Ladies and Gentlemen, beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

this is Brother Frank speaking to you from the International Mission Center in Krefeld, Germany. This is the apostolic, prophetic ministry. By God’s grace I have a wonderful announcement to make today: We shall have 52 sermons, teaching sermons, and we start today. And we shall continue to deal with all the Bible subjects, starting with the Godhead, continuing with all the others like Baptism, Lord’s Supper, Return of Christ, the endtime and so forth.

Today is the first sermon and we shall have a look into eternity. Before time began there was eternity. And I am going to read four scriptures to show unto us what I try to say today, how God manifested Himself from the beginning of time. We have to go back to the first verse of the Old Testament, before we can start with the first verse of the New Testament, to see how God revealed Himself throughout the Old Testament period.

Firstly, I like to read 1 Timothy 1:17, referring to the God of Heaven: “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” Here we are told about the invisible, the only wise God, unto Him be glory forever and ever. The same we are told in 1 Timothy 6, verse 15 and 16: “… which in times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see; to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.” Here the man of God in the New Testament shows us God in eternity, who dwells in a light, whereunto no one could approach, no one could see Him, dwelling in His eternal fulness of spirit, light and life.

We shall also read from 1 John, chapter 4, verse 12, “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us.” Now, here we have a mystery: First God was not seen by anyone, because He dwelled in His fulness of light and life. And now this God, who could not be seen by anyone, dwells in our hearts and is perfected in us by His life.

Going to John, chapter 1, where John the Baptist gave testimony about our Lord God. John 1:18, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” So here we find the mystery of God revealed. But before we shall go into the New Testament, into what happened for us and with us in the Plan of Salvation, we shall go back to the beginning. Genesis, chapter 1, shows us that God stepped forth from eternity into time. And therefore we read about the beginning. Eternity never began and will never end. And to say it right straight now: only if we have eternal life we shall live eternally.

Now coming to Genesis, chapter 1, verse 1, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” So God is shown forth as “the Creator”, and even today everything is precisely the way God created things at the very beginning of time. Today we saw and we reap, today the multiplying is taking place, today the sun goes up and down: everything remains as God, the Creator, ordained it to be. So right from the beginning of time God was manifested in a visible form of appearance. The invisible who dwelled in a light where no one could approach, where no one could see Him stepped forth into a visible form of appearance, walking in the garden of Eden, creating Adam in His own image. And, beloved Friends, let me say it very straight and clear: everyone that is recorded to us in the Scriptures – all the prophets, all the men of God knew the Lord God personally. They were no philosophers, no theologians, no scribes, but men of God who knew the Lord God personally. We all know about Enoch who walked with God and then was not found on earth, but was taken to Glory.

Then we come to Genesis, chapter 9, where Noah is being mentioned in a very wonderful way, having received from God personally the commandment what should be done. And the Lord God established a covenant with Noah and told him precisely what needs to be done. Verse 16 in Genesis 9, “And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” And then it says in verse 17, “And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” So it was a personal relationship. All the prophets knew the Lord God personally. They heard His voice.

Now coming to Abraham. Abraham is known to all of us as a very special person in the Old and New Testament. Even our Lord is called “Son of Abraham” in Matthew, chapter 1, verse 1. If you wish to read about Abraham, you have to start with Genesis, chapter 12. I only read the first verse, “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country …” We all know the promises made to Abraham. What really touches my heart is the fact that all these men knew the Lord personally. And, Brothers and Sisters, we must know the Lord personally! And only then, if we have this intimate fellowship with the Lord, His Word will become a living reality unto us. In Genesis, chapter 18, we have again Abraham, and the Lord talking to him. And the promise was given that Isaac would be born. Again I have to emphasize, Abraham knew the Lord personally. Please imagine for one moment, what we read from verse 1 in Genesis 18, “And the Lord appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.” And when Abraham lifted up his eyes he saw three men approaching that place. One was the Lord, the other two were angels who then went to Sodom, according to Genesis, chapter 19. But the Lord in person, in a body of flesh, eating and drinking, having a meal together with Abraham. Glory be to God! The invisible whom nobody could see revealed Himself from the beginning of time! And the prophets knew Him personally. And we know the God of heaven personally through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who could say, “If you have seen Me you have seen the Father.“

Now, going to another witness: to Isaac. We need to read in Genesis, chapter 25. We could read from chapter 22, but here in chapter 25 we are told about Isaac who lived at the well where God supplied the water. Men of God knew the Lord personally. Then we deal with Jacob in Genesis, chapter 28. Genesis, chapter 28. Here we are told about the great experience Jacob had when he saw heaven open and saw the connection between heaven and earth established and called the name, as you read here, “Bethel”. It was ‘the house of God’. My beloved Friends, the emphasis today is this, that we must know God personally! We must have a personal relationship with God and to God!

Then we go from Jacob in his second experience to Genesis, chapter 32, where the man of God had this wonderful experience: he wrestled with God, he wrestled with the Angel of the Lord and was blessed with the victory, and called the name “Peniel” in verse 30 in Genesis 32. And that means “face of God”. He had seen God face to face! My beloved Friends, you will understand what I am trying to say: men of God from the beginning knew the Lord personally, had their experiences, received their commissions, were told what they should do. And we have all the Old Testament prophets to give testimony of what God has planned and what God does throughout the period of the New Testament.

Now we showed you quickly about Adam, walking in the garden of Eden and the Lord God coming towards the evening, having fellowship with the first people in paradise here on earth. Then Enoch who walked with God, then Noah, the man of God, then Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, men of God who knew the Lord personally. And then we go to Exodus, chapter 3, where the Lord God appeared to Moses. And I want you to know, beloved Brothers and Sisters, as I mentioned it before: not philosophers, not men with their own ideas or programmes, but men of God who knew the Lord God personally, who heard His voice, who saw Him, who received commissions to do whatever the Lord wanted them to be done.

Beloved, in Exodus, chapter 3, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush (verse 2). And then in verse 4 we read, “And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.” There was a conversation going on between God and Moses. God had seen the affliction of His people, He remembered His promise given to Abraham, that after 400 years He would call the people out of bondage and come down to deliver them. And here it happened! To me it’s very special that God watches over His Word. When He makes promises, and when He fulfils the promises, He always is present. He speaks, and what He speaks He fulfils when the time comes. So here the conversation goes on, “If they ask me, Who has sent you?, what shall I say. Say, The I am, the I am has sent you.” The I am! You just read the whole conversation.

I am so glad to know the Lord God personally. And, Friends, if Brother Frank tells you today that I know the Lord personally, you might wonder. You might simply wonder and say, “Just a moment, dear Brother! How can you say that?” If I could not say that, I would not speak to you. Why should I? If I had not received a commission on 2nd April, 1962, just at the moment of the dawning of a new day, if I had not heard the voice of the Almighty with these ears on that Monday morning, I would not talk to you today. But the Lord called me and I say this in His Name. He called me as He called Moses and said, “I will send you from city to city to preach My Word.”

Now, coming to Exodus, chapter 6. Here the God of Heaven reveals His covenant name, His covenant name! Exodus, chapter 6: 2, 3 and 4, “And God spoke unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord; and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of Almigthy God, but by My name Jahweh was I not known to them.” This Old Testament covenant name was revealed to Moses at the time, when he was commissioned to deliver Israel out of bondage. In the Hebrew you have got four letters: JHWH. And from these four letters, which are called ‘the tetragram’, ‘the tetragram’, that was the name: JHWH. And if you put it into the Hebrew order, it’s Jahweh. Jahweh, the Eternal, in Himself existing One, the One who was, is and will be, the great I am. This was the name, the covenant name.

Beloved, I must finish for today. But we shall continue, we shall continue to show you how God in the Old Testament revealed Himself, revealed His Name, revealed His Plan of Salvation. And we shall go from subject to subject and show unto you that God has a Plan of Salvation, and this plan is now coming to fulfilment and the Return of Jesus Christ is imminent, as we can see from the signs of the time. I am glad that many have written and I would ask you also to let us know, if these sermons, these teaching sermons have been a blessing to you. And we appreciate you, taking a little time to let us know about it. God bless you and be with you in Jesus’ holy Name. Amen.