Christ Revealed in
His Own Word #119
The Manifested Word
Sunday,
July 20, 1997
Brian Kocourek,
Pastor Grace Fellowship
This morning I would like to
continue in our study of “Christ
Revealed in His Own Word,” and this is number 119 in our series. We had
been looking at this evening Light that Brother Branham has been speaking about
from paragraph 144 and on. We also saw a couple illustrations that he used that
at first appeared to be off the subject, but then as we examined them closer we
can see how they were essential in getting the true characteristics of the
light, and the fact that this Light is
bearing witness to THE Light. Now, without further delay, let’s continue where
we left off in studying about this light at paragraph [153] and keep in mind that our subject is “Christ is Revealed in His Own
Word” and this Word is The Evening light. So we see that this evening
light is to reveal Christ...Now, let’s read from [153]“Now, let's find out. It
shall be Light about the middle day? At
the evening time. What is light sent for? So you can see where you're--how to get around (That right?), see where you're at. [Eph 5:13]
[John 3:19-21] Now this word manifest is the word phaneroo which
means to manifest in it’s true nature. To Appear. To become thoroughly
understood as to what and who one is. And this verse also says that we
our deeds might be wrought in God which means that they are performed, as in [Phil 1:6] and [ Romans 4:21]
( Now,
this morning, We shall focus on this
thought that brother Branham is speaking, because he asks the question, What
is light for?” and then he
answers, “there are two very good reasons for the light to come”.) Notice as we
read, what Brother Branham asks in his question, “What is Light for?” And
then notice what he tells us, “two reasons for this end-time light”. #1) “To
show you where you are at”, and
#2) “To show you where you are
going”. Now, where you are at and where you are going are two different
things, and yet one is somewhat dependent upon the other. If I want to know
where I am going, and I need directions to that place, then I need to know
where I am at, so that I might be able to get my directions correct. Therefore
Brother Branham explains these two reasons for the light in the next few
paragraphs. Notice how he immediately says,
... It shall be Light about the
evening time. Now, we take that now and
compare it over with Malachi 4. He promised that there would be Light come
again in the evening time. See? (And
I would like to remind you what this light is for. To show you where you are at
and where you are going. So therefore, let’s read this next thought of Brother
Branham’s with these reasons in mind, as though he will be explaining these two
reasons to us. And the first reason for the Light is that you know where you
are at. Now, let’s read it again... Now,
we take that now and compare it over with Malachi 4. He promised that there
would be Light come again in the evening time. See? "For behold, I will
send to you Elijah the prophet, and he will restore the children back to the
fathers, and the fathers to the children (Is that right?), lest I come and
smite the earth with a curse." ( So we should know by this that he is
directing our thoughts to where we are at. He is telling us that we are in the
midst of a work of restoration, where God is here working through an Elijah
ministry to bring restoration to His Children... Now, let's take [St. Luke 17:30] and watch what Jesus prophesied there, saying that, "As it was in
the days of Sodom, it'll be the same..." ( Again he is showing us where we are at, He’s telling us that the same
characteristics that were displayed in the days of Sodom are being displayed
today, “as it was in the days
of Sodom”, and the word as means in
the same manner. So, as it was then so is it now. This is what
he’s telling us here. Because the words as means in the same manner as it was
then, so shall it be now.. Now, Brother Branham continues on with his
thought, Now, remember. Notice. This is
at the time that the Son of man would be revealed, the revealing of the Son of
man. Now, the Son of man was actually revealed
potentially just for a few moments there, just before Sodom was burned. Now, catch what he is telling us
here. He is saying, then if it will be the same conditions when the Son of Man
will be revealed, then the Son of Man was also revealed back then.
Again we see that brother
Branham is pointing out specifics here that are identifying the day that we
live with those days when the Son of man was once before revealed. And yet who
came down to Abraham? We know it was God Himself, Abraham called Him, “Elohim”
who came down and visited Abraham. And
notice what brother Branham further tells us here about this peculiar situation
back in the book of Genesis... Now, that
Man was Elohim. That was God,
and Jesus is God. (Now, why would he say, “That man was God, and Jesus was God,”
( I believe it is because he
is pointing out to us that the same scene is repeating again in this hour. He
is letting us know that if God came down then, and indwelled a man, and
performed certain things to Abraham and his group of people, so He must do the same today if the words
are to mean anything when Jesus said, AS it was then so shall it be... And
then he goes on to say), Now, that
Man was Elohim. That was God,
and Jesus is God. Now, why would
He compare that man being God with Jesus being God? These are all questions
that I want you to keep in your mind here as we examine this Message that has
to deal with how, “Christ is revealed in His Own Word”, because after all, the
Shout which is the voice of God is the Revealing of God, right? As a man
thinketh in his heart, so is he right? And out of the overflow of the heart the
mouth speaketh, right? But how did God speak to us in this hour. If he is
revealed in His OWN Word, then how did that Word come to us? What vessel did
God use to bring that Word, and therefore that Revelation? A Man right, A
prophet, right? Now, I hope you can see why Brother Branham said, ), “Now,
that Man was Elohim. That was God, and Jesus is God”. Because he is making a comparison here between
that man who appeared to Abraham, the one who is to appear in this hour, and
Jesus. Because it is the same God
that was in all three bodies of flesh. Now, let’s continue with our study... And God
was revealed potentially right there for a few moments to talk to Abraham in
the investigation judgment, just for a little bit. The Son of man was
revealed, the Son of man, Elohim. Do
you see it, church? The Son of man,
Elohim, was revealed just for a few minutes, for the very next morning it
was burned. When? ( Notice,
when? Where are we at?) Before the sun could come up again. So there can't be no
organization left; ( What’s he
saying here? He’s telling us where we are at! That is why he says...) neither
can there be any further advancement than what's going right now; for
she'll burn before the day breaks again.
The revival's over across the
nation. There ain't going to be no more revivals, big sweeping revivals.
This nation will never receive it. You
might have intellectual gathering, but I mean a spiritual revival. We're seen all of it. I hope you're
catching it. I'm saying it in such a way that I hope you get it. See? It's over. (And if the Prophet
says it’s over, then it’s over, period).
You say, oh, it can’t be, and if you say that then you are calling God’s
prophet a liar. And you are saying, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Now, let’s get back to the seen that Brother Branham is referring to in
Genesis. What took place. God came down in an investigation judgment, and
stopped off to reveal Himself to Abraham. Why? Because up to this point, God
had spoken to Abraham through His Word, Abraham had seen visions and He had
heard His Voice, but he had not yet seen God in a manifested form. Then when
God came, in order to manifest Himself to Abraham, ( and the reason God had to
come this way, in a manifested form, is to show Abraham that His Word Promise
would soon be manifested in flesh as well. And that Promise was a Son, a real
promised Son would come in the flesh. Therefore is it was that way then, it has
to be that way today, because Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Sodom so shall it
be...” So everything has to be
the same as it was then in order for this seen to repeat. So what we have is
God, taking on a human form in order to APPEAR before Abraham with the news
of a Promised Son that will soon
manifest. I hope you can see the significance then of Manifested Word bringing
forth manifested Word. A Promised word is yet invisible, but a manifested Word
I visible. Therefore an Invisible God had to become visible to show that His
Word is real and not just invisible. [1
John 1: 1-4] This makes the Invisible Word visible. It makes that which can
not be seen, able to be seen, and therefore a reality. Therefore it was
essential that God APPEAR in flesh before the SON of GOD Appears in flesh at
the second coming. Now, I hope we can understand the correlation of the
Appearing to the Coming. [Rom 15:8]
Notice, the very purpose of Jesus coming in the flesh was to establish the
Word, make it live.
So in this seen back in
Genesis with Abraham we see, One God come down and stand before a man who
represented a Group or a seed line, and in this one man that stood before this
Royal Seed, was the Eternal God who had made the Promise of Son, and
this same God came in the Royal Seed Body of Jesus and again has come
back to visit this seed lineage in this hour veiled in a human flesh to point
us to the soon arrival of the Promised Royal seed, Son, Jesus. That’s why when
they asked brother Branham the same words that they asked Jesus, when they
said, “Show us the Father, He said, “You’re looking at me aren’t you.” Now,
that does not make William Branham God and yet it was God that stepped into Him
and spoke forth from Him. That is what God said He would do back in
Deuteronomy. [Numbers 12:6-8]
Now, I believe that Brother
Branham is telling it strait to us and he is not beating around the bush. He
told us that the evening light is to show us where we are at, and then he
proceeds to show us where we are at.
How much more plain can he get. Then he also tells us that the evening
light is to show us where we are going and he let’s us know without wavering
that this does not include any big revivals like so many are still looking to
happen. He says, it’s over, the revivals over, we’ve seen it all.
And there will be no further
advancement than what you are seeing right now. This is the all of it. Then why would so many still be looking for something to happen.
Why are so many still having some sort of misguided hope that there is still
some great things to look forward to. He said, “We’ve seen it all, we’ve seen all
of it.” Now, in my understanding of our language, all means A.L.L.
everything. And there is nothing outside of it, period. That is why I can not
for the life of me, understand why so many who claim to believe in this
Message, are looking for some great thing to come forth from the Bride. They
are saying, “God is in His Church!” and yet Brother Branham said, so often, “God
is not in His Church, God is in His Word.”
[God Keeps His Word pp. 18 &
26 57-0115] Now the minister, or the priest
who spoke to me, he said, "God is in His Church." I said, "God is in His Word." God is in His Word, the Bible said, "In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word with God, and the Word was God. And
the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us." God is in His Word...... He said, "Well God is in His
church." I said, "The Bible
said God is in His Word." That's right. And also the Bible said in the
closing of the Book, "He that will take out of here anything or add
anything to it, the same will be taken of his part of the Book of Life away
from him."...... God is in His Word. And God is responsible to His Word.
Then I would like to ask
this question, if ministers are telling the people that God is in His Church,
where are they getting the inspiration to say this if God’s Prophet said
contrary to it. Brother Branham gives us this answer in the Message [PP 91 Mark
of the Beast May, 13 - 54] He said, "God is in His church."
I said, "He... Not one
speck of Scripture says so." I said, "God is in His Word.( Now, notice the scripture brother Branham quotes concerning this
error,) He said, 'Let every man's word be a lie, and Mine true.'" He said, "Don't you think the whole
group of men, counseling together, would be more authority than just one
man?" I said, "No. If the one
man's in the will of God, he's got the Truth." Always proves it. He said, "Let every man's word be a lie (whether it's bishop,
archbishop, or whoever he is), and My
Word be the truth." ( Now, watch how plainly
what brother Branham tells us where this doctrine comes from that would tell
the people that God is in the Church) And that's the
vast difference between Catholicism and Protestantism. See? Catholicism, you
can't argue with a Catholic on the Bible. Because after all, if the church says
something contrary to the Bible, it's the church. They say, ( who says? The Catholic says) "God is
in His church." The Protestant says, "God is in His Word." See?
Now, there's the difference. You know
the Catholic church. I'm from a Catholic family. The Catholic church does
not... They accept the Bible, certainly.
But here's what they say: that God is in His church. Regardless if the
church says something that's contrary to the Bible, take the church's word.
So then where do these false
teachings come from that so many of the so ministers are teaching, “that
God is in His church?” It’s
Catholic dogma, and then where are we at when we see the people in this
message going into catholic doctrines? We are at the great deception and the
great seduction, just like it was in the beginning. We’re back to Alpha
again. That’s true, just like the other
false teaching of the Female Holy Ghost. They are going to have to make this
female Holy Ghost a female intercessor or mediatrix, and when they do, they
have gone full circle and they are back to the error that the first church left
her first love for. These are the same things that Iraneaus fought so hard against that he saw creeping into the
mainstream churches in his hour. And did not brother Branham tell us that the
catholic church took 2,000 years to get to where she was at and that the
Pentecostal church would take less than 50 years to get to the same condition? Then
that explains why so many of these ministers that profess this Message and yet
cry out for a return to Pentecost are preaching these two blasphemous
doctrines. They have gone full circle and have returned to where they came from, like a sow to her
wallowing... [2 Peter 2: 21-22]
So we brother Branham
telling us, “And there will be no further advancement than what you are
seeing right now. This is the all of it.” So, when He says we have seen
it all, then when we have seen God, The fulness of God, The all of God, come down and manifest Himself in Flesh, and we saw Him doing the same things
that He did when He appeared to Abraham.
[PP. 142 The Rapture 65-1204] “When
you see God come from the heaven, stand before groups of men, and stand there,
declare Himself just as He ever did... And that's the Truth, and this Bible
open. See? That's right. We're here.
And the denominational system is dead. It's gone. It'll never rise
again. It'll be burned. That's what you do with the husk on the field. Flee
from it. Get into Christ. Don't say, "I belong to the Methodist.";
"I belong to the Baptists."; "I belong to the Pentecostal."
You get into Christ. And if you're in Christ, there's not a word written in here but what you believe it. I don't
care what anybody else says. And then
God makes that thing manifested, 'cause you... When He pours the Spirit upon the Word, what happens? Just like putting
water on any other seed. It'll live, and it'll bring forth of its kind.
Then, we have seen it all.
And says, So, there will be no further advancement than what you are seeing right
now,...” Then we will see no further advancement, period. That is why
before he died, he told us that all that is left is for the Bride to lay in the
presence of what is already here, the Presence of the Son, and we will ripen.
[156] A fine minister said awhile ago, said,
"Brother Branham, if I could just have the joy of the Lord in my
heart..." I said, "Son, the revival's over." See?
Now, the stabilizers is been put on the ship. Great fearful waves are out here
before us, but we know just beyond that wave yonder we're nearing the shore.
See? We're nearing the shore. Just
stay stable. ( Now, I would like to ask the question, “how can I
just stay stable with so much falsehood being preached amongst the churches in
this message? Well, brother Branham goes on to tell us how we can stay stable.
He says,) “Just stay in the Word; stay
with God. No matter how you feel, what anything else, stay right with the Word. Let it stay stable. When you see all
these great big old clouds around us, and storms a-coming, and atomic bombs,
and everything else they're talking about; but our stabilizer is right straight in the Word. God said it would be
here; we'll crest every one of them. Yeah. We'll go right over the top of them.
Yes, indeed. They can't sink us; they can't drown us. You put us in the grave;
we'll come out again. That's just all there is to it. There ain't no way in the
world to keep it down there. We'll caress every one of them, 'cause our great
Chief Captain is calling at the other side.
We're anchored in Jesus, The storms of life I'll brave; I've anchored in Jesus, I'll fear no wind or wave; So we see then that this evening Light
which is a light which has been manifested among us is what causes us to become
stabilized and settled. [Mark 16:20]
this word confirmed here is the Greek word, {bebaioo=beb ah yo o} which means
to confirm, establish and stabilize. And that is why we see that there must
come forth this evening light manifested word to bring forth what is needed for
the people to be stabilized. And it must come at the Revelation of Christ
because it is the Revelation of Christ, the manifestation or Appearing of
Christ that brings stability. [1 Cor
1:4-10 & 1 Pet 1:13]
[157] Whatever
it might be, let it come, what may, what it will, doesn't make any
difference; we're anchored right there in Jesus. If I live, I'll live to the glory of God. If I die, I'll die to the
glory of God. I just want... Just to the glory of God is what I want to do.
When that's all over, I don't want to stay any longer. I want to go to
where--to my reward that He bought for
me, not what I earned, but what He bought for me, what He give to me by His
grace.