How Should We Welcome the Return of the Lord?
From the facts listed above, we can see that six signs of the return of the Lord have already appeared. Now is the critical moment in welcoming the coming of the Lord. What must we do before we are able to welcome the return of the Lord? The Lord Jesus gave us the answer to this question long ago.
In John 16:12–13, the Lord Jesus 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.” Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” There are also many prophecies in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation: “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” As you can see from these verses, when the Lord returns, He will issue utterances and speak to the churches, telling us all the truths we did not understand before. Those who, having heard God’s speech and recognized His voice, accept Him and submit to Him will be able to welcome the Lord and attend the feast of the Lamb; those who do not recognize the voice of God, on the other hand, will certainly not be God’s sheep, and they will be exposed and eliminated by God. In this, it is apparent that when we wait for the coming of the Lord, it is critical that we find the Holy Spirit’s words to the churches and learn to listen to the voice of God. As Almighty God says: “[S]ince we are searching for the footprints of God, it behooves us to search for God’s will, for the words of God, for His utterances — because wherever there are new words spoken by God, the voice of God is there, and wherever there are the footsteps of God, God’s deeds are there.Wherever there is the expression of God, there God appears, and wherever God appears, there the truth, the way, and the life exist” (“The Appearance of God Has Ushered in a New Age” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Hearing this, some people may ask: “So, where do we go to find the voice of God?” In Matthew 25:6, the Lord Jesus said, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him.” Since the Lord calls His sheep with His utterances and speech, there will certainly be some people who will hear the Lord’s voice first and follow the footsteps of the Lamb, and then call out everywhere, “The bridegroom comes,” which is to spread the news of the Lord’s return and the words of the Lord’s second coming, so that all may have the chance to hear the voice of God. It is therefore said that whether we can keep up with the footsteps of the Lamb depends on whether we have hearts that long to seek Him and whether we can recognize the voice of God. Just as when the Lord Jesus first appeared and began to work, Peter, Mary, and others recognized the Lord Jesus as the Messiah from His work and speech, and they followed Him and began to witness His gospel. Those who hear the work and words of the Lord Jesus and can recognize the voice of God are the wise virgins, while those priests, scribes, and Pharisees who did not love the truth heard the authority and power of the words of the Lord Jesus yet did not investigate them. Instead, they adhered stubbornly to their notions and imaginings, thinking that “one who is not called the Messiah is not God” and waiting for the Messiah to appear to them. They even condemned and blasphemed the work of the Lord Jesus, and, in the end, they lost the salvation of God. There are also the Jewish believers who followed the Pharisees and did not distinguish the voice of God in the work and words of the Lord Jesus, who listened blindly to the priests, scribes, and Pharisees, and rejected the Lord’s salvation. Such people become the foolish virgins who are abandoned by the Lord. Some people may ask: “So how can the voice of God be distinguished?” When in fact, this is not difficult. The utterance and speech of God must be unspeakable by man. It must be particularly authoritative and powerful. It will be able to uncover the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven and reveal man’s corruption, and so on. All these words are truths, and they can all be the life of man. Anyone with a heart and a spirit will feel it when he hears the word of God, and there will be a confirmation in his heart that the Creator is speaking and issuing His utterance to us humans. The sheep of God listen to the voice of God. If we are sure that these words are the voice of God, then we should accept and obey them, no matter how little they conform to our notions. Only in this way can we welcome the return of the Lord.
In the world today, only The Church of Almighty God testifies that the Lord — Almighty God incarnate — has already returned. Almighty God has already expressed millions of words, and these words are published on the Internet for people from all countries and walks of life to inspect. One by one, the many people of each nation who long for truth come in hopes of hearing God’s voice and welcoming the Lord. As it is said in the Bible, “Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him.” If we simply read more of the words expressed by Almighty God, listening to discern whether they are God’s voice, we will then be able to determine whether or not the Lord has returned. As the Lord Jesus said in John 10:27: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” I believe that as long as we have a heart of humbly seeking, we can recognize the voice of God and welcome the return of the return of the Lord.
Source From: Eastern Lightning
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