(3) About the Names of God and the Three Stages of God’s Work
Following his corruption by Satan, man lives under the domain of Satan and his corruption has grown ever deeper. Man cannot rid himself of the bonds of sin, and all need the salvation of God. In accordance with the needs of corrupt mankind, God has done three stages of work in the Age of Law, in the Age of Grace, and in the Age of Kingdom. In the Age of Law, God did the work of decreeing laws and commandments and guiding the life of man. In the Age of Grace, God became flesh and, upon the basis of His work in the Age of Law, carried out the work of crucifixion and redeemed man from sin. In the Age of Kingdom, God has once more become flesh and, upon the basis of the work of redemption of the Age of Grace, carries out the work of judgment beginning at the house of God, expresses all of the truths for the purification and salvation of man, and leads us onto the only way for the pursuit of purification and salvation. Only if we gain the truth as our life, becoming those who obey and worship God, will we be qualified to be led into the kingdom of God and receive God’s promises and blessings. The three stages of work of God’s salvation of man are closely connected, each stage is indispensable, each goes higher and deeper than the last, they are the three stages of work performed by one God in different ages, and only the three stages of God’s work are the complete work of God for the salvation of mankind.
The three names — Jehovah, Jesus, and Almighty God — are the different names God has taken in the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, and the Age of Kingdom. God takes different names because His work varies in different ages. God uses a new name to start a new age and represent the work of that age. God’s name was Jehovah in the Age of Law, and Jesus in the Age of Grace. God uses a new name — Almighty God — in the Age of Kingdom. This fulfills the prophecies in the Book of Revelation in the Bible: “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write…. Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God: and I will write on him My new name” (Revelation 3:7–12). “I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, said the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). Although God’s names and work in the three ages are different, there is only one God in substance, and the source is the same.
God’s three stages of work to save man are the work of one God. Though God performs a different work in each age and takes a different name in each age, God’s substance never changes; thus, Jehovah, Jesus, and Almighty God are the same one God. Jesus was the appearance of Jehovah, and Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus, and so Almighty God is the one true God who created the heavens and the earth and all things, commands all things, and holds sovereignty over everything, and He is the everlasting and one and only Creator.
In the three stages of the work of saving man, God has revealed His entire disposition to man, allowing us to see that God’s disposition is not only mercy and love, but also righteousness, majesty, and wrath, that His substance is holiness and righteousness, and is truth and love, and that God’s disposition and God’s authority and power are not possessed by any created or non-created being. From the time of creation to the end of the world, regardless of how God works, or how His name changes, or how God chooses to appear to mankind, God’s substance never changes, God is God, and all the words He speaks are the truth. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but God’s words shall never disappear, and each and every one of them shall be accomplished!
Source From: Gospel of The Descent of The Kingdom
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