Questions and Answers About Salvation and Final Salvation—-Question 6
VI Questions and Answers About Salvation and Final Salvation—-Question 6
Question 6: You said that for man to break free from sin and become
pray to Almighty God
holy, he must accept God’s judgment of the last days. Then how does God judge and purify man in the last days? For many years I’ve often wondered. What a joy to be without sin. Then life wouldn’t be painful!
Answer: As to how Almighty God judges and purifies man in the last days, let’s read Almighty God’s word first! Almighty God says, “when God becomes flesh this time, His work is to express His disposition, primarily through chastisement and judgment. Using this as the foundation, He brings more truth to man, shows more ways of practice, and so achieves His objective of conquering man and saving man from his corrupt disposition. This is what lies behind the work of God in the Age of Kingdom” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, reveal the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and disposition of God, and so on. These words are all focused on the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that reveal how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. When God does the work of judgment, He does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words, but carries out revelation, dealing, and pruning over the long term. Such manner of revelation, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only such manner of work is deemed judgment; only through such judgment can man be persuaded, be thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that could not be understood by man. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of such work is actually the work of opening up the truth, way, and life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment with the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“Through this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within him, and he will be able to completely change and become clean. Only in this way can man be worthy to return before the throne of God. All the work done this day is so that man can be made clean and be changed; through judgment and chastisement by the word, as well as refinement, man can cast away his corruption and be made pure. Rather than deeming this stage of work to be that of salvation, it would be more apt to say it is the work of purification” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“God does the work of judgment and chastisement so that man may know Him, and for the sake of His testimony. Without His judgment of man’s corrupt disposition, man would not know His righteous disposition that allows no offense, and could not turn his old knowledge of God into a new one. For the sake of His testimony, and for the sake of His management, He makes His entirety public, thus enabling man to achieve the knowledge of God, and change his disposition, and bear resounding testimony to God through God’s public appearance. Change is achieved in the disposition of man through different kinds of God’s work; without such changes in man’s disposition, man would be unable to bear testimony to God, and could not be after God’s heart. Changes in man’s disposition signify that man has freed himself from Satan’s bondage, has freed himself from the influence of darkness, and has truly become a model and specimen of God’s work, has truly become a witness of God and someone who is after God’s heart” (“Only Those Who Know God Can Bear Testimony to God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
From God’s word, we can see that in the last days, God expresses the truth to judge and chastise corrupt mankind. All the words God judges man with are the expression of His righteous disposition, what He has and what He is, and the words that can be man’s life. Therefore, they are all truths. For corrupt mankind, these words of truth are judgment themselves. They’re chastisement, condemnation, and searching, and purification. With the word of truth, God purifies the satanic disposition within corrupt mankind, and resolves their nature and substance of resisting God. This is the significance of God purifying, saving and perfecting man with judgment. In the judgment of the last days, Almighty God expresses truth and reveals all the mysteries of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, and reveals the purpose of God’s three-stage work of salvation and the substance of each stage of work. He especially points out the way for man’s disposition to become transformed and purified. Meanwhile, He thoroughly reveals man’s nature and substance which are corrupted by Satan, plus the truth of his corruption and the root of his sin. Then man can understand that his nature is the very nature of Satan, and sees that he is living in the likeness of Satan, the devil, so he truly repents, and willingly accepts God’s judgment, chastisement, trials and refinement, and is led by God’s word to pursue the truth and the transformation of his disposition. And he gradually breaks from the bondage of his satanic corrupt disposition, rebels against Satan, leaves the darkness and returns to God. And so, man’s sinful nature is radically resolved.
What’s more, by experiencing and practicing God’s word, man gradually learns many truths, such as what is salvation, what is full salvation, what is doing God’s will, what is following man’s own path, what is following God, what is following man, what are Pharisees, whom God saves, and whom God eliminates, and so on. Most importantly, in the judgment and chastisement of God’s word, man learns that God’s righteous disposition is not to be offended. Because of knowing God, man comes to fear God and shun evil and live by God’s word. As man understands the truth and knows God more deeply, he’s more obedient to God and has more reality of practicing the truth. So man unknowingly breaks away from sin and becomes holy. This result can never be achieved in the Lord’s believers who refuse to accept God’s work of the last days. So, only by accepting the judgment and chastisement of Almighty God’s word in the last days can man understand the truth and know God, break away from Satan’s influence, abolish his satanic disposition, and live by the truth and God’s word. This is the real meaning of being saved.
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