Christ Revealed in His Own Word #89
“The Law of Jealousy”
Saturday, March 29, 1997
Brian Kocourek,
Pastor Grace Fellowship
Last Sunday we spoke from
paragraph 104 about the predestinated plan of God in which God has
predestinated #1) a people, #2) a prophet, #3) the time and #4)
place, for His Word to be manifested, and then we saw a 5th) category which brother Branham called, “all about it” and which
we will call the miscellaneous items pertaining to the predestined plan of God,
or simply put, “the all bout it” category.
Now, since this is a Communion
night, and Since last night was Good Friday which is celebrated for the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ, I thought it would be good to look at this
predestination that Brother Branham is speaking of, and tie it into the plan of
God which not only allowed the events of Good Friday to transpire, but actually
planned it, yes, even willed it to be so. [Luke
22: 39-44] Here we see that Jesus did not want to have to suffer, yet He
knew it was the will of His Father, and so He willingly yielded His will to that
of His Father’s will. So we see that Predestination, has to do with the will of
the Father being brought forth into manifestation.
[Eph 1:3-11] Here we see that God brings about His own Divine order
and plan via the vehicle of predestination, and as we see here that
predestination follows the Selection, which follows fore-ordination. First
there must be the great fountain of
Omniscient thought which is God, and then
out of this Fountain, we find that God had thoughts pertaining to a certain
Select few called His Elect. This Elect few were given Life and nature through
the Divine Law of Reproduction that every Seed would bring forth after their
own kind. [Gen 1:11] And so, then we
see that God chose or selected out those Select few to a certain destiny. Now,
this is not to say that the others are not ordained to a certain destiny, for
all seed, are by their nature programmed to the destiny that lays within their
genes. Then in order to set forth and certify that destiny, He had to interpose
His own will and power to ensure the destiny would be fulfilled as He had
thought out or planned. Thus God then set forth into action His purpose and
plan, and in so doing, He would have to bring into manifestation the Seed
attributes into a living form. Thus we have pre-destiny, or pre-destination.
[Romans 8:28] Why? well, let’s read on for our answer...[8:29] God has pre-planned a family for
Himself...
[Acts 17:28-29] For in Him
we live, and move, and breathe... for we are His offspring.. And what does the
word offspring mean? It comes from the
Greek word, Genos which we get the word Gene from. Godhead is Theios which simply means “The Divine”.
This evening, I would like
to look at this Inspiration that God uses to ensure that His Prophets write
only what He wanted them to write and say. After all, brother Branham makes it
quite clear here, that God is the One Who wrote the Bible, THROUGH or BY the
prophets. Then, this makes it God’s Book, and not man’s book. Now, what is this inspiration that he mentions in this paragraph. If we examine this
word in the context of what and how brother Branham is using it here, we see
that God was the One Who was instrumental in writing the Bible, yet He used the
vessels of man to do so, making it His Book and not man’s book. And so we see
this very important word, inspiration
is a key to understanding how it is that God was able to write this Book, while
still working with mere men which we call the prophets.
INSPIRATION! What is it, and why does God use it. Now, Webster tells us,
INSPIRATION is The Divine Influence upon human beings, but we also see the word
INSPIRATION comes from the root word, INSPIRE which means: to breathe, or to infuse life
into by breathing. Thus we see two very important principles here, of
which #1) We find the bringing forth of
Life, into something, and #2) The direct involvement of God in this production
of Life that is coming forth. Therefore, if this Life has as it’s source, God,
then we can be assured that it is God Life, or Divine Life coming forth.
[2 Timothy 3:16-17] Now if we read this verse of Scripture as it
should be read we would read it thusly: “ All Scripture is God breathed, or has as
it’s source, the very Life and being of God, and thus the Scripture is
profitable, which means that It has been given in order to be advantageous and beneficial for the
purposes of doctrinal instruction, and for reproof, which is to say, that it
has also been given as a viable proof, in order to bring forth correction which
is restoration, and it is also purposed for the cultivation and development of
a righteous ( rightly-wise) mind.
Now we find the Greek word
used here for INSPIRATION is the
word, THEOPNEUSTOS which is a derivative of two words, THEIOS meaning Divine,
and PNEUSTOS
where we get the word pneumatic from, which has to do with wind, or breathe as
in breathed. Thus we have a word which means: GOD- BREATHED.
And so we see that ALL
SCRIPTURE IS GOD BREATHED for a purpose. And that purpose is so that we
will receive it as Proof of Divinely ordained teachings which are characterized
as being of such a nature as to cause a right-wise-ness to take over the being,
and a restoration of the being who receives the GOD BREATHED WORDS. So, we see
the whole intent of the GOD BREATHED WORDS is to bring forth
restoration in the certain individuals who are ordained to believe it. [Acts
13:48] & [1 Cor 2:7]
If we were to continue in
our reading of [2 Timothy 3: 16 -17],
we would find that this restoration is also spoken of in verse [17], where we read, “That the man of God may be
perfect, and thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” ... Notice,
then that God purposely intervenes on our behalf to bring us His Own Doctrinal
teachings that bring about a rightly-wise mind in the believer, and which
brings with it a restoration in the individual. And it further brings forth a
perfection which is a maturity in the individual, which then, is said to bring
with it a thoroughly furnished individual, capable of performing the good works which is useful undertakings, or the
occupation or preoccupation of the believer.
In other words, it is to bring you to the place where you are so
pre-occupied with the rightly-wise thoughts, that all of your aspirations stem
forth from God’s purpose and plan that has been disclosed to you.
In other words, the purpose of God’s breathing forth His
Word into your Soul, is to transfix your Soul with a pre-occupation of His
Word, and purpose. God fills you
with His own Breathe and Life and thus takes over your soul which then takes over
your entire being. You become possessed with God Life, and thus you no longer
are capable of living for yourself, but
you are a prisoner, yielded only to the Life and power which has taken over
your being.
And since we celebrate the Last Supper tonight in the
form of communion and foot washing, and
since last night was a night that is also celebrated as GOOD FRIDAY, I would
like to bring these thoughts which have been thusly expressed so far into a manner which we might be able
to recognize better. For to speak in theory, and not in practicality, doesn’t
really help us any, nor does it help us to be a better person, nor does it help
us to live a more Godly Life. But, when we can see how this Word, which is
God-Breathed and Inspired by God, and was written by mere men who subjected
themselves to His will, and to see how God could so place in their minds, the
things which He wanted them to write and say, then to see this Life come forth
in a God-possessed individual, or in a manner in which it has been manifested
openly to us, then we can see this INSPIRATION, this GOD-BREATHING forth HIS
OWN LIFE in a way which should help us and should create a desire in our own
hearts, to experience for our own selves this God-Breathed Life in us.
And that is my desire
tonight, to create such a hungering and thirsting for this kind of a Life that
we could not help but to hunger and thirst for this same right-wise-ness that
God has promised will restore us back to our rightful position with Him, that
we had before the fall. Back to where we walked with Him and we talked with Him
in the cool of the Evening.
So therefore, Let’s go to
this INSPIRED Word and see for
ourselves how this INSPIRATION has worked in various few individuals, and how
it literally transformed their entire life, by It.
Therefore, let’s examine
just what happened that fateful night 2,000 years ago when Jesus was Crucified,
and let’s examine the events that led to His crucifixion.
First off, we need to now
what it was that He did that led to His Crucifixion. What was Jesus Guilty of?
Why would they want to see Him dead? What did Jesus do that so offended the
people that they could not take His Presence among them any longer. If we find
the answer to these questions, we will begin to better understand what happened
in His Alpha ministry, and then we should be able to apply what we learned to
this hour in order to understand what has again happened in this hour.
Now, people don’t just go
around putting other people to death just to get their kicks. especially if
those people have a position of stature in life. Therefore, there had to be
something that really pressed them to want Jesus put to death. So, before we
examine the Scriptures pertaining to the reason or reasons why the Religious
leaders wanted Jesus put to death, I would like to ask the question from you to
ascertain your Spiritual insight. ( use black board and list reasons why they
wanted Him put to death.)
Now, let’s look at the
events which led up to the death of Jesus and see what answer the scripture
gives us.
[Matt 26:59-68] & [Mark
14:55-65] notice how quickly they came to their conclusion. And notice
further that these so called witnesses could not get together on their stories
and their own recitals of what He said did not agree with each others. Now the
Law says, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, let a testimony be
established, yet these witnesses could not agree to exactly what Jesus had
said, therefore in the eyes of the Law, rendering their witness to be false.
But as yet we have not really gotten down to the real reason as to why they
wanted Jesus put out of the way.
[Matt 27:11-18] Here we find our first clue as to their reason for
the murder and crucifixion of Jesus.
[Mark 15:6-13] Notice how it was the priests that moved or stirred
up the people to reject Christ. Why?
Envy! It was envy pure and simple that caused
them to reject Jesus. And according to Webster, ENVY is “ to feel ill will, jealousy, or
discontent toward another due to their possession of something that one keenly
desires to have or achieve for oneself.
Barabas was no threat to the
Religious leaders, but Jesus was. They wanted the multitudes to follow them as
they were following Jesus. If Jesus had come and had no following at all, they
would have just considered Him to be a misfit and they would have paid no
attention to Him. But the whole city was stirred up by the things He did and
taught. And they knew that it had to be
God because one of the Sanhedrin, named Nicodemus came to Jesus and said, [John 3:1-2] We know that thou art a
teacher come from God: For no man can do these miracles that thou doest ,
except God be with Him.” Now,
I would like to ask you, who was the we that he spoke of? We suggests that
there is more than just one that is involved here. And we are told he was a
ruler of the Jews, one of the sanhedrin council which were the leaders of the
people. We know thou art a teacher come from God and God is with Thee, for no
man could do these miracles, except that God was with him.
Sounds to me like what all
the Pentecostal leaders have said about Brother Branham. They said, God was
with Him when He discerned and did the miracles, but he certainly didn’t know
Doctrine. The same thing that the Sanhedrin said. Why? because they didn’t know
the Doctrine. But notice that it was
jealousy. He had the crowds and they didn’t. That’s what made them so mad and
angry with Him.
[Matt 20:29-21:16] Now, I want you to notice here the way in which
Jesus handled this situation. He did not hide Himself from the people. He did
not dis-acknowledge what the people were doing. He did not seek to avoid a
confrontation with the Church leaders, but He went straight to their head
quarters which was in the Temple and He took the battle to them. What He
actually did was to put the pressure on them, to show them up for what they
really were. Then when they questioned Jesus and said, Do you know what these
people are saying about you? Jesus said, “Out of the mouth of Babes, praise is
perfected!” In other words, in twentieth century Americanese, He said, “Yeah!
I know what they’re saying, isn’t that great?”
Now, why would Jesus do
that? Why didn’t He just be super humble and say, “O cut it out, you people
shouldn’t do that!” I’ll tell
you why Jesus specifically did what He did. It was to provoke them to
jealousy. He purposely provoked them to
jealousy, to test them for their reaction, and to get the events moving in the
right direction in order to fulfill the Word of the Lord.
[Romans 10:13-19] they
were provoked to jealousy. They were so stirred up that their true inner
desires became manifested openly. That’s what God was doing. Showing who is who
by the reaction they took toward His blessings upon His Own Son. What was it that God used to get Joseph down
to Egypt that he might save the Seed of God from the famine that was coming?
The same thing, Envy! God uses man’s envy to fulfill His own Word.
[Acts 7:9] envy is what God
used to stir Joseph’s brother’s into selling him out to Egypt. God uses man’s
envy to bring on the betrayal, that brings the Word into focus and fulfillment.
[Acts 13:14-51, esp. 45] Notice that it wasn’t until the Jews saw
the effect Paul was having and the size of the crowds that he was attracting,
that got them stirred up through envy and jealousy. And then what happened?
Paul had to move on. God knows how to keep His Word moving forward. And
He uses the envy and jealousy of man to bring to pass the right atmosphere that
causes the Word to flourish in the right setting. The stage had to be set for
Paul to move on, so God allowed the envy of man to bring forth a squeeze that
causes the Word to blossom forth. [Acts 17: 1-10]
It was envy and Jealousy
that caused the first great battle in Heaven, and it will be the envy and
jealousy that will cause the squeeze to come on as well.
[Gen 4:3-8]Cain was so incensed with envy and jealousy that he had
to do away with the one God was blessing and accepting.
[241-190 QA Hebrews part
1 57-0925] Now, let's take back to Cain. Could you tell
me where that spirit and that meanness come from? If Cain... Look, if Cain was
the son of Adam, which was a son of God, where did that evil come from? The
first thing when he was born, he hated; he was a murderer; he was jealous. And now, take the nature of his daddy, the very
start in the beginning, Lucifer, and he
was... In the beginning he was jealous of Michael, what started the whole
trouble. How many knows that? And Cain was the nature of his father, which he was jealous of his brother and slew
him. That pure... That nature could not come out of that pure seed. It come,
had to come out of this perverted stream.
And notice, Cain, as soon as he was borned... And then Abel was born after him,
then she conceived by Adam, and he knew--knew her and she brought forth the son
Abel. And Abel was a type of Christ; and when--when Abel was killed, Seth took
his place: death, burial, and resurrection of Christ in type.
[E-21 Seal of God 61-0216] Now, we find out that because
that Cain listened to the enemy, then what happened? He become the first
murderer. He become the first one that
had jealousy on earth. Tell me where that pure line from God to Adam...
That's the only connection. Adam was the son of God. Bible said so. Then where
did that jealousy come from? Where did that murderer come from? Where did all
that kind of a spirit come from? Out of Adam? Couldn't have. Come from Satan.
It's exactly where it come from. Now,
we find out he was the first murderer. And he was the first one to have
jealousy. And Lucifer got jealous of
Michael, brought it right down to the earth and transferred it into man.
And Satan... Cain by taking on this evil, took the first mark. God marked him.
No one was to kill him. Let him alone. But you remember, as soon as He marked
him, he went out from the Presence of God. Hold onto that now.
So, we see that Lucifer is
the author of envy. He wanted what Michael had, and it was not just a matter of
competition, but in order to have what Michael had, and even more than what
Michael had, he had to try to destroy the works of Michael. And that is where
we find the root of envy beginning. It is an attribute of Satan. Part of the
iniquity that lay within him. [Romans
1:28-29] tells us where it comes from.
And it leads to competing for gain, instead of satisfaction of the needs. [1
Tim 6: 3-7]
Therefore, if the
crucifixion of Christ was a result of envy in the Alpha which is the Green
Tree, how much more so shall it come in the dry tree. At the harvest time. [Luke 23:31] & [Hebrews 6:4-6]
And remember, in [Numbers
5:12-31] we hear the Law of the Jealousy, and basically this law can
be summed up this way, “if the husband suspected his wife to have been
unfaithful, he would take her to the priest and the priest would have her to
drink of a potion, which would bless her if she were innocent, but would cause
her belly to swell and her thighs to rot if she were guilty. The potion did not
make her innocent or guilty, but it only revealed her true condition and
brought into manifestation her true condition.
Therefore, God uses the Law of jealousy to bring into manifestation the
real and true nature of the seed. If they are of God, they will be happy for
the blessed, and if they are not of God they will become jealous of what God
has done for the one who is blessed. [1 Cor 13:4]= [Rom 12:9-21] [1 Cor 7:29-33]