554. In His final work of concluding the age, God’s disposition is one of chastisement and judgment, in which He reveals all that is unrighteous, publicly judges the myriad peoples, and perfects those who sincerely love Him. Only a disposition such as this can bring the age to an end. The last days have already arrived. All things are sorted according to their kind, and divided into different categories based on their different qualities. This is precisely the time when God reveals people’s outcomes and destinations. If people do not experience chastisement and judgment, then their rebelliousness and unrighteousness cannot be exposed. Only through chastisement and judgment can the outcomes of all things be revealed. People only show what they truly are when they are chastised and judged. Evil shall be put with evil, good with good, and all people shall be sorted according to their kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the outcomes of all things will be revealed, so that the evil may be punished and the good rewarded, and the myriad people surrender to the dominion of God. All this work must be achieved through righteous chastisement and judgment. Because people’s corruption has reached its peak and their rebelliousness is exceedingly severe, only God’s righteous disposition, one that is principally compounded of chastisement and judgment and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform people and make them complete, and reveal evil, and all the unrighteous will thus be severely punished. Therefore, a disposition such as this is imbued with the significance of the age. God’s disposition is revealed and disclosed for the sake of the work of each new age. It is not that God reveals His disposition arbitrarily and without significance. Suppose that, in the last days of revealing people’s outcomes, God were still to love people with infinite mercy and lovingkindness, and continue to be loving toward them, not subjecting them to righteous judgment but rather showing them leniency, patience, and forgiveness, and pardoning them no matter how grave their sins were, without any jot of righteous judgment. When then would all of God’s management ever be brought to a close? When would a disposition such as this be able to lead people into mankind’s appropriate destination? This can be likened to a judge who is always loving toward people, a loving judge with a kindly face and a gentle heart, who loves people no matter what crimes they have committed, and shows them love and forbearance no matter who they are—when could such a judge ever reach a just verdict? During the last days, only righteous judgment can sort people according to their kind and bring them into a new realm. In this way, the entire age is brought to an end through God’s righteous disposition of judgment and chastisement.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (3)

555. My name will be proclaimed from house to house, in all nations and in all places, and will be shouted from the mouths of adults and children alike within the universe world; this is an absolute truth. I am the unique God Himself and, even more so, I am the one and only person of God. Even more so, I, the entirety of the flesh, am the complete manifestation of God. Whosoever dares not fear Me, whosoever dares oppose Me with their eyes, and whosoever dares oppose Me with their lips will surely die from My curses and wrath. (There will be cursing because of My wrath.) Furthermore, whosoever dares not be loyal or filial toward Me, and whosoever dares try to trick Me, will surely die from My hatred. My righteousness, majesty, and judgment will endure forever and ever. At first, I was loving and merciful, but this is not the disposition of My complete divinity; only righteousness, majesty, and judgment are My disposition—the disposition of the complete God Himself. During the Age of Grace, I was loving and merciful. Because of the work I had to finish, I possessed lovingkindness and mercy; afterward, however, there was no more need for such things (and there has been none ever since). It is all righteousness, majesty, and judgment, and this is the complete disposition of My normal humanity coupled with My complete divinity.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 79

556. To understand God’s righteous disposition, one must first understand God’s joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness: what He hates, what He loathes, what He loves, to whom He is tolerant and merciful, and on what type of person He bestows mercy. This is one main point. One must also understand that no matter how much God loves man, no matter how much mercy and lovingkindness He bestows upon people, God’s identity and status do not tolerate offense from any person, nor does His dignity. Even though God loves people, He does not pamper them. He gives people His love, His mercy, and His tolerance, but He never coddles them. God has His principles and His boundaries. Regardless of how much love you feel God has given you, regardless of how deep that love feels to you, you must never treat God as if He were a human being. While it is true that God treats people as His dearest loved ones, if you view God as human, as a human being that is equivalent to a created being, or as a friend or an object of idolization, then God will hide His face from you and forsake you. This is His disposition, and no person is allowed to be careless about this issue. So, we often see words such as this spoken by God about His disposition: It does not matter how much you have traveled, how much work you have done, or how much suffering you have endured; if you offend God’s disposition, He will exact retribution on each of you based on what you have done. What this means is that God treats people as His dearest loved ones, yet you must not treat God as a friend or a relative. Do not treat God as your buddy. No matter how much you feel that God loves you and is tolerant of you, you must never treat God as your friend. This is God’s righteous disposition.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique VII

557. God’s intolerance of offense is His unique essence; God’s wrath is His unique disposition; God’s majesty is His unique essence. The principle behind God’s anger is the representation of His identity and status, which only He possesses. It goes without saying that this principle is also a symbol of the essence of the unique God Himself. God’s disposition is His own inherent essence, which does not change at all with the passage of time, and nor does it alter with changes of geographical location. His inherent disposition is His intrinsic essence. Regardless of whom He carries out His work upon, His essence does not change, and neither does His righteous disposition. When one angers God, that which God sends forth is His inherent disposition; at this time the principle behind His anger does not change, nor do His unique identity and status. He does not grow angry because of a change in His essence or because different elements arise in His disposition, but because man’s opposition against Him offends His disposition. Man’s flagrant provocation of God is a severe challenge to God’s own identity and status. In God’s view, when man challenges Him, man is contending with Him and tempting His anger. When man opposes God, when man contends with God, when man continuously tempts God’s anger, that is precisely when sin runs rampant—at such times, God’s wrath will naturally reveal and present itself. Therefore, the unleashing of God’s wrath is a symbol that all evil forces will cease to exist, and it is a symbol that all hostile forces will be destroyed. This is the uniqueness of God’s righteous disposition, and of God’s wrath. When God’s dignity and holiness are challenged, when the forces of justice are obstructed and not seen by man, this is precisely the time when God will unleash His wrath. Because of God’s essence, all those forces on earth which contend with God, are antagonistic to Him, and try to compete with Him, are evil, corrupt, and unjust; they come from and are of Satan. Because God is just, of the light, and holy and unblemished, all things evil, corrupt, and of Satan will vanish when God’s wrath is unleashed.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique II

558. When God sends forth His anger, evil forces are checked and evil things are destroyed, while just and positive things receive God’s care and protection and are allowed to continue. God sends forth His wrath because unjust, negative and evil things obstruct, disturb or destroy the normal activity and development of just and positive things. The purpose of God’s anger is not to safeguard His own status and identity, but to safeguard the existence of just, positive, beautiful and good things, to safeguard the laws and rules of humanity’s normal existence. This is the root cause of God’s wrath. God’s anger is a very proper, natural and true revelation of His disposition. There are no ulterior motives in His anger, and nor is there cunningness or plotting, let alone the desires, craftiness, malice, violence, wickedness or any of corrupt humanity’s other shared traits. Before God sends forth His wrath, He has already perceived the essence of every matter quite clearly, and He has already formulated accurate, clear definitions and conclusions regarding every matter. Thus, God’s objective in everything He does is crystal-clear, as is His attitude. He is not muddle-headed, blind, impulsive, or arbitrary, and He is certainly not unprincipled. This is the practical aspect of God’s wrath, and it is because of this practical aspect of God’s wrath that humanity can live normally. Without God’s wrath, humanity would descend into precarious living conditions and all things just, beautiful and good would be destroyed and cease to exist. Without God’s wrath, the laws and rules of existence for created beings would be broken or even utterly subverted. Since the creation of man, God has continuously used His righteous disposition to safeguard and sustain humanity’s normal existence. Because His righteous disposition contains wrath and majesty, all evil people, things and events, and all things that disturb and damage humanity’s normal existence, are punished, controlled, and destroyed as a result of His wrath. Over the past several millennia, God has continuously used His righteous disposition to strike down and destroy all kinds of unclean spirits and evil spirits which oppose God and act as Satan’s accomplices and servants in God’s work of managing humanity. Thus, God’s work of the salvation of man has always advanced according to His plan. This is to say that because of the existence of God’s wrath, the most just cause among mankind has never been destroyed.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique II

559. God’s treatment of the whole of humanity, foolish and ignorant as humanity is, is primarily one of mercy and forbearance. His wrath, on the other hand, is kept hidden and is unknown to man for the vast majority of time and in the vast majority of events. As a result, it is difficult for man to see the expression of God’s wrath, and it is also difficult to understand His wrath. As such, man makes light of God’s wrath. When people face God’s final work and step of showing forbearance toward and sparing man—that is, when God’s final instance of mercy and His final warning comes upon people—if people still use the same methods to oppose God and do not repent, make a turnaround, or accept His mercy at all, then God will no longer bestow His forbearance and patience upon them. On the contrary, God will retract His mercy at this time. Following this, He will only send forth His wrath. He can express His wrath in different ways, just as He can use different methods to punish and destroy people.

God used fire to destroy the city of Sodom. In God’s eyes, this is the swiftest method of utterly annihilating a humanity or any other thing. Burning the people of Sodom was not just to destroy their physical bodies, but even more to destroy the entirety of their spirits, their souls, and their bodies, ensuring that the people inside the city would cease to exist in both the material world and the world that is invisible to man. This is one way in which God reveals and expresses His wrath. This manner of revelation and expression is one aspect of the essence of God’s wrath, just as it is naturally also a revelation of the essence of God’s righteous disposition. When God sends forth His wrath, He ceases to reveal any mercy or lovingkindness, nor does He let out any more of His tolerance or patience; there is no person, thing or reason that can persuade Him to continue to be patient, to extend His mercy again, to bestow His tolerance once more. In place of these things, without a moment’s delay, God expresses His wrath and majesty, and does what He intends, doing so in a swift and clean manner, and making sure it achieves His desired outcome. This is the way in which God expresses His wrath and majesty, which man must not offend, and it is also a manifestation of His righteous disposition. When people see God showing concern and love toward man, they are unable to detect His wrath, see His majesty or feel His intolerance toward offense. These things have led people to always mistakenly believe that God’s righteous disposition is one solely of mercy, tolerance and love. However, when one sees God destroy a city or sees His hatred toward a humanity, His anger in destroying man and His majesty allow people to see the other side of His righteous disposition, which is God’s intolerance to offense. God’s disposition that tolerates no offense surpasses the imagination of any created being, and among the non-created beings, none is capable of interfering with it or affecting it; even less can it be feigned or imitated. Thus, this aspect of God’s disposition is the one that humanity most ought to know. Only God Himself has this kind of disposition, and only God Himself is possessed of this kind of disposition. God is possessed of this kind of righteous disposition because He hates wickedness, darkness, rebelliousness, and the various evil deeds Satan has committed in corrupting and devouring mankind, because He hates all acts of sin in opposition to Him, and because of His holy and undefiled essence. It is because of this that He will not suffer any of the created or non-created beings to openly oppose or contend with Him. Even an individual to whom He had once shown mercy or whom He had chosen, need only provoke His disposition and commit an offense against His principles of patience and tolerance, and God will unleash and reveal His righteous disposition that tolerates no offense without the least bit of mercy or hesitation.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique II

560. Although the outpouring of God’s wrath is one aspect of the expression of His righteous disposition, God’s anger is by no means indiscriminate regarding its target, and nor is it without principle. On the contrary, God is not at all quick to anger, and nor does He reveal His wrath and majesty lightly. Moreover, God’s wrath is quite controlled and measured; it is not at all comparable to how man is wont to flare into a rage or vent his anger. Many conversations between man and God are recorded in the Bible. The words of some of the individual people involved in the conversations were shallow, ignorant and infantile, but God did not strike them down, and nor did He condemn them. In particular, during Job’s trial, how did Jehovah God treat Job’s three friends and the others after He heard the words that they spoke to Job? Did He condemn them? Did He rage at them? He did nothing of the sort! Instead He told Job to make entreaties on their behalf and to pray for them, and God Himself did not take their faults to heart. These instances all represent the primary attitude with which God treats humanity, corrupt and ignorant as it is. Therefore, the unleashing of God’s wrath is by no means an expression of His emotions, nor is it a way for Him to give vent to His emotions. Contrary to man’s misunderstanding, God’s wrath is not a complete outburst of rage. God does not unleash His wrath because He is unable to control His own emotions or because His anger has reached its boiling point and must be vented. On the contrary, His wrath is a display and a genuine expression of His righteous disposition, and it is a symbolic revelation of His holy essence. God is wrath, and He does not tolerate being offended—this is not to say that God’s anger does not distinguish among causes or is unprincipled; it is corrupt humanity that has an exclusive claim on unprincipled, random outbursts of rage, rage of a kind that does not distinguish between causes. Once a person has status, they often find it difficult to control their emotions, and so they like to seize upon opportunities to air out their dissatisfaction and vent their emotions; they often get angry for no reason, so as to show off their abilities and let others know that their status and identity are different from those of other people. Of course, corrupt people without any status also often lose control of their emotions. Their anger is frequently caused by damage to their own interests. In order to protect their own status and dignity, they frequently vent their emotions and reveal their arrogant nature. Man flares up in anger and vents his emotions in order to defend the existence of sin, and these actions are the ways in which man expresses his dissatisfaction; they brim with impurities, with schemes and intrigues, with man’s corruption and wickedness, and more than anything else, they brim with man’s ambitions and desires. When justice clashes with wickedness, man’s anger will not flare up in the defense of the existence of justice; on the contrary, when the forces of justice are threatened, persecuted and attacked, man’s attitude is one of overlooking, evading or flinching away. However, when facing the forces of wickedness, man’s attitude is one of accommodating, of bowing and scraping. Therefore, man’s venting is an escape for wicked forces, an expression of the rampant and unstoppable wicked conduct of the fleshly man. When God unleashes His wrath, however, all evil forces will be stopped, all sins that grievously harm man will be stopped, all hostile forces that obstruct God’s work will be revealed, separated, and cursed, and all of Satan’s accomplices who are antagonistic to God will be punished and rooted out. In the place of all that, God’s work will proceed free of any obstacles, God’s management plan will develop step by step according to schedule, and God’s chosen people will no longer be disturbed and misled by Satan, while those who follow God will enjoy God’s leadership and provision in an environment of tranquility and peace. God’s wrath is the safeguard preventing all evil forces from multiplying and running rampant, and it is also what ensures that all things that are just and positive can exist, propagate, and never be eradicated or overthrown.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique II

561. When dealing with each of God’s acts, you must first be certain that God’s righteous disposition is free of any adulteration, that it is holy and flawless. These acts include God’s striking down, punishment, and destruction of humanity. Without exception, every one of God’s acts is expressed exactly in accordance with His inherent disposition and His plan. They include no part of humanity’s knowledge, tradition, and philosophy and are instead entirely expressions of God’s disposition and essence, unrelated to anything that belongs to corrupt humanity. Mankind has the notion that only God’s love, mercy and forbearance toward humanity are flawless, unadulterated, and holy, and no one knows that God’s anger and His wrath are likewise unadulterated; furthermore, no one has contemplated questions such as why God tolerates no offense or why His anger is so great. On the contrary, some mistake God’s wrath for a bad temper, such as that of corrupt humanity, and misunderstand God’s anger to be the same anger as that of corrupt humanity. They even mistakenly assume that God’s anger is just like the natural revelation of humanity’s corrupt dispositions. They mistakenly believe that the issuing of God’s wrath is just like the anger of corrupt people when they are faced with some unhappy situation, even so far as to wrongly believe that the issuing of God’s wrath is also an expression of His mood. After this fellowship, I hope that every one of you will no longer have any misconceptions, imaginings or speculation regarding God’s righteous disposition. I hope that after hearing My words you can have a true recognition in your hearts of the wrath of God’s righteous disposition, that you can put aside any previous fallacious understandings of God’s wrath, and that you can change your own mistaken beliefs and views of the essence of God’s wrath. Furthermore, I hope that you can have an accurate definition of God’s disposition in your hearts, that you will no longer have any doubts as to God’s righteous disposition, and that you will not impose any human reasoning or imagining onto God’s true disposition. God’s righteous disposition is God’s own true essence. It is not something created or written by man. His righteous disposition is His righteous disposition and has no relation or connection to created beings. God Himself is God Himself, and He will never become a created being. Even if He becomes a member of the created beings, His inherent disposition and His essence will not change. Therefore, knowing God is not the same as knowing an object; to know God is not to dissect something, nor is it the same as understanding a person. If you use your concept or method of knowing an object or understanding a person to know God, then you will never be able to attain knowledge of God. Knowing God cannot be reliant on experience or imaginings, and therefore you must never impose your experience or imaginings on God. No matter how rich your experience and imaginings may be, they are still limited. What is more, your imaginings are not in line with the facts, much less with the truth, and are incompatible with God’s true disposition and essence. You will never succeed if you rely on your imaginings to understand God’s essence. The only path is this: Accept all that comes from God, then gradually experience and know it. There will be a day when God will enlighten you to truly understand and know Him because of your cooperation and because of your hunger and thirst for the truth.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique II

562. God is never irresolute or hesitant in His actions; the principles and purposes behind His actions are all clear and transparent, pure and flawless, with absolutely no ruses or schemes intermingled within. In other words, God’s essence contains no darkness or wickedness. God became angry with the Ninevites because their evil deeds had come before His gaze; at that time His anger was derived from His essence. However, when God’s anger dissipated and He bestowed His tolerance upon the people of Nineveh once more, everything that He revealed was still His own essence. The entirety of this change was due to a change in man’s attitude toward God. During this entire period of time, God’s unoffendable disposition did not change, God’s tolerant essence did not change, and God’s loving and merciful essence did not change. When people commit evil deeds and offend God, He will bring His anger upon them. When people truly repent, God’s heart will change, and His anger will cease. When people continue to oppose God in a stiff-necked manner, His rage will be unceasing, and His wrath will press in on them bit by bit until they are destroyed. This is the essence of God’s disposition. Whatever God expresses and reveals of His disposition—whether it’s His wrath or His mercy and lovingkindness—it is contingent upon people’s manifestations and behavior, as well as their attitude toward God deep within their hearts. If God continuously subjects one person to His anger, this person’s heart is undoubtedly inimical to God. Because this person has never truly repented, “bowed their head” before God or truly believed in and submitted to God, they have never received God’s mercy and tolerance. If someone often receives God’s care, His mercy, and His tolerance, then without a doubt this person truly believes in and submits to God in their heart, and their heart is not inimical to God. This person often truly repents before God; therefore, even if God’s discipline often descends upon this person, His wrath will not.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique II

563. Regardless of how angry God had been with the Ninevites, as soon as they declared a fast and donned sackcloth and ashes, His heart began to gradually soften, and He began to change His mind. The moment before He proclaimed to them that He would destroy their city—the moment prior to their confession and repentance for their sins—God was still angry with them. Once they had carried out a series of repentant acts, God’s anger toward the people of Nineveh gradually turned to mercy and tolerance toward them. There is nothing contradictory about the revelation of these two aspects of God’s disposition in the same event. So, how should one understand and know this lack of contradiction? God manifested and revealed each of these two vastly different essences before and after the people of Nineveh repented, allowing people to see that God’s essence is real and tolerates no offense. God used His attitude to tell people the following: It is not that God does not tolerate people, or that He does not want to show mercy to them; rather, it is that they rarely truly repent to God, and it is rare that people truly turn away from their evil ways and abandon the violence in their hands. In other words, when God is angry with man, He hopes that man can truly repent, and He hopes to see man’s true repentance, in which case He will then liberally continue to bestow His mercy and tolerance upon man. This is to say that man’s evil deeds incur God’s wrath, whereas God’s mercy and tolerance are bestowed upon those who listen to God and truly repent before Him, upon those who can turn away from their evil ways and abandon the violence in their hands. God’s attitude was very clearly revealed in His treatment of the Ninevites: God’s mercy and tolerance are not difficult to obtain, and what He requires is one’s true repentance. As long as people turn away from their evil ways and abandon their violence, God will change His heart and His attitude toward them.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique II

564. When God had a change of heart toward the people of Nineveh, were His mercy and forbearance a false front? Of course not! Then what has been shown by the transition between these two aspects of God’s disposition in the course of God dealing with this one situation? God’s disposition is a complete whole—it is not at all divided. Regardless of whether He is expressing anger or mercy and forbearance toward people, these are all expressions of His righteous disposition. God’s disposition is vital and lively, and He changes His thoughts and attitudes according to the way things develop. The transformation of His attitude toward the Ninevites tells humanity that He has His own thoughts and ideas, that He is not a robot or a clay figure, but the living God Himself—He could be angry with the people of Nineveh, just as He could forgive their past because of their attitude; He could decide to bring calamity upon the Ninevites, and He could also change His decision because of their repentance. People like to rigidly apply regulations, and to use regulations to delimit and define God, just as they like to use formulas to attempt to understand God’s disposition. Therefore, as far as the domain of human thought is concerned, God does not think, nor does He have any ideas of substance. But in reality, God’s thoughts are in a state of constant transformation according to changes in things and in environments. While His thoughts are transforming, different aspects of God’s essence are revealed. During this process of transformation, at the precise moment when God has a change of heart, what He shows to mankind is the real existence of His life, and that His righteous disposition is vital and lively. At the same time, God uses His own true revelations to prove to mankind the truth of the existence of His wrath, His mercy, His lovingkindness, and His forbearance. His essence will be revealed at any time and any place in accordance with how things develop. He possesses a lion’s wrath and a mother’s mercy and forbearance. His righteous disposition allows no questioning, violation, change, or distortion by any person. Among all events and things, God’s righteous disposition—that is, God’s wrath and God’s mercy—can be revealed at any time and any place. He gives living expression to these aspects in every corner of all creation, and He implements them with vitality in every passing moment. God’s righteous disposition is not limited by time or space; in other words, God’s righteous disposition is not mechanically expressed or revealed according to the constraints of time or space, but rather with perfect ease and in any time and place. When you see God have a change of heart, cease to express His wrath, and refrain from destroying the city of Nineveh, can you say that God is only merciful and loving? Can you say that God’s wrath consists of empty words? When God unleashes His fierce wrath and retracts His mercy, can you say that He has no true love toward humanity? This fierce wrath is expressed by God in response to people’s evil deeds; His wrath is not flawed. God’s heart is moved in response to people’s repentance, and He has a change of heart because of it. When He feels moved, when He has a change of heart, and when He shows His mercy and forbearance toward man, all of these are utterly without flaw; they are clean, pure, unblemished, and unadulterated. God’s forbearance is simply forbearance, and His mercy is simply mercy. His disposition reveals wrath or expresses mercy and forbearance in accordance with man’s various manifestations and his repentance. No matter what He reveals and expresses, it is all pure and direct; it is distinct from the essence of any created being. Within the principles of action that God expresses, His thoughts and ideas, as well as every decision He makes and every action He takes—there are no flaws or blemishes whatsoever. Since God has thus decided and since He has thus acted, that is what He accomplishes, and this result is correct and faultless, as its source is flawless and unblemished. God’s wrath is flawless. Likewise, God’s mercy and forbearance are possessed by none of the created beings, holy and flawless, and able to withstand thoughtful deliberation and experience.

Having learned about the story of Nineveh, do you now see the other side of the essence of God’s righteous disposition? Do you see the other side of God’s unique righteous disposition? Does anyone among humanity possess this kind of disposition? Does anyone possess this kind of wrath, the wrath of God? Does anyone possess mercy and tolerance such as that which is possessed by God? Who among the created beings can summon forth such great wrath and decide to destroy or bring calamity upon mankind? And who is qualified to bestow mercy on man, to tolerate and pardon, and thereby change their prior decision to destroy man? The Creator expresses His righteous disposition through His own unique methods and principles, and He is not subject to the control or restrictions imposed by any people, events or things. Within His unique disposition, no one is able to change His thoughts and ideas, nor is anyone able to persuade Him and change any of His decisions. All of the behaviors and thoughts of created beings exist under the adjudication of His righteous disposition. No one can control whether He unleashes wrath or bestows mercy; only the essence of the Creator—or in other words, the Creator’s righteous disposition—can decide this. Such is the unique nature of the Creator’s righteous disposition!

Through interpreting the transformation of God’s attitude toward the people of Nineveh, are you able to use the word “unique” to describe the mercy found within God’s righteous disposition? We previously said that God’s wrath is one aspect of the essence of His unique righteous disposition. Now I shall define two aspects—God’s wrath and God’s mercy—as His righteous disposition. God’s righteous disposition is holy; it does not tolerate offense, nor does it tolerate being questioned by anyone; it is something possessed by none among created or non-created beings. It is both unique and exclusive to God. This is to say, God’s wrath is holy and does not tolerate offense. In the same way, the other aspect of God’s righteous disposition—God’s mercy—is also holy and cannot be offended. None of the created or non-created beings can replace or represent God in doing what He intends to do, nor could anyone have replaced or represented Him in the destruction of Sodom or the salvation of Nineveh. This is the true expression of God’s unique righteous disposition.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique II

565. Although the people who filled the city of Nineveh were just as corrupt, wicked and violent as those of Sodom, their repentance caused God to have a change of heart and decide not to destroy them. Because the way they treated God’s words and instructions demonstrated an attitude that starkly contrasted with that of the citizens of Sodom, and because of their genuine submission to God and genuine repentance, as well as their true and heartfelt behavior in all regards, God’s cherishment of them came forth from His heart once again, and He bestowed it upon them. No one can bestow things upon humanity and cherish them as God does, and no person possesses God’s mercy, His tolerance, or His true affection toward humanity. Is there anyone whom you deem a great man or woman, or even a superhuman, who would, from a high point, speaking as a great man or woman, or upon the highest point, make this kind of statement to mankind or to created beings? Who amongst mankind can know the state of human life like the palm of their hands? Who can bear the burden and responsibility for humanity’s existence? Who is qualified to proclaim the destruction of a city? And who is qualified to pardon a city? Who can say that they cherish their own creation? Only the Creator! Only the Creator feels tender love for this mankind. Only the Creator shows this mankind tender affection. Only the Creator holds a true affection for this mankind that’s difficult to cleave. It is also only the Creator who can bestow mercy on this mankind, and only He cherishes all of His created beings. His heart is pulled along with every one of man’s actions: He is angered, distressed and grieved over man’s wickedness and corruption; He feels pleased and joyful and has a change of heart and rejoices over man’s repentance, belief, and submission; every single one of His thoughts and ideas exists for and revolves around mankind; what He is and has is expressed entirely for mankind’s sake; the entirety of His emotions are intertwined with mankind’s existence. For mankind’s sake, He travels and rushes about; He silently gives forth every bit of His life; He dedicates every minute and every second of His life…. He has never known how to treasure His own life, yet He has always cherished the mankind He Himself created…. He gives all that He has to this humanity…. He grants His mercy and tolerance unconditionally and without expectation of recompense. He does this only so that mankind can continue to survive before His eyes and under His provision of life. He does this only so that mankind may one day surrender before Him and recognize that He is the One who nourishes man’s existence and supplies the life of all creation.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique II

566. The mercy and tolerance of God do indeed exist, but God’s holiness and righteousness when He unleashes His anger also show man the side of God that tolerates no offense. When man is fully capable of obeying the commands of God and acts in accordance with God’s requirements, God is abundant in His mercy toward man; when man is filled with corruption, however, and brimming with hostility and enmity toward Him, God is profoundly angry. To what extent is He angry? His anger will last until God no longer sees man’s resistance and evil deeds, until they are no longer before His eyes. Only then will God’s anger disappear. In other words, no matter who the person is, if their heart has become distant from God and turned away from God, and cannot be retrieved, then regardless of how, to all appearances or in terms of their subjective desires, they wish to worship and follow and submit to God in their body or in their thinking, as long as their heart has turned away from God, God’s anger will be unleashed without cease. It will be such that when God unleashes profound anger, having given them ample opportunities, there will be no way of taking it back, and He will never again be merciful and tolerant of such a person. This is one side of God’s disposition that tolerates no offense. … He is tolerant and merciful toward things that are kind and beautiful and good; toward things that are evil, sinful, and wicked, He is profoundly angry, such that He is unceasing in His anger. These are two primary aspects of God’s disposition which are most important, most prominent, and even more so, have been revealed by God from beginning to end: abundant mercy and profound anger.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II

567. People say, “God is a righteous God. As long as man follows Him to the very end, He will surely be impartial toward man, for He is most righteous. If man follows Him to the very end, could He cast man aside?” I am impartial toward all people, and judge all people with My righteous disposition, yet the requirements I make of people all include appropriate conditions, and that which I require must be accomplished by all people, regardless of who they are. I care not how senior or how experienced you are; I care only whether you follow My way, and whether or not you love and thirst for the truth. If you lack the truth, and instead bring shame upon My name, and do not act according to My way, merely following without care or concern, then at that time I will strike you down and punish you for your evil, and what will you have to say then? Could you say that God is not righteous? If you have abided by all the words I have spoken today, then you are the kind of person whom I approve of. You say you have always suffered while following God, that you have followed Him through storms, and have shared with Him the good times and the bad, but you have not lived out the words spoken by God; you wish only to run about for God and expend yourself for God each day, and have never thought about living out a life of meaning. You also say, “In any case, I believe God is righteous. I suffer for Him, run about for Him, and devote myself to Him, and even if I haven’t had any achievements, I have endured hardship; He is sure to remember me.” It is true that God is righteous, yet this righteousness is untainted by any impurities: It contains no human will, and it is not tainted by the flesh, or by human transactions. All who are rebellious and in opposition, all who do not abide by His way, will be punished; none is forgiven, and none is spared! Some people say, “Today I run around for You; in the end, can You give me a little blessing?” So I ask you, “Have you abided by My words?” The righteousness that you speak of is based on a transaction. You think only that I am righteous, that I am impartial toward all people, and that all those who follow Me to the very end are sure to be saved and gain My blessings. There is inner meaning to My words that “all those who follow Me to the very end are sure to be saved”: Those who follow Me to the very end are the ones who will be fully gained by Me; they are those who, after being conquered by Me, seek the truth and are made perfect. How many requirements have you satisfied? You have only satisfied the requirement of following Me to the very end, but what else? Have you abided by My words? You have satisfied one of My five requirements, yet you have no intention of satisfying the remaining four. You have simply found the simplest, easiest path, and pursued with an attitude of just hoping to get lucky. Toward such a person as you, My righteous disposition means only chastisement and judgment, and righteous retribution; it means the righteous punishment of all evildoers. All those who do not follow My way will surely be punished, even if they follow to the very end. This is the righteousness of God. When this righteous disposition is expressed in the punishment of man, man will be dumbfounded, and feel regret that, while following God, he did not follow His way. “At that time, I only suffered a little while following God, but did not follow the way of God. What excuses are there? There is no option but to be chastised!” Yet in his mind he is thinking, “Anyway, I have followed You to the very end, so even if You chastise me, it can’t be too severe a chastisement, and after I have been chastised, You will still want me. I know You are righteous, and will not treat me that way forever. After all, I’m not like those who will perish; those who are to perish will receive a heavy chastisement, whereas my chastisement will be lighter.” Righteous disposition is not as you say. It is not the case that those who confess their sins properly are dealt with leniently. Righteousness is holiness, and is a disposition that is intolerant of offense by man, and all that is filthy and has not changed is the target of God’s loathing. God’s righteous disposition is not law, but administrative decree: It is administrative decree within the kingdom, and this administrative decree is the righteous punishment of anyone who does not possess the truth and has not changed, and there is no margin for salvation. For when each person is sorted according to their kind, the good will be rewarded and the evil will be punished. It is when the destination of man will be revealed; it is the time that the work of salvation will come to an end, after which, the work of saving man will no longer be done, and retribution will be brought upon every one of those who commit evil.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment

568. My mercy is expressed toward those who love Me and forsake themselves. The punishment visited upon the evil, meanwhile, is precisely proof of My righteous disposition and, even more, testimony to My wrath. When disaster comes, all who oppose Me will weep as they fall victim to famine and plague. Those who have followed Me for many years, but who have committed all manner of evil deeds, will not escape paying for their sins; they too, will be plunged into disaster, the like of which has seldom been seen throughout millions of years, and they will live in a constant state of panic and fear. And those of My followers who have shown undivided loyalty to Me will rejoice and applaud, praising My great power. They will experience an ineffable mood of carefree happiness and live amid joy such as I have never before bestowed upon mankind. For I treasure the good deeds of man and abhor his evil deeds. Since I first began to lead mankind, I have been eagerly hoping to gain a group of people who are of the same mind with Me. Those who are not of the same mind with Me, meanwhile, I never forget; I always hate them in My heart, awaiting the chance to make them answer for their evil deeds, which is something I shall relish to see. Now My day has finally come, and I need no longer wait!

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Prepare Sufficient Good Deeds for Your Destination