The
Doctrine of Christ no 52
“He that believeth no 6”
Promise of Resurrection
Brian
Kocourek
John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection,
and the life: “he that believeth” (ὁ πιστευων) in me, though he
were dead, yet shall he live: Now,
this promise is not for just one person, it is for all believers.
Brother Branham taught us Who is this Melchisedec 65-0221E. paragraph 109 that
"We meet
Jesus in the air before we get home. That's right. I Thessalonians tells us that, for
we meet Him in the air. A beautiful type of Rebecca meeting Isaac in the field
in the cool of the day. We meet Him in the air; I Thessalonians tells us so:
"For we which are alive and remain shall not prevent (or hinder) those
which are asleep; for the trumpet of God shall sound; the dead in Christ shall
rise first; we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
to meet the Lord in the air."
Tonight I would
like to speak of the condition of the living and that of those saints which are
asleep in the graves, and what will have to happen with each group in order for
them to go in the Rapture or catching away. Br. Branham said, if you have died and entered into that theophany, what
happens? The theophany comes to the earth to pick up the redeemed body. And if
you're here in the air, you take the body to meet the theophany (There you
are.), and caught up and go to meet the Lord in the air.
Notice he said, if you are among those
who have already died, you enter first into that theophany. Then with that
theophany, you come forth to get your redeemed body. if you have died and
entered into that theophany, what happens? The theophany comes to the earth to
pick up the redeemed body. Then once that redeemed body is joined to the
Theophany, it becomes a glorified body.
On the other hand, those of us who are
among the living, will get our body change and then go to that theophany to
complete the glorification process. And if you're here in the air, you take the
body to meet the theophany (There you are.), and caught up and go to meet the
Lord in the air.
We then went on
to share many quotes from Brother Branham to confirm the order of the
resurrection, but we don't have time to fully review this, so you will need to
go to the web to read them for yourself, or borrow the tape from the Library.
Please, if you do, return it for these are the masters and someday we would
like to get around to copying them all onto mp3 so we can store them at about
100 to a disk.
Jehovah Jireh #1 - 62-0705
And then, remember, if we go before He comes, we will be up and in His
Presence, or, raised before the others are changed. "The trumpet of the
Lord shall sound, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which alive and
remain shall be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, and be caught up
together with them, to meet the Lord in the air." Look at the order of the
resurrection. See, God knows that we long to see our loved ones. And if we got
there to meet Him first, we'd be looking around to see if mother or dad and the
rest of them was there. But see how, the Holy Spirit in His wisdom? We meet one
another first, and then when we get there and sing "Amazing Grace,"
that's when there's going to be a time of worship.
Notice brother
Branham speaks of an order to the resurrection. You see, God is a God of order.
He set the World on its frame in an orderly fashion, and that is the way the
resurrection and rapture will come as well. There will be a shout, a voice and
a trumpet.
Brother Branham tells us the order is
that the Holy spirit Who is now in our midst will leave the midst of humanity
and when He does, He will take us with Him, and then we will meet the Son of
God, and when God incarnates His Son Once more, then we will crown Him King of
Kings and Lord of Lords.
Now, here is
the quote from Brother Branham, The First Seal 63-0318 161-3 {301} 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 king...?... That's right. See?
Now, let's find this in the Scripture. II Thessalonians
2:5 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.
Now, this may sound a little confusing to
you, so let me read it from the Wuest translation, and you will find the same
thing brother Branham is telling us in this quote. That the Holy Ghost Who is
now in our midst will at this time leave the earth.
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. Now,
the Holy Spirit could not depart from the midst of humanity if He were not
here. And if we are to be gathered together to Him first, then when he goes we
go, 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.
MATTHEW 16:13 When
Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,
saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some [say
that thou art] John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of
the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon
Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And
Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh
and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I
will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou
shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 20 Then charged he his disciples that they
should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. 21 From that time forth began
Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and
suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,
and be raised again the third day. 22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke
him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23 But he
turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence
unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of
men. (I feel sorry for Peter, He had just been called Blessed, by the Lord
Himself, and He must have had a swelled up head, because in a short space He
goes from being called Blessed, to being called Satan, and told that he is now
an offense to the same One He called the Christ, the Son of the Living God.) 24
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save
his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find
it. 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose
his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of
man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall
reward every man according to his works. 28 Verily I say unto you, There be some
standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man
coming in his kingdom.
Now, I want you to notice the promise is that some,
not all, but some of you shall not die until they see the son of Man coming in
His Kingdom. Then immediately we see Jesus taking some of them, three in all
because three is a witness, to see this scene he has just told them would come.
17:1 And after
six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up
into an high mountain apart,
Now, the word bringeth comes from a Greek word
anaphero which means to carry or lift up to a higher place. So we see that it
is possible here that these brethren did not just walk up the mountain side
following behind Jesus as though He was just leading them.
Actually the combination of the words, taketh and
bringeth suggests a closeness or a gathering together to himself as though
embracing them and then lifting them up with him. This would suggest to us
then, that they were sort of lifted up in some manner, perhaps in some
supernatural way up to the mountain top.
2
And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his
raiment was white as the light.
Now, notice, something supernatural is taking place
here. Something is happening to the physical being of the Son of God. The Bible
tells us that Jesus is transfigured which means he is being changed into
another form. 3
And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Now, remember we are talking about the
order of the resurrection. Then if there is an order of the resurrection, the
order must have some meaning to it. Notice Moses is seen first, then Elijah.
Now can anyone tell me the difference between these Two prophets of God. I am
not speaking of the difference between their ministries which were full of the
Miraculous. But what happened to Moses at the end? Did he die? Yes He did. Did
Elijah Die? No he did not. Notice it speaks of Moses first and then Elijah. And
notice they are separated by the word AND which is a conjunction. And what does
a conjunction do? It links two things, right? And what two things are these two
men representing? Remember, we are examining the ORDER of What? The Order of
the resurrection.
Moses
then, represents the saints that have died, while Elijah represents the saints
that have been caught up without dying. Then what do the three Jews standing
there, watching represent? I'm talking about Peter, James, and John. What do
these Jews represent? They represent the 144 that Jesus will return to manifest
Him self to, in His glorified state. The next thing we hear is God, the father
of the Son speaking and telling them that He is pleased to dwell in His Son.
4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us
to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and
one for Moses, and one for Elias. 5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud
overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my
beloved Son, IN WHOM I am well pleased; hear ye him. 6 And when the disciples
heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. 7 And Jesus came and
touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. 8 And when they had lifted up
their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
Now, this was a foreshadow of the Coming
of the Lord Jesus. These men were given a glimpse of the Order of the Second
coming. And John was privileged to actually see it take place in a vision
before his very own eyes years later on the isle of
Revelation 1:7
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which
pierced him: and all kindred’s of the earth shall wail because of him. John
then tells us how he heard a voice and turned to see it, And being turned, I saw
seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one
like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt
about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like
wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet
like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the
sound of many waters. 16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of
his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance (his face) was as
the sun shineth in his strength. Now, remember, the last time john saw Jesus
like this where His face shown like the sun, was when he had been caught up
into the mountain when Jesus was transfigured. 17 And when I saw him, I fell at
his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not;
I am the first and the last.
The last time John was privileged to see Jesus in this
Glorified condition he also fell to his face and Jesus came to him back then
and said the same words this time that He said the last time, Fear not I am the
one who was transfigured before you the first time, and I am the same one now
again for good, this time.:
18 I
[am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen;
and have the keys of hell and of death.
Revelation Chapter
Four Pt 1 60-1231 180 Peter, James, and John, and them standing
present, when Jesus spoke to them and said, "There's some standing here
will not taste of death until they see the Son of man coming." He didn't
say "all" that was standing there, but "some." And they
went a few days after that, and saw the order of the resurrection rehearsed,
and the coming of the Lord. Elijah represented the dead saints--I mean Moses,
and being resurrected. Elijah represented the translated. But remember, Moses
was first, and then Elijah. Elijah was to be the messenger of the last day,
that with him and his group would come the resurrection; would come the...
Well, it would come the rapture, I mean.
Moses brought in the resurrection, and Elijah brought in the
raptured group. And there, both of them was represented right there… Now we
could skip this next paragraph to save time, but since wee just came through
this stud he is going to talk about, I thought this would be interesting to see
how he perceived it. 184 Oh, tomorrow we got a great lesson, the Lord willing.
Tomorrow we take the judgments; we take the sardine stone, see what it
represents, what part it played. And we take the jasper, and we take the--oh,
all the different stones, and we take these all down through Ezekiel, back into
Genesis, back over to Revelations, come down in the middle of the Bible, tie it
together, these different stones and colors, and so forth. And then we bring it
right straight back to that and see if that ain't right. See? See if it ain't
the same color and everything, just the same thing. And the same Holy Spirit,
the same God, showing the same signs, same wonders, doing the same thing just
as He promised...
185 He told Peter, James, and John, and them standing there, all of
His disciples, said, "Some of you will not see death until they see the
Son of man coming in His Kingdom."
Said to John,
said... Peter said, "What are You going to
do with him?” He said... "That fellow,
what's going to happen to him?" He said, "What is it to you if he
sees Me coming?" And He let him live to see it. After the rest of them was
dead and gone, John lived to see the coming of the Lord rehearsed in power, the
whole scene set from his time until the judgments was over and the millennium
was issued in. John saw every bit of it, and the millennium over, and the
Kingdom age started. So He keeps His Word, doesn't He?
Paul also speaks
of this order of the resurrection in I Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and
become the first-fruits of them that slept.
Now, notice that the use of this word first-fruit
shows there is an order to the resurrection. Christ first, then the rest.
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:
And notice what that order is? “Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that
are Christ's at his coming”. (His Parousia). And remember when the
bride was parading before William Branham and the angel of the Lord, There was
an order and when a couple stepped out of line, he shouted stay in line.
Now we know there was an order to the
first resurrection, and as Paul taught, Jesus was the first fruit and then the
rest could come after he came. Matthew 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up
the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the
top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the
graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And
came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and
appeared unto many.
Notice that Jesus cried with a Loud Voice
and the graves opened, and the saints which slept arose, but notice that they
did not come forth as resurrected beings until He came forth. So the order of
the resurrection is a very important thing. And look, what is a resurrection
anyway? Isn't it a coming back to life? Isn't it a re-awakening of the body
that was asleep in death? And doesn't it have to do with Life coming back into
the body? And if the body was at one time active, and then it fell asleep or
went into such a deep sleep that it was constituted as dead. But a resurrection
is a coming forth with the same life that it had before it died. Not a human
coming forth with a gorilla life, or a cat life or a goat life. And not with
someone else's life either. But their own life, that was ordained in God before
the world was framed coming back into that body again and raising it up. And
there is only one life that will do that, and that is the God life you had in
Him before the foundations of the world.
Questions & Answers 64-0823 1M
Now, the first thing happens when we're resurrected ... The ones which are
a-living will just still remain ... The resurrection will set in first, the
resurrection of those that are asleep. There'll be a wakening time, and those
which are asleep in the dust now ... will be awakened first, and they'll -
these corruptible bodies will put on incorruption in the rapturing grace of the
Lord. And then we'll all get together. And when they begin to get together,
then we which are alive and remain shall be changed. These mortal bodies will
not see death, but just of a sudden, there'll be like a sweep go over us, and
you're changed. You're turned back like Abraham was, from an old man to a young
man, from an old woman to a young woman. What's this sudden change? And after
while you're traveling like a thought, and you can see those then who are
already resurrected. Oh, what a hour! Then
we'll gather with them and then be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the
air. Yes, the Church will all be
together, but after, after the resurrection and the rapture has set in. Luke 21:36
This the third pull and is speaking the Word. It seems entirely possible for
you to speak the word and one would be completely and fully restored, placed
entirely ready for the rapture in the resurrection, the Son of man. This is so,
or is it not? And you would do this if properly pressed upon. Would you not
"escape all these things (it's got a ditto there) escape all these things
and stand before the Son of man"? Now, my dear friend. See? Now, I think
here that you got a good statement. Yes, sir! Yes, sir! Now, that would be so.
You said, "Brother Branham..." In other words, here's what I'm... I
don't think that it's... I can... I believe I... Not polishing up what you
said, but I believe I can make it a little clearer to people. See? You are
believing, because of the Spoken Words and things like that that He said about.
And all of you here witnessed the squirrels and all these other things that's
been done. But did you notice, that was Sovereignly given! I never asked Him,
"Lord, let me do this, speak these things in like that, do these things
there." I never asked Him that. He by His own Divine will came to me and
said, "You go do this." The time of the
rapture will be the awakening of the dead and the get together with the living,
for the rapture to take place. And Jesus
can not come until a church, a body of believers and the ministry that He
once...?... will have to be the same as it was then to... And then, that
brings... "Them without us is not made perfect," Paul said, Hebrews
11. "Without us they cannot be perfected." They must have this
ministry to raise up the Lutheran, Wesley’s, and all them down through their
ages. And then shall he send his angels, and ... gather together his elect from
the four winds, and the utmost parts of the earth to the uttermost parts of
heaven. That's talking of the resurrection, the translation, going up. He will
send forth His angels to gather. Did you ever think what the angels are? Huh?
Messengers. He will gather them together, congregate them together (see?),
bringing them, bind them together from the utmost parts of the earth to the
utmost parts of Heaven, the Word that was been made manifest on earth. See? Get
it? The Word's been spoken; here It's manifested.
Ephesians 2:1
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Now, I want you to notice that Paul is
speaking of a people who have been quickened.
Now, this statement should be read in the context of
chapter one where Paul speaks of a people who are elect and were in Christ
before the foundations of the world and who have been predestined to a great
plan and purpose of God who wanted to have children, and these children would
come in like fashion as His Only begotten Son came. He speaks of this plan
calling for a quickening by the baptism of the Spirit, which Paul calls the
earnest of our inheritance, or the down payment.
II Corinthians
5:1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 If so be
that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4 For we that are in this
tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but
clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5 Now he that hath
wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the
earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that,
whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 For we walk
by faith, not by sight: 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be
absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9 Wherefore we labor,
that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
Now, a down payment we also call an
earnest payment because it shows we have made an earnest or sincere commitment
to honor the contract. And when we receive a portion of God's Spirit, by
receiving His Word, we receive in us the sincere pledge by God to finish the
work that He has begun.
Now, the word
quicken that Paul uses here in Ephesians chapter 2 is the Greek word which
means to restore again to life, to animate or rather to re-animate. That is why
brother Branham could say in the message, Future Home 64-0802 34-3 "You wasn't saved on any day. You was
always saved. Amen. Jesus just come to redeem that, but you was saved from the
beginning, because you had Eternal Life to begin with."
In fact the word redeemed means to buy
back, and how could it be redeemed or bought back if he did not own it to begin
with. And how could your Life and Soul be redeemed if you didn't have it to
begin with.
Rising
of the Sun 65-0418 1M 50-6 And now
(see?), now you are already resurrected. When God raised Him up, He raised you;
the Son is just now on you. And now you're growing into a blossom Life like He
was, to be resurrected completely in that last day. Your potentials you have
now. Why do you know? Your soul changed, didn't it? Your body come in obedience
to It, didn't it? Into obedience to what? A Church? The Word, which is the
Life. Then you are now resurrected from the dead. You potentially have the
Earnest, the waiting. Now, when you get the Dynamics, you have been quickened from
mortal to immortality. It makes the whole body come subject to the Word. It'll
make you act different, look different, live different; It'll just make you
different. Then (notice now, as we close; notice this) notice, it's just like a
little seed laying in the ground. Now, potentially, you are resurrected. You're
resurrected when you receive the Holy Spirit in you; you're resurrected right
then. Your body's potentially resurrected.
You see, what we are here is only a reflection of what
we are somewhere else. I believe we are dealing with a dimensional principle
that we know so little about. But, brother Branham said those very words.
Q & A 54-0103E 143-191 What you are here... Get this in your mind now. I'm going to
close. But what you are here is a sign
that you are something else somewhere. You've always wanted to be in
perfection, you Christians. There is a perfection, and that perfection is not in this life. But every man and woman here
that is a Christian, every person that is a Christian here now is already
glorified in the Presence of Jesus Christ. And you've got another body. You
won't have some other time; you have right now. Right now there's another body
waiting for you if this one should perish. Could you think of that. Study that
just a minute.
The Entombment
- 57-0420 Our own life is just a pattern. It's just a shadow, and not the real thing. It's the negative side. It takes death
to develop the picture, to put us back in the theophany we come from. Then in
the resurrection we come in His likeness, a resurrected body, what a beautiful,
not only beautiful but it's the real, solemn truth of God's eternal Word, that
we'll be like Him.
Romans 8:29 For
whom he did (already a done deal) foreknow, he also
did (another done deal) predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did (done
deal) predestinate, them he also called (again it is in the past
tense): and whom
he called (past tense), them he also justified (past tense): and whom he
justified (past tense), them he also glorified(past tense). Therefore it is
finished. It's a done deal. You can't change the outcome, no matter how hard
you try.
In closing I would like to read some
quotes from God’s prophet to help us understand better the order of the
resurrection. From Questions &
Answers 64-0823 1M Brother Branham said, “the resurrection and rapture will be general
all over the entire world! No matter where you're at, when that hour comes,
you'll be caught up to meet Him! That's all! There's nothing going to stop you,
no matter where you are. And I only hope that I'm there, one of them. I just
only trust and hope in God that I'll be one of them and each one of you will be
in the - in the same.
Questions
& Answers 64-0823 1M Across the world, they won't be gathered in one place to have things in common. But little groups of them will be scattered
all over the earth. I believe, maybe if the Lord permits, this is a little
group of It. Maybe another little group in Asia, one down in
Now, I am not fussing with
the brother who says Brother Branham told him to buy an airplane. I don’t know
if he did or he didn’t and since it wasn’t said to me it’s not my business. All
I know is here he says they will be gathered from all over the world. Not from
one spot. What does that mean? It means you don’t have to attend a certain
church in a certain place to make it. You just have to be in Christ.
Questions & Answers 64-0823 1M
Dear God, so many of these questions here about the people coming to
Letting Off the Pressure 62-0518 Can't you see we're at the
end time? It's all over. The next thing will be a sweep of getting that little
group together, and in a month or so she'll be gone - as soon as she's gathered
together. We're at the end; there's no hopes left anywhere. Run to Christ,
people!
Seven Church
Ages 54-0512 "Behold He cometh with clouds." Now, let me stop
here just a moment. Clouds doesn't mean that He's coming on a big thunderhead
as mama, bless her heart - she's sitting here somewhere. I remember her voice,
she used to set and tell me, said, He's coming on a great big cloud, gonna
raise someday and God's gonna come on. Now the Cloud that He's coming is, if we
just had the time to get this back, and get the real background and the whole
thing. Now the Cloud He's coming in is not a cloud, like a thunderhead, but
it's a Cloud of Glory He's coming in. See? Now, when Jesus was overshadowed by
God on
Let us pray.