Many know the Lord will soon come,
yet they don't watch and prepare for His return.
How should we be watchful in welcoming His return?
Watching and waiting refers to being faithful to the name and way of the Lord.
Uncle, my understanding is as follows:
It means listening for God's voice, searching for His appearance.
Only then will we be watching and waiting.
Only in this way will we not miss His return.
Time really flies. (Yes.)
Really, twenty years passed in the blink of an eye.
Now, we too can preach and work for the Lord.
Our wish finally comes true. (Thanks be to the Lord.)
This old tree also holds many memories for us.
Your father passed away early.
Before he left us,
he told me that his greatest wish was for me to make you a preacher.
Today, it makes me so glad
to see you working for the Lord and tending to the church.
Praise the Lord.
Hou'en, what have you been preaching lately? (Yes, Hou'en.)
Oh, I've preached about watching and waiting for the Lord's arrival.
Mm. This is quite important.
Mm.
The gospel of the Lord Jesus has spread to the ends of the earth.
The signs show that the time of the Lord's return has already arrived.
Mm. Right.
This is indeed the time to be watchful.
We should watch and wait every moment.
The Lord could take us at any time. (Mm.)
Looks like I'll be able to welcome the return of the Lord before I die.
It's true.
Now I'm old.
How deeply I long to be able to welcome the appearance of the Lord.
It's a shame that many know the Lord will soon come,
yet they don't watch and prepare for His return.
It's true. We should all watch for the return of the Lord.
Lately, my thoughts turn to how we should wait to meet the Lord's purpose,
and what does "watching" actually refer to.
Mm. Jiayin, now that is a good question.
Praise the Lord.
Hou'en, please tell us what you think. (Okay.)
Yes, Hou'en.
I believe watching refers to reading the Bible, working hard and moderation.
As it says in the Bible,
Only if we are careful and mindful each day
can we face the Lord with confidence when He comes.
It's true.
We now hold prayer sessions 24 hours a day in the church.
We've also set up a watchtower.
If we're not vigilant, we'll be cast aside when the Lord arrives.
Mm, it's true.
That's a good way of practicing. But there is more.
Please tell us, father.
Okay.
Watching and waiting refers to being faithful to the name and way of the Lord.
Mm.
Because during the last days, there will be dangerous times.
People will love the world more than the Lord,
and all manner of heresy will appear.
These words show us that the Lord asks us to be watchful.
Most important is that before the Lord comes to take us,
we must guard against all manner of heresy.
Should anyone tell you that the Lord has come,
don't listen to them or believe them.
We must stay true to the name and way of the Lord.
If not, how could we enter the kingdom of heaven?
Yes.
Uncle, I have some different views about this. (Mm.)
Oh? Please go on.
False Christs will appear in the last days.
But they will appear at the very time that the Lord will return.
According to what you said,
if we don't listen to or believe any news of the Lord's coming,
how are we to meet the Lord when indeed He really comes?
I think in this passage,
the Lord tells us to differentiate to not trust false Christs
rather to be alert to welcoming the Lord's return.
I think that in the last days, when people cry "the bridegroom comes,"
that is, when people say the Lord has returned,
we should listen out for the voice of the Lord like wise virgins.
This is truly watching and waiting, and how we may welcome His return.
Yes. Jiayin, you're right. Very insightful.
Praise the Lord.
Grandpa!
Yes, Xiaoming?
Grandpa, Auntie Zhao is looking for you.
Oh, well then, let's head back. (Mm.)
Sister Zhao, you've come quite a long way.
You must have something important to say.
Recently, two preachers from the Eastern Lightning went to Sister Cai,
saying the Lord has returned, (What? Lord has come?)
and spoke many truths and performed the work of judgment of the last days.
What they said sounded real. They even read some of the words of Almighty God.
We all thought it sounded great.
But because you once told Sister Cai those who say the Lord has come speak lies,
she sent them away.
We felt like she might not have done the right thing.
And so, I come now to request your advice.
What do you think we should do when something like this happens?
Thanks be to the Lord.
I don't think Sister Cai did anything wrong.
Anyone who is not the Lord Jesus arriving upon a cloud is a false Christ.
When such things happen, it is right to be alert like that. (Mm, yes.)
Uncle, was it really the right thing to do?
What did she do wrong?
If the work of the Holy Spirit is in what they say, if it comes from God,
we should carefully examine what they say.
Yet we turned those two away, and I don't think we did the right thing.
There's nothing wrong with it.
In the Bible it clearly says,
We see the Lord will return upon a cloud.
But we haven't seen that fact, so how could the Lord have arrived?
Mm, yes, Jiayin.
Lord's arrival is a major event.
Isn't it a bit arbitrary to draw conclusions
based on one simple piece of scripture?
Remember the Jewish Pharisees at that time:
They longed for the arrival of the Messiah.
They learned the prophecies by heart.
But because when Lord Jesus came, He was not as they had imagined,
they not only didn't acknowledge Him as the Messiah,
they went so far as to nail Him to the cross.
They became people who opposed God, and so they were cursed by God.
Uncle, I think that in waiting for Lord's arrival,
we should be more cautious, so as to avoid offending God.
Is the Eastern Lightning the work of God and the return of the Lord?
Right now we don't know.
When the Eastern Lightning testifies to the Lord's arrival,
there's no harm in giving it some thought before deciding.
What do you think?
Mm, you're right.
Jiayin, what you say makes sense.
But the Lord's arrival upon a white cloud is in the Bible.
Recently, I've studied scriptures about the Lord's return.
They can be divided into two types.
Hou'en, look.
One foretells His arrival on a cloud, witnessed by all.
The other predicts that the Lord will come like a thief.
Just as it is said in Revelation 3:3,
There's also Matthew 25:6, in which it is said,
These scriptures show there are two types of sayings about Lord's arrival:
One is as a thief, unknown to all.
He will perhaps come in secret.
The other is that He'll come upon a cloud and be seen by all.
He will perhaps appear publicly.
My understanding is that the Lord may well first come in secret,
and appear publicly after He has completed His work.
Just as the Lord Jesus first became flesh as Son of man in secret.
And after completing His work, He was nailed to the cross,
then rose from the dead and appeared to people for forty days,
then ascended to heaven.
We all know this fact.
Hmm, yes. May I?
Jiayin, please hear why you're wrong.
The phrases "as a thief" and "at midnight"
mean that no one knows when in fact the Lord will come.
They're not saying He will come in secret.
Uncle, my understanding is as follows:
The Bible predicts
that the Lord's return will be "the coming of the Son of man."
This is clearly stated in Luke 17:24-25,
"Son of man" here refers to God become flesh.
In this verse it is also said that
Since first He must be forsaken,
it's possible this means God incarnate arrives in secret.
Just as when Jesus came to work,
no one knew He was the promised Messiah.
People thought the Lord was a mere man, condemned Him and rejected Him.
When the Lord comes,
if He directly reveals Himself, clearly He'll not suffer for it,
and He then can't be rejected.
So, I think "as a thief" and "at midnight"
doesn't simply mean no one knows when the Lord will come.
They could well be referring to
how the Lord will return as the Son of man in secret.
Yes, Sister Li. When you put it like that, it does seem true.
Jiayin, what you say is enlightening.
I've read that passage many times, but never thought of that.
It shows that I need to spend more time pondering about the Bible.
Wasn't the Son of man the Lord Jesus?
And hasn't the suffering of Jesus ended?
How could the Son of man return?
That's impossible, absolutely impossible.
Sister Zhao, have some water. (Okay.)
Jiayin.
Sister Li, if it is as this passage says,
and the Lord comes as the Son of man in secret,
then He'll be hard for us to recognize.
Mm, I'm wondering if when He returns, He comes as Son of man,
will He be condemned and rejected again by the religious community
as when the Lord Jesus worked?
If that's the case, we must pay more attention as we watch and wait.
If it's said Lord has returned,
but the way He preaches is also rejected by the religious world,
we must examine it even more closely. (It's true.)
The return of the Lord isn't as simple as we've imagined.
Indeed. If the Lord arrives secretly as the Son of man,
how should we be watchful in welcoming His return?
That's a question I too am not clear on.
But I don't think we should ignore anything
that involves the coming of the Lord.
In particular, we should carefully examine testimonies
that the Lord has arrived and spoken words.
We should pray, and seek more, and listen to see if it's the Lord's voice.
If we determine that the Lord really has returned, then we should be accepting.
As said in the Book of Revelation,
Watching and waiting doesn't mean looking to the sky,
awaiting Lord's arrival upon a cloud.
It means listening for God's voice, searching for His appearance.
Only then will we be watching and waiting.
Only in this way will we not miss His return.
What do you think? (Mm.)
How could I not have paid attention to this verse of scripture?
Lord stands at the door and knocks?
"And knocks"? Does He knock whilst upon a white cloud?
How could He knock whilst upon a white cloud, seen by all man?
I haven't worked this passage out yet.
Sister Li, what you say makes sense.
I am a little worried now.
We condemned the Eastern Lightning without proper consideration
and turned away those two people preaching the Eastern Lightning.
If the Eastern Lightning is the Lord's return,
in doing that, did we not oppose the Lord?
Haven't we become the Pharisees? (It's true.)
From now on, when the Eastern Lightning testifies God's arrival,
we must give thought to what they say.
We can't blindly refuse them and casually condemn them.
"Eastern Lightning" relates to the prophecy of Lord's return.
This could well be the work of the Lord.
Hold on.
The Lord Jesus had warned us:
For me, any who don't ride upon a cloud are false. There's nothing to consider.
We must spend more time watching, praying,
and assembling to read the scriptures.
It's enough to wait for when the Lord comes upon a cloud.
The Bible says that false Christs will appear in the last days.
I think we should be cautious in such matters, lest we be deceived.
If we only accept that the Lord will come upon a white cloud
and condemn as false all who say He's arrived,
we could easily miss the Lord's return.
Hey, you're making the Lord's return far too complicated. How could it be?
We all know the Lord will come as He departed.
The Lord left upon a white cloud, so He will surely arrive upon a white cloud.
Isn't this a very simple matter?
We should believe whatever it says in the Bible.
He won't forsake us when He comes.
Uncle, for all these years, have we not longed for the Lord? (Indeed.)
If we condemn any testified to as the returned Lord as false Christs,
then isn't it also likely that we'll condemn Christ who becomes the Son of man?
That doesn't even bear thinking about. (Indeed.)