Spoken Word #09
“The
Third Great Departure
Brian Kocourek
February 24th, 2008
Let us
remain standing and open our Bibles to 2 Thessalonians 2:7 to read from God’s Holy
Scripture.“5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with
you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what
withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For
the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. …
Let us bow our heads in Prayer. Dear Father we come
this morning with a great desire to know more about the time of your Great
Departure from the earth. We know there is coming a time, when your Holy Spirit
will finally pull back from this earth, and we wan to be ready for that time,
because that has to do with our redemption, and going home. So Father, please
help us to better understand this Great Departure from the earth, because as
you are in this world so are we. And when you leave we want to leave with you.
In Jesus name we pray, amen.
Now, the Wuest translation
says, Wuest
Translation II Thessalonians 2: 5-7 Do you not remember that while I was still with
you I kept on telling you these things? And now you know with a positive
assurance that which namely, the departure of the church, the saints being
assembled to the Lord, is preventing his being disclosed as to his true
identity, in his strategic, appointed time, for the mystery of the
aforementioned lawlessness is now operating. Only He, the Holy Spirit, who is
holding the lawlessness down, will do so, until He goes out from the midst of
humanity. And then shall the lawless one be disclosed in his true
identity... etc.
So
we see here that this Scripture speaks first of the Saints assembling to the
Lord and then it speaks of their departure from the earth. Then, as if in the
same breath, Paul also tells us this will happen when the Holy Spirit departs from the midst of humanity. So we see
that there is coming a time when God who is now allowing sin to go on, will get
fed up and leave the earth and when that happens then watch out, for all hell
will break loose.
Now, the Holy Spirit
could not depart from the midst of humanity if He were not here to begin with. So
you see the essentiality of God’s presence in that while he is hear he is still
protecting, and nurturing the saints, but when he leaves, if we are not amongst
those who leave with Him, then there will be no more protection.
Revelation 22:10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings
of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. 11 He
that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be
filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that
is holy, let him be holy still. 12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man
according as his work shall be. 13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and
the last.
So we see at the time of the
departure of the Elect those who are filthy will remain filthy.
Questions and answers COD 64-0823E P:87 306. After the Bride is raptured will any
of the foolish virgin be saved or will they all be lost? No. See, everything
will be finished for the Gentile church when the Bride is taken from the earth.
The Spirit of God leaves the earth:
"He that's filthy is filthy still; he that's righteous is righteous still;
he that's holy is holy still." In other words the sanctuary becomes
smokey, where the--the Attorney stands to plead the case. Christ leaves the
sanctuary; His day of mediatorial is over. The rapture comes; He leaves from
the sanctuary, goes forth and takes the Book of Redemption, and claims
everything He redeemed. There's no more mediatorial work. How many understands
that? I got it on one of the Seals, or one of the... Yeah, the Seals, I believe
it was, that Christ comes forth to claim His mediatorial work.
Those who are unjust or not
justified will remain in their unjustified condition. So what ever condition
you are in at that time, you become crystallized in it. And there will be no
chance of salvation for you at that time. Your time of salvation is now.
“Ten virgins 60-1211M P:23 Now, don't get the rapture of the church
and the white throne judgment mixed up. Because the rapture of church, there is
no judgment (See?); you done met it right down here. That's right. For they
which are in Christ are free from judgment. Jesus said, "He that heareth
My Words and believeth on Him that sent Me has Eternal Life and shall never
come into the judgment, but has passed from death unto Life."How do we do
that? We come into Christ and are baptized into one body (I
Corinthians 12),
one body. We're baptized into the body
of Jesus Christ,
and God has already judged that body. He could not stand us in judgment again,
because He's already judged that body. And by the permission and grace of
Christ He brings us into Himself: I Corinthians 12. By one Spirit we're all baptized into that
one body, and free from all judgment,
'cause He's done stood the judgments. Oh, aren't you so thankful for Him. He
took the judgments for us: no more judgment. But those who refuse to come into
Him, that body, the mystical body... How do we get into it? By shaking hands?
No. By letter? No. By some sort of baptism, water? No. By one Spirit, Holy Spirit, we are all
baptized into that body”.
Notice, Paul tells us that we are to be gathered
together to Christ first, then when He leaves we leave with Him. 2 Thessalonians 2: 1 Now we beseech you,
brethren, by the parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering
together unto him, So you see it all begins with a gathering
together unto Him at His Great Parousia, and then once he manifests His great
appearing, then He discloses Himself, and that is His Apocalypses, or unveiling
of Himself. That Is His Great declaration which is His Shout, His Message. You
see, god comes down with the Message to gather together all that are in Christ.
He declares His Presence and then fully discloses Himself as to His True
identity. Therefore, if you are not in that gathering you will not be in the
Voice which is the resurrection either. Because it takes that Message to
transform the body.
That’s what the Apostle Paul
teaches in the book of Romans 12: 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your
mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God. So you see the transformation comes via the renewing
of the mind.
But really what the renewing
of the mind is, is the word of God taking over the mind of the believer. And in
John 6:63 Jesus said, “My Words are spirit
and they are Life”.
In 1 Peter 1:23 we hear the Apostle Peter tell us we
are “born again
by an incorruptible Seed which is the Word of God that liveth and abideth
forever.
And in Romans 8: 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in
you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Therefore the Words which
Jesus spoke are Spirit and they are life, and they are that which makes alive
the believer. And it is at the time of the Great Appearing when God comes to
manifest Himself in His true Identity that we become like Him.
Paul said in Colossians 3: 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear,
then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
And John said in 1 John 3: 2-3 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.
And of course we have a
promise of the change of our bodies as Paul speaks in Philippians 3: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may
be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he
is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
And again in 1 Corinthians 15:12 Now if Christ be
preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no
resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no
resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And
if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching
vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea,
and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that
he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if
Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye
are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are
fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in
this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20 But now is Christ
risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits
of them that slept. 21 For
since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But
every man in his own order: Christ the
firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his parousia. 24 Then cometh
the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father;
when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he God must reign, till he
hath put all enemies under his Jesus the Son of God’s feet. 26 The last enemy that
shall be destroyed is death. 27 For
he God hath put all things under his Jesus
the Son of God’s feet. But when he God saith all things are put under him The Son of God, it is manifest that he God is excepted, which did put all things under him
The Son of God. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him The Son of God, then shall the Son also himself be subject
unto him God that put all things
under him The Son of God, that God may be
all in all.
But now here is the
real question that Paul is asking in verse 35.
35 But some man
will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
(Now, Paul actually says that is a
foolish question, because it is only natural that when a seed is planted it
comes back as a manifestation of the plant life that was planted.)
Notice he says, 36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened,
except it die: 37 And that which thou sowest, thou
sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or
of some other grain: 38 But
God giveth it a body as it hath pleased
him, and to every seed his own body. 39 All
flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of
flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40 There are also celestial
bodies, and bodies terrestrial:
but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is
another. 41 There is
one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the
stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption; it is raised
in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in
glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a
spiritual body. 45 And
so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46 Howbeit that was
not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that
which is spiritual. 47 The
first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man
is the Lord from heaven. 48 As
is the earthy, such are
they also that are earthy: and as is the
heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the
earthy, we shall also bear the image of
the heavenly. 50 Now
this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
So we see then that
there are several things we must understand concerning the Third Great
departure, which is the departure of the Lord from this earth. We must
understand that when He goes we will go with Him. We must also understand that
in order to do that we must receive a change in our bodies. We must also
understand that in order to receive a change in our bodies we must receive
first a change in our mind. We must take into us the living Word of God, and as
we take in the living Word of God, it actually brings with it the Living
breathing Spirit of the Living God. And without the Spirit of God living and
abiding in our Mortal being, we will in no way go with Him in the rapture.
Therefore pre-requisite
to our body change there must be first a spirit change. We must receive the
Holy Spirit for without it, we can not be changed in our bodies like unto his
Glorious image.
Therefore first and
foremost we must be focused upon Him, and He is the Word in our Midst. The
Apostle John said, “if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have
fellowship together with him”. For nowhere in scripture does it
speak contrary to this. Nowhere in Scripture does it speak of the Lord leaving
at a different time from the earth than the saints leave.
So, if we are gathered
together unto Him first, then it is He that takes us up from the midst of
humanity just like Jesus took Peter James and John up into the Mountain. You
see, we must be so focused on the Presence of God that when He goes we go.
Brother Branham said in his sermon, Feast of
the trumpets 64-0719M P:108 Now, as soon as this Church,
the Bride is drawed together, she's taken up; in that mystery of the Seventh
Seal, or the Seventh Seal, the mystery
going. And the Jews is called by the mystery of the Seventh Trumpet, which
is two prophets, Elijah and Moses. And they come back, and there's where the
Pentecostals is all mixed up. They're looking for something to happen, and the
Church is done gone, and that's to the Jews.
And if we walk in the Light we have fellowship, so
it must bring a gathering together of the elect. From
his sermon Questions & Answers - 59-1223 And then, when God's people begins to gather back
together, there's unity, there's power. See? And whenever God's people
gets together completely, I believe the resurrection will take place then.
There'll be a rapturing time when the Holy Spirit begins to gather it up. It'll
be in the minority, of course, but there will be a great gathering.
That is why I travel the world gathering the elect together around
Christ, the Doctrine of Christ, the revelation of Jesus Christ as many brothers
and sisters in Christ that God will allow, for when the Elect are gathered
together unto Him, then the process of going home will begin.
You see, we must be walking in the light as he is walking also in that
light. He is the Word, and he has come to shed Light upon that Word. Blind Bartimaeus 60-0713 P:56 Moses
didn't bring the children into the promised land. He was the law giver, but he
didn't bring the children into the promised land. Joshua took them over. See?
And the Holy Spirit's the One that's
taking them over now. Christ made the way and the plans, and was the giver
of the law and so forth. But the Holy
Spirit takes the Church to the promised land, the rapture, taking it up, the
Holy Spirit in the rapture.
First
seal the 63-0318 P:135 Notice,
and when this Holy Spirit that we
have, becomes incarnate to us, the One that's in our midst now in the form of the Holy Ghost, becomes
incarnate to us in the Person of Jesus Christ, we'll crown Him King of kings.
So you see the Life of God’s Spirit must be in us, and if it is then His
Life will also manifest in our mortal bodies. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
From the Easter Seal 65-0410 P:44 Brother
Branham said, Now, that quickening power
that come upon Jesus quickened Him to manifest every promise of the Word of
that day. So does the Holy Spirit that come upon us in this day. If it's not a
mockery holy spirit, if it's not the devil mocking the Holy Spirit, but is the
real true Holy Spirit, it'll manifest
the promise of this hour. When It fell upon Luther, It manifested that
promise of that hour. When It fell upon Wesley, It manifested the promise of
that hour. When It falls in this day, It manifests the promise of this hour.
When It fell upon Moses, It manifested the promise of that hour. Fell upon
Noah, It manifest the promise of that hour. When It fell upon Jesus, It
manifests the promise of that hour. See? It's
the Holy Spirit coming down to quicken, make alive those people that's
foreordained of God to be in the rapture. Oh, that is, if he's a true eagle, he will understand the message of the hour: if
he's a true eagle.
And the only ones that will go with Him when He leaves this earth will
have to be so much like Him, that they will go with Him as part of Him. Rapture the 65-1204 P:47 Now,
the rapture is only, this rapture that
we're talking about is only for the Bride. Remember, the Bible said,
"And the rest of the dead lived not for a thousand years." … As Moses called a nation out of a nation, the
Holy Spirit is calling a Bride out of a
church. … the Bride rather, is the
one that's going to be in the rapture, that alone, nothing but the Bride, the
elected one foreknown by God from the beginning, the Father's spiritual gene.
Therefore if the spirit
of God is calling a bride out of a Church, then that is why the Shuck is
pulling away from us. Because this Message was not sent for the unbelievers, it
was sent for those who will believe it.
Hear ye
Him 58-0328 P:30 And the
Holy Spirit trying to get His message to you all the time. "I don't
have to listen to them little nitwit preachers. I'll do what I want to."
Go right ahead. That shows what's in you. A fellow said to me sometime ago,
said, "I don't care what you say, what anything says; I don't believe in
Divine healing." I said, "Of course not. It wasn't sent for unbelievers. It was only sent to those who believe. It's believers that receive
it, not unbelievers. It wasn't meant for them. It was sent to condemn them.
Remember, the same waters that drowned the world, saved Noah." Right. And
the same Holy Spirit, and the same old fashion Gospel that will take the church
home someday in the rapture, will condemn and bring judgment to the unbeliever.
That's exactly right. There we stand.
John
3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light,
neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Perseverant
62-0623 P:39 And the very thing that killed the
unbelieving world saved Noah. That's the same as it is today. The stumbling
Block, the Holy Spirit, that's making
the world where they don't want It, the things that they are turning down
is the very thing that'll take the church up. The Holy Spirit will take the
church in the rapture.
No, they don’t want Him, and He is this Word. This great revelation of
Christ. And the world doesn’t want it. Then that ought to tell you who in this
Message is opposing it. Those that are of the world. Now. let me just close by reading a few more
quotes from God’s prophet for this age.
From his sermon, Thyatirean church age
60-1208 P:4 Brother Branham said, Before one drop of water
fell, Noah was in the ark. Before the fire could strike
And again from How can I overcome 63-0825M
P:104 he said, He that overcomes all those worldly things
of this age, what will they do? All will set with Him in His throne, will go in
the rapture when He comes. Oh, my. What do I care then? What should we care
what the world says? What should we care what anybody else says? The great Holy Spirit is among us. His Pillar of Fire leads us and guides us.
His Word's a-vindicated before us.
His love is in our heart.
Ever
present water 61-0723M P:16 Now, if we understand (See?), where we
stopped right on that Book of Revelations, where
the Church was taken up into glory, then the rest of it is dealing with the
Jews, not with the Church at all. It's dealing with the Jewish nation.
Therefore, we have to drop back down, from the rapture of the Church, and
take... We see here what takes place during those Seals and time of the Gentile
Church, the Church being gone; and with the nation of Israel it drops back and
brings Israel from the time it left off with them up to the modern time; and
the coming Messiah, when they will receive the Messiah. Now, you get it? The Church is taken up. God dealt first
with the church, church ages. We took that. Then the church is taken up into glory. Then the Holy Spirit goes back
and gets
What
Holy Ghost was given for 59-1217 P:30 God's waiting on me and you.
The church is waiting on me and you: adoption time, when God can pour into us His
Fullness, His power, His Resurrection, that when the church and Christ become
so close together till Christ becomes visible among us, and raises the dead,
and we go into the rapture. Now, we're going to show after while that just those who are filled with the Holy Ghost
goes in that rapture, "For the rest of the dead live not for the space
of a thousand years." That's right. Just
Holy Spirit filled people was all that went in the rapture.
Abraham
and his seed after him 61-0423 P:79 When Abraham's body was
changed, Sarah's body was changed, like it never had been changed before...
Now, when we all know that when Jesus comes we'll be caught up in a rapture.
And we know our bodies will have to be
changed first. And It won't have to be just go back to young men and women,
but it'll have to be changed, because Abraham and Sarah's body had to be
changed in a way that they could receive the promised son. That's Abraham. His
body had to be changed to receive the promised son, after being justified,
sanctified, filled with the Holy Spirit, called by election, manifested God of
glory in the midst of him. And then his body was changed in order the receive
the promised son.
Queen of
Who is
this Melchisedec 65-0221E P:34 Like you women claiming you got Holy Ghost
and going out here and wearing shorts and things, how could you do it? How could the Spirit of God in you ever let
you do such a thing as that? It just can't be so. Certainly it can't be.
He's not a filthy spirit; He's a holy
Spirit. And then when you become
subject to that Spirit, it throws your whole being subject to that Spirit.
And that Spirit is nothing in the world but this Seed Word made manifest, or quickened (Hallelujah.), made alive. And when the Bible said,
"Don't do this," that body
quickly turns to it; there's no question. And what is it? It's the earnest of the resurrection. This
body will be raised up again, because
it's already started. It was once subject to sin, and mire, and corruption,
but now it's got the earnest; it's
turned heavenly. Now, that's the
earnest that you're going in the rapture. It's the earnest. A sick person
laying dying, nothing left but death, that's all can happen. I've seen the
shadows of people done eat up with cancer and tuberculosis, and see them
persons a little while after that perfectly normal and strong. If there is no
Divine healing then there's no resurrection, 'cause Divine healing is the
earnest of the resurrection. Amen.
Faith
56-0815 P:63 The only way we'll be able to go up in the
rapture is when that body comes to receive the Spirit again, the raptured
people that's in the covenant. And the covenant is the circumcision by the
baptism of the Holy Ghost, that's Abraham's seed. Amen.
Abraham
and his seed after him 61-0423 P:80 Well, the church has come
through justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost, gifts
manifested to It. And now what? The Spirit of God moving in the church, doing
the same works that Jesus did before He left as a promise. And what's the next
thing? The change. The next thing happened to Abraham was a
changed body. He had to have it or he'd never got the son. And the next
thing happens to the church is the rapture. We'll have to be changed and caught up in the air to meet Him. We
can't meet Him on earth; we've got to go in the air to meet Him. It's the
coming Son, the promised Son. Amen. We've looked for Him now for hundreds of
years. He will come someday. But the
next thing for the church is to be changed. We've had every sign:
justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Spirit, placing of a son, manifestation of the Spirit. Now, what? The changing of the body for the rapture.
Jehovah
Jireh 58-0127 P:36 And when He took the life of His own Son at
Calvary, He tore Him apart, and He took the body up into Heaven, and set it on
His right hand. He sent the Spirit out
of Him, the Holy Spirit, back to the earth. And the same Holy Spirit that was
in Jesus Christ, will have to be operating in His church to make them coincide
together at the rapture, or it won't
go up at that time. The Spirit that was in Jesus, will have to be in His
church, or the two pieces won't dovetail together, the life of the church and
the life of Christ cannot dovetail together. The body's setting there to make
reconciliations, to make intercessions upon our confession, and the Spirit's in
the church.
Israel
in Egypt 53-0325 P:66 And when the Holy Ghost is given out, that
same Holy Spirit that brought the Body of Jesus out of the grave, will rapture.
And that covenant has to dovetail, as He tore there and gave the Body; went
back to God, and the Spirit came back to the earth. Then your Spirit will have to be the same kind of Spirit, or it'll miss
that place going together. Amen. Yes, sir. Not because you make yourself, but
because Something, the love of God has swept into your soul and tore every
earthly idol out.
Handwriting
on the wall 58-0108 P:41 Because if your spirit is still an
intellectual conception, you're earth bound. But the Spirit of God, that come
out of heaven, comes into your heart and gives you the Holy Spirit in you. When
the tribulation comes, the Spirit (Holy Spirit) goes back to Its Maker and you
go with It. No matter how religious you are, it won't go unless there's Something in there to take you.
What is
the Holy Ghost 59-1216 P:78 Remember, the same rain that the unbeliever
made fun of was the same rain that saved Noah and his family. See? The same
Spirit (Holy Ghost) that people are making fun of and says is crazy, and a
bunch of nuts, "It's insanity," it's the same thing that'll rapture
the church and take it up at the last days, will bring judgment upon the
unbelievers. That's right. That's what the Holy Ghost is. Blessed are they (May
I say this in the sincerity of my heart.)--blessed are they that do hunger and
thirst for It, for they shall be filled.
Abraham
55-0608 P:41 if you ever go in the rapture, you're going
to have to have the same Spirit in you that was on Jesus Christ. That's God's
covenant with His Church. Amen.