In What Way Will the Lord’s Return Happen in the Last Days?
Editor’s Note:
Many brothers and sisters think when the Lord returns, He will publicly appear to people riding on a white cloud in the form of His Spirit after He resurrected. Now, disasters have become a common occurrence all over the world, and the world is in a state of constant upheaval and turmoil. The prophecies about the coming of the Lord have been fulfilled, but why haven’t we welcomed the Lord’s return? How will the Lord appear to work? Please read this text to learn more.
When some people testify that God has become flesh and done the judgment work in the last days, many brothers and sisters can’t accept it, thinking that when the Lord returns, He will come in the white clouds as the resurrected spiritual body and openly appear to man, and He can’t possibly come in the flesh as the Son of man, for the Bible says, “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). Now disasters have occurred frequently, and the four blood moons have appeared. The prophecies of the Lord’s return have basically come true, and the Lord must have returned, but why haven’t we welcomed Him? Is the view of “just waiting for the Lord to come in the clouds to rapture us into heaven” correct?
Biblical Prophecies Foretell How the Lord Will Appear and Work When He Returns
Actually, how the Lord will appear in the last days has an inevitable connection to what work God will do when He returns. In the Age of Law, for example, God mainly proclaimed laws to make man aware of his sins and to lead man’s life on earth, so He didn’t need to personally become flesh, but directly used Moses to do His work. In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus did the work of being crucified for mankind. We corrupt mankind couldn’t do the work, and neither could God’s spiritual body be crucified. So, the Lord Jesus became flesh to do the work of redeeming mankind. Then what work will the Lord do in the last days? Let’s look at the Bible verses, “And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people” (Isaiah 2:4). “He that rejects Me, and receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). Revelation 14:7 says, “Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” 1 Peter 4:17 says, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” These Bible verses all mention “judge” or “judgment,” and besides these, there are more than two hundred verses in the Bible about judgment, which is known to anyone familiar with the Bible. This shows that when the Lord returns, He will surely do the work of judgment and will express the truth to judge and purify man. That is, when the Lord returns, He will speak more words and use the word that He have spoken to judge and expose man’s sin, enabling man to reflect on himself, to truly repent and to be cleansed and changed. We corrupt mankind have been so deeply corrupted by Satan; though we have been redeemed by the Lord, forgiven of our sins, and are no longer condemned by the law, the source of our sin is still rooted within us. Controlled by our sinful nature, we often live in the suffering of being bound in sin. In the last days, God, according to what we require, expresses the truth and performs His work of judgment to cleanse our sins so that we are no longer bound in sin. Just as 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” (John 16:12–13). John 17:17 says, “Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth.”
Now we are sure that when the Lord returns, He will express the truth and do the judgment work. Then how will the Lord do His work? The Lord Jesus said, “For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son … And has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man” (John 5:22–27). From these verses, we can see that when the Lord returns, He will become flesh to express truth to judge and purify people, because “the Son of man” refers to God in the flesh, who has normal humanity. Take the Lord Jesus for example. He is God’s Spirit becoming clothed in flesh and turning into an ordinary person to work among people. Though the spiritual body of the resurrected Lord Jesus had the image of the Son of man, His spiritual body was supernatural, could appear to people in the air and penetrate walls, so He could not be called the Son of man. Therefore, when the Lord returns in the last days, He will become flesh as the Son of man to do the judgment work.
Why the Lord Returns in the Flesh to Do the Work of Judgment
Maybe some people don’t understand why God’s judgment work can only be done by God incarnate. As for this aspect of the truth, let us look at a few passages of God’s words, “If God did not become flesh, He would remain the Spirit who is both invisible and intangible to man. Man being a creature of flesh, he and God belong to two different worlds and are possessed of different natures. The Spirit of God is incompatible with man, who is of flesh, and there is simply no way of establishing relations between them, not to mention that man is incapable of turning into a spirit. This being so, the Spirit of God must become a created being in order to do His original work. God can both ascend to the highest place and humble Himself to become a human creature, doing work among mankind and living in their midst, but man cannot ascend to the highest place and become a spirit, and even less can he descend to the lowest place. This is why God must become flesh to carry out His work.”
“The Spirit can only do things that are invisible to man and difficult for him to imagine, for example the enlightenment of the Spirit, the moving of the Spirit, and the guidance of the Spirit, but for man who has a mind, these do not provide any clear meaning. They only provide a moving, or a broad meaning, and cannot give an instruction with words. The work of God in the flesh, however, is greatly different: It involves the accurate guidance of words, it has clear will, and has clear required goals. And so man does not need to grope around, or employ his imagination, much less make guesses. This is the clarity of the work in the flesh, and its great difference from the work of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit is only suitable for a limited scope and cannot replace the work of the flesh. The work of the flesh gives man far more exact and necessary goals and far more real, valuable knowledge than the work of the Spirit. The work that is of greatest value to corrupt man is that which provides accurate words, clear goals to pursue, and which can be seen and touched. Only realistic work and timely guidance are suited to man’s tastes, and only real work can save man from his corrupt and depraved disposition. This can only be achieved by the incarnate God; only the incarnate God can save man from his formerly corrupt and depraved disposition. Although the Spirit is the inherent substance of God, work such as this can only be done by His flesh. If the Spirit worked single-handedly, then it would not be possible for His work to be effective — this is a plain truth.”
“If this work were done by the Spirit of God, then it would not mean victory over Satan. The Spirit is inherently more exalted than mortal beings, and the Spirit of God is inherently holy, and triumphant over the flesh. If the Spirit did this work directly, He would not be able to judge all of man’s disobedience and could not reveal all of man’s unrighteousness. For the work of judgment is also carried out through man’s notions about God, and man has never had any notions about the Spirit, and so the Spirit is incapable of better revealing the unrighteousness of man, much less of completely disclosing such unrighteousness. The incarnate God is the enemy of all those who do not know Him. Through judging man’s notions and opposition to Him, He discloses all the disobedience of mankind. The effects of His work in the flesh are more apparent than those of the work of the Spirit. And so, the judgment of all mankind is not carried out directly by the Spirit but is the work of the incarnate God. God in the flesh can be seen and touched by man, and God in the flesh can completely conquer man. In his relationship with God in the flesh, man progresses from opposition to obedience, from persecution to acceptance, from notions to knowledge, and from rejection to love — these are the effects of the work of the incarnate God. Man is only saved through the acceptance of His judgment, man only gradually comes to know Him through the words of His mouth, man is conquered by Him during his opposition to Him, and he receives the life supply from Him during the acceptance of His chastisement. All of this work is the work of God in the flesh, and not the work of God in His identity as the Spirit.”
We all know God’s spiritual body is extraordinary and formless. We cannot see or feel Him, and neither can we get close to Him. In appearance, the spiritual body of the Lord Jesus after He resurrected is not much different from His incarnate flesh, but His spiritual body is not constrained by the material world, space, and place, and He can penetrate walls, and appear and disappear at will, leaving man shocked and amazed. Moreover, we mankind are mortal beings, live in the material world and have normal humanity and thinking. If we were to come into contact with the extraordinary and great spiritual body, we would be frightened and seized with panic, and our thoughts would become crazed and maniacal. As man’s essence is different from the essence of God’s Spirit and the spiritual body of the resurrected Lord Jesus, man can’t live with God normally, nor can God properly speak among mankind and lead them, and nor can man gain the watering and guidance of God’s clear words. Only when God clothes Himself in the flesh and lives in His normal humanity can He practically express the truth, and only then can God’s work of saving man be effective. For example, before being crucified, the Lord Jesus became flesh and lived among man; when He did His work, spoke words, and showed signs and wonders, people could feel the reality and normality of His flesh, could get along well with Him and could seek Him when they didn’t understand something. The Lord Jesus could also use clear words to teach people. For instance, when the Lord saw people’s inadequacies, He, according to their needs, taught them to forgive others seventy times seven times, to be tolerant and patient, and to love their neighbors as themselves. As a result, people could readily accept His teachings, and they could accurately understand the Lord’s will and have a path of practice. Similarly, in the last days God does the judgment work in the flesh, and He, according to human needs, has been expressing the truth to judge man to expose our corrupt dispositions and show us the path to be cleansed of sin, so that we can have a normal contact with God, accurately know our corrupt dispositions and understand how to conduct ourselves according to the word of God, how to escape our corrupt dispositions, and how to shake off the shackles of sin. Such effects can only be achieved through the incarnate God.
Secondly, only when God becomes an ordinary and normal flesh to do His work on earth in the last days, can all sorts of notions of man, and man’s rebelliousness and resistance be exposed. It is just like the time when the Lord Jesus became flesh to perform work. Because the Lord Jesus was ordinary and normal in appearance, the Jews didn’t know the incarnated Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah and so they were full of notions about the Lord Jesus and condemned and resisted Him. At the time, if it had been God’s Spirit working directly, unable to be seen or touched, and moreover His work had conformed with people’s notions, then people would have fallen to the ground to worship Him and this work would not have been able to reveal the disobedience and resistance of the Jews at all. In the last days, when God becomes flesh and expresses the truth to expose and judge man’s corruption, He does not do it without foundation, but He exposes people’s rebelliousness and resistance through His incarnation and judges people according to the corruption they reveal. Those who obey and accept God’s judgment can truly know themselves, have true repentance, are gradually purified, gain more and more knowledge about God and finally be saved by God. If God did the judgment work in the last days as the resurrected spiritual body, then our rebelliousness and resistance wouldn’t be exposed, because God’s Spirit is great, honorable, possessed of authority, and in line with human notions. Even if God pointed out our corrupt essences, we wouldn’t admit it, and then how could His work of judgment and cleansing of man achieve results? So, God becoming flesh to reveal man’s unrighteousness is incredibly wise.
Besides, many prophecies in the Bible prophesy that when the Lord returns in the last days, He will do the work of harvesting and winnowing, that is, the work of separating people according to their kind, such as separating the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, the good servants from the evil servants. This work can only be done by God incarnate. For example, the Lord Jesus becoming flesh to do His work really exposes all kinds of people: One type of people are those who could listen to God’s voice and follow Him, like Peter and John; the Pharisees who opposed God are another type of people who rejected and resisted the Lord; the Jewish people, who were muddled in their belief of the Lord, blindly followed the Pharisees and did not accept the Lord are another type of people. In this way, the wheat and the chaff are revealed and separated. Similarly, in the last days when God becomes flesh, those who accept God’s work and those who don’t accept it, those who obey God and those who resist Him, those who love the truth and those who don’t love the truth, are gradually revealed in the progress of God’s judgment work, so people are classified according to kind. If the Lord came upon a cloud with power and great glory, that is, if He appeared to people as the resurrected spiritual body, then everyone would fall down prostrate before Him, no matter whether they are believers in God or those who are of Satan. Then can the evil be separated from the good? How can God do the work of separating the sheep from the goats and the wheat from the tares? Thus, in the last days, to completely save man and to classify man according to kind by His judgment work, God has to become flesh and work in normal humanity. Only by doing so can His work be effective.
How the Prophecy of the Lord Coming With Clouds Will Be Fulfilled
Now some people may ask, “The Bible prophesies the Lord will come in the clouds. How will such prophecies be fulfilled?” God is faithful, so His prophecies will certainly be fulfilled — it’s just a matter of time. In the last days, God first becomes flesh and expresses the truth to do the judgment work before the tribulation. Those who accept God’s judgment work in the last days while the incarnate God performs His work in secret, are those who are raptured before God and who are being purified and saved by God. These people, after experiencing God’s judgment and chastisement, have true understanding of the reality of their corruption by Satan as well as their sinful nature, and they can hate themselves within their hearts, truly repent, are willing to forsake their corrupt dispositions and finally live by God’s words and truth. These people can gradually break free of the shackles of Satan’s influence, and can obey, love and worship God under any circumstances; and they are those who have been made overcomers by God and are the 144,000 male children prophesied in Revelation, and are also those who enter the kingdom of heaven and gain the eternal life. This fulfills Revelation 14:4, “These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits to God and to the Lamb.” However, those who don’t seek or accept God’s work in the last days, but still resist, vilify and blaspheme against God’s judgment work in the last days are exposed. At that time, the good servants and evil servants, wise virgins and foolish virgins, those who love the truth and those who don’t love the truth will be classified according to their kind. Then God will publicly come in the white clouds and appear to all people, raining disasters and destruction down upon this world, and rewarding good and punishing evil, which will fulfill the Lord’s words, “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). When God publicly appears to man, God’s work of saving man will be completely finished. Those who only hold on to the notion that the Lord will descend on a cloud but don’t seek or investigate the incarnate God’s work, and those who resist and condemn Christ of the last days, are the Pharisees, antichrists exposed by God’s work in the last days. They will fall into the great tribulation and receive punishment, weeping and gnashing of teeth. Just as God’s words say, “Many people may not care what I say, but I still want to tell every so-called saint who follows Jesus that, when you see Jesus descend from the heaven upon a white cloud with your own eyes, this will be the public appearance of the Sun of righteousness. Perhaps that will be a time of great excitement for you, yet you should know that the time when you witness Jesus descend from the heaven is also the time when you go down to hell to be punished. That will be the time of the end of God’s management plan and it will be when God rewards the good and punishes the wicked. For the judgment of God will have ended before man sees signs, when there is only the expression of truth.”
Therefore, God will descend secretly before the tribulation and then appear to people publicly after the tribulation. God is saving man during the period in which He works in secret, and after God makes a group of overcomers during His judgment work in the last days, He will send down disasters to destroy all those who don’t accept God’s work in the last days but resist and forsake Christ of the last days. This is the time when God determines man’s outcome. So, how should we treat God’s salvation in the last days? This is something that directly concerns our outcome and destination.
Source: Walk in the Light
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