Alpha and Omega Comparisons
no. 4 The Messenger
June 10, 2007
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
Proverbs
1: 28 Then
shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me:
John
1:11 He came unto his
own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father,) full of grace and truth.
Let us pray.
Dear Father we most certainly know how that in each and every age that you have
come to earth to visit your people, Your people have always missed you by the
way that you have come. And why is it Father, when you have come each time just
exactly the way you said you would come, that Your people still miss your
Presence when you are here. But we are thankful that in this hour you do have a
people that have recognized Your Presence among us. Now, Father, we would ask
that you might help us to get our selves out of the way, that your Holy
Presence might minister to us Your word that we might have a better
understanding of why You are here, and that we might be better prepared for our
change of the body, for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s beloved name. Amen!
Now, this morning I would like to focus on those
words, He came
unto his own, and his own received him not.
Brother Branham
said they have missed God when he came in every age that he did come. They
missed Him because they were looking for Him to come in the way they thought he
should come, instead of coming the way He said He would come in His Word.
Looking unto Jesus 64-0122 P:11 I say this with respects, but I say it to
sink in. I had more understanding, and better fellowship, with a bunch of
African witch doctors than I did that group of ministers that morning. They
give more consideration to the Word of God, and asked questions, for that I
could give them the hope that laid within me, for the hope of Eternal Life. These
ministers had no time for it at all. Just quickly, as soon as you'd say
something, out they'd go. And so that's the way it is. They got their mind made
up; they just stay so long, and that's all they want to know. If it one Word
disagreeing with any petty thing that they believe in, they cannot stay and
listen through it. That's the reason
they couldn't believe Jesus Christ at His first advent. That's the reason
they'll miss Him in the second. They
miss Him each time. They always have. When He's revealed Himself in Moses,
revealed Himself in Noah, revealed Himself in Elijah, all the prophets, they
missed it each time. Jesus said, "Which one of your fathers hasn't put the
prophets in the tombs out there that they're garnishing now?" That's true.
It's always been true. It's true yet today. And yet, in the midst of all this
we're commanded to look. "Look at Him, all the ends of the world."
A couple weeks ago we began looking at the Alpha and
Omega comparisons of the Ministry of God in the form of the Pillar of Fire. As
you are well aware, God has come down to man identified by His Shekinah
Presence which we call the Pillar of Fire in each of three Exoduses. The first Exodus
was with Moses, the second exodus with Paul and the Third Exodus with William
Branham.
In Questions and Answers no 3 which concerned the
First of our Alpha and Omega comparisons, we reviewed the setting for each Exodus
and found in each the following characteristics.
I) There was a system that held the people in Bondage.
II) The people needed to be delivered from that system
but were incapable of doing so
themselves, and they were crying out to God for help.
III) Therefore, God Himself came down to deliver His
people in each of these three
Exodus’s.
Now, before we go any further, I would like to reflect
once more how that in Moses day it was God Himself that came down in the form of
the Pillar of Fire to deliver the people, but he used a man named Moses to work
through.
Exodus 3: 7 And
the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in
We are told in the Book of Acts 7: 34 I have seen, I have seen the affliction of
my people which is in
Then 2,000 years ago the people were once again in
bondage to a system. This time not a civil form of bondage but an
ecclesiastical form of bondage, to a church system. Again it was God Himself that
came to the people in the form of the Pillar of Fire, first in His Son, and
then back with the Apostle Paul.
Acts
26:13 At midday, O king, I saw in
the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round
about me and them which journeyed with me. 14 And when we were all
fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew
tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks. 15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he
said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. 16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have
appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both
of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will
appear unto thee; 17 Delivering thee
from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, 18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in
me. 19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto
the heavenly vision:
Now, again for the Third time God has come down in the
form of the Pillar of Fire to deliver man from bondage, and this time it is
also an ecclesiastical system that held the people in bondage to their creeds
and dogmas.
Revelation
10: 1 And
I saw another mighty angel come down
from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his
face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: 2 And
he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea,
and his left foot
on the earth, 3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a
lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
Now, there is something
about this Lion roaring that tells us this is a prophetic ministry here.
Amos
3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he
revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. 8 The lion hath roared, who will not
fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can
but prophesy?So we see in revelations chapter 10 that it
is indeed the Lord Himself speaking in a prophetic utterance which is a
Message.
Notice in 1 Thessalonians
4: 16we see that it is the
Lord Himself that comes down from heaven with a Shout which of course is a loud
voice as we saw in Revelations chapter 10, and of which we see according to
Amos 3 that this loud voice is as when a Lion roareth. “For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of
God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:”
Now, brother Branham let us
know in his message called Deceived church by the
world 59-0628M P:50 he tells us the condition of the church and how
it was in bondage to the creeds and dogmas in his day. “But as Israel was bound by their kings,
that they could not follow the real King, and the real King, when He came, they didn't recognize Him, so is it today, O Lord, the King of glory
has appeared in the form of the Holy Ghost, and, Lord, they don't know it. They
don't recognize it. They're so organized so tight, that they do not understand
it, because it's not in their organization. Lord, this is a work of the
Devil that's done this to the people. May the Samson of God, may the true in
heart, those who are longing and crying, and pleading and holding on, may they
stay with it, Lord, until this new crop
grows out, until there comes forth again a joy in Zion, and there comes forth a group that can recognize
and understand, that can see the Messiah and the hidden power that's
hid from the world, that they will not
understand now. Grant, Lord, that they'll see this. For we ask it in Jesus'
Name. Amen.”
And again from the Token 64-0208 P:27 he said, “Israel coming out of Egypt, as I said a
few minutes ago, is a type of the Bride
coming out of the church. When Moses begin His ministry, Israel gathered
together in one place, in Goshen, begin to pray because they knew that the hour
was at hand, because they knew something was there. The deliverer had already
come. God was working, doing things, showing what He was going to do. They come
from all parts of
And from Questions and
answers COD 61-1015M P:31 brother Branham said, Now, all the church today is the antitype
of the type, We know that. There's a type and a antitype. Now, when
So we see we are living in
the hour when the church nominal holds the people in bondage to their system
and for the people to look outside their assembly doors for light is considered
anathema, or heresy just as it was in Jesus day and in Paul’s day, and in fact
every day. Just look what happened tome like Luther, and Wesley. Men of God
with a Message from God and yet spurned by the church system of their day.
Which one of the prophets did not their fathers kill and crucify in their
synagogues.
Matthew 23:29 Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish
the sepulchres of the righteous,30 And say, If we
had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them
in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto
yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of
your fathers… 34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto
you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and
crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Now, I would like to share
some things brother Branham said concerning the end-time Presence of God,
because people have things mixed up concerning how He is to come, even though
He told us in His word exactly how he will come.
From his sermon Queen of
God in simplicity 63-0317M P:65 It is strange to think how that God does
such a thing as that. God will hide
Himself in something so simple that'll cause the wise to miss it a million
miles and then turn right back around in that, some simple thing in the
simplicity of His way of working and reveal Himself right out again. I thought
it made a text that we might study this before we go into the great teachings
of the Seven Seals. Many miss Him by the way He reveals Himself. Now, man has
their own ideas of what God ought to be and what God is going to do; and as I
have made the old statement many times that man still remains man. Man is always
giving God praise for what He did do, and always looking forward to what He
will do, and ignoring what He's doing. See, see?
End
time evangelism 62-0603 P:30 Same thing today, when you see His work. Now, we have already seen
and are witnessing the appearing of the Lord. Now remember, appearing and
coming is two different words: to appear and then to come. Now is the appearing; He's already appeared in these last days,
right here with us in the last few years. Now, it's a sign of His coming. He's
appearing in His Church in the form of the Holy Spirit, showing that it's Him,
'cause people cannot do these things that you see the Holy Spirit doing; so
that's the appearing of the Lord. Now, you remember, it spoke both places,
"appearing" and "coming."
CONVINCED AND THEN CONCERNED 62-0521
E-31 031 Now, John was so sure that he was going to
see the Messiah, till he said, "He's in our midst now." Now, watch.
Notice. There's a great big difference in the sign of Jesus appearing, and then
Jesus coming. There's two different words, means two different things:
the appearing of the Lord, and the coming of the Lord. Now, the appearing of the Lord is now, when
He's appearing in His people, His Spirit working among them, proving that it's
Him with them, getting them ready for the rapture, for the coming of the Lord
to catch away His--the Bride (See?): the appearing and the coming. All
right. Now.
Brother
Branham said the Appearing is now, in His People, but he clarified how He is
Appearing in His people, he said, "His
Spirit is working among them, proving" which is vindication, and
for the purpose of getting them ready for the rapture, for the coming of the
Lord to catch away His Bride.
Again if we look at these statements, we see
and hear brother Branham saying that we have already witnessed the Appearing,
and it's a sign of His Coming. He's
Appearing to the Church in the form of the Holy Ghost. This is not the body of
Jesus he is speaking of here, but the Presence of God in the form of the
Holy Ghost which is in Spirit form. Then
he goes to vindication by saying, people can't do these things that you are
witnessing. It has to be God.
LETTING
OFF THE PRESSURE 62-0609E
E-58 058
But if you can beat all that away from you, say, "Lord God, I
believe just exactly what Your Word says, and I believe (as we preached last
night), that the appearing of the Lord comes before the coming of the
Lord," for it's just two different words altogether. See? Now's
the appearing, as He promised in the last days that He'd be with us.
Again brother Branham tells us that there is a difference between the
Appearing and the Coming and the Appearing is now, the presence of the Holy
Spirit in and among His Church. He said,
"we see Him, and we know it's Him." And how is that? By what he did
among us, for no man could do the things that only God can do. Once again we
see then the Appearing has to do with Presence and Vindication.
BE NOT AFRAID 62-0620 E-66 066 There's a different word used. The appearing
of Christ and the Coming of Christ (See?) it's two different words
altogether. See? Now, Christ is appearing in these last days in His church,
bringing His church together in unity, and faith, and power in the Word, all
together; that when He returns He will find the same church.
Here we begin to see several other points that are very important in
understanding the importance of the Appearing.
Notice brother Branham tells us that it is to gather together His church
into a unity, and faith which we know that faith is a revelation, something
that is revealed.
Therefore this Appearing is to be an event which is to gather together
the elect to and by a revelation of God, bringing us together, as Paul declares
in 1 Corinthians 1: 10 at the Apokolupsis
or revealing of Christ. Peter mentions the same thing in 1 Peter 1:13.
Notice again brother Branham's pointing out the power in the Word which
illustrates to us there must be a show of power that demonstrates Who it is in
our midst, and this demonstration of power in the Word points out again this vindication.
God is here to vindicate this Faith and by this unveiling or revealing backed
by vindication God will gather together His Elect.
WE WOULD
SEE JESUS 62-0627
E-76 076 Remember, appearing and
coming is two different words. See? He's appearing now in the church, showing Himself alive after two
thousand years. "Sirs, we would see Jesus."
And again from his sermon called, FROM
THAT TIME 62-0713 E-102 brother Branham said, How many knows there's a difference between
the appearing of Christ and the coming of Christ? It's two different words.
Now's the appearing, the coming will soon be. He's appearing in the
midst of us, doing the works that He once did, in His church. Now, you're a
part of that church, and by grace you believe. I am a member of that church.
Notice once again, brother Branham makes it plain that what Christ did at
His First Coming, He is here now doing at His Appearing. But I want you to also
know that He said He is in the midst of the people as He was back then. In Luke
17, the Pharisees asked Jesus when His kingdom would come, and He said "My
kingdom is within you." He was not telling those Christ rejecting Pharisees
that His kingdom was in them, but that word is "entos" which means in
your very midst.
GOD HAS
A PROVIDED WAY 62-0728 E-81 Now, remember these two words
before I leave you: the appearing of Christ and the coming of Christ is two
different things. Christ is now appearing in the fullness of His power. His
coming will be afterwards: His appearing before His coming.
Again we see the emphasis on the power which
is vindication and the strategic timing in which he says the Appearing is before the Coming. Letting us know that we are now witnessing
the Appearing and it is just before the Coming.
And that is what the three exoduses are all about. In
each on ewe see where God Himself has come down in the form of the Pillar of
Fire and raised up a ministry to deliver a people from some sort of civil or
ecclesiastical system that held the people in bondage to that system.
So what is it that God will do at This End-time
appearing that he has done in each exodus in the past? God will raise up a man
with a Message, and anoint that man for the job.
IV) God anoints a man to be his prophet.
1st
Exodus: God anoints a man to be His Prophet to lead the people out of
the system.
Exodus 3:9 Now therefore, behold, the cry
of the children of
So we see that God Himself came down to deliver the
people but he used Moses to do the job. God backing up his chosen vessel.
Water from the rock 55-0224 P:23 Then when the time come near, God had raised up Moses to do the work that
God had ordained him to do. And Moses went down into
Obey the voice of the angel 50-0713 P:9 This Word that we have just read, was God
sending Moses. Moses was born an odd, peculiar birth. It was just time for the
prophetic wheel of God, to cause then it to move up and to have something to
come to pass that He'd promised Abraham to take His people out, and He did. God
always moves just in time. You believe that? Now, we're at the day; we're in
the last days. Just how close to the end, I do not know: no one knows, not even
the Angels or the Son of God; the Father, only, knows. But we're in the last
days, and He promised that these signs and wonders would be done in the last
day. So if God raised up a man by the name of Moses, had him born into this
world for that specific purpose, to
deliver the people that were in bondage, that couldn't help themselves...
And He brought them out, through His... Not Moses, Moses never performed one
miracle. It was the Angel of God that went before Moses. It was a Pillar of
Fire at night, a cloud by day. And when you see the picture that we're going to
show you, shortly, if we haven't. I believe you'll feel that it's the same
Pillar of Fire that's leading the people today, the Angel of God. Which we know
the Angel that led Moses was the Angel of the covenant, which was Christ, the Son of God. And now...(notice brother
Branham corrects himself here) Or, the Logos that came out of God, was the Son of God.
Then when...God delivered the children
of
2nd Exodus: God anoints a man to be His
Prophet to lead the people out of the Ecclesiastical bondage to a system. And
before we go any further, just sit tight to hear what I am going to say,
because we normally think of the thee Exodus’s as Moses, Paul and William
Branham, but that is only part of the picture, really. Moses was the prophet
that God said you be God to the people and Aaron will be your prophet. Jesus
came as the God-prophet, and William Branham was God’s vindicated prophet in
this hour. But in each age there was a teaching ministry that followed the
Prophet for the age. Remember, the prophet for the age was the Word of God manifested
in flesh for that age. Moses and His ministry was the Word revealed for that
day, and God manifested Himself in the body of His Son Jesus to reveal Himself
that day. And God used William Branham in this day.
But after Moses
took the people out, Joshua brought them in. After Jesus took the people out of
Judaism and the law and legalism, Paul the teacher to the Gentiles brought them
into Christ the Word and the promises of God. And so in this hour we had a
prophet to lead us out of denomination, but God Who is the Teacher has remained
on the scene and is here to lead us into the Millennium.
So let’s look at the God-Prophet
at the 2nd Exodus, and how God was manifested in the body of His Son
to declare Himself to the world. 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;(and in what way did
God anoint Jesu with the holy Ghost?) for God was with him.
Sirs
we would see Jesus 64-0304 P:53 He was God's anointed
Prophet. He was the God-prophet. He was what all the prophets was, it was
in Him, plus the rest of what God was. God was in Christ reconciling Himself to
the world. He was God, Emmanuel, the Fullness of God made known to us in the Person
of His Son Jesus Christ, the second attribute of God.
Acts
2: 36 Therefore
let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Then if God made him Christ
he was not Christ before God made Him Christ. Look, Christ has always been the
mystery of God, how that God could anoint a man and use that man in His place.
And notice how the people always miss it when it comes.
Greater
than Solomon is here 62-0628 P:85 He'd know the secrets and reveal it. A gift.
He was a prophet, and he could understand and tell it. And here Jesus, the anointed Son of God standing there, was greater than
Solomon, and they called it a spirit of the devil. "He's a
fortuneteller." He said, "That queen will arise in the judgment with
this generation and condemn it."
Galatians 4 22 For
it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a
freewoman. 23 But he who was
of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24 Which
things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount
Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25 For this Agar is mount
Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to
3rd Exodus: God anoints a man to be His
Prophet to lead the people out of the system.
So, in order to know
what and How God will once again send a prophet and anoint that prophet we must
know what God said about how he is going to do it.
And we find our answer
in Deuteronomy chapter
18. And let's begin at verse 15.
Deuteronomy 18:15 The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a
Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye
shall hearken;
16 According to all that thou desiredst of
the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear
again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any
more, that I die not.
17 And the Lord said unto me, They have well
spoken that which they have spoken.
18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee,
and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I
shall command him.
19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words
which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
Now
right here, God says, “I'm going to do a certain thing, and I'm going to do it in a
certain, certain way, and I’m going to use a man to do it.” And if
you don't listen to that man, when he comes in the name of the Lord, with “my
words in His Mouth, (that’s what “Thus saith the Lord”, is) then it all over for
you.
20 But the prophet, which shall presume to
speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall
speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
In
other words, these people are going to be such good judgment that they're going
to kill the right person every time. Yeah, right? Aren’t these the same people
said, “which one of the prophet’s did your father’s not kill? You can see where
21 And if thou say in thine
heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? 22 When a
prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to
pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet spoke
presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
And
as brother Vayle tagged this, this is
vindication, predictive vindication that gives the prophet authority
to speak. Because a prophet's ministry is to bring the Word, not signs and
wonders. The signs and wonders are merely incidental to get your attention and
prove what is coming from whom. Or who is sending forth what? See?
Restoration of bride tree 62-0422 P:169 There is a church natural; that's the one's
made up by man. Church spiritual... You know, the Bible says that? Yes, sir.
Church natural and church spiritual. And the Bible says, "Cast out the
bondswoman and her child (Hagar), for she will not be heir with the freewoman
and her child." See? So the natural church, that's going to inherit what?
The binding of the sheaves, the binding of the bundles to be burned; and she will
not inherit, be heir with the freewoman. If the bondwoman is in bondage with
her organization children, she will
not be heir with the freewoman; because the freewoman's children is going in
the rapture. And the bondswoman's children is going to stand in the judgment.
See? "Cast out, saith the Spirit of..." Yes, sir.
Anointed
ones at end time 65-0725M P:193 Now, I want you to know this is sure. And you that listen to this
tape, you might have thought today that I was trying to say that about myself,
being that I was packing this Message. I have no more to do with it than
nothing, no more than just a voice. And my voice, even against my better
judgment... I wanted to be a trapper. But it's the will of my Father that I
declare to do, and determined to do. 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 was
a manifestation of the Son of man. It wasn't the angel, his Message; it was the
mystery that God unfolded. It's not a man; it's God. The angel was not the Son
of man; he was a messenger from the Son of man. The Son of man is Christ. He's
the One that you're feeding on. You're not feeding on a man. A man, his words
will fail, but you're feeding on the unfailing Body-Word of the Son of man. If
you haven't fed fully on every Word to give yourself strength to fly above all
these denominations and things of the world, will you at this time do it, while
we pray?