Christ
is the Mystery no. 16
Christ
in you the Hope of Glory
August 4,
2012
Brian
Kocourek
Let’s open our Bibles this evening to
52
Now, I want you to turn to the Book of Colossians, the 1st chapter of Colossians. And then, while we read
this, beginning with... I want you, when you go home, to read the entire
chapter of these Colossians. But I want you to read this morning with me from
the 15th verse, 29th inclusive.
And now, just be as patient as you can, for I feel that in this here, if God
will help me, will reveal and bring into your mind all these other things that
I have talked on all through the days of the Tabernacle: why I have said what
I've said, and why I have done what I have done. This is why.
Now,
from the 15th verse... Who is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborned of every creature:For by him were all things created, that are in
heaven, and that are in the earth, visible... invisible, whether they be
thrones,... dominions,... principalities,... powers: all things were created by
him, and for him:And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.And
he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead; that in al lthings he might have preeminence. For it pleased the
Father that in him should be all fulness dwell;--should all fulness dwell;...
(Let me put a little emphasis on that again--this 19th verse.) For
it pleased the Father that in him
should all fullness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his
cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by Him, I say, whether they
be things in earth, or things in heaven... (Watch where that
reconciliation went.) And you, that were sometime alienated and
enemies in your mind by wicked works, you now has he reconciled. In the body of
his flesh through death, to present you
holy... unblameable... unreproveable
in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and not be
moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was
preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a
minister; Who now rejoice in my
sufferings for you, and fill up that which is bound--behind of the
afflictions of Christ in... flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: Whereof
I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me
for you, to fulfill the Word of God; Even the mystery which has been hidden
from age and from generation, but now is made manifest to his saints:... (And
I want to read that verse again.)... Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations,
but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we
might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour,
striving according to the working, which worketh in me mightily.
Now, for the next two days, I would like to look at
two things Paul spoke of here in this 1st Chapter of Colossians, and
what so caught the eye and heart of William Branham prophet of God.
1)
For starters,
Brother Branham read from verse 15, speaking of Jesus Christ he said, “Who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature”.
Now, when Paul says the first born of every creature,
he is not calling him the first born of the horses and the first born of the
giraffes etc. But the creatures Paul speaks of are the “new creation”, the born
again sons and daughters of God.
The Greek word here
was “ktisis”, and the first time it is found in Scripture was used by Jesus in Mark 10: 6 where Jesus says, But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female.
And so God is not so
concerned with the horses and giraffes, and other creatures. He is concerned
with his children fashioned in His own image, “male and female created he them.” Genesis 1:26.
2) Now, the
second thought from Brother Branham and of course from the Apostle Paul that I
wish to look at over the next couple days is the words, “Christ in you, the
hope of glory.”
Therefore, I would like to
take this last thought first and the first thought last.
I have Bible for that you
know, Jesus said the
first shall be last and the last shall be first.
So this evening we are going
to look at this thought “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”. Then tomorrow we will look at the first thought he
spoke which is “Who
is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature”. So
tomorrow we will look at just what is the image of the invisible God, because after all
the word image and invisible are
not comprehended well together.
1. A
reproduction of the form of a person or an object, especially a sculptured
likeness. 2. Physics An
optically formed duplicate, counterpart, or other representative reproduction
of an object, especially an optical reproduction of an object formed by a lens
or mirror. 3. One that closely or exactly resembles another; a double: He is the image of his uncle. b. The
character projected to the public, as by a person or an institution, especially
as interpreted by the mass media. 5. A personification of something
specified: That child is
the image of good health.
Now, let’s look at this definition we just read
concerning the word image, with the word invisible. Which means: 1. Impossible to see; not visible: 2. Not
accessible to view; hidden: 3. Not easily noticed or detected;
inconspicuous: “
So what we have here is something that is an image or a perfect copy of
something that can not be seen, or easily detected.
Therefore, this first born
son is said to be “the image of the invisible God:”. Now, if
something is invisible, then how can something that is visible be the image of
that which is not visible. And now you have the mystery that Paul is talking
about here.
Now, we know that “life” is
invisible, and yet “Life” is not Life unless it comes into manifestation, and
the manifestation is the evidence that the life is. Therefore, a seed
un-manifested is truly hidden in the husk or shell. And many seeds look alike
until they are planted. Thus when they are planted the life that is hidden
inside, is suddenly manifested and when
that happens the characteristics and attributes of the life that was in that
seed suddenly becomes into view and we can now understand the nature of the
life that had been hidden.
But we are not going to talk
on this tonight, we are going to look at the words, “Christ in you the hope of Glory”.
And we can see that this speaks of Christ in you is the hope, Christ in you is the
earnest expectation that you will receive the very Glory of God.
And so there are two things
we will examine here this evening.
The first is Christ in You,
and what does that mean? What is Paul saying here, Christ in you? What does he
mean by Christ in you?
And the second thing we will
examine tonight is the other half of that equation. That if Christ is in you,
then you have a right to earnestly expect that you will come to the position of
Glory, and so we need to understand what this glory is that Paul is peaking of
here.
Now, this thought “Christ in
you”. What is he saying here when he says “Christ in you”?
The Greek word was Christos, and we know from years of teaching that when
the word “Christ” is used it can speak of three different things.
2) Christ meaning the anointer
3) Christ meaning the anointed
4) Christ meaning the anointing
Since He did not say Christ
Jesus in you, we know he is not speaking of the anointed one. And Since he
already told us in verse that the
fullness of the Godhead was in one man Jesus, then we can assume here that he
is not speaking of the anointer in you. So that leaves only one possible
answer, and that is the anointing in you is what Paul is peaking of here.
Now, we must get one thing
straight here if we are to understand what this anointing is. And that is that
the anointing is the very God-life that was in God and then in His Son.
Now, Jesus is not the
anointer, He was the anointed. It is God who is the anointer, so this anointing
which is in us comes from God just as it came into His Son Jesus.
Acts 10:38
How God anointed Jesus of
1 John 2:20 But
ye have an unction (that word is anointing and it is the same Greek Word
we see later in verse 27) But ye have an unction
(an anointing) from (where?) from the Holy One, and ye know all things. Now, we don’t nee to run all over the Scriptures to
know who this Holy One is. It is God. So we see the same one who anointed Jesus
on the river
Now, look brothers and
sisters, you just can’t get away from the Scripture, and when it says the Bride
hath made herself ready, it is speaking of the bride becoming engaged to the
Word. And the word engaged means to put into use, to become active. When you
engage the clutch it means you push in the clutch. You do something with it.
And when Paul says, every one that doeth right-wise-ness is
born of him. He is talking about you actually doing what you know to be rightly
wise to do. In other words, putting it into action what you know to be right.
Two different times when
Brother Branham preached on the Token, he said the following about not just
talking it, but applying it.
The first time in 63-0901-M The Token P:113 Notice, they were not just yet come
together to talk about the message. They come together to apply the blood, to apply the token. That's what
you must do. Pastor Neville, and to this congregation, trustees, deacons,
to you brethren, it's time that we laid
aside all the foolishness of the world, time we laid aside everything else.
We've seen enough now, that we're positive, sure, and the Token must be applied. Without
it, you're going to perish; you must perish. That is the only thing. Oh,
don't come together, say, "I
believe it." Get beneath it.
Get into it. How to do it? By one Spirit we're baptized into the Body of
Jesus Christ. Everybody believe with all your heart. See? He was not responsible for any out from beneath it.
And again from The Token preached
in 64-0208 P:31
We should love one another during this
time. The church and the believers
should be unseparable. Believers should separate themselves from all the
things of the world. Everything that's
ungodly, the believer should separate himself from it. Notice. They were not just to come together to talk
about it, and say "We believe it." They were come together to
apply the blood, not come say, "Oh, sure I believe that," walk home. They had to come and apply the blood, that
the Token might be seen. Get beneath it. That's... Today, we set and
hear the message preached. We read it out of the Bible. We say "Oh, yes, I
believe that." That ain't what God
requires. No matter how much you believe it, you've got to have it. Church, wake up.
Oh, if that isn’t what I’ve
been trying to get across for the past I don’t know how many years. You’ve got to apply it, get into it,
It’s not enough to know Christ, Paul said we must put on Christ. Twice he
told us that. In Galatians 3:27 and
again in Romans 13:14 Paul said “But put
ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill
the lusts thereof.
We have got to be
dressed in the Word, and the Apostle Paul said we must put on Christ. and again
he said, Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil. Which he calls the armor of
light in Romans 13:12
The
night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armour
of light.
Colossians
3:10 And have put on the
new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him:
Ephesians
4:24 And that ye put on the
new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Notice, you must put on the
whole armor, you must put on the armor of light, you must put on the new Man
you must put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
So what is this Christ in you that we are to put on? Paul said, This
Christ in you, this anointing in you, is
your hope of receiving the Glory of God.
Ok, so we see that when we have received this anointing he said we will
know all things, right? Well if we will know all things, then we will know the
things of God.
That’s exactly what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:9 But
as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God
hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for
the Spirit searcheth all things,
yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man
knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God knows. And John told us the
reason we are to receive the anointing is that we might know all things.
1
Corinthians 2:12 Now
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are
freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s
wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy
Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all
things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind
of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But
we have the mind of Christ.
And so in order to receive
the mind of Christ we must put on Christ. we must have “Christ in you which is the hope of Glory”,
or the hope of Doxa. And this word doxa is a great one, for it means, the very
thoughts of God.
The Greek word Doxa which was translated as the English word Glory
in the scriptures, primarily
signifies an "opinion" or an "estimate"
which speaks of “values” and
hence, the honour that results from a Good
opinion. "DOXA" is used of
the nature of God in
Self Manifestation. What He essentially is and does.
It is the revelation and manifestation of all that He has and is. The Word Doxa
comes from the root word dokeo which means “to Think”.
Therefore, when we speak in terms
of opinion or estimate, we are speaking in
terms of “thought”, and hence the value given to that “thought”.
An opinion is a judgment. An opinion is an evaluation, which is an estimation
or a value that is set, and a judgment of ones own mind. An opinion deals with the mind and
its desired values. In the Judicial System, the Judge's formal judgment is
called his written opinion. Thus the word Doxa deals
with the very Thoughts or mind of God.
53
Now, for a text, I want to take out of there this for a text, basing it upon
the entire Bible, but I want to title this "Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed," Christ being the mystery of God revealed. Now, I took it in order
as a Sunday school lesson so we could all read together and have this
fellowship together.
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Now, God's secret mystery He had before
the world began... Now, back in the back part of God's mind, there was
something that He was trying and was going to achieve, and He had a motive in
doing it, in order to let Himself be expressed. Because first, there wasn't
even a moon, star, atom, molecule, or anything; He was God. But He exactly
wasn't God at that time, because God is an object of worship, and there wasn't
nothing to worship Him. So in His great mind He wanted these attributes to be
expressed. And in Him was love; in Him was to be Father; in Him was to be Son;
in Him was to be a Saviour; in Him was to be a Healer. And all these great
attributes that we see already expressed, they were in God.
Matthew 16:27"For
the Son of Man shall come in the Doxa of His Father with His
angels: And then He shall reward every man according to His
works."
Living, Dying,
Buried pg. 21 3-29-59 "the way God represented Himself in
Jesus Christ. He expressed His opinion
to the human race, ..."
John 1:1
tells us that He is the Word.
Matthew 16:27 tells us the
manner in which He shall come in this last hour. He will come in the form
of the Word which is the DOXA or OPINION of God. Then He will hand out the rewards.
Now who hands out the rewards
for good and evil except it be a
JUDGE.
In John
12:48 Jesus said, "My Word Will Judge In The Last Day."
In James 5:9
we are told, "Behold
the Judge Standeth at the Door”
This is the same
One who is knocking at the door in Revelation 3:20.
" Behold I stand at the door and knock,". Christ is at the door
knocking, in the form of the Word, for He says, "He that heareth, upon
up to me and I will come in and we shall feast on this Word together.”
The Anointed Ones
at the end time pg. 63 "I wasn't the one that appeared down on the
river; I was only standing
there when He appeared. I'm not the one that performs these things and foretells these things that
happens as perfect as they are,
I'm only one that's near when He does it. I was only a voice that He used to say it. It wasn't
what I knew, It's what I just
surrendered myself to, that he spoke through. It isn't me. It wasn't
the seventh angel, oh no; It wasn't the angel, His message, It was a manifestation of the Son of
Matthew 24:30v "And
then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven: And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of
Heaven with power and great DOXA."
Who is "The Son of Man?",
But Christ in the office of Prophet. The Church has for centuries taught that
this GLORY is actually some great
big radiant beauty or splendor, or some great achievement. The Church has interpreted this scripture
and has looked for His Presence
to come via some super duper visible manifestation.
In reality, ISAIAH 53 describes Him as thus, "For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a
root out of dry ground.”
This lets you know why
the Tree of Life which is Christ was not even considered by Adam
and Eve in the Garden. HE HATH NO FORM NOR COMELINESS;
AND WHEN WE SHALL SEE HIM, THERE IS NO BEAUTY THAT WE
SHOULD DESIRE HIM, HE IS DESPISED AND
REJECTED OF MEN; ...AND WE ESTEEMED HIM NOT".
Malachi 3 and Hebrews 13:8
say "He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
So then, what is this Power and great
Glory?
In Romans 1:16, we read that "The Word of God is
the power of God,"
and the DOXA is His own great OPINION or JUDGMENT of HIMSELF. The world will only despise
and reject Him as they
always have. They do not want His OPINION, nor do they understand the POWER of HIS Word.
Brother Branham said, the cloud that Christ came down in was His white wig,
showing that He is here as Judge.
And "the Word shall judge in the last day."
The people miss Him
because He didn't come according to their own expectations, but He came
according to His own Word.
Mark 8:38 "Whosoever
therefore shall be ashamed of me and my Words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him
shall the Son of Man be ashamed,
when He cometh in the DOXA of His Father with the Holy angels."
What sinful and adulterous
generation was He speaking of? The one
back then that would die off and stay in the grave
until the great white throne verdict, or was He speaking of the
wicked and adulterous
generation that will be on earth at the time of His great PAROUSIA and DOXA. He will come
as a prophet for it says, "when the son of Man
comes".
He tells us here that they
will be ashamed of His Word which
will come in the OPINION of His Father.
Ashamed is a condition of disgrace or dishonor, a great disappointment.
Their disappointment comes because, even though they have
looked for Him to come, He didn't come according to
their expectations and therefore
they not only missed the day of their
visitation, but they crucified The very One who they claimed
to be looking for. Hebrews 6 tells
us that this will repeat again at His Great Appearing when they once again
reject Him, as the Word made manifest once again.
John 17:5 "And now, O Father, DOXAZO Thou Me with thine own Self with
the DOXA which I had with Thee
before the world was."
Jesus was
praying to the Father of DOXA to give Him the very OPINION of The Father, which OPINION He had
in The Father as His thoughts in
the beginning.
John 17:22 "And the DOXA Thou has given Me I have
given them; that they may be one, even as We are One: I in them and Thou
in Me, that they may be made
perfect in One; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast
loved them, as Thou hast loved Me. I will
that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I
am; that they may behold my DOXA,
which thou hast given Me: For thou
lovest Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I
have known Thee, and these have
known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare It: And the
love wherewith Thou hast loved Me
may be in them, and I in them."
We can see here again that
the DOXA deals with the very thoughts and judgments of the Father.
What else could Jesus give us that was first the Fathers, and passed on
to us. You might say, "It
was His Spirit". Yes, but Jesus said, " My words are spirit
and they are truth." So we can see here the Word being
handed down from Father
to Son, to sons. In reality, It is a
reflection process. The
Father is the Source or author of all Light (Word).
That Light then is
reflected to the Prophet of the Hour who in turn reflects it to the people,
who in turn reflect it to the world. The Word made flesh.
Romans 8:18 "For
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time shall are not worthy to
be compared with the DOXA which shall be revealed in us."
Notice that the Doxa is to
be revealed in us. So the Mind of God must come into His seed.
Romans 9: 22-23 "What
if God willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long
suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction;
and what if He did this that He might make known the riches of His DOXA on the
vessels of Mercy, which He had
afore prepared unto DOXA."
This tells us that
their is a special breed of people which are actually fashioned or prepared in
such a way as to be able to
receive the DOXA of God which is the very mind and Judgment
of God.
In Matthew 13: 10 - 12,
Jesus tells us that only a certain group of people are ordained to hear
and to understand. He then says
" To Whosoever hath shall more be given"
The Greek word for
"HATH" is "ECHO". So there are a people who
are fashioned with an
ability to echo or reflect back the Word of God, while all others can not do so. So, we can
see that their is a people who
are prepared unto DOXA. They are not the DOXA, but are prepared
unto DOXA. They were prepared before the foundations of the world in the mind of God to reflect the
mind of God. The Son is tutored
until he has his Fathers mind set. Then he is ready for adoption or
placing.)
Romans 15:5-6 "Now, The God of patience
and consolation grant to be like minded, one toward another according to
Christ: that ye may with one
mind and one mouth DOXA God, even The Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore
receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the
DOXA of God."
We are to have ONE
mind, and that is the Mind of God. Then all that we say and do will be done as unto the
Lord. He doesn't say that this
will come overnight, but he makes reference to a length of time. He says, The God of patience and consolation grant you
to be like minded. Now the Patience is needed because of the time
involved in losing your mind and receiving His Mind. The consolation is
needed because of the many times in which we fail
so miserably in letting our
own thinking go. But nevertheless, we are ordained and predestinated to it. You
see, God gives us free moral
agency, but it is through this free moral agency that we keep
moving away from the truth. PROVERBS 14:12 says, THERE IS A WAY THAT SEEMETH RIGHT UNTO A MAN, BUT THE
END THEREOF IS THE WAY OF DEATH.
Man will always choose the way that seems right, but the end
is death. If man can't even understand his own ways,
<PROVERBS 20:24> how is he supposed to know which way to go? The
Lord must direct us into His Word or we are lost
for sure.
Proverbs 16:9. and Matthew 20:16 Says, Many are called but few are chosen.”
John 6:44 Tells us that the Father must do the
drawing. We can not come by our own choice.
Romans 15 also tells us that we must become like
minded. One mind? Then Who's mind. Yours and mine are failures to begin
with. We must receive the Mind of our Heavenly Father only.)
I Corinthians 2:7 "But we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world
unto our DOXA:"
Again we see that God has
ordained us to receive His DOXA or mind set even before the world began. To the
world it remains hidden, but to the elect it is revealed as he said in Matthew 13:10 - 12.
I Corinthians 10:31 "Whether
therefore ye eat, or dronk, or whatever ye do, do all to the DOXA
of God."
God wants us to have His
mind set in all that we do. Not just in our doctrine, but also in our
conduct and every facet of Living. When Gods' opinion and judgments
becomes our opinion and judgments, then all our
actions will be God's actions. God manifesting Himself
in human flesh again.
II Corinthians
3:7,8,10,11,18 "But if the ministration of death
written and engraven in stones, was ENDOXA,
so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
behold the presence of Moses for the DOXA of His
countenance: which DOXA was to be done away: How shall not the
ministration of the Spirit be rather ENDOXA. For even that which was
made ENDOXA had no DOXA in this respect, by reason of
the DOXA that exeelleth. For if that which is done
away was endoxa, much more that which remaineth
is ENDOXA."
The word rather
here signifies, not a doing away with, but in greater measure. The
DOXA of God is the DOXA of God, The Word of God is the Word of God. This tells us that a
greater measure, The fullness of HIS
DOXA is to come. And the limited understanding we had will give way to the full assurance of
His opinion and Great Judgments.
II Corinthians
3:18 "But we all with unveiled
faces, behold in a mirror the DOXA of
the Lord, are changed into the same image from DOXA to DOXA, even as by
the Spirit of the Lord."
Here again we see that as we
look into the mirror of His Word, we do
not see ourselves anymore. All we see is Him, or more specifically, His
DOXA. After all, we are looking into His Word, which is His opinion and judgments expressed. As we see His DOXA, we are changed from
our opinion to his opinion
from our judgments to His judgments.
Thus we are coming into the IMAGE of God. If He is The Word, then His Image must be a reflection of
that Same Word. And What is his
Image but His Word made flesh.
II COR 4:3-6 "But
if our Gosel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this evil age
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the
Light of this ENDOXA Gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, whould
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord;
and ouselves your servants for
Jesus sake. For God, who commanded the Light to shine out of darkness, hath
shined in our hearts, to give the
Light of the knowledge of the DOXA of God in the
presence of Jesus Christ."
It is very clear here that
those who can not receive the DOXA of
God will be blinded by Satan to prevent them from receiving
it. And if the DOXA is God's OPINION or JUDGMENT, then what will they be
blinded by, but another opinion
and judgments that is
contrary to Gods'. It tells us here that there will be a time
when the Gospel will shine or illuminate in our hearts
and give us the knowledge of the DOXA of God. When is this to take place? At
the Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
EPH 1:6 "To
the praise of the DOXA of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in
his beloved. "
This scripture tells
us that we are predestinated to the Praise of His DOXA. HEBREWS
13:15 Tells us that the PRAISE offering is the fruit of our lips. We then are a
predestinated people who are ordained to speak of God's
Revealed Word. MALACHI 3:16 - 18 speaks also of this GROUP of PEOPLE in whom
The Lord shall write a book of remembrance. Notice what this DOXA
pertains to here. THE
DOXA OF HIS GRACE. The opinion
and judgments of
His Grace brings an echo of
His great opinion and judgments from the lips of His
Elect.)
EPH 1:12 "That
we should be to the praise of His DOXA, Who first trusted in
Christ."
Again we see that we are
predestinated to reflect His DOXA. That is our very purpose of being. And
to the praise of It, tells you we
are to be ever speaking His OPINION.
EPH 1:17-18 "That
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Father of DOXA, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge ofim: That the eyes of your heart may
be enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and
what the riches of the DOXA of His inheritance in the saints. "
If He is the Father of DOXA,
then His children must be a part of
that DOXA. The purpose of His coming as the Spirit of Wisdom and
Revelation is to bring us back to
our rightful position in Him. He brings forth this
knowledge of Himself to us by way of the voice of His Vindicated Messenger
Prophet. This ministry is to
Reveal to us the riches of the Father's " opinion and judgments
" toward His own, and it also places us in HIM.
Notice that The Baptism is
not the DOXA, but is only the earnest
expectation of receiving His DOXA.)It tells us quite plainly that
"CHRIST IN YOU" is only the Hope of the Doxa but is not the
DOXA itself. It only gives
us an earnest expectation to receive the DOXA of God. This let's us know
how important the DOXA of GOD really is. For without it we
can not even receive the change of the body.
How else could we Manifest
with Him. He is the Word. Then we must
become a perfect reflection of that same word in order to manifest
as He Manifests. "in him was life and the life was the light of men".
The if the Life is the Light of men, His Life is His Light or Word. If He then is our Life,
our Life must come from His
Word. Then When His word shall manifest Itself, our Life must also manifest the
same thing. Then as Paul said, it is not really
our life but His Life in us that is manifesting. Jesus said,
“My words
are spirit and they are life”. Then what is manifesting?
It can only be His Word.
I THES 2:12 "That
ye would walk worthy of God, Who hath called you into His kingdom
and DOXA."
In LUKE 17: 20 -22 Jesus is asked
by the Christ rejecting
Pharisees, when His Kingdom will come and He replies THE KINGDOM OF
GOD IS WITHIN YOU. Now, He was not suggesting to these Christ
rejecting Pharisees that His Kingdom was actually in them.
The Word "Within"
here actually means, "IN THE MIDST OF". A Kingdom is not a piece of real estate. A
Kingdom consists of a King and His people. And Jesus and His people
were right in their midst and they knew it not. So then
we see that the Kingdom is His Presence. Now this
scripture here then tells us that we are called into
His Presence and His opinion
and judgments. For He is
here in the form of the WORD as we stated earlier.
II THES 1:7,10 "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord
Jesus shall be revealed from
Heaven with His mighty angels,"..." When He shall come to
be ENDOXA in His saints, and to be admired in all them
that believe (becaues our testimony was believed) in
that day."
Paul tells us that His
Testimony or His Message will be
believed in "THAT" day. Did not Brother
Branham say that He, "only preached what Paul
preached." And notice what that Message is to produce,
Christ's own OPINION and JUDGMENT in the saints.
A people with His very mind set. And this Mind set will
bring a rest and a relaxation as Brother Branham promised the opening
of the Seventh Seal would produce.
TIT 2:13 "Looking
for that blessed hope, and the ENDOXA Appearing of the Great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ;"
This great Appearing of Our
God and Saviour, is to be in the Form of Spirit bringing Life, and it will come
through His Vindicated Word being opened up to His Elect By
the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Him.
Hebrews 1:3 "Who
being the brightness of His DOXA, and the express Image of His
person, and upholdng all things by the Word of His
power, when he had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty on high."
Now John 1:1 says,
“In the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God”.
So if He was the expressed Image of God who is the Word, then He is
the Word Expressed. The very opinion and judgments of God made manifest.
Hebrews 2:7,10 "Thou
madest Him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownest Him with DOXA
and honour, and didst set Him over the works of thy hands."
His very crowning was
in filling Him with the very opinion
and judgments of God in
order to set Him over the works of God.
The Scripture also
promises us in
II Timothy 4:8[1]that
we also shall receive
our crowning at His great Appearing. This Crowning is
also to be by receiving His DOXA which is His Opinion and Judgment,
or His very Mind.
Hebrews 2:10 "For
it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing
many sons unto DOXA, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
suffering."
The very One who made
it possible for God's Elect to come into God's DOXA had to be child
trained and had to suffer in order to not only become the Captain
or chief leader or author of our Salvation, but in order to become
a finished product of God's
DOXA Himself.
I Peter 1:7
" That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of
gold that perisheth, though It be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise, honor and DOXA at the Appearing of Jesus Christ."
We see here a moving out or
progression of our faith that is set
in motion by the Trials of our Revelation. The first stage is
to begin testifying to our
Revelation or our Faith. This testifying
moves us into a place of Honour where we come subject to our
own testimony and begin to
give proper Headship and Preeminence to The Revelation we receive at the Appearing of
Christ. This is to occur in
the last age which is epochal and strategic in it's
significance.
Finally this
speaking back the Revelation and adhering & coming subject to it,
brings us to a place where we
have no other thought but the Thoughts of God as Vindicated
and Revealed in this great
Appearing of Christ. At this stage we have entered into the DOXA or OPINION of
God. Then we will be ready to receive our body change. For without a renewing
of the Mind there can be no transformation of
the body, as Spoken of in
Romans 12:1-2 Notice we are told here that our body
change will comes as a result of a renewed mind.
I Peter 1:8 "Whom
having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of DOXA." This scripture is
still in reference to the great Appearing of Christ to the Elect at the end
time. But, Although the great
majority of those who truly believe the
vindicated Messenger Prophet
of this last hour have never even seen Him, nor have they seen the Manifested Christ through that
ministry directly, yet this
new generation of Elect still believe with Joy unspeakable and are becoming full of the DOXA of GOD
which is His opinion and judgments..
I Peter 1:11 "Searching what, or what manner
of time the Spirit of Christ
which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of
Christ, and the DOXA that should follow."
The suffering
was at His first coming, in His ministry to the Jews. The DOXA that should follow is His
ministry to the GENTILES in the
form of the WORD through the SPIRIT in this last
day
I Peter 4:13 "But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ's suffering; that, when His DOXA shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with
exceeding joy."
This speaks to us that
The DOXA will come by means of a Revealing. This Revelation of God's
DOXA will set our hearts to rejoicing exceedingly.
I Peter 5:1 "The
elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness
of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the DOXA that shall be
revealed:"
Peter had finally
succumbed to the Mind of God and let his own thinking go.
Peter, James and John had been carried up onto the Mountain in Matthew
17 by Jesus and had become eye witnesses of The opinion and judgments of God when God overshadowed Jesus and said, "This is my beloeved
son in whom I am peased to dwell, hear ye Him." In
other words, shut up and listen. Peter learned
His lesson over and over again, until he finally gave up on his
own opinion and let God's opinion take preeminence. Every time
Peter tried to correct Jesus or disagree with what Jesus
was doing, Jesus would look right straight into His eyes, and
piercing His very soul with that gaze, He would say,
"get thee
behind me satan." I'm sure Peter hated to be called that,
but what Jesus was telling Him is that any
thought contrary to The Fathers thoughts that He expressed
were of Satan.
1 PET 5:4 "And
when the Chief Shepherd shall Appear, ye shall receive a crown of
DOXA that fadeth not away."
The scripture tells
us, That heaven
and earth shall pass awayt but not one jot or tittle of God’s word shall fail."
So this crown of DOXA that shall never fade away must be God's own Word. It
is not some Glory as in Gold
or silver, for we are to store up our treasure in Heaven where nothing
can tarnish or lose it's luster or even rust. Our DOXA
is then the Word of God that we are Crowned with.
The Crown is the top part of the head. Then our Headship must
be given to Christ The Word, for nothing else would do.
I PET 5:10 "But
the God of all Grace, Who hath called us unto His eternal DOXA by
Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered a while, make you perfect,
stablish, strengthen, settle you."
There is no Eternal
outside of God, and we know that He is the Eternal Spirit full of
Wisdom and Knowledge. Then what could this ETERNAL DOXA be but His Word.
JUDE 24 "Now unto Him that is able to
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless
before the presence of His DOXA with exceeding joy, to the only
wise God our Saviour, be DOXA and Majesty, and dominion and power, both now and
ever. Amen."
Notice how that we are
to be found blameless in the Presence of His DOXA. The
Presence of Christ then as we have stated all along,
is and must be in the form of His Holy Spirit, which has come
down and has manifested Himself and His Life through
His Vindicated Word. Jesus said, "MY WORDS ARE SPIRIT AND
THEY ARE LIFE." It is He that Keeps us from falling and that
will present us faultless to His very Opinion and Judgment. "He who made the
Word is here to complete it.”