God becomes flesh solely to lead the age and set in motion new work. It is necessary for you to understand this point. This is much different from the function of man, and the two cannot be mentioned in the same breath. Man needs to be cultivated and perfected over a long period before he can be used to carry out work, and the kind of humanity that is needed is of an especially high order. Not only must man be able to sustain the sense of normal humanity, but he must further understand many of the principles and rules governing his conduct in relation to others, and, moreover, he must commit to studying even more about the wisdom and ethical knowledge of man. This is what man should be furnished with. However, this is not so for God become flesh, for His work neither represents man nor is the work of man; it is, rather, a direct expression of His being and a direct implementation of the work that He ought to do. (Naturally, His work is carried out at the appropriate time, not casually or at random, and it is begun when it is time to fulfill His ministry.) He does not take part in the life of man or the work of man, that is, His humanity is not furnished with any of these (although this does not affect His work). He only fulfills His ministry when it is time for Him to do so; whatever His status, He simply forges ahead with the work that He ought to do. Whatever man knows of Him and whatever man’s opinion of Him, His work is wholly unaffected. For example, when Jesus carried out His work, no one knew exactly who He was, but He simply forged ahead in His work. None of this hindered Him in carrying out the work that He ought to do. Therefore, He did not at first confess or proclaim His own identity, and merely had man follow Him. Naturally this was not only the humility of God, but was also the way in which God worked in the flesh. He could only work in this way, for man had no way of recognizing Him with the naked eye. And even if man had recognized Him, he would not have been able to help in His work. Furthermore, He did not become flesh in order to have man come to know His flesh; it was to carry out work and fulfill His ministry. For this reason, He placed no importance on making His identity public. When He had completed all the work that He ought to do, His entire identity and status naturally became clear to man. God become flesh keeps silent and never makes any proclamations. He pays mind neither to man nor to how man is getting along in following Him, but simply forges ahead in fulfilling His ministry and carrying out the work that He ought to do. No one is able to stand in the way of His work. When the time comes for Him to conclude His work, it will without fail be concluded and brought to an end, and no one is able to dictate otherwise. Only after He departs from man on completing His work will man understand the work that He does, though still not entirely clearly. And it will take a long time for man to fully understand the intent with which He first carried out His work. In other words, the work of the age of the incarnate God is divided into two parts. One part consists of the work that the incarnate flesh of God Himself does and the words that the incarnate flesh of God Himself speaks. Once the ministry of His flesh is completely fulfilled, the other part of the work remains to be carried out by those who are used by the Holy Spirit. It is at this time that man should fulfill his function, for God has already opened up the way, and it needs to be walked by man himself. That is to say, God become flesh carries out one part of the work, and then the Holy Spirit and those used by the Holy Spirit will succeed to this work. Therefore, man should know what the work that is primarily carried out by God become flesh at this stage entails, and he must understand exactly what the significance of God becoming flesh is and what the work that He ought to do is, and not make demands of God according to the demands made upon man. Herein lie man’s mistake, his notion, and even more, his disobedience.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (3)