Verse 1

The three stages of God’s work

are a record of all His work,

of how God gives man salvation.

They’re not something of the mind’s making.

To fully know God’s disposition,

you must know each stage, with no omissions.

That’s the minimum to achieve

if knowing God is what you seek.

Verse 2

Man can’t create knowledge of God,

can’t bring it to being with thoughts,

nor does the Holy Spirit

gift one special person with it.

Rather it’s a knowledge obtained

when experience of God’s work is gained,

a knowledge you only learn from

going through God’s work in person.

Pre-chorus 1

Such knowledge cannot be won on a whim,

nor is it something that one can be taught.

It’s linked to your own experience of Him.

Chorus

The three stages of work

are all God’s work saving man.

Man must know God’s work, disposition

in the work of salvation;

without this fact, your knowledge

of God consists of nothing,

nothing but hollow words

and armchair pontification.

Verse 3

God saving man is the core work,

yet in it are many ways to work

and ways God’s disposition’s expressed.

It’s hard for man to see and comprehend.

Changes to God’s work, its location,

and changes to its recipients,

and separation of the ages—

these are all part of the three stages.

Pre-chorus 2

Changes to the Spirit’s working methods,

to God’s disposition, image, name and status,

are all part of the three stages of work.

Chorus

The three stages of work

are all God’s work saving man.

Man must know God’s work, disposition

in the work of salvation;

without this fact, your knowledge

of God consists of nothing,

nothing but hollow words

and armchair pontification.

Adapted from “Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh