The church of Almighty God | judgment in the last days
On the one hand, God incarnate’s work of judgment in the last days is to judge, purify and save mankind, on the other hand, and more importantly, God does His work through expression of the truth and expression of God’s disposition and all that He has and is to allow all of mankind to truly know and understand God, and see the appearance of God in the flesh. Let’s read some passages of Almighty God’s word.
“For all of those who live in the flesh, changing their disposition requires goals to pursue, and knowing God requires witnessing the real deeds and the real face of God. Both can only be achieved by God’s incarnate flesh, and both can only be accomplished by the normal and real flesh. This is why the incarnation is necessary, and why it is needed by all corrupt mankind. Since people are required to know God, the images of the vague and supernatural Gods must be dispelled from their hearts, and since they are required to cast off their corrupt disposition, they must first know their corrupt disposition. If only man does the work so as to dispel the images of the vague Gods from people’s hearts, then he will fail to achieve the proper effect. The images of the vague Gods in people’s hearts cannot be exposed, cast off, or completely expelled by words alone. In doing so, ultimately it would still not be possible to dispel these deep-rooted things from people. Only the practical God and the true image of God can replace these vague and supernatural things to allow people to gradually know them, and only in this way can the due effect be achieved. … Only God Himself can do His own work, and no one else can do this work on His behalf. No matter how rich the language of man is, he is incapable of articulating the reality and normality of God. Man can only know God more practically, and can only see Him more clearly, if God personally works among man and completely shows forth His image and His being. This effect cannot be achieved by any fleshly man” (“Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“Man’s imaginings are, after all, empty, and cannot replace the true face of God; the inherent disposition of God, and the work of God Himself cannot be impersonated by man. The invisible God in heaven and His work can only be brought to earth by God incarnate who personally does His work among man. This is the most ideal way in which God appears to man, in which man sees God and comes to know the true face of God, and it cannot be achieved by a non-incarnate God” (“Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“God’s arrival in the flesh is primarily to enable people to see the real deeds of God, to materialize the formless Spirit in the flesh, and allow people to see and touch Him. In this way, those who are made complete by Him will live Him out, they will be gained by Him, and after His heart. If God only spoke in heaven, and did not actually come on earth, then people would still be incapable of knowing God, they would only be able to preach God’s deeds using empty theory, and would not have God’s words as reality. God has come on earth primarily to act as an exemplar and a model for those who are to be gained by God; only in this way can people actually know God, and touch God, and see Him, and only then can they truly be gained by God” (“You Should Know That the Practical God Is God Himself” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“The incarnate God brings to an end the age when only the back of Jehovah appeared to mankind, and also concludes the age of mankind’s belief in the vague God. In particular, the work of the last incarnate God brings all mankind into an age that is more realistic, more practical, and more pleasant. He not only concludes the age of law and doctrine; more importantly, He reveals to mankind a God who is real and normal, who is righteous and holy, who unlocks the work of the management plan and demonstrates the mysteries and destination of mankind, who created mankind and brings to an end the management work, and who has remained hidden for thousands of years. He brings the age of vagueness to a complete end, He concludes the age in which the whole of mankind wished to seek God’s face but was unable to, He ends the age in which the whole of mankind served Satan, and leads the whole of mankind all the way into a completely new era. All this is the outcome of the work of God in the flesh instead of God’s Spirit” (“Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
God’s work of judgment in the last days through incarnation is truly meaningful. God has been incarnated on earth in the last days, living amongst men and proclaiming His word to humankind, expressing His own disposition and all that He has and is to the masses. Who God loves and who God detests, toward whom God’s fury is directed, whom He punishes, His emotional state, His demands of men, His intention for men, man’s ideal outlook on life, values, etc., He informs us of all these things, allowing us to have clear goals in life so that we needn’t cast about aimlessly in vague religious pursuit. The appearance of God’s incarnation has thoroughly concluded the age when “only the back of Jehovah appeared to mankind,” and has concluded the age of man’s belief in the vague God. All those who have gone through Almighty God’s word and work in the last days have a common experience: Even though we have undergone God’s judgment and chastisement, have endured all manner of trials and refinements, and have been profoundly tormented by the brutal, savage pursuit and persecution of the great red dragon, we have seen God’s righteous disposition come upon us, we have seen God’s majesty and wrath and His almightiness and wisdom, we have seen the manifestation of all that God has and is, just as if we were seeing God Himself. Though we haven’t seen God’s spiritual body, God’s inherent disposition, His almightiness and wisdom, and all that He has and is, have been revealed to us in full, as if God had come before us, face-to-face, allowing us to truly know God and have a heart that fears God so that we may obey whatever plans God has for us until death. We all feel that in God’s word and work we see and know God in a practical and real way, and have thoroughly cast off all conceptions and illusions and become ones truly knowing God. Before, we thought of God’s disposition as loving and compassionate, believing God would continually pardon and forgive the sins of man. But after having gone through the judgment of Almighty God’s word, we have come to truly understand that God’s disposition is not only compassionate and loving, it is also righteous, majestic, and wrathful. Anyone who offends His disposition will be punished. Thus, we can revere God, accept the truth and live by God’s word. Through experiencing Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days, we have all really and practically come to understand that God’s disposition is holy, righteous, and unoffendable, have experienced God’s compassion and love, truly come to appreciate God’s almightiness and wisdom, recognized how God humbly hides Himself, and come to know His earnest intentions and many lovable qualities: His emotional state, His faithfulness, His beauty and goodness, His authority, sovereignty, His scrutiny of everything, etc. All that God has and is has appeared before us, as if seeing God Himself, allowing us to know God face-to-face. We no longer believe in and follow God based upon our conceptions and illusions, but feel true reverence and adoration for God, and truly obey and rely upon God. We have really recognized that if God hadn’t been personally incarnated in the flesh to express the truth and do the work of judgment, we never would know God, and would be incapable of ridding ourselves of sin and attaining sanctity. So no matter how you look at it, God’s work of judgment in the last days must be done by God incarnate Himself, no one can stand in His stead. Given man’s conceptions and illusions, if God were to use man to do the work of judgment in the last days, He wouldn’t be able to achieve the desired effect.
from Classic Questions and Answers on the Gospel of the Kingdom
“The work of judgment is God’s own work, so it should naturally be done by God Himself; it cannot be done by man in His stead.” The word of God is spoken very clearly. The work of judgment is God’s own work, it is work that God must carry out among mankind, it is work that must be personally carried out by God Himself, it is work that no man is able to do in His stead. No man can do it in His stead. None of mankind can replace God and do this work in His stead. Why can no one replace Him? Some people might say: “Was God’s work not carried out by using Moses during the Age of Law? Then how come God cannot use people to carry out the work of judgment?” Is there some mystery here? In the Age of Law God issued forth laws and commandments to the Israelites, which work could be carried out by using man, but man cannot replace God and carry out the work of judgment in the last days, why is that? There is a mystery here. What is this mystery all about? We must continue reading along and see what God says about it. “Because judgment is the conquering of the human race through the truth, it is unquestionable that God still appears as the incarnate image to do this work among men.” How do we decipher these words of God? God has made known the definition of the work of judgment, and what is the nature of the work of judgment? How is this explained in the word of God? “Because judgment is the conquering of the human race through the truth.” How can we decipher these words? What exactly is judgment? Based on the word of God we can understand it as follows: God’s work of judgment is done through The conquering of the human race through the truth. “The conquering of the human race through the truth,” we must carefully think these words over. Why is man not able to do the work of judgment? (Man does not possess the truth.) (Man cannot express the truth.) It is totally okay to understand and accept things in this way. Man does not have the truth and does not possess the truth. Man does not possess the truth, so man cannot carry out the work of judgment. Some people say: “God is able to make use of prophets to issue forth the word of God, so if God made use of prophets to issue forth the word of God in order to carry out the work of judgment, would that be okay?” Would that be okay? (No.) How come? (Prophets are people too.) It’s true that prophets are also people, but prophets are able to convey the word of God, so if God uses prophets to convey the word of God in order to carry out the work of judgment, would that be okay? (No.) Why is that? Prophets conveying the word of God and God issuing forth the truth anytime and anywhere Himself will bring about different results, because prophets are not themselves the truth. What consequences will there be when someone who is not the truth conveys the word of God? Christ, when carrying out the work of judgment through His capacity as God, may issue forth the truth anytime and anywhere, reveal all that God has and is, and make known the disposition of God. So, what is the difference between these results and the results that are brought about when a prophet, who is not himself the truth and who is not able to reveal all that God has and is anytime and anywhere, conveys the word of God? If this is something you can understand thoroughly, then you have a true understanding of the words, “The work of judgment is God’s own work, so it should naturally be done by God Himself; it cannot be done by man in His stead.” “It cannot be done by man in His stead.” What does this include? It won’t do if God uses people or prophets to convey the word of God. But why won’t it do if God uses people to convey the word of God? Why will this not achieve the result that is achieved when God carries out the work Himself? If you are able to understand this thoroughly, then you will be able to accept the words that “it cannot be done by man in His stead.” It means that it is inappropriate for God to use man for this kind of work, the results will not be able to be achieved.
Would it be okay for God to use prophets to convey the word of God in order to carry out the work of judgment? (No.) Why not? What results will not be able to be achieved if the work is done in this way? Can you see it? If prophets are used to convey the word of God, the result that will be achieved is that people will only be able to have a little bit of understanding of the words being conveyed. But as for understanding the disposition of God, all that God has and is, and the truth issued forth by God, regardless of how great an effort man exerts, it will be very difficult to achieve the best result. Isn’t that so? (Yes.) Why can’t the best result be achieved? In essence, prophets themselves are human. Since they are human by nature, could they reveal all that God has and is? (No.) There’s absolutely no way this could be revealed. … Based on this point, we can see that prophets, regardless of how they convey the word of God, will not be able to reveal the disposition of God, nor will they be able to reveal all that God has and is, for prophets are human by nature, they are not divine. Christ has a divine substance, and in carrying out the work of judgment He can issue forth the truth anytime and anywhere, He can reveal all that God has and is. In Christ, man is able to witness the disposition of God, and witness all that God has and is, and witness the almightiness and wisdom of God. For the man used by God, no matter how much we come to understand the word of God through him, ultimately we will still never be able to come to an understanding of God, and what we are able to attain will be very, very limited! Now you should be able to see this clearly! (Yes.) So now when God says, “The work of judgment is God’s own work, so it should naturally be done by God Himself; it cannot be done by man in His stead,” we should be able to understand the meaning of these words, right? (Yes.) However, people in the religious world are unable to comprehend the meaning of these words, they do not understand them. They believe that since God was able to use Moses to carry out His work in the Age of Law, then God should be able to use man to carry out the work of judgment in the last days. But isn’t this very far away from the intention of God? Now we can recognize this point. This is the grace of God. People in the religious world cannot recognize this, for they have no experience of God’s work in the last days. How many truths they must fail to understand! They lack an understanding of many truths. By comparison we have obtained much, much more. In the book The Word Appears in the Flesh everything that is expressed is the truth. It contains truths that have not yet been obtained through the several stages of God’s work that mankind has gone through since the creation of the world, truths that up to now have not been understood. But today, since we are experiencing the work of God in the last days, we have obtained these truths. Is this not the grace of God? Is this not the profound love of God?
from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (Series 137)
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