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IV Questions and Answers About How to Identify the Voice of God
Question 1: The Lord Jesus has already returned and has a new name. He is Almighty God. The Word Appears in the Flesh expressed by Almighty God is the voice of the bridegroom. Yet many brothers and sisters are still unable to discern the voice of God. Today we have invited the preachers from The Church of Almighty God to fellowship with us about how to identify the voice of God. So we’ll know how to ascertain that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus.
Answer: This question is of the utmost importance. To accept God’s work of the last days and behold the appearance of God, we must know how to identify the voice of God. In fact, identifying the voice of God means recognizing the words and utterances of God and recognizing the characteristics of the Creator’s words. Regardless of whether they are the words of God become flesh, or the utterances of the Spirit of God, they are all words spoken by God to mankind from up high. Such are the tone and characteristics of God’s words. The authority and identity of God are clearly manifested. It can also be said the unique means by which the Creator speaks. God’s utterances each time He becomes flesh surely cover many areas. They primarily relate to God’s requirements and admonitions of man, the words of God’s administrative decrees and commandments. His words of judgment and chastisement, and His revelation of corrupt mankind. There are also words of prophecies and God’s promises to mankind and so on. These words are all the expression of the truth, the way, and the life. They are all the revelation of the substance of God’s life. They represent God’s disposition and all that God has and is. Man is able to see from the words expressed by God that God’s words are the truth, and they have authority, and power. Thus, if you wish to determine whether the words expressed by Almighty God are the voice of God, you can look at the words of the Lord Jesus and the words of Almighty God. You can compare them, and see whether they are the words expressed by one Spirit, and whether they are the work done by one God. If their source is the same, then this proves that Almighty God’s words are God’s utterances, and that Almighty God is the appearance of God. Let us look at the words spoken by Jehovah during the Age of Law, and the words of Jesus in the Age of Grace. They were both the direct expression of the Holy Spirit, and, moreover, were the work of one God. This proves that the Lord Jesus was the appearance of Jehovah, the appearance of the Creator. God’s sheep hear His voice. When it comes to how to specifically identify the voice of God, all will become clear if we look at the words of the Lord Jesus. Those who have read the Bible all know that in the words expressed by the Lord Jesus during the Age of Grace, there were words of admonitions, words of God’s requirements of man, and words that touched upon God’s administrative decrees. There are words of many prophecies and promises too. These words were one complete stage of work carried out by God during the Age of Grace.
First, we will look at the Lord Jesus’ requirements and admonitions for man. The Lord Jesus said, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). “You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his flavor, with which shall it be salted? it is thereafter good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:13-14). “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. … Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. … Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:3, 6, 10-12).
Let us look at what the Lord Jesus said about administrative decrees. The Lord Jesus said, “Why I say to you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven to men. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come” (Matthew 12: 31-32). “But I say to you, That whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5: 22).
There are also the Lord Jesus’ words judging and exposing the Pharisees. “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like to white washed sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matthew 23:27-28).
The Lord Jesus also spoke prophecies and promises to man. “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 14:47-48). “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4).
From the various truths expressed by the Lord Jesus during the Age of Grace, we can see that the Lord Jesus was the appearance of the Savior, and that the Lord Jesus’ words were God’s utterances to all mankind. He directly expressed God’s disposition and His will for mankind, to lead mankind, to provide to mankind, and personally redeem mankind. This perfectly represents the identity and authority of God Himself. Reading them immediately makes us feel that these words are the truth, and possess authority and power. These words are the voice of God, they are God’s utterances to mankind. During the last days, the Lord Jesus has returned: Almighty God has come to do the work of judgment of the last days. He has ushered in the Age of Kingdom, and brought an end to the Age of Grace. Based upon the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, Almighty God has done the stage of work of judgment beginning from the house of God, and has expressed all truths for the purification and salvation of mankind. The words expressed by Almighty God are rich in content, and totally comprehensive. Just as Almighty God says, “It can be said that the words in this part are the first utterances since creation that God spoke to all of mankind. It is the first time God spoke to the mankind He created in such a detailed and systematic manner. It is of course also the first time God spoke to all of mankind through the most passages of His word and over the longest sustained period of time. This is something unprecedented. Moreover, the words in this part are the first writings God issued among mankind to expose man, guide man, judge man, and speak heart-to-heart to man, and the first utterances in which God made known to man His footsteps, His dwelling place, His disposition, what He has and is, His thoughts, and His care for mankind. It can be said that this is the first time since creation that God spoke and uttered His voice to mankind from the third heaven, and the first time that God revealed Himself and expressed His heart’s voice to mankind through spoken words in His original identity” (Introduction to God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The words expressed by Almighty God are wide-ranging and rich beyond comparison. In them, there is mainly judgment, the revelation of man, and the administrative decrees and commandments of the Age of Kingdom, as well as God’s admonitions, requirements, and promises toward man, and also prophecies. Let us first read several passages of God’s words about God’s admonitions and requirements of man as well as His work.
Almighty God says, “Today, those who bear genuine love toward Me, people like these are blessed; blessed are those who submit to Me, they will surely stay in My kingdom; blessed are those who know Me, they will surely wield power in My kingdom; blessed are those who seek after Me, they will surely escape from Satan’s bonds and enjoy blessing in Me; blessed are those who are able to forsake themselves, they will surely enter into My possession, and inherit My kingdom’s bounty. Those who run around for My sake I will commemorate, those who go to expense for My sake I will joyfully embrace, those who make offering to Me I will give enjoyments. Those who find enjoyment in My words I will bless; they will surely be the pillars that hold up the ridgepole in My kingdom, they will surely have matchless bounty in My house, and no one can compare with them” (“The Nineteenth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.
If people remain in the Age of Grace, then they shall never be free of their corrupt disposition, let alone know the inherent disposition of God. If people always live among an abundance of grace but are without the way of life that allows them to know God and satisfy God, then they shall never truly gain Him though they believe in Him. What a pitiful form of belief that is” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“Before man was redeemed, many of Satan’s poisons were already planted within him. After thousands of years of Satan’s corruption, man already has within him a nature that resists God. Therefore, when man has been redeemed, it is nothing more than redemption, where man is bought at a high price, but the poisonous nature within has not been eliminated. Man that is so defiled must undergo a change before being worthy to serve God. 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” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“None actively seek out the footsteps or appearance of God, and none wish to exist in the care and keeping of God. Rather, they are willing to rely on the corrosion of Satan and the evil one in order to adapt to this world and to the rules of life the wicked mankind follows. At this point, the heart and spirit of man are sacrificed to Satan and become its sustenance. Moreover, the human heart and spirit become a place in which Satan can reside and a fitting playground for it. In this way, man unknowingly loses his understanding of the principles of being human, and of the worth and purpose of human existence. The laws from God and the covenant between God and man gradually fade away in man’s heart and man no longer seeks or pays heed to God. As time passes, man no longer understands why God created man, nor does he understand the words that come from the mouth of God or realize all that is from God. Man begins to resist the laws and decrees from God; the heart and spirit of man become deadened. … God loses the man of His original creation, and man loses the root of his beginning. This is the sorrow of this mankind” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
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