Archives for 5 月 2020

By Xiangwang

Editor’s note: Many believers in the Lord think that when the Lord returns, the dead will be resurrected and that the saints through the ages will arise from their tombs. But will the biblical prophecies really come about as we imagine? Who really are “the dead” anyways? And how should we understand “resurrection of the dead”?

At 3:00 pm, in a boat in the middle of a river, Jiang Xun was chatting with his aunt who had returned to China to preach.

During their conversation, Jiang Xun discovered that his aunt now saw more clearly the things regarding faith and had very unique insight into them. So, Jiang Xun said enviously, “Auntie, after you came back from America this time, much of what you have talked about is what I’ve never heard. You must have gained a lot in America. I’d like to ask you a question. The Bible says, ‘Thus said the Lord Jehovah to these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live: And I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am Jehovah ‘ (Ezekiel 37:5–6). ‘In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised’ (1 Corinthians 15:52).’For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first’ (1 Thessalonians 4:16). These verses say clearly that when the Lord comes back, He will show great miracles so that the dead will be resurrected instantly, emerging from their tombs like Lazarus did. At that time, we’ll see the martyrs to the Lord. However, not long ago, my old classmate told me that the resurrection of the dead is not, as I imagine, the dead being brought back to life and coming out from their tombs. Instead, it refers to those whose spirits are dead after Satan’s corruption coming alive. I don’t quite understand what he told me. Could it be that my view is wrong? Auntie, can you discuss your opinion?”and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first’ (1 Thessalonians 4:16). These verses say clearly that when the Lord comes back, He will show great miracles so that the dead will be resurrected instantly, emerging from their tombs like Lazarus did. At that time, we’ll see the martyrs to the Lord. However, not long ago, my old classmate told me that the resurrection of the dead is not, as I imagine, the dead being brought back to life and coming out from their tombs. Instead, it refers to those whose spirits are dead after Satan’s corruption coming alive. I don’t quite understand what he told me. Could it be that my view is wrong? Auntie, can you discuss your opinion?”and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first’ (1 Thessalonians 4:16). These verses say clearly that when the Lord comes back, He will show great miracles so that the dead will be resurrected instantly, emerging from their tombs like Lazarus did. At that time, we’ll see the martyrs to the Lord. However, not long ago, my old classmate told me that the resurrection of the dead is not, as I imagine, the dead being brought back to life and coming out from their tombs. Instead, it refers to those whose spirits are dead after Satan’s corruption coming alive. I don’t quite understand what he told me. Could it be that my view is wrong? Auntie, can you discuss your opinion?”He will show great miracles so that the dead will be resurrected instantly, emerging from their tombs like Lazarus did. At that time, we’ll see the martyrs to the Lord. However, not long ago, my old classmate told me that the resurrection of the dead is not, as I imagine, the dead being brought back to life and coming out from their tombs. Instead, it refers to those whose spirits are dead after Satan’s corruption coming alive. I don’t quite understand what he told me . Could it be that my view is wrong? Auntie, can you discuss your opinion?”He will show great miracles so that the dead will be resurrected instantly, emerging from their tombs like Lazarus did. At that time, we’ll see the martyrs to the Lord. However, not long ago, my old classmate told me that the resurrection of the dead is not, as I imagine, the dead being brought back to life and coming out from their tombs. Instead, it refers to those whose spirits are dead after Satan’s corruption coming alive. I don’t quite understand what he told me . Could it be that my view is wrong? Auntie, can you discuss your opinion?”Instead, it refers to those whose spirits are dead after Satan’s corruption coming alive. I don’t quite understand what he told me. Could it be that my view is wrong? Auntie, can you discuss your opinion?”Instead, it refers to those whose spirits are dead after Satan’s corruption coming alive. I don’t quite understand what he told me. Could it be that my view is wrong? Auntie, can you discuss your opinion?”

His aunt replied with a smile, “My understanding used to be the same as yours. I thought that the resurrection of the dead referred to the dead coming back to life. Until one day, a sister’s fellowship made me realize that what I had understood was the literal meaning of the verses, not their true meaning. As is known to all, God’s wisdom is higher than the heavens and what God does exceeds our thoughts and imaginations. Furthermore, prophecies refer to something that will happen in the future, and before they are fulfilled, none of us knows their true meaning. Besides, it says in the Bible, ‘For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life’ (2 Corinthians 3:6). These words admonish us that we shouldn’t understand the verses according to their literal meaning but instead we should seek their true meaning. If we just interpret the text literally,we are very liable to misinterpret the prophecies. For example, the Book of Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would come to power and manage God’s kingdom. At that time, people interpreted the prophecies from a literal perspective and believed that since the Messiah would come to power, He would certainly be born in a palace and lead them to overturn the Roman regime. In fact, however, the Lord Jesus wasn’t born in a palace nor did He lead them in the overthrow of Roman regime. We can see from this that, there are mysteries hidden within the prophecies and their fulfillment is very different from their literal meaning. So, we should draw a lesson from those people’s failure—we can’t interpret the prophecies literally and we must leave our own notions and imaginings behind.”the Book of Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would come to power and manage God’s kingdom. At that time, people interpreted the prophecies from a literal perspective and believed that since the Messiah would come to power, He would certainly be born in a palace and lead them to overturn the Roman regime. In fact, however, the Lord Jesus wasn’t born in a palace nor did He lead them in the overthrow of Roman regime. We can see from this that, there are mysteries hidden within the prophecies and their fulfillment is very different from their literal meaning. So, we should draw a lesson from those people’s failure—we can’t interpret the prophecies literally and we must leave our own notions and imaginings behind.”the Book of Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would come to power and manage God’s kingdom. At that time, people interpreted the prophecies from a literal perspective and believed that since the Messiah would come to power, He would certainly be born in a palace and lead them to overturn the Roman regime. In fact, however, the Lord Jesus wasn’t born in a palace nor did He lead them in the overthrow of Roman regime. We can see from this that, there are mysteries hidden within the prophecies and their fulfillment is very different from their literal meaning. So, we should draw a lesson from those people’s failure—we can’t interpret the prophecies literally and we must leave our own notions and imaginings behind.”people interpreted the prophecies from a literal perspective and believed that since the Messiah would come to power, He would certainly be born in a palace and lead them to overturn the Roman regime. In fact, however, the Lord Jesus wasn’t born in a palace nor did He lead them in the overthrow of Roman regime. We can see from this that, there are mysteries hidden within the prophecies and their fulfillment is very different from their literal meaning. So, we should draw a lesson from those people’s failure— we can’t interpret the prophecies literally and we must leave our own notions and imaginings behind.”people interpreted the prophecies from a literal perspective and believed that since the Messiah would come to power, He would certainly be born in a palace and lead them to overturn the Roman regime. In fact, however, the Lord Jesus wasn’t born in a palace nor did He lead them in the overthrow of Roman regime. We can see from this that, there are mysteries hidden within the prophecies and their fulfillment is very different from their literal meaning. So, we should draw a lesson from those people’s failure— we can’t interpret the prophecies literally and we must leave our own notions and imaginings behind.”the Lord Jesus wasn’t born in a palace nor did He lead them in the overthrow of Roman regime. We can see from this that, there are mysteries hidden within the prophecies and their fulfillment is very different from their literal meaning. So, we should draw a lesson from those people’s failure—we can’t interpret the prophecies literally and we must leave our own notions and imaginings behind.”the Lord Jesus wasn’t born in a palace nor did He lead them in the overthrow of Roman regime. We can see from this that, there are mysteries hidden within the prophecies and their fulfillment is very different from their literal meaning. So, we should draw a lesson from those people’s failure—we can’t interpret the prophecies literally and we must leave our own notions and imaginings behind.”

Jiang Xun then said, “Well, it’s indeed so. Our ability of understanding is limited and we can’t perceive God’s work at all. So, when it comes to prophecies, we must maintain reverence even more and can’t rely on our own personal meaning to lightly explain them. Auntie, could you please fellowship to me what ‘the dead’ in ‘resurrection of the dead’ refers to?”

As to this question, Jiang Xun’s aunt patiently fellowshiped, “What does ‘the dead’ in the prophecies refer to? Actually, ‘the dead’ spoken of by God is different from those we speak of. In God’s eyes, all those with no spirits are the dead even though their flesh still lives. Take our ancestors Adam and Eve for example. Before they committed sins, God called them as living human beings with spirits. But after they ate the fruit of the tree of good and evil that God had ordered them not to eat from, they became the spiritless dead in God’s eyes. Just as it says in Genesis, ‘But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die’ (Genesis 2:17). From the outside, Adam and Eve not only didn’t die but still lived on earth for several hundred years.But they became the dead in God’s eyes since the day they ate the forbidden fruit.

“Let’s read two passages and then we’ll understand better. God says, ‘From My perspective, the death of the flesh is not a real death. When My Spirit is reclaimed from a person, that person dies. Therefore, I call all those demons corrupted by Satan (those who have no faith, all unbelievers) the dead’ (‘Chapter 98’ of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning). ‘“The dead” are those who oppose and rebel against God, they are those who are numb in spirit and do not understand God’s words, they are those who do not put the truth into practice and have not the slightest loyalty to God, and they are those who live under the domain of Satan and are exploited by Satan. … Originally the man made by God was alive, but because of Satan’s corruption man lives amid death, and lives under the influence of Satan,and so these people have become the dead who are without a spirit, they have become enemies who oppose God, they have become the tools of Satan, and they have become the captives of Satan. … The dead are those who have no spirit, those who are numb in the extreme, and who oppose God. Moreover, they are those who do not know God. These people have not the slightest intention of obeying God, they only rebel against Him and oppose Him, and have not the slightest loyalty’ (‘Have You Come Alive?’). These two passages clearly explain ‘the dead.’ On the one hand, ‘the dead’ refer to those who don’t believe in God or worship God. On the other hand, ‘the dead’ refer to those who believe in God but fail to practice God’s words. For instance, although we believe in the Lord, we just observe religious ceremonies,singing hymns in accordance with our prescribed routine, reading the Bible, and praising the Lord, and have some good external behaviors. But once our interests are infringed upon, we are simply unable to put the Lord’s words into practice and often live in resentment of others. We believers keep saying that we love the Lord and have loyalty to Him, but when encountering setbacks and hardships, we often complain and blame the Lord. We know very well that God likes honest people, but when our reputation and status are involved , we are still able to play tricks to deceive people and God relying on Satan’s poisons, ‘A man leaves his name behind wherever he stays, just as a goose utters its cry wherever it flies,’ ‘Keeping silent on the faults of good friends makes for a long and good friendship,’ ‘Think before you speak and then only with caution’ and so on. … We can see from all this that we are full of selfishness, despicableness, crookedness, deceit, arrogance, self-righteousness, and other satanic dispositions. This means that we are still living under Satan’s influence. This kind of people is the spiritless dead spoken of by God.”

Hearing this fellowship, Jiang Xun kept nodding his head and said, “Your fellowship makes me suddenly see the light. It turns out that, ‘the dead’ refer to those who believe in God but don’t practice God’s words, don’t abide by God’s way, have no obedience to God, don’t have dispositional change, and still oppose God. What I understand really falls far short of this true meaning. So what do we mean when we speak of ‘the resurrected dead’? ”

Jiang Xun’s Aunt said, “Let me read you another passage of God’s words and you’ll know. God says, ‘After you have changed, you will be different from these dead bodies. It is the words of God that give life to people’s spirits and cause them to be reborn, and when people’s spirits are reborn they will have come alive. Mention of the “dead” refers to corpses that have no spirit, to people in whom their spirit has died. When people’s spirits are given life, they come alive. The saints that were spoken of before refer to people who have come alive, those who were under Satan’s influence but defeated Satan’ (‘Have You Come Alive?’). From God’s words, we can see that, the resurrected dead means that under the watering of God’s words, we believers are able to accept God’s words as our guide in all things, can stand on the side of the truth when Satan causes disruptions, and can see through Satan’s temptations and bring glory to God when encountering Satan’s temptations. That is, no matter where or when, we believers can carry out God’s will as our vocation. Just like Peter and Job, although they had weakness and pain in trials, they could still forsake Satan and carry out God’s will as their vocation, and finally put Satan to shame. Only this kind of people has come alive.”

With an air of understanding, Jiang Xun nodded again and said, smiling, “Oh, I see. It turns out that the resurrected dead means that we believers in God who are under Satan’s domain don’t give in to its dark influence, and can seek God’s will and practice according to God’s requirements when things crop up. But there is still something I am not clear on. I want to put the Lord’s words into action but sometimes I fail to do so in spite of myself. So, what can I do to turn into a living person?”

Jiang Xun’s aunt went on, saying, “Actually, we can’t make it by relying on ourselves, and we still have to enter in accordance with the words expressed by God. Here, why don’t you read this passage?” As she said this, she passed her tablet to Jiang Xun.

Jiang Xun then read, “If people wish to become living beings, and to bear testimony to God, and to be approved of by God, they must accept God’s salvation, they must gladly submit to His judgment and chastisement, and must gladly accept the pruning and dealing of God. Only then will they be able to put all of the truths required by God into practice, and only then will they gain God’s salvation, and truly become living beings. The living are saved by God, they have been judged and chastised by God, they are willing to devote themselves and are happy to lay down their lives to God, and they would gladly dedicate their whole lives to God. Only when the living bear testimony to God can Satan be shamed, only the living can spread the gospel work of God, only the living are after God’s heart, and only the living are real people” (“Have You Come Alive?”). After reading, Jiang Xun said, “Here it says that the way to become the living is to accept God’s judgment, chastisement, pruning, and dealing. We really can’t turn into the living by relying on ourselves.”

Jiang Xun’s aunt said with concern, “Yeah. If we want to become the living, the only way is to accept the judgment, chastisement, pruning, and dealing of God’s words. Without God’s judgment and chastisement, we are unable to know our corrupt disposition, and we’ll still follow Satan, live under its domain, and be its servants forever. As a result, we’ll forever live in a state of sinning and confessing without release. In Psalm 96:13 it says: ‘For He comes, for He comes to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth.’ And it’s written in John 9:39, ‘For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see.’ In these verses it mentions ‘for He comes to judge the earth’ and ‘For judgment I am come into this world.’ From this we can see that in the last days, God must come in person to the world of human beings, and He will come to do the work of judging all peoples and all nations. So, if we want to become the living and be gained by God, when the Lord returns we must accept His judgment. Only then will we have the chance to become the truly living man.”

Jiang Xun said seriously, “Mm. Through your fellowship today, I’ve come to know that the resurrection of the dead is not, as I imagine, the dead arising from their tombs. Instead, it refers to us changing our satanic nature and casting off our corrupt dispositions. If we want to make it, we must accept God’s work of judgment and chastisement in the last days. This is the only way for us to become the living.”

His aunt said, “Thank God! It’s getting dark. Let’s go home and then continue our conversation.”

By Xiaoqing

Editor’s Note: I trust everyone’s familiar with the parable of the lost sheep in the Bible. The Lord Jesus used this parable to very vividly tell us about God’s love for mankind and to allow us to feel how sincere God’s desire to save mankind is. But does everyone know what God’s will behind this parable is? At a Bible study there were a few brothers and sisters who finally understood this through fellowship—let’s take a look together.

With a Bible in his hands, the preacher Liu Qing said, “Brothers and sisters, let’s read the parable of the lost sheep.” They all nodded and began to read. “How think you? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, does he not leave the ninety and nine, and goes into the mountains, and seeks that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, truly I say to you, he rejoices more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:12–14).

After everyone was done reading, Liu Qing continued on. “Brothers and sisters, we can feel from the parable of the lost sheep how incredibly sincere God’s wish to save mankind is. Every time we encounter setbacks and sink into temptation, when our faith falters, we can encourage ourselves with this parable. At no time will God’s will to save us ever change; God loves us and we must unswervingly follow the Lord Jesus.”

Everyone said “Amen!” in unison.

Liu Qing then asked, “Please feel free to share any enlightenment or understanding you have of this passage.”

With a sense of gratefulness, Sister Chen said, “All of us are that lost sheep, and it is the Lord that has brought us into His house. Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to enjoy His love. I really give thanks for the Lord’s grace!”

Wen Fang then shared these heartfelt words, “Thanks be to the Lord! This parable really always has been a source of encouragement for all of us who follow the Lord, allowing us to genuinely experience the Lord Jesus’ love and mercy for us. My cousin came to my house a few days ago and just as we were sharing fellowship on this parable she gave me a book that contains fellowship on this passage. After reading it, I gained a new understanding of God’s will behind this parable; I felt that I really benefited from it. I brought the book here today. Let’s take a look together!”

Everyone responded happily, “Great!”

Wen Fang read out earnestly, “The way this metaphor is expressed utilizes a figure of speech in human language; it’s something within the scope of human knowledge. If God had said something similar in the Age of Law, people would have felt that it wasn’t really consistent with who God was, but when the Son of man delivered this passage in the Age of Grace, it felt comforting, warm, and intimate to people. When God became flesh, when He appeared in the form of a man, He used a very appropriate metaphor to express the voice of His heart in humanity. This voice represented God’s own voice and the work He wanted to do in that age. It also represented an attitude that God had toward people in the Age of Grace. Looking from the perspective of God’s attitude toward people, He compared each person to a sheep. If a sheep is lost, He will do whatever it takes to find it. This represents a principle of God’s work among mankind this time in the flesh. God used this parable to describe His resolve and attitude in that work. This was the advantage of God becoming flesh: He could take advantage of mankind’s knowledge and use human language to speak to people, to express His will. He explained or ‘translated’ to man His profound, divine language that people struggled to understand in human language, in a human way. This helped people understand His will and know what He wanted to do. He could also have conversations with people from the human perspective, using human language, and communicate with people in a way they understood. He could even speak and work using human language and knowledge so that people could feel God’s kindness and closeness, so that they could see His heart” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III”).

After she was done reading, Wen Fang shared this fellowship with a look of joy on her face: “The first time I read this was really exciting for me. I learned that through the parable of the lost sheep, not only can we realize how real God’s love and salvation for us are and see how much responsibility He takes for our lives, but we can also see one advantage of God becoming flesh to work. If He had done this work in His spirit form, appearing to people through thunder, clouds, and pillars of fire, we would have no way of drawing close to God, nor would we be able to understand His will. However, when God incarnated as the Son of man to work in our midst, the Lord Jesus used human language as well as things we often see and encounter in our lives, things we can easily understand, to create parables. This includes the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1–9), the parable of the tares (Matthew 13:24–30), the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31–32), and the parable of the net (Matthew 13:47–50). We can gain a better understanding of God’s will through these parables, know what He requires of us, plus understand what He has and is, and His disposition. It’s just like when we read the parable of the lost sheep, we can see God’s resolve and attitude toward saving mankind and that He’ll save a lost sheep at any cost, and will not rest until He’s done. We also gain true understanding of the Lord Jesus’ merciful and loving disposition and we feel how kind and approachable God is—the distance between us and God grows smaller. If it weren’t for God becoming flesh and using human language to come up with these parables, to create these examples, it would be so hard for us to understand God’s will, and this is something that we’d never realize.”

Liu Qing said happily, “Today’s fellowship contains such light. God personally became flesh and came to walk among us to work and speak. He used commonplace, easily understandable language to guide us to understand His will and requirements so that we have a path of practice. This shows how important for our understanding of the truth and of God it is that God incarnated to work and speak on earth!”

Brother Wang said, “It’s true. We just know to enjoy God’s grace and blessings, but we’ve never thought about God’s will behind His every word and deed, but we don’t realize that God became flesh and spoke to us with human language so that we could better understand the truth, be redeemed by the Lord, and understand God’s disposition. God is so attentive in His considerations for our salvation!”

Sister Zheng then said, “Brother Wang is right. In the past I’ve only known that God is a God who loves us, but my understanding of His love was really limited. I’ve just known that being nailed to the cross to redeem us, and bestowing grace and blessings upon us are all His love. Today’s fellowship has given me further understanding of God’s love. God becoming flesh and coming into the world, working and speaking to save mankind, expressing the truth with human language so that we can understand God’s will and requirements—all of this is in and of itself the greatest love for us, humanity! Only God could possibly possess this kind of love. I give thanks to the Lord! This fellowship has been so beneficial for us.”

Just then Wen Fang, who had been intently studying that book, lifted her head and said to everyone, “The Lord Jesus said, ‘Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish’ (Matthew 18:14). The Lord’s will is behind this, as well. There’s clear fellowship on this in this book. Let’s take a look!”

Liu Qing rushed to agree: “Great, let me read it.”

Wen Fang happily handed the book to Liu Qing, who read aloud: “Let’s take another look at the last sentence in this passage: ‘Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.’ Was this the Lord Jesus’ own words, or the words of His Father in heaven? On the surface, it looks like it’s the Lord Jesus who is speaking, but His will represents the will of God Himself, which is why He said: ‘Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.’ People at that time only acknowledged the Father in heaven as God, and this person that they saw in front of their eyes was merely sent by Him, and He could not represent the Father in heaven. That’s why the Lord Jesus had to say that as well, so that they could really feel God’s will for mankind, and feel the authenticity and the accuracy of what He said. Even though this was a simple thing to say, it was very caring and it revealed the Lord Jesus’ humility and hiddenness. No matter whether God became flesh or He worked in the spiritual realm, He knew the human heart best, and best understood what people needed, knew what people worried about, and what confused them, so He added this one line. This line highlighted a problem hidden in mankind: People were skeptical of what the Son of man said, which is to say, when the Lord Jesus was speaking He had to add: ‘Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.’ Only on this premise could His words bear fruit, to make people believe their accuracy and improve their credibility. This shows that when God became a regular Son of man, God and mankind had a very awkward relationship, and that the Son of man’s situation was very embarrassing. It also shows how insignificant the Lord Jesus’ status among humans was at that time. When He said this, it was actually to tell people: You can rest assured—this doesn’t represent what’s in My own heart, but it is the will of the God who is in your hearts. For mankind, wasn’t this an ironic thing? Even though God working in the flesh had many advantages that He did not have in His person, He had to withstand their doubts and rejection as well as their numbness and dullness” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III”).

After Liu Qing read this, Wen Fang shared this fellowship: “I was so moved when I read this passage. These words really point out the true state of people at that time: They only believed in a God up in heaven, in a God they imagined as vague within their hearts, and they had absolutely no true understanding of or faith in God incarnate. It’s just like what Philip said to the Lord Jesus: ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us’ (John 14:8). Philip’s words show that he didn’t treat the Lord Jesus as God at all. The Lord knew that even though people followed Him, they didn’t understand the essence of Christ, instead treating Him as a regular person. That’s why He followed the parable of the lost sheep by saying ‘Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven.’ It was so that we would believe that those words had come from our Father in heaven, thus better accept the Lord Jesus’ words, believe that the Lord’s love for humanity is genuine, and not doubt His salvation of mankind. All of us remember that the Lord Jesus responded to Philip by saying, ‘Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak to you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwells in Me, He does the works’ (John 14:10). We can see here that the Lord Jesus is God Himself—His work and words were entirely governed by the Spirit of God and what He did was God’s own work. However, the Lord Jesus knew that people didn’t understand His essence, so out of forgiveness for mankind’s immaturity and ignorance, He didn’t directly state that He was God, but instead quietly performed His work, expressing God’s will to save mankind from the perspective of the Son of man so that people would be more able to believe and follow Him, and thus gain salvation. We can see from this how humble and hidden the Lord Jesus was, and how sincere His desire to save mankind is!”

Brother Wang nodded his head and said, “So the Lord Jesus knew that we didn’t have an understanding of the incarnation and wouldn’t be able to worship Christ as God, so He spoke of it that way so we’d be better able to accept His words. The Lord understands our shortcomings so well!”

Liu Qing said with a sense of great significance, “That’s right. Even though we didn’t realize that the Lord Jesus was God Himself and didn’t worship Him as God, He was forgiving of our ignorance and used His words to strengthen our faith so that we could better accept the Lord’s words. From the Lord’s words we can also get an understanding of God’s will to save mankind. This is an advantage of God personally coming to earth to speak!”

Wen Fang said, “Thanks be to the Lord for His enlightenment and guidance! Now we understand that every word uttered and every deed done by God in the flesh contain truth we can seek. God’s will, His requirements of us, and His love for us are hidden within all of this. This is why we must maintain a heart of reverence toward God incarnate’s work and words. We have to seek and ponder these things more—this is the only way we’ll be able to understand the deeper meaning with God’s words.”

Liu Qing nodded and said to Wen Fang, hardly able to bear to part with the book in his hands, “I feel this book is really beneficial for us and can guide us to know God and understand His will. This is what we’ve been lacking in our faith—I really want to read it carefully. Sister Wen, could you ask your cousin if I could borrow a copy?”

The other brothers and sisters chimed in, “Yeah, could we get a copy too?”

Wen Fang said happily, “Of course you can! I’ve been reading this book nonstop lately. I’ve also seen really clear fellowship on God’s will behind the Lord Jesus working on the Sabbath, why the Lord Jesus asked Peter ‘love you Me?’ three times, the significance of Jesus appearing to His disciples after His resurrection, as well as truths regarding God’s incarnation and how God determined people’s outcomes and destinations. I’ve understood a lot of truths by reading this and I’ve also gained some understanding of the Lord. The more I read it the more my heart brightens. Over the last couple of days I’ve been mulling over: Who would be able to explain the Lord’s will behind every one of His words and deeds so clearly? I think that only God Himself could explain all this so clearly. I feel that these are God’s words, that this is God’s voice! Also, the Lord Jesus once prophesied: ‘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). And in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation, it is prophesied many times that: ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ These prophecies say that the Spirit of truth will come in the last days and utter more words to guide us to enter into all truth. I feel it’s quite possible that the Lord Jesus has already returned; I want my cousin to share more fellowship with me. Hey, do you guys want to come along?”

Liu Qing got a look of sudden understanding and said excitedly, “Thanks be to the Lord! Now that you put it that way, I think that must be true. Who can possibly fathom the Lord’s heart? Only God Himself knows the Lord Jesus’ thoughts behind everything He did and the Lord’s will for mankind, and only God Himself can explain it clearly! Just like in those two passages we read—the fellowship on God’s will behind the Lord’s parable of the lost sheep was so clear, allowing us to gain understanding of the Lord. That couldn’t come from a regular person. I feel it’s really likely that these are God’s words! We really have to take them in carefully. Wen Fang, how about you invite your cousin to come to the church so that everyone can hear her fellowship? If these really are God’s words, then we will be welcoming the return of the Lord Jesus.”

Brother Wang and Sister Zheng said happily, “Yes, Sister Wen Fang, set it up as soon as possible.”

Wen Fang nodded and said, “Certainly!”