 |
| Jesus-Almighty-God |
Question 3: You say Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. It’s the testimony of the Holy Spirit, and It is definite. However, the words of some spiritual figures and Jesus’ apostles are recorded in the Bible. Is their expression God’s word or not? If what they expressed is really God’s word, aren’t they the truth, the way, and the life? In my view, there’s just no difference between the apostles’ words and the Lord Jesus’. They are also God’s words. Why are they not the truth, the way, and the life?
Answer: If believers in God can realize Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, it is so precious. It shows that they truly know Christ’s substance. They can all be called the ones who truly know God. Christ is the incarnate practical God. Those who know and have obedience to Christ are the ones who truly know God. This is because all of the truths, the way, and the life come from God, and come from the incarnate Christ’s expression. No one else except Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Very few people understand this truth. The standard by which God judges every believer is based on whether he knows the incarnate God. This is the only standard for a believer to gain God’s approval. All those who can accept and obey God incarnate are the overcomers raptured to God’s presence and perfected first. Those who can’t accept and obey Christ will be suffering in disasters, for they fail to know God incarnate and are all foolish virgins. Just like when the Lord Jesus came, He took His followers to the mountains who loved the truth, accepted His word and truly followed Him. He instructed and trained them personally. He just ignored the religious people and the greedy ones who only sought bread to satisfy hunger. They only believed in the vague God and refused to accept the incarnate God. They were the blind who didn’t know God. So only believers who can accept and obey the incarnate Christ are the ones approved and perfected by God. Why is it said in the Bible only Christ is the truth, the way, and the life? Almighty God says, “The way of life is not something that can be possessed by just anyone, nor is it easily obtainable by all. That is because life can only come from God, which is to say, only God Himself possesses the substance of life, there is no way of life without God Himself, and so only God is the source of life, and the ever-flowing wellspring of living water of life. From when He created the world, God has done much work involving the vitality of life, has done much work that brings life to man, and has paid a great price so that man might gain life, for God Himself is eternal life, and God Himself is the way by which man is resurrected. … and only God possesses the way of life. Since His life is immutable, so it is eternal; since only God is the way of life, so God Himself is the way of eternal life” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From Almighty God’s words we see that the truth, the way, and the life all come from God. Only God Himself possesses the way of life. The Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The Word is God. The Word is God’s word. The Word is the truth, the way, and the life. The Word becoming the flesh means that God’s Spirit is realized in the flesh; that is the truth, the way, and the life embodied in the flesh. Just as Almighty God says, “The Word has become flesh and the Spirit of truth is embodied in the flesh. That is, all the truth, all the life, and all the way have come in the flesh. The Spirit has indeed come to the earth, in the flesh …” (“Practice (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s two incarnations witness that He is the truth, the way, and the life. So man is given a great revelation—only Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Christ’s work and word, and what He has and is are the truth, the way, and the life. This is the substance of Christ. Christ expressing God’s word is doing God’s own work with God’s identity, opening an age and ending an age, and doing the work of an entire age and the work to all mankind. God’s words expressed by Christ are the total words in one stage of God’s work. They can reveal God’s disposition, what God has and is, the mysteries of God’s management plan, and God’s requirements and will for man. All of those words are the truth that can not only be man’s life, but moreover supply man’s life. Just like when the Lord Jesus came, He expressed all the truths that mankind needed in the Age of Grace. So they could confess and repent to God, qualify to pray to God, come before God to enjoy God’s grace, and see God’s mercy and lovingkindness. These results are produced by the redemptive work. The Lord Jesus’ work was to forgive man’s sins and also redeem man from sin. He did a stage of work of redemption for mankind. He opened the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law. In the last days the incarnate Almighty God comes to express all the truths that purify man and save man, to do the work of “judgment beginning with the house of God.” He shows man His righteous disposition, almightiness, and wisdom. He cleanses and changes man’s life disposition. In this way, man can fear God and shun evil, be thoroughly delivered from Satan’s influence, and truly return to God and be gained by God. Almighty God’s work starts the Age of Kingdom and ends the Age of Grace. From this we can see, all that Christ says, does, and expresses are the truth. The way Christ shows us, the life supply and salvation He brings to us cannot be possessed or expressed by any mankind. Christ is the source of man’s life, the appearance of God. He is the truth, the way, and the life, the only redemption for mankind. No one else except Christ possesses the truth, the way, and the life. That’s a fact obvious to all.
Christ is God incarnate, so He has a divine substance. All the prophets and apostles are not God incarnate. They only have man’s substance. Therefore, prophets and apostles cannot be thought of as equal to Christ. God incarnate is the embodiment of the truth, and also the source of God’s word. He can directly express the truth to supply man’s life. Though prophets and apostles can convey God’s word, or say something enlightened by the Holy Spirit and in line with the truth, they only have man’s substance. They are not God incarnate. So, they are not possessed of the truth and can’t express the truth. They’re merely used by God to shepherd, supply and lead God’s chosen people, performing man’s duty. They’re not qualified to directly express the Holy Spirit’s voice.
Almighty God says, “The word of God cannot be spoken as the word of man, much less can the word of man be spoken as the word of God. A man used by God is not the incarnate God, and the incarnate God is not a man used by God; in this, there is a substantial difference. …The words of God incarnate initiate a new age, guide the whole of mankind, reveal mysteries, and show man the direction ahead in a new age. The enlightenment obtained by man is but simple practice or knowledge. It cannot guide the whole of mankind into a new age or reveal the mystery of God Himself. God, after all, is God, and man is man. God has the substance of God, and man has the substance of man. If man views the words spoken by God as simple enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and takes the words of the apostles and prophets as words personally spoken by God, then man is wrong” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“This is to say that man’s fellowship differs from the word of God. What man fellowships conveys their individual seeing and experience, expressing what they see and experience on the foundation of God’s work. Their responsibility is to find out, after God works or speaks, what they ought to practice or enter into, and then deliver it to followers. … What God expresses is what God Himself is, and this is beyond the reach of man, that is, beyond the reach of man’s thinking. He expresses His work of leading all of mankind, and this is not relevant to the details of human experience, but is instead concerned with His own management. Man expresses his experience while God expresses His being—this being is His inherent disposition and is beyond the reach of man. Man’s experience is his seeing and knowledge acquired based on God’s expression of His being. Such seeing and knowledge are called man’s being. They are expressed on the foundation of man’s inherent disposition and his actual caliber; hence they are also called man’s being” (“God’s Work and Man’s Work” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“Take Paul and Peter, for example, they did not have their own personal experiences prior to walking upon the path led by Jesus. It was only after Jesus led the path that they experienced the words spoken by Jesus, and the path led by Him; from this they gained many experiences, and wrote the epistles” (“Concerning Appellations and Identity” in The Word Appears in the Flesh.
Almighty God clearly differentiates between the substances and words of people who are used by God and those of Christ. Christ’s expression is directly from the Holy Spirit, so all that Christ expresses is the word of God, the truth. Those spiritual figures and apostles, whether through their letters, speaking, or their books, are talking about their experiences and knowledge of God’s words. Though most of them are in line with the truth, they’re simply not God’s words at all, far different from the truth that Christ expresses. The reason why people think their words conform with the truth is that their words contain the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and their experiences and knowledge of God’s word. But without Christ’s expression, the apostles and spiritual figures wouldn’t have the knowledge and experiences of God’s word. That is to say, the apostles based their work on Christ’s word and work. Christ’s expression comes first, and then comes the apostles’ experiences and knowledge. Therefore, only Christ alone in God’s work can express God’s word. Man used by God can just convey their personal experiences and knowledge. They’re all proclaiming and testifying to the words Christ expresses. Their knowledge can never go beyond the scope of Christ’s word. Nobody can speak as profoundly as Christ does. No matter how compatible their words are with the truth, they don’t have the substance of God’s word, which is the fact.
The truth expressed by Christ is inexhaustible to all of us. It’s the eternal source of living water of life for man. Even though prophets can be instructed to convey God’s word, the word of God conveyed by them differs from that expressed in His work. Prophets can’t do God’s work. They’re only conveying God’s word in special circumstances, warning God’s chosen people in special circumstances and special matters, as well as exhorting, comforting, or saying prophecies to lead the Israelites. Prophets are merely raised and used by God in each stage of the Age of Law. They can convey God’s word because of Jehovah God’s instructions. They’re cooperating with God by doing a little work, are simply doing man’s duty. Without God’s instruction, their conveying of God’s word will end. It’s sufficient proof that prophets themselves have no truth, nor the way of life, which is undeniable. When God initiates an age, it’s always God incarnate working directly and expressing His will for all mankind and the work He will do. Thus, only Christ can directly express God’s word. Only Christ can accomplish the work “the word appears in the flesh.” The limited words of prophets can’t represent God’s work of opening an age. This is unquestionable. No matter how many letters and books they’ve written, the apostles and the spiritual figures are simply talking about their personal experiences and knowledge which are man’s testimonies. They can’t be compared to God’s words expressed by Christ. So, none of the men used by God, the apostles, or the spiritual figures, can be said that they are the truth, the way, and the life. They dare not even say themselves that they’re the truth, the way, and the life, much less say their words are God’s words and the truth. We all see that all their achievements are very limited. Even though they’re the apostles, spiritual figures, and have worked for years, there’s no way they can save man, or perfect man. Only Christ can save man and perfect man. This is a fact. Therefore, only Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, while no apostles or spiritual figures are.
Answer: If believers in God can realize Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, it is so precious. It shows that they truly know Christ’s substance. They can all be called the ones who truly know God. Christ is the incarnate practical God. Those who know and have obedience to Christ are the ones who truly know God. This is because all of the truths, the way, and the life come from God, and come from the incarnate Christ’s expression. No one else except Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Very few people understand this truth. The standard by which God judges every believer is based on whether he knows the incarnate God. This is the only standard for a believer to gain God’s approval. All those who can accept and obey God incarnate are the overcomers raptured to God’s presence and perfected first. Those who can’t accept and obey Christ will be suffering in disasters, for they fail to know God incarnate and are all foolish virgins. Just like when the Lord Jesus came, He took His followers to the mountains who loved the truth, accepted His word and truly followed Him. He instructed and trained them personally. He just ignored the religious people and the greedy ones who only sought bread to satisfy hunger. They only believed in the vague God and refused to accept the incarnate God. They were the blind who didn’t know God. So only believers who can accept and obey the incarnate Christ are the ones approved and perfected by God. Why is it said in the Bible only Christ is the truth, the way, and the life? Almighty God says, “The way of life is not something that can be possessed by just anyone, nor is it easily obtainable by all. That is because life can only come from God, which is to say, only God Himself possesses the substance of life, there is no way of life without God Himself, and so only God is the source of life, and the ever-flowing wellspring of living water of life. From when He created the world, God has done much work involving the vitality of life, has done much work that brings life to man, and has paid a great price so that man might gain life, for God Himself is eternal life, and God Himself is the way by which man is resurrected. … and only God possesses the way of life. Since His life is immutable, so it is eternal; since only God is the way of life, so God Himself is the way of eternal life” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From Almighty God’s words we see that the truth, the way, and the life all come from God. Only God Himself possesses the way of life. The Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The Word is God. The Word is God’s word. The Word is the truth, the way, and the life. The Word becoming the flesh means that God’s Spirit is realized in the flesh; that is the truth, the way, and the life embodied in the flesh. Just as Almighty God says, “The Word has become flesh and the Spirit of truth is embodied in the flesh. That is, all the truth, all the life, and all the way have come in the flesh. The Spirit has indeed come to the earth, in the flesh …” (“Practice (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s two incarnations witness that He is the truth, the way, and the life. So man is given a great revelation—only Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Christ’s work and word, and what He has and is are the truth, the way, and the life. This is the substance of Christ. Christ expressing God’s word is doing God’s own work with God’s identity, opening an age and ending an age, and doing the work of an entire age and the work to all mankind. God’s words expressed by Christ are the total words in one stage of God’s work. They can reveal God’s disposition, what God has and is, the mysteries of God’s management plan, and God’s requirements and will for man. All of those words are the truth that can not only be man’s life, but moreover supply man’s life. Just like when the Lord Jesus came, He expressed all the truths that mankind needed in the Age of Grace. So they could confess and repent to God, qualify to pray to God, come before God to enjoy God’s grace, and see God’s mercy and lovingkindness. These results are produced by the redemptive work. The Lord Jesus’ work was to forgive man’s sins and also redeem man from sin. He did a stage of work of redemption for mankind. He opened the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law. In the last days the incarnate Almighty God comes to express all the truths that purify man and save man, to do the work of “judgment beginning with the house of God.” He shows man His righteous disposition, almightiness, and wisdom. He cleanses and changes man’s life disposition. In this way, man can fear God and shun evil, be thoroughly delivered from Satan’s influence, and truly return to God and be gained by God. Almighty God’s work starts the Age of Kingdom and ends the Age of Grace. From this we can see, all that Christ says, does, and expresses are the truth. The way Christ shows us, the life supply and salvation He brings to us cannot be possessed or expressed by any mankind. Christ is the source of man’s life, the appearance of God. He is the truth, the way, and the life, the only redemption for mankind. No one else except Christ possesses the truth, the way, and the life. That’s a fact obvious to all.
Christ is God incarnate, so He has a divine substance. All the prophets and apostles are not God incarnate. They only have man’s substance. Therefore, prophets and apostles cannot be thought of as equal to Christ. God incarnate is the embodiment of the truth, and also the source of God’s word. He can directly express the truth to supply man’s life. Though prophets and apostles can convey God’s word, or say something enlightened by the Holy Spirit and in line with the truth, they only have man’s substance. They are not God incarnate. So, they are not possessed of the truth and can’t express the truth. They’re merely used by God to shepherd, supply and lead God’s chosen people, performing man’s duty. They’re not qualified to directly express the Holy Spirit’s voice.
Almighty God says, “The word of God cannot be spoken as the word of man, much less can the word of man be spoken as the word of God. A man used by God is not the incarnate God, and the incarnate God is not a man used by God; in this, there is a substantial difference. …The words of God incarnate initiate a new age, guide the whole of mankind, reveal mysteries, and show man the direction ahead in a new age. The enlightenment obtained by man is but simple practice or knowledge. It cannot guide the whole of mankind into a new age or reveal the mystery of God Himself. God, after all, is God, and man is man. God has the substance of God, and man has the substance of man. If man views the words spoken by God as simple enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and takes the words of the apostles and prophets as words personally spoken by God, then man is wrong” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“This is to say that man’s fellowship differs from the word of God. What man fellowships conveys their individual seeing and experience, expressing what they see and experience on the foundation of God’s work. Their responsibility is to find out, after God works or speaks, what they ought to practice or enter into, and then deliver it to followers. … What God expresses is what God Himself is, and this is beyond the reach of man, that is, beyond the reach of man’s thinking. He expresses His work of leading all of mankind, and this is not relevant to the details of human experience, but is instead concerned with His own management. Man expresses his experience while God expresses His being—this being is His inherent disposition and is beyond the reach of man. Man’s experience is his seeing and knowledge acquired based on God’s expression of His being. Such seeing and knowledge are called man’s being. They are expressed on the foundation of man’s inherent disposition and his actual caliber; hence they are also called man’s being” (“God’s Work and Man’s Work” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“Take Paul and Peter, for example, they did not have their own personal experiences prior to walking upon the path led by Jesus. It was only after Jesus led the path that they experienced the words spoken by Jesus, and the path led by Him; from this they gained many experiences, and wrote the epistles” (“Concerning Appellations and Identity” in The Word Appears in the Flesh.
Almighty God clearly differentiates between the substances and words of people who are used by God and those of Christ. Christ’s expression is directly from the Holy Spirit, so all that Christ expresses is the word of God, the truth. Those spiritual figures and apostles, whether through their letters, speaking, or their books, are talking about their experiences and knowledge of God’s words. Though most of them are in line with the truth, they’re simply not God’s words at all, far different from the truth that Christ expresses. The reason why people think their words conform with the truth is that their words contain the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and their experiences and knowledge of God’s word. But without Christ’s expression, the apostles and spiritual figures wouldn’t have the knowledge and experiences of God’s word. That is to say, the apostles based their work on Christ’s word and work. Christ’s expression comes first, and then comes the apostles’ experiences and knowledge. Therefore, only Christ alone in God’s work can express God’s word. Man used by God can just convey their personal experiences and knowledge. They’re all proclaiming and testifying to the words Christ expresses. Their knowledge can never go beyond the scope of Christ’s word. Nobody can speak as profoundly as Christ does. No matter how compatible their words are with the truth, they don’t have the substance of God’s word, which is the fact.
The truth expressed by Christ is inexhaustible to all of us. It’s the eternal source of living water of life for man. Even though prophets can be instructed to convey God’s word, the word of God conveyed by them differs from that expressed in His work. Prophets can’t do God’s work. They’re only conveying God’s word in special circumstances, warning God’s chosen people in special circumstances and special matters, as well as exhorting, comforting, or saying prophecies to lead the Israelites. Prophets are merely raised and used by God in each stage of the Age of Law. They can convey God’s word because of Jehovah God’s instructions. They’re cooperating with God by doing a little work, are simply doing man’s duty. Without God’s instruction, their conveying of God’s word will end. It’s sufficient proof that prophets themselves have no truth, nor the way of life, which is undeniable. When God initiates an age, it’s always God incarnate working directly and expressing His will for all mankind and the work He will do. Thus, only Christ can directly express God’s word. Only Christ can accomplish the work “the word appears in the flesh.” The limited words of prophets can’t represent God’s work of opening an age. This is unquestionable. No matter how many letters and books they’ve written, the apostles and the spiritual figures are simply talking about their personal experiences and knowledge which are man’s testimonies. They can’t be compared to God’s words expressed by Christ. So, none of the men used by God, the apostles, or the spiritual figures, can be said that they are the truth, the way, and the life. They dare not even say themselves that they’re the truth, the way, and the life, much less say their words are God’s words and the truth. We all see that all their achievements are very limited. Even though they’re the apostles, spiritual figures, and have worked for years, there’s no way they can save man, or perfect man. Only Christ can save man and perfect man. This is a fact. Therefore, only Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, while no apostles or spiritual figures are.
from the movie script of The Mystery of Godliness
Know more ：The Church of Almighty God was founded by Almighty God personally
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.