God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II
During our last meeting, we communicated about a very important topic. What was it? Do you remember? (In our last meeting we talked about God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Himself.) Yes; this is the topic we fellowshiped. Let Me reiterate: The topic we communicated about last time is “God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself.” You haven’t forgotten, right? Is this topic important to you or not? (It’s important.) Why do you say it’s important? Which part is really important to you—God’s work? God’s disposition? Or God Himself? (They are all important.) They are all important. So, after our fellowship last time, which of these three parts are you most interested in? God’s work, God’s disposition, or God Himself—which would you most like to hear about? This is quite difficult to answer, isn’t it? (Yes, it is.) I know it’s hard for you; in your hearts, you might all be thinking that God’s disposition can be seen everywhere in His work, and that God’s disposition can be revealed at any time, any place, within His work. You believe that God’s disposition actually represents God Himself, and they are inseparable. Isn’t that what you think? (Yes.)
What we communicated last time regarding God’s work does not have much bearing on the present. Those events took place a long time ago and they can even be considered to be stories recorded in the Bible. However, these are tales that had to do with humans and God; they happened to people and, at the same time, had God’s participation. Back then, at the dawn of humanity, God began to express His disposition. This is self-evident. That is, as soon as God established contact with humans, He began to reveal His disposition. Whether or not people these days can see this or understand it, in general, from the moment God began His work, and as soon as humans came into being and God had contact with them, He began to reveal His disposition and express His substance. This is absolutely correct. In other words, God’s disposition, substance, and what He has and is are constantly expressed and revealed along with His work. He has never disguised, hidden, or obscured anything from humanity; rather, He continues to release His disposition without any reservation whatsoever. The things revealed by His disposition represent His will, as well as His substance. Whenever God comes in contact with humans, no matter what He has said or done, what sort of disposition He has revealed, what humans see of what God has and is, or how they perceive His substance, all these things represent God’s intentions for them. No matter how much humans can realize, understand, and comprehend, it all represents God’s will, His will toward humanity. There can be no doubt of this! God’s intentions for humanity involve demanding what sort of people they should be, how they should act and live, and how they should satisfy God’s will. Aren’t all these things inseparable from God’s substance? That is, the sort of disposition God has, and what He has and is, all is expressed at the same time that He makes demands of humans—without any falsity, pretense, packaging, or concealment. Why, though, do people fail to recognize this? Why are they never able to realize God’s will? Why are they never able to see His disposition clearly? Everything God reveals and expresses is what He has and is, bits and pieces and various aspects of God’s own true disposition; why, then, do people fail to know that thoroughly? Why can’t they see it? There is a very important reason for this. What is it? It is that ever since the world was created, humans have never treated God as God. In the beginning, whatever God did to humans, who had just been created, they merely treated Him as a companion, as someone to lean on; they did not truly have any sort of knowledge or understanding of God. That is, they did not know that what was expressed by a God such as this, this companion in their eyes, was God’s substance, nor did they know Him to be God. To put it more simply, people of the time did not recognize God, nor did they know that the heavens and earth and all things were created by God. They also did not know where God came from, let alone what He was all about. However, back then, God did not demand that they know or understand Him, know what His will was, or understand what He wanted to do; He did not make such demands, because these were the earliest times following humanity’s creation. Later on, however, God did some further things to humans and made some demands of them. He told them how to worship Him and how to offer sacrifice. These simple requests He asked of them, and only then did people begin to have a few concepts of God, know the difference between Him and humans, and understand that God was the One who created humans. Once they learned that God was God and humans were humans, a set distance formed between Him and them. On God’s part, however, He still had not required people to have a great deal of knowledge or a profound comprehension of Him. Thus, God makes various demands of humans according to each step of His work and its circumstances. What have we seen here? What sort of disposition have we seen God to have? Isn’t He quite real, with very realistic demands of humanity? Is this not the case? (It is.) Back in that era, in the earliest days, He did not do any work of conquest toward humans, nor did He do any work of perfection toward them, nor did He speak too much to them. As such, His requirements of humans were quite low. No matter what people did, how they behaved, or what offenses they committed against Him, God could still forgive them without taking anything to heart. God knew what He had done on humanity, so He knew what demands He should make of them. Is this not a realistic side of God? God has a realistic side; this does not mean His disposition is not great, or that His wisdom and almightiness are but empty words. Therefore, there is only one path for humans to know God’s disposition and God Himself: through God’s work. God constantly expresses His disposition and He continually speaks to and works on humanity so that they can know God’s disposition and what He has and is. Once they understand what He has and is and know His disposition, will they then go ahead and implore Him to reveal His real person to them? They will not dare, nor will they make such a request. Am I right? It can be said that if people understand God’s disposition and what He has and is, they will already have seen the true God Himself, and they will not again have the extravagant hope of seeing God’s real person. This will be the inevitable result.
Along with the continued progress of God’s work and His plan, and after He established the covenant of the rainbow with humans as a sign that He would never destroy the world by flood again, God’s intentions grew more and more urgently bent on gaining people who could be of one mind with Him, on obtaining people who could carry out His will on earth, and, moreover, on gaining a group of people who could witness Him, break away from the forces of darkness, and not be bound by Satan on the ground. God had yearned for such a group of people for a very long time; He had been looking forward to them ever since creation. Thus, whether in His destruction of the world by flood or in the covenant He made with humans, God’s will did not change, nor did His mood. What He wanted to do was that which He had hoped for a long time before the creation of the world: that is, to gain the people He wanted to gain among humans; a group of people who could understand His disposition, comprehend His will, and know that He was God Himself. Such a group of people can genuinely bear testimony to Him and be said to be His confidants.
During our last meeting, we communicated about a very important topic. What was it? Do you remember? (In our last meeting we talked about God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Himself.) Yes; this is the topic we fellowshiped. Let Me reiterate: The topic we communicated about last time is “God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself.” You haven’t forgotten, right? Is this topic important to you or not? (It’s important.) Why do you say it’s important? Which part is really important to you—God’s work? God’s disposition? Or God Himself? (They are all important.) They are all important. So, after our fellowship last time, which of these three parts are you most interested in? God’s work, God’s disposition, or God Himself—which would you most like to hear about? This is quite difficult to answer, isn’t it? (Yes, it is.) I know it’s hard for you; in your hearts, you might all be thinking that God’s disposition can be seen everywhere in His work, and that God’s disposition can be revealed at any time, any place, within His work. You believe that God’s disposition actually represents God Himself, and they are inseparable. Isn’t that what you think? (Yes.)
What we communicated last time regarding God’s work does not have much bearing on the present. Those events took place a long time ago and they can even be considered to be stories recorded in the Bible. However, these are tales that had to do with humans and God; they happened to people and, at the same time, had God’s participation. Back then, at the dawn of humanity, God began to express His disposition. This is self-evident. That is, as soon as God established contact with humans, He began to reveal His disposition. Whether or not people these days can see this or understand it, in general, from the moment God began His work, and as soon as humans came into being and God had contact with them, He began to reveal His disposition and express His substance. This is absolutely correct. In other words, God’s disposition, substance, and what He has and is are constantly expressed and revealed along with His work. He has never disguised, hidden, or obscured anything from humanity; rather, He continues to release His disposition without any reservation whatsoever. The things revealed by His disposition represent His will, as well as His substance. Whenever God comes in contact with humans, no matter what He has said or done, what sort of disposition He has revealed, what humans see of what God has and is, or how they perceive His substance, all these things represent God’s intentions for them. No matter how much humans can realize, understand, and comprehend, it all represents God’s will, His will toward humanity. There can be no doubt of this! God’s intentions for humanity involve demanding what sort of people they should be, how they should act and live, and how they should satisfy God’s will. Aren’t all these things inseparable from God’s substance? That is, the sort of disposition God has, and what He has and is, all is expressed at the same time that He makes demands of humans—without any falsity, pretense, packaging, or concealment. Why, though, do people fail to recognize this? Why are they never able to realize God’s will? Why are they never able to see His disposition clearly? Everything God reveals and expresses is what He has and is, bits and pieces and various aspects of God’s own true disposition; why, then, do people fail to know that thoroughly? Why can’t they see it? There is a very important reason for this. What is it? It is that ever since the world was created, humans have never treated God as God. In the beginning, whatever God did to humans, who had just been created, they merely treated Him as a companion, as someone to lean on; they did not truly have any sort of knowledge or understanding of God. That is, they did not know that what was expressed by a God such as this, this companion in their eyes, was God’s substance, nor did they know Him to be God. To put it more simply, people of the time did not recognize God, nor did they know that the heavens and earth and all things were created by God. They also did not know where God came from, let alone what He was all about. However, back then, God did not demand that they know or understand Him, know what His will was, or understand what He wanted to do; He did not make such demands, because these were the earliest times following humanity’s creation. Later on, however, God did some further things to humans and made some demands of them. He told them how to worship Him and how to offer sacrifice. These simple requests He asked of them, and only then did people begin to have a few concepts of God, know the difference between Him and humans, and understand that God was the One who created humans. Once they learned that God was God and humans were humans, a set distance formed between Him and them. On God’s part, however, He still had not required people to have a great deal of knowledge or a profound comprehension of Him. Thus, God makes various demands of humans according to each step of His work and its circumstances. What have we seen here? What sort of disposition have we seen God to have? Isn’t He quite real, with very realistic demands of humanity? Is this not the case? (It is.) Back in that era, in the earliest days, He did not do any work of conquest toward humans, nor did He do any work of perfection toward them, nor did He speak too much to them. As such, His requirements of humans were quite low. No matter what people did, how they behaved, or what offenses they committed against Him, God could still forgive them without taking anything to heart. God knew what He had done on humanity, so He knew what demands He should make of them. Is this not a realistic side of God? God has a realistic side; this does not mean His disposition is not great, or that His wisdom and almightiness are but empty words. Therefore, there is only one path for humans to know God’s disposition and God Himself: through God’s work. God constantly expresses His disposition and He continually speaks to and works on humanity so that they can know God’s disposition and what He has and is. Once they understand what He has and is and know His disposition, will they then go ahead and implore Him to reveal His real person to them? They will not dare, nor will they make such a request. Am I right? It can be said that if people understand God’s disposition and what He has and is, they will already have seen the true God Himself, and they will not again have the extravagant hope of seeing God’s real person. This will be the inevitable result.
Along with the continued progress of God’s work and His plan, and after He established the covenant of the rainbow with humans as a sign that He would never destroy the world by flood again, God’s intentions grew more and more urgently bent on gaining people who could be of one mind with Him, on obtaining people who could carry out His will on earth, and, moreover, on gaining a group of people who could witness Him, break away from the forces of darkness, and not be bound by Satan on the ground. God had yearned for such a group of people for a very long time; He had been looking forward to them ever since creation. Thus, whether in His destruction of the world by flood or in the covenant He made with humans, God’s will did not change, nor did His mood. What He wanted to do was that which He had hoped for a long time before the creation of the world: that is, to gain the people He wanted to gain among humans; a group of people who could understand His disposition, comprehend His will, and know that He was God Himself. Such a group of people can genuinely bear testimony to Him and be said to be His confidants.
from The Word Appears in the Flesh
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