When Abraham Lincoln died, to free the colored man, to give him rights not to be a slave any longer, they was freed at sunrise, too. They were so happy about it, knowing that they were going to be free as soon as the sun rose. Some of them that was healthier, better physical fit, they climbed way up the mountain. Some could go all the way to the top; and some half way up; and some all the way down. And as soon as the sun begin to peep up, the great strong ones was up on top.
I’d liken that today to great strong Christians who rise up into the sphere of the Holy Spirit; those who just come along the road under justification; those who are way down in the valley of confusion.
They raised up. And as soon as the ones, was high, could see it, first, way off. And when they seen the sun rising, they screamed to the top of their voice, to the ones below them, said, “We are free!”
And then those got it, and let out a shout and screamed down to the others, “We are free!”
And the others, down below that, explained it to the others, “We are free!”
Now look. Those up on the hill could see the sun, so they were free. But as soon as the news come to that fellow in the valley, he was just as free as he would ever be, whether the sun was up or not. You see it?
Christ come to set the captive free. You don’t have to be bound down with habits, halfway Christian life. God don’t want you to be that way. He wants you to be free. God anointed Christ to preach freedom, to open the prison doors. And every time you…
Say you’re setting in there, and your death sentence is on you. And the first thing you know, they’re fixing to take you out to hang you, or to execute you in some way. And the first thing, you hear somebody coming down the street, saying, “Hold it! I got the pardon. You don’t have to die.” Now, you don’t have to wait till you’re out of the prison. You’re just as free right then as you will be when you’re out. So the man can just be as happy, sitting in prison, as he would be out of prison, as long as he knows his pardon is signed.
That’s the way it is this morning. Here it is! To every man and woman that has a hungry heart, to come out of the prison cells this morning, the good news of the Gospel is preached. And no matter, if you’re still sitting sick, if you’re still sitting bound, you can be just as free because the news has come, “You are pardoned!” Christ rose, some nineteen hundred years ago, this morning, to set every prisoner free, opened the prison doors and let them come out. Oh, what a marvelous thing!
William Branham, Sermon "Proof Of His Resurrection"
https://en.branham.ru/sermons/55-0410M
