Fellowship From the Brother Above – April 15, 2025 (Part Five)

Question 9: When we testify to potential gospel recipients that God is doing the work of judgment in the last days, they say, “The Lord Jesus said: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day’ (John 6:53–54). Based on these words spoken by the Lord Jesus, we can gain eternal life as long as we drink the wine and break the bread, and there is no need to accept God’s new work.” I would like to ask: What is a powerful way to rebut this argument?

Answer: The words spoken by the Lord Jesus, “Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood,” are a metaphor. Then how should this metaphor be understood? (It refers to accepting the work of redemption, in which the Lord Jesus was crucified.) That’s correct. So what is the meaning of the words “I will raise him up at the last day” in this verse? It means that if a person accepts the work of the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace, keeps the words spoken and the sermons preached by the Lord Jesus in their heart, and has some life experience, they can be raised up at the last day. But who can see a person being raised up at the last day? Who knows whose reincarnation they are, or who they were in their past life? No one knows. Therefore, these words are a metaphor. To be precise, when the Lord Jesus said, “I will raise him up at the last day,” He meant that in the last days, God will once again express the truth and work to save man, just as the Lord Jesus prophesied, “When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). These words say it most clearly; they are the best proof that the Lord will come again in the last days to express the truth and save man. If you do not accept the utterances and words of the returned Lord Jesus, then you are not qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven. Only by accepting and entering into all the truths expressed by the returned Lord, and gaining the truth as your life, can you be saved and enter the kingdom of heaven. This is the accurate way to comprehend God’s work in the last days when He returns. But religious people comprehend the metaphorical words spoken by the Lord Jesus to mean that anyone who drinks the wine and breaks the bread in the Age of Grace has gained eternal life. Is this not misinterpreting the Lord Jesus’ words? (It is.) This is misinterpreting the Lord Jesus’ words. So, is drinking the wine and breaking the bread eating the flesh of the Son of man and drinking His blood? What do the phrases “flesh of the Son of man” and the “blood of the Son of man” refer to? They refer to the fact that the Son of man paid the price of His life to do His work and express the truth. Only when you accept the truth into your heart do you have eternal life. Drinking the wine and breaking the bread—this is just going through the motions. If you merely stick to this formality and think you have gained eternal life, will God acknowledge it? (God will not.) If you only stick to the formality of drinking the wine and breaking the bread of the Age of Grace, but do not accept all the truths expressed by God in the last days, then you will absolutely not be saved or enter the kingdom of heaven. Actually, let’s set aside just sticking to the formality of breaking the bread and drinking the wine—even being baptized a hundred times does not mean you can enter the kingdom of heaven; even going to the Jordan River to be baptized or traveling to be baptized in every river in the world does not mean you can enter the kingdom of heaven. No matter how many times you are baptized, how many times you take holy communion, how many times you break the bread, or how much wine you drink in the Age of Grace, it does not mean you have gained the truth and eternal life. Therefore, the claim made by religious people that “as long as we drink the wine and break the bread, we can gain eternal life” has no basis at all. You must accept the utterances and words of the returned Lord to have a chance of gaining the truth and eternal life. Then do you now recognize the utterances and words of the returned Lord? Look at these words spoken by Almighty God—are they not the utterances and words of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus? If you can understand this matter, and be certain that Almighty God’s words are God’s voice, that they are the truth, and that Almighty God is the Lord returned, and if you accept the truths expressed by Almighty God, then you have a chance of gaining the truth and eternal life. If you have seen that Almighty God’s words are the truth, but you simply refuse to accept these truths, then your final outcome is certain to be destruction, and it will be forever impossible for you to be saved and enter the kingdom of heaven.

Question 10: A potential gospel recipient said, “God’s words are eternally unchanging; there is no distinction between old and new in them. We should not abandon the practices of the Age of Law and accept only the new practices of the Age of Kingdom.” How should we refute this statement?

Answer: This potential gospel recipient says that God’s words are eternally unchanging, but that depends on the matter at hand. The stipulations God spoke in the Age of Law were changed and abolished in the Age of Grace. So tell me, have God’s words changed? (They have.) When the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption in the Age of Grace was accomplished, people no longer needed to abide by the commandments, regulations, and sacrificial practices of the Age of Law. The Lord Jesus abolished them all, forever. Now, in the Age of Kingdom, many regulations and practices of the Age of Grace, such as breaking bread, drinking wine, and covering one’s head, no longer need to be observed either; Almighty God has come and abolished them all. So what is God’s intention in doing this? It is to get people to understand a principle: Whichever age you are in, you must eat, drink, and practice the words expressed by God in that age. If in the Age of Grace you held fast to the words of Jehovah God from the Age of Law, the Lord Jesus would not approve of you; instead, He would say you were abiding by regulations. Similarly, if in the Age of Kingdom you cling to the words of the Lord Jesus from the Age of Grace, you will not be saved and perfected by Almighty God. God is always new and never old. God does not abide by regulations when He acts. In believing in God, people must closely follow God’s work and move forward step by step. They cannot cling to past regulations; they will not gain God’s approval by doing this. The Lord Jesus Himself said: “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” (John 16:12–13). Do you believe these words? Can you deny this prophecy spoken by the Lord Jesus? Almighty God has now appeared and is working, expressing all truths to save mankind—perfectly fulfilling this prophecy made by the Lord Jesus. Do you still want to abolish all these most present words expressed by Almighty God and have the people of the Age of Kingdom abide by the regulations and commandments of the Age of Law and the Age of Grace? In doing so, you are acting perversely and resisting God. There is a prophecy in Revelation: “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). Are you going to abolish this prophecy? Can you abolish it? You cannot. Not only can you not abolish it, but if you do not listen to the words the Holy Spirit says to the churches in the last days, and insist on keeping to the regulations of the Age of Law and the Age of Grace, then you will be abandoned and eliminated by the Holy Spirit’s work. This is a fact. God’s work rises upward step by step. In this final stage of work, God wants to lead people to enter into all truths, so that their corrupt dispositions can be cleansed, they can gain the truth as their life, and they can attain salvation and enter the kingdom of heaven. The work of the Age of Law and the Age of Grace paved the way for this final stage of work in the Age of Kingdom. Therefore, no matter how well you abide by the regulations and commandments of the Age of Law and the Age of Grace, you will not gain the truth and life if you cannot accept the truths expressed by God in the Age of Kingdom. No matter how much you suffered or how much of a price you paid in the past, it will all have been in vain. Only those who accept the truth can gain the truth and gain God’s approval. The Lord Jesus once said: “Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first” (Matthew 19:30). What does this statement mean? It means that those who only cling to God’s past work and words but do not accept God’s new work have fallen behind, while those who accept God’s work of the last days have instead moved to the fore, because they have accepted God’s present words and gained higher truths. God sees these people as the best and the most submissive to His work. This is the meaning of the words “Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” Now the chief priests and scribes of Judaism have fallen behind, and the pastors, elders, and doctors of theology in the religious world have also fallen behind. They abide by regulations and practices from thousands of years ago, and have not kept pace with God’s new work. In contrast, those who accept Almighty God gain all the truths expressed by God that are necessary for man’s salvation. Their gains are greater than those of the saints of all past ages. This is the testimony that God’s work moves forward step by step, always rising upward. God’s work is always new and never old. In believing in God, you must keep up with God’s present work. This is what’s crucial.

Question 11: Even after we fellowship on the differences between the church life of the Age of Grace and that of the Age of Kingdom, many newcomers still lack discernment. They listen to their pastors and go back to gathering in their churches. How can we fellowship on the importance of the church life of the Age of Kingdom more persuasively?

Answer: The most crucial thing in resolving this problem is to fellowship on the truth of the three stages of work. So how should you fellowship on that? First, fellowship on what results the work done by God in the Age of Law achieved. This work told newly born mankind how to live on earth, what laws and commandments they should abide by, and how to present sin offerings after committing a sin. These are the results that God’s work in the Age of Law achieved. Then, fellowship on what results the work done by God in the Age of Grace achieved. In the Age of Grace, after people were redeemed by the Lord Jesus, they would no longer be condemned by the law no matter what sins they committed, and they no longer needed to present sin offerings. As long as they prayed to the Lord Jesus, and confessed and repented to the Lord, their sins would be forgiven, and they could come before the Lord to worship Him and enjoy the abundant grace the Lord bestowed upon man. In addition, the Lord Jesus formulated some commandments for people to keep in the Age of Grace, such as forgiving others seventy times seven times, enduring to the end to be saved, being humble, and being the salt and light. He also taught people how to treat nonbelieving family members, how to treat enemies and devils, and so on. These are all things that people in the Age of Grace had to practice. The work of the Age of Grace achieved the results of forgiving sin and giving people some paths of practice, but was the root cause of sin resolved? Were man’s satanic dispositions cleansed? (No.) Did the Lord tell people how they should practice in order to attain salvation? (No.) The Lord Jesus did not express those truths at that time. In the last days, Almighty God’s work is mainly to express the truth. For one thing, He exposes man’s corrupt dispositions by expressing the truth so that people can see the truth of their corruption; then, they can cast off their corrupt dispositions and be cleansed. For another, He helps people to understand the truth and how to discern all kinds of people, events, and things. For example, how to discern this dark and evil world, how to discern all kinds of people, how to discern which people are God’s sheep and which are not, how to discern which people are true believers and which are false believers, how to discern which people are antichrists and which are false leaders, how to discern which people are the ones God wants to save and perfect and which people are beyond saving, and so on. The truths expressed by Almighty God have unveiled all mysteries. Once people are equipped with these truths, they will have discernment and will no longer be misled by Satan into betraying God. In addition, Almighty God has unveiled all the mysteries of entering the kingdom of heaven. He has clearly explained on what basis He determines people’s outcomes and destinations, what kind of people can enter the kingdom of heaven and what kind cannot, and what kind of people can be saved and what kind cannot. Tell me, by having seen these things clearly through reading God’s words, do those who accept Almighty God’s work not gain more than the people of the Age of Grace? (Yes.) They gain much, much more. Their knowledge of God and of spiritual matters is a hundred, a thousand times greater than that of the people of the Age of Grace! Therefore, Almighty God says: “What you have inherited this day surpasses that of the apostles and prophets throughout the ages and is greater even than that of Moses and Peter” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Is the Work of God As Simple As Man Imagines?). What does “greater even than that of Moses” mean? It means our gains are greater than those of the people of the Age of Law. Moses was a man used by God in the Age of Law; he represents the people of the Age of Law, and he understood all the work of the Age of Law. However, when people accept the truths expressed by Almighty God, what they understand surpasses what Moses understood. In this statement, God also says that what you have inherited is greater than that of Peter. What does “greater than that of Peter” mean? Peter was perfected by the Lord Jesus Himself. Over the course of seven years, he experienced hundreds of trials and refinements, and his corrupt dispositions were cleansed and transformed. Of all the saints through the ages, he had the most knowledge of God—and the person with the most knowledge of God is an extraordinary person. How is a person’s stature measured? By looking at the extent of their knowledge of God. People who have a deeper knowledge of God have greater stature than others, and have gained more truths than others. Today, the things Almighty God has bestowed upon us surpass those He bestowed upon Moses and Peter. Therefore, those who are saved and perfected after experiencing this stage of God’s work surpass the saints of all past ages. These people have gained the greatest number of truths. And what is the result achieved by gaining the greatest number of truths? It is that people can know God just as Peter did, and can submit unto death and love God to the utmost. Are such people not the ones who are of one heart and mind with God that God wants to gain? God predestined and arranged that He would gain such a group of people when He created the world. When God created the world, He first designed the heavens and earth and all things, and then He created mankind. When God created mankind, He had a management plan in His mind, which was to ultimately gain a group of people of one heart and mind with Him from among mankind. In this way, God’s wish in creating mankind would be fulfilled. God did not create Adam and Eve without thought, nor did He create man on earth without considering why He should do so—that’s not how it was. In truth, these ideas had long since taken shape in God’s thoughts. Therefore, in the last days, God wants to gain a group of people of one heart and mind with Him; this is His management plan, and it is something He planned and predestined long ago. Once this group of people is completely gained by God, this world will be brought to a complete end. It is here that the meaning of God’s creation of man will be realized. God was not finished once He created Adam and Eve; His ultimate goal is to gain a group of people of one heart and mind with Him. So did the people of the Age of Grace know the mysteries unveiled by Almighty God in this stage of work? They did not; even Peter did not know them. Did Moses, in the Age of Law, know them? Moses did not know them either. Did the prophets and saints of all past ages know them? None of them knew them. Only this group of people who experience God’s work of the last days knows them. So, when we now testify to the people of the Age of Grace about Almighty God’s work, since the things we fellowship on are things they have never heard before, they feel they are all very unfamiliar, and they are utterly baffled, saying, “Where do these words come from? We have believed in the Lord for so many years and read the Bible several times. Why are the sermons you give so lofty? We have never heard this sort of thing before!” Tell me, why is this? Is this not the result achieved by us experiencing Almighty God’s work of judgment and chastisement? It was only after we read the truths expressed by Almighty God and experienced God’s work that we came to understand so many truths. After we finish experiencing this stage of God’s work, what we gain will be much greater than what people who have believed in God for many years in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace have gained. When we look now at the questions raised by people who believe in the Lord in the Age of Grace, we feel that they are too distorted and absurd, and have nothing to do with the truth at all. Just how absurd are their questions? Take the manner of the Lord Jesus’ return, and how He will appear and work when He returns, for instance—these things are stated very clearly in the Lord Jesus’ prophecies. Yet, even though they believe in the Lord, it seems they have never even heard of the Lord Jesus’ prophecies, and they do not understand them in the slightest. Most of their theories and the things they use as a basis are the words of man in the Bible, and they do not have a pure comprehension of these words; they have even misunderstood them. Why is this? These people are too muddled. So when we preach the gospel to religious people, they cannot understand even when we fellowship with them for three days and three nights. This is very normal. They have never heard these truths, and they hear them so suddenly they do not even have time to digest them, so how could they immediately come to understand? How many years did we believe in God before we came to understand these truths? For most of us, at least eight to ten years. It was only after we had believed for so many years and gained some experiential understanding that we came to understand some truths, and became able to fellowship some truths with others. We didn’t come to understand these truths and fellowship such an understanding of them after merely listening to God’s words for three days and three nights. So how could they fully understand what you’re saying in just a few days? It is absolutely impossible. Do you understand? (We do.) You are asking too much of potential gospel recipients if you want them to be able to understand the truths you fellowship in just a few days—this is far too unrealistic! We should just fellowship the truth more with them, and fellowship the truth clearly and thoroughly; this is being practical.

So, if a potential gospel recipient cannot realize the importance of the church life of the Age of Kingdom, how should you fellowship with them? You must first clearly explain what problems the Lord Jesus’ work in the Age of Grace resolved, and then, based on the prophecies of the Lord Jesus and those in Revelation, fellowship on exactly to what extent God must work on people in the last days so that they can accord with His intentions, attain salvation, and enter the kingdom of heaven. What exactly is the standard God requires of people before they can enter the kingdom? If you understand this accurately before you fellowship it with them, it will be easier for them to understand. If you do not fellowship on this aspect of the truth, you will not achieve results. So exactly what kind of people can enter the kingdom? What did the Lord Jesus say? The Lord said: “Not every one that said to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that follows the will of My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). The Lord Jesus said this to tell people that entering the kingdom of heaven is no simple matter, and that only those who follow God’s will can enter the kingdom of heaven. That is to say, the only people who can enter the kingdom are those who have cast off their corrupt dispositions, achieved submission to and worship of God, can follow God’s will, and have become completely compatible with God. This is the path to entering the kingdom of heaven spoken of by the Lord Jesus. You see, what did John the Baptist say about entering the kingdom of heaven? He said: “He that has two coats, let him impart to him that has none; and he that has meat, let him do likewise” (Luke 3:11). This means that if you have money and clothes and can give some away to the poor, you can enter the kingdom of heaven. The path to entering the kingdom of heaven that John the Baptist spoke of was very simple and superficial. So, whose words are the truth, exactly? The Lord Jesus’ words are definitely the truth. John the Baptist did not possess the truth; he spoke only based on his own imaginings. Were the words he spoke accurate? (They were not accurate.) The Lord Jesus never said such things. When it comes to entering the kingdom, our basis cannot be the words of man; we must use the Lord Jesus’ words as our basis. This is the most accurate way. When the Lord Jesus appeared and worked, the disciples asked, “Lord, when will You come again? How do we welcome You?” The Lord Jesus told them: “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” (John 16:12–13). These words are very important. Once people understand these words, they will know the path to entering the kingdom of heaven. If you can welcome the Lord’s return and enter into all these truths, you will be blessed, and you will have a chance to enter the kingdom of heaven. If you cannot welcome the Lord’s return and cannot accept being perfected by all these truths, then you will not receive blessings. What does it mean to not receive blessings? It means you will suffer woe; not only will you not receive blessings and be unable to enter the kingdom of heaven, but you will also suffer punishment. If you do not accept God’s work of the last days, and even resist and reject Almighty God, Christ of the last days, then you will be condemned by God. It is the simplest of matters for God to punish you. You see, the two hundred and fifty leaders of Israel resisted Moses and provoked God’s anger. God said, “Moses was appointed by Me. I use him to do the work of the Age of Law, and by resisting him, you are resisting Me.” God punished them straight away, splitting the earth open and causing them to fall into Hades. This was such a great sign and wonder. Who can make the earth split open? (Only God.) This sign and wonder was a manifestation of God’s authority and power, which Satan and evil spirits could never perform. Satan and evil spirits can only perform minor signs and wonders; Satan and evil spirits absolutely cannot perform such a sign and wonder like making the earth split open. In the Age of Law, God’s use of this single sign and wonder dumbfounded the Israelites. They immediately listened to Moses’ words and did not dare to resist anymore. God has authority and power. If people resist and reject God, it is extremely easy for God to punish them. Therefore, now that the Age of Kingdom has arrived, if people cannot accept the truth and cannot accept God’s work of the last days, and just spout twisted reasoning and heresies to refuse to accept Almighty God, then their outcome will be to suffer punishment.