No one is aware of God's arrival, no one welcomes His arrival,

and, what is more, no one knows all that He is about to do,

and, what is more, no one knows all that He is about to do.

Man's life goes on as before,

his heart no different, and the days go by as usual.

God lives among us, a man like other men,

as one of the most insignificant of the followers and an ordinary believer.

He has His own pursuits, His own goals;

and, what is more, He has divinity not possessed by ordinary men.

No one has noticed the existence of His divinity,

and no one has perceived the difference

between His essence and that of man.

We live together with Him, unconstrained and unafraid,

for in our eyes He is but an insignificant believer.

He watches our every move,

and all of our thoughts and ideas are laid bare before Him.

No one takes an interest in His existence,

no one imagines anything about His function,

and, what is more, no one has the faintest suspicion about His identity.

All we do is carry on our pursuits, as if He has nothing to do with us …

And yet it is this ordinary person,

hidden in the midst of people,

who is doing the new work of saving us,

who is doing the new work of saving us.

His words and utterances become ever more frequent.

From consoling, exhorting, reminding, and warning,

to reproaching and disciplining;

from a tone that is gentle and mild, to words that are fierce and majestic—

all of it confers mercy on man and instills trepidation in him.

Everything that He says hits home at the secrets hidden deep within us;

His words sting our hearts, sting our spirits,

and leave us filled with unbearable shame,

hardly knowing where to hide ourselves.

Unbeknownst to us, this insignificant man

has led us into one step after another of God's work.

We undergo countless trials, bear innumerable chastenings,

and are tested by death.

We learn of God's righteous and majestic disposition,

enjoy, too, His love and mercy,

come to appreciate God's great power and wisdom,

witness the loveliness of God, and behold God's eager desire to save man.

In the words of this ordinary person,

we come to know the disposition and essence of God,

to understand God's will, to know the nature essence of man,

and see the way to salvation and perfection.

From that moment onward, our minds have become conscious,

and our spirits seem to be revived:

This ordinary person, who lives among us

and has long been rejected by us—

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!

He is the truth, the way, and the life!

He has enabled us to live again and to see the light

and has stopped our hearts from wandering.

We have returned before God's throne, we are face-to-face with Him,

we have witnessed His countenance,

and we have seen the road that lies ahead.

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