God’s Sheep Hear the Voice of God | Eastern Lightning

Jesus looking for the missing sheep, Almighty God looking for the true believers, one sheep missing out of a hundred

Chapter 1 You Must Know That Almighty God Is the One True God Who Created the Heavens and the Earth and Everything in Them

2. Almighty God Is the Returned Jesus

Relevant Words of God:

God is incarnated in the Chinese mainland, what the compatriots in Hong Kong and Taiwan call the inland. When God came from above to the earth, no one in heaven and earth knew about it, for this is the true meaning of God returning in a concealed fashion. He has been in the flesh working and living for a long time, yet no one has known about it. Even to this day, no one recognizes it. Perhaps this will remain an eternal riddle.
God’s coming into flesh this time is not something anyone is able to be aware of. No matter how large-scale and powerful the Spirit’s work, God always stays composed, never giving Himself away. One can say that it is as if this stage of His work is taking place in the heavenly realm. Even though it is perfectly obvious to everyone, no one recognizes it. When God finishes this stage of His work, everyone will awake from their long dream and reverse their past attitude.[1] I remember God once saying, “Coming into flesh this time is like falling into the tiger’s den.” What this means is that because this round of God’s work has God coming into flesh and being born in the dwelling place of the great red dragon, His coming to earth this time is accompanied even more so with extreme dangers. What He faces are knives and guns and clubs; what He faces is temptation; what He faces are crowds wearing murderous looks. He risks being killed at any moment. God did come with wrath. However, He came in order to do the work of perfection, meaning to do the second part of His work that continues after redemption work. For the sake of this stage of His work, God has devoted utmost thought and care and is using every conceivable means to avoid the assaults of temptation, concealing Himself humbly and never flaunting His identity. In rescuing man off the cross, Jesus was only completing redemption work; He was not doing perfection work. Thus only half of God’s work was being done, and finishing the redemption work was only half of His whole plan. As the new age was about to begin and the old one about to recede, God the Father began to deliberate the second part of His work and started preparing for it. In the past, this incarnation in the last days may not have been prophesied, and therefore that laid a foundation for the increased secrecy surrounding God’s coming into flesh this time. At the break of dawn, unbeknownst to any, God came to earth and began His life in the flesh. People were unaware of this moment. Maybe they were all fast asleep, maybe many who were watchfully awake were waiting, and maybe many were praying silently to God in heaven. Yet among all these many people, not one knew that God had already arrived on earth. God worked like this so as to more smoothly carry out His work and achieve better results, and it was also to avoid more temptations. As man’s spring slumber breaks, God’s work will have long been finished and He shall depart, bringing to a close His life of roaming and sojourning on earth. Because God’s work requires God to act and speak personally, and because there is no way for man to help, God has endured extreme pain to come to earth to do the work Himself. Man is unable to stand in for God’s work. Therefore God risked dangers several thousand times greater than those during the Age of Grace to come down to where the great red dragon dwells to do His own work, to put all His thinking and care into redeeming this group of impoverished people, redeeming this group of people mired in a heap of manure. Even though no one knows of God’s existence, God is not troubled because it greatly benefits God’s work. Everyone is atrociously evil, so how can anyone tolerate God’s existence? That is why on earth God is always silent. No matter how excessively cruel man is, God does not take any of it to heart, but just keeps doing the work He needs to do so as to fulfill the greater commission that the heavenly Father gave Him. Who among you has recognized God’s loveliness? Who shows more consideration for God the Father’s burden than His Son does? Who is able to understand the will of God the Father? God the Father’s Spirit in heaven is often troubled, and His Son on earth prays frequently over God the Father’s will, worrying His heart to pieces. Is there anyone who knows of God the Father’s love for His Son? Is there anyone who knows how the beloved Son misses God the Father? Torn between heaven and earth, the two are constantly gazing after each other from afar, side by side in Spirit. O mankind! When will you be considerate of God’s heart? When will you understand God’s intention? Father and Son have always depended on each other. Why then should They be separated, one in heaven above and one on earth below? The Father loves His Son as the Son loves His Father. Why then should He have to wait with such longing and long with such anxiety? Although They have not been separated for long, does anyone know that the Father has already been anxiously yearning for so many days and nights and has long been looking forward to His beloved Son’s quick return? He observes, He sits in silence, He waits. It is all for His beloved Son’s quick return. When will He again be with the Son who is wandering on earth? Even though once together, They will be together for eternity, how can He endure the thousands of days and nights of separation, one in heaven above and one on earth below? Tens of years on earth are like thousands of years in heaven. How could God the Father not worry? When God comes to earth, He experiences the many vicissitudes of the human world just as man does. God Himself is innocent, so why let God suffer the same pain as man? No wonder God the Father longs so urgently for His Son; who can understand God’s heart? God gives man too much; how can man adequately repay God’s heart? Yet man gives God too little; how could God not therefore be worried?

Scarcely one among men understands God’s urgent heart because people’s caliber is too low and their spiritual sensitivity quite dull, and because they all neither notice nor heed what God is doing. So God keeps worrying about man, as if man’s beastly nature could break out at any moment. This further shows that God’s coming to earth is accompanied by great temptations. But for the sake of completing a group of people, God, laden with glory, told man of His every intention, hiding nothing. He has firmly resolved to complete this group of people. Therefore, come hardship or temptation, He looks away and ignores it all. He only quietly does His own work, firmly believing that one day when God has gained glory, man will know God, and believing that when man has been completed by God, he will fully understand God’s heart. Right now there may be people tempting God or misunderstanding God or blaming God; God takes none of that to heart. When God descends into glory, people will all understand that everything God does is for the well-being of mankind, and people will all understand that everything God does is so that mankind can better survive. God’s coming is accompanied by temptations, and God also comes with majesty and wrath. By the time God leaves man, He will have already gained glory, and He will leave fully laden with glory and with the joy of return. The God working on earth does not take things to heart no matter how people reject Him. He is just doing His work. God’s creation of the world goes back thousands of years, He has come to earth to do an immeasurable amount of work, and He has fully experienced the human world’s rejection and slander. No one welcomes God’s arrival; everyone merely regards Him with a cold eye. In the course of these several thousand years’ worth of hardships, man’s conduct has long ago shattered God’s heart. He no longer pays attention to people’s rebellion, but is instead making a separate plan to transform and cleanse man. The derision, the slander, the persecution, the tribulation, the suffering of crucifixion, the exclusion by man, and so on that God has experienced in the flesh—God has tasted enough of these. God in the flesh has thoroughly suffered the miseries of the human world. The Spirit of God the Father in heaven long ago found such sights unbearable and threw His head back and shut His eyes, waiting for His beloved Son to return. All He wishes for is that people all listen and obey, are able to feel great shame before His flesh, and not rebel against Him. All He wishes for is that people all believe that God exists. He long ago stopped making greater demands of man because God has paid too high a price, yet man is resting easy,[2] not at all taking God’s work to heart.

from “Work and Entry (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The first time that God became flesh was through conception by the Holy Spirit, and it was related to the work He intended to do. Jesus’ name marked the start of the Age of Grace. When Jesus began to perform His ministry, the Holy Spirit began to testify to the name of Jesus, and the name of Jehovah was no longer spoken of, and instead the Holy Spirit began the new work principally under the name of Jesus. The testimony of those who believed in Him was borne for Jesus Christ, and the work they did was also for Jesus Christ. The conclusion of the Old Testament Age of Law meant that the work principally conducted under the name of Jehovah had come to an end. After this, the name of God was no longer Jehovah; instead He was called Jesus, and from here on the Holy Spirit began the work principally under the name of Jesus. So today, people still eat and drink the words of Jehovah, and still apply the work of the Age of Law—are you not following regulation? Are you not stuck in the past? Today, you know that the last days have arrived. When Jesus comes, will He still be called Jesus? Jehovah told the people of Israel that a Messiah would come, yet when He arrived, He was not called Messiah but Jesus. Jesus said that He would come again, and that He would arrive as He had departed. These were the words of Jesus, but did you witness how Jesus departed? Jesus left on a white cloud, but would He personally return among man on a white cloud? If that were so, would He not still be called Jesus? When Jesus comes again, the age will have already changed, so could He still be called Jesus? Is God only known by the name of Jesus? Could He not be called by a new name in a new age? Can the image of one person and one particular name represent God in His entirety? In each age, God does new work and is called by a new name; how could He do the same work in different ages? How could He cling to the old? The name of Jesus was taken for the work of redemption, so would He still be called by the same name when He returns in the last days? Would He still do the work of redemption? Why is it that Jehovah and Jesus are one, yet They are called by different names in different ages? Is it not because the ages of Their work are different? Could a single name represent God in His entirety? In this way, God must be called by a different name in a different age, must use the name to change the age and represent the age, for no one name can fully represent God Himself. And each name can only represent God’s disposition during a certain age and needs only to represent His work. Therefore, God can choose whatever name befits His disposition to represent the entire age. Regardless of whether it is the age of Jehovah, or the age of Jesus, each age is represented by a name. After the Age of Grace, the final age has arrived and Jesus has already come. How could He still be called Jesus? How could He still assume the form of Jesus among man? Have you forgotten that Jesus was just the image of a Nazarene? Have you forgotten that Jesus was only the Redeemer of mankind? How could He take on the work of conquering and perfecting man in the last days? Jesus left on a white cloud, this is fact, but how could He return on a white cloud among man and still be called Jesus? If He really did arrive on a cloud, wouldn’t He be recognized by man? Wouldn’t people all over the world recognize Him? In that case, wouldn’t Jesus alone be God? In that case, the image of God would be the appearance of a Jew, and would be the same forever. Jesus said that He would arrive as He had departed, but do you know the true meaning of His words? Could He really have told you? You only know He will arrive as He left on a cloud, but do you know exactly how God Himself does His work? If you were truly able to see, then how are the words of Jesus to be explained? He said, “When the Son of man comes in the last days, He Himself will not know, the angels will not know, the messengers in heaven will not know, and all of the people will not know. Only the Father will know, that is, only the Spirit shall know.” If you are capable of knowing and seeing, then are these not empty words? Even the Son of man Himself does not know, yet you are able to see and know? If you have seen with your own eyes, were those words not said in vain? And what did Jesus say at the time? “But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. … Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes.” When that day comes, the Son of man Himself will not know it. The Son of man refers to the incarnate flesh of God, who shall be a normal and ordinary person. Even He Himself does not know, so how could you know? Jesus said that He would arrive as He had departed. When He arrives, even He Himself does not know, so could He inform you in advance? Are you able to see His arrival? Is that not a joke? Each time God arrives on earth, He shall change His name, His gender, His image, and His work; He does not repeat His work, and He is always new and never old. When He came before, He was called Jesus; could He still be called Jesus when He comes again this time? When He came before, He was male; could He be male again this time? His work when He came during the Age of Grace was to be nailed to the cross; when He comes again will He still redeem mankind from sin? Will He still be nailed to a cross? Would that not be a repetition of His work? Did you not know that God is always new and never old? There are those who say that God is immutable. That is correct, but it refers to the immutability of God’s disposition and substance. Changes in His name and work do not prove that His substance has altered; in other words, God will always be God, and this will never change. If you say that the work of God always stays the same, then would He be able to finish His six-thousand-year management plan? You merely know that God is forever unchanging, but do you know that God is always new and never old? If the work of God never changed, then could He have brought mankind to today? If God is immutable, then why is it that He has already done the work of two ages? His work is always progressing forward, and so His disposition is gradually revealed to man, and what is revealed is His inherent disposition. In the beginning, God’s disposition was hidden from man, He never openly revealed His disposition to man, and man had no knowledge of Him, so He used His work to gradually reveal His disposition to man, but this does not mean that His disposition changes in each age. It is not the case that God’s disposition is constantly changing because His will is always changing. Rather, because the ages of His work are different, His inherent disposition in its entirety is gradually revealed to man, so that man is able to know Him. But this is by no means proof that God originally has no particular disposition and His disposition has gradually changed with the passing of the ages—such understanding is erroneous. God reveals to man His inherent, particular disposition—what He is—according to the passing of the ages. The work of a single age cannot express the entire disposition of God. And so, the words “God is always new and never old” are in reference to His work, and the words “God is immutable” are in regard to what God inherently has and is. Regardless, you cannot define the six-thousand-year work in one point, or portray it with mere static words. Such is the stupidity of man. God is not as simple as man imagines, and His work cannot stop in one age. Jehovah, for example, cannot always stand for the name of God; God can also do His work under the name of Jesus, which is a symbol of how God’s work is always progressing forward.

God will always be God, and will never become Satan; Satan will always be Satan, and will never become God. God’s wisdom, God’s wondrousness, God’s righteousness, and God’s majesty shall never change. His essence and what He has and is shall never change. His work, however, is always progressing forward and always going deeper, for He is always new and never old. In every age God assumes a new name, in every age He does new work, and in every age He allows His creatures to see His new will and new disposition. If people do not see the expression of God’s new disposition in the new age, would they not forever nail Him to the cross? And by doing so, would they not define God? If He were only incarnated as a male, people would define Him as male, as the God of men, and would never believe Him to be the God of women. Then, men would believe that God is of the same gender as men, that God is the head of men—and what of women? This is unfair; is it not preferential treatment? If this were the case, then all those whom God saved would be men like Him, and there would be no salvation for women. When God created mankind, He created Adam and He created Eve. He did not only create Adam, but made both male and female in His image. God is not only the God of men—He is also the God of women. God is doing new work in the last days. He will reveal more of His disposition, and it will not be the compassion and love of the time of Jesus. Since He has new work, this new work will be accompanied by a new disposition. So if this work were done by the Spirit—if God did not become flesh, and instead the Spirit spoke directly through thunder so that man had no way to have contact with Him, would man know His disposition? If only the Spirit did the work, then man would have no way of knowing His disposition. People can only behold God’s disposition with their own eyes when He becomes flesh, when the Word appears in the flesh, and He expresses His entire disposition through the flesh. God truly lives among man. He is tangible; man can truly engage with His disposition and what He has and is; only in this way can man truly know Him. At the same time, God has also completed the work of God being the God of both men and women, and has achieved the entirety of His work in the flesh. He does not duplicate His work in each age. Since the last days have arrived, He will do the work of the last days, and reveal His entire disposition in the last days. The last days are a separate age, one in which Jesus said you must encounter disaster, and encounter earthquakes, famines, and plagues, which will show that this is a new age, and is no longer the old Age of Grace. If, as people say, God is forever unchanging, His disposition is always compassionate and loving, He loves man as Himself, and He offers every man salvation and never hates man, then would He ever be able to complete His work? When Jesus came, He was nailed to the cross, and He sacrificed Himself for all sinners by offering Himself upon the altar. He had already completed the work of redemption and already brought the Age of Grace to an end, so what would be the point of repeating the work of that age in the last days? Wouldn’t doing the same thing be a denial of the work of Jesus? If God does not do the work of crucifixion when He comes in this stage, but He remains loving and compassionate, then will He be able to bring the age to an end? Could a loving and compassionate God conclude the age? In His final work of concluding the age, God’s disposition is one of chastisement and judgment, which reveals all that is unrighteous, publicly judges all peoples, and perfects those who truly love Him. Only a disposition such as this can bring the age to an end. The last days have already arrived. All things will be classed according to their kind, and will be divided into different categories based on their nature. This is the time when God reveals people’s outcome and their destination. If people do not undergo chastisement and judgment, then there will be no way of revealing their disobedience and unrighteousness. Only through chastisement and judgment can the end of all things be revealed. Man only shows his true colors when he is chastised and judged. Evil shall return to evil, good shall return to good, and people shall be classified according to their kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the end of all things will be revealed, so that the evil will be punished and the good will be rewarded, and all people will become subject under the dominion of God. All the work must be achieved through righteous chastisement and judgment. Because man’s corruption has reached its peak and his disobedience has been too serious, only God’s righteous disposition, which is principally one of chastisement and judgment and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform and complete man. Only this disposition can expose evil and thus severely punish all the unrighteous. Therefore, a disposition such as this possesses the significance of the age, and the revelation and exhibition of His disposition is for the sake of the work of each new age. God does not reveal His disposition arbitrarily and without significance. If, when the end of man is revealed during the last days, God still bestows upon man inexhaustible compassion and love, if He is still loving toward man, and He does not subject man to righteous judgment, but shows him tolerance, patience, and forgiveness, if He still pardons man no matter what serious sins he commits, without any righteous judgment, then would there ever be an end to all of God’s management? When would a disposition such as this be able to lead mankind into the right destination? Take, for example, a judge who is always loving, kindhearted, and gentle. He loves people irrespective of the crimes they have committed, and he is loving and tolerant of people whoever they are. Then when will he be able to reach a just verdict? During the last days, only righteous judgment can classify man and bring man into a new realm. In this way, the entire age is brought to an end through God’s righteous disposition of judgment and chastisement.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Recommendation: Eastern Lightning | The Church of Almighty God