Today, the epidemic is spreading around the world, and disasters are growing worse. We have seen earthquakes, famines, and wars, and all believers eagerly look forward to the coming of the Savior, the Lord Jesus, being lifted up into the air to meet the Lord, and escaping the suffering of these disasters as soon as possible. But after waiting for so many years, they still have not seen the Savior, Lord Jesus, descend on the clouds, much less have they seen anyone lifted up in the air to meet the Lord, which has left many disappointed. It comes as a complete surprise to people that instead of welcoming Jesus’ arrival on clouds, they see Eastern Lightning repeatedly testifies to the Lord’s return as Almighty God, who expresses the truth and does the work of judgment. This testimony grabs people’s attention, so that they see it quite clearly. However, due to the frantic suppression and arrests by the CCP and wild blasphemy and slander by antichrist forces in the religious world, people ignored and dismissed the matter of investigating the true way. Unexpectedly, in just a few years, the Son of man, who was so looked down upon, expressed so much truth, more and more people have heard the voice of God, all stood up to follow Almighty God. This has not only shaken the entire religious world, but the entire globe. The Word Appears in the Flesh shines like true light from the east to the west, illuminating the whole world, and those who love the truth and yearn for God’s appearance come to the light, hear God’s voice, and attend the wedding feast of the Lamb. These facts have left everyone surprised: What kind of person is this? Where did He come from? How did He do something so powerful? Many people have asked: Is Eastern Lightning really the manifestation and work of God? Could it be that the words of Almighty God are the Creator’s voice speaking to humankind? “Impossible,” they think, “when the Lord returns, the first thing He will do is lift up the believers to meet with Him in the sky. He will never allow His believers to fall into disaster and speak to do the work of judgment. That can’t happen.” Today, many people are watching the movies, hymns, and testimony videos of The Church of Almighty God, and most importantly, the readings of Almighty God’s word. There is a rich well of content, and life in Canaan is truly a wonderful experience. This fact forces people to admit that only the work of the Holy Spirit, and no person, could achieve this. Without God’s appearance and work, no one could accomplish such great things. This makes many believers in the Lord wonder: Why does God do the work of judgment in the last days? We have been forgiven for our sins, and God has justified us, so why do we have to experience judgment and chastisement? God’s judgment in the last days ought to be aimed at unbelievers, so why does judgment begin with the house of God? Just what is going on here? This topic will be the focus of our fellowship today.

Before we begin our fellowship, let us first be clear, the fact that God comes incarnate as the Son of man in the last days to do the work of judgment is something that was arranged by God long ago. No matter what people’s notions or how great the hindrances, God’s work of judgment in the last days cannot be altered by human will, and it cannot be stopped by any country or force. So, some people will ask, is there a biblical basis for God’s work of judgment in the last days? Of course there is a biblical basis, and it’s quite strong. There are at least two hundred references to “judgment” throughout the Bible, and the Lord Jesus also personally prophesied His return in the last days as the incarnate Son of man to express the truth and do the work of judgment. Now, let’s list a few portions of the Lord Jesus’ prophecy. “And if any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects Me, and receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:47–48). “For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son: … And He gave Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man” (John 5:22, 27). “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” (John 16:12–13). There is also 1 Peter 4:17, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” These words are very clear: “The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day,” “committed all judgment to the Son,” “judgment must begin at the house of God,” and “He will guide you into all truth.” We can see that the Lord will come as the Son of man when He returns in the last days, to express the truth and do the work of judgment starting from the house of God. This is indisputable. Today, Almighty God expresses so much truth and carries out the work of judgment starting with the house of God, which is to judge and purify all who come before God’s throne, and guide God’s chosen people in entering into all truths. And God has formed a group of overcomers before the disaster. This lets us see that these prophecies are completely fulfilled and redeemed.

So, some will ask, our sins are already forgiven because we believe in the Lord, so why do we need to accept God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days? Almighty God’s words reveal this mystery of truth, so let’s take a look at what Almighty God says. Almighty God says, “Before man was redeemed, many of Satan’s poisons had already been planted within him and, after thousands of years of being corrupted by Satan, he has within him an established nature that resists God. Therefore, when man has been redeemed, it is nothing more than a case of redemption in which man is bought at a high price, but the poisonous nature within him has not been eliminated. Man that is so defiled must undergo a change before becoming worthy to serve God. By means of this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt essence within his own self, and he will be able to change completely and become clean. Only in this way can man become worthy to return before the throne of God. … For all that man may have been redeemed and forgiven of his sins, it can only be considered as God not remembering the transgressions of man and not treating man in accordance with his transgressions. However, when man, who lives in a body of flesh, has not been set free from sin, he can only continue to sin, endlessly revealing his corrupt satanic disposition. This is the life that man leads, an endless cycle of sinning and being forgiven. The majority of mankind sin in the day only to confess in the evening. This way, even though the sin offering is forever effective for man, it will not be able to save man from sin. Only half the work of salvation has been completed, for man still has a corrupt disposition. … It is not easy for man to become aware of his sins; he has no way of recognizing his own deeply rooted nature, and he must rely on judgment by the word in order to achieve this result. Only thus can man gradually be changed from this point onward” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)). Almighty God’s words are very clear. What the Lord Jesus did in the Age of Grace was the work of redemption. If we believe in the Lord, confess our sins, and repent, our sins are forgiven. We are no longer condemned and executed for breaking the law, and we are able to enjoy the Lord’s bountiful grace. But does the forgiveness of sin mean we are free from sin and made holy? Does the forgiveness of sin mean we achieve true obedience to God? Absolutely not. We all see clearly that believers sin during the day, confess their sins at night. We live trapped in this cycle, we often sin involuntarily, and we all pray to the Lord to say, “I am really suffering, why can’t I free myself from the constraints of sin?” We all want to free ourselves from worldly entanglements and expend for the Lord, we want to genuinely love the Lord and love our neighbors as ourselves, but what we do is involuntary, and we can’t even resolve the problem of lying frequently. Why is this? Because people have sinful natures and corrupt dispositions, and this is the root of sin. If we don’t resolve the root of sin, even if we try to restrain ourselves, we still sin involuntarily. Although some people can sincerely expend for the Lord, suffer, pay a price, and endure without complaints, but in the depths of their hearts, can they truly obey God? Do they truly love God? Many people don’t see this matter clearly. To gain blessings, enter the kingdom of heaven, and gain rewards, people can do many good things, but what contaminants are mixed in with these good deeds? Are they contaminated by any transactions or intentions? If the disaster comes, and we are not lifted up, but are instead cast into it, will we complain against God? Will we blame and deny God? When God’s work is in line with human notions, we thank and praise God, but if God’s work is not in line with our notions and not what we want, will we judge and condemn God? For example, when the Lord Jesus says to those who preach and cast out demons in His name, “Depart from Me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23) will those people develop notions and resist and condemn the Lord? Consider that if the Lord Jesus still came in the image of the Jewish Son of man, to express the truth in churches, how many people in the religious world would deny and depart from the Lord? How many people would accept the truth expressed by the Lord Jesus and say He is the one true God? How many people would condemn the Lord Jesus as a man instead of God? It’s worth reflecting on these facts. The Pharisees of Judaism were people who believed in God for generations, and who often presented sin offerings to God. When Jehovah God incarnated and became the Lord Jesus, why didn’t the Pharisees know He was the appearance of Jehovah God? Why did they condemn the Lord Jesus, who expressed the truth? Why was the Lord Jesus nailed to the cross? What is the essence of the problem here? Why did the Pharisees not know God’s appearance and work, despite their ancestors believing in God for generations? Why did they still condemn and resist God? We have all seen with our own eyes that God has appeared and works as the incarnate Son of man in the last days and expressed so much truth. So why do so many people in the religious world frantically resist, condemn, and even blaspheme Almighty God? If the Lord Jesus had returned, still had the image of the Jewish Son of man, and expressed truth in the religious world, would He be driven out of the church, or even convicted and put to death? It’s all too possible. Almighty God expresses the truth in the same way as the Lord Jesus, and both are normal, ordinary Son of man. The religious world resists Almighty God so frantically, so would they be more open to the Lord Jesus in the image of a Son of man? Why does the religious world still judge people who follow Almighty God as believers in a person instead of God? If they were born in the time of the Lord Jesus, wouldn’t they judge those who follow the Lord Jesus as believers in a person rather than God? What, exactly, is the essence of this problem? This happens because corrupt human beings all have satanic natures, and we all live by our satanic dispositions. This is why it isn’t strange at all that we resist and condemn God. Many people don’t see this clearly. They think that once our sins are forgiven and that God doesn’t see us as guilty, we become holy. They think that once our sins are forgiven, we can win God’s approval through good deeds. These views are very wrong. The fact that the Pharisees resisted and condemned the Lord Jesus is enough to see clearly that people have satanic natures and corrupt dispositions, so no matter how many years we believe in God, how much we understand the Bible, or what age we are born in, we all still hate the truth, resist God, condemn God, and are hostile to God. For this reason alone, God’s work of judgment in the last days is crucial! Because of our satanic nature, corrupt humankind should accept God’s judgment and chastisement. Without this judgment and chastisement, as corrupt as we are, we will always sin and resist God, we will never be truly obedient to God or compatible with God, and we will never be qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven. Although we all know and understand that God’s disposition is righteous, no one can see the frightening state of our deep corruption by Satan, to what degree we can resist God, or how much we can hate the Son of man who can express the truth, which is to say, the degree to which we can loathe the truth. People can’t see any of these things clearly. Therefore, we always have many notions and doubts about God’s work of judgment in the last days. Everyone thinks that being forgiven for our sins makes us holy. If God doesn’t regard us as sinful, we are holy, God’s work of salvation is complete, God no longer needs to do the work of judgment. When the Lord Jesus returns, He will bring us into the kingdom of heaven, and once we are in heaven, we are guaranteed to obey God and worship God forever. But isn’t this just blatant nonsense? People believe in God on earth and enjoy God’s grace, yet they still judge and condemn God, so how could they obey and worship God in heaven? This is absolutely impossible. God’s words say, “Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). This sentence is the truth, and the rule of heaven! Now we should understand why God does the work of judgment in the last days. In the final analysis, God has come to save people completely, which means to purify and change our corrupt dispositions, as well as completely rescue us from sin and the power of Satan. Today, Almighty God has expressed all the truth required to purify and save humankind, and is doing the work of judgment starting from the house of God. Many of God’s chosen people have experienced God’s judgment, purified their corrupt dispositions, and now praise God’s righteousness and holiness from the bottom of their hearts. They have seen how deeply people are corrupted by Satan, exactly what sins they can commit, and how much they can resist God. They have achieved real understanding of themselves, seen the ugliness of their satanic corruption, and they all feel that if they don’t experience God’s judgment and purification, and instead live in their satanic dispositions, they are resisting God, betraying God, living as devils, will be sent to hell and punished by God, and are unworthy to live before God, so they feel deep remorse, loathe themselves, and achieve genuine repentance and change. Only when we experience God’s judgment and chastisement do we know that God’s work of judgment is His great salvation and great love for humankind.

Many people don’t understand the significance of God’s work of judgment in the last days and think that after the Lord Jesus finished the work of redemption, humankind was completely saved and God’s work of saving mankind was completed, but this is a grave mistake! The words of Almighty God are very clear. Almighty 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” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Preface). “Christ of the last days uses a variety of truths to teach man, to expose the substance 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 substance 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. All these different 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 about 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 essence 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 essence 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” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth).

Almighty God’s work of judgment in the last days ended the Age of Grace. At the same time, it began the Age of Kingdom. One aspect of judgment in the last days is to completely purify and save people, free us from sin and the power of Satan, and allow us to be completely gained by God. Another aspect is to expose each type of people and separate them according to their kind, destroy all the forces of evil that resist God, and end this dark and evil old age. This is the significance of God’s work of judgment in the last days. Let’s read another passage from Almighty God. “In His final work of concluding the age, God’s disposition is one of chastisement and judgment, in which He reveals all that is unrighteous, in order to publicly judge all peoples, and to perfect those who love Him with a sincere heart. Only a disposition such as this can bring the age to an end. The last days have already arrived. All things in creation will be separated according to their kind, and divided into different categories based on their nature. This is the moment when God reveals humanity’s outcome and their destination. If people do not undergo chastisement and judgment, then there will be no way of exposing their disobedience and unrighteousness. Only through chastisement and judgment can the outcome of all creation be revealed. Man only shows his true colors when he is chastised and judged. Evil shall be put with evil, good with good, and all humanity shall be separated according to their kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the outcome of all creation will be revealed, so that the evil may be punished and the good rewarded, and all people become subject to the dominion of God. All this work must be achieved through righteous chastisement and judgment. Because man’s corruption has reached its peak and his disobedience become exceedingly severe, only God’s righteous disposition, one that is principally compounded of chastisement and judgment and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform and complete man. Only this disposition can expose evil and thus severely punish all the unrighteous. … During the last days, only righteous judgment can separate man according to their kind and bring man into a new realm. In this way, the entire age is brought to an end through God’s righteous disposition of judgment and chastisement” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (3)). In the last days, God expresses the truth and does the work of judgment, which reveals every type of people’s attitudes toward the truth and toward God. Those who love the truth and pursue love for God, are the targets of God’s salvation and perfection. They hear the voice of God, return to His throne, eat and drink God’s words every day, experience God’s judgment, chastisement, trials, and refinement, are finally freed from the bondage and control of sin, achieve purification and change of their corrupt dispositions, and then they are perfected by God and become overcomers, which is to say, the first fruits. However, those who loathe the truth and resist God are the targets of God’s abandonment and elimination. They stubbornly cling to the text of the Bible, and merely wait for the Lord to come on the clouds while frantically resisting and condemning Almighty God. In doing so, they lose their chance to be lifted up before the disaster, and will fall into the catastrophe, cry and gnash their teeth. There are others who only seek blessings and reluctantly accept Almighty God to avoid disasters. They believe in word only, and their natures are to detest the truth. They believe in God for many years, yet never practice the truth, refuse to accept or obey God’s judgment, chastisement, pruning, and dealing, and their corrupt dispositions never change in the slightest. Such people are nonbelievers and evildoers who have mixed into God’s house, and they will all be exposed and eliminated. This shows that the work of judgment in the last days has already revealed every kind of person. Wise virgins and foolish virgins, those who love the truth and those who only seek to fill their bellies with bread, the wheat and the tares, and the goats and the sheep have all been divided into different categories. Ultimately, God will reward good and punish evil, and pay back each person according to what they have done. This fully demonstrates God’s righteous disposition, and also fulfills these prophecies in Revelation, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Revelation 22:11). “And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12).

Today, Almighty God has already created a group of overcomers before the disaster, and the work of judgment starting from the house of God has achieved great success. The words expressed by Almighty God have spread to all the nations on earth and shaken the world, proving that God has defeated Satan and gained glory. Following this, God will bring down catastrophe and begin to judge all nations and peoples. The coming of the catastrophe is God’s judgment of this evil age and is also to save humankind. God uses disaster to force people to seek and investigate the true way, to find the appearance and work of the Savior, to come to God, and to accept His salvation. At the same time, He also uses disaster to resolve all the evil forces and the wicked who resist God and to completely end this evil era in which Satan holds power. In the end, all those who have experienced God’s judgment and been purified will be protected by God amidst the disaster, after which He will bring them to a beautiful destination. This is how God’s work of judgment in the last days will be completed. After that, in a new world, the kingdom of Christ will be fully realized on earth.

Finally, let’s watch a video reading of God’s words. Almighty God says, “Do you understand now what is judgment and what is truth? If you do, then I exhort you to submit obediently to being judged, otherwise you shall never have the opportunity to be commended by God or to be brought by Him into His kingdom. Those who only accept judgment but can never be purified, that is, those who flee amidst the work of judgment, shall forever be detested and rejected by God. Their sins are more numerous, and more grievous, than those of the Pharisees, for they have betrayed God and are rebels against God. Such people who are not worthy even to do service shall receive more severe punishment, a punishment that is, moreover, everlasting. God shall not spare any traitor who once evinced loyalty with words but then betrayed Him. People such as these shall receive retribution through punishment of the spirit, soul, and body. Is this not precisely a revelation of the righteous disposition of God? Is this not God’s purpose in judging man, and revealing him? God consigns all who perform all kinds of wicked deeds during the time of judgment to a place infested with evil spirits, and lets these evil spirits destroy their fleshly bodies as they wish, and those people’s bodies emit the stench of corpses. Such is their fitting retribution. God writes down in their record books each and every one of the sins of those disloyal false believers, false apostles, and false workers; then, when the time is right, He casts them amidst the unclean spirits, letting these unclean spirits defile their entire bodies at will, so that they may never be reincarnated and never again see the light. Those hypocrites who do service for a time but are incapable of remaining loyal to the end are numbered by God among the wicked, so that they fall into cahoots with the wicked and become part of their disorderly rabble; in the end, God shall annihilate them. God casts aside and takes no notice of those who have never been loyal to Christ or have never contributed anything of their strength, and at the changing of the age He shall annihilate them all. They shall no longer exist on earth, much less gain passage into the kingdom of God. Those who have never been sincere to God, but are forced by circumstance into dealing with Him perfunctorily, are numbered among those who do service for His people. Only a small number of such people will survive, while the majority shall perish along with those who render service that is not up to standard. Ultimately, God shall bring into His kingdom all those who are of the same mind as God, the people and the sons of God, and those predestined by God to be priests. They will be the distillation of God’s work. As for those who cannot be classed in any of the categories set by God, they shall be numbered among the unbelievers—and you can surely imagine what their outcome shall be. I have already said to you all that I should say; the road that you select is your choice alone. What you should understand is this: The work of God never waits for any that cannot keep pace with Him, and the righteous disposition of God shows no mercy to any man” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth).

“Those who are able to stand firm during God’s work of judgment and chastisement during the last days—that is, during the final work of purification—will be the ones who will enter into the final rest alongside God; as such, all those who enter into rest will have broken free of Satan’s influence and been obtained by God after having undergone His final work of purification. These humans, who will have been finally obtained by God, will enter into the final rest. The essential purpose of God’s work of chastisement and judgment is to purify humanity and to prepare them for their ultimate rest; without such cleansing, none of humanity could be classified into different categories according to kind, or enter into rest. This work is humanity’s only path to enter into rest. Only God’s work of purification will cleanse humans of their unrighteousness, and only His work of chastisement and judgment will bring to light those disobedient elements of humanity, thereby separating those who can be saved from those who cannot, and those who will remain from those who will not. When this work ends, those people who are allowed to remain will all be cleansed and enter a higher state of humanity in which they will enjoy a more wonderful second human life upon the earth; in other words, they will commence their human day of rest, and coexist with God. After those who are not allowed to remain have been chastised and judged, their true colors will be entirely exposed, after which they will all be destroyed and, like Satan, will no longer be permitted to survive upon the earth. The humanity of the future will no longer include any of this type of people; such people are not fit to enter the land of the ultimate rest, nor are they fit to join in the day of rest that God and humanity will share, for they are the targets of punishment and are wicked, unrighteous people. They were redeemed once, and they have also been judged and chastised; they also once rendered service to God. However, when the final day comes, they will still be eliminated and destroyed due to their wickedness and as a result of their disobedience and inability to be redeemed; they will never again come into being in the world of the future, and will no longer live among the human race of the future. … The entire purpose behind God’s ultimate work of punishing evil and rewarding good is to thoroughly purify all humans so that He may bring a purely holy humanity into eternal rest. This stage of His work is the most crucial; it is the final stage of the whole of His work of management” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together).