In the times of Abraham, God also destroyed a city, which was called Sodom. I believe that many people are familiar with the story about this city. But as to what is God’s mind behind his destruction of this city, I think it is strange to everyone!
Today, let’s know God’s mind of that time and God’s disposition as well through the following conversations between Abraham and God. Now read the following verses.
II God Wanted to Destroy Sodom
(Gen 18:26) And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
(Gen 18:29) And he spoke to him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.
(Gen 18:30) And he said to him, Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
(Gen 18:31) And he said, Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.
(Gen 18:32) And he said, Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.
These are the passages I take from the Bible, and they are not the full texts. If you want to read the original words, you can read them in the Bible. In order to save time, I omit parts of the original words and only select some crucial passages and sentences. Although some words are omitted, it will not affect our fellowship today. In our fellowship about all these verses and contents, we will not focus on the details of the stories that happened at that time and man’s manifestations, but will only talk about what God’s mind and thoughts of that time were and what disposition of God can be seen from them. If you can see the real God Godself from everything God did, my purpose will be achieved.
God Only Cares for Those Who Can Listen to His Word and Do as He Commands
In these passages, there are several important words, that is, those several figures. First, Jehovah said that if there were fifty righteous men in the city, he would spare all the people there, that is, not destroy the city. But in fact, were there fifty righteous men in it? No, there weren’t. Then, how did Abraham converse with God? He asked what if there were forty. God said that he would not destroy that city. And then, Abraham asked what if there were thirty. God said that he would not destroy it. What if there were twenty? He would not destroy it either. What if there were ten? He would not destroy it either. In fact, were there ten righteous men in the city? There were not ten, but one could be found. Who was the only righteous man? He was Lot. At that time, in that city there was only one righteous man. But for God’s part, did he have a very harsh or strict standard for the figure? No. So, man kept asking, “What if there are forty?”, “What if there are thirty?”, all the way down to “What if there are ten?” God said, “Even if there are only ten, I will not destroy that city, and will keep it and spare those people outside the ten.” Ten is already a very poor number. But in fact, in the city of Sodom there were not even ten righteous men. Evidently, in God’s eyes people in that city had become so sinful and evil that he had to destroy them. God said that he would not destroy that city if there were fifty righteous men; what did he mean by that? These figures were not important to God; the important thing was whether there were righteous men in that city whom God wanted. Even if there was only one righteous man in the city, God would not involve this righteous man in his destruction of it. It means that no matter whether God would destroy that city and how many righteous men there were in it, that sinful city was accursed in God’s eyes and should be destroyed and disappear from God’s eyes, but the righteous should remain. No matter what age it is and what stage mankind has developed to, this attitude of God is unchanged: He hates evil and cares for the righteous in his eyes. This definite attitude of God is exactly the true expression of God’s substance. Because in that city there was only one righteous man, God did not hesitate any more, and the ultimate result was that the city was doomed to destruction. Here, what have you seen? In that age, God would not destroy a city, because in it there were fifty righteous men, and also would not destroy it, because there were ten righteous men. That is to say, God would, because of the existence of some people who could fear him and worship him, make some decisions to forgive and tolerate mankind, or do some works of guidance. God greatly values man’s righteous deeds and greatly values those who can worship him and those who can have good deeds before him.
From the beginning until now, have you seen in the Bible that God fellowshipped the truth with anyone or preached God’s ways to anyone? Never. We see that when God spoke to man, he just told man to do a certain thing. Some did it and others did not; some believed and others did not. That was all. So, the righteous of that time—the righteous in God’s eyes—were those who could only listen to God’s word and do as God commanded, and they were servants through whom God carried out his word among men. Could such men be called ones who know God? Could they be called ones perfected by God? No, they could not. Then, regardless of how many righteous men there were, in God’s eyes, could such “righteous men” be called God’s intimate friends? Could they be called God’s witnesses? Absolutely not! They absolutely could not be called God’s intimate friends or witnesses. Then, what did God call them? In the Bible, up to the verses we have just read, God called men “my servant” many times. That is to say, at that time, these righteous men were God’s servants in God’s eyes, the ones who served God on earth. What did God think of this address in his heart? Why did he call them that way? When God called a man in a certain way, did he have a standard in his heart? Surely he had. No matter whether God called someone “righteous man,” “perfect man,” “upright man,” or “servant,” he had a standard for it. When he called someone “servant,” he was sure that this man was one who could receive his messenger, listen to his commands, and do as the messenger told him. Do what things? The things God commanded him to do and execute on earth. Could what God asked a man to do and execute on earth at that time be called God’s ways? No, they couldn’t. That was because God’s requirements for man at that time were merely some simple things, that is, some simple commands, asking man to do this or that single thing, and that was all. God did his work according to his plan. At that time many conditions were lacking and the time was not ripe and mankind could hardly receive God’s ways, so God kept his ways in his heart and had not begun to express them. Here, we see that the “righteous men” God spoke of, thirty or twenty in number, were all God’s servants in God’s eyes. When God’s messenger came to such a servant, he could receive him, listen to his commands, and do as he told him. This was what a servant in God’s eyes should do and achieve. God is quite measured in addressing men. He called them “servants,” not because they heard many messages, knew what God wanted to do, understood much of God’s will, and knew about God’s management plan as you do today, but because they were honest in humanity and could listen to God’s word, and when God gave them commands, they could drop the work in their hands and do what God told them to do. So, to God, another meaning of the “servants” was to cooperate with God’s work on earth. Although they were not God’s messengers, they were the ministers and executors of God’s word on earth. Thus it can be seen how much weight these servants or righteous men had in God’s heart. For God to carry out his work on earth, he could not do without the ones who cooperated with him. And the role God’s servants played could in no way be played by God’s messengers instead. Every “task” God commanded his servants to undertake was very important to him, so he could not lose them. Without these servants’ cooperation with God, God’s work among mankind would have been at a standstill. In that case, God’s management plan and God’s wish would have become soap bubbles.
God Bestows His Mercy Abundantly on Those He Cares for and Casts Out His Anger Fiercely Against Those He Detests and Rejects
In the record of the Bible, were there ten servants of God in the city of Sodom? No. Was this city worthy for God to keep? In the city only Lot received God’s messengers, which implies that there was only one servant of God in the city. So, God could only rescue Lot and destroy the city of Sodom. God’s conversations with Abraham seem simple, but they show a very profound thing: God has strict principles in doing things. Before he makes a decision, he will observe and consider for a long time. Before the right time comes, he will by no means make any decision or judgment. From the conversations between Abraham and God, we see that God’s decision of destroying the city of Sodom was without any error, because God had long known that in the city there were not forty righteous men, nor thirty, nor twenty, nor even ten, and that the only righteous man in the city was Lot. The things that happened in the city and the situation of the city were searched by God’s eyes and God knew them like the back of his hand, so his decision would not be wrong. By comparison, man, set off by God’s almightiness, was so numb, so foolish and ignorant, and so short-sighted. This is what we see from the conversations between Abraham and God. God’s disposition has been expressed from the beginning until now. And here there is also God’s disposition we should see. The figures are very simple and do not show anything, but here is expressed the very important aspect of God’s disposition. God would not destroy that city, because there were fifty righteous men; wasn’t that because of God’s mercy? Wasn’t that because of God’s love and God’s tolerance? Have you seen this aspect of God’s disposition? Even if there were only ten righteous men, God would not destroy the city for the sake of the ten righteous men. Wasn’t that God’s tolerance and God’s love? God would not destroy that city because of his mercy, tolerance, and concern for these righteous men, and this is God’s tolerance. What was the result we see in the end? After Abraham said “what if ten can be found” and God said “I will not destroy that city,” Abraham did not say anything else. Because in that city there were not ten righteous men he spoke of, he had nothing to say. At that time he understood why God determined to destroy the city of Sodom. Here, what disposition of God can be seen? What determination did God have? That is, if there were not ten righteous men in that city, God would not allow that city to exist, and he would surely destroy it. Isn’t that God’s anger? Doesn’t the “anger” represent God’s disposition? Isn’t this disposition the expression of God’s holy substance? Isn’t it the expression of God’s righteous substance that does not tolerate man’s offense? When God was sure that there were not ten righteous men, he would surely destroy that city, and he would punish the people in it severely, because they resisted God and because they were too filthy and corrupt.
Why do I analyze these passages of conversation like this? It is because in these simple words, God’s disposition of bestowing his mercy abundantly and casting out his anger fiercely is expressed in a complete way. While he treasured the righteous and showed mercy, tolerance, and concern for the righteous, in his heart he deeply hated all those corrupted men in that city. Isn’t this bestowing his mercy abundantly and casting out his anger fiercely? By what means did God destroy that city? Burning by fire. Why did God use the means of burning by fire to destroy that city? When you see something being burnt by fire, or when you want to burn off something, what do you feel about that thing? Why do you want to burn it? Don’t you have a mind that you no longer need that thing or want to see it? Don’t you have a mind of giving it up? God’s burning it by fire meant that he would give it up, and meant that he hated it and never wanted to see it again. That was God’s mind behind his destroying the city of Sodom by fire. Burning it by fire represented how angry God was. God’s mercy and tolerance indeed exist, but at the same time God’s holiness and righteousness in his casting out anger make men see the aspect of his being unoffendable. When man can fully listen to God’s command and do as God requires, God bestows his mercy abundantly on man. When man is full of corruption and is full of hatred and hostility toward God, God will cast out his anger fiercely. And to what extent will God cast out his anger? To the extent that man’s resistance and evil deeds will never again be seen by God or exist before God’s eyes. Only then will God’s anger be gone. That is to say, no matter who a man is, if his heart has been away from God and has departed from God, being irretrievable, no matter how his body or his mind desires to worship God, follow God, and obey God outwardly and subjectively, once his heart has departed from God, God will constantly cast out his anger. Worse still, when God casts out his anger fiercely, when God has given him enough opportunities, God’s anger will not be withdrawn, and he will never again give mercy and tolerance to such a man. This is the aspect of God’s disposition being unoffendable. Here, God wanted to destroy a city, and that is very normal in man’s eyes, because a city full of sins could not be allowed to exist or continue to remain in God’s eyes, and it was reasonable for God to destroy it. But from the events that happened throughout the whole matter of God’s destroying the city of Sodom, we see the whole of God’s disposition. To the kind, beautiful, and good things he is tolerant and merciful; to the evil, sinful, and vicious things he will cast out his anger fiercely, even constantly. These are the two principal and most prominent aspects of God’s disposition that he has been expressing from beginning to end: bestowing his mercy abundantly and casting out his anger fiercely. Most of you who are present have tasted some mercy of God, but few of you have tasted God’s anger. God’s mercy and lovingkindness can be seen in everyone. That is to say, God has ever bestowed his mercy abundantly on everyone. But he has seldom or even never cast out his anger fiercely against certain one or some of you who are present. Don’t be impatient! God will sooner or later let everyone see and experience his anger. Now it is not the time. Why? Because when God is constantly angry with a man, that is, when God casts out his anger fiercely against a man, it means that God has detested and rejected him for a long time, and that God hates his existence and will not endure his existence anymore. Once God’s anger comes to him, it means that he will disappear. Now God’s work has not been done to that stage. Once God casts out his anger fiercely, none of you can bear it. It can be seen that in this age God has just bestowed his mercy abundantly on all of you but has not cast out his anger fiercely. If some of you are not convinced, you can ask for God’s anger to come upon you so as to experience whether God’s anger and his disposition that does not tolerate man’s offense exist or not. Do you dare to do so?
The End-Time People Only See God’s Anger in God’s Word and Have Not Truly Tasted It
Are the two aspects of God’s disposition seen in these several verses worth fellowshipping? After hearing such a story, do you have a newer knowledge of God? What knowledge? It can be said that from the creation of the world until now, the group of people at the end time are the ones who enjoy God’s grace and God’s mercy and lovingkindness the most. Although in the last stage God does the work of judgment and chastisement and does his work with majesty and wrath, most of the time he only accomplishes his work by his word, teaching by his word and watering, supplying, and feeding by his word. God’s anger, however, is hidden all the time. Men can feel God’s wrathful disposition only in God’s word, and very few of them have ever tasted God’s wrath in person. That is to say, in the work of judgment and chastisement, although from the anger God expresses in his word people have tasted that God is majestic and unoffendable, God’s anger is only limited within the word of God. That is, although God rebukes, discloses, judges, chastises, and even condemns men by his word, he has not cast out his anger fiercely against men and has hardly shown his anger to men outside his word. Therefore, God’s mercy and lovingkindness men have tasted in this age are the expression of God’s real disposition, and God’s wrath men have tasted is merely a result brought by the tone and atmosphere of God’s speaking. Quite a lot of people mistake this result for their real experience of God’s anger and their true knowledge of God’s wrath. So, most people think that they have seen God’s mercy and lovingkindness and also seen God’s intolerance of man’s offense in God’s word, and most people even have tasted God’s mercy and tolerance for mankind. But no matter how bad men’s doings are, or how corrupt men’s disposition is, God has always been patient. His purpose of being patient is to wait for an outcome that his words and his painstaking effort and price produce results in those he wants to gain. It needs time to wait for such an outcome, and it also needs God to arrange different circumstances for men. This is like a man who cannot grow into an adult right after his birth; it will take eighteen or nineteen years. With some people, it will even take twenty or thirty years before they can mature into a real adult. God has been just waiting for the end of such a course, waiting for the arrival of the due time, and also waiting for the coming of such an outcome, and during the waiting time, God has been abundantly bestowing his mercy. However, during the time of God’s work, still very few people have been struck down and some people have been punished for their serious resistance against God. These cases further prove that God’s disposition does not tolerate man’s offense, and also sufficiently prove that God’s tolerance and patience with his chosen people really exist. Of course, in these typical cases, the part of God’s disposition revealed in these people does not affect God’s entire management plan. Actually, in the last stage of work, God has been patient while he is waiting. He uses his patience and his life as the price to exchange for an outcome that those who follow him can be saved. You have seen this, haven’t you? God will not disrupt his plan without any reason. He can cast out his anger and can also bestow his mercy, and these are the expression of the two main aspects of his disposition. Aren’t they very obvious? That is to say, God reveals right and wrong, justice and injustice, and positive things and negative things to men very clearly. What he wants to do, what he likes, and what he hates can be directly manifested in his disposition, and also can be seen very obviously and clearly in God’s work. They are not very vague or general. Rather, he lets everyone see his disposition and what he has and is in a very specific, real, and practical way. This is the real God Godself.
God’s Disposition Has Never Been Hidden from Man, but Man’s Heart Has Departed from God
If I did not fellowship about these, none of you could see God’s real disposition from the stories in the Bible. This is a fact. Although in these Bible stories are recorded some things God did, there are very few words of God, and moreover, God did not directly introduce his disposition or openly express his will to men, and later generations only regard these records as stories. So, in men’s eyes, God is very hidden from them, which does not mean that God’s original person is hidden from them, but that God’s disposition and God’s will are hidden from them. Through my fellowship today, do you still feel God is completely hidden from men? Do you still think God’s disposition is hidden from men?
Since the creation of the world, God’s disposition, along with God’s work, has never been hidden from men but has been completely open and manifest. Men’s heart, however, has become further and further away from God as time goes by. As men have been corrupted more and more deeply, they have become more and more distant from God. Gradually, men have disappeared from God’s sight and “can no longer see” God, and thus they have lost any “information” about God. Then, men are ignorant whether God exists or not and even completely deny God’s existence. Therefore, men do not know about God’s disposition and what God has and is, not because God is hidden from men but because men’s heart departs from God. Although men believe in God, there is no God in their heart. They do not know how to love God, nor do they want to love God. Because men’s heart never draws near to God and they always avoid God, their heart is very far from God. Where is men’s heart? Actually, men’s heart has not moved elsewhere. They just keep it themselves rather than give it to God or lay it bare to God, though some of them often pray, “O God, you search my heart, and you know what is in my heart,” and some even swear and ask God to search them and ask God to punish them if they break their oath. Although men let God search their heart, it does not mean that they can obey God’s manipulation and arrangement or that they commit their destiny, future, and everything to God’s control. So, no matter what you swear to God or what attitude you state to God, in God’s eyes your heart is still closed to him, because you only let God search your heart but do not allow him to rule over your heart. That is, you have not committed your heart to God at all; you only say nice words to God but conceal your various crafty intents, conceal your own purposes and your own intentions and plans, and hold your future and destiny tight in your own hands, deeply fearing that God may take them away. So, God has never seen men’s true heart for him. Although God searches hearts and minds and he can see what men’s heart thinks and wants to do and can see what things there are in men’s heart, men’s heart does not belong to God and men have not committed it to God’s control. That is to say, God only has the right to search it but has no right to rule over it. In men’s subjective mind, they do not want or intend to commit themselves to God for him to manipulate as he likes. Men are closed to God, and besides some of them even try every possible way to wrap up their heart and make pretenses with sweet words to win God’s trust, but cover their true self and keep it from God’s sight. Their purpose of keeping it from God’s sight is to not let God see their real state. They do not want to give their heart to God but want to keep it themselves. This implies that whatever they do and think, they plan, calculate, and decide it themselves, and do not need God to “participate” or step in, much less need God to manipulate and arrange it. So, with God’s commands or commissions, or God’s requirements for men, they will make a choice according to their intents, their interests, their actual states, or their actual circumstances. They always judge and choose what way they are to take with the knowledge and insight they have and with their own mind, not wanting God to interfere and rule. This is men’s heart that God sees.
Today, let’s know God’s mind of that time and God’s disposition as well through the following conversations between Abraham and God. Now read the following verses.
II God Wanted to Destroy Sodom
(Gen 18:26) And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
(Gen 18:29) And he spoke to him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty’s sake.
(Gen 18:30) And he said to him, Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
(Gen 18:31) And he said, Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.
(Gen 18:32) And he said, Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.
These are the passages I take from the Bible, and they are not the full texts. If you want to read the original words, you can read them in the Bible. In order to save time, I omit parts of the original words and only select some crucial passages and sentences. Although some words are omitted, it will not affect our fellowship today. In our fellowship about all these verses and contents, we will not focus on the details of the stories that happened at that time and man’s manifestations, but will only talk about what God’s mind and thoughts of that time were and what disposition of God can be seen from them. If you can see the real God Godself from everything God did, my purpose will be achieved.
God Only Cares for Those Who Can Listen to His Word and Do as He Commands
In these passages, there are several important words, that is, those several figures. First, Jehovah said that if there were fifty righteous men in the city, he would spare all the people there, that is, not destroy the city. But in fact, were there fifty righteous men in it? No, there weren’t. Then, how did Abraham converse with God? He asked what if there were forty. God said that he would not destroy that city. And then, Abraham asked what if there were thirty. God said that he would not destroy it. What if there were twenty? He would not destroy it either. What if there were ten? He would not destroy it either. In fact, were there ten righteous men in the city? There were not ten, but one could be found. Who was the only righteous man? He was Lot. At that time, in that city there was only one righteous man. But for God’s part, did he have a very harsh or strict standard for the figure? No. So, man kept asking, “What if there are forty?”, “What if there are thirty?”, all the way down to “What if there are ten?” God said, “Even if there are only ten, I will not destroy that city, and will keep it and spare those people outside the ten.” Ten is already a very poor number. But in fact, in the city of Sodom there were not even ten righteous men. Evidently, in God’s eyes people in that city had become so sinful and evil that he had to destroy them. God said that he would not destroy that city if there were fifty righteous men; what did he mean by that? These figures were not important to God; the important thing was whether there were righteous men in that city whom God wanted. Even if there was only one righteous man in the city, God would not involve this righteous man in his destruction of it. It means that no matter whether God would destroy that city and how many righteous men there were in it, that sinful city was accursed in God’s eyes and should be destroyed and disappear from God’s eyes, but the righteous should remain. No matter what age it is and what stage mankind has developed to, this attitude of God is unchanged: He hates evil and cares for the righteous in his eyes. This definite attitude of God is exactly the true expression of God’s substance. Because in that city there was only one righteous man, God did not hesitate any more, and the ultimate result was that the city was doomed to destruction. Here, what have you seen? In that age, God would not destroy a city, because in it there were fifty righteous men, and also would not destroy it, because there were ten righteous men. That is to say, God would, because of the existence of some people who could fear him and worship him, make some decisions to forgive and tolerate mankind, or do some works of guidance. God greatly values man’s righteous deeds and greatly values those who can worship him and those who can have good deeds before him.
From the beginning until now, have you seen in the Bible that God fellowshipped the truth with anyone or preached God’s ways to anyone? Never. We see that when God spoke to man, he just told man to do a certain thing. Some did it and others did not; some believed and others did not. That was all. So, the righteous of that time—the righteous in God’s eyes—were those who could only listen to God’s word and do as God commanded, and they were servants through whom God carried out his word among men. Could such men be called ones who know God? Could they be called ones perfected by God? No, they could not. Then, regardless of how many righteous men there were, in God’s eyes, could such “righteous men” be called God’s intimate friends? Could they be called God’s witnesses? Absolutely not! They absolutely could not be called God’s intimate friends or witnesses. Then, what did God call them? In the Bible, up to the verses we have just read, God called men “my servant” many times. That is to say, at that time, these righteous men were God’s servants in God’s eyes, the ones who served God on earth. What did God think of this address in his heart? Why did he call them that way? When God called a man in a certain way, did he have a standard in his heart? Surely he had. No matter whether God called someone “righteous man,” “perfect man,” “upright man,” or “servant,” he had a standard for it. When he called someone “servant,” he was sure that this man was one who could receive his messenger, listen to his commands, and do as the messenger told him. Do what things? The things God commanded him to do and execute on earth. Could what God asked a man to do and execute on earth at that time be called God’s ways? No, they couldn’t. That was because God’s requirements for man at that time were merely some simple things, that is, some simple commands, asking man to do this or that single thing, and that was all. God did his work according to his plan. At that time many conditions were lacking and the time was not ripe and mankind could hardly receive God’s ways, so God kept his ways in his heart and had not begun to express them. Here, we see that the “righteous men” God spoke of, thirty or twenty in number, were all God’s servants in God’s eyes. When God’s messenger came to such a servant, he could receive him, listen to his commands, and do as he told him. This was what a servant in God’s eyes should do and achieve. God is quite measured in addressing men. He called them “servants,” not because they heard many messages, knew what God wanted to do, understood much of God’s will, and knew about God’s management plan as you do today, but because they were honest in humanity and could listen to God’s word, and when God gave them commands, they could drop the work in their hands and do what God told them to do. So, to God, another meaning of the “servants” was to cooperate with God’s work on earth. Although they were not God’s messengers, they were the ministers and executors of God’s word on earth. Thus it can be seen how much weight these servants or righteous men had in God’s heart. For God to carry out his work on earth, he could not do without the ones who cooperated with him. And the role God’s servants played could in no way be played by God’s messengers instead. Every “task” God commanded his servants to undertake was very important to him, so he could not lose them. Without these servants’ cooperation with God, God’s work among mankind would have been at a standstill. In that case, God’s management plan and God’s wish would have become soap bubbles.
God Bestows His Mercy Abundantly on Those He Cares for and Casts Out His Anger Fiercely Against Those He Detests and Rejects
In the record of the Bible, were there ten servants of God in the city of Sodom? No. Was this city worthy for God to keep? In the city only Lot received God’s messengers, which implies that there was only one servant of God in the city. So, God could only rescue Lot and destroy the city of Sodom. God’s conversations with Abraham seem simple, but they show a very profound thing: God has strict principles in doing things. Before he makes a decision, he will observe and consider for a long time. Before the right time comes, he will by no means make any decision or judgment. From the conversations between Abraham and God, we see that God’s decision of destroying the city of Sodom was without any error, because God had long known that in the city there were not forty righteous men, nor thirty, nor twenty, nor even ten, and that the only righteous man in the city was Lot. The things that happened in the city and the situation of the city were searched by God’s eyes and God knew them like the back of his hand, so his decision would not be wrong. By comparison, man, set off by God’s almightiness, was so numb, so foolish and ignorant, and so short-sighted. This is what we see from the conversations between Abraham and God. God’s disposition has been expressed from the beginning until now. And here there is also God’s disposition we should see. The figures are very simple and do not show anything, but here is expressed the very important aspect of God’s disposition. God would not destroy that city, because there were fifty righteous men; wasn’t that because of God’s mercy? Wasn’t that because of God’s love and God’s tolerance? Have you seen this aspect of God’s disposition? Even if there were only ten righteous men, God would not destroy the city for the sake of the ten righteous men. Wasn’t that God’s tolerance and God’s love? God would not destroy that city because of his mercy, tolerance, and concern for these righteous men, and this is God’s tolerance. What was the result we see in the end? After Abraham said “what if ten can be found” and God said “I will not destroy that city,” Abraham did not say anything else. Because in that city there were not ten righteous men he spoke of, he had nothing to say. At that time he understood why God determined to destroy the city of Sodom. Here, what disposition of God can be seen? What determination did God have? That is, if there were not ten righteous men in that city, God would not allow that city to exist, and he would surely destroy it. Isn’t that God’s anger? Doesn’t the “anger” represent God’s disposition? Isn’t this disposition the expression of God’s holy substance? Isn’t it the expression of God’s righteous substance that does not tolerate man’s offense? When God was sure that there were not ten righteous men, he would surely destroy that city, and he would punish the people in it severely, because they resisted God and because they were too filthy and corrupt.
Why do I analyze these passages of conversation like this? It is because in these simple words, God’s disposition of bestowing his mercy abundantly and casting out his anger fiercely is expressed in a complete way. While he treasured the righteous and showed mercy, tolerance, and concern for the righteous, in his heart he deeply hated all those corrupted men in that city. Isn’t this bestowing his mercy abundantly and casting out his anger fiercely? By what means did God destroy that city? Burning by fire. Why did God use the means of burning by fire to destroy that city? When you see something being burnt by fire, or when you want to burn off something, what do you feel about that thing? Why do you want to burn it? Don’t you have a mind that you no longer need that thing or want to see it? Don’t you have a mind of giving it up? God’s burning it by fire meant that he would give it up, and meant that he hated it and never wanted to see it again. That was God’s mind behind his destroying the city of Sodom by fire. Burning it by fire represented how angry God was. God’s mercy and tolerance indeed exist, but at the same time God’s holiness and righteousness in his casting out anger make men see the aspect of his being unoffendable. When man can fully listen to God’s command and do as God requires, God bestows his mercy abundantly on man. When man is full of corruption and is full of hatred and hostility toward God, God will cast out his anger fiercely. And to what extent will God cast out his anger? To the extent that man’s resistance and evil deeds will never again be seen by God or exist before God’s eyes. Only then will God’s anger be gone. That is to say, no matter who a man is, if his heart has been away from God and has departed from God, being irretrievable, no matter how his body or his mind desires to worship God, follow God, and obey God outwardly and subjectively, once his heart has departed from God, God will constantly cast out his anger. Worse still, when God casts out his anger fiercely, when God has given him enough opportunities, God’s anger will not be withdrawn, and he will never again give mercy and tolerance to such a man. This is the aspect of God’s disposition being unoffendable. Here, God wanted to destroy a city, and that is very normal in man’s eyes, because a city full of sins could not be allowed to exist or continue to remain in God’s eyes, and it was reasonable for God to destroy it. But from the events that happened throughout the whole matter of God’s destroying the city of Sodom, we see the whole of God’s disposition. To the kind, beautiful, and good things he is tolerant and merciful; to the evil, sinful, and vicious things he will cast out his anger fiercely, even constantly. These are the two principal and most prominent aspects of God’s disposition that he has been expressing from beginning to end: bestowing his mercy abundantly and casting out his anger fiercely. Most of you who are present have tasted some mercy of God, but few of you have tasted God’s anger. God’s mercy and lovingkindness can be seen in everyone. That is to say, God has ever bestowed his mercy abundantly on everyone. But he has seldom or even never cast out his anger fiercely against certain one or some of you who are present. Don’t be impatient! God will sooner or later let everyone see and experience his anger. Now it is not the time. Why? Because when God is constantly angry with a man, that is, when God casts out his anger fiercely against a man, it means that God has detested and rejected him for a long time, and that God hates his existence and will not endure his existence anymore. Once God’s anger comes to him, it means that he will disappear. Now God’s work has not been done to that stage. Once God casts out his anger fiercely, none of you can bear it. It can be seen that in this age God has just bestowed his mercy abundantly on all of you but has not cast out his anger fiercely. If some of you are not convinced, you can ask for God’s anger to come upon you so as to experience whether God’s anger and his disposition that does not tolerate man’s offense exist or not. Do you dare to do so?
The End-Time People Only See God’s Anger in God’s Word and Have Not Truly Tasted It
Are the two aspects of God’s disposition seen in these several verses worth fellowshipping? After hearing such a story, do you have a newer knowledge of God? What knowledge? It can be said that from the creation of the world until now, the group of people at the end time are the ones who enjoy God’s grace and God’s mercy and lovingkindness the most. Although in the last stage God does the work of judgment and chastisement and does his work with majesty and wrath, most of the time he only accomplishes his work by his word, teaching by his word and watering, supplying, and feeding by his word. God’s anger, however, is hidden all the time. Men can feel God’s wrathful disposition only in God’s word, and very few of them have ever tasted God’s wrath in person. That is to say, in the work of judgment and chastisement, although from the anger God expresses in his word people have tasted that God is majestic and unoffendable, God’s anger is only limited within the word of God. That is, although God rebukes, discloses, judges, chastises, and even condemns men by his word, he has not cast out his anger fiercely against men and has hardly shown his anger to men outside his word. Therefore, God’s mercy and lovingkindness men have tasted in this age are the expression of God’s real disposition, and God’s wrath men have tasted is merely a result brought by the tone and atmosphere of God’s speaking. Quite a lot of people mistake this result for their real experience of God’s anger and their true knowledge of God’s wrath. So, most people think that they have seen God’s mercy and lovingkindness and also seen God’s intolerance of man’s offense in God’s word, and most people even have tasted God’s mercy and tolerance for mankind. But no matter how bad men’s doings are, or how corrupt men’s disposition is, God has always been patient. His purpose of being patient is to wait for an outcome that his words and his painstaking effort and price produce results in those he wants to gain. It needs time to wait for such an outcome, and it also needs God to arrange different circumstances for men. This is like a man who cannot grow into an adult right after his birth; it will take eighteen or nineteen years. With some people, it will even take twenty or thirty years before they can mature into a real adult. God has been just waiting for the end of such a course, waiting for the arrival of the due time, and also waiting for the coming of such an outcome, and during the waiting time, God has been abundantly bestowing his mercy. However, during the time of God’s work, still very few people have been struck down and some people have been punished for their serious resistance against God. These cases further prove that God’s disposition does not tolerate man’s offense, and also sufficiently prove that God’s tolerance and patience with his chosen people really exist. Of course, in these typical cases, the part of God’s disposition revealed in these people does not affect God’s entire management plan. Actually, in the last stage of work, God has been patient while he is waiting. He uses his patience and his life as the price to exchange for an outcome that those who follow him can be saved. You have seen this, haven’t you? God will not disrupt his plan without any reason. He can cast out his anger and can also bestow his mercy, and these are the expression of the two main aspects of his disposition. Aren’t they very obvious? That is to say, God reveals right and wrong, justice and injustice, and positive things and negative things to men very clearly. What he wants to do, what he likes, and what he hates can be directly manifested in his disposition, and also can be seen very obviously and clearly in God’s work. They are not very vague or general. Rather, he lets everyone see his disposition and what he has and is in a very specific, real, and practical way. This is the real God Godself.
God’s Disposition Has Never Been Hidden from Man, but Man’s Heart Has Departed from God
If I did not fellowship about these, none of you could see God’s real disposition from the stories in the Bible. This is a fact. Although in these Bible stories are recorded some things God did, there are very few words of God, and moreover, God did not directly introduce his disposition or openly express his will to men, and later generations only regard these records as stories. So, in men’s eyes, God is very hidden from them, which does not mean that God’s original person is hidden from them, but that God’s disposition and God’s will are hidden from them. Through my fellowship today, do you still feel God is completely hidden from men? Do you still think God’s disposition is hidden from men?
Since the creation of the world, God’s disposition, along with God’s work, has never been hidden from men but has been completely open and manifest. Men’s heart, however, has become further and further away from God as time goes by. As men have been corrupted more and more deeply, they have become more and more distant from God. Gradually, men have disappeared from God’s sight and “can no longer see” God, and thus they have lost any “information” about God. Then, men are ignorant whether God exists or not and even completely deny God’s existence. Therefore, men do not know about God’s disposition and what God has and is, not because God is hidden from men but because men’s heart departs from God. Although men believe in God, there is no God in their heart. They do not know how to love God, nor do they want to love God. Because men’s heart never draws near to God and they always avoid God, their heart is very far from God. Where is men’s heart? Actually, men’s heart has not moved elsewhere. They just keep it themselves rather than give it to God or lay it bare to God, though some of them often pray, “O God, you search my heart, and you know what is in my heart,” and some even swear and ask God to search them and ask God to punish them if they break their oath. Although men let God search their heart, it does not mean that they can obey God’s manipulation and arrangement or that they commit their destiny, future, and everything to God’s control. So, no matter what you swear to God or what attitude you state to God, in God’s eyes your heart is still closed to him, because you only let God search your heart but do not allow him to rule over your heart. That is, you have not committed your heart to God at all; you only say nice words to God but conceal your various crafty intents, conceal your own purposes and your own intentions and plans, and hold your future and destiny tight in your own hands, deeply fearing that God may take them away. So, God has never seen men’s true heart for him. Although God searches hearts and minds and he can see what men’s heart thinks and wants to do and can see what things there are in men’s heart, men’s heart does not belong to God and men have not committed it to God’s control. That is to say, God only has the right to search it but has no right to rule over it. In men’s subjective mind, they do not want or intend to commit themselves to God for him to manipulate as he likes. Men are closed to God, and besides some of them even try every possible way to wrap up their heart and make pretenses with sweet words to win God’s trust, but cover their true self and keep it from God’s sight. Their purpose of keeping it from God’s sight is to not let God see their real state. They do not want to give their heart to God but want to keep it themselves. This implies that whatever they do and think, they plan, calculate, and decide it themselves, and do not need God to “participate” or step in, much less need God to manipulate and arrange it. So, with God’s commands or commissions, or God’s requirements for men, they will make a choice according to their intents, their interests, their actual states, or their actual circumstances. They always judge and choose what way they are to take with the knowledge and insight they have and with their own mind, not wanting God to interfere and rule. This is men’s heart that God sees.