I

God is the God of the entire human race. He does not consider Himself the private property of any nation or people, but does His work as He has planned it, without being confined to any form, nation, or people. Perhaps you’ve never imagined this form, or perhaps your attitude to this form is one of denial, or perhaps the nation where God appears and the people among whom He appears just happen to be discriminated against by everyone and just happen to be the most backward on earth. Yet God has His wisdom. With His great power, and by means of His truth and His disposition, He has truly gained a group of people who are of one mind with Him, and a group of people that He wished to make complete—a group, conquered by Him, who, having endured all manner of trials and suffering and all manner of persecution, can follow Him to the very end.

II

The aim of the appearance of God, which is not limited to any form or nation, is to enable Him to complete His work as He has planned it. This is just as when God became flesh in Judea: His aim was to complete the work of the crucifixion in redeeming the entire human race. Yet the Jews believed that it was impossible for God to do this, and they thought it was impossible that God could become flesh and assume the form of the Lord Jesus. Their “impossible” became the basis on which they condemned and opposed God, and ultimately led to the destruction of Israel.

III

Today, many people have committed a similar error. They proclaim with all their might God’s imminent appearance, yet at the same time condemn His appearance; their “impossible” once more confines God’s appearance within the limits of their imagination. Many people break into wild and raucous laughter after coming upon the words of God. But is this laughter any different from the condemnation and blasphemy of the Jews? You are not reverent in the presence of the truth, still less do you possess an attitude of yearning. All you do is doggedly study, and wait with blithe unconcern. What can you gain from studying and waiting like this? Do you think you’ll receive personal guidance from God? If you cannot discern God’s utterances, in what way are you qualified to witness God’s appearance? Wherever God appears, there the truth will be expressed, and there the voice of God will be. Only those who can accept the truth can hear God’s voice, and only such people are qualified to witness God’s appearance.

from The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Appendix 1: The Appearance of God Has Ushered in a New Age