Because of faith, we are forgiven of sins; because of faith, we follow Christ till today. The website, Follow Christ, provides the latest information about the truth of Christ's return.
In the matter of welcoming the Lord’s return, we all neglect 3 important Bible verses—Matthew 24:27 and Luke 17:24–25—that prophesy the Lord will come as the Son of man. What does “the Son of man” refer to? The reference to “the Son of man” means someone born of a human who possesses normal humanity. The incarnated Lord Jesus was called the Son of man and Christ because He was the fleshly incarnation of the Spirit of God who looked normal on the outside, but possessed complete divinity, and could perform the work of God Himself. Therefore, “the coming of the Son of man” means that when God comes in the last days, He will still appear to us in the flesh. So why will the Lord incarnate the second time when He returns? In fact, this is filled with God’s tremendous salvation and love for us.
For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Through the former two fellowships, many brothers and sisters in the Lord show that never have they known such great significance of God’s names, much less the backgrounds of God’s choice of His names and the desire of God, despite that they have believed in the Lord for years. Moreover, they have never considered that each of God’s names represents one part of the disposition of God and represents the work of God in one age. Now, we’ll continue to fellowship about the truth of God’s name. Before our fellowship, let’s first give some thought to the following: When God came to perform His work of redemption, He changed His name from Jehovah to Jesus. Then will God change His name when He comes again?
Praying is an important part of everyday life for Christians. But do you know why Christians need to pray and how to enter into true prayer? Let us look for the answers together in Sister Kexin’s experiences …
At one meeting, several sisters were happily fellowshiping their individual experiences and understandings over the past few days, while Kexin was sitting to one side in a very low mood.
Looking at Kexin, Sister Lin said considerately: “Sister, if you have any difficulties or bad states, please open up and talk to us about them; let’s seek the truth together to resolve it.”
All who sincerely believe in the Lord and have been waiting for Him for many years are desperately longing for the Savior Jesus to come in the clouds and reunite with them. Some people often gaze up at the clouds in the sky, hoping that the Lord will suddenly come on clouds. Nowadays, disasters have become a common occurrence, more and more severe. Many people can’t help but be puzzled: Why has the Savior Jesus not appeared to us yet? So is such a way of waiting correct? Does the “white cloud” predicted by the Lord really refer to the white cloud in the sky?
The Lord Jesus said, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17). We can see from the Lord’s words that we need to achieve true repentance before we are able to enter the kingdom of God. Then have we truly repented? In fact, we have not yet achieved true repentance now, because we still often sin and resist God involuntarily. In this case, we are still unable to enter the kingdom of God. Just as Almighty God says, “You only know that Jesus shall descend during the last days, but how exactly will He descend? A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but you have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. You, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are therefore incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance.”
When the night fell, Jiamin stood before the window, watching the quiet sky with a bright moon. She thought of several verses she had looked up when reading the Bible a few days ago: “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), “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:37), and “For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” (Luke 17:24-25). Jiamin sank into thought: These verses all refer to “the coming of the Son of man”. Does it mean the Lord will appear to us in the image of the Son of man when He comes again? The Scripture also said, “But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.” The Lord Jesus was rejected by that generation. But He will be rejected again in the last days. Could it be that the Lord will once again suffer the persecution and rejection of the world when He returns, just like when He was incarnated among man the first time?
Verse 1 God has come to work in a filthy land, He has come to reveal His holiness. To do His work and save people in this place, He endures great humiliation.
Verse 2 This He does for a witness and for all mankind. Through God’s work, all see His righteousness, supremacy. By saving a group of the lowly, His greatness is shown, and His uprightness now is fully known.
The substance of most people’s belief in God is religious conviction: They are incapable of loving God, and can only follow God like a robot, unable to truly yearn for God or adore Him. They merely follow Him silently. Many people believe in God, but there are very few who love God; they only revere God because they fear catastrophe, or else they admire God because He is high and mighty—but in their reverence and admiration there is no love or true yearning. In their experiences they seek the minutiae of the truth, or else some insignificant mysteries. Most people merely follow, they fish in murky waters only to receive blessings; they do not seek the truth, nor do they truly obey God in order to receive God’s blessings. The life of all people’s belief in God is meaningless, it is without value, and in it are their personal considerations and pursuits; they do not believe in God in order to love God, but for the sake of being blessed. Many people act as they please, they do whatever they want, and never consider the interests of God, or whether what they do is in accordance with the will of God. Such people can’t even achieve true belief, let alone the love of God. God’s substance is not just for man to believe in; it is, moreover, for man to love. But many of those who believe in God are incapable of discovering this “secret,” and they don’t dare to love God, nor do they try to love Him. People have never discovered that there is so much that is lovable about God, they have never discovered that God is the God who loves man, and that He is the God who is for man to love. The loveliness of God is expressed in His work: Only when they experience His work can people discover His loveliness, only in their actual experiences can they appreciate the loveliness of God, and without observing it in real life, no one can discover God’s loveliness. There is so much to love about God, but without actually engaging with Him people are incapable of discovering it. Which is to say, if God did not become flesh, people would be incapable of actually engaging with Him, and if they were unable to engage with Him, they also wouldn’t be able to experience His work—and so their love of God would be tainted with much falsehood and imagination. The love of the God in heaven is not as real as the love of the God on earth, for people’s knowledge of God in heaven is built upon their imaginings, rather than upon what they have seen with their own eyes, and what they have personally experienced. When God comes to earth, people are able to behold His actual deeds and His loveliness, and they can see everything of His practical and normal disposition, all of which is thousands of times more real than the knowledge of the God in heaven. Regardless of how much people love the God in heaven, there is nothing real about this love, and it is full of human ideas. No matter how little their love for the God on earth, this love is real; even if there is only a little of it, it is still real. God causes people to know Him through real work, and through this knowledge He gains their love. It’s like Peter: If he hadn’t lived with Jesus, it would have been impossible for him to adore Jesus. So, too, was his loyalty toward Jesus built upon his engagement with Jesus. To make man love Him, God has come among man and lives together with man, and all that He makes man see and experience is the reality of God.
Follow Christ 