Answer: God’s work is always unfathomable. No one
can clearly explain God’s prophecies. Man can only understand a prophecy
when it is fulfilled. What does this mean? It means that no one can
fathom the wisdom and omnipotence of God. When the Lord Jesus appeared
to work in the Age of Grace, no one could fathom it. When Almighty God
does judgment work of the last days in the Age of Kingdom, no one can
know it in advance either. Therefore, mankind finds it so inconceivable
about God becoming flesh in the last days to express the truth and do
judgment work. But when the work of God is done, the catastrophe will
arrive. At that time, many people will sense that God’s word has all
been fulfilled. But it will be too late to regret. They can only wail
and grind their teeth amid the catastrophe. About how God does His work
of judgment in the last days to cleanse and save man, how to make a
group of overcomers—the firstfruits, it will be even clearer after we
read a few passages of Almighty God’s word.
Almighty God says: “You
should see that the will and the work of God are not as simple as the
creation of the heavens and earth and all things. For the work of today
is to transform those who have been corrupted, who have grown extremely
numb, and to purify those who were created then worked on by Satan, not
to create Adam or Eve, much less to make the light or create all manner
of plants and animals. His work now is to make pure all that has been
corrupted by Satan so that they may be regained and become His
possession and become His glory. Such work is not as simple as man
imagines the creation of the heavens and earth and all things to be, and
it is not akin to the work of cursing Satan to the bottomless pit as
man imagines. Rather, it is to transform man, to turn that which is
negative into the positive and to take into His possession that which
does not belong to Him. This is the inside story of this stage of God’s
work. You must realize it, and should not oversimplify matters. The work
of God is unlike any ordinary work. Its marvel cannot be conceived by
the mind of man, and its wisdom cannot be attained by such. God is not
creating all things, and He is not destroying them. Rather, He is
changing all of His creation and purifying all things that have been
defiled by Satan. Therefore, God shall commence work of great magnitude,
and this is the total significance of the work of God. From these
words, do you believe that the work of God is so simple?” (“Is the Work of God So Simple as Man Imagines?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“The
flesh of man has been corrupted by Satan, and most deeply blinded, and
profoundly harmed. The most fundamental reason why God works personally
in the flesh is because the object of His salvation is man, who is of
the flesh, and because Satan also uses the flesh of man to disturb the
work of God. The battle with Satan is actually the work of conquering
man, and at the same time, man is also the object of God’s salvation. In
this way, the work of God incarnate is essential. Satan corrupted the
flesh of man, and man became the embodiment of Satan, and became the
object to be defeated by God. In this way, the work of doing battle with
Satan and saving mankind occurs on earth, and God must become human in
order to do battle with Satan. This is work of the utmost practicality” (“Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“Earliest
mankind was in the hands of God, but because of Satan’s temptation and
corruption, man was bound up by Satan and fell in the hands of the evil
one. Thus, Satan became the object to be defeated in the work of God’s
management. Because Satan took possession of man, and because man is the
stock of all God’s management, if man is to be saved, then he must be
snatched back from the hands of Satan, which is to say that man must be
taken back after having been held captive by Satan. Satan is defeated
through changes in man’s old disposition that restore his original
sense, and in this way, man, who has been taken captive, can be snatched
back from the hands of Satan. If man is freed from the influence and
bondage of Satan, Satan will be shamed, man will ultimately be taken
back, and Satan will be defeated. And because man has been freed from
the dark influence of Satan, man will become the spoils of all of this
battle, and Satan will become the object that will be punished once this
battle has finished, after which the entire work of mankind’s salvation
will have been completed” (“Restoring the Normal Life of Man and Taking Him to a Wonderful Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“In
the work of the last days, the word is mightier than the manifestation
of signs and wonders, and the authority of the word surpasses that of
signs and wonders. The word reveals all the corrupt dispositions in the
heart of man. You are unable to recognize them on your own. When they
are revealed to you through the word, you will naturally come to the
realization; you will not be able to deny them, and you will be utterly
convinced. Is this not the authority of the word? This is the result
achieved by the present work of the word. Therefore, man cannot be fully
saved from his sins by the healing of sickness and casting out of
demons and cannot be fully made complete by the manifestation of signs
and wonders. The authority to heal and cast out demons only gives man
grace, but the flesh of man still belongs to Satan and the corrupt
satanic disposition still remains within man. In other words, that which
has not been made clean still belongs to sin and filth. Only after man
has been made clean through words can he be gained by God and become
sanctified. … Through this work of judgment and chastisement, man will
fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within him, and he
will be able to completely change and become clean. Only in this way can
man be worthy to return before the throne of God. All the work done
this day is so that man can be made clean and be changed; through
judgment and chastisement by the word, as well as refinement, man can
cast away his corruption and be made pure” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“In
the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, reveal the
essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise
various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man
should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity,
as well as the wisdom and disposition of God, and so on. These words are
all focused on the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In
particular, those words that reveal how man spurns God are spoken in
regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against
God. When God does the work of judgment, He does not simply make clear
the nature of man with just a few words, but carries out revelation,
dealing, and pruning over the long term. Such manner of revelation,
dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words but with
the truth that man does not possess at all. Only such manner of work is
deemed judgment; only through such judgment can man be persuaded, be
thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and gain true knowledge of
God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of
the true face of God and the truth about his rebelliousness. The work of
judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of
the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that could not be
understood by man. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt
substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the
ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of
judgment, for the substance of such work is actually the work of opening
up the truth, way, and life of God to all those who have faith in Him.
This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“God
does the work of judgment and chastisement so that man may know Him,
and for the sake of His testimony. Without His judgment of man’s corrupt
disposition, man would not know His righteous disposition that allows
no offense, and could not turn his old knowledge of God into a new one.
For the sake of His testimony, and for the sake of His management, He
makes His entirety public, thus enabling man to achieve the knowledge of
God, and change his disposition, and bear resounding testimony to God
through God’s public appearance. Change is achieved in the disposition
of man through different kinds of God’s work; without such changes in
man’s disposition, man would be unable to bear testimony to God, and
could not be after God’s heart. Changes in man’s disposition signify
that man has freed himself from Satan’s bondage, has freed himself from
the influence of darkness, and has truly become a model and specimen of
God’s work, has truly become a witness of God and someone who is after
God’s heart” (“Only Those Who Know God Can Bear Testimony to God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“Those
who are able to stand firm during God’s work of judgment and
chastisement during the last days— that is, during the final work of
cleansing— will be those who will enter into the final rest with God;
therefore, those who enter into rest will all have broken free of
Satan’s influence and been obtained by God only after having undergone
His final cleansing work. These people who have been ultimately obtained
by God will enter into the final rest. The essence of God’s work of
chastisement and judgment is to cleanse humanity, and it is for the day
of final rest. Otherwise, the whole of humanity will not be able to
follow their own kind or enter into rest. This work is humanity’s only
path to enter into rest” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
In
the last days, God becomes flesh to express the truth and do judgment
work to cleanse and make perfect man instead of transforming him with
one word. There are truth and mystery within! The way God cleanses and
makes man perfect by His work of judgment in the last days is absolutely
not as simple as we imagine. With one word, the Lord Jesus raised
Lazarus from the dead. But for God to cleanse and transform mankind that
has been utterly corrupted by Satan to resist and act against God into a
mankind that understands, obeys and worships God, to transform a
mankind that has been corrupted into living devils for millennia into a
mankind with the truth and humanity in twenty or thirty years, it is a
process of battling Satan. Is this a simple matter? If God raises the
dead and transforms our body with one word, can this humiliate Satan? In
the last days, mankind has been corrupted by Satan for millennia. The
nature and disposition of Satan have been ingrained in man. Mankind is
arrogant, selfish, deceitful, evil and greedy. For fame and fortune,
they plot against each other, deceive and slaughter each other. Mankind
loathes and detests the truth. They have become the enemy of God from
early on. They are the ilk of Satan who resist and betray God. God’s
salvation for man is actually a battle with Satan. Just as Almighty God
says, “The flesh of man has been most profoundly corrupted, and
it has become something which opposes God, which even openly opposes and
denies the existence of God. This corrupt flesh is simply too
intractable, and nothing is more difficult to deal with or change than
the corrupt disposition of the flesh. Satan comes into the flesh of man
to stir up disturbance, and uses the flesh of man to disturb the work of
God, and impair the plan of God, and thus man has become Satan, and the
enemy of God. For man to be saved, he must first be conquered. It is
because of this that God rises to the challenge and comes into the flesh
to do the work He intends to do, and do battle with Satan. His aim is
the salvation of mankind, who has been corrupted, and the defeat and
annihilation of Satan, which rebels against Him. He defeats Satan
through His work of conquering man, and simultaneously saves corrupt
mankind. Thus, God solves two problems at once” (“Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
God
wants to transform mankind that has been corrupted by Satan to act
against God into a mankind that truly obeys God and is compatible with
God. The difficulty of this task is quite high. It is much more
difficult than the creation of the heavens and earth and all things by
God. The creation of the heavens and earth and all things from
nothingness was accomplished by one word of God’s. But to cleanse and
transform the utterly corrupted mankind, God must become flesh and
express many truths to judge and cleanse man. For us to experience God’s judgment and chastisement, to cast away corruption and receive
cleansing, it requires the process of a long period. This is also the
process of God’s battle with Satan. First by expressing the truth to
conquer man and then cleansing and making man perfect with the truth.
When we understand the truth and know God, we will clearly see the fact
of our corruption by Satan and begin to detest Satan, forsake Satan, and
curse Satan. Ultimately, we will thoroughly rebel against Satan and
completely turn to God. So that God wrests mankind back from Satan’s
hands. These people who are saved are God’s spoils from defeating Satan.
Only by working like this can God really defeat and humiliate Satan.
This is also the inside story of God’s work of judgment in the last
days. According to Satan’s original intention, human beings have been
corrupted into living devils. If God can turn these living devils into
human beings, Satan will be convinced. So God follows His original plan
by becoming flesh to battle with Satan’s kinds. Although God’s work in
the last days only lasts twenty to thirty years, He made a group of
overcomers, fulfilling the prophecies in the Book of Revelation: “These
are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These
are they which follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed
from among men, being the first fruits to God and to the Lamb”
(Rev 14:4). These overcomers are the firstfruits gained and enjoyed by
God. Compared to the history of mankind, isn’t twenty or thirty years
just a blink of an eye? The Bible says, “one day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2Pe 3:8). If it says
that when the Lord returns in the last days, He will change our body in a
moment, in a blink of an eye, it is also completely suitable to be
applied on the effects achieved by God’s work in the last days. It can
also be received this way. But we can easily interpret Paul’s words as
those who believe in the Lord will be instantly transformed and lifted
into the air to meet the Lord when He returns. So, we just idly waited
for the Lord to descend on the clouds to transform and rapture us. Isn’t
Paul’s word misleading? We cannot be filled with notions and
imagination about God’s work. God’s work is practical, tangible and
visible at every step. The incarnate Almighty God is the practical God
who comes to the world to save man by expressing the truth. If we don’t
accept, aren’t we rebelling against God and resisting God? How can we
receive the praises and blessings of God?
from the movie script of The Moment of Change
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