1. One must understand that the message spread by the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace was only the way of repentance.
Bible
Verses for Reference:
“Repent:
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”
(Mat 4:17).
“For
this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins”
(Mat 26:28).
“And
that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem”
(Luk 24:47).
Relevant
Words of God:
In
the beginning, Jesus spread the gospel and preached the way of
repentance, and then went on to baptize man, heal the sick, and cast
out demons. In the end, He redeemed mankind from sin and completed
His work for the entire age.
from
“The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)” in The Word Appears in the
Flesh
The
work Jesus did was in accordance with the needs of man in that age.
His task was to redeem humanity, to forgive them their sins, and so
His disposition was wholly one of humility, patience, love, piety,
forbearance, mercy, and lovingkindness. He blessed humanity richly
and brought them grace in abundance, and all the things that they
could possibly enjoy, He gave them for their enjoyment: peace and
happiness, His tolerance and love, His mercy and lovingkindness. In
those days, all that man encountered was an abundance of things to
enjoy: Their hearts were at peace and reassured, their spirits were
consoled, and they were sustained by the Savior Jesus. That they
could obtain these things was a consequence of the age in which they
lived. In the Age of Grace, man had already undergone Satan’s
corruption, and so the work of redeeming all humanity required an
abundance of grace, infinite forbearance and patience, and even more,
an offering sufficient to atone for humanity’s sins, in order to
arrive at its effect. What humanity saw in the Age of Grace was
merely My offering of atonement for the sins of humanity, that is,
Jesus. All they knew was that God could be merciful and forbearing,
and all they saw was Jesus’ mercy and lovingkindness. This was
entirely because they lived in the Age of Grace. And so, before they
could be redeemed, they had to enjoy the many kinds of 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 also have the chance to be redeemed through enjoying
Jesus’ forbearance and patience. Only through Jesus’ forbearance
and patience did they win the right to receive forgiveness and enjoy
the abundance of grace bestowed by Jesus—just as Jesus said, “I
have come to redeem not the righteous but sinners, to allow sinners
to be forgiven of their sins.” … The more Jesus loved mankind,
forgiving them their sins and bringing unto them enough mercy and
lovingkindness, the more mankind gained the capacity to be saved, to
be 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 bosom. He did
not grow angry at them or despise them, but was full of consolation;
He never flew into a rage in their midst, but forbore with their sins
and turned a blind eye to their foolishness and ignorance, to the
point of saying, “Forgive others seventy times seven times.” So
His heart transformed the hearts of others. It was in this way that
the people received forgiveness of sins through His forbearance.
from
“The True Story Behind Work in the Age of Redemption” in The Word
Appears in the Flesh
At
the time, Jesus only spoke to His disciples a series of sermons in
the Age of Grace, such as how to practice, how to gather together,
how to ask in prayer, how to treat others, and so forth. The work He
carried out was that of the Age of Grace, and He expounded only on
how the disciples and those who followed Him ought to practice. He
did only the work of the Age of Grace and none of the last days. …
The work
of God in each age has clear boundaries; He does only the
work of the current age and never does He carry out the next stage of
work in advance. Only in this way can His representative work of each
age be brought to the fore. Jesus had
spoken only of the signs of the last days, of how to be patient and
how to be saved, how to repent and confess, as well as how to bear
the cross and endure suffering; never did He speak of what man in the
last days should enter into or how to seek to satisfy God’s
will.
from
“How Can Man Who Has Defined God in
His Conceptions Receive the Revelations of God?” in The Word
Appears in the Flesh
Man
received much grace, such as the peace and happiness of the flesh,
the faith of one member bringing blessing on an entire family, the
healing of sickness, and so on. The rest were the good deeds of man
and his godly appearance; if man could live on the basis of these, he
was considered an acceptable believer. Only believers of this kind
could enter heaven after death, which means that they were saved.
But, in their lifetime, these people did not understand at all the
way of life. All they did was to commit sins and then confess their
sins in a constant cycle without making any path toward changing
their disposition: Such was the condition of man in the Age of Grace.
from
“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the
Flesh
The
work of Jesus was only for the sake of man’s redemption and the
crucifixion. Thus, there was no need for Him to say more words in
order to conquer any man. Much of what He taught man was drawn from
the words of the Scriptures, and even if His work did not exceed the
Scriptures, still He was able to accomplish the work of the
crucifixion. His was not the work of the word, nor for the sake of
conquering mankind, but in order to redeem mankind. He only acted as
the sin offering for mankind, and did not act as the source of the
word for mankind.
from
“The Vision of God’s Work (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
The
Age of Grace preached the gospel of repentance, and provided that man
believed, then he would be saved. … 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. … Jesus did not come to perfect and gain man, but to do one
stage of work: bringing forth the gospel of the kingdom of heaven and
completing the work of the crucifixion—and so once Jesus was
crucified, His work came to a complete end.
from
“The Vision of God’s Work (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
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