Eastern Lightning | The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven | Notions and Truths | Question 23

Question 23: You testify that Almighty God is God incarnate who is currently doing His work of judgment in the last days. But the religious pastors and elders say that the work of Almighty God is actually the work of man, and also many people who don’t believe in the Lord Jesus say that Christianity is a belief in a man. We still cannot discern what exactly is the difference between the work of God and the work of man, so please fellowship this for us.

Answer:

The work of God and the work of man are certainly different. If we investigate carefully we will all be able to see it. For instance, if we look at the utterances and work of the Lord Jesus and then take a look at the utterances and work of the apostles, we can say that the difference is too obvious. Every word uttered by the Lord Jesus is the truth and carries authority, and can reveal many mysteries. These are all things mankind can never do. That is why there are so many people who follow the Lord Jesus. However, the apostles can only spread the gospel, bear witness to God, and supply the church. The results are all very limited.
The difference between God’s work and man’s work is so obvious. Then, why can’t we see through it? What is the reason? It’s because corrupt mankind doesn’t know God and possesses no truth whatsoever. Therefore, it results in us not knowing the difference between God’s work and man’s work, and makes it easy to treat the work of God incarnate as man’s work and makes it easy to treat the work of man we admire and the work of evil spirits, the work of false Christs and false prophets as God’s work to be accepted and followed. This is deviating from the true way and resisting God, and is considered adoring man, following Satan and worshiping Satan. It’s a serious offense against God’s disposition and will be cursed by God. People like this will lose the opportunity to be saved. That is why this question is very important to our investigation of the true way and knowing God’s work of the last days. From the outside, the work of God incarnate and the work of men used by God both look like man is working and speaking. But there is a world of difference between their essence and the nature of their work. Today, Almighty God has come and revealed all truths and mysteries and revealed the differences between God’s work and man’s work. Only now do we have knowledge and discernment over God’s work and man’s work. Let’s take a look at Almighty God’s words.

“The work of God Himself involves the work of all of mankind, and it also represents the work of the entire era. That is to say, God’s own work represents the movement and trend of all of the work of the Holy Spirit, whereas the work of the apostles follows God’s own work and does not lead the era, nor does it represent the working trend of the Holy Spirit in the entire era. They only do the work man ought to do, which does not at all involve the management work. God’s own work is the project within the management work. Man’s work is only the duty of men being used and bears no relation to the management work.” 

from “God’s Work and Man’s Work” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“The work of God incarnate begins a new era, and those who continue His work are the men who are used by Him. The work done by man is all within the ministry of God in the flesh, and is incapable of going beyond this scope. If God incarnate does not come to do His work, man is not able to bring the old age to an end, and is not able to usher in a new era. The work done by man is merely within the range of his duty that is humanly possible, and does not represent the work of God. Only the incarnate God can come and complete the work that He should do, and apart from Him, no one can do this work on His behalf. Of course, what I speak of is in regard with the work of incarnation.”  

from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the substance of God, and He who is God’s incarnation shall hold the expression of God. Since God becomes flesh, He shall bring forth the work He must do, and since God becomes flesh, He shall express what He is, and shall be able to bring the truth to man, bestow life upon man, and show man the way. Flesh that does not contain the substance of God is surely not the incarnate God; of this there is no doubt. …

… The words of God incarnate initiate a new age, guide the whole of mankind, reveal mysteries, and show man the direction ahead in a new age. The enlightenment obtained by man is but simple practice or knowledge. It cannot guide the whole of mankind into a new age or reveal the mystery of God Himself. God, after all, is God, and man is man. God has the substance of God, and man has the substance of man.”

from Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh

“The incarnate God is substantively different from the people used by God. The incarnate God can do the work of divinity, but the people used by God cannot. At the beginning of each age, God’s Spirit speaks personally to launch the new era and bring man to a new beginning. When He finishes His speaking, it signifies that God’s work in divinity is done. Thereafter, people all follow the lead of those used by God to enter life experience.”                     

from “The Essential Difference Between the Incarnate God and People Used by God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“What God expresses is what God Himself is, and this is beyond the reach of man, that is, beyond the reach of man’s thinking. He expresses His work of leading all of mankind, and this is not relevant to the details of human experience, but is instead concerned with His own management. Man expresses his experience while God expresses His being—this being is His inherent disposition and is beyond the reach of man. Man’s experience is his seeing and knowledge acquired based on God’s expression of His being. Such seeing and knowledge are called man’s being. They are expressed on the foundation of man’s inherent disposition and his actual caliber; hence they are also called man’s being. … The words spoken by God’s incarnate flesh are the direct expression of the Spirit and express the work that has been done by the Spirit. The flesh has not experienced or seen it, but still expresses His being because the substance of the flesh is the Spirit, and He expresses the work of the Spirit.” 

from “God’s Work and Man’s Work” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“The work that God does does not represent the experience of His flesh; the work that man does represents man’s experience. Everyone talks about his personal experience. God can directly express the truth, while man can only express the corresponding experience after experiencing the truth. God’s work has no rules and is not subject to time or geographical constraints. He can express what He is at anytime, anywhere. He works as He pleases. Man’s work has conditions and context; otherwise, he is unable to work and unable to express his knowledge of God or his experience of the truth. You just have to compare the differences between them to tell whether it is God’s own work or man’s work.”

from “God’s Work and Man’s Work” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

“If man were to do this work, then it would be too limited: It could take man to a certain point, but it would not be able to bring man to the eternal destination. Man is not able to decide man’s destiny, nor, moreover, is he able to ensure man’s prospects and future destination. The work done by God, however, is different. Since He created man, He leads him; since He saves man, He will thoroughly save him, and will completely gain him; since He leads man, He will bring him to the proper destination; and since He created and manages man, He must take responsibility for man’s fate and prospects. It is this which is the work done by the Creator.”

from “Restoring the Normal Life of Man and Taking Him to a Wonderful Destination” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Almighty God’s words have made the difference between God’s work and man’s work very clear. As the essences of God incarnate and men used by God are different, the work they do is also very different. God incarnate looks like an ordinary and normal person from the outside, but He is the Spirit of God realized in the flesh. He therefore has a divine substance and is possessed of God’s authority, power, omnipotence, and wisdom. So God incarnate can directly express truths in His work and express God’s righteous disposition and all that He has and is, and can begin a new age and end the old age, and can reveal all the mysteries of God’s management plan, expressing God’s intentions and God’s requirements of mankind. All words expressed by God incarnate are the truth and can be man’s life and change man’s life disposition. The work of God incarnate can conquer and cleanse man and save man from Satan’s influence, and bring mankind to a beautiful destination. The effect of such work is something no person could do. The work of God incarnate is the work of God Himself, and cannot be replaced by anyone. On the other hand, the essence of a man used by God is man. They only have humanity and do not possess Christ’s divine essence, so they cannot express truths or God’s disposition and all that He has and is. They can only communicate their personal knowledge of God’s words on the foundation of God’s utterances and work, or speak of their own experiences and testimonies. Their knowledge and testimonies all represent their personal understanding of God’s words. No matter how high their knowledge or how accurate their words, what they say cannot be said to be the truth, and moreover cannot be said to be God’s words, so it cannot be man’s life and can only give man assistance, supply, support, and edification, cannot achieve the results of cleansing man, saving man, and perfecting man. Therefore, man used by God cannot perform the work of God Himself and can only coordinate with God to fulfill man’s duty.

When it comes to the difference between God’s work and man’s work, we can give an actual example to make it much clearer for everyone. In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus preached the way of repentance, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” revealing the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. And He was personally crucified as a sin offering for man, making man confess and repent, and forgiving man’s sins, absolving man from the conviction and curse of law so we can be qualified to come before God to pray and commune with God, and enjoy God’s rich grace and truths, and let us see God’s loving and merciful disposition. The work of the Lord Jesus began the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law. This is the part of God’s work in the Age of Grace. After the Lord Jesus completed His work, His apostles led God’s chosen people to experience and practice the words of the Lord Jesus on the foundations of His utterances and work, spreading testimonies of His salvation and spreading His gospel of redeeming mankind throughout the earth. This is the work of the apostles in the Age of Grace, and also the work of men who were used by God. This allows us to see that there is a difference in essence between the work of the Lord Jesus and the work of the apostles. Almighty God incarnate of the last days has expressed all truths to cleanse and save mankind, revealing all mysteries of God’s 6,000-year management plan, performing the work of judgment beginning from the house of God to thoroughly save mankind from Satan’s corruption and influence, making man see God’s righteous, majestic, wrathful, and unoffendable disposition, so that corrupted mankind can break free from sin, achieve holiness, and be gained by God. The work of Almighty God began the Age of Kingdom and ended the Age of Grace. This is God’s work for the Age of Kingdom. The work of the man used by God, on the foundation of the work and words of Almighty God, is to water and shepherd God’s chosen people, leading them to enter the reality of God’s words and enter the right track to believing in God, and spread and testify to Almighty God’s gospel of the descent of the kingdom. This is the work of the man used by God in the Age of Kingdom. This allows us to see that the work of God both times He became flesh is the work of beginning an age and ending an age. His work is oriented toward all of mankind and is all a stage of work for completing God’s management plan. It is precisely the work of redeeming and saving mankind. The work of God both times He became flesh completely verifies that only God can express the truth in His work to cleanse and save mankind. No man can perform God’s work. Only God incarnate can perform God’s work. So both times God became flesh, He testifies that only Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. Apart from God in the flesh, no one else can do the work of God Himself. They cannot begin new ages, end old ages, and moreover cannot save mankind. The work of men used by God can only coordinate with God’s work, to lead and shepherd God’s chosen people and fulfill man’s duty. No matter how many years man has worked or how many words are spoken, or how great their work seems from the outside, its essence is all the work of man. That is a fact. That’s the main difference between the work of God in the flesh and the work of men used by God.

The words of Almighty God have made us realize the substantive difference between God’s work and man’s work. Only now do we know that as God incarnate works He can express truths, express God’s disposition and all that God has and is. If we accept and experience God’s work we will be able to understand the truth, and be able to understand God’s holy and righteous disposition, God’s essence, God’s intentions of saving mankind, God’s methods of saving mankind, and God’s love for mankind more and more. At the same time, we will also gain an understanding of the essence, nature and truth of our being corrupted by Satan. That way, our corrupt disposition can achieve purification and change, and we can generate true obedience and fear toward God, and achieve God’s salvation. However, man’s work and God’s work are completely different. Because man cannot express the truth and can only discuss their personal experiences and knowledge of God’s words, even if it conforms with the truth, it can only guide, shepherd, support, and assist God’s chosen people. This shows that if it is a person approved by God, the work they do is just to coordinate with God’s work and fulfill man’s duty. If it is not a person used by God, a person without the work of the Holy Spirit, then they are a person who exalts man’s gifts, talents, and fame. Even when they explain the Bible, they are exalting the words of man in the Bible, making God’s words irrelevant and using man’s words to replace God’s words. The work of such people is the work of the Pharisees and is the work of resisting God. The work of man mainly falls into these two different situations. No matter what, the biggest difference between man’s work and God’s work is this: If it is only man’s work, it cannot achieve the results of cleansing and saving man. Only God is capable of expressing the truth in His work and only His work can achieve the results of cleansing and saving man. That’s a fact. The main thing we’re talking about here is the difference between God’s work and the work of people used by God. The work of those religious leaders not used by God is another matter.

The work of God and the work of man have such obvious differences, then why can we still worship and follow man at the same time as believing in God? Why are there still so many people who treat the work of those they worship, such as famous spiritual figures and religious leaders as the work of God? Why are there people who even treat the deception of false Christs and evil spirits as God’s work? It’s because we don’t possess the truth and can’t distinguish between God’s work and man’s work. We don’t know the essence of God incarnate and the essence of man, and don’t know how to discern what is the truth and what conforms with the truth. We can’t distinguish between God’s voice and man’s utterances, plus we have been corrupted by Satan and we all worship knowledge and gifts, so it is very easy to treat the biblical knowledge, religious doctrines, and theological theories that come from man as the truth. Accepting these things that are not the truth and that come from man might serve to increase our knowledge, but it provides no supply whatsoever to our life, and moreover cannot achieve the effects of knowing God and revering God. This is an undeniable fact. Therefore, no matter how much work man does, how many words man speaks, how long man works, or how great the work is, it cannot achieve the result of cleansing and saving man. Man’s life will not change. This reveals that man’s work can never replace God’s work. Only God’s work can save man. No matter how short the period of God’s work and how limited the words He utters, it can begin an age and end an age, and can achieve the results of redeeming and saving mankind. This is the obvious difference between the work of God and the work of man. Only when we understand the difference between God’s work and man’s work will we not blindly worship and follow man, and be able to discern and reject the deception and control of false Christs and antichrists. In this way, we will be able to accept and obey the work of Almighty God of the last days, and gain God’s judgment and purification to achieve God’s salvation. If we cannot distinguish between God’s work and man’s work, we will not be able to break free from the deception and control of false Christs and antichrists. Such people believe in God nominally, but are in fact believing in man, following man, and worshiping man; they are worshiping idols. This is resisting God and betraying God. If they still refuse to realize the error of their ways, they will ultimately be cursed by God and eliminated by God for offending God’s disposition.

from Classic Questions and Answers on the Gospel of the Kingdom

Now we understand the difference between God’s work and man’s work. However, we still need to differentiate between the work of the men God uses and the work of religious leaders and religious personalities. This is very important as well. If we can’t differentiate between God’s work and man’s work, or differentiate between the men God uses and those hypocritical Pharisees, we’ll be prone to worshiping and following men and will easily deviate from the true way! It will be just like when the Lord Jesus came to do His work, and God’s chosen people in Judaism all followed the hypocritical Pharisees, and forsook Him. In the last days, Almighty God does the work of judgment. In the religious world, pastors and leaders, the modern-day Pharisees, deceive, restrain, and confine so many people, leading them to forsake Christ of the last days. This is a grave lesson that we must learn. To follow God, we must be able to discern the essence of the religious leaders and hypocritical Pharisees. They work through their gifts and talents, interpreting the Bible in accordance with their own notions, imaginations, and logical reasoning. What they really preach are the theories of theology and biblical studies. They only care about interpreting and preaching the words of men in the Bible, instead of exalting and bearing witness to God’s words in the Bible. They use the words of men to substitute the Lord Jesus’ words, turning the Lord into a mere figurehead. This work runs completely counter to God’s will. The crux of the Pharisee’s opposition to God lies here. Religious people all fall for the Pharisees’ leadership and shepherding, and they follow blindly. They follow God for years and years, but never receive any nourishment of the truth or the life. At best, they can only hope to gain some knowledge of the Bible and theological theories. They grow more and more arrogant, self-righteous, and contemptuous in disposition, and lack the slightest amount of reverence for God. Gradually, God loses His position in their hearts, and unbeknownst to them, they walk the Pharisees’ path in opposition to God. In particular, there are many religious leaders and personalities who take the Bible out of context and misinterpret it, spreading heresies and fallacies that agree with man’s notions and imaginations and satisfy their ambitions and desire in order to deceive, imprison, and manipulate them. There are many people who treat these heresies and fallacies as if they were God’s word, the truth. They are led onto the wrong path. These religious leaders and so-called famous men are precisely the antichrists that God has exposed through His work of judgment in the last days. These facts are enough to prove that the work of these so-called religious leaders and spiritual figures doesn’t come from the work of the Holy Spirit. Rather, it is merely Pharisees and antichrists deceiving and harming us. They all stand in opposition to God and betray Him. It is they who nail God to the cross once more, and God has cursed them!

Many people lack discernment. They treat those deceptive religious leaders and spiritual figures as if they were the men that God uses, and take their false, deceitful words to be the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, even going so far as to mistake it for God’s word, the truth. They believe in God only in name, and in reality they are worshiping and following men. There is no place for God in their hearts. They stray far from God and betray Him, without ever realizing it. They are so pathetic! What a pity. This is the main reason why God’s work will eliminate and forsake the religious world. If we’re never able to discern God’s work from man’s work, or differentiate between the work of men God uses and that of the hypocritical Pharisees, we’ll never escape from the deceit and manipulation of these religious conmen and antichrists. If we continue to believe like this for our entire lives, no matter how hard we labor, it will all be in vain, and we’ll never be able to attain God’s praise. Just as Almighty God says, “It would be best for those people who say they follow God to open their eyes and take a good look to see exactly who they believe in: Is it really God that you believe in, or Satan? If you know that what you believe in is not God but your own idols, then you had best not say you are a believer. If you really do not know who you believe in then, again, you had best not say you are a believer. To say that would be blasphemy! No one is forcing you to believe in God. Do not say you believe in Me, as I heard enough of those words long ago and I do not wish to hear them again, because what you believe in are the idols in your hearts and the local villainous snakes among you. Those who shake their heads when they hear the truth, who smile widely when they hear talk of death are the offspring of Satan, and they are all objects to be eliminated” (“A Warning to Those Who Do Not Practice the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

from Classic Questions and Answers on the Gospel of the Kingdom

There are three main differences between God’s work and man’s work. The first difference is that God’s work involves starting and ending ages. So, His work is directed at the entire human race. It does not just target at a single country, a single race of people or a certain group of people. It targets at the entire human race. All of God’s work inevitably affects the entire human race. This is the greatest difference between God’s work and man’s work. During the Age of Grace, God incarnated into the Lord Jesus and performed the redemptive work in that particular stage. When the Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross, He fulfilled the work of redemption. Afterward, the Holy Spirit started to lead God’s chosen people to bear witness to the Lord Jesus. In the end, this witnessing reached the whole human race. The Lord Jesus’ redemptive gospel was thus spread to all corners of the earth, indicating that this is the work of God. If this were the work of man, it definitely would not have spread to all corners of the earth. Two thousand years separated the Age of Grace and the Age of Kingdom. In these two thousand years, we have not seen anyone that was able to do the work of starting a new age. Moreover, there was nobody that was able to do something that spread to all the countries in the world. There was no such example of this until in the last days God became flesh and started to perform the work of judgment and chastisement. The test project for this stage of God’s work has already been a success in China. God’s great project has already been completed. Soon, God’s work will expand to all corners of the globe. This way, we can be more certain that all of God’s work is directed to all of mankind. In the beginning, God does His work in one country as a trial. After it has been successfully accomplished, God’s work will begin to expand and reach all of mankind. This is the greatest difference between God’s work and man’s work. …

The second difference between God’s work and man’s work is that God’s work expresses everything that God is. It is completely representative of God’s disposition. Everything that God expresses is utterly the truth, the way and the life. All those who experience God’s work understand God’s righteousness, holiness, almightiness, wisdom, wonderfulness and unfathomable depth. What the work of man expresses is man’s experience and understanding. It is representative of man’s humanity. Regardless of how much work man does or how great it is, it is still man’s experience and understanding. It is definitely not the truth. Man can only have an understanding or an experience of the truth. He cannot utter the truth nor can he represent the truth. …

Let’s examine the third aspect of the differences between God’s work and man’s work. God’s work has the power to conquer people, change people, transform people’s disposition and free people from Satan’s influence. Regardless of how much experience and understanding a man has of God’s word, his work cannot save people. Furthermore, it is unable to change people’s disposition. This is because God’s word is the truth. Only the truth can be a person’s life. Man’s word at best is an understanding that is in accordance with the truth. It can only help and edify other people temporarily. It cannot be someone’s life. That is why God’s work is able to save man. Man’s work is incapable of providing salvation to anyone else. God’s work can change people’s disposition. Man’s work is incapable of changing anyone’s disposition. All those who have experience can see this clearly. Basically, regardless of how much work of the Holy Spirit someone has, even if he has been working among people for a few years, his work is unable to transform their disposition. It is incapable of helping them achieve genuine salvation. This is an absolute truth. Only God’s work can do this. If man experiences and seeks the truth well, he will be able to receive the work of the Holy Spirit and he will be able to have his life disposition transformed. He will achieve a genuine understanding of his own corrupt essence. In the end, he will be able to free himself from the influence of Satan and find salvation through God. This is the greatest difference between man’s work and God’s work.

from “The Differences Between the Work of God and Man” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (II)

The greatest difference between the work of God and the work of man is that God can begin and end ages. Only God can do the work of beginning and ending ages; humans cannot. Why can’t humans do this work? Because humans do not have truth, they are not truth; only God is truth. No matter how close the speech of humans comes to truth, how lofty the preaching, or how much they understand, that is no more than a little experience and knowledge of the words of God or of truth, and it is only a limited thing attained through experiencing God’s work. It is not accurate truth. Therefore, no matter how much truth a person comprehends he cannot do the work of beginning and ending ages. This is decided by the actual substance of human beings. …

And what is another issue? Man does not have truth, man is not truth; all that man has and is, no matter how high or good his humanity, is still the limited thing that ought to be contained in normal humanity and that cannot be compared with what God is and has, and cannot be compared with the truth that God expresses. It is the difference between heaven and earth; man therefore cannot do the work that God does. … Regardless of how great the work you do is, for how many years you work, how many years you work more than God incarnate does, or how many more words you say than He does, yet the actual things of which all your words speak are merely what humans have and are; they are only a bit of human experience and knowledge of truth and nothing more. They cannot be the life of a person. So even if a person gives many sermons that people consider lofty, and no matter the amount of work, what he produces is not truth, and it is not the most accurate expression of truth; even less can it carry forward all of humankind. Though a person’s speech may contain the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, it will only edify people a bit, and provide a little for them. It can merely bring some help to people of a certain period and no more. This is the result that can be attained through the work of humans. Why is it, then, that the work of humans cannot attain the same result that the work of God does? It is because the essence of humans is not truth; it has some things that normal humanity has and is, it is so far removed from what God has and is, so far away from the truth that God expresses. In other words, if man departs from the work of God and the Holy Spirit ceases to work, the work of man has less and less benefit on man and man gradually has no path. There are a few obvious results that only the work of God can accomplish and the work of man never can: Whatever man does, the life disposition of man cannot change. Whatever man does, man cannot be made to truly know God. Whatever man does, man cannot be caused to become holy. All this is for certain. Some say: “That is because of the short duration of the work.” That’s wrong! Even a long time, a hundred years will not do. Does the work of man allow man to achieve knowledge of God? (No.) No matter how many years you lead other people, you can’t cause them to know God. Let us consider an example. Can the work of Paul cause people to know God? (No.) Can so many letters of the apostles of the New Testament cause people to know God? (No.) Can so many prophets and servants of God of the Old Testament cause people to know God? (No.) None of them can. The results that the work of man can attain are extremely limited. They can do no more than maintain a period of God’s work. … What does this illustrate? The work of man cannot help man know God, the work of man cannot change the disposition of man, and the work of man cannot make man achieve holiness. This is evidence. As for God’s work during the last days, there are more and more testimonies: So many people have been conquered, so many people have borne resounding witness, so many people have written their own life experiences, so many people have been conquered so that they abandon everything to follow God; there is testimony of all aspects. Some people who have eight or ten years’ experience bear such good witness, and others have three to five years’ experience and bear such good witness. Then, if these people who have borne some witness have ten or twenty more years of experience, what kind of witness would that be? Would it be a more resounding and more glorious witness? (Yes.) Is this the result achieved by God’s work? (Yes.) Is it not true that the result achieved by ten years of God’s work excels the result of a hundred, or a thousand years of man’s work? … What does this illustrate? Only God’s work can achieve the goal and result of saving man, changing man, and perfecting man, while no matter how many years the work of man, this kind of result would be unattainable. What can the work of a man ultimately attain? Only that people admire, endorse, and emulate this person. At most people have a bit of good behavior and nothing more; change of life disposition cannot be attained, submission to God and knowledge of God cannot be attained, reverence for God and keeping away from evil cannot be attained, true holiness and seeing God cannot be attained. All results of these many significant aspects cannot be attained. Do you understand? (Yes, we do.)

On the one hand, in the work of God we can discover what God is and has, can see God’s disposition, and can know God’s wisdom and omnipotence. This is the result that can be attained directly from God’s words. Furthermore, the word of God can become man’s life. When we have true experience and understanding of God’s word, a heart of reverence for God will grow within us, we can then ceaselessly take in our supply of living water in God’s word, and, as God’s word takes root in us, we become able to always live out the witness that God requires of us, which is that His word becomes our life. The word of God is our inexhaustible and boundless fount of life. And what of the work of man? No matter how correct or how in accordance with truth the words of man are, they cannot serve as the life of man; they can only give man temporary help and edification. You grasp this, yes? (Yes, we do.) … As for the word of God, if one day you have experienced and entered into it, and understanding is gained, you’ll find a whole lifetime would not be enough time to experience the words. It is inexhaustible, endless, and becomes the fountainhead of life. Is this the distinction between the work of man and the work of God? (Yes.) That is to say, man expresses what he is, and God expresses what He is. What man brings is benefit and edification to man; what God brings to man is an eternal supply of life; the distinction is that great. If we left man, we could still walk; without God’s word, we would lose the fountainhead of life. God therefore said, “Christ is the truth, the way, and the life.” These words are our treasure, our lifeblood, that which is dispensable to no one. In possession of these words, we have direction in our lives, we have a goal in our lives, and our lives have a vital source; they are principles in our living.

from The Fellowship From the Above