Romans  107

40 years since the Breach

March 16, 2003

Brian Kocourek

 

ROMANS 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

 

These words of the Apostle Paul sure resound in our ears this morning as the world prepares for war this coming week. And isn’t it a strange thing that we have given this sad man Saddam the Insane Hussein, an ultimatum that he has until March 17 to step down or war will begin? Before we get to our Sermon from Romans 12 this morning, I would like to take some time to speak of some things concerning the events which could take place very soon, being that this year, and more specifically tomorrow, March 17th, 2003 will be 40 years to the date that the Lord Jesus Christ through his prophet to this age, William Branham, preached the opening of those Seven Seals . Yes, it was mach 17, 1963 that the Seven Seals series began.

 

And do you know what Message he preached to begin the opening of the Seven Seals the Evening of the 17th of March, 1963, 40 years ago? It was the Breach. And do you know that in your Bible God speaks of the Breach and a 40 year period of probation for Israel for rejecting the Promise of God? 

 

NUMBERS 14:33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. 34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, [even] forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, [even] forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.  So we see here that Israel had sent out 12 spies into the land to verify the land that it was exactly what God had promised to Israel. 12 spies went out, but 10 of the 12 spies came back with fear because there were giants in the land, and they spoke in a way that the people also feared to enter into the promise of God. Only two of the 12 spies said we were more than able to take the land, because they believed God was more than ABLE to deliver the land into their hands. Those two were Joshua and Caleb, and  brother Branham said our Joshua is the Holy Spirit.

 

AS I WAS WITH MOSES  60-0911M  228 God's Word said that He would send this in the last days. Two straight sermons now, I brought natural Israel and spiritual Israel together. We're looking for the Joshua of this day, which is the Holy Spirit, to lead us to the land.

 

REV CHAP 5 PART 2 61-0618 61   Now, Lord, as we quieten ourself before You, feeling that our great Joshua, the Holy Spirit, our Divine Leader of this day... As Joshua quietened the people before Moses and said, "We're more than able to take the land," because he was looking, not at those Amalekites or Amorites, but he was looking at a Divine promise that had been given by God...

 

Read Numbers 13 and 14:

 

ISRAEL AT KADESH BARNEA  53-0328   80    Here they are standing at Kadesh-barnea. They said, "Go over. The land was given to us hundreds of years ago by God, through our father. We are the seed of Abraham. God has led us safely this forty-some-odd miles from Egypt, up to the borderland at Kadesh." They had got up there in a few days, but, remember, because of their unbelief, made them wander for forty years. Unbelief... Notice, the church I'm speaking of, parabolic speaking. What the Old was, the New is in a more magnified way. What the natural was, the spiritual is.

 

Now, that is speaking of a present tense, Alpha becoming Omega. Now, does that mean there is something spiritual about this coincidence?  I honestly do not know. But I do know that the number 40 speaks of a time of testing. Is it then possible that what is about top happen is to begin the great testing? Or does it mean that the past 40 years of testing is about to end for the elect and she will now be allowed to enter into the Promise of God.

 

CHRIST IS THE MYSTERY  63-0728   40-2    Notice now. He was all right; he was in his day: Luther. And he had the revelation, but as soon as he left, look what they did. Wesley had a message; look what it did. The old early Pentecostals had a... Look what they did. They got a bunch of men together just like... Exactly the same thing that God, by grace, sent Israel a Pillar of Fire, a prophet, a sacrifice and showed Hisself among them, and brought them out of Egypt across the Red Seas. And they wanted a law so they could have great dignitaries, they could have something to do into it. And what did they do? They was left in the wilderness for forty years to wander, and not one of their organization ever went over.

              40-3    Caleb and Joshua, the only two that stood out and said, "We're able to take it." Said, "Look at the Word of God." Every one of them died in the wilderness. And Jesus said they were eternally gone. Right. After He'd had showed His blessings and power in their ages, like Luther and Wesley and so forth... Did He? Said, "Our fathers eat manna in the wilderness." And He said, "And they're every one dead." That's eternal separated from God. Their carcasses perished in the wilderness. See? They're dead. "I'm the Bread of Life that come from God out of heaven." They couldn't see it. They just couldn't see it.

 

NUMBERS 32:13 And the LORD'S anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the LORD, was consumed.

 

GREAT WARRIOR DAVID  55-0118  E-22    So there come a big fellow out, Goliath, nine foot three inches tall, great big fellow. Walked out, said, "I'll make you a proposition. Why all these men die?" Said, "Send me a man over here, and let me fight him. And if he kills me, we'll be your servants. If I kill him, why, you'll be our servants." Sure, the enemy, when he's got the edge on you, he likes to boast and carry on like that. Oh, he gives a big boast. So everyone of them, all them big degrees, they was shivering; they was scared of that fellow 'cause he was a big man. So he boasted like that for forty days. Did you ever notice, forty is the number of temptation? Certainly is. Moses in the mountain for forty days, come back and was tempted. Jesus went into the wilderness forty days and was tempted: forty days of temptation. Rained forty days, and so forth, forty is God's number of temptation.

 

SPIRITUA DOPTION 56-0923 E-22  And three is God's number of perfection. Seven is His number of worship. Fifty is His number of jubilee. Forty is His number of temptation. And three is His number that He chose to go up this day.

 

I do not know what this all means, but the number 40 is very significant with God in the way he dealt with his people throughout the ages, and therefore we must be as Daniel was very conscious of the time and setting.

 

ISAIAH 30:25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers [and] streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26    Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound. 27   Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning [with] his anger, and the burden [thereof is] heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire: 28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and [there shall be] a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing [them] to err. 29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night [when] a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel. 30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of [his] anger, and [with] the flame of a devouring fire, [with] scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. 31For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian (Assyria is modern day Bagdad, but notice this war is against One man, the Assyrian, the Mayor of Bagdad himself.) be beaten down, [which] smote with a rod. (Notice this Assyrian King that smote with the rod which is his scepter or authority) 32 And [in] every place where the grounded staff (the grounded staff is the appointed company led by a chief of staff) shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, [it] shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking (weapons) will he fight with it. 33 For Tophet (place of fire) [is] ordained of old; yea, for the king (notice it is because of one man the king) it is prepared; he hath made [it] deep [and] large: the pile thereof [is] fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD,(That’s the Word of the Lord) like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it..

 

Therefore it could be here that the timing is right for a war with Bagdad because we have reached the 40 year end of the appointed Breach between the Voice of God bringing us out of Spiritual Babylon and bringing it to an end concerning the elect, and now in the natural physical Babylon will physically be destroyed as well.  Showing in type the Breach is over.

 

Brother Ray Burfield from Australia sent me some quotes from E.W. Bullinger’s book called Numbers in Scripture. I have the book at home and so after ready his email, I looked up the following in the book where Bullinger tells us the following:  

 

40 has long been universally recognized as an important number, both on account of the frequency of occurrence, and the uniformity of its association with a period of probation, trial, and chastisement – (Not judgment, like the number 9 which stands in connection with the punishment of enemies, but the chastisement of sons, and of a covenant people). It is the product of 5 and 8, and points to the action of Grace (5), leading to and ending in revival and renewal (8). This is certainly the case where the number 40 relates to a period of evident probation. But where it relates to enlarged dominion, or to renewed or extended rule, then it does so in virtue of its factors 4 and 10, and in harmony with their signification.

 

There are 15 such periods which appear on the surface of the Scriptures, and which may be thus classified: - Forty years of probation and Trial: Israel in the Wilderrness, Deut 8:2-5, Psa 95:10; Acts 13:18 The 3rd 40 years of Moses Life, he lived to be 120, and the first 40 He was tried by God to see what He would do, whether He would live true to God or fall to the riches of Egypt. And He chose the Treasures of the Word of God. Then he went to the wilderness of Sinai for 40 years and there God had to reprogram him, and then he took the people of Israel into the wilderness where for 40 years they were tried and tested.

 

Then we see another 40 years for Israel from the time of the crucifixion A.D. 30 to the destruction of Israel in 70 A.D.

 

There are many 40 year periods where the Scriptures makes reference to Israel on probation.

 

40 years of probation by prosperity and deliverance and rest under Othniel according to Judges 3:11, under Barak in judges 5:31 and under Gideon in Judges 8:28.

 

40 years of Propbation by prosperity in enlarged Dominion: Inder David in 2 Samuel 5:4, Under Solomon according to 1 Kings 11:42, and under jeroboam II according to 2 Kings 12:17, 18 13:3,5,7,22, 25 14: 12-14, 23,28 and under Jehoash in 2 Kings 12:1, and under Joash in 2 Chroinicles 24:1.

 

40 years of Propbation by humiliation and servitude: Israel under the Philistines according to Judges 13:1, Israel in the time of Eli according to 1 Samuel 4:18, and Israel under Saul according to Acts 13:21.

 

40 Yeasrs of Probation by waiting: Moses in Egypt, according to Acts 7:23 and Moses in Midian accorfing to Acts 7:30

 

It was 40 years from the 1906 Asuza street meetings until the Angel of God came on the scene in 1946 telling William Branham what the Message was..

 

Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah to be his wife Genesis 25: 20

Esau was also 40 years old when he took to him 2 unbelievers for brides Genesis 26: 34

40 years is the number of year the children did eat manna in the wilderness Ex 16:35, Neh 9:21, Amos 2:10

40 years long was I grieved with this generation  Psalm 95:10

40 years the presence of God was with the people of Israel Deut 2:7

40 years old was Joshua when he was sent to spy out the land Joshua 14:7

40 years Israel rested from war under the hand of Othniel son of Kenaz Judges 3:11

Gideon ruled Israel for 40 years             Judges 8:28

40 years Israel was delivered into the hands of the Philistines Judges 13:1

40 years Eli judged Israel 1 Sam 4:18

Ishbosheth Saul's son [was] forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. 2 Sam 2:10

Saul reigned over Israel for 40 years Acts 13:21

David reigned over Israel for 40 years 1 King 2:11 1 Chronicles 29:27

Absalom stole the hearts of Israel 2 Sam 5:4

Solommon ruled over Israel for 40 years 1 Kings 11:42 2 Chronicles 9:30

Jehu reigned 40 years in Israel 2 Kings 12:1

Rehoboam reigned over Israel 40 years 2 Chronicles 12;13

Joash reigned over Israel for 40 years 2 Chronicles 12:1

40 years God scattered the people of Egypt Ezekiel 29: 11-13

40 was the age of Moses when he fled Egypt forsaking the treasures of Egypt Acts 7:23 and Hebres 11

Moses was in the dessert for 40 years when the Pillar of Fire appeared in the bush Acts 7:30

Israel wandered in the dessert with Moses for 40 years before God brought them out Acts 7:36

Israel proved 40 years Hebrews 3: 9 17 God grieved those 40 years

 

DEUTERONOMY 8:1    All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. 2    And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, [and] to prove thee, to know what [was] in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. 3    And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every [word] that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. 4    Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

 

DEUTERONOMY 29:5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.

 

JOSHUA 5:6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people [that were] men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD sware that he would not shew them the land, which the LORD sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

 

Here are also 8 instances where the Scriptures speaks of forty days.

 

40 days are the allotted to prepare the dead for embalming according to Genesis 50:1-3

40 days it rained upon the earth in judgment upon the wickedness of man. Gen 7:4, 12,17

40 days Moses in the mount with God to receive the Law of God. Exodus 24:18 , 34:18

40 days Moses in the mountain after the sin of the Golden Calf Deut 9:9,11,18,25, 10:10

40 days the spies were in the land issuing in the penalty against Israel of 40 years of wandering   Numbers 13: 25, 14:34

40 days of Elijah in Horeb 1 Kings 19:8

40 days of Jonah preached to Ninevah Jonah 3:4

40 days Ezekiel laid on his right side to symbolize 40 years Judahs transgressions  Ex 4:6

40 days Jesus was tempted of the devil  Matthew  4:2, mark 1:13, Luke 4:2

40 days Jesus was seen of his disciples after his resurrection.  Acts 1:3

40 days the philistine goliath taunted Israel 1 Sam 17:16