MASTERPIECE No. 22
He is Our Peace
Sunday morning, August 28,
2005
Rev. Brian Kocourek
This morning we will continue in our Study of Br.
Branham’s sermon called THE MASTERPIECE 64-0705 and this will be number 22 in our series. We will
continue now at paragraph 20 and read through paragraph 22. The topic that
brother Branham speaks about in these 3 paragraphs is about his desire to speak
on the seven trumpets. He had a leading or at least a longing to preach on the
seven trumpets and so let’s just read and pray before we go to our sermon this
morning.
THE
MASTERPIECE 64-0705 20 I want... If it be the will of God then, I
want to speak on the Seven Trumpets.
And that'll be about a eight day service. And we won't be here at the
Tabernacle; perhaps we'll try to get an auditorium here. 21. Now, I never
thought of this new auditorium just being built up here. It's exactly where I
saw Jesus the first time in vision (Now, it's the auditorium built right over
the same spot. I went right there the other day to look.), when I looked and
seen Him looking towards the east (You remember hearing me tell it.), when I
was out there praying for my father, a little boy, just a boy preacher. That's
where I saw Him, set looking at Him. He's had His head turned sideways from me.
I kept walking around, clearing my throat, in a broom sage field. And I kept
watching, and He never did turn around. I called His Name, "Jesus,"
and He turned around, held His arms out. And that's all I remembered until
daylight. And so I come back out of the field along towards daylight. So maybe the Lord will let me preach those
Trumpets there. Wherever it is, God's will be done.
Now,
brother Branham was hoping to preach on the Seven Trumpets and he and his son Billy Paul had even rented the
auditorium to preach it for eight days following this Message The masterpiece which was preached on
July 5th of 1964, but on the 19th of July 1964 brother
Branham preached a message called Feast
of the Trumpets instead of preaching on the seven trumpets.
On
July 26th, 1964 in a sermon called Recognizing your day 64-0726M P:19 Brother Branham said, And then, why He
wouldn't let me preach them Seven Trumpets...(Now if you stop here it would sound as
though that we are not to know those seven trumpets because it sounds as if God
did not want them preached, but if you listen on to what He is telling us here,
the reason God did not want Him to preach them is because he had already told
us what they are in his message on the sixth seal.)
Recognizing your day 64-0726M
P:18 Now, at the end of these seven Sabbaths which has been, there was
to be the Day of Atonement, which was the Seven Trumpets. And the Seven
Trumpets was to call a day of mourning back for the sacrifice or the atonement.
And we find out then that
So we see that
brother Branham during the preaching of the seven Seals spoke on the seven
trumpets and he said they were under the sixth seal and they were to the Jews. Now, the seven trumpets are spoken of in
Revelations chapter 8, but since they are to the Jews, I do not feel led to
study them because they aren’t for me.
And that brings
something to mind that I would like to say just to get it off my chest. I think
there is far too much speculation that goes on in the name of the message
today. Men speculate at this that and the other, and they will preach series
and have conventions based purely on one man’s speculations of what they think
the third pull is or when it will come into full manifestation, or they will
speculate on the tribulation or things like that. I do not think the elect need
to worry too much or focus too much of their attention on the judgments, or the
tribulation, because we are not going to be there. I remember years ago I was
preaching for a minister out west and after the services we were fellowshipping
and he then proceeded to tell me about how many people would be killed at
Armageddon.
I really wasn’t
too interested in Armageddon, because it has nothing to do with the Bride, but
he proceeded to tell me anyway. He had
figured out the valley of Megiddo where the battle of Armageddon will take
place was so many miles wide by so many miles long, and the bible said the
blood would be up to the horses bridal. And an average horse is so many hands high
which means it is so many inches tall, and So he got out his calculator and
figured the average man has so many pints of blood in his body and therefore
the volume of blood to needed to fill
the valley of Megiddo up to the horses bridal would be such and such. And he further
deduced that since the average man had so many pints of blood then the answer
to how many men would die in the battle of Armageddon would have to be a
certain, certain number that he figured it would be.
Now, I do not
know how many hours he spent doing those calculations but when he told me his
answer he was very proud of himself for coming up with his answer, and as he
looked at me for approval, I said to him, “Brother, I don’t mean to pop your
bubble, but the Bible does not tell us if the horse was alive or dead and
laying on its side, which through al his speculations and calculation out the
door.
Now, I am not
telling you this story to make fun of the man, but just to say, why waste out
time on something that will not affect us anyhow. Why would someone who
believes they will not see the tribulation period want to spend anytime talking
about it? And that is why God would not let brother Branham say anymore than
what we read to you concerning the seven trumpets of Revelations chapter 8.
After all, it is not for the elect to know because it does not pertain to them,
but to the Jews. So with that in mind, let’s continue with brother Branham
sermons on the Masterpiece.
Therefore let’s turn to
paragraph 22 of THE
MASTERPIECE THE 64-0705 Turn in your Bibles
now to Isaiah the 53rd chapter of Isaiah.
Now, we trust that God will bless our feeble efforts of coming together this
morning. We just come down from
24 Now, let us stand to our feet if we... Now,
we stand in honor of God's Word, as I read Isaiah the 53rd chapter: Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? (Notice, it's a
question to begin with.) For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of... dry ground: he has no
form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there's no beauty that we
should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrow,...
acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our grief, and has
carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we
were healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we've turned every one to his
own way; and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He was
oppressed, and... was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he was brought as
a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers... dumb, so he
opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall
declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for
the transgressions of my people he was stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he has done no violence,
neither was there deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him;
he... put him to grief: when thou shall make his soul an offering for sin, he
shall see his seed, and he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. And he shall see of the travail of his soul, and
shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall many righteous servants be
justified... many; for he shall bear their iniquity. Therefore I will divide
him a portion with the great, and... shall divide the spoils with the strong;
because he has poured out his soul unto death: and... was numbered with the
transgressors; and he bare the sins of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.
Now, this morning I would like to take this text
that brother Branham is using for the sermon entitled The Masterpiece, and I would like for us to focus all of our
thoughts on this text for the next few minutes because by the natural mind you
would think how could this text be used for a sermon about a masterpiece, and
yet it is not about a masterpiece, but The Masterpiece.
Isaiah
53:1 Who has believed our report? and
to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
Now, first of all we must
ask ourselves what this means by who has believed our report? Well, the Greek
word translated as report can also be translated as the word doctrine or
Message. Therefore we see the NIV translation says, 1 Who
has believed our Message and to whom
has the arm of the LORD been revealed? In other words, he is saying here, “those who
have believed our doctrine, are those who the arm of the Lord has been
revealed. He’s speaking of the same people.
Therefore
those who have believed the report, (which is the Message), or the doctrine,
are those to whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed. And his question is
who has believed our doctrine and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? So
he is talking about a people here that will know and understand what this
revealing is all about.
2. For he (The Son of God) shall grow up before
him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground: he has no form nor
comeliness; and when we shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire
him. Now, throughout the
bible men are likened unto trees of the field and other sorts of plant life.
And the Son of God will be like a tender plant so he will not be big, but
rather small and this small plant will appear
like a root out of dry ground so he will appear to be dried and old
looking for his age. And did not the Pharisees think he was fifty years old
when he was just a little over thirty years old? he has no form nor comeliness; and when we
shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. So we
see he was not some big strapping sports star, but rather s mall man in
stature, and not one that was strikingly handsome. But there never has been character like his. It
seems to me that when a woman today looks for a husband she looks for the big
manly looking guy and when a guy looks for a wife they seem to look for the
Marilyn Monroe types. But Brother Branham taught us different. He said we
should look for character.
He
said from his sermon called the Hear
ye Him 59-0424E P:38 I've seen man that weighed two hundred pounds and muscles like
iron, and didn't have the ounce of man in them. That's right. Man's not
measured by his muscles, but by the bags of the knees of his pants where he's
been praying. That's the way...?... Man is not measured by muscle; he's
measured by character. There never was a greater Man than Jesus Christ. That's
right. And He was measured by character, not by statue.
And that is why
we see in the next verse that…
3. He
is despised (Now,
let’s not just read through these verses too quick, it says he was despised.
What does that mean? It means he was scorned, he was considered contemptible,
and because he was so contemptible he was ) rejected of men; (and therefore being considered
contemptible and thus rejected of men, he was) a man of sorrow, (and being a man
of sorrow, he was also) acquainted with grief (Now the word acquainted
means to know by experience. You can not say you are acquainted with someone
you have never met. So he knew first hand what grief was all about because he
experienced it first hand) and we hid as it
were our faces from him; (now the word used for faces is also used
for presence or person, so you see those who did not truly know him hid
themselves from his presence, they turned away from him as though he was some
contemptible vile creature, and so ) he was despised,(and because he was openly
despised, it says) and we esteemed him not.
Now, isn’t it interesting that
people are herd animals. People are like pack animals. You place a red dot on a
chicken and it has been proven scientifically that the other chickens will peck
it to death. People are creatures of tradition. They do not like anyone or
anything that is different from what they
are comfortable with. And so when someone or something different is
presented to them, they shy away and reject it even if it means their ultimate
destruction to do so. He was despised, and we esteemed him not. Now, the
word esteemed means a certain value is placed that is very low. The word esteem
means to estimate and it says we esteemed his not, or as nothing. Now, we know
at the end-time he is to come in Great Power and Great Glory which is the doxa
of God. Now, the word doxa is the opinion, value or judgment of God. So you see
what you esteem shows you place great value in it, and what you esteem not,
shows you have not placed any value to it. So no it says we placed no value in
Him. And yet…
4. Surely he hath borne our grief, (Now, remember, he was
despised and rejected of man and yet here we find this same one that was
rejected by man and he was well acquainted with grief.
And yet here we read that
he came to bear our grief,) and has carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken.
Notice that the people esteemed the Son of God as stricken,.
Plagued, cast down, and smitten of God, which
means punished by God and afflicted which means to be beaten down.
Notice the way that man
looked upon the Prince of Peace. Because he did not come in the way they
thought he should come they turned on him and despised him and in their minds,
they saw him as reject-able and thus they rejected him, they saw him as not
having what they valued and so they esteemed him not. But as little as we understood what He was all about, yet
5. he was wounded for
our transgressions, he was bruised for
our iniquities: the chastisement of
our peace was upon him; (now, the word chastisement hear from translated from a Hebrew
word which means correction, instruction, discipline or doctrine. So you see
all this was done to correct our understanding concerning our peace. the correction of our peace was upon him. (The instruction of our peace was upon him.)
(The discipline of our peace was upon him).
(the doctrine of our peace was upon him).
Too many people, in fact
all peoples do not understand what Peace is all about. They think giving in to
the demands of terrorism is peace. They think not fighting for what is right is
peace. But there is only One Peace that is worth having and that is the Prince
of Peace who will one day be incarnated by the King of Peace, for He is peace.)and with his stripes
we were healed.
The apostle Paul said in, Ephesians 2: 14 For he is our
peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of
partition between us;
6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we've turned
every one to his own way; and the
Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Now, look, iniquity means to know to do
something and you don’t do it, or to know not to do something and you do it
anyway. And we are told here that this one came to instruct us in our peace
took our place when we should be the ones to have been smitten and bruised for
our own iniquity.
From a sermon called BALM IN GILEAD 59-1124 E-35 brother Branham said, Here some time
ago, a noted evangelist, about fifty or sixty years ago, by the name of Daniel
Greenfield; he crossed this United States holding revivals. And he had great
revivals everywhere. And as the story goes, one night he went to sleep, and he
dreamed that he died and he went to heaven. And said while he was standing near
the gates, he was waiting thought, "Now, I'll enter into this great place
of God, for--'cause I've preached the Gospel, and--and I've won souls to
Christ, and I will be taken care of." And while he was standing there, someone come
at the gate and said, "Who approaches this holy place?" He said, "I,
Daniel Greenfield from the
E-36
So he said he was taken away, as his dream went. Said, "He was
going through space real swift." Said, "All at once, he begin to slow
up because he come into a Light, got slower and slower as the Light got
brighter and brighter. Finally he come to a stop in his dream." And he
said, "The Light wasn't coming from any certain place, but he was standing
right in the midst of all this Light." And said he thought, "Oh, what
a place to be." And said he heard a Voice come that was very rough, and
said, "Who approaches My Divine judgment?" And he said, "I,
Daniel Greenfield, an evangelist. I was told at the gates that I could not come
in. So I've come to stand before Your justice, Sir, at Your great white
throne." He said, "I will dry... try you then, Daniel Greenfield, by
My laws." He said, "Daniel Greenfield, did you ever tell a lie?"
He said, "I thought I'd been truthful. But while I was standing in the presence
of that Light," he said, "there were many things that I remembered
that I said that wasn't just exactly truth." He said, "Yes, I've
lied." He said, "Did you ever steal, Daniel Greenfield?" He
said, "I thought if anything, I'd been was honest." But he said,
"In the presence of that Light..."
E-37
Now, brother, sister, that was just a dream. But that's the truth too.
When you stand in the presence of that Light of God, there's going to be a
whole lot of things that you'll think of, and maybe that you're not doing now.
That's going to be a dreadful time at the white throne judgment of God. He
said, "Oh, I thought I'd been honest," but said, "I remembered
then that there was several things that I'd done was kinda shady." He
said, "Daniel Greenfield, were you perfect? My laws requires
perfection." That's what Jesus said, "Be ye perfect, even as your
Father in heaven is perfect." "My laws require perfection. Daniel
Greenfield, was you perfect?" He said, "No, Lord, I wasn't
perfect." And he said, "I was just--felt like that my bones were
coming apart." Said, "I was expecting to hear that great Voice blast
forth and say, 'Then depart from Me into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels.'" And said, "Just as I was just about to
collapse where I was standing," said, "I heard the sweetest Voice I
ever heard in my life." And said, "I turned to look," and said,
"I saw the sweetest face I ever saw." He said, "No mother's face
could look like that one." And said, "He walked up close to me, and
put His arms around me." He said, "Father, it is true that Danny
Greenfield wasn't perfect in earth. But there's one thing that he did do. While
he was on earth, in every temptation, in every trial, he stood for Me. Now,
I'll stand for him here. Let all of his sins be put to My charge."
7. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he
opened not his mouth: he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
8. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who
shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living:
for the transgressions of my people he was stricken.
9. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the
rich in his death; because he has done no violence, neither was there deceit in
his mouth.
10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put
him to grief: when thou shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see
his seed, and he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand.
11. And
he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant
justify many; for he shall bear their iniquity. (notice by his knowledge,
what He knows not what you know. By His Faith not your faith. The just shall
live by Faith, but it’s not their own faith but Paul said, Galatians 2: 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself for me. Notice
we live by the Faith of the Son of God, His faith not our own.
12. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the
great, and he shall divide the spoils with the strong; because he has poured out
his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare
the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Let’s bow our heads in a
word of prayer.
Dear Gracious Father, no words can explain what it
means to us the great sacrifice that was made by your only begotten son on our
behalf. I wish my tongue could speak what is in my heart, but I have not the
words that could describe my love and respect and reverence for what you have
done for me on my account, and for what great personal sacrifice your only
begotten son, my older brother has done on my behalf. May I always hold these
thoughts in my heart and may they always resonate from my lips and I ask for
your continued mercy for me and my little flock here that you have placed me
here as their shepherd and for all those who are walking in the light as we are
walking in Your great light of your glorious Presence, and until we come to the
place of a change of the body, watch over us and protect us from the wrath of man,
for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s precious name, Amen.