Dear Friends, Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
this is Brother Frank greeting you from the International Mission Center in Krefeld, Germany. As we are having the privilege to share with you the precious Word of God, declaring the whole counsel of God, showing forth God’s plan of salvation from the Old and the New Testament, today I like to speak on the subject of the Godhead very briefly, as we did in the two previous sermons, already showing forth that God is one manifesting Himself in different ways as Creator, as Saviour, as King, as Judge and so forth.
In Acts, chapter 20 the Apostle Paul wrote like this, “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” (verse 27). All the counsel of God! “Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.” The Church of Jesus Christ, the Church of the Living God is not a Christian denomination, it is not a certain church-organisation with a headquarter here or there. The true Church of Jesus Christ consists of all true believers who are purchased and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb that was shed on the Cross of Calvary. The true Church of Jesus Christ is the Body of Christ existing of born-again, Spirit-filled and Spirit-led members of the whole Body where Christ is the head. And in this Church the Lord has placed the different ministries.
But, Friends, before we go into the New Testament period, I like to go back once more in this number 3 sermon of the 52 that we are trying to prepare, going back to the Old Testament and showing how God, the only one true God, manifested Himself. We have shown forth that He walked in the garden of Eden, creating Adam in His own image. We have shown forth in Genesis 18, how the Lord came to visit Abraham, sat down, having a meal with him. We have shown, how the prophets and the men of God, like Micaiah, in the Old Testament saw the Lord, the King, sitting on the throne and all the heavenly hosts surrounding Him. The same the Prophet Isaiah testifies, having seen the Lord on the throne and all the cherubims and seraphims surrounding the throne. And that was when the Lord said, “Who will go for us?” He didn’t speak to another person within the Godhead, He spoke to those who surrounded Him right from the very beginning. Throughout the period of the Old Testament God had not yet manifested Himself as Father, Son and Holy Ghost. In the period of the 4,000 years God announced all the things which whould take place in the course of the plan of salvation throughout the New Testament period. We shall deal with this in the next sermons.
But here in Deuteronomy, chapter 6, from verse 4 we read about the Lord once again speaking to Moses and then to Israel, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” The emphasis is that God is one. All the heathen nations had many gods, many godesses, but God, the only Eternal One, emphasises, saying, “Hear me, O Israel! You are My covenant people: Hear Me! I am the Lord, your God: Thou shalt have no other gods besides Me.” And then the Lord continues to speak in verse 6 and 7, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart …” – not “in the head” but “in thine heart”! Man argues with the head, but believes, believes with the heart. Verse 7, “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house, and on thy gates.” and so forth.
My beloved Friends, the God of Israel gave them the statement of faith, and this was not in a triune God or in a three-personed God or in a trinity – no, it was in one God only. “Hear, O Israel!” And, Brothers and Sisters, dear Friends, this might shock you: But the teaching of the trinity that was introduced in the 3rd and 4th Christian century is not found in the Bible whatsoever. God reveals Himself, even in the New Testament as our Father in heaven – That’s why we pray, “Our Father, Who art in heaven …” –, in His only begotten Son on earth, and lives in us by the Holy Spirit. God above us, God with us, God in us: three manifestations of the same God to accomplish His own plan of salvation.
During the period of the Old Testament God had not yet revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Therefore not a single time did Abraham or any man on the face of the earth speak to God as Father or to Son or to Holy Spirit in the 4,000 years since Adam to Christ. And, Brothers and Sisters, this is very important to know, because the teaching of the trinity is not only wrong, it’s totally wrong! God does not exist as a three-person God. We don’t need three eternal or three Almighty, no, one is enough. And there are no more, just one!
And if you go throughout the Old Testament, searching and searching, and finding that this one God manifested Himself in various ways. In Psalms 90 we read in verse 2, “… even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.” If you go to Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 28, we read, “Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding.” The eternal God manifested Himself in various ways in the Old Testament. And, dear Friends, let me say this very straight to you. I have to say it: Before the Return of Christ, before the Jews can turn to the Lord, the teaching of the trinity must be put before them and it must be declared that it is not according to the Word and Will of God. The Jews can only believe in one God, not in two and not in three. Even Mohammed had his problem, when the Christians were teaching that God in heaven had a son. He was asking, “If God had a son, who was the mother who gave birth to the son?“ If all people on earth, especially in Christianity will realise the damage, the misleading through the trinity doctrine, they would have to wake up. And I have to shake you by the Word of God to come to the knowledge that there is only one God who gave promises, who revealed Himself for one great purpose to be accomplished throughout the period of the New Testament.
Then we have Isaiah, chapter 43, verse 10, “Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe Me – believe Me! –, and understand that I am he; before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me.” Beloved, it doesn’t make a difference how many scriptures I would read – but I am going to read a few more –, but unless you are ready to receive correction, unless you are ready to believe the Word of God and not all the interpretations – as we have declared in the previous two sermons: those who knew God personally gave testimony about Him. It was not the idea, it was the personal experience the prophets could look back to. And, Brothers and Sisters, because God manifested Himself in Jesus Christ personally, we know Him personally! And our Lord could say, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.“
But, staying with our subject about one God, let me read Isaiah, chapter 45, verse 5, “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me; I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me …” – “I am the Lord, there is none beside Me!” Friends, I am not reading from a church book, I am reading from the Bible! And the time has come when all who wish to be accepted by the Lord reject all that is written in all the books and come back to that which is written in this one book! Here we don’t find explanations or interpretations, here we find God Himself speaking and using those He revealed Himself to and also made known His plan of salvation. Now, if you read the Scriptures: Isaiah, chapter 45, verse 23, here the Lord God says, “I have sworn by Myself, the Word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness …” Beloved, if there had been different persons in the Old Testament period, God could have sworn at His right and at His left to this one or to that one. But God swore by Himself, by Himself! You can read it in many, many different scriptures. Genesis, chapter 22, verse 16; Amos 6, verse 8; Hebrews, chapter 6, verse 13, and all the different scriptures where God, the only God swore by Himself.
I say again: we are still dealing with the Old Testament period to show forth that the only one God revealed Himself in the Old Testament in various ways. But His manifestation in human form in Jesus Christ happened at the beginning of the New Testament. Beloved, if we go to the New Testament just very quickly to Romans, chapter 3, here in verse 30 we read like this, “… seeing it is one God, who shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.” – “… seeing it is one God!” And as we said: this one God revealed Himself to save us and to bring us back as sons and daughters and placed us into our original position. In Galatians, chapter 3, we read in verse 20, “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.” Even throughout the New Testament, although the various manifestations of God are shown forth, the Scripture only speaks about one God.
Coming to Romans, chapter 1, where the Apostle Paul introduces the Gospel and speaks of his commission. Romans, chapter 1 from verse 1, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God (which he had promised before by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures) …” – promised by His prophets throughout the period of the Old Testament! But in the New Testament we see the realisation of all those promises. In Romans, chapter 16, in the last verses we read, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Now to Him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began …” This secret, the manifestation of Christ, was kept secretly right from the beginning of time and then manifested. And we shall speak about this in the oncoming sermons.
Beloved Brothers and Sisters, the coming ot the Lord is very near, it is at hand. And before Christ returns the New Testament Church must return to the Bible teachings, must come out of all denominations, out of all confusion, out of all interpretations, respecting God’s holy Word from Genesis to Revelation. One Lord, one faith, one baptism.
Dear Friends, in the next sermons we shall deal with the promises and build up to show you how God first foretold what He would do. And then to show you how in Christ all the promises are been fulfilled. Please, have part in what God is doing right now. Don’t have part in what churches or denominations or charismatic personalities are doing, don’t have part in their programs – be part of God’s plan and program for the end time and return to God and His Word and believe as the Scripture says.
God bless you and be with you in Jesus holy Name. Amen.