During the last days, God has come chiefly to speak His words. He speaks from the perspective of the Spirit, from the perspective of man, and from a third person perspective; He speaks in different ways, using one way for a period of time, and He uses these ways of speaking to change the notions of man and remove the image of the vague God from man’s heart. This is the main work done by God. Because man believes that when God comes He will heal the sick, cast out demons, perform miracles, and bestow material blessings upon man, God carries out this stage of work—the work of chastisement and judgment—in order to remove such things in man’s notions, let man know the practicality and normality of God, and remove the image of Jesus as He is in man’s heart, allowing the new image of God to occupy man’s heart instead. Once the image of God within man becomes old, then it becomes an idol. When Jesus came and carried out that stage of work, He did not represent the entirety of God. He performed some signs and wonders, spoke some words, and was ultimately crucified. He represented one part of God. He could not represent all that is of God, but rather He represented God in doing one part of God’s work. That is because God is so great, and so wondrous, and He is unfathomable, and because God only does one part of His work in every age. The work done by God during this age is chiefly the provision of the words of life for man; the exposure of man’s nature essence and his corrupt disposition; and the elimination of his religious notions, feudal thinking, outdated thinking, and knowledge and culture. These things must all be cleansed through being exposed by God’s words. In the last days, God uses words, not signs and wonders, to make man perfect. He uses His words to reveal man, to judge man, to chastise man, and to make man perfect, so that in the words of God, man comes to see the wisdom and loveliness of God, and comes to understand the disposition of God, and so that through the words of God, man beholds the deeds of God. During the Age of Law, Jehovah led Moses out of Egypt with His words, and spoke some words to the Israelites; at that time, part of the deeds of God were revealed, but because the caliber of man was limited and nothing could make his knowledge complete, God continued to speak and work. In the Age of Grace, man once more saw part of the deeds of God. Jesus was able to show signs and wonders, to heal the sick and cast out demons, and be crucified, three days after which He was resurrected and appeared in the flesh before man. Of God, man knew no more than this. Man knows as much as is revealed to him by God, and if God were to reveal nothing more to man, then such would be the extent of man’s delimitation of God. Thus, God continues to work, so that man’s knowledge of Him may become deeper, and so that man may gradually come to know the essence of God. In the last days, God uses His words to make man perfect. Your corrupt disposition is exposed by the words of God, and your religious notions are replaced by the practicality of God. In the last days, God has become flesh chiefly to fulfill the words “the Word becomes flesh, the Word comes into the flesh, and the Word appears in the flesh,” and if you do not have a thorough knowledge of this, then you will be unable to stand fast. During the last days, God primarily intends to accomplish a stage of work in which the Word appears in the flesh, and this is one part of the work of God’s management plan. Thus, your knowledge must be thorough; regardless of how God works, God does not allow man to delimit Him. If God did not do this work during the last days, then man’s knowledge of Him could go no further. You would only know that God can be crucified and can destroy Sodom, and that Jesus can rise from the dead and appear to Peter…. But you would never say that God’s words can accomplish all, and can conquer man. Only through experiencing God’s words can you speak of such knowledge. The more of God’s work you experience, the more thorough your knowledge of Him will become, and only then will you not delimit God within your own notions. Man comes to know God by experiencing His work; there is no other correct way to know God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Knowledge of God's Present Work