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. Saint John 5:19:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you: The Son can do nothing in Himself, but
what he sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son
likewise." Is that what He said? "I do nothing till the Father
shows Me a vision first what to do."
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 Me.' My wife don't
dwell in me." See? They are One; in every way they are One.
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 Me.' My wife don't dwell in me."
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 cannot 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 St. John 5:26.
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.