet led her. She walked on and on, and unfortunately she stepped over the cliff into a deep valley. There was a riot of thorn bushes. Her whole body was torn on the thorns and covered with blood. She struggled to get out of there, but she couldn't. Then the god of the bramble appeared.

"I am frozen up in this severely cold weather. I've heard that a mother's heart is warm. If you hug me and thaw out my frozen body with your warm heart, I'll let you go out of this thornbush."

Then the mother thought that she had to get out of there by any means, so that she might seek her son. She granted the bramble god's request. Despite freezing north wind and a fierce snowstorm, the mother embraced the bramble with her warm heart. Her body was pricked by thorns and dripped with blood. The mother, however, clasped the bramble to her breast for a long time; because unless she thawed it out, she couldn't get out of there to seek her son.

After quite a while, the frozen bramble was gradually thawing, and despite wintry weather it began to put forth buds. Then the bramble came loose of itself to clear the way for the mother.
With her body torn and wounded all over, she barely escaped from the thornbush and began to hurry her way. Not caring that she became blind in two eyes and her body got torn, she was going her way step by step, calling her son's name.

After a while, she reached a tomb. Then the goddess of the tomb called to her to stop. She was so old and ugly-looking, whom people would be disgusted with.

"You can't go on without my permission. I'll let you go if you give me your youth and beauty."

Thinking that her youth and beauty were useless without her son, the mother gave her youth to the goddess and put on her ugly appearance.

She lost strength in her legs, and her body was bent. Thus, after sacrificing herself―after losing everything, the mother could meet her beloved son again whom she had been searching for.

This old story describes a mother's love and sacrifice very well. Mother's love is unconditional. So it is said that all men are born with love toward their mothers.

Mother's love fills all things God created

Such is a mother's love. Just by calling the word, ‘mother,' we feel a lump in our throat; tears well up in our eyes. All men come to learn and understand love from their mothers. That's why they cannot help but love their mothers.

Our spiritual Father and Mother are always with us and love us untiringly. However, what if we do not realize such great love our Father and Mother show us? We will be able to neither preach the love to others nor follow the way of sacrifice to the end.

The new covenant focuses on God's love. Without cost, our heavenly Mother gives us Her great love of sacrifice. If we understand such unconditional love of our heavenly Mother, we can be said to reach the way of the new covenant.

Through physical parents' love for their children, God makes known to us the love of the heavenly Father and Mother.

Ro 1:18-20 . . . For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities―his eternal power and divine nature―have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made . . .

Rev 4:10-11 . . . for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.

When God created all things, He made them by His will. Then, why is a mother full of love? Why does a mother devote herself to her children and sacrifice herself for them in everything? What is God's will in creating mother?

It is the mother who willingly gives her eyes and youth to seek her lost children. With such self-sacrificing love for us, our heavenly Mother came into this dark world full of sin. Through the devotional love of our earthly mothers, we can see how much our spiritual Mother loves us.

What if anyone says to you, "Will you exchange your youth with oldness for your mother?" or "Will you pluck your eyes for your mother?" Then, can you answer, "I will do that"? Even if you answer ‘yes,' none of you will be able to do that when such a thing really happens before your very eyes.

We know well what Peter and the other disciples did in such a situation. They declared, "Even if we have to die with you, we will never disown you." However, what did they do in the face of death? They denied Jesus and abandoned Him, didn't they?

Mk 14:27-50 "You will all fall away," Jesus told them, … Peter declared, "Even if all fall away, I will not." . . . But Peter insisted emphatically, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the others said the same . . . Then everyone deserted him and fled.

That's the way the children do, no matter how devoted they may be to their parents. Parents, however, have a devotional love so much as to do everything for their children.

Giving up the glorious throne of heaven, our Mother came to seek Her lost children, taking the form of a sinner. We should deeply understand such great love and sacrifice of our spiritual Mother. Unless we understand our Mother's love and sacrifice, jealousy and strife may arise among us. However, when we understand and feel our Mother's love even in a very little thing, we will have great faith.

As our Mother is with us, we can grow up in Her love and be safe from danger or accident. We should not forget that.

Mother has come to save Her children living meaninglessly

A few days ago, I heard of someone's death from a man who had been at his funeral. He was a patient in the terminal stage of cancer and passed away at the young age of 40. His body was cremated. I heard the attendants who'd been at his funeral say that there remained just a handful of ashes; they said they felt all was nothing, thinking how hard he labored for food, clothes, wealth and honor in this earth.

They said that they realized all the things of the flesh are really meaningless, and that they gave a lot of thanks for their knowing and believing God. Whether a man lives to be thirty or sixty, he is to pass away, leaving only a handful of ashes. They said they deeply thanked God, thinking that most people work hard for such perishable things of the flesh.

It is just a handful of ashes that people leave in this earth after they labor hard and pass away. To awake His children and let them not follow such foolish way, through the words of the Bible God emphasized that everything in this world is meaningless (Ecc 1:1-10). We've received such precious teaching directly from God. Then, is it proper for us to spend our lives striving for the meaningless things of this life which will perish into ashes?

Seeing Isaiah 53, let's think deeply and realize the highest and absolutely pure love of our Father and Mother who came into this earth in the likeness of men.

Isa 53:1-9 Who has believed our message . . . He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him . . . But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all . . .

Our Father and Mother came into this earth in the appearance that people should not desire Them; They gave Their youth and beauty for Their lost children. The appearance of our Mother, who is now with us, is just like that of a mother who gave all her beauty and youth to the goddess of the tomb.

Since our Mother has suffered such great pains, we are now here. However, we don't realize that. By what sacrifice and love has the Church of God grown up as it is today? By our Mother's sacrifice and love, we are now living in real and precious hope with joy, while most people in this world live without hope.

The meaning of being purified by the heifer sacrifice

Though times have changed and morality has lost its hold on the people, a mother's love is unchangeable. Nothing can destroy the mother's unconditional love for her children or take that love away. Through the physical mother's love, we shall understand our spiritual Mother's love.

It is important to know all God's commands; and what is more important is to realize God's great love and put them into practice. If anyone knows God's commands, but does not understand His love, he is only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal (1 Co 13:1-13). Of course, God's commands are really precious and important. Through the commands, the Bible ultimately intends to teach us Mother's love.

All the sacrifices in the Old Testament represent our Father who was sacrificed as an offering for sin about 2,000 years ago―and also our Mother who is sacrificing Herself to seek and save the children with devotional love for them in this age.

God has given His children the regulations of Third Day worship and the seventh-day Sabbath worship from Old Testament times. Through such regulations, Mother has purified our souls by sacrificing Herself, so that we may not be cut off from the community of God.

Nu 19:1-21 ". . . bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting. While he watches, the heifer is to be burned . . . A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They shall be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin . . . Whoever touches the dead body of anyone will be unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. Whoever touches the dead body of anyone and fails to purify himself defiles the LORD's tabernacle. That person must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he is unclean; his uncleanness remains on him . . . But if a person who is unclean does not purify himself, he must be cut off from the community, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, and he is unclean. This is a lasting ordinance for them. The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes . . ."

In Old Testament times, the Israelites distinguished the male from the female when they sacrificed some animals as guilt or sin or burnt offerings: As for the Passover lambs, the males were used; and for the fulfillment of this prophecy, Jesus, who was male, was sacrificed.

The book of Numbers writes about a heifer with special emphasis. The heifer was to be burned―its hide, flesh, blood and offal―and its ashes were used in preparing the water for cleansing all Israelites' impurities.

Every sacrifice in the Old Testament symbolizes God's sacrifice. Then, whom does the heifer represent? By whose and what sacrifice are we now cleansed on the third and seventh days?

The heifer was a sacrifice representing our Mother who's come into this earth as the Bride of the Spirit. The Israelites were cleansed through the sacrifice of a heifer. This shows that God's children are purified through the sacrifice of Mother on the third and seventh days.

Our Mother burns Herself, being sacrificed as a sin offering; through the ashes of Mother, represented as the heifer, we are cleaned from all our impurities, from all our transgressions and sins―on the third day and seventh-day Sabbath. How can we imagine and describe in words our Mother's pain, sacrifice and love?

Let's fathom Mother's heart

God is the King of kings and Lord of lords; He is worthy to receive glory and praise from men and all spiritual beings in the whole universe. Leaving such great glory behind, God came to seek the lost children. We must not forget God's sacrifice and love.

We, children, still give pain to Mother, and our Mother endures the pain. Now is the time for us to see our Mother's sacrifice and love with our eyes open. Through the fact that our Mother is continually getting sacrificed on the Third and Sabbath days, we must know how many sins we have committed.

Some may simply think that they are forgiven because they believe God. However, we must know there is God's great sacrifice and love beyond description in the forgiveness of our sins. By God's wounds we are healed; the punishment that has brought us peace is upon God. Through such a sacrifice by God, we are forgiven. We should realize the love of our Father and Mother and give thanks to Them through the Third Day and Sabbath worships.

Without putting on Mother's love, none of us can enter the kingdom of heaven; we are expelled from heaven, and we can never enter by ourselves.

By the sacrifice of Mother, we are purified. Mother is pierced for our transgressions. By Her wounds we are healed and at peace. We can do nothing without our Mother's love, can we? We must not forget the love but take it to heart, being joyful and thankful always.

In Revelation 7 and 22, it is written that blessed are those who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. We are cleansed from our impurities and sins with the lye water made by God's love and sacrifice, so that we may be born again to be holy ones with the right to the tree of life. Remembering that, we should truly give thanks and praise to God.

Is there anything for which we are not thankful to God? Is there anything we can't do for brothers and sisters? God has lavished everything on us. That is why we should give praise to God and keep the Third Day and Sabbath worships holy.

Our Mother unconditionally gives us love without expecting to get anything back. How shall we please our Mother? keep complaining to Mother? Shall we importune Her unceasingly just for our own sake?

Now, we are to be the mature who can eat solid food through practice (Heb 5:14). We should fathom Mother’s heart and know what She has really wanted since She lost Her children. We should understand Mother’s sacrifice and love all the more and put Her self-giving love into action.

Let’s hurry to seek for all our lost brothers and sisters, that our Mother will restore Her eternal glory and sit on Her glorious throne. This is the greatest thing we are to do for Her as Her children.

When we lead the last one of the 144,000 into Mother’s arms, we will repay our Mother for all Her sacrifice and love toward us. Let’s proclaim God’s love to the ends of the earth and produce abundant fruit of love, always remembering Mother’s sacrificial love for us and giving thanks to Her.