Beloved Friends, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

this is Brother Frank speaking to you from the International Mission Center in Krefeld, Germany. It’s upon our heart to share with you God’s holy Word. Our purpose is to have 52 messages which should be heard all over the earth. I look back to more than 50 years in the ministry and also to over 40 years in the radio and TV ministry. By God’s grace I could share the true Word of God with several millions around the earth. Now the time has come to show from the Old Testament first how God revealed Himself and the purpose connected to it, and how those who knew God personally gave testimony of their experiences with the Lord. Everyone who was used of God to share his testimony with us knew the Lord God personally, heard His voice, received a commission from Him, and therefore we look into the Word of God knowing the Invisible who dwelled in a light where no one could approach. And then we look to the beginning of time where He was manifesting Himself in a visible form of appearance. 

We already shared about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, about Moses and some of the prophets in our first sermon. Today I just like to touch on a few scriptures. The first one of Exodus, chapter 6, verse 2 and 3 and the first part of verse 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 My name of God Almighty, but by My name Jahwe was I not known to them. And I have also established My covenant with them …” Beloved Friends, here for the first time the Lord God revealed His covenant name: JHWH. In the English language the Y is being used: YHWH. But in the Hebrew it’s JHWH. And from these four letters which in the Hebrew language are called „the tetragram“, from these four letters does the name Jahweh, the Eternal One, Within Himself Existing One arise. So we understand from the Scriptures and from the testimony of God Himself who He is and what He is and why He revealed Himself. This was the time when the covenant people were to become “the church”, and therefore God revealed His covenant name to His Prophet Moses for the purpose that this name would be known by the covenant people.

Now, Beloved, the time is moving on and I just like to read one more scripture of Exodus, chapter 13, the last verses. Verse 21, “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.” Here we see how God in the pillar of fire led the children of Israel by day and by night. 

In the garden of Eden He was walking in a bodily shape. To Abraham He appeared according to Genesis, chapter 18, sat down, ate with Abraham and had a meal together with him. We see the different manifestations of the same God for different purposes throughout the Old Testament. Then in Joshua, the 5th chapter, from verse 13 we find the Lord appearing to Joshua as the warrior, as the One who had a sword in His hand, wishing to say to Joshua, “Don’t fear! The battle is not yours, the battle is Mine. I go before you. I have made the promise, and I look after you and after the promise to become a reality.”

Then we go to Judges, where again we find how the Lord God revealed Himself to the different people, to Gideon. And wherever something happened in the Old Testament, it was God Himself, regardless of what shape – the purpose connected to His manifestations was the important thing. So here in Judges, the 2nd chapter, something very, very peculiar has happened, that the God of heaven appeared, appeared to the man of God, showing to him the purpose of the calling and the purpose of leading the people of Israel according to the promise of His holy Word.

Beloved, we have God’s Word on our side, but we have to know why God, why God set different things in His Word and showing unto us why He manifested Himself in various ways. You go to Judges 2, you go to Judges 6, where the Lord appeared to Gideon and spoke to him and said what he should do, and you can also read what happened. Then we go to Nehemiah, the 9th chapter, where we are told what happened with Israel, looking back, looking back to the times of Moses. In Nehemiah, the 9th chapter, we shall read from verse 13, “Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai, and didst speak with them from heaven, and gavest them right ordinances, and true laws, good statutes and commandments …” Now remember: “Thou camest down upon Mount Sinai …” in the fire, and all the people of Israel were gathered and heard the voice. And here we are told, “… and speakest to them from heaven”. The Lord can visibly come down in the fire on the mountain, and His voice can appear right from heaven!

In verse 19 we read, “Yet Thou in Thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go.” There was always a purpose for every manifestation of God. 

And, Beloved, what is the main purpose of this teaching? Why do I share the Word of God with you? Why do we go to many scriptures? In the first two sermons I want to lay the foundation to show unto God’s people that in the period of the Old Testament God was not yet manifested as our Father in heaven in His only begotten Son on earth, and in the Church through the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament 6,700 times we read about “the Lord God”, “the Lord God”, and we see Him in His various manifestations at different times. 

Then we have those men of God like here in 2 Chronicles, chapter 18, where the man of God says in verse 18 … We all know about Micaiah, the prophet, who said, “Only what God will say that will I speak.” He was not like the 400. The 400 were prophets of Israel, but Micaiah was the prophet of the Lord God. And here he says in verse 13, “As the Lord liveth, even what my God saith, that will I speak.” In verse 18, “Again he said, Therefore, hear the Word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting upon His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right and on His left.” He did not say, “I saw the Father, and then I saw the Son to His right and the Holy Ghost to His left …” He saw One on the throne and all the heavenly host to His right and to His left! And then he heard the conversation that was going on in heaven. 

My beloved Friends, I want you to know: in the period of the Old Testament, which covers 4,000 years, there was no mentioning of ‘Father in Heaven’ or ‘Son on earth’ or even ‘holy trinity’. Such a thing does not exist! God never existed in two eternal persons! One God is enough for ever! For ever and ever! But this one God in the Old Testament revealed Himself as Creator, Sustainer, as King, as Saviour, as Judge. And in the New Testament He revealed Himself as our Father in heaven, in His only begotten Son on earth and in the Church by the Holy Spirit. Now, here we see the man of God giving testimony that he saw the Lord God sitting upon His throne. 

Beloved Friends, to me the Word of God is everything! It’s my absolute. And I don’t think any person on earth has a right to change a single Word of God. And, Friends, by the way, only if we know the Lord personally, we know Him. Otherwise we just know Him by hearsay. If I were asked, “Brother Frank, did you ever meet your head of state in your country? Do you know him personally?”, then I could say, “Yes, on such and such a date I was in Berlin, I shook my hand with the head of state.” I could give date and time, when I met different personalities. So I can say, I met the president in person, and therefore I know him personally. It’s the same with our Lord God. You cannot go by hearsay, you must know Him personally! All the prophets, all the men of God throughout the Old Testament knew the Lord God personally. 

Now, in Isaiah, the 6th chapter, we have the testimony of the prophet. And we all know, Moses was a very, very special prophet, and so was Isaiah. Isaiah wrote his 66 chapters, right to the new heaven and to the new earth, showing unto us the whole plan of salvation. In Isaiah, chapter 6, verse 1, we read, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.” And then he gives the description of what he saw: he saw the Lord on the throne, he saw all the heavenly host around Him, shouting, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” My beloved Brothers and Sisters, what an experience! He saw, he heard, he had his experience with the Lord. Now we come to verse 8, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” 

Now, I hope it shall not be a problem for you, if I say, the Lord God did not speak to a second or third person within the godhead, but He spoke to those who surrounded Him and the throne. I beg you to believe it. If you don’t believe the testimony of God’s Word it shall never be revealed to you, because you are blaspheming God if you don’t believe precisely what and how the Scripture says it! And this goes back to Genesis, chapter 1, where the Lord God said, “Let us make man in our own image.” To whom does the “us” apply? Only to those who were around the Lord. Woe unto them who put their own interpretation into the Scripture and say, “That was the Father speaking to the Son” and so forth! Don’t lie any more! Stay with the Word of God! Say the truth, like here: the prophet saw the Lord on the throne, he saw the heavenly hosts surrounding Him and then speaking to them, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here I am; send me.” 

Beloved, one more scripture: Ezekiel, chapter 1, Ezekiel, chapter 1, where the prophet saw the Lord sitting on the throne, and then describing Him right from top to bottom. You can read it here in Ezekiel, chapter 1. In the last part of verse 1 we read, “… that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.” And then we have the description right here from – yeah, you can go actually through all of chapter 1. And here he says, “I saw, I heard …” Verse 25, “And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.” And then we are shown what the prophet saw, and he describes the Lord on the throne from His loins up and from His loins down, as we read in verse 27, and then in verse 28, “Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke to me.”

Beloved, the purpose of these teaching sermons is to acquaint you with God, to show you from the Old Testament first that all who spoke and were used by the Almighty knew the Lord personally. There was no phantasy. God’s Word is a true testimony of those who knew the Lord personally. They saw Him on the throne, they heard His voice. We have the true testimony of God given to us by all the prophets who knew Him personally and who announced the plan of salvation that would take its course thoughout the New Testament period. 

The Lord God bless you and be with you in Jesus’ holy Name. Amen.