I

The Son of man has always been speaking and guiding us … Unbeknownst to us, this insignificant person has led us into one step after another of God's work. We undergo countless trials and innumerable chastenings, and we are tested by death. We learn of God's righteous and majestic disposition, and we also enjoy His lovingkindness and mercy, come to appreciate God's great power and wisdom, witness the loveliness of God, and behold God's eager intention to save man. In the words of this ordinary person, we come to know the disposition and essence of God, to understand God's intentions, to know the nature essence of man, and see the path to salvation and perfection.

II

His words cause us to "die," and they cause us to be "reborn"; His words bring us comfort, yet also leave us wracked with guilt and a sense of indebtedness; His words bring us joy and peace, but also infinite pain. Sometimes we are like lambs in His hands, to be slaughtered as He wills; sometimes we are like the apple of His eye, and enjoy His tender love; sometimes we are like His enemy, and under His gaze are turned to ashes by His wrath. We are the human race saved by Him, we are the maggots in His eyes, and we are the lost sheep that, day and night, He is bent on finding.

III

He is merciful toward us, He loathes us, He raises us up, He comforts and exhorts us, He guides us, He enlightens us, He chastens and disciplines us, and He even curses us. Night and day, He never ceases to worry about us and to protect and care for us, never leaving our side. He pours out all His heart's blood and pays every price for us. Within the words of this insignificant and ordinary flesh, we have enjoyed the entirety of God and beheld the destination that God has bestowed upon us.

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