The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)
In the Age of Grace, John paved the way for Jesus. He could not do the work of God Himself and merely fulfilled the duty of man. Though John was the forerunner of the Lord, he was unable to represent God; he was only a man used by the Holy Spirit. Following the baptism of Jesus, “the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove.” He then began His work, that is, He began to perform the ministry of Christ. That is why He assumed the identity of God, for it was from God that He came. No matter what His faith was like before this—it may have been weak at times, or sometimes it was strong—that all belonged to the normal human life He led before performing His ministry. After He was baptized (that is, anointed), the power and the glory of God were immediately with Him, and so He began to perform His ministry. He could work signs and wonders, perform miracles, and He had power and authority, for He was working directly on behalf of God Himself; He was doing the work of the Spirit in His stead and expressing the voice of the Spirit. Therefore, He was God Himself; this is indisputable. John was used by the Holy Spirit. He could not represent God, nor was it possible for him to represent God. If he had wished to do so, the Holy Spirit would not have allowed it, for he was unable to do the work that God Himself intended to accomplish. Perhaps there was much in him that was of man’s will, or something that was deviant; under no circumstances could he directly represent God. His mistakes and erroneousness represented only himself, but his work was representative of the Holy Spirit. Yet, you cannot say that all of him represented God. Could his deviation and erroneousness represent God as well? To be erroneous in representing man is normal, but if one is deviant in representing God, then would that not be a dishonor to God? Would that not be blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit does not lightly allow man to stand in God’s place, even if he is exalted by others. If he is not God, he would be unable to stand fast in the end. The Holy Spirit does not allow man to represent God as man pleases! For instance, it was the Holy Spirit that bore witness to John and it was also the Holy Spirit that revealed him to be the one to pave the way for Jesus, but the work done upon him by the Holy Spirit was well measured. All that was asked of John was to be the way-paver for Jesus, to prepare the way for Him. That is to say, the Holy Spirit only upheld his work in paving the way and allowed him only to do such work—he was allowed to do no other. John represented Elijah, and he represented a prophet who paved the way. The Holy Spirit upheld him in this; as long as his work was to pave the way, the Holy Spirit upheld him. However, if he had laid claim to being God Himself and said that he had come to finish the work of redemption, the Holy Spirit would have had to discipline him. No matter how great the work of John, and even though it was upheld by the Holy Spirit, his work was not without boundaries. Granted that the Holy Spirit did indeed uphold his work, the power given him at the time was limited to his paving the way. He could not, at all, do any other work, for he was only John who paved the way, and not Jesus. Therefore, the testimony of the Holy Spirit is key, but the work that the Holy Spirit permits man to do is even more crucial. Had not John received resounding witness at the time? Was not his work also great? But the work he did could not surpass that of Jesus, for he was no more than a man used by the Holy Spirit and could not directly represent God, and so the work he did was limited. After he finished the work of paving the way, there was no one to uphold his testimony, no new work followed him, and he departed as the work of God Himself began.
There are some who are possessed by evil spirits and cry out vociferously, “I am God!” Yet, in the end, they are revealed, for they are wrong in what they represent. They represent Satan, and the Holy Spirit pays them no heed. However highly you exalt yourself or however strongly you cry out, you are still a created being and one that belongs to Satan. I never cry out, “I am God, I am the beloved Son of God!” But the work I do is God’s work. Need I shout? There is no need for exaltation. God does His own work Himself and does not need man to accord Him a status or give Him an honorific title: His work is sufficient to represent His identity and status. Prior to His baptism, was not Jesus God Himself? Was He not the incarnate flesh of God? Surely it cannot be said that it was only after receiving witness that He became the only Son of God? Long before He began His work, was there not already a man by the name of Jesus? You are unable to bring forth new paths or to represent the Spirit. You cannot express the work of the Spirit or the words that He speaks. You are unable to do the work of God Himself, and that of the Spirit you are unable to do. The wisdom, wonder, and unfathomability of God, and the entirety of the disposition by which God chastises man: all of these are beyond your capacity to express. So it would be useless to try to claim to be God; you would have only the name and none of the substance. God Himself has come, but no one recognizes Him, yet He continues on in His work and does so in representation of the Spirit. Whether you call Him man or God, the Lord or Christ, or call Her sister, it does not matter. But the work He does is that of the Spirit and represents the work of God Himself. He does not care about the name by which man calls Him. Can that name determine His work? Regardless of what you call Him, as far as God is concerned, He is the incarnate flesh of the Spirit of God; He represents the Spirit and is approved by the Spirit. If you are unable to make way for a new age, or to bring the old to an end, or to usher in a new age, or to do new work, then you cannot be called God!
Even a man who is used by the Holy Spirit cannot represent God Himself. This is not only to say that such a man cannot represent God, but also that the work he does cannot directly represent God. In other words, human experience cannot be placed directly within the management of God, and it cannot represent the management of God. The work that God Himself does is entirely the work He intends to do in His own management plan and pertains to the great management. The work done by men (that is, men used by the Holy Spirit) consists of supplying their individual experience. It consists of finding out a new path of experience beyond that trodden by those who have gone before, and of guiding their brothers and sisters while under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. What these men supply is their individual experience or the spiritual writings of spiritual men. Although these men are used by the Holy Spirit, the work they do is unrelated to the great work of management in the six-thousand-year plan. They are merely men who have been raised up by the Holy Spirit in different periods to lead the people in the stream of the Holy Spirit, until the functions they can perform are at an end or until their lives come to an end. The work they do is only to prepare an appropriate path for God Himself or to continue a certain aspect of the management of God Himself on earth. In themselves, these men are unable to do the greater work in His management, nor can they open up new ways out, even less can any of them bring to a conclusion all of God’s work from the former age. Therefore, the work they do represents only a created being performing his function, and cannot represent God Himself performing His ministry. This is because the work they do is unlike that done by God Himself. The work of ushering in a new age is not something that can be done by man in God’s place. It cannot be done by any other than God Himself. All the work done by man consists of performing his duty as a created being and is done when moved or enlightened by the Holy Spirit. The guidance that these men provide consists entirely of showing man the path of practice in daily life and how he should act in harmony with the will of God. The work of man neither involves the management of God nor represents the work of the Spirit. As an example, the work of Witness Lee and Watchman Nee was to lead the way. Be the way new or old, the work was premised upon the principle of remaining within the Bible. Whether it was to restore the local church or build the local church, their work had to do with establishing churches. The work they did carried on the work that Jesus and His apostles had left unfinished or had not further developed in the Age of Grace. What they did in their work was to restore what Jesus had in His early work asked of the generations coming after Him, such as keeping their heads covered, receiving baptism, breaking bread, or drinking wine. It could be said that their work was to keep to the Bible and to seek paths within the Bible. They made no new advances of any kind. Therefore, one can see in their work only the discovery of new ways within the Bible, as well as better and more realistic practices. But one cannot find in their work the present will of God, much less find the new work that God in the last days plans to do. This is because the path they walked was still an old one; there was no renewal and no advancement. They continued to hold onto the fact of the crucifixion of Jesus, to observe the practice of asking people to repent and confess their sins, to adhere to the sayings that he who endures to the end shall be saved and that man is the head of woman, and woman must obey her husband, and even more to the traditional conception that sisters cannot preach, but only obey. If such manner of leadership had continued to be observed, the Holy Spirit would never have been able to carry out new work, to set men free from doctrine, or to lead them into a realm of freedom and beauty. Therefore, this stage of work, which changes the age, must be done and spoken by God Himself; otherwise no man can do so in His stead. Thus far, all the work of the Holy Spirit outside of this stream has come to a standstill, and those who were used by the Holy Spirit have lost their bearings. Therefore, since the work of the men used by the Holy Spirit is unlike the work done by God Himself, their identities and the subjects on behalf of whom they act are likewise different. This is because the work the Holy Spirit intends to do is different, and on this account those who alike do work are accorded different identities and statuses. The men used by the Holy Spirit may also do some work that is new and may also eliminate some work done in the former age, but what they do cannot express the disposition and the will of God in the new age. They work only to do away with the work of the former age, and not in order to do new work for the purpose of directly representing the disposition of God Himself. Thus, no matter how many outdated practices they abolish or how many new practices they introduce, they still represent man and created beings. Whereas, when God Himself carries out work, He does not openly declare the abolishment of the practices of the old age or directly declare the commencement of a new age. He is direct and straightforward in His work. He is forthright in performing the work He intends; that is, He directly expresses the work that He has brought about, directly does His work as originally intended, expressing His being and disposition. As man sees it, His disposition and so too His work differ from those in ages past. However, from the perspective of God Himself, this is merely a continuation and further development of His work. When God Himself works, He expresses His word and directly brings the new work. In contrast, when man works, it is through deliberation and study, or it is an extension of knowledge and systematization of practice founded on the work of others. That is to say, the essence of the work done by man is to follow an established order and to “walk old paths in new shoes.” This means that even the path walked by the men used by the Holy Spirit is built upon that opened up by God Himself. So, when all is said and done, man is still man, and God is still God.
John was born by promise, much as Isaac was born to Abraham. He paved the way for Jesus and did much work, but he was not God. Rather, he was one of the prophets, because he only paved the way for Jesus. His work was also great, and it was only after he had paved the way that Jesus officially began His work. In essence, he simply labored for Jesus, and the work he did was in service to the work of Jesus. After he had finished paving the way, Jesus began His work, work that was newer, more concrete, and in greater detail. John did only the initial portion of the work; the greater part of the new work was done by Jesus. John did new work as well, but he was not the one who ushered in a new age. John was born by promise, and his name given by the angel. At the time, some wanted to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke out, saying, “This child cannot be called by that name. He should be called John.” This was all at the behest of the Holy Spirit. In that case, why was John not called God? Jesus was also named at the behest of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Holy Spirit, and He was promised by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was God, Christ, and the Son of man. But, the work of John also being great, why was he not called God? Exactly what was the difference between the work done by Jesus and that done by John? Was the only reason that John was the one who paved the way for Jesus? Or because this had been predestined by God? Though John also said, “Repent you: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and he too preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, his work was not further developed and merely constituted a beginning. In contrast, Jesus ushered in a new age as well as bringing the old to an end, but He also fulfilled the law of the Old Testament. The work He did was greater than that of John, and what is more He came to redeem all mankind—He accomplished that stage of work. As for John, he simply prepared the way. Though his work was great, his words many, and those disciples who followed him numerous, his work did no more than bring to man a new beginning. Never did man receive from him life, the way, or deeper truths, nor did man gain through him an understanding of the will of God. John was a great prophet (Elijah) who opened up new ground for Jesus’ work and prepared the chosen; he was the forerunner of the Age of Grace. Such matters cannot be discerned simply by observing their normal human appearances. This is all the more so as John also did work that was quite considerable and moreover was promised by the Holy Spirit and his work was upheld by the Holy Spirit. This being so, it is only through the work that they do that one can distinguish between their respective identities, for there is no way to tell a man’s substance from his outward appearance, nor is there any way for man to ascertain what is the testimony of the Holy Spirit. The work done by John and that done by Jesus were not alike as well as of different natures. It is from this that one determines whether or not he is God. The work of Jesus was to initiate, to continue, to conclude, and to bring to fruition. He carried out each of these steps, whereas the work of John was no more than making a beginning. In the beginning, Jesus spread the gospel and preached the way of repentance, and then went on to baptize man, heal the sick, and cast out demons. In the end, He redeemed mankind from sin and completed His work for the entire age. He also went about in every place, preaching to man and spreading the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. In this regard He and John were alike, the difference being that Jesus ushered in a new age and brought the Age of Grace to man. From His mouth came the word on what man should practice and the way that man should follow in the Age of Grace, and in the end, He finished the work of redemption. John could never have carried out this work. And so it was Jesus who did the work of God Himself, and it is He who is God Himself, and who directly represents God. The conceptions of man say that all those who are born by promise, born of the Spirit, upheld by the Holy Spirit, and who open up new ways out are God. According to this reasoning, John too would be God, and Moses, Abraham, and David…, they too would all be God. Is this not a consummate joke?
Prior to performing His ministry, Jesus too was only an ordinary man who acted in accordance with whatever the Holy Spirit did. Regardless of whether He was aware of His own identity at the time, He obeyed all that came from God. The Holy Spirit never revealed His identity before His ministry commenced. It was only after He began His ministry that He abolished those rules and those laws, and it was not until He officially began performing His ministry that His words became imbued with authority and power. Only after He commenced His ministry did His work of bringing forth a new age begin. Prior to this, the Holy Spirit remained hidden within Him for 29 years, during which time He represented only a man and was without the identity of God. God’s work began from the time He began to work and perform His ministry, He did His work according to His inward plan, without regard for how much man knew of Him, and the work He did was the direct representation of God Himself. At that time, Jesus asked those around Him, “Who do you say I am?” They replied, “You are the greatest of prophets and our excellent physician.” And some replied, “You are our high priest.” … All kinds of answers were given, some even saying that He was John, that He was Elijah. Jesus then turned to Simon Peter and asked, “Who do you say I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” From then on, the people became aware that He was God. When His identity was made known, it was Peter who first became aware of this and it was from his mouth that it was spoken. Then Jesus stated, “What you said was not revealed by flesh and blood, but by My Father.” Following His baptism, whether or not others knew of this, the work He did was on behalf of God. He came in order to carry out His work, not to reveal His identity. It was only after Peter spoke of it that His identity became openly known to men. Whether or not you were aware that He was God Himself, when the time came, He began His work. And whether or not you knew of that, He went on with His work as before. Even if you denied it, He would perform His work and would carry it out when it was time to do so. He came in order to do His work and perform His ministry, not so that man might know His flesh, but for man to receive His work. If you have failed to recognize that the stage of the work on this day is the work of God Himself, it is because you lack vision. Still, you cannot deny this stage of the work; your failure to recognize it does not prove that the Holy Spirit is not working or that His work is wrong. There are those who even check the work of the present against that of Jesus in the Bible, and use any inconsistencies to deny this stage of the work. Is this not the action of one blinded? The things that are recorded in the Bible are limited; they cannot represent the work of God in its entirety. The Four Gospels have fewer than one hundred chapters altogether, in which are written a finite number of happenings, such as Jesus cursing the fig tree, Peter’s three denials of the Lord, Jesus appearing to the disciples following His crucifixion and resurrection, teaching about fasting, teaching about prayer, teaching about divorce, the birth and genealogy of Jesus, Jesus’ appointment of the disciples, and so forth. However, man values them as treasures, even verifying the work of today against them. They even believe that all the work Jesus did in His life amounted only to so much, as if God were only capable of doing this much and nothing further. Is this not absurd?
The time that Jesus had on earth was thirty-three and a half years, that is, He lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years. Only three and a half years of this time was spent in performing His ministry; the rest He just lived a normal human life. In the beginning, He attended the services in the synagogue and there He listened to the priests’ exposition of the Scriptures and to the preaching of others. He gained much knowledge of the Bible: He was not born with such knowledge, and only gained it through reading and listening. It is clearly recorded in the Bible that He asked questions of the teachers in the synagogue at the age of twelve: What were the prophecies of the ancient prophets? What of the laws of Moses? The Old Testament? And what of man serving God in priestly robes in the temple? … He asked many questions, for He had neither knowledge nor understanding. Though He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He was born as an entirely ordinary man; notwithstanding certain special characteristics that He had, He was still an ordinary man. His wisdom grew continuously in proportion with His stature and His age, and He passed through the phases of an ordinary man’s life. In the imagination of men, Jesus experienced no childhood and no adolescence; He began to live the life of a thirty-year-old man as soon as He was born, and He was crucified upon completion of His work. He probably did not pass through the phases in the life of an ordinary man; He neither ate nor associated with other men, and it was not easy for men to catch a glimpse of Him. He was probably an aberration, who would frighten those who saw Him, because He is God. Men believe that God who comes in the flesh definitely does not live as a normal man does; they believe that He is clean without having to brush His teeth or wash His face, because He is a holy person. Are not these purely the conceptions of man? The Bible makes no record of the life of Jesus as a man, only of His work, but this does not prove that He did not have normal humanity or that He did not live a normal human life prior to the age of thirty. He officially commenced His work at the age of 29, but you cannot write off His entire life as a man prior to that age. The Bible merely omitted that period from its records; as it was His life as an ordinary man and not the period of His divine work, there was no need for it to be written down. For prior to the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit did not work directly, but merely maintained Him in His life as an ordinary man until the day Jesus was due to perform His ministry. Though He was God incarnate, He underwent the process of becoming mature as an ordinary man does. This process of maturation was omitted from the Bible. It was omitted because it could provide no great assistance to man’s growth in life. The period before His baptism was a hidden period, one in which He worked no signs and wonders. Only after the baptism of Jesus did He begin all the work of mankind’s redemption, work that was richly abundant in grace, in truth, and in love and mercy. The beginning of this work was precisely also the commencement of the Age of Grace; for this reason, it was written down and passed down to the present. It was to open up a way out and bring all to fruition for those in the Age of Grace to tread the path of the Age of Grace and the path of the cross. Although it comes out of records written down by man, everything is fact, except that here and there small errors are to be found. Even so, these records cannot be said to be untruthful. The things are entirely factual, only in writing them down men made errors. There are some who will say that, if Jesus was one with normal and ordinary humanity, how could it be that He was capable of working signs and wonders? The forty days of temptation that Jesus underwent is a miraculous sign, one that an ordinary man would be incapable of achieving. His forty days of temptation was in the nature of the Holy Spirit’s working; how then can one say that there is not a bit of the supernatural in Him? His ability to work signs and wonders does not prove that He was a transcendent man and no ordinary man; it is merely that the Holy Spirit worked in an ordinary man such as Him, thus making it possible for Him to perform miracles and do even greater work. Prior to Jesus performing His ministry, or as the Bible says, prior to the Spirit descending upon Him, Jesus was but an ordinary man and in no way supernatural. When the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, that is, when He commenced the performance of His ministry, He became imbued with the supernatural. In this way, man comes to believe that God’s incarnate flesh does not have normal humanity and moreover mistakenly thinks that God incarnate has no humanity. Certainly, when God comes to earth, His work and all that man sees of Him are supernatural. What you behold with your eyes and what you hear with your ears are all supernatural, for His work and His words are incomprehensible and unattainable to man. If something of heaven is brought to earth, how can it be anything but supernatural? When the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are brought to earth, mysteries that are incomprehensible and unfathomable to man, that are too wondrous and wise—are they not all supernatural? However, you should know, no matter how supernatural it is, everything is carried out within His normal humanity. God’s incarnate flesh is imbued with humanity; otherwise, He would not be God’s incarnate flesh. Jesus performed a great many miracles in His time. What the Israelites of the time saw was full of supernatural things; they beheld angels and messengers, and heard the voice of Jehovah. Were these not all supernatural? Certainly, today there are some evil spirits who work through supernatural things to deceive man; that is nothing but imitation on their part, to deceive man through work that is not presently done by the Holy Spirit. Many evil spirits imitate the working of miracles and healing of sickness; these are nothing but the work of the evil spirits, for the Holy Spirit no longer does such work in the present day, and all those who imitated the work of the Holy Spirit from that time onward—they are evil spirits indeed. All the work carried out in Israel at that time was work of a supernatural nature, only the Holy Spirit does not now work in such a manner, and any more of such work is the doing of Satan, the disturbance of Satan, and comes from evil spirits. But you cannot say that whatsoever is supernatural comes from evil spirits—this would depend on the age of God’s work. Consider the work done by the incarnate God in the present day: What aspect of it is not supernatural? His words are incomprehensible and unattainable to you, and the work He does can be done by no man. What He understands man has no way of understanding, and as for His knowledge, man knows not whence it comes. There are some who say, “I too am ordinary in the same way as You are, but how is it that I do not know what You know? I am older and richer in experience, yet how can You know of that which I do not?” All of this, as far as man is concerned, is something that man has no way of attaining. Then there are those who say: “No one knows of the work that was carried out in Israel; how come You know? Even the Bible expositors can offer no explanation; how come You know?” Are these not all matters of the supernatural? He has encountered no wonders, yet He knows all and the word comes to Him with the greatest of ease. Is this not supernatural? His work transcends that which flesh can attain to. It is unattainable to the thought of any man with a body of flesh and utterly inconceivable to the reasoning of the mind of man. Though He has never read the Bible, He understands the work of God in Israel. And though He stands on earth as He speaks, He speaks of the mysteries of the third heaven. When man reads these words, this feeling will overcome him: “Is this not the language of the third heaven?” Are these not all matters that exceed what a normal man is capable of achieving? At that time, when Jesus underwent forty days of fasting, was that not supernatural? If you say that forty days of fasting is in all cases supernatural, an act of evil spirits, then have you not condemned Jesus? Prior to performing His ministry, Jesus was like an ordinary man. He too went to school; how else could He have learned to read and write? When God became flesh, the Spirit lay hidden within the flesh. Nevertheless, being an ordinary man, it was necessary for Him to undergo a process of growth and maturation, and not until His cognitive ability had matured, and He was able to discern things, could He be considered an ordinary man. It was only after His humanity had matured that He could perform His ministry. How could He perform His ministry while His normal humanity was yet immature and His reasoning unsound? Surely He could not be expected to perform His ministry at the age of six or seven! Why did God not manifest Himself openly when He first became flesh? It was because the humanity of His flesh was as yet immature; the cognitive processes of His flesh, as well as the normal humanity of this flesh, were not fully in His possession. For this reason, it was of absolute necessity for Him to be possessed of the normal humanity and the common sense of a normal man—to the point where He was sufficiently equipped to undertake His work in the flesh—before He could begin His work. If He were not adequate to the task, it would have been necessary for Him to continue to grow and mature. Had Jesus begun His work at the age of seven or eight, would not man have regarded Him as a prodigy? Would not all men have thought Him a child? Who would have found Him convincing? A child of seven or eight who was no taller than the podium He stood behind—was He fit to preach? Before His normal humanity became mature, He was not up to the task. As far as His humanity which was as yet immature is concerned, a goodly portion of the work was simply unattainable. The work of God’s Spirit in the flesh is also governed by its own principles. Only when He is equipped with the normal humanity can He undertake the work and assume the charge of the Father. Only then may He begin His work. In His childhood, Jesus simply could not comprehend anything about much of what had occurred in ancient times, and only through asking the teachers in the synagogue did He come to understand. If He had begun His work as soon as He learned to speak, how would it have been possible for Him not to make mistakes? How can God make missteps? Therefore, it was only after He was able to work that He began His work; He did not carry out any work until He was fully capable of undertaking it. At the age of 29, Jesus was already quite mature and His humanity sufficient to undertake the work He was to do. It was only then that the Holy Spirit, who had lain hidden for thirty years, began to reveal Himself, and the Spirit of God officially began to work in Him. At that time, John had prepared for seven years in order to open up the way for Him, and upon concluding his work, was thrown into prison. The burden then fell entirely to Jesus. If He had undertaken this work at the age of 21 or 22, at a time when His humanity was still lacking, when He had only just entered young adulthood, and there were many things He still did not understand, then He would have been incapable of taking control. At that time, John had already carried out his work for some time before Jesus began His work, by which time He was already in middle age. At that age, His normal humanity was sufficient to undertake the work that He should do. Now the incarnate God also has normal humanity and, though far from mature in comparison to you, this humanity as it is is already sufficient to undertake His work. The circumstances surrounding today’s work are not completely the same as those in the time of Jesus. Why did Jesus choose the twelve disciples? It was all in support of His work and in concert with it. On the one hand, it was to lay the foundation for His work at the time, while on the other also doing the same for His work in the days to follow. In accordance with the work at that time, it was Jesus’ will to choose the twelve disciples, as it was the will of God Himself. He believed that He should choose the twelve disciples and then lead them to preach in every place. But today there is no need for this among you! When God incarnate works in the flesh, there are many principles, and there are many matters that man simply does not understand; man constantly uses his own notions to take its measure, or to make excessive demands of God. Yet to this day, many people are unaware at all that their knowledge is comprised solely of their own notions. Whatever the age or the place in which God is incarnated, the principles for His work in the flesh remain unchanging. He cannot become flesh and yet transcend the flesh in His work; even less can He become flesh and yet not work within the normal humanity of the flesh. Otherwise, the significance of God’s incarnation would dissolve into nothing, and the Word become flesh would become entirely meaningless. Moreover, only the Father in heaven (the Spirit) knows of God’s incarnation, and none other, not even the flesh Himself or the messengers of heaven. This being so, God’s work in the flesh is all the more normal and all the better able to demonstrate that the Word has indeed become flesh, and the flesh means an ordinary and normal man.
Some may wonder, Why must the age be ushered in by God Himself? Cannot a created being stand in His stead? You are all aware that God becomes flesh for the express purpose of ushering in a new age, and, of course, when He ushers in a new age, He will have concluded the former age at the same time. God is the Beginning and the End; it is He Himself who sets His work in motion and so it must be He Himself who concludes the former age. That is the proof that He defeats Satan and conquers the world. Each time He Himself works among man, it is the beginning of a new battle. Without the beginning of new work, there would naturally be no conclusion of the old. And when there is no conclusion of the old, this is proof that the battle with Satan has yet to come to a close. Only if God Himself comes, and carries out new work among man, can man break completely free of the domain of Satan and gain a new life and a new beginning. Otherwise, man shall forever live in the old age and forever live under the old influence of Satan. With every age led by God, a part of man is set free, and thus man advances along with the work of God toward the new age. The victory of God means a victory for all those who follow Him. If the race of created human beings were charged with concluding the age, then be it from the viewpoint of man or of Satan, this would be no more than an act of opposing or betraying God, not one of obedience to God, and the work of man would become a tool for Satan. Only if man obeys and follows God in an age ushered in by God Himself can Satan be fully convinced, for that is the duty of a created being. And so I say that you need only follow and obey, and no more is required of you. This is what is meant by each keeping to his duty and each performing his respective function. God does His own work and has no need for man to do it in His stead, nor does He participate in the work of created beings. Man performs his own duty and does not participate in the work of God. Only this is obedience, and proof of Satan’s defeat. After God Himself has finished ushering in the new age, He no longer comes down to work in the midst of mankind Himself. It is only then that man officially steps into the new age to perform his duty and carry out his mission as a created being. These are the principles governing work, which no one may transgress. Only working in this way is sensible and reasonable. The work of God is to be done by God Himself. It is He who sets His work in motion, and it is He who concludes His work. It is He who plans the work, and it is He who manages it, and even more, it is He who brings the work to fruition. As stated in the Bible, “I am the Beginning and the End; I am the Sower and the Reaper.” All that pertains to the work of His management is done by God Himself. He is the Ruler of the six-thousand-year management plan; no one can do His work in His stead and no one can bring His work to a close, for it is He who holds everything in His hand. Having created the world, He will lead the entire world to live in His light, and He will also conclude the entire age, thereby bringing His entire plan to fruition!