The Bible is also called the Old and New Testaments. Do you know what a “testament” is? The “Old Testament” is called a “testament,” and that originates from the covenant that Jehovah made with the Israelites when he struck down the Egyptians and delivered the Israelites from the Pharaoh of Egypt. Of course, this “covenant” was made with the “blood of the lamb” brushed on the tops of their doorframes as evidence, and with it he made a covenant with them that all those who brushed the blood of the lamb on the tops and sides of their doorframes were the Israelites—God’s chosen people, and were all the ones he would spare (because at that time Jehovah was to strike down all the Egyptian firstborn sons and all the firstborn of their flocks and herds). This “covenant” has two meanings: All the Egyptians and their livestock would not be the objects of Jehovah’s deliverance, and he would strike down all their firstborn sons and all the firstborn of their flocks and herds. So, it was prophesied in many books of prophecy that the Egyptians would be severely chastised, and that was all due to the covenant Jehovah made. This is its first meaning. Jehovah struck down all the Egyptian firstborn sons and all the firstborn of their livestock, while he spared all the Israelites, that is, all the people in the land of Israel were precious in Jehovah’s eyes, and he spared all of them. He did that for the purpose that he could do a long-term work on them, and he made the covenant with them with the “blood of the lamb.” From then on, Jehovah would never strike down the Israelites, and he said that the Israelites would be his chosen people forever and that he would carry out his work of the entire Age of the Law among the twelve tribes of Israel, reveal all of his laws to the Israelites, select prophets and judges from among them, and do his work mainly on them. He made the covenant with them that he would not do any other work on any other people apart from his chosen people unless he changed the age. The covenant Jehovah made would never change because he made it with blood and made it with his chosen people, and more importantly because he had chosen a suitable working area and suitable working objects in which to carry out his work of the entire age. So, people all regarded the covenant as very important. This is the second meaning of the covenant. Except for Genesis which is about the work done before the covenant was made, all the other books in the entire Old Testament of the Bible record the work done among the Israelites after the covenant was made. Of course, it also records some things about other nations. However, except for them, the entire Old Testament records the work God did in Israel. Because of the covenant Jehovah made with the Israelites, the books written in the Age of the Law are called the “Old Testament,” which was named after the covenant Jehovah made with the Israelites.

The New Testament of the Bible was named after the blood Jesus shed on the cross and the covenant he made with all his believers. The covenant Jesus made was: As long as people believed in him, their sins would be forgiven through the blood he shed, and thus they would be saved and regenerated through him and would no longer be a sinner. As long as people believed in him, they would receive grace from him and would not suffer the misery of hell after death. All the books written in the entire Age of the Grace were written after the covenant was made. And they all recorded the works and words within the covenant, which did not go beyond the Lord Jesus’ salvation through his crucifixion or go beyond the covenant. They were all the books written by the brothers in the Lord who had experiences. So, these books were also named after the covenant and thus are called the “New Testament.” These two “testaments” only include two ages, the Age of the Law and the Age of the Grace, and they have nothing to do with the final age. So the Bible is no longer of much use to the end-time people of today. At most, it can be used as a reference when needed and it does not have much use value at all. However, in the eyes of those religious people, it is still the most valuable thing. They have no discernment of the Bible but only know to interpret it while being totally ignorant of its origin. Their attitude toward the Bible is: The Bible is absolutely correct and completely accurate. Then they begin to study it. As they have first decided that the Bible is correct and completely accurate, they begin to study and investigate it with great interest. The work of today was not prophesied in the Bible. It has never said that God would do a conquering work in the darkest place, for it is the newest work. As the age of the work is different, even Jesus himself did not know there would be this stage of the work to be done in the end time. How can people in the end time find it out through investigation?

Most Bible interpreters interpret it by reasoning with logic but against no actual background. And they interpret it only by conjecturing with logic in various ways. Throughout so many years until today, no one has dared to dissect the Bible or say “no” about the Bible, because it is a “holy book” and people all worship it as God. This has been so for thousands of years, and God never did anything about that. No one has discovered that the inside story of the Bible would be like this. We say that treasuring the Bible is worshipping an idol, but none of those devout believers dares to look at it this way, and they will warn you, saying, “Brother! Never say such a word. It is so terrible. How can you blaspheme God?” Then they will look awkward, “O, merciful Savior Jesus, may you forgive his sin because you are the Lord who loves man. We are all sinners. May you have great mercy on us, Amen….” You can see how devout they are. How could they accept the truth easily? When you say such a word, they will be terrified. No one will even dare to think that the Bible even contains things from man’s will and contains man’s notions. No one can discover this flaw. In the Bible, some things are about man’s personal experiences and knowledge, some are the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, and others are things from man’s mind and thinking. God never does anything about such things, but they must be within a limit, that is, they must not go beyond man’s normal thinking. If they go beyond man’s normal thinking, they will disturb and frustrate God’s work. If they go beyond man’s normal thinking, they are something done by satan, because this means that man is not doing his duty but doing the work of satan and doing it under satan’s direction. At such times the Holy Spirit will not let you do it. Sometimes a brother or a sister asks, “Can I do this in such a way?” Considering his stature, I say, “OK!” Another one asks, “Is it normal for me to do this in this way?” I say, “Yes! It is normal, very normal!” And another one asks, “Can I do it that way?” I say, “No!” He asks, “Why can he do it that way but I cannot?” I say, “Because what you want to do is from satan and will cause a disturbance, and the intent and the source of your doing it are wrong.” And sometimes, the work has not come to that stage at the time, and none of the brothers and sisters knows it. Someone asks me whether he can do that. Seeing that his doing that will not frustrate the future work, I say, “OK.” When the Holy Spirit works on people, he sets a certain boundary for them. He does not require them to do things absolutely according to his intention. This is because people have normal human thinking and weaknesses, have some physical needs and some actual problems, and also have some things from their mind, which are simply uncontrollable. When I require people to do things, I set a certain limit for them. Some people think that I am being ambiguous when I say that one thing can be done this way and can also be done that way. This is because you do not understand that my requirements for everyone are given accordingly. If I made the same requirements of all people and required that they must attain to the same stature, as you imagine, it would not work! That is forcing people to do what they are unable to do. It is man’s principle in working but not God’s. When God works on people, he works in light of their actual situations and inherent qualities. The same principle applies to gospel preaching. You need to tell people the gospel gradually in light of their situations. Only when you make the truth clear will they accept it. Only then will they put aside the Bible. If God did not do this stage of the work, who could break with convention? Who could do a new work? Who could find a new way outside the Bible? People have been so tightly bound by traditional notions and feudal ethics, and they themselves have no power to break free from them and they have no courage to break free from them. Moreover, people of today have been caught by the several dead letters of the Bible and their minds have been occupied by them. So how can they be willing to put aside the Bible? How can they readily accept another way outside the Bible? Only if you can make clear the inside story of the Bible and the principles of the Holy Spirit’s working and cause them all to be sincerely convinced. This is very necessary. For all the religious people exalt the Bible and worship the Bible as God, and they also want to confine God to the Bible and even want to nail God onto the cross again and thus achieve their ends.