God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself I

God became flesh for the first time after the Age of Law, an incarnation that lasted thirty-three and a half years. For a human being, is thirty-three and a half years a long time? (Not long.) Since the lifespan of a human being is usually much longer than thirty-something years, this is not a very long time for man. But for God incarnate, these thirty-three and a half years is very long. He became a person—an ordinary person who bore God’s work and commission. This meant that He had to take on work an ordinary person cannot handle, while also endure suffering that ordinary people cannot withstand. The amount of suffering endured by the Lord Jesus during the Age of Grace, from the start of His work to when He was nailed to the cross, may not be something the people of today could have witnessed in person, but can you at least appreciate a bit of it through the stories in the Bible?

 Irrespective of how many details there are in these recorded facts, all in all, God’s work during this period was full of hardship and suffering. For a corrupted human, thirty-three and a half years is not a long time; a little suffering is no big deal. But for the holy, unblemished God, who has to bear all of mankind’s sins, and eat, sleep, and live with sinners, this pain is too great. He is the Creator, the Master of all things and the Ruler of everything, yet when He came to the world He had to endure the oppression and cruelty of corrupted humans. In order to complete His work and rescue humanity from misery, He had to be condemned by man, and bear the sins of all mankind. The extent of the suffering He went through cannot possibly be fathomed or appreciated by ordinary people. What does this suffering represent? It represents God’s devotion to humankind. It stands for the humiliation He suffered and the price He paid for man’s salvation, to redeem their sins, and to complete this stage of His work. It also means man would be redeemed from the cross by God. This is a price paid in blood, in life, a price created beings cannot afford. It is because He has God’s essence and is equipped with what God has and is that He can bear this kind of suffering and this type of work. This is something no created being can do in His stead. This is the work of God during the Age of Grace and a revelation of His disposition. Does this reveal anything about what God has and is? Is it worth mankind getting to know?

In that age, though man did not see God’s person, they received God’s sin offering and were redeemed from the cross by God. Mankind may not be unfamiliar with the work God did during the Age of Grace, but is anyone familiar with the disposition and will expressed by God during this period? Man merely knows about details of God’s work during different ages through various channels, or knows of stories related to God that took place at the same time God was carrying out His work. These details and stories are at most just some information or legends about God, and have nothing to do with God’s disposition and essence. So no matter how many stories people know about God, it doesn’t mean that they have a deep understanding and knowledge of God’s disposition or His essence. Like it was in the Age of Law, though people from the Age of Grace had experienced an up-close and intimate contact with God in the flesh, their knowledge of God’s disposition and God’s essence was virtually non-existent.

In the Age of Kingdom, God became flesh again, in the same way He did the first time. During this period of work, God still unreservedly expresses His word, does the work He should be doing, and expresses what He has and is. At the same time, He continues to endure and tolerate man’s disobedience and ignorance. Doesn’t God continuously reveal His disposition and express His will during this period of work too? Therefore, from the creation of man until now, God’s disposition, His being and possessions, and His will, have always been open to every person. God has never deliberately hidden His essence, His disposition, or His will. It’s just that mankind doesn’t care about what God is doing, what His will is—that’s why man’s understanding of God is so pitiful. In other words, while God conceals His person, He is also standing by mankind at every moment, openly projecting His will, disposition, and essence at all times. In a sense, God’s person is also open to people, but due to man’s blindness and disobedience, they are always unable to see God’s appearance. So if that is the case, then shouldn’t understanding God’s disposition and God Himself be easy for everyone? That is a very difficult question to answer, right? You can say it’s easy, but while some people seek to know God, they can’t really get to know Him or get a clear understanding of Him—it’s always hazy and vague. But if you say it’s not easy, that’s not correct either. Having been the subject of God’s work for so long, everyone should, through their experiences, have had genuine dealings with God. They should at least have sensed God to some extent in their hearts or previously collided with God on a spiritual level, and so they should at least have some perceptive awareness of God’s disposition or gained some understanding of Him. From the time man began to follow God until now, mankind has received far too much, but due to all sorts of reasons—man’s poor caliber, ignorance, rebelliousness, and various intentions—mankind has also lost too much of it. Has God not already given mankind enough? Though God hides His person from humans, He supplies them with what He has and is, and even His life; humanity’s knowledge of God should not only be what it is now. That is why I think it is necessary to further fellowship with you about the topic of God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Himself. The purpose is so that the thousands of years of care and thought God has poured into man does not end up in vain, and so that mankind can genuinely understand and appreciate God’s will toward them. It is so people can move forward onto a new step in their knowledge of God. It will also return God to His rightful place in people’s hearts, that is, to do Him justice.

To understand God’s disposition and God Himself you must begin with something very little. But from a little bit of what should you start? First of all, I have dug up some chapters of the Bible. The information below contains Bible verses, all of which are related to the topic of God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Himself. I specifically found these excerpts as reference materials to help you know God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Himself. Here I will share them with you to see what kind of disposition and essence God has revealed through His past work but people don’t know about. These chapters may be old, but the topic we are communicating is something new that people don’t have and have never heard of. Some of you might find it inconceivable—isn’t bringing up Adam and Eve and going back to Noah retracing the same steps again? No matter what you think, these chapters are very beneficial to the communication of this topic and can act as the teaching texts or first-hand materials for today’s fellowship. You will understand My intentions behind choosing these sections by the time I finish this fellowship. Those who have read the Bible before may have seen these few verses, but might not truly understand them. Let’s take a rough look first before going through them one by one in more detail.

Adam and Eve are mankind’s ancestors. If we are to mention characters from the Bible, then we must start from the two of them. Next is Noah, mankind’s second ancestor. Do you see that? Who is the third character? (Abraham.) Do you all know of Abraham’s story? Some of you may know it, but for others it may not be very clear. Who is the fourth character? Who is mentioned in the story of the destruction of Sodom? (Lot.) But Lot isn’t referenced here. Who does it refer to? (Abraham.) The main thing mentioned in the story of Abraham is what Jehovah God had said. Do you see it? Who is the fifth character? (Job.) Doesn’t God mention a lot of Job’s story during this stage of His work? Then do you care very much about this story? If you do care very much, have you read Job’s story in the Bible carefully? Do you know what things Job said, what things he did? Those who have read it the most, how many times have you read it? Do you read it often? Sisters from Hong Kong, please tell us. (I read it a couple of times before when we were in the Age of Grace.) You haven’t read it again since? If so, then that’s a huge shame. Let Me tell you: During this stage of God’s work He mentioned Job many times, which is a reflection of His intentions. That He mentioned Job many times but did not arouse your attention is a testament to a fact: You have no interest in being people who are good and people who fear God and shun evil. This is because you are satisfied with just having a rough idea about the story of Job cited by God. You are content with merely understanding the story itself, but you don’t care about and don’t try to comprehend the details of who Job is as a person and the purpose behind why God refers to Job on multiple occasions. If you’re not even interested in such a person that God has praised, then what exactly are you paying attention to? If you don’t care about and don’t try to understand such an important person God has mentioned, then what does that say about your attitude toward God’s word? Isn’t that a deplorable thing? Doesn’t it prove that most of you don’t engage in practical things and are all not in pursuit of the truth? If you do pursue the truth, you will pay the requisite attention to the people that God approves of and the characters’ stories God has spoken of. Regardless of whether you can appreciate it or find it palpable, you will quickly go and read it, try to comprehend it, find ways to follow its example, and do what you can to the best of your ability. That is the behavior of someone who longs for the truth. But the fact is that most of you sitting here have never read the story of Job. This really tells something.

Let’s return to the topic I was just discussing. This part of the scriptures dealing with the Old Testament Age of Law is mainly characters’ stories I had excerpted. These are stories familiar to the vast of majority of people who have read the Bible. These characters are very representative. Those who have read their stories will be able to feel that the work God has done on them and the words God has spoken to them are tangible and accessible to the people of today. When you read these stories and records from the Bible, you will be able to better understand how God went about His work and treated people at the time. But the purpose of Me finding these chapters today is not so you can try to grasp these stories and the characters in them. Rather, it is so you can, through these characters’ stories, see God’s deeds and His disposition, thus making it easier to get to know and understand God, to see the real side of Him, to halt your imagination, to stop your conceptions about Him, and to put an end to your faith amid vagueness. Trying to make sense of God’s disposition and to understand and get to know God Himself without a foundation can often make you feel helpless, powerless, and unsure of where to start. This is why I thought of the idea to use such a method and approach to let you better understand God, more authentically appreciate God’s will and get to know God’s disposition and God Himself, and to let you genuinely feel God’s existence and appreciate His will toward mankind. Isn’t this of benefit to you? Now what do you feel inside your hearts when you look at these stories and scriptures again? Do you think these scriptures I picked out are superfluous? I must emphasize again what I just told you: The aim of letting you read these characters’ stories is to help you apprehend how God does His work on people and His attitude toward mankind. Through what can you understand this? Through the work God has done in the past, and combined with the work God is doing right now to help you understand the various things about Him. These various things are real, and must be known and appreciated by those who wish to get to know God.