The aim and significance of God’s work in the Age of Grace | The Church of Almighty God

II. One Must Bear Witness to the Aspect of Truth Concerning the Three Stages of Work of God’s Salvation of Mankind

(2) The aim and significance of God’s work in the Age of Grace

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Bible Verses for Reference:

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (Jhn 3:17).

Relevant Words of God:

Jesus represents all the work of the Age of Grace; He was incarnated and crucified, and inaugurated the Age of Grace. He was crucified in order to complete the redemptive work, to end the Age of Law and begin the Age of Grace, and so He was called the “Supreme Commander,” the “Sin Offering,” the “Redeemer.” Thus the work of Jesus differed in content from the work of Jehovah, though they were the same in principle.

      Jehovah began the Age of Law, established the home base, the birthplace, of His work on earth, and issued the commandments; these were His two accomplishments, which represent the Age of Law. Jesus’ work was not to issue commandments, but to fulfill the commandments, thereby heralding the Age of Grace and concluding the Age of Law which lasted two thousand years. He was the trailblazer, ushering in the Age of Grace, yet redemption remained the core of His work. And so His accomplishments were also twofold: opening up a new age, and completing the redemptive work through His crucifixion. Then He departed. At that point, the Age of Law came to an end and mankind entered into the Age of Grace.

Jesus’ work was done in accordance with the needs of man in that age. His task was to redeem humanity, to forgive them of their sins, and so all His disposition was one of humility, patience, love, piety, forbearance, mercy, and lovingkindness. He blessed humanity richly and brought them grace in abundance, and all things for enjoyment: peace and happiness, Jesus’ tolerance and love, His mercy and lovingkindness. In those days, all that man encountered was an abundance of things to enjoy: His heart was at peace and reassured, his spirit was consoled, and he was sustained by the Savior Jesus. That he could gain these things was a consequence of the age in which he lived. In the Age of Grace man had been corrupted by Satan, and so the work of redeeming all humanity required an abundance of grace, infinite forbearance and patience, and even more, an offering adequate to atone for humanity’s sins. What people saw in the Age of Grace was merely My sin offering for humanity, Jesus. And they knew only that God could be merciful and forbearing, saw only Jesus’ mercy and lovingkindness. This was because they lived in the Age of Grace. So before they could be redeemed, they had to enjoy much grace that Jesus bestowed on them; only this was beneficial to them. This way, they could be forgiven of their sins through their enjoyment of grace, and could have the chance to be redeemed through enjoying Jesus’ forbearance and patience. Only through Jesus’ forbearance and patience were they capable of receiving forgiveness and enjoying the abundance of grace bestowed by Jesus—just as Jesus said, “I have come not to redeem the righteous but sinners, allowing their sins to be forgiven.” If Jesus had been incarnated with the disposition of judgment, curse, and intolerance of man’s offenses, then man would never have had the chance to be redeemed, and would have remained forever sinful; and so the six-thousand-year management plan would have progressed no farther than the Age of Law. The Age of Law would have gone on for six thousand years, man’s sins would have grown greater in number and more grievous, and the creation of humanity would have been for naught. Men would only have been able to serve Jehovah under the law, but their sins would have exceeded those of the first created humans. The more Jesus loved mankind, forgiving them of their sins and giving them enough mercy and lovingkindness, the more mankind was capable of being saved, called the lost lambs that Jesus bought back at a great price. Satan could not meddle in this work, because Jesus treated His followers as a loving mother treats the infant in her arms. He did not grow angry at them or despise them, but was full of consolation; He never got furious among them, but forbore with their sins and turned a blind eye to their foolishness and ignorance, such that He said, “Forgive others seventy times seven times.” So His heart reformed the hearts of others, and in this way did the people receive forgiveness through His forbearance.

from “The Truth Concerning the Work in the Age of Redemption” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Though Jesus, being God incarnate, was utterly without emotion, He always comforted His disciples, provided for them, helped them, and sustained them. No matter how much work He did or how much suffering He endured, He never made excessive demands of the people, but was always patient and forbearing of their sins, such that in the Age of Grace He was affectionately known as “lovable Savior Jesus.” To the people of that time—to all people—what Jesus had and was, was mercy and lovingkindness. He never remembered people’s transgressions or let their transgressions affect how He treated them. Because that was a different age, He often bestowed plentiful food and drink upon the people so that they could eat their fill. He treated all His followers kindly, healing the sick, driving out demons, raising the dead. In order that the people would believe in Him and see that all that He did was done earnestly and sincerely, He went so far as to resurrect a rotting corpse, showing them that in His hands even the dead could come back to life. In this way He endured silently among them and did His redemptive work. Even before He was nailed to the cross, Jesus had already borne the sins of humanity and become a sin offering for mankind. He had already opened the way to the cross in order to redeem mankind before He was crucified. At last He was nailed to the cross, sacrificed Himself for the sake of the cross, and He bestowed all of His mercy, lovingkindness, and holiness upon mankind. He persisted in tolerating people, never seeking revenge, but forgiving them of their sins, exhorting them to repent, teaching them to have patience, forbearance, and love, to follow in His footsteps and sacrifice themselves for the sake of the cross. His love for the brothers and sisters exceeded His love for Mary. The principle of His work was to heal the people and drive out their demons, all for the sake of His redemption. No matter where He went, He treated all who followed Him with kindness. He made the poor rich, the lame walk, the blind see, and the deaf hear; He even invited the lowliest and most destitute, the sinners, to dine with Him, not shunning them but always being patient, even saying, “When a shepherd loses one sheep out of a hundred, he will leave behind the ninety-nine to seek the one lost sheep, and when he finds it he will rejoice greatly.” He loved His followers as a ewe loves its lambs. Though they were foolish and ignorant, and were sinners in His eyes, and furthermore were the dregs of society, He saw these sinners—whom others despised—as the apple of His eye. Since He favored them, He gave up His life for them, as a lamb was offered on the altar. He went among them like their servant, letting them use Him and slaughter Him, submitting to them unconditionally. To His followers He was the lovable Savior Jesus, but to the Pharisees who lectured the people from a high pedestal He did not show mercy and lovingkindness, but He loathed and detested them. He did not do much work among the Pharisees, only occasionally lectured them and rebuked them; He did not redeem them, or perform signs and wonders among them. He reserved His mercy and lovingkindness for His followers, enduring for the sake of these sinners till the very end when He was nailed to the cross, bearing every humiliation until He fully redeemed all humanity. This was the sum total of His work.

Without Jesus’ redemption, mankind would forever live in sin, and become the children of sin, the descendants of demons. If that continued, Satan would take up residence on earth, and all the earth would become its habitation. But the redemptive work required mercy and lovingkindness toward mankind; only through it could mankind receive forgiveness and at last be qualified to be made complete and fully gained. Without this stage of work, the six-thousand-year management plan would not have been able to go forward. If Jesus had not been crucified, if He had only healed the people and exorcised their demons, then the people could not have been completely forgiven of their sins. The three and a half years that Jesus did His work on earth completed only half of His redemptive work; then by being nailed to the cross and becoming the likeness of sinful flesh, by being handed over to the evil one, He completed the work of crucifixion and mastered mankind’s destiny. Only after He was delivered into Satan’s hands was mankind redeemed. For thirty-three and a half years He suffered on earth, was ridiculed, slandered, and forsaken, was even left with no place to lay His head, no resting place; then He was crucified, His whole being—an immaculate and innocent body—being nailed to the cross, and underwent all manner of suffering. Those in power mocked Him and whipped Him, and the soldiers even spat in His face; yet He remained silent and endured until the end, submitting unconditionally to the point of death, whereupon He redeemed all of humanity and thereby was permitted to rest. The work of Jesus represents only the Age of Grace; it does not represent the Age of Law and is no substitute for the work of the last days. This is the essence of Jesus’ work in the Age of Grace, the second age of mankind—the Age of Redemption.

from “The Truth Concerning the Work in the Age of Redemption” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

In the Age of Grace, Jesus came to redeem the whole fallen mankind (not only the Israelites). He showed mercy and lovingkindness to man. The Jesus that man saw in the Age of Grace was filled with lovingkindness and was always loving, for He had come to deliver man from sin. He could forgive man their sins until His crucifixion truly delivered mankind from sin. During that time, God appeared before man in mercy and lovingkindness; that is, He became a sin offering for man and was crucified for the sins of man so that they may forever be forgiven. He was merciful, compassionate, enduring and loving. And all those who followed Jesus in the Age of Grace also sought to be enduring and loving in all things. They endured all suffering, and never fought back even if beaten, cursed or stoned.

from “The Two Incarnations Complete the Significance of the Incarnation” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

When Jesus came, He also did part of God’s work, and spoke some words—but what was the main work He accomplished? What He mainly accomplished was the work of crucifixion. He became the likeness of sinful flesh to complete the work of crucifixion and redeem all mankind, and it was for the sake of all mankind’s sin that He served as a sin offering. This is the main work He accomplished. Ultimately, He provided the path of the cross to guide those who came later. When Jesus came, it was primarily to complete the work of redemption. He redeemed all mankind, and brought the gospel of the kingdom of heaven to man, and, furthermore, He brought the kingdom of heaven. As a result, those who came after all said, “We should walk the path of the cross, and sacrifice ourselves for the cross.” Of course, in the beginning Jesus also did some other work and spoke some words to make man repent and confess his sins. But His ministry was still the crucifixion, and the three and a half years He spent preaching the way were in preparation for the crucifixion that came after. The several times that Jesus prayed were also for the sake of the crucifixion. The life of a normal man that He led and the thirty-three and a half years that He lived on earth were primarily for the sake of completing the work of crucifixion, they were to give Him strength, and make Him able to undertake this work, as a result of which God entrusted the work of crucifixion to Him.

from “All Is Achieved by the Word of God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

In the work of the Age of Grace, Jesus was the God who saved man. What He had and was was grace, love, compassion, forbearance, patience, humility, care, and tolerance, and so much of the work that He did was the redemption of man. And as for His disposition, it was one of compassion and love, and because He was compassionate and loving, He had to be nailed to the cross for man, in order to show that God loved man as Himself, to the extent that He sacrificed Himself in His entirety. Satan said, “Since You love man, You must love him to the ultimate extreme: You must be nailed to the cross, to deliver man from the cross, from sin, and You shall offer up Yourself in exchange for all of mankind.” Satan made the following wager: “Since You are a loving and compassionate God, You must love man to the ultimate extreme: You must offer Yourself up to the cross.” Jesus said, “As long as it is for mankind, then I am willing to lay down My all.” Afterward, He went up onto the cross without hesitation and redeemed all of mankind. During the Age of Grace, the name of God was Jesus, which means that God was a God who saved man, and that He was a compassionate and loving God. God was with man. His love, His compassion, and His salvation accompanied each and every person. Man could only gain peace and joy, receive His blessing, receive His vast and numerous graces, and receive His salvation if man accepted the name of Jesus and accepted His presence. Through the crucifixion of Jesus, all those who followed Him received salvation and were forgiven their sins. During the Age of Grace, the name of God was Jesus. In other words, the work of the Age of Grace was done principally under the name of Jesus. During the Age of Grace, God was called Jesus. He did new work beyond the Old Testament, and His work ended with the crucifixion, and that was the entirety of His work.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Jesus’ utterances and work at the time did not hold to doctrine, and He did not carry out His work according to the work of the law of the Old Testament. It was according to the work that should be done in the Age of Grace. He labored according to the work that He had brought forth, according to His own plan, and according to His ministry; He did not work according to the law of the Old Testament. Nothing that He did was according to the law of the Old Testament, and He did not come to work to fulfill the words of the prophets. Each stage of God’s work was not expressly in order to fulfill the predictions of the ancient prophets, and He did not come to abide by doctrine or deliberately realize the predictions of the ancient prophets. Yet His actions did not disrupt the predictions of the ancient prophets, nor did they disturb the work that He had previously done. The salient point of His work was not abiding by any doctrine, and doing the work that He Himself should do. He was not a prophet or a seer, but a doer, who actually came to do the work He was supposed to do, and came to open His new era and carry out His new work.

from “Concerning Appellations and Identity” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

There could only be a new age when Jesus came to do new work, launched a new age, and broke through the work that had previously been done in Israel, and did not conduct His work according to the work done by Jehovah in Israel, did not abide by His old rules, and did not follow any regulations, and did the new work that He should do. God Himself comes to begin an age, and God Himself comes to bring the age to an end. Man is incapable of doing the work of beginning an age and concluding the age. If Jesus did not bring the work of Jehovah to an end, then that proves that He was merely a man, and did not represent God. Precisely because Jesus came and concluded the work of Jehovah, followed on from the work of Jehovah by beginning His own work, new work, it proves that this was a new age, and that Jesus was God Himself.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

At the time Jesus’ work was the redemption of all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer a sinner, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Salvation did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins: Provided you believed, you would never more be of sin.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

To man, God’s crucifixion concluded the work of God’s incarnation, redeemed all of mankind, and allowed Him to seize the key to Hades. Everyone thinks God’s work has been fully accomplished. In actuality, to God, only a small part of His work has been accomplished. He has only redeemed mankind; He has not conquered mankind, let alone changed the ugliness of Satan in man. That is why God says, “Although My incarnate flesh went through the pain of death, that was not the whole goal of My incarnation. Jesus is My beloved Son and was nailed to the cross for Me, but He did not fully conclude My work. He only did a portion of it.” Thus God began the second round of plans to continue the work of the incarnation. God’s ultimate intention is to perfect and gain everyone rescued from Satan’s hands….

from “Work and Entry (6)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Source: "The aim and significance of God’s work in the Age of Grace" in Witnesses for Christ of the Last Days

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