Christ is the Mystery no. 45
Christ Jesus the Pattern for all sons
December 2, 2012
Brian Kocourek
Romans
Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being;
as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of
God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver,
or stone, graven by art and man's device.
In other words understanding
the Godhead is not a theology, something made up by men, but it is the reality
of a living and breathing God living in your very person.
Philippians
2:13 For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Let us pray…
Dear Father we come humbly and reverently into Thy presence with
thanksgiving in our hearts knowing that you are indeed our God and our Father.
And knowing this we ask that you would help us as we continue to read from the
Words spoken by Your prophet William Branham that Your very words which are
seeds might come alive in us by the Holy Ghost quickening them to us. Come live
in us Father as you lived in your Son Jesus and had the preeminence in Him to
live His life for Him. We invite your Divine Presence, your Divine Life, to
come and inhabit our flesh and blood that me might
manifest Christ in these bodies, for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s name, amen.
This morning we will begin
reading from paragraph 99 of Brother Branham’s
sermon Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed,
which in your books will be paragraph 185 and we will read through paragraph 120
which in your books will be paragraph 234. Now, I know that is a lot of ground to cover
in one day, but the same theme folds throughout these 21 paragraphs, and as you
will see brother Branham is talking here about the very Life of Christ and how
it manifested itself in men throughout the Old Testament in their very lives.
Christ was expressed in the things they did, and the ways that they chose, or
in the way they lived their lives. But these men did not know what was
happening, or why they did what they did. They did not know it was God working in them
to will and to do. But it was in a measure showing in a type Christ.
Or as the Apostle Paul said these things were shadows of things to come.
Hear ye Him 57-0310E P:22
In the Old Testament there's patterns and types and shadows; all the
Old Testament was kind of a shadow of the New Testament. And all that was in
both Testaments is a shadow of this day.
Therefore as we read, let us
look at the lives of these examples brother Branham gives us here and let us
see how that it was these men in their lives were types and shadows of the very
Life of Jesus Christ when he came here on earth and as brother Branham said,
they are the very shadow of this hour when God is working in us to will and to
do.
Now, let’s begin reading from
Paragraph 99 or 185 in the booklet.
99 Now, you see the secret? What to? To restore fallen Eve,
as she was a free figure of the church. And now notice, as God opened up
the side of Adam and took out Eve by his own flesh and blood, and divided his
spirit from masculine and feminish, to feminish and put it in Eve, took the rib from under his
side and made Eve out of it; so God did
the same thing, taking out of the side of Christ the Blood and the water (and
Christ is the Word), and taking the Word and making up His Church, Eve
(See?), back to Himself again redeemed
by the Blood that was come from His Body. You see it now? God's great
mystery being unfolded that's been hid since the foundation of the world, but
prefigured it all the way down through. Now, watch. We find that He did that.
And here in Ephesians and many other places... But that'll give you enough
to...
100
Now, down through the ages He has been slowly unfolding this mystery. Can you
see now? Now, down through the... how that He... What happened in the prefigure now? He opened Adam's side and took part of
his flesh, which was Adam, to make Eve. The
Bride has to be the Word, for He is the Word. She cannot stand on creeds; She cannot stand
on denomination; She cannot stand on good behavior; She has to stand alone on the Word, because She's part of It; She was
taken from Christ. See?
101 And
to be sure that the whole Rapture now... Luther was a part; Wesley was a part;
the prophets was a part. If they aren't a part... just
in the revelation that they was making up the Body: feet, toes, arms and so
forth until the Head (which we get to that in a few minutes, see?) that makes
the entire rapture. It's the Body of the Word, which is Christ. Amen. Outside
of that, you're lost. I don't care how good you are, or what your relationship
is, or what your fellowship is, or what your organization is; you're lost
outside of that Word being in you.
102
"If ye abide in Me (the Word), My Word abide in you, then you ask what you
will." because you and the Word are the same. He has the preeminence. He's
got the rulership. You're a prisoner to Him. The world is dead. You have nothing
more... You see the rest of the people
living the way they do, but yet you do not do it. You're a prisoner; you're yoked with Him. "My yoke is easy."
(Yoked with Christ, with His Word.) "I do that
only which pleases the Father. And if you can't believe that I am He, then
believe the Word." So perfect...
103
Notice. Notice now, down through the ages, He's
been gradually letting this out, slowly unfolding the mystery through the
prophets and through the types. Now, we can just go on to that... and expressing Himself. He expressed Himself in Moses.
Look at Moses: born in a time of persecution of the children. He was born to be
a deliverer. He was hid in the bulrushes just like Jesus was taken down into
104
He expressed Himself in Joseph:
born amongst denomination, his brethren. They
hated him without a cause because he was spiritual. He saw visions; God was with him; he could interpret dreams, and his brothers hated him. He was sold
by his brethren by almost thirty pieces of silver just exactly like He was sold
by Judas Iscariot, one of His brethren, by thirty pieces of silver. He was
thrown into a ditch and supposed to been dead. That's right. The father and them was told that be was dead. And thrown into this ditch,
taken up and went to the right hand of Pharaoh. In the dungeon how he suffered
there, and there was two saved, the butler and the baker: one of them lost and
one of them saved, rather. And the butler... One of
them was lost and the other one was saved. Just as on the cross, when He was in
His prison house, a tacked to the cross for our sins (we become a prisoner),
one thief was lost and one was saved (See?), just exactly.
105
Then he become at the right hand of Pharaoh, the king, that
he dreamed and had the vision that he would set at the king's feet, and all
authority in
106 Notice in the seer how that when,
you know, he's coming forth, he's divinely a-vindicated by foreseeing and it
comes to pass. "If
there be one who's a prophet, will speak to you and tell you certain things
that's going to happen, and if it don't happen, don't listen to him. But if it
does happen, then I'm with Him. You better fear him, because I am with him.”
See? That's exactly. There's the a-vindication.
There, where you know whether it's the truth or whether it isn't. God is
speaking back through His Word to His people, by people. See, God only speaks
through man. "I
am the vine; ye are the branches.” The vine doesn't bear
fruit. The branches
bears the fruit of the vine. Notice, it's always been that way.
107
Now, we find Joseph then, that when... No man could touch or come to Pharaoh
without first seeing Joseph. No man can come to the Father only by the Son. And
when Joseph left the throne, they sound the trumpets; every knee bowed.
"Joseph is coming forth." Glory. Someday
every knee will bow and every tongue will confess,
when He leaves the throne of His Father (See?) to come forth. Everybody will
bear witness that He's the Son of God. You either... It was too late then; do it now.
108
Now, we notice that through the types... We can take even David (as I spoke of awhile ago) going off his throne, rejected by his own people, going up
the same mountain (Mount of Olives) as he was going over to his prison. He was
going to his prison house because he was
rejected of his brethren and of his own people. He went up weeping. That was the Spirit of Christ in him to be
rejected as he looked up over
109
All those things typed Him (just in
type), but yet the mystery was hid. Them men didn't know
what they were doing. They only knew
that they were led by the Spirit to do something. Now, holding it back in
the last days for the great revelation, but expressing it... Express Himself in Moses, and David, and Joseph, and
Elijah and on down through. Wwe could take each
one of those prophets and bring their lives out and show it expressed Jesus Christ perfectly, exactly,
yet never giving His secret in full, waiting for to make it known in the last
days as He promised, waiting for it to be fully comprehended (See?) before He could express it. If He told the whole thing... Because the Bible's written in mysteries; Jesus thanked the Father for it
(See?), that It was wrote in mysteries.
110
Now, the coming of the Lord is in
mystery. We don't know when He's coming, how He's coming, but we know He's
coming, See? And so was all
the mysteries of God waiting for this last day. After it's already been completed then He reveals,
He shows what He's done. Oh, my. Never gave His mystery in full...It's just
like this, comparing the Seven Seals. Now, when God used Martin Luther for the
coming out, for that first church (that church age), and when He used John
Wesley, and He gradually brought them out and was revealing in them that church
age. When anyone goes back through the Bible now and find out... But in the
last days...
111
The reason that was such a tremendous thing, that He spoke of it here and
showed those Seven Thunders and "Look" and "Life" my
"Life" magazine there, packed that circle of cloud and light there
that they could not understand and don't know it yet, but here telling, "Go there and wait for these mysteries to be
revealed" and here months before it happened; and then it happened, and exactly the
way He said it would do. Did you notice in that picture even that Angel on the
right when He was being materialized, coming down, with His wings back and His
head setting sideways? There it is right there in the picture just exactly:
months before it happened, told here that He's
going to bring the Body of believers together to reveal, take up them lost ends.
112
Here come Luther
through. He only preached justification,
just pounded away in that age. He didn't know what the age was. Here come Wesley
through. He pounded his age through. See?
113 Do you get it? If you fail, come back to this tape again. I don't know how much
longer I'll be with you. Remember, this
is the Truth of THUS SAITH THE LORD. It's the Truth. It's the Scripture.
Like the seven mysteries of the Seven last Seals, the mysteries of them... The
Seals had done been broken; every age had come down, and there they left a lot
of scattering. And God, not willing that it should be scattered, He comes back
and picks up those things, those
doctrines they started, and brought it on out and revealed the whole thing,
same thing He's doing now in revealing the mystery of Christ, how He was God's
threefold purpose for the Church. Oh, my. Letting them out, reveal...
114
"Reveal," Webster says, is
"to make known, make known, and
especially," Webster said, in
Divine truth"--that means Revelation, it is Christ's way of making Himself known
to His Church. Now, we're going to say... "Now, Brother Branham,
you're just saying this..." Now, we won't say... just say this. Now,
notice, He made Himself known to Peter... Now, if you want to mark this down,
and if you want to read it, we'll read it, if you want to: in Saint Matthew 16:15 and 17. I'll quote it.
When He come from the
115
But that wasn't what He asked. He said, "Who do you think that I am, now?" Now, there's the church He's talking to.
See? "What does man think that I am?" Today: "He's a
philosopher" this social religion. "He's a good man. We believe His
teaching's right. It's a subject to be lived by. I think it'd make us all
better if we did. We ought to have our churches, our so forth." That's a
Santa Claus, like a Santa Claus story. It's
not expression of some church that we should express something. It's a life that you don't live yourself,
but He comes in you and lives by Himself, and you become a prisoner to any human intellectual being at all. You're led by the Spirit. And how do
you know?
116
Now, you say, "I might know I was losing my mind. Maybe a man that loses
his mind does that." But if you
have the mind of Christ, Christ expresses Himself through you. Shows that
it's Him and you've not lost your mind. Some people under illusions of things goes out and becomes insane. Well, We
know that's wrong. That's the devil trying to impersonate the real thing before
it gets here. See? There's always a bogus. See? But a real man is a lose his own thoughts and his own thinking, not come up
blindly like that. No, sir. You come up with your right senses and Christ takes you over and
expresses Himself. And now, to the world you're an insane person. Now, if
you're insane, you're actually insane, then there's nothing... The devil can't take
you in complete control. He will make you do everything contrary to this Word,
but when Christ takes you over, He will
express that Word right through, because it's Him. He is the Word. See? And then
you can see the expression of Christ, not some illusion of some sort, but a real genuine Christ, expressing Himself
right through you. How beautiful.
117
Now, watch. He said, "Who do you say I am?" He's asking the Church,
His twelve. Out of the millions of that day, He asked twelve, His Church. In
the millions in the days of Noah, He asked eight. See? And He said, "As it
was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the coming of the Son of man (See?),
where eight souls were saved." I don't say going to be eight saved now;
now don't get that all wrong. I never said that. I don't know how many's going to be saved in that last moment to rapture
that little group. It'll be a small
group; I'll tell you that. "For strait is the gate and narrow is the
way, but few there'll be that'll find it."
118
But when the great ransomed Body through all ages comes up, then, that's going
to be a great throng there. Revelations 7 express it: "a great number
which no man could number" through all the ages that's come up, them
that's walked in the Light of the Bible as far as It was revealed to them. And
now, we know that Wesley had more Light then Luther did. We know Pentecost
outshined Wesley. See? Certainly it does, because it just gradually let loose
as it did down through the prophets and so forth till it was perfectly made
known, the Godhead bodily in Christ.
And now, the Christ in the Church is
just being made known. The whole thing
is the revelation of God to take Eve back to her right position again with
her husband (notice), and God is the
Husband of the Church, and the
Church is His Bride.
119
Now, Peter, when he called, said, "Thou are the Christ, the Son of the
living God." Now, watch, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona (that which means son of Jona.
See?)--blessed art thou, for flesh and
blood never revealed this to you (You
never learned it from some school.), but My Father which is in heaven has revealed it to you." Notice,
what He said to him: "Upon this rock..." That's Peter, the predestinated seed of God that had
received this Light and given the keys to the Kingdom. "Upon this rock of revelation of Who Jesus Christ is..." He's the full manifested God. "Upon this rock..." Not of
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and Him being the second
person... "Upon this rock I'll build My Church,
and the gates of hell will never shake it down--never prevail against it.
(See?) I'll build My Church upon this rock," a revelation of Jesus Christ.
120
Look, Christ in you makes Him the center
of Life of the revelation. See? Christ's
Life in you makes Him the center of the revelation. Christ in the Bible, makes the Bible a complete revelation of Christ. Christ in you makes you the complete
revelation of the whole thing. See,
what God's trying to do? What is the new birth then? You say, "Well,
Brother Branham, what is the new birth?" It is the revelation of Jesus Christ personally to you. Amen. See?
Not you joined a church, you shook a hand; you done something different; you
said a creed; you promised to live by a code of rules; but Christ, the Bible... He is
the Word that was revealed to you. And no
matter what anybody says, what takes place, it's Christ. Pastor, priest, whatever it might be...
It's Christ in you. That is the
revelation that the Church was built upon.
And that is what I have been
trying to get across to the brethren for the past 30 years, it’s not doctrine,
The doctrine of Christ is not just another doctrine, it is the very Life of
Christ living itself out in you, just as it did in Jesus Christ, Paul and
William Branham.
And when I told that to Br. Billy
Paul the other day, he said, brother “That
is the Great revelation of this hour”. And then we got people who say Billy
Paul doesn’t even believe the Message? Who are they fooling.
A fool is known by the multitude of his words. They are only fooling themselves
because they think the Message is a theology. Well, let me tell you something
brothers, The only man living who has seen the angel
of the Lord is who they are rebuffing because he doesn’t walk in their camp.
That’s what it’s all about.
No one in this Message has taught the
doctrine of Christ in as many countries and to as many ministers as I’ve done
over the past 12 years. Now, I don’t say this to boast, I say this as fact.
Show me anyone on else who’ve gone out and taught the
doctrine of Christ in as many countries and to as many ministers as I’ve done.
And I didn’t even want to do it, but I saw no one else going to help their
brothers around the world, so I said, Lord if you want me to go, I will but you
will have to open the door because I don’t want to go where you do not wish for
me to go. I hate traveling, and anyone who has done considerable travel knows
it is not easy and it is not a pleasant thing to travel.
When you sleep at night with your
notes over your face under several blankets just to keep the mosquitoes off
your face with your shoes on because you see lizards running the walls and mice
gnawing your bed posts, it might be exciting, but not in a pleasant way for
sure. When you drive the roads and every
to 20 miles you are stopped by machine gun toting men it is not a pleasant
thing. And if you had a stretch of road that was smooth and not filled with car
eating potholes, then it might be ok, but you won’t find them where I’ve been.
So I know what I am talking about
when I say that to teach from a theology verses teaching from the reality and
relationship of God with His son, makes all the difference in the world. I’ve
seen the changes in the lives of men as a result of changing my mode of
teaching. And my biggest disappointment has been those brothers who heard me in
the early years teach the doctrine of Christ from a theology basis, and they
didn’t turn the corner when I began to teach it from a relationship
standpoint. And today some of them
turned to organization around the doctrine. And I am very sad for them.
I tried to warn them in 2007 but they didn’t take the
warning. As brother Branham said in the Seven Church Age book, Church Age Book
Chapter 3 - The Ephesian Church Age P:64 But as usual people don't heed God's warning.
That revival fire built upon the sacred Word is so wonderful, and the
manifestation of the Spirit so blessed, that a little fear creeps in and a
whisper in the heart says, "How can we protect this truth we have? What can we do to
see this revival goes on?" That is
when the "antichrist spirit" comes in and whispers, "Look, you have
the truth now, see that it doesn't get lost. Organize and set up your creed of
what you believe. Put it all in a church manual." And they do it. They organize. They add to the Word.
And they die just like Eve did for taking One wrong
word. It's God's Word that brings life. And it's not what we say about the Word that counts, but it's what God
said.
The Doctrine of Christ is a reality
of the God-Life coming alive in the bride in the same way as it came alive in
Christ Jesus and William Branham.
And I know the real success in our
meetings came when I changed from teaching the doctrine of Christ from a
theological basis and began to teach it from the relationship that God had with
his son Jesus Christ. God living, God alive in His son Jesus Christ. The obedient son living his life to the glory of His Father.
When you teach from theology, those
that oppose you have their theology too and they want to argue, but when you
present the Doctrineof Christ from the relationship
that Jesus had with His Father, and show them the promise is for us and our children,
men’s souls hunger for that relationship and that reality.
And when we began to present the
Doctrine of Christ in that way, then God began to really bless the meetings, He
blessed the brothers by opening that relationship to them, and He confirmed
what was taught by signs and wonders and He manifested His Presence among us in
very supernatural ways changing weather and coming down in a very visible way.
Now, I did not get to see that, but hundreds of others did. And when I got back
brother Vayle told me to not take lightly what God had done, so I don’t. And if
anyone has a right to claim the experience of
watching the effects of the Doctrine come alive in the brethren, and
seeing firsthand the effects it has in the lives of the brethren when taught
from a relationship verses the theological perspective I think I can say I have
that experience and firsthand knowledge. But I also know firsthand that
teaching the doctrine as a theology sure brings out the warfare, but I am not
the only one who knows that. I think every brother who has taught the doctrine
from that perspective knows what I am talking about. But real teaching
positionally places the brethren according to brother Branham’s definition, and
when you begin to positionally show the brethren their own place in the family
as obedient sons, it changes men, it brings such a rest and peace, and with it
an assurance they never had before. An it brings a
real true love for the Father and the brethren, and the result is the brethren
want only one thing and that is to please The Father. And you talk about unity,
the doctrine of Christ taught as a relationship brings unity, but I also saw
how that teaching it as a theology brought division.
Theology will never do anything
except cause a fuss and stir things up. But knowing our relationship with the
Father and our eldest brother and the way they so harmoniously worked together
as though it were just one person doing the work, because after all it was just
one person doing the work. The son died to himself and the son acknowledged
that he of himself could do nothing, and when we acknowledge that of our own
self we can do nothing, then God is free to use your
surrendered body for his own purpose and plan.
The son Jesus had so well learned to
simply die to himself that God might use his body, and that is what our Father
wants with you and I, for us to just let him have the full preeminence in our
soul and Spirit that we will totally surrender our flesh to him to do his great
pleasure.
That is the great mystery that has
been hidden, but we saw it in this hour in William Branham, and he showed us
the parallel between what God was doing in his life and what God did in the
life of his eldest brother Jesus. And that is what God wants for all of his
sons and daughters. He wants for us to be led by His spirit just like Adam was
led by God and fellowshipped with him before the fall where he walked with God
and he talked with God in the peace of the garden of
Eden.
Now, next week we are going to
examine more in detail what brother Branham said here in paragraph 120 which is paragraph 234 in your booklets. And I want you to
pray all week about this thought here from brother Branham. Dwell on it, eat
with it, sleep with it, until it becomes a reality to
you.
In closing let’s read it one more
time before we dismiss. “Look, Christ
in you makes Him the center of Life of the revelation. See? Christ's Life in you makes Him the center
of the revelation. Christ in the Bible, makes the Bible
a complete revelation of Christ. Christ
in you makes you the complete revelation of the whole thing. See, what God's trying to do? What is the
new birth then? You say, "Well, Brother Branham, what is the new
birth?" It is the revelation of
Jesus Christ personally to you. Amen. See? Not you joined a church, you
shook a hand; you done something different; you said a creed; you promised to
live by a code of rules; but Christ,
the Bible... He is the Word that was
revealed to you. And no matter what
anybody says, what takes place, it's Christ. Pastor, priest, whatever it might be... It's Christ in you. That is the revelation that the Church was
built upon.
Let us pray…