When God becomes flesh, His Spirit descends upon a man; in other words, the Spirit of God clothes Himself with a physical body. He comes to do His work upon the earth not to bring with Him certain limited steps; His work is absolutely unlimited. The work that the Holy Spirit does in the flesh is still determined by the results of His work, and He uses such things to determine the length of time for which He will do work while in the flesh. The Holy Spirit directly reveals each step of His work, examining His work as He goes along; this work is nothing so supernatural as to stretch the limits of the human imagination. This is like Jehovah’s work in creating the heavens and earth and all things; He planned and worked simultaneously. He separated the light from the darkness, and morning and evening came into being—this took one day. On the second day, He created the sky, and that also took one day; He then created the earth, the seas, and all the creatures that populated them, which required yet another day. This continued until the sixth day, when God created man and let him manage all the things upon the earth. Then, on the seventh day, when He had finished creating all things, He rested. God blessed the seventh day and designated it as a holy day. He only decided to establish this holy day after He had already created all things, not before creating them. This work was also carried out spontaneously; before creating all things, He had not decided to create the world in six days and then rest on the seventh; such is not at all in line with the facts. He had not voiced such a thing, nor had He planned it. By no means had He said that the creation of all things would be completed on the sixth day and that He would rest on the seventh; rather, He created according to what seemed good to Him at the time. Once He had finished creating everything, it was already the sixth day. If it had been the fifth day when He finished creating everything, He would therefore have designated the sixth day as a holy day. However, He did in fact finish creating everything on the sixth day, and thus the seventh day became a holy day, which has been passed down to this very day. Therefore, His current work is being carried out in this same manner. He speaks and provides for your needs in accordance with your situations. That is, the Spirit speaks and works according to people’s circumstances; He keeps watch over all and works at any time and any place. That which I do, say, place upon you, and bestow upon you is, without exception, that which you need. Thus, none of My work is separate from reality; it is all real, for you all know that “God’s Spirit keeps watch over all.” If this had all been decided ahead of time, would it not have been too cut-and-dried? You think that God worked out plans for six whole millennia and then predestined humanity to be rebellious, resistant, crooked and deceitful, and to possess the corruption of the flesh, a satanic disposition, the lust of the eyes, and individual indulgences. None of that was predestined by God, but rather it all happened as a result of Satan’s corruption. Some might say, “Was Satan not also within God’s grasp? God had predestined that Satan would corrupt man in this manner, and after that, God carried out His work among man.” Would God actually predestine Satan to corrupt humanity? God is only too eager to allow humanity to live normally, so would He really interfere with their lives? If so, would not defeating Satan and saving humanity be a futile effort? How could humanity’s rebelliousness have been predestined? It is something that has happened due to Satan’s interference, so how could it have been predestined by God? The Satan within God’s grasp of which you conceive is very different from the Satan within God’s grasp of which I speak. According to your statements that “God is almighty, and Satan is within His hands,” Satan could never betray Him. Did you not say that God is almighty? Your knowledge is too abstract, and is not in touch with reality; man can never fathom God’s thoughts, nor can man ever comprehend His wisdom! God is almighty; this is not a falsehood at all. The archangel betrayed God because God initially gave it a share of authority. Of course, this was an unexpected event, just as when Eve succumbed to the serpent’s temptation. However, no matter how Satan carries out its betrayal, it still is not as almighty as God. As you have said, Satan is merely mighty; no matter what it does, God’s authority will always defeat it. This is the true meaning behind the saying, “God is almighty, and Satan is within His hands.” Therefore, the war with Satan must be carried out one step at a time. Moreover, God plans His work in response to Satan’s ruses—that is, He brings salvation to humanity and reveals His almightiness and wisdom in a manner befitting the age. Likewise, the work of the last days was not predestined early on, before the Age of Grace; predestinations are not made in such an orderly manner as this: first, making man’s external disposition change; second, subjecting man to His chastisement and trials; third, causing man to undergo the trial of death; fourth, having man experience the time of loving God and express the resolution of a created being; fifth, allowing man to see God’s will and know Him completely, and finally completing man. He did not plan all these things during the Age of Grace; rather, He began planning them in the present age. Satan is at work, as is God. Satan expresses its corrupt disposition, whereas God speaks straightforwardly and reveals some essential things. This is the work being done today, and there is the same working principle that was used long ago, after the creation of the world.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day