I

When Jesus came to do the work of redemption, it brought mercy and lovingkindness to man, and afterward, when Jesus was crucified, this absolved all of man’s sin. Jesus used His own precious blood to entitle man to return before God’s throne. It can be said that He used the proof and fact of the crucifixion to redeem man. Although man’s sins were forgiven by God, man had already been too profoundly corrupted by Satan, his sinful nature still remained, and he continued to sin and defy God. So God has become flesh for a second time to do the work of cleansing man of his sinful nature, that is, He judges and chastises man to purify him of his corrupt disposition.

II

The first time God became flesh, He was crucified for mankind’s sins, He redeemed mankind, and man has returned before God. The second time God became flesh, He came to conquer man, to save man by conquering him. God has become flesh twice in order to complete the work of saving mankind. If there were only the first incarnation, it would not be possible to completely save mankind, for the first incarnation did the work of redemption and mainly appeared to resolve the problem of the forgiveness of man’s sins and make man worthy of coming before God.

III

The second incarnation is doing the work of judgment in order to cleanse man’s corruption and fix man’s corrupt disposition, but this still cannot make man fully belong to God. In addition, there must also be the second incarnation’s experience of man’s pain to fully remedy the part of man that has been corrupted by Satan—utterly solving, from the root, the problem of man’s suffering and torment. The work of the two incarnations is indispensable. People must understand that the pain suffered by the two incarnations is necessary. Mankind’s corruption is so great that this cannot not be done, it has to be done for corrupt mankind to be completely saved.

from The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. The Significance of God’s Tasting of Worldly Suffering