Christ Revealed in His Own Word #81
“The
Maturing of the Bride # 5” & “Hidden Wisdom” #3
Wednesday, February 26, 1997
Brian Kocourek,
Pastor Grace Fellowship
This evening we shall continue
in this Great Message of Brother Branham’s pertaining tot he Revealing of
Christ in His Own Word, as we pick up at the last sentence in paragraph 91
where he says, ....[90] It's
the revelation of God being revealed
in the age we're living in.
[91] He said, "My words are Spirit and Life."
Jesus said that. Again, "The Word
is the Seed that a sower sowed." We know what that's true. It's God in Word form, and It can only be interpreted by Himself.
The human mind is not capable to
interpret the mind of God. How can the little--a little finite mind
interpret the infinite Mind, when we can't even interpret one another's mind. [92]
And you notice, He is the only One can
interpret It, and He interprets It
to whom He will. It didn't say "Mortals of old as they strode across
the earth in sundry times and divers manners." God in sundry times and
divers manners revealed Himself to His prophets. See? [93] And notice. To whom He will reveal It... And He so designed that He could hide
Himself in the Scriptures to the smartest theologian there is. Oh, my. He can
just hide Himself, set right there in the Scripture, and you look all day long
and never see it, look a lifetime and
never see it. He can just hide Himself setting there.
[94] Now, please, everywhere, let that soak in, that God in the Word can hide Himself so in the
Word, that there isn't a theologian or a school in the world could ever find Him. And
yet He's setting right there. You say, "Is that right, Brother
Branham?" How about the Pharisees and Sadducees? How about in every age?
He's done it. Sure. He's done so in every age. Now, we could check that. Let's
think about the days of Noah, smart,
intellectual age, how He hid Hisself in His promised word; in the days of Moses how He hid Hisself; in the days
of Elijah how He hid Hisself; in the
days of Jesus how He hid Hisself.
"He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew
Him not. He came to His own; His own received Him not." See? He hides
Himself from the smartest, intellectual man there is on the earth.
[95] You say, "Well, this
is Doctor, holy father So-and-so."
I don't care who he is; God hides Himself from him, and will reveal it to
babies such as will learn (See?), babies of God, predestinated seed.
[96] Think. The Mighty God, setting in His own
Word, blinding the smart, educated
people of this present age, and they
don't see it. They think it's a bunch of fanaticism. Look at Him standing there hiding to Pentecostals (Huh?),
Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterian:
revealed Himself right out publicly, and showing all kinds of things, even
putting it in the papers, and things like that, yet they don't see it. Oh,
our God, how great, revealing Himself to whomever He will.
[97] "Oh," you say, "Brother Jones
or Brother So-and-so, he's a great man.
He'll see it." Oh, no. He reveals It to whom He will. Say, "My wife don't see it, and she's a
Christian woman." He reveals
Himself to whom He will. See? "Well, my pastor's a great man."
That's right, but He reveals Himself to
whom He will. Now, check with
what's been revealed to what's happening, then you can quite understand.
And this last statement is
the key, where he says, “Look at Him standing there hiding to
Pentecostals (Huh?),
Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterian: revealed Himself right out publicly, and
showing all kinds of things, even putting it in the papers, and things like
that, yet they don't see it”. “Now, check with what's been revealed to
what's happening, then you'll--you
can quite understand.” There
is no doubt in my mind after hearing and reading brother Branham say these
words, that God is sovereign and there is no one who is going to dictate to God
what He should do and what He should not do. He actually blinds people from
seeing it and yet He openly displays Himself in such a way that no one is
without fault when it comes to turning Him down.
God, Himself, The author of
Life has come down in this hour, to restore Life to an Elect Bride. And this
has not been done in a corner somewhere. But because of their own thinking,
they turn down the Vindication of God upon His own Word. Think of that. God!
Who created the Heavens and the earth, turned down because they don’t agree
with what He has come down to say. You talk about arrogance and conceit. How
anyone could hold to the opinion of a mere man above the Opinion of the One
True God.
Christ
Revealed in His Own Word #81
“The Maturing of the Bride # 5” & “Hidden
Wisdom” #3
Now, think of that! God! Who
created and fashioned this world, who not only created all things, but by Whom
all things consist, was turned down because they don’t agree with His doctrine.
I hope that I’m making myself real clear. He purposely manifested Himself
before the entire world and yet they still turn Him down. They are without
excuse. How can they be anything but guilty of the crucifying anew all over
again the Son of God.
You heard him say it. “Look
at Him standing there hiding to Pentecostals (Huh?), Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterian: revealed Himself right out
publicly, and showing all kinds of things, even putting it in the papers,
and things like that, yet they don't see
It”. “Now, check with what's been
revealed to what's happening, then you'll--you can quite understand.”
The people who had the most
light were the Pentecostals. That was the last great move of God before He came
down Himself. But when He came they rejected Him. Just like it was 2,000 years
ago. He came to His Own and His Own received Him not. [John
1:10] He was in the world, and the
world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He
came unto his own, and his own received him not. 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: Which were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God.
God, Hiding Himself. And yet
in a way He doesn’t really hide Himself, because He openly manifests Himself to
the world. “He was in the world, and the
world was made by him, and the world
knew him not.” And that is your key to this hidden mystery. They knew
Him not. They recognized Him not. And yet He came exactly as He said He would
come. Right down to the place and time, and setting and yet they did not expect
him to come the way He said he would. And why is that? Because they loved the
words of man better than the Words of God.
[John 12:35 - 40] Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little
while is the light with you. Walk while
ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. Now,
notice carefully what Jesus is telling them here. He said, “he
that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.” Knoweth not! There
is your key. They Know not! Now, let’s continue with what Jesus is telling
them... While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the
children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.(Notice how
Even in His manifested form He still hid Himself from them.) But listen closely
to what John tells us next, because although Jesus hid Himself, it was easy,
because had they really believed, it would have been impossible to hide Himself
from them. But
though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might
be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom
hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Therefore they could not
believe, because that Esaias said again,
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should
not see with [their] eyes, nor understand with [their] heart, and be converted,
and I should heal them.
And so we see that it is not
only what God does to hide, but it is the condition of the peoples hearts that
allows Him to hide Himself. Other wise, why is it that some people see, while
others do not see. And if we keep reading what John is telling to us, we will
see this more plainly.
[John 12:41-48] These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. ( Now,
John is giving us a clue here as to what is going on. He is speaking of the
Glory of God which is the Doxa of God or His opinion, judgment and assessment
of God). Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many
believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess [him], lest
they should be put out of the synagogue:
For they loved the praise (Doxa)
of men more than the praise of God. (Here
again is the point. John tells us, They loved the opinions of men more than the
opinion of God). Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him
that sent me. And he that seeth me, (the manifested Word), seeth
him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on
me should not abide in darkness. And if
any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to
judge the world, but to save the world.
He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall
judge him in the last day.
Christ
Revealed in His Own Word #81
“The Maturing of the Bride # 5” & “Hidden
Wisdom” #3
Now, there we are. In [John
7:16] Jesus said, “My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent
me.” And in
[John 5:19-20] Jesus said, “verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can
do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things so ever
He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and
sheweth Him all things hat Himself doeth: and He will show Him greater works
than these, that ye may marvel.” And again in [John 5:30] We hear Jesus say, I can of mine own self do nothing: as I
hear, I judge: and my judgment is just;
because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent
me.”
So what we hear John telling
us here as He quotes Jesus, is that Jesus had a very peculiar ministry in that
He absolutely had surrendered His Life, in fact His very will over to the
Fathers will. And Jesus became a Good Steward to do only the bidding of the
Father. And John further tells us that the reason the people were blinded to
Jesus and the Vindication of His Ministry, is because they were blinded to the
Word of the Father which Jesus was only acting out and fulfilling.
So, in essence what we see
here is that the blinding is a spiritual thing, because even though they see
with their eyes, yet they still do not see because they do not understand what
it is that they are looking at. They are willfully blind because they turn down
the understanding because it does not fit with their own thinking. That is why
John said, they would rather have the Doxa of man than the Doxa of God. We
can’t blame God for their unbelief. God doesn’t shove you through a pipe and
then say blessed is he that overcomes. In fact from the Message ...
[Marriage of the Lamb PP. 28] Brother Branham said, “If you notice, it said, "She has made
herself ready." So many says, "If the Lord will take this evil spirit
from me, from drinking, or from gambling, or from lying, or stealing, I'll
serve Him." But that's up to you. You got to do something too. "They that overcome shall inherit all things,"
they that overcome. You have power
to do it, but you must be willing
to lay it down. See? She has made herself ready. I like that Word. You see, God
could not push us through a little pipe, pull us out on the other end, and then
say, "Blessed is he that overcometh." You had nothing to
overcome; He just pushed you through. But
you've got to make decisions for yourself. I have to make decisions for
myself. In doing that, we show our faith
and respects to God.”
It comes right down to
respect. By our surrendering our own thinking to God’s thinking, we show Him
Respect and Love. And in doing so, we have yielded ourselves to the Eternality
of His Divine Will and Presence in our Lives.
In [2 Thess 2: 10] We are
told, Because they love not the Truth, God turns them over to believe a lie.”
So if they don’t love the Truth,
then they must love the Lie. And so then God only gives them what they desire
in the first place. Paul further told us
that only those who love the Appearing will receive the crown of
right-wise-ness that is to be given out at the time of the Appearing. [2 Timothy
4:8] Henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me
at that day: and not to me only, but
unto all them also that love his
appearing.
And so you must love God and
His Word. And if you do, then you will be willing to change when His Word tells
you that you are wrong. Martin Luther
said, in his commentary on the Book of Romans, “‘As soon as you do not desire
to become better, then you have ceased to be good.’ It does not help a tree to have
green leaves and flowers if it does not bear fruit besides it’s flowers. For
this reason, not bearing fruit, many Christians perish in their flowering. Man,
(the Christian) is always in a state of nakedness, always in a state of
becoming, always in a state of potentiality, always in a state of activity. He
is always in sin and always in justification. He is always a sinner, but also
always repentant and so always righteous.
No one is so good that he could not become better; and no one is so
evil, as he could not become worse.” That is why Paul tells us to “be ye
transformed by the renewing of your minds.”
And this is the key to our
justification and glorification. The Elect are willing to be renewed, whereas
the serpent seed will not budge from his ways. [Proverbs 14:12] “There is a way that seemeth right unto man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death.” [2 Cor 4:16] but though our outward man perish, yet the
inward [man] is renewed day by day. [Col 3:10] And have put on the new [man],
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: