The Mystery of the Destruction of Israel – Bible Questions
Yang Lei
Dear brothers and sisters, peace to you in the Lord! Now let’s look at a very important historical fact. This fact concerns our future and fate! Most of us know that about AD 70, Titus, the Roman general, brought his army to Jerusalem and slaughtered the Israelites and Jews, thus destroying Israel. However, have we ever considered this question: Why was a nation that worshiped God reduced to such a tragic plight? All that we can see with our naked eyes is the dispersion of the entire Jewish nation among the other nations in the world for more than 1,800 years and the “miserable scene” of the killing of the Jews in World War II. Everyone who sees their bitter experiences sympathizes with them and sighs with emotion, but no one ponders these questions: Why did God leave Israel? What wrong had they committed to be detested and forsaken by God? Who can tell the answers?
When the incarnate Almighty God does the work of judgment beginning with the house of God by expressing the truth in the last days, He exposes the truth that the religious world resisted God, so that we can understand the reason for that. Almighty God says: “recall what followed after the Jews nailed Jesus to the cross 2,000 years ago. The Jews were expelled from Israel and fled to countries around the world. Many were killed, and the entire Jewish nation was subjected to unprecedented destruction. They had nailed God to the cross—committed a heinous crime—and provoked the disposition of God. They were made to pay for what they did, were made to bear the consequences of their actions. They condemned God, rejected God, and so they had but one fate: to be punished by God. This is the bitter consequence and disaster that their rulers brought upon their country and nation” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Through reading Almighty God’s words, I understand that the reason why the Jews were subjected to such a destruction was because they had nailed the merciful Lord Jesus to the cross—committed a heinous crime—and provoked the disposition of God. Look back to the time when the Lord Jesus came to do His work: The Jewish chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees used the law of the Old Testament to condemn all the work done by the Lord Jesus. They not only did not investigate and search for the direction of the Holy Spirit’s work, but arrogantly defined God’s new work with their conceptions and imaginations. They read the Scriptures and knew clearly the prophecy about the coming of a Messiah, and they also knew that the Messiah meant “Christ,” but they didn’t recognize that the incarnate Lord Jesus was Christ, let alone admit the truth expressed by Him. So, when the Lord Jesus—the Messiah they had been longing for for many years—did the redemptive work, they began to resist and condemn Him crazily, because He wasn’t called the Messiah and the work He did went beyond the Old Testament and the law and was a new work done outside the temple. They were too arrogant, only believing their own conceptions and imaginations and the letters and doctrines they had understood. They believed in God but did not know God, having only a form of godliness but not a godly essence. They were called believers in God, but they betrayed the truth and set themselves against God in everything they did. They even said that let Jesus’ blood be on them and on their children. They committed the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Their evil deeds provoked the disposition of God, which directly led to the destruction of Israel in AD 70. From this, we see that God’s disposition is righteous and is intolerant of offense by man.
Today in the 
last days, we are longing for the second coming of the Lord Jesus. The prophecies in the Bible about the Lord’s return have been fulfilled. At this critical moment, some people have committed the same mistake that the Israelites did! They have defined God’s work of the last days with their conceptions and imaginations. For example, they think that “The Lord Jesus will descend on a white cloud when He comes,” “We will be caught up to the air in a flash to meet the Lord when He comes,” and “The Lord will still be called Jesus when He comes.” It is undeniable that our understanding of the prophecies in the Bible only represents our own will. God’s work, however, is unfathomable to man and even more unpredictable to man. Just as the Bible says, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:33-34). From these two verses, we see that Paul had defined the Lord Jesus with his conceptions and imaginations, so when the Lord Jesus’ work didn’t conform to his conceptions and imaginations, he unbridledly disobeyed and resisted the Lord. Had the Lord not pierced his eyes and blinded him with a great light on his way to Damascus, he would have never recognized that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah who had been predicted to come. It is thus clear that man’s conceptions and imaginations are always against God, and this is why Paul said that man could not fathom God’s work, let alone be His counselor. From this we see that we, a tiny creature, should learn to obey God and seek His appearance, rather than define Him with our conceptions and imaginations. If we literally understand the prophecies in the Bible about the Lord Jesus’ return and thus measure the work of Almighty God in the last days by our conceptions and imaginations instead of examining the words of life expressed by Him, then we will lose the promise that God has bestowed upon us that we will have eternal life. Just as Almighty God says: “Today, many people have committed a similar error. They wantonly proclaim the imminent appearance of God, yet also condemn His appearance; their ‘impossible’ once more confines the appearance of God within the limits of their imagination. And so I have seen many people fall about laughing after coming upon the words of God. Isn’t this laughter no different from the condemnation and blasphemy of the Jews? You are not devout in facing the truth, much less do you yearn for the truth. You merely study blindly and wait nonchalantly. What can you gain from studying and waiting like this? Can you receive the personal guidance of God? If you cannot discern the utterances of God, how are you qualified to witness the appearance of God? Where God appears, there is the expression of the truth, and there is the voice of God. Only those who can accept the truth can hear the voice of God, and only such people are qualified to witness the appearance of God. Put your conceptions to one side! Stop and carefully read these words. If you yearn for the truth, God will enlighten you to understand His will and His words. Put aside your view of‘impossible’! The more that people believe something is impossible, the more likely it is to occur, for the wisdom of God soars higher than the heavens, God’s thoughts are higher than man’s thoughts, and the work of God transcends the limits of man’s thinking and conception. The more that something is impossible, the more there is the truth to be sought; the more that something is beyond the conception and imagination of man, the more it contains the will of God. Because no matter where God reveals Himself, God is still God, and His substance will never change because of the location or manner of His appearance. The disposition of God remains the same regardless of where His footprints are. No matter where the footprints of God are, He is the God of all mankind. For example, the Lord Jesus is not only the God of Israelites, but is also the God of all people in Asia, Europe, and America, and even more the only God in the entire universe. So let us seek God’s will and discover His appearance from His utterances, and follow His footprints! God is the truth, the way, and the life. His words and His appearance exist concurrently, and His disposition and footprints shall always be accessible to mankind. Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that you can see the appearance of God in these words, and will begin to follow His footprints toward a new age, and into a beautiful new heaven and new earth prepared for those who await the appearance of God” (“The Appearance of God Has Brought a New Age” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
last days, we are longing for the second coming of the Lord Jesus. The prophecies in the Bible about the Lord’s return have been fulfilled. At this critical moment, some people have committed the same mistake that the Israelites did! They have defined God’s work of the last days with their conceptions and imaginations. For example, they think that “The Lord Jesus will descend on a white cloud when He comes,” “We will be caught up to the air in a flash to meet the Lord when He comes,” and “The Lord will still be called Jesus when He comes.” It is undeniable that our understanding of the prophecies in the Bible only represents our own will. God’s work, however, is unfathomable to man and even more unpredictable to man. Just as the Bible says, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:33-34). From these two verses, we see that Paul had defined the Lord Jesus with his conceptions and imaginations, so when the Lord Jesus’ work didn’t conform to his conceptions and imaginations, he unbridledly disobeyed and resisted the Lord. Had the Lord not pierced his eyes and blinded him with a great light on his way to Damascus, he would have never recognized that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah who had been predicted to come. It is thus clear that man’s conceptions and imaginations are always against God, and this is why Paul said that man could not fathom God’s work, let alone be His counselor. From this we see that we, a tiny creature, should learn to obey God and seek His appearance, rather than define Him with our conceptions and imaginations. If we literally understand the prophecies in the Bible about the Lord Jesus’ return and thus measure the work of Almighty God in the last days by our conceptions and imaginations instead of examining the words of life expressed by Him, then we will lose the promise that God has bestowed upon us that we will have eternal life. Just as Almighty God says: “Today, many people have committed a similar error. They wantonly proclaim the imminent appearance of God, yet also condemn His appearance; their ‘impossible’ once more confines the appearance of God within the limits of their imagination. And so I have seen many people fall about laughing after coming upon the words of God. Isn’t this laughter no different from the condemnation and blasphemy of the Jews? You are not devout in facing the truth, much less do you yearn for the truth. You merely study blindly and wait nonchalantly. What can you gain from studying and waiting like this? Can you receive the personal guidance of God? If you cannot discern the utterances of God, how are you qualified to witness the appearance of God? Where God appears, there is the expression of the truth, and there is the voice of God. Only those who can accept the truth can hear the voice of God, and only such people are qualified to witness the appearance of God. Put your conceptions to one side! Stop and carefully read these words. If you yearn for the truth, God will enlighten you to understand His will and His words. Put aside your view of‘impossible’! The more that people believe something is impossible, the more likely it is to occur, for the wisdom of God soars higher than the heavens, God’s thoughts are higher than man’s thoughts, and the work of God transcends the limits of man’s thinking and conception. The more that something is impossible, the more there is the truth to be sought; the more that something is beyond the conception and imagination of man, the more it contains the will of God. Because no matter where God reveals Himself, God is still God, and His substance will never change because of the location or manner of His appearance. The disposition of God remains the same regardless of where His footprints are. No matter where the footprints of God are, He is the God of all mankind. For example, the Lord Jesus is not only the God of Israelites, but is also the God of all people in Asia, Europe, and America, and even more the only God in the entire universe. So let us seek God’s will and discover His appearance from His utterances, and follow His footprints! God is the truth, the way, and the life. His words and His appearance exist concurrently, and His disposition and footprints shall always be accessible to mankind. Dear brothers and sisters, I hope that you can see the appearance of God in these words, and will begin to follow His footprints toward a new age, and into a beautiful new heaven and new earth prepared for those who await the appearance of God” (“The Appearance of God Has Brought a New Age” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
So how should we welcome the Lord Jesus’ return? As long as we have a seeking heart, we will see God’s appearance and will unlikely walk the path of failure of those before us and do anything that is blasphemous or resistant to God. This is because what God’s work brings to people is salvation, what God expresses are truths that supply people’s life, and the Holy Spirit only works in those who thirst and seek. The Bible records that Peter, a fisherman, followed the Lord Jesus when he heard His calling on the seashore; that the Samaritan woman, through the words the Lord Jesus said to her, recognized that He was the coming Messiah; and that at that time, Nathanael, Matthew, and others, who were waiting for the coming of the Messiah, followed God’s new work and received the Lord Jesus’ salvation because of their seeking. Just as the Lord Jesus said: “For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:8). Today in the last days, if we, facing the Lord Jesus’ return, do not have a seeking heart, we will lose easily the promise He bestowed upon us and suffer catastrophe. Therefore, only if we give up our conceptions and imaginations can we hear the words of the Holy Spirit to the churches and recognize God’s voice and follow His footsteps so as to receive the promise He bestows upon us. Just as God says: “The work of God is like mightily surging waves. No one can detain Him, and no one can halt His footsteps. Only those who listen carefully to His words, and who seek and thirst for Him, can follow His footsteps and receive His promise. Those who do not shall be subjected to overwhelming disaster and deserved punishment” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
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