5. Only God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days is His critical, decisive work for saving mankind
Bible Verses for Reference:
“Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come” (Revelation 14:7).
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17).
“He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people” (Isaiah 2:4).
“And if any man hears My words, and believes not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects Me, and accepts not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:47–48).
“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).
Relevant Words of God:
When Jesus came into the world of man, He ushered in the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law. During the last days, God once more became flesh, and with this incarnation He ended the Age of Grace and ushered in the Age of Kingdom. All those who are able to accept the second incarnation of God will be led into the Age of Kingdom, and will moreover become able to personally accept the guidance of God. Though Jesus came among man and did much work, He only completed the work of redeeming all mankind and served as man’s sin offering; He did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to become the sin offering and bear the sins of man, but it also required God to do even greater work to rid man completely of his Satan-corrupted disposition. And so, after man was forgiven of his sins, God returned to the flesh to lead man into the new age, and began the work of chastisement and judgment. This work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and they shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Preface
I was once called Jehovah, I was also once known by people as the Messiah, and people once called Me Jesus the Savior with love and esteem. Today, I am no longer the Jehovah or Jesus that people knew in times past. Rather, I am the God who has returned in the last days, the God who shall bring the age to an end; I am the God Himself that rises up from the end of the earth, replete with My entire disposition, and full of authority, honor, and glory. People have never been in contact with Me, they have never known Me, and they have always been ignorant of My disposition. From the creation of the world until today, not one person has seen Me. This is the God who appears to people in the last days but is hidden among them. He resides among people, true and real, like the burning sun and the blazing flame, filled with power and brimming with authority. There is not a single person or thing that shall not be judged by My words, and not a single person or thing that shall not be purified through the burning of fire. Ultimately, the myriad nations shall be blessed because of My words, and also smashed to pieces because of My words. In this way, all people in the last days shall see that I am the Savior returned, and that I am Almighty God, who conquers all of mankind. And all shall see that I was once the sin offering for man, but that in the last days I have become the flames of the blazing sun that burn all things, as well as the Sun of righteousness that reveals all things. This is My work in the last days. I took this name and carry with Me this disposition so that all people may see that I am the righteous God, the burning sun, the blazing flame, and so that all may worship Me, the one true God, and so that they may see My true face: I am not only the God of the Israelites, and I am not just the Redeemer, rather I am the God of all creatures throughout the heavens and the earth and the seas.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a “White Cloud”
The work of the last days is to speak words. Great changes can be effected in man by means of words. The changes now effected in these people upon their accepting these words are much greater than those effected in people upon their accepting the signs and wonders in the Age of Grace. For, in the Age of Grace, the demons were cast out from man with the laying on of hands and prayer, but the corrupt dispositions within man still remained. Man was healed of his sickness and forgiven his sins, but as for just how man could cast off the corrupt satanic dispositions within him, this work had yet to be done on him. Man was only saved and forgiven his sins for his faith, but the sinful nature of man was not extirpated and still remained within him. The sins of man were forgiven through the incarnation of God, but this did not mean that man no longer had sin within him. The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but as for just how man can be made to sin no more, and how his sinful nature may be cast off completely and transformed, he has no way of solving this problem. The sins of man were forgiven, and this is because of the work of God’s crucifixion, but man continued to live within his corrupt satanic disposition of old. This being so, man must be completely saved from his corrupt satanic disposition, so that his sinful nature may be completely cast off, never to develop again, thus enabling the disposition of man to be transformed. This would require man to understand the path of growth in life, to understand the way of life, and to understand the way to change his disposition. Furthermore, it would require man to practice in accordance with this path, so that his disposition may gradually be changed and he may live under the shining of the light, so that all that he does may be in accord with the intentions of God, so that he may cast off his corrupt satanic disposition, and so that he may break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation. At the time that Jesus was doing His work, man’s knowledge of Him was still vague and unclear. Man always believed Him to be the son of David, and proclaimed Him to be a great prophet, the benevolent Lord who redeemed man’s sins. Some, on the strength of their faith, were healed just from touching the edge of His garment; the blind could see and even the dead could be restored to life. However, man was unable to discover the corrupt satanic disposition deeply rooted within himself, neither did he know how to cast it off. Man received much grace, such as the peace and happiness of the flesh, the faith of one member bringing blessing on an entire family, the healing of sickness, and so on. The rest were the good deeds of man and his godly appearance; if someone could live on the basis of these, they were considered an up-to-standard believer. Only believers of this kind could enter heaven after death, which meant that they were saved. But, in their lifetime, these people did not understand at all the way of life. All they did was to commit sins and then confess their sins in a constant cycle without any path to change their disposition: Such was the condition of man in the Age of Grace. Has man received complete salvation? No! Therefore, after that stage of work was finished, there still remained the work of judgment and chastisement. This stage is to cleanse man by means of the word, and thereby give him a path to follow. This stage would not be fruitful or meaningful if it continued with the casting out of demons, for it would fail to extirpate man’s sinful nature, and man would come to a standstill at the forgiveness of his sins. Through the sin offering, man has been forgiven his sins, for the work of the crucifixion has already come to an end and God has prevailed over Satan. But the corrupt disposition of man still remaining within him, man can still sin and resist God, and God has not gained mankind. That is why in this stage of work God uses the word to expose the corrupt disposition of man, causing him to practice in accordance with the proper path. The work of this stage is more meaningful than the previous one, as well as more fruitful, for now it is the word that directly supplies man’s life and enables the disposition of man to be completely renewed; it is a much more thorough stage of work. Therefore, the incarnation in the last days has completed the significance of God’s incarnation and completely finished God’s management plan for man’s salvation.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)
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 a nature that resists God. Therefore, when man has been redeemed, it is nothing more than a case of redemption. That is, man is bought at a high price, but the poisonous nature within him has not been eliminated. Man that is so filthy must undergo a change before becoming worthy to serve God. By means of this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt essence within his own self, and he will be able to change completely and become purified. Only in this way can man become worthy to return before the throne of God. All the work done this day is so that man can be purified and be changed; through judgment and chastisement by the word, as well as through refinement, man can cast off his corruption and be purified. Rather than deeming this stage of work to be that of salvation, it would be more apt to say it is the work of purification. In truth, this stage is also the work of conquest, as well as the second stage in the work of salvation. It is through judgment and chastisement by the word that man comes to be gained by God, and it is through refinement, judgment, and exposure by the word that all of the impurities, notions, motives, and personal hopes within man’s heart are completely revealed.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)
God’s work in the present incarnation is to express His disposition primarily through chastisement and judgment, and on this foundation, to bring more truth to man and point out to him more ways of practice, thereby achieving His objective of conquering man and saving him from his own corrupt disposition. This is what lies behind the work of God in the Age of Kingdom.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Preface
Christ of the last days 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 submit to 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 rejects 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 and prunes over the long term. All these different methods of exposure 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 about 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 intentions of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to understand and know his corrupt essence and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover his ugly face. 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 Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth
In the Age of Kingdom, God uses words to usher in the new age, to change the means by which He works, and to do the work of the entire age. This is the principle by which God works in the Age of Word. He became flesh and speaks from different perspectives, enabling man to truly see God, who is the Word appearing in the flesh, and behold His wisdom and wondrousness. God works in this manner in order better to achieve the goals of conquering people, perfecting people, and eliminating people, which is the true meaning of the use of words to work in the Age of Word. Through words, people come to know the work of God, the disposition of God, the substance of man, and what man ought to enter into. Through words, all the work God wishes to do in the Age of Word is accomplished. Through words, people are revealed, eliminated, and tried. People have seen these words, heard these words, and recognized the existence of these words. As a result, they have come to believe in the existence of God, the almightiness and wisdom of God, and God’s heart of loving and saving man. The term “words” may be ordinary and simple, but the words spoken from the mouth of the incarnate God shake the universe, they transform people’s hearts, transform their notions and old dispositions, and transform the way the whole world used to appear. Through the ages, only the God of today works in this way, and only He speaks thus and comes to save man thus. From this time forward, man lives under the guidance of God’s words, amid the shepherding and provision of His words; people live in the world of God’s words, amid the curses and the blessings of God’s words, and the majority of people live under the judgment and chastisement of His words. These words and this work are all for the sake of man’s salvation, for the sake of fulfilling God’s will, and for the sake of changing the original appearance of the world of old creation. God created the world using words, He leads all the people in the universe using words, He conquers and saves them using words, and ultimately He shall use words to bring the whole world of old to an end, thus completing the entirety of His management plan. Throughout the Age of Kingdom, God uses words to do His work, and to achieve the results of His work. He does not work wonders or perform miracles, but merely does His work through words. Because of these words, man is nourished and supplied, and gains knowledge and true experience.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Age of Kingdom Is the Age of Word
In truth, the work being done now is to cause people to rebel against Satan, their old ancestor. All judgments by the word aim to expose humanity’s corrupt disposition and to enable people to understand the essence of life. These repeated judgments pierce people’s hearts. Each judgment directly relates to their fate and is meant to wound their hearts so that they can let go of all those things and thereby come to know life, know this filthy world, know God’s wisdom and almightiness, and also know mankind, which is corrupted by Satan. The more chastisement and judgment is like this, the more man’s heart can be wounded and the more his spirit can be awakened. Awakening the spirits of these extremely corrupted and most deeply deceived of people is the goal of this kind of judgment. Man has no spirit, that is, his spirit died long ago and he knows not that there is Heaven, knows not that there is a God, and certainly knows not that he is struggling in the abyss of death; how could he possibly know that he is living in this evil hell on earth? How could he possibly know that this putrid corpse of his has, through Satan’s corruption, fallen into Hades of death? How could he possibly know that everything on earth has long been ruined beyond repair by mankind? And how could he possibly know that the Creator has come to the earth today and is searching for a group of corrupt people whom He can save? Even after man experiences every possible refinement and judgment, his dull consciousness still barely stirs and indeed is virtually unresponsive. How degenerate is humanity! And though this kind of judgment is like the cruel hail that falls from the sky, it is of the greatest benefit to man. If not for judging people like this, there would be no result and it would be absolutely impossible to save people from the abyss of misery. If not for this work, it would be very difficult for people to emerge from Hades, because their hearts long ago died and their spirits long ago were trampled by Satan. Saving you who have sunk to the deepest depths of degeneration requires calling out to you strenuously, judging you strenuously; only then will it be possible to awaken your frozen hearts.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only the Perfected Can Live a Meaningful Life
In His final work of concluding the age, God’s disposition is one of chastisement and judgment, in which He reveals all that is unrighteous, in order to publicly judge the myriad peoples, and to perfect those who sincerely love Him. Only a disposition such as this can bring the age to an end. The last days have already arrived. All things are sorted according to their kind, and divided into different categories based on their different qualities. This is precisely the time when God reveals people’s outcomes and destinations. If people do not experience chastisement and judgment, then their rebelliousness and unrighteousness cannot be exposed. Only through chastisement and judgment can the outcomes of all things be revealed. People only show their true colors when they are chastised and judged. Evil shall be put with evil, good with good, and all people shall be sorted according to their kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the outcomes of all things will be revealed, so that the evil may be punished and the good rewarded, and the myriad people surrender to the dominion of God. All this work must be achieved through righteous chastisement and judgment. Because people’s corruption has reached its peak and their rebelliousness is exceedingly severe, only God’s righteous disposition, one that is principally compounded of chastisement and judgment and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform people and make them complete, and reveal evil, and all the unrighteous will thus be severely punished.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (3)
God does the work of judgment and chastisement so that man may gain knowledge of Him, and for the sake of His testimony. Without His judgment of man’s corrupt disposition, man could not possibly know His righteous disposition, which brooks no offense, and nor would man be able to turn his old knowledge of God into a new one. For the sake of His testimony, and for the sake of His management, He makes His entirety public, thus enabling man, through His public appearance, to arrive at knowledge of God, to be transformed in his disposition, and to bear resounding testimony to God. The transformation of the disposition of man is achieved through many different kinds of God’s work; without such changes in his disposition, man would be unable to bear testimony to God and to accord with God’s intentions. The transformation of man’s disposition signifies that man has freed himself from Satan’s bondage and from the influence of darkness, and has truly become a model and specimen of God’s work, a witness of God, and one who accords with God’s intentions. Today, God incarnate has come to do His work on earth, and He requires that man achieve knowledge of Him, submission to Him, and testimony to Him—he is to know His practical and normal work, he is to submit to all of His words and work which do not accord with the notions of man, and he is to bear testimony to all the work He does to save man, as well as all the deeds He accomplishes to conquer man. Those who bear testimony to God must have knowledge of God; only this kind of testimony is accurate and practical, and only this kind of testimony can shame Satan. God uses those who have come to know Him through undergoing His judgment, chastisement, and pruning, to bear testimony to Him. He uses those who have been corrupted by Satan to bear testimony to Him, and so too does He use those whose disposition has changed, and who have thus gained His blessings, to bear testimony to Him. He does not need man to praise Him with his mouth, nor does He need the praise and testimony of the ilk of Satan, who have not been saved by Him. Only those who know God are qualified to bear testimony to Him, and only those who have been transformed in their disposition are qualified to bear testimony to Him. God will not allow man intentionally to bring shame upon His name.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Those Who Know God Can Bear Testimony to God
Do you understand now what judgment is and what the truth is? If you do, then I advise you to submit obediently to being judged, otherwise you shall never have the opportunity to be approved of by God or to be brought by Him into His kingdom. Those who only accept judgment but can never be purified, that is, those who flee amidst the work of judgment, shall forever be spurned by God. Their sins are more grievous, and more numerous, than those of the Pharisees, for they have betrayed God and are rebels against God. These people who are not worthy even to labor shall receive a more severe punishment, a punishment that is, moreover, everlasting. God shall not spare any traitor who once evinced loyalty with words but then betrayed Him. Such people shall receive retribution through punishment of the spirit, soul, and body. Is this not precisely a revelation of the righteous disposition of God? Is this not precisely God’s purpose in judging and revealing man? God consigns those who perform all kinds of evil deeds during the time of judgment to a place infested with evil spirits, and lets those evil spirits destroy their fleshly bodies as they wish, and those people’s bodies emit the stench of corpses. Such is their due retribution. God writes each and every one of the sins of those disloyal false believers, false apostles, and false workers in their record books, and when the time is right, He casts them amidst the unclean spirits, letting those unclean spirits defile their entire bodies at will, and makes it so that they can never be reincarnated and never again see the light. God lists among the evil those hypocrites who do service for a time but do not remain loyal to the end, allowing them to wallow in the mire with the evil people and form with them a gang of motley miscreants, and in the end, God shall annihilate them. God casts aside and takes no notice of those who have never been loyal to Christ or have never contributed any of their strength, and at the changing of the age He shall annihilate them all. They shall no longer exist on earth, much less gain passage into the kingdom of God. God lists among those who render service for His people anyone who has never been sincere to God, but has no other choice but to deal with Him perfunctorily. Only a small number of such people will survive, while the majority shall be destroyed along with those whose labor is not even up to standard. In the end, God shall bring into His kingdom all those who are of the same heart and mind as God, the people and the sons of God, and those predestined by God to be priests. They are the crystallization of God’s work. As for those who cannot be classed into any of the categories demarcated by God, they shall be listed among the ranks of the nonbelievers, and you can surely imagine what their outcome shall be. I have already said to you all that I should say; the path that you select is your choice alone. What you should understand is this: The work of God never waits for any person that cannot keep pace with Him, and the righteous disposition of God shows no mercy to any man.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth
When each country and each of My chosen people returns before My throne, I will therewith grant all the bounty of heaven to the human world, so that, thanks to Me, that world will brim with matchless bounty. While the old world exists, I will hurl forth My wrath upon each country and promulgate the administrative decrees that are made public to the whole universe, and whoever violates them shall be chastised:
When I speak to the whole universe, all people hear My voice, that is, all people see all the deeds I have carried out throughout the universe. Those who go against My intentions, that is to say, who oppose Me with the deeds of man, will fall down amid My chastisement. I will renew the multitudinous stars in the heavens; thanks to Me, the sun and the moon will be renewed, the skies no longer being as they were; and all things on the earth will be renewed—this will all be accomplished because of My words. All the countries within the universe will be partitioned afresh and be replaced by My kingdom, so that the countries upon the earth will disappear forever, and there will only be the kingdom that worships Me; all the countries of the earth will be destroyed and cease to exist. Of the human beings within the universe, all those who are of devils will be annihilated. All who worship Satan will fall down amid My burning fire—that is, except for those now within the stream, all will be turned to ashes. When I chastise each people, religious communities will, to varying extents, return to My kingdom, and be conquered through My deeds, because they will have seen that “the Holy One riding on a white cloud” has already arrived. All people will be sorted according to their kind, and will receive various chastisements commensurate with their actions; all those who have resisted Me will perish, and as for those whose deeds on earth have not involved Me, they will, because of how they have behaved, continue to exist on the earth under the governance of My sons and My people. I will appear to the myriad countries and myriad peoples, and I will express My own voice on earth, proclaiming the completion of My great work, allowing all people to see this with their own eyes.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 26
Those who are able to stand firm during God’s work of judgment and chastisement during the last days—that is, during the final work of purification—will be the ones who will enter into the final rest alongside God; as such, all those who enter into rest will have broken free of Satan’s influence and been gained by God only after having undergone His final work of purification. These humans, who will have been finally gained by God, will enter into the final rest. The purpose of God’s work of chastisement and judgment is in essence meant to purify humanity, for the sake of the ultimate day of rest; otherwise no members of humanity could be sorted according to their kind, or enter into rest. This work is humanity’s only path to enter into rest.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together