Christmas is coming. All the streets are decorated with illuminations and colored ribbons, and Santa clauses, Christmas trees, stockings, and presents are everywhere in some public places. Everyone is immersed in a festival atmosphere. As we all know, the Lord Jesus came to the world in the image of the Son of man, so that people in the Age of Law ushered in the Age of Redemption and started a new life and had new hope. It is written in the bible, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23) Consider this: If the Lord Jesus hadn’t been incarnated to be crucified for mankind as their sin offering, people in the Age of Law would have been devoured by sin and the whole mankind would have returned to nothingness. Thus, it can be seen that the arrival of the Lord Jesus was of vital importance to us.
In my real life, I found that though we were forgiven ours sins through the Lord Jesus’ redemption, we were still living a life of sinning in the day and confessing in the evening, not free from the bondage of sin. For example, brothers and sisters had no love for but tricked each other, and showed little forbearance and patience when getting along with others. Some committed a sexual sin and couldn’t rebel against the flesh. … We all desired to be delivered from sins but had no power to make it. Why were we always incapable of attaining sanctity?
Later, I accepted the last days work of Almighty God—the returned Lord Jesus, and I found the answer in His words! Almighty God says, “Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and began the work of chastisement and judgment, which brought man to a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.” “Though man has been redeemed and forgiven of his sins, it is only considered as God not remembering the transgressions of man and not treating man in accordance with man’s transgressions. However, when man lives in the flesh and he has not been set free from sin, he can only continue to sin, endlessly revealing the corrupt satanic disposition. This is the life that man leads, an endless cycle of sin and forgiveness. The majority of men sin in the day only to confess in the evening. As such, even if the sin offering is forever effective for man, it would not be able to save man from sin. Only half the work of salvation has been completed, for man still has corrupt disposition. …” “For, in the Age of Grace, the demons went away from man with the laying on of hands and prayer, but the corrupt dispositions within man still remained. Man was healed of his sickness and forgiven his sins, but the work for just how the corrupt satanic dispositions within man could be cast away was not done in him. Man was only saved and forgiven his sins for his faith, but the sinful nature of man was not taken away and still remained within him. The sins of man were forgiven through God incarnate, but it does not mean that man has no sin within him. The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but man has been unable to resolve the issue of just how he can no longer sin and how his sinful nature can be cast away completely and be transformed. The sins of man were forgiven because of the work of God’s crucifixion, but man continued to live in the old, corrupt satanic disposition. As such, man must be completely saved from the corrupt satanic disposition so that the sinful nature of man is completely cast away and never again develops, thus allowing the disposition of man to be changed. This requires man to understand the path of growth in life, the way of life, and the way to change his disposition. It also needs man to act in accordance with this path so that the disposition of man can gradually be changed and he can live under the shining of the light, and that he can do all things in accord with the will of God, cast away the corrupt satanic disposition, and break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh)
Almighty God’s words made it clear that though the Lord Jesus did the redemptive work, He only completed half of God’s work of saving mankind. That is to say, God was incarnated to take on all our sins through His crucifixion, so that we could be forgiven our sins by praying in the name of the Lord Jesus. However, the Lord Jesus didn’t do the work of ridding man of their sinful nature and enabling them to attain sanctity and commit no more sins. Hence, regardless of how many years we believe in the Lord Jesus and whether we’re pastors, elders, or common believers, over more than two thousand years no one has broken free from the bondage and restraint of sins. This is an irrefutable fact. So, for man to achieve a holy state, the Lord Jesus needs to come again and do a stage of work of taking away man’s sinful nature. The work is exactly the work of judgment and purification done by Almighty God in the last days. Only if man accepts judgment and attains a knowledge of their own nature and substance, and has hatred for Satan can they practice the truth and rebel against Satan, and in the end walk out of sins. It can be seen that every stage of work of God has significance, which is all for saving mankind and is for them to live in God’s care and protection and in the supply and leading of God’s word and gain God’s complete salvation!
