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.
Here are 12 selected Bible verses about being saved and some related articles to help you understand the relationship between being saved and entering the kingdom of heaven.
John 3:17
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
I believe many brothers and sisters in the Lord are familiar with the word “salvation” and want to be saved by believing in the Lord. Moreover, everyone preaches these words “Once saved, always saved.” Then, does once saved mean always saved? If we want to figure out this question, we first need to know if these words are right and if there is any reference in the Lord’s word? Whatever views we hold onto, we shall not rely on our own notions and imaginations. Only if we find the basis from God’s word can we act in harmony with God’s will.
Continue reading “What Does It Mean to Be Saved? What Does the Bible Say About How to Be Saved?”Bible Verses for Reference:
“I indeed baptize you with water to repentance. but He that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire” (Mat 3:11).
Relevant Words of God:
The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood but is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself. Be it His humanity or divinity, both submit to the will of the heavenly Father. The substance of Christ is the Spirit, that is, the divinity. Therefore, His substance is that of God Himself; this substance will not interrupt His own work, and He could not possibly do anything that destroys His own work, nor would He ever utter any words that go against His own will. …
Continue reading “What Are the Essential Differences Between the Incarnate God and Those Who Are Used by God?”
By Yu’en, South Korea
I trust every devout Christian is confused about the following: We pray to the Lord, and confess sins and repent every day, but why are we never able to escape the bondage of sin? As we all know, the Lord is holy, so are we, who often sin and resist Him, qualified to enter God’s kingdom? How can we shake off the shackles of sin? I always used to be perplexed by this too, but through seeking, I finally found the way to be purified of sin.
“Lord, You are holy, yet I frequently involuntarily deceive and sin and offend You. Lord, I’m unwilling to live like this. Please lead me to rid myself of impurity and practice Your words. …” I often prayed to the Lord this way, but I always failed to do what I prayed, and continued to live in sin and was unable to follow the Lord’s teachings. For example, I knew perfectly well that the Lord requires us to be honest people, but to protect my self-respect and avoid being looked down upon by others, I often used the knowledge of the scriptures that I had written in the past to bluff my way through in the weekly Bible training class. Not only that, I always had a bad temper. At home, when my children didn’t do as I wanted them to, I would become furious at them; at work, when the younger generation spoke to me in an impatient tone, I couldn’t help but get angry and give them looks. … I knew that in my interactions with others, I should be tolerant and patient, and love them as myself, but I couldn’t do it at all and no matter how I prayed, repented and confessed to the Lord, I was still powerless to escape the bonds of sin. For this, I felt much pain. God says: “Be you holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). And the Bible says: “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26). I was so filthy and corrupt, and often committed sins, unable to implement the Lord’s words—would I be able to enter the heavenly kingdom in the future?
I sought answers to my confusion with the pastor, but he often comforted me by saying: “The Bible says: ‘That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation’ (Romans 10:9–10). So we need not be pessimistic and disappointed because of our habitual sin. The Lord won’t forsake us, and we have to have faith in Him. The Lord no longer sees us as sinful because our sins were long forgiven, and we are justified by faith. When He comes, we are qualified to be raptured into the kingdom of heaven.” Also, I often privately discussed this issue with my brothers and sisters, and they too believed that though we often sinned, we were deemed righteous thanks to the Lord’s redemption and that when the Lord returned He would surely bring us into the heavenly kingdom. Seeing how everybody thought this way, I was able to gradually let go of the concerns I’d had. However, I felt really uneasy in my heart, trapped in a state of sinning and confessing, but since I couldn’t find a solution, all I could do was constantly pray to the Lord, longing for Him to come quickly and lead me out of this predicament.
One day, I visited a friend’s house, and there met Missionary Zhang. As we chatted, I unexpectedly heard from her the news of the Lord’s return. She said: “We’re now in the last stage of the last days. Disasters are frequently occurring around the world, and the prophecies of the Lord’s second coming in the last days have basically been fulfilled. We are all desperately yearning for the Lord Jesus’ return. In fact, the Lord Jesus has already returned in the flesh; He is Christ of the last days, Almighty God. He has expressed millions of words, started the Age of Kingdom and performed His work of judging, chastising and cleansing man. Only by accepting God’s work of judgment in the last days can our corrupt dispositions be purified; only then will we be qualified to be raised into the kingdom of heaven. …” Hearing that the Lord had returned, I felt pleased and surprised that now, in my lifetime, the Lord’s return had come. But I felt conflicted when I thought of how she had said that accepting God’s work of judgment in the last days was the only way for us to enter the heavenly kingdom. The pastors and elders always said that we had been absolved of our sins and been justified by faith, and that the Lord would directly bring us into the kingdom of heaven when He came. How could she say that?
I therefore said to Sister Zhang: “The Lord was crucified to redeem mankind and has already taken on all of our sins. And the Bible says: ‘For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation’ (Romans 10:10). Our sins have been absolved and we have been made righteous through our faith. When the Lord returns, He will lift us up directly into the kingdom of heaven. How can you say that only if we accept God’s work of judgment and chastisement in the last days can we enter the heavenly kingdom? Isn’t this denying the Lord’s redemptive work?” After I finished, I turned sideways to drink tea, not feeling like talking.
Seeing that I was unhappy, Sister Zhang said amiably to me: “Sister, it’s true that the Lord Jesus’ crucifixion has forgiven man’s sins. But you think that as long as we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths, we are called righteous and will be brought into the kingdom of heaven when the Lord comes—is this way of thinking correct and does it have any basis in the Lord’s words? The Lord said: ‘Be you holy; for I am holy’ (1 Peter 1:16). This verse states very clearly that God is holy, and those who are not holy cannot see Him. We, however, are constantly sinning and resisting God and haven’t achieved purification. How could we be qualified to see God’s face and enter God’s kingdom? Just as the Lord Jesus said: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the son stays ever’ (John 8:34–35). From this, we can see the belief that those who are justified by faith and absolved of their sins can enter the kingdom of heaven is just a product of the imaginings from our heads and not in line with the Lord’s words. In our belief in the Lord, all things should be in accordance with the Lord’s words. Sayings that go against His words are man’s notions and fallacies, and if we continue to cling to them, we will easily ruin our chance to get into heaven.”
Sister Zhang’s fellowship was well-founded and my heart felt greatly stirred. It turned out that the argument that having our sins forgiven and being called righteous by faith meant that we could enter into the heavenly kingdom was wrong, and this was all just our wishful thinking and did not tally with the Lord’s will at all. The Lord’s words made it so clear, but how come I hadn’t pondered them in this way? In the past, I had listened only to the pastors but ignored the Lord’s words—I was so foolish!
Then the sister turned on her computer and said, smiling: “Sister, with regard to why we can’t get into heaven simply by having our sins forgiven, let’s read several passages of Almighty God’s words and it will all become clearer.” I nodded.
Almighty God says, “At the time, Jesus’ work was the work to redeem all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer a sinner, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed.” “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.”
After reading God’s words, the sister continued to fellowship, saying: “By reading God’s words, have we understood a little about the Lord Jesus’ redemption work and the result of it? As we all know, at the end of the Age of Law, because mankind was becoming more and more corrupted by Satan and unable to keep the law, they were all in danger of violating the laws and being punished with death. In order to redeem man from sin, God became flesh as the Lord Jesus and did the work of redemption during the Age of Grace, taking on all of our sins. As long as we believe in the Lord Jesus, and pray for repentance in His name, He will pardon our sins and give us peace and happiness. This is what we call being called righteous because of faith. But this only means we have been forgiven of our sins and will no longer be condemned by the law, but doesn’t mean we have been totally purified and become righteous people as we imagine. Because our corrupt dispositions haven’t been cleansed, such as arrogance and conceit, crookedness and deceitfulness, selfishness and baseness, and so we still frequently commit sins, incapable of practicing the Lord’s words. For example, we clearly know that the Lord teaches us to be tolerant and patient, but we often lose our temper in spite of ourselves so that others can listen to us; we clearly know the Lord requires us to be honest people, but if something involves our own interests or reputation, we involuntarily tell lies and deceive. And so on. Our sins are just like chives—as long as they aren’t uprooted, no matter how many times they are cut, they will continue to grow. Similarly, if our sinful nature isn’t eliminated, as long as there is the right environment and condition, we’ll continue to sin, and we cannot stop ourselves from doing things we know to betray the Lord’s words. As can be seen, our constant sinning is not a matter of external behavior but comes from the root of sin within us—the corrupt satanic natures. Without eradicating our corrupt dispositions, we’ll still rebel against and resist God in spite of ourselves and never will obey and worship God. This way, how can we be qualified to get into the kingdom of heaven?
“The Lord Jesus said: ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come’ (John 12–13). ‘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’ (John 12:48). From the prophecies of the Lord, we can see that there are many things the Lord has yet to tell us and that when He returns in the last days, He will do the work of judgment and express words to lead us into all truth. Only if we accept God’s work of the last days, experience the judgment of His words, and have our corrupt dispositions cleansed, are we qualified to enter into God’s kingdom.”
The sister’s fellowship utterly convinced me and I kept nodding. From Almighty God’s words, I came to understand that the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption merely redeemed us of our sins but did not dig up the root of our sin, so we still often sin and resist God, unable to practice His words. I thought of how in those years, I recited and copied verses from the Bible, and knew by heart the Lord’s teachings to constrain myself, but when meeting with things that were not to my liking, I would still get angry and be unable to restrain my anger, and when it came to things that were in my interests, I couldn’t help deceiving. I had been experiencing inexpressible suffering and had no words to describe it. Through this communion, I finally knew that the Lord Jesus had long ago prophesied that in the last days He would express His words and do the work of judgment. Only by accepting God’s work of judgment in the last days and having our sinful nature purified can we enter the kingdom of heaven. I kept thanking the Lord in my heart for allowing me to listen to such enlightening fellowship. Since it was getting late that day, I made an appointment with Sister Zhang for the next day so we could continue to fellowship at my friend’s house.
The next day, I arrived at my friend’s house on time. Thinking of the previous day’s topic of fellowship, I couldn’t wait to ask Sister Zhang: “Sister, despite having believed in the Lord for many years, I’ve always been tightly constrained by the bonds of my sin and it’s very painful for me. I’ve kept trying to find a way to be cleansed of sin but I failed. Through your fellowshiping about Almighty God’s words yesterday, I’ve come to understand that only by accepting God’s work of judgment in the last days can we thoroughly cast off the binds of sin. I still want to know how God does His judgment work to cleanse people. Can you fellowship more with me?”
Smiling, the sister said: “Thank God. That you’re able to have a seeking heart is by God’s enlightenment and is His blessing. Christ of the last days, Almighty God, has expressed all truths to allow people to attain salvation and revealed all the truths and mysteries we never before understood when reading the Bible. With regard to how God does the work of judgment, let’s read Almighty God’s words to help us understand.” As she said this, she opened the book and handed it to me. Excitedly holding the book, I read a passage of Almighty God’s words: “In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, to expose the substance of man, and to dissect the words and deeds of man. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the substance of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, the words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan, and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth of which man is utterly bereft. Only methods such as these can be called judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt essence and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the essence of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God.”
After I finished reading, the sister shared in fellowship: “Almighty God’s words are very clear. God does the work of judgment of the last days mainly according to the needs of corrupt mankind. He expresses words to judge and expose man’s God-resisting and God-betraying satanic nature, and reveal the truth of mankind’s corruption by Satan. Meanwhile, all aspects of the truth about God’s will and requirements of mankind, about what kind of people will be saved or punished, and so on, are disclosed to us. Also, God shows us the way to cleanse our sins. In addition, based on what we need in life, God also arranges all kinds of situations to discipline, deal with, try and refine us, thereby exposing our various satanic dispositions and allowing us to distinguish between positive and negative things and have a deeper understanding of our satanic nature of resisting and betraying God. For instance, through the revelation of the facts, we see our satanic dispositions of selfishness and lowliness—although we believe in God, we seek blessings and once God’s work doesn’t accord with our notions and our dreams of being blessed are ruined, we misunderstand and complain to God, and even betray Him. In our work and service to God, we often show off ourselves and pursue fame and status so that people look up to us. When faced with things that involve face and interests, we are still capable of cunning and deceit. When others infringe upon our interests, we not only hate them but also develop the idea of taking revenge on them. We are full of various satanic dispositions, such as greed, arrogance, deceit, maliciousness, and so on—we truly have no human likeness. In the process of experiencing God’s judgment, we come to have some understanding of God’s righteous disposition, holiness and kindness. For example, when we disobey God, our spirit is in darkness, we lose our peace and joy and we feel reproached, and sometimes we may be disciplined and pruned; this makes us realize that God’s righteous disposition brooks no offense. On the contrary, when we practice the truth to satisfy God, our souls feel peace and joy and we feel very close to God and have more faith to pursue the truth and satisfy Him. We feel that God is alive and vivid and practical. We are thus happy to accept and obey God’s judgment and implement and live by His words, so our satanic dispositions are gradually cleansed away; this way, we’ll finally live out a true human likeness, becoming a person who truly reveres and obeys God. These are the results achieved by experiencing God’s work of judgment in the last days.”
Hearing the sister’s fellowship was very exciting for me, and I said joyfully: “Sister, after listening to your fellowship, I understand that in the last days, God principally uses the expression of the truth to judge and purify people and also creates environments to change people. I’m very moved inside. It seems that God’s work of judgment in the last days is indeed the work of cleansing man and is entirely necessary for us to know ourselves and break away from sin. Thinking back over recent years, no matter how we’ve sacrificed and suffered for the Lord, the root of our sin can’t be resolved, and in spite of our praying, repenting and confessing, we still can’t attain purification. But now I have hope of breaking free from sin and becoming cleansed. I’ve gained a lot from your fellowship over the last two days. Not only have I understood God’s will to save man, but I also got why I was unable to rid myself of sin. I’m truly so thankful to God! Before because I’d clung to the view that we are called righteous by faith and that we can enter the kingdom of heaven, when you said only by accepting God’s judgment in the last days can we get into heaven, I felt resistance in my heart. I really was too stubborn and stupid. Now I have no misgivings and am willing to accept Almighty God’s judgment work of the last days. Hopefully, we’ll have more chances to fellowship together.”
Laughing, the sister said: “That’s wonderful, sister. Thank God!”
When she was leaving, Sister Zhang gave me a book of Almighty God’s words. I held onto the book, feeling as if I’d found some precious treasure. After I returned home, I hungrily, thirstily read God’s words. It turned out that Almighty God has revealed so many truths and mysteries, such as what the incarnation is, what the substance of the incarnation is, the inside story of God’s three stages of work, the difference between God’s work and man’s work, and so on. Each word of Almighty God is so fresh, and when reading His words, I felt I was face to face with God and feasting with Him, and felt at ease, joyful and sweet in my soul. More importantly, I also read the truth that exposes various aspects of man’s corrupt disposition and each word is piercing. What the truth reveals is the things deep within our souls and made me convinced in my speech and heart. I perceived from the bottom of my heart that God observes our hearts and minds and that His righteous disposition does not tolerate offense. I couldn’t help weeping tears of gratitude and falling to the ground before God to pray: “God, thank You for not abandoning me, a sinner, but allowing me to welcome Your return during my lifetime. Thank You so much. Now all I want to do is read Your words more and pursue the truth to attain change in my corrupt dispositions soon. May You lead me!”
From: Grow in Christ
By Xi En, United States
The Bible is Christianity’s canon, the foundation for our faith. Since we’ve believed in the Lord, each of us has had a Bible. We read the Bible frequently and cherish it as a treasure. In addition, we follow the words of the Bible as if they are the most important standard in our life and work. Especially when some brothers and sisters read what Paul said: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). This even more makes them think that all scripture is inspired by God. However, in the Bible, there are also the words of man. If we say that the words of man are the words of God, then are we not blaspheming God? So, is the Bible really given by inspiration of God? Are all the words in the Bible God’s words? With regards to these questions, let’s discuss them together.
Continue reading “Is Everything in the Bible God’s Word?”
By Yang Shuo
Editor’s note: The last days are here now; many believers are looking forward to the Lord Jesus’ return, and some gaze at the sky every day, yearning for the Lord Jesus to descend on a cloud. However, why haven’t we seen the Lord on a cloud? Read this article and you’ll find the way to welcome the Lord’s return.
After breakfast, the married couple Zhong Cheng and Chen Hua took a walk along a hillside path. Chen Hua looked up at the white clouds in the sky and said with a sigh, “We’ve been walking over these hills for years gazing at the sky, but we’ve never seen the Lord Jesus on any of the clouds. We’re now in the last days, disasters are growing in scale, and we still haven’t been able to welcome the Lord. It really makes me worry!
Zhong Cheng pondered this for a while and said, “For years now, we’ve prayed both morning and evening, and the church practices 24-hour shifts of watchfulness and prayer. The church has also set up a watchtower so people can gaze at the sky and wait expectantly for the Lord to return, but we still haven’t welcomed the Lord. I’m now wondering whether our practice could be wrong. I recently attended a co-worker meeting out of town and I heard some great news. Co-worker Liu said that the Lord has returned already and is expressing many truths to save man. He also read us some of God’s words, and I really felt that the words possessed power and authority, as though the Creator Himself were speaking to us, and I thought….”
Without waiting for him to finish, Chen Hua stopped and interjected, “What? The Lord Jesus has returned? In the Bible it clearly says, ‘You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven’ (Acts 1:11). ‘And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory’ (Matthew 24:30). When the Lord comes, He shall come in the clouds with great glory and everyone will see Him. We haven’t seen Him coming with clouds yet, so how can you say He’s returned?”
“I thought that way too, but through everyone fellowshiping and discussing this matter, I finally understood that the Bible not only contains the prophecies stating that the Lord shall come openly with clouds, but that it also contains prophecies stating that the Lord shall come in secret. For example: ‘If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come on you’ (Revelation 3:3). ‘Be you therefore ready also: for the Son of man comes at an hour when you think not’ (Luke 12:40). ‘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). The words ‘as a thief’ in this prophecy mean that the Lord shall come secretly and silently. Then there are the words ‘the Son of man,’ and ‘be rejected of this generation.’ ‘The Son of man’ means someone who is born of a human, who appears to possess normal humanity but who is the incarnation of God Himself. God’s Spirit cannot be called the Son of man, nor can the Spirit be rejected of this generation. Only by God incarnating and coming to work and utter His words on earth, appearing ordinary and normal on the outside, could man then treat Christ as though He were an ordinary person to the point where they deny and condemn Christ. When the Lord Jesus came to perform His work, for example, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of a human, lived a normal life and ate and lived alongside man. His essence, however, was that of God Himself, He possessed what God has and is, He was able to express God’s disposition, He was able to bring the Age of Law to a close and begin the Age of Grace, and He was able to express the truth to give man the path of repentance, thereby redeeming all of mankind. But the Pharisees, scribes and the ordinary Jewish people treated Jesus as though He were an ordinary man. Not only did they not accept the truth spoken by Jesus, but they also slandered and blasphemed against Him and they nailed Him to the cross. Now in the last days, if God were to come with clouds in Spirit form, then no one would dare to resist or reject Him. Only by God becoming the Son of man in the last days to perform His work and speak His words can He be rejected of this generation. We can see from these prophecies that the coming of the Lord is divided into two ways—His coming in secret and His coming openly. What’s more, the Lord’s words never fail, and therefore both these different prophecies will be fulfilled. In the last days, God will first come in secret to save those who can be saved and to make a group of people into overcomers. Once God’s secret work is done, God shall then appear openly to all peoples, and at that point all the prophecies concerning His coming openly shall be fulfilled,” explained Zhong Cheng.
Chen Hua fell into deep thought: “The Son of man” and “be rejected of this generation.” Yes, the Son of man means someone who is born of a human, and the Spirit of God cannot be called the Son of man, nor can the Spirit be rejected of this generation. It looks as though the prophecies in the Bible concerning the Lord’s coming are not confined just to Him coming with clouds, but that there are also prophecies that say the Lord shall come in secret. How come I’ve never discovered this in all my years reading the Bible?
As he walked, Zhong Cheng said, “When Co-worker Liu and I fellowshiped and discussed this matter with all the others, I finally understood that the Lord will come in two ways, both secretly and openly, that His work in secret will be to save people, and that, when He appears openly, God’s work to save man will then be finished, just as it prophesies in Revelation 1:7 when it says: ‘Behold, He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.’ Let’s think about this. It’s reasonable to say that people will be ecstatic when they see the Lord coming with clouds, but this verse says that all the kindreds of the earth shall wail when they see the Lord coming with clouds. This is because they did not accept the Lord Jesus who came in secret, because they resisted and rejected the Lord Jesus’ return, and thereby lost God’s salvation in the last days.
“The Lord Jesus also compared the days of His second coming with the days of Noah. The Lord Jesus said, ‘And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all’ (Luke 17:26–27). As we all know, when Noah spread the message that a great flood was coming to destroy the world, the people of that time did not believe him because they hadn’t seen any rain falling from the sky and, in the end, not one person believed the gospel Noah had been preaching for over a hundred years. When the ark was fully built, the days of God’s patience and His waiting for man to repent were over, and torrents of rain began to fall from the sky and the floods came. People saw all this unfolding around them, but it was too late—the gate of grace was shut. Similarly, God comes in secret in the last days to save us, and when God appears openly, His work of salvation shall be complete and the time of rewarding the good and punishing the wicked will have arrived.”
After listening to her husband’s fellowship, Chen Hua thought to herself: Yes, it is reasonable to say that the scene when the Lord comes should definitely be one of people in ecstatic joy and constant cheering, and those of us who believe in the Lord will beat gongs and drums and welcome the Lord’s coming with much singing and dancing. So why then does it say in that verse that all people will wail? I finally understand now that it’s because people reject and resist God’s secret work and they will thereby lose God’s salvation.
Zhong Cheng continued, saying, “When I met with Co-worker Liu, he read a passage of God’s words to us that I found very moving.” As he said this, Zhong Cheng took a notepad from his pocket and read: “Many people may not care what I say, but I still want to tell every so-called saint who follows Jesus that, when you see Jesus descend from the heaven upon a white cloud with your own eyes, this will be the public appearance of the Sun of righteousness. Perhaps that will be a time of great excitement for you, yet you should know that the time when you witness Jesus descend from the heaven is also the time when you go down to hell to be punished. That will be the time of the end of God’s management plan and it will be when God rewards the good and punishes the wicked. For the judgment of God will have ended before man sees signs, when there is only the expression of truth” (“By the Time You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus, God Will Have Made Heaven and Earth Anew”).
Filled with emotion, Zhong Cheng said, “When I heard these words, I felt them to be filled with majesty, authority and power, as though they had been spoken by God Himself. These words made me finally understand that God comes first in secret to perform the work of judgment beginning in God’s house, to give man truth and life, to enable them to cast off the bonds of sin and ultimately be able to attain true salvation and be purified. Only afterward will God come openly with clouds to reward the good and punish the wicked. I had always gazed at the sky, believing that, if I hadn’t seen the Lord Jesus coming with clouds then that proved He had not yet returned. In the end, when I did hear someone preaching the gospel of the Lord’s coming, I didn’t take the initiative to seek or investigate it, I didn’t accept the truth expressed by God incarnate and I shut out the returned Lord. Instead, I just spent all my days thinking that the Lord would come with clouds to rapture us up into heaven, but this was all just wishful thinking and did not tally with the Lord’s will at all. The Pharisees in those olden days had yearned for the Messiah to come, but when the Lord Jesus did come, they clung instead to their own notions, believing that the Lord Jesus could not possibly be Christ or the Lord because He had not been born into a wealthy family, because He did not appear noble and dignified and because His name was not Messiah. And so they resisted and condemned Him, they refused to accept the truth He spoke, and finally they crucified Him upon the cross, thus committing a heinous sin which brought the curse and punishment of God upon them. Now, when it comes to welcoming the Lord’s return, we must not tread the same path as the Pharisees and set ourselves in opposition to God.”
Chen Hua felt very moved by her husband’s words, and she said, “All these years, I’ve clung persistently to the Scripture that says the Lord shall come openly with clouds, and I’ve constantly gazed at the sky. Because I never saw the Lord coming with clouds, I didn’t believe that the Lord had returned. Even when I heard that the Lord had returned, I didn’t take the initiative to seek or investigate it. Now that you’ve fellowshiped with me today, I understand that God’s secret work is done to give us the opportunity to attain true salvation, and when God appears openly, the gate of grace will then be closed and there will be no more chances. We have to make seeking God’s gospel of the last days our top priority!”
Zhong Cheng said, “You’re right! The Lord Jesus said, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you’ (Matthew 7:7). It is the Lord’s will that we take the initiative to seek His way. He also said: ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Matthew 25:6). ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me’ (Revelation 3:20). It is prophesied many times in Revelation, ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation 2, 3). These prophecies are very clear: When the Lord returns in the last days, He shall speak His words, and we should be wise virgins and heed God’s words. Only then can we welcome the Lord’s coming.”
As they descended the hill, they both said, “Thank the Lord that we now have a way to welcome His coming. We don’t need to climb hills and gaze at the sky any more….”
From: Grow in Christ
Dear Lingyun:
Hello! In your letter you asked: “The Lord Jesus has completed the work of redemption, and as long as we pray to the Lord to confess our sins, our sins will be forgiven. But why do I still sin and fail to break away from the bondage of sin?”
I want to share a bit of my understanding of this issue. We all know that, at the end of the Age of Law, man had been corrupted by Satan deeper and deeper and they no longer upheld the law. They lived in the midst of sin every day, facing the danger of being lawfully executed because their offerings were not adequate to atone for their sins. God couldn’t bear to see mankind become depraved and die under the law, so He was incarnated in the image of the Lord Jesus and was crucified for man as the sin offering and thereby He bore the sins of all mankind forever. From then on, people were delivered from the bondage of the law and were no longer executed for not being able to keep the law. Because of the Lord Jesus’ atonement, as long as we confess and repent to the Lord Jesus, our sins will be forgiven. But our corrupt disposition is deeply rooted and our sinful nature hasn’t been taken away, so we still live in a sin-and-confess state. Just as Almighty God’s words say: “Before man was redeemed, many of Satan’s poisons had already been planted within him and, after thousands of years of being corrupted by Satan, he has within him an established nature that resists God. Therefore, when man has been redeemed, it is nothing more than a case of redemption in which man is bought at a high price, but the poisonous nature within him has not been eliminated. Man that is so defiled must undergo a change before becoming worthy to serve God.”
From Almighty God’s words we understand: In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus only did the redemptive work but not the work of purifying man’s corrupt disposition. Due to the stature of the people at that time, the Lord Jesus only gave them the way of repentance, and asked them to understand a few rudimentary truths and paths to practice. For example: He asked people to confess their sins and repent and bear the cross. He taught them to be patient and humble, to love others as they love themselves, etc. These are limited truths that people of that time could attain. The Lord Jesus never expressed other truths that have to do with changing life disposition, being saved, becoming cleansed, being made perfect, etc. Therefore, even if we work hard to practice the Lord’s words, often pray to Him and even strive to constrain our behavior to not sin, corrupt thoughts still often come into our minds and we can’t control them. We always involuntarily commit sins, living in the cycle of sinning in the day and confessing at night.
Then, how can we break free from the bondage of sin and be cleansed? The Lord Jesus said: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (John 16:12-13). “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Peter 4:17). “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 12:48). We can see from this that, when God returns in the last days, He will do His work of judging and cleansing mankind. Only the words and work of Christ of the last days can change and cleanse us and release us completely from the bondage of sin.
In regard to how God does His work of judgment in the last days, let’s read two passages of Almighty God’s words: “In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, to expose the substance of man, and to dissect the words and deeds of man. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the substance of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, the words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan, and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth of which man is utterly bereft. Only methods such as these can be called judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt essence and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the essence of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God.”
“The work done by God during this age is chiefly the provision of the words for the life of man; the exposure of man’s nature essence and corrupt disposition; and the elimination of religious notions, feudal thinking, outdated thinking, and the knowledge and culture of man. These things must all be cleansed through being exposed by God’s words. In the last days, God uses words, not signs and wonders, to make man perfect. He uses His words to expose man, to judge man, to chastise man, and to make man perfect, so that in the words of God, man comes to see the wisdom and loveliness of God, and comes to understand the disposition of God, and so that through the words of God, man beholds the deeds of God.”
From Almighty God’s words we see that, during His judgment work in the last days, the words expressed by Almighty God reveal all the mysteries of God’s 6,000-year management plan. They clearly reveal the aim of God’s three stages of work of salvation and the purpose and significance of every stage of work, especially the path by which we believers can change our disposition and be cleansed, such as how to be an honest person, how to obey God, how to love God, how to follow God’s will, and so forth. Through His words, we also know God’s authority and holiness, and experience His love and salvation. Moreover, Almighty God’s words also expose our disobedient and God-resisting satanic nature. As a result, we clearly see the truth that we’ve been so profoundly corrupted by Satan, that our nature is arrogant, deceitful, selfish and despicable. Although we believe in God we cannot respect God as great, and we don’t have a heart that fears God. For the sake of our own interests we often lie and deceive God, deceive people. We believe in God but worship and follow man. Once we have status, we even show ourselves off and build ourselves up, so that people will listen to and obey us. If we do some work and sacrifice something, we will presume upon and flaunt our seniority, demanding grace and blessings from God. As soon as our desires are not satisfied, we will become negative and slow down, misunderstand and complain to God, etc. We can see that our corruption by Satan runs too deep. We have not lived out the likeness of real human beings at all. Facing the truth of our corruption by Satan, we feel ashamed and extremely remorseful, and we have appreciated that God’s holiness cannot be defiled and that His righteous disposition does not tolerate offense. Thus, we cannot help but prostrate ourselves before God, regretting our evil deeds, despising our satanic nature, and repenting to God. At the same time, we are willing to accept God’s judgment and chastisement, fulfill our duties as created beings, pursue the truth and a change in disposition under the guidance of God’s words, and obey everything God orchestrates and arranges. This is the result of the judgment of God’s words on His chosen people! In addition, the root of our sinful nature can also be resolved.
Lingyun, above is some of my shallow understanding and knowledge. I hope they can bring some help to you. I also hope that you can read more of Almighty God’s words and I believe that you can find the answers to all your difficulties and confusions about believing in God in Almighty God’s words.
Yours sincerely,
Chunyu
August 27
From: Grow in Christ
By Xiao Ya
In the morning, my son drove off and I went for a walk in the park. Before I walked for a while, I heard someone yelling behind me: “Old Wang.” “Yes.” I replied whilst looking back. They are Brother Sun and his wife, Sister Li. I said: “Hi, it’s a nice day for a walk.” They replied in unison: “Yes.” Sister Li said: “Old Wang, a moment ago I saw your son drive off. Where did he go?” I replied: “Ah, he and his wife will go traveling with their friends. I exhorted them not to travel because tomorrow is the Sunday worship. Now, the Lord’s coming is near, how can we not go to the church and observe the Lord’s Day? Our pastors have stressed repeatedly that when the Lord returns, He must come to the church and receive us. Only if we don’t leave the church will we not be abandoned by the Lord. If we don’t go to church on the Lord’s Day but the Lord comes to rapture us, what should we do? Then we’ll be abandoned by the Lord, won’t we? May the Lord preserve them to come back tomorrow and attend the Lord’s Day meeting on time.”
With that, we sat on the bench in the pavilion and continued chatting. Brother Sun said: “Hey, Old Wang, during meetings, our pastors said: ‘When the Lord comes again, He will certainly come to the church and receive us; as long as we don’t leave the church, we can be taken to the kingdom of heaven by the Lord.’ But I always feel anxiety in my heart. Let’s chat about it.”
Sister Li said bluntly: “Frankly speaking, in the beginning, the brothers and sisters in the church actively attended gatherings and brimmed with confidence; and I thought what the pastors said was right and believed that when the Lord returned, our congregation would be able to be raptured. But now, the love and faith of many brothers and sisters get colder and colder, and fewer and fewer people attend meetings. On the surface, some brothers and sisters come to attend meetings. But in fact, they come to sell and buy or they drift off and fall asleep instead of concentrating on listening to sermons. Can the Lord praise a church in this kind of condition? If we stay here, can we truly welcome the Lord’s return? It’s hard to say.”
I hesitated a bit and said: “Sister Li, I think what you said is reasonable. But the pastors and religious elders have stressed repeatedly that we must wait for the Lord’s return in the church. And they also preached: ‘The church is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all’ (See Eph 1:22-23). The church is the Lord’s body, and is also the place where we go to worship God. If the Lord doesn’t come to the church and receive us, then where can He go?”
Sister Li continued saying: “I don’t see through this thing but the Bible says: ‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, said Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts’ (Isa 55:8–9). We are only created beings, so we can’t fathom the Lord’s will at all. Is the Lord’s coming truly as simple as we think? Will He directly come to our church and take us to the kingdom of heaven? I think it’s quite unlikely. About this question where the Lord will appear, we can’t reach a verdict but must pray a lot and seek His will.”
Brother Sun pondered and said: “About this question where the Lord will appear when He returns, we can’t truly see through it. But through seriously searching the scriptures recently, I have known that, in the Age of Law, God worked in the temple, which was full of Jehovah’s glory. Anyone couldn’t enter it without permission, including the King of Israel. The King Uzziah was cursed and then died of leprosy because he turned a deaf ear to the priests’ dissuasion and crossed over into the temple. Even the priests must sanctify themselves for three months before entering the temple. However, when the Lord Jesus came to work, what had the temple become?”
I said: “A den of thieves.”
Brother Sun said: “Yes. We know that, in the latter days of the Age of Law, the Jewish leaders didn’t keep God’s word. They abided by men’s traditions but rejected God’s commandments and departed completely from the way of God. The temple was controlled by them and became a den of thieves where oxen, sheep and doves were sold. Because God is the holy One and He does not reside in a filthy temple, when the Lord Jesus came to work, He didn’t enter the temple but directly preached and worked in the towns and villages outside of it. Let’s look at our church now: The pastors and religious elders have not God in their hearts, have no hearts that fear God and are pursuing status and power. Those brothers and sisters who have power and authority and often donate are welcomed by them with smiling faces, while those who don’t have status are ignored by them. They profess to love the Lord, love their neighbors as themselves and love each other, but in essence, they are all engaged with their own affairs, and they lay their own turfs and lord it over a district for the sake of protecting their status and livelihood. They are always preaching about some knowledge of the Bible and theological theories to show off, hold themselves aloft and testify to themselves, but don’t exalt or testify the Lord at all; the brothers and sisters can’t receive any sustenance or enjoy any work of the Holy Spirit. I feel that our church is just the same as the temple in the latter days of the Age of Law. God is holy; He appears to the holy land, and hides Himself from the impure land. When the Lord Jesus returns, how can He come to such a church to receive us? Would both of you say so?”
I nodded and felt what Brother Sun had said accorded with the facts and that it could hold water. I thought: Could it be that, when the Lord returns, He won’t come to the church to receive us? Then what should we do? I asked in a hurry: “If the Lord doesn’t come to the church to receive us, how can we welcome Him?”
Brother Sun pondered and said: “On the subject of welcoming the Lord, I remember in the Bible the Lord says: ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Mat 25:6). Therefore, we should, like the clever virgin, focus on hearing God’s voice and actively look for the church with the work of the Holy Spirit. Because wherever the Lord appears, there must be the work of the Holy Spirit. Only in this way can we welcome the Lord’s return and attend the wedding supper of the Lamb. Isn’t that right?”
Sister Li and I pondered and nodded. I continued asking Brother Sun: “Now is the late period of the last days. The days of the Lord are right before us. Then how should we look for the church with the work of the Holy Spirit?”
Brother Sun replied: “I remember the Book of Revelation prophesied ‘And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things said he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens; … 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. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Rev 3:7, 12, 13). From these prophecies, we can see that the Philadelphia Church is the one of the overcomers and a raptured one. Only such a church can gain the work of the Holy Spirit. What’s more, we should focus on looking for the utterances of the Holy Spirit and seek which church is testifying the words of God. It is likely that such a church will be captured by the Lord when He returns.”
I constantly nodded and said: “Thank the Lord! Such fellowship is enlightening.”
At this time, Sister Li said: “Hey, hearing your fellowship, I think of The Church of Almighty God that has been most seriously condemned and persecuted by the CCP over these years among all house churches. Although the CCP has been overwhelmingly hunting the believers in Almighty God, not only have they not been defeated but they have also been spreading the gospel with unbounded confidence and bearing many witnesses of the overcomers. Now, Almighty God’s kingdom gospel has been spread to all nations and places by The Church of Almighty God and the word expressed by Almighty God has also been uploaded onto big websites overseas, for people who truly believe in God from all nations and all lands to seek and investigate. The Scriptures say, What comes from God shall increase, what comes from man shall decrease. You say, can The Church of Almighty God be where the Lord Jesus comes back to work?”
Brother Sun and I looked at each other and said in unison: “Thank the Lord! It can probably be that.”
From: Grow in Christ
By Wu Wen, Italy
Many brothers and sisters in the Lord eagerly wait for the Lord to return and think that the Lord will come in His resurrected spiritual body descending with the clouds. Because the Bible says, “You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven” (Act 1:11), “Behold, He comes with clouds” (Rev 1:7). Most people wait for the Lord to suddenly descend with the clouds one day. For thousands of years, Christians have longed for it so.
Continue reading “The True Meaning of “the Coming of the Son of Man””
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