And so, I asked the brothers, “Brothers, I now understand from your fellowship that there are stages to God’s work. For His return in the last days, God first appears and works in the form of the incarnation, and then afterward He comes with clouds and appears openly to all peoples. I’d still like to ask, however, how can you be sure that Almighty God is the Son of man and God incarnate? Please could you fellowship with me about this?”
One of the brothers then happily said, “Thanks be to God! This question has a great bearing on whether or not we will be able to welcome the Lord’s return. As for what the incarnation is, how we should recognize God incarnate and how we should welcome the appearance of the Son of man, no one has been able to understand these truths for thousands of years. Today, however, Almighty God has revealed all these truths and mysteries, so first let’s read a few passages of Almighty God’s words.
I Finally Understand How Jesus Will Come in the Last Days
“Almighty God says, ‘The meaning of incarnation is that God appears in the flesh, and He comes to work among man of His creation in the image of a flesh. So, for God to be incarnated, He must first be flesh, flesh with normal humanity; this is the most basic prerequisite. In fact, the implication of God’s incarnation is that God lives and works in the flesh, God in His very essence becomes flesh, becomes a man’ (‘The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
‘The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood but is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself’ (‘The Substance of Christ Is Obedience to the Will of the Heavenly Father’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
‘To study such a thing is not difficult, but requires each of us to know this truth: He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the substance of God, and He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He must do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon man, and show man the way. Flesh that does not contain the substance of God is surely not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt. To investigate whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, man must determine this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, must be judged from His substance. And so, in determining[a] whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key is to pay attention to His substance (His work, His words, His disposition, and many more), rather than external appearance. If man sees only His external appearance, and overlooks His substance, then that shows the ignorance and naivety of man’ (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“God’s words are very clear: Christ is the incarnation of God and Christ is God becoming a normal, ordinary person who appears and performs His work amongst mankind. From the outside, God incarnate looks just like a normal person; He is not big or strong, not extraordinary. He has the sense of reason and the thinking of a normal person, He feels joy and sorrow, and He comes into real, physical contact with other people. What is different about God incarnate, however, is that Christ possesses a divine essence that man does not, and He can perform the work of God Himself, bringing old ages to a close and beginning new ages. The essence of Christ is the truth, the way and the life, and He can express the truth at any time and in any place to guide and provide for man, to resolve people’s real problems, and to show people the path of practice. Christ can also express God’s disposition, what God has and is, and God’s almightiness and wisdom. For example, the Lord Jesus appeared from the outside to be an ordinary man who lived a normal life amongst man; His appearance and work, however, began the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law. He expressed the truth and gave people the way of repentance, He forgave people their sins, and expressed His disposition of mercy and lovingkindness. The Lord Jesus also performed many miracles, such as causing the blind to see and the lame to walk, calming the winds and seas with a word, resurrecting the dead, feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish, and so on, thus entirely manifesting the authority and power of God. From His work, His words and the disposition the Lord Jesus expressed, we can be sure that the Lord Jesus was the incarnation of God.”
The other brother carried on the fellowship. “Similarly, if we want to be sure that Almighty God is the incarnation of God, then we should determine this on the basis of Almighty God’s words, work and the disposition He expresses. Upon the foundation of Jesus’ work of redemption, Almighty God—Christ of the last days—is performing the work of judgment beginning in God’s house; He has brought the Age of Grace to an end and has ushered in the Age of Kingdom. Almighty God has expressed many millions of words and has revealed the mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, the mystery of God’s incarnation, and the real truth behind the Bible. He has also revealed how Satan corrupts man, how God saves man, how in the last days God performs the work of judgment and purification, how He separates each person according to their kind, how He determines the end and destination for each kind of person, and so on. Moreover, God expresses His disposition of righteousness and majesty, He judges and exposes mankind’s God-resisting satanic nature and all our corrupt dispositions, whilst at the same time showing us the path we must take to rid ourselves of sin and attain purification. We experience the judgment and chastisement of God’s words as well as the revelation of facts, and we see that our own nature is arrogant, selfish and deceitful. We also see that, though we may believe in God and expend ourselves for Him, we still sin and resist God frequently because we are under the control of our satanic corrupt dispositions. To list just a few examples: We always enjoy showing off in front of others and getting them to look up to us; we frequently lecture others in a condescending way and get them to accept our points of view; so as to protect our own interests, we are constantly apt to lie and cheat. Through the judgment and chastisement of God’s words, we recognize that God’s righteous disposition brooks no offense, a God-fearing heart arises within us, we prostrate ourselves before God in loathing of ourselves, and we begin to focus on seeking the truth in order to resolve our satanic dispositions. When we become able to forsake our flesh and practice the truth in matters we encounter, our corrupt dispositions then begin gradually to change. We can determine sufficiently from the words and the work of Almighty God, as well as from the results achieved by that work, that Almighty God is the embodiment of the Spirit of God, and that He is God Himself in the flesh.”
After listening to Almighty God’s words and the fellowship given by the two brothers, things became much clearer in my mind. The Son of man’s appearance and work as prophesied in the Bible is the Spirit of God clothing Himself in flesh and coming amongst man to perform divine work. If we wish to welcome the incarnation of God, then it is crucial that we investigate the matter on the basis of Christ’s work and words, as well as on the basis of the disposition He expresses. I thank God for showing me kindness, for allowing me to hear His voice and to understand the way in which the Lord returns and the truths concerning His incarnation. If He had not done so, I would still be living within my own conceptions and imaginings, foolishly waiting for the Lord to come in the form of His Spirit after He resurrected and appear to us riding on a white cloud. I would hardly have realized that I was shutting out the Son of man who had already returned, and that I had forever lost my chance to meet the Lord. As I considered these things, I felt myself to truly be so fortunate!
Over the next few days, I avidly read Almighty God’s words, thereby coming to understand many truths and mysteries, and I became absolutely certain that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned. I am so thankful to God for guiding me, one step at a time, to let go of my conceptions and understand the truth. I finally welcomed the Lord’s return, was raised up before God’s throne, and I became resolved to diligently pursue the truth so as to repay God’s kindness. Before too long, I had spread God’s work of the last days to over a hundred other brothers and sisters within the area I was responsible for. When they discovered that the Lord had returned, they were so thrilled that tears streaked their faces, and they all accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. We now attend the feast of the Lamb, we gather together every day and read Almighty God’s words, sing and dance in praise of Almighty God, and we feel such incomparable happiness and enjoyment in our spirits! Thank God!
Source From: Eastern Lightning Website
Related Topics
In fact, the Lord promised us that He would descend upon a cloud, and that is for certain. But there are many passages in the Bible that prophesy the Lord’s return. Through a careful study of the Bible, it is easy to see that there are two main parts to the prophecies concerning the Lord Jesus’ return in the last days. One part contains...
Write a comment