The Father and Jesus Christ existed from the beginning and always will exist. It is Their plan and desire to add to Their kind—"bringing many sons to glory" (Hebrews 2:10). Just as all life was made to reproduce after its own kind as stated throughout Genesis 1, so God patterned man after the God kind. This is the ultimate meaning of Genesis 1:26, where God says, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness."

This is a two-stage process. First, God made mankind physical, of the dust of the earth. Then, through conversion and faith in Christ and obedience to God's spiritual law of love, each person becomes spiritually a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24). This leads to the final birth of new children into the divine family, who are then "like" Christ, Himself the firstborn Son of God (Romans 8:29; Galatians 4:19; 1 John 3:2).

Indeed, just as human children are the same kind of beings as their parents (that is, human beings), so will God's children be the same kind of beings as the Father and Christ (that is, divine beings). This is the awesome destiny of mankind! The God family will expand through God's wonderful plan as revealed in His Word.

All children of this family—including Jesus Christ, who has always been with the One whom He revealed as "the Father" (John 1:18; Matthew 11:27)—will forever in the future willingly be under the ultimate sovereignty and leadership of the Father (1 Corinthians 15:28). Led by the Father and Jesus Christ, the members of this divine family will share a glorious and righteous future into eternity.

This, then, is the sense in which God is a family—indeed a growing family, presently comprising two divine Beings, the Father and Jesus Christ the firstborn, yet ultimately to be joined by a vast multitude of others.

For more details on God's intention to make human beings part of His divine family, see the last chapter of this booklet.