Question 1: It is clearly written in the Bible: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb 13:8). So the name of the Lord does not change, but you say that the name of the Lord Jesus will change in the last days. How can you explain that?
Answer: Brothers and sisters, the Bible says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb 13:8). This refers to the fact that God’s disposition and His essence are eternal and unchanging. It does not mean that His name will not change. Let’s take a look at the words of Almighty God.
Almighty God says, “There are those who say that God is immutable. That is correct, but it refers to the immutability of God’s disposition and His substance. Changes in His name and work do not prove that His substance has altered; in other words, God will always be God, and this will never change. If you say that the work of God is unchanging, then would He be able to finish His six-thousand-year plan of management? You only know that God is forever unchanging, but do you know that God is always new and never old? If the work of God is unchanging, then could He have led mankind all the way to the present day? If God is immutable, then why is it that He has already done the work of two ages? … and the words “God is immutable” to what God inherently has and is. Regardless, you cannot make the work of six thousand years hinge upon a single point, or circumscribe it with dead words. Such is the stupidity of man. God is not as simple as man imagines, and His work cannot linger in any one age. Jehovah, for example, cannot always stand for the name of God; God can also do His work under the name of Jesus. This is a sign that God’s work is always moving in a forward progression.
God is always God, and will never become Satan; Satan is always Satan, and will never become God. God’s wisdom, God’s wondrousness, God’s righteousness, and God’s majesty shall never change. His essence and what He has and is shall never change. As for His work, however, it is always progressing in a forward direction, always going deeper, for He is always new and never old. In every age God assumes a new name, in every age He does new work, and in every age He allows His creatures to see His new will and new disposition” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
We can see from Almighty God’s words that God Himself is unchanging. This refers to God’s disposition and essence, not His name. Although God has performed different work and has adopted different names during different ages through His process of saving mankind, His essence can never change. God will always be God. So, regardless of whether His name is Jehovah or Jesus, His essence never changes. It is always the same God working. However, at the time, the Jewish Pharisees did not know that God’s name changes along with the transition in the age, in His work. They believed that only Jehovah could be their God, their Savior because over the ages they had maintained that only Jehovah is God, and there is no other Savior but Jehovah. As a result, when God changed His name and came to perform the work of redemption with the name “Jesus,” they madly condemned and resisted the Lord Jesus. In the end, they nailed Him to the cross, committing a heinous crime, and suffering God’s punishment. Just the same, now that we are in the last days, if we deny God’s essence and that this is the work of one God because He has changed His work and His name, that would be human recklessness and ignorance. Each name that God has taken in each age has great significance, and they all hold great salvation for mankind.
God is always new, and never old. He is the God who encompasses all things. The individual names of God cannot possibly represent His entirety. So, as the ages progress, His names also continue to change. Almighty God says, “The name of Jesus was taken for the sake of the work of redemption, so would He still be called by the same name when He returns in the last days? Would He still be doing the work of redemption? Why is it that Jehovah and Jesus are one, yet They are called by different names in different ages? Is it not because the ages of Their work are different? Could a single name represent God in His entirety? This being so, God must be called by a different name in a different age, and must use the name to change the age and to represent the age. For no one name can fully represent God Himself, and each name is able only to represent the temporal aspect of God’s disposition in a given age; all it needs to do is to represent His work. Therefore, God can choose whatever name befits His disposition to represent the entire age” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Could the name of Jesus—“God with us”—represent God’s disposition in its entirety? Could it fully articulate God? If man says that God can only be called Jesus and may not have any other name because God cannot change His disposition, these words are blasphemy indeed! Do you believe that the name Jesus, God with us, alone can represent God in His entirety? God may be called by many names, but among these many names, there is not one that is able to encapsulate all of God, not one that can fully represent God. And so, God has many names, but these many names cannot fully articulate God’s disposition, for God’s disposition is so rich that it simply exceeds the capacity of man to know Him. There is no way for man, using the language of mankind, to encapsulate God fully. … One particular word or name does not have the capacity to represent God in His entirety, so do you think His name can be fixed? God is so great and so holy yet you will not permit Him to change His name in each new age? Therefore, in every age in which God personally does His own work, He uses a name that befits the age in order to encapsulate the work that He intends to do. He uses this particular name, one that possesses temporal significance, to represent His disposition in that age. This is God using the language of mankind to express His own disposition” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God is the wise, almighty Ruler. He is great, He is abundant, and He is all-encompassing. Any one particular name cannot possibly represent all that God is. On top of that, in each age God has only done a portion of His work, and He has only revealed a portion of His disposition. He has not expressed all that He has and is. So, in each stage of His work He uses a particular name that holds the significance of that age to represent His work in that age, and the disposition that He is expressing. This is a principle of God’s work, and it is the primary reason that He changes His name.
God is always new, and never old. He is the God who encompasses all things. The individual names of God cannot possibly represent His entirety. So, as the ages progress, His names also continue to change. Almighty God says, “The name of Jesus was taken for the sake of the work of redemption, so would He still be called by the same name when He returns in the last days? Would He still be doing the work of redemption? Why is it that Jehovah and Jesus are one, yet They are called by different names in different ages? Is it not because the ages of Their work are different? Could a single name represent God in His entirety? This being so, God must be called by a different name in a different age, and must use the name to change the age and to represent the age. For no one name can fully represent God Himself, and each name is able only to represent the temporal aspect of God’s disposition in a given age; all it needs to do is to represent His work. Therefore, God can choose whatever name befits His disposition to represent the entire age” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Could the name of Jesus—“God with us”—represent God’s disposition in its entirety? Could it fully articulate God? If man says that God can only be called Jesus and may not have any other name because God cannot change His disposition, these words are blasphemy indeed! Do you believe that the name Jesus, God with us, alone can represent God in His entirety? God may be called by many names, but among these many names, there is not one that is able to encapsulate all of God, not one that can fully represent God. And so, God has many names, but these many names cannot fully articulate God’s disposition, for God’s disposition is so rich that it simply exceeds the capacity of man to know Him. There is no way for man, using the language of mankind, to encapsulate God fully. … One particular word or name does not have the capacity to represent God in His entirety, so do you think His name can be fixed? God is so great and so holy yet you will not permit Him to change His name in each new age? Therefore, in every age in which God personally does His own work, He uses a name that befits the age in order to encapsulate the work that He intends to do. He uses this particular name, one that possesses temporal significance, to represent His disposition in that age. This is God using the language of mankind to express His own disposition” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God is the wise, almighty Ruler. He is great, He is abundant, and He is all-encompassing. Any one particular name cannot possibly represent all that God is. On top of that, in each age God has only done a portion of His work, and He has only revealed a portion of His disposition. He has not expressed all that He has and is. So, in each stage of His work He uses a particular name that holds the significance of that age to represent His work in that age, and the disposition that He is expressing. This is a principle of God’s work, and it is the primary reason that He changes His name.
from the movie script of God’s Name Has Changed?!
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