Spoken
Word no. 68
The
Revelation of Jesus Christ
Brian Kocourek
Let’s open our Bibles
this morning to The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ 1:1 Notice, John begins writing, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, (Ok, now, we have to stop here if we are going to
understand our Bibles. Notice, the words… The Revelation of
Jesus Christ, which God gave
unto him…So we must know
who this him is that god gave this revelation of Jesus Christ? Right? It speaks
of the Revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave, we know that much that it is
God who gave the revelation, but we need to know who God gave it to….)
Now, the Wuest
Translation I think is the best translation for answering this question.
WUEST Revelations 1:1 The Revelation possessed by Jesus Christ,
which God [The Father] gave to Him for the purpose of making known… Now,
let’s go back to the King James version to finish our reading of our text…to shew unto his
servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel (that’s a small “a”
signifying it is a Messenger sent to John) unto his servant John: 2 Who bare
record of the word of God, and of the
testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 3 Blessed
is he that readeth, and they that hear the words
of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time
is at hand.
Now let us pray…”Dear Father can see that this Book of the
Revelation of Jesus Christ is Your Book that you gave concerning the Great
Revelation that You gave to Your Son Jesus and that He manifested to mankind.
We recognize that John is going to relay to us here this Great revelation which
was given to him by Your Messenger and how that This Book of the Revelation of
Jesus Christ bears witness to Your Word, and the testimony of Your Son Jesus.
Help us then Father to understand how that the Revelation of Jesus Christ is
Yours, and how that through the testimony of Your Son Jesus this great
revelation was made known to your children, for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s
Name, that name which you gave your firstborn son by inheritance and in which
the whole family of heaven is named. Amen.”
Now, this Wuest translation was the translation by Kenneth S. Wuest called “The New Testament: An Expanded
Translation”. Wuest was a professor of New Testament Greek at Moody
Bible Institute in
Before I go any
further I will read for you one verse from the KJV of John 1:14 KJV “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.”
Now, listen to this
same verse from the Wuest Expanded Translation.
John 1:14 Wuest “And
the Word, entering a new mode of existence, became flesh, and lived in a tent
[His physical body] among us. And we gazed with attentive and careful regard
and spiritual perception at His glory, a glory such as that of a
uniquely-begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
So you can see how
that God Himself Who is the Word, John 1:1 came down and manifested Himself to
mankind in the body of His uniquely born son. Therefore, the wording in its
expanded form helps us to better understand the doctrine as we know it and were
taught it by William Branham.
Now, then in getting
back to our study from the Book of Revelations we see that this Revelation was
God’s Revelation, but He made it known first of all to His Uniquely born Son,
Jesus Christ, and then to us through the
testimony of His Son. Thus the testimony of Jesus Christ is the expression of
the hidden thoughts of God since before the foundations of the world.
And as we are taught
in Deuteronomy
29:29 The
secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but
those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. So when
God revealed Himself to man it was through the testimony of His eldest or first
born son, Jesus. And once it became known to Him, it became the revelation of
Jesus Christ.
Let me read this again
from The Wuest translation
of Revelations
1:1 The
Revelation possessed by Jesus Christ, which God [The Father] gave to Him for
the purpose of making known…
Now, the Apostle Paul
told us the very same thing in The Epistle he wrote to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 2:7 But we speak
the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our
glory:
Now in order to better
understand this Book of the revelation of Jesus Christ, we should understand
what the word revelation mean? The Webster’s dictionary tells us the
word revelation is: A revealing
or disclosing of something. In pertaining the God, it is God's disclosure or
manifestation to man of Himself and His will. And the word disclosure means:
to make known.
Therefore when Brother
Branham tells us "The Bible is the complete revelation of Jesus Christ," we know he
is telling us, The
Bible is the complete making known of Jesus Christ," Now I
think we all know what is meant by the word complete. In other words, it is the
all of it. There is no more to be added, and there is nothing that can be taken
away from. If you do add to it or take from it, you will be changing the
understanding of the disclosure, or the making known. The Revelation will be
changed. That is why we are warned in the book of Genesis and again in
Galatians and finally in the Book of Revelations to leave it the way it was
written.
Now, this morning we will take our text from The Book of the Revelation of Jesus
Christ Chapter 22 and verse 18 through verse
19 which also coincides with paragraphs 50 to 51 of brother
Branham’s sermon, “The Spoken Word is the Original
Seed.”
50 Now,
in the Book of Revelations
the 22nd chapter
and the 19th verse,
I'd like to read this, Revelations
the 22nd chapter
and the 19th verse
and see what this says. Let's begin with the 18th verse. 18 For I testify unto every man... (Now, remember from Genesis
where He spoke the Word. See?) For
I testify to every man... (That's priest, pope, bishop, state
presbyter or whatever.)...
that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
What about your dogmas? What about your unscriptural creeds
that you're listening to, of all denominations, there's not a one excused.... if any man shall take away from the
words... (saying it's not the same, you know.
See?)... away... words of the book of
this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life, and out of
the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book.
51
Though he be a preacher (see), though he be a church member all of his life,
though he be a bishop or a pope, whosoever shall take one word of this, just
one word... Do you realize it was one
word that Eve doubted that caused all the trouble? One spoken Word of God,
Eve doubted to be the Truth, and it caused every sickness, every disease, every
suffering baby, caused every hospital to be built, every operation was ever
performed, every death that ever died, for one person to disbelieve one word.
There you are.
Oneness
62-0211 P:26 Now, let's think seriously, because we
never be able to think anymore after this, after this mortal life is over. Your
thinking is now. You cannot choose after this; you must choose now, for this is
the day of choosing, making your choice. Now One Word, not a whole Decalogue,
just one Word, she questioned God, because it was presented to her in that
light that that Word was questionable. God's
Word cannot be questioned; He meant
just what He said. But she questioned it because it was presented to her,
"Oh, God surely didn't mean that." But He did mean that. God means
every Word He says. And It
doesn't need any private interpretation. It's just the way He said It. Well, you say, "How do you know
about the Bible?" I believe that my God has guided this Bible; He watches
over His Word. He knew that atheists and infidels would rise in the last days,
so He's watched over It. This is exactly
the way God meant It. It's the way It's to us now. Now, we must believe It.
One Word off of It, and we lose our
fellowship, go off into death, eternal
separation from God, …
And why would the
Apostle Paul warn us of a curse upon those who would take and pervert this
Word?
GALATIANS 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from
him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:7 Which is not
another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of
Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto
you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said
before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than
that ye have received, let him be accursed.
In Revelations Chapter
22: 18-19 I want you to notice the emphasis that Jesus places on the
Words... To ad
just one word will bring the plagues and cause you to go through the
tribulation, and to take away or deny just one Word of this Book will cause you
to have your name stricken from the Book of Life.
I hope you see how
important it is to believe every Word of this Book, because after all, if this
Book is the complete Revelation of Jesus Christ, Who God is and His
relationship with His Son, then to add to it or take from it, you change who
God is and you alter the relationship that he had with His first born son.
Now, Brother Branham said, "The
Bible is the complete revelation of Jesus Christ." period! He did not say
"and whatsoever else you think the Lord is trying to show you. If you have
that attitude, then you are none of His. You are the seed of discrepancy, which
is serpent’s seed. "The Bible is the complete revelation of Jesus Christ
period." And you can not add to that revelation, nor can you take away
from that Revelation. Let me read to you
where he said this. I will give you two quotes so that we have two for a
witness.
Christ
revealed in His own Word 65-0822M P:36 So the Bible is the complete revelation of Jesus Christ, and It was
wrote by prophets, Hebrews
1:1, "In... God, Who in sundry times spake to the
fathers by the prophets, in this last day speaks to us through His Son, Jesus
Christ," which was the prophets, all of them put together.
Jesus was Malachi; Jesus was Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah. All that they were, were
in Him. And all that you are, and all I
am, is in Him: Words, witnesses of the Word. So It is not a book of
systems, a code of moral ethics, neither is It a history book, or a book of
theology. It is not. But It's the
revelation of Jesus Christ: God Himself revealed from Word to flesh. That's
what It is. God is the Word, and Jesus
being the flesh, It's a revelation
how God, the Word, was manifested in human flesh and revealed to us. And
that's why He becomes a Son of God. He is a part of God. You understand?
Future
home 64-0802 P:28 The
Bible is the complete revelation of Jesus Christ.
Token the 64-0308 P:6 He'll
judge the world by the Bible. And the Bible is God's judgment Book, which is the complete revelation of Jesus
Christ, that nothing else can be added or anything taken from It; the
penalty of doing it, is your name out of the Book of Life. Just stay right in
the Book, and pray God to make us part of That.
Evening messenger 63-0116 P:37 Every
time that a messenger comes, it's always a call back to the Word: never fails.
Remember, this is the complete
revelation of Jesus Christ; there cannot be nothing added to It or taken from
It. It's the complete revelation of Jesus Christ. And the only way that we
can ever be sure?... If anything rises
among us that's contrary to this revelation, then it's wrong. See? It's
back to the Word, and always calling back.
So you see we must
understand the revelation of Jesus Christ from the bible, and anything that is
contrary to that revelation is not from God. And we are told in the Book of
Revelations, John said, Revelations 1:1 The
Revelation possessed by Jesus Christ, which God [The Father] gave to Him for
the purpose of making known… unto his servant John: 2 Who bare record of
the word of God, and of the testimony of
Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. So we see John here
telling us that Jesus Christ, the son of God bore record to the Word of God and
made known that Revelation that God gave Him via His own testimony. In other
words, Jesus Christ used His testimony to show us the revelation of God to man.
Then what does
it mean when we hear brother Branham say, that “The
Bible is the complete revelation of Jesus Christ?” It tells us
that every detail of the revelation of
Jesus Christ must be found in this Bible. There is no other
source, there is no other foundation, this Bible alone is the Word of God and
the Revelation of Who He is.
Now, if this be so, and I believe that it
is so, then how can people claim to believe this Bible and teach a trinity
doctrine? And how can they claim to believe this Bible and teach a concept of
Unitarianism? Now if he is saying that this Bible is the Revelation of Jesus
Christ, he is not talking about Jesus Christ the Son of God, but Jesus Christ,
the Father who is God. Because, Jesus Himself said that He had no word of His
own, that He depended completely upon the Fathers word.
Further more, John
tells us this Revelation was given to Jesus Christ from God, and from Jesus
Christ the Son of God to us. Revelations 1:1 The Revelation possessed by Jesus Christ, which
God [The Father] gave to Him for the purpose of making known… unto his servant John:
2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
So John says, I bear
witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ concerning the
Revelation of Jesus Christ which was given to the Son of God from the Father
Himself and in whom it was made known unto us.
Now, I tried to explain
this in my sermon called, the Faith of Jesus from
Brother Branham also
taught us that Moses had to step into his role in order for the waters to part.
Conference
60-1125 P:43 Now, Moses cried to the Lord and the Lord
said, "Rise up and go forward."
And when Moses went right straight and stepped his foot into the water, when that taken place, the Red Sea opened
back, and Israel crossed over to a great victory. They had a conference.
That's the way we always have to do, is have conferences. Now, I want to speak
of another one right quick. There was a conference. There's many of them we
could speak of, but let's just not pass this one by. There was a
So you see the faith
that Jesus had was the faith that God had before the foundations of the world
and gave to His son, as we read in the Wuest translation of Revelations chapter
1. Because we were taught by Br. Branham that faith is a revelation.
Therefore this
Revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave unto his Son is the Faith that God had
in His Own Word, and He gave that Faith to His Son and we have received that
same faith through the testimony of His Son, and that has brought us into a
Oneness with God even as Jesus and His father were one. That is what Jesus
prayed to His Father at the very end. John 17:22 And
the glory (the doxa, the opinion the values, the judgments) which thou gavest me
I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Therefore, we receive through
the testimony of the first born Son that same Faith that God had in His own
purpose and plan before the foundations of the world. Therefore, through the
revealing of Himself in and through His Son, God unveiled Himself to His
children in His entire nature and fullness.
That is why John says,
“ I bear witness by the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus
Christ”. Because the testimony of Jesus Christ was Jesus own words
declaring his Father’s Word.
That is why he said in
John 14:24 "The Word
which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent Me."
John 5:30 - 32 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.
Notice Jesus even says
that He could not testify on behalf of His own self, in order to prove or
vindicate Himself, but He depended upon the Father to vindicate Him.
Again we see in John 7:16-18 16 Jesus answered them,
and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. 17 If
any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God,
or whether I speak of
myself. 18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that
seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in
him.
Here Jesus even tells
us that His doctrine is not His own but the Fathers doctrine, and that anyone
who is truly called of God will not seek his own glory, but only the glory of
the Father.
Again in John 8:26-29 26 I
have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I
speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. 27 They understood not
that he spake to them of the Father. 28 Then said
Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man,
then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. 29 And
he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always
those things that please him.
Again I want you to
notice that Jesus tells us that His Words, the Words that He speaks, He heard
them first from the Father, and it was the Father Who taught them to Jesus.
And then in John 8:47
Jesus said, 47 He
that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them
not, because ye are not of God.
Brother Branham then
reads from Hebrews
1:1: "God,
Who in sundry times spake to the fathers by the prophets, in this last day
speaks to us through His Son, Jesus Christ," then he says, "It's the
revelation of Jesus Christ: God Himself..... revealed from Word to flesh."
(I hope you caught how He said that. God Himself revealed,... How?
From Word to flesh.) Then he said, "That's what It is. God is the Word, and Jesus being the
flesh, It's a revelation how God, the Word, was manifested in human flesh and
revealed to us. And that's why He becomes a Son of God. He is a part of God.
You understand? Now, He is not... The body is part of God, so much that it's a Son. A Son... As a Catholic puts
it, eternal Son (and all the rest of the churches), the word don't even make
sense. See? There cannot be eternal and then be a son, 'cause a son is
something that's begotten from. And the word "eternal"... He cannot
be an... He can be a Son, but He cannot be an eternal Son. No, sir. He cannot
be an eternal Son. Now, but He is the Son, so much that all the Word that was
in Jeremiah, in Moses... And all those Words, like He said, "They speak of
Me." All that true Divine revelation of Word was wound up into one human
body, and God put flesh around It. That's the reason He was called
"Son," reason He refers, "Father." Why, it's just as
simple, if you just let God pour it down into your mind. See? God revealed in a
body of flesh (Notice.)--revealed from Word unto flesh. That's
John 1:1-4, 14 Now what is brother Branham pointing to when he
quotes from Heb 1:1-2] Notice Scofield says, it is not by His Son, but rather,
"In Son hath He spoken to us."
Now who has spoken to us IN Son? That is the real question.
Who has spoken to us IN
Son? Who? God has spoken to us In Son.
Now you may ask, what is the difference
between by Son and in Son? There is a lot of difference. The literal
translation of Hebrews
1:1 reads, "God Who in many
times and in many ways spoke to our fathers in many distinct messages and by
various methods in the person of the Prophets, has in these last days spoken
unto us in the person of His Son." To say that God has
spoken to us simply by His Son leaves us with the impression that the Son
perhaps was given a message from God to deliver to us, or that the Son was not
in any way connected to that Message that He gave except that He was the
deliverer of that message. Just as we think when we hear that God spoke to us
by the Prophets. But the real translation is not by the prophets but in the
Prophet God has spoken and now In Christ He speaks. Christ is all that the
prophets were, combined together. Each of the prophets brought forth a portion
of what He was and together as a whole they brought out the complete revelation
of Jesus Christ.
Now remember,
Jesus said "the
Words that I speak they are not my own, but the Father's which sent me".
And remember also that in these words are
Life as Jesus said in John 6:63b The words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. And
where does this Life come from? We find the answer in John 5: 26 For
as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in
himself; So we see the life comes from the Father. Then we see that even Jesus, God's Son
depended on the Father to quicken Him and give Him life.
That’s 1 Peter 3:18
For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: Jesus the Son of God was quickened by God to Life.
Romans
4: 16 - 5:16 16 Therefore
it is of faith, that it
might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed;
not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of
Abraham; who is the father of us all, 17 (As it is
written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he
believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and
calleth those things which be not as though they were. 18 Who against hope believed
in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that
which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19 And
being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was
about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's
womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And
being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also
to perform. 22 And therefore it was imputed to him
for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to
whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our
offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Chapter
5:1 Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this
grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And
not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:
knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And
patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And
hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 6 For when
we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. 7 For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would
even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much
more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. 12 Wherefore, as by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that
was to come. 15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one
many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath
abounded unto many. 16 And not as it was
by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the
judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free
gift is of many offences unto justification.
I want you to notice
that not only was it God who raised Jesus from the dead and gave Life to Him,
but we have our access to God through this Faith that Jesus was given by His
Father. This Faith He received from His Father, made it possible for us to
receive this same resurrection power in our mortal bodies. And so here we see
that the manifesting of the Word of God in a body of flesh is the complete
Revelation of Godhood. God life first coming forth from the Father and then
down into His first born Son and then from there into sons.(plural)
John 5:19-25
Then
answered Jesus and said unto them, 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. 22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment
unto the Son: 23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that
honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. 24 Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent
me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed
from death unto life. 25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall
live.
And so we see that not
only is the Bible the Revelation of the Father, but when God brought forth an
only begotten Son, that Word which was manifested in a veil of human flesh was
no different that this Bible when it comes to revealing the Father. And so we
see that the Word of God is God and The Word manifested is God. It is not two
God's. But The Word is God no matter what form or manifestation it takes on.
God is God and He veils himself to man many times through man. Yet when He
takes upon Him this veil of flesh He is no less God than He is otherwise. God
is God period!
And so we hear
Brother Branham tell us: It's the revelation of Jesus Christ: God Himself revealed
from Word to flesh. That's what It is. God is the Word, rather, and Jesus being
the flesh, It's a revelation how God, the Word, was manifested in human flesh
and revealed to us. And that's why He becomes a Son of God. He is a part of
God. You understand? And all those Words, like He said, "They speak of
Me." All that true Divine revelation of Word was wound up into one human
body, and God put flesh around It. ...God revealed in a body of flesh
(Notice.)--revealed from Word unto flesh. That's
Now this brings us to the fact that Jesus
and the Father are two different persons, with two different personalities. The
Son is not God the Son, He is the Son of God. The Father is not the Son, but in
the Son the Father dwelt. Now was it the Father in Him that Dwelt in the Son?
Or was it the Godhead that dwelt in the Son? And remember, Webster tells us the
Word Godhead is actually a Word which means Godhood. And we know that the word
hood means the state or condition of being. So Godhood is the state or
condition of being God, just as boyhood is the state or condition of being a
boy.
2 Peter 1:15-21 15 Moreover
I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things
always in remembrance. 16 For we have not followed
cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For
he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18 And this voice which came from heaven we
heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.19 We
have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day
star arise in your hearts: 20 Knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost.
Here Peter tells us the Word is made more sure
because not only did God say it in this Book, but He also brought to pass what
He said, making the Interpretation of that Word so clear as to make any mis-interpretation
of it a willful act of disobedience.
Jesus told us Himself in Matt 13: 10-17
That the Revealing of the Word is not for every body. And if the Word revealed
is not for every body, neither is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, for He is the
Word which is John 1:1
Numbers 12: 6-14 6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a
prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself
known unto him in a vision, and will
speak unto him in a dream. 7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. 8 With him will I speak
mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not
in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore
then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
Notice, God said, I
will not send a prophet with dark speeches. He’s not going to come with double
talk, it won’t be an enigma, It will not be something to guess at. No, he will
come with My Words, and they will line up from the front cover of my book all
the way to the back cover of my book. They will be the same from Genesis to
Revelations. So there will be no mistaken what he says. And so if you add one
word you got the plagues, and if you take away one word, it shows that you
didn’t have representation from the beginning. Brother Branham did not come
teaching a Unitarian understanding of the Godhood of God. Neither did he come
to teach a Trinitarian theology. He came with the testimony of Jesus Christ
upon His lips, and I have gone around the world proving that what he taught
runs from Genesis to Revelations, and if you don’t like what is being taught
then I feel sorry for you, because you are blinded to what God taught through
His Son Jesus Christ.
Deuteronomy
4:36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might
instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest
his words out of the midst of the fire. Then whose voice is it that we hear in this day if He
said, in this last days He will speak in Son. It is still the Voice of God
Himself. Who descended with a Shout? The Father of Glory. God Himself has
descended with a Shout, a Message to get us ready for adoption.
And we are warned in
Scripture that when God comes again we had better hear what he has to say. Hebrews 12:25-26 See that ye refuse
not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on
earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 26 Whose
voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I
shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
1 Thessalonians 4: 15-16 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For
this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep. 16 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:
And Revelations 10: 1-7
which tells us that the Lord who cried with a loud voice, as when
a lion roareth: is Amos 3: 6-8 the voice of God. 6 Shall a trumpet be
blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city,
and the LORD hath not done it? 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?
2 Peter 1: 16 For we have not followed cunningly devised
fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received
from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from
the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18 And
this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well
that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day
dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20 Knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For
the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
So how do we have a
Word made more sure? Because God not only spoke it, but came into what he spoke
and manifested Himself to the world through the veil of His dear Son.
Therefore if the Bible
is the complete revelation of Jesus Christ, then to take one word away presents
to you a different Jesus, and you get the plagues. To take one word away from
this Bible, takes away from the revelation of Jesus Christ, and your name will
be taken out of the book of Life. Why? Because to add to or take away you are
introducing a different Jesus. That is why Paul said, You have changed what I teach,
therefore, you are cursed with a curse.
And what happens when
people put up with the gospel of a different nature? They get a spirit with a
different nature than the Holy Spirit. And what kind of Spirit would that be?
Paul told us in Galatians 1, they get a perverted spirit. Let me read it to you
once more from the Translation called the Message.
Galatians 1:6 The Message: 6-9 I can't believe your fickleness—how easily
you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing
a variant message! It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely
other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking
this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head. Let me
be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven!—were to preach something
other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed. I said it once; I'll
say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches
something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed. 10-12Do you think I
speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or
get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn't bother being
Christ's slave. Know this—I am most emphatic here, friends—this great Message I
delivered to you is not mere human optimism. I didn't receive it through the
traditions, and I wasn't taught it in some school. I got it straight from God,
received the Message directly from Jesus Christ.
And finally in closing let me read again from 2 Corinthians 11-13 from the translation called The
Message, for I can identify with Paul very much in what he is saying here.
2 Corinthians 11:1-3 Will you put up with a little foolish aside
from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I
care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised
your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband.
And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Serpent seduced Eve with his smooth
speech, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for
Christ. 4-6 It seems that if someone shows up
preaching quite another Jesus than we preached, a different spirit, a different
message, you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these
big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good
as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that
smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at
least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in
on everything. 7-12 I wonder, did I make a bad mistake
in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return,
serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It
turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free
ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a
finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from
16-21 Let
me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to
sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and
let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no,
it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular
these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these
shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You
have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off,
steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you,
but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. 21-23 Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much
(remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at
it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm
their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't
believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started,
and I'm going to finish.) 23-27 I've worked much harder,
been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's
door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine
lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been
shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In
hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers,
struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at
risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by
those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a
long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold,
naked to the weather. 28-29 And that's not the
half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the
churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in
my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. 30-33 If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag
about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and
Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in
Let
us bow our heads in prayer…