Hello, brothers and sisters! Easter is here. This is a festival commemorating the resurrection of our Lord, who was nailed to the cross to redeem mankind. On this day, we are more likely to think of the scenes of the Lord Jesus appearing and speaking to His disciples, and ate bread and broiled fish before them after the resurrection. He wanted to clear away their doubts about His resurrection. Except for this purpose, what do these actions of the Lord Jesus conceal in terms of things that we do not know about His thoughts?
"After the Lord Jesus was resurrected, He appeared to the people He thought necessary, spoke with them, and made requirements of them, leaving behind His intentions, and His expectations of people. That is to say, as God incarnate, it doesn’t matter if it was during His time in the flesh, or in the spiritual body after being nailed to the cross and being resurrected—His concern for mankind and requirements of people did not change. He was concerned about these disciples before He was up on the cross; in His heart, He was clear on the state of every single person, He understood every person’s deficiency, and of course His understanding of every person was the same after He had died, resurrected, and become a spiritual body as it was when He was in the flesh. He knew that people weren’t entirely certain of His identity as Christ, but during His time in the flesh He did not make strict demands of people. But after He had been resurrected He appeared to them, and He made them absolutely certain that the Lord Jesus had come from God, that He was God incarnate, and He used the fact of His appearance and His resurrection as the greatest vision and motivation for mankind’s lifelong pursuit. His resurrection from death not only strengthened all those who followed Him, but also thoroughly put His work of the Age of Grace into effect among mankind, and thus the gospel of the Lord Jesus’ salvation in the Age of Grace gradually spread to every corner of humanity. Would you say that the Lord Jesus’ appearance after His resurrection had any significance? If you were Thomas or Peter at that time, and you encountered this one thing in your life that was so meaningful, what kind of impact would it have on you? Would you see this as the best and the greatest vision of your life of believing in God? Would you see this as a driving force of your following God, striving to satisfy Him, and pursuing love of God in your life? Would you expend a lifetime of effort to spread this greatest of visions? Would you make spreading the Lord Jesus’ salvation a commission you accept from God? … His appearance allowed people to have another experience and feeling of God’s concern and care while also powerfully proving that God is the One who opens up an age, who develops an age, and He is the One who ends an age. Through His appearance He strengthened the faith of all people, and through His appearance He proved to the world the fact that He is God Himself. This gave His followers eternal confirmation, and through His appearance He also opened up a phase of His work in the new age."
from Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh
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3. The Origin and Development of The Church of Almighty God
In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus promised to His followers, “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 14:3). He also prophesied, “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:27). In the last days, as promised and foretold by Himself, God has again become flesh and descended to the East of the world—China—to do the work of judgment, chastisement, conquest, and salvation using the word, on the foundation of the redemption work of the Lord Jesus. In this, the prophecies of the Bible that “Judgment begins with the house of God” and “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches!” have also been fulfilled. God’s work of the last days has ended the Age of Grace and ushered in the Age of Kingdom. As the gospel of the kingdom of Almighty God spread rapidly in Mainland China, The Church of Almighty God came into being. As proven by facts, The Church of Almighty God came into being entirely as a result of God’s work of the last days, and was not established by any man. This is because the chosen people in The Church of Almighty God pray in the name of Almighty God, obey His work, and accept all the truths expressed by Him. Thus it is evident that these chosen people believe in Christ who is incarnated in the last days, the practical God who is the Spirit realized in the flesh, instead of believing in a man. Outwardly, Almighty God is nothing more than an ordinary Son of man, but in substance He is the embodiment of God’s Spirit and is the truth, the way, and the life. His work and word are the direct expression of the Spirit of God and are the appearance of God in person. Therefore, He is the practical God who is incarnated.
In 1991, Almighty God, Christ of the last days, began to officially perform His ministry in China. Then, He expressed millions of words and began the work of judgment of the great white throne in the last days. Just as Almighty 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. 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. That is to say, in the last days, Christ shall use the truth to teach men around the earth and make all truths known to them. This is God’s work of judgment” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “God does the work of the word in the last days, and such words are that of the Holy Spirit, for God is the Holy Spirit and can also become flesh; therefore, the words of the Holy Spirit, as spoken of in the past, are the words of the incarnate God today. … For God to speak utterances to carry out work, He must become flesh, else His work cannot accomplish His goal” (“How Can Man Who Has Defined God in His Conceptions Receive the Revelations of God?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Because of the appearance and utterances of Christ of the last days, ever more people who thirst for and seek the truth have been conquered and purified by the word of Almighty God, and have seen in God’s judgment and chastisement the appearance of God and the return of the Redeemer.
The Church of Almighty God came into being because of the appearance and work of Almighty God—the returned Lord Jesus—Christ of the last days, and also under His righteous judgment and chastisement. The church is comprised of all those who truly accept Almighty God’s work of the last days and are conquered and saved by God’s word. It was entirely founded by Almighty God personally, and is personally led and shepherded by Him, and it was by no means set up by any man. This is a fact acknowledged by all the chosen people in The Church of Almighty God. Whoever is used by God incarnate is predestined by God, and personally appointed and testified to by God, just as Jesus personally chose and appointed the twelve disciples. Those who are used by God only cooperate with His work, and cannot do God’s work in His stead. The church was not founded by those who are used by God, nor do God’s chosen people believe in or follow them. The churches of the Age of Grace were not set up by Paul and other apostles, but were the product of the work of the Lord Jesus and founded by the Lord Jesus Himself. Likewise, The Church of Almighty God in the last days has not been established by the man used by God, but is the product of the work of Almighty God. The man who is used by God only waters, supplies, and leads the churches, performing the duty of man. Although God’s chosen people are led, watered, and supplied by the man who is used by God, they believe in and follow none other than Almighty God, and accept and obey His words and work. This is a fact that no one can deny. Because of the appearance and work of God incarnate, many true believers of the Lord in all religious denominations and sects have finally heard the voice of God, have seen that the Lord Jesus has already come and carried out the work of judgment in the last days, and they have all confirmed that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus—and as a result, they have accepted His work of the last days. All those who are conquered by the word of Almighty God become subject to His name. Therefore, all the chosen people of The Church of Almighty God pray to Almighty God, and follow, obey and worship Him. Having experienced God’s work of judgment and chastisement, the chosen people in China have come to appreciate His righteous disposition, and have seen His majesty and wrath, and so they have been completely conquered by God’s word and have fallen down before Almighty God, and are willing to obey and accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s word. Thus, they have gained God’s salvation.
Precisely because the words expressed by Almighty God disclose the mysteries of God’s management plan to save mankind, God’s chosen people, in the disclosing of God’s words, come to understand that God has a new name in each age, and that His new name symbolizes that God is doing new work, and furthermore, that God is ending an old age and ushering in a new age. The meaning of God’s name is so great and profound! In it is contained the significance of God’s work. God uses names to change the age and represent His work of that age. In the Age of Law, He used the name of Jehovah to issue laws and commandments and lead the life of mankind on earth. In the Age of Grace, He used the name of Jesus to do the work of mankind’s redemption. With the arrival of the Age of Kingdom, He has used the name of Almighty God to carry out the work of judgment beginning with the house of God, to purify man, change man, and save man. God’s new name is not something He is arbitrarily called by man, but was taken by God Himself because of the needs of His work. The name God takes in each stage of work has its roots in the Bible, and the name that the Lord Jesus would take when He returned in the last days was long prophesied in the Book of Revelation: “Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write on him my new name” (Revelation 3:12). “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, said the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigns” (Revelation 19:6). The name of Almighty God in the Age of Kingdom exactly fulfills the prophecies of the Book of Revelation. God is almighty, He created and rules over all things, and He is the First and the Last; it is most appropriate for us to call Him Almighty God. Thence, people have called the incarnate God Almighty God and have also called the incarnate Christ Practical God. And The Church of Almighty God is thus named. To be continued...
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