“Be you therefore ready also: for the Son of man comes at an hour when you think not” (Luk 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” (Luk 17:24-25).
“And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Mat 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” (Rev 3:20).
“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame” (Rev 16:15).
“And
I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw
seven golden candlesticks; And in the middle of the seven candlesticks
one like to the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and
girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs
were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of
fire; And his feet like to fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace;
and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand
seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and his
countenance was as the sun shines in his strength” (Rev 1:12-16).
Relevant Words of God:
Jesus
said that He would arrive as He had departed, but do you know the true
meaning of His words? Could He really have told you? You only know He
will arrive as He left on a cloud, but do you know exactly how God Himself does His work? If you were truly able to see, then how are the
words of Jesus to be explained? He said, “When the Son of man comes in
the last days, He Himself will not know, the angels will not know, the
messengers in heaven will not know, and all of the people will not know.
Only the Father will know, that is, only the Spirit shall know.” If you
are capable of knowing and seeing, then are these not empty words? Even
the Son of man Himself does not know, yet you are able to see and know?
If you have seen with your own eyes, were those words not said in vain?
And what did Jesus say at the time? “But of that day and hour knows no
man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days
of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. … Therefore
be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man
comes.” When that day comes, the Son of man Himself will not know it.
The Son of man refers to the incarnate flesh of God, who shall be a
normal and ordinary person. Even He Himself does not know, so how could
you know?
from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
There
are those who say that God Himself said that He would arrive on a
cloud. It is true that God said so Himself, but do you know that the
mysteries of God are unfathomable to man? Do you know that the words of
God cannot be explained by man? Are you so certain that you were
enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit? Did the Holy Spirit show
you in so direct a manner? Are these the directions of the Holy Spirit,
or are they your conceptions? They said, “This was said by God
Himself.” But we cannot use our own conceptions and minds to measure the
words of God. As for the words of Isaiah, can you explain his words
with complete confidence? Do you dare to explain his words? Since you do
not dare to explain the words of Isaiah, why do you dare to explain the
words of Jesus? Who is more exalted, Jesus or Isaiah? Since the answer
is Jesus, why do you explain the words spoken by Jesus? Would God tell
you of His work in advance? No creature can know, not even the
messengers in heaven, nor the Son of man, so how could you know?
from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
“He
that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” …
There are many absurd men who believe that the words of the Holy Spirit
ought to come down from the heavens to the ears of man. Any who thinks
this way does not know the work of God. In truth, the utterances spoken
by the Holy Spirit are those spoken by God become flesh. The Holy Spirit
cannot speak directly to man, and Jehovah did not speak directly to the
people, even in the Age of Law. Would it not be far less likely that He
would do so in this age today? For God to speak utterances to carry out
work, He must become flesh, else His work cannot accomplish His goal.
Those who deny God become flesh are those who do not know the Spirit or
the principles by which God works.
from “How Can Man Who Has Defined God in His Conceptions Receive the Revelations of God?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
For
several thousand years, man has longed to be able to witness the
arrival of the Savior. Man has longed to behold Jesus the Savior on a
white cloud as He descends, in person, among those who have pined and
yearned for Him for thousands of years. Man has longed for the Savior to
return and be reunited with the people, that is, for Jesus the Savior
to come back to the people from whom He has been apart for thousands of
years. And man hopes that He will once again carry out the work of
redemption that He did among the Jews, will be compassionate and loving
toward man, will forgive the sins of man, bear the sins of man, and even
bear all of man’s transgressions and deliver man from sin. They long
for Jesus the Savior to be the same as before—a Savior who is lovable,
amiable and venerable, who is never wrathful toward man, and who never
reproaches man. This Savior forgives and bears all of man’s sins, and
even dies upon the cross for man once more. Since Jesus departed, the
disciples who followed Him, and all of the saints who were saved thanks
to His name, have been desperately pining for Him and awaiting Him. All
those who were saved by the grace of Jesus Christ during the Age of
Grace have been longing for that joyful day during the last days, when
Jesus the Savior arrives on a white cloud and appears among man. Of
course, this is also the collective wish of all those who accept the
name of Jesus the Savior today. Throughout the universe, all those who
know of the salvation of Jesus the Savior have been desperately yearning
for the sudden arrival of Jesus Christ, to fulfill the words of Jesus
when on earth: “I shall arrive just as I departed.” Man believes that,
following the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus went back to heaven
upon a white cloud, and took His place at the Most High’s right hand.
Similarly, man conceives that Jesus shall descend, again upon a white
cloud (this cloud refers to the cloud that Jesus rode upon when He
returned to heaven), among those who have desperately yearned for Him
for thousands of years, and that He shall bear the image and clothes of
the Jews. After appearing to man, He shall bestow food upon them, and
cause living water to gush forth for them, and shall live among man,
full of grace and love, living and real. And so on. Yet Jesus the Savior
did not do this; He did the opposite of what man conceived. He did not
arrive among those who had yearned for His return, and did not appear to
all men while riding upon the white cloud. He has already arrived, but
man does not know Him, and remains ignorant of His arrival. Man is only
aimlessly awaiting Him, unaware that He has already descended upon a
white cloud (the cloud which is His Spirit, His words, and His entire
disposition and all that He is), and is now among a group of overcomers
that He will make during the last days. Man does not know this: Although
the holy Savior Jesus is full of affection and love toward man, how
could He work in “temples” inhabited by filth and impure spirits? Though
man has been awaiting His arrival, how could He appear to those who eat
the flesh of the unrighteous, drink the blood of the unrighteous, wear
the clothes of the unrighteous, who believe in Him but do not know Him,
and who constantly extort Him? Man knows only that Jesus the Savior is
full of love and compassion, and is the sin offering filled with
redemption. But man has no idea that He is also God Himself, who is
brimming with righteousness, majesty, wrath, and judgment, and possessed
of authority and full of dignity. And so even though man eagerly yearns
for and craves the return of the Redeemer, and even Heaven is moved by
the prayers of man, Jesus the Savior does not appear to those who
believe in Him but do not know Him.
from “The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
God
is silent, and has never appeared to us, yet His work has never
stopped. He looks upon all lands, and commands all things, and beholds
all the words and deeds of man. His management is conducted in steps and
according to His plan. It proceeds silently, without dramatic effect,
yet His footsteps advance ever closer to mankind, and His judgment seat
is deployed in the universe at the speed of lightning, immediately
followed by the descent of His throne among us. What a majestic scene
that is, what a stately and solemn tableau. Like a dove, and like a
roaring lion, the Spirit arrives among us all. He is wise, He is
righteous and majestic, He quietly arrives among us possessed of
authority and filled with love and compassion. No one is aware of His
arrival, no one welcomes His arrival, and, moreover, no one knows all
that He will do. Man’s life remains unchanged; his heart is no
different, and the days go by as usual. God lives among us like an
ordinary person, as a most insignificant follower and an ordinary
believer. He has His own pursuits, His own goals, and, moreover, He has
divinity not possessed by ordinary men. No one has noticed the existence
of His divinity, and no one has perceived the difference between His
substance and that of man. We live together with Him, unconstrained and
unafraid, for we see Him as nothing more than an insignificant believer.
from “Beholding the Appearance of God in His Judgment and Chastisement” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
God
is incarnated in the Chinese mainland, what the compatriots in Hong
Kong and Taiwan call the inland. When God came from above to the earth,
no one in heaven and earth knew about it, for this is the true meaning
of God returning in a concealed fashion. He has been in the flesh
working and living for a long time, yet no one has known about it. Even
to this day, no one recognizes it. Perhaps this will remain an eternal
riddle. God’s coming into flesh this time is not something anyone is
able to be aware of. No matter how large-scale and powerful the Spirit’s
work, God always stays composed, never giving Himself away. One can say
that it is as if this stage of His work is taking place in the heavenly
realm. Even though it is perfectly obvious to everyone, no one
recognizes it. When God finishes this stage of His work, everyone will
awake from their long dream and reverse their past attitude.[1]
… At the break of dawn, unbeknownst to any, God came to earth and began
His life in the flesh. People were unaware of this moment. Maybe they
were all fast asleep, maybe many who were watchfully awake were waiting,
and maybe many were praying silently to God in heaven. Yet among all
these many people, not one knew that God had already arrived on earth.
God worked like this so as to more smoothly carry out His work and
achieve better results, and it was also to avoid more temptations. As
man’s spring slumber breaks, God’s work will have long been finished and
He shall depart, bringing to a close His life of roaming and sojourning
on earth.
from “Work and Entry (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
The
appearance of God has already arisen in all churches. It is the Spirit
that speaks, He is a raging fire, He carries majesty and He is judging;
He is the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt
about the breasts with a golden girdle. His head and His hairs are white
like wool, and His eyes are as a flame of fire; and His feet like to
fine brass, as if they burn in a furnace; and His voice as the sound of
many waters. He has in His right hand seven stars, a two-edged sword is
within His mouth and His countenance is as the sun shining in its
strength!
from Utterances and Testimonies of Christ in the Beginning
People
who do not accept the truth, yet blindly await the arrival of Jesus
upon white clouds, will surely blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, and
they are the race that shall be destroyed. You merely wish for the grace
of Jesus, and merely want to enjoy the blissful realm of heaven, yet
you have never obeyed the words spoken by Jesus, and have never received
the truth expressed by Jesus when He returns to flesh. What will you
hold up in exchange for the fact of Jesus’ return upon a white cloud? Is
it the sincerity in which you repeatedly commit sins, and then confess
them, over and over? What will you offer in sacrifice to Jesus who
returns upon a white cloud? Is it the years of work with which you exalt
yourselves? What will you hold up to make the returned Jesus trust you?
Is it that arrogant nature of yours, which does not obey any truth?
from
“When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made
Anew Heaven and Earth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
I tell
you, those who believe in God because of the signs are surely the
category that shall suffer destruction. Those who are incapable of
accepting the words of Jesus who has returned to flesh are surely the
progeny of hell, the descendants of the archangel, the category that
shall be subjected to everlasting destruction. 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. It will herald the end of God’s management plan, and 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. Those who accept the truth and do not seek signs,
and thus have been purified, shall have returned before the throne of
God and entered the Creator’s embrace. Only those who persist in the
belief that “The Jesus who does not ride upon a white cloud is a false
Christ” shall be subjected to everlasting punishment, for they only
believe in the Jesus who exhibits signs, but do not acknowledge the
Jesus who proclaims severe judgment and releases the true way of life.
And so it can only be that Jesus deals with them when He openly returns
upon a white cloud. They are too stubborn, too confident in themselves,
too arrogant. How could such degenerates be rewarded by Jesus? The
return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of
accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it
is a sign of condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should
not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should
not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who obeys the
guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for and seeks the truth; only in
this way will you benefit.
from “When
You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew
Heaven and Earth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
It is My hope
that the brothers and sisters who seek the appearance of God will not
repeat the tragedy of history. You must not become the Pharisees of
modern times and nail God to the cross again. You should carefully
consider how to welcome the return of God, and should have a clear mind
of how to be someone who submits to the truth. This is the
responsibility of everyone who is waiting for Jesus to return with the
clouds. We should rub our spiritual eyes, and not fall prey to the words
full of flights of fancy. We should think about the practical work of
God, and should take a look at the real side of God. Do not get carried
away or lose yourselves in daydreams, always looking forward to the day
that the Lord Jesus suddenly descends among you on a cloud to take you
who have never known Him or seen Him, and do not know how to do His
will. It is better to think upon practical matters!
from Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh
Footnotes:
1. “Gearing up” is said mockingly.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
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Understanding the Eastern Lightning
Movies of the Church of Almighty God
The origin of the Church of Almighty God
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