Find the Salvation of the Last Days

Substantive Difference Between the Incarnate God and Corrupt Mankind

yinyixiao380 — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 10:46:12 GMT

Question: It is clear that the second coming of the Lord in the last days is the incarnation here to do the work of judgment. But we don’t understand the truth of the incarnation and so are easily deceived by the rumors and falsities of the CCP government and the pastors and elders of the religious world. As a result, we will treat God incarnate as merely a man and even resist and blaspheme Him. Thus, I wish to ask you about the truth of the incarnation. What is the incarnation? What is the difference between the incarnate Christ and the prophets and apostles used by God?

Answer: It is a key issue. The reason why many are still unable to accept Almighty God’s work in the last days is that they get caught up on this point! If people don’t understand the truth of the incarnation, they may easily fall prey to the rumors and falsities of the CCP government and the pastors and elders of the religious world who would lead people to believe that Almighty God is just an ordinary person and fail to acknowledge that Almighty God is the incarnation of God. Since this is a very crucial issue, we ought to commune on this point. As for the question of what is the incarnation and what is Christ, you could say this is a mystery of the truth that no believers understand. Though believers for thousands of years have known that the Lord Jesus is the incarnate God, no one understands the incarnation and the actual substance of the incarnation. Only now that Almighty God of the last days has come, has this aspect of the mystery of the truth been revealed to man. Let’s see how Almighty God puts it. Almighty God says, “The meaning of incarnation is that God appears in the flesh, and He comes to work among man of His creation in the image of a flesh. So, for God to be incarnated, He must first be flesh, flesh with normal humanity; this, at the very least, must be true. In fact, the implication of God’s incarnation is that God lives and works in the flesh, God in His very essence becomes flesh, becomes a man.”

“The Christ with normal humanity is a flesh in which the Spirit is realized, possessing normal humanity, normal sense, and human thought. ‘Being realized’ means God becoming man, the Spirit becoming flesh; to put it plainly, it is when God Himself inhabits a flesh with normal humanity, and through it expresses His divine work—this is what it means to be realized, or incarnated.”

“The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood but is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself. Be it His humanity or divinity, both submit to the will of the heavenly Father. The substance of Christ is the Spirit, that is, the divinity. Therefore, His substance is that of God Himself; this substance will not interrupt His own work, and He could not possibly do anything that destroys His own work, nor would He ever utter any words that go against His own will.”

From Almighty God’s words, it is clear God’s incarnation refers to God’s Spirit being materialized in the flesh. God’s Spirit is clothed with a flesh and becomes an ordinary Son of man to bring His word and work on earth and appear to man. Which is to say that God in heaven has become man to speak, do His work, redeem, and save man within the human world. He has both normal humanity and complete divinity. From His appearance alone, God’s incarnation seems just like an ordinary and normal human being. He has the same rules of life and participates in the same activities as any other normal human. He is possessed of emotions just like any other normal human: He lives practically and realistically within the company of men. From His outward appearance, He doesn’t seem different than anyone else. But the true substance of the incarnate God is divinity. He can express God’s disposition, all that God is and has. According to man’s needs, He can express truth to supply life and save man at any time and place. He can do the work of God Himself, that which nothing else in all of creation is capable of. We all know that the Lord Jesus is the incarnation of God, is Christ. From His outward appearance, He seems just the same as us, just an ordinary and normal person. Yet, the Lord Jesus can express the truth and provide man with the way of repentance. He has the authority to pardon man of his sins and be crucified to complete the work of the redemption of mankind. No man is capable of this. The Lord Jesus can also perform signs and wonders. He can calm the winds and sea, feed five thousand men with just five loaves of bread and two fishes, and resurrect the dead, etc. The Lord Jesus performed many miracles and truly manifested many of God’s actions. He also went far and wide to preach. According to man’s real needs, He expressed the truth to supply life and shepherd man at any time and any place, allowing man to see how His words and work were those of the real and practical God. The Lord Jesus’ words and work are a manifestation of God’s life disposition and all that God has and is. No created humans are possessed with this or are capable of reaching such attainments. This is proof that the Lord Jesus is the incarnate God. Though He has normal humanity, His substance is divine. As such, He is capable of expressing the truth and God’s voice. He can work as God to do God’s work. So, if man were only to see Christ’s normal humanity, they would be apt to treat Him as an ordinary person; but if they were to realize that all that Christ says is the truth, that all He manifests is God’s disposition and all that God is and has and see the doings of God within the flesh, only by reaching this level would they come to know the divine substance of Christ.

It’s crucial to believers to know the divine substance of Christ! If we do not recognize the divine substance of Christ, we’ll just take Christ for a normal person and will even treat the prophets and apostles which God uses as God Himself. This is no small issue! So now let us commune on the difference between Christ and the apostles and prophets used by God. Everyone knows that in outward appearance, God’s incarnation has normal humanity and is an ordinary and normal person, but in actuality, He is God’s Spirit realized in the flesh, He is divine in substance. That is why He is able to do the work of God Himself, expressing the truth, God’s disposition, will, and demands of men at any time and any place. He can judge, expose, and even curse man, just as He can redeem, purify, and save man. The prophets and apostles are men whom God uses. They only possess normal humanity but lack God’s divine substance. As such, they are only capable of doing the work of man. In God’s management plan, they can do nothing more than fulfill human duties. None of them can express the truth, much less do the work of God Himself. Though their communions are endowed with the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and illumination and are in keeping with the truth, they are not the truth itself, but just an expression of their understanding and experience of God’s word. If we consider the apostles of the Age of Grace, what they communed was mainly an expression of their understanding and experience of the Lord Jesus’ words and work. They represented a testimony of experiencing God’s work. When we look at the epistles of the apostles, we can see that they are clearly written by men, they are discourses on their experiences and testimony. Not a single word of these epistles contains the truth which God expresses. Not a single word of these epistles contains the authority and power of the Lord Jesus’ word. As we can see, the words of the apostles and those of the Lord Jesus are vastly different. We can not view them in the same light. Some ask, “But prophets like Isaiah and Daniel can speak God’s word. How do you explain that?” Actually, when the prophets express God’s word, they are only doing so because they have been ordered by God to convey His word. The prophets cannot express God’s word using God’s identity. They cannot speak in the first person. They also are unable to express the truth at will. This is because they are merely men whom God uses, they are not God themselves. They are just delivering God’s word, and that which they are able to deliver is very limited. So, when the prophets deliver God’s word, they state clearly that they are speaking the word of God, it is not their own word. Is this not the case? When the prophets conveyed God’s word, they always say, ‘thus said the LORD,’ ‘the Lord spoke unto me saying.’ All this proves that the prophets and the apostles are merely men whom God uses, they are not incarnations of God. God’s incarnation can be called God because He has divine substance. The prophets and apostles have only humanity. They lack divine substance and as such can only be considered human. This is the difference in substance between God’s incarnation and the prophets and apostles.

from the movie script of The Mystery of Godliness: The Sequel

Is the Lord Jesus the Son of God or God Himself?

yinyixiao380 — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 09:03:38 GMT

Question: It is clearly written in the Bible that the Lord Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, and all those who believe in the Lord also believe that the Lord Jesus is Christ and that He is the Son of God. And yet you testify that the incarnate Christ is the manifestation of God, that He is God Himself. Will you please tell us whether the incarnate Christ is really the Son of God, or God Himself?

Answer: Is the incarnate Christ God Himself or God’s Son? This is really a problem most believers in the Lord do not understand. When the incarnate Lord Jesus came to do the work of redemption of mankind, God became the Son of man, appearing and doing work among men. He not only opened the Age of Grace, but also initiated a new age in which God came personally into the human world to live alongside man. With great adoration, the men who followed Him called the Lord Jesus as Christ, the Son of God. At that time, the Holy Spirit also bore witness to the fact that the Lord Jesus is the beloved Son of God, and the Lord Jesus called God of heaven Father. In this way, the notion of this Father-Son relationship was formed in the religious world. Now let’s think for a moment. Does God say anywhere in Genesis that He has a son? No. During the Age of Law, did Jehovah God ever say that He had a son? He did not! This proves that there is only one God, there is no Father-Son relationship to speak of. Now some people may ask: During the Age of Grace, why did the Lord Jesus say that He was God’s Son? Was the Lord Jesus Christ God’s Son or God Himself? You could say, this is a question that we believers have debated about throughout the ages. We sense the contradiction inherent in this issue, but we don’t know how to explain it. The Lord Jesus is God, but is also God’s Son, so is there also a God the Father? We are even less capable of explaining this issue. Over the past two millennia, there have been very few that recognized that the Lord Jesus Christ is God Himself, and is the appearance of God. Actually, there is a clear record of this in the Bible. In John 14:8, Philip asked of the Lord Jesus: “Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us.” At that time, how did the Lord Jesus respond to Philip? The Lord Jesus said to Philip: “Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? 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. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake” (John 14:9-11). Here, the Lord Jesus said very clearly, “he that has seen me has seen the Father.” As you can see, the Lord Jesus is the appearance of God Himself. The Lord Jesus did not say here that He and God have a Father-Son relationship. He just said, “I am in the Father, and the Father in me.” “I and my Father are one.” Now, according to the Lord Jesus’ words, can we not confirm that the Lord Jesus is God Himself, there is only one God and there is no “Father-Son relationship” to speak of?

Some people may ask, if the Lord Jesus is God Himself, then why is it that when the Lord Jesus prayed, He still prayed to God the Father? There is truly mystery to the Lord Jesus calling God of heaven Father in His prayers. When God is incarnated in the flesh, God’s Spirit is hidden within the flesh, the flesh itself is unaware of the Spirit’s presence. Just as we cannot feel our spirit within us. What’s more, God’s Spirit does not do anything supernatural within His flesh. So, even though the Lord Jesus was God become flesh, if God’s Spirit had not spoken and testified to God Himself, the Lord Jesus could not have known that He was God’s incarnation. So, in the Bible it is said, “knows … neither the Son, but the Father.” Before the Lord Jesus performed His ministry, He lived within normal humanity. He really didn’t know that He was the incarnation of God because God’s Spirit within the flesh did not work in a supernatural way, He worked within normal confines, just like any of us humans. So, naturally, the Lord Jesus would pray to the heavenly Father, which is to say, from within His normal humanity, the Lord Jesus prayed to God’s Spirit. This makes complete sense. When the Lord Jesus formally performed His ministry, the Holy Spirit began to speak and proclaim, bearing witness that He was the incarnate God. Only then did the Lord Jesus realize His true identity, that He had come to do the work of redemption. But when He was to be nailed to the cross, He still prayed to God the Father. This shows that Christ’s substance is absolutely obedient to God.

Let’s read another two passages of Almighty God’s word to clarify our understanding of this issue. Almighty God says, “When Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father as He prayed, this was done only from the perspective of a created man, only because the Spirit of God had clothed Himself as an ordinary and normal man and had the exterior cover of a created being. Even if within Him was the Spirit of God, His exterior appearance was still that of an ordinary man; in other words, He had become the ‘Son of man’ of which all men, including Jesus Himself, spoke. Given that He is called the Son of man, He is a person (whether man or woman, in any case one with the exterior shell of a human being) born into a normal family of ordinary people. Therefore, Jesus calling God in heaven by the name of Father was the same as how you at first called Him Father; He did so from the perspective of a man of creation. Do you still remember the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught you to memorize? ‘Our Father in heaven….’ He asked all man to call God in heaven by the name of Father. And since He too called Him Father, He did so from the perspective of one who stands on an equal footing with you all. Since you called God in heaven by the name of Father, this shows that Jesus saw Himself to be on equal footing with you, and as a man on earth chosen by God (that is, the Son of God). If you call God ‘Father,’ is this not because you are a created being? However great the authority of Jesus on earth, prior to the crucifixion, He was merely a Son of man, governed by the Holy Spirit (that is, God), and one of the earth’s created beings, for He had yet to complete His work. Therefore, His calling God in heaven Father was solely His humility and obedience. His addressing God (that is, the Spirit in heaven) in such a manner, however, does not prove that He is the Son of the Spirit of God in heaven. Rather, it is simply that His perspective is different, not that He is a different person. The existence of distinct persons is a fallacy! Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus was a Son of man bound by the limitations of the flesh, and He did not fully possess the authority of the Spirit. That is why He could only seek the will of God the Father from the perspective of a created being. It is as He thrice prayed in Gethsemane: ‘Not as I will, but as you will.’ Before He was laid on the cross, He was but the King of the Jews; He was Christ, the Son of man, and not a body of glory. That is why, from the standpoint of a created being, He called God Father”(“Does the Trinity Exist?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“There are still those who say, ‘Did not God expressly state that Jesus was His beloved Son?’ ‘Jesus is the beloved Son of God, in whom He is well pleased’ was certainly spoken by God Himself. That was God bearing witness to Himself, but merely from a different perspective, that of the Spirit in heaven bearing witness to His own incarnation. Jesus is His incarnation, not His Son in heaven. Do you understand? Do not the words of Jesus, ‘The Father is in Me and I am in the Father,’ indicate that They are one Spirit? And is it not because of the incarnation that They were separated between heaven and earth? In reality, They are still one; no matter what, it is simply God bearing witness to Himself. Owing to the change in ages, requirements of the work, and the differing stages of His management plan, the name by which man calls Him also differs. When He came to carry out the first stage of work, He could only be called Jehovah, shepherd of the Israelites. In the second stage, the incarnate God could only be called Lord, and Christ. But at that time, the Spirit in heaven stated only that He was the beloved Son of God, and made no mention of His being the only Son of God. This simply did not happen. How could God have an only child? Then would God not have become man? Because He was the incarnation, He was called the beloved Son of God, and, from this, came the relationship between Father and Son. It was simply because of the separation between heaven and earth. Jesus prayed from the perspective of the flesh. Since He had put on a flesh of such normal humanity, it is from the perspective of the flesh that He said: ‘My outer shell is that of a created being. Since I put on a flesh to come to this earth, I am now a long, long way from heaven.’ For this reason, He could only pray to God the Father from the perspective of the flesh. This was His duty, and that which the incarnate Spirit of God should be furnished with. It cannot be said that He is not God simply because He prays to the Father from the perspective of the flesh. Though He is called the beloved Son of God, He is still God Himself, for He is but the incarnation of the Spirit, and His substance is still the Spirit” (“Does the Trinity Exist?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Almighty God has expressed things so clearly. When the Lord Jesus was working among men, it was actually God’s Spirit clothed in flesh as a man working and appearing to man. No matter how the Lord Jesus was expressing His word or praying to God the Father, His substance was divinity, not humanity. God is Spirit, invisible to man. When God becomes clothed in flesh, man sees only flesh, he cannot see God’s Spirit. If the Holy Spirit had directly borne witness to the fact that the incarnate Lord Jesus was God, man wouldn’t have accepted it. Because, at the time, no one even knew what it meant for God to be incarnated. They just came into contact with God’s incarnation and had very little understanding. They never imagined that this regular Son of man would be the embodiment of the Spirit of God, that is, the appearance of God in the flesh. Even though the Lord Jesus expressed much of His word in the course of His work, brought man the way, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and manifested many miracles, fully revealing God’s authority and power, man at that time failed to recognize from the Lord Jesus’ word and work that the Lord Jesus was God Himself, that is, was the appearance of God. So what kind of understanding did man have of the Lord Jesus at that time? Some said that He was John the Baptist, some said He was Elijah. Others even called Him Master. So, God just worked according to the stature of people at that time, He didn’t make it hard for them. The Holy Spirit could only testify within the understanding of the people at that time, so He called the Lord Jesus God’s beloved Son, temporarily allowing man to think of the Lord Jesus as God’s Son. This way fit in better with people’s conceptions, and was easier to accept because, at that time, the Lord Jesus was only doing the work of redemption. No matter how people called the Lord Jesus, the important thing was that they accepted that the Lord Jesus was the Savior, had their sins remitted, and were thus qualified to enjoy God’s grace. So, God’s Spirit bore witness to the Lord Jesus in this way because it was more suitable to the stature of the people at that time. This completely fulfills the Lord Jesus’ words: “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).

Despite the fact that we can’t see God’s Spirit, when God’s Spirit becomes clothed in flesh, God’s disposition, all that He has and is, His almightiness and wisdom are all expressed through His flesh. From the Lord Jesus Christ’s word and work and the disposition which He expresses, we can be entirely sure that the Lord Jesus is God Himself. The Lord Jesus’ word and work are full of authority and power. What He says becomes true, what He demands is realized. As soon as He speaks, His words become reality. Just as one word from the Lord Jesus was enough to forgive man his sinfulness and bring the dead back to life. One word calmed the wind and the sea. And so on. From the Lord Jesus’ word and work, we can see God’s authority and power, which rules over all things, and have seen God’s almightiness, wisdom, and wondrous works. The Lord Jesus expressed the way of repentance in His words, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He initiated the Age of Grace, concluding the Age of Law, expressed God’s compassionate and loving disposition and completed the work of mankind’s redemption. Does everyone agree that the Lord Jesus did the work of God Himself? The Lord Jesus’ word and work are the direct expression of the Spirit of God. Is it not proof that God’s Spirit came in the flesh to speak to and work for us, to appear to us? Could it possibly be that no matter how God’s Spirit speaks and works in the flesh, we are incapable of recognizing Him? Can this outer shell of the flesh really prevent us from recognizing the divine substance of Christ? Could it be that, when God’s Spirit becomes clothed in flesh to speak and do work, no matter how much we experience we would still be incapable of recognizing God’s appearance and work? If this is the case, then we are far too thick-headed in our belief. How else may we attain God’s commendation?

About how to understand that the incarnate Christ is God Himself and is the appearance of God, let’s read another two passages from Almighty God’s words: “The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood but is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself. Be it His humanity or divinity, both submit to the will of the heavenly Father. The substance of Christ is the Spirit, that is, the divinity. Therefore, His substance is that of God Himself; this substance will not interrupt His own work, and He could not possibly do anything that destroys His own work, nor would He ever utter any words that go against His own will” (“The Substance of Christ Is Obedience to the Will of the Heavenly Father” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“The meaning of incarnation is that God appears in the flesh, and He comes to work among man of His creation in the image of a flesh. So, for God to be incarnated, He must first be flesh, flesh with normal humanity; this, at the very least, must be true. In fact, the implication of God’s incarnation is that God lives and works in the flesh, God in His very essence becomes flesh, becomes a man” (“The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

After reading the words of Almighty God, we are clearer that the incarnate Christ is God Himself, all because He is the Spirit of God realized in His flesh. In other words, God puts on the flesh to become the Son of man to work and speak in the world. Isn’t this the appearance of God? Since Christ’s substance is divinity, Christ can express the truth and do God’s work. He is qualified to speak and work as God. That’s why we can see that what Christ says and does is the direct expression of God’s Spirit, the natural manifestation of God’s life essence. What He expresses is all God’s disposition, God’s possessions and being, God’s almightiness and wisdom, which are the realities of all positive things. We see that Christ is the practical God on earth, the living God, the only true God who created the heavens and earth and all things openly appearing and speaking to mankind. This is the best way for God to appear to mankind. Since man is a mortal being, he cannot see God’s real person. So God chose the means of incarnation to do the work of salvation amid us humans. Could it be that we really don’t understand how God appears to us? In the Age of Grace, when we had just accepted the Lord Jesus, it is doubtful that we would have realized that the Lord Jesus was the manifestation of the only true God at work. However, when we had experienced the work of God incarnate for a decade or several decades, we should be able to realize that the Lord Jesus was the manifestation of the only true God. It is like what the Lord Jesus said to Philip in John 14:9: “Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip?”

God Incarnate Is Forever God in Whatever Family He Was Born

yinyixiao380 — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 09:22:01 GMT

Fallacy: The CCP government claims Almighty God whom the believers of the Eastern Lightning believe in, also called Practical God, is an ordinary person, because it knows His family background clearly.

Rebuttal: The words of the CCP government expose one of its opinions: It judges whether Almighty God is God according to His family background. Seeing Almighty God was born in an ordinary and normal family, it thinks He is a person rather than God. Is such kind of viewpoint right? Is it in accordance with the truth? Wasn’t the Lord Jesus incarnate born in an ordinary family? Didn’t the people then treat Him as Joseph’s son? Could the identity and status of the Lord Jesus being Christ and God Himself be changed even though people know His family background? The answer is no! As can be seen, this statement is absolutely an untenable fallacy that the CCP government says Almighty God is an ordinary person rather than God under the excuse that it knows His family background.

Neither does the CCP have faith in God, nor does it possess the truth. It does not completely know what incarnation is, much less the differences between the incarnate God and an ordinary person. Therefore, it has no qualification to comment on this issue. That being the case, what is incarnation? What does God incarnate differ from an ordinary person? Almighty God says, “The meaning of incarnation is that God appears in the flesh, and He comes to work among man of His creation in the image of a flesh. So, for God to be incarnated, He must first be flesh, flesh with normal humanity; this, at the very least, must be true. In fact, the implication of God’s incarnation is that God lives and works in the flesh, God in His very essence becomes flesh, becomes a man.” “Because He is a man with the essence of God, He is above any of created humans, above any man who can perform God’s work. And so, among all those with a human shell like His, among all those who possess humanity, only He is the incarnate God Himself—all others are created humans. Though they all have humanity, created humans are nothing but human, while God incarnate is different: In His flesh He not only has humanity but more importantly has divinity. … Since God becomes flesh, His essence is a combination of humanity and divinity. This combination is called God Himself, God Himself on earth” (“The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From the words of Almighty God, we see that God incarnate means that God’s Spirit puts on the flesh, that is, God’s Spirit has been realized in a flesh with normal humanity and normal thought, become an ordinary and normal man, working and speaking in the world of man. This flesh has a normal humanity, and even more a complete divinity. Though this flesh is externally ordinary and normal, He can undertake God’s work, can express God’s voice, can lead and save mankind, because He has a complete divinity. The complete divinity means that God’s inherent disposition, God’s essence of holiness and righteousness, what God has and is, His almightiness and wisdom, and His authority and power possessed by God’s Spirit are materialized in a flesh. This flesh is Christ, the practical God who came to do His work to save man on earth. Externally, Christ is an ordinary and normal Son of man, but there is a substantive difference between Him and all the created beings: Created humans have merely humanity, not the least divine substance, whereas Christ has not only a normal humanity, but more importantly, a complete divinity, so He can express God’s disposition and what God has and is, bestow upon us mankind the truth with God’s identity, which is unattainable by any of created humans. It is just this ordinary and normal flesh that has accomplished the fact of the Word appearing in the flesh. This is the incarnate and practical God. Because Christ has a complete divinity, He can express the truth and save mankind on behalf of God; just because Christ has a complete divinity, He can express the truth anytime and anywhere to supply, shepherd and guide all mankind; just because Christ has a complete divinity, He possesses the identity and substance of God. Thereat, we can say that He is the incarnate and practical God Himself.

Take, for example, the Lord Jesus who was incarnated the first time. From the outside, He is an ordinary and normal man, yet He concluded the Age of Law, ushered in the Age of Grace, carried out the work of redeeming humanity, bestowed upon man abundant grace, healed the sick and cast out demons for people and performed signs and miracles; simultaneously, He expressed some truths, teaching man to love one another, having forbearance and patience, loving his enemy and bearing the cross, and so on. These works cannot be done by us corrupt mankind. The Lord Jesus is an ordinary man, but even so, He can disclose our corruption, expose the Samaritan woman’s hidden facts of darkness, and also uncover and condemn the substance and evil actions of the Pharisees. Thereby, it manifests that God shows different dispositions to different individuals, which is unattainable by anyone of us. Although the Lord Jesus is an ordinary man, nevertheless the words from Him have authority and power, calming the sea and bringing Lazarus back from the dead. Could He be the same as an ordinary man? It can be seen that the Lord Jesus is not only a man, but even more God Himself with the essence of divinity. Despite the fact that the Lord Jesus was born into an ordinary family, appeared to man and worked in the form of an ordinary man, His essence of divinity determines His identity and status: He is not an ordinary man, but God incarnate. Yet those Jewish people and Pharisees then who didn’t know the Lord Jesus’s essence of divinity, only saw He is an ordinary man. They didn’t treat Him as God, but instead, judged Him as the son of carpenter. When the Lord Jesus cast out demons in man with His word, the Pharisees said the authority and power of Him as “by the prince of the devils casts he out devils”; when the Lord Jesus forgave man’s sins with His word, they condemned that He spoke words of blasphemy; finally, they collaborated with the Roman government and nailed Him to the cross alive. What they did seriously offended God’s disposition and provoked His anger: The Jews were driven out of Israel and fled to all parts of the world. Many of them were killed, and the Israel has been made to suffer the loss of its nation for close to two thousand years. All the facts prove that who they condemned was not an ordinary man, but Christ, the incarnate God Himself. Almighty God says, “Woe to those who crucify God.” Here is a question: What did this outcome result from? There is only one answer, which is that they just depended on their own two eyes. They merely saw that the Lord Jesus was outwardly ordinary and normal, and born in an ordinary family. However, they neglected the His essence of divinity, regarding Him as an ordinary man. Nowadays, God has become flesh for the second time to work in China. Likewise, He is condemned and persecuted by man. The CCP claims that Almighty God is an ordinary man because it has had a clear knowledge of His family background. Through this, it intends to deceive people and allow people to deny God’s substance of divinity and reject the arrival of God, so that it can make the salvation work of Almighty God in vain, make people believe its baloney, control people in its hand, and thus sabotage God’s management plan, causing people to lose the salvation of God and be cast into hell together with it at last. However, God is wise. The very reason why God becomes flesh to do His work is that He is to reveal all the wicked and unbelievers with His ordinary and normal flesh, to save the believers in Him before His throne. In the end, God will conclude His work on earth, reward the good and punish the evil, and determine all people’s outcomes. Thereby, whether we will be blessed or cursed in the future is decided by whether we know, obey and accept God in the flesh. Because God is forever God, the identity and status of God is not determined by whether man admits and accepts Him, but by the substance of God Himself. Therefore, if we want to confirm whether Almighty God is God incarnate or not, we cannot listen to one-sided statement of the CCP, but from the work and words of Almighty God.

Is the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God?

yinyixiao380 — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 09:35:29 GMT

By Zhang Li

One morning, when my daughter and I were studying the Bible together, we saw these verses: “Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? 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 14:8-10). Wearing a look of confusion, my daughter asked me, “Mom, when the pastors and elders preach, they all say that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God, but right here the Lord Jesus said to Philip: ‘he that has seen me has seen the Father.’ ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in me.’ Mom, how are we meant to understand the words of the Lord Jesus?” Hearing that, I gave it some thought, but couldn’t think straight. I was at a loss how to answer my daughter.

Thus, I asked the pastors and elders how they understood these verses, and was interested to know whether Jesus Christ is the Son of God or God Himself. However, they all gave me the same answer: “The Lord Jesus is the Son of God. Belief in the Lord Jesus means belief in the Father in heaven. There’s no doubt about it. By following the Lord, you can gain entry into heaven. So following the Lord can’t be wrong.” When I asked more, they hemmed and hawed. I didn’t get an exact answer from their talks. Still, I couldn’t figure out whether the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God or God Himself. This question became a puzzle to me.

Afterward, I prayed to the Lord many times, asking Him to enlighten and guide me. Also, I fellowshiped and sought together with the brothers and sisters in the Lord. Thank the Lord for listening to my prayers. One day, when Sister Wang and I were studying the Bible, I came across these verses again. Then I raised the question which had puzzled me for a long time.

Upon hearing my question, Sister Wang said to me, “Is the Lord Jesus the Son of God or God Himself? This really is a problem most believers in the Lord do not understand. When the incarnate Lord Jesus came to do the work of redemption of mankind, the Holy Spirit testified that the Lord Jesus was God’s beloved Son, and the Lord Jesus also called the God in heaven Father. Because of this, we think the Lord Jesus is the Son of God, and the notion of this Father-Son relationship was formed. But we know, in Genesis God didn’t say that He had a son. In the Old Testament times, Jehovah God didn’t say that He had a son either. This proves that there is only one God, there is no Father-Son relationship to speak of. But why did the Lord Jesus say that He was God’s Son when He came to do His work? Was the Lord Jesus Christ God’s Son or God Himself? In John 14:8, Philip asked the Lord Jesus: ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us.’ At that time, how did the Lord Jesus respond to Philip? The Lord Jesus said to Philip: ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? 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 14:9-10). Here, the Lord Jesus said very clearly, ‘he that has seen me has seen the Father.’ As you can see, the Lord Jesus is the appearance of God Himself. The Lord Jesus did not say that He and God have a Father-Son relationship. He just said, ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in me.’ ‘I and my Father are one.’ Now, according to the Lord Jesus’ words, can we not confirm that the Lord Jesus is God Himself, that there is only one God, and that there is no ‘Father-Son relationship’ to speak of?”

Then, she read two passages of words to me, “The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood but is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself. Be it His humanity or divinity, both submit to the will of the heavenly Father. The substance of Christ is the Spirit, that is, the divinity. Therefore, His substance is that of God Himself….”

“The Spirit within Jesus, the Spirit in heaven, and the Spirit of Jehovah are all one. It can be called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the sevenfold intensified Spirit, and the all-inclusive Spirit. The Spirit of God alone can carry out much work. He is able to create the world and destroy it by flooding the earth; He can redeem all mankind, and moreover, conquer and destroy all mankind. This work is all carried out by God Himself and cannot have been done by any other of the persons of God in His stead. His Spirit can be called by the name of Jehovah and Jesus, as well as the Almighty. He is the Lord, and Christ. He can also become the Son of man. He is in the heavens and also on the earth; He is on high above the universes and among the multitude. He is the only Master of the heavens and earth! From the time of creation until now, this work has been carried out by the Spirit of God Himself. Be it the work in the heavens or in the flesh, all is carried out by His own Spirit. All creatures, whether in heaven or on earth, are in the palm of His almighty hand; all of this is the work of God Himself and can be done by no other in His stead. In the heavens, He is the Spirit but also God Himself; among men, He is flesh but remains God Himself.”

After reading, she said, “Ever since mankind was corrupted by Satan, God has begun His management plan to save mankind. In the Age of Law, God called Moses to set forth the law and lead the Israelites to live on earth, and let them know how to worship God. All these were done by Jehovah God through the means of the Spirit. But in the latter days of the Age of Law, man became more and more corrupt, and often violated the law and did the things that offended Jehovah, which put them in danger of being condemned and executed by the law. Therefore, on the basis of man’s needs, God came to earth in the flesh as the Son of man, and performed the work of crucifixion to redeem mankind. In truth, the Lord Jesus is the flesh in which God’s Spirit is realized. From His appearance, the Lord Jesus was an ordinary man, but He concluded the Age of Law, initiated the Age of Grace, expressed God’s compassionate and loving disposition, and fulfilled the work of mankind’s redemption. At the same time, He manifested many miracles. For example: One word from the Lord Jesus was enough to bring the dead back to life, and one word calmed the wind and the sea. The Lord Jesus used five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand people. … These fully reveal God’s authority and power. The work the Lord Jesus performed can’t be done by any man. These facts prove: The Lord Jesus Christ is the Spirit of God realized in His flesh, and He is the utterly complete God Himself, so He and Jehovah God are one. This is the true meaning of the Lord Jesus’ words: ‘he that has seen me has seen the Father.’”

Hearing her fellowship, I felt that there was light in it. It turns out that the Lord Jesus Christ is the incarnate flesh of God and He is God Himself, but not the Son of God. In order to redeem man from sins, God became flesh as the Son of man and did the work of crucifixion. This is God’s great love for mankind. But I still had a question which confused me, so I asked her: “Why did the Lord Jesus call the God in heaven Father?”

She said, “Let’s read a passage of words, and then you will understand: ‘When Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father as He prayed, this was done only from the perspective of a created man, only because the Spirit of God had clothed Himself as an ordinary and normal man and had the exterior cover of a created being. Even if within Him was the Spirit of God, His exterior appearance was still that of an ordinary man; in other words, He had become the “Son of man” of which all men, including Jesus Himself, spoke. Given that He is called the Son of man, He is a person (whether man or woman, in any case one with the exterior shell of a human being) born into a normal family of ordinary people. Therefore, Jesus calling God in heaven by the name of Father was the same as how you at first called Him Father; He did so from the perspective of a man of creation. Do you still remember the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught you to memorize? “Our Father in heaven….” He asked all man to call God in heaven by the name of Father. And since He too called Him Father, He did so from the perspective of one who stands on an equal footing with you all. Since you called God in heaven by the name of Father, this shows that Jesus saw Himself to be on equal footing with you, and as a man on earth chosen by God (that is, the Son of God). If you call God “Father,” is this not because you are a created being? However great the authority of Jesus on earth, prior to the crucifixion, He was merely a Son of man, governed by the Holy Spirit (that is, God), and one of the earth’s created beings, for He had yet to complete His work. Therefore, His calling God in heaven Father was solely His humility and obedience. His addressing God (that is, the Spirit in heaven) in such a manner, however, does not prove that He is the Son of the Spirit of God in heaven. Rather, it is simply that His perspective is different….’ God was incarnated as the Son of man, that is, God’s Spirit assumed the flesh and became the Son of man to appear to us and do His work. No matter how the Lord Jesus was expressing His voice or praying to God the Father, His substance was divinity, not humanity. Because the Lord Jesus still assumed the appearance of the flesh, He called the God in heaven Father from the position of a created being when praying, which showed the humbleness and obedience of the incarnate God. The reason why we are in such a puzzle is mainly because we don’t know the incarnate flesh of God nor understand this aspect of truth, but instead interpret the Lord’s word literally.”

Hearing this passage of words and her fellowship, I was suddenly enlightened: It turns out that the Lord Jesus is God’s Spirit realized in the flesh. The Lord is the appearance of Jehovah God on earth who created the heavens and earth and all things and created mankind, and also proclaimed the laws to mankind. It doesn’t mean that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The Lord Jesus called God in heaven Father because He was in the position of a created being, which didn’t affect His divine substance. Therefore, the Lord Jesus saying, “he that has seen me has seen the Father” is not contradictory with His calling God in heaven Father. Then my heart was lightened and I decided to share the enlightenment with my daughter, in order that she could know Jesus Christ is God Himself and walk free from the confusions.

What Does “Christ” Mean? – Bible Study

yinyixiao380 — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 09:07:04 GMT

By Xie Shang

As Christians, we are all familiar with the word “Christ,” because we pray in the holy name of Jesus Christ every day. Then why do we call the Lord Jesus “Christ?” What does Christ mean? Some people may say, “Christ means the anointed One.” Some say, “Christ is the Son of man.” Everyone has his own opinion. Regarding these opinions, have you ever thought: According to the records in the Old Testament, Jehovah God called those who were used by Him the son of man. Were those who God used and called the son of man, Christ? Just as the Bible records, “And he said to me, Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you” (Ezekiel 2:1). “And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen this?” (Ezekiel 47:6). Here, Jehovah God called Ezekiel the son of man. Then was he Christ? In the Old Testament, those who were used by Jehovah God to do work were prophets, priests, ect. God called them the son of man. So, were they Christ? The answer is “no.” If we say Christ means the anointed One, then what about all the kings and priests in the Old Testament who were also the anointed ones? Why weren’t they Christ? Maybe we all have many confusions about what Christ means, so let’s discuss this question: What on earth does Christ mean?

God’s words give us clear answers. God says, “The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood but is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself. Be it His humanity or divinity, both submit to the will of the heavenly Father. The substance of Christ is the Spirit, that is, the divinity. Therefore, His substance is that of God Himself; this substance will not interrupt His own work, and He could not possibly do anything that destroys His own work, nor would He ever utter any words that go against His own will. Therefore, the incarnate God would absolutely never do any work that interrupts His own management. This is what all man should understand. The essence of the work of the Holy Spirit is to save man and is for the sake of God’s own management. Similarly, the work of Christ is to save man and is for the sake of God’s will. Given that God becomes flesh, He realizes His substance within His flesh, such that His flesh is sufficient to undertake His work. Therefore, all the work of God’s Spirit is replaced by the work of Christ during the time of incarnation, and at the core of all work throughout the time of incarnation is the work of Christ. It cannot be commingled with work from any other age” (“The Substance of Christ Is Obedience to the Will of the Heavenly Father”). “God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the substance of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but instead, the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh is not one that can be replaced by just any man, but one that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life”). From these words, we can see that only the incarnate God is called Christ. Christ has a divine substance and He can express the truth and do the work of God Himself. Christ is God who assumes flesh to become a man. From His outward appearance, He seems ordinary and normal like man, so He is also called the Son of man. But the one who is called the son of man may not be Christ. Take the apostles, prophets and priests for example. Though they were called the son of man, their substance was humanity, they were human beings—creations of God. Hence they couldn’t express the truth, let alone do the work of God Himself, because they were not Christ. Besides, Christ is the flesh that God’s Spirit is realized in and indwells in. And although Christ means the anointed One, the anointed one may not be Christ. This is the difference between Christ and man. Christ has the appearance of a man, but His substance is God’s substance. In the Old Testament, why was Jehovah God not called Christ? Because at the time God worked, guided men in their lives and led them to worship Him using the Spirit, and He didn’t become flesh to do work, thus He couldn’t be called Christ. Christ is a special word that refers only to God incarnate. Christ is God Himself living within the flesh. Though in outward appearance Christ is an ordinary person, His substance is different from any of created humans’. Christ is God incarnate, is God’s own flesh and is God putting on the flesh and coming to earth; Satan can’t go near and corrupt Him. Therefore, Christ can do the work of God Himself and can express the truth to redeem and save mankind. This is Christ’s particular divinity. Christ’s substance is a combination of normal humanity and complete divinity and is God Himself on earth.

Now we may understand more about what Christ means, but we need to continuously seek and ponder this aspect of the truth. Only thus can we deepen our understanding of this truth and welcome our groom—Christ of the last days!

If you have other understanding and new light, you’re welcome to have a real-time chat with us via the online chat window at the bottom of the website or send an email to info@findshepherd.com. We’re all ears to your experience and knowledge of belief in the Lord. Looking forward to exchanging our sharing and welcoming the Lord’s second coming together.

The Lord Jesus Being God, Why Did He Pray to God of Heaven?

yinyixiao380 — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 09:35:18 GMT

By Zhen Xin

We all know that the Lord Jesus was incarnated and performed the redemptive work, and all who believe in the Lord affirm that the Lord Jesus is the Savior. However, the Bible records that after the Lord Jesus was baptized, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Lord Jesus like a dove, a voice said: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). This is the Holy Spirit bearing witness that the Lord Jesus is God’s beloved Son. Besides, the Lord Jesus prayed before the crucifixion, saying: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). These all prove that the Lord Jesus is clearly God’s Son. So, here is the question: Is the Lord Jesus really God or the Son of God? He is God, but why did He pray to God of heaven?

1. Is the Lord Jesus Really God or the Son of God?

In fact, God didn’t say in Genesis that He had a son, nor did Jehovah God say such thing in the Age of Law. From these we can know that there is only one God, that there is no Father-Son relationship to speak of. In fact, when the incarnate Lord Jesus came to do the work of redemption of mankind, which is, God became the Son of man appearing and doing work among men, He initiated a new age in which God came personally into the human world to live alongside man. Thus, with great adoration, we called the Lord Jesus as Christ, the Son of God. At that time, the Holy Spirit also bore witness to the fact that the Lord Jesus was the beloved Son of God, and the Lord Jesus called God of heaven Father. As such, we believed that the Lord Jesus was God’s Son, and the notion of this Father-Son relationship was formed. Then is the Lord Jesus really the Son of God or God Himself? Let us read some scriptures. In John 14:8, Philip asked of the Lord Jesus: “Lord, show us the Father, and it suffises us.” The Lord Jesus said to Philip: “Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? 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. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake” (John 14:9-11). The Lord Jesus said very clearly: “he that has seen me has seen the Father.” From this we can see the Lord Jesus is the appearance of God Himself. The Lord Jesus didn’t say that He and God have a Father-Son relationship. Rather, He said: “I am in the Father, and the Father in me.” “I and my Father are one.” According to the Lord Jesus’ words, we can confirm that the Lord Jesus is God Himself, that there is only one God and that there is no Father-Son relationship to speak of. It’s just because we don’t understand the truth of the incarnation that we think the Lord Jesus is God’s Son. A spiritual book says: “The meaning of incarnation is that God appears in the flesh, and He comes to work among man of His creation in the image of a flesh. So, for God to be incarnated, He must first be flesh, flesh with normal humanity; this, at the very least, must be true. In fact, the implication of God’s incarnation is that God lives and works in the flesh, God in His very essence becomes flesh, becomes a man.” Put simply, the incarnation is just God clothed in flesh and become a man, and the incarnate God is actually God Himself.

2. Since the Lord Jesus Is God Himself, Why Did He Pray to God of Heaven?

There is a mystery in the Lord Jesus’ calling God of heaven Father in His prayer. When God is incarnated in the flesh, God’s Spirit is hidden within the flesh, and the flesh itself is unaware of the Spirit’s presence. Just as we cannot feel our spirits within us. What’s more, God’s Spirit does not do anything supernatural within His flesh. So, even though the Lord Jesus was God become flesh, if God’s Spirit had not spoken and testified to God Himself, the Lord Jesus could not have known that He was God’s incarnation. That is why the Bible says: “neither the Son, but the Father.” Before the Lord Jesus began His official work, He lived within normal humanity. He really didn’t know that He was the incarnation of God, for God’s Spirit within the flesh did not work in a supernatural way but worked within normal confines just like any other human. So, naturally, the Lord Jesus would pray to the heavenly Father, which is to say, the Lord Jesus prayed to God’s Spirit from within His normal humanity. This makes complete sense. When the Lord Jesus formally performed His ministry, the Holy Spirit began to speak and proclaim, bearing witness that He was the incarnate God. Only then did the Lord Jesus realize His true identity, that He had come to do the work of redemption. However, when He was to be nailed to the cross, He still prayed to God the Father. This shows that the substance of Christ is absolute obedience to God. A spiritual book says: “When Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father as He prayed, this was done only from the perspective of a created man, only because the Spirit of God had clothed Himself as an ordinary and normal man and had the exterior cover of a created being. Even if within Him was the Spirit of God, His exterior appearance was still that of an ordinary man; in other words, He had become the ‘Son of man’ of which all men, including Jesus Himself, spoke. … However great the authority of Jesus on earth, prior to the crucifixion, He was merely a Son of man, governed by the Holy Spirit (that is, God), and one of the earth’s created beings, for He had yet to complete His work. Therefore, His calling God in heaven Father was solely His humility and obedience. His addressing God (that is, the Spirit in heaven) in such a manner, however, does not prove that He is the Son of the Spirit of God in heaven. Rather, it is simply that His perspective is different, not that He is a different person. The existence of distinct persons is a fallacy! Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus was a Son of man bound by the limitations of the flesh, and He did not fully possess the authority of the Spirit. That is why He could only seek the will of God the Father from the perspective of a created being. It is as He thrice prayed in Gethsemane: ‘Not as I will, but as you will.’ Before He was laid on the cross, He was but the King of the Jews; He was Christ, the Son of man, and not a body of glory. That is why, from the standpoint of a created being, He called God Father.” “Jesus prayed from the perspective of the flesh. Since He had put on a flesh of such normal humanity, it is from the perspective of the flesh that He said: My outer shell is that of a created being. Since I put on a flesh to come to this earth, I am now a long, long way from heaven. For this reason, He could only pray to God the Father from the perspective of the flesh. This was His duty, and that which the incarnate Spirit of God should be furnished with. It cannot be said that He is not God simply because He prays to the Father from the perspective of the flesh. Though He is called the beloved Son of God, He is still God Himself, for He is but the incarnation of the Spirit, and His substance is still the Spirit.”

These words of God are very clear. When the Lord Jesus was working among men, it was actually God’s Spirit clothed in flesh as a man working and appearing to man. No matter how the Lord Jesus was expressing His word or praying to God the Father, His substance was divinity, not humanity. God is Spirit and is invisible to man; when God becomes clothed in flesh, we can only see flesh and can’t see God’s Spirit. If the Holy Spirit had directly borne witness to the fact that the incarnate Lord Jesus was God, man wouldn’t have accepted it. At the time, no one even knew what it meant for God to be incarnated, and they just came into contact with God’s incarnation and had very little understanding, so they never imagined that this regular Son of man would be the embodiment of the Spirit of God, the appearance of God in the flesh. Though the Lord Jesus expressed much of His word in the course of His work, brought man the way of repentance and manifested many miracles, which fully revealed God’s authority and power, men still failed to recognize from the Lord Jesus’ word and work that He was God Himself, the appearance of God. Instead, they only acknowledged the Lord Jesus as a prophet or called Him Master. So, God just worked according to the stature of people at that time, and He didn’t make it hard for them; the Holy Spirit merely testified within the understanding of the people at that time, and called the Lord Jesus God’s beloved Son, temporarily allowing men to think of the Lord Jesus as God’s Son. This way fit in better with people’s conceptions and was easier to accept. Since, at that time, the Lord Jesus was only doing the work of redemption, no matter how people called the Lord Jesus, the important thing was that they accepted the Lord Jesus as the Savior, had their sins remitted, and were thus qualified to enjoy God’s grace. So, God’s Spirit bore witness to the Lord Jesus in this way for it was more suitable to the stature of the people at that time. If we understand these things, we will not see the Lord Jesus as the Son of God for His prayer to God of heaven, but will be clear that no matter what position the Lord Jesus prayed from, He is our Lord and our God.

There Is Only One God, Why Is There the Idea of Father and Son?

yinyixiao380 — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 09:48:55 GMT

By Xiaoxiao, France

The sky was clear, and the sun’s golden rays lit up the earth. Green grass was waving in the breeze; flowers were in bloom; twittering birds were scampering in the trees. On such a beautiful morning, Tian Lu, wearing earplugs, listened to hymns as she swept the floor. When sweeping in front of the desk, she took off the earplugs and put them on the desk, and then caught sight of the picture of the Lord Jesus on the wall. Then her eyes were blinded with tears, myriads of thoughts welling up in her mind …

In many years of belief in and service to the Lord, Tian Lu always believed that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God. For the Bible says, “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, see, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting on him: And see a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17). The Lord Jesus also prayed: “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). In her opinion, since there was a voice from heaven saying the Lord Jesus was His beloved Son and the Lord Jesus called the God in heaven Father in His prayers, it could be proved that the Lord Jesus was God’s Son sent by God to this world to do the work of redemption. One day, however, Tian Lu saw the Lord Jesus said in Mark 12: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord” (Mark 12:29). She thought: In this verse, the Lord Jesus emphasized that God is one Lord, which means there is only one God. That is to say, there is no Father-Son relationship to speak of and the Lord Jesus is not the Son of God. However, if it’s really the case, why did the Lord Jesus call the God in heaven Father in His prayers? Isn’t His prayer in contradiction with His words: “The Lord our God is one Lord”? So is the Lord Jesus the Son of God or not? If He is not, what is His true identity? Tian Lu felt very puzzled by these questions.

Perplexed by these questions, Tian Lu went to Huimin, one of her co-workers whom she had not seen for years, hoping to get the answer from her. Huimin said, “In the Age of Law, men all knew that Jehovah was the one true God and that there was no other God except Jehovah. Only after the Lord Jesus was incarnated is there the saying of ‘Father and Son.’ Let’s see what the Lord Jesus said about it. John 14:8-11 says, ‘Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffises us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? 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. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.’ From these scriptures, we can see that Philip didn’t understand the substance of the Lord Jesus and thought there was God the Father in heaven, so he said to the Lord, ‘Lord, show us the Father.’ Then the Lord Jesus rectified his incorrect knowledge of God, saying: ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in me,’ ‘I and my Father are one,’ and ‘he that has seen me has seen the Father.’ From the Lord Jesus’ words, we can know that the Father is the Son and the Son is the Father, that Father and Son are one, and that they are one God.”

Seeing the scriptures Huimin read, Tian Lu was in quite a state, thinking: “It never occurred to me that the Lord Jesus is the God in heaven and the God in heaven is the Lord. Here, the Lord Jesus clearly told us that God is unique and is only one. How could I neglect this?” Although she believed that all the words of the Lord Jesus are truth and are absolutely right, she still didn’t understand why the Lord Jesus called the God in heaven Father in His prayer before the crucifixion since He was not God’s Son. She was eager to get the answer from Huimin. Then they read these passages: “When Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father as He prayed, this was done only from the perspective of a created man, only because the Spirit of God had clothed Himself as an ordinary and normal man and had the exterior cover of a created being. Even if within Him was the Spirit of God, His exterior appearance was still that of an ordinary man; in other words, He had become the ‘Son of man’ of which all men, including Jesus Himself, spoke. Given that He is called the Son of man, He is a person (whether man or woman, in any case one with the exterior shell of a human being) born into a normal family of ordinary people. Therefore, Jesus calling God in heaven by the name of Father was the same as how you at first called Him Father; He did so from the perspective of a man of creation. Do you still remember the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught you to memorize? ‘Our Father in heaven….’ He asked all man to call God in heaven by the name of Father. And since He too called Him Father, He did so from the perspective of one who stands on an equal footing with you all. Since you called God in heaven by the name of Father, this shows that Jesus saw Himself to be on equal footing with you, and as a man on earth chosen by God (that is, the Son of God). If you call God ‘Father,’ is this not because you are a created being? However great the authority of Jesus on earth, prior to the crucifixion, He was merely a Son of man, governed by the Holy Spirit (that is, God), and one of the earth’s created beings, for He had yet to complete His work. Therefore, His calling God in heaven Father was solely His humility and obedience” .

“There are still those who say, did not God expressly state that Jesus was His beloved Son? ‘Jesus is the beloved Son of God, in whom He is well pleased’ was certainly spoken by God Himself. That was God bearing witness to Himself, but merely from a different perspective, that of the Spirit in heaven bearing witness to His own incarnation. Jesus is His incarnation, not His Son in heaven. Do you understand?” .

After reading these words, Huimin said to Tian Lu patiently, “Tian Lu, these words explain this question so clearly. When the Lord Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father as He prayed, this was done only from the perspective of a created man, so it can’t prove that the Lord Jesus is God’s Son. How could God have a son? Then would God not have become man? In fact, the word of the Lord Jesus: ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in me’ means that God is the only one true God. Because the Lord Jesus was the incarnation, He was called the beloved Son of God, and, from this, came the relationship between Father and Son. Before the Lord Jesus was laid on the cross, He was Christ, the Son of man, not a body of glory. It is because He was the incarnation of the Spirit of God that He called God’s Spirit in heaven Father from the standpoint of a created being, and obeyed the Father in heaven like a man; while God’s Spirit in heaven, in order to bear witness to people on earth that His own incarnation is the embodiment of the Spirit of God, called the incarnate Son of man His beloved Son. This was merely God calling Himself from different perspectives, and they are in substance still one God. Thus although the Lord Jesus is the incarnate God Himself, the Christ, He still prayed to God the Father from the perspective of the flesh, which completely shows the Lord Jesus’ humbleness and obedience!”

At this point, Tian Lu came to know: God is unique and there is only one God. God testified His own flesh in the position of the Spirit and called the God in the flesh Son, while the God in the flesh called the Spirit within Father in the position of the flesh. So the Lord Jesus is not God’s Son, and His real identity is Christ, the incarnate God Himself. As Tian Lu understood this, she felt guilty that she should regard the Lord Jesus as God’s Son and didn’t know that He is actually God Himself despite her many years of belief in the Lord. Thinking of the Lord Jesus’ suffering, she couldn’t help but shed tears of regret.

Seeing this scene, Huimin, with tears in her eyes, handed Tian Lu the paper towel. Before, when Huimin learned that the Lord Jesus is the incarnate God Himself, she was as regretful and sad as Tian Lu. At that time, she saw her blindness and lacking in the knowledge of God, and realized that it was because she didn’t understand the truth of incarnation that she failed to recognize that the Lord Jesus is the incarnate God Himself and Christ. While communicating with Tian Lu, Huimin opened the book to read the words about this aspect of truth. Tian Lu wiped her tears, listening attentively. “The incarnate flesh originates in the Spirit: He is the incarnation of the Spirit, that is, the Word become flesh. In other words, God Himself lives within the flesh. … For this reason, even though He is called ‘man,’ He does not belong to the human race, and has no human attributes: This is the man in which God clothes Himself, this is the man that God approves” (“Interpretation of the Sixth Utterance”).

“The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood but is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself. Be it His humanity or divinity, both submit to the will of the heavenly Father. The substance of Christ is the Spirit, that is, the divinity. Therefore, His substance is that of God Himself; … Given that God becomes flesh, He realizes His substance within His flesh…. And since God becomes flesh, He works in the identity of His flesh; since He comes in the flesh, He then finishes in the flesh the work that He ought to do. Be it the Spirit of God or be it Christ, both are God Himself, and He does the work that He ought to do and performs the ministry that He ought to perform” (“”).

After reading these words, Huimin continued, “The incarnation is God’s Spirit clothed in flesh, that is, God’s Spirit is materialized in the flesh with normal humanity and normal human thinking, and thereby becomes an ordinary and normal person working and speaking among men. The Bible says, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ (John 1:1). The Word is God; the incarnation is God’s Spirit materialized in the flesh. Only Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Christ’s words and work, all that He has and is are the truth, the way, and the life. This is the substance of Christ. Just like when the Lord Jesus came, He initiated the Age of Grace and concluded the Age of Law; He expressed all the truth that man required in the Age of Grace, qualifying man to pray to God, confess and repent toward God, and come before God to enjoy His grace. Because God is incarnated in the flesh, we have had the opportunity to come face to face with God and receive His salvation. If the Lord Jesus hadn’t been personally incarnated in the flesh to do the work of redemption, men’s sins would not have been forgiven, and they would have faced the risk of being condemned and put to death. Then how could we survive until today? All this is God’s great love and salvation to us.
…………

Standing before the picture of the Lord Jesus, Tian Lu couldn’t stop her tears from falling. “Mom! Hurry up or I’ll be later for school.” Her daughter Fangfang’s voice broke into her thoughts. Tian Lu wiped her tears, saying, “I’m coming.”

A Christian’s Diary: Was the Lord Jesus God’s Son or God Himself?

yinyixiao380 — Sun, 31 May 2020 07:57:25 GMT

By Xie Wen, Japan

January 15, 2018 Monday

Today, after breakfast, I hurried to attend the Bible study meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, someone raised such a question: Was the Lord Jesus Christ God’s Son or God Himself? Then we began to debate about this question. Some people said the Lord Jesus Christ is God Himself because the Bible says, “The Lord our God is one Lord” (Mark 12:29). Others said the Lord Jesus Christ was God’s Son because the Bible records that after the Lord Jesus was baptized, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). I felt both viewpoints were reasonable. But which on earth was right? For this, I fell into confusion …

January 20, 2018 Saturday

This morning, it was sunny. I happened to meet Co-worker Gao whom I hadn’t seen for a long time at Sister Li’s home. He has believed in the Lord for many years and his fellowship was really insightful. So I asked him: “Co-worker Gao, you have worked for the Lord for many years and understood a lot, and I have a question to ask you. All along, we have thought the Lord Jesus Christ was God’s Son. But a little while ago, some co-workers questioned this viewpoint. They thought God was unique and the Lord Jesus was God Himself. What do you think about this question? I’m unclear about it. Please talk about your understanding.”

Sister Li said eagerly: “Right. We discussed about this issue at the last Bible study meeting, but the more we discussed, the more confused we were. Brother, please tell us about it.”

Co-worker Gao nodded with a smile and said: “Thank the Lord. Your question is indeed the one most of us Christians can’t see through. If we really want to figure out this question, first we should know where this viewpoint comes from. Now let’s think for a moment. Does God say anywhere in Genesis that He has a son? Did Jehovah God ever say that He had a son? The answers are ‘no’. From the Old Testament, we can see no one said God had a son in the Age of Law. Since the incarnate Lord Jesus came among man as the Son of man to speak and work, lived together with man, and opened the Age of Grace, people have thought the Lord Jesus was God’s Son, so the notion of Father-Son relationship came into being. Was the Lord Jesus Christ God’s Son or God Himself? It can be said that, this is a question that we believers have always debated about. We sense the contradiction inherent in this issue, but none of us can explain it clearly. The Lord Jesus is God, but He is also God’s Son, so is there also a God the Father? Then, who is God the Father? However, through reading the Bible, we have known that God is unique. Are we even more incapable of explaining it? In reality, over the past two millennia, very few people have recognized that the Lord Jesus Christ is God Himself, and is the appearance of God. Actually, it is clearly recorded in the Bible: ‘Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffises us’ (John 14:8). At that time, how did the Lord Jesus respond to Philip?”

Sister Li opened the Bible and read: “Jesus said to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? 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. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake” (John 14:9-11).

Co-worker Gao gently said: “Here, the Lord Jesus said very clearly, ‘he that has seen me has seen the Father,’ and ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in me,’ but He did not say He and God have a Father-Son relationship. Besides, in John 10:30, He also said, ‘I and my Father are one.’ Now, according to the Lord Jesus’ words, can we not be sure that the Lord Jesus is the appearance of God Himself, that there is only one God and that there is no ‘Father-Son relationship’ to speak of?”

Sister Li said with delight: “Mm. The Lord Jesus spoke very clearly, ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in me’ ‘I and my Father are one.’ So we can completely confirm that the Lord Jesus is God Himself and that the notion of this Father-Son relationship doesn’t exist at all. Through your fellowship, I understand more.”

As hearing Co-worker Gao’s fellowship, I felt it made sense, but I still had some questions. Then I asked: “Your fellowship is correct. This is really the case. The Lord Jesus indeed has never said God and He are Father and Son, but just said, ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in me,’ and ‘I and my Father are one.’ It proves that the Lord Jesus is God Himself and He isn’t God’s Son. But I still don’t understand: Since the Lord Jesus is God Himself, then why did God’s Spirit state that He was God’s beloved Son? And why did the Lord Jesus pray to God the Father when He prayed? There must be a mystery, right?”

Co-worker Gao nodded and seriously said: “Yeah. There is a mystery in this. The Bible said: ‘The Spirit like a dove descending on him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’ (Mark 1:10-11). It is that God’s Spirit bore witness to God’s incarnation, but it doesn’t mean the Lord Jesus Christ was the Son of God’s Spirit. God becomes flesh, that is, God’s spirit is hidden within the flesh and the flesh itself is incapable of feeling the Spirit’s presence. Just as we cannot feel our spirits within us. In addition, although the Lord Jesus was the incarnate God, if God’s Spirit had not spoken and testified to God Himself, He wouldn’t have known He was the incarnation of God. Therefore, it was mentioned in the Bible, ‘neither the Son, but the Father.’ When the Lord Jesus formally performed His ministry, the Holy Spirit began to speak and proclaim, testifying He was God’s incarnation. Only then did the Lord Jesus realize His true identity, and know He had come to do the work of redemption. From the fact that He prayed to God the Father, we can see the humility of Christ. What’s more, when He was to be crucified, He still prayed to God the Father: ‘Nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.’ This means that Christ’s substance is complete obedience to the will of the heavenly Father.”

Sister Li nodded, sighing: “Ah, so it was like that. We have failed to know that before.”

Co-worker Gao continued saying: “There are two passages of words from a spiritual book that explain clearly about this aspect of the truth. Allow me to read them.”

Sister Li and I said with one accord: “Thanks be to the Lord. That’s great.”

Co-worker Gao took out his laptop, turned it on and read in a very serious tone: “When Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father as He prayed, this was done only from the perspective of a created man, only because the Spirit of God had clothed Himself as an ordinary and normal man and had the exterior cover of a created being. Even if within Him was the Spirit of God, His exterior appearance was still that of an ordinary man; in other words, He had become the ‘Son of man’ of which all men, including Jesus Himself, spoke. Given that He is called the Son of man, He is a person (whether man or woman, in any case one with the exterior shell of a human being) born into a normal family of ordinary people. Therefore, Jesus calling God in heaven by the name of Father was the same as how you at first called Him Father; He did so from the perspective of a man of creation. Do you still remember the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught you to memorize? ‘Our Father in heaven….’ He asked all man to call God in heaven by the name of Father. And since He too called Him Father, He did so from the perspective of one who stands on an equal footing with you all. Since you called God in heaven by the name of Father, this shows that Jesus saw Himself to be on equal footing with you, and as a man on earth chosen by God (that is, the Son of God). If you call God ‘Father,’ is this not because you are a created being? However great the authority of Jesus on earth, prior to the crucifixion, He was merely a Son of man, governed by the Holy Spirit (that is, God), and one of the earth’s created beings, for He had yet to complete His work. Therefore, His calling God in heaven Father was solely His humility and obedience. His addressing God (that is, the Spirit in heaven) in such a manner, however, does not prove that He is the Son of the Spirit of God in heaven. Rather, it is simply that His perspective is different….

After reading these words, Co-worker Gao was overcome with emotion: “From this, we can know clearly: When the Lord Jesus began to perform the ministry after being baptized, the Holy Spirit bore witness that He was God’s beloved Son. This was done only from the perspective of the Spirit. But when the Lord Jesus prayed, He called God of heaven Father. This was done only from the perspective of the flesh. But because we didn’t understand this aspect of the truth and didn’t know the way and the perspective of God’s speaking, we arbitrarily explained the Lord’s words according to our own imaginations, thus forming the conception of ‘the Lord Jesus is God’s Son.’”

Hearing these two paragraphs of words and Co-worker Gao’s fellowship, I was deeply moved: As it turns out, the Holy Spirit testified the Lord Jesus was God’s beloved Son, which was done from the perspective of the Spirit; while the Lord Jesus called God of heaven Father, which was done from the perspective of the flesh. But as for me, I didn’t understand this truth and held on to my conceptions. How foolish and ridiculous I was!

I felt very self-reproach, but there was still a question in my heart. So, I curiously asked: “Co-worker Gao, through what you read and fellowshiped, I am even clearer on this aspect. But I still have a question to ask you. Why did God not directly testify the Lord Jesus was God Himself? I believe there’s God’s good will in this. Can you fellowship more with us?”

Co-worker Gao went on to fellowship to us: “That’s a great question that many believers all want to understand. In fact, it has been clearly said in this book. When the Lord Jesus was working amidst human beings, it was actually that God’s Spirit clothed in flesh as a man was working and appearing to humans. Regardless of how the Lord Jesus was speaking and working or praying to God the Father, His substance was divinity, not humanity. God is Spirit, and we can’t see Him. Then what can we see when God becomes clothed in flesh? It is still only flesh that we can see, but we can’t see God’s Spirit. Therefore, if the Holy Spirit had directly borne witness that the incarnate Lord Jesus was God Himself, we humans wouldn’t have accepted it. It was also because, at the time, people didn’t know what it meant for God to be incarnated. In particular, they just came into contact with God’s incarnation and had very little understanding. They never imagined that this regular Son of man would be the embodiment of the Spirit of God, that is, the appearance of God in the flesh. Even though when the Lord Jesus was working, He expressed many words, brought man the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and manifested many signs and wonders, fully revealing God’s authority and power, the followers of the Lord failed to recognize from His word and work that the Lord Jesus was God Himself and was also the appearance of God. We can think back: How did the people at that time call the Lord Jesus?”

Sister Li said right away: “It is recorded in the Bible that: ‘And they said, Some say that you are John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets’ (Matthew 16:14).”

Co-worker Gao said definitively: “Yes. There was no one that could realize the Lord Jesus was God Himself at that time. They only acknowledged the Lord Jesus was one of the prophets or Master. Hence, God just worked according to the stature of people at that time, and He didn’t make it hard for them. Due to the understanding of the people at that time, the Holy Spirit could only testify the Lord Jesus was God’s beloved Son, temporarily allowing man to regard the Lord Jesus as God’s Son. This way was more reconciled with the conceptions of man, and was easier to accept. At that time, the Lord Jesus was only doing the work of redemption, so no matter how people called the Lord Jesus, as long as they accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior, their sins would be remitted, and they were thus qualified to enjoy God’s grace. So, God’s Spirit bore witness to the Lord Jesus in this way based on the stature of the people at that time. The Lord Jesus’ word truly came to fruition: ‘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). When God’s Spirit puts on the flesh, though we can’t see God’s Spirit, God’s disposition, all that He has and is, His almightiness and wisdom are all expressed through His flesh. From the Lord Jesus Christ’s word and work and the disposition which He expresses, we can be entirely certain that the Lord Jesus is God Himself. The Lord Jesus’ word and work are full of authority and power. God speaks, and it will be accomplished; He commands, and it will stand fast. Once He speaks, His words become reality. Just as one word from the Lord Jesus was enough to forgive man his sinfulness, calm the wind and the sea, bring the dead back to life and so on. From the Lord Jesus’ word and work, we have seen the authority and power of God to hold sovereignty over all things. We have also seen God’s almightiness, wisdom, and wondrous deeds. The Lord Jesus expressed the way in His words, ‘Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ He ushered in the Age of Grace, ended the Age of Law, expressed God’s disposition of love and mercy and completed the work of mankind’s redemption. So I ask you, did the Lord Jesus do the work of God Himself?”

Sister Li and I said in unison: “Yeah, right. After your fellowship, I finally understand.”

Then, Co-worker Gao fellowshiped: “The Lord Jesus’ word and work are the direct expression of the Spirit of God. Does it not prove that God’s Spirit directly spoke to and worked for people, appeared to them in the flesh? Could it possibly be that no matter how God’s Spirit speaks and works in the flesh, we can’t see His deeds? Can this external form of the flesh really prevent us from recognizing the divine substance of Christ? Could it be that, when God’s Spirit wears a flesh to speak and do work, no matter how much we experience we would still be unable to recognize God’s appearance and work? If this is the case, then we are far too stupid in our belief. How can we be commended by God?”

At his words, I said in humiliation: “After hearing your fellowship, I’m really ashamed. Having believed in the Lord for so many years and enjoyed much of the Lord’s grace and blessings, I never recognized the Lord Jesus’ divine substance. I didn’t recognize the Lord Jesus is God Himself, just thinking that the Lord Jesus was God’s Son. I never treated Him as God Himself. Only now do I understand no matter what God’s name is, how He is called, in substance God’s incarnation is God Himself.”

Sister Li also said in shame: “That’s right. Despite being believers, we’ve never really known the Lord, and have no knowledge of the mystery of the truth of the incarnation. Thinking back on my many tens of years of faith, it seems as though I believed in the Lord Jesus’ name only, but didn’t understand the Lord Jesus’ divine substance. How spiritually poor, how pitiable, how blind I’ve been.”

Co-worker Gao continued to say: “John 1:1 says, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ The Lord Jesus said: ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6). The Lord could express the truth and also bestow life upon man. This just fulfilled the substance of ‘the Word was with God,’ that is, God became flesh, and the Spirit of God and the flesh were one, inseparable from each other. Jesus Christ was God’s incarnate flesh; in other words, it is God in heaven wearing a flesh to come to earth, and is also the Spirit becoming flesh. Definitely speaking, it’s that the formless, invisible, and intangible Spirit (Jehovah) became the Son of man (Jesus) who has a tangible form, and who can be seen and touched by man, their names are different, but they are one. The Lord Jesus said: ‘If you had known me, you should have known my Father also: and from now on you know him, and have seen him’ (John 14:7). From His words, we can see Jehovah God and the Lord Jesus are one, and both are God Himself, but not Father and Son as man has imagined.”

Through this communication, I gained a lot. The confusion in my heart has finally been rid of. I have understood the Lord Jesus Christ is God’s incarnation, and that He is God Himself. God is unique and Jesus Christ was the embodiment of the Spirit of God, so the idea of the Father and the Son doesn’t exist at all. Now, I am completely enlightened. Thank the Lord for His leadership.

If you have other understanding or new light about this article, you’re welcome to have a chat with us via the online chat window at the bottom of the website or send an email to info@findshepherd.com. We Look forward to sharing with more brothers and sisters about your enlightenment from God and growing together in Christ.

Which Is True: Jesus Is the Son of God or Jesus Is God Himself?

yinyixiao380 — Sat, 30 May 2020 04:23:28 GMT

By Xiaojie

One day when reading the Bible, I came across the following verses, “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, see, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting on him: And see a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17), and the Lord Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). I thought to myself, “Since God called the Lord Jesus His beloved Son and the Lord Jesus called God in heaven Father, the Lord Jesus must be the Son of God.” But then it occurred to me, “Isn’t there only one true God? How come there is the relationship of Father and Son?” With this question, I consulted many spiritual books, but to my disappointment, none of them could resolve my confusion.

One day, I once again studied the Bible with my confusion, during which I came across the following verses, “Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffises us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? 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 14:8-10), and “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). I was surprised to find that Philip also regarded the Lord Jesus and God in heaven as two Gods, and thought that the Lord Jesus had a Father in heaven and that He was the Son of God the Father. That was why he said to the Lord, “Lord, show us the Father.” But the Lord Jesus said, “I am in the Father, and the Father in me,” “he that has seen me has seen the Father,” and “I and my Father are one.” Here, the Lord Jesus didn’t say that God and He were Father and Son, but that He is the Father and the Father is He and that They are one. There is no “Father-Son relationship” to speak of. So, the Lord Jesus is the appearance of God Himself, the incarnate God Himself. Then I began to wonder: “Since the Lord Jesus is not the Son of God but the unique God Himself, why did He call God in heaven Father when He prayed?”

Later, I got acquainted with Sister Li on the internet. Finding her fellowship about the truth practical and edifying, I then poured out my confusion to her. Through communicating with her, I finally understood this aspect of the truth. The sister fellowshiped, “I used to have the same confusion as you do. When I saw in the Bible that the Holy Spirit testified that the Lord Jesus was God’s beloved Son, and that the Lord Jesus called God in heaven Father, I concluded that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God. But when I read these words of the Lord, ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in me,’ and ‘I and my Father are one,’ I got totally bewildered: The Lord Jesus clearly said the Father is the Son and the Son is the Father, and that They are one; so why did He still pray to God the Father? Later I read some words of God on a website, through which I came to understand the truth of this aspect. Let’s take a look at what God’s words say. God says, ‘When Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father as He prayed, this was done only from the perspective of a created man, only because the Spirit of God had clothed Himself as an ordinary and normal man and had the exterior cover of a created being. Even if within Him was the Spirit of God, His exterior appearance was still that of an ordinary man; in other words, He had become the “Son of man” of which all men, including Jesus Himself, spoke. Given that He is called the Son of man, He is a person (whether man or woman, in any case one with the exterior shell of a human being) born into a normal family of ordinary people. Therefore, Jesus calling God in heaven by the name of Father was the same as how you at first called Him Father; He did so from the perspective of a man of creation. Do you still remember the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught you to memorize? “Our Father in heaven….” He asked all man to call God in heaven by the name of Father. And since He too called Him Father, He did so from the perspective of one who stands on an equal footing with you all. Since you called God in heaven by the name of Father, this shows that Jesus saw Himself to be on equal footing with you, and as a man on earth chosen by God (that is, the Son of God). If you call God “Father,” is this not because you are a created being? However great the authority of Jesus on earth, prior to the crucifixion, He was merely a Son of man, governed by the Holy Spirit (that is, God), and one of the earth’s created beings, for He had yet to complete His work. Therefore, His calling God in heaven Father was solely His humility and obedience. His addressing God (that is, the Spirit in heaven) in such a manner, however, does not prove that He is the Son of the Spirit of God in heaven. Rather, it is simply that His perspective is different, not that He is a different person. The existence of distinct persons is a fallacy! Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus was a Son of man bound by the limitations of the flesh, and He did not fully possess the authority of the Spirit. That is why He could only seek the will of God the Father from the perspective of a created being. It is as He thrice prayed in Gethsemane: “Not as I will, but as you will.” Before He was laid on the cross, He was but the King of the Jews; He was Christ, the Son of man, and not a body of glory. That is why, from the standpoint of a created being, He called God Father.’”

After finishing reading, Sister Li continued with her fellowship, “Here, God’s words make it clear that the Lord Jesus is the fleshly incarnation of God’s Spirit, that is, God’s Spirit materialized in the flesh. But because God’s Spirit does not do anything supernatural within His flesh, the flesh itself is unaware of the Spirit’s presence. It is just as how we cannot feel our spirit within us. Therefore, if God’s Spirit had not spoken and testified that He was God’s incarnation, the Lord Jesus couldn’t have known His true identity. When the Lord Jesus formally began His ministry at the age of 29, the Holy Spirit began to bear witness to His own incarnation, that is, God bore witness to Himself. That’s when the Lord Jesus realized that He is God incarnate, and that He had come to do the work of redemption. When He was to be crucified He still prayed to God the Father, which was Him praying to God’s Spirit from the perspective of a created being. This shows that the substance of the Lord Jesus Christ is obedience to God. Since it is thus, why didn’t the Spirit of God directly testify the Lord Jesus as God Himself, but as His beloved Son? Well, that was because people at that time had no idea what it meant for God to be incarnated. In their mind, they thought God is the Spirit, who once appeared to them in the pillar of cloud or fire. If the Holy Spirit had testified that God was incarnated as the Son of man and that the Son of man was God Himself, they wouldn’t have accepted it. Therefore, according to man’s real stature, God’s Spirit bore witness that the Lord Jesus was His beloved Son, temporarily allowing men to regard the Lord Jesus as God’s Son, which was more compatible with their conceptions and made it easier for them to accept the Lord’s work and salvation. At that time, regardless of how people called the Lord Jesus, as long as they could accept His redemptive work, call on His name in prayer, and confess and repent their sins to Him, they would be forgiven of their sins and obtain His grace and blessings, and God’s intention to save man in the Age of Grace would be achieved. Actually, when the Lord Jesus formally performed His ministry, His words and work were full of authority and power, which had already proven that He was God Himself. Therefore, He said, ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in me,’ ‘he that has seen me has seen the Father,’ and ‘I and my Father are one.’ Although the appearance of the Lord Jesus was ordinary and normal, His substance was divinity and He did the work that no one could do: He expressed the truth and preached the gospel ‘Repent you: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’; He taught man to be tolerant and patient, to love their enemies and love their neighbors as themselves, to forgive others seventy times seven times, and so on; He also performed many miracles, such as feeding five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish, calming the wind and sea, and resurrecting Lazarus. In the end He was nailed to the cross as a sin offering for mankind, completing the work of redemption. From His words and work, we can see God’s authority and power—which rule over all things—as well as His almightiness, wisdom, and wondrous deeds. All this fully proves that God’s Spirit appeared in the flesh as the Lord Jesus to speak to and work for man. So we can completely confirm that the Lord Jesus is God Himself.”

After listening to Sister Li’s communication, I felt that everything suddenly became clear and the confusion in my heart was finally solved. At the same time, I felt very ashamed and humiliated. I had believed in the Lord Jesus for many years, during which I enjoyed a lot of grace and blessings from Him, but I actually didn’t know that He is God Himself. I just regarded Him as the Son of God and never treated Him as God, so every time I prayed to the Lord, I would also pray to the heavenly Father. How was this believing in God? Now through God’s words and the sister’s fellowship, I came to understand that no matter how ordinary and normal God’s incarnate flesh is, or what He is called by, in essence He is God Himself appearing in the flesh. Having understood this, I sincerely offered my thanks to God.

All the glory be to God!

Disclosing: Is the Lord Jesus the Son of God, or God Himself?

yinyixiao380 — Fri, 29 May 2020 10:03:01 GMT

By Liu Yun

After the prayer meeting, I invited three church members to my house. They were Sister Wang, Sister Yu, and Sister Zhao who teaches hymn-singing. All of them have been my spiritual colleagues in the Lord for many years. After we reached my house, I brewed some tea for them, and then we got to chatting. Sister Zhao said, “Hey, there is a question I still can’t understand. Usually the preachers always say that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God. And I also see from the Bible that while the Lord Jesus was preaching or speaking to people, He always called God in heaven Father. So, I believe that the Lord Jesus is God’s Son. However, I also see the Bible say that the Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and that He once said to His disciples: ‘Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me….’ (John 14:11) ‘I and my Father are one’ (John 10:30). So I am confused. Is the Lord Jesus God Himself or God’s Son?” Without thinking, Sister Yu replied before the others, “He is surely the Son of God!” Then Sister Zhao asked, “What kind of basis do you have for saying so?” Sister Yu explained, “Matthew chapter 3 verses 16-17 record, ‘And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, see, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting on him: And see a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ From these two verses we know when the Lord Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit personally bore witness that the Lord Jesus is the beloved Son of God. Since the Lord Jesus was called the beloved Son, doesn’t it mean that He is exactly God’s Son? Besides, when the Lord Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane, He called God in heaven by the name of Father. Aren’t all these the basis for that?” After hearing this, Sister Zhao mulled things over for a while, and said, “What you said is reasonable. According to these verses, we can easily confirm that the Lord Jesus is God’s Son. Hey, how do you two understand this question? Don’t just listen to us. Why don’t you speak?” Sister Zhao looked at us, waiting for our answer.

Sister Wang and I smiled at each other. At the sight of this, both Sister Zhao and Sister Yu were puzzled, wondering why we smiled. At this time, Sister Wang first started communicating, “Is the Lord Jesus God Himself or the Son of God? This is a question that the whole religious world argues about all the time. When we see from what is recorded in the Bible that many times the Lord Jesus called God in the heaven Father, and that the Holy Spirit also personally bore witness that the Lord Jesus is the beloved Son of God, then we further believe that the Lord Jesus is God’s Son. In this way, the notion of this Father-Son relationship was formed. Before, I thought like this too. It was not until Sister Liu and I heard the fellowship of a preacher, Sister Qin, that I had a new insight into this.” Sister Yu eagerly said, “Come on. Tell us quickly. What has she fellowshiped and what new knowledge have you gained?”

Sister Wang said with a smile, “You are the same as ever, always being so impatient for results.” While speaking, she took a Bible out of her bag, and said, “If we want to know whether the Lord Jesus is God Himself or the Son of God, let’s read several scriptures first. When Philip asked the Lord Jesus to show him the Father in heaven, the Lord said to him: ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? 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 14:9-10). Through these words, the Lord Jesus was telling people that He and the Father are one and are the same Spirit, and that He is the incarnate flesh of God’s Spirit and the embodiment of the Father in heaven. Evidently the Lord Jesus is exactly God Himself but not God’s Son. However, people nowadays infer from their own understanding of scriptures that the Lord Jesus is the Son of God. In fact, the Lord Jesus Himself didn’t acknowledge such saying. When He bore testimony to Himself, He once said He is exactly God Himself. The Pharisees asked the Lord Jesus, ‘Where is your Father?’ (John 8:19), He answered, ‘You neither know me, nor my Father: if you had known me, you should have known my Father also’ (John 8:19). Take another example. The Lord said to the Jews, ‘But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works: that you may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him’ (John 10:38). And in John chapter 12 verses 44-45, it says, ‘He that believes on me, believes not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that sees me sees him that sent me.’ Through these scriptures, the Lord Jesus was testifying to mankind that He was the manifestation of God, though He didn’t directly say to mankind, ‘I am God Himself.’ If we carefully ponder these words of the Lord Jesus, then we can confirm that He is the very God Himself.”

Sister Yu listened and examined the scriptures. As soon as Sister Wang’s voice subsided, Sister Yu closed the Bible, raised her head, and said, “That’s true. The Lord Jesus really did say ‘I and my Father are one.’ The Lord clearly told us that He is the incarnate God Himself and not the Son of God. I have also seen these verses before, but I considered the Lord Jesus as God’s son just according to a few scriptures, without paying attention to what the Lord said. How come I did not ponder the Lord’s words with my heart?”

Then Sister Zhao said, “Sister Wang’s fellowship is reasonable and well-grounded. But I can’t figure out this thing: Since the Lord Jesus is obviously God Himself, why did He still call God in heaven Father in His prayers? Why did the Holy Spirit testify that the Lord Jesus is His beloved Son?” “Yes, that’s it! I am stuck here too. I really can’t figure this out. Can you fellowship about this?” said Sister Yu eagerly.

I nodded and answered, “This question also once puzzled us. At that time, regarding it, Sister Qin read us three passages of words. Let me read them to you.” Then I opened my notebook and read, “When Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father as He prayed, this was done only from the perspective of a created man, only because the Spirit of God had clothed Himself as an ordinary and normal man and had the exterior cover of a created being. Even if within Him was the Spirit of God, His exterior appearance was still that of an ordinary man; in other words, He had become the ‘Son of man’ of which all men, including Jesus Himself, spoke. Given that He is called the Son of man, He is a person (whether man or woman, in any case one with the exterior shell of a human being) born into a normal family of ordinary people. Therefore, Jesus calling God in heaven by the name of Father was the same as how you at first called Him Father; He did so from the perspective of a man of creation. Do you still remember the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught you to memorize? ‘Our Father in heaven….’ He asked all man to call God in heaven by the name of Father. And since He too called Him Father, He did so from the perspective of one who stands on an equal footing with you all.” “There are still those who say, ‘Did not God expressly state that Jesus was His beloved Son?’ ‘Jesus is the beloved Son of God, in whom He is well pleased’ was certainly spoken by God Himself. That was God bearing witness to Himself, but merely from a different perspective, that of the Spirit in heaven bearing witness to His own incarnation. Jesus is His incarnation, not His Son in heaven. Do you understand? Do not the words of Jesus, ‘The Father is in Me and I am in the Father,’ indicate that They are one Spirit? And is it not because of the incarnation that They were separated between heaven and earth? In reality, They are still one; no matter what, it is simply God bearing witness to Himself. … But at that time, the Spirit in heaven stated only that He was the beloved Son of God, and made no mention of His being the only Son of God. This simply did not happen. How could God have an only child? Then would God not have become man? Because He was the incarnation, He was called the beloved Son of God, and, from this, came the relationship between Father and Son. It was simply because of the separation between heaven and earth.” “After Jesus went away, this idea of the Father and the Son was no longer. This idea was only appropriate for the years when Jesus became flesh; under all other circumstances, the relationship is one between the Lord of creation and a created being when you call God Father. There is no time at which this idea of the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can stand; it is a fallacy rarely seen through the ages and does not exist!” (“Does the Trinity Exist?”).

After finishing reading these words, I continued by saying, “Through Sister Qin’s fellowship, I came to understand: Unlike what we imagined, when the Lord Jesus called God in heaven Father when He prayed, He was not doing this with the identity of God’s Son. The fact is that He did this from the standpoint of a created being, which showed the humility and obedience of Christ. At that time the Holy Spirit bore witness to the fact that the Lord Jesus is God’s beloved Son, but not the son of God. Instead, He was testifying from the perspective of the Spirit that the Lord Jesus is the incarnation of God Himself, He called the incarnate flesh of God the beloved Son but not His son. In reality, God is the one true God. No matter whether He is in heaven commanding the whole universe, or becomes flesh to do work amongst man, God in the flesh and the Holy Spirit are still one God. Because the incarnate Christ is inherently God Himself and is the Spirit of God truly realized in the flesh, He has God’s essence, and what He expresses is all the disposition of God. In outward appearance, the Lord Jesus Christ was an ordinary and normal flesh, but His substance is God Himself. His coming to work concluded the Old Testament Age of Law and brought the Age of Grace, and brought us the way of repentance. Moreover, the Lord Jesus’ words have authority and power: When He rebuked the wind and sea, the sea became calm again; when He commanded Lazarus to come out of the grave, Lazarus was resurrected from death. So, Christ is exactly God Himself. The Lord Jesus only called God in heaven Father because He was working in the flesh. When His work in the flesh was concluded, this idea of the Father and the Son was no longer.”

After fellowshiping this, Sister Zhao gladly said, “Today, through your and Sister Wang’s fellowship, I have gained some enlightenment. It turns out that when the Lord Jesus called God in heaven Father, He did so from the perspective of the flesh; when God in heaven called the Lord Jesus His beloved Son, He was bearing witness to His own incarnation from the perspective of the Holy Spirit.” Sister Yu also agreed with a nod, “I eventually know the real reason why the Lord Jesus addressed God in heaven as Father, and the meaning of the Holy Spirit testifying to Jesus being His beloved Son. Now, my puzzle is finally solved!” Listening to these words, we all smiled with pleasure.

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