Qui Est Ce Melchisédek?
1 Let us bow our heads for
prayer. Dear heavenly Father, we hear this song of "Only Believe"; it
makes us to know that that's all we have to do to inherit any of God's
promises, just believe them. For it is written, "All things are
possible to them that believe." As we cry as the man who had the
epileptic child, "Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief!"...
We thank Thee for Thy great power, Thy great revelation of Thyself to
us in this last days. It makes our heart most happy and joyful to know
that we have come in contact with the living God, Who vindicates it
right back in physical, material evidences as He did in the days gone
by and as He has promised for this day. We're so grateful to Thee our
God. This dark day where no one seems to know which a-way to go, we're
so glad that we found the safety zone, the retreat.
Now, bless us tonight, Lord, as we speak of Thy Word. And the promises
that's given to us, may we nurture them in our heart, cherish them with
reverence, and obey them with real godly discipline. For we ask it in
Jesus' Name. Amen.
4 Oh, they...?... A love
offering? You shouldn't have done that. Who did that? You guilty? I was
getting on the manager. Says he took a love offering for me. He
shouldn't have done that. I appreciate it; God knows that; but I--I
never come for that. Thank you. May the Lord bless you. I'll do
everything I can... I'll put it right in foreign missions, so I'll know
it'll go for the Kingdom of God. And if the Lord willing, I'll take it
myself over to the lands to bring this same Gospel that you been
setting, listening to this week. Then I know it'll be done in the way
that you believed it. The Lord help me to do it.
I am very grateful for the great attendance this week, and for all you
people that's hooked up tonight again with the--the wires of the
telephone. And we're grateful to each and every one of you.
6 Billy said to me this morning; he said, "Daddy, if you would've come with me this morning, early, right after daylight, and stand out here around in these places and watch mothers feeding their babies in the car, them poor people setting in that rain, waiting for the doors to open..." You see what a hypocrite I'd be if I told you anything but the truth? I'd really be a foul person. Sometimes I have to hurt, but it's not because that I want to, it's because... It's--it's not me that's hurting; it's truth that hurts. And I--I... But I believe that's the reason you come, because I'm deadly sincere with you and do all that I can to help you. The Lord help each and every one of you.
7 And now, I want to thank
the people for their fine cooperation, the people of the city here
also, who gave us--let us have the--the renting of this schoolhouse,
this auditorium, and the gym. And I want to thank the officials if
you're here. And also I want to thank Thurston Colvin, which is the
custodian here, for his fine cooperation in helping us to get this and
being with us each night.
We thank the Jeffersonville Police force for coming up here and
watching with a real cheap cost. I think about two dollars a hour that
the police were put up here on special duty to park the cars, to see
that there was no--nothing happened, and everything was all right.
We're grateful to the people for that. And to the--the--also the
engineer here on the--the board, I've noticed him. And all that's
affiliated with this, we are certainly grateful to you.
9 I thank each and every one
of you for the gifts. Billy just brought me this afternoon a--a gift,
several of them in boxes, candy and so forth. And one of them was
the--the Beatitudes with a picture of Christ worked in it. It was the
sermon on the mount. And it certainly was beautiful. I certainly thank
you. And so many things, I don't know how to thank you for. And then
also for your--your sponsoring, financing the meeting, we certainly do
appreciate it with all of our heart. The Lord bless each one of you
richly.
Billy said there was many people had been asking for private interviews
during the time. And many asked and had little babies to be dedicated.
Oh, how I want to do that. But you see, when I come this time, it's so
urgent I have to stay right all the time in study this Word and prayer
on account of bringing these messages. See, they're not...
They're--they're extra ordinary to us, because it's finding the will of
God and then speaking the things. And all that has to meet together,
and asking God just which one to open up.
11 Now, the Lord willing,
we'll be back again soon, as soon as we can find a day. I made a--a
motion or--or said something about Easter. I'd better check that,
because I think I've got a schedule in California along about that
time. So that may be wrong. However, when we return again to the
Tabernacle, we'll send you a card and--the church, and--and give you
the--the date and time.
Then I'll... Maybe at that time... Again I haven't put any time to
praying for the sick. We haven't had one service that we brought the
people up and prayed for them. We been sending them out. And our
brethren here has been preaching, Brother Lee Vayle, and Brother...
These other brothers has been preaching and praying for the sick, and
doing the water baptism--baptizing rather, and letting me stay alone
with the Word. We thank these men. They done a gallant job.
13 There's so many friends here I'd like to meet. I look down and see John and Earl. And--and there's Doctor Lee Vayle, one of the managers of the campaign--Brother Roy Borders. Them men, I haven't even got--I haven't even no more than shook their hand. I haven't had a chance to. I think of my friends from Kentucky, and around in here, and minister friends, how I would like to shake their hands. Brother Blair, I noticed him here the other day. And many of those men that I--I love; and they been to several meetings; I never even as much as shook their hand. I--I'm trying... It isn't because I don't want to do that; it's because I haven't the time to do it. And I'm just a-hurrying.
14 Dedicating the babies,
sure, my own son, my little grandson was supposed to be dedicated at
this meeting. I haven't had time to do it, little David. I'm grandpa
twice now. So Mr. May, if he's here tonight, who give me that cane,
look like I'm going to have to use it pretty soon, so...
And I told Billy; I said, "The Bible did say multiply and replenish the
earth, but the whole burden wasn't given to you." And these grandsons
are appearing fast. And so remember, my daughter-in-law was barren to
begin with; she could not have no children. And one day leaving a
meeting, the Lord spoke to me and said, "Loyce, you will bear a son;
the Lord has blessed you. Your female trouble is gone." Little Paul was
born nine months later.
16 Two months before this baby
come on the scene, I was setting, eating breakfast one morning at the
table, and Loyce and Billy was setting across the table from me. And I
seen Loyce feeding a little baby with a pink--or blue blanket wrapped
around it. And Billy was setting in the corner feeding little Paul. I
said, "Billy, I just saw a vision. Loyce was feeding a baby wrapped in
a blue blanket."
He said, "There goes my hunting trip. That's just nine months from now."
Eleven months later little David was born. And I haven't been able to
dedicate him to the Lord yet, and will not until we return again. So
you see what it is.
17 How I love people and their fellowship. But our brethren has been praying for the sick, and I know it's a success. Each night we prayed for the sick, one laying their hands on the other, all of us together, which that way it's catches the whole scope. But maybe, if God willing--I'll mark it on the card if we send it--coming back, I'd like to dedicate about two or three days again just to praying for the sick and doing what we can in that manner.
18 Now--now, I thank the
people for their help again. Now, I just want to comment just a moment
on the--on the morning's message. There's no doubt I didn't get
completely through with it, but I think you understand. And I'm sure
you didn't... You'll never know what that was for me to do.
Now, it seems very simple to you, but you see what you're doing? You're
taking the place of God to pronounce something. And before I would do
that, it had to come a answer from God. And He had to come down, and He
visibly showed Himself, and gave the revelation. Therefore (See?), this
is to the church. And remember, I said these--this what I said was to
the church only.
And so that you might have confidence and know, that was the same God
that said to me up there where they was no squirrel, "Speak, and say
where they'll be." And three straight times it happened. Now, if He can
by that same Word create something that isn't there, how much more will
this hold fast at the day of judgment. See? People were there to see
these things, and know as Paul said in the days gone by, there's men
with him who--who felt the earth shake and didn't hear the voice, but
they--they seen the--the Pillar of Fire.
21 It done me good though
after it was over to see husbands and wives that I know is genuine
Christians hugging one another and weeping. And listen, friends, God
confirms His Word with signs and vindications to prove that It's right.
The spoken Word...
Now, remember, that Light that was in that cloud that gave the
revelation... I was... My little girl was telling me, Sarah here, that
when they... That school there in Arizona was looking up there on a
cloudless sky and seeing this cloud mysteriously, in that mountain,
going up-and-down with a Amber Fire burning in it. The teacher
dismissed the classes and the school and brought them out front and
said, "Did you ever see anything like that? Look the way that--is."
Remember, that's that same Amber Light that's on the rock. See? So it's
the same God, same revelation. Said, "Tell them to do this." It's what
I told you this morning, so there it is.
23 If it happens to be that my
good friend Brother Roy Roberson is listening in at Tucson, Roy, you
remember the other day the vision you seen when we were out standing
upon the mountain? You come up to me, and that cloud was over the top?
Come walking down, you know what He told you, I told you at the house
the other day? That's it, Roy. Don't worry no more, son; it's over.
You just don't know what that means. It's grace. He loves you. You love
Him. Humbly serve Him and worship Him the rest of your days. Be happy;
go ahead and live as you are. If you're happy, continue that way. Don't
never do anything wrong again like that. Just go ahead; it's God's
grace.
25 Now, I want to pray again
before we enter into the Word. How many will pray for me? I'm just
going from meeting to meeting, will you pray? You know, I'd like to
sing you a little song, all of us together before we go to the Word.
Just to--so that we'd know, God... Just a little dedication. Did you
ever hear this little song, "He Careth for You?" Through sunshine and
sorrow, He careth for you.
A little lady's coming up to the piano. Say, I want to thank this
little lady too; I didn't even know who she was. It's one of the
deacon's daughters here. I certainly... Brother Wheeler's little girl,
she's growed up now. She was little bitty thing that set on my knee not
long ago, and now she's a young woman. So I certainly thank her that
she's used her talent in music, and now she plays very sweetly. Would
you give us a chord, sister? All of us together now.
He
careth for you;
He
careth for you;
Through
sunshine or shadow
He
careth for you."
You love that? Let's sing it again all together.
He
careth for you;
He
careth for you;
Through
sunshine or shadow
He
careth for you. (Brother
Dauch, He does for you too, brother.)
27 Don't you love Him? Let us
bow our heads now. Dear gracious God, with this little note here of a
few things to say to the people and back again to refer back to this
morning, for that's what the people come to hear. I pray, God, that
You'll let the people see that God loves and cares. And it was not me
that give that, Lord; it was vindicated that it was the Truth. So I
pray, dear God, that Your love will always remain among the people.
Tonight to have to separate after this meeting and go to our different
homes, it--it kinda pulls us, some, deep, Lord. I pray that You'll
bless these people.
Now, as we approach the Word in prayer, and approach the written Word,
we ask that You will take this written Word and make It alive to us
tonight. And when we leave this building tonight to separate to go to
our different homes, may we say like those who came from Emmaus, that
had walked with Him all day and still didn't know Him... But when He
got them inside the room that night, and the doors all shut, He did
something just like He did before His crucifixion. By that they knowed
He had risen again. Do it again tonight, Lord. Grant it, while the
doors are shut and Your little group here is setting, waiting. And,
Father, when we go to our homes we'll say like they did, "Did not our
hearts burn within us as He talked to us along the way?" We commit
ourselves and all in Your hands, Lord; do with us as You see fit. In
Jesus' Name. Amen.
29 Now, let's get right into
the service now quickly, turning now with me if you will to the Book of
Hebrews. And another revelation on the Message, we'll speak for just a
few moments tonight, the Lord willing. And then while reading the first
three verses of Hebrews 7:1-3, and then commenting on this... And we
don't know what the Lord will do. We do not know; the only thing we do
is just believe, watch, pray (That right?), and believe that He'll make
everything work together for good to them that loves Him, because He
promised to.
For this
Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met
Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
To whom also Abraham
gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of
righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of
peace; (Let's
read a little farther).
Without father,
without mother, without descent,... neither beginning of days, or end
of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest
continually.
30 Think of this great Person,
of how great this Man must be. And now, the question is: "Who is this
Man?" Theologians has had different ideas, but since the opening of the
Seven Seals, the mysterious Book that's been mysterious to us...
According to Revelations 10:1-7, all the mysteries that's wrote in this
Book that's been hid down through the age of the reformers is supposed
to be brought out into view by the angel of the last church age. How
many knows that's right? That's right. Supposed to be brought... All
the mysteries of the mysterious Book is to be revealed to the Laodicea
messenger of that age.
Seeing there is much dispute about this Person, and this subject, I
think it behooves us to break into it to find out Who this is. Now,
there's several schools of thought on Him. One of the schools
are--claims He's just a myth; He wasn't actually a person. And the
others says that it was a priesthood, that was the Melchisedec
priesthood. That's the most likely one that hold better to that side
than they do to the other, is because they say it was a priesthood. It
can't be that, for in the 4th verse it says He was a Person, a Man. So
in order to be a person He has to be a personality, a Man, not a order,
but a Person.
32 So He was not just a
priesthood order, neither was He a myth; He was a Person. And the
Person is eternal. If you notice, He had no father, He had no mother,
He had no time He ever began, and He had no time He ever ended. And
ever Who it was is still alive tonight, because the Bible said here
that He had neither father, nor mother, beginning of days or ending of
life. So it would have to be an eternal Person (Is that right?), an
eternal Person. So it could only be one Person; that's God, 'cause He's
the only One that's eternal--God.
Now, in I Timothy 6:15 and 16, if you'd like to read that sometime, I'd
like for you to read it. Now, the thing that I contend is, that He was
God, because He's the only Person that can be immortal. And now, God
changing Himself into Person; that's what He was: no father, no mother,
no beginning of life, no ending of days.
34 Now, we find in the
Scripture that many people teaches that three personalities in the
Godhead. So you cannot have a personality without being a person. It
takes a person to make a personality.
A Baptist minister a few weeks ago come up and--to my house--and said,
"I'd like to straighten you out on the Godhead sometime when you got
time," called me up rather.
I said, "I got time right now, 'cause I want to be straight, and we lay
aside everything else to do it."
And he come up; he said, "Brother Branham, you teach that there is just
one God."
I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "Well," he said, "I believe there's one God, but one God in
three persons."
I said, "Sir, repeat that again."
He said, "One God in three persons."
I said, "Where did you go to school at?" See? And he told me a--a Bible
college. I said, "I could believe that. You cannot be a person without
being a personality, and if you're a personality, you are one
personality to yourself. You're a separate individual being."
And he said, "Well, the theologians can't even explain that."
I said, "It's by revelation."
And he said, "I can't accept revelation."
I said, "Then there's no way for God to ever get to you, because it's
hid from the eyes of the wise and prudent and revealed to babes
(revealed, revelation) revealed to babes such as will accept it,
learn." And I said, "There'd be no way for God to get to you; you close
yourself off from Him. The whole Bible is the revelation of God. The
whole church is built upon the revelation of God. There's no other way
to know God only by revelation: 'To whom the Son will reveal Him,'
revelation. Everything is revelation. So to--not to accept the
revelation, then you're just a cold theologian, and there's no hope for
you."
38 Now, now, we find out that
this Person had no father, no mother, no beginning of days or ending of
life. It was God "En morphe". Now, the world--the word comes--the Greek
word means "change," was used, changing Himself, "En morphe", from one
person to... One person... The Greek word there, "En morphe," means...
It was taken from the stage act, "that one person is changing his mask
to make him some other character."
Like in--in school just recently--I believe, Rebekah, just before she
graduated, they had one of Shakespeare's plays. And one young man had
to change his clothes several times, because he played two or three
different parts, but the same person. He'd come out; one time he was
the villain. And when he come out next time, he was another character.
40 And now the Greek word "En
morphe" mean that he changed His mask. And that's what God did. It's
the same God all the time. God in the form of the Father, the--the
Spirit, the Pillar of Fire, the same God was made flesh and dwelt among
us: "En morphe," brought out so He could be seen. And now, that same
God is the Holy Ghost. Father, Son, Holy--not three Gods, three
offices, three acts of the one God.
The Bible said there's one God, not three. But that's how that they
couldn't... You can't get this straightened out and have three gods.
You'd never sell a Jew that; I tell you that, one who knows better; he
knows there's only one God.
42 Notice, like the sculptor,
he hides with a--a mask over it. That's what God's done to this age.
It's been hid. All these things has been hid, and is supposed to be
revealed in this age. Now, the Bible says they would be revealed in the
latter times. It's like a sculptor keeping his--his piece of work all
covered over until the time he takes the mask off of it and there it
is. And that's what the Bible has been. It has been a work of God
that's been covered up. And it's been hid since the foundation of the
world, and its sevenfold mystery, and God promised in this day, at the
age of this Laodicea church, He would take the mask off the whole thing
and we could see it.
What a glorious thing, God, "En morphe", masked in a Pillar of Fire,
God, "En morphe" in a Man called Jesus, God, "En morphe" in His church:
God above us, God with us, God in us, the condescending of God. Up
there holy, no one could touch Him; He settled upon the mountain, and
even if a animal touched the mountain, had to die. And then God come
down and changed His tent, and He come down and lived with us, become
one of us, and we held Him. The Bible said, I Timothy 3:16, "Without
controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, for God was manifested
in the flesh," handled with hands. God eat meat. God drank water. God
slept. God cried. He was one of us: beautiful, typed in the Bible. That
was God above us, God with us; now it's God in us, the Holy Spirit, not
the third person, the same Person.
44 God came down and become
flesh and died the death in Christ so that He could clean the church in
order to get into it for fellowship. God loves fellowship. That's what
He made the man at the first time for, was for fellowship. God dwells
alone with Cherubims.
And notice now, He made man, and man fell. So He came down and redeemed
man, because God loves to be worshipped. The very word "god" means
"object of worship." And this that comes among us as a Pillar of Fire,
as something that changes our hearts, that is the same God that said,
"Let there be light," and there was light. He's the same yesterday,
today, and forever.
46 Now, in the beginning God
dwelled alone with His attributes as I spoke of this morning. That's
His thoughts. There was nothing, just God alone. But He had thoughts.
Just like a great architect can set down in his mind, and draw out what
he thinks it's--he's going to--to build, create. Now, he cannot create;
he can take something that's been created and make it in a different
form, 'cause God's the only way--only One can create. But he gets in
his mind what he's going to do, and that's his thoughts; that's his
desires.
Now, it's a thought, and then he speaks it, and it's a word then. And
a--a word is... A thought when it's expressed, it's a word. A thought
expressed is a word. But it has to be a thought first. So it's God's
attributes; then it becomes a thought, then a word.
48 Notice, those who have
tonight Eternal Life, was with Him and in Him, in His thinking, before
there ever was an Angel, star, Cherubim, or anything else. That's
eternal. And if you have Eternal Life, you always was, not your being
here, but the shape and form that the infinite God... And if He isn't
infinite, He isn't God.
God has to be infinite. We're finite; He's infinite. And He was
omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. If He isn't, then He can't be
God: knows all things, all places because of His omnipresence.
Omniscient makes Him omnipresent. He is a being; He's not like the
wind. He is a being; He dwells in a house, but being omniscient,
knowing all things, makes Him omnipresent, because He knows everything
that's going on. There can't be a flea bat its eyes but what He knowed
it. And He knowed it before there was a world, how many time it'd bat
it's eyes and how much tallow it had in it, before there ever was a
world. That is infinite. We can't comprehend it in our minds, but
that's God--God, infinite.
50 And remember, you, your
eyes, your statue, whatever you was, you were in His thinking at the
beginning. And the only thing that you are is the expression word.
After He thought it, He spoke it, and here you are. If it isn't, if you
wasn't in His thinking, there's no way at all for you ever to be there,
for He's the One that gives Eternal Life.
You remember how we read the Scriptures, "Not him that willeth, or him
that runneth, but God..." And that His predestination might stand true,
He could choose before anytime who... God's sovereign in His choosing,
did you know that? God's sovereign. Who was back yonder to tell Him a
better way to make the world? Who would dare to tell Him He was running
His business wrong? Even the very--the very Word Itself, very
sovereign... Even the revelation is sovereign. He reveals to whom He
will reveal. The very revelation itself is sovereign in God. That's how
people pound at things, and jump at things, and hit at things, and not
knowing what they're doing. God is sovereign in His works.
52 Now, we find Him at the
beginning, His attributes. And now, you were with Him then. Then is
when the Book of Life comes into view. Now, we read over here in
Revelations the 13th chapter, the 8th verse, that the beast that comes
upon the earth in these last days will deceive all those people on the
earth whose names were not written in the Lamb's Book of Life before
the foundation of the world.
Think of it. Before Jesus was ever born, four thousand years before He
came on earth, and several thousand years before you come on earth,
Jesus in God's mind died for the sins of the world, and the Book of
Life was made; and your name was put on that Book of Life before the
foundation of the world. That's the Bible truth. See? Your name was
ordained of God and placed on the Book of Life before the foundation of
the world.
You were there in His attributes. You don't remember it, no, because
you're just a part of His life. You are a part of God when you become a
son or a daughter of God, just as you are a part of your earthly
father. That's right. You are... The male carries the hemoglobin, the
blood. And when that has gone in--in the egg, then you become a part of
your father, and your mother is a part of your father also. So you're
all a part of your father. Glory. That lets the denomination out
altogether. Certainly does. God in all, the only place...
55 Notice now His attribute.
Then the attribute was first God, the thought, the attribute itself all
in one, without being expressed. Then when He expressed, secondarily,
He became then the Word. And then the Word was made flesh and dwelled
among us, St. John the 1st chapter and the 1st verse.
Notice, this is in the beginning, but before the eternal. Notice, in
the beginning was the Word. When the time begin it was Word, but before
it was Word, it was attribute, a thought. Then it was expressed. In the
beginning was the expression, the Word. Now, we're getting where
Melchisedec is. That's this mysterious Person. In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then the
Word became flesh and dwelled among us. Hold that there now.
Notice. His--His first being was Spirit, God, supernatural (All
right?), the great Eternal. Second, He begin to form Himself towards
flesh in a theophany, it's called, "the word, a body." This then is the
state He was in when He met Abraham, was called Melchisedec. He was in
the form of theophany. Now, we'll get to that and prove it in a few
minutes, the Lord willing.
58 He was the Word. A
theophany is something that you could not see. It could be right here
now, yet you cannot see it. It's just like, well like television,
that's in another dimension. Television... People are moving right
through this room now singing; there's colors also, but the eye is only
subject to the five senses. Your whole being is only subject to five
senses, rather. And you are only subject to what the sight has been
limited to see. But there is another dimension that can be seen by a
transformation by television.
Now, television does not manufacture a picture. A television only
channels it into a circuit, and then the television screen picks it up.
But the picture's there to begin with. Television was here when Adam
was here. Television was here when Elijah set on Mount Carmel.
Television was here when Jesus of Nazareth walked the shores of
Galilee. But you're just now discovering it. They wouldn't have
believed it back there. You'd have been crazy to have said something
like it. But now it's become a reality.
And so is it that Christ is here. The Angels of God are here. And
someday in the great millennium to come it'll be just more real than
television or anything else, because they are here.
He reveals Himself in His great form of what He claim as He "En
morphe's" Himself into His servants and proves Himself.
Now, here He is in the form of Spirit. And then He comes in the form of
a--of--"En morphe." Now, He appeared to Abraham "En morphe." When
Abraham was returning from the slaughter of the king, here come
Melchisedec, talked to Him.
62 The other day in the Tucson
paper I was reading an article that where there was a--a woman driving
down the road, at I believe about forty, fifty miles an hour, and she
hit an old man with an overcoat on. She screamed and stopped her car.
It threw him up in the air: right out of the plain desert. And she run
back to find him, and he wasn't there. So what did she do? Some people
behind her saw it happen, saw the old man fly up in the air, his
overcoat turning. So they run back to find out. They couldn't find the
man anywhere. They called the police force. The police come out to
examine the place; there was nobody there.
Well, each one of them testified the car chugged, hit the man. He went
up in the air, and everybody saw it. Witnesses and two or three
carloads of them, they seen it happen. Come to find out, five years ago
there was an old man with an overcoat on hit and killed on the same
spot. When you leave here, you're not dead. You've got to come back
even if you're a sinner and be judged according to the deeds done in
the body. "If this earthly tabernacle is dissolved, we have one
waiting." "En morphe," that's the word.
64 Now, God in this stage
of--at this stage of His creation later formed into flesh Jesus. From
what? From the great beginning Spirit, then came down to be the Word,
bringing Itself out. The Word doesn't yet make Itself; it's just spoke
out, "En morphe," later He becomes flesh, Jesus, mortal to taste death
for all of us sinners.
When Abraham met Him, He was Melchisedec. He unfolds here what all the
attributes will do in the final end, every son of Abraham. Every son of
the faith will absolutely do the same thing. But I want to watch how we
have to come.
Also we see Him revealed here in Ruth and--and Boaz as a Kinsman
Redeemer, how He had to come to be flesh.
67 Now, we see the attribute
sons of His Spirit have not yet entered into the Word form body, but--a
theophany. This body is subject to the Word and earnest--waiting for
the earnest change of the body.
Now, the different between Him and you as a son... See, He was at the
beginning the Word, an "En morphe" body. He came in and lived in that
in the Person of Melchisedec. Then later... We never heard no more of
Melchisedec, because He became Jesus Christ. Melchisedec was the
Priest, but He became Jesus Christ. Now, you bypassed that, because in
that form He knowed all things. And you have never been able to know
that yet. You come like Adam, like me. You became from the attribute to
the flesh to be tempted. But when this life is finished here... "If
this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting."
That's where we go; that is the Word. Then we can look back and see
what we done. Now, we don't understand it. We have never become the
Word; we've just become the flesh-man, not the Word. But...
And look clearly, makes it clear you will never be the Word unless you
was a thought at the beginning. That proves the predestination of God.
See? You can't be the Word 'less you're a thought. You had to be in the
thinking first. But you see, in order to stand temptation you had to
bypass the theophany; you had to come down here in flesh to be tempted
by sin. And then if you sin... "All the Father hath given Me will come
to Me, and I'll raise him up at the last days." See, you had to be
first. And then you see, He come right down the regular line, from
attribute to...
70 Before the foundation of
the world his Name's put on the Lamb's Book of Life. Then from that He
become the Word, the theophany, that could appear, disappear; and then
He become flesh and returned back again, resurrected that same body in
a glorified condition. But you bypassed the theophany and become
flesh-man to be tempted by sin. And then "if this earthly tabernacle is
dissolved, we have one already waiting." We have not yet the bodies.
But look, when this body receives the Spirit of God, the Immortal Life
inside of you, it throws this body in subjection to God. Hallelujah.
"He that's born of God doth not commit sin; he cannot sin." Romans 8:1.
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus; they walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." There you
are. See, that throws your body subject. You don't have to say, "Oh, if
I could just quit drinking, if I could just..." Just get in Christ;
it's all gone. See, see? Because your body is subject to the Spirit,
it's no more subject to the things of the world; they're dead. They are
dead; your sins are buried in baptism; and you are a new creation in
Christ. And your body becoming subject to the Spirit, try to live a
right kind of life...
72 Like you women claiming you
got Holy Ghost and going out here and wearing shorts and things, how
could you do it? How could the Spirit of God in you ever let you do
such a thing as that? It just can't be so. Certainly it can't be. He's
not a filthy spirit; He's a holy Spirit.
And then when you become subject to that Spirit, it throws your whole
being subject to that Spirit. And that Spirit is nothing in the world
but this Seed Word made manifest, or quickened (Hallelujah.), made
alive. And when the Bible said, "Don't do this," that body quickly
turns to it; there's no question. And what is it? It's the earnest of
the resurrection. This body will be raised up again, because it's
already started. It was once subject to sin, and mire, and corruption,
but now it's got the earnest; it's turned heavenly. Now, that's the
earnest that you're going in the rapture. It's the earnest.
A sick person laying dying, nothing left but death, that's all can
happen. I've seen the shadows of people done eat up with cancer and
tuberculosis, and see them persons a little while after that perfectly
normal and strong. If there is no Divine healing then there's no
resurrection, 'cause Divine healing is the earnest of the resurrection.
Amen.
You know what the earnest money is don't you? It's the down payment.
"He was wounded for our transgressions; with His stripes we're healed."
76 Notice, how wonderful, we
love Him. Now, this body is subject to the Spirit. Have not yet entered
into the Word form, but we are still in the flesh form, but subject to
the Word. Death in the flesh will take us there.
Just the same thing. Think of a little baby. You can take a woman, no
matter how evil she is, when she is pregnant and fixing to be mother,
watch before that baby's born; I don't care how cruel the woman is, she
gets real kind. There's something about her sound--seems godly, to see
a little mother fixing to become mother by the baby. Why is it? That
little body... Now, it's not alive yet. See the only thing it is, is
just flesh and muscles. That little jumping, that's just muscles
jerking. But when it comes forth from the womb, God breathes the breath
of life into it, and then he screams out. See, just as--as sure as
there is a natural body being formed, there is a spiritual body to
receive it as soon as it gets here.
78 Then when a man is borned
again from heaven, he becomes a spirit babe in Christ. And then when
this robe of flesh is dropped, there is a natural body, theophany, a
body not made with hands, neither born of a woman, that we go to. Then
that body returns back and picks up the glorified body. That's the
reason Jesus went to hell when he died and preached to the souls that
were in prison. Turned back into that theophany... Oh, marvelous. Thank
God.
II Corinthians 5:1 "If this earthly body be dis--dissolved (this
earthly tabernacle), we have another one." See, we have bypassed that
to come straight from God, the attribute, to be flesh to be tempted and
tested by sin like Adam did. But when testing of His Word is over, then
we are taken up to this body that was prepared for us before the
foundation of the world. It is the Word there that we skipped to come
right around down here to be tempted and tested. If we'd have come
through that, there'd have been no temptation; we'd knowed all things.
That's the reason Jesus knowed all things, 'cause He was Word before He
was flesh.
Then we become the Word. Here we are formed to the Word image to be a
partaker of the Word, feed on the Word, by being predestinated since
the beginning. You see, that little spark of life that you had in you
from the beginning when you started your journey... Many of you can
remember it. You joined this church and joined that church, and try
this and that; nothing satisfied. That's right. But one day you just
recognized it. Right.
81 The other night I was
teaching somewhere; I believe it was out in California, or Arizona,
about... I believe I've told the little story here about the man
setting a hen and had a eagle egg under it. And when that eagle hatched
out, he was the funniest looking bird that them chickens ever seen. But
he walked around; he was the--he was the ugly one among them, because
he just couldn't understand how that hen will cluck and scratch on that
manure pile and eat, and he couldn't get the idea. She'd say, "Come on
over and feast, honey." Why, he--he was a eagle; he just didn't eat
like that. It wasn't his food.
So she'd catch grasshoppers and whatmore, you know, and call the little
chickens. And all them little chickens would go along, cluck along, and
eat. But the little eagle just couldn't do it. It didn't--didn't look
right to him.
83 So one day his mammy come
hunting him. And he'd hear that hen cluck. He'd tried his best to
cluck, but he couldn't do it. He tried to cheep like a chicken, but he
couldn't do it. See, he was a eagle. He's... To start with he was a
eagle. He was just hatched under a hen. That's like some church
members. Every... That's about the way it is; about one out of a
setting is right.
But one day his mammy flew over and she screamed. He recognized it.
"That sounded right." Why? He was a eagle to begin with. That's the way
it is with the Gospel of the Word, the power of Jesus Christ; when a
man has been predestinated to Eternal Life, he hears that true ring,
scream of God, nothing can keep him from it. The church might say,
"Days of miracles is past, cluck, cluck, cluck. Stand here and eat
this, and stand here and eat that."
That barnyard stuff won't do for him any more. He's gone. "All things
are possible." He gets off the ground. That's what's the matter with so
many Christians today; they can't get their feet off the ground. The
old mammy said, "Son, jump; you're an eagle. Come up here where I am."
He said, "Mom, I never jumped in my life."
She said, "Well, you jump; you're eagle to begin with; your not a
chicken." So he made his first jump and flopped his wings; didn't do
too good, but he got off the ground. That's the way we do; we accept
God by faith by the written Word. There's something in there (See?),
that Eternal Life, you were predestinated to it.
His grandpa and grandma were eagles; he was a eagle all the way back.
Eagle don't mix with other things. He's not a hybrid at all; he's a
eagle.
88 Then after you recognize
the very Word of God was Eagle Food, then you left the other thing.
You've then been formed into the living image of the living God. You
heard from your theophany. "If this earthly body be dissolved, we have
one waiting."
You say, "Is that right, Brother Branham?" All right, let's take a
couple of eagles and look at them for a few minutes.
There was a name--man named Moses. Everyone knows that a prophet's
called the eagle in the Bible. There was a prophet named Moses. And one
day God called Him--and wouldn't let him go over the land--and he--he
died on a rock. The Angels took him away and buried him. There was
another man, a eagle, didn't even have to die. He just walked across
Jordan, and God sent a chariot down and: "This robe of flesh he dropped
and rise and caught the everlasting prize." Eight hundred years later,
eight hundred years later on Mount Transfiguration here stood those two
men. Moses' body had been rotten for hundreds of years, but here he was
in such a form till even Peter, James, and John recognized him. Amen.
"If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved..." If you're an attribute of
God expressed here on earth, you've got a body waiting after you leave
this world. There they was standing on Mount Transfiguration in their
theophany, for they were prophets to whom the Word came to.
90 Also let us notice another
prophet one time by the name of Samuel. He was a great man. He'd taught
Israel, told them they shouldn't have a king. He said, "Have I ever
said one thing to you in the Name of the Lord but what come to pass?"
They said, "No, everything you've always said in the Name of the Lord
come to pass."
He was a prophet. And he died. About three or four years later, the
king got in trouble; that was before the Blood of Jesus Christ was ever
shed. He was in paradise. And a witch of Endor called for somebody to
come, console Saul. And when the witch saw him standing up, she said,
"I see God raising up out of the earth." And after the man had been
dead, buried, and rotted in the grave, here he was standing there in
that cave with his prophet's robes on, and was still a prophet. Amen.
92 For he said, "Why did you
call me out of my rest, seeing you become a enemy to God?" Watch him
prophesy. "Tomorrow night by this time you'll be with me." He was still
a prophet, though he was gone from this body. See, he become here and
was part of that Word, and he entered from the flesh life back into the
body that had been prepared for him before the foundation of the world.
He entered into the theophany which was the Word. You get it? That's
where all believers go when we turn from here.
Then in that form the veil then is lifted. You see you are the Word
also when you enter into there. As a little baby as I said awhile ago...
Now, notice. Praise God for these opening Seals is my prayer, to know
these things.
95 Now, the true revelation of
Melchisedec comes into view was--that He was God, the Word, before He
became flesh, God the Word. 'Cause He had to be; no one else could be
immortal like Him. See, I had father and mother; you did too. Jesus had
father and mother. But this Man had no father or had no mother. Jesus
had a time He started; this Man didn't. Jesus gave His life; this Man
couldn't, because He was Life. And it's the self same Man all the time.
I hope God reveals it to you, the self same Person all the time.
Notice His title, King of righteousness. Now, Hebrews 7:2: King of
righteousness and King of peace, He's two Kings. Now, watch, Hebrews
7:2, King of righteousness, also the King of peace. He's two Kings
there. Now, since He has come in the flesh and received His body up, in
Revelations 21:16 He's called the King of Kings. He's all three of them
together. See? King God, King Theophany, King Jesus; He's the King of
Kings. It's all met, just like soul, body, and spirit. All comes to
make one.
Also He is the Father, which was the first, Son, and Holy Ghost, the
Spirit. King of righteousness, the Spirit attribute; theophany, King
of--of peace, theophany; and in flesh He was King of Kings: same Person.
98 When the theophany... Moses
seen Him, Exodus 33:2, He was a theophany. Moses wanted to see God.
He'd heard His voice, heard Him talk to him, seen Him in a bush there
with a big Pillar of Fire. And he said, "Who are You; I want to know
Who You are?" Moses said, "I'll put--if You'll let me see You... I'd
like to see Your face."
He said, "No man can't--see My face." He said, "I'll put My hand over
your eyes, and I'll pass by. And you can see My back, but not My face."
See? And when He did, it was the back of a Man; it was theophany. Then
the Word that come to Moses, I AM; that was the Word. The Word came to
Moses in the form of a--a Pillar of Fire in a burning bush, the I AM.
As the Word from the theology--or from the theophany, rather (Excuse
me.), He came to Abraham as a Man under the oak tree. Now, look at
there.
101 There came a Man to
Abraham, three of them, and set down under an oak tree, three of them.
And notice, after He talked to Abraham... Why did He come? Abraham,
being the one with the promise and the message of the coming son, and
also He was God's Word prophet that was trusting God's Word, calling
anything contrary as though it wasn't... See how perfect the Word is?
The Word came to the prophet. See, there was God in a theophany, and
the Bible said the Word comes to the prophet. And here was the--the
Word in the theophany...
Now, you say, "Was that God?" Abraham said it was. He said His name
was... He called Him Elohim. Now, in Genesis 1 you find out, "In the
beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth." In Genesis 18 we
find out that--that Abraham called this Person that set there and
talked to him, and could tell him the secrets of his heart, tell him
what Sarah was thinking behind Him, Abraham said, "It is Elohim." He
was in a theophany form. You get it?
103 Notice, after... Now, we
find out that He was then in the theophany form. He called Him, "Lord
God, Elohim." Now, in Genesis 18 we find that that is true.
Now, notice, Abraham... There was three of Them together, but when
Abraham met the Three, he said, "My Lord." But when Lot down in Sodom,
two of them went down there; and Lot saw two of them coming, and he
said, "My Lords." See, what was the matter? The first place Lot was not
a prophet (That's right.), or neither was he the messenger of the hour.
So he didn't have any revelation of Him. It's exactly right. Lot could
call them "Lords," a dozen of them, he could still said, "Lords," but
no matter how many Abraham saw, it was still one Lord. There is God;
this is the Melchisedec.
Notice, after the battle was over, Melchisedec served His victorious
child Communion (Think of that.), part of Himself. Now, we want to see
here, in type here is in view the Communion. After the battle He gave
of Himself, because the Communion is part of Christ. And after the
struggle is over, after you've done got yourself whipped out, then's
when you partake of Christ, become part of this Being. You get it?
106 Jacob wrestled all night
and wouldn't turn Him loose until He blessed him. That's right. Battle
for life. And after the battle is over, then God gives you of Himself.
That is His true Communion. The little bread and wafer just represents
it. You shouldn't take it, 'less you've wrestled it out and become part
of God.
Remember, at this time the Communion had never been instituted, not
until--before--the death of Jesus Christ, hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds of years later.
But Melchisedec after His child Abraham had won the victory,
Melchisedec met him and gave him wine and bread, showing that after
this earthly battle is over, we will meet Him in the heavens and take
the Communion again; it'll be the wedding supper. "I will not drink no
more of the vine or eat the fruit, until I eat it and drink it with you
anew in My Father's Kingdom." That right?
109 Notice again, Melchisedec
went to meet Abraham before He got back home. What a beautiful type
here we have: Melchisedec meeting Abraham before he got back home after
the battle. We meet Jesus in the air before we get home. That's right.
II Thessalonians tells us that, for we meet Him in the air. A beautiful
type of Rebecca meeting Isaac in the field in the cool of the day. We
meet Him in the air; II Thessalonians tells us so: "For we which are
alive and remain shall not prevent (or hinder) those which are asleep;
for the trumpet of God shall sound; the dead in Christ shall rise
first; we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them to meet the Lord in the air." Perfect, all these types...
Therefore the theophany, if you have died and entered into that
theophany, what happens? The theophany comes to the earth to pick up
the redeemed body. And if you're here in the air, you take the body to
meet the theophany (There you are.), and caught up and go to meet the
Lord in the air.
Who is this Melchisedec but God?
112 Now, we see here plainly
the complete secret of our lives in journey, and death, and where we go
after we die. Also predestination is in plain view here. Now, listen as
we teach this, closely.
The stages of--of the eternal purpose He had in His secret has now been
revealed. Notice, there is still three stages to perfection. Just like
He redeems the world; same way He redeems His church. He redeems the
people in three stages. Now, look, first is justification like Luther
preached; second, sanctification like Wesley preached; third, baptism
of the Holy Ghost. That's right. Then comes the rapture.
Now, the world, how did He redeem the world? The first what He did,
when it sinned, He washed it off in water baptism. That's right. Then
He dropped His Blood upon it from the cross and sanctified it and
called it His own. And then what does He do? As He tore all the world
out of you and renovated the whole thing by the fiery baptism of the
Holy Ghost, He also will renovate the world. And it'll be burnt over
with fire and cleanse every germ for millions of miles high, and every
thing will be cleaned off. And then there is a new heaven and a new
earth, just like you are a new creature in Christ Jesus when the Holy
Spirit takes ahold of you. See, there you are. The whole thing's just
as plain as it can be.
115 Everything's in three. The
natural birth's in three. What's the first thing happens to the woman
having a baby? What breaks first? Water. What breaks next? Blood.
What's the next process? Life: Water, blood, spirit. What happens to
the plant? Rots. What's the first thing? Stalk. What's the next?
Tassel. What's the next? Shuck. Then the grain comes out of that, just
the three stages of it till it gets to the grain. That's exactly.
God vindicates that. That's always been right; God vindicates it to be
true. Show plainly the predestinated is the only one that's considered
in redemption. Did you get it? Let me say that again. The predestinated
is the only one that's considered in redemption. People might be making
like, think they are, but the real redemption is those that are
predestinated. Because the very word "redeem" means "to bring back." Is
that right? To redeem is something... To redeem anything is bring it
back to its original place. Hallelujah. So it's only the predestinated
will be brought back, because the others didn't come from there. See?
Bring back...
117 Being eternal with Him at
the beginning... The Eternal Life that you had, His thought of what you
was, only He wanted you to... He wanted me to stand in the pulpit, say.
He wanted you to set in the seat tonight. Then we are serving His
eternal purpose. And the one that left home, only come to the earth to
serve His purpose. Is that right? All right. Then after it's finished,
it's brought back in a glorified state. It's matured and brought back
again.
No wonder Paul could say when they was building a block to chop his
head off. He said, "Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, grave, where is
your victory? But thanks be to God Who gives us the victory." He said,
"Death, tell me where you can make me holler. Grave, tell me, how you
going to hold me, for I am a possessor of Eternal Life." Amen. He
recognized it. Death, hell, grave, nothing could hold him. And nothing
can hurt us, got Eternal Life. He realized he was blessed with Eternal
Life.
119 Just like a little dew
drop. If I understand it's... I don't know too much about chemistry,
but it must be that it's a-the congealing of humidity or atmosphere...
And when the night gets cold and dark, it falls from the heavens and
drops upon the ground. It's fell from somewhere. But the next morning
before the sun comes up, it's laying there, the little fellow,
shivering, but just let the sun come up, watch it go to shining. It's
happy. Why? The sun is going to call it right back to where it come
from. And that's the way with a Christian. Hallelujah. We know when we
walk into the Presence of God, something in us tells us that we come
from somewhere and we're going back again by that power that's
a-pulling us.
The little dew drop he glistens and shines and shouts, because he knows
he come from up there, and that sun's going to draw him right back up
again. And a man that's a attribute of God, borned of God knows
(Hallelujah.), when he come in contact with the Son of God, he's going
to be drawed up from here someday. "For if I be lifted up from the
earth, I'll draw all men unto Me." Amen.
121 Now, notice. Now, we see
Melchisedec and why that Mary wasn't His mother. That's the reason He
called her woman, not mother. He had no father, for He was the Father,
the Everlasting Father, the three in the One. He had no mother.
Certainly not. He had no father, for He was the Father. As the poet
said one time speaking a great compliment unto Jesus. He said,
I AM
that spoke to Moses
In a
burning bush of fire.
I AM
the God of Abraham,
The
bright and morning Star.
I'm
Alpha, Omega, the beginning from the end.
I am
the whole creation,
And
Jesus is the Name. (That's
right.)
Oh,
Who do you say that I am?
And
whence do they say that I came?
Do you
know My Father,
Or can
you tell His Name? (Hallelujah.)
That's the Father's Name. "Yeah, I come in My Father's Name and you
received Me not." See? Sure, He's the same yesterday, today, and
forever.
123 And this Melchisedec became
flesh. He revealed Himself as Son of man when He come as a Prophet. He
come in three names of a Son: the Son of man, the Son of God, the Son
of David.
When He was here on earth He was a Man to fulfill the Scripture. Moses
said, "The Lord your God shall raise up a Prophet liken unto me." So He
had to come as a prophet. He didn't never say, "I am the Son of God."
He said, "I am the Son of man. Do you believe the Son of man?" 'Cause
that's what He had to testify of, because that's what He was. Now, He's
come in another son's Name: Son of God, the unseen, the Spirit. And
when He comes again, He's Son of David to set upon His throne.
125 Now, when He was here and
was made flesh, He was called the Son of man. Now, how did He make
Himself known to the world as Son of man, the Prophet?
One day... I was telling a story of Peter and Andrew his brother. They
were fishermen, and their father Jonas was a great old believer. One
day they said he set down on the side of the boat. He said, "Sons, you
know how we prayed when we needed fish." (They was commercial
fishermen.) He said, "We've trusted God, Jehovah, for our living. And
I'm getting old now; I can't stay with you boys much longer. And I've
always--with all the true believers--have looked for the time when that
Messiah will come. We've had all kinds of false ones, but there's
coming a real One someday." And he said, "When this Messiah comes, I
don't want you boys to be deceived. This Messiah will not be just a
theologian; He will be a Prophet. For our prophet Moses, of who we
follow, he said..." Now, any Jew will believe his prophet. He's taught
to know that. And if--if the prophet says anything that's so, then
that's truth. But God said, "If there be one among you spiritual or a
prophet, I the Lord will make Myself known to him. And what he says
comes to pass then hear him and fear him. But if it don't, then don't
hear him at all." See? So that was a--the vindication of the prophet.
127 "So Moses was truly a
vindicated prophet, and he said, 'The Lord your God shall raise up
among you, out of your brethren a Prophet like unto me. And all that
won't hear him will be cut off from the people.'" He said, "Now,
children, remember, that as Hebrews we believe God's vindicated
prophets." Now, listen close; don't miss it. And he said, "When the
Messiah comes, you'll know Him, for He will be a prophet Messiah. Now,
I said, it's been four hundred years; we haven't had a prophet since
Malachi. But He'll be."
And one day after his death, few years, his son Andrew was strolling
along down the bank, and he heard a wild man out of the wilderness
saying, "That Messiah is standing among you now." That big eagle that
raised up over the wilderness and flew over there, said, "The Messiah's
among you right now. We don't know Him yet, but He's standing among
you. I'll know Him, because I'll see a sign coming from heaven." One
day He said, "There, behold, is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin
of the world."
Away he went--went, this man, to find his brother; he said, "Simon, I
want you come over here; we've done found the Messiah."
"Oh, go on, Andrew, you know better than that."
"Oh I know, but that--this Man is different."
"Where is he? Where'd he come from?"
"Jesus of Nazareth."
"That little wicked city? Why, he couldn't come from a wicked, dirty
place like that."
"You just come and see."
Finally he persuaded him to come down one day. So when he come in the
front of this Messiah, Jesus, standing there speaking to the people,
when he walked up in front of Him, He said, "Your name is Simon, and
you are the son of Jonas." That did it. He got the keys to the Kingdom.
Why? He knowed that that Man did not know him. And how did He know him
and that godly old father who'd taught him how to believe the Messiah?
130 There was a man standing
there by the name of Philip. Oh, he got real excited. He knowed another
man he'd been studying the Bible with. Away he went around the hill,
and he found him out there in his olive grove. He was kneeling down,
praying. They'd had lots of Bible lessons together. So he come out
there, and he said, after he'd got through praying, he said, "Come, see
Who we found, Jesus of Nazareth the Son of Joseph. He's the Messiah
we're looking for."
Now, I can hear Nathanael say, "Now, Philip, you ain't went off on the
deep end are you?"
"Oh, no. Nope. Now, let me tell you. You know, we been studying the
Bible together, and what did the prophet say the Messiah would be?"
"He'd be a Prophet."
"You remember that old fisherman you bought the fish from, that didn't
have enough education to sign his name, called Simon?"
"Yep, uh-huh."
"He come up, and you know what? This Jesus of Nazareth told him that
his name was Simon, changed his name to Peter, which is 'little stone,'
and told him who his daddy was."
Well, he said--he said, "I don't know, could anything good come out of
Nazareth?"
He said, "Let's not talk about it; just come on and see." That's a good
idea. Come and see. So here come Philip bringing up Nathanael. And when
he got walking up, Jesus probably standing speaking, probably praying
for the sick in the prayer line, and when He come up to where Jesus
was, Jesus looked around at him and said, "Behold, an Israelite in whom
there's no guile."
134 Now, you say, "Well, it was
the way he's dressed." Oh, no. All easterners dress the same. He
could've been a Syrian or been anything else: beard, garment.
He said, "Behold, an Israelite in whom there's no guile." In otherwise,
a honest sincere man.
Well, that kinda deflated Nathanael. And he said, "Rabbi (which means
'teacher'), Rabbi, when did You ever know me? How did You know I was a
Jew? How did You know I was honest, no guile?"
He said, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw
you," fifteen miles away, the other side of the country the day before.
What did he say? "Rabbi, You are the Son of God. You are the King of
Israel."
137 But there stood those
priests there, self-styled, self-starched, said, "This man is
Beelzebub, a fortuneteller."
Jesus said, "I forgive you for that." Now, remember, they never said it
out loud, but they said it in their hearts. And He perceived their
thoughts. That's right. That's what the Bible said. Call it telepathy
if you want to, but He--He perceived their thoughts.
And He said, "I forgive you for that, but someday the Holy Ghost is
going to come and do this same thing (after His going); speak a word
against It, will never be forgiven in this world or the world to come."
Is that right? Now, that was Jews.
140 Then one day He had need to
go to Samaria. But just before we do that, we found the woman, or
the--the man as he went through the gate called Beautiful, that he was
healed, and Jesus knowed his condition, and told him, "Take up your bed
and go on home." And he did it and got well. Then we find out the Jews,
some of them received Him; some believed it; some didn't. Why didn't
they believe it? They was not ordained to Life. They wasn't part of
that attribute.
Now, remember, them were priests and great men. And Jesus... Think of
those theologians and priests, men that you couldn't find a flaw in
their life. Jesus said, "You are of your father the devil, and his
works you do." Said, "If you'd be of God, you'd believe Me. If you
can't believe Me, believe--believe the works that I do; they testify
Who I am."
Now, the Bible said that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and
forever. Jesus said, "The works that I do shall he that believeth on Me
do also." That right? Notice, that was the real Melchisedec now.
143 Now, notice again. There
was only three races of people. You've heard me say I was a
segregationalist. I am. All Christians are segregationists, not
segregation of color, but segregation of spirit. A man's color of his
skin has nothing to do with him. He's a child of God by birth. But a
Christian, God said, "Separate Me; come out from among them, and so
forth." He is a segregationist of filth, between right and wrong.
But notice, they had a segregation then, a racial segregation, which
was the Samaritans. And there's only three races of people on the earth
if we believe the Bible; that is Ham, Shem, and Japheth's people.
That's the three sons of Noah. We all sprung from there. That's right.
That makes us all back from Adam, which makes us all brothers. The
Bible said, "Of one blood God created all nations." We're all brothers
through the blood stream. A colored man can give a white man a blood
transfusion or vice versa. The white man can give the--the Japanese,
yellow man, or the Indian, the red man, or whatmore, or Japhanite [?--Ed.] or whatever. He could give
him a blood transfusion, 'cause we're all the same blood. The color of
our skin, where we lived, had nothing to do with it. But when we're
segregated is when we come out of the world, like He brought Israel up
out of Egypt. That's when we're segregated from the things of the world.
145 Now, there was Ham, Shem, and Japheth's people. And if we had time to run the genealogies back, you could see the Anglo-Saxon, where he come from. Now, that was the Jew, the Samaritan, which was half Jew and Gentile, that married in with the Gentiles at Balaam's doings, and Moab. They were Samaritans, and there was Jews and Gentiles. Now, we Anglo-Saxons had nothing to do with any of it; we didn't believe any Messiah, nor nothing else. We wasn't looking for one. We were brought in afterwards. Jesus came to His own, and His own received Him not. And He said to His disciples, "Don't go in the way of the Gentiles, but go rather to the lost sheep of Israel." And He went only to the lost sheep of Israel. And watch, He manifested Hisself as Son of man before the Jews. They turned it down. Now, the Samaritan being half Jew and Gentile, they believed also and was looking for a Messiah. We wasn't; we were heathens with clubs on our back, worshipping idols: the Gentile.
146 But now one day (St. John
4) He had need to go by Samaria on His road down to Jericho, but
was--went up around Samaria. And while He was going up there, He set
down on the well outside of the city called Sychar. And the well, if
you've ever been there, it's a little panoramic 'bout like this here.
And there's a public spring there, a water where they all come. And the
women come of a morning, get their pots of water, and put it on their
head, and one on each hip, and walk with it just as straight as can be,
never spill a drop, talk to one another. So they--the--the people come
out there.
So this was about eleven o'clock in the day. So He sent His disciples
into the city to buy some vittles, food. And while they were gone,
there was a woman which was ill famed; we'd call her today a "red light
woman" or prostitute; she had too many husbands.
148 So while Jesus was setting
there, this woman come out about eleven o'clock. See, she couldn't come
with the virgins when they come in the morning to get their wash water;
she had to wait till they all... They didn't mix like they do now. She
was marked. So then she come out to get some water. So she just took
the old windle, and put the hooks over the jar, and started to let it
down; she heard Somebody say, "Woman, bring Me a drink." Now, remember,
this is Melchisedec; this is Jesus yesterday, the Son of man.
And she looked around, and she saw a Jew. So she said, "Sir, it's not
proper for a Jew to ask a Samaritan for anything. I'm a woman of
Samaria, so you have spoken out of your place. You shouldn't have ask
me such a thing as that; we have no dealings with one another."
He said, "But if you knew Who was talking to you, you'd ask Me for a
drink."
She said, "How You going to draw it? The well's deep, and You have
nothing to draw with."
He said, "The water that I give is water of Life springing up into
Eternal Life." He talked to her till He found what her condition was.
And then told--watch what He said to her now. "Go get your husband and
come here."
And she said, "I have no husband."
He said, "You've said the truth, for you've had five, and the one you
now are living with is not yours; so in this you've said the truth."
Watch the difference between that woman and that bunch of priests. She
knowed more about God than that whole bunch of priests did put together.
153 She said, "Sir, I perceive
that You are a Prophet." She said, "We haven't had one for four hundred
years. Now, we know that the Messiah's coming, and when the Messiah
comes, that's what He's going to do." That was the sign of the Messiah,
for He was the Son of man. Said, "That's what He's going to do when He
comes; You must be His Prophet."
He said, "I am He." Nobody else could say that.
She dropped that water pot, and run into the city, and said, "Come, see
a Man Who told me what I done. Isn't this the very Messiah?" Now,
remember, He promised to do that same thing at the end of the Gentile
race. The Jews had had four thousand years to look for that Messiah,
four thousand years of teaching He was coming, and what He would do
when He got there; and they failed to see Him, failed to recognize it.
And when He made Hisself known in the very Bible terms that He said He
would, when He'd been a theophany and then become flesh and dwelled
among them, they failed to see it, and called His works the works of
the devil.
156 Now, we've had two thousand
years of teaching, coming down through the Roman Catholic church, after
the apostles. Then we come down through the Roman Catholic, the Greek,
and so forth, on down to Luther's age, and Wesley, whatmore, nine
hundred different organizations. Coming down, they had all these ages'
teaching. Now, He promised just before the end time would come that the
picture of Sodom and Gomorrah would again... "As it was in the days of
Sodom, so shall it be in the coming of the end time, the Son of man
will reveal Himself again." [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] "Yet a little while and the
world won't see Me no more, yet ye shall see Me, for I (a personal
pronoun)--I will be with you, even in you to the consummation, the end
of the world. I'll be with you." He's the same yesterday, today, and
forever.
You see--you see the Samaritan was actually--from my last night's
sermon--was Hagar (See?) a perverted type. The Jew was Sarah--or was
Sarahite; but the Gentile is of Mary the Royal Seed, Abraham's Royal
Seed.
158 Now, it's promised that in
these last days that this same God, this same Christ, would come back
here and reveal Hisself as Son of man. Why? He's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. And if He let those Jews go by with--and give them
that Messiahic sign, and then come to the end of the Gentile's
teachings and let them just go in on theology, He would be unjust. He's
got to do the same thing, because the Bible said in 13--Hebrews 13:8,
He is the same. And He's promised in Malachi 4 and all the different
Scriptures that the last days the church would be setting just exactly
like it is today and the world would be.
Look at the world today. Look at the Sodom condition. Look at the
earthquakes in divers places and the things that's taking place. Look
at the church in the mess it's in of Babylon. Look at the messenger to
it, an Oral Roberts and a Billy Graham: G-r-a-h-a-m. First time we ever
had a messenger to all the churches that his name ever end in h-a-m
like Abraham. A-b-r-a-h-a-m is seven letters; G-r-a-h-a-m is six
letters. Where's he at? To the world. Six is man's number. Man was
created on the sixth day. But seven's God's number.
160 Now, look at them down
there in Sodom. And there is their messengers down there speaking to
them. But then where's that Royal Seed of Abraham? Where is their sign,
that He said, "As it was in the days of Sodom," that God came down and
was manifested in human flesh, and told what Sarah was thinking back in
her heart in the tent behind Him, the last sign before the Gentile
world was destroyed by fire? And the church has got it's last sign
before the whole world's going to be destroyed, this Gentile kingdom be
destroyed by the fire and wrath of God. You believe that?
That Melchisedec was flesh, represented Himself in a human body; and
then later He was made flesh. And now, tonight He's the same,
yesterday, today, and forever. Do you believe it?
Who is this Melchisedec then, that's the same yesterday... Never had no
father, never had no mother; He never had no beginning of days; He
never had any end to life. And He met Abraham, and what kind of a sign
did He perform? Then when He was made flesh, He said it would repeat
again just before the end time. You believe that? I believe it. Let's
pray.
163 Dear God, I believe the
Scriptures, that You have said You was the same yesterday, today, and
forever. And as sincerely in my heart, Lord, I know that something's
fixing to take place. I cannot strictly identify it; I'm afraid to say
anything, Lord. Thou knowest the heart of Your servants.
And how many times down through the age when You sent things, people
failed to get it. Man is constantly praising God for what He did, and
saying what great things He's going to do, but ignoring what's He's
doing. So has it been through the age. Why did the Roman church fail to
see Saint Patrick as God's prophet? Why did they kill Joan of Ark when
she was a--a prophetess, burnt her as a witch? Father, it's always
past. You hide it from the eyes of the wise and prudent. No wonder You
said to them priests, "You garnish the tombs of the prophets, and
you're the one that put them in there." After they're gone they see
their mistake. They always persecute You, Lord, in whatever form You
come in.
165 I pray tonight, God, just
one more time. Tomorrow we're scheduled to be--to go to Tucson. Other
parts of the world, other cities we must preach in. But, dear God,
there might be strangers here tonight that never has--they've heard
words preached, but never seen it made manifest. As I asked You at the
beginning... When those disciples, Cleopas and his friend coming from
Emmaus, was walking along the road and You stepped out of the bush and
begin to talk to them after the resurrection, preached to them... Why,
He said, "Fools, slow of heart, don't you know that Christ should
suffer these things and enter into His glory." But still they never
recognized it. All day long they walked with You and still didn't know
You. But one night... Night come; they constrained You to come in. When
they went into the little inn and closed the doors, then You did
something just the way You did it before Your crucifixion; and they
recognized it was the risen Christ. In a few moments You was behind the
curtains and gone. Quickly they run and told the disciples, "The Lord
is risen indeed."
Father God, I believe that You're still alive. I know You are. And
You've proved it to us so many times. Could You just do it once more
for us, Lord? If we found grace in Your sight, let it happen once more.
I am Your servant; these are Your servants in here. Lord, all that I've
said wouldn't mount to... Just one word from You would be more than
I've said in these five nights--or five messages. It would be more,
just one word from You. Won't You speak, Lord, that the people might
know that I've told them the truth? Grant it, God. I ask it in Jesus'
Name this once more. Amen.
167 Now, I don't know you; I
know some people. I know this boy setting here. I know Bill Dauch
setting right there. I want to... Here's Brother Blair, Rodney Cox.
It's hard to see out there. On this side right at the present time I
can't see nobody actually that I know.
Now, how many in here that knows that I am a stranger to you, raise up
your hands, knows that I know nothing about you, raise up your hands on
both sides. How many in here that has something wrong or something
that--that you know that I know nothing about, would you raise up your
hands. Now, it would be totally, absolutely, totally impossible for me
to know anything about you. Otherwise, then it'd have to come from some
revelation of Spirit. And being that I've told you all these nights,
and tonight that He is not dead; He's here and promised to do the same
thing, and promised that there would come a time in the last days
according to Malachi 4 and according to St. Luke, that He would appear
again in human form among His people, and do the same things, and
reveal the same things, the same Messiahic sign... How many knows that,
you Bible readers--knows that's the Truth say, "Amen." [Congregation
replies, "Amen."--Ed.] Must
all be Bible readers.
Now, I know it's foreign to the people today, but still it's the truth.
That's the reason they didn't know Jesus of Nazareth. They knowed their
church creeds, but they didn't know Him. But He come just the way the
Bible said, not a theologian, not a priest; He come as a Prophet; and
His own received Him not.
170 Now, if God will keep His
Word, and if I happen to--it happens to fall on someone that I know,
then I'll--I'll get someone else. See, I want somebody that I don't
know. And I want you to pray.
Now, look, there was a little woman one time had an infirmity. She'd
spent her money for the doctors; they could do her no good. And she
said within her heart, "If I can touch that Man's garments, I'll be
made well." You remember the story? And so all of them tried to get her
to stay back, but she pressed through until she touched His garment,
went back and set down.
Now, listen close. And then when He did that--when she did that, Jesus
turned around and said, "Who touched Me?"
Why, Peter the apostle rebuked Him. He might have something like,
"Lord, don't say a thing like that. The people will believe there's
something wrong with You, because when You ask them to eat Your flesh
and drink Your Blood. They already think there's something wrong. And
You say, 'Who touched Me,' why, the whole crowd's a-touching You."
He said, "Yes, but I perceive that virtue went out of Me." That was a
different kind of touch. Now, anybody knows that virtue is strength. "I
got weak; virtue left Me." And He looked around on the audience until
He found the little woman and told her about her blood issue. And she
felt in her body that that blood issue had stopped. Is that right? And
He said, "Thy faith has saved thee." Now, the Greek word there is
"Sozo," which absolutely means "saved physically or spiritual," just
the same, just saved. He is--He's your Saviour.
175 Now, if that was Him
yesterday, and the way He acted to prove that He was among the people,
the Messiah promised, and that's the way He identified Himself as
promise by the Bible, He'd do the same thing now. Wouldn't He--wouldn't
He have to do the same thing?
You say, "Did He say it's about healing the sick?" Yeah. The Hebrews,
the Bible that I just read from said that Jesus Christ now is our High
Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. How many
knows that true? The Bible said that. He's a High Priest now that can
be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. Then if He's the same
High Priest that He was then, how would He act now? He'd have to act
the same way He did then, if He's the same High Priest. Now, you
might... I'm not your high priest. You might touch me, and it'd just be
like touching your husband, or your brother, or whatmore, a man. But
you let your faith touch Him and watch what happens.
177 Now, if I be God's servant
and have told you the truth, God will vindicate that to be the truth.
And that would prove that Jesus Christ is a-living tonight, standing
here. Is that right? Now, you have faith, just one side at the time,
one side. You have faith out there. (I'd better stay at the microphone
here, because they can't hear me.)
Somebody just look up to God and say, "God, that man don't know me. He
knows nothing about me. I'm a perfect stranger to him. But let my faith
touch You, Lord. And You know what's the matter with me, Lord. You know
all about me; You know who I am, the same as You knowed who Peter was,
same as You knowed Nathanael, as You knowed what was wrong with the
woman with the blood issue. And this man tells me that You're the same
yesterday, today, and forever. Then, Lord, let my faith touch You."
And if He'll do that and infallibly prove Himself here, how many of you
will believe Him with all your heart, if He'll do it at least one, or
two, or three people for--for a witness. God bless you.
179 Now, Father God, this is
totally out of the hands of any man; it'd have to be supernatural
phenomena. So I pray that You'll help me now, Lord; I'm in Your hands.
Do with me as You see fit. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Now, don't be nervous, just humbly, reverently say, "Lord, I'll serve
You. And that'll be a Truth that... If I could touch Your garment, then
You speak back through that man. That will prove to me that what he
said's the truth." That right?
How many ever seen the picture of that Light? It's all over the
country, everywhere. Science has took it and examined it and
everywhere. Now, He's right here now, same One that said about marriage
and divorce, same One was on the mountain and shook the hills back
there, same One that's down here at the river in '33, the same
yesterday, today, and forever. He's the same.
182 Now, there's a woman; and
she recognizes now that something's happened. That Light's hanging
right over her. She's setting right here, she's... Green sweater on or
something... I don't know the woman. I suppose we are strangers to one
another. That is right. Do you believe that God... You're--you're in
need of something, and you believe that God can reveal to me what your
trouble is? And if He does, then you know it'll have to be a
supernatural power, because I don't know you. And it'll have to come
through supernatural. Depends upon what you think it is. You can take
your side with the priest, call it the devil, or you can take the side
of the believer and call it God. Ever which you believe, that's where
your reward will come from.
If God will reveal to me your trouble, will you accept Him as
your--your Atonement for that trouble? I don't know what the trouble
is, but I know and you know that something's going on.
Now, now, just let me tell you how you're feeling, then you'll know, a
real warm, sweet, comfortable feeling. I'm looking right straight at
It. It's that Light, Amber Light hanging from the woman. And the lady
is suffering with a trouble in her stomach. It's a kinda of a growth
like in her stomach. She's not from here, no; you're from away from
here, aren't you? That's right. You're from Wisconsin. Is that right?
Sure. Now, you are healed. Your faith has made you whole.
Now, tell me who the woman touched? I'm twenty-five yards from her. She
touched Jesus Christ, the High Priest. You believe that?
186 I'm looking at a woman that
I talked to. This woman, I'm looking right at her, 'cause she's praying
so hard for a man. She told me she had a man... She never told me
nothing about it, but her name is Mrs. Waldrop. She comes from Phoenix.
She was raised from the dead. And her doctor come with the x-rays and
showed cancer in the heart. She died in the prayer line. How long ago
has that been, Mrs. Waldrop? Eighteen years ago, and there she sets
tonight, a living testimony.
Her doctors come to the meeting, brought the... Said, "How can the
woman live?" But there she is, and no sign of it. She's brought
someone, and she's praying for him. Now, he's dying with diabetes. Now,
that I knew. But being that you're praying... You know I don't know who
he is, Mrs. Waldrop.
He's from Missouri, and his name is Mr. Cooper. That is right. Now, you
believe? You can go back home and be well, sir. It's up to you if
you'll believe it.
189 Here's a woman, and she's
suffering with a asthmatic condition, complications. She's not from
here. She's setting out there in the crowd, right out there. I hope she
gets... She's not from here; she's from Georgia. Miss McKenny, you
believe with all your heart and believe that God will make you well?
Stand up on your feet if you're a stranger to me and that is true.
Jesus Christ healed you. You believe?
To my back, there's a man setting behind me. He's contacting God. And
what he's wanting, he's got a baby that's got heart trouble. And that
baby has got a murmur in his heart, so the doctor said. And that man's
name is Mr. Cox. Stand up, Mr. Cox. And He told Sarah what she was
thinking behind Him.
Right across the aisle from him, back a little farther, is a man who
comes not from here, but from New Mexico. I never seen him in my life.
I'm looking right at him now; he's behind me. He's from New Mexico, and
the man has a girl that he's interested in. And the girl has got
something wrong with her mouth. It's a... The palate in her mouth is
what's wrong. And the man's name is Mr. West. Would you stand up, sir.
I'm a total stranger to him, but the Lord God will heal his child. Do
you believe now with all your heart?
192 How many of you believe now
with all your heart? Now, isn't Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today,
and forever? Do you accept Him now as your Saviour, raise your hands.
Do you believe in Him as your Healer?
Here, here's a person setting here crippled or something, laying on a
cot. (Can you hear me through this mike?) I don't know you; you're just
a woman laying there. If I could heal you, I would do it. I can't heal
you. It's just a man who's just rejoicing, his child was healed. I
don't know you. You're a woman; I'm a man. This is the first time that
we met in life, I suppose...?... right back there with you, that
brought you. Frankly, this is your first time here though, just brought
you in. You come from a long way. You're shadowed to death. You have
cancer, not crippled, but cancer. The doctors can do no more for you.
It's true. And you're sure to die, 'cause doctors can do no more for
you.
One time there was two lepers set at the gate of Samaria. And them
lepers said, "Why do we set here till we die, because all kids are
starving to death and eating one another's children." They said, "If we
go down to the enemy's camp, the Syrians... If they kill us, we're
going to die anyhow. And if they save us, we'll live." And they took
that chance. And by that faith, they not only saved theirself but the
whole group.
Now, you're going to die; you can't live. But you're not asked to go to
the camp of the enemy, but you're invited to the house of the
Father...?...
196 You're dying with cancer;
you can't live outside of God. You're not from this city; you're not
from around here; you're from a long way. You're from Milwaukee. It's
true. That's right. From the city, I know. Right. Do you believe? Will
you accept God now as your Healer? If you will, no matter how weak you
are, how bedfast you are, I believe in your case I would rise up in the
Name of Jesus Christ and take that cot and go home and live to the
glory of God. Will you obey me as God's prophet, then rise up and go
home; be well. Don't be scared; get up off the cot. God will make you
well. See?
Somebody hold her so she can get up and get strength. You believe God?
Just let her get a little strength; she'll be all right. That's it,
sister. There she is in the Name of the Lord Jesus.
Let us stand and give praise to God. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever...?... the Lord Jesus Christ bless you...?...