Benefits of the Son of God no. 40

Understanding the Alpha Has become the Omega

Sunday, March 6, 2005

Rev. Brian Kocourek

 

This morning I wish to speak on The thirty ninth benefit or promise of God to us concerning His Son and that is that it allows you to be able to identify what is happening in this world today and then be able to tie it back to the Revelation of Christ, and the Word of God. In other words, to understand that the same ministry the Lord Jesus Christ had at His First Coming, His Alpha Ministry, He has repeated again in this hour which is His Omega Ministry.

 

Matthew 27: 54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

 

HEBREWS 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

 

HEBREWS 13:8   Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

 

MALACHI 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

 

HEBREWS CHAPTER 7 PT 2 CHURCH ORDER 57-0922  342-309 Now, notice. "It's impossible for those who once enlightened, to fall away to renew themselves again unto repentance, to see that they crucify the Son of God afresh, and bring Him to an open shame." They couldn't do it. Then you go on over to Hebrews 10 where It says there, "For if we sin willfully after we receive the knowledge of the truth..." And what is sin? Unbelief.  342-312    If you deliberately see the Holy Spirit do the things that It did right here this morning, and see that Christ is risen from the dead, and He's living in His Church and among His people, and you willfully turn It down, it's impossible for you to ever come to God, 'cause you've blasphemed the Holy Ghost. Jesus said the same things when He was doing those miracles. And they said, "Why, he's Beelzebub. He's a fortuneteller. He's a devil." Jesus turned around, and said, "I'll forgive you for that. But when the Holy Ghost comes and does it, to speak a word against It will never be forgiven in this world or the world to come. Because you've called the Spirit of God that was in Him, an unclean spirit."  343-316 Then if we sin willfully, if we sin (disbelieve) willfully... Not after we receive the truth, been born again, we couldn't sin then. A Christian cannot commit the unpardonable sin. He can't do it. It's the ungodly that does that. It's the make-believer, not the believer.

 

Therefore, when we speak of the Alpha and Omega Ministry of Jesus Christ, I want to clarify one thing here. It is not the ministry of the Son of God that is repeating in this hour. For the Son of God did not come to reveal Himself to the World, but His ministry at His first Coming was to reveal His Father to the World. In fact as long as the Son of God stayed the Son of God, and God had not incarnated Himself into His Son, he was not even known to the world, and thus in no confrontation with it.

But when God entered into Him at the River Jordan, He became a threat to the religious establishment of that day, just as he did again in this hour when He came down with a Shout which shook the entire religious world.

 

Now, in the Alpha, Jesus said, in JOHN 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; (and if no man had ever seen God, then how are they going to know Him. He’s a Spirit! So they did not know Him. But Jesus continued saying,) the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. Now, this word declare means to lead forth into view. It also means to draw out in narrative, or to unfold through teaching. So you see how important teaching is. Teaching is doctrine. In fact we find in the book of  MATTHEW 9:35    And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.  So you see he taught first and then the healings were performed  to show that the teaching was vindicated. So without teaching you do not have doctrine, and the doctrine Jesus came to declare was the Doctrine of Christ.  And the Apostle John said, “If you do not have the doctrine of Christ you do not have God”.  And why is that? Because God cannot be seen, and if not seen then who can know Him, and thus if they can not know Him, then how certain can they be that they worship the right God? That is why Jesus told us that no man has seen God at any time, but His ministry was to declare Him to the people.

 

In LUKE 10:22 Jesus said,  All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and no man knoweth who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Now, the word Jesus used for reveal here is the Greek word apokolupto which means to uncover, or lay open what has been veiled or covered up; to disclose, or to make bare  2) to make known, or to make manifest, in other words, to disclose what before was unknown. So you see without teaching and then God backing up that teaching, God would not have been made known.

 

Therefore, the Alpha ministry of God through His Son was a teaching ministry confirmed by the supernatural use of healing and miracles to make Himself known to the Jews, and yet they crucified the one that was doing the revealing to them because they did not think it could be God because it went against their own theology. Therefore, in His Omega ministry he therefore made Himself known through teaching again and again confirmed the teaching, vindicated it by His own Presence with power and signs and wonders, and as much healings and miracles as He did through His own Son. And what did the church world do in this hour? They put Him out of the Church. God Himself, the Word put out of the very churches that claimed to be Worshipping Him. And they crucified to themselves the Word made flesh again.

 

Therefore, it is the ministry of the Son of Man, and not the Son of God that we are concerned with here when we speak of the Alpha becoming Omega.  Now, Jesus the man was the Son of God, but the ministry that was shown to the world through Him was the ministry of the Son of Man, for God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.

 

So when we see that the ministry of Alpha repeated itself in the Omega we are not speaking of the Son of God, but the God of the Son, Who was in His Son in the Alpha and has now come back in this hour and has manifested Himself to the world in the same manner as He did in the body of His Son back then, and of course was rejected once again.

 

REDEMPTION BY POWER  54-0329  3    There was never One like Him on earth, never will be. He was Emmanuel. He was Alpha, Omega, the Beginning and the End, He that was, which is, and shall come, the Root and Offspring of David; the Morning Star. In Him dwelt Deity. In Him was God. "God was in His Son, in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself." Jesus said, "It's not me that doeth the works, but it's My Father that dwelleth in Me. My Father and I are One," God made manifest in flesh. What a marvelous revelation of God's love to us, He would unfold Himself and come down and dwell in human flesh in order to take away sin and sickness from the human race and redeem us back to the Father. That's wonderful, isn't it? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] We sure appreciate that.

 

In his sermon HE THAT IS IN YOU  63-1110E  212  William Branham said, Thou art God, and You're the same yesterday, today, and forever, and Your Presence is here.

 

Therefore, God is the same and changes not, and thus we are talking about “The Lord Jesus Christ,” not the Son of God, but the God of the Son who has come down with a Shout and that Shout was a Message. And that Message is a teaching, and teaching is doctrine. And that Message has been crucified once again. Do you realize that it was not the Son of God they were angry with? It was God! Jesus said he could do nothing and say nothing but what God told Him to do and say. Therefore the words and actions of the Son of God were the words and actions of His Father. Therefore, it was God that they hated and tried to get out from their midst. And He is the Word.

 

Again from the sermon Letting off the Pressure 62-0609E   E-60  William Branham said,   we know that Thou keepest Thy promise, Lord. And I pray that You will vindicate Your Presence tonight. And we ask You, Father, to grant the same things to happen here tonight before the people, just like it did before Your crucifixion. That they might know after two thousand years that Jesus is not one day older; He's the same Christ that He always was. He can never fail or never change.

 

THE TOKEN  64-0308   159    That same Jesus Christ is here. He's the Messenger. He is. Here is His  Message, and He is the Messenger here to identify His Message. I'm not the Messenger; He is the Messenger, and This is the Message. And if you've got a spirit that disagrees with That, how can it be the Messenger of the Message? Only the Token will identify It. Amen.

 

So we see then the One that spoke in the Book of REVELATION 1:8  was God Himself, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. 9 ¶ I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.  10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

 

REVELATION 21:6  And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Now, I want you to further notice here that it is not only God who is speaking, but He is telling us here what relationship we are to have with Him. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

 

Revelations 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; (Now, again we see that this is God speaking and He is telling us that He God, will come and bring with Him our rewards. Thus the difference between the Appearing which is God Himself and the Coming which is the Second Coming of  the Son of God where we meet Him in the air.) and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. 13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

 

The Bible Doctrine that deals with the "Alpha and Omega" principle is purely the most important revelation we  can receive from God.  In fact William Branham made several points that I us to consider.

 

Point #1. He says "It is the Greatest of all revelations" because it  teaches us the Supreme Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

Point #2. He said "it is the first thing you have to know," because it concerns the Supreme Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, "I'm Alpha and Omega, the first of all revelations." You must know Who He is so that you might recognize His voice when you hear it. and if you do not understand Who it refers to, you will not understand the difference between the Appearing and Coming and thus you will mis the Omega ministry altogether just as you would have missed His Alpha ministry if you had lived inthat hour.

 

Point #3.  He said, "I am the Beginning and the End. I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last."   Therefore, what He did at the first he must do at the last, for He can not change.

 

From his sermon, PATMOS VISION 69-130  60-1204E   143   076 William Branham said,   "In the Spirit on the Lord's day..." Now, we hear it. Now, what? And what was he done? He was transferred from the isle now, in the Spirit, over into the Lord's day. And as soon as he got over into the Lord's day, he heard a trumpet. What is it? It's Somebody approaching. A great One's approaching. Trumpet sounds, Somebody's coming. He looked. Hallelujah. ... trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:... (Hm. Not announcement of the second party, or the third party, but the only party. (Now, if this is not the announcement of e second party then it is not the son of God that He is speaking of here. Years ago, I asked brother Vayle a question concerning the Logos which was Christ. I said, “Brother Vayle, can we say that God was in Christ and Christ was in Jesus the Son of God? And he said, Brian, Brian, Brian, do you want to go crazy? Get your eyes off the vessel. In the wilderness that rock that brought water was called Christ, but it was God doing it. The Pillar of cloud led them by day was called Christ but it was God doing it. The Pillar of fire that ed them by night was called Christ but it was God doing it all the time. Don’t look at the vessel but the one that is using the vessel. 

 

Now, I hope you get what I am talking about this morning, because if you don’t then you will continue to have a difficult time rightly dividing every time the word Christ is used. You see, the word Christ means anointing, but can speak of the one who is doing the anointing, and can also refer to the one who is anointed. So Christ means Anointer, anointed, and anointing.

You see, it can be used in any of those contexts, so you must take the context of the usage in order to understand Who or what it is speaking of. And unless you understand the doctrine of Christ, you will not understand the usage of the Word Christ. And you will miss God altogether.

 

Now, let’s continue with Brother Branham’s thoughts here. ("I'm both Alpha and Omega; before I show you anything, I want to let you know Who I am." Amen.)(Now, I would like to add that I thin that is a very nice thing he just said. Before I show you anything I want you to know who it is that is showing you these things. And why is that so important? Because let’s face it, if it isn’t the right person showing you why bother looking? `

 

Then brother Branham says,) The greatest of all the revelations is the Deity, the Supreme Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can't get to first base until you believe that, walk out... That's what Peter said, "Repent, and then see the Deity. Be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and then you're ready to go in the Spirit." The first thing you have to know is the Deity of Christ. "I am Alpha and Omega. I'm from A to Z; there's no more but Me. I was at the beginning; I'll be at the end. I'm He that was, which is, and shall come, the Almighty." Think of it. That's what the trumpet said.

       145   077   Be careful John. You've entered into the Spirit. Something's going to be revealed to you. What is it? A trumpet sound, the first thing, "I'm Alpha and Omega." The first of all revelations. (Oh, sinner, bow, repent now before the time's too late.) "I'm Alpha and Omega." That's the first thing that He let him know Who He was. (Who's this approaching? Is this King Jesus? King God? King Holy Ghost?) He said, "I'm all of It. I'm from A to Z. I'm the Beginning and the Ending. I'm the immortal, eternal One." Just a little later we watch Him in His sevenfold Personage, watch what He is then. See? "I am the Beginning and the End. I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. I was before there was a first; and after there's no more last, I'll still be there," in other words, "The First and the Last." ... and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send... to the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

  147   078   All right, the first of all revelations is the Supreme Deity of Jesus Christ. You must know Who He is when you hear the voice (All right.), the same voice that sounded on Mount Sinai, the same voice that sounded on Mount Transfiguration, the same One, One like the Son of man. Now, watch in this next verse. All right. And I turned... (the 12th chapter now)  We're going to leave these churches alone just for a minute, because this whole week coming on these churches. See, so we're just going to pass over that. But He said, "These... I'm going to direct you to send this message that I show you." Who is? "I'm the First and the Last. I'm the Supreme One. I'm the Almighty One. And I've come to tell you that I'm giving you a message to seven churches. I want you to write it, get it ready." See? "And the seven churches that are in Asia..." Now, they were churches there then with the nature in them that represented these church ages to come.

 

Now, why would brother Branham tell us that the Alpha and Omega principle is the most important principle for us to Know.  We have already seen that this principle deals with the very essence of the Lord Jesus Christ and Who He really is.  And knowing that He is the same yesterday, today and forever, and as we read in Malachi 3:6 "I am the Lord, and I change not." And as brother Branham said, we won't know what to do with His Voice if we do not recognize who He really is.

 

Therefore, #1) in order to understand the day and hour in which we live,

And #2) in order to be able to recognize what is being done in the hour which we live,

#3) we must know Him. And He described Himself to John on the Isle of Patmos with the words, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end."  Notice he never said he was the in-between, He said he was the first and the last.

 

MASTERPIECE THE 64-0705  170    The Alpha has become Omega. The first become last; and the last is the first. The Seed that went in has come through a process and become the Seed again. The seed that fell in the garden of Eden and died there, come back from that imperfect seed that died there, come back to the perfect Seed--the Second Adam.   172    The first Eve that fell, and was used in the second reformation--second coming, as bringing forth a child, now has become true Bride again, the Seed, right back with the original Word again. The Alpha and Omega is the same. He said, "I am Alpha and Omega. "He never said anything in between, "I'm Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last." That's it. The first ministry and the last ministry is the same. The first Message and the second--last Message is the same thing. "I'm--I was in Alpha; I'm in Omega." "There'll be a day that won't be called day nor night, but in the evening time it shall be Light." See? Alpha and Omega; it's become the first and the last. Oh, my, brethren, we could stay a--hours on that.

 

Again notice how brother Branham points out that He was the first and the last, but not the in between.  He said, the Alpha has become Omega. Then he said the first Message and the last Message must be the same.  This is because Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever. And if the Message is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, then it is the revelation of Who He is, and if He has changed, then the first and last Message would have to be different. Also, this let's us know that since the first and last Message are the same, and that Message was a revealing of Who was in our midst, then we must surely know that the last Message must also be a declaration of the One Who is here. And if He is here, then He must perform the same way and do the same things that He did back there.  Again in the next quote we will hear brother Branham reaffirm this same thought that the ministry must repeat in this hour.

 

QUEEN OF SHEBA   61-0119E  E-58 Now, what kind of a light would it give? If that was the first sunlight that shined on the eastern people, which is S-o-n of God, and He did the things He did there on that day on Alpha, He does the same thing at Omega.

 

Here,  we see brother Branham tell us that what God did in the first age He must repeat in the last. Now, why would God do the same at the first and the last? Because if He is the unchanging God. He can not change. Then, if God can not change,  what He did back then at the first, He must do again at the last.

 

WHAT HEAREST THOU ELIJAH  59-0412E  E-81 How  many could just almost see the Presence of the Lord Jesus standing there looking over His audience? The great Jehovah God, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the same yesterday, today, and forever, He's God.

 

Therefore, once we know that God Himself has come down, we can ask the question, why is this so important to know? And why is it so important that there was an Appearing before the Coming?

 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 64-0823E 1021-119 And Jesus cannot come until a church, a body of believers and the ministry that He once (were in...?)... will have to be the same as it was then to... And then, that brings... "Them without us is not made perfect," Paul said, Hebrews 11. "Without us they cannot be perfected." They must have this ministry to raise up the Lutheran, Wesley's, and all them down through their ages.

 

The importance then, of understanding this Alpha-Omega principle, is that if God performed in a certain way or did a certain thing at the first, then He must repeat that certain way or do that same thing in the last.  And this is the key to understanding Brother Branham's ministry and the identification of the pillar of Fire which vindicated that ministry just as He vindicated the Apostle Paul's.

 

ANGEL OF THE LORD  51-0502  E-17   And we're living in the Laodicean age, the last. And He was standing with His hands out to look upon. And there, one hand like this was Alpha, the other one as Omega. As the lights went out, on up to the dark ages and come down; just as they come in, so will they go out, the same kind of Church, same kind of signs, same kind of people, Alpha and Omega.

 

This quote shows the importance of the Omega ministry in this hour. Not only did God come down again as He did at the first, but He again hid Himself in a veil of flesh to minister as He did in the body of His Only Begotten Son. And if God ministering through His Son had a certain effect upon the saints in that day, then His presence working through another body of flesh should have the same effect upon the church in this day as well.  

 

CHRIST OUTSIDE THE DOOR  58-0330E E-13 And in this last church age, is supposed to receive the same light that they had in the first--alpha to omega.

 

PHILADELPHIAN CHURCH AGE 60-1210  135    Now, that's what He revealed at the very first church age. Now, watch. As John saw him standing, the seven golden candlesticks, He was standing with His hands out. Here's the first candlestick, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, with His hands out in the form of the cross. He said, "I am Alpha and Omega." In other words, "I'll be supreme in the first; I'll be supreme in the last." The Lights rises in the east and sets in the west. It's been a dismal, dark time, but "It shall be Light in the evening time." The same Gospel power that raised up here on the one hand at the east, has shined over and now in the other hand at the west, "Alpha and Omega, I'm A and I am Z." In His hand... You get it?

 

Therefore we can see the significance of the Omega ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ to this last church age.  He said the ministry that He once had must repeat again to raise up the dead and perfect the Bride.

 

And remember, brother Branham said the importance of understanding the principle of Alpha and Omega is that we might understand Who He is. And the purpose of that is that we might know His Voice and recognize Him. And how could we recognize Him when he comes if he was a changing God. Therefore, it is the very unchanging nature of God that allows us to recognize him when he comes. As brother Branham preached, "God is identified by His Characteristics."

 

THE TOKEN 64-0208  235    Just think, the great Holy Spirit coming, identifying Jesus Christ alive after two thousand years. See, the very nature of Him doing the same thing as He promised it would be done. That's right.

 

RISING OF THE SUN  65-0418M  45-3    He is the One Who opened those Seals; He is those Seals. For the whole Word of God is Christ, and Christ is the Seals that was open. What is the opening of those Seals then? Revealing Christ. And the very seven Angels which represented the Seven churches was all completed, and we couldn't even see It. They took the picture, not us. And there He is standing there, Supreme Judge, showing that He is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. What identification. Quickening Power did that to us. Quickening Power lets us see His coming.

 

WHAT IS THE ATTRACTION?  65-0725E  142    And the other day, standing there, turned the picture to the right, and there's Jesus as He was in the Seven church Ages, the white wig on, showing Supreme Deity. He's Alpha and Omega; He's the First and the Last; He is the Supreme Judge of all eternity, standing there, confirmed the Message of this hour. And there shall be Light about the evening time! What's it all about? What was it?

WE WOULD SEE JESUS 62-0627   E-106    O God of heaven, forgive our unbelief. We know that's the only sin there is, the sin of unbelief. And may the Holy Spirit come so upon each person just now that they'll no more disbelieve because of the Presence of Christ tonight, showing Himself alive after two thousand years, the Word Himself standing here among us, in us, making His Word manifest.

 

VOICE OF THE SIGN  64-0313   E-68    Now He's here. Now each one, in the way you pray at your own church--if it's to yourself, loud, whatever it is. You pray for the person you got your hands on, 'cause they're praying for you. And now, look up. And in the Presence of the Messiah, the Christ, the resurrected One still alive after two thousand years, how can we be so numb in the spirit? That ought to set this nation on fire. That ought to make Beaumont repent in sackcloth and ashes. But will it do it? No. But you who are looking for Him, and believe that He would do it and keep His Word, it's to you now the promise is given. Put your hands on somebody and pray, while I pray for you from here.   E-69    Lord Jesus, enough has been said, enough has been done. The Word that has been promised has been made manifested. The Messiah, the Christ of God, is in Divine Presence. We feel Him. We see Him. We know that He promised this in the last days. "As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be when the Son of man is revealed." Then we know we see the fire in the skies, the atomic bombs. We see the worm-eaten nations. Nations are breaking. We see that Israel's in the homeland. Every sign that could be promised has been fulfilled. The next thing is the promised Son coming. O Eternal God, in the Presence of Jesus Christ, the great Holy Spirit that's here now, confirming that He's here, hear the prayer of these people. Hear these Christians, that when I leave they won't say Brother Branham did this. Somebody else they didn't know laid hands on them and they were healed. But You promised that the voice had a sign to it. And may they be healed, as I commit them to You in Jesus' Name.

 

 

 

 

 

HEBREWS CHAPTER 5 AND 6  57-0908M   170-32    But before Paul would accept this experience, knowing that the Angel of the Lord was the Pillar of Fire, which was Christ, the... Well, He was the Angel of the Covenant, which was Christ. Moses thought better that--chose rather to suffer the afflictions with the people of Christ, and to be led by Christ, than all the treasures of Egypt. He followed Christ, which was in the form of the Pillar of Fire. Then Christ said, "I came from God (when He was here on earth); I go back to God." After His death, burial, resurrection, glorified body setting at the right hand of the Majesty to make intercessions, Paul saw Him as the Pillar of Fire again, a Light that put his eyes out almost, smote him blind. Peter saw Him come into the jail as a Light, and opened the doors before him as he went out. We find out that He was the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. And here He is with us today, doing the very same things that He did then, making Himself visible back to us, showing it to the scientific world.   171-36    Oh, in this great hour of darkness and chaos over the earth, we should be the happiest people in the whole earth, to rejoice to know... All the time, when people are indocumated, and all kinds of isms and things in the earth... And yet, today the real living God by His Word and by His visible evidence shows us that He's here with us, working, moving, living, acting just exactly as He always did. What a privileged people that we are to have this. We ought to... The Bible said then in the 2nd chapter, "We should hold fast these things. Because how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?"

 

WHAT HEAREST THOU ELIJAH  59-0412E   E-81    How--how many could just almost see the Presence of the Lord Jesus standing there looking over His audience? The great Jehovah God, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the same yesterday, today, and forever, He's God.

 

PALMERWORM LOCUST CATERPILLAR 59-0823  138 There's one God. There's only One. He's Jehovah God, the Great I AM; the Alpha, Omega, the Beginning and the End.

REVELATION CHAPTER ONE  60-1204M   183    Now, God at the beginning was the great Jehovah that lived in a Pillar of Fire, hung above Israel and led them. That was God, the Angel of the Covenant. Come down on the mountain, the whole mountain caught fire; fire flew from the mountain, and wrote the Ten Commandments. He was called the "fatherhood of God," to His children, His chosen race of people, the Jew. Then that same God was made manifest in a virgin-born body that He created in the wombs of Mary, and lived and tabernacled and stretched His tent (as it was) among human beings. And that same God was made flesh and dwelled among us. The Bible said so. God was in Christ. The body was Jesus. Jesus, in Him dwelt the Fullness of the Godhead bodily. Can't make Him three people now. Don't baptize to three gods; there's one God (See?): one God.   185    Now, this same God was made flesh; He said, "I came from God and I go to God." After He had disappeared from the earth by His death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension, Paul met Him on the road down to Damascus, when he was yet called Saul. And a voice came and said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" He said, "Who are You?" He said, "I'm Jesus." And He was a Pillar of Fire, a Light that's put out the eyes of the apostle. He had turned back. The same Jesus had turned back to God the Father again. That's the reason He said here, "I am the Almighty," in the same form He was before He was made flesh. And His body that He lived in, called Jesus, the Man that we know, Jesus...

 

WE WOULD SEE JESUS 62-0627   E-106    O God of heaven, forgive our unbelief. We know that's the only sin there is, the sin of unbelief. And may the Holy Spirit come so upon each person just now that they'll no more disbelieve because of the Presence of Christ tonight, showing Himself alive after two thousand years, the Word Himself standing here among us, in us, making His Word manifest.

 

GREATER THAN SOLOMON 63-0628E  151 They said, "Show us a sign. We want..." That's what's the matter with the Pentecostals. You're looking for something, and one of these days it's going to be too far; it passed right by you, and you didn't know it. Remember, in the days of Elijah, they didn't know him. In the days of John the Baptist, they didn't know him. And he was spoke of in the Scripture that he'd be, "I send My messenger before My face to prepare the way." And even the disciples come to Him, said, "Why must Elias come?" He said, "He's already come and you didn't know it."

 

GREATER THAN SOLOMON IS HERE  62-0628 E-35    The evening lights are shining, and they--this generation is receiving the sign of Jonas, the Christ that they thought they got rid of. The church crucified Christ two thousand years ago, and they could not kill Him no more. He said, "I'm alive forevermore." And here He is after two thousand years among His people, showing Himself, with the same things He did back there He's doing right here again. Two thousand years has passed. He's alive forevermore, and has the keys of death and hell. Amen.

 

The warning we receive with this principle is that as the Alpha ministry was to the church, so would Christ repeat that ministry to the Omega or end-time church. However, with that ministry comes also judgment. And as the church began in the Alpha, so she would end up in the Omega.

 

77-1 EPHESIAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK CPT 3 The very name, Ephesus, has a strange compound meaning, "Aimed at", and "Relaxed". The high aspirations of this age that had begun with the fullness of the Spirit, "the depth of God", whereby they were aiming at the high calling of God, began to give way to a less watchful attitude. A less ardent following of Jesus Christ began to manifest itself as an omen that in the future ages the physical vehicle called the church would sink to the awfulness of the "depth of Satan". It had become relaxed and was drifting. Already the age was backsliding. It had left its first love.

 

8-2 EPHESIAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK CPT 3 The fervent desire to please God, the passion to know His Word, the cry for reaching out in the Spirit, all begins to fade and instead of that church being on fire with the fire of God it has cooled off and become a bit formal. That is what was happening back there to the Ephesians. They were getting a bit formal. The abandonment to God was dying out and the people weren't too careful about what God thought of them as they began to be careful about what the world thought of them. That second generation coming on was just like Israel. They demanded a king to be like the other nations. When they did that, they rejected God. But they did it anyway. That is the history of the church. When it thinks more of conforming to the world instead of conforming to God, it isn't long until you see them stop doing things they used to do, and start doing things they wouldn't do initially. They change their manner of dress, their attitudes and their behaviour. They get lax. That is what "Ephesus" means: relaxed--drifting.

And Remember, they left their fist love. Let us pray.