Apocalypse chapitre 5 #1 (le serpent écrasé)
1 Thank
you very much, Brother Neville. The Lord bless you, my brother.
And good morning, friends. It's happy this morning, privilege, or a
grand privilege, I should say, to be back here at the Tabernacle again
and to have this time of--set aside for our morning worship and
fellowship around the Word of the Lord. I believe it was said one time,
"I was happy when they said unto us, 'Let us go to the house of the
Lord.'" To be with Brother Neville again, my good and precious friend...
3 And a... I guess it's a little cool, or a little warm back there. We have, I think, some fans that you can use with your hands this way. It's... If... We got the fans if you've got the motor, so just to keep it a-moving. Or, we did have a bunch around here; I think they still have them. I see some using song books or whatmore. And it's... One thing we're trying to have services for, is to dodge these places that are--are in the future that's hot. So we're... That's why we're here this morning, to bypass those places. And only one thing that can do that, that's the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that does that.
4 And I was very happy to hear the good report of the church, that how it is progressing, going on with the Lord, and how God is dealing with you in spiritual gifts. And I certainly are very thankful to God for your sincere hearts that He can deal with, and trusting that He'll keep you right in the middle of that straight and narrow way, that you will not move right or left from it.
5 And I
want to thank Brother Colvin and his daughter, I believe it was, that
was up here a few moments ago that sang that song, "There's No Tears In
Heaven." That's beautiful. I certainly appreciate that.
And as Brother Neville said about he and I years ago, and I can say
that about Brother Colvin; we've knowed one another for years. And to
hear him sing those old Gospel songs and bringing his children up in
the way of the Lord, it's very elating to my heart. Makes me rejoice to
know that God still has people who love Him and care for Him. And we're
grateful for that.
7 Now,
since I come back, I hear that many has been baptized into the faith,
and we're so happy for that. I see my good friend, Brother Elmer
Gabehart back there. I understand that he was just baptized into the
faith, and I'm certainly grateful for that. That makes all of our old
hunting crew down in Kentucky just about ready; just take the limit now
alone, doesn't it?
I remember (And I know Rodney is listening to me in the back room, if
he's back there yet, and Charlie is setting before me.) when we used to
go down there... The boys all liked to, "Well, it's squirrels." They'd
take a few extra if they could find them. But I got to talking to them
that that wasn't right. So now there the whole group's just about
converted, so I guess we'll just have to move over into the next county
and get them straightened out over there. That'll be fine.
9 So I
sometimes look down, as every minister, down the pathway that you have
walked, and wonder about the--the things, that if--if you have sowed
the seed.
Many of you is well acquainted with Johnny Appleseed in--of America.
Why, there was also a--a man in Sweden that was considered something
like that; he sowed flowers. And they say that's why they have so many
pretty flowers in Sweden now, and because that they sowed the flower
seeds, everywhere he could find a piece of ground that seeds would grow
in. He loved flowers so he just strowed the seeds around. He's gone on
but his flowers still live.
And
partings leave behind us
Footprints
on the sands of time;
Footprints,
that perhaps another,
While
sailing over life's solemn main,
A
forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
In
seeing, shall take heart again.
And that's what we all like to see, that something that we have did
that will cause others to--to benefit by what we have done.
12 A few
days ago I was setting, talking to my loyal little friend here in the
city, a medical doctor, Sam Adair. And he said, "How are you doing,
Bill?"
And I said, "Oh, pretty fair, I suppose, Doc." I said, "Yourself?"
And he said, "Oh, a lot of patients." Said, "I had fifteen examinations
this afternoon."
I said, "Well, that's good as long as it's just examinations and
finding nothing wrong." I said, "You know, the..." We got to talking
about back when we were boys. And I said, "Well, Doc, I don't know just
how long I'm going to be around. We're both in our fifties."
And he said, "That's true, Bill."
And I said, "But all these years, about thirty-one years of ministry
now, I have kept my heart prepared for that hour when He comes. So it
doesn't matter when He comes."
So he said, "That is true."
I said, "The greatest thrill I have is living for others."
17 And he
said, "That's what life is--makes life real, is when you, not what you
can do or accomplish for yourself, but what you can do for others."
See, that's when you're really living.
And if there happens to be someone among us who has never did that,
tried to live for somebody else, give that a try, and just see how much
more life holds for you when you will not live for what you can get
yourself out of life but what you can give someone else in life. And
you'll find that it's more blessed than riches or anything of--that can
be thought of, is what you can do for someone else to make life's
burdens... Which, life in itself is a burden. And it will make it a
little lighter for someone else. You just don't know the joy unless
you've tried it once, to do something for someone else.
19 And
then that brings me to thinking of thirty-one years (will be soon) of
ministry for the Lord. And I guess every man thinks of sometime when he
has to come to his last service, and come to his last hour, and look
back down the path, and see what has been accomplished, see what's went
on, "Have you did anything?" And as I have just said, it's what you do
for others that counts.
I often wonder what would be when I got to the end of my road, which we
don't know what time that will be, none of us. So I was thinking about
looking back down along the trail where I've come through life, and
seen the different hills, and briar patches, and rocks, and hard
places, and smooth runnings, and what I did in those kind of times.
It'll all show up one of these days at the hour of my going away. And
it'll do that on each one of us. We will all be sure of that, that
it'll--it'll show up to each one when that time comes.
21 And
that brings me or leads me to say something that I would rather run
than say. It leads me to say something that I... It grinds my heart to
the bottom to say it, but what I say I am forced to say, realizing that
this is being taped and the world will hear it, but I have left the
ministry for a--a cause that I am sorry that I have to leave for. And
perhaps many of you have heard it; I'm closing my office, and so forth,
and leaving the field.
I don't know where our Lord will lead me to, and that I have no control
of, or whatever He will have for me to do. But I'm thinking at the end
of the road where I must come. And down along life's journeys I have
made so many mistakes that I am very sorry from my heart of, because
of, I guess, being human and in weakness and so forth, causes a person
to do things or say things that, and even act that they would not want
to act otherwise. But being the weakness of a human being, why, we--we
have those times. But there...
23 If
there's anything that has been in my heart to do, was to hear those
Words of our Lord Jesus at the end of this journey, to say, "It was
well done, My good and faithful servant." And many times I have said
I'd like to have been standing there when He said, "Come unto Me"; but
I did desire to hear it say, "Well done." That I did not hear the voice
in the original say, "Come unto Me," back in the times of the writing
of the Bible; but I do desire to hear it say, "Well done."
And if anything I always wanted to be, and desires of my heart to be,
was a true servant to Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour. I want my
testimony to be clean, clear cut, that I stood, in all my mistakes I
yet loved Him with all my heart. And I do that this morning with all my
heart.
And because of that, it forces me to say I am leaving the ministry, is
because that there's something arose up amongst the people that's
caused me to do it; that is, that I have been taken from my bracket of
a minister or a brother and being called Jesus Christ, and so call...
And that would brand me as an antichrist. And I'll meet God as a
quitter before I would meet Him as an antichrist to take away from Him.
26 I--I
heard of it a--a few years ago and I thought it was a joke. And I met a
couple brethren (which I don't see neither one of them in the meeting
this morning), two or three of them one time in a fishing trip, and
they approached me by the subject of saying, "Brother Branham, aren't
you the anointed Messiah, the Christ?"
And I put my arms around the neck of both brethren, or all of them, and
I said, "Brethren, as much as I have tried to be a true servant of
Christ, I would not that you would say such a thing as that. And if it
would ever be said of me, then I will leave the field with a clear
conscience, and you who do that will be responsible for every soul that
I would've saved during that time (See?), for taking me from the
field." And I thought that ended it.
28 And I
heard it a few more times. But it wasn't so. And the other day in
Canada a brother showed me a little ticket of a thing he packed in his
pocket, said, "William Branham is our Lord," baptizing in the name of
William Branham. And a little... a precious... If it'd been an enemy,
if it'd been my enemy I would've knowed it was a joke. But a precious,
darling brother come up to confess his sins and his wrongs and say his
faith in me as being Jesus Christ.
And I have got letters at home, and calls from Chicago and different
places, asking me if I believe that dogma.
And I got all kinds of letters that's come in the last few days, and
calls from different places, and so--or--or saying that I was Christ.
Brethren, that is a horrible, disgraceful, ungodly lie of the Devil.
See, see? I am your brother. Now, that would run any person from the
field. That would make anyone that loves Christ run from the very thing.
31 I went
to the Lord here not long ago, when I first heard it, about a year ago,
and then I went to the Lord and He referred to me to the Scripture that
when John came forth a-preaching, that they hadn't had a prophet on the
earth for so many years, until it would... They was all amazed in their
heart, thinking maybe John was the Messiah. So then I... John, they
went and asked him, and he said that he was not. You read that in Luke
the 3rd chapter, 15th verse. And so then... But that kind of quietened
down, so I let it go like that.
But then when it come to this, then I knowed that something must be
done. And I say this, that the visions and the Angel of the Lord that
appeared at the river, if this is to be my last message or last thing
to the church, to the world, "Those things are truth, as far as the
Angel of the Lord."
And I stood still if people called me a prophet many times, 'cause a
prophet in the English testament is just "a preacher, a prophesier, a
foreteller of the Word," and so forth. I'd stand for that, 'cause you
could just kind of push that down; but when it comes to be calling
anointed Christ, or something, that was too much for me. So I just
couldn't stand that.
34 And so
then about... I come... After leaving the meeting at Canada, I found
out that way up in the Eskimos or the Indians up there, it had got
among them.
And so it just tore me all up. And the hunting trip that I had planned
so long, I could not take it. I was afraid of a hunting accident, if
you understand what I mean. I got so shaky, worse than I am standing
here now. And I just couldn't stand it any longer, to think that
thirty-one years of ministry went down the Devil's gutter pipe, into
the... When I'm gone, what will they say? "There he is; that's exactly
what it was." And all the influence that I had upon the people, then
you see where it'd be, I'd be an antichrist. And I just couldn't stand
it.
I thought, "I'd rather die here in the woods, like I fell on my gun or
something, than..." And I seen I was... Then I thought about my little
Joseph, and so forth, that had to be raised. And I was no condition to
hunt, so I just left the woods and come home.
And I've been tore up about eight or ten days, in such a fix I just...
I thought I was losing my mind. And I just asked everybody to stay away
from me and let me alone, 'cause I'm in such a fix and nervous and
upset and all tore to pieces.
38 And I
wondered; if it would've been some enemy of mine, it would been all
right, but I would just have laughed at it and went on; but when it
come to being precious brothers, precious sisters, then that's what
hurt me. And I said, "Lord, the great--thing's too great for me; I'll
just have to walk out and leave it in Your hands. I--I don't know
nothing else to do."
A few nights ago, to make it sure, I had a--a visitation from the Lord.
And I seen a precious ones, a babying a--a serpent which was yellow and
black, and telling me right along, and--and the thing struck me on the
leg. But the blood was so rich it didn't take effect on me. And I
looked down, and there's where I had been bit before. And I turned
quickly with a gun and shot the--the thing, and it hit it right in the
middle of the thing.
And a brother said... I turned with my gun to shoot its head off, and
he said, "Don't do that; just pick up the stick laying there by you."
And when I turned my back to pick up the stick, it wiggled into some
water, just a small puddle of water.
I said, "Well, it can't hurt very much longer now because I believe the
brother realizes (the brethren) that what would happen." I said,
"It'll... It's mortally wounded, so it'll die."
42 And I
asked many of my members of my church here, in this Tabernacle with
Brother Neville and I, that's come approaching me with that same
question. Brothers, sisters, haven't I tried to be a true servant of
Christ before you? Have not I tried to be your brother?
Now, wherever it is; it's a spirit on precious people. Many people has
asked me that. But it's--it's a spirit, but I hope that today that it
receives a deadly wound and will die out quickly so I can return back
to the ministry. Until then, I'll ask you each one: pray for me. I
don't know what I'll do. My place up for sale. And I just can't stand
it; I--I--I stay around, I'll go completely stark mad. And I'm... I ask
you to pray for me.
And, remember, if you've ever believed me, if you've ever believed me
to be a servant of Christ, remember, "That is an error. It's falsely.
THUS SAITH THE LORD. It is wrong. Have nothing to do with it. I am your
brother. Let us bow our heads:
45 Heavenly
Father, my flesh is trembling; my hands are squeezing together; my toes
are drawed up in my shoes. O God, be merciful. What have I ever done,
Lord, to deserve this? I pray that You'll be so merciful to me, Lord,
and to all. And up there in them precious darling people, may they see
their error and what they have did, Lord, to break the heart of their
brother and to--not only their brother, but our Saviour; our heavenly
Father. I pray that You'll forgive us of our errors, Lord. Let the holy
Blood of Christ now draw our beings together, Lord, and blessed be the
tie that binds our hearts in Christian love and fellowship.
God, may the enemy that's approached our brothers and our sisters
with--may it receive a deadly wound that cannot exist any longer; may
it just die away, Lord. When You do that, Father, I'll return back to
the field again. But until then, Lord, I am Your heartbroken servant,
waiting, waiting. It's beyond anything I could do. With tears and with
crying and with persuading I tried, Lord, hard (You know my heart.), to
stop it before it got that far; but it went beyond anything I could do.
So, Father, I commit it into Your Hand from this pulpit to where I've
preached for all these years. I commit it into Your Hand.
Now, You see to it, Father, in Your own Divine way. And when it's all
finished and everything is over, then Thy servant shall return. Until
then I'll be waiting to hear from You, Lord.
Bless us now and give us a great service today; as we're here not
altogether for this, but just to make it clear, publicly, before the
world. That they might know, Father, that I love You and believe You,
and have stood for You, and--and want to... If I have to go, let me go,
Lord, with a clean heart and a real record that I have believed You and
trusted You. Grant it. And I'll praise Thee and we'll give Thee glory
through all ages that is to come through Jesus Christ. Amen.
49 Now,
over in the Scriptures, let us turn in the Bible to the... I thought
this morning it would be a good thing, if Brother Neville don't mind,
just to continue on for a few minutes in...
Now, I... Don't let me hear it one more time mentioned among any of
you. Just pray and keep it out; shut it off. See? I don't...
I--I'm--I'm fifty-two years old, but I think maybe, if God spares me, I
got a little life left, and I want to spend every ounce of my time for
Christ. So remember, I'm leaving because I'm driven to do it.
51 Now, in the Book of the Revelations, in the 4th chapter where we left off the other day when we were in the study... Revelations the 4th chapter, I believe, at the last part of the verse--or the chapter. Well, how many likes Revelations? Wonderful. Now, I believe we quit at the 5th--the 5th chapter, didn't we? We left off at the 4th chapter, the four living creatures. Now, let's approach the Word now, forgetting those things are in the past.
52 Father, God, You help us now as we are nervous, but we approach the Word. Forgetting that which is in the past, we press now to the mark of the high calling, high calling of the ministry to be a servant to Christ. Give us the Word this morning and feed our hungry souls, for we're longing, Lord, and waiting for that precious anointing of the Holy Spirit. Come among us, Lord, forgiving our sins and trespasses and letting us be Your servants. For we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.
53 Now, we took the church ages, the last seven church ages. And then, now, I believe some of them are trying to--are going to write this up, the church ages. Then we come into the 4th chapter of the Book of the Revelation of... What is this? The Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Revelation, called in the Latin, the Apocalypse, which means "to be revealed, taking the--the cover off of, to show, to expose," to bring out the revelation of Jesus Christ which Was, Is, and Shall Come, the Root and Offspring of David.
54 Now, in
the 4th chapter, we find out that John was caught up into heaven after
he'd seen the church ages. Just giving a little background now, and
then we'll...
Maybe it'd be best to read a few verses of the 5th chapter, and then
we'll start right in with the background.
And
I saw in the right hand of him that set upon the throne a book written
within and... the backside, sealed with seven seals.
And
I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to
open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
And
no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to
open the book, neither to look thereon.
And
I wept... because no man was found worthy to open and... read the book,
neither to look thereon.
And
one of the elders said unto me, Weep not: behold, the lion of the tribe
of the... of Juda, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book,
and to loose the seven seals thereof
And
I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and... the four beasts,
and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain,
having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God
sent forth into all the earth.
And
he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that set upon
the throne.
That's the first seven verses.
56 Now, now, in the 3rd chapter of Revelations we find the ending up of the church age, which ended with the Laodicean, the lukewarm church age. Then we find out that immediately after that, John was caught up in the Spirit up into the heaven. And he saw things that was, and was to come, and things that had been. Now, we find out the church doesn't appear anymore until the 19th chapter of Revelations, then she returns with her Lord, gloriously washed in the Blood.
57 Now, in
this last quotation, for a little background to get set where John is
now, we found out that in the last message... I was just briefly
looking over it yesterday, some of the context that I had spoken of.
And John was carried up into heaven and saw those things. And I'd
noticed in there that He had give me a revelation, that... You know,
after His resurrection many was with Him, and some said, "What will
happen to this man that's leaning upon Your bosom (John)?"
Jesus turned and said, "What is it to thee if he tarries till I come?"
So He never...
Then there went a doctrine out. See how easy it can start? There went a
doctrine out that--that John wasn't going to die until he seen Jesus
coming--or till the second coming. The Bible said there was a doctrine
went out of that. Howbeit, Jesus never said it that way. He said, "What
is it to you if he tarries till I come?"
Now, we find out that he was lifted up into the heavens and saw from
then until the coming of the Lord, as though he had been there and seen
it all happen. John himself did not live... He lived to be ninety
something years old, and then died in a--a natural death (the only one
of the apostles) after coming from his exile from Isle of Patmos.
62 Now,
there's one outstanding point that I would... (I think they've taken
my--the blackboard down.) But I would like to emphasize on it a little
before we strike this vital thing. Oh, this is glorious. It's a
wonderful, wonderful chapter.
And then the very next chapter begins with opening up these seals. Oh,
my. And then we have to skip from there and go different places in the
Bible to get these seals when they opened and what the mysteries of
them are. Oh, they are glorious, just rich with spiritual vitamins.
64 Now, we see that one of the great outstanding things I'd like to bring your attention to, was the living creatures of the last part of the 4th chapter, that John saw watching that ark of the covenant. You remember how they were fixed just like Israel in its march? They had... Now on... There was a face of the living creature. And we found out that these creatures were not Angels, neither were they men. They were Cherubims. And we found them in the Old Testament with the ark. We find them in the New Testament. And then we find them over in the coming of the Lord again: Cherubim guarding the mercy seat, the mercy seat which no one could approach unless there was an atonement there for that person. Only way that the sanctuary, when it was sprinkled of the blood, then it became a mercy seat. But after the blood was taken off, then it became a judgment seat.
66 And,
oh, my, no one could stand the judgments of God. The only thing that we
can look for is mercy, not judgment, not righteous--righteousness. We
cannot approach His justice; because His justice, He'll have to keep
His Word; and keeping His Word, "The day you eat thereof, that day you
die." Who would want justice? I don't want justice. I call for mercy.
My, let the mercy of God... And the mercy seat's sprinkled.
But there was a time of the cleansing of the sanctuary, when it was a
judgment seat as long as the blood was off of the seat. Now, we're
approaching that time now. We are now approaching in this age a
cleansing of the sanctuary and the judgments coming upon the earth.
See? As long as Blood is there, God cannot destroy the earth; long as
Blood is there, nobody's a sinner before God. Everybody's right,
because there's an atonement for everybody. But if you fail to accept
that atonement and go into His Presence, then you are a sinner; you're
beyond that mercy. Then you've judged yourself. But now while there is
mercy... But when the cleansing of the sanctuary comes, the Blood goes
off the mercy seat and then the wrath of God falls upon the earth. Oh,
my. God, be merciful to us, that we be not in that day found without
mercies of God.
69 Now, we
see in there... I'll try to kind of spiritualize it here, or draw it
for you by my hand, that there were four corners how Israel camped
themselves. They put the--the ark in the center, and on the four sides
of the tent was three tribes of Israel, and three fours is twelve, or
four threes, rather, twelve. And each three had a head. And each head
of the tribe...
One of them was Reuben; he always camped to the--the south. He was the
head of man. And Ephraim was to the west, with three tribes, he was
the--the ox. The... Then on the east was Judah, which is the lion. And
on the north was Dan, which was the eagle. Now, notice. You remember
them? All of you remember them well, how we had them drawed out: the
eagle, and the ox, and the--the man, and the lion.
71 Now,
you notice, Judah guards the eastern gate. And Christ is the Lion of
the tribe of Judah. He shall descend from the eastern skies, enter in
by the way of the gate. He comes from the eastern gate from the tribe
of Judah. And He's the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
And we find out, over in our coming message this morning, that He still
is proclaimed the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root, the very
beginning of David. David was the king, eternally. And Christ sets on
the throne of David in the millennium, which is eternal King. "There
will never be one fail David." Hallelujah. "Never be one fail David."
God promised that, said, "None would ever fail David, not one."
You say, "What about today, where are those Jewish judges?"
He still has the Seed, Christ is his Son according to the flesh. There
one sets there. "David shall not fail." That's right. And Christ is
that Lion of the tribe of Judah from which David sprang from.
75 Now, we
find out that they were the guards to the mercy seat. They watched the
mercy seat. Nothing come to it; it crossed over the tribes first before
it could get to the mercy seat. Every man willing to give his life,
every Israelite in camp would die before anything could enter into that
camp over there and take that mercy seat. And now, we find out that was
the Old Testament order.
And in the New Testament order we find the same thing, that it was
guarded, the mercy seat. Oh, I hope you get it. The mercy seat is still
guarded, still got the guards. We found out that those guards are
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, guarding the Book of Acts, the acts of
the Holy Spirit done amongst the apostles, which is the--the Book of
Acts of the New--of the New Testament. And the four writers of the
Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all guard that mercy seat to
show that it is God, the Holy Spirit today. Each Scripture, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, every one of them will back up the true Gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the acts of the Holy Spirit.
77 Now,
when we get beyond that, then that's not It. But It backs up the true
message. Like we find out in Acts 2:38, where, "Repent, and be baptized
in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins."
And today they adopted the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be
baptized in. There's no Scripture for that. There's no background.
There's no--there's no nothing to guard that, not a thing. You say,
"Matthew said it." Matthew guarded It, Matthew 28--1:18 said:
...
the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When... his mother Mary was
espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with a
child of the Holy Ghost.
...
this was all done... While Joseph her husband,... (rather)...
being a just man,... not willingly to make her a publick example, was
minded to--to put her away privately, on this wise.
But
while he thought on these things, behold, the Angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not
to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is
of the Holy Ghost.
Then, the Holy Ghost and God the Father is the same Person or He had
two fathers. See? So you see...
And
she shall bring forth a child,... call his name JESUS:...
...
and this was done, that it might be fulfilled... spoken of...
prophet,...
God would be with us, called Emmanuel, which is God, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost in one Name, Jesus Christ, which guards that gate against
error.
81 A few
days ago in Chicago, before a ministerial association of Chicago,
greater Chicago... I knew... The Holy Spirit got me up in the night and
told me, "Stand by the window." Said, "There is a group of ministers,
and they're fixing a breakfast for you." Said, "Be careful, they're
going to attack you upon this."
I said, "Thank You, Lord." He showed me where it would be set.
And I went and told some ministers, Brother Carlson and Brother Tommy
Hicks, how it would be. I said, "The place that you've ordered, it
won't be like that. We're going to be in another place." Told how
Doctor Meade would be setting; how a colored man would come in, set
this way, and all about it.
84 Then
that morning they said... My son said to me; he said, "Daddy, you going
over there in that fuss?"
I said, "I ain't going over to fuss. I'm going over, anointed with the
Holy Spirit, with a Word of God that'll guard that mercy seat as long
as He's there."
So when we got down there, before they even had a chance to ask one
thing, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, said, "Now, is the time to say it."
I said, "I know why you're here." And I said, "Now, Brother Hicks, and
you and Brother Carlson, the head of the Christian Business Men," I
said, "isn't everything just exactly the way the Holy Spirit told me
day before yesterday, that you did not get that room, we'd be over
here?" And they just got it that morning. And I said, "Now, look,
everybody is placed just the way It said it would be." I said, "The
thing you want to approach me on is on the Name of Jesus Christ for
baptism."
88 And
when we... The Holy Spirit begin to take the Word of God and reveal It
and interpret It down like that, when all those bunch of trinitarian
ministers setting there, reaching under the table and shaking hands
with one another and tears running down their cheeks. And I understand
that seventy-two of them is coming down here to this Tabernacle for me
to baptize them in the Name of Jesus Christ.
The mercy seat is guarded (See?), the Holy Spirit guarding the mercy
seat. We must keep it just exactly... Let that Word of God... Them
great messengers setting there, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that
backs up every act of that New Testament...
And now, now, that's exactly what I said in the first part of this
morning's message, let's keep it right there guarded by the Gospel,
these things. See? Keep it right there where the Gospels will guard It.
91 Now, we find out in there, they were guarding God's mercy seat in the Old Testament; and there, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, all of them. And even the Lion of the tribe of Judah laid down His Life to guard that mercy seat, let it be sprinkled with His own Blood. And there He stands this morning, today, the great Conqueror which shall descend from the east someday and we shall see Him.
92 Now, we
turn quickly, 'cause I know there's a baptismal service. What is this
seven sealed Book? Oh, what a great thing. Did you notice how it says
here, "It was seven seals on the back of the Book." It's something...
Oh, may God help us now and give us courage, and maybe sooner or later
I can get it to you. Look, this is not written in the Word; it's sealed
on the back of the Word. The Book was sealed by these seven seals. The
whole mystery of the Book is sealed up in these seven seals. This is
one of the most greatest chapters in the whole Book of the Revelations.
Look.
And
I saw in the right hand of him that set upon the throne a book written
within and... written within... (Inside's
written, that's what we're reading this morning.)...
and... the backside, sealed with seven seals.
Outside the Bible, what the Bible doesn't even say, it's sealed in here
with seven seals: the mysteries of God.
93 Now,
what is it? Now, notice. A seal represents a finished product,
something that has been already tested, proven, and then sealed. Where
is... We have the Earnest of our salvation now by being sealed with the
Holy Spirit. That is the Earnest of our salvation.
Let's go back just a minute, back... I got a Scripture written down
here, several of them; I don't--won't have time to get to all. But
let's go back to Ephesians just a moment, and read this in the 1st
chapter of Ephesians, so that you might get the real meaning.
Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are
at Ephesus,...
And, remember, John had this letter addressed to the Ephesians, to
Ephesus and the faithful in Christ, the ones that Paul had preached to,
and brought up, nurtured with the Gospel. See?
...
Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ... (That's
those who are already in Christ.)...
How do we get in Christ? By one Spirit we're all baptized into one
body, which is the body of Christ.
97 Grace be
unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and... the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Think of it now. He has blessed us with all heavenly grace, blessings,
as we assemble together in Christ Jesus as the believers, the elected
church, called out, set aside. He's sealed us in by His Holy Spirit,
and now is revealing to us all the things that is in the future for us.
Now, we're up to the seven seals.
According
as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and without blame... in love:
Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to His own good pleasure...
What a beautiful thought this is.
98 Let's
just read on just a minute. I want to get down here especially to the
12th verse, and 13th, 14th:
That
we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Him.
In
whom ye also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, and the
gospel of your salvation: in whom... after... ye believed, you were
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
"After ye believed..." Oh, my Baptist brother, how could you say that
isn't so? You say you receive the Holy Ghost when you believe? It said,
"After you believed then you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of
promise." Notice:
Which
is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of his glory.
100 Now, we find out then that a seal means that it is a finished thing with God; it's already settled. And every believer was sealed with this promise from the very beginning, because before the foundation of the world we were predestinated unto the adoption of sons, before the world ever began. Oh, what a hope; that makes us rest steadfast and sure, a anchor to the soul that's not tossed about here and there but anchored in Christ, a hope that's sure. "Predestinated us before the foundation of the world, to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ." Oh, how wonderful. I love that finished work with God.
101 Now, let me just quote another Scripture to you. "All that He foreknew, He has called; all that He called, He justified; all that He has justified, He hath glorified." All the way from the beginning, God, in His great infinite mind, foresaw His church and predestinated it unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ, to give them Eternal Life at the end of the age. What a beautiful thing. Brother Neville, that just makes me feel lots better. So just... Adoption by the Blood of Jesus Christ...
102 Now, notice as we go on. Now, we know it's a finish... We are predestinated with the Lamb. The Holy Spirit is our Seal. The "Earnest" means "more is yet to come." We only have the Earnest of It now. The Earnest is just the down payment (Oh, how beautiful.), just the down payment that holds it, and secures it, and anchors it so no one else can touch it. It's the Earnest of our adoption. Amen. The Holy Spirit is now the Earnest of God in our hearts (seal), the adoption of sons waiting us at the end of the road: sons and daughters of God.
103 Let's
turn to another Scripture, right quick, I got written down on this
other page here. Romans 8:22, I think it's beautiful. Now, in studying
yesterday, I kinda wrote out a few Scriptures here that I'd like to
refer to.
...
we know that--we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now.
And
not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Oh, do you see it? "All creation is groaning," said Paul. Everything is
groaning. Look at the trees how they struggle. Look at the flowers how
they struggle for life, just for the frost to tear them down. Look at
the trees how they struggle to hold their branches out to sing glories
unto God. See? Everything, all nature, all animals, all birds, how he
flies from the enemy quickly and gets away, everything groaning. "And
we ourselves," said Paul, "we groan too with them, for we're waiting
for the redemption of our body."
105 But
now, now, they've been all those years until now, now we have the
Earnest of our inheritance. Oh, my, my. What do we have? We have the
evidence that God lives. We have the evidence that God is with us. We
have the evidence that God has not forsaken us, that we are His and He
is ours, because we, in our bodies we now tabernacle the Holy Spirit of
God that cries out, "Abba, Father." And there's nothing can ever take
that away. We are anchored in Christ.
Now, the trees does not have it; nature does not have it; but yet we
are still groaning with them because as yet we haven't received the
fulness of our adoption. But we have the Earnest of it, that we were
picked up from the things of the world and now become sons and
daughters of God. What kind of people should we be? Oh, my, when we
think of that... Think of it.
Now, we have the Earnest; our spirit's groaning for the full adoption,
but now we have the Earnest of it. As we receive the Holy Spirit, It is
the Earnest of our complete adoption or complete salvation. Oh, how
beautiful. I just love that. All right.
108 We are
waiting for the fulness of adoption. This will take place when? At the
first resurrection. That's when our bodies will be changed from these
vile creatures that we are and we'll have a body like His own glorious
body, for we shall see Him as He is, and we will be like Him. When He
appears, we appear in His likeness. We'll have a body like His, a
glorious glorified body, and all the trials and struggles of life will
fade off into a little mist and blow away to never be no more.
And these earthly tabernacles which we now groan in, we are waiting for
that earnest--that earnest for the salvation fully in its fulness to
come. But now in these tabernacles of clay we have Something that tells
us that we have raised up so far. Amen. What is the Earnest? It's the
little down payment that holds it, Brother Dauch. It's the Earnest.
Now, once when we loved the things of the world, once when we sinned
and went about doing things of the world, and cared not for God, we
were alienated from Him, without God, without Christ, in the world, now
God sent His Holy Spirit and through that we are lifted up from those
things. Now, we have the Earnest, that we know that we've passed from
death unto Life. Amen.
Here, as I was trying to show this like here. Here's where the ordinary
sinner runs, down here on the bottom. Now, the Christian goes up a
little higher than this; he rises above all that stuff. That's the
Earnest of his salvation.
111 Now, that you might know when--what visions do to you. So help me, God being my judge, I never intend to have another one. If it does, I'll keep it to myself (See?), 'cause I see what it does. The people are not ready for such a ministry, so you just have to let it go (You see?), go on back here. If I ever come to the field again, I'll be an evangelist. But look here. On this here, coming back in here, up in here, you go up into this heavenlies up in here. You live right up around in those realms there. You go beyond anything that man can think of, beyond anything of them things. And it brings you up into them spaces there.
112 But,
you see, now we have, by the Holy Spirit, the Earnest of our
inheritance, because we've been lifted up from the things of the world;
and we ride right along with the world, but we are above the world. Oh,
Brother Neville, God be merciful and grant to the church of the living
God...
When we ever get to a place to think that the church, a beautiful
church, that we're trying to compare with the things of the world.
We're trying to have a better basketball team than they got. We've got
to have a--a better building. We've got to have a better bunco game.
We've got to have better this and that, or that. Why, how can we ever
compare with the glamor and the glistening of the world? We are not...
The Gospel isn't a glisten; it's a glow. There's a difference between a
glitter and a glow.
114 See, we
just go around, as I've said, taking one--one corpse from one morgue to
another, changing members and things like that. Well, what good does it
do us? And we're trying to make it glittery, big fine steeples, great
big fine places. We got to have a better than the Methodist or a better
than the Baptist, and we're all trying to compete with the Catholic,
and we're having bunco games and parties and suppers and
entertainments, and everything.
This church can never compare with the world. How can you and your
church entertainment ever compare with the Masonic Lodge or--or any of
those people who can entertain? That's their grounds. Don't try to go
over on their grounds.
116 But we
got Something they haven't got. We got Jesus. Let them come over here
if they want something. Stay in Christ. We have Jesus. They don't
take--can't have Jesus until they come over here. And when we get over
there, we're off of His ground.
Don't try to glitter: glow. And you can't glow; you got to let It glow
through you. See?
The little glowworm, he doesn't glow because he wants to glow; because
he does glow; there's something in him glowing. It's in hisself; it's
himself doing it, something inside of him just glowing through.
Well, that's the way it is with the Holy Spirit. We don't have to be
peculiar, be different, be anything more; just let loose and live a
godly life and just let God live through you. That'll glow for the
Gospel. See? Not glitter, glitter, that makes monkeys jump at things
like that, anything that glitters. You know, they're always jumping for
something that's shiny. But glow is a soft, mellow sweetness of the--of
the Holy Spirit.
120 Now, we
are waiting for that resurrection. But now, do you understand? Say,
"Amen" if you do, what I mean by saying the Earnest. We been... We--we
know we have passed from death unto Life because we're lifted up. We
are lifted up not in ourself, but lifted up from the things of the
world, that we love everybody. And God loves us, and we know it. And we
watch our lives and see that It is the Holy Spirit, because we don't no
more care for the things of the world. See? There you are. As long as
you love the world or the things of the world, then the love of God's
not in you yet. See? But as long as you're above that, then you know
you have your inheritance (See?); you're--you're on your road to your
full redemption.
And now, that will not come (You see?), until we have first... First we
must see Jesus. And when He comes, then we'll have a body like His body
and we'll be made like Him. All right.
122 Now, we see something that was lost here (because the Bible said so, and in the Book here) that--that has redeemed us. What are we redeemed from? Something we must have lost. Before you can be redeemed, there must be something that redeemed us back. And all the inheritance that we had has been--has been redeemed back. Then we must've had something one time that we do not have now, that this Lamb come to redeem. See? We had something we was lost from.
123 Now,
notice. What did we lose? Well, it was given to Adam to have Eternal
Life, as long as he eat from the trees he had Eternal Life. And we
notice again that Adam was the... He--he inherit the earth. He was
the--like a--an amateur god over the earth. The earth was his.
Everything was given unto his hand; he could do with it whatever he
wanted to. He named it, and called it, and done whatever he wanted to.
He was truly a son of God.
Now, in the fall Adam forfeited the title deed to that. He forfeited it
to Satan. Satan took the title deed. Adam was very slothful, and he did
not redeem his right for he could not redeem his right. But Satan,
which does not rightfully own it, but he possesses that, he is the god
of this earth. The Bible said so. He possesses that. Not because that
he--that he--he really rightfully gets it, but he possesses it. Now, do
you get it? Satan possesses that; he holds it into his hand. Death is
in his hand; the earth is in his hand; the world belongs to him; every
nation belongs to him; he governs and controls the whole world and
everything in the world. Satan does.
125 But
thank God we're not of the world. See? So now, there you are. See? And
we're... I don't mean the church; he don't control the church. He just
controls the world. He said they were his, and he's the god of the
world. Jesus said he was, and he is. "He's the god of this earth has
blinded the eyes of the people," the god of this earth. He's the God of
heaven. And now he rightly don't own this. He does not own it. But he
forfeit the...
And Adam forfeited the title deed to it, to this, all this stuff that
we own, Eternal Life and the inheriting of the earth. Jesus said in
Matthew 5, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."
See? Now, we don't have it now.
And, look, it wasn't to Adam or any of his seed. Adam's seed absolutely
lost everything too. It's not the seed of Adam. No matter how much we
try to beautify this world, and how much we try to make big fine homes
and things, it still doesn't belong to Adam's seed. No, sir. It did not
go to Adam's seed, no, sir, because Satan took it lock, stock, and
barrel. Right. For Adam forfeited it.
128 Now,
oh, my. Yes, so many things could be said. I--I just don't want to take
too much of your time now, so we have to baptize. All right.
He possesses it but he does not rightfully own it; Satan does. When the
rightful owner--rightful owner--owner lost it, there's only one way
that it can be redeemed. Now, that's by a near kinsman, is the only one
who can rightfully redeem it. Now, 'course, this we've have in the
virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
130 Now, I
want to say something here. The first thing that we want to go back to,
is, if we go back in the--in the Old Testament here; I believe I got it
wrote down here somewhere, Leviticus 25. In Leviticus 25:23 and 24, you
can get the laws of redemption, you who are putting it down.
To redeem anything when a man... When God gave Israel its--divided its
land up through Joshua, each tribe and each fellow was given a land;
well, his children inherited what his--his possession.
Now, if this man got poor and lost anything to another man, this... And
only way it could be redeemed would be by a near kinsman. But it
finally must come back. This man only holds it for a certain amount of
time. It must come back to the original owner. Right. It must go back
to the original owner. The... If they was out of the tribe of Judah, if
it was... If he was there and this was 'lotted to his father, then it
was to him, or some near kinsman could take it. But now, nobody else
could rightly... They could hold it; they could hold the deed on it.
They could hold the deed until the debt was paid, but when the right
man come along, the person that...
132 Say, for instance, if I owned a piece of property, and I lost it, and I sold it over to Brother Neville which is of another tribe of Judah, or maybe sold it to an alien... And he rightfully owned it; he owned it; he could come in there and farm it and take the goods off of it, and so forth, but really he just held the deed. "He could not own it," that was a law in Israel. Now, you read it--read it, read in Leviticus 25, and you'll see that they could not rightfully own it; he just held it.
133 Well,
now, for instance, my son wanted... Billy, back there, wanted to take
my--come buy this ground. Well, then, if the alien, or Brother Neville,
or--or some other person owned it, was holding the deed to it... Now,
if this was my next kinsman, was my blood relation, he could not hold
it any longer. No, sir. He had to give it over (Yes, sir.) when that
price was paid.
When he gave him, say, twenty-five thousand dollars for the piece of
property. Well, then, say, Brother Tony would come over and say,
"Brother Neville, I'll buy Brother Branham's property." He couldn't do
it.
Brother Neville would say, "No, sir, I don't want to sell it."
"Well, what'd you give for it?"
"Twenty-five thousand."
"Well, I'll--I'll give you thirty-five thousand. I'll give you
so-and-so."
"I don't care what you want. I don't want to sell it; I'll keep it."
But Billy Paul could come along and say, "I want my daddy's possession,
here's your twenty-five thousand." He had to let it go (That's right.)
'cause that was a law.
Oh, hallelujah. I hope you Christians see it. We are the salt of the
earth. God gave this to His sons. He gave us the jurisdiction over all
nature, all animals, all life everywhere. But Adam, our father,
forfeited it to Satan. But where does it fall back to? The rightful
Owner, God Who made it. Amen.
139 No
wonder John said he wept bitterly, for he could find no man who was
worthy to redeem it. The man must be worthy. John said, "I wept
bitterly when no one was able to take the Book or to look on It or
loose the seals thereof." He said, "Why, no man in heaven, no man in
earth, no man beneath the earth, no man everywhere... No man..."
Now, he never disregarded Angels. Remember, this earth wasn't given to
Angels. It's the inheritance of men. Gabriel was worthy, sure; somebody
else was worthy; Michael might've been, not as... He might've been
worthy to do it, but there was no man worthy. See? And John wept loud.
Someone said, "Because he found himself not worthy." That isn't so. The
man was under the influence of the Holy Ghost; he couldn't make an
error like that. But he--he was... He--he was--he was... It wasn't him
not only worthy; he could find nobody worthy.
143 So just
then he said, an elder came forth or a strong Angel, said, "Weep not,
for the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Amen.), the Root of David, He has
prevailed," (Amen.) conquered, in other words. "And He's worthy to take
the Book." Amen.
Remember, he hadn't seen Him up to this time. Why? He was setted
on--seated on a throne in there, God's throne. He was on the inside of
the sanctuary. He hadn't seen Him till this time, so John was expecting
to see a--a Lion come forth, but he saw a Lamb.
145 There
you are, brothers. Through meekness, through sweetness, through the
Holy Spirit that we conquer, not some great mighty intellectual giant,
but he that can humble himself is the man who conquers. The man who can
be kicked around and still be a servant of Christ, that's the conqueror.
Now, he said, "He has prevailed. He's worthy to take the Book and to
open It and to loose the seals thereof."
Now, we're going to find out after-while, maybe not in today, but what
these seven seals hold, what they did.
148 Now,
let's take a little bit on redemption. Before--before this person could
be--could redeem, the first thing, he had to be worthy, he had to be
the right kind of person. So this was accomplished when Jesus Christ
was borned a virgin birth, for He was God. He was God Himself made a
man; He was God in human flesh. He had to be worthy, and the virgin
Blood of Jesus Christ made Him worthy.
Now, we find that, if you want to go through the Scripture of it, of I
Peter 1:18 to 20, if you're keeping the Scriptures down. He had to be
worthy. And He was, because He took upon Him the form of man. He became
man; God became kinfolks to us. And there we find then the beautiful
part of God Jehovah made flesh and dwelt among us as the worthy One.
Amen.
He prevailed. God took on the form of human flesh; He came to earth,
was born a little baby and walked among us. And through His holy Blood
He prevailed.
150 Now, in the Old Testament, how a man was to proclaim his own, what did he do? He took an elder, ten elders, and went to the gate and introduced what he was doing, to redeem what he had been lost, and showed who he was, and was give a witness. We find the beautiful story here (as I had a little note wrote here so I wouldn't forget it, being nervous this morning) upon Ruth, the kinsman and Boaz. We went through it not long ago. I want you to notice the three stages now of this resting.
151 I want
you to notice the resting of the church, just exactly the same thing.
Now, watch. The first place we find, as we've all been through that
sermon, "The Kinsman Redeemer." God was made flesh in order to become
the Redeemer. He was the One here in the 5th chapter, in the 5th
chapter, said...
And
no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to
open the Book, neither to look thereon.
And
I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open the Book or to
read, or to read the book, neither to look thereon.
And
one of the elders said unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Juda, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to
loose the seven seals thereof... (He's the
One; He's that One we're looking at.)
152 Notice how Ruth... How... And Naomi... Boaz is just a perfect picture. How Naomi in the time of famine left the church, left the country, went over into the Moabite land to dwell there, sojourn. And there she lost all she had. And when she went away, her husband, Elimelech, died while they was over there, so that left his inheritance to fall to anyone. Then when we come--when she comes back, she brings back the beautiful young Moabite widow with her. And when Boaz saw this widow, a type of Christ, he fell for her. And he loved her. So that he had to redeem, the only way he could ever get her to be wife was to redeem what his brother, Elimelech had lost.
153 And so
then he asked his other brother if he would redeem it, one closer than
he, and he couldn't do it. So he went down to make a perfect example of
the laws of God. He went to the gates, and he kicked off his shoe, and
said, "Let it be known this day that I have redeemed all that Naomi
had. All that she has, all that Elimelech (my brother) lost, I am the
next kinsman now, and I'm the one that can redeem it, so I have come to
claim it. If there's any man here who can show a just cause why, or
anybody closer than me, let it be known." And everybody kept their
mouth shut. So he kicked off his shoe and throwed it for a testimony,
"I have redeemed all that our brother Elimelech had." Why? He was a
kinsman. He was a kinfolks redeemer. Oh, how beautiful it is. It's such
a beautiful story.
And then, all this time, Ruth was resting and waiting to find out how
it would come out. Then he comes back. No one can give a testimony
against it. He come back and took Naomi. And took Ruth, the beautiful
Moabite girl, and they were married and lived on this possession. What
a beautiful story.
155 There's three stages of Ruth. Ruth--Ruth, deciding, she was deciding whether she would make the decision or not, to go back into the homeland (just like the church): Ruth, serving, when she went out to glean. Ruth, resting, that's what Ruth is doing now (the church). Now, Ruth, rewarded, now that's what her next thing happened is the reward of the church.
156 Now,
we're can't--don't have time, 'cause you got a baptismal service, and
it's quarter after eleven now. But maybe we'll pick this up next Sunday
or some other Sunday in the future, the Lord willing. And I'd like to
take this down here to show these seven horns and seven eyes, and
exactly those seven seals, seven ministries, seven angels of the
church, seven stars, seven... Oh, it's so you...
And right here ties the whole thing together. Yes, sir. Had to be
worthy, so Jesus was worthy. At His return we will fully enjoy all the
fulness of redemption blessings. Meek shall inherit the earth. Men and
women shall be back sons and daughters of God. And the complete
millennium swing will begin. What a beautiful thing.
158 And the
strong Angel with a loud voice, proclaiming, "Who is worthy? Who is
able to do this?"
And then the elder said, "Don't weep, for the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, He is worthy and He has overcome."
"And He took the Book, and opened the Book, and loosed the seals
thereof." He never told what happened to them. When we hit them seven
seals being opened right down through the Bible, watch what took place.
Right in this seven-sealed Book that we're enter now, holds the whole
mystery of all the redemption blessings of God. Remember, He is the
Lamb; He's the only One that redeemed it. And, remember, it's sealed on
the backside of the Book, not written within. It's sealed on the
backside, and it's not written within. And He was the only One was able
to even open the Book or to reveal the Book or to reveal the seals.
It's the only One that could do it.
161 So this
is one thing they might squabble about this in here, about what it is,
but He's the One that Divinely interprets It. But on the backside here
there's no one can do it. It belongs to Him and Him alone, and He's the
One that can reveal those seven mysteries out. And watch here, every
bit of it is on redemption, how the church was redeemed and what will
be the redeemed.
Oh, let us just love Him with all of our hearts, do all that we can.
163 A
certain writer was writing a story... Just before I close and turn the
service back to Brother Neville. Do you enjoy Revelations? Oh, I just
love it. We just got about three verses of it this morning, but we'll
pick it up again. Notice, we just...
A writer was writing a book about a young girl that was trying to find
God. So many times that we hunt for God and look for God, and if God
was just everywhere and you had a great big... Well, if He had a great
big throne setting up here somewhere, everybody would believe in God
then. If God set up on a big throne here somewhere; say, "He sets in
this certain city and here He is. This is God and you go to Him. He can
just [Brother
Branham snaps his fingers--Ed.] turn it
like that," why, everybody would believe Him. Then faith would be void.
We wouldn't have to have any faith at all then (See?); that would be
it. That will be in the millennium, but now He's calling and trying to
find out those who... It looks mysterious and dark, and you don't know
how to do it. But by faith we believe it. We believe it. That's the
reason this is. You understand that, Brother Elmer? (See?), that...
166 Now, if
God set up on a throne... And said, "Why, here is... There... Here's
God. He lives down a certain place; we'll go down there and say, 'Dear
Sir, God, would You do it?'"
"Yes, I'll do it" [Brother
Branham blows--Ed.]. It would be done. See? Well, of
course, that's God. See? My, we can see that. So there wouldn't be no
need of... Faith would be made void. faith's no good when you're
positive.
168 What if every person in this world's a Christian? What if everybody was a--a Spirit-filled Christian? Why, we wouldn't need any faith no more, wouldn't need any faith at all. And faith is the very--is the very thing that we're saved by is faith. And that's the reason there has to be some disagree with it, so that we can exercise faith. Do you understand it now? You've got to have the other side. See? You've got to have a bad woman to make a real one stand out right. See? There's got to be a lie to make the truth positive and make it shine good. If everything was truth, it would just be so common. See, see? But, you see, it's something royal; it's something real, when truth and faith and so forth... Now, there we are.
169 Now,
we've got to have these pro and cons. That's the way it goes. You've
got to have good days to make you enjoy--or bad days to make you enjoy
the good. You have to have a little sickness to make you enjoy good
health. See? And you have to have your valleys to make you enjoy the
mountain top. And so then some of these days it'll all be mountain
tops; it'll all be health; it'll all be God; it'll all be joy, just...
It'll--it'll be unending joy. But until that time (See?), we got to
have this pro and con.
Now, everybody understands that, say "Amen." [Congregation
says, "Amen. "--Ed.]
171 This
girl was telling that she was trying to find God. Everywhere she
went... She'd go to this church and that church, and whatevermore, but
she couldn't find It. And once she found it going down the road; there
was a little, old man going down, a little fellow, and he had a whole
big cathedral on his back. He was walking down the road. And she said,
"Oh, good Man." She said, "My, that's awful nice of You," said, "but
You--You--You got the whole thing on Your back." He said... "It'll
crush You."
He said, "No, it won't crush Me," said, "for I am the Rock that it's
built on." That's Him.
Let's pray.
173 O Rock
of Ages, I'm so glad to be just riding in a cathedral, knowing that
we're resting upon the Rock. Oh, He said, the Rock, "It's no more than
paper." And as the Rock begin to move on swiftly with it, the beautiful
bells begin to chime on the inside. O Rock of Ages, hide us in Thy
mercy. Carry us down the road and stream of life that our hearts would
be full of joy and jingling praises to Thee all along the road.
We thank Thee for this visitation this morning of the Holy Spirit in
the Word, as It comes in and makes the Word so real to us. Forgive us
of our shortcomings and all that we have did or said that was wrong;
forgive us for it. Help us to be better Christians, Father God. We pray
that Your mercies will rest upon us.
I ask, Lord, if it be Your will, that we can return again pretty soon
and--and finish these chapters here and take these seven seals.
We're--we're looking forward to that time, Lord, that when
You--You'll--You'll let us do that. And, Father, right here in our own
little church we pray that You'll grant it to us, that we might
understand these great things of God. Not because that we deserve it,
Lord, but our hungry hearts are believing for it. We pray that You'll
grant it.
176 We pray
for our Brother Neville, Lord, our faithful God-sent pastor. We pray
for him that You'll help him and bless him, he and his sweet little
wife, beautiful little thing, and his little children.
We pray for all the trustees, and the deacons, and everybody that comes
to this church. Not only for ours, but for others and all that calls
upon Your Name, I pray for my friends from across the country, just a
breath's notice and here they are. Father, I--I just thank You for this.
I pray that You'll hasten the day that when Jesus shall come and we
shall all be gathered together where there'll be no more day nor night,
and no more time, but it'll blend into eternity and where we can all be
together forever. Grant it, Lord.
If there be some here this morning, Lord, who doesn't know You as their
Saviour, may they want to get acquainted with this Lamb Who holds the
seven-sealed mystery Book in His hand. God, may we be acquainted with
Him, so in the future when we see those seals broke open then we can
see what God is speaking to us about. We ask it for God's glory, and
through the Name of His Son, Jesus Christ.
180 And
while we have our heads bowed, would there be someone say, "Remember
me, Brother Branham, as you pray, that I'd like to be remembered in
prayer"? God bless you. And God bless you. And God bless you, and you,
and you. Yes. God be good to you. Yes. Maybe there's two dozen hands or
more, up.
O Lord, You see their hands; You know their desire. You know what's in
their heart; I don't. I pray that You'll reveal to them, Lord, Your
goodness and Your mercy. Give them pardon for whatever it is. If it's
sickness, Lord, heal their bodies and make them well. Do, Father, while
the anointing of the Holy Spirit is upon the meeting, upon the
congregation now, may the great God of heaven just so anoint that He'll
bless everyone in Divine Presence, that we might go away from here this
morning, saying, "Did not our hearts burn within us?" Grant it, Lord.
182 Now,
I'm weak and tired; my voice is gone, and I--I just pray, God, for my
own strength. Will You help me? Will You strengthen me? Patch that
little wound down there, Lord. Will You please let the holy Oil of God
move in there, and--and every other wound, Lord, and everywhere to
everybody. We want to live, Lord, to--to Your honor and Your glory.
Grant it. And heal all the sick and the afflicted. And--and get glory
to Thyself, Lord, 'cause we realize that it won't be long till
we'll--we won't have these meetings anymore; they'll be gone; they'll
be in the past.
Now, Father, bless, we ask all together through Jesus Christ's Name.
And then, Father, we would also ask that You remember those who are
going to be baptized this morning in the Name of the Lord Jesus, that
You'll give to them the baptism of the Holy Ghost, great glory and
honor. Grant it. Father. We commit it all to You now.
And, Father, with all here, I throw myself in. Don't forget me, Lord,
just help me now. I pray in Jesus' Name. Amen.