Question 2: God’s name in each age cannot represent God’s all, so what is the significance of His name in each age?
Answer: This question is very critical. Today Almighty God has already told us the answer. He says, “‘Jehovah’ is the name that I took during My work in Israel, and it means the God of the Israelites (God’s chosen people) who can take pity on man, curse man, and guide the life of man; the God who possesses great power and is full of wisdom. ‘Jesus’ is Emmanuel, which means the sin offering that is full of love, full of compassion, and which redeems man. He did the work of the Age of Grace, and He represents the Age of Grace, and can only represent one part of the work of the management plan. That is to say, only Jehovah is the God of the chosen people of Israel, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Moses, and the God of all the people of Israel. And so, in the current age, all the Israelites, apart from the Jewish people, worship Jehovah. They make sacrifices to Him on the altar and serve Him in the temple wearing priests’ robes. What they hope for is the reappearance of Jehovah. Only Jesus is the Redeemer of mankind, and He is the sin offering that redeemed mankind from sin. Which is to say, the name of Jesus came from the Age of Grace and came into existence because of the work of redemption in the Age of Grace. The name of Jesus came into existence to allow the people of the Age of Grace to be reborn and saved, and is a particular name for the redemption of the whole of mankind. Thus, the name Jesus represents the work of redemption, and denotes the Age of Grace. The name Jehovah is a particular name for the people of Israel who lived under the law. In each age and each stage of work, My name is not baseless, but holds representative significance: Each name represents one age. ‘Jehovah’ represents the Age of Law, and is the honorific for the God worshiped by the people of Israel. ‘Jesus’ represents the Age of Grace, and is the name of the God of all those who were redeemed during the Age of Grace. If man still longs for the arrival of Jesus the Savior during the last days, and still expects Him to arrive in the image He bore in Judea, then the entire six-thousand-year management plan would have stopped in the Age of Redemption, and could not have progressed any further. The last days, furthermore, would never arrive, and the age would never be brought to an end. This is because Jesus the Savior is only for the redemption and salvation of mankind. I took the name of Jesus only for the sake of all the sinners in the Age of Grace, but it is not the name by which I shall bring the whole of mankind to an end” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’).
From the words of Almighty God, we have understood the meaning of the names God has taken in each age. In the Age of Law, His name was Jehovah, and that name represented what He expressed to mankind in that age: a disposition of majesty, wrath, curse, and mercy. Then, God began the work of the Age of Law with the name of Jehovah. He issued His law and commandments and officially led newborn mankind in their life on earth. He required people to strictly adhere to the law and learn to worship Him, to honor Him as great. Blessings and grace would follow anyone who upheld the law. Anyone who violated the law would be stoned to death or would be incinerated by the fires of heaven. That is why the Israelites who lived under the law strictly upheld it and held the name of Jehovah as holy. They lived under the name of Jehovah for a few thousand years, until the Age of Law ended. At the end of the Age of Law, since mankind had become more and more corrupt and they were sinning more and more, there was no way for people to continue to uphold the law. Everyone was facing the constant danger of being punished for violating the law, which is why God carried out His work of redemption under the name of Jesus. He opened up the Age of Grace and brought the Age of Law to an end, expressing God’s disposition of love and mercy. He also bestowed His bountiful grace upon man, and in the end was crucified for man’s sake, thus redeeming us from our sins. From then on, we have begun to pray to the name of the Lord Jesus and to revere His name as holy, to enjoy His forgiveness of our sins, and His rich grace. The name “Jesus” is so that the people of the Age of Grace could be born again and gain salvation. Its meaning is being a sin offering of mercy and love for mankind’s redemption. The name “Jesus” represents God’s work of redemption, and it also represents His disposition of mercy and love. From the two stages of work, we can see that God has already completed that the name He adopts in each age has its own particular significance. Each name represents God’s work in that age and the disposition He expresses in that age. In the Age of Grace, when the Lord came, if He was not called Jesus, but was called Jehovah, then God’s work would have stopped in the Age of Law, and corrupt mankind never could have gained God’s redemption. In the end, man would have been condemned and punished for violating the law, and when God came in the last days, if He were still called Jesus, corrupt mankind could only gain redemption of their sins, but could never have their corrupt disposition cleansed to enter into the kingdom of God. This is because those redeemed by the Lord Jesus were forgiven of their sins, but their internal sinful nature still exists. They still sin frequently, so they have not been fully gained by God. So, in order to entirely save mankind from sin, God is now performing another stage of work of fully purifying and saving mankind, on the foundation of the work of the Lord Jesus. God’s name changes accordingly again and becomes Almighty God. As for God being called Almighty God in the last days, this was actually prophesied long ago. We can find this through careful review. Let’s read Revelation 1:8. “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.” Now, everyone please turn to chapter 11:16-17. “And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell on their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give you thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which are, and were, and are to come; because you have taken to you your great power, and have reigned.” This was also prophesied in Revelation 4:8, 16:7, 19:6 and many other places in the Bible. God’s new name in the last days is the Almighty, that is, Almighty God.
God is a wise God, and every single thing He does has great significance. The name Almighty God fully represents His work and the disposition He expresses in the last days. Without God personally unveiling these mysteries to us, no matter how many years we spent reading the Bible, we wouldn’t know these things. Let’s read the words of Almighty God together.
Almighty God says, “The work of God throughout all of His management is perfectly clear: The Age of Grace is the Age of Grace, and the last days are the last days. There are distinct differences between each age, for in each age God does work which is representative of that age. For the work of the last days to be done, there must be burning, judgment, chastisement, wrath, and destruction to bring the age to an end. The last days refer to the final age. During the final age, will God not bring the age to an end? To end the age, God must bring chastisement and judgment with Him. Only in this way can He bring the age to an end. … Therefore, during the Age of Law Jehovah was the name of God, and in the Age of Grace the name of Jesus represented God. During the last days, His name is Almighty God—the Almighty, who uses His power to guide man, conquer man, and gain man, and in the end, bring the age to its close” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (3)).
“I was once known as Jehovah. I was also called the Messiah, and people once called Me Jesus the Savior with love and esteem. Today, however, I am no longer the Jehovah or Jesus that people knew in times past; I am the God who has returned in the last days, the God who shall bring the age to an end. I am the God Himself that rises up from the end of the earth, replete with My entire disposition, and full of authority, honor, and glory. People have never engaged with Me, never known Me, and have always been ignorant of My disposition. From the creation of the world until today, not one person has seen Me. This is the God who appears to man in the last days but is hidden among man. He resides among man, true and real, like the burning sun and the blazing flame, filled with power and brimming with authority. There is not a single person or thing that shall not be judged by My words, and not a single person or thing that shall not be purified through the burning of fire. Eventually, all nations shall be blessed because of My words, and also smashed to pieces because of My words. In this way, all people during the last days shall see that I am the Savior returned, and that I am the Almighty God that conquers all of mankind. And all shall see that I was once the sin offering for man, but that in the last days I also become the flames of the sun that incinerate all things, as well as the Sun of righteousness that reveals all things. This is My work in the last days. I took this name and am possessed of this disposition so that all people may see that I am a righteous God, the burning sun, the blazing flame, and so that all may worship Me, the one true God, and so that they may see My true face: I am not only the God of the Israelites, and I am not just the Redeemer; I am the God of all creatures throughout the heavens and the earth and the seas” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’).
In the last days, God is doing His work of judgment of the Age of Kingdom under the name “Almighty God.” He has exposed mankind’s corrupt nature and judged our unrighteousness through His words so that we may know our nature and our essence through reading these words, see the truth of how deeply we have been corrupted by Satan, understand the root of our corruption, and know God’s righteousness, and His disposition which will not tolerate mankind’s offenses. He also points out a path and direction for us to change our dispositions so that we may abandon evil, pursue the truth, achieve a change in disposition and be saved by God. God has come to perform the work of judging and purifying mankind, dividing people according to their kind, and rewarding good and punishing evil, in order to thoroughly save corrupt mankind from Satan’s domain and bring an end to God’s six-thousand-year management plan. God has appeared to mankind in the last days with His disposition of righteousness, majesty, and wrath which will not tolerate offense. He has openly displayed His inherent disposition, and what He has and is to everyone. He has come to judge and chastise all of mankind’s corruption and unrighteousness with such disposition, to fully save us from sin and restore the original likeness of man. He wants all people to see not only His wisdom in creating the heavens, the earth, and all things, but even more the wisdom of His practical work in mankind. He not only created all things, but He also rules over all things. He was not only able to be a sin offering for mankind, but He is also able to perfect, transform, and purify us. He is the First, and the Last. No one can fathom His wondrousness or His actions. So, calling God by His name of Almighty God is most fitting. The work of the Holy Spirit now is just to uphold the work done under the name of Almighty God. Anyone who prays to the name of Almighty God and truly worships Almighty God can gain the work of the Holy Spirit, and enjoy the rich sustenance for life and watering given by God. Or else they will fall into darkness and lose their way. Currently, the churches who are still stuck in the Age of Grace are experiencing unprecedented desolation. Believers are becoming indifferent in their faith, preachers have nothing to preach about, and people are not moved when they pray to God. In addition, more and more people are succumbing to the temptations of the world. The primary reason of it is that they have not accepted the name of Almighty God, and they have not kept up with God’s new work.
—The movie script of God’s Name Has Changed?!