How Do We Know That the Lord Jesus Has Returned? （Part 2）
Cont'd
“The one true God who administers all things in the universe—the almighty Christ! This is the testimony of the Holy Spirit, it is irrefutable proof! The Holy Spirit is working to bear testimony everywhere, so that no one will have any doubt. The triumphant King, Almighty God! He has prevailed over the world, He has prevailed over sin and accomplished redemption! He saves us, this group of people who have been corrupted by Satan, and He makes us complete to carry out His will. He reigns over the whole earth, takes it back and chases Satan into a bottomless pit. He is judging the world, and no one can escape from His hands. He reigns as King.
“The whole earth shall rejoice! Praise the triumphant King—Almighty God! For ever and ever! You are worthy of honor and praise. Authority and glory be to the great King of the universe!” (“The Twenty-seventh Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Brothers and sisters, we have merely selected a small portion of the Holy Spirit’s testimony to read, but it is sufficient to see from this that the Holy Spirit has testified that Almighty God is the King of the kingdom and the second coming of the Lord Jesus! As long as we humble ourselves and listen to these words with a seeking heart, we will gain the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and be able to know that Almighty God is the one true God and is the return of the Lord Jesus.
What God performs in the last days is the work of the word; He uses His words to openly express all that God has and is to mankind. God’s disposition and wisdom are also revealed through His word. God is using His word to judge man, to chastise man, and to supply to man all the truths for purifying and saving corrupt mankind, so that man can be cleansed and thoroughly saved and God can conclude His entire management plan. In these words of life expressed by Almighty God, there are words that prophesy the future of the kingdom, words that reveal the mysteries of God’s management plan, and words that expose human nature, as well as words that discuss human life, life entry, and so forth. All those who accept Almighty God’s work of the last days have, through eating and drinking the words expressed by Almighty God, understood the mysteries of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, the purpose and meaning of God’s creation of mankind, the mysteries of God becoming flesh, the difference between God’s work and man’s work, the inside story of God’s work in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace, and how all mankind has developed until today as well as their future destination, etc. Through the revelations and judgment of Almighty God’s word, people have also understood the origins of mankind’s corruption and their corrupt essence, and why man always sins by day and confesses by night, never able to break free from sin. Moreover, they have also understood how to pursue in order to cast away their sinful nature and corrupt satanic disposition to become sanctified. And so forth. Brothers and sisters, the truth expressed by Almighty God has made all those who follow Him truly experience what is called the spring of the living water and how life is provided to us. It has also made people truly see the fact that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” More importantly, the chastisement and judgment work Almighty God performed on people has helped them to no longer live in the cycle of sinning by day and confessing by night; instead, they live a new life of overcoming Satan and transcending sins, becoming more and more knowledgeable about God, more and more obedient, and more and more like new people. Through such work of Almighty God, we can see that all of this work performed by Almighty God in the last days did not exist in the Age of Grace. It is work God had never performed before, and it is a new stage of work performed on the foundations of His work during the Age of Grace. The work performed by Almighty God has brought man new provisions and given man new knowledge of God. The work He performs cannot be done or replaced by any man. Aren’t such work and the results of such work the best testimony of God’s work in the last days? Brothers and sisters, after going through the testimony of the Holy Spirit and the work performed by Almighty God, can we now still say that the Lord has not returned?
We can see from the testimony of the Holy Spirit, and all the truths expressed by Almighty God to cleanse and save man, that Almighty God is Christ of the last days and the second coming of the Lord Jesus. God has long returned to the flesh and commenced His work of judging and cleansing in the last days. In the face of this reality, can we still say that the Lord has not returned? Haven’t we been waiting for this day to arrive in our years of belief? And now, Almighty God’s work of the last days on the Chinese mainland has basically finished and is expanding throughout the entire universe at the speed of lightning. The several millions of words expressed by Almighty God have been published online along with all kinds of gospel movies and videos and so forth for investigation by people of all nations and tongues around the world who hunger for and seek God’s appearance. God’s deeds have already been revealed publicly to all nations and peoples. Brothers and sisters, at this key moment, should you still continue to wait and observe? Are you willing to lose your last chance to be saved by God? I hope we can all gain God’s enlightenment, soon follow God’s footsteps and enter the new age. I hope we can all enter the wonderful new heaven and earth God has prepared for us.
from Collection of the Sermons of the Kingdom Gospel
Some people say, “How could we possibly not know if the Lord has come? How would we receive no sign whatsoever?” Let’s look at the Lord’s prophecy in the Bible to see how He will come when He returns. “But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” (Luk 17:25). It is also prophesied that the Lord will come in a hidden way, which nobody knows. “Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your Lord does come. But know this, that if the manager of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes” (Mat 24:42-44). This just testifies to the fact that God’s second coming is unknown, and when nothing is known of His coming, that is when the Son of man comes. The Lord’s prophecy also says, “But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Mat 24:36). The angels don’t know, not even the Son knows. How could the Son not know? That the Son does not know means that Christ incarnate, Himself, does not know. This is also to say that in the beginning the Son of man incarnate does not know who He is. To give an example, when the Lord Jesus came, at the start He had no idea that He was God. “I am in the Father, and the Father in me” (Jhn 14:10). “I and my Father are one” (Jhn 10:30). Our Lord Jesus only knew this three years before the crucifixion. Prior to three years before the crucifixion, the Lord Jesus did not know that He was the incarnate God Himself. In the last days, Almighty God has arrived, but from the beginning He didn’t even know that He is God. When did He know of this? After expressing the truth to a certain extent, as He spoke of the incarnation, at this time He knew it. When He began expressing the word, He did not know. These two events testify to the fact that the Lord’s second coming is unknown by all. The angels do not know. The Son, Himself, does not know; only the Holy Spirit knows, only the Spirit of God knows. So, people say, “No wonder that I do not know of God’s coming.” “No wonder we Americans don’t know.” “No wonder we British people don’t know.” “No wonder no one in the whole world knows. The Lord comes as a thief, so no one knows of it.” The Lord comes as a thief, certainly no one knows of it. If the Lord’s coming was a public descent, of course everyone would know of it. The Lord’s coming is not openly known; it is a secret descent. That nobody knows is to be expected. It is not only we who do not know: Nobody does. Some people say, “That’s not right. If you say that nobody knows, then how do you know?” This is because people hear the gospel on different occasions from those who testify to God’s word. There are those that accept first, and those who accept later on. There is this distinction. Those who accept first know a bit earlier; those who accept later know a bit later. It’s like when the Lord Jesus appeared and worked after being incarnated: It was people like Peter and John who first accepted the Lord Jesus. Later when the Lord Jesus’ word and work were spread and testified to, more and more people came to accept the Lord Jesus. Isn’t this how it was? Has this question been explained clearly enough? (Yes, it has.)
Source From: Find the Shepherd