What is knowing God exactly? Can an understanding of Bible knowledge and theological theory be considered as knowing God?

What is knowing God exactly?
Can an understanding of Bible knowledge and theological theory be considered as knowing God?

Relevant Words of God:

What does it mean to know God? It means that man knows God’s gamut of emotions, this is what knowing God is. You say that you have seen God, yet you do not understand God’s gamut of emotions, do not understand His disposition, and do not know His righteousness either. You have no understanding of His mercifulness, and do not know what He loathes. This cannot be called knowledge of God. Therefore, some people are able to follow God, but they do not necessarily believe in God. This is the distinction. If you know Him, you understand Him, if you are able to comprehend and grasp some of what His will is, and you know His heart, then you can truly believe in Him, can truly submit to Him, truly love Him, and truly worship Him. If you do not understand these things, then you are only following along, a person who only runs along and follows the crowd. That cannot be called true submission, and cannot be called true worship. How can true worship be produced? There are none who see God and truly know God who do not worship Him, who do not revere Him. As soon as they see God they are afraid. At present people are in the time of the work of God incarnate. The more that people have understanding of the disposition of God incarnate and of what He has and is, the more people treasure them, and the more they revere God. Often, less understanding means more recklessness, such that God is treated as human. People will fear and tremble if they really know God and really see Him. Why did John say, “the One who is coming after me, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry”? Though his understanding in his heart was not very deep, yet he knew that God is awesome. How many people are able to revere God now? Without knowing the disposition of God, how can one revere Him? If people do not know the essence of Christ, and do not understand the disposition of God, they are even less able to truly worship God. If people see only the ordinary and normal outward appearance of Christ and do not know His essence, it is easy for people to treat Christ as an ordinary man. They can adopt a disrespectful attitude toward Him, can cheat Him, resist Him, disobey Him, cast judgment on Him, and be opinionated. They can take His word as insignificant, can treat His flesh as they please, can harbor conceptions, and can blaspheme. To solve these issues one must know the essence of Christ, the divinity of Christ. This is the main aspect of knowing God; it is what all people who believe in the practical God must enter and achieve.

from “Knowledge of the Incarnation”
in Records of Christ’s Talks

Knowledge of the practical God includes knowing and experiencing His words, and grasping the rules and principles of the work of the Holy Spirit, and how the Spirit of God works in the flesh. So, too, does it include knowing that every action of God in the flesh is governed by the Spirit, and that the words He speaks are the direct expression of the Spirit. Thus, if you wish to know the practical God, you must primarily know how God works in humanity and in divinity; this, in turn, concerns the expressions of the Spirit, which all people engage with.

from “You Should Know That the Practical God Is God Himself”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Knowing God’s actual actions, knowing the reality of God and His omnipotence, knowing the true identity of God Himself, knowing what He has and is, knowing what He has demonstrated among all things—these are very important to every single person who pursues knowledge of God. These are inseparable from every person’s life, from every person’s practical life of pursuit of the truth. If you limit your understanding of God to just words, if you limit it to your own little experiences, God’s grace that you count, or your little testimonies to God, then I say that your God absolutely is not the true God. He absolutely is not the true God Himself, and it can also be said that the God you believe in is not God. This is because the God that I am speaking of is the One that rules over everything, that walks among everything, that manages everything. He is the One that holds the fate of all of mankind—the One that holds the fate of everything. The work and actions of the God that I am talking about are not just limited to a small portion of people. That is, it’s not limited to just the people who currently follow Him. His actions are demonstrated among all things, in the survival of all things, and in the laws of change of all things. If you cannot see or recognize any actions of God among all things, then you cannot bear witness to any of His actions. If you cannot bear any witness for God, if you continue to speak of the small so-called God that you know, that God who is limited to your own ideas, and is within your narrow mind, if you continue to speak of that kind of God, then God will never praise your faith. When you bear witness for God, if you only use how you enjoy God’s grace, accept God’s discipline and His chastening, and enjoy His blessings in your witness for Him, that is hugely inadequate, and is far from satisfying Him. If you want to bear witness for God in a way that is in line with His will, bear witness for the true God Himself, then you must see what God has and is from His actions. You must see God’s authority from His control of everything, and see the truth of how He provides for all of mankind. If you only acknowledge that your daily food and drink and your necessities in life come from God, but you don’t see the truth that God provides for all of mankind by means of all things, that He leads all of mankind by means of His rule of all things, then you will never be able to bear witness for God.

from “God Himself, the Unique IX”
in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh

Now what all men lack is the knowledge of God’s work. Man neither comprehends nor understands exactly what constitutes the deeds of God in man, all the work of God, and the will of God since the creation of the world. This inadequacy is not merely seen throughout the religious world, but moreover in all believers of God. When the day comes that you truly behold God and realize the wisdom of God; when you behold all the deeds of God and recognize what God is and has; when you behold His abundance, wisdom, wonder, and all His work in man, it is then that you will have attained successful faith in God. When God is said to be all-encompassing and greatly abundant, what is meant by all-encompassing? And what is meant by abundance? If this you do not understand, then you cannot be deemed a believer of God.

from “All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh

No matter how great an understanding man has of the Bible, it remains nothing more than words, for man does not understand the substance of the Bible. When man reads the Bible, he may receive some truths, explain some words or scrutinize some famous passages and quotes, but he will never be able to extricate the meaning contained within those words, for all man sees are dead words, not the scenes of the work of Jehovah and Jesus, and man is unable to unravel the mystery of such work. Therefore, the mystery of the six-thousand-year management plan is the greatest mystery, the one most hidden and utterly inconceivable to man. None can directly understand the will of God, unless He Himself explains and opens up to man, otherwise, they will forever remain riddles to man and forever remain sealed mysteries. Never mind those in the religious world; if you were not told today, neither would you be able to understand.

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Many people believe that understanding and being able to interpret the Bible is the same as finding the true way—but in fact, are things really so simple? No one knows the reality of the Bible: that it is nothing more than a historical record of God’s work, and a testament to the previous two stages of God’s work, and offers you no understanding of the aims of God’s work. Everyone who has read the Bible knows that it documents the two stages of God’s work during the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. The Old Testament chronicles the history of Israel and Jehovah’s work from the time of creation until the end of the Age of Law. The New Testament records Jesus’ work on earth, which is in the Four Gospels, as well as the work of Paul; are they not historical records? Bringing up the things of the past today makes them history, and no matter how true or real they might be, they are still history—and history cannot address the present. For God does not look back on history! And so, if you only understand the Bible, and understand nothing of the work God intends to do today, and if you believe in God but do not seek the work of the Holy Spirit, then you do not understand what it means to seek God. If you read the Bible in order to study the history of Israel, to research the history of God’s creation of all the heavens and earth, then you do not believe in God. But today, since you believe in God, and pursue life, since you pursue the knowledge of God, and do not pursue dead letters and doctrines, or an understanding of history, you must seek God’s will of today, and must look for the direction of the Holy Spirit’s work. If you were an archeologist you could read the Bible—but you are not, you are one of those who believe in God, and you’d best seek God’s will of today.

from “Concerning the Bible (4)”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Some people say the Bible is a holy book, that it must be read, and some people say that God’s work must be upheld forever, that the Old Testament is God’s covenant with the Israelites, and cannot be dispensed with, and the Sabbath must always be kept! Are they not ridiculous? Why didn’t Jesus keep the Sabbath? Was He sinning? Who can see through to such things? No matter how you read the Bible, it will be impossible to know the work of God using man’s powers of comprehension. Not only will you not gain a pure knowledge of God, but your conceptions will become ever more egregious, such that you begin to oppose God. If it were not for the incarnation of God today, people would be forfeited by their own conceptions, and they would die amid God’s chastisement.

from “Concerning the Bible (1)”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh

There are those who say that they are compatible with Me, but who all worship vague idols. Although they acknowledge My name as holy, they tread a path that runs contrary to Me, and their words are full of arrogance and self-confidence, because, at root, they are all against Me, and incompatible with Me. Every day they seek traces of Me in the Bible, and find “suitable” passages at random that they read endlessly, and which they recite as scriptures. They do not know how to be compatible with Me, do not know what it means to be in enmity of Me, and merely read scriptures blindly. They constrain within the Bible a vague God that they have never seen, and are incapable of seeing, and take it out to look at during their spare time. They believe in My existence only within the scope of the Bible. For them, I am the same as the Bible; without the Bible there is no Me, and without Me there is no Bible. They pay no heed to My existence or actions, but instead devote extreme and special attention to each and every word of Scripture, and many of them even believe that I should not do anything I wish to do unless it is foretold by Scripture. They attach too much importance to Scripture. It can be said that they see words and expressions as too important, to the extent that they use verses from the Bible to measure every word I say, and to condemn Me. What they seek is not the way of compatibility with Me, or the way of compatibility with the truth, but the way of compatibility with the words of the Bible, and they believe that anything that does not conform to the Bible is, without exception, not My work. Are such people not the dutiful descendants of the Pharisees? The Jewish Pharisees used the law of Moses to condemn Jesus. They did not seek compatibility with the Jesus of that time, but diligently followed the law to the letter, to the extent that they ultimately nailed the innocent Jesus to the cross, having charged Him with not following the law of the Old Testament and not being the Messiah. What was their essence? Was it not that they didn’t seek the way of compatibility with the truth? They obsessed over each and every word of the Scripture, while paying no heed to My will and the steps and methods of My work. They were not people who sought the truth, but people who rigidly followed the words of Scripture; they were not people who believed in God, but people who believed in the Bible. Essentially, they were watchdogs of the Bible. In order to safeguard the interests of the Bible, and uphold the dignity of the Bible, and protect the reputation of the Bible, they went so far as to nail the merciful Jesus onto the cross. This they did merely for the sake of defending the Bible, and for the sake of maintaining the status of each and every word of the Bible in people’s hearts. So they preferred to forsake their future and the sin offering to condemn Jesus, who did not conform to the doctrine of Scripture, to death. Were they not lackeys to each and every word of Scripture?

And what of people today? Christ has come to release the truth, yet they would rather expel Him from among man in order to gain entry into heaven and receive grace. They would rather completely deny the coming of the truth in order to safeguard the interests of the Bible, and would rather nail the Christ returning to flesh to the cross again in order to ensure the everlasting existence of the Bible. … Man searches for compatibility with words, with the Bible, yet not a single person comes before Me to seek the way of compatibility with the truth. Man looks up to Me in heaven, and devotes particular concern to My existence in heaven, yet no one cares about Me in the flesh, for I who live among man am simply too insignificant. Those who only seek compatibility with the words of the Bible, and who only seek compatibility with a vague God, are a wretched sight to Me. That is because what they worship are dead words, and a God that is capable of giving them untold treasures. What they worship is a God that lays himself at the mercy of man, and which doesn’t exist. What, then, can such people gain from Me? Man is simply too lowly for words. Those who are against Me, who make limitless demands of Me, who have no love of the truth, who are rebellious toward Me—how could they be compatible with Me?

from “You Should Seek the Way of Compatibility With Christ”
in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Those who only care about the words of the Bible, who are unconcerned about the truth or seeking My footsteps—they are against Me, for they limit Me according to the Bible, and constrain Me within the Bible, and so are blasphemous in the extreme toward Me. How could such people come before Me? They pay no heed to My deeds, or My will, or the truth, but instead obsess over words, words that kill. How could such people be compatible with Me?

from “You Should Seek the Way of Compatibility With Christ” 
in The Word Appears in the Flesh

One who believes in God must be able to discern false shepherds and antichrists to cast off religion and return to God.

One who believes in God must be able to discern false shepherds and antichrists to cast off religion and return to God.

Bible Verses for Reference:
“Thus said the Lord Jehovah to the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat, and you clothe you with the wool, you kill them that are fed: but you feed not the flock. The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them” (Eze 34:2-4).
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Mat 7:15).
“They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Mat 15:14).

What is the essential difference between the work of God and the work of man?

What is the essential difference between the work of God and the work of man?

Jehovah Jesus

Relevant Words of God:

The work of God Himself involves the work of all of mankind, and it also represents the work of the entire era. That is to say, God’s own work represents the movement and trend of all of the work of the Holy Spirit, whereas the work of the apostles follows God’s own work and does not lead the era, nor does it represent the working trend of the Holy Spirit in the entire era. They only do the work man ought to do, which does not at all involve the management work. God’s own work is the project within the management work. Man’s work is only the duty of men being used and bears no relation to the management work. Due to different identities and representations of the work, despite the fact that they are both the work of the Holy Spirit, there are clear and substantive differences between God’s own work and the work of man.

One must recognize the difference between the way of repentance in the Age of Grace and the way of eternal life in the last days.

One must recognize the difference between the way of repentance in the Age of Grace and the way of eternal life in the last days.

Bible Verses for Reference:

“And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (Jhn 12:47-48).

“Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Mat 7:21).

One must understand that all the truth expressed by God in the last days is the way of eternal life.

One must understand that all the truth expressed by God in the last days is the way of eternal life.

Bible Verses for Reference:

“I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (Jhn 16:12-13).

“He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches; He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death” (Rev 2:11).

“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bore twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev 22:1-2).

One must understand that the message spread by the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace was only the way of repentance.

One must understand that the message spread by the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace was only the way of repentance.

Lord Jesus | voice of God | The Church of Almighty God

Bible Verses for Reference:

“Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mat 4:17).

“For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mat 26:28).

“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luk 24:47).

What is the essential difference between being saved and salvation?

What is the essential difference between being saved and salvation?

 Jesus| Almighty God

Bible Verses for Reference:
“Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Mat 7:21).
“You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Lev 11:45).
Relevant Words of God:
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 has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into 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.

What is being saved? What is salvation?

What is being saved? What is salvation?

Bible Verses for Reference:

“He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned” (Mak 16:16).

“For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mat 26:28).

“Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Mat 7:21).

Relevant Words of God:

At the time Jesus’ work was the redemption of all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer a sinner, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Salvation did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins: Provided you believed, you would never more be of sin.

What is the difference between what the Lord entrusted people with in the Age of Grace and what God entrusts people with in the Age of Kingdom?

Lord Jesus | The Church of Almighty God

Bible Verses for Reference:

“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luk 24:47).

“Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you: and, see, I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Mat 28:19-20).

“Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Mat 7:21).

What is the difference between church life in the Age of Grace and church life in the Age of Kingdom?

What is the difference between church life in the Age of Grace and church life in the Age of Kingdom?

God's work | The Church of Almighty God

Bible Verses for Reference:

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink you all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Mat 26:26-28).

“And I went to the angel, and said to him, Give me the little book. And he said to me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make your belly bitter, but it shall be in your mouth sweet as honey” (Rev 10:9).

What is the difference between the way the Lord Jesus worked in the Age of Grace and the way Almighty God works in the Age of Kingdom?

What is the difference between the way the Lord Jesus worked in the Age of Grace and the way Almighty God works in the Age of Kingdom?

Lord Jesus | Almighty God | God's work

Relevant Words of God:

During His first incarnation, it was necessary for God to heal the sick and cast out demons because His work was to redeem. In order to redeem the entire human race, He needed to be compassionate and forgiving. The work that He did before He was crucified was healing the sick and casting out demons, which presaged His salvation of man from sin and filth. Because it was the Age of Grace, it was necessary for Him to heal the sick, thereby showing signs and wonders, which were representative of grace in that age; for the Age of Grace centered around the bestowal of grace, symbolized by peace, joy, and material blessings, all tokens of people’s faith in Jesus. That is to say, healing the sick, casting out demons, and bestowing grace were instinctive abilities of Jesus’ flesh in the Age of Grace, they were the work of the Spirit realized in the flesh.

What is the nature of the problem of man not knowing the significance of God’s name and not accepting God’s new name?

What is the nature of the problem of man not knowing the significance of God’s name and not accepting God’s new name?

Lord Jesus

God’s name may change, but His essence will never change.

God’s name may change, but His essence will never change.

Relevant Words of God:

There are those who say that God is immutable. That is correct, but it refers to the immutability of God’s disposition and substance. Changes in His name and work do not prove that His substance has altered; in other words, God will always be God, and this will never change. If you say that the work of God always stays the same, then would He be able to finish His six-thousand-year management plan? You merely know that God is forever unchanging, but do you know that God is always new and never old? If the work of God never changed, then could He have brought mankind to today? If God is immutable, then why is it that He has already done the work of two ages? His work is always progressing forward, and so His disposition is gradually revealed to man, and what is revealed is His inherent disposition. In the beginning, God’s disposition was hidden from man, He never openly revealed His disposition to man, and man had no knowledge of Him, so He used His work to gradually reveal His disposition to man, but this does not mean that His disposition changes in each age. It is not the case that God’s disposition is constantly changing because His will is always changing. Rather, because the ages of His work are different, His inherent disposition in its entirety is gradually revealed to man, so that man is able to know Him. But this is by no means proof that God originally has no particular disposition and His disposition has gradually changed with the passing of the ages—such understanding is erroneous. God reveals to man His inherent, particular disposition—what He is—according to the passing of the ages. The work of a single age cannot express the entire disposition of God. And so, the words “God is always new and never old” are in reference to His work, and the words “God is immutable” are in regard to what God inherently has and is. Regardless, you cannot define the six-thousand-year work in one point, or portray it with mere static words. Such is the stupidity of man. God is not as simple as man imagines, and His work cannot stop in one age. Jehovah, for example, cannot always stand for the name of God; God can also do His work under the name of Jesus, which is a symbol of how God’s work is always progressing forward.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

What is the relationship between every stage of God’s work and His name?

What is the relationship between every stage of God’s work and His name?

                         Jehovah Jesus | Almighty God | plan of salvation

(1) The significance of God taking the name Jehovah in the Age of Law

Bible Verses for Reference:

     “And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations” (Exo 3:15).

Why is God called by different names in different ages? What are the significances of God’s names?

Why is God called by different names in different ages? What are the significances of God’s names?

Relevant Words of God:

You should know that God originally had no name. He only took on one, or two, or many names because He had work to do and had to manage mankind. Whatever name He is called by, isn’t it freely chosen by Him? Does He need you, a creature, to decide it? The name by which God is called is according to what man can apprehend and the language of man, but this name cannot be encapsulated by man.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Why Did God Work in Judea in the Age of Grace?

Why Did God Work in Judea in the Age of Grace?

Why Did God Work in Judea in the Age of Grace?

    The first time I came among men was during the Age of Redemption. Of course I came among the Jewish family; therefore the first to see God coming to earth were the Jewish people.

The Age of Grace: The Aim and Significance of God’s Work

The Age of Grace: The Aim and Significance of God’s Work

The Age of Grace: The Aim and Significance of God’s Work

Classic Words of God:

    In the Age of Grace, man had already undergone Satan’s corruption, and so the work of redeeming all humanity required an abundance of grace, infinite forbearance and patience, and even more, an offering sufficient to atone for humanity’s sins, in order to arrive at its effect.

The Necessary Understanding of God’s Work in the Age of Law

The Necessary Understanding of God’s Work in the Age of Law 

The Necessary Understanding of God’s Work in the Age of Law

      If we can earnestly ponder Almighty God’s words revealing the significance and essence of His work in the Age of Law, we will be fully able to recognize that God’s work in the Age of Law was His initial work of guiding mankind after creating man.

Who Is He That Has Returned (5) - No One Else Can Do God’s Work of Judgment

Who Is He That Has Returned (5) - No One Else Can Do God’s Work of Judgment

Introduction

Do you know why the work of judgment in the last days is done by God incarnate personally rather than using man to do it? This film clip will give you Ariadne’s thread.

How a Disobedient Son Changed | The Church of Almighty God

Pray to God

How a Disobedient Son Changed

Gao Feng

Linyi City, Shandong Province

I had been a co-worker of the Justification by Faith Church. The thought that I had served God for many years and was versed in the Bible always made me feel that I was something.