Benefits of the Son of God
no. 23
The Promise of
Resurrection
Rev. Brian Kocourek
21) The Twenty-third benefit or promise of God to us concerning His Son is that
we are promised Resurrection, and Resurrection has to do with the body, the
Soul is promised Eternal Life, and there is only one form or Eternal Life and
that is God’s own Life..
John 11: 25 Jesus said unto her, I am
the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? 27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into
the world.
Now, we will never
understand this verse of Scripture unless we read it exactly as it is said.
Now, notice that Jesus tells us “I am The Resurrection and The
Life. That is two things and yet really one thing, for if you have The
Life you do not need worry about raising from the dead, for if You have The
Life then you could never die. The Resurrection then does not deal with the
Life but the body that contains The Life.
I want you to notice that
the One speaking is the “I am”, and we know that that is God
Himself. And yet God was at that point
inhabiting the body of His Son, The Son of God. Therefore Jesus was a dual
being, because Two beings now inhabited His body, the Father and the Son.
SHOW
US THE FATHER IT'LL SATISFY 56-0422 E-36 Now, it's many times it's been said that no man can see God at
anytime, the Bible said so. But the only begotten of the Father has declared
Him. Philip, here was very inquisitive; he wanted to see the Father. Says here
He said, "I've been so long with you, Philip, and you don't know Me?"
Said, "When you see Me you see My Father." In other words, you see
the Father express Himself through the Son. Him and the Father were one in the
sense that His Father was dwelling in Him, not Him doing the works; He was a Son,
Himself, the immortal, virgin born, Son of God. And then in Him was
dwelling the God the Father, expressing Himself to the world, His attitude
towards the people. See? Well, that's how Christ and God were one. God was in
Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Now, He said, "When you see Me,
you see the Father, and why do you say, 'Show us the Father?'
JEHOVAJIREH 56-0429
053 "That's the
reason people couldn't understand Him. Sometime it was Christ speaking... or
was the Son speaking. Other times it was the Father speaking. He was a dual
Person. He was one Man, the Son. God was in, which was tabernacling in
Him. But what did He do? Did He go around saying, "I'm the
Healer." Very contrary, He said, "I'm not the Healer." He said,
"It isn't Me that doth the works; it's My Father that dwelleth in
Me." And in Saint John the 19th chapter when He was questioned for passing
a whole bunch of crippled, lame, withered, halt, blind people, healed one man
laying on a pallet, the Father showed Him to go there and heal. Walked away and
left the rest of them laying there, they questioned Him. A man packing his bed
on the sabbath. Listen to what He said.
LET
US SEE GOD 131 59-1129
…I said,
"He was more than... God was in Him. He was a man, but He was a dual
Person. One, He was a man; the Spirit in Him was God." I said,
"God was in Christ." She said, "Aw, no." I said,
"Look, lady, I'll take your own Scripture. He was a man, but He was a
God-man. When He went down to the grave of Lazarus, He did weep like a man.
That's true. But when He stood there, straightened His little stooped shoulders
up, and said, 'Lazarus, come forth,' and a dead man, that'd been dead four days
come to life again, that was more than a man. Man couldn't do that. That was
God in His Son."
Notice
that brother Branham pointed out that we are not talking about two physical
beings like a man and wife are two physical beings. They are not two in that
way. But he explained that there is one that was a man, and we know to be a
man you must have body, soul and spirit. But in that man that was fully man,
indwelt the God, the Father, who is Spirit. Thus making them one by the
indwelling. But notice in this next quote how brother Branham is more specific
and shows that the oneness of God and His Son is not like Husband and wife and
He is more clear as to why it is different.
Baptism
Of the Holy Spirit 58-0928M
94 Jesus,
He said, "I and My Father are One. My Father
dwelleth in Me." No one could read that any
plainer. They said, "Why don't You
show us the Father, and it'll satisfy us."
John 14:8. He said, "I've been so
long with you and you don't know Me?" He
said, "When you see Me, you see My Father." As a lady once jumped up, she said, "Why, Brother
Branham," she said, "the Father and the Son are one, just like you
and your wife are one." I said, "Oh, no they're not." I said,
"Do you see me?" She said, "Yes." I said, "You see my
wife?" Said, "No." I said, "Then they're not the same
kind of one. Jesus said, 'When you've see Me, you have seen the Father.
The Father dwelleth in
Now,
that is the key to understand what Brother Branham meant when he uses this
story about the confrontation with this woman. He said, "Then they're not the same kind of one. Jesus
said, 'When you've see Me, you have seen the Father. The Father
dwelleth in
Palmerworm
Locust Caterpillar 59-0823 140 God Almighty, the Father, dwelt in Him. At the day of the baptism,
when He received the Holy Ghost on the day when John baptized Him, John said,
"I beheld and saw the Spirit of God like a
Dove descending from heaven, and a Voice saying, 'This is My beloved Son in
Whom I'm pleased to dwell in.” Jesus said
that God was with Him, "I and My Father are
One. My Father dwells in Me.” Not
Jesus, and being one with God; but God was in Christ, reconciling the world to
Himself. 143 And you Oneness brethren, many of you get off the
wrong track when you try to think that God is one like your finger is one. He
can't be His Own Father. He can't be.
Now, in getting back to
our text, we find Jesus saying, “I AM, the
resurrection and the Life”, and the Greek word for “I” is the word ego, and is
defined as a primary pronoun of the First person. Now, this is important
because Jesus was a dual being, and therefore the first person was speaking and
that would have to be God because first means the principle or primary and
therefore the first person in that dual relationship was the Father who was inhabiting
His Son.
I like the words that
brother Vayle spoke to me and said, always remember, that the body of Jesus was
God’s Body but he loaned it to His Son. That tells me then that the body which
was indwelt by the Father was a special body, prepared especially by God for
God, and His Son. And yet that body was mortal because it died on the cross.
Now, the second word
Jesus used here when He said “I am” the resurrection and the Life is the word
“am” which was translated from the Greek word “eimi” which means The first
person singular present indicative. Simply put that means that the person is
present, and simply means I exist, or I am, or it is I. Therefore, what He is telling us is that the
one who is the resurrection and the Life is the Present one. The
first person, God Himself.
Now, let’s look at these
two things that He claims to be. First He said “I am the Resurrection” and then He
said “I am the
Life”. And so we shall look at
these two things, but before we do I want for you to read the next verse very
carefully. Notice he said, And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Now, this
sentence is not constructed properly, and therefore can be confusing when you read
it, for it should read. “And whosoever liveth
in me and believeth in me shall
never die”. Because He is not
just speaking to those who are living mortal lives, and as though if they
believe in him they shall never die, but He is speaking of those who are living
in Him, they are the ones that will believe in Him, and because they are living
in Him or have been made alive in Him, they shall never die. And why is that? We
are talking about God Life. There’s only one form of eternal Life and that is
God’s Life, and if these people who are living in Him it is because they have
been made alive by His Life in them.
That is the
same as what John said in JOHN 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And you know that only those who were given the ability to make a
right decision are those who were able to receive him, because those alone were
sons. The word to become is from the Greek word exousia which means able to
make a right decision. And thus unless you have been given this ability, you
can not receive him for you can not make a right decision.
Therefore when Jesus says, And whosoever liveth in me and believeth
in me shall never die” he is saying only those who live in me can
believe in me, and only they are the ones that will never know death. And that
is where resurrection comes into play, for the soul that sinneth it shall die,
but the soul that is able to repent which means is able to change it’s
thinking, that soul shall live. Then only those souls that have the seed of God
in them are the ones that can truly repent, for all others have not the ability
to make a right decision. “There is a way which seemeth right unto man but then end
thereof are the ways of death.”
For if we have not been made alive in Him, then we
are already dead, and this verse then would absolutely have no meaning at all
as we see in 1 Timothy 5: 6 where the Apostle Paul is speaking of the
adulterous woman who is a type of the church and he says, But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she
liveth. Therefore if she is dead while she is
living, then she has already died, and is living a sort of zombie like life,
which means she has no real purpose of being while she is living, but rather
she might as well be dead for she is dead concerning the things of the Lord,
and what life she does have is not eternal, but rather only temporal.
Now, the only thing that can be dead
while it is alive is something that has no seed in itself to regenerate
itself. In other words a hybrid is dead
while it is alive because it can not reproduce itself. But we have a promise that The Word of God can quicken those that were
dead in sin and trespass. The Apostle Paul tells us Colossians
2: 13 And you, being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Now, notice he said together
with him (Christ), Paul explained that when he said, “By one spirit we are all baptized into One
body”. So it is the sharing of the God life that was given him
according to
Again we see in
Romans 8: 11 But if the
Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his
Spirit that dwelleth in you. Notice again
we are talking of One Spirit and that Spirit is the same one that was in His
Son and that is the Spirit of God for it says here that if that same spirit
that was in Jesus is in you then the one to whom that spirit came forth from
shall raise you up as He raised Jesus up. Now, there are over 18 Scriptures
that tell us that God raised up Jesus from the dead, and this is but one of
those 18.
Romans
Romans 6: 11 Likewise reckon
ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Ephesians 5: 14 Wherefore he
saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light.
EPHESIANS 2:1 ¶ And
you hath he quickened, (that
means you has he made to come alive) who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past
ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. 4 ¶
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,
Notice our coming alive is said to be with Christ because by One
spirit we are all baptized into one body, and thus by the One Spirit which is
eternal we have been given Life, even eternal life with the Son of God, for He
received it first and we next that we might possess it alongside of Him. (by grace ye are
saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together(notice he said together,
then it was expedient that he first raise up Jesus in order to also raise up
us, so that we might be raised together), and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus:
In COLOSSIANS 3:1 The Apostle Paul tells us that our resurrection
of the body that we have is forerun or precipitated by a raising up of our
consciousness of the God life that is inhabiting our bodies. ¶ If ye
then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on
things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
him in glory. 5 ¶ Mortify therefore your
members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which
things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the
which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 8 ¶ But now ye also put off all these; anger,
wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9 Lie not one
to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have
put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that
created him: 11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
Barbarian, Scythian, bond [nor] free: but Christ [is] all, and in all. 12
¶ Put on therefore, as the elect of God,
holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man
have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also [do] ye. 14 And
above all these things [put on] charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called
in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly
in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And
whatsoever ye do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Now in getting back to
our theme, Jesus described two things that He is. He said I am (1) the
Resurrection and (2) I am the Life. Now we have already pointed out that this
one that was speaking out of the body of Jesus was God, for God is The Life and
he gave of that Life to His Son.
In John 5:26 we read, 26 For
as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in
himself; Therefore we see the source of Life that was in the Son of
God was from the Father. Therefore God is the Great Fountain of Life.
Now,
in reading the next verse, we must remember that the Words Jesus is speaking He
had first learned from the Father and then he said then to us. JOHN 5:24 Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent
me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed
from death unto life. We find Jesus clarifying this in JOHN 14:10b The words
that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in
me, he doeth the works. Notice he is saying, these are my
Fathers words, not mine. This is identical to what we had read in various other
Scriptures so far, and should need no further elucidation.
JOHN 5:25 Verily, verily, I
say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. And
why is He saying this? Because He has already established that His Words, and
thus His Voice is nothing short of an echo of God’s own Words and thus God’s
own Voice. And He explains that in the next verse. 26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath
he given to the Son to have life in himself; Notice then that
the very Life that Jesus had was given to Him by one greater than Himself. His
Life came from the Father. And thus the Father who is the giver of Life.
Remember,
we read in JOHN 1: 4 " In
him was life; and the life was the light of men. " So, when we are
speaking of Godhead, we are speaking of God -LIFE, and as we already stated,
"you can not begin to understand Godhead unless you look at it in terms
of LIFE."
Jesus
told us in JOHN
In ROMANS 1: 19 - 21 we read, " that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed [it] unto them. For
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal
power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:" Notice how Paul speaks here of the invisible things of Him
being made known and understood by seeing it in Nature. So we are speaking
of Life. ZOE...
In
JOHN 1: 1 - 3 we see the same
thing, "That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the
life was manifested, and we have seen [it], and bear witness, and shew
unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and
was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we
unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship
[is] with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
The
Life was manifested, and we have seen
and we know because of what we see. Life
itself is not visible. It is Spirit. Yet the very essence and nature of Life is
that it has many qualities and characteristics, which brother Branham called
attributes, and these attributes by their very nature are to become expressed.
A rose without it’s beauty and fragrance would not be a rose. So therefore every
Life has attributes that are visibly and materially displayed to our senses
in order that we might better understand what the nature of the Life is.
That is why brother Branham spoke a message called "God is identified
by His characteristics." In it, he began by showing the difference
between two birds that are both yellow but each has a different flying pattern.
And the pattern distinguishes the difference between the two birds to the
careful observer.
Now,
I do not believe brother Branham was using this illustration to just give us a
lesson on birds. He was showing us by nature how certain attributes will
stand out from others and even when you have two beings who seems to be the
same, yet their will be certain attributes that will differentiate between
them. And so, by this very law of expression, God had to materialize in
order to express Himself. You can not remain hidden and be expressive at the
same time. You can not become or fulfill yourself and remain invisible either.
Then, in order to express oneself, you must show or make visible your
nature through expression. The invisible and intrinsic qualities becoming
openly displayed. A coming out. A bringing forth into manifestation.
In
COLOSSIANS 1: 15 - 19 we
read, "Who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all
things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all
things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the
church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all
[things] he might have the preeminence. For it pleased [the Father] that in
him should all fullness dwell; " What we have here
is God bringing forth a Son and through this Son God performing all His
creative acts. Yet this Son was not God, but the Son of God. He was not the
Father, but He came forth in the image of the Father. You can not see life.
But Life will manifest its nature and characteristics. The manifestation that
you see is not the Life, it is only the expression or fulfillment of that life.
My body is not who I am, but My Life that is within my body is identified
through my body. Cut off my arms, you have not destroyed my life. I still am
who I am. Cut off my legs and my arms and I still exist. My Life is still
within me. So my body is not Life, but is an expression of that Life. And we
find that this scripture tells us that the Son of God is the very image of the
Father in whom all the Godhead dwells. Paul says here, "For It pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. "Now, where did Paul
get that from?
We
read in 2 CORINTHIANS 3: 18 - 4: 6
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the
hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word
of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending
ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be
hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. Notice again we see Paul saying,
"Christ Who is the Image of God". The very
representation and manifestation. He is the
outraying or etching of God. Now, as we began this thought on the
Life Stream of God by going back to the beginning, let’s go back once again to GENESIS 1:1 - 2, 11, 26 - 27. In verse 1 - 2
we find God creating all things, and the Spirit of God moving forth upon the
earth. In verse 11 we find God setting forth an order, that all Seed Life must
bring forth after their own kind or nature. Then in verse 26 - 27 we find God
saying, "Let us make man in our own Image."
"Let Us." Who was speaking and to Whom was He speaking.
In
Genesis 1:11,
we see God establish the Law of Life or the Law or reproduction which says, And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding
seed, [and] the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed [is] in
itself, upon the earth: and it was so. Therefore, God established this law that
every seed must bring forth after it's own kind which means after it's own
nature. Now, keep that in mind because that concerns the promise He made to us,
that if the spirit that was in Jesus lives in us then God will also raise us up
as he did Jesus. That speaks of the body, now just as in nature it speaks of
the body of the seed, and every seed must have a body to manifest the life of
the seed.
DEMONOLOGY The Physical Realm 53-0608A
the life makes the first cell which was a germ, then everything after its
nature, dog after dog, bird after bird, man after man, developing cells, cell
on cell, cell on cell, comes up to where you are, human being, developing of
cells. Now, that was ordained of God to be so.
TRYING
TO DO GOD A SERVICE 65-1127B 335 If you were ordained from the beginning of the earth to that Word,
every Word will come right on top of the Word. Like a human cell will not have
one human cell, and the next the cell of a dog, and the next the cell of a cat;
it'll be human cells. But it's got to have a cell first to start with. Is that
right? say, "Amen." [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Well,
if it is the Word cell to start with, the other Word cells are ordained to make
it a full body.
Therefore,
after God establishes the Law of reproduction in Genesis 1:11 He then begins to
bring forth Life in the earth. Finally we see God create man in His own image (verse
26 - 27) and in chapter 2, we see God bring forth a manifestation of this
created Life form. God forms a body to express this Life and then breathes into
this form the breath of Lives.
I CORINTHIANS
I CORINTHIANS
Now
as we examine this God-Life, let's go back to the very beginning of the Book of
Beginnings. We begin by watching the Spirit of God hover over the earth and we
first hear Him speak in Genesis 1: 3 - 9. The first time He speaks, we
see light coming forth, and light is an essential element needed to sustain
Life. The next time we hear God speak it has to do with water. Water
also is a needed element to sustain Life. After He speaks of light and
water, He then speaks of Life itself and He establishes the law of Life or the
law of reproduction in verse 11. We now see all the elements needed to bring
forth and sustain life. Light, Water and a carrier of Life, called a seed. And
God planted every seed in the earth at this time by speaking His Word as we
again see in 2 Peter 3: 5 - 7 where Peter tells us God did all this by His Word.
GENESIS 1:1 ¶ In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. 3 ¶ And God said, Let
there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God
divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God
called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the
evening and the morning were the first day.
Notice
that the first time God speaks, He causes a division to take place. The second
time God spoke He separated the waters from above from the waters below. The
third time God speaks He brings forth Seed Life. Now, I realize some might say
preaching this doctrine is divisive, but we have shown God's Word is divisive because
it is Life. And so is life in generally speaking. Without the dividing of cells
you can not have reproduction, and without the division caused by the Word of
God, you absolutely have no sign of Life. Brother Branham said in the Message, Revelations
chapter 5, Part 261-0618 66 "any man that has not a doctrine has not a
ministry." So we must
have doctrine, and if we say what the Prophet said, then we have a vindicated
Doctrine. And it will bring forth Life, Eternal Life, because he also said in
the message, MAN
THAT CAN TURN ON LIGHT 63-1229M 95 There's nothing can give you Life but the
spoken Word of God. It's the only way that Life can come is through His spoken
Word.
Now,
in verse 3 we read And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters. 3 ¶ And God said, Let there be light:
and there was light. 4 And God saw the
light, that [it was] good: again we read
in verse 5 And God called the light Day. Therefore the first time God speaks we see His
Word bring forth a Light. This light may not be the s.u.n because we see the
sun spoken of in verse 14. GENESIS 1:14-19
¶ And God said, Let there be lights in the
firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for
signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights
in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16
And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the
lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also. 17 And God set them
in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth 18 And to rule over
the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God
saw that [it was] good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
The second thing is that he said I am the
Resurrection, and we know that it was not Jesus the man who raised Lazarus from
the grave but God who indwelt the Son of God, for Paul said, Romans 8: 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in
you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Therefore when God is speaking out from Jesus and
tells us John 11: 25 I am the
resurrection, and the life: he
that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth
in me and believeth in me shall
never die. Believest thou this? He is giving us promise that not
only will the God Life that He placed in the Seed by the new birth, which
according to 1 Peter 1:22-23 is by the eternal word living and abiding in us,
but that even these bodies will be quickened in such a way as they will have to
come forth to give our seed a manifested presence.
Let us pray.