1. “God does not save man directly in the form of the Spirit or in the identity of the Spirit, because his Spirit is untouchable and invisible to man and also unapproachable to man. If he saved man directly in the position of the Spirit, man could not receive his salvation. If God did not put on a shell of a created man, man could not receive this salvation either. This is because man could in no way approach him, just as no one could approach the cloud of Jehovah. Only if he becomes a created man, that is, he puts his ‘Way’ into the flesh he will become, can he personally work the ‘Way’ into all his followers and can they personally hear his way and see his way and thus gain his way. Only in this way can they be completely saved. If God were not incarnated, no fleshly man could receive this exceedingly great salvation, and no one could be saved. If God’s Spirit directly worked among men, they all would be struck down, or they would be completely taken captive by satan because they had no way to contact God.”
2. “God, if not incarnated, is only a Spirit whom man cannot see or contact, while men are all created beings of flesh; man and God are in two different worlds and have different natures, and God’s Spirit and man of flesh, who are alien to each other, simply cannot ‘establish a relationship’; and man cannot become a spirit. Thus, God’s Spirit has to become a created being to do his original work. God can ascend to the highest place and can also humble himself to be a created man to work among men and live with them, but man cannot ascend to the highest place and become a spirit, much less descend to the lowest place, so God has to be incarnated to do his work. This is like God’s first incarnation. Only God’s incarnated flesh could be crucified to redeem man; God’s Spirit, however, could not at all be crucified to be man’s sin offering. God could directly become flesh to be man’s sin offering, but man could not directly go to heaven to take the sin offering God had prepared for man. Thus, it had to be that ‘God comes and goes between earth and heaven several times’ rather than let man go to heaven to take this salvation. As man had fallen and man could not go to heaven at all, much less take the sin offering, Jesus had to come among men to personally do the works that were totally beyond man’s capacity. God’s incarnated flesh each time is very necessary. If either stage of work could be done by God’s Spirit directly, he would not endure complaints and suffer humiliations to be incarnated.”
from “The Mystery of Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
3. “If the Spirit does the work, not being incarnated but directly speaking through thundering, with no one being able to contact him, can people know his disposition? If only the Spirit does the work, people will have no way to know God’s disposition. Only if God, through being incarnated and the Word appearing in the flesh, expresses all his disposition through the flesh, can people see it with their own eyes. Only if God practically lives among people, with form and image, and people all practically contact his disposition and contact what he has and is, can they truly know him.”
from “The Vision of the Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
4. “The greatest advantage of God’s working in the flesh is that he can leave his followers exact words, exact charges, and his exact wills for mankind. Then his followers can preach all his works in the flesh and his will for all mankind in a more accurate and practical way to everyone who accepts this way. Only when the God in the flesh works among men has the fact been really fulfilled that God is with men and lives with men and has the wish been realized that all men see God’s face and God’s work and hear God’s personal word. The incarnated God has ended the age when ‘only Jehovah’s back appeared to mankind’ and ended the age when mankind believed in the vague god. In particular, the work of the last incarnated God has brought all mankind into a more realistic, practical, and beautiful age. He has not only ended the age of the law and regulation, but more importantly, he has made known to mankind the God who is practical and normal, who is righteous and holy, who discloses the works in the management plan and reveals the mysteries and the destinations of mankind, who created mankind and ends the management work, and who has been hidden for thousands of years. He has completely ended the age of vagueness, ended the age when all mankind wanted to seek God’s face but could not see, ended the age when all mankind served satan, and brought all mankind completely into a brand new age. All these works are the fruits of the God in the flesh working instead of God’s Spirit. Because God works in the flesh, his followers no longer seek and grope for the things that seem to exist and yet seem to not exist and no longer guess the will of the vague god. When God spreads the works he has done in the flesh, his followers will preach all the works he has done in the flesh to every denomination and sect and preach all his words to the ears of all mankind. All that the receivers of his gospel hear will be the facts of his working, which people have seen with their own eyes and heard with their own ears and which are facts and not hearsay. All these facts will be the evidence and the tool through which he spreads his work. If there were no facts, his gospel could not be spread to every place and nation. If there were no facts but only man’s imaginations, the work of conquering the entire universe could never be done. The Spirit is untouchable to man and invisible to man. The working of the Spirit cannot leave people more evidences or more facts of his working; they would never see God’s true image, would forever believe in the vague and non-existent gods, and would never see God’s face or hear God’s personal word. What man imagines is empty after all and cannot replace God’s real image. God’s original disposition and his own work cannot be performed by man. Only if God is incarnated and comes among men to work personally can he bring the invisible God in heaven and his work to earth. This is the most ideal way for God to appear to man and for man to see God and know God’s real image. It cannot be accomplished by the non-incarnated God. When the work has been done to the present stage, it has produced the best results, and it has succeeded through many efforts. The work of the God in the flesh has completed ninety percent of his entire management work. This flesh has brought his entire work into a better start. This flesh has summed up his entire work, made it known, and made the last complete supplement to it. Henceforth, there will not be the ‘incarnated God’ coming to do the fourth stage of work, and there will not be the wonderful work of God’s third incarnation.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
5. “Men receive God’s full salvation because of God’s incarnation rather than receive it directly from heaven through praying. This is because men are all fleshly and cannot see God’s Spirit, much less approach God’s Spirit, and they can only contact God’s incarnated flesh, and only through him can they understand all the ways and all the truths and receive the full salvation. The second incarnation is sufficient to rid men of their sins and to completely purify them, so the second incarnation will put an end to all God’s work in the flesh and complete the significance of God’s incarnation. Then, all God’s work in the flesh will have ended, and he will not do the work of a third incarnation after his second incarnation. Because his entire management will have ended, and the final incarnation will have completely gained those he has chosen, and all the end-time people will have been divided into their kinds, he will no longer do the work of salvation, nor will he return in the flesh to work.”
from “The Mystery of Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
6. “For those to be saved, the use value of the Spirit is far lower than that of the flesh: The working of the Spirit can cover the entire universe and reach the mountains, rivers, and lakes; but the working of the flesh can more effectively touch everyone who contacts him, and the flesh who has form and image can better gain people’s understanding and trust and can better deepen their knowledge of God and deepen their impression of God’s practical deeds. The working of the Spirit is mysterious and unfathomable, and mortal beings can hardly foresee it, much less see it, but can only imagine it without any basis. The working of the flesh is normal and practical and full of wisdom and is a fact that mortal beings can see with their own eyes, and people can all personally taste God’s working wisdom, without any need to use their rich imagination. This is the exactness and the real value of the working of the God in the flesh. The Spirit can only do some things invisible and unimaginable to man, such as, the inspiration of the Spirit, the moving of the Spirit, and the guidance of the Spirit. However, to people with mind, these works of the Spirit cannot give them a clear idea but can only give them a moving or a roughly similar idea, and cannot give instructions with words. But God’s working in the flesh is quite different from that. The working of the flesh can give exact guidance of words, clear wills, and clear required goals, and people do not need to grope or imagine, much less guess. This is the clarity of the working of the flesh, which is quite different from the working of the Spirit. The working of the Spirit can only be applicable to a limited scope and cannot replace the working of the flesh. The exact goals for people required by the working of the flesh and the real value of the knowledge people gain through it far surpass the exactness and the real value of the working of the Spirit.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
7. “To corrupt people, only exact words, clear goals to pursue, and visible and touchable works are the most valuable works. Only realistic works and timely guidance can fit people’s taste, and only practical works can save people from their corrupt and fallen disposition; these can only be fulfilled by the incarnated God. Only the incarnated God can save people from their corrupt and fallen old disposition.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
8. “The reason why God is incarnated is that his flesh can also have authority and can practically work among people, which is visible and touchable. Such working is much more practical than the direct working of God’s Spirit who has all the authority, and its results are obvious. This is because God’s incarnated flesh can speak and work practically, and the outer shell of his flesh does not have authority and all people can approach him, but his substance has authority and yet no one can see his authority. Even when he speaks and works, people cannot discover the existence of his authority. This is more helpful to his working practically.”
from “The Mystery of Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
9. “The reason why God is incarnated is that the object of his work is man of flesh corrupted by satan, not the spirit of satan or anything that is not of flesh. Because man’s flesh is corrupted, he takes man of flesh as the object of his work. And even more because man is the object of corruption, no matter which stage of the work of salvation he does, he chooses man to be the only object of his work. Man is a mortal being and is of flesh, and God is the only One who can save man. So, for God to do his work, it is necessary for him to become flesh that has the same attribute as man, so that he can achieve better working results. Because man is of flesh and has no ability to overcome sin and break free from the flesh, for God to do his work, he has to become flesh.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
10. “Man has been corrupted by satan, and man is the highest created being created by God. So man needs the salvation of God. The object of God’s salvation is man, not satan. What he saves is man’s flesh and man’s soul, not the devil. Satan is the object of God’s destruction, and man is the object of God’s salvation. And man’s flesh has been corrupted by satan, so God has to save man’s flesh first. Man’s flesh is most deeply corrupted and becomes something that resists God, and it even resists and denies God’s existence openly. The corrupted flesh is simply incorrigibly obstinate. The corrupt disposition of the flesh is hardest to deal with and most difficult to change. Satan comes into man’s flesh to disturb, using man’s flesh to disturb God’s work and damage God’s plan. Thus, man becomes satan and becomes God’s enemy. To save man, God first has to conquer man. So, God counters by coming into the flesh to do the work he wants to do, to wage war against satan. His purpose is to save the corrupted mankind and defeat and destroy satan that disobeys him. Through the work of conquering man, he defeats satan and at the same time saves corrupt mankind. This is a work that achieves a double purpose.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
11. “Man’s flesh is corrupted by satan, and the flesh is most deeply blinded and is the one deeply afflicted. The most basic reason why God personally works in the flesh is that the object of salvation is man of flesh and that satan uses man’s flesh to disturb God’s work. The war against satan is actually a work of conquering man, and at the same time man is the object of salvation. Thus, it is very necessary for God to work through being incarnated. Satan corrupts man’s flesh, so man becomes the embodiment of satan and becomes the one to be defeated by God. Thus, the works of warring against satan and saving mankind are on earth, and God has to become a man to war against satan. This is the most realistic work. When he works in the flesh, actually he is warring against satan in the flesh. When he works in the flesh, he is doing his work of the spiritual realm. He has all his work of the spiritual realm realized on earth. The one he conquers is man who disobeys him. The one he defeats is satan’s embodiment (of course, also man) which is hostile to him. And the one who will be saved in the end is still man. Thus, it is even more necessary for him to become a man who has the outer shell of a created being, so that he can war against satan practically, conquering man who disobeys him and who has the same outer shell as his, and saving man who has the same outer shell as his and who is afflicted by satan. His enemy is man, the one he conquers is man, and the one he saves is still created man, so he has to become a man. In this way, his working is much more convenient, being not only able to defeat satan, but also to conquer mankind, and even more to save mankind.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
12. “The second incarnated flesh does the conquering work in a complete flesh and defeats satan in a complete flesh. Only if the flesh is a completely normal and practical flesh can he do a complete conquering work and bear a powerful testimony. That is to say, the result of conquering people is achieved through the practicalness and normalness of the God in the flesh, not through supernatural miracles and revelations. The ministry the God incarnated this time performs is to speak, conquering people and perfecting people through speaking. That is, the work the Spirit realizes in the flesh is to speak, and the work of the flesh is to speak, thereby achieving the purpose of completely conquering people, revealing people, perfecting people, and eliminating people.”
from “The Substance of the ‘Flesh’ God Is In” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
13. “Because it is to judge corrupted man, man of flesh, not to judge satan’s spirit directly, the work of judgment is not carried out in the spiritual realm but among men. As to the work of judging the corruption of man’s flesh, only the God in the flesh is most suitable to do it, and only the God in the flesh is most qualified to do it. If the Spirit of God judged directly, he could not deal with every aspect, and that would be difficult for man to accept, because the Spirit cannot come face to face with man. Simply because of this, it could not produce immediate results, much less cause man to see more clearly God’s disposition which is not to be offended. Only if the God in the flesh judges mankind’s corruption does it mean defeating satan thoroughly. … If the Spirit of God did this work, it would not mean overcoming satan. The Spirit is originally greater than mortal beings, and God’s Spirit is originally holy and victorious over the flesh. If the Spirit did this work directly, he could not judge all man’s disobedience or expose all man’s unrighteousness, because the work of judgment is done through man’s notions about God but man has no notions about the Spirit. So, the Spirit cannot better expose man’s unrighteousness, much less disclose man’s unrighteousness thoroughly. The incarnated God is the enemy of all those who do not know him. Through judging man’s notions about and resistance against him, he discloses all the disobedience of mankind. The work done by the flesh produces more obvious results than the work done by the Spirit. So, the work of judging all mankind is not done by the Spirit directly but by the incarnated God. The God in the flesh is visible and touchable to people, and the God in the flesh can thoroughly conquer people.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
14. “If God’s Spirit directly spoke to people, they all would submit before his ‘voice’ and would fall without his exposing them with the word, just as Paul fell in the light on his way to Damascus. If God still worked that way, people could never know their corruptions and thus be saved through the judgment of the word. Only if God is incarnated can he personally deliver his word to everyone’s ears, so that all those who have ears can hear his word and receive the work of the judgment of his word. This is the result produced by his word. It is not that the Spirit appears to people to ‘overawe’ them. Only through such practical and extraordinary work can the old dispositions hidden in people’s innermost being for many years be exposed completely, so that they can know them and have them transformed. All these are the practical works of God incarnate. He speaks practically and judges practically, thereby achieving the results of judging people with his word. This is the authority of God incarnate and is the significance of God’s incarnation. It is to manifest the authority of God incarnate, manifest the working results brought by his word, manifest that it is the Spirit who comes into the flesh, and manifest his authority through judging people with his word. Although his flesh is the outer shell of an ordinary and normal humanity, he, through the results produced by his word, causes people to see that he is full of authority, that he is God Godself, and that his word is the expression of God Godself.”
from “The Mystery of Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
15. “But do you know such a fact: It is when people see Christ that their corrupt disposition, disobedience, and resistance are exposed, and the disobedience and resistance exposed at this time are more complete and thorough than at any other times. It is precisely because Christ is the Son of man, the Son of man with a normal humanity, that people do not respect or honor him. It is precisely because God lives in the flesh that people’s disobedience is exposed thoroughly and vividly. So I say that the coming of Christ has dug out all the disobedience of mankind and the coming of Christ has set off all the nature of mankind. This is ‘luring the tiger down the mountain’ and ‘luring the wolf out of its den.’”
from “Those Incompatible with Christ Are Surely Ones Who Resist God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
16. “Because the normalness and practicalness of the incarnated God are contrary to the vague and supernatural gods in people’s imagination, when the incarnated God formally works, all their notions are exposed. By the setting off of the incarnated God, all of people’s original notions are exposed. Without the contrast of the incarnated God, people’s notions cannot be exposed. That is, without the setting off of reality, the vague things cannot be exposed. This work cannot be done by anyone with words in God’s stead and cannot be spoken about clearly by anyone with words. God Godself can do his own work, and no one else can do it in his stead. No matter how rich man’s words are, he cannot make clear God’s practicalness and normalness. Only if God works personally among people and completely makes his image and his being known to people, can they know him more practically and see him more clearly. Such a result cannot be achieved by any man of flesh. Of course, such a working result cannot be achieved by God’s Spirit either. God can save corrupt man from satan’s influence, but this work cannot be directly accomplished by God’s Spirit. Rather, it can only be done by the flesh God’s Spirit is clothed with, by the flesh God is incarnated in. This flesh is a man and is God, a man with a normal humanity and God with full divinity. So, although this flesh is not the Spirit of God and is greatly different from the Spirit, the One who saves man is still the incarnated God Godself, who is the Spirit and is a flesh. No matter how he is addressed, it is God Godself who saves mankind. This is because God’s Spirit and flesh are inseparable, and it is the work done by the flesh and is also the work done by the Spirit of God, which, however, is not done by him as the Spirit but as the flesh. A work that needs to be done directly by the Spirit does not need to be done through being incarnated, and a work that needs to be done by the flesh cannot be done by the Spirit directly but can only be done through being incarnated. All this is the need of the work and the need of corrupt mankind.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
17. “The incarnated God comes into the flesh completely because of the need of corrupt man, because of man’s need but not God’s need. All the price and sufferings are for the sake of mankind, not for God’s own benefit. With God, there is no such thing as gain or loss or reward. What he gains is not what he later reaps but what he should have originally. All that he does and all the price he pays for mankind are not for the purpose that he can receive more rewards, but are only for the sake of mankind. Although when he works in the flesh, there are many difficulties unimaginable to man, in the end the results produced by the flesh’s working will far surpass the results of the Spirit’s working directly. Although when the flesh works, there are many difficulties and he cannot have the same great identity as the Spirit or do supernatural deeds as the Spirit, much less have the same authority as the Spirit, the working of this inconspicuous flesh is much higher in substance than the direct working of the Spirit. This flesh himself is the need of all people.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
18. “The reason why this flesh can do the work man cannot do is that his inner substance is different from that of any man. He can save man because his identity is different from that of any man. The reason why this flesh is very important to mankind is that he is a man and even more God, that he can do the work a common man in the flesh cannot do, and that he can save corrupt men who live with him on earth. Although he is also a man, the incarnated God is more important to mankind than any other man of value. Because he can do the work the Spirit of God cannot do, he is better able to bear God’s own testimony than the Spirit of God, and he is better able to gain mankind completely than the Spirit of God, therefore although this flesh is ordinary and normal, as far as his contribution to mankind and his significance to mankind’s existence are concerned, he is much more precious. The real value and significance of this flesh cannot be measured by anyone. Although this flesh cannot directly destroy satan, he can conquer mankind and defeat satan by means of working and cause satan to completely become subject under his dominion. Because God is incarnated, he can defeat satan and can save mankind. He does not directly destroy satan but works through being incarnated to conquer mankind corrupted by satan. In this way, he can better bear his own testimony among created beings and can better save corrupted man. It is a more powerful testimony and is more convincing for God’s incarnated flesh to defeat satan than for God’s Spirit to destroy satan directly. The God in the flesh is more beneficial to man’s knowing the Creator and can better bear his testimony among created beings.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
19. “God comes into the flesh for the main purpose that people can see his practical deeds, realizing his formless and imageless Spirit in the flesh so that people can touch and see him. Thus, those who are made complete by him will be the ones who have his living out and who are gained by him and who are after his heart. If God only spoke and uttered his voice from heaven but did not practically come to earth, people still could not know God, and they could only have empty theories to proclaim God’s deeds and could not have God’s words as their reality. God comes to earth mainly to set himself as an exemplar and serve as a model for those whom he wants to gain. Only in this way can people practically know God, touch God, and see God, and be truly gained by God.”
from “You Should Know that the Practical God Is God Godself” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
20. “God humbles himself to an extent, that is, he is incarnated, so that men can be his bosom friends and his intimate friends. God is originally Spirit, so lofty and so unfathomable. How could men be qualified to be his bosom friends? Only if God’s Spirit descends into the flesh and becomes a created being who has the same shell as man can men understand his will and be gained by him practically. He speaks and works in the flesh, sharing joys and sufferings with men, living with them in the same world, keeping them, and leading them, so that they all can be purified, receive his salvation, and receive his blessings. Only after they receive these and truly understand God’s will can they be his bosom friends. Only this is practical. If men cannot see him or touch him, how could they be his bosom friends? Won’t it be an empty doctrine?”
from “Only Those Who Know God and God’s Work Are the Ones God Is Satisfied With”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
21. “When God is incarnated in the end time, on the one hand he removes the place of the vague god in people’s notions and there is no longer the vague god’s image in people’s heart, and through his speaking and working practically, walking everywhere, and working among people very practically and normally, he lets people know his practicalness and removes the place of the vague god. On the other hand, through the word of the flesh, he makes people complete and accomplishes everything. This is the work God will accomplish in the end time.”
from “Knowledge About God’s Present Work” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
22. “For everyone who lives in the flesh, to pursue to be transformed in their disposition, they have to have goals to pursue, and to pursue to know God, they have to see God’s practical deeds and God’s real image. And these two can only be fulfilled by God’s incarnated flesh and can only be fulfilled by a normal and practical flesh. This is the necessity of God’s incarnation, which is the need of all corrupt mankind.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
23. “God is incarnated only for the purpose of completing his work in the flesh and not just for people to see him. He lets his work prove his identity and lets his manifestation prove his substance. His substance is not spoken about without a basis, and his identity is not usurped by himself but is determined by his work and his substance. Although he has the substance of God Godself and can do the work of God Godself, after all he is the flesh different from the Spirit, and he is not the God with the attributes of the Spirit but the God with the outer shell of the flesh.”
from “The Substance of Christ Is Obeying the Will of the Heavenly Father” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
24. “God is not incarnated to purposely let people know his flesh, or to let people discern what differences there are between God’s incarnated flesh and man’s flesh, or to exercise their discernment, much less to purposely let people worship God’s incarnated flesh so that God can gain great glory. None of these is God’s original intention in being incarnated. And God is not incarnated to condemn people or intentionally reveal people or intentionally make things difficult for people. None of these is God’s original intention. His incarnation each time is a necessary work, and he does so for his greater work and greater management. This is not like what people have imagined. God’s coming to earth each time is the need of the work and is a must, and he does not purposely come to earth for a stroll but comes to do the work he ought to do. Otherwise, why should he bear so heavy a burden and run so great a risk to do this work? God’s being incarnated each time is out of necessity and is of special significance. If his purpose were only for people to have a look at him and broaden their horizons, he would by no means come to the world lightly. He comes to earth for his management and for his greater work and for the purpose that he can gain people more completely. He comes to represent an age and to defeat satan, to defeat satan by being clothed with a flesh, and even more to guide all mankind’s life. All this has to do with his management and is a work related to the entire universe. If God were incarnated only for people to know his flesh and broaden their horizons, why should he not travel around every country? Wouldn’t that be a very easy thing? However, he does not do that, but chooses a suitable place to stay in and starts the work he ought to do. This flesh is quite significant. He represents the entire age and has started the work of the entire age, and he is the One who ends the old age and who starts the new age. All these are great things related to God’s management and are the significance of a stage of work God comes to earth to do.”
from “The Mystery of Incarnation (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
25. “You all know that God’s incarnation is just for opening a new age. Of course, when he opens a new age, he has ended the old age at the same time. God is the Beginning and the End. Since he himself starts the work, he himself has to end the old age. This is the evidence of defeating satan and triumphing over the world. Every time he works personally among men, it is the beginning of a new war. If a new work has not begun, surely the old work will not end. If the old work has not ended, it proves that the work of warring against satan has not ended. Only when God Godself comes and does a new work among men can they completely come out from satan’s domain and get free and can they have a new life and a new start. Otherwise, they will forever live in the old age and forever live under the old influence of satan. … God’s own work has to be done by God Godself. He is the One who starts the work and who ends the work. He is the One who plans the work and who manages the work, and even more the One who accomplishes the work. Just as the Bible says, ‘I am the Beginning and the End. I am the One who sows and who reaps.’ All these works that have to do with his management have to be done by himself. He is the Ruler of the six-thousand-year management plan. No man can do his work in his stead, and no man can end his work, because he controls everything. Since he created the world, he will lead the entire world to live in his light, and he will surely end the entire age to accomplish all his plans!”
from “The Mystery of Incarnation (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
26. “The work done by the Spirit is hidden and unfathomable, and is fearful and inapproachable. He is not suitable to do the work of salvation directly or to be man’s life supply directly. What is most suitable for man is to change the work of the Spirit into another form close to man. That is, what is most suitable for man is that God becomes an ordinary and normal man to do the work. So God has to be incarnated to do the work of the Spirit in his stead. This way of working is most suitable for man. Of the three stages of works, two stages are done by the flesh, and these two stages are the crucial sections in the management work. The two incarnations complement each other and complete each other. The first incarnation laid the foundation for the second incarnation. It can be said that the two incarnations are integrated, not incompatible with each other. The reason why God does these two stages of works as the incarnated flesh is that they are really too important to the entire management work. It can almost be said that without the works of the two incarnations, the entire management work would have remained at a standstill, and the work of saving mankind would be an empty talk. Whether a work is important is judged according to the need of mankind, according to the real situation of mankind’s fall, and according to the degree of satan’s disobedience and its disturbing the work. And who is the right and competent one for the work is decided according to the nature of the working of the one who works and according to the importance of the work. According to the importance of the work, in deciding which way to do the work, doing it directly as the Spirit, doing it through being incarnated, or doing it through man, among these three ways God first eliminated the way of ‘doing it through man,’ and then according to the nature of the work and according to the nature of the working of the Spirit and the flesh, he finally decided that doing it in the flesh would be more beneficial to man than doing it as the Spirit directly and would be more advantageous to the work. These were the thoughts God had when he decided whether to do the work as the Spirit or in the flesh. The work at each stage has significance and is done on some basis, not based on mere imagination or at random, and there is some wisdom in it. This is the inside truth of God doing all the works. Especially in such a great work as working personally among men through being incarnated, there is his plan all the more. Therefore, God’s wisdom and all his being are expressed in his every act and move, every idea, and every thought in working. This is God’s more specific and systematic being. All these fine ideas and thoughts are hard for man to imagine, hard for man to believe, and even more, hard for man to know.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
27. “Of the three stages of works, only one stage was done by the Spirit directly, while the other two stages are done by the incarnated God, not done by the Spirit directly. The work of the law done by the Spirit had nothing to do with transforming man’s corrupt disposition or man’s knowing God. But the works of the Age of the Grace and of the Age of the Kingdom done by the flesh have to do with man’s corrupt disposition and man’s knowing God. The works done by the flesh are the important and crucial works in the work of salvation. So, corrupt mankind needs even more the salvation of the incarnated God and needs even more the direct work of the incarnated God. Mankind needs the shepherding, sustenance, watering, feeding, judgment, and chastisement of the incarnated God and needs more grace and greater redemption of the incarnated God. Only the God in the flesh can be man’s intimate friend, man’s shepherd, and man’s ever-present help. All this is the necessity of God’s being incarnated today and before.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
28. “Toward the God in the flesh, people change from resistance to obedience, from persecution to acceptance, from notion to knowledge, and from rejection to love. These are the working results of the incarnated God. It is through receiving his judgment that people are saved, it is through the words of his mouth that they know him progressively, it is in the course of resisting him that they are conquered by him, and it is in the course of receiving his chastisement that they receive his life supply. All these works are the works done by the God in the flesh, not the works done by God as the Spirit. The works done by God through being incarnated are the greatest works and the most profound works. The crux of the three stages of works lies in these two stages of works of incarnation.”
from “Corrupt Mankind Needs Even More the Salvation of the God Incarnated in the ‘Flesh’”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
in The Word Appears in the Flesh
29. “It is not difficult to investigate such a thing. But it requires every one of us to first know such a truth: Since a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh, he has God’s substance; since a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh, he has God’s expression. Since God is incarnated, he will bring the work he wants to do; since a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh, he will express what God is; since a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh, he can bring man the truth, bestow to man the life, and show man the way. If a flesh does not have God’s substance, he is certainly not the incarnated God. This is beyond doubt. If people want to investigate whether a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh, they have to ascertain that from the disposition and the word he expresses. That is to say, to ascertain whether a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh or whether a way is the true way, people must discern that from his substance. So, whether a flesh is God’s incarnated flesh mainly depends on his substance (his work, word, disposition, and more other aspects), not on his appearance. If people overlook his substance because of investigating his appearance, that is their foolishness and ignorance.”
from “Preface” to The Word Appears in the Flesh
30. “God incarnate is called Christ. So, it is not at all too much to call the Christ who can bestow the truth to man God. This is because he has God’s substance, and he has God’s disposition and working wisdom, which are beyond man’s reach. Only those who cannot do God’s work but claim to be Christ are counterfeits. Christ is not only God’s manifestation on earth, but a special flesh in which God carries out his work on earth and accomplishes his work among men. This flesh cannot be substituted by anyone but is a flesh who is adequate to undertake God’s work on earth, who can express God’s disposition, who is adequate to represent God, and who can supply man with life. Those who pretend to be Christ will fall sooner or later, because they, though claiming to be Christ, do not at all possess Christ’s substance. So, I say that being true or false cannot be decided by man, but it is answered by God Godself and is decided by God Godself. Thus, if you really want to search for the way of life, you have to first acknowledge that God has come among men to do the work of bestowing the way of life to man, and that he has come among men in the end time to bestow the way of life to man, not before but today.”
from “Only the Last Christ Can Bestow to Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
31. “The incarnated God is called Christ. Christ is the flesh the Spirit of God is clothed with, and this flesh is different from any fleshly man. The difference is because Christ is not of flesh but is the embodiment of the Spirit. He has a normal humanity and full divinity, and his divinity is something that no man has. His normal humanity is for maintaining all his normal activities in the flesh, and his divinity is for doing God’s own work. Both his humanity and his divinity obey the will of the heavenly Father. The substance of Christ is Spirit, that is, divinity, so his substance is the substance of God Godself. This substance will not disrupt his own work, and he cannot possibly do anything that demolishes his own work or say anything that goes against his own will.”
from “The Substance of Christ Is Obeying the Will of the Heavenly Father” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
32. “Though God incarnate looks the same as man, and he also learns human knowledge and speaks human language, and sometimes even expresses his meaning in a human way or by quoting human sayings, nevertheless the substance of his looking at mankind and viewing things is absolutely different from that of corrupt mankind, and the angle and height he takes are beyond the reach of any corrupt human. This is because God is the truth, the flesh he is clothed with also has the substance of God Godself, and what is expressed from his mind and from his humanity is also the truth. To corrupt mankind, all the expression of the flesh is the supply of the truth and the supply of life. Such supply is not directed at a certain person alone but at all mankind.”
from “God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Godself (3)” in A Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh
33. “Some men were possessed by evil spirits and kept shouting, ‘I am God!’ But they could not stand in the end, because they represented wrongly and what they represented was satan. The Holy Spirit paid no attention to them. However high you speak and however loud you shout, you are still a created being and are of satan. I never shout, ‘I am God. I am God’s beloved Son!’ But what I do is God’s work. Do I need to shout? There is no need to be exalted. God Godself does his own work, and he does not need man to give him a position or a respectful title. His work represents his identity and position. … You cannot bring a new way, and you cannot represent the Spirit, cannot express the work of the Spirit or express the word of the Spirit, cannot do the work of God Godself or do what the Spirit does, and cannot express God’s wisdom, wonderfulness, or unfathomableness, or any of God’s disposition by which he chastises man, so no matter how you claim to be God, it is useless, and you only have the name but do not have the substance. When God Godself comes, no one knows him, but he continues to do his work and does the work on behalf of the Spirit. It is all right whether you call him a man, call him God, call him Lord or Christ, or call her a sister, but the work he does is the work of the Spirit and represents the work of God Godself. He does not care what man calls him. Could it determine his work? No matter what you call him, speaking from God’s side, he is the incarnated flesh of God’s Spirit, represents the Spirit, and is approved by the Spirit. You cannot bring the way of the new age and cannot end the old age, open a new age, or do a new work, so you cannot be called God!”
from “The Mystery of Incarnation (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
34. “Being incarnated means that God appears in the flesh and God works in the image of a flesh among created men. So, since God is incarnated, he first has to be a flesh, a flesh that has a normal humanity. This is what he should at least have. Actually, God’s incarnated flesh means the God who works and lives in the flesh and that the substance of God becomes flesh and becomes man.”
from “The Substance of the ‘Flesh’ God Is In” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
35. “The Christ with a normal humanity is a flesh in whom the Spirit is realized and who has a normal humanity, normal sense, and thinking. ‘Being realized’ means that God becomes man and the Spirit becomes flesh. To put it more plainly, it means that God Godself lives in a flesh that has a normal humanity and expresses his work of divinity through the flesh with a normal humanity. This is ‘being realized,’ that is, being incarnated.”
from “The Substance of the ‘Flesh’ God Is In” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
36. “Because he is a man who has the substance of God, he is higher than any created man and higher than any man who can do God’s work. For this reason, among all those who have the same human outer shell as his and among all those who have a humanity, he alone is the incarnated God Godself, and all the others are created men. They both have a humanity, yet created men have nothing other than a humanity, whereas God incarnate is different and in his flesh there is not only a humanity but most importantly divinity.”
from “The Substance of the ‘Flesh’ God Is In” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
37. “The meaning of incarnation is that an ordinary and normal man does the work of God Godself, that is, God does the work of divinity in his humanity, thereby defeating satan. Incarnation means that God’s Spirit becomes a flesh, that is, God becomes a flesh. The work done by the flesh is the work done by the Spirit, and the work the Spirit does is realized in the flesh and is expressed through the flesh. Except for the flesh God is in, no one can perform the ministry of the incarnated God in his stead. In other words, only God’s incarnated flesh, this normal humanity, can express the work of divinity, and no one else can do it in his stead. If when God came the first time, he did not have a normal humanity before the age of twenty-nine, and he performed signs and wonders from his birth, spoke heavenly language since he could speak, and could discern the things of the world from his birth and see all that people thought and had in their heart, such a man could not be called a normal man, and such a flesh could not be called a flesh. If Christ had been such a man, the significance and the substance of God’s incarnation would have been lost. The fact that he had a normal humanity proved that he was God being ‘incarnated’ in the ‘flesh.’ The fact that he went through the process of growth of a normal man further proved that he was a normal flesh. These facts plus his work sufficiently proved that he was ‘God’s Word,’ ‘God’s Spirit,’ becoming ‘flesh.’ God becomes flesh because of the need of the work; in other words, this stage of work has to be done in the flesh, that is, done in a normal humanity. This is the precondition for ‘the Way becoming flesh’ and ‘the Word appearing in the flesh.’ This is the inside truth of God’s two incarnations.”
from “The Substance of the ‘Flesh’ God Is In” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
38. “Jesus did a stage of work, and it only fulfilled the substance of ‘the Word was with God,’ that is, God’s truth was with God, God’s Spirit was with his flesh, and they were inseparable, or in other words, the incarnated flesh was with God’s Spirit, which further proved that the incarnated Jesus was God’s first incarnated flesh. This stage of work exactly fulfills the inner meaning of this word ‘the Word becomes flesh,’ deepens the inner meaning of ‘the Word was with God, and the Word was God,’ and makes you certain about this word ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ That is to say, at the creation of the world God had the word, and God’s word was with God, and they were inseparable. At the final age, God all the more manifests the power and authority of his word, so that man can see all his ways, that is, hear all his words. This is the work done at the final age. … For this is the work of the second incarnation, that is, the final incarnation, which completes the significance of incarnation, has all God’s works in the flesh done thoroughly and expressed, and ends the age when God is in the flesh.”
from “Practice (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
39. “This time God comes to work not as a spiritual body but as a very ordinary body, a body in which God is incarnated the second time, a body in which God returns in the flesh, and a very ordinary flesh. You cannot see in him anything different from others, but you can receive from him the truth you have never heard. Such a small flesh is the embodiment of all the words of truth of God, the undertaker of God’s end-time work, and the expression for man to know all God’s disposition. Don’t you want very much to see the God in heaven? Don’t you want very much to know about the God in heaven? Don’t you want very much to see mankind’s destination? He will tell you all these secrets no one can ever tell you, and he will tell you the truths you do not understand. He is the gate for you to enter into the kingdom and is also the guide for you to enter into the new age. Such an ordinary flesh has many mysteries that man cannot fathom, and what he does is unfathomable to you. But all the goals of the works he does are sufficient for you to see that he is not a simple flesh as man thinks. This is because he represents God’s will in the end time and represents God’s care for mankind in the end time. Although you cannot hear him speak in a way like shaking heaven and earth, although you cannot see his eyes like a flame of fire, and although you will not be disciplined by his iron rod, you can from his speaking hear that God is angry, know that God is merciful to mankind, see God’s righteous disposition, see where God’s wisdom is, and even more taste God’s care for all mankind. The work God does in the end time is for the purpose that man can see on earth the God in heaven living among men and that man can know God, obey God, fear God, and love God. This is why he has returned in the flesh the second time. Although the God man sees today is a God who looks the same as man, is a God who has a nose and eyes, and is a very inconspicuous God, in the end God will cause you to see that without the existence of this person, heaven and earth will change tremendously, and without the existence of this person, heaven will become dark, earth will become chaotic, and all mankind will live in famines and plagues. You will be caused to see that without the end-time incarnated God coming to save you, God would have long destroyed all men in hell, and that without the existence of this flesh, you would forever be the foremost of sinners and forever be corpses. You should know that without the existence of this flesh, the whole mankind could not escape a great catastrophe and could not escape God’s severer punishment on mankind in the end time. Without the birth of this ordinary flesh, you all would seek survival but could not find it and seek death but could not find it. Without the living of this flesh, today you could not receive the truth and come before God’s throne, but on the contrary you all would have been punished by God for being grievously sinful. Do you know? If God had not returned in the flesh, no one would have the opportunity to be saved, and if it were not for the coming of this flesh, God would have long ended the old age. Then, can you reject God’s second incarnated flesh? Since this ordinary person is so beneficial to you, why not accept him readily?”
from “Do You Know? God Has Done a Very Great Thing Among Men” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
40. “All God’s works in the end time are done through this ordinary person. He can bestow everything to you, and even more, he can decide your everything. Can such a person be one who is too simple to be worthy of mention as you consider him to be? Is his truth not adequate to make you convinced in the heart and in the mouth? Can his deeds not make you convinced in the eyes? Or is the way led by him not worthy for you to walk? What actually is it that can make you dislike him and reject and avoid him? The one who expresses the truth is this person, the one who supplies the truth is this person, and the one who enables you to have the way to go is also this person. Can you still not find the footprints of God’s working from these truths? Without Jesus’ work, mankind could not have come down from the cross. But without the incarnated flesh of today, those who have come down from the cross could never receive God’s approval and could never enter into the new age. Without the coming of this ordinary person, you would never have the opportunity or qualification to see God’s real image, because you all are the ones who should have perished long ago. Because of the coming of God’s second incarnated flesh, God forgives you and has mercy on you. Anyway, what I want to tell you finally is still this word: This incarnated ordinary person is extremely important to you. This is the very great thing God has done among men.”
from “Do You Know? God Has Done a Very Great Thing Among Men” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
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