Christ Revealed in His Own Word #50
His Words are Spirit and Life
Sunday, October
6, 1996
Brian Kocourek,
Pastor Grace Fellowship
[52] So
the Bible is the complete revelation of Jesus Christ, and It was wrote by prophets, Hebrews 1:1, "God, Who in sundry times
spake to the fathers by the prophets, in this last day speaks to us through His
Son, Jesus Christ," which was the prophets, all of them put together.
Jesus was Malachi; Jesus was Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah. All that they were, were
in Him. And all that you are, and all I am, is in Him: Words, witnesses of the
Word. So It is not a book of systems, a code of moral ethics, neither is It a
history book, or a book of theology. It is not. But It's the revelation of Jesus Christ: God Himself revealed from Word to
flesh. That's what It is. The Bible
is the Word, and God is the flesh. God
is the Word, rather, and Jesus being
the flesh, It's a revelation how God, the Word, was manifested in human flesh
and revealed to us. And that's why He becomes a Son of God. He is a part of God. You
understand?
[53] Now, He is not...( Notice here what brother
Branham almost said, He is not what? Then he clarifies this by saying) The body is part of God, so much that it's a Son. A Son... As a
Catholic puts it, eternal Son (and all the rest of the churches), the word
don't even make sense. See? There cannot be eternal and then be a son, 'cause a
son is something that's begotten from. And the word "eternal"... He
cannot be an... He can be a Son, but He cannot be an eternal Son. No, sir. He
cannot be an eternal Son. Now, but He
is the Son, so much that all the Word that was in Jeremiah, in Moses... And all those Words, like He said, "They speak of Me." All
that true Divine revelation of Word was wound up into one human body, and
God put flesh around It. That's the reason He was called "Son,"
reason He refers, "Father." Why, it's just as simple, if you just let
God pour it down into your mind. See? God revealed in a body of flesh
(Notice.)--revealed from flesh--or from Word unto flesh. That's St. John 1:14: "And the Word was made
flesh and dwelled among us."
[55] Now, notice this Bible. Some of them said,
"Oh, well, It's done this; It's done that." But let me tell you
something; let's just go into the history of the Bible just a minute and see
where It come from. It was written by forty different writers. Forty men wrote the Bible over a space
of sixteen hundred years apart and
at different times, predicting the
most important events that ever
happened in world's history, and many times hundreds of years before it happened. And there is not one error in the entire sixty-six
Books. Oh, my. No author but God Himself
could be so accurate. Not one word
contradicts the other. Remember, sixteen hundred years apart, the Bible was
wrote, from Moses to the death of John at the Isle of Patmos: sixteen hundred
years. And was wrote by forty different authors. One didn't even know the other
one, and they never had It as the Word. Some
of them never even seen the Word.( for instance Job) But
when they wrote It, and was understood to be prophets, then when they put their prophecies together, each one of them
dovetailed one to the other.
Now what Brother
Branham is telling us here is that the odds of taking forty different men with
forty different life experiences and then compounding the odds by spreading
these men over a period of one thousand and six hundred years of time, and the
odds become astronomical that they could all have the same thinking pertaining
to doctrine. Yet if the book were not written by man but by God himself moving
upon those men, then one God who changes not could and would have to be
constant in His reflection and exhortations concerning this Book, and that is
why we call it the Word of God.
Therefore, if we
believe this book to be the Words of God, then although it may be historical,
yet it is not a book of history. Though it may contain ethical and moral
suggestions, yet it is not a book of ethics or morals. Though it contains many
hundreds if not thousands of prophecies, yet it is not a book of prophecies.
Then what is it? It is the Word of God period. And we know that as a man
thinketh, so is he. Therefore, the Word of God is the expression of God in Word
form. It is the thoughts of God expressed. Therefore, this Bible is the
Revelation of Jesus Christ.
[John 1:1-4, 14] Now what is brother Branham pointing to when
he quotes from [Heb 1:1-2] Notice
scofield says, it is not by His Son, but rather, “In Son hath He spoken to us.” Now Who hath
spoken to us IN Son? That is the real question. Who has spoken to us IN Son?
Who? God has spoken to us In Son.
Now you may ask,
what is the difference between by Son and in Son. There is a lot of difference.
The literal translation of [Hebrews 1:1]reads,
“God
Who in many times and in many ways spoke to our fathers in many distinct
messages and by various methods in the person of the Prophets, has in these
last days spoken unto us in the person of His Son.” To say that God has spoken to us simply by
His Son leaves us with the impression that the Son perhaps was given a message
from God to deliver to us. That the Son
was not in any way connected to the Message that He gave except that He
was the deliverer of that message. Just as we think when we hear that God spoke
to us by the Prophets. But the real translation is not by the prophets but in
the Prophet God has spoken and now In Christ He does Speak. Christ is all that the prophets were, combined
together. Each of the prophets brought forth a portion of what He was and
together as a whole they brought out the complete revelation of Jesus Christ.
Now let me say
this in a simpler form. There are many thousands of declaration in the Bible
that give us some clue as to the various multitudes of attributes that express
God. Can we say that is a true statement? Now if I were to tell you some of
these maybe we could place them together to get a better picture of Him.
First of all, we
have a promise in the bible that the Seed of the woman shall bruise the head of
the serpent. So we know that something will take place with this Seed that will
do damage to the Devils Seed. Next we see that a virgin shall conceive. This
then rules out all women who have children who were not a virgin. We know that
He will be of the Seed of Abraham. That He is to be born in Bethlehem. That he
will be as a lamb that will slain for the sins of many. That he will come
riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. That He will come forth with a
healing campaign. We know they will pierce His hands and His feet. We know He
will be rejected by His own. And we could go on and on and on with the many
prophetic utterances that have been spoken by God’s Prophets over a one
thousand six hundred year span and by sorting out all the prophetic utterances
that were spoken concerning Him, we could begin to make a detailed profile of
what This Son of God was to be.
[52] So the Bible is the complete revelation of
Jesus Christ, and It was wrote by
prophets, ( Then if the Word was written by Prophets, it has got to be
revealed by a Prophet, because the Word of the Lord comes to the Prophet. [1
Cor 2:11-12] [Amos 3:7] It takes
a prophet to reveal what a prophet wrote. Now brother Branham goes on to say, “Hebrews 1:1, "God, Who in sundry times
spake to the fathers by the prophets, in this last day speaks to us through His
Son, Jesus Christ," which was the prophets, all of them put together.
Jesus was Malachi; Jesus was Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah. All that they were, were
in Him. And all that you are, and all I am, is in Him: Words, witnesses of the
Word. So It is not a book of systems, a code of moral ethics, neither is It a
history book, or a book of theology. It is not. But It's the revelation of Jesus Christ: God
Himself revealed from Word to flesh.
That is why Jesus
admonished the people to “search the Word” as He did. [John 5:39] Now in This scripture statement by Jesus Himself we find
two powerful thoughts. 1St of all we are commanded to search the scriptures for
out of them we have Eternal Life. we also find this in [Proverbs
4:20-22]. Now the second thing that Jesus says here in St. Jon 5:39 is that the scriptures is what testifies of Him. So
then we see that these two very strong statements closely tie together. #1) To search the scriptures because in
them is contained Eternal Life and #2)
that when we search the scriptures, we will get to know the Son, because the
scriptures contain within them the knowledge of the Son. So then we can see
plainly to search the scriptures will not only open unto us the knowledge of
the Son but also will in the process give us Eternal Life. For did not Jesus
say Himself in [St. John 6:63] “The
Words that I speak, they are Spirit and they are Life.” And
Now the next step
we must take in understanding this relationship of Jesus the Son of God, to
Jesus, The Word made flesh, is to know that He said “the Words that I speak they are not mine, but another’s”. And so we must ask whose Words are they if
they are not Jesus own words. [John
14:24].
And also remember
that Jesus said that these Words which He speaks are not only the Fathers
Words, but they also contain Eternal Life.
[John 6:63 - 5:26, 30-32]
[John 7:16]
[John 8:50]
[52] It's the revelation of Jesus Christ: God
Himself revealed from Word to flesh.
That's what It is. The Bible is the Word,
and God is the flesh. God is the Word,
rather, and Jesus being the flesh, It's
a revelation how God, the Word, was manifested in human flesh and revealed to
us. And that's why He becomes a Son of God. He is a part of God. You understand?
[53]
And all
those Words, like He said,
"They speak of Me." All that true Divine revelation of Word was
wound up into one human body, and God put flesh around It. That's the
reason He was called "Son,"
reason He refers, "Father."
Why, it's just as simple, if you just let God pour it down into your mind. See?
God revealed in a body of flesh (Notice.)--revealed from flesh--or from Word
unto flesh. That's St. John 1:14: "And
the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us."
Now this brings
us to the fact that Jesus and the Father are two different persons, with two
different personalities. The Son is not God, He is the Son of God. The Father is not the Son, but in the Son the
Father dwelt. Now was it the Father in Him that Dwelt in the Son? Or was it the
Godhead that dwelt in the Son? And remember, Webster tells us the Word Godhead
is actually a Word which means Godhood.
And we know that the word hood means the state or condition of being. So
Godhood is the state or condition of being God just as boyhood is the state or
condition of being a boy.
Now we read in [St. John 5:30] that Jesus said, I can
of mine own self do nothing, what the Son seeth the father do, the son doeth
likewise. And so when Jesus spoke to us, the Words were not His own just as
when a Prophet spoke to us the Words were not the Prophets, but God’s. That’s what
Thus Saith the Lord means. The Lord has said thus. And then if the Word is God’s Words, then in that Word is God’s
own Life. Eternal Life for “In Him was Life and the Life was the LIGHT, ( the
understanding and guiding power) of God to man. “The Words which I speak, they are
Spirit and they are Life.” Whose spirit and Whose Life? God’s Spirit
and God’s Life. For Jesus had no word of His own. He spoke the Words of His
Father.
[1 Peter 1:10-13] verse 12 tells us that
the Prophets many times did not even know what they were saying. The words were
for another day and they just said what God placed in their mouths to say.
Even Balaam
said he could not help but to say only
what God placed in his mouth to say.
[Numbers 12: 1-14] dark = riddles, double talk, enigma, which is things to be
guessed at.
apparently =
through sight, an Appearance. Visibly
Similitude =
the representation or likeness of the Lord
behold =
shall he see and look upon
[Deut
4:36] Then whose voice is it that
we hear in this day if He said, in this last days He will speak in Son. It is
still the Voice of God Himself.
[Hebrews 12:25-26] [1
Thes 4: 15-16] [Rev 10: 1-7] = [Amos 3: 6-8] the voice of God.
[2 Peter 1: 15] A word made more sure.
How? [Acts 3: 19-26] The restoration
of the utterance of God.
[Rev 3: 14-22] = [John 14:12]
It's on your hands tonight, throwed right
back in your lap. Hebrews 13:8, regardless of how many Council of Churches we
have, still remains as Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.
"The works that I do..." If--if His Life is in you, it'll manifest
Jesus Christ. Amen.
172 Now,
you all can't be that one, but you can be a part of that with your faith. All
of them couldn't be a Jesus, when they was on earth, but they could believe Him
and accept the message. There was one Moses, one Elijah, one Noah, on down,
always been that, but the rest of them could accept it. And they would've had
no ministry unless there'd been somebody believe it. Jesus would've had no
ministry 'less somebody believed it. Paul would've had no ministry 'less
somebody believed it.
The Holy Ghost has got no ministry by the
Word today unless somebody's willing to get away from their creed and come back
to the Word again, no matter how well it's here and how real it's here. It's
here now. I know it's here. I feel it. I know it's here. The Word says it's
here. "Wherever two or three are gathered in My Name, I'm in the midst of
them." And I truly believe that He's here, the same yesterday, today, and
forever.
175
Oh, if I could get this little tabernacle... I love you. And I don't
believe there's a man on earth that I could say I loved any better than Jack
Moore, and that's right, Young Brown, and Lyle, and these men here. I read a
article today that Anna Jean wrote; I was going to ask her permission to
reprint it again of the nice things that they can say. And--and, look, but if
you don't wake up quickly, it's going to be too late. The Life Tabernacle, I'm
part of you, and that's the reason I cry out. Year by year, I find it cooling.
You might not notice it; you live right in it; but stay on the field and then
return back with the memories of the year before. Didn't I tell you that out
there in that little tent one night, "From this hour on"? What'd I
say about Shreveport when that woman give me that dirty write-up that time?
176
Remember what I said that time about the United States, three or four
years ago, five, then run all through the papers? I said, "This year the
United States will accept the Gospel or they'll never do it." They've
declined since that time. And there'll never be a--a big revival in America no
more like that. If you believe me to be a prophet, you remember that's the Word
of the Lord. See? Just watch and see if it isn't dying. The churches are dying.
They're withering away. And it kills me, inside of me to know that men and women
that I love better than I love my own life, that I've given my life.
177
I've come among you as your brother, not your God; your brother, not
your enemy; your brother. I've told you the Truth, and God's declared the same.
With every word I've preached, He's declared it to be the--exactly the Truth.
Then why not accept it, brother, sister? In the love of Jesus Christ, why don't
you accept