What are the essential differences between the incarnate God and those who are used by God?

I. One Must Bear Witness to the Truths Concerning God’s Incarnation

5. What are the essential differences between the incarnate God and those who are used by God?

Bible Verses for Reference:

“I indeed baptize you with water to repentance. but He that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire” (Mat 3:11).

Relevant Words of God:

The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood but is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself. Be it His humanity or divinity, both submit to the will of the heavenly Father. The substance of Christ is the Spirit, that is, the divinity. Therefore, His substance is that of God Himself; this substance will not interrupt His own work, and He could not possibly do anything that destroys His own work, nor would He ever utter any words that go against His own will. …

… God Himself has no elements of disobedience; His substance is good. He is the expression of all beauty and goodness, as well as all love. Even in the flesh, God does not do any that disobeys God the Father. Even at the expense of sacrificing His life, He would be whole-heartedly willing and make no other choice. God has no elements of self-rightness and self-importance, or those of conceit and arrogance; He has no elements of crookedness. All that disobeys God comes from Satan; Satan is the source of all ugliness and wickedness. The reason that man has qualities alike those of Satan is because man has been corrupted and worked on by Satan. Christ has not been corrupted by Satan, hence He has only the characteristics of God and none of those of Satan.

from “The Substance of Christ Is Obedience to the Will of the Heavenly Father” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Because He is a man with the essence of God, He is above any of created humans, above any man who can perform God’s work. And so, among all those with a human shell like His, among all those who possess humanity, only He is the incarnate God Himself—all others are created humans. Though they all have humanity, created humans are nothing but human, while God incarnate is different: In His flesh He not only has humanity but more importantly has divinity.

from “The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Because God is holy and pure, and real and actual, His flesh comes from the Spirit. This is definite, and beyond doubt. Not only being able to bear testimony to God Himself, but also being able to completely do God’s will: this is one side of God’s substance. That the flesh comes from the Spirit with an image means that the flesh with which the Spirit clothes Himself is essentially different to the flesh of man, and this difference primarily lies in their spirit.

from “Chapter 9” of Interpretations of the Mysteries of God’s Words to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The flesh worn by the Spirit of God is God’s own flesh. The Spirit of God is supreme; He is almighty, holy, and righteous. So likewise, His flesh is also supreme, almighty, holy, and righteous. Flesh such as that is only able to do that which is righteous and beneficial to mankind, that which is holy, glorious, and mighty, and is incapable of doing anything that violates the truth or morality and justice, much less anything that betrays God’s Spirit. The Spirit of God is holy, and thus His flesh is incorruptible by Satan; His flesh is of a different essence than the flesh of man. For it is man, not God, who is corrupted by Satan; Satan could not possibly corrupt the flesh of God. Thus, despite the fact that man and Christ dwell within the same space, it is only man who is occupied, used, and entrapped by Satan. By contrast, Christ is eternally impervious to Satan’s corruption, because Satan will never be capable of ascending to the place of the most high, and will never be able to draw near to God. Today, you should all understand that it is only mankind, which has been corrupted by Satan, who betrays Me, and that this problem will always be irrelevant for Christ.

from “A Very Serious Problem: Betrayal (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The incarnate God is substantively different from the people used by God. The incarnate God is able to do the work of divinity, whereas the people used by God are not. At the beginning of each age, God’s Spirit speaks personally to launch the new era and bring man into a new beginning. When He has finished speaking, this signifies that God’s work within His divinity is done. Thereafter, people all follow the lead of those used by God to enter into their life experience.

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

Though the incarnate God possesses a normal human mind, His work is not adulterated by human thought; He undertakes the work in the humanity with a normal mind, under the precondition that He possesses the humanity with a mind, not by the exercise of normal human thought. No matter how lofty the thoughts of His flesh are, His work does not bear the stamp of logic or thinking. In other words, His work is not conceived by the mind of His flesh, but is a direct expression of the divine work in His humanity. All of His work is the ministry He needs to fulfill, and none of it is conceived by His brain. For example, healing the sick, casting out demons, and the crucifixion were not products of His human mind, could not have been achieved by any man with a human mind. Likewise, the conquering work of today is a ministry that must be performed by the incarnate God, but it is not the work of a human will, it is the work His divinity should do, work of which no fleshly human is capable.

from “The Essence of the Flesh Inhabited by God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Throughout the ages, the people God has used are all capable of normal thought and reason. They all know the principles of human conduct. They hold normal human ideas, and they are equipped with all the things ordinary people should have. Most of them have exceptional talent and innate intelligence. In working upon these people, God’s Spirit harnesses their talents, which are their God-given gifts. God’s Spirit brings their talents into play, using their strengths in God’s service. However, God’s essence is free of ideas and free of thought, unadulterated with human intentions, and even lacks what normal humans are equipped with. That is to say, He is not even conversant with the principles of human conduct. This is how it is when today’s God comes to the earth. His work and His words are unadulterated with human intentions or human thought, but they are a direct manifestation of the intentions of the Spirit, and He works directly in God’s behalf. This means that the Spirit directly speaks, that is, the divinity directly does the work, so it is not mixed with even one bit of man’s intentions. In other words, the incarnate God embodies divinity directly, is without human thought or ideas, and has no understanding of the principles of human conduct. If only divinity were at work (meaning if only God Himself were at work), there would be no way for God’s work to be carried out on earth. So when God comes to earth, He has to have a small number of people He uses to work within humanity in conjunction with the work that God does in divinity. In other words, He uses human work to uphold His divine work. Otherwise, there would be no way for man to come into direct contact with the divine work.

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

The work of God Himself is the work of the Holy Spirit; the work of the incarnate God is none less than the Holy Spirit at work. The work of men who are used is also the work of the Holy Spirit. It is only that the work of God is the complete expression of the Holy Spirit, and there is no difference, whereas the work of men being used is mixed with many human things, and it is not the direct expression of the Holy Spirit, let alone the complete expression. … When the Holy Spirit works on men being used, both their gifts and actual caliber are brought into play and are not reserved. Their actual caliber is all exerted to serve the work. It can be said that He works by using the available parts of men in order to achieve the working results. By contrast, work done in the incarnate flesh is to directly express the work of the Spirit and is not mixed with the human mind and thoughts, unreachable by man’s gifts, man’s experience or man’s innate condition.

from “God’s Work and Man’s Work” 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. … What man says is what they have experienced. It is what they have seen, what their minds can reach and what their senses can feel. That is what they can fellowship. 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. Even though the flesh is unable to reach it, it is the work already done by the Spirit. After incarnation, through the expression of the flesh, He enables people to know God’s being and allows people to see God’s disposition and the work that He has done. The work of man enables people to be more clear about what they should enter into and what they should understand; it involves leading people toward understanding and experiencing the truth. Man’s work is to sustain people; God’s work is to open up new paths and open up new eras for humanity, and to reveal to people that which is not known by mortals, enabling them to know His disposition. God’s work is to lead all of humanity.

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

No one who lives in the flesh is able directly to represent God, unless he be a man used by the Holy Spirit. However, even for a person like this, his disposition and what he lives out cannot be said completely to represent God; one can only say that what he lives out is directed by the Holy Spirit. The disposition of such a man cannot represent God.

…………

All the actions and deeds of Satan are manifested in man. Now all the actions and deeds of man are an expression of Satan and hence cannot represent God. Man is the embodiment of Satan, and the disposition of man is unable to represent the disposition of God. Some men are of good character; God may do some work through such men’s character, and the work they do is directed by the Holy Spirit. Yet their disposition is unable to represent God. The work God does upon them is just working with and expanding on what already exists within. Be it prophets or men used by God from ages past, no one can directly represent Him. … any man with a sinful nature cannot represent God, and the sin of man represents Satan. That is to say, sin does not represent God, and God is sinless. Even the work done in man by the Holy Spirit can only be considered to have been directed by the Holy Spirit and cannot be said to be done by man on behalf of God. But, as far as man is concerned, neither his sin nor his disposition represents God.

from “Corrupt Man Is Incapable of Representing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

A man used by God is not the incarnate God, and the incarnate God is not a man used by God; in this, there is a substantial difference. … 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. If man views the words spoken by God as simple enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and takes the words of the apostles and prophets as words personally spoken by God, then man is wrong.

from Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh

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