DOXA
The word
DOXA which is translated as GLORY in
the scriptures, primarily
signifies an "OPINION" or "ESTIMATE" and hence,
the HONOUR that
results from a Good opinion. "DOXA" is used of the
Nature of GOD in Self Manifestation. What He essentially is
and does. When we think in terms of OPINION or ESTIMATE, we
are speaking in terms of
THOUGHT, and hence the value given to that thought. An OPINION is a JUDGMENT. An OPINION is an
Evaluation, an Estimation
, a Judgment of ones own mind. An
OPINION deals with the mind and its desired
values. In the Judicial System, the Judge's formal judgment is
called his written OPINION. Thus
in this WORD STUDY this Word deals with the very MIND
of God.
MATT 16:27 "For the Son of Man shall come in
the DOXA of His Father with His angels: And then He shall
reward every man according to His works."
LIVING, DYING,
BURIED pg. 21 3-29-59
"the way God represented Himself in Jesus Christ. He
expressed His opinion to the human
race, ..."
JOHN 1:1
tells us that He is the Word.
Matt 16:27 tells
us the manner in which He shall come in this last hour. He will
come in the form of the Word which is the DOXA or OPINION of God. Then
He will hand out the
rewards. Now who hands out the
rewards for good and
evil except it be a JUDGE.
In JOHN 12:48
Jesus said, "MY WORD WILL
JUDGE IN THE LAST DAY."
In JAMES 5:9
we are told, "BEHOLD, THE JUDGE STANDETH AT THE DOOR."
This is the same
One who is knocking at the door in REVELATIONS 3:20. " BEHOLD I
STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK,".
Christ is at the door knocking, in the form of the Word, for He says, " HE
THAT HEARETH, OPEN UP TO ME AND I WILL
COME IN AND WE SHALL FEAST ON THIS WORD TOGETHER."
THE ANOINTED
ONES AT THE END-TIME PG. 63 "I
wasn't the one that appeared down on the river; I was only standing there when He appeared. I'm
not the one that performs
these things and foretells these things that happens as
perfect as they are, I'm only one
that's near when He does it. I was only
a voice that He used to say it. It wasn't what I knew, It's what I just surrendered myself to, that he spoke
through. It isn't me. It wasn't the seventh angel, oh no; It wasn't
the angel, His
message, It was a manifestation of the Son of Man. It wasn't
the angel, His message, It
was the mystery that God unfolded. It's not a man; It's God. The angel was not the Son of Man. The Son
of Man is Christ. He's the One you're
feeding on. You're not feeding on
a man. A man, his words will fail, but you're feeding on the unfailing Body-Word of the Son of Man."
MATT 24:30v "And
then shall APPEAR the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven: And then shall all the tribes of the earth
mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds
of Heaven with power and great DOXA."
Who is "The
Son of Man", But Christ in the office of Prophet. The Church has for centuries taught that this
GLORY is actually some great big
radiant beauty or splendor, or some great achievement. The Church has interpreted this scripture
and has looked for His Presence
to come via some SUPER DUPER visible manifestation.
In reality,
ISAIAH 53 describes Him as thus, "FOR HE SHALL GROW UP
BEFORE HIM AS A TENDER PLANT, AND AS A ROOT OUT OF DRY
GROUND:
This lets
you know why the Tree of Life which is Christ was not even
considered by Adam and Eve in the Garden. HE HATH NO FORM NOR
COMELINESS; AND WHEN WE SHALL SEE HIM, THERE IS NO
BEAUTY THAT WE SHOULD DESIRE HIM, HE IS
DESPISED AND REJECTED OF MEN; ...AND WE ESTEEMED HIM
NOT".
MALACHI 3 and
HEBREWS 13:8 say "HE IS
THE SAME AND CHANGES NOT ? So then, what is this POWER and great GLORY?
In ROMANS 1:16,
we read that "The Word of GOD is the
power of GOD," and the DOXA is His own great OPINION or
JUDGMENT of HIMSELF. The
world will only despise and reject Him as they always have. They do not want His OPINION,
nor do they understand the POWER
of HIS Word. Brother Branham said, the cloud
that Christ came down in was His
white wig, showing that He is here as
Judge. And "the Word shall judge in the last day."
The people miss Him
because He didn't come according to their own expectations, but He came
according to His own Word.
MARK 8:38 "Whosoever
therefore shall be ashamed of me and my Words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him shall the Son of Man
be ashamed, when He cometh
in the DOXA of His Father with the Holy
angels."
What sinful and
adulterous generation was He speaking of. The one back then that would die off and stay in the
grave until the great white throne verdict, or was He
speaking of the wicked and
adulterous generation that will be on earth at the time of
His great PAROUSIA and
DOXA. He will come as a prophet for it says, "WHEN THE SON OF MAN COMES".
He tells us here
that they will be ashamed of His
Word which will come in the OPINION of His Father. Ashamed is a condition of disgrace or dishonor, a
great disappointment. Their disappointment comes because,
even though they have looked for Him to come, He didn't come
according to their
expectations and therefore they not only missed the day of
their visitation, but they
crucified The very One who they claimed to be looking for. Hebrews 6 tells us that this will repeat again at
His Great Appearing when they once again reject Him, as the Word made
manifest once again.
JOHN 17:5 "And now, O Father, DOXAZO Thou Me
with thine own Self with the DOXA
which I had with Thee before the world was."
Jesus was
praying to the Father of DOXA to give Him the very OPINION of The Father, which OPINION He had
in The Father as His thoughts in
the beginning.
JOHN 17:22 "And
the DOXA Thou has given Me I have given them; that they may be one, even
as We are One: I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in One; and that the world
may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me. I
will that they also whom
thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my DOXA, which thou
hast given Me: For thou lovest Me
before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee: but I
have known Thee, and these have
known that Thou hast sent Me. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare It: ANd the
love wherewith Thou hast loved Me
may be in them, and I in them."
We can see here
again that the DOXA deals with the very thoughts and judgments of
the Father. What else could Jesus give us that was first the Fathers, and passed on to us. You might say, "It was His Spirit". Yes, but Jesus said,
" MY WORDS ARE SPIRIT AND
THEY ARE TRUTH." So we can see here the Word being
handed down from Father
to Son, to sons. In reality, It is a
reflection process. The
Father is the Source or author of all Light (Word).
That Light
then is reflected to the Prophet of the Hour who in turn reflects it to the people,
who in turn reflect it to the world. The Word made flesh.
ROMANS 8:18 "For
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time shall are not worthy to
be compared with the DOXA which shall be revealed in us."
Notice that the
Doxa is to be revealed in us. So the Mind of God must come into His seed.
ROM 9: 22-23 "What
if God willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long
suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction;
and what if He did this that He might make known the riches of His DOXA on the vessels of Mercy,
which He had afore prepared unto
DOXA."
This tells
us that their is a special breed of people which are actually fashioned or prepared
in such a way as to be able to
receive the DOXA of God which is the very mind and Judgment
of God.
In MATT
13: 10 - 12, Jesus tells us that only
a certain group of
people are ordained to hear and to understand. He then says " TO WHOSOEVER HATH TO
HIM SHALL BE GIVEN." The Greek word for "HATH" is "ECHO". So there
are a people who are fashioned
with an ability to echo or reflect back the Word of God,
while all others can not do
so. So, we can see that their is a people who are prepared unto DOXA. They are not the DOXA, but are
prepared unto DOXA. They were prepared before the foundations of the world in the mind of God to reflect
the mind of God. The Son is
tutored until he has his Fathers mind set. Then he is ready
for adoption or placing.)
ROMANS
15:5-6 "Now, The
God of patience and consolation grant to be like minded, one toward another according to
Christ: that ye may with one mind
and one mouth DOXA God, even The Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us
to the DOXA of God."
We are to
have ONE mind, and that is the Mind of God. Then all that we say and do will be done as unto the
Lord. He doesn't say that this
will come overnight, but he makes reference to a length of time. He says, THE GOD OF PATIENCE
AND CONSOLATION GRANT YOU TO BE
LIKE MINDED. Now the Patience is needed because of the time involved in losing
your mind and receiving His Mind. The consolation is needed
because of the many times in which we fail so miserably in letting our own thinking
go. But nevertheless, we are
ordained and predestinated to it. You see, God gives us free moral agency, but it is through this
free moral agency that we keep moving away from the truth. PROVERBS
14:12 says, THERE IS A WAY THAT
SEEMETH RIGHT UNTO A MAN, BUT THE END THEREOF IS THE WAY OF DEATH. Man will always choose the
way that seems right, but the end is death. If man
can't even understand his own ways, <PROVERBS 20:24>
how is he supposed to know which way to go? The Lord must
direct us into His Word or we are lost for
sure.
PROVERBS
16:9. and MATT 20:16 Says, MANY ARE CALLED BUT FEW ARE
CHOSEN.
JOHN 6:44 Tells
us that the Father must do the drawing. We can not come by our own
choice.
ROMANS 15 also
tells us that we must become like minded. One mind? Then Who's mind.
Yours and mine are failures to begin with. We must receive the Mind of
our Heavenly Father only.)
I COR 2:7 "But we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world
unto our DOXA:"
Again we see
that God has ordained us to receive His DOXA or mind set even before the world
began. To the world it remains hidden, but to the elect it is revealed as
he said in MATT 13:10 - 12.
I COR
10:31 "Whether therefore ye eat, or dronk, or whatever ye do, do
all to the DOXA of God."
God wants us to
have His mind set in all that we do. Not just in our doctrine, but also
in our conduct and every facet of Living. When Gods' OPINION and JUDGMENT
becomes our OPINION and JUDGMENT, then all our actions will
be God's actions. God manifesting Himself in human flesh
again.
II COR
3:7,8,10,11,18 "But if the ministration of death
written and engraven in stones, was ENDOXA,
so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
behold the presence of Moses for the DOXA of His
countenance: which DOXA was to be done away: How shall not
the ministration of the Spirit be rather ENDOXA. For even that
which was made ENDOXA had no DOXA in this respect, by reason
of the DOXA that exeelleth. For if that which is
done away was endoxa, much more that which
remaineth is ENDOXA."
The word
rather here signifies, not a doing away with, but in greater
measure. The DOXA of God is the DOXA of God, The Word of God is the Word of God. This tells us that a
greater measure, The fullness of HIS
DOXA is to come. And the limited understanding we had will give way to the full assurance of His OPINION and
Great JUDGMENT.
II COR 3:18 "But we all with unveiled faces,
behold in a mirror the DOXA of
the Lord, are changed into the same image from DOXA to DOXA, even as by
the Spirit of the Lord."
Here again we
see that as we look into the mirror of His Word, we do not see ourselves anymore. All we see is Him, or more specifically,
His DOXA. After all, we are looking into His Word, which is His
OPINION and JUDGMENT expressed. As we see His DOXA, we are changed from our
OPINION to His OPINION, from our JUDGMENT to His JUDGMENT. Thus we are coming into the IMAGE of God. If He is
The Word, then His Image must be
a reflection of that Same Word. And
What is his Image but His Word made flesh.
II COR 4:3-6 "But
if our Gosel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this evil age
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the Light of this
ENDOXA Gospel of
Christ, Who is the image of God, whould shine unto them. For
we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ouselves your servants for Jesus sake. For
God, who commanded the Light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to
give the Light of
the knowledge of the DOXA of God in the presence of
Jesus Christ."
It is very clear
here that those who can not receive the DOXA of God will be blinded by Satan to prevent them from receiving
it. And if the DOXA is God's OPINION or JUDGMENT, then what will they be
blinded by, but another OPINION or JUDGMENT that is contrary to
Gods'. It tells us here that there will be a time when the
Gospel will shine or illuminate in our hearts and give us
the knowledge of the DOXA of God. When is this to take place? At the Presence of
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
EPH 1:6 "To
the praise of the DOXA of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in his
beloved. "
This
scripture tells us that we are predestinated to the Praise of His DOXA. HEBREWS 13:15 Tells us
that the PRAISE offering is the
fruit of our lips. We then are a predestinated people who are ordained to
speak of God's Revealed Word. MALACHI 3:16 -
18 speaks also of this GROUP of
PEOPLE in whom The Lord shall write a book of remembrance. Notice
what this DOXA pertains to here.
THE DOXA OF HIS GRACE. The OPINION or JUDGMENT
of His Grace brings
an echo of His great OPINION and JUDGMENT from the lips of His Elect.)
EPH 1:12 "That
we should be to the praise of His DOXA, Who first trusted in
Christ."
Again we see
that we are predestinated to reflect His DOXA. That is our very purpose
of being. And to the praise of It, tells you we are to be ever speaking His OPINION.
EPH 1:17-18 "That
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, The Father of DOXA, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge ofim: That the eyes of your heart may
be enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and
what the riches of the DOXA of His inheritance in the saints. "
If He is the
Father of DOXA, then His children must be a part of that DOXA. The purpose of His coming as the
Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation is to bring us back to our
rightful position in Him. He brings forth this
knowledge of Himself to us by way of the voice of His Vindicated Messenger Prophet. This
ministry is to Reveal to us the
riches of the Father's "OPINION and JUDGMENT" toward His own, and it
also places us in HIM.
COL 1:27 "To
whom God would make known what is the riches of the DOXA of this mystery
among the gentiles; which is Christ in you the hope of
DOXA:"
Notice that The
Baptism is not the DOXA, but is only the earnest expectation of receiving His DOXA.)It tells
us quite plainly that "CHRIST IN YOU" is only the Hope of the Doxa
but is not the DOXA itself.
It only gives us an earnest expectation to receive the DOXA of God. This let's us know
how important the DOXA of GOD really is. For without it we
can not even receive the change of the body.
COL 3:4 "When
Christ Who is our Life shall Appear, then shall ye also Appear
with Him in DOXA."
How else could
we Manifest with Him. He is the Word. Then we must become a perfect reflection of that same word in order to
manifest as He Manifests. "IN HIM WAS LIFE AND THE LIFE WAS THE
LIGHT OF MEN". The if the
Life is the Light of men, His Life is His Light or Word. If He then is our Life, our Life must
come from His Word. Then
When His word shall manifest Itself, our Life must also manifest the same
thing. Then as Paul said, it is not really
our life but His Life in us that is manifesting. Jesus said,
MY WORDS ARE SPIRIT AND THEY ARE
LIFE. Then what is manifesting? It
can only be His Word.
I THES 2:12 "That ye would walk
worthy of God, Who hath called you into His kingdom
and DOXA."
In LUKE
17: 20 -22 Jesus is asked by the Christ
rejecting Pharisees, when His
Kingdom will come and He replies THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU. Now,
He was not suggesting to these Christ rejecting Pharisees that His
Kingdom was actually in them. The Word "WITHIN"
here actually means, "IN THE MIDST OF". A Kingdom is not a piece of real estate. A
Kingdom consists of a King and His people. And Jesus and His people
were right in their midst and they knew it not. So then
we see that the Kingdom is His Presence. Now this
scripture here then tells us that we are called into
His Presence and His OPINION and JUDGMENT. For He is here in the form of
the WORD as we stated earlier.
II THES 1:7,10 "And
to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His
mighty angels,"..." When He shall come to be ENDOXA in
His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe
(becaues our testimony was believed) in that day."
Paul tells us
that His Testimony or His Message will
be believed in "THAT" day. Did not
Brother Branham say that He, "only preached what
Paul preached." And notice what that Message is to produce,
Christ's own OPINION and JUDGMENT in the saints.
A people with His very mind set. And this Mind set will
bring a rest and a relaxation as Brother Branham promised the
opening of the Seventh Seal would
produce.
TIT 2:13 "Looking
for that blessed hope, and the ENDOXA Appearing of the Great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ;"
This great
Appearing of Our God and Saviour, is to be in the Form of Spirit bringing Life,
and it will come through His Vindicated Word being opened up
to His Elect By the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge
of Him.
HEB 1:3 "Who
being the brightness of His DOXA, and the express Image of His
person, and upholdng all things by the Word of His
power, when he had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the Majesty on high."
Now John
1:1 says, IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE
WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD AND THE WORD WAS GOD. So if
He was the expressed Image of God who is the Word, then He is the
Word Expressed. The very OPINION
and JUDGMENTS of God made manifest.
HEB 2:7,10 "Thou
madest Him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownest Him with DOXA
and honour, and didst set Him over the works of thy hands."
The very
rowning was in filling Him with the very OPINION and JUDGMENT
of God in order to set Him over the works of God. The
Scripture also promises us in
II TIM 4:8[1]
that we also shall
receive our crowning at His great Appearing. This
Crowning is also to be by receiving His DOXA which is His OPINION
and JUDGMENT, or His very Mind.
HEB 2:10 "For
it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bring
ing many sons unto DOXA, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering."
The very
One who made it possible for God's Elect to come into God's DOXA
had to be child trained and had to suffer in order to not only
become the Captain or chief leader or author of our Salvation, but in order to
become a finished product of God's
DOXA Himself.
I PETER 1:7
" That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of
gold that perisheth, though It be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise, honor and DOXA at the Appearing of Jesus Christ."
We see here a
moving out or progression of our faith that is set in motion by the Trials of our Revelation.
The first stage is to begin
testifying to our Revelation or our Faith. This testifying moves us into a place of Honour where we
come subject to our own testimony
and begin to give proper Headship and Preeminence to The Revelation we receive at the Appearing
of Christ. This is to occur
in the last age which is epochal and strategic in
it's significance.
Finally
this speaking back the Revelation and adhering & coming subject to it,
brings us to a place where we
have no other thought but the Thoughts of God as Vindicated
and Revealed in this great
Appearing of Christ. At this stage we have entered into the DOXA or OPINION of
God. Then we will be ready to receive our body change. For without a renewing
of the Mind there can be no transformation of
the body, as Spoken of in
ROMANS
12:1-2 Notice we are told here that
our body change will comes as a result of a renewed mind.
I PET 1:8 "Whom having not seen, ye
love; in Whom, though ye see Him not,
yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of DOXA." This scripture is still in
reference to the great Appearing of Christ to the Elect at the end time. But, Although
the great majority of
those who truly believe the vindicated Messenger Prophet of this last hour have never even
seen Him, nor have they seen the
Manifested Christ through that ministry directly, yet this new generation of Elect still believe
with Joy unspeakable and are
becoming full of the DOXA of GOD which is His OPINION and JUDGMENT.
I PET 1:11 "Searching what, or what
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of
Christ, and the DOXA that should follow."
The
suffering was at His first coming, in His ministry to
the Jews. The DOXA that should
follow is His ministry to the GENTILES
in the form of the WORD through the SPIRIT in
this last day ELIJAH
Ministry.
I PET 4:13 "But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ's suffering; that, when His DOXA shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also
with exceeding joy."
This
speaks to us that The DOXA will come by means of a Revealing. This
Revelation of God's DOXA will set our hearts to rejoicing exceedingly.
I PETER 5:1 "The
elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness
of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the DOXA that shall be revealed:"
Peter had
finally succumbed to the Mind of God and let his own thinking
go. Peter, James and John had been carried up onto the Mountain in MATT 17 by Jesus and had become
eye witnesses of The OPINION and JUDGMENT of God when God overshadowed
Jesus and said, "THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM PLEASED TO
DWELL, HEAR YE HIM." In other words, shut up
and listen. Peter learned His lesson over and over
again, until he finally gave up on his own opinion and let God's opinion
take preeminence. Every time Peter tried to correct Jesus or
disagree with what Jesus was doing, Jesus would look right
straight into His eyes, and piercing His very soul with
that gaze, He would say, "GET THEE BEHIND ME
SATAN." I'm sure Peter hated to be called that, but what
Jesus was telling Him is that any thought contrary
to The Fathers thoughts that He expressed were of Satan.
1 PET 5:4 "And
when the Chief Shepherd shall Appear, ye shall receive a crown of
DOXA that fadeth not away."
The
scripture tells us, THAT HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY,
BUT NOT ONE JOT OR TITTLE OF GODS WORD SHALL FAIL." So this crown of DOXA
that shall never fade away must be God's own Word. It is not some Glory as in Gold or silver,
for we are to store up our treasure in Heaven where nothing can tarnish
or lose it's luster or even rust. Our DOXA is then the
Word of God that we are Crowned with. The
Crown is the top part of the head. Then our Headship must be given
to Christ The Word, for nothing else would
do.
I PET 5:10
"But the God of all Grace, Who hath called us unto His eternal
DOXA by Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered a while, make
you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you."
There is
no Eternal outside of God, and we know that He is the Eternal
Spirit full of Wisdom and Knowledge. Then what could this ETERNAL DOXA be but
His Word.
JUDE 24 "Now unto Him that is able to
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless
before the presence of His DOXA with exceeding joy, to the only
wise God our Saviour, be DOXA and Majesty, and dominion and power, both now and
ever. Amen."
Notice how
that we are to be found blameless in the Presence of His DOXA.
The Presence of Christ then as we have stated all
along, is and must be in the form of His Holy Spirit, which has
come down and has manifested Himself and His Life through
His Vindicated Word. Jesus said, "MY WORDS ARE SPIRIT AND
THEY ARE LIFE." It is He that Keeps us from falling and that
will present us faultless to His very OPINION and JUDGMENT.
"HE WHO MADE THE WORD IS HERE TO COMPLETE IT.