Put Aside Our Notions to Welcome the Lord’s Return

Put Aside Our Notions to Welcome the Lord’s Return

Wang Hui

We often live in our notions and imaginations, which can give us wonderful hope or become the motivation of our life. However, once the reality doesn’t line up with our imaginations, that can have serious consequences for us.

I have heard such a story:

Once there was an old lady and her two sons. When the sons were small, their father went abroad to work. The father often sent money and necessaries of life to support the family. As time passed by, the two sons had forgotten what their father looked like, so the old lady often talked about their father to them. Thus, there was an imagined father in their mind. Soon after the old lady’s death, their father wrote to them that he would come back, but he didn’t tell them the time of his return. Knowing that their father would be back, the two sons were very excited and looking forward to their father’s return, for they had long known from their mother that their father had already become a rich man abroad.

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The Church of Almighty God | Will God’s Name Never Change?

by Zhang Yu

The New Testament records: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). Like many Christians, I thought that the Lord Jesus was the Savior and God could only be called Jesus. But I recalled that the Old Testament says: “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11). In the Age of Law, God personally told people that the name Jehovah was His name and would last forever. However, why did God’s name become Jesus when He was incarnated to do the work of redemption in the Age of Grace? Which is actually God’s name, Jehovah or Jesus? The questions puzzled me all along.

One day, after one of my co-workers of the church read a passage from The Vision of God’s Work (3) to me, I had some new understanding of the change of God’s name. The passage says: “Can the image of one person and one particular name represent God in His entirety? In each age, God does new work and is called by a new name; how could He do the same work in different ages? How could He cling to the old? The name of Jesus was taken for the work of redemption, so would He still be called by the same name when He returns in the last days? Would He still do the work of redemption? Why is it that Jehovah and Jesus are one, yet They are called by different names in different ages? Is it not because the ages of Their work are different? Could a single name represent God in His entirety? In this way, God must be called by a different name in a different age, must use the name to change the age and represent the age, for no one name can fully represent God Himself. And each name can only represent God’s disposition during a certain age and needs only to represent His work. Therefore, God can choose whatever name befits His disposition to represent the entire age. Regardless of whether it is the age of Jehovah, or the age of Jesus, each age is represented by a name.” After the co-worker fellowshiped with me, I realized: God does different work in different ages and takes different names. He uses the name to change the age and represent the age. When God’s work of saving mankind moves forward, His name will change accordingly. Just as the name Jehovah represented the work of God in the Age of Law. In that age, God issued the laws to guide man’s life on earth and expressed the man-pitying, man-cursing disposition. The name Jehovah represented the God who possesses great power and is full of wisdom. In the Age of Grace, God did a new work, so He changed His name, which was not Jehovah but Jesus. God used the name Jesus to represent His work of redeeming mankind in the Age of Grace. The Lord Jesus bestowed abundant grace upon people and expressed the disposition of mercy and love. From the fact that God’s name changed from Jehovah to Jesus, we can see that God’s name doesn’t remain forever, but changes according to the change of the age of the work. The age is moving forward, so God’s name is bound to change when the Lord returns to do His new work in the last days.

We also consulted the prophecies in Revelation, which say, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving he that receives it” (Revelation 2:17). “Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write on him my new name” (Revelation 3:12). These words prophesied that when the Lord Jesus returns, He will have a new name. It can neither be the name of Jesus nor Jehovah. Then what will be the new name? We noticed that Revelation 15:3 records: “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are your ways, you King of saints.” Revelation 19:6 says: “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigns.” From the prophecies, I know God’s new name in the last days is the Almighty, that is, Almighty God. Though Jehovah, Jesus and Almighty God are called differently, yet They are one God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. It turned out that Revelation had already prophesied the new name of the returned Lord. Not until then did I realize it. I really thanked God’s guidance!

Later on, I read another passage in The Vision of God’s Work (3), “God’s wisdom, God’s wondrousness, God’s righteousness, and God’s majesty shall never change. His essence and what He has and is shall never change. His work, however, is always progressing forward and always going deeper, for He is always new and never old.” “There are those who say that God is immutable. That is correct, but it refers to the immutability of God’s disposition and substance. Changes in His name and work do not prove that His substance has altered; in other words, God will always be God, and this will never change.” After reading these words, I thought of the verses, “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior.” “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Then I finally understood the true meaning of these verses. God’s management plan of saving mankind is progressing forward. When each age of God Himself comes, He will take a new name to accomplish His work of the current age: In the Age of Law, God was called by the name of Jehovah; in the Age of Grace, God’s name was Jesus; when the last days come, God will still change His name and will be called Almighty God. But no matter how God’s name changes, His substance never alters, and His main disposition that is righteous, His holy substance, His almightiness and wisdom, as well as what He has and is won’t change. God says, “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11). The Bible records “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). These verses truly mean that the inherent disposition of God and what He has and is have never changed and will never change, but don’t mean that God’s name remains forever as we imagine. If we hold on to such conceptions, we misinterpret God’s word. As a result, we will define God and His work, and even directly resist God according to our conceptions and imaginations. Let’s recall the time that the Lord Jesus came to do His work in the Age of Grace. Because the Israelites under the law didn’t know God’s substance, they held on to the false understanding of the word “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior.” They didn’t allow God to change His name but condemned the Lord Jesus, for in their heart only Jehovah was God and only He was their Savior. When God changed the age and did a new work to save them in the name of Jesus, they didn’t know what the Lord Jesus expressed is the truth and is God’s disposition and all that He is, much less did they know the essence of the Lord Jesus’ work or the change of the Holy Spirit’s work. They never thought the Lord Jesus was God incarnate who came to earth. Although God’s name changed and He was not called Jehovah, the Lord Jesus was the Spirit of Jehovah becoming a flesh to do the work of redemption in the name of Jesus. They only followed the letters of the Bible, rejected and resisted the Lord Jesus and His work. Ultimately they nailed the merciful Savior Jesus onto the cross alive, and thus committed a heinous crime and offended God’s disposition, resulting in the destruction of the entire Israeli nation, with many people fleeing to all parts of the world and having no place to stay. The painful fact was a warning to each of us who follows the Lord Jesus: In God’s constantly renewing and changing work, we should have a heart of fearing God and can’t define God’s name or His work at will.

Now I know that God is God. No matter what name God is called by, there is only one God. God is the Creator, the Ruler of all things, and the source of the life of all things. He controls all things and provides for the needs of all things. He is the only true God from everlasting to everlasting and He is the truth, the way and the life. Whether He is called by the name of Jehovah, Jesus or Almighty God, They are one Spirit. No matter in which age or whatever name God is called by, God’s righteous, holy, beautiful and good substance never changes. God will always be God Himself who saves us.

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In the Bible it says, there is none other name under heaven given among men, the only Savior is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. But today why do you believe in Almighty God?

Pictures of the Church of Almighty God

33. In the Bible it says, there is none other name under heaven given among men, the only Savior is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. But today why do you believe in Almighty God?

Bible Reference:

“Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write on him my new name” (Rev 3:12).

The answer from God’s word:

God’s wisdom, God’s wondrousness, God’s righteousness, and God’s majesty shall never change. His essence and what He has and is shall never change. His work, however, is always progressing forward and always going deeper, for He is always new and never old.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

There are those who say that God is immutable. That is correct, but it refers to the immutability of God’s disposition and substance. Changes in His name and work do not prove that His substance has altered; in other words, God will always be God, and this will never change.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“Jehovah” is the name that I took during My work in Israel, and it means the God of the Israelites (God’s chosen people) who can take pity on man, curse man, and guide the life of man. It means the God who possesses great power and is full of wisdom. “Jesus” is Emmanuel, and it means the sin offering that is full of love, full of compassion, and redeems man. He did the work of the Age of Grace, and represents the Age of Grace, and can only represent one part of the management plan. That is to say, only Jehovah is the God of the chosen people of Israel, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Moses, and the God of all the people of Israel. And so in the current age, all the Israelites apart from the tribe of Judah worship Jehovah. They make sacrifices to Him on the altar, and serve Him wearing priests’ robes in the temple. What they hope for is the reappearance of Jehovah. Only Jesus is the Redeemer of mankind. He is the sin offering that redeemed mankind from sin. Which is to say, the name of Jesus came from the Age of Grace, and existed because of the work of redemption in the Age of Grace. The name of Jesus existed to allow the people of the Age of Grace to be reborn and saved, and is a particular name for the redemption of the whole of mankind. And so the name Jesus represents the work of redemption, and denotes the Age of Grace. The name Jehovah is a particular name for the people of Israel who lived under the law. In each age and each stage of work, My name is not baseless, but holds representative significance: Each name represents one age. “Jehovah” represents the Age of Law, and is the honorific for the God worshiped by the people of Israel. “Jesus” represents the Age of Grace, and is the name of the God of all those who were redeemed during the Age of Grace. If man still longs for the arrival of Jesus the Savior during the last days, and still expects Him to arrive in the image He bore in Judea, then the entire six-thousand-year management plan would stop in the Age of Redemption, and would be incapable of progressing any further. The last days, furthermore, would never arrive, and the age would never be brought to an end. That is because Jesus the Savior is only for the redemption and salvation of mankind. I took the name of Jesus for the sake of all the sinners in the Age of Grace, and it is not the name by which I shall bring the whole of mankind to an end. Although Jehovah, Jesus, and the Messiah all represent My Spirit, these names only denote the different ages in My management plan, and do not represent Me in My entirety. The names by which people on earth call Me cannot articulate My entire disposition and all that I am. They are merely different names by which I am called during different ages. And so, when the final age—the age of the last days—arrives, My name shall change again. I shall not be called Jehovah, or Jesus, much less the Messiah, but shall be called the powerful Almighty God Himself, and under this name I shall bring the entire age to an end. I was once known as Jehovah. I was also called the Messiah, and people once called Me Jesus the Savior because they loved and respected Me. But today I am not the Jehovah or Jesus that people knew in times past—I am the God who has returned in the last days, the God who shall bring the age to an end. I am the God Himself that rises up at the ends of the earth, replete with My entire disposition, and full of authority, honor and glory. People have never engaged with Me, have never known Me, and have always been ignorant of My disposition. From the creation of the world until today, not one person has seen Me. This is the God who appears to man during the last days but is hidden among man. He resides among man, true and real, like the burning sun and the flaming fire, filled with power and brimming with authority. There is not a single person or thing that shall not be judged by My words, and not a single person or thing that shall not be purified through the burning of fire. Eventually, all nations shall be blessed because of My words, and also smashed to pieces because of My words. In this way, all people during the last days shall see that I am the Savior returned, I am the Almighty God that conquers all of mankind, and I was once the sin offering for man, but in the last days I also become the flames of the sun that burn all things, as well as the sun of righteousness that reveals all things. Such is My work of the last days. I took this name and am possessed of this disposition so that all people may see that I am a righteous God, and am the burning sun, and the flaming fire. It is so that all may worship Me, the only true God, and so that they may see My true face: I am not only the God of the Israelites, and am not just the Redeemer—I am the God of all creatures throughout heavens and earth and seas.

from “The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Could the name of Jesus, “God with us,” represent God’s disposition in its entirety? Could it fully articulate God? If man says that God can only be called Jesus, and may not have any other name because God cannot change His disposition, then such words are blasphemy! Do you believe that the name Jesus, God with us, can represent God in His entirety? God can be called many names, but among these many names, there is not one which can encapsulate all that God has, there is not one which can fully represent God. And so God has many names, but these many names cannot fully articulate God’s disposition, for God’s disposition is too rich, and extends beyond the knowledge of man. The language of man is incapable of fully encapsulating God. Man has but a limited vocabulary with which to encapsulate all that he knows of God’s disposition: great, honorable, wondrous, unfathomable, supreme, holy, righteous, wise, and so on. Too many words! Such a limited vocabulary is incapable of describing what little man has witnessed of God’s disposition. Later on, many people added more words to better describe the fervor in their hearts: God is too great! God is too holy! God is too lovely! Today, sayings such as these have reached their peak, yet man is still incapable of clearly expressing God. And so, for man, God has many names, yet He has no one name, and that is because God’s being is too bountiful, and the language of man is too inadequate. One particular word or name is powerless to represent God in His entirety. So can God take one fixed name? God is so great and holy, so why do you not permit Him to change His name in each new age? As such, in each age that God personally does His own work, He uses a name that befits the age to encapsulate the work that He does. He uses this particular name, one that possesses the significance of the age, to represent His disposition in that age. God uses the language of man to express His own disposition. … You should know that God originally had no name. He only took on one, or two, or many names because He had work to do and had to manage mankind. Whatever name He is called by, isn’t it freely chosen by Him? Does He need you, a creature, to decide it? The name by which God is called is according to what man can apprehend and the language of man, but this name cannot be encapsulated by man. You can only say that there is a God in heaven, that He is called God, that He is God Himself with great power, too wise, too exalted, too wondrous, too mysterious, too almighty, and you can say no more; that is all you know. In this way, can the name of Jesus alone represent God Himself? When the last days come, although it is still God who does His work, His name has to change, for it is a different age.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Some say that the name of God does not change, so why then did the name of Jehovah become Jesus? It was prophesied of the coming of the Messiah, so why then did a man by the name of Jesus come? Why did the name of God change? Was not such work carried out long ago? Cannot God this day do a new work? The work of yesterday can be altered, and the work of Jesus can follow on from that of Jehovah. Cannot then the work of Jesus be succeeded by another work? If the name of Jehovah can be changed to Jesus, then cannot the name of Jesus also be changed? This is not unusual, and people think so[a] only due to their simple-mindedness. God will always be God. Regardless of the changes to His work and His name, His disposition and wisdom remain forever unchanged. If you believe that God can only be called by the name of Jesus, then you know too little.

from “How Can Man Who Has Defined God in His Conceptions Receive the Revelations of God?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Footnotes:

a. The original text reads “which is.”

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Questions and Answers About the Inside Story of the Bible

Question 3: The Lord Jesus personally said that the Bible testified of Him. So, we must believe in the Lord according to the Bible. The Bible is the only path for us to know the Lord.

Answer: Let’s see whether we can really know the Lord according to the Bible. This question is answered in Almighty God’s word. Almighty God tells us, “The Jews of the time all read from the Old Testament and knew of Isaiah’s prophecy that a male infant would be born in a manger. Why then, with this knowledge, did they still persecute Jesus? Is this not because of their rebellious nature and ignorance of the work of the Holy Spirit? At that time, the Pharisees believed that the work of Jesus was unlike what they knew of the prophesied male infant; man of today rejects God because the work of the incarnate God does not conform to the Bible. Is not the substance of their rebelliousness against God one and the same? … What you ought to do is acceptance of, without the need for further substantiation from the Bible, any work so long as it is that of the Holy Spirit, for you believe in God to follow God, not to investigate Him. You should not search out further proof for Me to show that I am your God. Rather, you ought to discern whether I am of benefit to you; that is the key. Even if you have found out much irrefutable proof within the Bible, it cannot bring you fully before Me. You are one who lives within the confines of the Bible, and not before Me; the Bible cannot help you know Me, nor can it deepen your love for Me. Though the Bible prophesied that a male infant would be born, none could fathom upon whom the prophecy would come to pass, for man did not know the work of God, and this is what caused the Pharisees to stand against Jesus” (“How Can Man Who Has Defined God in His Conceptions Receive the Revelations of God?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The people in the Age of Law held on to the Bible, and they didn’t seek or investigate God’s new work. In the end, they nailed the Lord Jesus onto the cross. From this fact, we can see that we can’t know God or God’s work from the Bible alone. We all know the followers of the Lord Jesus could recognize Him all because of His present work and word and the guidance and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. None of them recognized Him according to the Bible. This is the fact. Brothers and sisters, today, when facing Almighty God’s work, we also couldn’t judge only according to the Bible. The Bible is only for reference. We should confirm it mainly according to whether it has the truth and the work of the Holy Spirit. Only in this way, can we make a correct choice.

Almighty God has already made this clear. “Now people look to the Bible for predictions of the work of the last days, wanting to discover what work God will perform in the last days and what signs of the last days will be. And so people’s veneration of the Bible grows ever more intense, and as the last days draw nearer, people give more credence to the biblical predictions, particularly those concerning the last days. Because they put so much blind faith and trust in the Bible, people have no heart to seek out the work of the Holy Spirit. People have the notion that only the Bible can bring forth the work of the Holy Spirit, that only in the Bible can one find the footprints of God, that only the Bible hides the mysteries of God’s work. They believe that only the Bible can lay bare everything of God and the entirety of His work, and that no other books, no other men, can do so. They think that the Bible can bring the work of heaven onto earth, can begin and end eras. Having settled upon these notions, people have no interest in seeking out the work of the Holy Spirit. And so, though the Bible was of great help to people in the past, for God’s latest work it has become an obstacle. If it were not for the Bible, people could look elsewhere for God’s footprints. But today, the Bible has ‘control’ over God’s footprints, and the broadening of God’s latest work has come to an extremely difficult pass and can proceed no further, thanks to its well-known chapters and verses and many of its prophecies” (“Concerning the Bible (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “… since we are searching for the footprints of God, we must search for God’s will, for the words of God, for the utterances of God—for where there are the new words of God, there is the voice of God, and where there are the footsteps of God, there are the deeds of God. Where there is the expression of God, there is the appearance of God, and where there is the appearance of God, there exists the truth, the way, and the life” (“The Appearance of God Has Brought a New Age” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Brothers and sisters, Almighty God’s words have told us clearly that man shouldn’t restrict himself to the Bible but should keep up with the pace of the Holy Spirit’s work and seek God’s footsteps in His new work and new word. To make sure whether it is God’s work or the true way, we should see whether this way has the work of the Holy Spirit or the expression of the truth and whether it can be man’s life supply. If there is the expression of the truth and life, undoubtedly this is God’s work and there must be the confirmation of the Holy Spirit. If we want to know God’s work in the last days, we need to seek and investigate in God’s word and utterance, to see whether these words are the expression in the new age, whether they can bring man the direction in the new age, whether they contain the truth, and whether they can be man’s life supply, transform man’s corrupt disposition and purify him. These are the standards to confirm whether it’s the true way. Brothers and sisters, we should read God’s utterance and word in the new age.

from the movie script of Disclose the Mystery About the Bible

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