God who comes as a stone of stumbling

The Bible prophesies that God will come in the flesh in the last days, just as he did 2,000 years ago. From what point of view should we look at God who comes in the flesh? When God comes to this earth, the people of the world expect to come with great visible glory. Does the Bible really teach that?

The Old Testament prophesied about the appearance of Jesus as follows.

Isaiah 53:1–2 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

Jesus, who came in the flesh, said that there was nothing beautiful that people could see and admire. Contrary to the expectations of the people of the world, it is prophesying that the God who will come in the future will come in a shabby form that no beauty or majesty to attract us. Nevertheless, should we try to recognize Christ through the physical appearance of God? The Bible prophesies that such people will surely fall because of God.

Isaiah 8:13–15 The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread. He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured.”

Here it is written that God becomes a stumbling block, a rock of stumbling, a trap and a snare to those who claim to believe in God. Why do many people stumble and fall because of God? It is because God comes to this earth in the same physical form as we do (Isaiah 9:6). If God were to appear in a form of glory worthy of recognition by all, no one would be fallen. However, to those who look at the fleshly side, Christ becomes a stone of stumbling and a rock of stumbling.

1 Peter 2:4-8 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

2,000 years ago, all those who looked at the physical side of Jesus fell. That’s why Peter said they were destined for to stumble. God has ordained that those who only look at the physical side of Christ will not recognize Christ.

Then, how should we, who are living todays, look at Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother who are coming in the flesh as prophesied in the Bible in the last days? Should we look at the physical side? no. Looking at the fleshly side of Christ is a shortcut to rejecting Christ. God ordained it that way.

We must look at and realize Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother through the prophecies of the Bible. So let’s receive the water of life that God the Father and God the Mother allow us to go to the eternal kingdom of heaven.