A lot of people don’t understand why, since Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned, the Lord Jesus is called “Almighty God” when He comes to do the work of judgment in the last days. Why doesn’t He still bear the name “Jesus”? In fact, God has a new name each time He does a stage of His work. This new name is taken by God Himself as befits the work—it is not something that people call Him as they please. The name of the returned Lord Jesus of the last days was long ago prophesied in the Bible. In the Book of Revelation, it is said, “Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God: and I will write on him My new name” (Revelation 3:12). “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” (Revelation 1:8). “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunder, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God Almighty reigns” (Revelation 19:6). The name of Almighty God of the Age of Kingdom is the complete fulfillment of the prophecies of the Book of Revelation. The name that God takes in each era has profound significance and is intimately connected to God’s work during that age. Almighty God revealed the mysteries relating to this when He said,

“In each age, God does new work and is called by a new name; how could He do the same work in different ages? How could He cling to the old? 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 He 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. Regardless of whether it is the age of Jehovah, or the age of Jesus, each age is represented by a name” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“‘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 tribe of Judah, 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. Although Jehovah, Jesus, and the Messiah all represent My Spirit, these names only denote the different ages of My management plan, and do not represent Me in My entirety. The names by which people on earth call Me cannot articulate My entire disposition and all that I am. They are merely different names by which I am called during different ages. And so, when the final age—the age of the last days—arrives, My name shall change again. I shall not be called Jehovah, or Jesus, much less the Messiah—I shall be called the powerful Almighty God Himself, and under this name I shall bring the entire age to an end. 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” (“The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud’” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Almighty God clearly said that there is representative significance to the name God takes in each age: Each one represents the work of God and the disposition He expresses during that era. During the Age of Law, God used the name of Jehovah to proclaim His laws and commandments and guide mankind’s life on earth; the name Jehovah represents God’s disposition that could both have mercy on man and curse man. During the Age of Grace, God used the name of Jesus to do the work of mankind’s redemption and to express God’s disposition of lovingkindness and mercy; and during the Age of Kingdom, God is called Almighty God, and He expresses the truth and does the work of judgment beginning from the house of God to expose and judge the corrupt dispositions of man so that they may be purified, changed, and saved, thereby revealing His righteous, majestic disposition that tolerates no offense. God changes the age using His name, and uses this name to represent the work of the age. When Jehovah God did the work of the Age of Law, only by praying to the name of Jehovah and obeying His laws and commandments could people be blessed and protected by God. With the arrival of the Age of Grace, God used the name of Jesus to do the work of redemption, and people had but to accept the Lord Jesus as the Savior, and pray for repentance in the name of the Lord, to be forgiven of their sins and enjoy the truth and grace bestowed by the Lord Jesus. If people still clung to the name of Jehovah and refused to accept the Lord Jesus, then they lost the care and protection of God, and fell into darkness, being cursed and punished by God like the Jewish Pharisees. With the advent of the last days, God uses the name of Almighty God to carry out the work of judgment starting from the house of God. Only by accepting the name of Almighty God, keeping up with the steps of God’s work, and undergoing the judgment and chastisement of Almighty God, can people understand and gain the truth, break away from sin, be purified, and receive God’s salvation. Ultimately, God will save corrupt mankind from sin once and for all; He will reward the good and punish the wicked, separate each according to their kind, and bring His six-thousand-year management plan to save mankind to a close. All those who refuse to accept the name of Almighty God and refuse His work of judgment of the last days are incapable of freeing themselves from the bondage of sin, and shall forever be unqualified to enter the kingdom of heaven.