God’s six-thousand-year management plan is coming to an end, and the gate of the kingdom has already been opened to every person who seeks His appearance. Dear brothers and sisters, what are you waiting for? What is it that you’re seeking? Are you all waiting for God to appear? Are you all searching for His footsteps? How the appearance of God is to be longed for! And how difficult it is to find God’s footsteps! In an age such as this, in a world such as this, what must we do to behold the day on which God appears? What must we do to keep pace with the footsteps of God? Questions of this kind are faced by every person who is waiting for God to appear. You have all considered such questions on more than one occasion—but what is the outcome? Where does God appear? Where are God’s footsteps? Have you gotten the answers? Many people would reply in this way: “God appears among all those who follow Him and His footsteps are in our midst; it’s that simple!” Anyone can provide a formulaic answer, but do you understand what the appearance of God is or what His footsteps are? The appearance of God refers to God personally coming to earth to work, descending among people to conduct the work of opening up an age and ending an age with His own identity, with His own disposition, and in the way that is innate to Him. This kind of appearance is not a sort of ceremony, it is not a sign, it is not a picture, it is not a miracle, and it is not a kind of grand vision, much less is it a kind of religious process. Rather, it is a real and actual fact that can be touched by everyone and beheld by everyone. This kind of appearance is not for the sake of going through the motions or for the sake of a kind of short-term work. Instead, it is for the sake of a stage of work in God’s management plan. The appearance of God is always meaningful and is always related to His management plan. What is called “appearance” here is absolutely different from the kind of “appearance” in which God guides man, leads man, and enlightens man. Every time God appears, He carries out a major stage of work. This work is different from that of any other age. It is unimaginable to man and has never been experienced by anyone before. It is work that starts a new age and concludes the old age, and it is a newer and higher stage of work for the salvation of mankind; even more so, it is work that leads mankind into the new age. This is the significance of the appearance of God.

Once you have understood what the appearance of God means, how should you search for God’s footsteps? This question is not hard to explain: Where God appears, there are His footsteps. Such an explanation sounds very straightforward, but is not so easy in practice, for many people do not know where God actually appears, much less where He is willing to, or where He should, appear. Some impulsively believe that where the Holy Spirit is at work, there God appears. Or else they believe that where there are spiritual figures, there God appears. Or else they believe that where there are people of great renown, there God appears. For the moment, let us leave aside whether such beliefs are actually right or wrong. To explain such a question, we must first have a clear objective: We are searching for the footsteps of God, not searching for spiritual figures, much less following renowned figures—we are following the footsteps of God. For this reason, since we are to search for the footsteps of God, we must search for God’s intentions, search for the words of God, and search for His utterances. This is because where there are new words spoken by God, there is the voice of God; where there are the footsteps of God, there are God’s deeds; where there is the expression of God, there God appears; and where God appears, there the truth, the way, and the life exist. In searching for God’s footsteps, you have overlooked the words “God is the truth, the way, and the life.” And so, many people, even when they receive the truth, do not believe that they have found God’s footsteps, and still less do they acknowledge that it is the appearance of God. What a grave mistake! The appearance of God could not possibly conform to man’s notions, much less could God appear as man demands. When God does His work, He has His own choices, has His own plans, and, even more so, has His own objectives and has His own methods. Whatever work He does, He has no need to discuss it with man or seek his advice, much less to notify each and every person. This is the disposition of God, and all the more it is what everyone should know. If you desire to behold the appearance of God, and desire to follow God’s footsteps, then you must first walk away from your own notions. You must not demand that God do this or that, much less should you limit God within your own confines and limit Him to your own notions. Instead, you should make demands of yourselves concerning how you ought to seek God’s footsteps, how you ought to accept God’s appearance, and how you ought to submit to the new work of God: This is actually what man should do. Since no one is the truth, and no one possesses the truth, what man should do is seek, accept, and submit.

Regardless of whether you are American, British, or any other nationality, you should step outside the confines of your own nationality, transcending your own self, and view God’s work in the capacity of a created being—that way, you will not limit God’s footsteps to any particular scope. This is because there are many people nowadays who believe within their notions that God couldn’t possibly appear in a particular country, or that He couldn’t possibly appear among a certain ethnic group. How profound is the significance of God’s work, and how important is God’s appearance—how can man’s notions and thinking possibly take their measure? And so I say, you should dismantle your notions of nationality and ethnicity to seek the appearance of God! Only thus will you not be bound by your own notions; only thus will you be qualified to welcome God’s appearance. Otherwise, you will forever be a person in the darkness, and forever be a person who cannot gain God’s approval.

God is the God of all mankind. He does not consider Himself the private property of any country or any ethnic group, but does the work He has planned, without being confined to any form or any country or ethnicity. Perhaps you have never imagined this form, or perhaps your attitude toward this form is one of denial, or perhaps the country and ethnic group in which God appears are precisely those which people all discriminate against and precisely the most backward on earth. Yet God has His wisdom. With His great power, and using His truth and His disposition, He has truly gained a group of people who are of one heart and mind with Him, and gained a group of conquered people who have endured all manner of suffering and trials, endured all manner of persecution, and can follow Him to the very end, and whom He wishes to make complete. God’s aim in appearing without being confined to any form or country is to complete the work He has planned. This is just as when God became flesh in Judea: His aim was to complete the work of being crucified to redeem all mankind. Yet the Jews believed that it was impossible for God to work this way, and that it was impossible for God to become flesh in the image of the Lord Jesus. Their “impossible” became their basis for condemning God and resisting God, and ultimately led to the destruction of Israel. Today, many people have committed the same mistake. They wantonly proclaim God’s imminent appearance, yet at the same time condemn His appearance; their “impossible” once more confines the appearance of God to what they imagine. And so, I have seen many people break into wild and insolent laughter after getting hold of the words of God. Is this “laughter” not exactly the same as the condemnation and blasphemy of the Jews? You are not pious in the presence of the truth, and still less do you possess an attitude of yearning. All you do is doggedly scrutinize and wait with blithe unconcern. What can you gain from scrutinizing and waiting like this? Do you actually think you could receive personal guidance from God? You cannot even discern God’s utterances and words—how could you be qualified to behold the appearance of God? Where God appears, there the truth will be expressed, and there the voice of God will be. Only those who can accept the truth know how to hear the voice of God, and only such people are qualified to behold the appearance of God. Let go of your notions! Quiet yourself and read these words carefully. As long as you have a heart that yearns for the truth, God will enlighten you so that you will understand His intentions and understand His words. Let go of your claims of “impossibility”! The more that man believes something is “impossible,” the more likely it is to occur, because the wisdom of God is higher than the heavens, God’s thoughts are higher than man’s thoughts, and God performs His work beyond the limits of man’s thinking and notions. The more that something is impossible, the more there is truth to be sought in it; the more something can’t be imagined by man’s notions, the more it contains the intentions of God. This is because, no matter where He appears, God is still God, and His essence will absolutely not change on account of the location or manner of His appearance. No matter where God’s footsteps are, His disposition will not change; no matter where God’s footsteps are, He is the God of all mankind, just as the Lord Jesus is not only the God of the Israelites, but is also the God of all the people of Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and even more than that, He is the one and only God above and throughout the entire universe. So let us search for God’s intentions and discover His appearance in His utterances and words, and keep pace with His footsteps! God is the truth, the way, and the life. His words and His appearance exist concurrently, and His disposition and His footsteps are shown publicly to mankind at all times. Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that you can all see the appearance of God in these words, begin to catch up with His footsteps and stride forward into a new age, and enter into the beautiful new heaven and new earth that God has prepared for those who await His appearance!