The good news that “the Lord Jesus has returned in the flesh” has long since spread in the land of China, and it has begun to spread to the entire universe. However, some brothers and sisters doubt it because they haven’t seen God’s incarnated flesh with their own eyes. They saythat if they can see the Lord who has returned in the flesh with their own eyes, they willrecognize him and believe in and follow him. People hold such a viewpoint mainly because they are not clear about the pathway to know the incarnated God and don’t know how to seek God’s appearing and follow God’s footsteps. We may think back: For what reason did we believe in Jesus in the beginning? Did we believe in him because we saw his flesh? Certainly not! We all believed in him because of the grace he bestowed, the work of his being crucified to redeem mankind, and the words he expressed. Let’s look at those who had seen the Lord Jesus’ flesh in the age when the Lord Jesus did the work personally. Did they really recognize that Jesus was the coming Messiah, really recognize that Jesus was God, and really believe in him right after they saw him? The Bible records, “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that you are John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He said to them, But whom say you that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:13-16) From this we see that although people of that time saw or contacted Jesus, and his twelve disciples even stayed with him day and night, yet except that Peter recognized Jesus’ identity after the Father revealed it to him (cf. Matthew 16:17), no one recognized that Jesus was the incarnated God Godself because of having seenJesus “with his own eyes.” And Judas, a disciple who had followed Jesus for years, even betrayed Jesus for thirty silver coins. If he had made certain that Jesus was the Messiah, would he have dared to do that? Besides, didn’t those chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees also see the Savior Jesus? But did they recognize that Jesus was the Messiah? From the facts that they beat and abused Jesus, insulted Jesus, resisted and condemned Jesus, and eventually nailed Jesus onto the cross, it can be completely proved that they didn’t recognize that Jesus was God though they saw Jesus frequently. From this we see that people cannot know God through seeing the incarnated God, and knowing the image of God’s incarnated flesh is not the pathway for them to know God. To know God, the key is to know God’s substance, namely, God’s work, word, and disposition. In other words, whether people can believe in and follow God doesn’t depend on whether they have seen God’s flesh or how well they know the image of God’s flesh, but depends on whether they have a heart of seeking God and a heart of fearing and obeying God. If people seek the truth with a fearful and obedient heart, they will surely be able to know God from God’s work and word. This is because the work God does man cannot do and the word God speaks man cannot speak. We can see this from God’s first incarnation—Jesus. The appearance of Jesus was no different from that of others, but the work of crucifixion he did no one could do in his stead and the word he spoke no one could speak. So, to know God, we should not neglect God’s work and word, much less take investigating the image of God’s flesh as the pathway to know God. Almighty God says, “God is the greatest above the entire universe and in the entire universe. Could he fully express himself with an image of a flesh? God puts on the flesh for doing a stage of work. The image of the flesh does not mean anything…. His incarnate appearance has nothing to do with his management, and it is only for the sake of his work of that time. However, when God is incarnated, he cannot be without a certain appearance, so he chooses a suitable family to determine his appearance. If his appearance had representative meaning, then all those who have regular features similar to his would represent God. Wouldn’t that be greatly wrong?” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) From Almighty God’s words, we can see that the image of God’s flesh doesn’t mean anything special, nor does it have any representative meaning, much less can it express God’s substance. Thus, we cannot possibly recognize God’s identity from the image of God’s flesh. All this shows that the viewpoint we hold that “as long as we see the Lord Jesus who has returned in the flesh, we will believe in him” is wrong. It is not in accordance with the truth or with the objective fact.
Then, how exactly should we know the incarnated God? Almighty God tells us, “If people want to investigate whether a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh, they have to ascertain that from the disposition and the word he expresses. That is to say, to ascertain whether aflesh is God’s incarnated flesh or whether a way is the true way, people must discern that from his substance. So, whether a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh mainly depends on his substance (his work, word, disposition, and more other aspects), not on his appearance. If people overlook his substance because of investigating his appearance, that is their foolishness and ignorance. Appearance cannot determine substance. Besides, no work God does can fit man’s notion. Wasn’t Jesus’ appearance an appearance that did not fit man’s notion? Weren’t his appearance and dressing unable to show his true identity? Wasn’t the reason why the Pharisees of that time resisted Jesus that they only looked at Jesus’ appearance but did not carefully receive the words of Jesus’ mouth?” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) From Almighty God’s words, we understand that if people want todetermine whether a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh, they can only discern that from thesubstance of Christ, that is, from his work and word.
Let’s think back to how Peter knew Jesus when Jesus did the work on earth. Through contacting Jesus practically and hearing Jesus’ messages, Simon Peter recognized that Jesus was the coming Messiah. He said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? you have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68) From this we see that Peter didn’t believe in Jesus because of seeing Jesus’ appearance, but recognized Jesus as Christ because he saw from Jesus’ work and word that Jesus had God’s substance, that is, he had “the words of eternal life.” For another example, the Samaritan woman recognized Jesus was the coming Messiah also through the words of Jesus’ mouth. When she first met Jesus, she thought that Jesus was only a common Jew. But after she heard those words of the Lord Jesus, especially the word, “For you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband…,” she judged that he was the coming Messiah and thus believed in him. (cf. John 4:15-29) For she knew that only God searches man’s heart and mind and only God knows what is hidden in darkness. Still, many other people recognized that Jesus was from God because of his work of healing the sick, driving out demons, and performing signs and wonders. Hence, we can see that those who believed in and followed Jesus did so not because of his outward appearance, but because they all recognized from his work and word that he was the Messiah. Similarly, today we should not try to know the end-time Christ by his outward appearance, but should identify him from his word and work. If a flesh isGod’s incarnated flesh, he must possess God’s substance. The Scripture says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) The Word (that is, God’s word) is God. Today, from the words spoken by Almighty God, we can recognize that he is the returned Lord we have been expecting for a long time and is the last Christ. This is because Almighty God’s word has unlocked the heavenly mysteries that man cannot unlock and hasopened the little scroll recorded in Revelation. And more importantly, Almighty God’s word has judged the sins of all mankind and has brought man the truth, the way, and the life. Almighty God says, “The word of the incarnated God is to open an age, to lead all mankind, to unlock mysteries, and to bestow to man the direction for walking in the new age.” “When Jesus came to the world, he brought the Age of the Grace and ended the Age of the Law. In the end time, God is incarnated again. The incarnation this time ends the Age of the Grace and brings the Age of the Kingdom. All those who can accept the second incarnation will be brought into the Age of the Kingdom and can personally receive God’s leading. When Jesus came among men, he did many works. But he only accomplished the work of redeeming all mankind and was only man’s sin offering, and he did not rid men of all their corrupt disposition. To completely save men from satan’s power, it not only requires Jesus to be the sin offering to bear men’s sins, but also requires God to do a greater work to completely rid men of their disposition corrupted by satan. So, after men’s sins were forgiven, God has again returned in the flesh to lead men into the new age and begin the work of chastisement and judgment. This work has brought mankind into a higher state. All those who submit under his authority will enjoy higher truth, receive greater blessings, truly live in the light, and receive the truth, the way, and the life.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh)
From Almighty God’s words, we can know that when God is incarnated and comes to earth, he is to end the old age and open the new age and to bring mankind into a higher state, so that man can receive greater blessings. For example, when Jesus came, he ended the Age of the Law and brought the Age of the Grace; he served as man’s sin offering and delivered man from thedanger of being condemned by the law. Today, when God is incarnated again, he ends the Age of the Grace and brings the Age of the Kingdom, and on the basis of the redemptive work he does a stage of work of the word, that is, the work of expressing words to judge man, so as to purify us who have been redeemed by Jesus and bring us into the pleasant destination. As long as we read the word Almighty God expresses and investigate his work with a seeking heart, we can confirm that he is the Christ who has come again in the end time. Almighty God uses his word to disclose our corrupt nature and dissect our words and deeds, so that we can know ournature and see our filthiness and unrighteousness. In our practical experiences, his word guidesus to replace our former corruptions and disobedience with our practice of the truth, so that our disposition is transformed continuously, the truths of God’s word are gradually wrought into us and become our life, and we are transformed and purified by God day by day. Such word and work have opened a brand new age for us, delivering us from our old cyclic life of “confessing sins after committing them and committing sins after confessing them” in the Age of the Grace,giving us the ways of practice in the new age, making us gain higher truths, and bringing us intoa newer state. Besides, Almighty God’s word has also unlocked to us the mysteries hidden for thousands of years, such as the mystery of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, the inside truth of the three stages of works, how mankind has developed to this day, how satan has corrupted man, what the pleasant destination for mankind will be like, and so forth. And as forthe mysteries in Revelation which are endlessly in dispute, Almighty God has unlocked all of them to us through his word, such as what the lake of fire and sulfur is, what the bottomless pit is, what the seven thunders, the seven bowls, and the seven plagues mean, and so forth. Only God can do the work of ending the old age and opening the new age; only God can show us theway to the new age and bestow to us the truth, the way, and the life; and only God can unlock the mysteries. As long as we are willing to seek and investigate, we can surely recognize from Almighty God’s work and word that he is precisely the end-time Christ, the returned Lord!
Brothers and sisters, now we should understand that we cannot know Christ from his flesh’s image, because the flesh’s image cannot represent God’s substance. Only from Christ’s work and word can we know Christ’s substance and thereby know the incarnated God. In other words, the only way for us to know Christ is to know him from his work and word. We cannot deny that God has returned in the flesh because we haven’t seen God’s flesh, just as we cannot deny that the Lord Jesus is the incarnated flesh of God though we haven’t seen him. It is much too simple atruth. Now, Almighty God’s end-time work has spread throughout all sects and denominations in Mainland China, and it is spreading to the entire universe. Facing the Lord’s coming again, we should follow the examples of Peter and the Samaritan woman and seek and listen to the personal utterance of the incarnated God and keep up with the pace of God’s work. Only in this way can we receive God’s end-time salvation and receive greater blessings.
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.
Website: http://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/
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