Christ Revealed in
His Own Word #19
Unified By the Word
Wednesday evening, May 29, 1996
Brian Kocourek,
Pastor Grace Fellowship
[156
Ten Virgins 60-1211M] Now, watch, they, both of them were virgins.
Now, let me get this. Here, let's take these two right here. This is a virgin
and this is a virgin. This was a foolish virgin and this was a wise virgin, but
both of them are virgins. Now, if
you'll take that name "virgin" and run it down, it means--it means
"holy, clean, sanctified." The word "sanctify" comes from
the word "sainted," which means "clean." Like the Hebrew
word... Now, that's a Greek word; "sanctify" means "clean."
[ E-35
Sudden Secret Going Away of the Church
58-1012] How many of you, all
perhaps, have read of the virgins? Some were wise and some were foolish.
"Virgin" means "purity." They were all good people, everyone
of them virgin, sanctified vessels of God. But those who had oil in their lamps
went in. And the others was left out. They were all virgins, everyone people
that you couldn't put your finger on for anything wrong. They everyone believed
in the coming of the Lord. They were ready to go meet Him, but some of them let
their oil go out. Don't let that be your case. Keep oil in your lamp. Oil is
the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Never let it drain from you. When you feel your love dying away, your sincerity to Christ, and to the cause, quickly go to Him Who has
the Fountain of Oil and buy for yourself a filling of the Holy Spirit.
Now how then do
we go to Him and refill these lamps? [ Psalm 119: 105] Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet
and a light unto my path. In
fact we find brother Branham tell us the same thing in connection with his
explaining this lamp the Wise Virgin had that was lit.
[73
Conflict Between God and Satan 62-0531] Fire is the confirmation of the Light coming from the Word.
The smart virgin, the wise virgin, had oil in her lamp, and she trimmed her
lamp and lit it. Now, what is it?
Now, God is the Word; the Oil is the Spirit; and the Fire is the Gospel Light on that Oil. Amen. God said so.
See? That's the vessel. All right. The Oil is in the vessel, and the Fire burning it, shows that it's
reflecting the Light of what the Word said. See? That's the reflection.
Now, that wise virgin could do that; but that other, foolish virgin, was on the
outside, had no Oil. And they couldn't reflect nothing but just their church
and their denomination. See? Now, "You say the Word... You said the Word
was Spirit?" Yes, sir. God said,
"My word is Spirit." That's right. The true Bride must be unified
by the Word. Now, remember, if she
is a part of Christ, she has to be the Word of Christ. In order to be the Word
of Christ, you have to be baptized into Christ. And when you're in Christ, you
believe Christ and Christ is the Word.
274-2
SARDISEAN.CHURCH.AGE -- CHURCH.AGE.BOOK.CPT.7
As Israel (chosen
people of God) in majority forfeited their rights in the Book of Life by
rejecting Jesus, so the majority of
the Gentile church will also come into condemnation with the resultant
removal of their names from the Book of Life by rejecting the Word and thereby entering into the world
ecumenical movement which is the image erected unto the beast.274-3
There is another point to see here. In the great White Throne judgment
there will be a separation of people. The Book of Life will be opened and
another book will be opened. Matthew 25:31-46, "When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all
the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: And
before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the
sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King say
unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and
ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger and ye
took Me in: Naked and ye clothed Me: I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was in
prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord,
when saw we Thee an hungered and fed Thee? or thirsty and gave Thee drink: When
saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? Or when
saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? And the King (
JUDGING) shall answer and say unto them,
Verily, I say unto you, In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of
these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. Then shall He say also unto them on
the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for
the devil and his angels: For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat: I was
thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in:
Naked, and ye clothed Me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not: Then
shall they also answer Him saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or
athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison and did not minister
unto Thee? Then shall He answer them saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as
ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not unto Me. And these
shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life
eternal."
275-1 Revelation
20:11-15, "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from
Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away: and there was found no place for
them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were
opened: and another book was opened,
which is the Book of Life:
[ Matt 16: 24 -
27 ] & [ Rom 3: 19 - 20 ]
and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their
works, And the sea gave up the dead which were in it: and death and hell
delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of
Life was cast into the lake of fire." There will be both the righteous and
the un-righteous in this judgment. It says so. THESE RIGHTEOUS WILL NOT BE THE
BRIDE FOR THE BRIDE SITS WITH HIM IN JUDGMENT. I Corinthians 6:2-3, "Do ye
not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be
judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that
we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?"
Revelation 3:21, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My
throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His
throne." See, the bride is with Him in the throne. As she is to judge the
world she has to be sitting in the judgment with Him. That is exactly what
Daniel saw. Daniel 7:9-10, "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and
the Ancient of days did sit, Whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of
His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His
wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him:
thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand
stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened." See,
it is the same scene, for the thousand thousands who are ministering to Him are
the bride, for who ministers to the husband but the wife?
276-1
The question now
arises, why are these righteous ones in the judgment? There is no other place
that they can come up, for there are but two resurrections and since they could
not qualify for the first resurrection they must come up in the second which is
a resurrection unto judgment. The ones who qualify for the first resurrection (the
bride) are not in the judgment. John 5:24, "Verily, verily I say unto you,
He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting
life (that is, the believer is already the recipient of eternal life which he
has in his possession now) and shall not come into condemnation (shall not come
into the judgment, is what it really says) but is passed (permanently) from
death unto life." But notice carefully, Jesus must have yet another group
in mind who at a certain resurrection will receive eternal life. They will
receive it at the resurrection, NOT HAVING PREVIOUSLY RECEIVED IT AS A MEMBER
OF THE BRIDE. John 5:28-29, "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming,
in the which ALL that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth;
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." Now we all know that John
5:28-29 is NOT THE RAPTURE for only the dead in Christ will arise from the
graves at that time along with the living bride who still is on the earth. I
Thessalonians 4:16-17, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and
the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and
so shall we ever be with the Lord." But it says in John 5:28-29 that ALL
are going to come forth from the grave.
This is the very same resurrection that is spoken of in
Revelation 20:11-15 wherein THE DEAD were brought before the Lord and judged
according to their works, and all whose names were not in the Book of Life were
then cast into the lake of fire.
277-1 We now face the
question as to why they should be given eternal life at the judgment since the
Epistles seem to conclusively point out that one must possess the Spirit of
Christ or perish. Though it seems thus, we must not discredit the words of
Jesus Who most pointedly sets forth that there are some found in the Book of
Life who will either receive eternal life before the general resurrection or
after it. Paul does not evade this truth for he most clearly says in
Philippians 3:11, "If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of
the dead." Now this statement is most peculiar. We all know that we are
ALL going to be in a resurrection whether we want to be or not. All will be
resurrected. So Paul could hardly be
saying, "If by ANY MEANS I might attain to a resurrection of the
dead." The truth of the matter is, he is not saying that. The literal
reading is, "If by any means I might attain to the `out-resurrection' from
among the dead." This is not the attaining to the general or second
resurrection, but attaining to the first resurrection, of which is said,
"Blessed and Holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection, on such
the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ
and shall reign with Him a thousand years." The first resurrection has
nothing to do with the second death. That is at the end of the thousand years
when ALL THE REST of the dead live again. And in that day there will be those
who come forth to eternal life and those others who are caught in the second
death. Now we do not need to guess about those who in the second resurrection
are given life. We are told it is given to them on the grounds that they have
been kind and good to the "Brethren". Those who are raised and cast
into the lake of fire will be so treated because of their mistreatment of the
"Brethren". Since this is the Word of God we simply accept it. There
is no argument here, just a simple statement of fact.
278-1 To
further clarify, notice specifically the words of Matthew 25:31-46. It does not
say that a shepherd is literally separating sheep from goats, but it is AS a
shepherd dividing sheep from goats. These are not sheep in this particular area
of time (White Throne Judgment). The sheep are in His fold, they heard His
voice (Word) and they followed Him. THEY ALREADY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE AND CANNOT
COME INTO THE JUDGMENT. But these do NOT have eternal life, and they are in the
judgment. They are allowed to GO INTO eternal life. But upon what grounds do
they enter into life eternal? Certainly not upon the fact that they already
have His life as does the bride, but they receive it because they were kind to
His brethren. They are not His brethren: that would make them joint-heirs with
Jesus. They are NOT heirs to anything but life. They share no throne, etc. with
Him. THEIR NAMES MUST HAVE BEEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE AND NOT REMOVED. Now
because of their love of the people of God they are recognized and saved. No
doubt these served and helped the children of God. Perhaps like Nicodemus and
Gamaliel they stood for the children in a time of trouble.278-2 If this seems to
smack of "restoration," watch carefully now, for the wicked are NOT
restored, but turned into the lake of fire. The names of many of those
destroyed were in the Book of Life also; but they were blotted out because they
failed to honor the people of God who were the living manifested Word (living
epistles) for their day.278-3 Now let us be very clear here. These are not
nations being judged and going into the millennium because they have harbored
and helped the Jews. That is very clear because of the conclusion of these
verses. "And these (the wicked) shall go away into everlasting punishment
(lake of fire), but the righteous into everlasting life." There is no
record of TWO judgments set where the wicked are cast into the lake of fire.
Only the beast and false prophet are judged at the end of the great
tribulation. No, this is the White Throne judgment, and they are judged
according to what is written in the books.
278-4 It is the second resurrection that the
"souls under the altar" as set forth in the fifth seal (Revelation
6:9-11) are given white robes, and of course eternal life, or there would be no
point of white robes. "And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under
the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the
testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long,
O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that
dwell on the earth?
And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it
was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their
fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were,
should be fulfilled." Now note particularly that none of these under the
altar were killed for the testimony to Jesus. They were not like Antipas who
was slain for holding fast His Name. These are not born again ones, with
eternal life as their possession. They come up in the resurrection and receive
life because of their stand on the Word. And notice how these are crying out
for vengeance. They cannot be bride material. The bride turns the cheek and
cries, "Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do." These are
Jews. They have to be because they are in the fifth seal, and it is in the
fourth seal that the Gentile bride is gone in the rapture. So these Jews aren't
born of His Spirit. They don't even believe that Jesus is the Messiah. But as
they were blinded by God for the Gentile's sake, God gave them eternal life on
the grounds that though they could not come to Him, yet they were truly
faithful to all the Word they knew, and died for it as multitudes died under
Hitler, Stalin, etc., and will yet die.
279-1 It is the second resurrection wherein the five foolish
virgins come up. Notice that they were virgins. They did not have the Holy
Spirit so they missed being in the bride, while the five wise who had oil
became a part of that bride. But these people, being a separated, God-loving
people, and trying to abide in the Word, according to what they knew of it, and
being a help in the work of the Lord will come up at the end of time. They will
miss the millennium, which you can begin to see by these truths is much more
important and wonderful than we have ever thought or believed.279-2
All these people had their names in the Book of Life and their names
remained. But whose names did not remain? Those of the world system churches
who fought the bride will be those whose names are removed. That is who will
lose out. They will be cast into the lake of fire.279-3 Now let us go another
step, but before we do let us review our case thus far. First of all we know
most assuredly that the purpose of God stands in election. It was purposed in
Himself. It was God's purpose to bring forth a people like unto Himself that
would be a Word Bride. She was chosen before the foundation of the world IN
HIM. She was fore-known and beloved before she was ever brought forth during
the ages upon the earth. She was redeemed by His blood and can NEVER come into
condemnation. She can never be in the judgment because sin cannot be imputed
unto her. Romans 4:8, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin." But indeed she shall be with Him in His throne of judgment, judging
the world and even angels. Her name (each of her members) was written in a
section of the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
Secondly, there is another class. Their names are also in the Book of Life and
they will come up in the second resurrection. Such are the foolish virgins and
the righteous as are spoken of in Matthew 25. In this class also are those who
do not worship the beast or become involved in the antichrist system but die
for their faith even though they are not in the bride, not having been born
again. But they will come up in the second resurrection and go into eternal
life. Thirdly, there are the borderline Christians such as we saw in Israel
coming out of Egypt. These had their names in the Book of Life and their works
written in the books. These having failed to obey God and being void of the
Spirit, though even the signs and wonders were amongst them, will have their
names removed from the Book of Life. Amongst this group will be the ones like
Judas who though entirely void of the Spirit, but are religious, will have
manifestation in their lives, and though on the books were not the elected IN
HIM. Such also as Balaam will be in that group. Fourth and finally are the ones
whose names have never been or will ever be written on the books. Such are
found in Revelation 13:8 and Revelation 17:8, "And all that dwell upon the
earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not: and shall ascend out of the
bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall
wonder, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of
the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is."
Jesus said that a certain group would accept one who came in his own name. That
one is the antichrist. And that is exactly what it says of them in Revelation
13:8, and 17:8. These were ordained of God but not unto election. And with this
group is such that are as Pharaoh. It says of him, "Even for this same
purpose have I raised thee up. Vessels of wrath fitted for destruction."
Romans 9:17 and 22. None of these would be placed on the records of life.
I am not saying that there is no record of them. No doubt
there is some kind of a record of them, but NOT IN THE RECORDS OF LIFE. Their
purpose of existence has been dealt with slightly in the rest of this book but
we can add two more Scriptures. Proverbs 16:4, "The Lord hath made the
wicked for the day of evil." Job 21:30, "The wicked is reserved to
the day of destruction, they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath."
281-1
Since this portion
of the Word is hard for the human mind to grasp, it must be accepted and
believed by faith. Some will be offended by what I have set forth because they
fail to understand the sovereignty of God which sets forth that GOD IS GOD, and
because He is God one cannot defeat His counsels or thwart His will and
purpose; but He, being omnipotent, is ruling in ALL affairs and is doing
whatever He will with all His creation because all were created for His good
pleasure. Therefore, as Paul says, "If God should take of one lump of clay
and make of that same lump one vessel unto honor and another vessel unto dishonor,
who can be offended and cry against Him?" That He has the right to do this
on the grounds of creation alone, we cannot deny. Yet He went even further, for
according to Romans 14:7-9, we have the irrefutable proof that Jesus paid the
purchase price of the whole world, and therefore He can do as He wills with His
own. "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For
whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the
Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end
Christ both died and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord BOTH OF THE DEAD
AND LIVING." (Ownership; NOT relationship is meant here.) This is also set
forth in John 17:2, "As Thou hast given Him power OVER ALL FLESH, that He
should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him."281-2
Now, if we impute omniscience to God, we must also accept that He is
perfect in wisdom and righteousness. This plan of election and reprobation is
the wisdom of God revealed in all ages even, as it says in Ephesians 1:3-11,
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed
us with all Spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He
hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be
holy and without blame before Him. In love having predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure
of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us
accepted in the Beloved. In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace; wherein He hath
abounded toward us in all WISDOM and prudence, Having made known unto us the
mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in
Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are
on earth, even in Him; In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will." Thus if God has so designed that there be those
whose names are placed in a section of the Lamb's Book of Life and cannot be
erased for they are the names of His bride, then we must accept that. If it
also states that there are those whose names were placed in the record of the
Book of Life but in the foreknowledge of God they were to fall and have their
names removed we must accept that. And if there are those whose names were
NEVER placed upon a record of life, we must accept that, also. And if there are
those who will enter into life eternal after the White Throne judgment solely
on the grounds of being good and kind and just to the elect of God who are His
brethren, then we cannot but accept that. FOR WHO KNOWETH THE MIND OF THE LORD
THAT HE SHOULD INSTRUCT HIM? Rather let us be subject in faith to Him Who is
our Father and live.