Bible Verses for Reference:

“Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

“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).

“The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

Relevant Words of God:

He who is God incarnate shall possess the essence of God, and He who is God incarnate shall possess the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He intends to do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon him, and point the way for him. Flesh that does not have the essence of God is decidedly not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt. If man intends to inquire into whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, then he must corroborate this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, to corroborate whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, one must discriminate on the basis of His essence. And so, in determining whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key lies in His essence (His work, His utterances, His disposition, and many other aspects), rather than external appearance. If man scrutinizes only His external appearance, and as a result overlooks His essence, this shows that man is benighted and ignorant.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Preface

The words of God incarnate open up a new age, guide all of mankind, reveal mysteries, and show man the direction he is to take in the new age. The enlightenment obtained by man is nothing but some simple practices or knowledge. It cannot guide all of mankind into a new age or reveal the mysteries of God Himself. When all is said and done, God is God, and man is man. God has the essence of God, and man has the essence of man. If man views the words spoken by God as simple enlightenment by the Holy Spirit, and takes the words of the apostles and prophets as words personally spoken by God, that would be man’s mistake.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Preface

The truth is the most practical life maxim, and the highest life maxim for mankind. Because it is the requirement that God makes of man, and is the work personally done by God, thus it is called a “life maxim.” It is not a maxim summed up from something, nor is it a famous quote from a great figure. Instead, it is the utterance to mankind from the Sovereign of the heavens and earth and all things; it is not some words summed up by man, but the inherent life of God. And so it is called “the highest life maxim.”

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Those Who Know God and His Work Can Satisfy God

Whether the words spoken by God be plain or profound in outward appearance, they are all truths indispensable to man’s life entry; they are the fount of living waters that enables man to survive in both spirit and flesh. They provide what man needs to stay alive; the principles and creed for his self-conduct in his daily life; the path he must take to salvation, as well as the goals and direction for attaining salvation; every truth that he should possess as a created being before God; and every truth about how man submits to and worships God. They are the guarantee that ensures man’s survival, they are man’s daily bread, and they are also the sturdy support that enables man to be strong and stand up. They are rich in the truth reality with which created mankind lives out normal humanity, rich in the truth by which mankind breaks free from corruption and emerges from Satan’s snares, rich in the earnest and patient teaching, exhortation, encouragement, and solace that the Creator gives to created humanity. They are the beacon that guides and enlightens men to understand all that is positive, the guarantee which ensures that men will live out and come into possession of all that is just, beautiful, and good, the criterion by which all people, events, and things are measured, and also the navigation marker that leads men toward salvation and the path of light.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. Preface

Knowing God must be done by reading God’s words, and practicing and experiencing God’s words, as well as experiencing many trials, refinements, and pruning; only then is it possible to have true knowledge of God’s work and God’s disposition. Some say: “I haven’t seen God incarnate, so how should I come to know God?” In fact, God’s words are an expression of His disposition. From God’s words, you can see His love and salvation for humans, as well as His method for saving them…. This is because His words are expressed by God Himself, not written by humans. They have been personally expressed by God; God Himself is expressing His own words and His heart’s voice, which can also be called the words from His heart. Why are they called the words from His heart? It is because they are issued from deep down, and express His disposition, His intentions, His ideas and thoughts, His love for mankind, His salvation of mankind, and His expectations of mankind…. God’s utterances include harsh words, and gentle and considerate words, as well as some revelatory words that are not mindful of people’s feelings. If you look only at the revelatory words, you might feel that God is rather stern. If you look only at the gentle words, you might feel that God is not very authoritative. You therefore should not take them out of context; rather, look at them from every angle. Sometimes God speaks from a merciful perspective, and then people see His love for mankind; sometimes He speaks from a very strict perspective, and then people see that His disposition tolerates no offense, that man is deplorably filthy, and is not worthy of seeing God’s face or of coming before Him, and that it is purely by His grace that they are now allowed to come before Him. God’s wisdom can be seen from the way He works and in the significance of His work. People can still see these things in God’s words, even without any direct contact with Him.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three

This time, God comes to do work not in a spiritual body, but in a very ordinary one. Moreover, it is the body of God’s second incarnation, and it is also the body through which God returns to the flesh. It is a very ordinary flesh. Looking at Him, you cannot see anything that makes Him stand out from others, but you can gain from Him previously unheard-of truths. Just this insignificant flesh is the embodiment of all God’s words of truth, the bearer of God’s work in the last days, and the expression by which man understands God’s whole disposition. Do you not desire greatly to see the God in heaven? Do you not desire greatly to understand the God in heaven? Do you not desire greatly to see the destination of mankind? He will tell you all these secrets—secrets that no man has ever been able to tell you—and He will also tell you the truths that you do not understand. He is your gate to the kingdom, and your guide into the new age. This ordinary flesh holds many mysteries unfathomable to man. His deeds are inscrutable to you, but the entire goal of the work He does is sufficient to enable you to see that He is not, as people believe, a simple flesh, because He represents God’s intentions in the last days, and God’s care for mankind in the last days. Though you cannot hear His words seeming to shake the heavens and earth, though you cannot see His eyes as a flame of fire, and though you cannot receive the discipline of His iron rod, nevertheless you can hear from His words that God is being wrathful and know that God is showing mercy to mankind, and see the righteous disposition of God and His wisdom, and, even more so, appreciate God’s solicitude for all mankind. The work of God in the last days is to allow man to see on earth the God in heaven living among men, and to enable man to know, submit to, fear, and love God. This is why He has returned to the flesh for a second time.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Did You Know? God Has Done a Great Thing Among Men

When God comes to earth to do His work, all people see is supernatural events. What they behold with their eyes and what they hear with their ears are all supernatural, for His work and His words are incomprehensible and unattainable to them. If something of heaven is brought to earth, how can it be anything but supernatural? When the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are brought to earth, mysteries that are incomprehensible and unfathomable to man, that are too wondrous and wise—are they not all supernatural? … Consider the work done by the incarnate God in the present day: What aspect of it is not supernatural? His words are incomprehensible and unattainable to you, and the work He does can be done by no man. What He understands man has no way of understanding, and as for His knowledge, man knows not whence it comes. There are some who say, “I too am normal in the same way as You are, but how is it that I do not know what You know? I am older and richer in experience, yet how can You know of that which I do not?” All of this, as far as man is concerned, is something that man has no way of attaining. Then there are those who say, “No one knows of the work that was carried out in Israel, and even expositors of the Bible can offer no explanation; how come You know?” Are these not all matters of the supernatural? He has no experience of wonders, yet He knows all; He speaks and expresses the truth with the greatest of ease. Is this not supernatural? His work transcends that which flesh can attain to. It is unattainable to the thought of any man with a body of flesh and utterly inconceivable to the reasoning of the mind of man. Though He has never read the Bible, He understands the work of God in Israel. And though He stands on earth as He speaks, He speaks of the mysteries of the third heaven. When man reads these words, this feeling will overcome him: “Is this not the language of the third heaven?” Are these not all matters that exceed what a normal person is capable of achieving?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)

There are many elements of man’s experience in his work; what man expresses is what he is. God’s own work also expresses what He is, but His being is different from man’s. Man’s being represents man’s experience and life (what man experiences or encounters in his life, or the philosophies for worldly dealings he has), and people living in different environments express different beings. Whether you have experiences of society and how you actually live in your family and experience within it can be seen in what you express, whereas you cannot see in the work of God incarnate whether He has social experiences. He is well aware of the substance of man and can expose all kinds of practices pertaining to all kinds of people. He is even better at exposing the corrupt dispositions and the rebellious behavior of humans. He does not live among worldly people, but He is aware of the nature of mortals and all the corruptions of worldly people. This is His being. Though He does not deal with the world, He knows the rules of dealing with the world, because He understands human nature fully. He knows about the Spirit’s work that man’s eyes cannot see and man’s ears cannot hear, both of today and of the past. This includes wisdom that is not a philosophy for worldly dealings and wonders that are hard for people to fathom. This is His being, open to people and also hidden from people. What He expresses is not the being of an extraordinary person, but the inherent attributes and being of the Spirit. He does not travel the world but knows everything of it. He contacts the “anthropoids” who have no knowledge or insight, but He expresses words that are higher than knowledge and above those of great men. He lives within a group of obtuse and numb people who are without humanity and who do not understand the conventions and life of humanity, but He can ask mankind to live out normal humanity, at the same time exposing the base and low humanity of mankind. All this is His being, higher than the being of any flesh-and-blood person. For Him, it is unnecessary to experience a complicated, cumbersome, and sordid social life to do the work He needs to do and expose the substance of corrupt mankind thoroughly. A sordid social life does not edify His flesh. His work and words only expose man’s rebelliousness and do not provide man with experience and lessons for dealing with the world. He does not need to investigate society or man’s family when He supplies man with life. Exposing and judging man is not an expression of the experiences of His flesh; it is His exposure of man’s unrighteousness after having known man’s rebelliousness for a long time and hating mankind’s corruption. The work He does is all meant to reveal His disposition to man and to express His being. Only He can do this work; it is not something a flesh-and-blood person could achieve.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Work

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”

God continues His utterances, employing various methods and many perspectives to admonish us about what we should do, while at the same time expressing the voice of His heart. His words carry life power, they provide us with the way we should follow, and enable us to comprehend what exactly the truth is. We begin to be drawn by His words, we begin to pay attention to the tone and manner of His speaking, and subconsciously we begin to take note of the voice of this inconspicuous person’s heart. He works His heart out for us, loses sleep and appetite for us, weeps for us, sighs for us, and groans in sickness for us; He endures humiliation for the sake of our destination and salvation; and our numbness and rebelliousness draw tears and blood from His heart. No ordinary person has this being and these possessions, and no corrupted human being can have or attain them. He has tolerance and patience possessed by no ordinary person, and His love is not something that any created being has. No one apart from Him can know all of our thoughts, or know our nature and essence like the back of their own hand, or judge the rebelliousness and corruption of mankind, or speak to us and work on us like this on behalf of God in heaven. No one apart from Him possesses the authority, wisdom, and dignity of God; the disposition of God and the possessions and being of God are brought forth, in their entirety, in Him. No one apart from Him can show us the way and bring us light. No one apart from Him can disclose the mysteries that God has not made known since creation until today. No one apart from Him can save us from Satan’s bondage and our own corrupt dispositions. He represents God; He expresses the voice of God’s heart, the exhortations of God, and God’s words of judgment toward all mankind. He has opened up a new age, a new era, and ushered in a new heaven and earth and new work, He has brought us hope and ended the life we led in a vague state, and He has enabled our whole beings to completely behold the path to salvation. He has conquered our whole beings and gained our hearts. From that moment onward, our hearts have gained awareness, and our spirits seem to be revived: This ordinary, insignificant person, this person who lives among us and has been rejected by us for so long—is this not the Lord Jesus, who is ever in our thoughts, waking or dreaming, and for whom we long night and day? It is He! It really is He! He is our God! He is the truth, the way, and the life!

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Appendix 4: Beholding the Appearance of God in His Judgment and Chastisement