We all know that two thousand years ago, God came incarnate to the world of man as the Lord Jesus to redeem humankind, and preached, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). He also expressed much truth, and to complete the work of redemption, He was crucified on the cross as humankind’s sin offering, thereby concluding the Age of Law and beginning the Age of Grace. This was the work done to redeem humankind the first time God came incarnate. Although Judaism tried desperately to condemn the Lord Jesus and joined with the Roman government to nail Him to the cross, two thousand years later, the Lord Jesus’ gospel has spread to every corner of the earth. This proves that the Lord Jesus was the incarnate God, the one true God and Creator who appeared to work in the flesh. Yet many people do not recognize that the Lord Jesus is God incarnate. Instead, they treat the Lord Jesus as an ordinary person. Even many pastors in religion don’t recognize that the Lord Jesus is God, and only think He is the beloved Son of God. Today, although there are countless believers in the Lord, few people actually know that the Lord Jesus is God, and no one knows the meaning and value of all the truths expressed by the Lord Jesus. So, in the matter of welcoming the Lord, many have fallen into disaster because they cannot hear God’s voice. For those who can’t hear God’s voice, although they outwardly seem to believe passionately, if they saw the image of the Son of man in the Lord Jesus, would they really be able to continue believing in the Lord and following Him? Would they be able to condemn the Lord Jesus as an ordinary person and deny that He is God? If they heard the Lord Jesus expressing so much truth today, would they still be able to condemn the Lord Jesus for saying blasphemy and nail Him to the cross again? Based on the fact of the Pharisees’ condemnation of the Lord Jesus, we can say with certainty that if all those who believe in the Lord today really saw Him in His original image as the Son of man, many people would be likely to run away, and many more would judge and condemn the Lord Jesus, just like the Pharisees, and would again nail Him to the cross. Some might object when I phrase things like this, but everything I say is a fact. It is precisely because humankind is corrupted so deeply, and only relies on eyes for their faith in God, that no one could recognize that the incarnate Son of man is the appearance of God. This shows us that the incarnation is a great mystery. For thousands of years, no one has been able to understand this aspect of truth. Although believers know that the Lord Jesus is the incarnate God, no one has been able to clearly explain what the incarnation is and how we should understand the incarnate God.

So, why did God decide to incarnate in the flesh to appear and work? Speaking precisely, humankind’s corruption required God to come incarnate to do the work of salvation. In other words, only coming incarnate could accomplish the complete salvation of humankind. God came incarnate twice to redeem and save humankind. The Lord Jesus was the incarnate God, and He came to do the work of redemption. Some might ask, Why didn’t God use a person to do the work of redemption? Why did God incarnate? Because every member of corrupt humankind carries sin, we are all sinners, meaning that there were no qualified sin offerings. Only the incarnate Son of man was without sin, so God incarnated as the Son of man to take on the work of redemption Himself. Only this truly showed God’s righteousness and holiness, completely humiliated Satan and left it without grounds to accuse God. This also allowed humankind to know God’s sincere love and mercy for them. When the Lord Jesus finished the work of redemption, He prophesied that He would come again. Today, the Lord Jesus has returned, and is the incarnate Almighty God. Almighty God has expressed much truth and does the work of judgment in the last days to completely purify humankind’s corruption, to save humankind from sin and the power of Satan, and to bring mankind to a beautiful destination. Yet what is unexpected is that, although Almighty God has expressed so much truth, He is still wildly resisted and condemned by the forces of antichrists in the religious world, who have even joined hands with the ruling CCP to attempt to block, ruin, and ban God’s appearance and work in the last days. They do their utmost to deny that Almighty God is the appearance of the incarnate God, and also condemn and blaspheme Almighty God as an ordinary person, which completely exposes the ugly face of antichrist forces in the religious world as those who hate the truth and resist God. If we look back two thousand years, we see that the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of Judaism would rather die than accept the Lord Jesus as the Messiah. They characterized the Lord Jesus as an ordinary person who spoke blasphemy, they did all they could to resist, condemn, and blaspheme the Lord Jesus, and finally they nailed Him to the cross, committing a heinous crime for which they were cursed and punished by God. Today, Almighty God appears and works in the image of the Son of man. Many people have seen that the words expressed by Almighty God are the truth, they have heard the voice of God, and they have all happily accepted God’s work in the last days and welcomed the Lord. However, there are many people who don’t know the incarnate God, who still treat Almighty God as an ordinary person, and who also judge and condemn all those who accept Almighty God, saying they believe in an ordinary person. These people think they understand the Bible, so they refuse to investigate the true way and frantically condemn and resist Almighty God, committing the sin of crucifying God all over again. Why have both of God’s two incarnations been condemned and rejected by man? It is because people don’t know God, don’t understand what truth is, and even less understand the great mystery of the incarnation. It is also because humans are deeply corrupted and have satanic natures. They not only loathe and hate the truth, they are also wildly hostile to God and have no fear at all. In fact, there are some rather pious believers in God who have been deceived by the CCP, the king of demons, and religious antichrist forces due to their ignorance and taken the path of resisting God. The reason for their failure is lack of knowledge about the incarnation and the truth, so they are unable to hear God’s voice, and therefore treat the incarnate God as an ordinary person as well as condemn and blaspheme Him. It is plain to see that understanding of the truth of incarnation is vital for us to welcome the Lord and be lifted up into the kingdom of heaven. It is a critical issue related to our final destination.

Many people will ask, Since the Lord Jesus is God incarnate and has done the work of redemption, and humankind has already been saved and turned toward God, why does God still need to come incarnate in the last days to do the work of judgment to save humankind? There is a very profound meaning in this. To put it simply, God coming twice incarnate to redeem humankind, and then to completely purify and save us was predetermined by God long before the world was created. There are many prophecies in the Bible stating that God would come incarnate twice as the Son of man. The first time, through the crucifixion as a sin offering, He completed the work of redemption, so that people’s sins were forgiven, but people did not escape from sin and attain holiness. The second time, through expressing the truth and the work of judgment, He will thoroughly purify humankind, completely save humankind from sin and the influence of Satan, bring an end to the era, and bring mankind to a beautiful destination. Therefore, the two incarnations are meant to redeem humankind, and then to completely save humankind. God comes incarnate twice to complete His management plan to save humankind. Today, Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days has conquered and perfected a group of people into overcomers, God has defeated Satan and gained glory, and it can be said that God has completed His great work. These are things God has already done. Now we can see the incredible significance of God’s incarnation in the last days. On one hand, it ended the old age, the Age of Grace, and began a new age, the Age of Kingdom. On the other, it completely purifies and saves mankind, and brings humankind to a beautiful destination. Both the work of redemption and the work of judgment are completed by the incarnate God, so God’s two incarnations are indeed of profound significance. Today, Almighty God has expressed so much truth and done such great things in our world, so why are there still so many people who don’t know God’s work? Many people still refuse to admit that Almighty God is the incarnate God, cling to religious notions, believe that only the Lord Jesus is God, and insist that only by keeping to the Bible can we enter the kingdom of heaven. What a foolish and ignorant thing to do! How could such foolish people ever hear the voice of God? And how could they discover all the truth expressed by Almighty God? Ultimately, this is because people lack knowledge of the incarnate God and can’t recognize God’s voice, so they can’t be lifted up before God’s throne. These ignorant people, these foolish virgins, will never win God’s approval no matter how many years they believe. Clearly, if you want to welcome the Lord, knowledge of the incarnate God and understanding the truth of incarnation is crucial! So, what exactly is the incarnation? And how should we understand the incarnation? How can we distinguish between true and false Christs? We will understand after reading Almighty God’s word.

Almighty God says, “The ‘incarnation’ is God’s appearance in the flesh; God works among created mankind in the image of the flesh. So for God to be incarnated, He must first be flesh, flesh with normal humanity; this is the most basic prerequisite. In fact, the implication of God’s incarnation is that God lives and works in the flesh, that God in His very essence becomes flesh, becomes a man” (“The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood; He is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself” (“The Essence of Christ Is Obedience to the Will of the Heavenly Father” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the essence of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but also the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh cannot be supplanted by just any man, but is a flesh that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s word states clearly that incarnation is the realization of God’s Spirit in the flesh, which is to say that God’s Spirit puts on flesh to become an ordinary person, and then appears and works in the human world. Simply put, it means that God’s Spirit puts on the flesh and becomes the Son of man. Outwardly, the incarnate God is a normal, ordinary person, someone neither lofty nor extraordinary, who eats, clothes Himself, and transports Himself just like ordinary people and lives an ordinary life. He needs to eat when He is hungry and sleep when He is tired, He experiences normal human emotions, He really and actually lives among man, and no one can see that He is the practical God incarnate. Yet despite being such a normal, ordinary person, there is a substantial difference between Him and created humans. He is the incarnation of God, and God’s Spirit is within Him. He has normal humanity, but also complete divinity, which is visible and tangible. It manifests mainly in that He can express the truth and reveal mysteries at any time or place. He can express and testify God’s disposition, all that God has and is, God’s mind and thoughts, God’s love, and God’s omnipotence and wisdom, so that all people can know and understand God. He can also reveal all of the mysteries in the Bible, which means He can open the scroll prophesied in Revelation. It proves that He has complete divinity. Outwardly, Christ is an ordinary person, but He is able to express so much truth, awaken people, and save corrupt humankind from Satan’s influence. Without God’s Spirit within them, how could anyone do these things? Certainly no celebrity or great man could do such things, because no celebrity or great man can express the truth. They possess no truth at all. They couldn’t even save themselves, so how could they save all mankind? The incarnate God can express the truth and do the work of judgment to purify and save humankind, which are abilities no human possesses. The book The Word Appears in the Flesh is the utterance of God in the last days, and is testimony of God’s work of judgment in the last days. As God’s chosen people have experienced God’s work of judgment in the last days and accepted the watering and shepherding of Almighty God Himself, they have all felt the deep practicality of the work of the incarnate God. God really and truly lives among people, and expresses the truth based on our actual situation to support and supply us, as well as to expose our deviations in belief in God, mistaken pursuits and viewpoints, and all manner of satanic dispositions within us, so that we can gain knowledge and change. God also tells us His desires and requirements for people, giving us the most practical and accurate goals to pursue and principles to practice, so that we can enter into the realities of truth, receive God’s salvation, and completely escape from the dark forces of Satan. Anyone who follows Almighty God experiences deeply that without the incarnate God coming to express the truth to judge and chastise people, they would never be able to recognize their sinful natures, nor would they be able to escape the bondage and constraints of sin. They also realize only by accepting God’s judgment and chastisement can their corrupt dispositions be cleansed, only with knowledge of God’s righteous disposition can they fear God and shun evil, and only through living by God’s word can they live out a true human likeness, be qualified to receive God’s promises and blessings, and be brought into the kingdom of heaven. Consider this: Without the incarnate God coming and expressing so much truth in the last days, would we ever have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be saved? Would we be able to receive God’s judgment and chastisement and enjoy God’s bountiful blessings? Without God’s incarnation in the last days, all of humanity would be doomed to destruction, and no one would receive salvation. It’s just as Almighty God’s word says, “This time around, God comes to do work not in a spiritual body, but in a very ordinary one. Moreover, not only is it the body of God’s second incarnation, it is also the body through which God returns to the flesh. It is a very ordinary flesh. You cannot see anything that makes Him stand out from others, but you can gain from Him previously unheard-of truths. This insignificant flesh is what embodies all the words of truth from God, undertakes God’s work in the last days, and expresses the whole of God’s disposition for man to understand. Do you not desire greatly to see the God in heaven? Do you not desire greatly to understand the God in heaven? Do you not desire greatly to see the destination of mankind? He will tell you all these secrets—secrets that no man has been able to tell you, and He will also tell you of the truths that you do not understand. He is your gate into the kingdom, and your guide into the new age. Such an ordinary flesh holds many unfathomable mysteries. His deeds may be inscrutable to you, but the entire goal of the work He does is sufficient enough to allow you to see that He is not, as people believe, a simple flesh. For He represents the will of God and the care shown by God toward mankind in the last days. Though you cannot hear His words seeming to shake the heavens and earth, though you cannot see His eyes as a flame of fire, and though you cannot receive the discipline of His iron rod, nevertheless you can hear from His words that God is wrathful and know that God is showing compassion for mankind; you can see the righteous disposition of God and His wisdom, and, moreover, realize God’s solicitude for all mankind. The work of God in the last days is to allow man to see the God in heaven living among men on earth, and to enable man to know, obey, revere, and love God. This is why He has returned to the flesh for a second time. Though what man sees this day is a God that is the same as man, a God with a nose and two eyes, and an unremarkable God, in the end, God will show you that if this man did not exist, heaven and earth would undergo a tremendous change; if this man did not exist, the heavens would grow dim, the earth would be plunged into chaos, and all mankind would live amid famine and plagues. He will show you that if God incarnate did not come to save you in the last days, then God would have long ago destroyed all mankind in hell; if this flesh did not exist, then you would forever be arch-sinners, and you would be corpses evermore. You should know that if this flesh did not exist, all mankind would face an ineluctable calamity and find it impossible to escape the even more severe punishment that God metes out to mankind in the last days. Had this ordinary flesh not been born, you would all be in a state where you beg for life without being able to live and pray for death without being able to die; if this flesh did not exist, then you would not be able to gain the truth and come before the throne of God today, but rather, you would be punished by God because of your grievous sins. Did you know that were it not for the return of God to the flesh, none would have a chance at salvation; and were it not for the coming of this flesh, God would have long ago put an end to the age of old? This being so, are you still able to reject the second incarnation of God? Since you can derive so many benefits from this ordinary man, why would you not gladly accept Him?” (“Did You Know? God Has Done a Great Thing Among Men” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

At this point, some people may ask, “The incarnate God’s outward appearance is ordinary, and His divinity is hidden within His flesh, so if God has come, how can we recognize Him as the incarnate God?” The words of Almighty God show us the way. Almighty God says, “He who is God incarnate shall possess the essence of God, and He who is God incarnate shall possess the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He intends to do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon him, and point the way for him. Flesh that does not have the essence of God is decidedly not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt. If man intends to inquire into whether it is God’s incarnate flesh, then he must corroborate this from the disposition He expresses and the words He speaks. Which is to say, to corroborate whether or not it is God’s incarnate flesh, and whether or not it is the true way, one must discriminate on the basis of His essence. And so, in determining whether it is the flesh of God incarnate, the key lies in His essence (His work, His utterances, His disposition, and many other aspects), rather than external appearance. If man scrutinizes only His external appearance, and as a result overlooks His essence, this shows that man is benighted and ignorant” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s word, we can see that recognition of God incarnate is not based on His appearance, nor based on what family He was born in, whether He has position or power, or whether He has prestige in the religious world. It is not based on these things. Instead, it is based on whether He has the essence of God, whether He can express the truth and do the work of God Himself. This is the most crucial element. If He can express the truth and do the work of saving humankind, then even if He was born to an ordinary family and lacks power and position in society, He is God. Just like in the Age of Grace, when the Lord Jesus came to work, He was born into an ordinary family, came into the world in a manger, He wasn’t tall or powerfully built, and He had no status or power, yet He could express the truth, gave people the way of repentance, and could forgive people’s sins. Those who loved the truth, like His disciples Peter and John, saw in the Lord Jesus’ work and the truth He expressed that He had God’s power and authority and recognized the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, so they followed Him and gained the Lord’s salvation. Today, God has again come incarnate to the human world, and even though He outwardly appears to be an ordinary person, Almighty God can express much truth and does the work of judgment in the last days. Many in all countries and places have seen the truth expressed by Almighty God, recognized God’s voice, accepted Almighty God, and been lifted up before God’s throne. They have begun to experience God’s judgment and chastisement, and understood some truth. They all have wonderful experiences and testimony, and give their all to preach the gospel and testify God. The facts prove that only someone who can express the truth, judge and purify people, and completely save humankind is Christ and the incarnate God. This is undeniable. If someone can’t express the truth, and can only deceive others by showing signs and wonders, this is the work of an evil spirit. If they call themselves God, they are false Christs who are impersonating God. To know the incarnate God, we need to be certain of this fact: Only the incarnate God can express the truth, do the work of judgment in the last days, and completely save humankind from the forces of Satan.

Almighty God has expressed so much truth and done such great work in the last days, yet there are many people who turn a blind eye, and merely wait for the Lord Jesus to come openly on a cloud. Such people will weep and gnash their teeth as they are destroyed in the disaster. This fulfills the prophecy in Revelation: “Behold, He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him” (Revelation 1:7). Almighty God also says, “By the time you behold the spiritual body of Jesus, God will Have made heaven and earth anew.” Finally, let’s read a passage of Almighty God’s word. “Those who wish to gain life without relying on the truth spoken by Christ are the most ridiculous people on earth, and those who do not accept the way of life brought by Christ are lost in fantasy. And so I say that those who do not accept Christ of the last days shall forever be loathed by God. Christ is man’s gateway to the kingdom during the last days, and there are none who can go around Him. None may be perfected by God except through Christ. You believe in God, and so you must accept His words and obey His way. You cannot only think of gaining blessings while being incapable of receiving the truth and incapable of accepting the provision of life. Christ comes during the last days so that all those who truly believe in Him may be provided with life. His work is for the sake of concluding the old age and entering the new one, and His work is the path that must be taken by all those who would enter the new age. If you are incapable of acknowledging Him, and instead condemn, blaspheme, or even persecute Him, then you are bound to burn for eternity and shall never enter the kingdom of God. For this Christ is Himself the expression of the Holy Spirit, the expression of God, the One whom God has entrusted to do His work on earth. And so I say that if you cannot accept all that is done by Christ of the last days, then you blaspheme the Holy Spirit. The retribution to be had by those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit is self-evident to all. I also tell you that if you resist Christ of the last days, if you spurn Christ of the last days, there will be no one else to bear the consequences on your behalf. Furthermore, from this day onward you will not have another chance to gain the approval of God; even if you try to redeem yourself, you will never again behold the face of God. For what you resist is not a man, what you spurn is not some puny being, but Christ. Do you know what the consequences of this will be? You will not have made a small mistake, but committed a heinous crime. And so I advise everyone not to bare your fangs before the truth, or make careless criticisms, for only the truth can bring you life, and nothing except the truth can allow you to be reborn and behold the face of God again” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).