As we all know, the word recorded in the Bible that “this same Jesus … shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven” is a prophecy concerning the Lord’s second coming. Since it is a “prophecy,” it means that God foretold the work he would do in the future; but God didn’t say how exactly he would do the future work. How then could man fathom the work God has not done? God’s thoughts are higher than man’s thoughts; God’s wisdom is unfathomable to any man. Moreover, man has been corrupted by satan and his knowledge of God is full of notions and imaginations. How could man accurately touch God’s willand know how God will do his future work? God’s “prophecy” in particular is obscure andembodies God’s wisdom, wonderfulness, and mystery; how could it be fulfilled literally, in such a simply way as man has imagined? Without the inspiration and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, how could man understand its inner meaning? In the Old Testament, there are many prophecies concerning the Messiah’s coming, but none of them was fulfilled literally or in accordance withman’s imagination. For example, when people read in a prophecy that “a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,” they thought that since she was a virgin, she certainly had no husband. However, after that prophecy was fulfilled, the fact they saw was that the Mary who had a husband gave birth to Jesus. Although Jesus, conceived in Mary before she married Joseph, was indeed born of the virgin, the fact didn’t tally with the prophecy at all in the eyes ofthe people of that time. Didn’t that embody more of God’s wonderfulness and wisdom? However, people stuck to the literal meaning of the prophecy and refused to accept the fact of God’s work. There is another prophecy, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from now on even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7) When people read it, they again started their fertile imagination, deeming that the Messiah to shoulder the government would certainly be awe-inspiring, imperial, celestial, and distinguished, and that he would surely be born in the royal palace. But it turned out that none of the facts tallied with what they had imagined and interpreted. Man can never fathom God’s wisdom indeed! However, the Jews of that time couldn’t accept the facts when the prophecies were fulfilled, because they only believed in their own notions and imaginations. They were earnestly expecting the Messiah, yet they rejected the Messiah, with the result that they failed. A great many facts prove that man’s notions and imaginations are not the truth. God never fulfills prophecies according to man’s imaginations. The Jews neither understood the real meaning of the prophecies nor sought God’s will, but they stubbornly stuck to their own reasoning and imaginations and resisted and condemned Jesus according to their own understanding of the prophecies. As a result, they lost God’s salvation and became an eternal sinner who believes in God but doesn’t know God and even resists God. Isn’t the lesson of the Jews’ failure worthy of the consideration of all of us who expect the Lord’s coming again? How could our literal understanding of the prophecies today be the fact of the Lord’s working when he comes again? Paul once said, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:33-34) Peter also said, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” (2 Peter 1:20-21) Now, do we still dare toconclude that “the Lord will come on the white cloud” means he will descend among us on a white cloud of heaven?
Now the end time has already come, and the prophecies concerning the Lord’s second coming have been fulfilled. God, with his extraordinary work and word, has once again smashedall the notions and imaginations of men. Aiming at our notion, “As the Lord went on the white cloud, he will also come on the white cloud,” God has expressed the corresponding truth, disclosing both our incorrect understanding of the verses and our imaginations and notions about God. At the same time, he has made public the fact of God’s descending in the end timeand the true meaning of the prophecy. Let’s read these words expressed by Almighty God, “All those in the entire universe who know the salvation of Jesus the Savior are ‘eagerly expecting’ that Jesus Christ will suddenly descend, to ‘fulfill’ the word Jesus said when he was on earth: ‘As I will go, so will I come.’ People all think this way: Jesus returned on a white cloud to the right hand of the Most High in heaven after being crucified and resurrected; likewise, he will descend still on a white cloud (which refers to the cloud on which Jesus returned to heaven), in the Jewish image and in Jewish garment, among mankind who have been eagerly expecting him for thousands of years; after appearing to them, he will bestow food to them, pour out living water to them, and live among them full of grace and full of lovingkindness, living and real; and so on; all of which are what they think in their notions. However, Jesus the Savior did not do so. What he did was just contrary to man’s notions. He did not descend among those who eagerly expect him to return and did not appear to all men on the ‘white cloud.’ He has already descended, but people do not recognize him, nor do they know it, and they are just waiting for him aimlessly. Little do they know that he has already descended on the white cloud (the white cloud refers to his Spirit, his word, and all his disposition and being) among a group of overcomers he will make in the end time! ” “If according to man’s imaginations, Jesus would come again, would still be called Jesus in the end time, and would come still on the white cloud and descend among men in the image of Jesus, then wouldn’t the work be repeated? Could the Holy Spirit hold on to old things? Men’s thoughts are all notions, and what they understand is according to the literal meaning and their imaginations, not corresponding with the principle of the Holy Spirit’s working or with God’s will. God will not work that way. God will not be so foolish and so stupid. His work is not so simple as you imagine. According to what man does and thinks, Jesus will come on the white cloud and descend among you; you will see him on the white cloud telling you that he is Jesus, and you will see the marks of the nails in his hands and recognize that he is Jesus; he will save you again and be your mighty God; he will save you, bestow to you a new name, give you each a white stone, and then let you enter the kingdom of heaven and take you into paradise. Aren’t such thoughts man’s notions? Do you think God works according to man’s notions or contrary to man’s notions? … How could man fathom God’s work? So, he will not work according to man’s notions or according to your imaginations. Someone says that God himself said he would come on the white cloud. It is true that God said that himself. But don’t you know that God’s mystery cannot be fathomed by anyone? Don’t you know that God’s word cannot be clearly interpreted by anyone? Are you one hundred percent sure that you were inspired and enlightened by the Holy Spirit concerning that? Did the Holy Spirit directly reveal that to you? Is it the Holy Spirit’s revelation or your notion? He says, ‘It was said by God himself.’ But we should not judge God’s word by our notions or by our minds. Can you interpret the words spoken by Isaiah with one hundred percent assurance? Do you dare to interpret his words? Since you do not dare to interpret Isaiah’s words, why do you dare to interpret Jesus’ words? Who is higher, Jesus or Isaiah? Since Jesus is higher, why can you interpret all those words of his? Could God tell all his work to you in advance? No created being could know it, not even the messengers in heaven, nor the Son of Man, so could you know it?” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh)What do we think after reading these words? Will we still stick to our own notions and imaginations and circumscribe God’s coming again? How can the way in which God comes fit our human notions?
Although the fact of God’s coming doesn’t fit our human notions, his coming has indeed fulfilled the prophecies in the Bible. Every prophecy concerning God’s coming again is being fulfilled. It is just that we only focus on this verse, “this same Jesus … shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven,” (Acts 1:11) but neglect several other verses prophesying how the Lord will descend, such as “If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief….” (Revelation 3:3) “…for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes.” (Matthew 24:44) “The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of….” (Matthew 24:50) “Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” (Revelation 1:7) We can easily discover that the scenes prophesied in these verses about the Lord’s coming again are not the same. One says that he will come as a thief, without anyone knowing; another says that he will come withclouds, and every eye shall see him. Then, how exactly will the Lord come? Which one of themwill be fulfilled? In fact, all these verses will be fulfilled, for no word of God will fail. Besides, these verses only literally seem contradictory but are not contradictory in essence. Let’s considertwo examples to see how the prophecies are fulfilled, and we will be clear about all this. First, let’s see how the Lord left. One verse records, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father….” (John 20:17) This is what the Lord Jesus said to the Mary who went to the tomb to see him when he was raised three days after his crucifixion. However, another verse records, “… Reach here your finger, and behold my hands….” (John 20:27) These are the words that the Lord Jesus said to the Thomas who didn’t believe he had been resurrected. What have we seenfrom these two verses? If Jesus had not ascended to the Father, how could he have let Thomas touch him? By this we know that the Lord Jesus had ascended to heaven once secretly before he did so publicly. That is to say, the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven twice altogether: one time in a hidden way and the other in a public way. Thus, according to what the Lord said, “As I will go, so will I come,” won’t he also have to come twice, one time in a hidden way and the other in a public way? In other words, God has come secretly now, and he will appear publicly soon. At this point, we should be able to understand that the above two verses actually don’t contradict eachother though they seem contradictory literally. It is only that people didn’t understand their implications. Let’s reread these verses. Revelation 3:3 says, “… I will come on you as a thief….” Matthew 24:44 says, “…for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes.” And Matthew 24:50 says, “The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for him….” These three verses all refer to God’s doing the work in a hidden way when he comes again in the end time. In Revelation 1:7, however, it says, “Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” That will be the time for Almighty God to appear publicly and the time for God to punish people. This shows that when God does the work in a hidden way, he is saving people, but when he appears publicly, he will begin to punish the evil and reward the good. As Matthew 24:37-39 says, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Why are the days of the Son of Man said to be the same as the days of Noah? Because before the flood came, the day was hidden and the people didn’t see the fact of God’s punishing the evil and rewarding the good, and when Noah preached that “the flood is coming,” none of them believed it and they all vilified him, but when the flood came, that is, when the day of God’s punishment came (the day was made public), they were all dumbfounded; similarly, when Almighty God does the work in a hidden way, it is the time to save people, but when he appears publicly, it will be the time to punish the evil and reward thegood. Here we can see that no word of the prophecy will fail but all will be fulfilled. It is only that when and how it will be fulfilled doesn’t fit our human imaginations. So, brothers and sisters, we should drop our notions and imaginations immediately to seek and investigate God’s end-time work, and accept the fact that the Lord Jesus has long since returned on the white cloud, lest wemiss the returned Savior and be smitten by deep remorse.
Let’s read more of Almighty God’s words and listen to his exhortations to us, “All those who did not know Messiah could do things of resisting Jesus, rejecting Jesus, and slandering Jesus; all those who do not know Jesus can do things of rejecting Jesus and reviling Jesus, and even more, can consider Jesus’ coming again to be satan’s deception; and more people will condemn the Jesus returning in the flesh. Do you not feel afraid? What you face will be blaspheming the Holy Spirit, tearing up what the Holy Spirit says to the churches, and spurning the words expressed by Jesus’ mouth. Being so dizzy, what can you receive from Jesus? Being too obstinate to be awakened, how can you understand the work of the Jesus returning in the flesh on the white cloud? I tell you, those who do not accept the truth but are just waiting for Jesus to descend on ‘white clouds’ are surely the ones who blaspheme the Holy Spirit. These people are surely the brood to perish.” “Maybe many people do not pay attention to what I am saying. But I still want to tell every so-called saint who follows Jesus: When you see with your own physical eyes Jesus descending from heaven on a white cloud, it will already be the time the sun of righteousness appears publicly. At that time, you may be beside yourself with excitement. But have you ever known this: When you see Jesus descending from heaven, it will be the very time you go to hell to receive punishment. That will already be the time God’s management plan is declared concluded and the time God rewards the good and punishes the evil. This is because God’s judgment has ended at the time when people have not seen miraculous signs but only the truth is expressed. Those who accept the truth without seeking for miraculous signs and thus are purified will have returned before God’s throne and into the bosom of the Creator. Only those who hold on to one belief that ‘the Jesus who does not come on the white cloud is a false christ’ will suffer eternal punishment, because they only believe in the Jesus who can perform miraculous signs but do not acknowledge the Jesus who expresses severe judgment and releases the true way of life. So there is no choice but to let Jesus deal with them when he returns on the white cloud publicly. … Think carefully! Do not be careless, and do not be rash. Do not take the matter of believing in God as child’s play. You should think about your destination, your future, and your life. Do not trifle with yourself. Can you accept all these words?” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh)
The
Church of Almighty God came into being because of the work of the
returned Lord Jesus—the end-time Christ, “Almighty
God”—in China, and it isn't established by any person. Christ
is the truth, the way, and the life. After reading God’s
expression, you will see that God has appeared.
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