The world is getting more and more dark and evil and full of lies and deception. People engage in intrigue and even kill each other. Toying with fleshly desires and betraying marriage are common occurrences; gambling, stealing, murdering, arson, swindling and cheating occur frequently. Even those who believe in God often fail to follow the Lord’s teachings and live in a cycle of committing sins in the day and confessing them at night. In addition, the world’s situation is also turbulent. Terrorist attacks and ethnic conflicts are constantly escalating. Disasters are frequently happening all over the world.People living in such a world often feel helpless and panic. What is the root cause of this? At first, Adam and Eve lived happily in the Garden of Eden, but because of the corruption and temptation of Satan, they betrayed God and thus were driven out of Eden and lost the presence of God. Since then, human beings have lived in sin and become more and more corrupt, so they feel painful and depressed inside. Although we humans live in sin and have been deeply corrupted by Satan, God has not given up on us, but has begun a plan to save mankind. So how did God do the work of saving mankind?
In the Age of Law, Jehovah Issued Laws to Guide People’s Lives—Making People Aware of Sin
At that time, because of Satan’s corruption, Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s words, becoming sinful. So, God started to do the work of saving mankind. Early in the Age of Law, people were like infants, having no concept of the common sense and rules people should possess, and even less understanding of the concept of sin. In their speech and deeds, they were unrestrained, they acted as they please, and they didn’t consider the consequences at all, just as when Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy. So, God proclaimed laws, such as commandments and prohibitions, to regulate human behavior, so that people would know what sin is and what things are cursed by God, and also understand how to live and worship God. After that, the Israelites could live an orderly life, and mankind could survive and develop to the present day.
Almighty God says, “During the Age of Law, Jehovah laid down many commandments for Moses to pass on to the Israelites who followed him out of Egypt. These commandments were given by Jehovah to the Israelites and bore no relation to the Egyptians; they were meant to restrain the Israelites, and He used the commandments to make demands of them. Whether they observed the Sabbath, whether they respected their parents, whether they worshiped idols, and so forth—these were the principles by which they were judged sinful or righteous. Among them, there were some who were struck by Jehovah’s fire, some who were stoned to death, and some who received Jehovah’s blessing, and this was determined according to whether or not they obeyed these commandments. Those who did not observe the Sabbath were stoned to death. Those priests who did not observe the Sabbath were struck by Jehovah’s fire. Those who did not show respect to their parents were also stoned to death. This was all commended by Jehovah. Jehovah established His commandments and laws so that, as He led them in their lives, the people would listen to and obey His word and not rebel against Him. He used these laws to keep the newborn human race under control, the better to lay the foundation for His future work. And so, based on the work that Jehovah did, the first age was called the Age of Law. Though Jehovah made many utterances and did much work, He only guided the people positively, teaching these ignorant people how to be human, how to live, how to understand Jehovah’s way. For the most part, the work He did was to cause the people to observe His way and follow His laws. The work was done on people who were shallowly corrupted; it did not extend as far as transforming their disposition or progress in life. He was only concerned with using laws to restrict and control the people. For the Israelites at that time, Jehovah was merely a God in the temple, a God in the heavens. He was a pillar of cloud, a pillar of fire. All Jehovah required them to do was obey what people today know as His laws and commandments—one could even say rules—because what Jehovah did was not meant to transform them, but to give them more things that man ought to have and to instruct them from His own mouth because, after being created, man had nothing that he ought to possess. And so, Jehovah gave to the people the things they ought to possess for their lives on earth, making the people that He had led surpass their ancestors, Adam and Eve, because what Jehovah gave them surpassed what He had given Adam and Eve in the beginning. Regardless, the work Jehovah did in Israel was only to guide humanity and make humanity recognize their Creator. He did not conquer them or transform them, but merely guided them. This is the sum of Jehovah’s work in the Age of Law. It is the background, the true story, the essence of His work in the whole land of Israel, and the beginning of His six thousand years of work—to keep mankind under the control of Jehovah’s hand. Out of this was born more work in His six-thousand-year management plan.”
From the words of God, we know that God’s work in the Age of Law is the initial work of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, and it is also the work that lays the foundation for His future management. The purpose of God’s management work is to defeat Satan, so that we can break free from the bondage of sin and enter the beautiful destination God has prepared for us humans. Without God’s work in the Age of Law, human beings, like newborn babies, wouldn’t understand anything and wouldn’t know what sin is, and thus it would be even more difficult for people to get rid of sin. Therefore, God’s issuing the law and commandments in the Age of Law is an essential step in God’s management work, and it is a work that lays the foundation for God’s managing mankind in the future.
In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus Was Crucified to Redeem All Mankind—Forgiving Man’s Sins
The earliest mankind did not know how to live or what sin is, and much less did they know how to worship God. In those early days, Jehovah God issued the laws and commandments for people to keep them. These words were only to guide the newborn mankind’s life on the earth, so that people came to know what sin is, what they should do, and what they should not do. As long as people followed God’s laws and commandments, they would be blessed by Jehovah God. But at the end of the Age of Law, because mankind was being corrupted more and more deeply by Satan, the people of Israel could not keep the laws and they committed more and more sins; and they were faced with the danger of being condemned and sentenced to death by those laws. God took mercy on mankind, however, and so that mankind could be saved and escape the condemnation of the laws, God became flesh and performed the work of redeeming all mankind, was crucified as a flesh without sin, and redeemed us humans from the laws. From that point on, so long as we accepted and called on the Lord Jesus’ name, came before Him to repent and confess our sins, then our sins would be absolved, and we would no longer be condemned or punished by those laws—we gained salvation because the Lord Jesus redeemed us.
Almighty God says, “The work Jesus did was in accordance with the needs of man in that age. His task was to redeem humanity, to forgive them their sins, and so His disposition was wholly one of humility, patience, love, piety, forbearance, mercy, and lovingkindness. He brought to humanity abundant grace and blessings, and all the things that people could possibly enjoy, He gave to them for their enjoyment: peace and happiness, His tolerance and love, His mercy and lovingkindness. At the time, the abundance of things to enjoy that people were faced with—the sense of peace and security within their hearts, the feeling of reassurance within their spirits, and their dependence on Jesus the Savior—was all down to the age in which they lived. In the Age of Grace, man had already been corrupted by Satan, and so to achieve the work of redeeming all humanity required an abundance of grace, infinite forbearance and patience, and even more than that, an offering sufficient to atone for humanity’s sins, in order to have an effect. What humanity saw in the Age of Grace was merely My offering of atonement for the sins of humanity: Jesus. All they knew was that God could be merciful and forbearing, and all they saw was the mercy and lovingkindness of Jesus. This was entirely because they were born in the Age of Grace. And so, before they could be redeemed, they had to enjoy the many kinds of grace that Jesus bestowed on them in order to benefit from it. This way, they could be forgiven of their sins through their enjoyment of grace, and could also have the chance to be redeemed through enjoying Jesus’ forbearance and patience. Only through Jesus’ forbearance and patience did they win the right to receive forgiveness and enjoy the abundance of grace bestowed by Jesus. Just as Jesus said: I have come to redeem not the righteous but sinners, to allow sinners to be forgiven of their sins. If, when He became flesh, Jesus had brought the disposition of judgment, curse, and intolerance of man’s offenses, then man would never have had the chance to be redeemed, and would have remained forever sinful. Had this been so, the six-thousand-year management plan would have come to a stop in the Age of Law, and the Age of Law would have been prolonged for six thousand years. Man’s sins would only have grown more numerous and more grievous, and the creation of humanity would have been for naught. Men would only have been able to serve Jehovah under the law, but their sins would have exceeded those of the first created humans. The more Jesus loved mankind, forgiving them their sins and bringing unto them sufficient mercy and lovingkindness, the more mankind was entitled to be saved by Jesus, to be called the lost lambs that Jesus bought back at a great price. Satan could not meddle in this work, for Jesus treated His followers as a loving mother treats the infant at her bosom. He did not grow angry or disdainful toward them, but was full of comfort; He never flew into a rage among them, but forbore with their sins and turned a blind eye to their foolishness and ignorance, to the point of saying, ‘Forgive others seventy times seven times.’ Thus were the hearts of others transformed by His heart, and only thus did people receive forgiveness of their sins through His forbearance.”
In the Age of Kingdom, Almighty God Does the Judgment Work of the Last Days—Ridding Man of His Sins
Lord Jesus only did the work of redemption and preached the way of repentance, and He did not solve the sinful nature in us. Although we act in accordance with the teachings of the Lord, our behavior has changed to varying degrees, we still often sin involuntarily, disobeying and resisting God. For example, in certain things that involve our face, status or interests, we can still deceive people and deceive God. If we have worked and suffered somewhat for the Lord, we will often show off and exalt ourselves, so that other brothers and sisters may look up to and adore us. Sometimes we compete with each other, fight each other, and become jealous of each other for the sake of fame or status; we can blame and misunderstand God. When something out of line with our notions comes to us, we can complain against and misunderstand God, living in negativity, and even betray God and leave God because of this. When we have different opinions from others, we always want others to listen to us. When others don’t listen to us, we would hate them in our hearts, and even judge them behind their backs. Although we believe in the Lord, we can also follow the evil trend, focusing on eating, drinking, playing, enjoying, and other fleshly pleasure. We do not pay attention to how to maintain the relationship with God, and so on. From this we can see that the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus has only forgiven our sins, but our sinful nature has not been removed.
God says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the son stays ever” (John 8:34–35). “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). The words of God make it very clear. God is holy, and God’s disposition is righteous and allows no offense of man. If our sinful nature is not taken away, we can still resist and disobey God, and we won’t be qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven. In order to solve our sinful nature, in the last days, the Lord Jesus has incarnated again as Almighty God, Christ of the last days, and has done the work of judgment beginning with the house of God, bringing us the way to solve our sinful nature and enter the kingdom of heaven.
Almighty God says, “A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but you have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. You, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are therefore incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance.”
“Before man was redeemed, many of Satan’s poisons had already been planted within him and, after thousands of years of being corrupted by Satan, he has within him an established nature that resists God. Therefore, when man has been redeemed, it is nothing more than a case of redemption in which man is bought at a high price, but the poisonous nature within him has not been eliminated. Man that is so defiled must undergo a change before becoming worthy to serve God. By means of this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within his own self, and he will be able to change completely and become clean. Only in this way can man become 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 through refinement, man can purge 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.”
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