Preparation #18 (Godhood #2, Sonship)
Brian
Kocourek
Last Sunday we began to examine the thoughts of
brother Branham's from paragraph 17 of his sermon Preparation where he said, In the garden of Eden there were two trees: one was Life, one was knowledge. Man left the Tree of Life to eat off the
tree of knowledge. Our
study took us to the book of Genesis where we find the source for brother
Branham's quote. In our examination of Genesis 1, we began to see the Birth of
the Son of God and the creation of all life.
As you might recall we read from GENESIS 1:1 ¶ In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the
face of the deep. And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters. 3
¶ And God said, Let there be
light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that [it was] good:
and God divided the light from the
darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the
darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first
day.
Now, if you remember, in verse 3 we see God speak
forth a Light. This light is not the s.u.n because we see the sun spoken of in
verse 14. GENESIS 1:14 ¶ And God said, Let there be lights in the
firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for
signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15
And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light
upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater
light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the
stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the
heaven to give light upon the earth
18 And to rule over the day and
over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that [it
was] good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the
fourth day.
Now, most people assume that the first light that is
spoken of is the SUN, but it is not. It speaks of the SON. For here we see an
account of the SUN and MOON in Genesis 14 though 19. These lights were placed
here to regulate the seed life that God placed in the earth. But what of this
first Light we see in Genesis. From the
Message "QA ON GENESIS
53-0729 010 he said, "The
first creation was God Himself; then out
of God came the Logos, which was the Son of God;
He went on to say in pp. 12, Now, "No man has seen the
Father at anytime." No man can see
God in the bodily form, because God is not in body form; God is a Spirit.
See? All right. "No man has seen the Father, but the only begotten of the
Father hath declared Him," I John... See? Now, but notice now, there's nothing; there's just space. There's no light;
there's no dark; there's no nothing; it's just seems nothing. But in there is a
great supernatural Being, Jehovah God, 15-28 013 Now, notice. Then after while I begin to see
a little sacred Light begin to form, like a little halo or something;… by eyes of supernatural looking, we see a little white Light forming out there.
What is that? That was called, by Bible readers, "Logos," or "the anointed," or "the
anointing," as I was going to say, the
part of God begin to develop into something so human beings could have some
type of an idea what It was: it was a little, a little Light moving. That was the Word of God. Now, God gave Himself birth to this Son which
was before there was even an atom in the, or air to make an atom. That
was... See, Jesus said, "Glorify Me, Father, with the glory that We had
before the foundation of the world." See, way back in yonder...
Then in
pp. 014
he says, "Now, in
Therefore, we can see that this first Light in Genesis
1:3 is the Son of God.
We also examined JOHN
1:1 which deals also with the beginning, and we saw that God is the word,
and out of God came also the Word which was a carrier of Life, and this life
was also the first light. ¶ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with
God. 3
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that
was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light
of men. Now, before this scene
takes place we find that God dwelt alone. The Scripture tells us here that at
the beginning God existed alone, and we find that the Scripture refers to him
as Elohim. (The self existent one). GENESIS
1:1 ¶ In the beginning God, Elohim,
the self existent One.
God was alone and in Him was Life. And as He began to
bring forth this Life, it first went into His Son, which is His Offspring, and
the word offspring means to spring off from. So we see, God, the great Fountain
of Life, began to bring forth His great plan to fulfill Himself, and He began
this fulfillment by bringing forth first a Son. We find in JOHN
Therefore we can see what David meant when He
described God as the Great Fountain of Life. PSALMS 36:9 "For with thee [is] the fountain of life: in
thy light shall we see light.'
Both David and John saw two main characteristics in God. #1) they both saw this great fountain of
Life, and #2) that this Life was a great Light. And when we see the first expression
of this fountain come forth when God begins to speak, What do we see first?
Light is spoken, and then what does that Light bring forth? The Life that was
in it. The Father giving birth to His Son.
Now, we must not confuse God with His Son. John tells us that God is the Word. Some men
would tell you that Jesus, the Son of God is the Word, but that is not entirely
accurate. God is the Word. God is the Logos, and out of this great fountain of
Logos or Word came forth a Little Logos, or Word expressed, and that was the
Son. Brother Branham called Him Little Jehovah. Smyrnaean Church Age 60-1206
075 "Now, if there's only one
form of Eternal Life, and you get it and we're seeking for it through Jesus
Christ; that's God's Life, then when
that blood cell was broke on the Son of God, and that little Jehovah that was
bottled up on the inside of this man called Jesus…
From the Message ATTITUDE
AND WHO IS GOD? 50-0815 015 brother
Branham said, " And we're taught in the beginning, that the
Logos, or the Son of God went out of God. Now, I do not believe in eternal
sonship. That's even radical to even mention such a thing, eternal sonship. How
could He had an eternal sonship...?... He had to have a beginning. See? 016
So He first was God, Jehovah. And out of Him... Let's just picture now
as a little drama so you can get it. Let's see coming out of space where
there's nothing, let's make it a little white Light, like a mystic Light, like
a Halo. And that was the Logos that went
out of God in the beginning. That was the Son of God that came out of the bosom
of the Father. That was what was in the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelled among us. In the beginning was
God. And then out of God came the Logos, a part of God that went out of God.
129 Hebrews
Chapter 1 57-0821 "T his Great Fountain of Spirit which had no
beginning or no end. This Great Spirit began to form in the creation, and the Logos that went out from It was the Son
of God. It was the only visible form that the Spirit had. And It was a theophany, which means a body, and the
body was like a man.
Hebrews 1:
1-3 ¶ 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; Who being the brightness of [his] glory, and the express image of his person,
(The expressed image... or the out-raying or etching of God.) 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. 5 For unto which of the angels said he at any
time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to
him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
AMPLIFIED In Many
separate revelations, - each of which set forth a portion of the truth, - and
in different ways God spoke of old to our forefathers in and by the prophets.
But in the last of these days He has spoken to us in the person of a Son, Whom
he appointed heir and lawful Owner of all things, also by and through Whom He
created the worlds and the reaches of space and the ages of time, - that is, He
made, produced, built, operated, and arranged them in order. 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,
upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty
word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of
sins and riddance of guilt, he sat down at the right hand of the Divine Majesty
on High. Taking a place and rank by which He, Himself, became as much superior
to angels as the glorious Name which He
has inherited is different from and more excellent than theirs. For which of the angels did god ever say,
"You are My Son, today I have begotten you, And Again, I will be to Him
a Father, and he will be to Me a
Son."
Now , we have looked at this first light that God
brought forth and as we see, it was the Logos which was part of God coming
forth into an expression which God called His Son, and then through this
expression, or expressed Word, or Manifested Word God brought forth all of
creation. ROMANS
EPHESIANS
3:9 And to make all [men] see what
[is] the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath
been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
COLOSSIANS
1:15 Who is
the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are
in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be]
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by
him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all
things consist.
Now, how was it that God in-dwelt his Son? Well, the
scripture tells us it was a mystery how that God was in Christ. I TIMOTHY 3:16 And without controversy great is
the mystery of godliness (God-like-ness): God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
II CORINTHIANS 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
HIDDEN
LIFE 55-1006A When
God was here on earth, He occupied a three room House, the Soul, Body, and
Spirit of Jesus Christ.
THY SEED
SHALL POSSESS GATE 62-0121M 086 Why
did David say, "I will not see My Holy--let My Holy One see corruption (My
Holy One see corruption.), neither will I leave His soul in hell?" David
said that. See, both soul, body, and
spirit was created of God by Him. The woman was not a mother; it was a
woman. I believe she was a good holy woman. Absolutely, she'd never been a
incubator. God would've never chose no dirty incubator (Lord willing, I'm
preaching on that tonight) but an old dirty incubator to bring His--to bring
His Son to the earth in. He chose a virgin, knowing not a man, neither did she
have any sperm discharge or anything else when the Holy Ghost overshadowed her,
because God in His immaculate, infinite
way created in her: soul, body, and Spirit of Jesus Christ. That's right.
He was a virgin born Son of God. What did that do? It broke the gate of the enemy.
Hallelujah. Whew. This is getting good to me.
MATTHEW 3:16 And Jesus, when
he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens
were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and
lighting upon him: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Brother Branham taught us that God did not indwell
Jesus Christ in the flesh until He was baptized in the
Notice, Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost. ACTS 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and
healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. IT
BECOMETH US TO FULFILL 61-1001M
039 See, Aaron, the high priest, before he could ever be anointed, he had
to be washed with water. Therefore, when Jesus, before He could be anointed our
High Priest, He was washed with water. And then not anointing oil poured upon
Him to anoint Him, like Aaron was anointed with oil; He was anointed with the Holy Ghost. "For John bare record,
seeing the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and going upon Him, and a
Voice saying, 'This is My beloved Son in Whom I am pleased to dwell in.'"
So the Bible said that, "Jesus was
anointed with the Holy Ghost, went about doing good things." See, He
was anointed.
Queen of
Sheba 60-0110 075 Then after
He was baptized in water, John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and
going on Him, a Voice saying, "This is My beloved Son (correctly like
this) in Whom I am pleased to dwell in." God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Jesus said,
"It's not Me that doeth these things; it's My Father. The Son can do
nothing in Himself but what He sees the Father doing."
GODHEAD
EXPLAINED 61-0119A 056 The Spirit of God, like a dove, descended
and a voice from heaven (which was above Him) saying, "This is My beloved
Son, in Whom I am pleased to dwell." (Really, the right translation... They
got the verb before the adverb, like all the foreigner is... "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am
pleased to dwell in." Or, "Whom I am pleased to dwell." "In
Whom I am pleased to dwell." ) That was God coming into Jesus, and in Him
was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And there's your Father, Son and
Holy Ghost: in the name of Jesus Christ.
PARADOX 64-0206B
074 "When Jesus was standing there, and upon the shores of Galilee, John
looked up and he saw the Spirit of God, like a dove, descending, and a voice
saying, "This is My beloved Son in Whom I'm pleased to dwell in."
"In Whom I'm pleased to dwell," the same thing: verb before the
adverb is all. See, see? "This is My beloved Son in Whom I am pleased to
dwell in." God and man becoming
One, uniting together for redemption. How God, that covered all space and time,
could come down and bottle Himself into a Man, so He could taste death for all
the human race, the Creator, dying, to save His creation. Heavens and earth kissed each other, man and
God became one (How can a man...) there, that He might dwell in man and
fellowship. It's nothing but God condescending, trying to get to His man.
And when Jesus was in Gethsemane, God left Him that He
might be able to die. Manifested Son of
God 60-0518 When He was--last cry,
"Eli, Eli. My God, My God," That was a man. "Why hast Thou
forsaken Me?" In the Garden of Gethsemane, the anointing left Him, you know, He
had to die as a sinner. He died a sinner, you know that; not His sins, but mine
and yours. That's where that love come in, how He took mine. Oh, hallelujah,
how He took mine.
RISING OF
THE SUN 65-0418M 34-5
088 Now, notice this Quickening Power, "Zoe," bringing the Word,
the mind that was in Christ was in you then. I'm trying to show you, that you,
when you raised--when God raised Jesus from the dead, He raised up you also,
and also quickened to Life with Him (You are now quickened to Life.), although
then you were but an attribute in His thoughts, but God had saw all in Him at
the finish. See? When God looked down upon the body... (The Spirit left Him in the Garden of Gethsemane; He had to die a man.)
Remember friends, He didn't have to do that. That was God. God anointed that flesh, which was human flesh, and He didn't
have... If He'd went up there as God,
He'd have never died that kind of death; can't kill God. But... He didn't
have to do it, but remember, He went
there with you in Him. See? God had never separated the Bride from the
Groom yet. So when God looked down upon the Body of Christ, He saw both male
and female. It was all redeemed in that one Body. See? They are one, the same, same Word. the same Word spoke of the Groom
speaks of the Bride.
SPIRIT OF
TRUTH 63-0118 012 And
one of the great problems for God down through the years, as the history of the
church goes, is to find somebody that He can completely get in His control. He
only needs one man. He's always used one man at a time. We studied that last
few nights: one man, not a group, He just wants one. That's all He needs, 'cause
two men would have two different ideas. He just makes one man, represents
Himself through that one person. Never did He do it otherwise than that. See?
Now, He's got one person today, and that Person is the One we just read after: the Holy Spirit. He is the Person that God
has sent forth, the Spirit of Jesus Christ into the earth, the Spirit of God,
to manifest and declare Christ through His church (See?) just to continue the
Life of Christ through the church.
The whole purpose of God coming down and indwelling
Jesus, was to set you and me free and cleanse us from all our sins, and
delivering us from the body of this death, because we were born by a sexual
desire and God had to release us from the nature of this flesh and make a way
for His own nature to indwell us, and change us, and bring us into his image.
I 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.
I JOHN 3:1 ¶
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because
it knew him not. 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall
see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
That is why the revelation of the Godhead is so
important to us. If you can see who God is, and if you can see the relationship
that He had with His Son Jesus, and if you can understand why God as the Father
of Jesus, came down, and came into
Him, and anointed His Soul, Flesh and
His Spirit with His Own Spirit, then you will be able to see how God, as our
Father, wants to have this same relationship with you and me as His Sons.
ROMANS 8:29 ¶ For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren.
Weymouth
8:29 "For those whom He has known beforehand He has also predestined to bear the likeness of His
Son, that he might be the Eldest in a vast family of brothers; and those
whom he has called, he has also declared free from guilt; and those whom he has
declared free from guilt He has also crowned with Glory."
In John 20:17,
when Jesus was raised from the dead, the first thing he said was, "Touch
me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say
unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and [to] my God, and your
God."
Now, we know that this is the hour that all the
mysteries were to be fulfilled, finished off, and made plain. And God did so by
again indwelling a vessel, made of a human desire this time, and declaring
Himself to be "the same yesterday, today and forever. "
RAPTURE THE 65-1204 083 When you see God come from the heaven,
stand before groups of men, and stand there, declare Himself just as He ever
did... And that's the Truth, and this Bible open. See? That's right. We're
here. What is there that is left to
be done when God has come down and veiled Himself in a man who was born by
sexual desire and did the same thing that he did in His Son Jesus? What should that tell us? That redemption is
at hand. That God has come, and He has restored us back to our rightful
position that we lost in the garden. That He has forgiven us, and has come to restore
us, and give us the inheritance.
Oh, it ought to send you right out of your chairs this
morning. It ought to send you into the isles screaming and shouting, to know
that he has already, pass tense, declared you free of all guilt…. My how that
ought to stir us up in our souls to the
point that we are free, free, yes free at last.
In closing now,
I would like to conclude this study of
"Life", of this "God-Life" and "this stream of
Life" that has come forth into His Sons by reading from the Amplified version: in COLLOSIANS 2: 1 - 3: 25 "I
want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My
purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that
they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in Whom are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ( The comprehensive insight into the ways
and purposes of God.) (Now, remember, Paul said in Ephesians Chapter 1 that He was still
waiting for the Spirit of Wisdom and
Revelation to come to the People and here he is telling us that this is the
same spirit that was hid in Jesus Christ.)
So he begins here by cluing us into the relationship that Jesus had with
the Father, and that this relationship will be passed down to other sons.
"I say this in order that no one may
mislead and delude you by plausible and persuasive and attractive arguments and
beguiling speeches (sermons). For though I am away from you in body, yet I am
with you in Spirit, delighted at the sight of your standing shoulder to
shoulder in such orderly array and firmness and the solidness and steadfastness
of your Revelation in Christ so that your entire human personality is leaning,
and resting on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His Power, Wisdom and
goodness. As you have therefore received Christ, so walk and regulate your
lives and conduct yourselves in union with and conformity to Him. ( Now catch how Paul is turning his
thoughts from Christ's relationship with thee Father to our relationship with
the Father.) Have the roots of your being firmly and deeply planted in Him, fixed and
founded in Him, being continually built up in Him, becoming increasingly more
confirmed and established in this Revelation of Christ, just as you were
taught, abounding and overflowing in it with thanksgiving.
See to it
that no one carries you off as spoil, or makes you yourselves captives by his
so-called philosophy and intellectualism, and vain deceit. His idle fancies and
plain nonsense, following human traditions, which are only mens
ideas rather than true spiritual teachings,- just crude notions which disregard
and do not point to Christ. For in Him
the whole fullness of Deified Life ( that is Godhood) continues to dwell in
bodily form - giving complete expression of the Divine nature. (Now watch
Paul again turn the focus from God-Life in Christ to God-Life in you.) And you are in Him, made full and have come
to fullness of Life - in Christ you too are filled with the same Life that is
in the Godhood, which same life came forth from the Father and is
passed down into His Son and now into Sons, That same Life which is His Divine
Holy Spirit and which encompasses and holds His Divine nature shall bring forth
in you this full spiritual stature. ( Now we might ask ourselves, how does
this happen. How does this God Life come forth into us and abound. This is the
purpose of this study). For in Him you
were circumcized with a circumcision not made with
hands, but a spiritual circumcision performed by Christ by stripping off the
body of the flesh, your, carnal nature with it's passions and lusts. Thus you
were circumcized when you were buried with Him in
your baptism, in which you were also raised with Him to a new Life, through
Revelation in the working of God as displayed when He raised Him up from the
dead. And you who were dead in trespasses and sin
And how does this happen? II
PETER 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you
through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power (That's His Word of power) hath given unto us all things that [pertain]
unto life and godlike-ness, through
the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine
nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Through the knowledge of him that we receive from His
Vindicated Word, it infuses the divine Nature into us, bringing forth in us a
new birth and a new nature which is not a fleshly nature, but is the very
nature that God anointed his Only begotten Son with. God, through the instrument of His Own
divinely vindicated Word, quickens our Soul, quickens our Spirit, and will
quicken our flesh bringing us into the very likeness of His dear Son, our
Brother, the first born. That is why the doctrine of the godhead is so very
important to us. Because our
transformation is dependent upon knowing
our Father, and the proper relationship that we are to have with Him.
Jesus said in John
5:19 Verily, verily, I say unto you,
The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth
the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these
also doeth the Son likewise. 20 For the Father loveth
the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself
doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. 21
For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth [them]; even so the Son quickeneth
whom he will.
John 5: 30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I
hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but
the will of the Father which hath sent me.
31 ¶ If I bear witness of myself, my witness is
not true. 32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he
witnesseth of me is true.
HEBREWS
5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered;
9 And being made perfect, he
became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Let's just bow our hearts in prayer. Dear gracious Father, we know now what you
are doing here among us in this hour. We know now why you came and did the same
things in your servant William Branham as you did in your own Son Jesus. We
know that Alpha has become Omega and we know what you expect from us as Sons.
Please Father, anoint us as you anointed your own Son, and place in us a mind
that wants only to please you, for we
ask these things in the name which you have exalted above every other name,
that of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the anointed Son, amen.