In the last days, it is our greatest hope to receive the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. To help all the people who yearn for God’s appearance to welcome the return of the Lord Jesus Christ soon, our blog will update the latest message on the return of the Lord.
As to God’s name, it is a very important aspect of the truth. It is written in Exodus 3:15, “And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations.” Exodus 6:2-3 says, “And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am the LORD: And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.” These verses show that God did not have a name in the beginning. At that time, God was just called “God.” God only took the name “Jehovah” when He called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. That is, God had the name Jehovah when He began the work of saving mankind.
Editor’s note: Plagues, earthquakes, famines, and all manner of other disasters are occurring frequently in the last days, and the prophecies of the Lord’s coming have been fulfilled. The Lord said that God’s sheep will hear God’s voice, so how then can we recognize the voice of God? By reading this article, you will understand how the wise virgins are able to discern God’s voice.
2000 years ago, the Lord Jesus told His disciples the signs of His return in the last days, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:7-8).
Outside the window, the wind was biting cold and a heavy snow was falling. It was already 9 p.m. when Xuesong returned home from spreading the gospel.
His wife quickly warmed up dinner for him. When he was about to eat, his daughter Xiaoyuan also came back after supporting the church. Xuesong hurried to serve her a helping and was ready to have dinner with her. But Xiaoyuan was not in the mood to eat. At the sight of this, Xuesong asked her, “What’s wrong, Xiaoyuan? You look like something’s on your mind.”
The greatest longing for those of us who believe in the Lord is to enter the heavenly kingdom, and so we often imagine how beautiful it must be there. Of course, we are also confident about our entry into heaven, for it says in the Bible: “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:14). We therefore believe that our sins are forgiven after we have faith in the Lord, and that we are then no longer sinful. We also believe that, when the Lord comes, we will immediately be raised up into the heavenly kingdom. Thinking of these things gets us very excited, and we long for the Lord to hurry to us. This is what I longed for before too. But later, after fellowshiping and discussing this matter with my brothers and sisters, I came to a new discovery, and here I’d like to fellowship what I gained with you all …
God says, “Jesus left riding on a white cloud—this is fact—but how could He return on a white cloud among men and still be called Jesus? If He really did arrive on a cloud, how would man fail to recognize Him? Would people all over the world not recognize Him? In that case, would Jesus alone not be God? In that case, the image of God would be the appearance of a Jew and would moreover be the same forever. Jesus said that He would arrive as He had departed, but do you know the true meaning of His words? Can it be that He told this group of you? All you know is that He will arrive as He departed, riding on a cloud, but do you know exactly how God Himself does His work? If you were truly able to see, then how are the words that Jesus spoke to be explained? He said: When the Son of man comes in the last days, He Himself will not know, the angels will not know, the messengers in heaven will not know, and all humanity will not know. Only the Father will know, that is, only the Spirit shall know. Even the Son of man Himself does not know, yet you are able to see and know? If you were capable of knowing and seeing with your own eyes, would these words not have been spoken in vain? And what did Jesus say at the time? ‘But of that day and hour knows no man, not the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. … Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes.’ When that day comes, the Son of man Himself will not know it. The Son of man refers to the incarnate flesh of God, a normal and ordinary person. Even the Son of man Himself does not know, so how could you know? Jesus said that He would arrive as He had departed. When He arrives, even He Himself does not know, so can He inform you in advance? Are you able to see His arrival? Is that not a joke?”
Some Christians believe that as long as they accept the Lord Jesus’ salvation of the cross, verbally acknowledge the Lord and believe in Him in their hearts, then they are saved and will be able to enter the heavenly kingdom. There is also a biblical basis for this belief, which is: “That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes to righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation” (Romans 10:9–10). They therefore believe even more strongly that those who are saved by faith can enter into the heavenly kingdom. But there are some Christians who remain confused, and they think that, seeing as we are capable of becoming hot-headed and losing our tempers at people every day, so much so that we are not even able to show our family members tolerance and patience, and we are capable of telling lies to deceive others in our everyday lives, can people such as this who live in sin enter into the kingdom of God? Let’s fellowship about this topic today.
One day, Sister Ma made an appointment with me to come to Co-worker Xiao’s house. Sister Ma said, “These days, when studying the Scripture, I’m always confused by a question. I want to discuss it with you, and listen to your understanding. In the Bible, I saw one of the ‘Seven Woes’ with which the Lord Jesus cursed the Pharisees: ‘But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in’ (Matthew 23:13). I thought: These scribes and Pharisees were master of the Bible and served Jehovah God in the temple and synagogue all the year round. They ought to have known God best. However, they didn’t accept the Lord’s salvation and even hindered the Jews from doing it when the Lord Jesus came to do work. Unexpectedly, they nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross in the end. They were all familiar with the Bible and the laws. How come they didn’t know God but rather resisted Him? It’s very necessary for us to figure it out, I think.”
Brother Li felt puzzled about whether one can recognize the Lord according to the Lord Jesus’ form in welcoming His return, so he went to Brother Zhao to seek and explore it. On seeing Brother Zhao, he said without preamble, “The Bible says, ‘You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven’ (Acts 1:11). All along, most believers in the Lord think that the Lord Jesus will certainly descend in the image of a Jew when He returns, because He rose to heaven in the form of a Jewish person. And I also think so. But why did some brothers and sisters recently say that it was wrong and was delimiting God to have such understanding? So, will the Lord Jesus really arrive among us in the image of a Jew? If it is really not like this, then how can we recognize Him when He returns? I’m having difficulty seeing into these questions. Brother Zhao, you’ve been a believer for many years and are familiar with the Bible. Can you talk about your understanding?”
Nowadays, all kinds of disasters like famines, earthquakes, and locusts plague have become a common occurrence. Especially, the pandemic and floods are now growing in scale. All these signs have precisely fulfilled the prophecies of the Lord’s return. 2,000 years ago, the disciples asked the Lord Jesus, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3). The Lord Jesus answered, “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:7–8).
Welcome the Lord Jesus Christ's Return 