I

By what means is God’s perfection of man accomplished?

It’s accomplished by means of His righteous disposition.

God’s disposition primarily consists of

righteousness, wrath, majesty, judgment, and curse,

and He perfects man primarily by means of His judgment.

Some people do not understand,

and ask why it is that God can only make man perfect

through judgment and curse.

They say, “If God were to curse man, wouldn’t man die?

If God were to judge man, wouldn’t man be condemned?

Then how can he still be made perfect?”

Such are the words of people who don’t know God’s work.

II

What God curses is the rebelliousness of man,

and what He judges are the sins of man.

Although He speaks harshly and relentlessly,

He reveals all that is within man,

revealing through these stern words

that which is substantive within man,

yet through such judgment,

He gives man a profound knowledge of the substance of the flesh,

and thus man submits before God.

The flesh of man is of sin and of Satan,

the flesh of man is of sin and of Satan,

it is rebellious, and it is the object of God’s chastisement.

Thus, in order to allow man to know himself,

the words of God’s judgment must befall him

and there must be employed every kind of refinement;

only then can God’s work be effective.

from The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only by Experiencing Painful Trials Can You Know the Loveliness of God