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?
Under a starry, quiet and peaceful night sky, a group of Christians earnestly awaiting the return of the Savior sing and dance to cheerful music. When they hear the joyful news "God has returned" and "God has uttered new words", they are surprised and excited. They think: "God has returned? He has already appeared?" With curiosity and uncertainty, one after another, they step into the journey of seeking God's new words. In their arduous seeking, some people are questioning while others simply accept it. Some people look on without comment, while others make suggestions and search for answers in the Bible—they look but in the end it is fruitless…. Just when they become discouraged, a witness brings them a copy of the Age of Kingdom Bible, and they are deeply attracted to the words in the book. What kind of book is this really? Have they actually found the new words that God has uttered in that book? Have they welcomed the appearance of God?
Every Nation Worships Almighty God
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God comes to work this time not in a spiritual form,
but in a body that’s ordinary just like anyone else.
It’s not just the body of God’s second incarnation,
but it is also the body in which God returns.
It is a very normal and ordinary flesh.
In Him, you cannot see anything different from anyone else.
Incarnation means that God’s Spirit becomes a flesh, that is, God becomes flesh; the work that He does in the flesh is the work of the Spirit, which is realized in the flesh, expressed by the flesh. No one except God’s flesh can fulfill the ministry of the incarnate God; that is, only God’s incarnate flesh, this normal humanity—and no one else—can express the divine work.
from “The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
From the work of Jehovah to that of Jesus, and from the work of Jesus to that of this current stage, these three stages cover in a continuous thread the entire gamut of God’s management, and are all the work of one Spirit. Since the creation of the world, God has always been at work managing mankind. He is the Beginning and the End, He is the First and the Last, and He is the One who begins an age and the One who brings the age to an end. The three stages of work, in different ages and different locations, are unmistakably the work of one Spirit. All those who separate these three stages stand in opposition to God.
from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
