The majority of people do not understand the work of God and it is not easy to understand this aspect. The first thing you must know is that there is an appointed time for all of God’s work and it is absolutely not like people imagine.
Man can never fathom what work God will do or when He will do it. He does now what should be done now and this is something that no one can destroy; He does then what should be done then, delaying for not one second, and no one can destroy that either. The principle for His work is that it is done in accordance with His plans, whilst also being done in accordance with His will. This is something that no one is able to alter, and you shall see God’s disposition within it. If you think you haven’t yet reached that level, and that God should continue to wait for you, then that is not possible. Work that needs to be done at a certain time must be done at that time. You can see that work has been done in this way over these several years. What words should be spoken, how man should be provided for, what work should be done at what time—who could destroy any of this? When the spreading of the gospel was begun and books were passed out everywhere, there were those who would burn the books, those who would stop people from reading them, those who would slander, those who would pursue the believers and make reports to enemies and there were those who would hunt and oppress them. Everywhere there was fierce resistance but, in the end, was not the spectacular scene of the work of the gospel still seen? Were there not still many people gained everywhere? Who could possibly destroy God’s plan? Those who should be gained must surely be gotten, and those who should not be gained but have entered in must be kicked out. This is an indestructible fact. Just as it is said, “The king’s heart is in the hand of Jehovah, as the rivers of water: he turns it wherever he will”; then how much more so with those nobodies? Which stage of work should be done at what time is all in God’s plan. It is not as people imagine, that the work will be halted when an adverse environment arises, and it is not as they believe, that by doing this or that, man can destroy God’s management plan. Those are just people’s imaginings. Even though you try ever harder to destroy and harass God’s work, it is no use. The work of the Holy Spirit decides everything. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, one can achieve nothing at all. Sometimes people are ignorant and they walk on in front, but if the Holy Spirit doesn’t act, then they still achieve nothing. In regard to this aspect, what kind of reason should people possess? When it is discovered that the Holy Spirit is not at work, then the task at hand should be laid down and they should wait and seek God’s intentions—this is the only wise choice to make. Man must do what they ought to do and man must do their best to perform their duty. You cannot be afraid of doing things wrong and then wait in passivity, and much less can you say, “God has not yet acted. God has not yet told me to do anything, so I won’t do anything yet.” Isn’t this you losing your duty? This is something that you must see clearly, as it is not a trivial matter.
All stages of work in God’s management plan are done on schedule and on time. It is certainly not in line with your imagination: “Ah, He can’t do this! He can’t do that! This isn’t right!” God is almighty. There is nothing that God finds difficult to do. What can man do? Man not only cannot practice the truth, but they are also arrogant and self-important; they think they can do anything, and their hearts are full of extravagant desires. Then there are those who believe that the day of God will soon come, that they don’t need to endure any suffering anymore, that they can enjoy happy days and that their hopes will finally be fulfilled. I tell you: Such people are all just along for the ride, are playing around and can only be punished in the end, obtaining nothing. What can you obtain if your belief is for the day of God to come or for you to escape from the great disaster? Those who believe more for the day of God to come must perish all the more. Those who believe in order to seek the truth, to change their disposition and be saved will remain—this is the true belief. Those with a confused belief will attain nothing in the end but will have only made a futile effort, and moreover must suffer harsher punishment. People are too lacking in insight. If you believe in God but do not engage in your proper duties, instead always pondering crooked, evil ways, then you are only harming yourself. Those worldly people who do not believe in God—are they not also in God’s hands? Who could escape from God’s hands? No one! Those who escape must in the end return before God to suffer punishment. This is obvious; can people still not see it?
There are some who, although they believe in Almighty God, have no understanding at all of God’s almightiness. They are constantly at a loss, thinking: “God is almighty, He has the authority and can dominate over all, so why did He still create Satan and allow it to corrupt mankind for six thousand years? Why allow it to turn the world into a miasma of chaos and confusion? Why not destroy it? Would mankind not be fine if Satan were destroyed?” Can you now explain this question? This involves the vision. Many have considered this question, but you have now done a little groundwork and so no doubt about God can arise in you due to this matter. But you must iron out the wrinkles within this problem—to not do so is not an option. Then there are some who ask: “Why does God permit Satan to rebel against Him? For an archangel to be able to rebel against God—did God not know? Was it that God failed to control it or that God permitted it, or did God have some other purpose?” It is normal for people to raise this question, and they should know that this question involves God’s entire management plan. God arranged for there to be an archangel and this archangel’s rebellion against God was both permitted by God and arranged by Him—it most definitely falls within the scope of God’s management plan. God permitted the archangel to corrupt mankind that He had made, after it had rebelled against Him. It is not that God failed to control Satan, so that mankind was seduced by the serpent and corrupted by Satan, but that it was God who permitted Satan to do this. Only after He had given His permission for this to happen did God begin His management plan and His work. Can man fathom out the mystery here? Once mankind had been corrupted by Satan, God then began His work of managing mankind. First, He did the work of the Age of Law in Israel. After two thousand years had passed, He performed the work of redemption of the crucifixion in the Age of Grace, and all mankind was redeemed. In the time of the last days, He is incarnated and has conquered and saved this group of people in the last days. What kind of people are those who have been born in the last days? They are those who have been through the corruption of Satan for several thousand years, and who have been corrupted to a depth whereby they no longer look human. But finally, after having gone through the judgment, chastisement and disclosure of the word of God, and having been conquered, they have attained the truth from within God’s words and have been sincerely convinced by God; they have reached an understanding of God, and they can obey God absolutely and satisfy His will. In the end, God’s management plan will obtain a group of people like this. Those of mankind that will be obtained through the entire management plan are a group who can understand God’s will, who attain the truth from God, and who possess the life and the human likeness which God requires. When man was first created, they merely looked human and had life. But they did not have within them the human likeness which God required or hoped for them to reach. The group of people who will be gotten in the end are those who will remain in the end, and that group is also those whom God requires, whom He loves and whom He is pleased with. Within the several-thousand-year management plan, these people have obtained more, which has come of God’s watering and has been provided for man by means of His war with Satan. The people in this group are better than those whom God created in the very beginning; even though they have been through corruption, this is inevitable, and it is a matter that falls within the scope of God’s management plan that amply reveals His almightiness and wisdom, revealing also that all that God has arranged, planned and achieved is the greatest. If you are afterward asked again: “If God is almighty, how could the archangel still rebel against Him? Then God cast it down to earth where it corrupted mankind. What is the significance of this?” you can say this: “This matter falls within the scope preordained by God and it is most significant. Man cannot entirely fathom it, but from the level that man can comprehend and reach, it can be seen that God works to a great level of significance.” This is certainly not to say that God has a temporary lapse, or that He loses control and has no way to manage things, and then He turns Satan’s tricks against it; it is not that He thinks that the archangel has rebelled anyway so He may as well just let it get on with it, and plans to save mankind after allowing Satan to corrupt them all. This is absolutely not the case. People should know at the very least that this matter falls within the scope of God’s management plan. What plan? In the first stage, there was an archangel; in the second stage, the archangel rebelled; in the third stage, after the archangel had rebelled, it came amongst mankind to corrupt them, and then God began His work of managing mankind. When people believe in God they must understand the vision of God’s management plan. Some never understand this aspect of the truth, feeling always that there are many unsolvable contradictions. With no understanding they feel unassured and, feeling unassured, they cannot move. People are certainly hard to deal with. Now that we have fellowshiped, you now understand this, don’t you? First there was the archangel, then God had His plan, figuring out when it would begin to rebel against Him and through what events it would gradually turn to rebellion—this was all a process. Of course it cannot be as simple as it looks written on a page. Just as when Judas sold Jesus out, it wasn’t possible for him to do it suddenly. In following Jesus for so long, he must definitely have behaved in a particular way. Then Satan got to work sending out its ideas, then Judas did some other things, and he gradually became bad. By means of his surroundings—and when the time came—he began to sell Jesus out. Man turning bad also goes through a normal process and follows a normal law; it cannot be as simple as people imagine. You can only understand the matter of God’s management plan to this level. When you have gained a greater stature, you will come to realize its deeper significance.
No comments:
Post a Comment