Today we will fellowship about a very important topic. It is a topic we have been talking about from the beginning of God’s working until now, and it is very important to everyone. That is to say, this topic is an issue everyone can contact and must contact in the course of his believing in God, and it is a very important and unavoidable issue man cannot be apart from. Speaking of being important, what is most important to every believer in God? Some think it is most important to understand God’s will; some think it is most important to eat and drink more of God’s word; others think it is most important to know the self; and still others think it is most important to know how to be saved by God, how to follow God, and how to be able to satisfy God’s heart’s desire. Today we will lay aside all these topics and not talk about them. What will we talk about? We will talk about a topic concerning “God.” Isn’t this topic most important to everyone? What are the contents of the topic concerning “God”? Of course, this topic cannot be apart from God’s disposition, God’s substance, and God’s work. Then, today we will talk about “God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Godself.”
From the time people began to believe in God, they have contacted the topic of God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Godself. When God’s work is mentioned, some may say, “God’s work is done on us, and we are experiencing it every day. We are not strange to it.” When God’s disposition is mentioned, some may say, “God’s disposition is a subject we have been studying, probing into, and paying attention to all our life, and to us, it is not strange either.” As for God Godself, some may say, “God Godself is the One we follow and believe in, and he is also the One we pursue after; to us, he is not strange either.” Since the creation of the world, God has never stopped his work. During his work, he has been expressing his disposition and expressing his words in various ways, and at the same time, he has been constantly expressing himself and expressing his substance to mankind and expressing his will and requirements for mankind. Therefore, these subjects are not strange to anyone literally. In fact, to those who follow God now, God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Godself are all very strange. Why do I say so? It is because when people are experiencing God’s work, they are also having dealings with God, and they feel that they have understood God’s disposition and known part of God’s disposition, and so none of them feels that he is strange to God’s work or to God’s disposition. People feel that they are very familiar with God and know a lot about God. But judging from the present situation, many people’s knowledge about God is only limited to the books, to the scope of their experience, to their imagination, and even more, to the facts they have seen with their eyes, and it is far from the true God Godself. Speaking of “far,” how far exactly is it? You may not be clear about it in your heart, or you may have some consciousness of it or a little feeling about it. But as far as God Godself is concerned, what people have known about him falls far short of the substance of the true God Godself. So, it is very necessary for us to raise the topic of “God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Godself” and have a systematic and specific fellowship about it.
In fact, God’s disposition is open rather than hidden to everyone. This is because God has never consciously avoided anyone nor ever consciously concealed himself to keep man from knowing him or understanding him, but instead, his disposition has been always open, facing everyone plainly at all times. In God’s management, God has been doing his work, facing everyone, and moreover, his work is done on everyone. While doing the work, he has been continuously expressing his disposition and continuously leading and supplying everyone with his substance and with what he has and is. In every age and every period, whether in favorable or adverse environments, God’s disposition is open to everyone and what he has and is is also open to everyone, just as his life supplies and sustains man unfailingly. But to some people, God’s disposition is hidden. Why do I say so? It is because although this kind of people are living in God’s work and although they are following God, they never try to understand God or want to know God, much less want to draw near to God. To them, once they know about God’s disposition, it will mean that their end has come and that they are judged and condemned by God’s disposition. So, this kind of people never want to know about God or know about God’s disposition or want to deeply know about God’s will or understand God’s will. They do not want to comprehend God’s will through conscious cooperation, but are just joyfully and tirelessly doing the things they want to do and believing in the god they are willing to believe in, believing in the imaginary god in their heart, the god in their notions, and believing in a god that “follows them like a shadow” in their daily life. For the true God Godself, they do not spare a glance, and they do not want to understand him or want to take notice of him, much less want to draw near to him, but instead they whitewash themselves and package themselves with the words expressed by God. Thus, they feel that they have succeeded in believing in God and have believed in God to the point of having God in their heart. In their heart, their imaginations, their notions, and their conclusions about God are leading them, while the true God Godself has nothing to do with them. Because once they know about the true God Godself, know about the true disposition of God, and know about what God has and is, it will mean that their doings, their belief, and their pursuit are condemned, therefore they are very unwilling to know about God’s substance and are very unwilling and reluctant to seek or pray on their own initiative so as to better know about God, know God’s will, and know about God’s disposition. They wish God were something fabricated, empty, and vague, and wish God were exactly the same God in their imagination, who can be ordered about by them and is inexhaustible in supply and always available for use. When they want to enjoy God’s grace, they ask God to be their grace; when they need blessings, they ask God to be their blessings; when they encounter an adverse environment, they ask God to boost their courage and be their rear guard. These people’s knowledge of God just remains in the scopes of grace and blessing, and their knowledge about God’s work, God’s disposition, and God is just limited to their imaginations and letters and doctrines. But there are a portion of people who are eager to know about God’s disposition, to see God Godself truly and clearly, and to know about God’s disposition and what God has and is truly and practically. This portion of people pursue the reality of the truth, pursue to be saved by God, and pursue to receive God’s conquering, salvation, and perfection. These people read God’s word with their heart, try to understand with their heart every environment God sets and the people, matters, and things God arranges for them every time, and pray and seek with a sincere heart. They want to know God’s will the most and want to know about the true disposition and substance of God the most, so that they will no longer offend God but will see more of God’s loveliness and the real aspect of God in their experience, so that there will be a true and real God in their heart, and so that God will have a place in their heart and they will no longer live in their imaginations and notions or live in vagueness. The reason why these people are eager to know about God’s disposition and know about God’s substance is that to them God’s disposition and God’s substance are what man needs at all times in his experience and are man’s life supply throughout his life. Once they know about God’s disposition, they will be able to fear God more and be able to cooperate with God’s work better, care for God’s will better, and perform their duty well. These are the two kinds of people’s attitudes toward God’s disposition. One kind of people do not want to know about God’s disposition. Although they say with their mouth that they want to know about God’s disposition, want to know God Godself, want to see what God has and is, and want to really and truly understand God’s will, in their heart they wish God did not exist. For these people always disobey and resist God, always contend with God for position in their heart, and often doubt and even deny God’s existence in their heart. They do not want God’s disposition or the true God Godself to occupy their heart, but only want to satisfy their own desires and only want to satisfy their own imaginations and their own ambitions. So, although this portion of people believe in God and although they follow God and can leave their families and give up their careers, they constantly do evil deeds. Some of them even steal offerings, some squander offerings, others even curse God privately, and still others take the advantage of their position to constantly testify themselves and exalt themselves, contend with God for people and for position, and have people adore them in every way and by every means, always trying to win others’ hearts and control them. Some even deliberately have others mistake them for God and thus treat them as God. They never say to others that they are corrupt men and they also have corruptions and arrogance and should not be adored and that no matter how well they do, it is of God’s uplifting and is what they should do. Why do they not say so? Because they deeply fear that they will lose their place in others’ hearts. So such people never exalt God or testify God. The reason why they do not exalt God or testify God is that they never try to know God. As they do not try to know God, can they gain knowledge of God? Impossible! So, although the several words in the topic of “God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Godself” are simple, they mean different things to different people. To those who often disobey God, resist God, and are hostile to God, they are condemnation; to those who pursue the reality of the truth and can often come before God to seek God’s will, no doubt they make them feel just like fish in water. So, when some among you hear that we will talk about God’s disposition and God’s work, their heads swim with a “buzz,” and they are full of resistance in their hearts, feeling terribly bad! But others, after hearing it, feel that this topic is exactly what they need, because it is of great benefit to them and it is an indispensable part in their experience of life, is the key of keys, and is the foundation for man’s believing in God, which man cannot be apart from. Although this topic is both near and far and both strange and familiar to everyone, anyway it is that which everyone present must listen to and must know and understand. No matter how you treat this topic, how you regard it, and how you comprehend it, its significance cannot be neglected.
Since God created mankind, he has begun to do the work. In the beginning, he did a very simple work. Although the work was simple, there was also God’s substance and God’s disposition expressed in it. Now God’s work has been uplifted, and God has done a great many concrete works on everyone who follows him and has expressed a great many words to man. But from beginning to end, God’s original person has been hidden from man. Although he has been incarnated twice, nevertheless from the time recorded in the Bible until now, who has ever seen God’s real person? As far as you know, has anyone ever seen God’s real person? No. No one has ever seen God’s real person, that is, no one has ever seen God’s true image. This is acknowledged by everyone. That is to say, God’s real person, God’s Spirit, has been hidden from all men. Even Adam and Eve God created and also Job, the righteous man God accepted, had never seen God’s real person. Then why has God consciously hidden his real person? Some say, “God is afraid that he may frighten man.” Others say, “God has hidden his real person like this because man is so small and God is so great; man cannot see him and once he sees, he will die.” Still others say, “God has been busy managing his work every day and may not have time to appear to man for him to see.” No matter what you think, I have a conclusion here. What is the conclusion? That is, God simply does not want mankind to see his real person. Here “being hidden from man” is a thing deliberately done by God. That is to say, God has consciously kept man from seeing his real person. You all get it, right? Since God has never manifested his original person to man, then do you think there exists God’s original person? (Yes.) This is for sure! The existence of God’s original person is beyond all doubt. As to how great God’s original person is or what he is like, is it a subject mankind should probe into? No! The answer is in the negative. The topic concerning God’s original person is not a subject for us to probe into. Then what is the subject we should probe into? (God’s disposition.) (God’s work.) Before we fellowship about the main topic, let’s return to the topic we talked about just now: Why has God never manifested his original person to mankind? Why has God consciously hidden his original person from mankind? There is only one reason. It is: Although the created mankind has experienced God’s work for several thousands of years, none of them knows God’s work and knows God’s disposition and God’s substance; in God’s eyes such a mankind is a mankind hostile to God, and God will not appear to a mankind hostile to him. This is the only reason why God has never manifested his original person to mankind and why God has consciously hidden his original person from mankind. Now, are you clear about the importance of knowing God’s disposition?
Since God’s management began, he has been doing his work with all his heart and with all his strength. Although he has been hiding his original person, he has been accompanying mankind, working on mankind, expressing his disposition, leading all mankind with his substance, and working on everyone by his power, with his wisdom, and by his authority, so that there has been the Age of the Law, the Age of the Grace, and the Age of the Kingdom of today. Although God’s original person has been hidden from man, God has been manifesting his disposition, what he has and is, and his will for mankind to man without any reserve for man to see and experience. That is to say, although mankind cannot see or touch God, the disposition of God and the substance of God mankind contacts are exactly the expressions of God Godself. Isn’t that the fact? No matter in what way or position God does his work, it is with his true identity that he treats man, does the work he should do, and speaks the words he should speak. No matter in what position God speaks, whether he speaks to man in the height of the third heaven, in the position of the flesh, or even in the position of an ordinary man, he speaks with all his heart and with all his mind, without any deception or concealment. During his working, he has been expressing his words, expressing his own disposition, and also expressing what he himself has and is, without any reserve! He has been leading mankind with his life and with what he has and is. In this way, under the leading of the “invisible and intangible” God, mankind went through the Age of the Law—the age of mankind’s cradle.
After the Age of the Law, God was incarnated the first time. That incarnation lasted for thirty-three and a half years. Is thirty-three and a half years a long time with a man? (No.) In general, men all have a lifespan of over thirty years, so thirty-three and a half years is not too long in man’s eyes. But with the incarnated God, the thirty-three and a half years is a long time. He became a man—a common person undertaking God’s work and undertaking God’s commission. This meant that he would undertake the work that an ordinary man could not undertake and at the same time bear the sufferings that an ordinary man could not bear. In the Age of the Grace, from the time he began to work until the time he was crucified, the Lord Jesus underwent many sufferings. Although people of today cannot see that with their own eyes, can’t you feel something about it from the stories recorded in the Bible? No matter how many details there are in the recorded facts, the work God did in that period was filled with hardships and dangers and sufferings. For a corrupt man, thirty-three and a half years is not long, and it is nothing to undergo some sufferings; for the holy and spotless God, he had to endure the sins of all men and had to eat, stay, and live with sinners, so this suffering was too great. He was the Creator, and he ruled over all things, ruling over everything, but when he came to the world, he had to bear being slaughtered and afflicted by corrupt mankind, and in order to complete his work and save mankind from the abyss of misery, he had to be condemned by men and bear the sins of all men. All these sufferings he underwent are beyond the imagination and understanding of ordinary men. What did his undergoing sufferings mean? They meant God’s devotion to mankind, meant the humiliations he suffered and the price he paid for the salvation of mankind, for the redemption of man’s sins, and for the accomplishment of that stage of work, and also meant that mankind would be redeemed from the cross by God. This price was the price of blood, the price of life, which could not be paid by any created being. It was because he had the substance of God and possessed what God has and is that he could bear those sufferings and undertake such a work, which could not be done by any created being in his stead. This is the work God did and the disposition God expressed in the Age of the Grace. Wasn’t there the expression of what God has and is in it? Isn’t it worthy for mankind to know?
In that age, although men did not see God’s original person, they received the sin offering from God and were redeemed by God from the cross. People may not be strange to the work God did in the period of the Age of the Grace, but who is not strange to the disposition God expressed and the will of God in that period? People have only known in various ways about the contents of the works God did in different periods or the stories concerning God which happened while he did these works. These contents and stories are only some information or legends about God at most, and they have nothing to do with God’s disposition and God’s substance. So no matter how many stories about God people have known, it does not mean that they have a deep understanding and knowledge of God’s disposition and substance. Like those in the Age of the Law, the people in the Age of the Grace hardly had any knowledge of God’s disposition and substance, though they had an intimate zero-distance contact with the incarnated God.
When it comes to the Age of the Kingdom, God is incarnated again, and this way is the same as his first incarnation. During this period of his working, God still has been unreservedly expressing his words, doing the work he should do, and expressing what he has and is, and at the same time, he has been continuously bearing with and tolerating man’s disobedience and man’s ignorance. During the period of his working this time, hasn’t God also been continuously manifesting his disposition and expressing his own will? So, from the time mankind began to exist until now, God’s disposition, what God has and is, and God’s will have been open to everyone, and God has never consciously hidden his substance, hidden his disposition, or hidden his will. But no one has cared about what God is doing or what God’s will is, so man has a pitifully little knowledge about God. That is to say, while God has been hiding his original person, he has been accompanying man all the time and been openly expressing his will and his disposition and substance all the time. In some sense, God’s original person has also been open to man, but man’s blindness and disobedience have caused him never to see God’s appearing. So according to the situation now, is it a very easy thing for everyone to know about God’s disposition and know about God Godself? It is not so easy to answer this question, right? If you say it is easy, some people always fail to know God and always fail to have a clear knowledge of God—feeling him obscure and vague, though they are also pursuing to know God; if you say it is not easy, that is also not right! Having experienced God’s work for so long a time, everyone has had true contacts with God in his experience, and surely he has had some responses to God in his heart and spirit and has had collisions with God in his heart and spirit, and he should have some perceptual knowledge of God’s disposition and have gained some knowledge about God. Having followed God until now, people have received so much, but because of various reasons—their poor qualities, their ignorance, their disobedience, and their various intents, they have lost too much. In fact, hasn’t God given people much? Although God has hidden his original person, he has supplied what he has and is and his life all to people. People’s knowledge of God really should not be as it is now. So I think it very necessary to further fellowship with you about the topic of “God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Godself.” The purpose is so that God’s thoughtful kind intention for man over these several thousands of years will not be in vain, and so that man will clearly know about and understand God’s will for mankind. In this way, not only will man be enabled to mount a new step in the realm of knowing God, but the real place of God in man’s heart will be restored, that is, “justice” will be given to God.
From the time people began to believe in God, they have contacted the topic of God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Godself. When God’s work is mentioned, some may say, “God’s work is done on us, and we are experiencing it every day. We are not strange to it.” When God’s disposition is mentioned, some may say, “God’s disposition is a subject we have been studying, probing into, and paying attention to all our life, and to us, it is not strange either.” As for God Godself, some may say, “God Godself is the One we follow and believe in, and he is also the One we pursue after; to us, he is not strange either.” Since the creation of the world, God has never stopped his work. During his work, he has been expressing his disposition and expressing his words in various ways, and at the same time, he has been constantly expressing himself and expressing his substance to mankind and expressing his will and requirements for mankind. Therefore, these subjects are not strange to anyone literally. In fact, to those who follow God now, God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Godself are all very strange. Why do I say so? It is because when people are experiencing God’s work, they are also having dealings with God, and they feel that they have understood God’s disposition and known part of God’s disposition, and so none of them feels that he is strange to God’s work or to God’s disposition. People feel that they are very familiar with God and know a lot about God. But judging from the present situation, many people’s knowledge about God is only limited to the books, to the scope of their experience, to their imagination, and even more, to the facts they have seen with their eyes, and it is far from the true God Godself. Speaking of “far,” how far exactly is it? You may not be clear about it in your heart, or you may have some consciousness of it or a little feeling about it. But as far as God Godself is concerned, what people have known about him falls far short of the substance of the true God Godself. So, it is very necessary for us to raise the topic of “God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Godself” and have a systematic and specific fellowship about it.
In fact, God’s disposition is open rather than hidden to everyone. This is because God has never consciously avoided anyone nor ever consciously concealed himself to keep man from knowing him or understanding him, but instead, his disposition has been always open, facing everyone plainly at all times. In God’s management, God has been doing his work, facing everyone, and moreover, his work is done on everyone. While doing the work, he has been continuously expressing his disposition and continuously leading and supplying everyone with his substance and with what he has and is. In every age and every period, whether in favorable or adverse environments, God’s disposition is open to everyone and what he has and is is also open to everyone, just as his life supplies and sustains man unfailingly. But to some people, God’s disposition is hidden. Why do I say so? It is because although this kind of people are living in God’s work and although they are following God, they never try to understand God or want to know God, much less want to draw near to God. To them, once they know about God’s disposition, it will mean that their end has come and that they are judged and condemned by God’s disposition. So, this kind of people never want to know about God or know about God’s disposition or want to deeply know about God’s will or understand God’s will. They do not want to comprehend God’s will through conscious cooperation, but are just joyfully and tirelessly doing the things they want to do and believing in the god they are willing to believe in, believing in the imaginary god in their heart, the god in their notions, and believing in a god that “follows them like a shadow” in their daily life. For the true God Godself, they do not spare a glance, and they do not want to understand him or want to take notice of him, much less want to draw near to him, but instead they whitewash themselves and package themselves with the words expressed by God. Thus, they feel that they have succeeded in believing in God and have believed in God to the point of having God in their heart. In their heart, their imaginations, their notions, and their conclusions about God are leading them, while the true God Godself has nothing to do with them. Because once they know about the true God Godself, know about the true disposition of God, and know about what God has and is, it will mean that their doings, their belief, and their pursuit are condemned, therefore they are very unwilling to know about God’s substance and are very unwilling and reluctant to seek or pray on their own initiative so as to better know about God, know God’s will, and know about God’s disposition. They wish God were something fabricated, empty, and vague, and wish God were exactly the same God in their imagination, who can be ordered about by them and is inexhaustible in supply and always available for use. When they want to enjoy God’s grace, they ask God to be their grace; when they need blessings, they ask God to be their blessings; when they encounter an adverse environment, they ask God to boost their courage and be their rear guard. These people’s knowledge of God just remains in the scopes of grace and blessing, and their knowledge about God’s work, God’s disposition, and God is just limited to their imaginations and letters and doctrines. But there are a portion of people who are eager to know about God’s disposition, to see God Godself truly and clearly, and to know about God’s disposition and what God has and is truly and practically. This portion of people pursue the reality of the truth, pursue to be saved by God, and pursue to receive God’s conquering, salvation, and perfection. These people read God’s word with their heart, try to understand with their heart every environment God sets and the people, matters, and things God arranges for them every time, and pray and seek with a sincere heart. They want to know God’s will the most and want to know about the true disposition and substance of God the most, so that they will no longer offend God but will see more of God’s loveliness and the real aspect of God in their experience, so that there will be a true and real God in their heart, and so that God will have a place in their heart and they will no longer live in their imaginations and notions or live in vagueness. The reason why these people are eager to know about God’s disposition and know about God’s substance is that to them God’s disposition and God’s substance are what man needs at all times in his experience and are man’s life supply throughout his life. Once they know about God’s disposition, they will be able to fear God more and be able to cooperate with God’s work better, care for God’s will better, and perform their duty well. These are the two kinds of people’s attitudes toward God’s disposition. One kind of people do not want to know about God’s disposition. Although they say with their mouth that they want to know about God’s disposition, want to know God Godself, want to see what God has and is, and want to really and truly understand God’s will, in their heart they wish God did not exist. For these people always disobey and resist God, always contend with God for position in their heart, and often doubt and even deny God’s existence in their heart. They do not want God’s disposition or the true God Godself to occupy their heart, but only want to satisfy their own desires and only want to satisfy their own imaginations and their own ambitions. So, although this portion of people believe in God and although they follow God and can leave their families and give up their careers, they constantly do evil deeds. Some of them even steal offerings, some squander offerings, others even curse God privately, and still others take the advantage of their position to constantly testify themselves and exalt themselves, contend with God for people and for position, and have people adore them in every way and by every means, always trying to win others’ hearts and control them. Some even deliberately have others mistake them for God and thus treat them as God. They never say to others that they are corrupt men and they also have corruptions and arrogance and should not be adored and that no matter how well they do, it is of God’s uplifting and is what they should do. Why do they not say so? Because they deeply fear that they will lose their place in others’ hearts. So such people never exalt God or testify God. The reason why they do not exalt God or testify God is that they never try to know God. As they do not try to know God, can they gain knowledge of God? Impossible! So, although the several words in the topic of “God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Godself” are simple, they mean different things to different people. To those who often disobey God, resist God, and are hostile to God, they are condemnation; to those who pursue the reality of the truth and can often come before God to seek God’s will, no doubt they make them feel just like fish in water. So, when some among you hear that we will talk about God’s disposition and God’s work, their heads swim with a “buzz,” and they are full of resistance in their hearts, feeling terribly bad! But others, after hearing it, feel that this topic is exactly what they need, because it is of great benefit to them and it is an indispensable part in their experience of life, is the key of keys, and is the foundation for man’s believing in God, which man cannot be apart from. Although this topic is both near and far and both strange and familiar to everyone, anyway it is that which everyone present must listen to and must know and understand. No matter how you treat this topic, how you regard it, and how you comprehend it, its significance cannot be neglected.
Since God created mankind, he has begun to do the work. In the beginning, he did a very simple work. Although the work was simple, there was also God’s substance and God’s disposition expressed in it. Now God’s work has been uplifted, and God has done a great many concrete works on everyone who follows him and has expressed a great many words to man. But from beginning to end, God’s original person has been hidden from man. Although he has been incarnated twice, nevertheless from the time recorded in the Bible until now, who has ever seen God’s real person? As far as you know, has anyone ever seen God’s real person? No. No one has ever seen God’s real person, that is, no one has ever seen God’s true image. This is acknowledged by everyone. That is to say, God’s real person, God’s Spirit, has been hidden from all men. Even Adam and Eve God created and also Job, the righteous man God accepted, had never seen God’s real person. Then why has God consciously hidden his real person? Some say, “God is afraid that he may frighten man.” Others say, “God has hidden his real person like this because man is so small and God is so great; man cannot see him and once he sees, he will die.” Still others say, “God has been busy managing his work every day and may not have time to appear to man for him to see.” No matter what you think, I have a conclusion here. What is the conclusion? That is, God simply does not want mankind to see his real person. Here “being hidden from man” is a thing deliberately done by God. That is to say, God has consciously kept man from seeing his real person. You all get it, right? Since God has never manifested his original person to man, then do you think there exists God’s original person? (Yes.) This is for sure! The existence of God’s original person is beyond all doubt. As to how great God’s original person is or what he is like, is it a subject mankind should probe into? No! The answer is in the negative. The topic concerning God’s original person is not a subject for us to probe into. Then what is the subject we should probe into? (God’s disposition.) (God’s work.) Before we fellowship about the main topic, let’s return to the topic we talked about just now: Why has God never manifested his original person to mankind? Why has God consciously hidden his original person from mankind? There is only one reason. It is: Although the created mankind has experienced God’s work for several thousands of years, none of them knows God’s work and knows God’s disposition and God’s substance; in God’s eyes such a mankind is a mankind hostile to God, and God will not appear to a mankind hostile to him. This is the only reason why God has never manifested his original person to mankind and why God has consciously hidden his original person from mankind. Now, are you clear about the importance of knowing God’s disposition?
Since God’s management began, he has been doing his work with all his heart and with all his strength. Although he has been hiding his original person, he has been accompanying mankind, working on mankind, expressing his disposition, leading all mankind with his substance, and working on everyone by his power, with his wisdom, and by his authority, so that there has been the Age of the Law, the Age of the Grace, and the Age of the Kingdom of today. Although God’s original person has been hidden from man, God has been manifesting his disposition, what he has and is, and his will for mankind to man without any reserve for man to see and experience. That is to say, although mankind cannot see or touch God, the disposition of God and the substance of God mankind contacts are exactly the expressions of God Godself. Isn’t that the fact? No matter in what way or position God does his work, it is with his true identity that he treats man, does the work he should do, and speaks the words he should speak. No matter in what position God speaks, whether he speaks to man in the height of the third heaven, in the position of the flesh, or even in the position of an ordinary man, he speaks with all his heart and with all his mind, without any deception or concealment. During his working, he has been expressing his words, expressing his own disposition, and also expressing what he himself has and is, without any reserve! He has been leading mankind with his life and with what he has and is. In this way, under the leading of the “invisible and intangible” God, mankind went through the Age of the Law—the age of mankind’s cradle.
After the Age of the Law, God was incarnated the first time. That incarnation lasted for thirty-three and a half years. Is thirty-three and a half years a long time with a man? (No.) In general, men all have a lifespan of over thirty years, so thirty-three and a half years is not too long in man’s eyes. But with the incarnated God, the thirty-three and a half years is a long time. He became a man—a common person undertaking God’s work and undertaking God’s commission. This meant that he would undertake the work that an ordinary man could not undertake and at the same time bear the sufferings that an ordinary man could not bear. In the Age of the Grace, from the time he began to work until the time he was crucified, the Lord Jesus underwent many sufferings. Although people of today cannot see that with their own eyes, can’t you feel something about it from the stories recorded in the Bible? No matter how many details there are in the recorded facts, the work God did in that period was filled with hardships and dangers and sufferings. For a corrupt man, thirty-three and a half years is not long, and it is nothing to undergo some sufferings; for the holy and spotless God, he had to endure the sins of all men and had to eat, stay, and live with sinners, so this suffering was too great. He was the Creator, and he ruled over all things, ruling over everything, but when he came to the world, he had to bear being slaughtered and afflicted by corrupt mankind, and in order to complete his work and save mankind from the abyss of misery, he had to be condemned by men and bear the sins of all men. All these sufferings he underwent are beyond the imagination and understanding of ordinary men. What did his undergoing sufferings mean? They meant God’s devotion to mankind, meant the humiliations he suffered and the price he paid for the salvation of mankind, for the redemption of man’s sins, and for the accomplishment of that stage of work, and also meant that mankind would be redeemed from the cross by God. This price was the price of blood, the price of life, which could not be paid by any created being. It was because he had the substance of God and possessed what God has and is that he could bear those sufferings and undertake such a work, which could not be done by any created being in his stead. This is the work God did and the disposition God expressed in the Age of the Grace. Wasn’t there the expression of what God has and is in it? Isn’t it worthy for mankind to know?
In that age, although men did not see God’s original person, they received the sin offering from God and were redeemed by God from the cross. People may not be strange to the work God did in the period of the Age of the Grace, but who is not strange to the disposition God expressed and the will of God in that period? People have only known in various ways about the contents of the works God did in different periods or the stories concerning God which happened while he did these works. These contents and stories are only some information or legends about God at most, and they have nothing to do with God’s disposition and God’s substance. So no matter how many stories about God people have known, it does not mean that they have a deep understanding and knowledge of God’s disposition and substance. Like those in the Age of the Law, the people in the Age of the Grace hardly had any knowledge of God’s disposition and substance, though they had an intimate zero-distance contact with the incarnated God.
When it comes to the Age of the Kingdom, God is incarnated again, and this way is the same as his first incarnation. During this period of his working, God still has been unreservedly expressing his words, doing the work he should do, and expressing what he has and is, and at the same time, he has been continuously bearing with and tolerating man’s disobedience and man’s ignorance. During the period of his working this time, hasn’t God also been continuously manifesting his disposition and expressing his own will? So, from the time mankind began to exist until now, God’s disposition, what God has and is, and God’s will have been open to everyone, and God has never consciously hidden his substance, hidden his disposition, or hidden his will. But no one has cared about what God is doing or what God’s will is, so man has a pitifully little knowledge about God. That is to say, while God has been hiding his original person, he has been accompanying man all the time and been openly expressing his will and his disposition and substance all the time. In some sense, God’s original person has also been open to man, but man’s blindness and disobedience have caused him never to see God’s appearing. So according to the situation now, is it a very easy thing for everyone to know about God’s disposition and know about God Godself? It is not so easy to answer this question, right? If you say it is easy, some people always fail to know God and always fail to have a clear knowledge of God—feeling him obscure and vague, though they are also pursuing to know God; if you say it is not easy, that is also not right! Having experienced God’s work for so long a time, everyone has had true contacts with God in his experience, and surely he has had some responses to God in his heart and spirit and has had collisions with God in his heart and spirit, and he should have some perceptual knowledge of God’s disposition and have gained some knowledge about God. Having followed God until now, people have received so much, but because of various reasons—their poor qualities, their ignorance, their disobedience, and their various intents, they have lost too much. In fact, hasn’t God given people much? Although God has hidden his original person, he has supplied what he has and is and his life all to people. People’s knowledge of God really should not be as it is now. So I think it very necessary to further fellowship with you about the topic of “God’s work, God’s disposition, and God Godself.” The purpose is so that God’s thoughtful kind intention for man over these several thousands of years will not be in vain, and so that man will clearly know about and understand God’s will for mankind. In this way, not only will man be enabled to mount a new step in the realm of knowing God, but the real place of God in man’s heart will be restored, that is, “justice” will be given to God.