Unveiled: The True Meaning of “It Is Finished” Spoken by the Lord Jesus on the Cross

By Xiang’ai, Heilongjiang Province

Many brothers and sisters believe that what Jesus meant by saying “It is finished” when He was on the cross was that God’s work to save mankind was completed. But was this really the case? What exactly did He mean by saying “It is finished”? The following article will uncover the true meaning of the words “It is finished” that the Lord Jesus spoke upon the cross. Please read on …

You say that people who believe in God must accept God’s work of judgment in the last days, and only then can their corrupt disposition be changed. But we, in accordance with the Lord’s requirements, practice humility and patience, love our enemies, bear our crosses, subdue our bodies, abandon worldly things, and we work and preach for the Lord and so on. So aren’t all these our changes? Can’t they become the credentials for our entry into the kingdom of heaven? I believe that as long as we seek in this way, we can attain purification, and enter into the kingdom of heaven?

Answer: We can love our enemy, bear the cross, overcome our body, and spread the gospel of the Lord. These are positive behaviors coming from our belief in the Lord. Our exhibition of such good behaviors signifies that our faith in the Lord is true. These good behaviors may appear correct to people, as if these are in line with the word of God, but it does not mean that we are practicing God’s word and following the will of the heavenly Father, it doesn’t mean that we have quit our sinful nature and become sanctified. There is a reason why we cannot just look at people’s good behaviors by appearance. We also need to look at their intentions and ultimate purposes. If our intention is to obey God, love God, and satisfy God, this kind of good behavior is practicing the truth and obeying the will of the heavenly Father.

We have been forgiven our sins and justified through faith in the Lord, and furthermore, we have given up many things, expended ourselves, and labored tirelessly for the Lord. I believe this type of faith will allow us to be raptured into the kingdom of heaven. Why do you say that this won’t gain us entry into the heavenly kingdom?

Bible Reference:

“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. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Mat 7:21-23).

The 5 Prophecies in the Bible Concerning the Lord Jesus’ Return Have Been Fulfilled

By Zheng Xun

We are now at the end of the last days, and there are many brothers and sisters who believe sincerely in the Lord and await His return who must surely be thinking this question: In chapter 22, verse 12 of Revelation, the Lord Jesus prophesied, “And, behold, I come quickly.” The Lord promised us that He would come again in the last days, so has He now returned? This question really is so important to us Christians, so how exactly are we to know whether the Lord has really returned or not? In actual fact, the Lord Jesus has already told us through biblical prophecies, and as long as we take all the facts together and ponder them in earnest, then we will find the answer.

What Is God’s Salvation?

By Junying

God’s salvation is different from man saving each other; it’s not the financial relief given to the poor by the rich, it’s not the saving of the dying and the treating of the wounded performed on patients by doctors, and it’s not the deeds of charitable organizations or philanthropists. God’s salvation is prepared for the sake of saving man’s degenerate souls, and the entirety of His salvation contains the truth, the way and the life. After we attain salvation, there is no longer any more pain, tears or sorrow, nor any more feelings of helplessness in our families, our studies, our work and our lives, and our lives become filled with light and happiness; we live with more purpose and meaning, and we live within the promises and blessings of God.

Coming Home (Part 2)

By Muyi, South Korea

In this period, there was another brother named Yang who also investigated Almighty God’s work in the last days together with me. I had always had a careless and absent-minded attitude, but Brother Yang was earnest in his studies. Brother Yang said that he had rejected the gospel of Almighty God when people had preached it to him before but that hearing it again today must be an opportunity granted by God! He wanted to investigate it. Brother Yang saw that I was only interested in listening to the pastor’s words and not investigating with an open mind. He found a passage for me, which was Matthew 5:3–6: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. … Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Reading the word of the Lord, I wondered: Why is it that I can’t seek tranquilly in the presence of the Lord? If the Lord were really to return by some chance, and I did not listen to Him or investigate it, would I not be left behind? I should also learn some humility, and I must not blindly come to conclusions based on my own imagination. Just when I had decided to settle my heart to investigate it sincerely, a missionary of the church gave me a call out of the blue and asked me if I were still with the people from The Church of Almighty God. I said that yes, the missionary again reminded me to cease contact with them. The missionary’s words dispelled the thought that I had just been wanting to investigate. I thought, “The pastor and missionary have a much better understanding of the Bible than I do, and none of them acknowledges that the Lord has returned. I had too little understanding of the Bible and had no ability to discriminate for myself, so I had better just listen to what the pastor and missionary were saying.” When I hung up the phone, I said to Brother Cheng: “If Brother Yang wants to investigate, then you two go on speaking. I don’t want to hear it.” Just like that, I had once again stiffly rejected the salvation of God.

139-B-7 Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” (V)

What do we gain by submitting to God’s judgment and chastisement? We gain the truth expressed by God, we see the complete revelation of God’s disposition; we see all that God has and is being displayed, revealed in Christ. So, if we experience the work of Christ of the last days, and by the end we come to know the practical God incarnate, then we will have seen the disposition of the God in heaven, all that the God in heaven has and is, in other words, His essence. All these things are revealed in the incarnate God and the words that He has expressed, and these are the fruits and effects that we gain from our faith in the practical God. Aren’t these rewards tremendous? They are tremendous. If you believe in the practical God and experience His work, if you believe in Him for two, three decades, and you gain the truth, the way, and the life, if you live out a meaningful life and become a witness for Christ of the last days, then this is the greatest honor in life. It is even more honorable and meaningful than being a president or a scientist. Is that not the case? As I fellowship and chat with you here today, many of you have become somewhat edified in your lives, and is this not something meaningful? What do I feel in my heart? That I have not lived in vain, that I am somewhat useful, that I have contributed my insignificant part in the work of God and therefore I have not lived in vain.

The Truth Showed Her the Way to Get Along With Others (Part 1)

Xiaomo

Jiandan sat on her chair, staring at the number of articles on the worksheet in complete amazement and muttering to herself: “Why is there such a backlog of unchecked articles? Could Sister Liu Yan be in a bad state? But even if she is, she mustn’t let that interfere with her work.”

Jiandan was a conscientious, responsible person. When she saw a problem like this come up in work, she started to worry. She had initially wanted to call Sister Liu Yan over to ask her what exactly was going on. But thinking that if she started asking Liu Yan about her work when she herself had only just come back from performing another task somewhere else, she worried what Liu Yan would think of her. The two of them had always gotten along well together, so it would be terrible if this matter caused upset between them!

139-B-5 Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” (V)

Now, let me ask a question: When people read the word of God, why are they content to feel like they understand it on a conscious level and that if there are no difficulties in doing that, they think it’s all done and they’ve gotten through?

124-A-3 Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life”

God’s word says: “… and there are those whom He makes perfect and those whom He eliminates.” “And there are those whom He makes perfect,” who is this referring to? It is referring to those that seek the truth and those in God’s house who are comparatively more honest. They lie a lot less than most, they are a lot less cunning than most and they are more innocent and open than most. There are those in the church that ask these people, “What kind of sins have you committed?” These people will, without hesitation, say what kind of sins they are guilty of. Isn’t this an honest person? Some people have secrets that they will not talk about. No matter how you ask them, they will say, “I have none, none!” They have hidden these secrets deep inside! These kinds of people are so sly. These kinds of people think they are so smart, but they have fallen prey to their own crafty schemes. God does not live in their hearts. You say an honest person is silly but, God will live in their heart. You can see who is smart and who is silly. “And there are those whom He makes perfect,” what kind of person does God perfect? Those that live according to His intentions. What kind of person lives according to God’s intentions? Honest, upright people. People who love the truth and truly make an effort for God.

Spiritual Awakening of a “White Angel” (Part 2)

Miaoxiao

Recognizing Mankind That Has Been Corrupted by Satan

From then on, every day before the dawn, I got up to read God’s words, pray and sing hymns and enjoyed the kind of peace and joy that I had never experienced before. One day, I saw that it said in God’s words:

The Secret Tip to Resolving Hatred (Audio Essay)

Xiao Wu

I was self-employed. Mainly I sold all kinds of textiles, and I also made clothes for my customers part-time. After a few years, my business became more and more popular, and people around me were all very envious. Later, a neighboring household opened the same kind of shop as mine and became my competitor.

Knowing God Is the Path to Fearing God and Shunning Evil

Everyone should examine anew his life of believing in God to see whether, in the pursuit of God, he has truly understood, truly comprehended, and truly come to know God, whether he truly knows what attitude God bears to the various types of human beings, and whether he truly understands what God is working upon him and how God defines his every act. This God, who is by your side, guiding the direction of your progress, ordaining your destiny, and supplying your needs—how much do you, in the final analysis, understand and how much do you really know about Him? Do you know what He works on you every single day? Do you know the principles and purposes on which He bases His every action? Do you know how He guides you? Do you know the means by which He supplies you? Do you know the methods with which He leads you? Do you know what He wishes to obtain from you and what He wishes to achieve in you? Do you know the attitude He takes to the multifarious ways in which you behave? Do you know whether you are a person beloved of Him? Do you know the origin of His joy, anger, sorrow, and delight, the thoughts and ideas behind them, and His essence? Do you know, ultimately, what kind of God is this God that you believe in? Are these and other questions of the sort something that you have never understood or thought about? In pursuing your belief in God, have you, through real appreciation and experience of God’s words, cleared up your misunderstandings about Him? Have you, after receiving God’s discipline and chastening, arrived at genuine submission and caring? Have you, in the midst of God’s chastisement and judgment, come to know the rebelliousness and satanic nature of man and gained a modicum of understanding about God’s holiness? Have you, under the guidance and enlightenment of God’s words, begun to have a new outlook of life? Have you, in the midst of the trial sent by God, felt His intolerance for man’s offenses as well as what He requires of you and how He is saving you? If you do not know what it is to misunderstand God, or how to clear up this misunderstanding, then one can say that you have never entered into true communion with God and have never understood God, or at least one can say you have never wished to understand Him.

Some people ask: After believing in the Lord, we practice humility and patience, love our enemies, bear our crosses, abandon worldly things and we work and preach for the Lord and so on. We have achieved a little change. So why must we accept God’s work of judgment in the last days before being able to be cleansed and saved?

Answer:

We can love our enemy, bear the cross, overcome our body, and spread the gospel of the Lord. These are positive behaviors coming from our belief in the Lord. Our exhibition of such good behaviors signifies that our faith in the Lord is true. These good behaviors may appear correct to people, as if these are in line with the word of God, but it does not mean that we are practicing God’s word and following the will of the heavenly Father, it doesn’t mean that we have quit our sinful nature and become sanctified. There is a reason why we cannot just look at people’s good behaviors by appearance.

139-B-8 Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” (V)

What results can be achieved from reading God’s words? Regardless of what God’s words relate to, remember, you must at the very least achieve results in four aspects: First, knowing the truth of your own corrupt essence; second, understanding God’s will and how to deal with God’s requirements, that is, understanding what God’s will is and what God requires of mankind; third, understand the reality of truth in God’s words; fourth, from within God’s words, understand the principles of practicing them, as well as the paths to practicing the truth. If you have achieved results in these four aspects, then you have truly understood the truth. You can get results in these four aspects from understanding any truth. Therefore, during the process of eating and drinking God’s words, if someone is able to understand the truth, then that is truly the process of experiencing God’s work. Precisely speaking, the process of man’s experience of God’s judgment and chastisement is the process of them learning the truth of their corrupt essence. It is also the process of understanding the truth and entering into reality.

For those who have believed in the Lord Jesus for many years and have fervently expended themselves and worked tirelessly, they have suffered a lot for the Lord. Could it be that by not accepting Almighty God’s work in the last days they would be denied salvation and entry into the kingdom of heaven?

Bible Reference:

“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. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Mat 7:21-23).

That Day the Sky Was Especially Clear and Sunny (Part 1)

By Tian Ying, China

I used to be a believer in the Three-Self Church in China. When I first started participating in gatherings, the pastors would often say to us: “Brothers and sisters, it is recorded in the Bible that: ‘For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation’ (Rom 10:10).

The Lord Jesus was the incarnate God and no one can deny this. Now you testify that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned in the flesh, but religious pastors and elders say that what you believe in is just a person, they say that you have been deceived, and we cannot figure this out. At that time when the Lord Jesus became flesh and came to do the work of redemption, the Jewish Pharisees also said that the Lord Jesus was just a man, saying that anyone who believed in Him was being deceived. Therefore, we would like to pursue this aspect of the truth about the incarnation. What exactly is the incarnation? And what is the essence of the incarnation? Please fellowship this for us.

Answer:

Your belief in the Lord Jesus as God’s incarnation is not false. But why do you believe in the Lord Jesus? Do you really think of the Lord Jesus as God?

139-B-6 Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” (V)

Then, are you not a descendant of Satan? Are you not the progeny of the great red dragon? Are you not a devil? Are you not an antichrist? You may say “yes” to all of them. However, do not simply admit it in speech but also admit it in your heart. An admission through words is simply a way to muddle through.

Spiritual Awakening of a “White Angel” (Part 1)

Miaoxiao

Introduction

I am a retired obstetrics and gynecology attending physician. Most of my life was spent in an overworked void. I racked my brains to pursue status, fame and fortune and was unscrupulous in my efforts to make money, busy rushing around for several decades. I even betrayed my own conscience and personality and lost my humanity and rationality, living without any meaning. Until one day when I read the word of Almighty God and saw the truth that I had been corrupted by Satan I gradually had a spiritual awakening….