Eastern Lightning | Gospel Answers & Questions

In the Age of Grace, God became flesh to serve as a sin offering for mankind, redeeming them from sin. In the last days God has again become flesh to express the truth and to do His work of judgment in order to thoroughly purify and save man. So why does God need to incarnate twice to do the work of saving mankind? And what is the true significance of God incarnating twice?

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Almighty God’s word has revealed the significance and mystery of the incarnation. From reading Almighty God’s word we know that incarnation refers to God’s Spirit becoming clothed in flesh and turning into an ordinary and normal person to do the work of God Himself. The incarnate God must have normal humanity, must work and speak within normal humanity. Even when He performs miracles, they must be performed within normal humanity.
In outward appearance, God incarnate appears normal. He seems to do His work like a normal, average human. If He didn’t have normal humanity and work in His normal humanity, He would not be the incarnation of God. The incarnation means that God’s Spirit is realized in the flesh. Within normal humanity, He expresses the truth and does the work of God Himself, redeeming and saving mankind. This is the significance of the incarnation. Now what is the significance of God’s two incarnations? What is meant primarily is that God’s two incarnations have completed the significance of incarnation, accomplished the work of the Word appearing in the flesh and completed God’s management plan to save mankind. This is the significance of God’s two incarnations. We should all be clear the purpose of God’s first incarnation was to do the work of redemption and to pave the way for the work of judgment in the last days. So, God’s first incarnation did not complete the significance of the incarnation. The purpose of God’s second incarnation is to do the work of judgment in the last days and thoroughly save mankind from the domain of Satan, to relieve mankind of their satanic disposition, free them from the influence of Satan so that they may return to God and be gained by Him. Almighty God, Christ of the last days, has expressed the entirety of the truth to purify and save mankind, completed all the work of God in the flesh, and expressed all the words that God must express in His incarnate flesh. Only in so doing has He completed the work of the Word appearing in the flesh. Let us read another two passages from Almighty God. Almighty God says, “God will use words to conquer the universe. He will do this not by His incarnate flesh, but through using the utterances from the mouth of God become flesh to conquer all people in the entire universe; only this is the Word become flesh, and only this is the appearance of the Word in the flesh. Perhaps, to people, it appears as if God hasn’t done much work—but God has but to utter His words for people to be thoroughly convinced, and for them to be overawed. Without facts, people shout and scream; with the words of God, they fall silent. God will surely accomplish this fact, for this is God’s long-established plan: accomplishing the fact of the Word’s arrival on earth” (“The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived” in The Word Appears in the Flesh)

“This stage of work fulfilled the inner meaning of ‘the Word becomes flesh,’ lent deeper meaning to ‘the Word was with God, and the Word was God,’ and allows you to firmly believe the words that ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ Which is to say, at the time of creation God was possessed of words, His words were with Him and inseparable from Him, and the final age makes even clearer the power and authority of His words, and allows man to see all of His words—to hear all of His words. Such is the work of the final age. You must come to know these things through and through. It is not a question of knowing the flesh, but of knowing the flesh and the Word. This is that to which you must bear witness, that which everyone must know. Because this is the work of the second incarnation—and the last time that God becomes flesh—it fully completes the significance of the incarnation, thoroughly carries out and issues forth all of God’s work in the flesh, and brings to an end the era of God’s being in the flesh” (“Practice (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s two incarnations complete all the work of God in the flesh, that is, God’s work of complete salvation of man. So, in the future, God will not be incarnated again. There will be no third or fourth time. Because God’s work in the flesh has already been fully accomplished. This is what is meant by the statement that God has been incarnated twice to complete the significance of the incarnation.

God has been incarnated twice to complete the significance of the incarnation. For those who have yet to experience God’s work of judgment in the last days, this is difficult to understand. Those who only experienced the work of redemption in the Age of Grace know that the Lord Jesus is the incarnate God. But few understand that the Lord Jesus’ work was limited to redemption alone and He did not accomplish the work of the Word appearing in the flesh. Which is to say, the Lord Jesus did not express the entirety of the truth of the incarnate God’s complete salvation of mankind. So the Lord Jesus said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (Jhn 16:12-13). Now the Lord Jesus has returned to the flesh as the Son of man. He is Almighty God, Christ of the last days. He is here doing the work of judgment beginning with God’s house, here expressing the entirety of truth which will purify and save mankind, the truth contained in The Word Appears in the Flesh. God’s incarnation speaks for the first time in God’s identity to the entire universe, proclaiming His word. He proclaims the details of God’s management plan to save mankind, He expresses God’s will, His demands toward all of mankind and man’s destination. Let’s see how Almighty God explains this. Almighty God says, “It is fair to say that this was the first time since the creation that God had addressed all mankind. Never before had God spoken to created mankind in such detail and so systematically. Of course, this was also the first time He had spoken so much, and for so long, to all mankind. It was totally unprecedented. What’s more, these utterances were the first text expressed by God among mankind in which He exposed people, guided them, judged them, and spoke heart-to-heart to them and so, too, were they the first utterances in which God let people know His footsteps, the place in which He lies, God’s disposition, what God has and is, God’s thoughts, and His concern for mankind. It can be said that these were the first utterances that God had spoken to mankind from the third heaven since the creation, and the first time that God had used His inherent identity to appear and express His voice to mankind amid words” (Introduction to Part One of The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“This is because I bring the end of mankind to the world, and from this point on, I lay bare My entire disposition before mankind, so that all who know Me and all those who do not may feast their eyes and see that I have indeed come to the human world, have come onto the earth where all things multiply. This is My plan, it is My sole ‘confession’ since My creation of mankind. I wish that you could give your undivided attention to My every move, for My rod once again presses close to mankind, to all those who oppose Me” (“You Ought to Prepare a Sufficiency of Good Deeds for Your Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

With regard to God’s two incarnations to complete the significance of the incarnation, there are those that just don’t get it, because they lack experience. When they hear of it, they just don’t understand. Now let’s go into the details of the work performed during God’s two incarnations. During God’s first incarnation, He performed the work of redemption, manifesting many miracles: He fed five thousand with just five loaves of bread and two fish. He calmed the wind and the waves with just a word. He resurrected Lazarus. Also, the Lord Jesus fasted and was tempted in the wilderness for forty days. He walked on the sea. And so on. Because the Lord Jesus’ flesh performed miracles, and He was transfigured atop the mountain, in the eyes of us humans, though the Lord Jesus was incarnated in the flesh, He still possessed supernatural elements. He was different than the average man, miracles followed wherever He appeared. Also, the Lord Jesus did only one stage of the work, the work of redemption. He only expressed the truth of the work of redemption, mainly manifesting God’s disposition of compassion and love. He did not express all the truths of the work of judgment and salvation, and He did not express to man God’s righteous, holy and unoffendable disposition. So it cannot be said that the first incarnation completed the meaning of the incarnation. Just as Almighty God says, “Jesus did a stage of work which only fulfilled the substance of ‘the Word was with God’: The truth of God was with God, and the Spirit of God was with the flesh and was inseparable from Him, that is, the flesh of God incarnate was with the Spirit of God, which is greater proof that Jesus incarnate was the first incarnation of God” (“Practice (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s incarnation in the last days is different from the first incarnation. In the second incarnation, God has not performed miracles, He is not at all supernatural. In outward appearance He looks like a normal and ordinary human, doing His work and speaking His word practically and realistically among men. He has expressed the truth to judge, purify, and perfect man. Almighty God has revealed all of the mysteries of God’s management plan, and manifested God’s inherent righteous and holy disposition, all that God is and has, God’s will, and His demands of man. Also, He has judged and exposed man’s satanic nature and corrupt dispositions which resist God, and in so doing, conquered, perfected, exposed, and eliminated man, each unto his own kind. All of the truth with which God endows man in the last days is expressed within the normal humanity of His flesh, there is nothing supernatural about it. All that we see is a normal and ordinary man speaking His word and doing His work, but the word which Christ speaks is all the truth. It has authority and power, it can purify and save man. From the word of Christ, which judges and exposes the truth and substance of man’s corruption, we see how God penetrates to the very core of man in His observation of him, how God has a thorough understanding of man. We also come to know God’s righteous, holy, and unoffendable disposition. From Christ’s admonishment and exhortation, we perceive God’s compassion and concern for man. From the many ways in which Christ speaks and works, we come to appreciate God’s almightiness and wisdom, the earnest intentions with which God works to save mankind, and God’s true love and salvation of man. From the way in which Christ treats all people, matters, and things, we come to understand how God’s pleasure, anger, sorrow, and happiness are all the realities of positive things, and how they are all the expression of God’s disposition and natural manifestations of the substance of God’s life. From Christ’s word and work, we see how God is supreme and great and how He humbly hides Himself, we gain a true understanding and knowledge of God’s inherent disposition and true face, causing us to develop a thirst for the truth and reverence for God in our hearts, to truly love and obey God. This is the effect of the word and work of God’s second incarnation on us. The word and work of God’s second incarnation not only allow us to see God become flesh but also allow us to see the fact of God’s word appearing in the flesh. God’s word accomplishes all things. This normal, average flesh is the embodiment of the Spirit of truth. The incarnate God is the truth, the way, and the life! He is the appearance of the only one true God! Only with the appearance and work of Almighty God has the significance of the incarnation been completed.

Let us read another two passages of Almighty God’s word, so that our understanding of this truth and mystery can become even clearer. Almighty God says, “This stage of work fulfilled the inner meaning of ‘the Word becomes flesh,’ lent deeper meaning to ‘the Word was with God, and the Word was God,’ …” (“Practice (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“During the Age of Kingdom, God incarnate speaks words to conquer all those who believe in Him. This is ‘the Word appearing in the flesh’; God has come during the last days to do this work, which is to say, He has come to accomplish the actual significance of the Word appearing in the flesh. He only speaks words, and rarely is there the advent of facts. This is the very substance of the Word appearing in the flesh, and when God incarnate speaks His words, this is the appearance of the Word in the flesh, and is the Word coming into the flesh. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh.’ This (the work of the appearance of the Word in the flesh) is the work that God will accomplish in the last days, and is the final chapter of His entire management plan, and so God has to come to earth and manifest His words in the flesh. That which is done today, that which will be done in the future, that which will be accomplished by God, man’s final destination, those who will be saved, those who will be destroyed, and so on—this work that should be achieved in the end has all been clearly stated, and is all in order to accomplish the actual significance of the Word appearing in the flesh. The administrative decrees and constitution that were previously issued forth, those who will be destroyed, those who will enter into rest—these words must all be fulfilled. This is the work principally accomplished by God incarnate during the last days. He makes people understand where those predestined by God belong and where those not predestined by God belong, how His people and sons will be classified, what will happen to Israel, what will happen to Egypt—in the future, every one of these words will be accomplished. The steps of God’s work are accelerating. God uses the word as the means to reveal to man what is to be done in every age, what is to be done by God incarnate of the last days, and His ministry that is to be performed, and these words are all in order to accomplish the actual significance of the Word appearing in the flesh” (“All Is Achieved by the Word of God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Now everyone of us has a bit more understanding of how God’s two incarnations complete the significance of the incarnation. We are now aware of the fact that the work of God’s salvation of mankind is accomplished through the work of the incarnation. The stage of work which the Lord Jesus carried out was the work of redemption. The truth He expressed was very limited, so, having experienced the Lord Jesus’ work, our knowledge of God was still limited. Almighty God has come to do the work of judgment in the last days, and expressed the entirety of the truth of God’s righteous judgment of man’s corruption. This allows us to see God’s inherent disposition and know His righteous and holy substance. So, God incarnate of the last days has thoroughly completed God’s work in the flesh. He has expressed the entirety of the truth which God is meant to express in the flesh, thereby fulfilling the fact of the Word appearing in the flesh. This is how God’s two incarnations complete the meaning of the incarnation. God’s two incarnations are indispensable, and supplement and complement each other. So one cannot say that God can only be incarnated once, or that He will be incarnated three or four times. Because God’s two incarnations have already completed the work of God’s salvation of mankind, and expressed the entirety of the mankind-saving truth that God’s incarnations are meant to express. Thus, God’s two incarnations have completed the meaning of the incarnation.

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