Next, read the following verses.
6. The Sermon on the Mount
1) The Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-12)
2) Salt and Light (Mt 5:13-16)
3) Law (Mt 5:17-20)
4) Anger (Mt 5:21-26)
5) Adultery (Mt 5:27-30)
6) Divorce (Mt 5:31-32)
7) Vows (Mt 5:33-37)
8) Eye for Eye (Mt 5:38-42)
9) Love Your Enemies (Mt 5:43-48)
10) Instruction about Giving (Mt 6:1-4)
11) Prayer (Mt 6:5-8)
7. The Lord Jesus’ Parables
1) The Parable of the Sower (Mt 13:1-9)
2) The Parable of the Tares (Mt 13:24-30)
3) The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Mt 13:31-32)
4) The Parable of the Leaven (Mt 13:33)
5) The Parable of the Tares Explained (Mt 13:36-43)
6) The Parable of the Treasure (Mt 13:44)
7) The Parable of the Pearl (Mt 13:45-46)
8) The Parable of the Net (Mt 13:47-50)
8. The Commandments
(Mt 22:37-39) Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Let’s first look at all the items in “The Sermon on the Mount.” What do all these contents involve? Certainly, they are more uplifted and specific and closer to man’s life than those contents in the decrees of the Age of the Law. To put it in today’s terms, they are closer to man’s actual practice.
Let’s read the following detailed contents: what you should know about “the beatitudes”; what you should know about “law”; what your definition of “anger” is; how to treat adulterers; what sayings and rules there are concerning divorce, what kind of person is permitted to divorce, and what kind of person is not permitted to divorce; vows, eye for eye, loving your enemies, and instruction about giving; and so on. All these contents have to do with the various aspects of practices in man’s believing in God and following God. From today’s perspective, some of them are still applicable, but they are a little simpler than today’s requirements for man. They are the rather basic truths man contacted in believing in God. From the time the Lord Jesus began to do the work, he already set about the works concerning man’s life disposition. However, they were some works based on the law. Did the rules and sayings in these aspects have to do with the truth? Of course, they did! Whether the decrees and principles before or these precious teachings in the Age of the Grace, they all had to do with God’s disposition and what God has and is, and of course they all had to do with the truth. No matter what God expresses, in what way he expresses, or in what language he expresses, the foundation, root, and intention of his expressing it are all based on the principle of his disposition and of what he has and is. This is exactly true. So, though these words, viewed from today’s perspective, are somewhat shallow, you cannot say they are not truths, because they are the indispensable things for people to satisfy God’s heart’s desire and be transformed in their life disposition in the Age of the Grace. Of these precious teachings, which one can you say is not in accordance with the truth? None! All of them are truths, because they are all God’s requirements for man, are all the principles and scopes of conducting oneself that God gave man, and all represent God’s disposition. It is only that in light of the level of the people’s life at that time, they could only accept these and could only understand these. Because man’s sins had not been solved, the Lord Jesus could only express those words and could only, within such scopes and with such simple teachings, tell the people at that time how they should act, what things they should do, within what principles and scopes they should do things, and how to believe in God and meet God’s requirements. These were all determined according to the stature of the people at that time. For those who lived under the law, it was far from easy to accept these ways, so the Lord Jesus’ preachings could only be within such scopes.
Next, let’s look at each item in “The Lord Jesus’ Parables.”
The first is the parable of the sower. This parable is very meaningful. Sowing is a common thing in man’s life. The second is the parable of the tares. As to what tares are, all those who have grown crops or adults know it. The third is the parable of the mustard seed. You know what mustard is, don’t you? If anyone does not know, he may look into the Bible. The fourth is the parable of the leaven. Most people know that the leaven serves as ferment, and it is a thing man can use in his daily life. The following sixth is the parable of the treasure, the seventh, the parable of the pearl, and the eighth, the parable of the net. All these parables were taken from man’s life and came from man’s real life. What picture do these parables give man? The picture is that God, who became a normal man, lived together with men, and communicated with them and supplied their needs in everyday language and with words of humanity. After God incarnate lived among men for a long time and experienced and saw men’s various ways of living, these experiences of life became the teaching materials with which he changed the words of divinity into the words of humanity. Of course, what he had seen and heard in life also enriched the experience of the Son of man in humanity. When he wanted people to understand some truths and some of God’s will, he could tell them God’s will and God’s requirement for man by such means as the above parables. All these parables were related to man’s life, and none was divorced from man’s life. When the Lord Jesus lived with men, he saw farmers sowing. He knew what tares were and what leaven was. He also knew that mankind liked treasures, so he used the parable of the treasure and the parable of the pearl. In his life, he often saw fishermen casting nets. The Lord Jesus saw all such activities related to mankind’s life, and at the same time he was also experiencing such a life. Like every normal person, he had three meals a day and worked and rested daily. He was personally experiencing a common person’s life and also seeing other people’s life. When he personally saw and experienced all these, what he thought about was not how to live a good life or how he himself lived an easier and more comfortable life. Rather, when he experienced the real life of mankind, he saw the bitterness of mankind’s living and saw the miserableness, poorness, and pitifulness of the mankind corrupted by satan living under satan’s domain and living in sin. When he personally experienced the life of mankind, he also felt how helpless the mankind was who lived in corruption and also felt and saw the miserable condition of the mankind who lived in sin being tortured by satan and by sin to the extent of not knowing where to go. When the Lord Jesus saw these, did his divinity or his humanity see them? The Lord Jesus’ humanity existed and was living. He could feel and also see all these. Of course, his substance, his divinity, also saw them, that is, Christ himself—the person of the Lord Jesus—saw them. All these he saw made him feel the importance and necessity of the work he undertook when incarnated this time. Although he himself knew how heavy the responsibility he would bear was when incarnated this time and how cruel the suffering he would face was, nevertheless when he saw that mankind was helpless in sin, and when he saw that mankind lived pitifully under the law and struggled powerlessly, he became more and more grieved in his heart and became more and more eager to save mankind from sin. No matter what difficult situations he would encounter, and no matter what suffering he would undergo, his heart became more and more determined to redeem man who lived in sin. During this course, it could be said that the Lord Jesus knew more and more clearly what work he should do and what commission he should undertake; moreover, he became more and more eager to accomplish the work he would undertake—bearing all the sins of man and atoning for mankind’s sins so that mankind would no longer live in sins, and meanwhile God would no longer remember man’s sins because of the sin offering and thus go on with the next stage of the work of saving mankind. It could be said that in his heart the Lord Jesus was willing to offer up and sacrifice himself for mankind and willing to be crucified as a sin offering, and he was eager to accomplish this work. So much so that when he saw the miserable condition of mankind’s life, he even more wanted to accomplish his commission soon without an instant’s delay. When he had such an eager mind, he did not consider how greatly he would suffer, nor did he care how much humiliation he would endure. He just had one conviction in his heart: As long as he offered himself up, as long as he was nailed onto the cross as a sin offering, God’s will would be carried out and God could start a new work, and mankind’s life in sin and mankind’s state of living in sin would be completely changed. His conviction and the thing he was determined to do both had to do with saving mankind. He only had one purpose: to carry out God’s will so that God could carry out the next stage of his work smoothly. This was the Lord Jesus’ mind at that time.
As the incarnated God who lived in the flesh, he had normal humanity, he had the emotion and sense a normal person has, and he knew what joy is and what pain is. When he saw mankind living such a life, he deeply felt that he could not bring man out of sin simply by giving man some teachings or some supplies or instructions, nor could he save man out of sin by requiring man to just keep the commandments, and that only if he himself bore mankind’s sin and became in the likeness of sinful flesh could man have freedom and receive God’s forgiveness for mankind. So after the Lord Jesus had experienced and seen mankind’s life in sin, in his heart he had a strong desire—let mankind break free from the life of seeking in sin. This desire made him feel more and more that he should go to the cross and bear mankind’s sin as early as possible and as soon as possible. This was the mind the Lord Jesus had when he, living with mankind, had seen, heard, and felt mankind’s miserable condition of living in sin. God incarnate could have such a will for mankind and could express and manifest such disposition. Could an ordinary man attain to this? When an ordinary man lived in such an environment, what could he see? What could he think about? If an ordinary man was faced with all that, would he view the issue from a high angle? Certainly not! Though God incarnate looks the same as man, and he also learns human knowledge and speaks human language, and sometimes even expresses his meaning in a human way or by quoting human sayings, nevertheless the substance of his looking at mankind and viewing things is absolutely different from that of corrupt mankind, and the angle and height he takes are beyond the reach of any corrupt human. This is because God is the truth, the flesh he is clothed with also has the substance of God Godself, and what is expressed from his mind and from his humanity is also the truth. To corrupt mankind, all the expression of the flesh is the supply of the truth and the supply of life. Such supply is not directed at a certain person alone but at all mankind. With any corrupt man, his heart can only contain the several people related to him, and he only cares and is concerned about those several people. When a disaster comes, he first thinks of his children, his spouse, or his parents. Someone of “universal love” thinks of a certain relative or good friend of his at most. Will he think of more than that? Never will! This is because man is man after all, and man can only view everything in the position of a man and in the height of a man. God’s incarnated flesh, however, is completely different from corrupt mankind. No matter how common, normal, humble, or even diminished God’s incarnated flesh is, his mind and his attitude toward mankind cannot be possessed or imitated by any man. He observes mankind always in the position of divinity and in the height of the Creator, and looks at mankind with God’s substance and God’s mind, and he will never look at mankind in the height of an ordinary man or in the position of a corrupt man. Man looks at mankind with human eyes, and takes human knowledge, human regulation, human doctrine, and so on as the standard of measurement. This is the scope man can see with his physical eyes and the scope within the reach of corrupt mankind. God looks at mankind with divine eyes, and takes God’s substance and what God has and is as the standard of measurement. This is the scope that man cannot see. This is where God’s incarnated flesh is completely different from corrupt mankind. This difference is determined by their respective substances. And it is their different substances that decide their respective identities and positions and also decide their respective positions and heights of viewing things. In the Lord Jesus, have you seen the expressions and manifestations of God Godself? It can be said that what the Lord Jesus did and said all had to do with his ministry and with God’s own management work, and were all the expressions and manifestations of God’s substance. Even though he had some manifestations of humanity, his divine substance and manifestations cannot be denied. Were such manifestations of his humanity really manifestations of humanity? They were completely different from the manifestations of corrupt mankind’s humanity in substance. The Lord Jesus was God’s incarnated flesh. If he had really been a common member of corrupt mankind, could he have looked at the sinful life of mankind in the position of divinity? Absolutely not! This is the difference between the Son of man and an ordinary man. Corrupt men all live in sin, and no one has any feeling about sin when looking at it, and all are the same. This is like a pig living in the mud. It does not have any feeling of discomfort or feel it is dirty, and it eats well and sleeps well. If you clean up the pigsty, the pig, however, feels uneasy, and it will not keep the pigsty clean. Before long, the pig will again roll in the mud and feel really comfortable. This is because it is just a dirty thing. In man’s view, he feels that the pig is too dirty, and even though you clean up for it, it does not feel it good. So no one raises pigs in his room. Man’s viewpoint on the pig is always different from the pig’s own feeling, because man and pig are not of the same kind. Likewise, it is because the incarnated Son of man and corrupt men are not of the same kind that only God’s incarnated flesh can look at mankind and view everything in the position and height of God.
When God is incarnated and lives among men, what is the suffering God’s flesh undergoes? Does anyone truly know it? Some people say, “God has suffered so greatly. He is God Godself, but no one knows his substance, and people always treat him as a man, making him feel hard done by and wronged. God has really suffered so greatly.” Some say, “God is innocent and sinless, but he undergoes the same sufferings as man. He is suffering persecutions, slanders, and insults with men, and meanwhile he is enduring the misunderstanding and disobedience of his followers. The sufferings God has undergone are really innumerable.” It can be seen that you do not truly know God. Actually these sufferings you say are not real sufferings to God, because there is something more bitter than these. Then what is the real suffering to God Godself? What is the real suffering to God’s incarnated flesh? To God, it is not suffering that man does not know him, nor is it suffering that man has some misunderstandings of him and does not treat him as God. However, man often feels that God seems to suffer a great wrong, and feels that God, when incarnated, cannot manifest his original person to mankind for them to see his greatness, and God is always humbly hidden in the small flesh like this, so God must be greatly tormented in his heart. Man just takes to heart God’s sufferings that man can understand and see, and thus gives God sympathy in every possible way and even often gives some small praises for that. In fact there is a difference or distance between the sufferings man thinks God undergoes and the suffering God truly feels. I tell you the truth, to God, whether God’s Spirit or God’s incarnated flesh, none of these sufferings is the real suffering. Then what is the suffering God undergoes actually? Let’s talk about God’s suffering only from the angle of the incarnated God.
When God is incarnated as a common and normal person, he lives among men and lives together with mankind. As for men’s styles, rules, and ideas of living, can’t God see and feel them? What does he feel about these styles and rules of living? Does he loathe them in his heart? Why does he loathe them? What are mankind’s styles and rules of living? On what principles are they based? What is their basis? Mankind’s life styles, their rules of living, and so on come into existence based on satan’s logic, knowledge, and philosophy. The mankind who lives under such rules of living has no humanity or truth, and they all go against the truth and are hostile to God. Then let’s look at God’s substance. God’s substance is just opposite to satan’s logic, knowledge, and philosophy. His substance is full of the reality of all positive things, such as righteousness, truth, holiness, and so on. When the God with such substance lives among such a mankind, what is his feeling in the heart? Isn’t his heart full of suffering? His heart suffers, and this suffering no one understands and no one can feel. This is because what he faces, contacts, hears, sees, and experiences are all mankind’s corruption and evil and their disobedience and resistance against the truth. Everything from man is the cause of his suffering. In other words, because he is different from corrupt mankind in substance, mankind’s corruption becomes the source of his greatest suffering. When God is incarnated, can he find a person who has a common language with him? He cannot find one among mankind. Since he cannot find among mankind one who can communicate and commune with him, what do you think God’s heart feels? What man talks about, what man likes, and what man pursues and yearns for are all related to sins and related to evil trends. When God is faced with all these, doesn’t he feel as if a knife were being twisted in his heart? As he is faced with these things, can his heart be happy? Can his heart be comforted? Those he lives with are the mankind full of disobedience and evil, so how could his heart not suffer? As to how great such suffering is, who has ever cared about it? Who has ever paid attention to it? And who can feel it? God’s heart man cannot understand, and God’s suffering man can even less feel. Man’s indifference and numbness add more suffering to God’s suffering.
Some people often sympathize with Christ’s situation. For the Bible says: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head.” After they hear this word, they take it to heart and think that this is the greatest suffering God undergoes and the greatest suffering Christ undergoes. Now, judging from the facts, is that so? God does not regard such suffering as suffering. He never, because of such suffering his flesh undergoes, cries out for justice or asks man to reward him with something or repay him with something. Rather, when God personally sees man’s everything, seeing man’s corrupt living and corrupt mankind’s evil, seeing man being controlled by satan and trapped by satan and unable to get free, and seeing man living in sin and not knowing what the truth is, all these sins of man are intolerable to God and increase God’s loathing for mankind with each passing day, but at the same time he has to endure all this. This is the greatest suffering God undergoes. Even among his followers God cannot completely express his heart’s voice and his pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy, and even among his followers, there is no one who can truly know his suffering, nor is there anyone who tries to understand and comfort his heart. His heart undergoes such suffering day after day, year after year, and time after time. What do you see here? God does not ask any repayment for his expending for mankind, but because of his substance, he cannot tolerate mankind’s evil, corruption, or sin in the slightest, and he extremely loathes them and extremely abhors them, which causes his heart and his flesh to constantly suffer. Do you see this? I think none of you can see this, because none of you truly know God. Take time to experience it gradually!
6. The Sermon on the Mount
1) The Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-12)
2) Salt and Light (Mt 5:13-16)
3) Law (Mt 5:17-20)
4) Anger (Mt 5:21-26)
5) Adultery (Mt 5:27-30)
6) Divorce (Mt 5:31-32)
7) Vows (Mt 5:33-37)
8) Eye for Eye (Mt 5:38-42)
9) Love Your Enemies (Mt 5:43-48)
10) Instruction about Giving (Mt 6:1-4)
11) Prayer (Mt 6:5-8)
7. The Lord Jesus’ Parables
1) The Parable of the Sower (Mt 13:1-9)
2) The Parable of the Tares (Mt 13:24-30)
3) The Parable of the Mustard Seed (Mt 13:31-32)
4) The Parable of the Leaven (Mt 13:33)
5) The Parable of the Tares Explained (Mt 13:36-43)
6) The Parable of the Treasure (Mt 13:44)
7) The Parable of the Pearl (Mt 13:45-46)
8) The Parable of the Net (Mt 13:47-50)
8. The Commandments
(Mt 22:37-39) Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Let’s first look at all the items in “The Sermon on the Mount.” What do all these contents involve? Certainly, they are more uplifted and specific and closer to man’s life than those contents in the decrees of the Age of the Law. To put it in today’s terms, they are closer to man’s actual practice.
Let’s read the following detailed contents: what you should know about “the beatitudes”; what you should know about “law”; what your definition of “anger” is; how to treat adulterers; what sayings and rules there are concerning divorce, what kind of person is permitted to divorce, and what kind of person is not permitted to divorce; vows, eye for eye, loving your enemies, and instruction about giving; and so on. All these contents have to do with the various aspects of practices in man’s believing in God and following God. From today’s perspective, some of them are still applicable, but they are a little simpler than today’s requirements for man. They are the rather basic truths man contacted in believing in God. From the time the Lord Jesus began to do the work, he already set about the works concerning man’s life disposition. However, they were some works based on the law. Did the rules and sayings in these aspects have to do with the truth? Of course, they did! Whether the decrees and principles before or these precious teachings in the Age of the Grace, they all had to do with God’s disposition and what God has and is, and of course they all had to do with the truth. No matter what God expresses, in what way he expresses, or in what language he expresses, the foundation, root, and intention of his expressing it are all based on the principle of his disposition and of what he has and is. This is exactly true. So, though these words, viewed from today’s perspective, are somewhat shallow, you cannot say they are not truths, because they are the indispensable things for people to satisfy God’s heart’s desire and be transformed in their life disposition in the Age of the Grace. Of these precious teachings, which one can you say is not in accordance with the truth? None! All of them are truths, because they are all God’s requirements for man, are all the principles and scopes of conducting oneself that God gave man, and all represent God’s disposition. It is only that in light of the level of the people’s life at that time, they could only accept these and could only understand these. Because man’s sins had not been solved, the Lord Jesus could only express those words and could only, within such scopes and with such simple teachings, tell the people at that time how they should act, what things they should do, within what principles and scopes they should do things, and how to believe in God and meet God’s requirements. These were all determined according to the stature of the people at that time. For those who lived under the law, it was far from easy to accept these ways, so the Lord Jesus’ preachings could only be within such scopes.
Next, let’s look at each item in “The Lord Jesus’ Parables.”
The first is the parable of the sower. This parable is very meaningful. Sowing is a common thing in man’s life. The second is the parable of the tares. As to what tares are, all those who have grown crops or adults know it. The third is the parable of the mustard seed. You know what mustard is, don’t you? If anyone does not know, he may look into the Bible. The fourth is the parable of the leaven. Most people know that the leaven serves as ferment, and it is a thing man can use in his daily life. The following sixth is the parable of the treasure, the seventh, the parable of the pearl, and the eighth, the parable of the net. All these parables were taken from man’s life and came from man’s real life. What picture do these parables give man? The picture is that God, who became a normal man, lived together with men, and communicated with them and supplied their needs in everyday language and with words of humanity. After God incarnate lived among men for a long time and experienced and saw men’s various ways of living, these experiences of life became the teaching materials with which he changed the words of divinity into the words of humanity. Of course, what he had seen and heard in life also enriched the experience of the Son of man in humanity. When he wanted people to understand some truths and some of God’s will, he could tell them God’s will and God’s requirement for man by such means as the above parables. All these parables were related to man’s life, and none was divorced from man’s life. When the Lord Jesus lived with men, he saw farmers sowing. He knew what tares were and what leaven was. He also knew that mankind liked treasures, so he used the parable of the treasure and the parable of the pearl. In his life, he often saw fishermen casting nets. The Lord Jesus saw all such activities related to mankind’s life, and at the same time he was also experiencing such a life. Like every normal person, he had three meals a day and worked and rested daily. He was personally experiencing a common person’s life and also seeing other people’s life. When he personally saw and experienced all these, what he thought about was not how to live a good life or how he himself lived an easier and more comfortable life. Rather, when he experienced the real life of mankind, he saw the bitterness of mankind’s living and saw the miserableness, poorness, and pitifulness of the mankind corrupted by satan living under satan’s domain and living in sin. When he personally experienced the life of mankind, he also felt how helpless the mankind was who lived in corruption and also felt and saw the miserable condition of the mankind who lived in sin being tortured by satan and by sin to the extent of not knowing where to go. When the Lord Jesus saw these, did his divinity or his humanity see them? The Lord Jesus’ humanity existed and was living. He could feel and also see all these. Of course, his substance, his divinity, also saw them, that is, Christ himself—the person of the Lord Jesus—saw them. All these he saw made him feel the importance and necessity of the work he undertook when incarnated this time. Although he himself knew how heavy the responsibility he would bear was when incarnated this time and how cruel the suffering he would face was, nevertheless when he saw that mankind was helpless in sin, and when he saw that mankind lived pitifully under the law and struggled powerlessly, he became more and more grieved in his heart and became more and more eager to save mankind from sin. No matter what difficult situations he would encounter, and no matter what suffering he would undergo, his heart became more and more determined to redeem man who lived in sin. During this course, it could be said that the Lord Jesus knew more and more clearly what work he should do and what commission he should undertake; moreover, he became more and more eager to accomplish the work he would undertake—bearing all the sins of man and atoning for mankind’s sins so that mankind would no longer live in sins, and meanwhile God would no longer remember man’s sins because of the sin offering and thus go on with the next stage of the work of saving mankind. It could be said that in his heart the Lord Jesus was willing to offer up and sacrifice himself for mankind and willing to be crucified as a sin offering, and he was eager to accomplish this work. So much so that when he saw the miserable condition of mankind’s life, he even more wanted to accomplish his commission soon without an instant’s delay. When he had such an eager mind, he did not consider how greatly he would suffer, nor did he care how much humiliation he would endure. He just had one conviction in his heart: As long as he offered himself up, as long as he was nailed onto the cross as a sin offering, God’s will would be carried out and God could start a new work, and mankind’s life in sin and mankind’s state of living in sin would be completely changed. His conviction and the thing he was determined to do both had to do with saving mankind. He only had one purpose: to carry out God’s will so that God could carry out the next stage of his work smoothly. This was the Lord Jesus’ mind at that time.
As the incarnated God who lived in the flesh, he had normal humanity, he had the emotion and sense a normal person has, and he knew what joy is and what pain is. When he saw mankind living such a life, he deeply felt that he could not bring man out of sin simply by giving man some teachings or some supplies or instructions, nor could he save man out of sin by requiring man to just keep the commandments, and that only if he himself bore mankind’s sin and became in the likeness of sinful flesh could man have freedom and receive God’s forgiveness for mankind. So after the Lord Jesus had experienced and seen mankind’s life in sin, in his heart he had a strong desire—let mankind break free from the life of seeking in sin. This desire made him feel more and more that he should go to the cross and bear mankind’s sin as early as possible and as soon as possible. This was the mind the Lord Jesus had when he, living with mankind, had seen, heard, and felt mankind’s miserable condition of living in sin. God incarnate could have such a will for mankind and could express and manifest such disposition. Could an ordinary man attain to this? When an ordinary man lived in such an environment, what could he see? What could he think about? If an ordinary man was faced with all that, would he view the issue from a high angle? Certainly not! Though God incarnate looks the same as man, and he also learns human knowledge and speaks human language, and sometimes even expresses his meaning in a human way or by quoting human sayings, nevertheless the substance of his looking at mankind and viewing things is absolutely different from that of corrupt mankind, and the angle and height he takes are beyond the reach of any corrupt human. This is because God is the truth, the flesh he is clothed with also has the substance of God Godself, and what is expressed from his mind and from his humanity is also the truth. To corrupt mankind, all the expression of the flesh is the supply of the truth and the supply of life. Such supply is not directed at a certain person alone but at all mankind. With any corrupt man, his heart can only contain the several people related to him, and he only cares and is concerned about those several people. When a disaster comes, he first thinks of his children, his spouse, or his parents. Someone of “universal love” thinks of a certain relative or good friend of his at most. Will he think of more than that? Never will! This is because man is man after all, and man can only view everything in the position of a man and in the height of a man. God’s incarnated flesh, however, is completely different from corrupt mankind. No matter how common, normal, humble, or even diminished God’s incarnated flesh is, his mind and his attitude toward mankind cannot be possessed or imitated by any man. He observes mankind always in the position of divinity and in the height of the Creator, and looks at mankind with God’s substance and God’s mind, and he will never look at mankind in the height of an ordinary man or in the position of a corrupt man. Man looks at mankind with human eyes, and takes human knowledge, human regulation, human doctrine, and so on as the standard of measurement. This is the scope man can see with his physical eyes and the scope within the reach of corrupt mankind. God looks at mankind with divine eyes, and takes God’s substance and what God has and is as the standard of measurement. This is the scope that man cannot see. This is where God’s incarnated flesh is completely different from corrupt mankind. This difference is determined by their respective substances. And it is their different substances that decide their respective identities and positions and also decide their respective positions and heights of viewing things. In the Lord Jesus, have you seen the expressions and manifestations of God Godself? It can be said that what the Lord Jesus did and said all had to do with his ministry and with God’s own management work, and were all the expressions and manifestations of God’s substance. Even though he had some manifestations of humanity, his divine substance and manifestations cannot be denied. Were such manifestations of his humanity really manifestations of humanity? They were completely different from the manifestations of corrupt mankind’s humanity in substance. The Lord Jesus was God’s incarnated flesh. If he had really been a common member of corrupt mankind, could he have looked at the sinful life of mankind in the position of divinity? Absolutely not! This is the difference between the Son of man and an ordinary man. Corrupt men all live in sin, and no one has any feeling about sin when looking at it, and all are the same. This is like a pig living in the mud. It does not have any feeling of discomfort or feel it is dirty, and it eats well and sleeps well. If you clean up the pigsty, the pig, however, feels uneasy, and it will not keep the pigsty clean. Before long, the pig will again roll in the mud and feel really comfortable. This is because it is just a dirty thing. In man’s view, he feels that the pig is too dirty, and even though you clean up for it, it does not feel it good. So no one raises pigs in his room. Man’s viewpoint on the pig is always different from the pig’s own feeling, because man and pig are not of the same kind. Likewise, it is because the incarnated Son of man and corrupt men are not of the same kind that only God’s incarnated flesh can look at mankind and view everything in the position and height of God.
When God is incarnated and lives among men, what is the suffering God’s flesh undergoes? Does anyone truly know it? Some people say, “God has suffered so greatly. He is God Godself, but no one knows his substance, and people always treat him as a man, making him feel hard done by and wronged. God has really suffered so greatly.” Some say, “God is innocent and sinless, but he undergoes the same sufferings as man. He is suffering persecutions, slanders, and insults with men, and meanwhile he is enduring the misunderstanding and disobedience of his followers. The sufferings God has undergone are really innumerable.” It can be seen that you do not truly know God. Actually these sufferings you say are not real sufferings to God, because there is something more bitter than these. Then what is the real suffering to God Godself? What is the real suffering to God’s incarnated flesh? To God, it is not suffering that man does not know him, nor is it suffering that man has some misunderstandings of him and does not treat him as God. However, man often feels that God seems to suffer a great wrong, and feels that God, when incarnated, cannot manifest his original person to mankind for them to see his greatness, and God is always humbly hidden in the small flesh like this, so God must be greatly tormented in his heart. Man just takes to heart God’s sufferings that man can understand and see, and thus gives God sympathy in every possible way and even often gives some small praises for that. In fact there is a difference or distance between the sufferings man thinks God undergoes and the suffering God truly feels. I tell you the truth, to God, whether God’s Spirit or God’s incarnated flesh, none of these sufferings is the real suffering. Then what is the suffering God undergoes actually? Let’s talk about God’s suffering only from the angle of the incarnated God.
When God is incarnated as a common and normal person, he lives among men and lives together with mankind. As for men’s styles, rules, and ideas of living, can’t God see and feel them? What does he feel about these styles and rules of living? Does he loathe them in his heart? Why does he loathe them? What are mankind’s styles and rules of living? On what principles are they based? What is their basis? Mankind’s life styles, their rules of living, and so on come into existence based on satan’s logic, knowledge, and philosophy. The mankind who lives under such rules of living has no humanity or truth, and they all go against the truth and are hostile to God. Then let’s look at God’s substance. God’s substance is just opposite to satan’s logic, knowledge, and philosophy. His substance is full of the reality of all positive things, such as righteousness, truth, holiness, and so on. When the God with such substance lives among such a mankind, what is his feeling in the heart? Isn’t his heart full of suffering? His heart suffers, and this suffering no one understands and no one can feel. This is because what he faces, contacts, hears, sees, and experiences are all mankind’s corruption and evil and their disobedience and resistance against the truth. Everything from man is the cause of his suffering. In other words, because he is different from corrupt mankind in substance, mankind’s corruption becomes the source of his greatest suffering. When God is incarnated, can he find a person who has a common language with him? He cannot find one among mankind. Since he cannot find among mankind one who can communicate and commune with him, what do you think God’s heart feels? What man talks about, what man likes, and what man pursues and yearns for are all related to sins and related to evil trends. When God is faced with all these, doesn’t he feel as if a knife were being twisted in his heart? As he is faced with these things, can his heart be happy? Can his heart be comforted? Those he lives with are the mankind full of disobedience and evil, so how could his heart not suffer? As to how great such suffering is, who has ever cared about it? Who has ever paid attention to it? And who can feel it? God’s heart man cannot understand, and God’s suffering man can even less feel. Man’s indifference and numbness add more suffering to God’s suffering.
Some people often sympathize with Christ’s situation. For the Bible says: “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head.” After they hear this word, they take it to heart and think that this is the greatest suffering God undergoes and the greatest suffering Christ undergoes. Now, judging from the facts, is that so? God does not regard such suffering as suffering. He never, because of such suffering his flesh undergoes, cries out for justice or asks man to reward him with something or repay him with something. Rather, when God personally sees man’s everything, seeing man’s corrupt living and corrupt mankind’s evil, seeing man being controlled by satan and trapped by satan and unable to get free, and seeing man living in sin and not knowing what the truth is, all these sins of man are intolerable to God and increase God’s loathing for mankind with each passing day, but at the same time he has to endure all this. This is the greatest suffering God undergoes. Even among his followers God cannot completely express his heart’s voice and his pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy, and even among his followers, there is no one who can truly know his suffering, nor is there anyone who tries to understand and comfort his heart. His heart undergoes such suffering day after day, year after year, and time after time. What do you see here? God does not ask any repayment for his expending for mankind, but because of his substance, he cannot tolerate mankind’s evil, corruption, or sin in the slightest, and he extremely loathes them and extremely abhors them, which causes his heart and his flesh to constantly suffer. Do you see this? I think none of you can see this, because none of you truly know God. Take time to experience it gradually!