How to know that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life is a crucial question. The essence of Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. But how do you experience and understand the word of God in the words spoken by Christ, so that you’ll truly see Christ in your heart as the truth, the way, and the life? Now we all believe in Christ, which is to believe in the practical God. Because Christ is God incarnate, therefore Christ is the practical God. What this practical God has and is is the truth, the way, and the life. Although from the outside God incarnate is a totally ordinary human being, however the essence of His life is the truth, the way, and the life. What would you say is the difference between belief in such a practical God and believing in God in heaven? Does faith in Christ have meaning, or does believing in God in heaven have meaning? Christ has an external appearance of a flesh, a normal humanity, He does not have the authority and especial power like God in heaven and like the Spirit of God. In believing in the practical God, from the outside people have faith in a person. Externally, the practical God and God in heaven are as different as the gulf between heaven and earth. In the case of God in heaven, He is supremely omnipotent, dominating over the entire universe. With one word, He can alter everything, He can bring about enormous change in heaven and earth. However, the practical God does not have the great ability of God in heaven. Therefore, those who believe in the practical God are few, while those who believe in God in heaven are particularly numerous. Everyone looks up at the power and authority of God in heaven and they feel that the more that God cannot be seen, the more powerful He is, and the more that God like ordinary flesh and blood can be seen and felt, then He has no omnipotence at all. Man selects his belief in God according to human conceptions and imagination. In fact, in believing in God man ought not to care about how omnipotent or how great God is from the outside, but he should care about what he is able to obtain and what results he can achieve through a faith in God; this is most crucial. Today, we, this group of people, believe in the practical God and now we all know why God has come to carry out His work, what work God has come to do, what man ought to obtain from believing in God. We know that what man ought to obtain is the truth and salvation. If man wants to obtain salvation and the truth, can he obtain these through faith in a vague God in heaven? He cannot. But as it happens he can obtain these by believing in Christ because Christ is the truth, the way and the life, everything that He has is the truth, the way and the life. Apart from the truth, the way, and the life, He has nothing else, and He does nothing else. What He has, and what He is, is just that which corrupted mankind ought to obtain. Therefore, it is precisely appropriate that we believe in the practical God as this completely accords with God’s intention. Now that we have experienced the work of the practical God and we are all receiving God’s judgment and chastisement, and we are receiving God’s pruning and dealing as well as all manner of trials and refinement, what sort of knowledge do we have of Christ? All the truth that Christ delivers is exactly a direct expression of God’s Spirit, it is exactly the expression of God in heaven; it is God in heaven taking on a flesh to carry out His work among men on earth. What corrupted mankind requires is salvation, what it needs is the truth. God incarnate has brought to mankind all that it needs, and that which He has brought is God’s salvation, God’s love, and also the truth, the way, and the life. The more that we experience the work that Christ undertakes, the more we know the disposition of God in heaven, the more we know what God in heaven has, and what He is, the more we know the omnipotence and wisdom of God in heaven; what God in heaven has, and what He is, is entirely expressed through Christ. It is only through faith in Christ that it is possible to truly know what God has and is, and to truly understand the disposition of the Creator. So, our faith in Christ is entirely faith in God in heaven because He is the expression of God in heaven. It is only those who believe in Christ who can truly know God in heaven. If you do not believe in Christ, you cannot arrive at a knowledge of God in heaven. This is the meaning of knowing Christ. Christ is the practical God, and God’s essence is within Him. He has what God has and what God is, and what He brings is one stage of God’s work. What He delivers is precisely the truth, the way, and the life that corrupted mankind needs. In our experience of God’s work, we have all basically seen God’s disposition which gives primacy to righteousness, and God’s disposition which does not tolerate man’s offense; we have seen God’s holiness, we have seen His omnipotence, we have seen God’s wisdom; all of these are a true knowledge of God. When we have come to such knowledge of God, we then see that Christ really is the truth, the way, and the life. After we have experienced the judgment and chastisement of Christ, we have a true knowledge of Christ’s disposition, and an understanding that God’s disposition is righteousness, it is dignity, it is wrath. With this understanding, we then obtain a truth from Christ—God’s disposition is righteousness. If we have not experienced the work of God, and we have not experienced God’s judgment and chastisement, then we cannot understand that the disposition of God is righteousness.
How to Know That Christ Is the Truth, the Way, and the Life? (1)
How do we know that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life? In the first instance we need to understand what truth is, what its essence is, and where it comes from. Would you say that since the recorded history of mankind, which is after it had been corrupted by Satan, mankind has had the truth? Is there truth in this world? There is no truth, and that is for certain. Every age on earth has had a few famous persons, and great men, but not one of them has dared to say that he is the truth, the way, and the life. No one has ventured to state in any book that he is the truth, the way, and the life. Every country on earth has its laws, education, and science. Corrupted mankind also has thought, knowledge, and learning, but no man dares to say that he is the truth, the way, and the life. What is the question that this begs? Why is it that no one dares to say of himself that he is the truth, the way, and the life? Regardless of which country the great or famous man may belong to, regardless of how many books he may have written, regardless of how much he is adored by corrupted mankind, he still would not venture to say that he is the truth, the way, and the life. What is the reason for this? The most important reason for this is that mankind does not have the truth at all. We may say that mankind has no idea of what the truth is, and this is a fact. We recollect that in the Age of Grace when the Lord Jesus was being interrogated before Pilate, and the Lord Jesus said that He was the truth, Pilate was taken aback on hearing this, and said: “Truth? What is the truth?” He never knew what the truth is. Even rulers of nations do not know what the truth is, even less do they know from whence the truth comes. When God incarnate said that He Himself was the truth, mankind was surprised and did not respond. This explains all the more that corrupted mankind was completely ignorant of the truth. It was only after God became incarnated and commenced to bear witness that He Himself was the Christ, was the truth, the way, and the life that corrupted mankind knew that only Christ can be the expression of the truth, the way, and the life. Now as we are experiencing God’s work of the last days and we have received the judgment and chastisement of Christ of the last days, and in the end we have some understanding of the truth that God has expressed, we are gradually coming to awareness and seeing what God has and is. We see that everything that God does is salvation, and it is all love. We see that the words expressed by God are indeed the truth. Only then do we understand that Christ is in fact the truth, the way, and the life, and that this is in no way false. Well then, how do we know that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life? Based on our own experience, that knowledge requires receiving Christ’s judgment and chastisement. By means of judging and chastising corrupted mankind, Christ expresses God’s disposition, expresses that which God has and is, and He expresses God’s management plan, and the meaning, substance, and purpose of each stage of work, thereby enabling men to see that the words of God are the truth so that they finally become totally convinced and fall down before God. This is the true process by which man knows Christ. … When every believer in God casts his mind back, is it not clear to him how he resisted them and what expressions of disobedience he had at the time when he himself had just encountered God’s words of judgment and chastisement, and when he had just begun to receive and experience God’s judgment and chastisement, and how he passed judgment and what conceptions he had in his heart when he saw God’s words of judgment? It is truly not easy for corrupted man to accept God’s judgment and chastisement! It is only when we have some understanding of the substance of our own corruption after having experienced a number of years of judgment and chastisement that we feel that God’s judgment and chastisement of corrupted mankind is absolutely necessary; without God’s judgment and chastisement there would not be our submission today, nor would there be our genuine faith in God today, and even less would there be today’s gratitude to and praise of God. Well, what is it that is expressed by God’s judgment and chastisement? It is all the truth. If God did not use the truth to judge us, would we be convinced? Would we be able to fall down before God? Because all that God says is the truth, we are ashamed in the face of the truth and totally convinced, and it is only then that we are compliant. Prior to experiencing this stage of God’s work, who have we obeyed? We have obeyed no one. No matter how correct the words spoken by anyone, we feel in our hearts that they are not the truth, and they are unable to win us over. But we fall down before Christ’s judgment seat, and we are utterly convinced in the face of the truth. This is a fact. Well, why do we fall down? Why do we arrive at total conviction in the judgment and chastisement of Christ? It is because the words of Christ are all the truth, they are the truth that we have never heard, they are the truth that entire corrupted mankind did not know. We fall down before the truth, therefore we have seen in God’s judgment and chastisement that Christ is the truth, and there can be no mistake at all about this! We acknowledge that Christ is the truth because we have experienced Christ’s judgment and chastisement and we have arrived at knowledge of the essence of Christ. Now we know that the truth is the expression of Christ, and that Christ comes from God, therefore the truth is from God. After we have been conquered by God’s judgment and chastisement, we have seen that the power of God’s word is so great, and we have seen that the power of the truth is so great; only at that time will we know that God’s righteous disposition does not tolerate man’s offense. Whoever goes against Him will be judged and chastised, whoever goes against Him will be punished by God. If man dares to keep opposing God, he will ultimately fall down under the judgment and chastisement of God. Because of God’s judgment and chastisement, we have knowledge of God’s disposition; because of God’s judgment and chastisement, we have seen God’s omnipotence, and His wisdom, we have seen God’s wonderful actions, we have seen what God has and is, we have seen many lovable aspects of God. We have seen that all these things that God has and God is are the truth, with no mistake whatsoever, they are the manifestation of God’s honor and glory. If we fail to see that all of this that has been said by God is the truth, that it is all the manifestation of God’s honor and glory, well then, we cannot know the practical God, and we cannot know that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Today we are able to regard Christ as a most valuable treasure, and we are able to know that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Is this not God’s love? This is all God’s love. If man does not have a true knowledge of Christ, and does not see that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, can man arrive at compatibility with Christ? He cannot. Only when he truly knows that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life will he then have no conception of the practical God. It matters not how normal and ordinary are the humanity and the life of the practical God, man will have no conception of Him because Christ has both divine substance and an outer shell of humanity. The outer shell of humanity indicates nothing. The essence of Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, which is the expression of His divinity. Without His divinity, He would not be able to express the way, the truth, and the life.
How to Know That Christ Is the Truth, the Way, and the Life? (2)
How should we know that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life? In concrete terms, we need to know this from three aspects. The first aspect is how we should know that Christ is the truth. Just now we have communicated what the truth is, what the essence of the truth is, and where the truth comes from, and we already know a little about that. Christ is the truth. Now we see clearly that God incarnate expressing the truth is “the Word appearing in the flesh.” “The Word” in “the Word appearing in the flesh” is the truth. All of Christ’s words are the truth. Now as we are experiencing God’s work, we have begun to understand the word of God and we see that God’s word is all the expression of God, without the slightest expression of man. When we hold the book of God’s word in our hands, however we read, we see that what the word expresses is what God has and is, and it bears witness to God. We can see no trace of the word of man in what is said, and no matter how we read it, no matter how we ponder it, we believe that the word was not spoken by an ordinary man, and that the person who spoke the word was expressing God, expressing what God has and is. You have seen this, haven’t you? If you take what a man says, regardless of what is said by whatever sort of famous man or great man, once you ponder over it, then you can see that it has been written by a man, it has been said by a man. But what about the word of God? When you read and ponder over it, you will then discover that it is something that cannot be said by any man, and that however you read it, you feel it is the word of God, it bears witness to God and it expresses God. The words of man can only explain the things of man, they are only able to speak of what man has and is, and they cannot speak of what God has and is. Regardless of what kind of famous man or great man, the books that he writes only bear witness to what man has and is. They only bear witness to himself, how he has lived, what his knowledge is, and what his views are. He writes of what he has experienced, the various kinds of people, things, and events that he has seen. When you read the words of a man, you can see that they are man’s words. But when you have got and read the words of Christ, however you may ponder over them, they do not seem to have been written about men. “Who is this person speaking? What is the status of the person speaking, what is his position, and what is his essence? Why is it that everything he speaks are the words of God, and he has expressed God’s mysteries, how God manages mankind, how God created mankind, how God treats mankind, as well as the disposition that God expresses and what God has and is?” You just feel that this man is very much out of the ordinary, he is an uncommon man, and he seems to have come from God. “How can this man speak so clearly, and so penetratingly, of what God has and is? Why does man fail to see it however they have studied the Bible?” You then believe that these words are extraordinary, and that they are really the truth. The more that you experience God’s work, the more you will feel that the words of Christ originate from God, they express God and they are the expression of God, and they are the expression of the Spirit. The person that has spoken these words is a young person, not old. Who among you is able to see from the words of God that the person who has said these words is a young person? It is a wonderful thing for someone who has no experience of worldly affairs to be able to speak such words. Now we know that the word of God emanates from God’s Spirit. The words that are expressed by God’s Spirit only bear witness to God. They express God’s meaning, and they express what God wants to say to mankind, and they do not express a young person’s own experience of life; what this young person has expressed is the work of God, it is what God has and is, it is God’s management plan, and it is God’s judgment and chastisement of mankind; it is the truth. The truth has come from God, it cannot be said by any man, and it can only be expressed by God’s Spirit; Christ has divine substance, and therefore He is able to express what divinity is. Why are we unable to speak of what God is? We do not have divine substance, we only have human substance; if we are asked to speak of the things of man, we know a little, but if we are asked to speak of the things of God, we know nothing whatsoever. Only when we have gained some experience and knowledge of God’s work will we be able to tell a tiny amount of that knowledge, but that will be no more than a drop in the ocean, it will only be a drop of knowledge of those things spoken of by God. We see that Christ comes from God, and that He is God incarnate, entirely the expression of the Spirit of God, because only the Spirit of God can express what God is, and can bear witness to what God is. This then fulfills what God has said, “Only I Myself can bear witness to Myself, only I Myself can express Myself, and only I Myself can do My own work.” This is to say that Christ is the truth, which we have already seen from the word of God. Now that we are experiencing God’s work, we have understood a little of the truth and we are able to summarize from the word of God twenty-one truths that believers in God should at least possess to attain God’s salvation. These are the twenty-one truths that man must possess to attain God’s salvation. If you want to be made perfect, in fact, after you have understood these twenty-one truths, you will then have the truths of all the other aspects, and you will understand them directly. The most important of these twenty-one truths is that you must know the three stages of God’s work, which is the vision and basis of one’s belief in God. This is the first truth. The second truth is the need to obtain the knowledge of God’s disposition. The disposition of God in the Age of Grace is primarily compassion and love. We have seen now that this is not God’s inherent disposition in its entirety and it is only a part of God’s disposition. God’s inherent disposition is primarily righteousness. Righteousness is foremost, compassion and love are secondary and they are included within the primary disposition of righteousness. Therefore, compassion and love are not the principal disposition of God. Knowing that God’s principal disposition, His inherent disposition, is primarily righteousness, this is the second truth that believers in God must possess to receive salvation. The third truth is that you must have knowledge of the corrupt essence of mankind. Once people have true knowledge of their own corrupt essence, they will be able to discern the evil nature of Satan, and they will be able to see more clearly the true condition of the whole of corrupted mankind. Accordingly, they will be able to see the root of the world being dark and evil. They will achieve these results because they have real knowledge of their own corrupt essence. When men have understood the reality of how Satan has corrupted mankind, how Satan rebelled against God, and how Satan has resisted God and opposed God, they will then begin to hate Satan, they will then be able to truly forsake Satan and forsake the great red dragon and turn completely to God. These results will all be achieved through their knowledge of their own corrupt essence. The fourth truth is that we must know that corrupted mankind needs the salvation of God incarnate and that rejection of Christ leads to perdition or destruction. The fifth truth is that we must know that the truth originates from God, and that only Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. The sixth truth is that we must know that everything that God does is out of real love of mankind, it is salvation, and regardless of whether it is judgment and chastisement or suffering and trials, it is the pain that corrupted mankind must endure in order to attain salvation. The seventh truth is that we must know what pursuing the truth means to one’s attaining salvation and know what the significance of obtaining the truth is, and what the value of truth is to man. The eighth truth is that we must know how Satan corrupts man, how the great red dragon slaughters people, devours people, and dominates people. The ninth truth is that we must know the darkness of the world and the wickedness of the age, and that the darkness of the trends of the world is entirely brought about through the control exercised by Satan. The tenth truth is that we must know that the great red dragon is the source of all the forces of evil in the world today, and we also need to know the substance of all manner of poisons of the great red dragon. The eleventh truth is that we must know the relationship between God’s sovereignty and Satan’s grip on the world, and must know that God’s wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s cunning schemes, and from this know the omnipotence and wisdom of God. The twelfth truth is that we must know which disasters have been brought upon mankind by the rule of the great red dragon, what the consequences of the rule of corrupted mankind are, and what the difference is between the rule of corrupted mankind and the rule of the great red dragon. The thirteenth truth is that we must know that we people, after being corrupted by the great red dragon under its grip, have become its descendants, the offspring of Satan, and only when we have truly resolved the poisons of the great red dragon within us will we have been truly purified and attained salvation. The fourteenth truth is that we must know what man’s nature
is, what the origin of man’s nature is, and what the relationship is between man’s nature and his corrupt disposition. The fifteenth truth is that we must know God’s absolute righteousness, that God is righteous toward any man, and that God’s arrangements of the ends of all kinds of people are just and reasonable. The sixteenth truth is that we must know the difference between the normal humanity and the corrupt humanity, the intrinsic difference between the honest man and the deceitful man, and we must also know the significance of striving to be an honest man. The seventeenth truth is that we must know the significance of created beings fulfilling their duty and that created beings ought to possess sufficient good deeds. The eighteenth truth is that we must know the basis and principles of the work of the Holy Spirit, and know the difference between the work of the Holy Spirit and the work of evil spirits. The nineteenth truth is that we must know what true obedience to God is, what resistance against God is, how true obedience comes about, and what the root of resistance against God is. The twentieth truth is that we must know what attaining salvation and being perfected are. The twenty-first truth is that we must know the essence of Christ, which is the basis of attaining salvation. Now do we not have some basic understanding of all of the twenty-one truths? Although we have not entered into them so deeply, we all have some experience and knowledge of them. As we have some experience and knowledge of these twenty-one truths, we can achieve a fully clear understanding of them. At that time, we will have attained complete salvation. Now that we have seen that it is completely possible to achieve an understanding of these twenty-one truths, it seems that the attainment of salvation is absolutely within our grasp. If now we can go on to strive for the truth, and to pay some price, and if from that experience we are able to achieve obedience to God, and satisfy God, then we will be completely clear about these twenty-one truths. When we are completely clear about these truths, we will have basic affirmation that Christ is the truth. We have understood so many truths from the work of Christ; where do these truths come from? They have been expressed by Christ, right? They are all the words of Christ, they have been brought by Christ. If we are able to understand that these truths have all been expressed by Christ, and brought by Christ, then do we not know that Christ is the truth? If Christ did not have the truth, would we be able to obtain so many truths? It is precisely because Christ is the truth that we are able to obtain these truths through experiencing His work and obeying and putting into practice His words. Therefore, the reason why we are able today to receive God’s salvation is that Christ—the practical God—has brought us salvation; and that we believe in the practical God and have experienced the work of the practical God. Therefore, we can then truly know that Christ is the truth.
How to Know That Christ Is the Truth, the Way, and the Life？ (3)
What do we now see the essence of Christ to be? The essence of Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, the essence of Christ is divinity, it is not humanity. Although outwardly Christ appears to have humanity, ordinary humanity, however, when He performs His work, when He expresses the truth, we then see the aspect of His divinity. When He lives among us, we also see the aspect of His humanity. Whenever we have any difficulties, whenever He works and judges us, chastises us, dissects us, that is when we see His divine essence, we see that Christ truly is the truth, the way, and the life. If one is the person used by the Holy Spirit, he is unable to express that which God has and is, he can only speak of his own experiences and knowledge to provide for and lead God’s chosen people. Christ’s work is not the same. No matter when, as long as God’s chosen people are in need of something, He can then and there express God’s disposition, express what God has and is, which are the essence of Christ. This is the greatest difference between Christ and the man used by the Holy Spirit and all people who have the work of the Holy Spirit. Although the man used by the Holy Spirit has a rather better understanding of the truth, and is richer in experience, these are all results that have been achieved by the work of the Holy Spirit. But if you have him express that which Christ has and is, that which God has and is, he is unable to express it in the slightest, he can only talk about nothing more than his experience and knowledge accumulated incrementally. You see how great the difference is between the man used by the Holy Spirit and Christ. There are those who have a high opinion of the man used by the Holy Spirit, and say “Oh, he really understands the truth, he can discuss so much of his experience and knowledge of it.” In fact, the truth he understands is only a drop in the ocean of the words of Christ, and when he is compared to Christ, the difference between them is as huge a gulf as that between heaven and earth, there is no way to compare them. We must see this point clearly. So, any corrupted human can never be able to be compared with Christ, and there is no way to compare the two. Christ has the essence of divinity, and one word spoken by Him is enough for you to experience for one hundred years, or for a thousand years; I can tire myself out and still be unable to say such words. As to that little experience and knowledge I speak about, a man would live up to it after several years of experience; for one word of Christ, we would need to experience one hundred years, a whole lifetime of experience, to live up to it, and there are even some words that over a lifetime of experience we would have no way of living up to. You see, His divine essence and the essence of man are different, it is the difference as huge as the gulf between heaven and earth. Some people feel that it was because of the momentary revelation of the Holy Spirit that Christ was able to express the truth. Had the Holy Spirit not inspired Him, He would probably then be the same as we ordinary people. People who say this are mistaken. We may look at the prophets. Were they able to express the word of God? The prophet could not express the word of God, whatever little the Holy Spirit needed him to say, he would then say that much. Whenever the Holy Spirit did not allow him to speak, you could ask him and he would have nothing to say, he could not speak at all. But Christ is different, no matter the time or place, Christ is able to express that which God has and is. No matter when you may ask Christ a few questions, He is always able to express what God has and is. Therefore, what He expressed was not inspired by the Holy Spirit, it was the original word of God, it was a direct expression of the meaning of the Spirit. He is God’s Spirit being realized in the flesh and can at any time and any place express the word of God. Some people say: “Isn’t it the case that there were certain times that Christ expressed the word of God? It’s possible that there were times when He could not express it.” Or else they say: “Isn’t it the case that Christ could only express so much of the word of God? Perhaps He had nothing more to say.” Do you believe that it is correct to say this? In fact, God had much more to say, and later God spoke along these lines: “It is basically sufficient to have said these things. It will do if there is some more to say, and it will also do if nothing is said. It will also do if I say some more in suitable circumstances.” I have seen that Christ had some topics to talk about which He had written down and He had prepared to speak on them. Subsequently, He did not speak. What did I think about this in my heart at that time? I thought in my heart: “It would be so good if He could speak about them, we could obtain some more. Well, then, speak about those things.” But I didn’t dare to make demands of God; I should not make such demands of God. So, whenever Christ wanted to say some words He said them but it’s not that He was only able to speak of those things and He had no more to say. If He wanted to speak, He had even deeper things to talk about. Christ deleted some things that He had said. Why did He discard them? What men should now place emphasis on are the truth, the way, and the life. If there are some mysteries that men cannot easily comprehend, they will try to get to the bottom of them. Once they do so, it is easy for them to develop notions, which will easily hold up their pursuit of the truth; therefore, He simply deleted these things. So, Christ’s abridging of a very small part of the word of God in this way, or more or less modifying it, could better facilitate God’s chosen people’s pursuit of the truth. Christ is the truth, and at any time He is able to express the truth. This is absolutely real. There truly is a mystery within this; God becoming flesh, the Word appearing in the flesh, the meaning of this is so profound that man has no means of properly explaining it through the use of language. Externally, there is nothing supernatural about Christ, but what He speaks is the truth. However people turn it over in their minds, they will have only the slightest understanding of it. The partial understanding of the truth that men are able to express differs so greatly in essence from the original word of the truth, and from the substantive word of the truth, that the differences between them are too great. For example, when I communicate something about the truth, that is nothing more than a little knowledge of the truth. This knowledge comes from the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, but compared with the divine language expressed by Christ, the original divine word, the difference is very great. The original word of God is the truth, it has the substance of the truth which will never change. Heaven and earth may pass away, but the word of God will not change. As for the word of man, it is nothing more than a little experience and knowledge of the truth, and compared to the truth, it is like a drop in the ocean. So, the words of men that are derived from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and men’s words of experience and understanding, can never be compared to the original word of God. The original divine word of God is able to be the life of men, and it is able to change everything, it is omnipotent. Man’s words derived from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit convey the meaning of man’s experience, and convey the level of man’s understanding, and they are different in substance to the word of God. So, regardless of how much enlightenment of the Holy Spirit man’s experience and understanding contain or how pure man’s understanding is, the word of man cannot be on a par with the word of God and cannot be said to be the truth. The word of man is not the truth, it is no more than simply his knowledge of God. Only the word of God is the truth, and only Christ is the truth. This is in no way false. Christ is the truth because that which Christ expresses is the truth, all of that which Christ expresses completely represents the disposition of God, represents the essence of God, and represents that which God has and is. When we are able to understand and to enter into all the truth that is expressed by God, it will be completely clear to us that Christ is the truth. What do we now see as the truth? We corrupted human beings have a slight knowledge of God, and we are also able to understand a little of the truth, but we are certainly not the truth. Regardless of how much of the truth we understand, how much knowledge of the truth we have, we are not the truth. Only Christ is the truth. Corrupted mankind is not the truth. No matter how much of the truth man understands, no one can say that man is the truth. Moreover, Christ is the truth, because the substance of Christ is God incarnate, His essence and that which He has and what He is, is the truth, the way, and the life. Today we are pursuing the truth, and in striving for the truth all we can do is understand the truth step by step and enter into the truth step by step through our experience. Today the Holy Spirit has enlightened us to understand the truth a little, and we have a little understanding. Tomorrow, through experience of the word of God we will obtain some more of the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and illumination. That will be another level of knowledge of the truth, but no matter the stage of understanding that we reach, we are still not the truth and we can only say that in our fellowship there is some pure understanding of the truth, and a little of the light of the truth. We cannot say that we are the truth; only Christ is the truth, man is not the truth. We have seen now that there is not a single man among the whole of corrupted mankind who is the
truth, and only Christ is the truth. Apart from Christ, no one is the truth. Ever since the recorded history of mankind, we have not seen a single one of corrupted mankind whose doctrines, concepts, or theories have been able to resolve the corruptness of man, to change man’s disposition, or to bring genuine life to mankind; regardless of which great men, regardless of how lofty their doctrines or theories, or how adored they are by later generations, their doctrines and theories are not the truth, because they cannot save mankind, and even less can they change mankind, or perfect mankind, and they cannot in the slightest lead mankind to enter genuine life, and this is a fact. Now the whole of mankind is increasingly corrupted, increasingly evil, the entire world is in ever increasing darkness. What is this all about? If great men in the world have the truth, how is it that the world can be increasingly corrupted, increasingly evil? How is it that among the whole of mankind in the world there is not a single person who is able to truly worship God, there is no person who has a genuine life, no person who has the truth? This demonstrates that apart from Christ, no one in the entire world has the truth, and no one is the truth. The works of all great men, famous men in the world are the philosophy of corrupted mankind, the philosophy of Satan, and they do not contain the truth. If a single book of theirs contained the truth, the whole of mankind would not be as corrupted as it is today. Let’s say that there is a famous man, or a great man, and after people have read his works they are then able to worship the one true God and are able to, like Noah, fear God and shun evil and receive God’s salvation. Is there such a man? Is there such a book? In this world you cannot find such a book, and there is no such man. Now Christ has come, and He has said that He is the truth, the way, and the life. There is nothing false about this. We see now that only the word of Christ is the truth, because once we have experienced Christ’s judgment and chastisement, we understand that the root of the darkness and evil of the whole world is that Satan wields power, and that it stems from Satan’s corruption. This is because the word of Christ has completely exposed the true fact of Satan’s corruption of mankind. At the same time, Christ has completely borne witness to God, and completely displayed what God has and is so that we have come to understand that it was God who created the heavens and earth and all things, that God is the Master of the heavens and earth and of all things, that God has led mankind all along, that God has supplied mankind all along, that God all along has undertaken the work of mankind’s salvation, that only God is the truth, the way, and the life. Christ has come and completely borne witness to God, and expressed God, to make us know God. It was only with Christ’s coming that God could be completely borne witness to. Prior to Christ, none of the great men or famous men could bear witness to God, they could never tell people the true fact of Satan’s corruption of mankind. Mankind was misled and deceived by them into following Satan and following the world, with the result that the world was increasingly evil, and increasingly dark. Today Christ has saved us, and we have understood these truths from Christ’s work. Before Christ’s coming, we never understood, and so Christ has come from God. Where have so many great men and famous men in the world come from? They have come from Satan, and therefore, he who comes from Satan can absolutely not bear witness to God, and can absolutely not tell mankind that “there is a Master who has created the heavens and earth and all things, He is the one true God, you must worship Him.” Is there such a man? Who has told us these things? There is no such person. Because Satan has corrupted mankind, these great men can only cheat mankind, mislead mankind, and deceive mankind, fearing that mankind will turn to God, that mankind will believe in Christ, and that mankind will accept all the truths that Christ expresses. Which famous person in the world now is bearing witness to God? Which country’s leader, which ruling party’s leader is bearing witness to God, leading his subjects to worship God? The head of which country is bearing witness that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, having people read the word of Christ, experience God’s work to attain salvation from God, bringing true quiet and peace to society? There is no such leader. They only work for their own well-being, they only strive after their own rights, they only confuse the people of every nation, making people treat them as God, and they ride roughshod over the people. This is the true face of the kings of devils who cheat people, bullying and oppressing them. We see how Christ works: Christ uses the truth to judge and chastise us because of our corruptness and to reveal the reality of our corruptness and our corrupt essence, leads us to understand the truth, and leads us to know God and live out a genuine life. At the same time, God bestows us all kinds of grace, so that we can gradually grow in the word of God, fulfill our duty properly as created beings, live a genuine life, obtain God’s salvation, receive God’s approval, and receive God’s blessings. Furthermore, on the one hand Christ is doing His work while on the other hand He is experiencing Himself the pain of men, experiencing all of the pain that mankind suffers. Therefore, we see that God has true love of mankind. There is no great man or famous man in the world who possesses true love, they can only cheat people, deceive people, they can only exalt themselves, have people treat them as God. Therefore, all in this world who hold power come from Satan, none of them have the truth. While they are in power, the world can only grow increasingly dark, and mankind can only become increasingly evil. Now we see that the intriguing against each other of the whole of mankind is more and more severe, that eating, drinking, and pleasure-seeking are more severe over time, that wickedness and promiscuity are increasingly severe. The trend in the world is that moral standards are sliding all the time, graft and corruption of officials are more and more severe, good people are being bullied and oppressed all the more, those who have faith in God are being increasingly discriminated against, evil people are increasingly prevailing, and running amuck all the more. Whoever in the world has knowledge, whoever resorts to trickery, whoever plays at scheming, they will prevail. Honest people, decent people are bullied and oppressed, honest and decent people are a weakened community. This is the trend in the world. Therefore, this world has already reached the height of wickedness, and has begun to head toward extinction. When mankind’s wickedness has reached its peak, God will begin to destroy this world, and the end of this world will arrive. Now disasters in every region are becoming greater all the time, and so the end of the world is imminent. God’s work in the last days will bring this age to an end, and when God’s chosen people have been made complete, the end of the world will come. Christ saves mankind, and leads mankind, He is the truth, the way, and the life. He has the essence of beauty, goodness, and righteousness; therefore, as we follow Him, we feel increasingly secure and enlightened in our heart, the further we walk the brighter the road. When we understand the truth, we feel our hearts enriched; when we come to know God, our spirits are enriched, and filled with utmost enjoyment; when we are able to obey God, when we see God’s blessing, we feel that the road is becoming brighter the further we walk, and that we have indeed been saved by God. We have already seen that the light is ahead of us, and that the kingdom of God is about to appear. When God’s chosen people have been made complete, they will have known Christ and they will have seen clearly that Christ truly is the truth, the way, and the life. At that time, God’s chosen people will all have been saved, and made perfect, and the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ, will already have appeared. As we are just now experiencing God’s work, we have already seen that the words expressed by Christ are the truth. Once we have completed undergoing God’s work and have obtained the truth, we will then be able from the deepest recesses of our hearts to truly see that Christ is indeed the truth, the way, and the life.
How to Know That Christ Is the Truth, the Way, and the Life? (4)
Now we can say that we see with absolute clarity that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, and of this we do not have the slightest doubt. But because our knowledge of the essence of Christ is still shallow, therefore, with regard to Christ, why we see that He is the truth, He is the way, and He is the life, what knowledge we have that He is the truth, how we know that He is the way and the life, it is possible that we still do not see these very clearly in concrete terms, and below we will communicate on this in more detail. Christ can express what God has and is, and He is able to completely reveal the mysteries of God’s management plan, because He has the essence of God. How should we understand that Christ has the essence of God? Why does Christ have the essence of God? Christ is the embodiment of God. Because God’s Spirit has been realized in the flesh, He is the incarnation of God. The realization of God’s Spirit in the flesh, His descending into the flesh, and His working in the flesh are completely different. Let us reflect on Jesus’ birth in a manger; at that time there were people who were moved by the Holy Spirit to call Him the Christ. From this event we can see that Christ is God incarnate, He has the essence of God from His birth, and regardless of His age, He is Christ since His birth. Because the Spirit of God has been realized in the flesh, He is Christ from the time of His birth, He is the Lord from when He was born, He is the embodiment of God from His birth. Therefore, we see that when Jesus was twelve years old, when His humanity had yet to mature, He was able to be about His Father’s business, this was a divine function that He possessed from the time of His birth. Therefore, it is quite a natural thing for Christ to express the word of God and what God has and is, because He has the Spirit of God within Him, the Spirit of God has been realized in His flesh. This is the greatest difference between the essence of Christ and the essence of corrupted mankind. How should we know the essence of God? From which aspect should we know the essence of God? We should first see from His words, from what He expresses, whether or not they are what God is, whether or not they are God’s words. He who is able to express what God is and is able to express the words of God has the essence of God; he who is unable to express what God is and is unable to express God’s words does not have the essence of God. No matter how we corrupted mankind pursue the truth, and even when we understand the truth, we will still be unable to express what God is, and unable to express the truth. This is a fact. Why is Christ able naturally to express what God is, to express the voice of God? This is sufficient to prove that the essence of Christ is the essence of God, there is no mistake about this at all. Through our experience of Christ’s work, we increasingly feel that the word of God is the truth; the more we experience God’s word and the more we communicate God’s word, the more we feel that the word of God is unfathomable, and we subsequently bow our heads before the word of God. We are struck dumb, feeling that God’s word is unfathomable and that it is simply not possible for men to speak such words. Thus, we feel that there is no way that any member of corrupted mankind could say these words of God. Men cannot express God’s word, and only God Himself can express the word of God. What is the reason for this? It is because the essence of Christ is divine essence, it is the essence of God, there is no mistake about that! We have a little knowledge of this point, don’t we? Now can we tell the difference between the word of God and the words of men? Most people can distinguish them a little, and once you are able to make the distinction completely, well, then, you will have genuinely understood the truth. The fact that we can now distinguish them a little demonstrates that we already understand a little of the truth, and that we have a little ability to distinguish. Well, are we able to find from the word of God, and from God’s judgment and chastisement, that the essence of God is goodness and love? From what aspects can that be seen? We need to know the aim of God’s work, to know the intended results of God’s work, and to know all manner of pains that God suffers in saving mankind through His work, and the price that is paid. From these aspects we can see that the essence of God is goodness and love. We have all seen that when we are weak, God’s heart is weighed down with sorrow, God’s heart grieves for our weakness and our constant disobedience to God, and in particular when man’s weakness reaches the stage where he can forsake God and complain about God, the heart of God suffers even more pain, and so we see that the essence of God is goodness. He treats corrupted mankind like His own flesh and blood, which proves that the essence of God is goodness and love. There are many more areas in which we may see God’s goodness and love. We discover hidden in God’s stern words His painstaking thought. When God judges and chastises us, our hearts are pained, but God’s heart suffers even greater pain. He worries that, due to our weakness and misunderstanding, we will betray and distance ourselves from Him. Therefore, His Spirit in a timely way comforts us and moves us. On the one hand, God judges and chastises man with stern words, while at the same time with particular gentleness He attends to man’s needs, and comforts man. Christ’s words contain stern language, and they also have comforting language, they include words of blessing and words of promise to man. These all illustrate clearly how much thought God gives to man’s salvation. If man loses heart on seeing Christ’s stern words, and believes that with God there is only righteousness, majesty, and wrath, and that He does not have the slightest love, or the slightest pity, is this not misunderstanding God? This is a mistake of enormous proportions! It demonstrates that man does not comprehend the pains that God takes in thinking things through. We cite a simple example: Our parents were often strict with us, and there were times when they spoke sternly to us, and at times they would strike us. What was the reason for that? Because we were ignorant, and disobedient. But when parents strike their children, what is the frame of mind of the parents? They do not truly harbor hatred of their children, they feel bad within themselves once they have done with hitting, and after the event hasten to comfort the child. God loves corrupted mankind as much as He loves His own flesh and blood. So, if we are able to understand from God’s work His painstaking thought, and we can comprehend God’s love of man, then no matter how sternly God speaks, we can make no complaint; to the contrary, the more stern He is, the more we see that God is love, that God is salvation. From God’s work, we see that the essence of Christ is goodness, and love, but the disposition of Christ is righteousness. Which aspects embody this righteousness? It is embodied in Christ’s treatment of the enemies, the antichrists, the lackeys of Satan, those who stubbornly follow Satan and resist God, and persons who cannot be saved, on whom He has displayed His majesty and wrath. Therefore God has adopted punishment of His enemies who are also the enemies of His chosen people and brought violent death to those who resisted most seriously. This is something over which there is no other choice than this. This is because it is the disposition of God that He means what He says, and what He means shall be accomplished, and what He accomplishes shall last forever. God’s disposition is such that no matter what work He undertakes, once it has begun it must be completed. In every stage of God’s work, anyone that disturbs His work, anyone that interrupts, condemns, or tries to hinder God’s work, God will not be courteous toward such people. God has punished some wicked people in every stage of His work, and from this aspect we have seen that God’s disposition is righteous. He does not tolerate any enemy who interrupts His management, and interferes with His work. This is a little knowledge that we have gained of the essence of God and of the disposition of God through experiencing God’s work. God is the righteous God. What exactly is the basis for the formation of this righteousness? It is formed based upon the essence of God, and God’s disposition. The essence of God is the truth; would you not say that the truth is righteous? The truth is itself righteous. God is the truth, and if He is the truth then He is certainly righteous, because the truth itself is righteousness. You must have the truth before you can be righteous, and without the truth there is no righteousness. Because God is the truth, therefore the disposition of God is righteous. If a man attains the truth, and he possesses some of the truth, the disposition of that man will also have an element of righteousness, and he will be able to be fair and reasonable toward others. The disposition of God is righteous, and this is determined by God’s essence which is the truth. You can only have righteousness if you have the truth, without truth there is no righteousness, and there is nothing false about this whatsoever.
From Christ’s Work Knowing That Christ Is the Way
Christ is the way, and we ought to know the way of Christ. The essence of Christ is obedience to the will of the Father in heaven. Christ has come to undertake the work of judging men, chastising men, and saving mankind. At the same time as saving mankind, He has tasted the suffering of men. Well, what do you say that the way of Christ is? To save mankind, He is willing to endure all sufferings; to carry out God’s will, He performs the work of saving man with enormous patience; He is fulfilling the work of the salvation of mankind at any cost. This is the way of Christ. … We should know the way of Christ through Christ’s work. Christ incarnate who came to save man is humble and hidden throughout, without showing off Himself in the slightest. We may say that He does the work that He needs to do without attracting attention. Regardless of how many notions people might have of Him, regardless of how much disobedience people show Him, or how much they judge Him, He is not restrained by this in any way, He still remains unknown and undertakes the work that He has to do. In the end people are conquered by His words, and they see that it is God Himself whom they have disobeying and resisting. People are particularly regretful, and they fall down before God. We may say that at that time there is wailing everywhere, all are weeping, all are regretful, and all are bitterly remorseful of themselves. It is Christ’s love, and Christ’s humbleness and hiddenness that have conquered them. Christ Himself is God, but He never makes excessive demands of men, He never testifies before men that He Himself is God, He never stands in the position of God in His dealings with men, when either speaking or working with men, He always gets along with men with the status of an ordinary person, in His speech He never reprimands people, He never deals with men face to face, He always communicates the truth patiently. From Christ’s contact with man we see that Christ is love to every man, whatever disobedience man has, He understands the heart of man, He knows the real states of man, He is particularly able to tolerate man’s transgressions, and He can forgive man’s transgressions. Therefore, that which Christ has done enables men to see that He is all love, that Christ uses love to help men to change, that He uses love to win men over, and we see from what Christ does and the way that He behaves that God is so much to be loved, that God is so humble and hidden. If a corrupted man has a position, then his attitude in speaking with people and in dealing with them will be different, he will be particularly arrogant, self-right, as if no one were able to satisfy him, as if all were indebted to him, as if he were that much higher than others, as if he were so much more respectable than others. However, God incarnate is the exact opposite. Christ remains unknown, not wishing to appear before men, never wanting to expose His status in a public arena. It seems that He is particularly avoiding these. Furthermore, Christ never regards Himself as being in the right with whomever He has dealings, and He never forces them to listen to Him. As long as what they say is appropriate, He listens to them, and in any context as long as what they say is correct, anything is possible, and He never requires or forces them to listen to Him. From this we see that Christ is so much to be loved, that He has the essence of God, He has the essence of goodness, and He has the essence of love. There is a world of difference between Him and us corrupt mankind. We have no way of arriving at that level, we are unable to do it no matter how much we want to do it, and this is determined by the essence of our life. Therefore, we can see from Christ that He is the truth, and we can also see that He is the way, and we can further see that He is the life, that all that He says and does is the truth, from man’s perspective it is the path that man should walk, it is the new life that man ought to possess.
Christ Is the Reality of All Positive Things (1)
The essence of Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, eternally unchanging. We believe in Christ. Regardless of how ordinary His external appearance, or how average, the essence of Christ is eternally unchanging, and Christ is the truth, the way, and the life forever without change. Therefore, we are sure in our faith that Christ is eternally the truth, and this is the path that we should choose. Christ is the reality of all positive things, and all positive things have come from God. Now we can see that many negative things are generally acknowledged by the common man. Theft, lying, cheating, murder, promiscuity, wickedness, darkness, and aggression, these are all negative things. All these negative things come from Satan, because Satan has mankind in its grasp, corrupting mankind over thousands of years. Mankind has been corrupted by Satan, and so mankind has involuntarily revealed these corrupt practices. Therefore, mankind is able to cheat, is able to lie, is able to start wars, is able to murder, and is able to steal. All these wrongdoings have come about because of Satan’s corruption. This allows us to see that the corrupt essence of man is the nature of Satan. Today we see that all the corruption we express, and all the behavior of disobeying God, resisting God, and judging God we exhibit originate from the life essence of our nature that has been corrupted by Satan. Therefore, we despise Satan and we curse Satan. When we saw that the essence of God, the disposition of God, and what God has and is are the truth, the way, and the life, we wished to return to God, we wanted to be obtained by God, to be made complete by God, and to become people who belong to God. Therefore, today we have the correct path for our lives, and a right choice for our lives. All positive things come from God, and they have been brought by Christ. What are all the positive things that Christ has brought? One’s belief in God, love of God, obedience to God, worship of God, prayer to God, putting the truth into practice, accepting God’s judgment and chastisement, receiving His salvation, being made perfect, walking the true path of life, being an honest person, performing good deeds, and being faithful, all these have been brought by Christ. Positive things are all the truth, and the truth is the essence of positive things. We have received so many truths from Christ and known so many positive things through Him. We human beings should possess all these things, and enter into them, because once we have entered into these truths and we are living out the reality of these positive things, we will have then become a newly-created mankind, a mankind that is after God’s heart. Now we see that Christ is the truth, and that all these positive things have been brought by Christ. Would you say that Christ is God? Christ is God, He is the practical God. We see clearly now that these positive things all come from God. Before we began to experience the work of Christ, did we know what are positive things? Did we know what it is to believe in God? Did we know what is obedience to God? Did we know what it is to be truly saved? We knew none of these positive things, and we were completely ignorant of them. We knew nothing of the truth, and we knew nothing of positive things. At that time, we were poor, pitiable, and blind, and we did not know God in the slightest. This is as a result of Satan’s corruption, right? Now that Christ has come to undertake the work of salvation, we understand so much truth, and we know that so many positive things have all come from God, and we have seen that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. This is absolutely true. Who is it exactly that has saved us? It is Christ, Christ of the last days—Almighty God, who has saved us, and we must be clear about this. These truths that we have obtained have not been learned from famous men or great men of the world; the books that they have written contain no positive things at all, no truth whatsoever, they don’t even touch on any positive things nor do they even contain the term “positive things.” Look at these great men, and famous men, of the world. Have they ever written about what it means to believe in God? Have they ever said what it is to obey God? Have they ever said that God is the truth, the way, and the life? Have they ever said that only Christ can save mankind? Have they ever said what it means to be saved, what it is to be made perfect, what it is to know God, and what is a true life? Of all the famous men and great men in the world, there is not one who is able to speak about the very basics of these truths, and that is a fact. Therefore, only Christ has the truth and none of corrupted mankind has the truth, and none of them are the truth. Regardless of how great their knowledge or their academic degrees, and no matter how distinguished their position may be, none of them have the truth, none of them can save people, and none of them can bring man true life. Whoever reads their books, whoever worships them, cannot receive any truth, nor can they receive any benefits, and this is a fact.
Christ Is the Reality of All Positive Things (2)
From all that Christ has expressed we see again that Christ is the reality of all positive things. He knows the origin of all positive things, He knows when mankind began to be corrupted, and He knows even more how Satan has corrupted mankind. From that which Christ has expressed, we can also see that Christ directs us onto the true path of life, and allows us to see that the bright life lies before us. Christ reveals to us what is positive, and what is negative, enabling us to distinguish between them and allowing us to make correct choices. In particular with regard to the matter of serving God, Christ sets out before us two types of service—Peter’s service of God and Paul’s service of God, a positive and a negative service, to allow us to know, to allow us to distinguish, and to allow us to make our choices. We have seen from Christ’s work the correct path that man ought to take, we have seen what the bright life is, and we have seen what true life is. From this we have developed a correct outlook on life, and a set of correct values, and we know how to live a meaningful life, and how man lives to be truly blessed. All these have been brought to us by Christ; apart from Christ no one knows what is the correct path, and which is the wrong path, no one is able to see clearly that the entire corrupted mankind is taking a path of no return, following Satan and being led into a trap by Satan, being poisoned by Satan, and even being devoured by Satan, and no one has discovered why the whole world is so evil, why it is so dark, and where the root of these things lies. These are facts. Today we have seen these facts, and from them we have understood many truths. We have seen that Satan is the source of darkness and evil in this world, and we have seen that the hearts of the entire corrupted mankind are filled with Satan’s poisons, full of Satan’s philosophy, full of Satan’s laws of existence, and full of Satan’s logic. We have seen how deeply we have been corrupted by Satan, that Satan has been tormenting us to the present day, that Satan corrupts us every day, and that we are mired by Satan in sin from which we cannot extract ourselves. Christ has revealed to us this true fact of Satan’s corruption of mankind, and we have received the enormous salvation of God from the words of Christ. This is a fact. Now that we have already seen absolutely clearly that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, wouldn’t you say that corrupted mankind needs the salvation of God incarnate? Can we be saved if we believe in a vague God in heaven? Let us then look at the entire religious world. They all pray to the Jesus in heaven, and they have been praying for thousands of years, but who among them has seen where the root lies of the profound corruption of corrupted mankind, and their being mired in sin from which they cannot free themselves? Have any of them seen this clearly? Not one. Even less have they seen what the true path of life is, what the true aim of life is, and how exactly to live a most blessed life. None of them have seen this; only those of us, through experiencing the work of Christ, have discovered the truth and have discovered the mysteries, which have been brought to us by Christ. This is a fact. Have you felt that only Christ is most worthy of our love, and most worthy of our worship? Do you feel this? If you do feel this way, then are you someone who truly loves Christ? You are still not someone who loves Christ, right? Christ has brought you such great salvation, He has given you such great love; why are you not able to love Christ? Do you not know the great salvation that you have received? Do you not know in fact how great Christ’s love of you is? If you still haven’t seen those things, then your spiritual eyes have not been opened. You only have awareness and feel that this is how it is through this communication of mine to you today. This means you have begun to wake up to reality. It is not empty talk to say that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, it is reality, and we have experienced it ourselves. As Christ Himself is the truth, the way, and the life and to us corrupted mankind, He is also the truth, the way, and the life, we ought to completely receive in our hearts from Him what He has and is so that it will become our truth, way, and life, and in this way we, this corrupted mankind, will be saved. If you open the book The Word Appears in the Flesh, which is the word of God, and you start to read it from page one, and you first look at the index, you will see that every topic has been expressed by God, every topic is the truth, and we should possess them all. I often open the book of the word of God, and this is how I read it. When I notice a piece, a topic, I feel it is excellent! It’s the truth! I then look at another piece, and I feel it is also the truth! Oh my, every piece is extremely important, every piece is so precious to us, it is the truth, it is the way, and it is the life. Therefore, what Christ has expressed is what we corrupted human beings need to possess and need to obtain, it is the most valuable treasure, and Christ is the most valuable treasure. If man sees that Christ is the most valuable treasure, then man will cherish Christ, and say “Christ is so good, the salvation that He has brought to our life is so great, and the salvation that He has brought to us is enormous; therefore Christ’s love for us is most great, it is a tremendous love, it is God’s love, and that which we have obtained from Christ is a priceless treasure, a thousand-fold, ten thousand-fold more valuable than anything of monetary worth in this world.” What treasure can lead man to obtain eternal life? What treasure can lead man to obtain a genuine human life? What treasure can make man be truly blessed? Only Christ can lead us to walk along the true path of life, only Christ can make us obtain eternal life, and only Christ can make us receive true blessing. Well, some may say: “You believe in Christ. What if there was no grain. Wouldn’t that be the end of you? Could Christ save you?” What would you say? How do you respond to this question? The truth can resolve all hardships of man, but some can believe this statement, while others cannot believe it. Because the word of God says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God,” it depends on whether or not you have obtained the truth. If you have obtained the truth, you will not hunger even if you do not eat. This is a fact. When Jesus was tested for forty days He did not eat. According to general scientific knowledge, if a man does not eat for seven days he will starve to death, but Jesus did not eat for forty days without dying of starvation. What does this explain? The word of God is omnipotent. Well, some people say: “What if God does not perform a miracle?” If a divine miracle is not performed, even if your mortal flesh should starve to death, your spirit will never die. When a person who eats dies one day, his spirit will still be dead. He can have eaten his fill but his spirit is dead. This is the value of man’s life, it is not the value of the flesh, and the value of life is so high. Well, what is life? Life, it is a mystery, and man cannot explain it clearly through language. The value of your life depends on whether or not you have the truth. Only the life of those who have the truth is true life. If a man does not possess the truth, his life is not true life. Whoever has the truth is a living person, a person who will never die; he who does not have the truth, even though he is alive he is a dead person. Christ is the truth, and we may say that His life never dies, and He is eternal life. Now we have seen this: God is the truth, the way, and the life, God exists forever, and He is the self-existing and ever-existing One; therefore, only if we obtain the truth will our life be true life, and if we don’t have the truth, our life is not true life, it is the same as with animals, and we are dead while living. Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, and therefore, Christ exists forever, His life is eternally unchanging.
The Definitions of the Truth, the Way, and the Life
We should have true knowledge of the life, the truth, and the way. Well, what is the definition of the truth? How can we explain the definition of the truth? The truth comes from God, and only God is the truth, only Christ can express the truth. The truth is the reality of all positive things. Therefore, all who possess the truth will exist forever. A man who obtains the truth from Christ obtains life, and those who have obtained the truth will never die. The value of the truth is eternally unchanging. The truth is the reality of positive things and its value is eternally unchanging, and exists forever. God said that heaven and earth will pass away, but the truth will not pass away. So, what is the definition of the truth? The definition of the truth is that the truth is the reality of positive things, and the value of the truth is eternally unchanging, and exists forever. That it exists forever and is eternally unchanging indicates that no man can abolish the truth, no thing can distort the truth, and no man can annul the truth. Satan has corrupted mankind for several thousand years but it cannot annul the truth, nor can it deny the existence of the truth. In the end, the truth will win the battle with evil, because the truth is eternally unchanging. This is how we define the truth. Well, what is the definition of the way? We see the Bible says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “The Word” is what God says, God created all things through His word, and God’s word itself is the way. The Word also encompasses the path of human life. Therefore, the word of God is the way, and every word of God contains the way, it has the essence of the true way, it is where the true way lies, and it contains the path of human life. Regardless of what part of what God says that we understand, from God’s words we can see the direction of human life, the aim of human life, and the correct way that man should choose. Therefore, when we put into practice what God says, it naturally shows us the way, and we naturally have the way to go on, which is the way that man ought to take, the way that man should pursue to walk upon. This is the definition of the way. Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. We have just now communicated a little of the definition of the life. The main definition of the life is that the truth is the life. A life of the truth is eternally unchanging, and will never change. Whoever has the truth cannot die, and he does not die, because the truth has vitality, it has the greatest life force. If we have truly obtained the truth, then we have eternal life, our life is valuable, and we will never be destroyed or be cast aside. So, weighing up whether or not a man has life is dependent on what? It depends on whether or not he has the truth, whether or not he has obtained the truth. The truth is living, it has a life force, and it is eternally unchanging. If a man has obtained the truth, then that man’s life is valuable, it will exist forever, because the truth itself is an eternal life. God is the truth, and God is the self-existing and ever-existing One. Because Satan does not have the truth, it is worthless, and in the end it will be destroyed, and cast aside. The eventual outcome for all those among corrupted mankind who do not pursue the truth is that they will be destroyed. Therefore, he who does not pursue the truth is dead in the eyes of God, he has no life. Other men may believe that he has life, but God for His part does not acknowledge that he has life, and God says that he does not have life. Therefore, all who do not pursue the truth will eventually be destroyed and cease to exist, and this has been ordained by God. We have gained a little true knowledge that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, and we have seen that Christ really and truly is the incarnation of God, the manifestation of God, and the practical God. As we have seen the essence of Christ, while believing in Christ, we know that we are believing in the true God, and not in a person on earth. Because His essence is God, He is the expression of the word of God, and He is the Word appearing in the flesh, what we believe in is the practical God. This is absolutely true and appropriate. The truth has conquered us and changed us, and the truth has become our life and become our way. We see now that we have completely obtained new life from God, and this life is the truth which has taken root in our hearts. When all the words expressed by God have become our life, we will be people newly-created by God with His words.
Problems That Need to Be Resolved in Pursuit of the Knowledge That Christ Is the Truth, the Way, and the Life
What problems must be resolved to arrive at the knowledge that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life? How exactly should we believe in the practical God? Where does the true faith that a believer in the practical God should possess mainly manifest itself? What must we possess in order to have true faith in the practical God? The first issue is that we must be able to accept all the truths expressed by the practical God. That is the first thing. If you are unable to accept all the truths expressed by the practical God, then your belief in Him is false, and you do not have true faith, because true faith involves true obedience. Since you believe in God, you need to obey God; if you cannot accept all the truths that God expresses, is this obedience? If you cannot accept the truth that is expressed by God, this is not obedience to God, and so you don’t have true faith. The unbelievers do not accept the truth expressed by God, so they are called “unbelievers,” which means that they are people who do not believe in God. If you, as a believer in God, cannot accept the truth that God expresses, then there are problems with your faith, and it is not true faith. Therefore, the first thing that we need to possess to have true faith in the practical God is that we need to be able to accept all the truths expressed by Him. The second thing is that we need to possess true obedience to Him. True obedience to Him means that no matter what He does, you must obey it, and no matter what He says, you must accept it; only then will you comply with the principle of having true faith. The third issue is that you must possess true love for Him. Because man has love and hatred in the deepest recesses of his soul, if you believe in God but do not have real love of the practical God, your faith is imperfect. The practical God—Christ—is the truth, the way, and the life, and He is worthy of man’s love, worthy of man’s praise, and worthy of man’s worship. If your heart is unable to love Him, your praise and your worship are false. The fourth issue is that you need to possess loyalty and sincerity to Him. If a man is not loyal to the practical God, and is not sincere to Him, then his faith in Him is not true faith. If he is unable to show loyalty and sincerity to the practical God, this proves that he is resisting Him and he is able to betray Him. Therefore if a man does not possess loyalty and sincerity to the practical God, this does not equate to true faith. True faith in the practical God encompasses these four aspects. If you possess these four aspects, your faith will be approved by God, you will be able to win God’s praise, you will be able to receive God’s salvation, and you will be able to be made perfect by God.
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