Does the Lord Come to Do Work in the Flesh or in a Spiritual Body?

By Li Shuo

In recent years, some people testified on the internet that God has already become flesh again and expressed words to do the work of judging and purifying man, which has created no small stir in the religious world.  Referring to this, someone posted on the internet: “The four Gospels record clearly: The Lord Jesus appeared to man for forty days in His spiritual body after His resurrection. When He ascended, two angles said to the apostles of the Lord Jesus: ‘This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven’ (Acts 1:11). The Bible says clearly:
The Lord Jesus ascended to heaven in His spiritual body, so He will certainly come in spiritual body. Therefore, when the Lord Jesus comes again, He cannot possibly become flesh.”

This question sparked no little web discussion. Some said, “The Lord Jesus will return by becoming flesh.” Some said, “The Lord Jesus cannot return in fleshly form but in a spiritual body.” These two different views sound like reasonable. However, how on earth will the Lord appear and work when He comes again? I was very puzzled: Now, many of the prophecies in the Bible have already been fulfilled and the last days have arrived. If I don’t know how the Lord will appear and work, I won’t welcome Him. Thinking of these, I was eager to find out the answer. So, I began to explore and seek with some brothers and sisters in the Lord on the internet.

Thank the Lord for His plan. I met Brother Peter on the internet. Through communication with him, I learned that he was a Christian who zealously served the Lord for many years. After we fellowshiped and explored together, I found what he fellowshiped was insightful and enlightening. So, I told him about my puzzlement. Brother Peter said seriously, “Many brothers and sisters think that when the Lord returns, He will descend with the clouds, and appear to us in His spiritual body. In fact, there are not just the prophecies that the Lord will appear in a spiritual body in the Bible. There are also many prophecies that the return of the Lord will be the ‘coming of the Son of man.’ Such as, ‘For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be’ (Matthew 24:27). ‘Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes’ (Mat 24:44). ‘For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation’ (Luck 17:24–25). These prophecies all mention ‘the Son of man comes,’ or ‘the Son of man descends.’ Speaking of ‘the Son of man,’ it means a person who is born of man and has normal humanity. The Spirit cannot be called as ‘the Son of man.’ That is to say, the Son of man refers to God becoming flesh as a man, and He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. Especially these words ‘first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation,’ if God appears in a spiritual body, then it goes without saying He’ll not suffer for it. Because God’s spiritual body is supernatural and great, and man has no conception of the spiritual body and dare not to close it. Only when God is incarnated as the Son of man will He suffer man’s rejection. Because the Son of man is ordinary in outward appearance, man doesn’t know Him and will have conception of Him, judging and condemning the incarnate Christ. This is further proof that the Lord will return in His fleshly form.”

Hearing Brother Peter’s fellowship in connection with the Bible, I understood the meaning of these verses, and felt somewhat brightened. I thought: In the past, I have read these verses many times, but why don’t I have such understanding?

At this time, Brother Peter said, “Brother Li, can you understand my sharing?” I said happily, “Yes, I can.”

Brother Peter continued to fellowship, “Thanks be to God! Let’s go on our fellowship and sharing! Actually, if we can further understand why the Lord becomes flesh as the Son of man when He returns, we will be more certain that the Lord will return by becoming flesh. I saw a passage of words in a book: ‘God’s saving of man is not done directly through the means of the Spirit or as the Spirit, for His Spirit can neither be touched nor seen by man, and cannot be approached by man. If He tried to save man directly in the manner of the Spirit, man would be unable to receive His salvation. And if not for God putting on the outward form of a created man, they would be unable to receive this salvation. For man can in no way approach Him, much like how none could go near the cloud of Jehovah. Only by becoming a man of creation, that is, putting His word into the flesh He will become, can He personally work the word into all who follow Him. Only then can man hear for himself His word, see His word, and receive His word, then through this be fully saved. If God did not become flesh, no fleshly man would receive such great salvation, nor would a single man be saved. If the Spirit of God worked directly among man, man would be smitten or completely carried away captive by Satan because man is unable to associate with God’ (‘The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)’). From these words, we can see: We can neither see nor touch God’s Spirit, and it isn’t easy to get close to Him. If God works through the Spirit, we cannot get water and supply of the truth, much less gain God’s salvation. Just as the Bible records, ‘And all the people saw the thunder, and the lightning, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, Speak you with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die’ (Exodus 20: 18–19). ‘Father, glorify your name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spoke to him’ (John 12:28–29). From these verses, we can see: When God speaks to us in heaven, we cannot understand God’s words, nor accurately grasp His will. Instead, we feel terrified and afraid, and dare not to get close to God. Besides, if God works through spirit, He will express God’s majestic and wrathful disposition. Just as in the Age of Law, as long as people committed sins, they would be burned by the heavenly fire or stoned to death. Because we are all corrupted by Satan, each and every moment we reveal corrupt disposition and easily be struck down by God because of offending His disposition, finally we will completely lose the chance of being saved. By contrast, if God becomes flesh as the Son of man and expresses the truth from the perspective of humanity, transforming divine language into plain-spoken human language to supply and lead us, then we can more accurately grasp God’s will and understand His disposition. For example, when we reveal corrupt dispositions, we will know our disobedience and corruption through reading God’s words, so that we can stop our steps of doing evil timely. When we are weak and passive, God’s words will encourage, console and exhort us, giving us faith and strength. … In a word, the Lord’s returning to flesh to work is the most beneficial for the salvation of mankind, and is for the sake of better saving mankind.”

After I heard Peter’s words, I felt deeply touched. I said to him, “In the past, regarding the Lord’s return, I always lived in my conceptions and imaginations, expecting that the returned Lord appears to us in a spiritual body. Not until then was I aware that it is the best way of saving us corrupt mankind that the Lord becomes flesh as the Son of man to do His work when He comes. The Lord Jesus was the incarnate Son of man, and what He expressed was all human language we can understand. Such as, the parable of the sower, the parable of leaven, and the parable of the lost sheep, and so on. These truths have taken root deep inside of us and led the direction of our progress. If we cannot understand these words expressed by God, how can we know God, get close to Him and gain His salvation? The Lord prophesied that He would express more truths to do the work of judgment and purification. God’s Spirit is supreme and holy. So if God does this work in a spiritual body according to our imaginations, people like us, who often sin and confess every day, live in the bondage of sins and cannot extricate ourselves from it, must be struck down by God due to our sin, not to mention being saved and entering the kingdom of heaven. It seems that only when God becomes flesh as the Son of man, just like the Lord Jesus who was intimate with people, speaks and works to judge and purify us, can we get God’s salvation, breaking away from sin and being holy.”

After hearing my words, Peter was moved and said, “You can put aside your notions and imaginations, realizing that the purpose of God’s second incarnation is to save mankind, this is the effect of God’s enlightenment and guidance. Thanks be to God! Actually, when God becomes flesh the second time and does His work, He not only expresses the truth to save mankind, but does a crucial work—separating the wheat from the tares and the sheep from the goats, separating all according to their kind, and rewarding the good and punishing the evil. If the Lord does His work in a spiritual body when He returns, everyone will treat Him respectfully and won’t dare to resist Him, even the brood of Satan also won’t dare. If so, the Lord will not seize the facts to separate the good from the evil.

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A spiritual book says: ‘The original conceptions of man can only be revealed through their contrast to the incarnate God. Without the comparison to the incarnate God, the conceptions of man could not be revealed….’ (‘Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh’). Because many people don’t know the incarnate Christ, they treat Him as an ordinary man, randomly resisting and condemning God. Whereas some people can humbly seek though they don’t know the incarnate God, yet they unknowingly get the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and illumination and recognize the incarnate Christ. Just as the Lord Jesus said: ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me’ (Jhn 10:27). This way, the sheep can be separated from the goats, and the wheat can be separated from the tares. If God doesn’t become flesh to do His work in the last days, everyone will think of himself as the person who is the most loyal to God, who loves God the most, and who most deserves God’s rewards. It’s precisely because the returned Lord’s incarnation is normal and practical that the conceptions and imaginations, rebelliousness and resistance within man are fully exposed. Take when the Lord Jesus became flesh to work, for example: The Pharisees and the Jewish people saw the Lord Jesus was normal and ordinary in appearance, so they regarded Him as an ordinary person, wantonly judging, resisting and condemning Him. They said the Lord Jesus was the son of a carpenter, and that He cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. They didn’t seek the truth expressed by the Lord Jesus at all. However, the true believers in God, such as, Peter, John, and Nathanael, they recognized God’s voice from the work and words of the Lord Jesus, followed Him closely and obeyed His teachings. We can say that, God does His work in the last days by becoming flesh to reveal the sheep and the goats, the good servants and the wicked ones, which fully manifests God’s almightiness and wisdom and His righteous disposition.

After I heard Peter’s sharing, my heart couldn’t calm down for a long time. Previously, I simply knew that when the Lord comes again, He will reward the good and punish the evil, and separate the sheep from the goats, but I didn’t know how He will do the work. Until then did I understand: The Lord will do this work in His fleshly form when He returns, and test whether the believers in Him are true believers or not by the normal and practical work of the Son of man, so that the good can be separated from the evil. Such work of God is really too wise and cannot be conceived and fathomed by man.

After a while, Peter sent me another passage of words: “The first incarnation was to redeem man from sin through the flesh of Jesus, that is, He saved man from the cross, but the corrupt satanic disposition still remained within man. The second incarnation is no longer to serve as a sin offering but to fully save those who were redeemed from sin. This is done so that those forgiven can be delivered from their sins and be fully made clean, and attain a change in disposition, thereby breaking free of Satan’s influence of darkness and returning before the throne of God. Only in this way can man be fully sanctified. … The second incarnation is sufficient to get rid of the sins of man and fully purify man. Hence, the second incarnation will bring to a close all the work of God in the flesh and complete the significance of God’s incarnation. Thereafter, the work of God in the flesh will have entirely come to an end. After the second incarnation, He will not again become flesh for His work. For His entire management will have come to an end. In the last days, His incarnation will have fully gained His chosen people, and all man in the last days will have been divided according to their kind. He will no longer do the work of salvation, nor will He return to flesh to carry out any work” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)”). And then he fellowshiped with me, “God’s first incarnation was to do the work of redemption and was in order to redeem us mankind from sin; God’s second incarnation is to do the work of judgment and purification and to thoroughly cleanse and change all His true believers, so that they can become the people who are in line with His will. When God gains these who He wants to save, He will do the work of separating all according to their kind and rewarding the good and punishing the evil. Finally, He will bring all the people perfected by Him to the wonderful destination. Therefore, God’s two incarnations have completed the entire work of God’s management plan and completed the significance of His incarnations. Apart from this, there will be no God’s third incarnation or the fourth.”

Hearing Peter’s fellowship and the words in the spiritual book, my puzzlement was finally solved. I also understood that God’s second incarnation is to do the work of concluding the age and has completed the significance of God’s incarnations. Since then, God will not be incarnated to do His work the third or fourth time. Thanks be to God! It seems that it is too important to accept the work of God’s incarnation of the last days.

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