The way of eternal life is the way of truth which allows man to live forever. It can allow man to thoroughly escape the bondage and constraints of sin, enable man to gain the truth as life and become compatible with God, and enable man to absolutely obey God and never again commit sin and resist or betray God. Only the way which can achieve these results is the way of eternal life. As we all know, at the end of the Age of Law when people were sinning more and more, could not keep the laws, and were all faced with the danger of being put to death under the law. The Lord Jesus was crucified to redeem mankind, bearing mankind’s sins. What He did was the work of redemption, providing people with the way of repentance. After that, people only had to believe in the Lord and confess and repent to Him and their sins would be pardoned. However, although our sins are forgiven, our sinful, satanic nature remains deeply rooted within us. Controlled by such satanic dispositions as selfishness, arrogance and deceitfulness, we still continue our never-ending cycle of sinning and confessing, unable to break free from the bondage of sin. The Lord Jesus said: “Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the son stays ever” (John 8:34–35). So how could we who often sin, resist and betray God have obtained the way of eternal life?
Then how can we gain the way to eternal life? The Lord Jesus prophesied: “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” (John 16:12–13). “And has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man” (John 5:27). “For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). “Sanctify them through Your truth: Your word is truth” (John 17:17). “The Son of man” means He is born of man and possesses normal humanity. If the Lord came in the form of His resurrected spiritual body, then He could not be called the Son of man. So, the Lord’s prophecies show us that He will incarnate as the Son of man in the last days, and will express many truths to perform a stage of work of judging and cleansing man. Only these truths are the way of eternal life that God bestows upon mankind. God says: “Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering; He did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to become the sin offering and bear the sins of man, but it also required God to do even greater work to rid man completely of his satanically corrupted disposition. And so, now that man has been forgiven of his sins, God has returned to the flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment. This work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and they shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.”
“In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, to expose the essence of man, and to dissect the words and deeds of man. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, the words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan, and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth of which man is utterly bereft. Only methods such as these can be called judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God.”
God’s words are so clear. Now in the last days, God has become flesh and is doing the work of judging and purifying mankind. He has expressed all the truths to cleanse, save and perfect mankind; these truths are the way of eternal life that God bestows upon man in the last days. God has judged and exposed through His words our corrupt dispositions and our God-resisting nature and essence, allowing us to see clearly that we really are full of satanic dispositions such as selfishness and despicableness, crookedness and deceitfulness, arrogance and conceit, greed and evil, and that we are not living out a human likeness. His judgment also allows us to gain some knowledge of God’s righteous disposition and gradually come to fear God in our hearts. Then we begin to hate ourselves and forsake ourselves, and seek the truth and practice in accordance with God’s words in all things. Then our corrupt dispositions are gradually cleansed. Obviously, only by accepting the way of eternal life brought by Christ of the last days, will we have the chance to be purified by God and gain eternal life. If we don’t accept the work of judgment and purification brought by Christ of the last days, then we’ll always be bound by sin and will never be qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven and obtain eternal life. Instead, we’ll end up being punished by God because of sinning and resisting Him. This is decided by God’s holy and righteous disposition.
