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2. God’s words all possess power and authority, and are an expression of God’s disposition

We all know that in the beginning, God used words to create the heavens, the earth, and all things. The moment He uttered something, it came to be, just as it says in Psalm 33:9: “For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” In the age of the Old Testament, God promised that the descendants of Abraham would be like the stars in the sky and the sand on the shore, and everything happened just as God had promised. Even now, Abraham’s descendants are in every corner of the world, and every single thing that God has said has been fulfilled, one by one. In the Age of Grace, the winds and seas could be calmed by a single utterance from the Lord Jesus, and with the words “Lazarus, come forth” (John 11:43), Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, walked out from his tomb. All of this is because of the authority and might of God’s words. The Lord Jesus also said, “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14). “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25–26). “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God stays on him” (John 3:36). “Truly I say to you, All sins shall be forgiven to the sons of men, and blasphemies with which soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit has never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation” (Mark 3:28–29). The Lord Jesus’ words possess power and authority; they are able to fully convince people’s heart and mind, and we can hear God’s voice within them. God’s words not only direct and rule all things, but they are also able to bestow life and the truth upon us. They can also promise us blessings, and they can curse all those who rebel against and resist God. God’s words show us that He treats all those who believe in and love Him with mercy and love, while those who are rebellious and contrary see His majesty and wrath. We can see God’s righteous, inviolable disposition—all of God’s words are an expression of His disposition, and what He has and is. Even more, they carry the unique authority of the Creator. This is why, when attempting to determine whether something is the voice of God, we must see if those words possess power and authority, and whether they are an expression of God’s disposition as well as what He has and is.

3. The words expressed by God can open up the mysteries behind God’s work of management

The Lord Jesus said, “So shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:40–43). “Not every one that said to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). The Lord Jesus told us that in the end of the world, God will dispatch angels to separate good from evil, and that all people will be sorted according to their kind: the wheat from the tares, the good servants from the evil servants, and the wise virgins from the foolish virgins. Only those who follow the directives of the Heavenly Father will enter into the kingdom of heaven. In addition, the Lord Jesus prophesied that He would certainly return, that in the last days the Son of man would do the work of judgment and make a group of overcomers before the disaster, that the tabernacle of God is among mankind, and that Christ’s kingdom would appear. All of these mysteries were things that none of us as humans knew, and none of us would have been able to explain them, so why could the Lord Jesus say these things? It’s because the Lord Jesus is God Himself—He is the Lord of heaven, and only God Himself knows what kind of people can enter the kingdom of heaven, how God works in the last days, and what mankind’s destination and outcome will be. Only God’s utterances can reveal the mysteries of God’s management work. The Lord Jesus once said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come” (John 16:12–13). It is evident that when the Lord returns He will utter all truths that we as humans require and openly reveal the mysteries of God’s entire management plan to save mankind. The wise virgins have a heart and a spirit, and when they hear God’s words, they will certainly recognize His voice from those words.

4. God’s words bring mankind’s corruption and inner thoughts into the light

Man was created by God, and God knows the deepest depths of humans’ hearts. He has His finger on the pulse of our innermost thoughts—only God’s words can reveal the truth of our corruption by Satan and expose all of the corruption that resides deep in our hearts. This is something that no human being could do. Just as the Lord Jesus said, “That which comes out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mark 7:20–23). After we were corrupted by Satan we started relying on our own arrogance, crookedness and deceit, selfishness and despicableness, evilness and greed, and other satanic dispositions in our words and actions, and interactions with others. When someone else’s words or actions seem to impinge upon our own face, status, or interests, we engage in intrigue, we become jealous and combative, or even being able to hate that person. If we give things up and expend ourselves for the Lord and work hard for Him for a long time, we start to feel that we have built up some leverage. We start to demand rewards and blessings from God, and feel that it’s something we rightly deserve. When something that is out of line with our notions occurs (such as financial troubles at home, misfortunes in life, disasters or calamities) we still misunderstand and blame God. Sometimes we even deny or oppose Him. If God didn’t expose these corruptions and rebellions, we would be completely unable to know ourselves, and we would still live within our own notions and imaginings, believing that our actions were in line with God’s will. Wouldn’t that be fooling both ourselves and others, and misleading ourselves? The Lord Jesus revealed all of our corruption which is the only way we have gained true understanding of our own satanic dispositions, and have seen the truth of how we’ve been corrupted by Satan. It’s only through this that we’ve been better able to cast off our corrupt dispositions.

On top of that, God’s words are the light. Anything that is dark and evil will be revealed by the light of God’s words, and Satan’s tricks are also all exposed through His words. Just like the Pharisees who seemed to be people who devoutly served God in the eyes of the Jewish believers—but the Lord Jesus could see into their nature and essence of loving that which was unrighteous and hating the truth. He exposed them, saying things such as “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like to white washed sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27). “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). It’s only through the revealing words of the Lord Jesus that we were able to realize that as people, we can only see others’ outward appearances, but God can see into the depths of our hearts. He can see into our nature and essence; He can see who has true faith, who is just seeking satiation, and who hates the truth. God has a grasp on all of this. Through what is revealed by God’s words we can gain true discernment over the Pharisees’ nature and essence of being hypocritical and enemies of God.

God’s words are the utterances of the Creator for all of mankind. They are expressions of the truth, the way, and the life, and they can provide us with all that we need. They can resolve all of our difficulties and problems, pointing out a path of practice for us. God’s words possess power and authority and unlock all mysteries. They expose man’s corruption, they judge man’s unrighteousness and save us from evil. These are all unique characteristics that only God’s words possess. Once we’ve grasped the principles of discerning God’s voice, when we do hear God’s utterances we’ll be able to feel it within our soul. We’ll be able to see that God’s words are things that no human being could say and that there are mysteries contained within them that people could not fathom on their own. When we have that sort of feeling we must approach God’s word carefully, and seriously seek and investigate. And as long as we do determine that it is God’s voice, that it is an expression of the truth, we must accept and submit to it. This is the only way to be a wise virgin and is the only way we’ll be able to welcome the Lord’s return.

Sister Mu Zhen, I hope that this fellowship has been helpful for you, and I hope that we can all be wise virgins who very carefully seek and listen for the voice of the returned Lord. That way we can welcome the Lord as soon as possible and attend the banquet with Him!

Thanks to the Lord’s enlightenment and guidance!

Si’en

May 24, 2018

Source From: The Church of Almighty God

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