Christ
is the Mystery no. 17
The
Image of the Invisible God
August 5,
2012
Brian
Kocourek
Last night we read in our Bibles and from Brother
Branham’s sermon, Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed where he spoke from Colossians 1:15 in
speaking of the son of God, where Paul said, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every
creature:”
I promised you that this morning we would look at this
thought here the image of the Invisible God. “The image of the invisible God”.
So this morning we are going
to look at this thought “The image of the
invisible God”. because after all as I mentioned last night, the
word image and invisible do
not exactly correspond well together.
Now, the Word “image” means:
1. A reproduction of the form of a person or an object, especially a sculptured
likeness. 2. In Physics it is an optically formed duplicate, (in
other words it is a duplicate that can bee seen) a counterpart, or other representative reproduction of an object,
especially an optical reproduction
of an object formed by a mirror or lens.
Now, I want you to focus on these words that our
dictionary uses to describe what an image is. It says it is a reproduction that
can be seen through some medium whether that medium be a mirror (in which case
the original object or being which is visible, can been seen via a mirror) or a lens in which case even that which was invisible to the naked eye
could be seen by the photo lens as we have the Pillar of Fie picture that hangs
over the head of William Branham. Notice the camera depending on the shutter
speed can pick up things that are so fast even the naked eye can not see them. And
that other dimension where God dwells is so much faster of a dimension that one
day to God is a thousand years to man. So you are looking at a dimension that
is 365,000 times faster than this dimension we are living in. So it is talking
about the image is a reproduction of an original. And it is interesting that we
use the word reproduction to describe the process whereby we have certain
organs in our body that are capable or reproducing ourselves via childbirth.
Speed of light 186,282 miles per second. Whereas the
speed of thought travels at 24 billion miles per second. So the speed of
thought travels at 353,565.13 times faster than the speed of light. So we see
that dimension is so much faster than our dimension that it would take a super
high resolution camera with such fast shutter speed to capture that image. Yet
the human eye is capable of 1/3000th of capturing an image.
Now, we know God is Life, and he is love, and He is or
has so many characteristics that it may be impossible to log them all. But He
lives in a dimension that is so fast that it would be impossible for the naked
eye to see Him, and yet he has a body, He has a head, and a tongue and a neck,
and nostrils and legs and arms because we have shown you years ago man, many
scriptures that tell of the breath of God, and the eyes of God and the mighty
arm of God etc. And man was created in his image and therefore God does not
look like a monkey or giraffe or camel, He looks like us, or rather we look
like him.
Now, what am I trying to say. I am saying that the
apostle Paul told us that Jesus Christ was born the very expressed image of God
who we can not see. Yet because he is invisible to us does not mean he is not
there. There is a difference between being invisible and not being there.
Love is invisible until it is expressed, yet it can be
present. A Loving Father may stand over
his sleeping baby and just watch as it lays there breathing, and that father
may truly have a genuine love for that child, so that love is there, but
perhaps in that condition that child does not need to have an expression of
love because it might wake that child if the Father were to take it into his
arms and caress the child in his bosom.
But the Father and his love is still there. The
humming bird can flap his wings up to 90 times per second, or 5,400 times per
minute. A bumble bee can flaps his wings up to 240 times per second or 14,400
times per minute.
The human is not built to flap his arms so you can
forget that idea.
But why am I telling you these things. It is because
we think in terms of the atmosphere and characteristics that we live with day
by day. But God lives in a dimension so much faster than he could make
calculations so fast that you could not measure it in nano- speed, gigahertz,
tera hertz or any measurements man is capable of coming up with, because we are
told that even before you ask he already has answered.
So when we begin to look at the attributes and
characteristics which define for us Who and what God is, we must not try to
limit God by our own understanding, but rather we must be able to think his
thoughts if we are to have an accurate picture of the image of God.
For he said, “Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.10 For
as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither,
but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give
seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So
shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me
void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
To look further into the definition of what an image
is the definition goes on to say that an image:, 3. Is 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.
Hebrews
1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,2 Hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;3 Who
being the brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his person, and upholding 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;4 Being made so much better than the
angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
So we see that this image of the Father which we will
call that image the son of God was made so much better than the angels.
AMPLIFIED He is the sole expression of the Glory of God- the Light - being, the
out-raying of the Divine- and he is the perfect imprint and very image of God's
Nature.....
New American Standar And He is the radiance of His Glory and the
exact representation of His Nature.....
NIV The Son is the radiance of God's Glory and the exact representation of
His being...
Now, we are limited
by these mortal bodies as to the speed we can take. I think science
speaks in terms of G force and that refers to the force of an object in its
acceleration relative to free -fall. It
is computed in terms of Gravity and specific weight and speed or velocity and a
whole bunch of determinate factors. I could give you the computation but it’s
above my pay grade, V2=Vo2+a/ /\X
Now, let’s compare
this definition of the word “image”, with the word “invisible”.
Since we have described how it is that God is not visible. The word invisible means:
1. Impossible to see; So
it is not that it is not there, but you just can not see it. So there is a
reason you can not see it. Therefore it is “not visible”: or no. 2. It is Not accessible to view; hidden: 3. Not
easily noticed or detected; inconspicuous:” So if it is hidden then there is
something that shields it from sight, and that is our makeup.
Your eye knows a bumble bee is flapping his wings but
your eye can not detect each flap of the wing, it looks blurred to your eyes.
Therefore the flap of the wing is not visible, or not detected. Now, multiply
that thousands of times and you can get a picture of where God is at concerning
His presence being here but undetected.
So what we have are talking
about 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:”. So he was made
in a way that we can see and detect, for the purpose of manifesting or
expressing he God who can not be seen or detected. 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 speaking about here.
Now, we know that “life” is
invisible, you can’t see the life in a seed, because although you can strip away
what we common folk call the husk, and the science folks call the endoderm, the
mesoderm, and the ectoderm, the three germ layers and yet the “Life” is still
not able to be seen in there. And you cannot see life until it is manifested
and then it expresses its attributes and characteristics. Then that
manifestation becomes the evidence of what the life is. You see the manifested
life has a nature peculiar of it’s own, and every seed after it’s kind. 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 has been
hidden inside that shell now has an opportunity to manifest or express what
form of life it is. When that happens the characteristics and attributes of the
life that was in that seed suddenly comes into view and we can now understand
the nature of the life that had been hidden.
Hebrews
1:1 God,
who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets,2 Hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory,(who
being the illumination and expression of God’s opinion, God’s values, and God’s
judgments) and
the express image of his (God’s) person,
So the Life was manifested in order to see what that
Life is all about. And we have seen and we know because of what we see. Life
itself is not visible. It is Spirit. Yet the very essence and nature of Life is
that it has many qualities and characteristics, which brother Branham called
attributes, and these attributes by their very nature are to become expressed.
A rose without it's beauty and fragrance would not be a rose. So therefore
every Life has attributes that are visibly and materially displayed to our
senses in order that we might better understand what the nature of the Life is.
That is why brother Branham spoke a message called "God is identified by
His characteristics." In it, he began by showing the difference between
two birds that are both yellow but each has a different flying pattern. And the
pattern distinguishes the difference between the two birds to the careful
observer.
1
John 1:1 That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have
looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For
the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and
bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father,
and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our
fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son
Jesus Christ.
So notice that our fellowship with the Father and Son
comes via the declaration that we hear. Then without the spoken word we would
never have the manifesting in its true character and without that we would
never know who we are either.
The Life was manifested, and we have seen
and we know because of what we see. Life itself is not visible. It is Spirit.
Yet the very essence and nature of Life is that it has many qualities and
characteristics, which brother Branham called attributes, and these attributes
by their very nature are to become expressed. A rose without it's beauty and
fragrance would not be a rose. So therefore every Life has attributes that are
visibly and materially displayed to our senses in order that we might better
understand what the nature of the Life is. That is why brother Branham spoke a
message called "God is identified by His characteristics." In it, he
began by showing the difference between two birds that are both yellow but each
has a different flying pattern. And the pattern distinguishes the difference
between the two birds to the careful observer.