E-1 Thank you, very much, Brother Neville.
May be seated.
I believe it was said once, that, "I was happy when they said unto me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord.'"
E-2 Now, we are sorry that we don't have room, or seating room, for all that are present, and perhaps will grow through the coming week, of people coming in, hearing of the meeting.
E-3 But the reason for this special time was that we would… Upon my heart the Holy Spirit had laid this warning of conviction, that, "The Church in this day should have this Message." Because, I believe that it is the most outstanding Messages of the Bible, because it reveals Christ in His Church at this time.
E-4 Then, no one can have faith or know what they're doing, or where they're going, unless they have some, something to base their thoughts and faith upon. Therefore, if the Scripture has revealed Christ to us in these last days, and the condition of time, it would do us good to—to search It and find out where we're at.
E-5 Now, we're—we're sorry that our church is not larger, someday we're hoping to have it.
E-6 And these last four days, especially, studying for this upon the historical part of the—of the Book of Revelation, I have run into things that I never thought was really ever happened. And it's even brought to me a—a feeling that, after this Seven Church Ages, I have been through that, I would like to have another such series of bringing up "the—the true Church and the false church," together, and just through the history and Scripture. As one time I endeavored, on a sermon, to take "the true Vine and the false vine," found in the Bible.
E-7 And we are… We're going to try to get some chairs, while I'm thinking of the people trying to be seated. And we're going to get, try to get, some more chairs, to try to fill up the rooms back here, and out, and some more around, so that we can seat a few more people during the services.
E-8 Now, on this, I would ask each one of you who are really concerned about these things, would—would come every time that we are going to—to explain It. And I would not undertake, or did I think myself… [Blank.spot.on.tape—Ed.]… undertake to… [Blank.spot.on.tape.]… this great Book of the Revelation of… [Blank.spot.on.tape.]… Seven Church Ages. But I am depending solemnly upon God, for—for to reveal it to me just as I come to it.
E-9 The natural history, which is of the… taken from the most outstanding historians that I know of. I have laying in my study room, right now, about five or six commentaries, Hislop's Two Babylons, Foxe's Book Of The Martyrs, and other great books; like the Pre-Nicene Council, about four books on that, around four hundred pages in each book. And there the Nicene Council, and all the history that we can. Because, behind this, from the magnetic tape, we're going to write a commentary on the Seven Church Ages, to send to all the world, that we can, because we are in the last days. We are at the end time.
E-10 It never dawned upon my heart so much until the—the last election, and then I seen where we were at. Then the Holy Spirit begin to reveal to me, to—to warn the people, and to place this. And I cannot do it in a—a church like this, sufficiently. And then if I set down and just wrote the book… I feel that if I got to the pulpit, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit amongst the Christians came upon me, to help me, then I would be more sufficient to write the book then, after I took it off the tape, because there we'd get the inspiration of it. The books, of course, will be kind of straightened up a little, because, in here, we put things in that we could not put in the book. And then we… And we take too much time on repeating ourselves, or I do. And then, in the book, it'll all be straightened out. But we're going to try to get it all, as much as we can, on tapes.
E-11 Now, the tapes, each night, literature and so forth, the boys will have it just out the building there.
E-12 Now, I may not be able each night, as we have taken upon ourselves to try for the glory of God, to—to bring these seven church Messages, or Seven Church Ages, in seven nights; taking each night, an age. Like, Monday night, Ephesus; Tuesday night, Smyrna; Wednesday night, Pergamos; Thursday night, Thyatira; Friday night, Sardis; and Saturday night, Philadelphia; and Sunday morning and Sunday night, the Laodicean, the church age that we're living in. Giving the historical of the original church, and the—and the writers and the historians, and the angels of that age, and—and the messages, and the run of the church, as it's come down through to this time.
E-13 And it's amazing to see how every prediction of that Scripture hits solid with history, just exactly, to the thought of it. It even amazed me so much, till, yesterday, I had read till felt like my eyes were swelling out. And I come out and I said to the wife, "I have never dreamed of it being that way." See? How great it was!
E-14 And now, sometime, I may not be able to get it all over in one night, the church, the message to the church. And if I cannot get it over, at night, then the next morning at ten o'clock. Will be announced each night, to those who wants to come and listen at the rest of it, 'cause we're going, try, get it on the tape. I will have services then from ten o'clock, at morning, on till noon, in the daytime, to try to get it out, the rest of the message, 'cause they can catch it on the tape. Not…
E-15 We've announced that there won't be any healing services, because we're trying to keep under the prophetic utterance of the Bible. Then, we had a healing service just recently here. Then after this services are over, then we'll have a healing services again back at the place.
E-16 But now I—I want to make this real clear, so everybody can remember, that now, in here, it may cut and pull, and give us all a great shaking. But I'm responsible, not for—for nothing but preaching the Word. That, that's all. Just… but, just holding right to the Word. And many times it might, in these church ages, might reflect upon somebody's denomination. And if it does that, it's not meant to be with harshness. It—it is just stating what the Scripture has said, and the revelation I have of It. And if you think that I'm wrong in it, then do not hold it against me, just pray for me that God will show me what is right, for I certainly want to be right.
E-17 And then another thing, realizing that the responsibility that I have, in—in such a meeting as this, that teaching the people, that the Holy Spirit will hold me responsible for the words that I say in this pulpit. So you see how solemnly we approach this.
E-18 Now, our… I would have had this out somewhere else. But, being that it's teaching, then in our… Out in the evangelistic services, every one of us has an idea or—or discernment, or like has been through the age, and we have our own churches, and what our churches taught us, and what we believe. We… I don't like to go in someone else's church, or among people like that, and say something that's contrary to what people has been taught. For, after all, I've clearly tried to make my statements that a…
If a man is a Catholic, and he's depending on the Catholic Church for salvation, he's lost. If he's a Baptist, depending on the Baptist Church, he's lost. Or a Pentecostal, depending on the Pentecostal Church to save him, he's lost. But, any church! But if that individual is solemnly resting upon faith in the finished works of Christ at Calvary, he's saved, I don't care what church he belongs to. Because, "By faith are you saved, and that by grace."
E-19 Now, sometimes, in doing this, then I'll think, in my own little building here that we started many years ago, just with an old bunch of concrete blocks and things, and it's kind of a sacred spot to us. We hate it, just hate to see it changed, in one way, because this is where God first begin to meet with us, when we even didn't have a floor in it. But it's—it's got to a place now till it's getting old, and we're in a building—building program here, to fill this block with a church here.
E-20 Now, until then, I feel that when I come back off of the field, where I won't hurt brethren and, or, messages and so forth, then it gives me the right to express my own opinion, out—out of my… out of the pulpit here. And so if you say, "I have been taught a little different." I would… And then, in this, we just invite anybody that wants to come. See? There's nobody sponsoring it, or anything. It's the tabernacle here. And anybody that wants to come, is just welcome to come. Just come right on. So I invite you to bring your Bible, every meeting, and bring a pencil and paper.
E-21 And now, with all the commentaries and so forth, I could not have brought all the books. So I just wrote, write down, each time, upon paper here, little notes from history and commentaries, and so forth, that I might be able to just read it from the—the notes here, instead of having the book and turning through the pages. However, when it comes to the Scripture, we'll use the Bible. And then in the commentary, I'll explain; or the history, who the historian was that said it, and so forth. Then in the… Course, in the event of the coming book, why, then we can type it up all right then, and can get everything did all right.
E-22 Now, we will do everything that we can to start early and let out as early as possible. It'll be eight days, meetings, Sunday through Sunday.
E-23 This morning I am starting the 1st chapter of Revelation, of the Book of Revelation. And Revelation is set in three parts. And first three chapters is what we'll be dealing with in these eight days. When, one church age could take us a month. But we'll just have to hit the high places, as we call it. Then when you get the book, it'll be written out, more in detail.
E-24 Now, Revelation, the first three chapters, deals with the Church, then the Church disappears. We see It no more until the end time. From Revelation 1 to 3, is the Church; Revelation 4 to 19, is Israel, a nation; and 19 to 22, is both, together. And the plagues and the warnings, and so forth, at the end! Set in three parts. See? And we're taking the first three chapters, pertaining to the Church, and the church age that we're living in.
E-25 Now, first, it may seem kind of dry because we have to go back and make a foundation. I prayed and studied, and done everything that I could, to try to—to get the feeling of the Holy Spirit, which way to set this, that the people will see it, and that you might, in seeing it, be enlightened and cause you to come closer to Christ, for we're at the end time.
E-26 And it's such a marvelous thing, as I been studying the histories, to find how that church began, and how it pulled off, and what taken place, and to see that little Seed of God move through every one of those ages; completely go out, nearly, in one place.
E-27 Now, tomorrow night, we'll begin, and have a—have a—a chart here; not a chart, but a blackboard, that I want to kind of teach it from a blackboard. I believe the Sunday school teacher, one of them, has a blackboard. I see it in the back. I'm going to have the janitor bring it up, put it here in the front, so I can teach from that blackboard, and write it out so you'll be sure. And you can draw it on your paper, and so forth, and get it close as we can bring it.
E-28 But I want to just say this before starting. To see the beginning of the church age; and to see how the apostles, the doctrines, and things that they taught, and the principles of the Bible. And then to see that church, about the second round of apostles, how It began to fade away; the real, true teaching. The third round, getting way away. By the fourth round, it had faded out into a—a lukewarm. The church brought forth a lukewarm church.
E-29 And then a Spirit-filled Church! Which, I say this with godly respect to every man's religion. From the beginning, till this time, the real, true Church has been a pentecostal Church. It is true. God has reserved this Church.
E-30 And I often wonder, when Jesus made the remark, said, "Fear not, little flock, it's your Father's good will to give you the kingdom." I often wondered what that meant, but I understand it now.
E-31 Last week we had a meeting at Shreveport, Louisiana, the greatest spiritual meeting I ever went into, in my life. Shreveport!
E-32 I was… I had a couple days of vacation, and I went down in Kentucky with Brother Wood here, one of the deacons of the church, or trustees, rather, to hunt. We went into the woods.
E-33 I had shot the first squirrel. And I said, "I'll just wait," because someone come through with some dogs. And I said, "I'll just wait till the squirrels come back out of the holes. They run up in the trees, in the holes, and hid now." I said, "When they come out… I'll set here and wait." Because, it's real cold and frosty, and ears burning. And, you know, the—the keen winds coming through the hollows. I said, "I'll just wait till the squirrels come back out."
E-34 No more than set down, until the Holy Spirit said, "Rise, and go up in the place that you call 'sportsman's hollow.' There I'll speak with you."
E-35 And I went up into this place that I named "sportsman's hollow." Because, the reason I named those hollows, myself, so I'd know where I was at. "Sportsman's hollow," was because they had… I went in there and saw sixteen squirrels setting on one tree; shot the limit, left the rest of them there, and went away. And that's the sport, the thing to do. So then I call it, "sportsman's hollow."
E-36 And He referred to me, "The place that you call 'sportsman's hollow.'" Not that He called it, but I called it that.
E-37 Then I went up at the head of that hollow and set down under a white oak tree, and waited about a half hour, and nothing happened. I lay myself on the ground, prostrated myself on the ground, laid my hands out. Then He spoke to me.
E-38 And when He did, the Words that He revealed to me, on this very Scripture that we're coming to this morning, I had never seen it before, in all my life.
E-39 And then when I got to Shreveport, Louisiana; a woman who is a gifted woman, her name is Mrs. Schrader.
E-40 Many years ago, when the Angel of the Lord met me down here at the river, the first time, and appeared in that Light, and the Words that He spoke there; eleven years later, when I walked into a meeting, this little woman rose and spoke in tongues and interpreted. It was word for word the same thing that Angel said.
E-41 And this same little woman, when I walked into the tabernacle at… or the place at Shreveport that we were in, the Life Tabernacle, the Holy Spirit moved on that woman and said word for word what He said to me up there on the hill. Then the Spirit begin to move and give interpretation, foretelling things by the revelation, by prophecy, the things that would happen in the meeting the following night, and not one time did it fail.
E-42 Before that, a little woman stood up in the meeting, a Baptist woman come over there not knowing what she could do. And she was standing in the midst of the meeting and the Holy Spirit fell on her, and she begin to speak with tongues, a Baptist woman from the First Baptist Church of Shreveport. And then she didn't know what she had did. And then, before she could say anything, the Holy Spirit give the interpretation, said, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, 'Within three months, there will be the Spirit of Moses, Elijah, and Christ, ministering in this tabernacle.'" There it happened, perfectly.
E-43 A Baptist man from Meridian, Mississippi, started to lay his hand on his refrigerator, to get something out of the refrigerator, and the Spirit of God come upon him. And he spoke in tongues, not knowing what he was doing. And before he got… could understand what he was doing, the Holy Spirit spoke back and said, "Go to Shreveport, Louisiana. My servant will tell you what to do."
E-44 And he come there, said, "I don't understand this; never happened before."
E-45 Oh, my!We are living in the last days just before the Coming of the Lord.
E-46 That little Church has been always in the minority, the pentecostal. I am not meaning the denominational Pentecostals. I'm not meaning it. But, the people with the pentecostal experience! Pentecost is not a organization. Pentecost is an experience that goes to whosoever will. Catholic, Jew, proselyte, Methodists, Baptists, "Whosoever will, let him come." It's an experience that the individual… God doesn't deal with a denomination, neither does He deal in the Gentiles as a—a race or a people. He deals with individuals, "Whosoever will." Let him be white, black, yellow, brown; Methodist, Baptist, Protestant, Catholic. Whatever he is, "Let him come," whosoever. I'm so glad He made it that way. I…
E-47 Like the fellow said once, "I'd rather hear Him say that than to call my name, 'Let William Branham come,' 'cause there might be more than one William Branham. But when He said, 'Whosoever,' I know that took me."
E-48 So that's the way we can all feel, "Whosoever will, let him come."
E-49 Now, I know there's many people waiting out here in the hotels and motels, that come in from around the world. See? There's people here from Ireland and different places, waiting for these appointments. But I can't catch it right now. I want to give my time to this, you understand.
E-50 When I come back off these trips, I'll usually come back to have—to have someone to minister to, because they keep the appointments. But right now we have to let them go because of This.
E-51 Now, just one thing before we start on this Book. At the beginning was a Pentecostal Church. That Pentecostal Church moved out in the power of the Spirit and wrote a Book of Acts. The second round, it begin to dwindle, the church become formal. Second church age, it was real formal, but that little Seed of Pentecost kept coming on, the spiritual. Then it went into a place of dark ages, of about fourteen hundred years and something, of a dark persecution. That little Pentecostal age kept living on through that. How it survived it, don't ask me. It was the hand of God, the only thing that could have done it.
E-52 Because, they pegged them down, to posts. And took the men and turned them over a—a stump, and took wooden pegs and drove in their legs, and let the animal, dogs, eat them from the back, pull their intestines through them, before they even died. Taken women, cut off their breasts, with a snip like that, their right breast, and stand and let that blood just flow out, till their life would go out of them. Took the babies from the expectant mothers and fed them to the dogs and hogs, while they were looking at them. Supposingly to be Christianity; but the Bible said, and Jesus said, "It would come to pass that they would kill you, thinking they were doing God a service." See?
E-53 And now that thing creeped down until another age. Then finally it come out. Then we notice as the church become out in the reformation. It's pulled off and pulled off, from that time, and got away from the Spirit, got away from the Spirit, right on down until this last age when it's ready to consolidate itself and make an image unto the beast.
E-54 But that little Spirit shall live in the hearts of people until Jesus comes. It's got to be. Bear that in mind.
E-55 We'll draw it out on the maps, take the history and everything, and show you that it's exactly that way. Let you take the history, yourself, and read it. See what the Bible said, and then what the history said. See how it meets just exactly like that. Oh!
E-56 May we all not just take this as a lecture, but may we solemnly, solemnly take the warnings of the Holy Spirit and pray, day and night. Don't let nothing stop you from praying.
E-57 We get in, it'll dig up the lives of those great men back in there, how they sacrificed. You'll see how little you've done. Makes me feel ashamed of myself sometimes, how we have to have everything so easy, and they had everything so hard. "Wandered about," Paul said in Hebrews 11, "in sheepskins and goatskins, tormented and afflicted, destitute." What will our testimony stand up beside of theirs? How will it be up beside of that? And we have to have everything so nice.
E-58 E-58 Now, just in respects, before we open the Book, I'd like for us all, who can, just stand for a moment for prayer. Now with the sincerity of your heart, breathe a word of prayer for… to God.
E-59 Lord God, the Creator of heavens and earth, the Author of Everlasting Life, and the Giver of all good and perfect gifts. We would ask You, Lord, first, to forgive us of all of our indifferences, and our sins and our trespasses against Thee, and against one another and our fellowmen.
E-60 May this little time of coming together not only be for the edifying of our own souls, but may it be to enlighten us in such a way, and inspire us, till we'll go tell others. May it be a time of rededication, uniting with the full Body of Christ and being ready for the Rapture.
E-61 Father God, not by my own feelings, knowing that Thy servant, and all other servants, are insufficient for this great task. Realizing how great men, gone by, has took upon their hearts to try to reveal This, or to comment upon the great Revelation; then we realize that we're, more than they are, insufficient. But Thou art our sufficiency.
E-62 And I pray, Heavenly Father, that You will do something special during this time, that the Holy Spirit will have preeminence in every heart. Circumcise the lips that speak and the ears that hear. And when this is all over, and we dedicate it to You, may we walk from under the threshold of this house, saying, "It was good for us to be there. The Holy Spirit spoke to us while we were setting there. And now we are determined to do all we can while the evening Lights are shining." Grant it, Lord.
E-63 May, during this meeting, cause men and women to take a hold, newly. May You raise up speakers with tongues, interpreter of tongues. May You raise up gifts of prophecy. Raise up preachers, pastors, evangelists, so forth, that the Church might be edified. Raise missionaries to go into the field yonder and bring forth this glorious Gospel. Wherever the Word shall go, may It fall into good ground, bringing forth a hundredfold, for we believe that we're at the end of the age. The consummation is near.
E-64 Grant these things, Father. And above all things, Lord, at this time, help Thou me, the needy one. For I ask it, as I commit myself to Thee for these services, in Jesus Christ's Name. Amen.
E-65 [A sister speaks in another tongue. A brother gives an interpretation—Ed.]
E-66 Mighty God, Who raised up Jesus from the dead, we are so glad to know that Your Spirit dwells among us. Always is He true and never a word of untruth. And now, Father, confirm further Thy Word as we read, for Your glory. And may every heart, as You have said, "Be prepared and ready, for there will come forth something." It may be the people will receive their last warning to turn from the things that they now do, unto the way of right. We thank Thee, Holy God, in the Name of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.
E-67 Turning now to the Book of the Revelation, 1st chapter. Now, the first, I want to read the first three verses of Revelation.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servant things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to all… of all things that he saw.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
E-68 As I have said before, now, in this we're going to try to give a little breakdown now of the Book, according to the histories and so forth. And each time when you see me referring to pages that I have written here, it's stuff that I have taken from commentaries and so forth.
E-69 Now, the writer of this Book is John, Saint John the divine, wrote to the future generation (A).
(B) Directed to the seven angels of the seven distinct periods of the Christian age, a age from the days of the apostles to the Coming of the Lord. And the… now, the ages appear in succession, each one, from the ascension of our Lord to His Coming again. Each church age is described of its spiritual condition. (E) Each church age can behold itself by its Scriptural and spiritual speaking unto them. As the Spirit speaks, each age can behold itself. Each age bore the true Vine of Christ, the Wise virgin. And each age bore the grafted vine, the foolish virgin.
E-70 Historians agree, this is John's life. John lived the last of his years in the city of Ephesus and died there. He was on the isle of Patmos, at the time he wrote the Book, Revelation. It was not the story of his life, but the story of Christ in future ages. See? It was a prophecy. Not the life of John, not the life of Christ, but prophesying of an age to come. It was not his prophetic utterances; but, the Lord's exaltations, solemnly. It was not the Revelation of Saint John the divine, but the Revelation of Christ the Lord.
E-71 It is the last Book of the New Testament, yet it tells the beginning and the end of the dispensation of the Gospel. Got Bible scholars agreeing.
E-72 The letters to the seven church ages were written, prophetically, to the future ages. Paul wrote of the life and glory of the seven churches present in his day. John wrote of the life and glory of the seven churches in the future, that John was addressing the seven pastors or messengers as directly all Christians under these seven different angels.
E-73 Now, the Book of Revelation, now we're going to take, as we break this down for this morning and this evening. And we'll try to let out about eleven o'clock and eleven-thirty, something like that, and then begin again tonight at seven.
E-74 Now the contents of this 1st chapter. The 1st verse, it—it really speaks for Itself, because it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. 2nd verse, Saint John the divine is the scribe and servant. 3rd verse, the blessings pronounced. The 4th through the 6th verse, the salute to the church. The 7 verse, the announcement. The 8th verse, the supreme Deity of Jesus Christ. The 9th to the 20 verse, the Patmos vision.
E-75 And, also, the 14th and 15th verses describes His sevenfold glory of His Person. Oh, it's beautiful when we see Christ in His sevenfold personages of hi-… sevenfold beings of His personages, in His glorious resurrection.
E-76 Now, the title describes the character.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ,…
E-77 Not the revelation of Saint John the divine, but the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
E-78 Now, the Greek word for revelation is the apocalypse, which means "the unfolding." And I was taking that word and searching it. It means, the apocalypse, is to… Like a sculptor, has made a great statue, and he's got it covered by a veil. And then he goes and tears back this veil and reveals what he has behind the veil. It's an uncovering.
E-79 And this Book is not the uncovering of, so much, the Person of Jesus Christ. Yet, it certainly speaks of His Deity and His sevenfold personage, and also of the things that He is, like Priest, King, and so forth. But it is the revealing of the future of His works in His seven church ages that's coming on. It…
E-80 When our Lord was on earth, the disciples asked Him, and said, "Master, will you at this time restore the kingdom back to Israel?"
E-81 And Jesus said, "It's not for you to know this hour or time." And no one would know. Said, "Even the Son," as yet, "did not know."
E-82 But after His death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension into Glory, He received from God the future of the Church. Then He returned back, to bring this Message to the Church, and this Message of His coming and the condition of His churches down through the Age.
E-83 He could not do it before His death, burial, and resurrection, because He had not yet knew it. But did you notice how the Scripture reads here?
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him (Christ),…
E-84 How that God the Father gave the Revelation to His Son Jesus Christ. And He sent His angel to John, to signify these things which was; which was, which is, and which shall be. Oh, it's set beautifully!
E-85 Now, in this great coming age that John saw! Now, these, this Revelation was given to him, strictly, to unveil the specific purpose of Christ, what He would be and be like, in every age. That's the reason I said, this morning, keep your mind on the true Church. The true Church began on the Day of Pentecost.
E-86 There's no theologian, Bible scholar, or historian, can ever say that it began in the days of Martin Luther, Wesley, Catholic age, or any other age. It began at Pentecost. That was the inauguration of the Church. That was the beginning. So, therefore, in a discussion with anybody, stand at that gate of Pentecost, and they cannot go nowhere else.
E-87 Just like putting a rabbit in a field. You know where every hole is, so you got it stopped up. He'll have to come right back to this same place where he come in at.
E-88 Well, that's the way, anyone talking about churches and church ages, and works of the Holy Spirit, you'll have to come back to the original, beginning. It's got to come back to there because God is infinite, and He's omnipotent. Therefore, Him being infinite, He cannot do something here, and do something contrary to it, over here. He's got to do each time like He did it the first time.
E-89 Like Peter said, on the day of… when the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit, he said, "Can we forbid water, seeing that they have received the Holy Ghost like we did at the beginning?"
E-90 Jesus, when He was on earth, spoke and said, "It… "
E-91 Someone come and said, "Is it lawful for us, put away our wives for any cause?"
E-92 Jesus said, "He that made male, made female. For this cause a man shall… "
E-93 He said, "But Moses suffered us a writing of divorcement."
E-94 Jesus said, "It wasn't so from the beginning."
E-95 Go back to the beginning. Therefore, if we're going to talk on the church age, we've got to go back to the beginning, laying aside every statement that any man has made down through the age.
E-96 This is the most official Book of any Book in the Bible. This is the only Book that Christ put His seal upon. It starts off with a blessing and ends with a curse. "Blessed is he that readeth." And, "Cursed is he that takes anything out of It."
E-97 It's the only Book that Christ wrote, Himself, of the whole Bible. The Ten Commandments, He wrote with His finger. That's right. Jews held on to that. And, today, it's the—the Revelation.
E-98 And if Satan hates any Book in the Bible, it's the Revelation. There's two… He hates all Scripture, and it's the whole canon of Scripture. But, if anything, he despises mostly, is Revelation and Genesis. Because, Genesis tells the beginning. Revelation reveals what's going to happen to him in the last day. Going to be bound a thousand years; then him, and the false prophet, and the beast, is going to be throwed, alive, into the Lake of Fire.
E-99 And he'll attack the Book of Genesis upon it's—it's being authentic. He'll say, that, "It isn't authentic." And he'll stir the minds of people. Watch where the devil lays, that Book of Genesis or the Book of Revelation, the first and the last.
E-100 And the Book of Revelation has more symbols in it than all the rest of the Books in the Bible. It has more symbols because it is a Book of prophecy. It's a prophetic Book. Therefore it has to be understood by a prophetic class. This Book is not meant for everybody. There's nobody can understand it, hardly. This Book is made for a certain class of people. On over in Deuteronomy, It says, "The hidden things belong to the—the—the Lord." That is right. And He reveals to us, His children, the hidden things. So it doesn't go…
E-101 The carnal mind cannot comprehend them great things of the Scripture, because it's foolish to them. But to the ones who are lovers of the Word of God, that's who the Book was written to, to the Church. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, "To the church at Ephesus, to the church of Smyrna, to the church, to the churches," on down. The Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Church. I like that.
E-102 And notice, it also is the consummation of the Scriptures, the complete consummation. And it's geographically placed at the right place, at the end of the Bible. The Revelation of the whole thing placed back here with a blessing to who reads It and hears It, with a curse to them that'll add to or take away. It's the complete canon, oh, the absolute. Nothing can be added to It. And when a man tries to take anything away from It, or add anything to It, God said He'd take the same part out of the Book of Life. See? He would take his part from the Book, if he added to It.
E-103 Therefore, when we see the manifold Revelation of our Lord, who He is, what He is, if any person shall add something to That or take anything away from It, it's a false prophecy. Many have tried to say they had something later than That. But That is the complete Revelation of the Lord Jesus in His church age and in His Day, a Revelation of our Lord.
E-104 Now—now, unveiling, the Greek word, something that's been hid, unreve-… "revealing" Christ.
E-105 Now, the next verse, we find, in the 2nd verse.
E-106 The 1st verse is unveiling Christ, the Revelation, or the uncovering. Oh! How the last age and the Coming of the Lord was—was covered up, to the apostles! They asked the question, but only one lived to have the Revelation. And still, he didn't understand it, because the history was not yet made.
E-107 Now, the history of this Book, or the—the context of this Book, was directed to the seven churches in Asia Minor, that then was. It was directed to those seven churches. There were more churches than those seven, at that day. But each one of those churches was significant, significant about the characteristic in that church, that would follow it down through the age, the characteristic of that church. Like of Ephesus, it had a characteristic. Smyrna, Pergamos, and on down, Philadelphia, each one of those churches had a characteristic in it, that would appear again in the ages to come.
E-108 Oh! If you could only… Any man can see the—the spiritual application of the Scriptures and could say that They wasn't inspired? Your very action, the very motive, the very objectives of the people, why, it proves that the Scripture is inspired, to see how God applies those things. Just what you do, here is a type of something.
E-109 Like Abraham offering up Isaac, his only son; a type of God giving His Son, hundreds of years later. How that Joseph was sold and in prison, hated of his brothers and loved of his father; Jesus, in type. How the Spirit worked through Joseph, a man, and simply typed the life of Christ, perfectly. How, David, the Son of David set on the same mountain. When David was rejected as king and went up over the hill, Mount of Olives, looking back, weeping, as a rejected king; a few hundred years after that, the Son of David climbed the same hill, as a rejected King, and wept over Jerusalem. The Spirit in type and form.
E-110 Oh! Then can you see the great pentecostal Church in this last day? Can you see how God inaugurated it at the Day of Pentecost? That Spirit should remain in the Church through all ages.
They got formal and indifferent. They had to have a denomination. They had to unite church and state together, and they finally did it and caused hundreds of years of persecution. Then, the Reformation, they come out. And each year, they been cutting off from the Spirit and adding on to the natural, off of the Spirit and adding on to the natural, until now they're just ready to do it again. We're living in these last, closing hours, the consummation of the church. We are in the Philadelphia… or the Laodicean Church Age.
E-111 E-111 Now, the 1st chapter, 1st verse, was introduced to—to John. Now, who is the writer? John. John. It was not a revelation of John, and we know that it wasn't, because it was the Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was this, he was chosen for a disciple. And the Book Itself reveals the thing that it was, Jesus Christ, Who He was revealing.
E-112 And it was sent to the… "And signified this by his angel unto John." We do not know who the angel was. The Bible doesn't say who the angel was. But we know that it was a prophet, 'cause the Bible later said, that, "I Jesus have sent my angel to testify these things which must shortly come to pass."
E-113 Then we find out that when John started to worship the angel, the angel said, "See that you do it not." Revelation 22, I believe it is. And he said, "For I am of thy fellowservants and of the prophets." It might have been Elijah. It might have been one of the prophets. John was an apostle. But this prophet was sent. And John, being an apostle, look at the nature of the rest of his epistles, prove that it wasn't John wrote it, because it has no nature like John. Take First John, Second John, so forth, and read it. And look at the nature of that, then look at the nature of this. John was a writer and was an apostle, but this is the spirit of a prophet. It's a different person, altogether. See? Wasn't John's writing. Wasn't John's revelation. It was God's Revelation of Jesus Christ to the churches. And it had… John was just a writer, the scribe, and—and the Book declares the same.
E-114 Now, it wasn't addressed to John. It was addressed to the Church. All right. John, at that time, was the pastor of the Ephesian church. And now the Book is addressed to John… or to the church, not to John.
E-115 Now the 3rd verse, He announces the blessing. Listen at this.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
E-116 What time is at hand? The time these things take place, when this Revelation of Jesus Christ is completed in each church age.
E-117 Now the reason He wrote it like this. If he'd have said, "Well, now, He… " They was looking for Him to; if it had been revealed, if (he) it would have been revealed to John, that He was going to come as soon as those churches there was finished. That's the way John thought it. But if it was, them churches, as soon as they was finished, they come… If he knew, if it had been revealed to him there was going to be seven long church ages, several thousand years, or several hundreds of years, then there wouldn't be no reason of waiting. They'd just live their church age out.
E-118 Therefore, God spoke it, and it wasn't revealed to them. It wasn't revealed to Martin Luther, the things that John Wesley knew about the Scripture. It isn't revealed to the Baptists, what the Pentecostals knows about Scripture, because it's in a different age. It's a different time. And God reveals His things just in the season. Oh!
E-119 You can't plant corn in the springtime and reap at the same time. You plant a seed and it grows to maturity. God plants His Word and then It grows right out. And then we look back and say, "There It was." Why, sure, we see It after It's been revealed.
E-120 Now, "Blessed," the Word, the announcement of the blessing, on the 3rd verse, "to them that read or hear its mysteries."
Make… the carnal mind shuns it, because the carnal mind knows not a thing about it. No wonder the carnal mind doesn't know it, because it's Satan in that carnal mind. And Satan is exposed, and Satan does not want himself exposed.
E-121 You notice how horrible it is for Satan when he thinks he's going to be exposed? Watch in one of the services. Watch the action of the people. You watch out, on the meeting. Just before Satan is going to be exposed, over a certain person, you'd see their face changing. You see, they don't know what to think. All at once, the Holy Spirit comes down and exposes that devil. Oh! He hates that kind of a meeting. That's the reason we've had such a battle, because the Word of God exposes the devil. See? It tells what he is.
E-122 Like you say, "This woman setting here," under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, say, "her name is Miss Jones. She come from So-and-so." What does that do? It picks up her spirit, brings it up to a place.
E-123 "How do you know me? That man doesn't know me, so it must be some spirit. What kind of a spirit is it?"
E-124 "It's the Spirit of God."
E-125 "How? What's the matter with me?"
E-126 "You have tuberculosis, cancer," whatever it is, "but THUS SAITH THE LORD… "
E-127 "Oh!" Oh, how Satan hates that, because It exposes him.
E-128 Now, the carnal mind looks on, says, "Mind-reading, mental telepathy." They don't know. It's foolish to them.
E-129 But to those who know what It is, oh, what a blessing! What is it? A revelation. A revelation of who? Of the man on the pulpit? Of Jesus Christ in this last church age, revealing Himself like He promised He would do. See?
E-130 It's a revelation, see, and Satan hates that. My, how he hates it! He's exposed, exposes his plan.
E-131 Satan hates the Revelation and Genesis, I got wrote down here. That is exactly true.
Now, why does he hate a revelation? Why is he so against revelation? Is because that the entire canon of God's Word and God's Church is solemnly built upon revelation.
It'll never be through a—a school, no matter how many fine seminaries we have. They are way back in the dimmed age. The Bible and the Church is absolutely a revelation.
E-132 Let us turn. I got some Scriptures wrote down here, Matthew, the—the 16th chapter and the 18th verse. Let's just take a little—little look at Matthew 16:18, see where the Scriptures is, where it's the revelation. Coming down from the mountain, the 17th verse.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
And I say… unto thee,… thou art Peter, and upon this rock I'll build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
E-133 Now, the Catholic church says, "He built it upon Peter." Well, that, that's really carnal thinking. You couldn't imagine a spiritual mind comprehending such a thing as that; as God, with His Own Son standing there, and yet would build His Church upon a common, ordinary, sin-born man. The man proved it. He, with that same spirit upon him, he cursed Jesus and denied Him right to His face. It wasn't Peter.
Or, neither was it a—a rock that was laying there, as some churches claim it was. Was not a rock. Cause, Peter…
E-134 The rock that He was speaking about there, was not Peter, neither was it Himself.
E-135 Now, many of the Protestant people try to say, "It was Jesus. It was Him that He built the Church upon. He!" No, that's still wrong. If you notice, it was not Jesus, neither was it Peter. It was the revelation.
…flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father which is in heaven has done this revelation.
E-136 Look. I want to ask you. In the garden of Eden, there was no Scriptures written. And then the two boys, Cain and Abel, and they both wanted to make a sacrifice and to find favor with God. When they did so, Cain come and built an altar; Abel built an altar. Well, if that's all God requires, God would be unjust to condemn Cain. All right. Then Cain made a sacrifice; so did Abel. Both of them made a sacrifice. Cain worshipped, and so did Abel. Cain did everything that Abel did.
E-137 So if going to church, belonging to church, making sacrifices, and praying, and worshipping God, is all God requires, then God would be unjust to condemn Cain for doing exactly what He said to do.
E-138 E-138 But, you see, Abel, by a revelation, he knowed that it wasn't fruit that brought them out of the garden of Eden, as many carnal minds think today. Abel come and offered the fruit of the land, and God refused it, but it was revealed… I mean, Cain did, excuse me. Cain offered the fruit of the land 'cause he thought that's what brought them out of the garden of Eden. Watch that revelation. Watch the disagreement with it. Watch how it hurts today. But it was not fruit that brought them out. Eve never eat no apples. Certainly. How did she realize she was naked, if eating apple? It pertained to the sexual life. Had to!
E-139 Now, we take that as a study, and we have, get back into it. They haven't got one Scripture.
E-140 Some of them say, "Well, she said, 'I got a son from the Lord.'" Yes, sir. So did the prostitute. God has to make all life.
E-141 But it's a perverted life. Look at the nature of that boy. He was of his daddy, the devil; hatred, mean, murderer. See?
E-142 And then how, Abel, when they… his parents probably told him that—that the trees had fruit on it, and so forth. But, it was revealed to Abel. Abel went and got a lamb, for blood, taking life. Not a fruit tree, bringing apples and bananas and pears. "But Abel, by a spiritual revelation," Hebrews 11, "offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice. God testifying of it, for it was revealed to him by faith."
E-143 That's where God built His Church. "For flesh and blood never revealed this to you." Never learned It in a seminary. Somebody never taught It to you somewhere. "But my Father which is in heaven has revealed It to you." There, the whole thing is on revelation, the whole Church, "Upon this rock of Revelation of Jesus Christ, I'll build my church."
E-144 You might take what the pastor says. You might take what the seminary teaches. You might take what the church says. And it's not right, yet. You might be able to explain it with eloquence. But until God has revealed to you that Jesus Christ is His Son, and you are saved through His Blood; upon that revelation, that, "He is my Saviour."
E-145 "Upon this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against."
E-146 So then you see why Satan is so against the Book of Revelation. Anything that's revealed, spiritual revelation, Satan is against it. That's why he's so against the ministry today. Because, what is it? The revealing of Christ.
E-147 Let the church go on with its great denominations and organizations, and its little flowery messages and so forth. Let them go on, Satan won't bother that. They don't have no troubles. Everybody pats them on the back.
E-148 When there comes a time that God, through the Holy Ghost, reveals Christ back in the Church, with the power and demonstrations of healing the sick, and making the signs that He said would follow the believers, come to pass, then Satan turns over in his bed. He does something about it. Until that time, Satan don't care how much church you join. He don't care how much. But when Christ reveals to you that He is the Son of God, and the works that He did you do also; not some other works, but the same works.
E-149 "He that believeth in me… " Saint John 14:7. "He that believeth in me, the works that I do shall he also. Do the same works, and greater than this." Because, Christ could not preach the baptism of the Holy Ghost, would be greater. He could not bring it to them, because the Holy Ghost hadn't yet been given. But when Jesus came and sacrificed His Life, and the Holy Ghost returned, then they could impart Eternal Life to the people. That's the "greater."
E-150 But the signs and wonders, Jesus plainly said, in Mark 16, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." How far? All the world. How many? Every creature. Long as the Gospel is being preached, these signs shall follow them that believe. And when that becomes a revelation, brother, you're near the Kingdom then. "On this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell can't prevail against it."
E-151 Because, the man or the woman that's ever been in that back desert alone, like Moses was, and the revelation of God be made manifest to him through the Holy Ghost, there's nothing can shake him. He's just as sound and solid as he can be.
E-152 Satan hates Revelation. He don't like it, at all; upsets his plans.
E-153 The nature of the Book shows that John did not write it. That's right. For they are—they are for other… They're his writing, but not his inspiration. It's God's inspiration that writes the Book. All right.
E-154 Let's see what it says now.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear… this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
E-155 Now, "Time is at hand." What? When the complete Revelation of Jesus Christ has been made known to His churches. And as the ages go by, it's just revealed to them.
E-156 Now we're right down at the end time, so now we really are at the end of the world. We're at the consummation of the world's history. And before this week is over, and God being with us, helping us, we'll prove that we're at the consummation of the church ages. We're in the Philadel-… or the Laodicean Church Age, the consummation of all ages. We're at the consummation of the political world. We're at the consummation of the—of the natural world. We're at the consummation of all things. We're at the end of every natural thing, ready to enter in.
E-157 Coming the other day, I believe I was going to Shreveport, or coming somewhere. I looked. I said, "The trees are dying. The grass is dying. The flowers are dying. I'm dying. The world is dying. Everything is dying. Everything in this world is dying." We're setting here this morning, dying.
E-158 Surely there's a world somewhere, where everything don't die. If there's one where everything is dying, there's got to be one where everything is living. That's what we are longing for, to get to that place where there is… the trees immortal stands. Oh, where everything is immortal and it stands in the—in the glory of God.
E-159 Now, now, the first three verses we have had now, laying the background. 1st, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." The 2nd, "It was given to John by an angel." And 3rd, is, "Blessed, the blessing to them that read, and," if you can't read, "blessed is he that hears." You can't read? You just hear It. That's all. "Blessed is he that readeth, and," if you can't read, "blessed is he that hears, for the time is at hand."
E-160 Now, imagine what the canon of this means, is that, John, the writer there, in writing it out, was… This is John here, just saying "blessings" and so forth. Now, what I think it was, in the Old Testament, the priest stood up of a morning and read the Scriptures. The congregation listened. Many could not read. So he said, "Blessed is he that readeth, and he that heareth." See? The reader and the hearer; the one who reads, and hears, is blessed. So if you just set and listen at it, you're blessed. "Blessed is he that readeth, and he that heareth, for the time is at hand."
E-161 Now, from 4 to 6 is a salute to the Church. Now we want to take on this 4th and 6th.
E-162 Now, before we strike it, I want everybody to try to think hard now. What is It now? It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, where God took the veil off of the time. Here is time, that Jesus couldn't see when He was here on earth, the church ages, what would take place. So, God took the veil away, pulled it back, and let John look in and see what each church age was going to do, and wrote it in a book and sent it to the seven churches.
E-163 What is it? Christ revealed in the days of His—His action. It's full of action, the Book is. And it's a—a prophetic Book that Christ has give, God has give to us by His angel, wrote by John. And a blessing to everybody that'll read It or hear It read, for the—for the time is at hand when this is all fulfilled.
E-164 Got a good setting now. And remember, we're keeping the Church in mind. Over on one side, the Church began; over on the other side, the church ends. More into it, Monday night, when we hit the church ages.
John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is,… which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before the throne.
E-165 Now we're getting into the mysterious and deep parts of the symbols. It's addressed to the seven churches which are in Asia Minor. They had—they had… The—the ages, at that time, was to come in the future. And he exalted them and—and praised them for their work and what they had done. But, now, it's addressed to them churches, the seven churches which are in Asia Minor.
E-166 Now, Asia Minor wasn't all of Asia, the continent of Asia. It was just a little part. They claim, a place about the size of state of Pennsylvania, see, or something like that, or Indiana; just a small place where these seven churches set. There was more than them churches at the time. And, but, it revealed their character. Now I'm reading here what I got from my reading from the history of it.
E-167 "And he is… Cursed is he that heareth and, or, and don't listen to It."
E-168 And—and now, it comes down into the time of this 4th verse that we want to explain something here. "From Him which was, and which is, and is to come, and has the seven Spirits; from the seven Spirits which are before His throne." Now, "The Spirits," we'll get to them later.
E-169 Now, here it expresses, if you'll notice in—in there. Also in the 7th verse, or the 8th verse, He comes again and said, again expressing. Now watch. The seven churches is addressed. "From Him which is, which was, and which is to come. Which was, one time; is now; and which is to come." Now, He expresses here His threefold, His threefold manifestation of His work.
E-170 Now if you'll take the 8th verse. We'll come to it, just in a minute. We'll take the 8th verse.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, which is,… which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
E-171 Now we're holding the 4th and the 6th verse in view, both of them are the same. One, He says, "To He which was, which is, which is to come." What's He trying to put before the Church? His Deity. Today, people try to make Him a—a prophet. He's more than a prophet. And some people try to make Him three Gods. He's not three Gods. He's one God that lived in three offices, three manifestations of the same God.
E-172 Now, remember, this is the Revelation, "And whosoever heareth it and don't keep the sayings of this book, his part will be taken from the book of life." Jesus is not revealing Hisself as three Gods, but one God and three offices. Oh! It's going to get rich after a while, when we get into those church ages and see where they lost that. It caused a great split at the Nicene Council. Both of them went off on deep ends.
E-173 And they done the same thing in this last days again, just like a pre-Nicene Council again, 'cause there will be another one. Just as certain as I'm standing here, the Catholic and Protestant churches will unite something together, or agree with one another. Look at the archbishop of Canterbury over there now. All of it's heaping right up together. And there is not a triune God teaching in the Bible. There's one God.
E-174 And it's revealed here in the Book of Revelation, that the whole canon of Scriptures might be proven here, and Christ set His seal upon it. This is It. If anyone takes away or adds to, the same will be taken out of the Book of Life, for him. So approach this not selfishly, approach this with an open heart and an open mind.
E-175 Now, at the Nicene Council, they come to two great decisions. On the… Oh, many of them in that day of the early church fathers, they had two extreme views. One of them was a triune God, a trinitarian. And the other one was a—a one God. And they both come into existence and went out on two straight limbs, out like that. The triunity became a place of a three-god person. The oneness became a unitarian, just as far wrong as the other one was. So they both went on limbs, but right in Here reveals the Truth.
E-176 Jesus could not be His Own Father. Neither, if He had a father outside of the Holy Spirit, then He is a illegitimate child. And not… The Holy Ghost conceived Him, and He said God was His Father. So the Holy Ghost and God… That's Matthew 1:18. If… The Holy Ghost and God has to be the same Person, or He had two daddy's. And He was called Emmanuel, which is, "God with us." He claimed, when He was here on earth, that He and the Father was One.
E-177 I got all the Scriptures written out here so that you could find, if we had this—this question, or something.
E-178 Now, when He was manifested here, as the threefold office of His being, "He that was, He that is, He that shall come, the Almighty." Now, there's no three Gods there. There's one God.
E-179 And in the Nicene Council, to do this, in order to do this, they had to take a trinity, because in the Roman world they had many gods. They prayed to their dead ancestors. I've got the history right here where we can quote it. See? They prayed to their dead ancestors. That's the reason they have Saint Cecilia, and Saint Marcus, and saint, saint, saint, saint, saint, saint.
E-180 When, Apostle Peter said, "There is no other mediator between God and men, but that Man Christ Jesus." One.
E-181 They had to have a trinitarian god. So, they—they had Jupiter, Mars, Venus. "And it wasn't right, put it all on one God," so they just split it up, and made threefold offices of God to be three different Gods.
E-182 But He plainly says here, in the Revelation, Who He is. "I am He that was, He that is, and He that is to come, the Almighty." We'll get It a little later here, He said, "I am Alpha and Omega," A to Z, the whole, that Greek alphabet. "The Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon; Father, Son, Holy Spirit; He that was, which is, and shall come; the Root and Offspring of David." He is God, God. "With-… " First Timothy 3:16, "Without contradiction, great is the mystery of godliness: for God was manifested in flesh, seen of Angels, believed on in the world, received up into Glory." God! Not a third person or a prophet, but God Himself, made manifest in human form. Now, this is the revelation, remember.
E-183 Now, God, at the beginning, was the great Jehovah that lived in a Pillar of Fire, hung above Israel, and lead them. That was God, the Angel of the Covenant. Come down on the mountain; the whole mountain caught Fire. Fire flew from the mountain, and wrote the Ten Commandments. He was called "the Fatherhood of God," to His children, His chosen race of people, the Jews.
E-184 Then that same God was made manifest in a virgin-born body that He created in the wombs of Mary, and lived and tabernacled and stretched His tent, as it was, among human beings. And that same God was made flesh and dwelled among us. The Bible said so. "God was in Christ." The body was Jesus. Jesus, "In Him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Can't make Him three people, now. Don't baptize to three Gods. There's one God. See? One God.
E-185 Now, this same God was made flesh. He said, "I came from God, and I go to God."After He had disappeared from the earth, by His death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension, Paul met Him on the road down to Damascus, when he was yet called "Saul." And a Voice came, and said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?"
E-186 He said, "Who are You?"
E-187 He said, "I am Jesus."
E-188 And He was a Pillar of Fire, a Light that's put out the eyes of the apostle. He had turned back. The same Jesus had turned back to God, the Father, again. That's the reason He said here, "I am the Almighty," in the same form He was before He was made flesh; and His body that He lived in, called Jesus, the Man that we know, Jesus.
E-189 Now, like a lot of you dear oneness people baptize in, "Name of Jesus," you're wrong. There's hundreds of Jesuses in the world today, but there's only one Lord Jesus Christ. He was born a Christ. Lots of Jesuses. I've met many of them. But there's one Lord Jesus Christ, He's God.
E-190 And Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is not names. They're titles that go to one Name. They baptize, "The name of 'Father, Son, Holy Ghost.'" Father is not a name, and Son is not a name, and Holy Ghost is not a name. It's a title, like "human." That's what it is, the Holy Ghost. A human… Or, a spirit, Holy Ghost. Then say, "In the name of the 'Father.'" Look at the fathers, and your sons' sons. Look at the humans in here. See? "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" is not a name. It's a title that goes to the Name of the "Lord Jesus Christ."
E-191 That's the way the apostolic Church baptized, in the beginning. And I'll ask anybody to produce one text of Scripture, or one time in history, that anybody was ever baptized in the Christian Church any other way than in… but in the Name of "Jesus Christ" until the Catholic church was formed. And they adopted "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" for a creed. Now bring up your history, some, the historians. Yeah. There's no such a thing. After 304 A.D., 304, come the triune baptism for a triune God, "God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost." It's paganism.
E-192 Before this week is over, I'll read it out of the books and show you by the Bible. We're talking this morning on the Revelation, and prove where it come in, and how it started to exist. Back to the Truth, brother! We're in the last day.
E-193 Wait till we get that Ephesian church and type with the Laodicean, and look what happened between them. You'll see how that thing creeped in. Come into the age of Luther, said, "You've got a name that you're 'living,' but you're dead." The very word Sardis means "dead." They lost it in the fifteen hundred years of Dark Ages. Every one of them churches kept that till that time. Then when they had the Nicene Council in 606, and then they demolished that Name and made three Gods out of It.
E-194 He said here, "I am He that was, He that is, and shall come, the Almighty." Sure.
E-195 He had a threefold Being on the earth. When He was on earth, He was a threefold Being. On earth, He was a Prophet. He's also in Heaven, a Priest. And when He comes back to the earth again, He'll be a King. Prophet, Priest, and King. He that was, which is, and shall come. "He that was," was Jesus, a prophet. "He that was now," is a Priest, making spiritual sacrifices, a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities, and disclose Himself and prove that He's in the midst of us. Prophet, Priest, and King, but One God.
E-196 When He was on earth, He was a Prophet, the Word. "The faithful witness," the Bible calls Him, a little later. A faithful witness, is the prophet. He was Priest, and when… He is Priest now, and when He comes, He will be King.
E-197 If you'll get over, read Revelation 15:3, you can see in Revelation 15:3. Let's turn over here and see what He… if He's going to be King, if He is King when He comes. Now we're going to Revelation, the 15th chapter and the—the 3rd verse.
And they sang a song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
E-198 What was He on earth? Prophet. How did the people know He was a Prophet? He done the sign of the Messiah, which was a Prophet. Oh, blessed be the Name of the Lord! How did they miss Him? Because they were looking for something else. And He done the sign of the Messiah, and they wouldn't hear it. He was a Prophet.
E-199 Moses said, "The Lord your God will raise up a Prophet like me. It'll come to pass if they'll not hear this Prophet, they'll be cut off from amongst the people."
E-200 He was a Prophet on earth, now, because He was what? "The faithful witness of God's Word." Amen. He was God's Word made manifest.
E-201 Saint John, the 1st chapter.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,…
E-202 He was the true and faithful witness to God's Eternal Word. He was the Word, was God's Word. And, being the Word, He was a Prophet. For the Word of God flowed through Him. He was to say only the Thing. "I can do nothing within Myself, but what the Father shows Me to do. Not Me that doeth the works. But the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works. I and My Father are one. My Father is in Me," said Jesus, the Man, the Tabernacle.
E-203 God has got many titles: Jehovah, Jehovah-jireh, -rapha. Manasseh. Oh, many! He's got seven compound, redemptive names. He's got many titles: Rose of Sharon, Lily of the Valley, Morning Star; Father, Son, Holy Ghost. All that. But He's got one human Name. God only had one Name, and that was "the Lord Jesus Christ."
E-204 When He was born, Christ, the Lord. Eight days later, the Holy Spirit called His Name "Jesus." His mother had Him circumcised, and called Him "Jesus." He was born the Christ.
Like, I was born a Branham. I was a Branham when I was born, and given the name of "William."
Amen. And He was born Christ, the Saviour. And when He was eight days old, He was given the name of "Jesus." And He was the Lord of Glory, made manifest. So, He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Glory made manifest among us. Oh, there He is!
E-205 On earth, He was the Prophet. In Glory, He's the Priest. Coming, He's the King. Oh! I like that.
Prophet, "Faithful witness of the Word."
Priest, "With His Own Blood before God."
King, "King of saints." Not king of the world, now. He is King of saints. We have earthly kings over them people. But we have a King, too, and a Kingdom. That's the reason we act different.
E-206 Like I said not long ago, about my wife, we was going to the store up here and we seen a miracle, almost. It was summertime, a woman had on a dress. And I said, "That's a strange thing." I said, "If I had my camera, I'd take the lady's picture." See? Because we… That was the first woman we seen with a skirt on, you know, dressed like a lady ought to be, all women.
E-207 She said, "Well, why is it, Bill, that our people dress, is it we're—we're commanded?"
E-208 I said, "It's not our people. It's God's people. God's people, requires holiness."
E-209 Said, "Well, don't they go to church?"
E-210 I said, "There is a lady right there, that sings in the choir at a certain church here."
E-211 "Well, then, why that?"
E-212 I said, "Because she isn't taught any different." That's exactly right.
E-213 There's that church carnal, we'll get into this week; Church spiritual, church carnal. They're all drifting right back to the mammy churches. The Bible said, in Revelation 17, they would do it. They're returning back right now, all of them, acting like it, organizing. "Well a certain… We organize. We're this and we're that." It wasn't so at the beginning. Taking all the power out of the church and putting it on a bishop or a pope. God is in His Church, among His people, manifesting Himself through the laity and everywhere, now. But in this day…
E-214 She said, "Well, aren't we Americans?"
E-215 I said, "No. We live here, but we're not Americans. We are Christians. Our Kingdom is of Above."
E-216 And if our lives come from up There, then we act like that. Because, we come… Our Life is from a holy Place. It looks different. It dresses different. The women up There has long hair. And they don't wear manicure on their face. And—and they don't wear shorts. They—they wear skirts, and long robes and dresses. And they have long hair, and things. So the—the nature of it, from up There, reflects back on us.
E-217 The men don't smoke, chew, lie, steal. They come, their spirits, come from a holy Place, makes them act holy, recognize one another as brothers. Uh-huh. That's it.
E-218 We're of a Kingdom, and we have a King. And He is the King of saints. And the word saint come from the word of the "sanctified ones." Then when a person is sanctified, Christ, the Holy Spirit moves into the heart and becomes King over them. Oh, my! That ought to go home. Oh! When the sanctified vessel of God… Christ, the King, the Holy Ghost, moves in. And He… a King has His domain. Amen. And your whole being is ruled by the King of saints. A Kingdom! Every kingdom on earth will be shook, tore down by atomic power. But the Bible says, "We receive a Kingdom that cannot be moved." Amen. There He is, the King of saints.
E-219 I want you to notice the symbols of Christ, also, in the Bible and here on earth. On the earth, He was a Prophet. You believe that? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] A prophet is the Word. We know that. The word prophet means "a divine interpreter of the Word." The divine Word is wrote, and the prophet has the divine Spirit of God within him. And, you know, the prophet in the Old Testament was called "god." How many knew that?
E-220 Jesus said, "If they called them gods… Isn't it written, your law, they are, 'You are gods'? And if they called them 'gods,' who the Word of God came to, the prophet, how will you condemn Me when I say I'm the Son of God?"
E-221 Because, he was called "god," because he packed within him the Word of God, THUS SAITH THE LORD. Therefore, the word prophet means a, "his—his interpretation isn't to be mingled with." See? If the God… He says, "If there be one among you, who is spiritual, or a prophet, I the Lord will speak to him. What he says comes to pass, then hear him, because I'm with him. But if it doesn't come to pass, then don't hear him; I haven't sent him." That's the way you know it. And then, you see, the divine interpretation of the Word has to coincide with this last revelation to the church.
E-222 He is God, the Almighty. On earth, He was a Prophet, which is a eagle. How many know that a prophet is considered an eagle? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.]
E-223 A eagle is the strongest bird we got, most powerful. Some of their wings stretch fourteen feet, from tip to tip. He can take and fly so high that if any other bird try to follow him, he'd disintegrate, feathers would fall out of him and he'd come apart. Because why? He's built special. And what good does it do him to get up that high if he can't see what he's doing when he's up there? Talk about a hawk eye? You ought to see a eagle eye.
E-224 A hawk can, might see a chicken. That's right. That's what's the matter with some of these hawks today. Uh-huh. But, I tell you, a eagle goes so, if a hawk tried to follow him, he would die. He'd suffocate. He can't get into those spheres that the eagle does.
And then he's got a eye, that he can see so far, when he's got up there. So that's the reason God called His prophets, "eagles." Gets up there, and he's a eagle. He can see, way off.
E-225 And Christ, on earth, was an Eagle. When He died, He was a Priest, so that made Him a Lamb. Is that right? [Congregation says, "That's right."—Ed.] And when He comes again, He is King, so He will be a Lion, amen, the Lion of the tribe of Juda. Amen. He is a Eagle, a Lamb, and a Lion; amen; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; Prophet, Priest, and King; He that was, which is, and shall come; the Almighty; Alpha and Omega, from the beginning to the end, the Eternal God.
E-226 Want to ask you, some of you precious Catholic people, who call that, "The Eternal sonship of God; God, Eternal sonship of Jesus Christ with God." How can you say such a word? I'm a dummy, with a seventh-grade education, but I know better than that. The word son has to have a beginning. So how can He be Eternal and be a son? Eternity has no beginning or end. So, He can't be a son, an Eternal son, and then have a beginning, 'cause there is no such a thing as a Eternal son. A son had a beginning, so he can't be Eternal.
E-227 You see, He is the Eternal God, not the Eternal son. Glory! The Almighty, Jehovah-jireh, Jehovah-rapha, made manifest in flesh, "In Him dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
E-228 And on the Day of Pentecost, when that Pillar of Fire came down over the people, did you notice, It separated Itself? And tongues of Fire set upon each one of them. Fire, like tongues, setting on each one. What was God doing? Separating Himself into the Church, among each one, giving the women, the men, and all of them; it was parts of His Spirit, dividing Himself among His Church.
E-229 How can a man come along and say, "The holy man is the pope. The holy man is the bishop"? The Holy Man is Christ, the Holy Spirit in us. How can you say the laity has no word to say? Each one of you has something to say. Each one of you has got a work to do. Each one of you has got to carry a Message. Glory!
E-230 The Holy Ghost separated Itself on the Day of Pentecost. God, separating Himself. "That day you'll know that I am in the Father, the Father in me; I in you, and you in Me."
"That day," the Holy Spirit, "over all, in all, through all." Amen. There it is. The Holy Spirit has a right to move anywhere that He wants to, upon anybody He wants to. You don't have to take what some bishop or some priest says. He is our only Priest, right, a High Priest. Now: Prophet, Priest, and King.
E-231 Now:
And… Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,… the first begotten of the dead,… (We'll get into that.)… and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
E-232 The word washed there, actually, in the Greek, means "to loose." He loosed us from our… We were tied to the earth, by our sin. We couldn't see, couldn't hear, had no conception of Heaven or nothing. But when the Blood came down, It cut the line and we got loosed.
E-233 E-233 Oh!I read a story one time, it's… may fit in good right here. A farmer caught a crow and he tied him. And he said, "I'll teach the other crows a lesson." So he tied the old crow, and by a leg, with a string, and the poor old thing like starved to death. He was so weak, he could hardly walk around.
E-234 That's what, some of these organizations and churches, has tied the people down. "Just can't! Well, this is all the farther you can go. Days of miracles is past." Yeah. You're just tied. That's all. "There is no such a thing as the Holy Ghost. He don't speak in tongues like He used to."
E-235 He is God. "He's just the same yesterday, today, and forever," Hebrews 13:8, living in all the churches. We'll get to it after the setting of this morning. See? He is God, that lives in every church age. He will live in every church age, and will live in His people, live for Eternity. For we have now, within us, Eternal Life.
E-236 So, this denomination had tied him down, see, "Well, the days of miracles is past. There's no such a thing as Divine healing." The poor old fellow hobbled along till he was so poor he could hardly walk.
E-237 And one day there was a good man come by, and he said, "You know, that poor old crow, I feel so sorry for him. After all, he might have been getting his corn, but that's the only way he makes a living. He's got to have something to eat. So he didn't know any difference, he's just out there getting corn." So if then he took his… And took his knife and cut the old crow loose. And he know…
E-238 Here come the other crows, come over, said, "Come on, Johnny Crow. Let's go South. Cold weather is coming."
E-239 You know what? That crow would just go as far as he could go out there. He said, "I can't do it. It's not, it's just not for us in this day. We—we just can't do it." See? He had been tied so long, until he thought he was still tied. See?
E-240 And that's the way with a lot of people, you're tied down with creeds and denominations, from the old mother prostitute back there, telling you, that, "Jesus Christ isn't the same. And there's no such a thing as healing. There's no baptism of the Holy Ghost. There's none of this stuff like that." Trying to tell you them. You been tied so long till you still think you're tied.
E-241 The good Man, Christ, gave His Blood that He might wash us and loose us from our sin. What is sin? I'll ask anybody to tell me. What is sin? Sin is "unbelief." That's right. "He that believeth not is condemned already."
E-242 And your sin is your only thing that keeps you from being free. Is because God cut you loose from your unbelief, but you're so bound with creeds till you still think you're tied. Just starving to death, see, hobbling around, "I'm Presbyterian. I'm Methodist. I'm Baptist. They tell me (I'm Church of Christ), 'The days of miracles is past. There's no such a thing.'"
E-243 You poor starved crow! Why don't you come along this morning? Why don't you fly away? Hallelujah! "Rise up with the wings of a morning, and fly away to the Sun of Righteousness, with healing in His wings." Amen. That's it. That's it, brother, sister. Oh! "He who the Son has cut free, is free indeed." Yes, sir!
E-244 "Well, my pastor… " Nothing about that. The Bible said you're free. That's right. You are free.
E-245 "My church… "
E-246 Well, get cut loose. "Has washed us and loosed us from our denominations, in His Own Blood," and has made us free so we can think for ourself, and do for ourself, and talk for ourself, and act for ourself.
E-247 "Well, if I went back and told the pastor I had to be rebaptized, he would… "
E-248 What about, "You are free"? This is a revelation, you know. All right. You're free.
E-249 If you've been sprinkled with a little salt shake like this, the name of "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," here's a pool setting here, ready this morning, with water in it. See? Yes, sir. It's not right.
E-250 So, you're not bound anymore. You are free, but maybe you don't know it. But let me tell you this morning, the Bible said, "He loosed us from our sins, our unbelief, that we might receive the Revelation of Jesus Christ." Go away, free!… have to take what any church says about It. Take what God said about It. Here is His Revelation revealing Who He is.
E-251 "I always believed that God the Father had long, white beard, white hair; and the Son was a middle-aged man; and the Holy Ghost was the mascot boy." Brother, that's paganism. That's pagan if you believe in three Gods.
E-252 The very first Commandment, what is the first Commandment? "Hear ye, O Israel: I'm the LORD your God, one God." That's it.
E-253 He is one God, not three gods. He lived in three offices, served three places. He is Prophet, Priest, and King. He is Eagle, Lamb, and—and Lion. He is the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley, and Morning Star, the Root and Offspring of David. He's from A to Z. He's Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He's all that, but He's One. He is one God. That's His titles that goes to Him, but there's one God.
E-254 Never was anybody, any page of the Bible nor in history, until the Catholic church, was ever baptized by immersing in the name of "Father, Son, Holy Ghost."
E-255 If you show me the page or anything, you write it, lay it up on here to me, tonight, and I'll walk out of this church, saying, "I am a hypocrite; I have taught people wrong." If you can show me one text of Scripture, or bring me one history, authentic history, that'll show me that where that people ever baptized, in the Bible, in the name of "Father, Son, Holy Ghost." Or, bring me one scrip, or one book of history, one page, one quotation in history, where anybody was ever baptized in the name of "Father, Son, Holy Ghost," until the Nicene Council of the Catholic church. Come, bring it to me; and I'll pin a sign on my back and walk through Jeffersonville, and you behind with a horn, blowing. I'll put on there, "A false prophet, misleading the people."
E-256 And, pastor, if you're here this morning, you'd do that, you ought to let me do that to you. See? Come, show me. But you're afraid.
E-257 Now, what is it? This is the Revelation. This is the Revelation. And this is the Holy Spirit, Christ, sending His Message to the churches. Hear It. Hear It. That's what the Bible teaches.
E-258 Where did it come in at? If you'll just won't get angry, move away, through the week, you—you get the Nicene Councils. Get the Hislop's Two Babylons. Get…
E-259 Now, Josephus' history is all right, but he only wrote one paragraph of Christ, said, "There was a man named Jesus who ran around, healing the people. And—and he died, nor, no, Pilate killed him, and—and, or Herod, or put him to death. And then the disciples went and stole his body away, and hid it out. And then each night they go and cut a piece off of it and eat it." Said, "They were cannibals." So, they were taking communion, you see. The carnal mind! Josephus is no one to listen to.
E-260 But take the Foxe's Book Of The Martyrs. There's a good authentic. Foxe's Book Of Martyrs, how many ever read it? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] Sure. The Pember's Early Ages, or—or Hislop's Two Babylons, or—or some great authentic. Or, the—the most greatest we have is the Nicene Council, the pre-Nicene Council and the Nicene Council. And you find out there, that was never mentioned, no persons.
E-261 Take the Holy Scriptures and see if there ever was anybody in the Bible ever baptized, using those titles, name "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." It denotes three gods. It's for a pagan ceremony. And Catholicism is nothing else in the world but a—a pagan form of Christianity. And from the Catholic church come Martin Luther, John Wesley, Baptist, Presbyterians, and so forth.
E-262 But in the last days there was a door set between there, that opened up the Truth again, that, "The Bible said so," and the great prophet that was to come on the earth in the last days. And we believe he is coming. Watch. And he'll have a Church. Now, we'll see this, now.
E-263 Now, remember, this is the Revelation. You cannot take from It. Now, what a challenge! Find one person in the Bible, one place they ever baptized anybody in the name of "Father, Son, Holy Ghost," or ever sprinkled anybody, find that in the Bible, for the remission of their sins. They never. And every person, no matter how they was baptized, had to come and be baptized, over again, in the Name of "Jesus Christ," to get the Holy Ghost.
E-264 Acts 19, "Paul passed through the upper coast of Ephesus, finds certain disciples." He said, "Disciples." They're having a great meeting. They were following a man by the name of Apollos, who was a converted lawyer; a Baptist who believed on John the Baptist, and was proving by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
E-265 Paul passed through and seen Aquila and Priscilla, in the 18th chapter of the Acts. And then he went over to have dinner, or something another, with Aquila and Priscilla. They told him about this great man. They went to hear him. He listened at him that night. He said, "He's very well. That's very fine. That's good. But," said, "have you received the Holy Ghost since you have believed?"
E-266 What about you poor Baptists back there, believe you receive the Holy Ghost when you believe?
E-267 He said, "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?"
E-268 Someone said, "That wasn't written in that."
E-269 I defy that. I've got the authentic Greek right here, the Hebrew, too. The Bible says in the Greek, and both, Hebrew, and also in the Aramaic. In all three of them, I got them right here, that said, "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?" That's right. "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?"
E-270 Now, he said, "We not know whether there be any Holy Ghost."
E-271 Then he said, "Unto what was you baptized?"
E-272 They said, "We've already been baptized by the man that baptized the Lord Jesus Christ. We been baptized unto John's baptism," same hole of water, perhaps, "the same man."
E-273 Paul said, "That won't work. He only baptized unto repentance, not for remission of sins."
E-274 Now, some of you Oneness people come around and—and baptize that, wrong. You baptize that unto, for salvation. Water don't save a man; it's the Blood, repentance. Not through baptism to regeneration. No, sir. Regeneration comes by the Spirit. Baptism is a—is a outward expression of the inward work of regeneration that's been done. See?
E-275 All right. Notice. He said, "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?" They said…
E-276 He said, "We not know whether there be any Holy Ghost."
E-277 He said, "How was you baptized?"
E-278 Said, "We been baptized unto John."
E-279 He said, "John verily baptized unto repentance, unto repentance, saying that 'you should believe on Him,' the Lamb, the Sacrifice was to come, on the Lord Jesus Christ." And when they heard This, they were rebaptized again in the Name of Jesus Christ. And Paul laid his hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost, and spoke in tongues and prophesied.
E-280 Tell me that's not Scripture, and show me anywhere, that anybody was ever baptized any other way in the New Testament but the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Show me.
E-281 Saint Agabus and many, there were others, who was baptized on down until the time of the—of the—of the Nicene Council, and every one of them was baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ. The missionaries tilled the fields with the Name of Jesus Christ.
E-282 But when the Nicene Council come, they had to have three gods. They took down Paul… or took down Jupiter, and put up Paul. They took down Venus, and put up Mary. They had all kinds of gods, all kinds of saints and everything else, and made a triune baptism and fed it to the Protestants. And they still gulp it down.
E-283 But the evening Lights has come now. The prophet said, "It'll be Light in the evening time."
It'll—it'll be Light in the evening time,
The path to Glory you will surely find;
In the water way, that's the Light today,
Buried in the precious Name of Jesus.
Young and old, repent of all your sins,
The Holy Ghost will surely enter in;
The evening Lights have come,
It is a fact that God and Christ are One.
E-284 You believe It? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] Peter said, on the Day of Pentecost, "Let this be know, unto you, the house of Israel, that God has made this same Jesus, Who you crucified, both Lord and Christ;" 16th verse of the 2nd chapter. Yes. "God has made this same Jesus, Who you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Let all the house of Israel know, assuredly."
E-285 Talked to a Jew not long ago, up here at the House of David, he said, "You Gentiles can't cut God in three parts and give Him to a Jew. We know better than that."
E-286 I said, "That's just it, Rabbi. We don't cut God in no three parts." I said, "You believe the prophets?"
He said, "Certainly."
I said, "Do you believe Isaiah 9:6?"
He said, "Yes."
I said, "Who was the prophet speaking of?"
"Messiah."
I said, "What relation will Messiah be to God?"
He said, "He will be God."
I said, "That's right." Amen.
E-287 See, there you are. See, you can't cut Him in three parts.
E-288 If you missionaries here… One of them is going here to the Jews, I believe, this man setting here. Don't you never try to give the Jew no "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." He'll tell you right quick, he know where it come from, "The Nicene Council." He won't listen to that. But you let him see where that God was made flesh, and He is the only God there is. God, made flesh in human form and lived among us, to sanctify us; take away, that He Himself might come in the form of the Holy Ghost. God, the Father, Holy Ghost, is the same Person.
E-289 The Bible said in—in the genealogies of Jesus Christ, in the 1st chapter of Matthew, It said, "Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac begot Jacob." And on down, said, and then in the… Let me read it, and then now you'll know just what I'm talking about. Matthew, the 1st chapter. And we'll… Now let's begin at the 18th verse.
Now 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… "'God the Father'"?
E-290 Does that read that way? [Congregation says, "No."—Ed.] Found with a Child of Who? ["'The Holy Ghost.'"] The… [Blank.spot.on.tape.] I thought God the Father was His father? Then, God, the Father and the Holy Ghost, is the same Spirit, or He had two fathers.
Then Joseph her husband, being a just man,… not willingly to make her a publick example, was minded… put her away privily.
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… take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the…
"'God the Father'"? Huh? [Congregation says, "No. 'The Holy Ghost.'"—Ed.] "The Holy Ghost."
E-291 Then who was the Father of Jesus Christ? ["The Holy Ghost."] The Holy Ghost. What is That in you? ["The Holy Ghost."] Well, that's God, the Father, too. Isn't It? ["Amen."] Sure.
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shall call his name JESUS:…
E-292 Here is God the Father, here is God the Holy Ghost, and here is God the Son, see, that's three Gods. The Bible don't say it. This two has to be the same, or He had two fathers. See? He can't have two fathers. You know that.
Now, she shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Now this was all done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord by the prophet, saying,… a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is by interpretation, God with us.
E-293 That's the 1st chapter of Matthew.
E-294 Matthew 28:19, where Jesus said, "Go, baptize in the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." What is the Name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost? [Congregation says, "Jesus Christ."—Ed.] Jesus Christ, of course.
E-295 You read a love story, said, "John and Mary lived happy ever after." Who is John and Mary? Go back to the first of the story, and find out.
If there's no such a thing, no name, "Father, Son, or Holy Ghost," then Who, Whose Name is it? Go back, the first of the story, and see Who He was talking about.
E-296 Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, said, "Repent, every one of you, and be baptized in the Name of 'Jesus Christ' for the remission of sins." He had the revelation.
John had the revelation.
E-297 Jesus was the Revelation, He produced Himself right here in the Scripture, "I am He that was, which is, and shall come, the Almighty." Whew! All right.
E-298 Now, let's get the 7th verse, right quick now, 'fore we get out, just quick as we can
… the Almighty… .domin-… glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
And… made us kings and priests unto God… his Father; and to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
E-299 See that revelation there, how It's revealed? How God… Men scratch their heads and pull their hair, and things, trying to find out what "Father, Son, Holy Ghost" is, make three, in one.
Don't pull your hair and scratch your head. Just look up. Revelation comes from Above. And that's right. He will reveal, it's no "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." It's three offices that one God lived in.
E-300 It was in the office, "Spirit," by Himself, because the human being is condescending. Then He made Hisself a body, lived in it, to produce His Own Blood; not through sexual, like it was in the garden of Eden, but produce a creative body. And through that virgin-born body, He gave a Blood that sanctified us and loosed us from our unbelief, to believe on Him. Then, we do that, we receive Him into our heart, that's God in us; God: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. See? Just as Prophet, Priest, and King, that's the same thing.
E-301 All right. Now, the 7th verse, this is the announcement. The announcement is:
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him,… they also which pierced him: and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.
E-302 Oh! How much time we got? That's beautiful there. Could you spare another thir-… twenty minutes? [Congregation says, "Yes."—Ed.] Could you? ["Amen."] All right. Now, then, tomorrow… Tonight, we'll try to catch the rest of The Patmos Vision, tonight. Today, we're going to end on the announcement.
E-303 Oh! You feel good? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] You love this old Bible? ["Amen."] It is the Revelation. What, what is it? God reaches down, in this Book, and takes the veil off, said, "There He is: Prophet, Priest, King; Father, Son, Holy Ghost; He that was, which is, and shall come. All these things, It is God."
E-304 Now, let's take the veil off, just for a few minutes now, the Lord helping us, take the veil from our eyes. And get…
Behold, he cometh with clouds;…
E-305 Now, how is He coming? "With clouds." What kind of cloud? Clouds of glory. Not one of these thunderheads, rain cloud, but clouds of glory.
You'll watch what kind of a cloud He was enshrouded in when Peter and them saw His vision on Mount Transfiguration, a cloud overshadowed Him. His raiment shined. He was enshrouded with a cloud, the power of God.
E-306 Oh, we get to that, over here in these church ages. I'm telling you, it just—just tickles my innermost being, to think of it. What? He's coming. I see this day that where we're living, where nothing, no hopes left but His Coming.
E-307 Now we'll quickly get this. Now remember.
… every eye shall see him,…
E-308 Now, that wasn't the Rapture, then. Was it? [Congregation says, "No."—Ed.] See? Wasn't the Rapture. It wasn't the Rapture. What was He speaking to? The second Coming.
… and they also which pierced him: and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.
E-309 Now we'll go back and get some history. Let's go back to Zechariah, and get the 12th chapter of Zechariah. Zechariah. All right.
E-310 "And the Lord added to the church daily such as would be saved." How thankful we are for the good revelation of Jesus Christ! Aren't you happy for Him? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] Now, we will get this into book form just as quick as we possibly can, to the people, and then you can have it, to read it in the quiet of your room and things, and study it out, yourself.
E-311 All right. Zechariah, the Zechariah, the 12th chapter now of Zechariah. And we want, take this real prayerfully now. And I want to get this for the glory of God. Now, Zechariah 12, let's begin at the 9th verse. Listen close now. He is speaking of the Coming. Zechariah 12, and we'll begin at the 9, in the 9th verse.
And it shall come to pass…
Zechariah, prophesying, four hundred and eighty-seven years before the coming of Christ.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all… nations that come against Jerusalem. (Think of it.)
And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced,…
E-312 Now, when is the Gospel returning to the Jews? When the day of the Gentile is finished, the Gospel is ready, go to the Jews. Oh, I could, if I could just foretell you a little something that's fixing to happen right here, see, right in this day. You see? It's fixing to happen. We get it in the Church Age. And this great thing is fixing to happen, will carry over to Revelation 11 and pick up those two prophets, Elijah and the Moses returning back again for the Jews. We're ready for it. Everything is setting in order, just ready. This Gentile Message, as the Jews brought it to the Gentiles, the Gentiles will take it right back to the Jews again. And the Rapture will come.
E-313 Now remember, this here coming, after the tribulation… The Church does not go through the Tribulation. We know that. The Bible says so. See? All right.
E-314 Now, He will pour out upon the house of Israel, (what?) the same Holy Spirit, see, after the Gentile Church is gone.
… and they looked upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one that mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
And in that day shall there be… great mourning in Jerusalem,… and mourning… in—in the valley of Megiddon.
And—and the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and… the family of the house of Nathan apart, and each one of the houses apart;
When they see, what will happen?
E-315 What will take place when He comes in the clouds of glory, at His second appearing. And when those Jews who have pierced Him… You know, another Scripture says they'll ask Him, "Where did He get these wounds?"
E-316 He said, "In the house of My friend."
E-317 And not only will it be a mournful time for the Jews who rejected Him, as Messiah, but it'll be a mournful time for them left Gentiles back here, who has accepted… who has rejected Him as their Messiah of this day. They'll be wailing and weeping. The sleeping virgin will be wailing. That's that church that refused to get Oil in its Light. There were ten virgins went out, all good people, but five of them had Oil in their lamps. The other five were good people, good people, but fail to get Oil in their lamps. "And they were cast out into outer darkness where there'll be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth."
E-318 Here it is, "They'll be wailing." The Bible said here, "They'll be wailing, and so broken-hearted! Until even… "
E-319 Here, I'll give you another, Genesis 45, if you want to get to that. Let's get to it just a moment and read that also in Genesis, the… I believe, of the 45th chapter of Genesis. I'd like to get this here, Joseph making hisself known to his—to his people. And we'll get this, just show the—the types of what will take place in that day, then we'll bind it together.
Then Joseph could not refrain himself before… them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go… from me.
Now remember, Joseph, making hisself known, he cried, "Every man go from before me."
And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brethren.
And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard him. (He must have screamed out.)
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; does my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near… me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom… who you—who you sold into Egypt.
Now therefore do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you have sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. (Oh, how beautiful!)
For these two years has… famine been in the land: and… in which shall be, there shall be neither be ear nor harvest.
And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
E-320 Let me just take now and compare that with Zechariah, the 12th, just for a moment. Now, we know that, in type. If you teach types, then you'll always get it right, I think, in—in type.
E-321 Now, Joseph, when he was born, he was hated by his brethren. Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] Now I want to show you, Joseph represents the Spirit-filled Church. Joseph was hated of his brethren. Why? Because he was spiritual. Joseph could not help because he could see vision. He could not help because he dreamed dreams, see, and could interpret dreams. He, that was what was in him. He could not display anything else but what that was in him. Well, then, his brothers hated him, without a cause. But his father loved him, because his father was a prophet.
E-322 See how it was with Jesus? God loved His Son. But the brethren, the Pharisees and Sadducees, hated Him, because He could heal the sick, and foretell things, and see visions, interpret. See what I mean? "They hated Him, without a cause."
E-323 And what did they do to Joseph? They pretended he was dead, and they throwed him into a ditch. Took a bloody coat, of seven colors, that his father…
E-324 There's only seven colors in the rainbow. And the rainbow, we know what, that we get to it a little later, I think, tonight. The rainbow over Him here, Jesus, where, "He's to look upon as jasper and sardis stone, and a rainbow." A rainbow is a covenant.
And that was God's covenant upon Joseph.
E-325 And then they blot blood on his coat, and took it back to the father. And he was supposed to be dead. And…
But he was raised up out of the ditch and was put into a—a… sold to Pharaoh, someone in Egypt, and a—a general kept him. And when they did, he, a ill thing come up against him, and throwed him in jail. And there he prophesied, and told two men where one would go and where the other one would go; the butler and a—and a baker, on account of their dream.
E-326 And then he was exalted from there, to the right hand of Pharaoh. And no man could touch Pharaoh, only through Joseph.
[Blank.spot.on.tape—Ed.]
E-327 Watch this now, the… when Joseph then was sold over into the Egyptians. And, watch, everything he done typed Christ. Look at this butler and this baker in there, and they both had dreams. And Jesus, when He was in His prison house. Remember, Joseph was in prison. And when Jesus was in His prison, (how?) tacked to a cross, there was one saved and one lost. Joseph, when he was in his prison, one was saved, one was lost.
E-328 And notice, then after Jesus was taken off the cross, He was exalted into Heaven, and sets at the right hand of the great Spirit, Jehovah. "No man can come to God except by Me." No hail Marys, no blessed this or blessed that. But, through Jesus Christ, "The only mediator there is between God and men," that precious body that God tabernacled in, among us, that took God's Name. And God took the name of human. God took…
E-329 Look here. In the beginning, when Adam… I just can't get away from that. Seem like somebody is not getting It, somewhere. Look. In the beginning… Let me show you something again. The Holy Spirit warns me to do this. I'm leaving my subject for a minute. When the first news come to Glory, that the son had been lost, Adam, did God send an Angel? Did He send a son? Did He send anyone else? He came, Hisself, to redeem His lost son. Hallelujah! God didn't trust it with no one but Himself. God was made flesh and dwelled among us, and redeemed man, Himself. It's… "We are saved," the Bible said, "by the Blood of God." The mortal, God was… The immortal God was made mortal, in order to take away sin, to be the Lamb, Himself; to enter into Glory, veiled, and with His Own Blood before Him, beyond the veil.
E-330 Now, Joseph, down into Egypt he goes. And there he was exalted from his prison, to the right hand of Pharaoh, and was made the caretaker. And everything prospered in the days of Joseph.
E-331 Now, when Jesus returns, even the desert shall blossom like a rose. He is the Son of prosperity, type of Joseph.
E-332 They put Joseph in… The general had him in his house; everything he done, he prospered. They put him in jail, and the whole jail prospered. Everything they done, he prospered. And when he exalted, the highest, of Pharaoh, next to Pharaoh, everything in Egypt prospered above anything in the world.
E-333 When He returns, it'll be a land of prosperity. The old deserts will blossom, and there'll be food everywhere. And we can, every one, set under our own fig tree, and laugh and rejoice, and live forever in His Presence, when He comes back as King.
E-334 He was Son of man, Prophet. Amen. He was Son of man, Sacrifice, Priest. He is Son of man, as King, the Son of David setting on the throne of His majesty. Son of man, He is ma-… God manifested as Son of man. He come down and become man, to take sins away from the world. He become man, as a Prophet. He become man, as a Priest. He become man, as King; King of Heaven, King of saints, the Eternal King; always was King, always will be King, Eternal King.
E-335 (336) Now notice, then, Joseph. Before Joseph went forth, they had to sound the trumpet, first. And people screamed, "Bow the knee for Joseph." No matter what a man was doing, he was selling a product on the street, when that trumpet sound, he bowed his knee. A man was just about ready to reach out and get his money, but he bowed his knee, Joseph was coming. Oh! The m-… the—the—the mimic was just about ready to make his act, and what'd he do? He had to stop. "Joseph is coming." The trumpet sounded.
E-336 One of these days, everything, even time, will stand still. "When the trumpet of God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise, and the morning breaks Eternal, bright and fair." Everything will bow the knee. "Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to It."
Start now. "Some men's sins go before, some follow."
E-337 But now notice what taken place. How glorious! When Joseph then… after he married a Gentile and received a family, Ephraim and Manasseh, his sons. Did you notice at the end? When Joseph… Jacob started to bless Ephraim and Manasseh. When he started to put his hands, he put Ephraim on the right, Manasseh on the left, to get the right hand blessing the oldest. But when he started to pray, his hands crossed, and he gave the youngest one the right-hand blessing instead of the one that was on the right hand.
E-338 And Joseph said, "Not so, Father." Said, "You have put the blessing on Manasseh instead of on Ephraim."
E-339 And he said, "God has crossed my hand."
E-340 What? From the Jews, the oldest, the first-chosen of God, through the Cross come the blessing back to the Gentiles, to get the Bride. Blessing come through the Cross, from the Jew to the Gentile. Rejected! They rejected the Cross, therefore He got the Gentile Bride.
E-341 Now when Joseph, before this, when he was… heard of his brethren, who… They had been out of fellowship for many years, the Jew.
E-342 Now watch. We're getting back to Zechariah now, where they wail, and mourn and wail. And even families will separate themselves from other families, go out, say, "How did we do it? How could we have ever done it?" When they say, "Where did You get them scars, them prints in Your hands?" even those that pierced Him. "He will come in the clouds. And they will see Him, even those who pierced Him. And every house will mourn, and they'll wail." They won't know what to do.
E-343 E-343 And when Joseph… You know the story. When he seen his brethren, and he maked out like he couldn't speak Hebrew, and got the interpreter to interpret for him. And he couldn't speak Hebrew, he's act like; but he wanted to find out. And so when finally, one day, when they brought his little brother, did you notice? It was Benjamin that set Joseph's soul afire?
E-344 What is it, today, that's going to set His soul afire, our Joseph, Jesus? That young church that's been down in Iran yonder, who's kept the commandments of God. And it's a newborn people that's gathered into Palestine, and restored back again. That six-point Star of David, the oldest flag in the world, a nation has been born in the last few years. There is Israel.
Nations are breaking, Israel's awakening,
The signs that the Bible foretold;
The Gentile days numbered, with horrors encumbered;
Return, O dispersed, to your own.
The Day of Redemption is near,
Men's hearts are failing for fear; (Just look at they've all come neurotics.)
Be filled with the Spirit, your lamp trimmed and clear,
Look up, your redemption is near.
False prophets are lying, God's Truth they're denying,
That Jesus the Christ is our God;(Glory! But the Revelation has come.)
So we'll walk where the apostles have trod, (Right in their same place.)
For the Day of Redemption is near,
Men's hearts are failing for fear;
Be filled with God's Spirit, your lamp trimmed and clear,
Look up, your redemption is near.
Oh!
E-345 Oh, Joseph, when he seen little Benjamin standing there! That's his little brother. You see little Benjamin now up there, over yonder, setting over there. The tribes of the—of the earth, of the Jews, returned back there where there'll be a hundred and forty-four thousand of them standing there, to receive Christ when they see Him Coming. They'll say, "Lo, this is our God Who we've waited on." Then they'll see the pierced… "Where did these comes?"
E-346 He said, "In the house of My friend."
E-347 And they'll wail and they'll cry. And each family, their tribes of David and Nepthalim and all, will separate themselves, each family, and weep to themself when they see Him standing in the air, the One they pierced.
E-348 What will His message be? Watch what Joseph said. When he said…
E-349 E-349 Watch another thing. When Joseph got the children before him, he looked at them, he seen little Benjamin. He seen Ephraim, he seen the rest of them there, the Gad and all of them. And the twelve tribes, the ten tribes then, standing before him. He seen them all standing there. He knew they were his brethren. And he looked at little Benjamin, directly, his throat begin to fill up. Knew them was his. What did he say? "Let every man leave me." What happened to his wife and children? They went into the palace.
E-350 Where will the Gentile Church go at the Rapture? Into the Palace. The Bride, Hallelujah, the Bride will be taken off the earth, in the Rapture. Then when He returns, His Bride isn't there when He makes Hisself known to His brethren, the Jews, those who pierced Him, those who rejected Him. But his wife and his loved one, his close friends there, his—his own God-sent companions had in the temple.
E-351 And when he looked, he said they was… They didn't know. They said, "Oh, this great prince!" They begin to say, one to another, oh, about these things of what they have done.
E-352 I believe it was Ephraim, or not Ephraim, but I forget which one it was now, that—that said, "Well, we ought not to have killed our brother, Joseph." Said, "You see, we're getting paid back." Reuben, Reuben said, "We ought not to have killed our brother," said, "because, you see, we're getting paid back for what we done."
E-353 And Joseph standing there; they didn't think he could understand Hebrew. But he knowed it.
E-354 Some thinks, can't speak… understand speaking in tongues, but He knows all about it. Yeah. He knows. The Gentile kingdom come in with speaking in tongues and interpretations, in the head of gold (the first head) before it fell. What ended that first Gentile dispensation? A handwriting of unknown tongues on the wall, and a man there could interpret it and tell what it was. It goes out the same way. Amen. Entered in and goes out the same way.
E-355 They thought he couldn't understand them tongues that they was speaking, but he knowed it. They said, "You see what we got?"
E-356 And Joseph then seen they're sorry for what they had done.
E-357 Now He sees their sorrow and regret for rejecting Him, so He's choking up in His throat now. He's ready to dismiss His Church from the earth, take Her into Glory. Then return, and then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn.
E-358 What did they do? Reuben, all of them, begin to cry, they said, "Oh! Oh!" They feared and said, "This is him. Now we know we're in for it. Now he will kill us. Now he… We know that we're going to be destroyed right now, because that is Joseph that's been away from us so long. That's Joseph, our brother, now we're really in for it."
E-359 He said, "Don't be angry with yourself. God did this to preserve life."
E-360 What did God do? Why did the Jews reject Jesus? So that we Gentiles, so, that, the people that He called out for His Name's sake. God did it to preserve the life of the Gentile Church, Bride.
E-361 All the tribes who rejected Him will mourn. They'll hide themselves in dens, and in rocks, and things, say, "Hide, fall on us, mountains." They rejected It, Him. All the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. And each family in Israel there will separate themselves. Families will separate, one from the other, and saying, "Why did we do it? How did we come to reject Him? How? There He stands. There is the God Who we've waited for. And there He is, with nail prints in His hands, and we did it."
E-362 That's exactly what them brethren said right down there, when they come back and said, "There is Joseph, who we sold."
E-363 He said, "I'm Joseph, your brother, who you sold into Egypt."
E-364 "Oh!" They were scared. And they were mourning and wailing, and run to one another, "What can we do?"
E-365 He said, "Don't be angry with yourself, 'cause God did this all. God sent me ahead."
E-366 God created all men; white men, black men, brown men, yellow men, every man. God created every man. He created the Gentile, created the Jew. He created all. It's all for His glory. And the Jews had to be, reject It, in order to take a Gentile Bride.
E-367 That's the reason all these types are. So the Gentile Bride and Her offsprings with Her, that glorious pentecostal Church washed in the Blood of the Lamb, with all the power of the resurrection living in them, will rise someday in the Rapture (in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye) to go be in the Presence of Jesus, while He returns back (and dismisses everything) to make Hisself known to His brethren.
E-368 Watch what the Scripture says here, in closing. Oh!
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, (now he's talking about the second Coming, not the Rapture), and they also which pierced him:…
E-369 7th chapter, the 1st verse… Or, 7th verse of the 1st chapter.
… every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
E-370 Then He gives that great, great quotation. Who is This? Who is This they're to go to look for?
I am Alpha and Omega, I'm A and Z, (the Greek A and Z, Greek alphabet)…
E-371 Acts 2:36, the… Peter said, "There's not another name given under Heaven whereby men must be saved." Or, no, I beg your pardon; misquoting it. He said, "Let all the house of Israel know surely, that God has made this same Jesus, who you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
E-372 John 14:7 and 12, Thomas said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it satisfy us."
E-373 Said, "I been so long with you, and you don't know me?" Said, "He that's seen me has seen the Father. Why sayest thou, 'Show me the Father'? I and My Father are One."
E-374 I said that one time to a person. The lady said, "Just a minute, Mr. Branham." Said, "You and your wife are one, too."
I said, "But not that kind."
She said, "I beg your pardon."
I said, "Do you see me?"
She said, "I do."
I said, "You see my wife ?"
She said, "No."
E-375 I said, "Then they're a different kind. He said, 'When you seen Me, you have seen the Father.'" So that was enough for that.
E-376 So in Saint John, or First John 5:7 to 8, you all that's putting it down. First John 5:7 to 8, the Bible said. The speaker, the very same man that wrote this Revelation that Jesus give him. He said, "There are three that bear record in Heaven: the Father, the Word (the Word is the Son)… the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. There are three that bear record in earth: water, Blood, and Spirit, and they agree; not are one, but they agree in one."
E-377 You cannot have the Father without having the Son. You cannot have Father or Son without having the Holy Ghost. Right. But you… And water, Blood, and Spirit, that's the elements it takes to get into His Body.
E-378 When a natural birth takes place, what's the first thing happens when a woman giving birth to a baby? First thing, it's water. Second thing, is blood. That right? Next thing, is spirit. The baby catches his breath, start breathing. Water, blood, and spirit, that constitutes the natural birth.
E-379 Also, the spiritual Birth. Water baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ; justification by faith, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Water! What's the next? Blood; sanctification, cleaning up, getting her out.
E-380 There's where you Nazarene people failed; you just went that far and didn't go no farther. The vessel that's sanctified on the altar, ready for service, but not in service. "Blessed are they," beatitudes, "that are hungering and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." The vessel is sanctified. That's true.
E-381 That's like the virgin. The word virgin means "pure, holy, unadulterated, sanctified." Five had oil, and five did not; five was filled, and the other one just remained in sanctification. "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed," you Baptists, Presbyterians?
E-382 "We don't know whether there be any Holy Ghost."
E-383 "Then, how was you baptized?" Uh-huh.
E-384 After he laid his hands upon them, they were then, after being saved and sanctified, they were filled with the Holy Ghost. Right.
E-385 Water, Blood, Spirit! Jesus come to wash and to cleanse, and to sanctify a Church, that He might come and live in. With His Own Blood; He gave His Own God-born Blood, that He might cleanse us from our sexual birth, and give unto us a sanctified, holy vessel that He Himself might come.
E-386 "A little while, and the world seeth Me no more; yet ye shall see Me because I," personal pronoun, "will be with you, even in you, to the end of the consummation." Amen. "All the way through, I'll be with you and in you. The works that I do shall you do also. These signs shall follow them that believe." God in the Church! Oh, my! Deity! "There are three that bear record in Heaven: Father, Word (Son), Holy Ghost. They are One."
E-387 Now, you can be saved without being sanctified. You can be sanctified and not have the Holy Ghost; right, sanctified spirit, without being filled. Sanctifying your heart, cleansing your heart, without filling it with something. That's what It said, "When the unclean spirit is gone out of the man, he walks in dry places. Comes back, finds his house all garnished, and comes in. The last estate of that person is many times, seven times, worse than it was at the first."
E-388 That's what happened to you Pilgrim Holiness, Nazarenes, and so forth. You accepted. And when the Holy Ghost come, begin to speak in tongues, and give signs and wonders, you called it "the devil" and blasphemed the works of God, called it "an unclean thing." And you see where your church went? Come out of it. The hour is here, the Revelation of Jesus Christ is being taught, God revealed in the power of His demonstrations of the Holy Ghost. Amen. The Day of redemption is near.
E-389 Now, Deity in Him, First Timothy 3:16
… .without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: for God was manifest in the flesh,… seen of angels,… believed on in the world, received up into glory.
E-390 Oh, just on and on and on. But where are we at now? At the end of the 8th verse.
E-391 Tonight we start the—the 9th verse, The Patmos Vision. Oh, there is great things in store for us. Do you love Him? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.]
I love Him, I love Him
Because He first loved me
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary's tree.
E-392 You really do that? Has God made Hisself known unto you, been revealed that He is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, to take away sin? He is revealing Himself in these last days in His churches, making Hisself known.
E-393 Now, these very things that's going on in the Church, watch and see, at the end of this Message, that if the Bible don't say these things are to take place, just exactly. See if they didn't exactly, in the Ephesian Age, and the Pergamos, Thyatira, on down, every age.
E-394 Told how Luther would do, and how Wesley would do. And how this Pentecostal denomination will go into a Laodicean, lukewarm condition, but, in the midst of that, He would pull the people. That's right. That's exactly. We're at the end. Oh, I'm so glad! And, oh, as I've seen myself breaking away, and look at my friends and things, and see the world and the—and the chaos that it's in. And then think that the Coming of the Lord is drawing so near. We're at the end of the age.
E-395 Men's hearts are failing for fear. Everywhere, everybody, it's alarming on the radio, all the time, "Be ready for a air raid. Take this in, take that in, and go down in the basement." How you going to hide from that? Can't hide from that. Well, that thing will go a hundred and fifty feet in the ground, for a hundred and fifty miles, square. Why, the concussion of it would… If it hit here, it'd shake Indianapolis to the ground. Why, it would just blow Indianapolis to pieces, hit right here in Louisville, see, one of those. Hard to tell what they got besides that.
E-396 And, look, you don't have to. You know, Russia don't have to do that. Cuba can do that. Any little bitty place, a—a little bitty place the size of Alcatraz out yonder, could do it, cover the whole world. Only thing you have to do is just line her up and pull one string. You don't need no army. You just need one fanatic to do it, in the hands of the devil. That's exactly right. He would do it, and then the whole thing is over. It's all over then.
E-397 But, oh, let me give you this blessed thing. When we see that so close, when we see that it could happen before morning. Remember, the Church goes home before that happened. The Rapture takes place before.
E-398 Now, that you might not get twisted up, remember, Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah, as it was in the days of Lot." Remember, before any rain fell, Noah was in the ark. See? Noah was in the ark. He was carried over, through this. And now, Noah was a type of the Jew. But Enoch went home without dying. And when Noah seen Enoch go, he knowed it was time, start on that ark. That's right. That was Noah's sign, when Enoch went home. And as soon as the Gentile Church is taken away, then He makes Hisself known to Israel. See? That's right.
E-399 Remember, in the days of Lot, as Jesus said, before one speck of fire ever hit the earth, that Angel said, "Hasten. Hurry. Get out of here, for I can't do nothing until thou has come hence." Before any fire hit, Lot and his family was out and gone. So, the Rapture will come before the Tribulation sets in.
E-400 The Tribulation, many people get them mixed up. We'll get it straightened, this week, the Lord willing, by the help of the Lord. Remember, you're looking for a great Tribulation Period, that was, if you'll type that in the Bible, that was Jacob's Trouble days, you see, when he was troubled. That had nothing to do with the Gentiles. The Gentile has nothing to do with it. No type in the Bible to that. The Gentile Church is Raptured.
E-401 And you're looking for "the water to turn into blood," and things like that. That comes over to Israel again, back yonder with Moses and Elijah, when they return. Elijah, for the fourth time, returns back, in the Spirit. Neither of those was dead.
E-402 Or, the… Moses died; they didn't know where they buried him. He was bound to be raised up somewhere between then and there, 'cause, on Mount Transfiguration, there he was, talking to Jesus. Didn't he? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.] See?
So they'll come back and be killed, and lay in the spiritual street called "Sodom," where our Lord was crucified, Jerusalem. They'll be preached to the Jews, and smite the earth, and close the heavens, and so forth like that. And the end of the Gentile ministry will carry over and connect with that, and the Gentiles will go home, and that ministry will go on. There will be the doom of all things. Two-thirds of the earth fell, and everything else. When them dead bodies laid in the streets, three days, watch what kind it was.
E-403 Look at these pictures I got from down in South America, when they killed that Pentecostal missionary there, his wife, laying in the street, and him and two little children. Little girl, and her little belly swelled up like that. They wouldn't even bury them. Walked along, spit there on them like that, for three or four days. Brother Kopp taken the picture. I got them at home, see, the way they do. Then they send gifts, one to another.
E-404 Look how that types in the Bible, you see what church is going to do that. That's right, right at hand, and moving right in like a snake right now, just as cunning as it can be, sign of things right now.
E-405 Look at the prophecy the Lord give me in '33, how it would happen, "They'd permit women to vote. In voting, they'd elect the wrong person." Seven things was give, and five of them has already happened. The next thing was a great woman, a church, a power or something, would take over this United States, to rule. Then I seen it just like ashes, laying, where it come to the end. It was the end time.
E-406 It said, "They'd have a machine that could drive. They didn't have to have no driver in it." They just perfected it. It said, eleven years…
The Holy Spirit said to me. There it is on paper. You can't… It can't be denied. There it is on paper, as the Holy Spirit said.
Eleven years before the Maginot Line was built, I said, "The Germans… America will just… President Roosevelt will be the rascal of all of them." And that's right. He was.
Not hurting you Democrats' feelings, but I—I'm telling you. It's not a Democrat or Republican now. It's Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that we're talking about. I'm neither Democrat nor Republican. I'm a Christian. So then, they, whatever it was, but you notice there.
E-407 And look here, the other day, if you want to see what a renegade bunch that is. Taking those machines and fix them, where, every time you'd vote for Mr. Nixon, you had to vote for this other fellow, the same time. Ed-… J. Edgar Hoover pulled the machines out. How many has been reading it? Why, sure, it's all over the whole papers, news, and everything else. You see where we're at?
E-408 There's nothing honest no more but Christ. Amen. Oh, that blessed old Book! That's It. That's the only One that tells you who you are, where you come from, and where you're going (Yes, sir.), is this blessed old Book, oh, that makes me love Him. Don't it you? [Congregation says, "Amen."—Ed.]
Faith in the Father, faith in the Son,
Faith in the Holy Ghost, these three are One;
Demons will tremble, and sinners awake;
Faith in Jehovah makes anything shake.
Amen.
E-409 What a great day is ahead of us, friends! "The Revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave to His angel, and come and signified it to John, that it might be known through the Church Ages, the thing that's in store for us."
E-410 May the Lord bless us now, as we stand to our feet. And ever who is playing the piano, give us a little chord if you will, Take The Name Of Jesus With You.
E-411 Now listen. There is, no doubt, there is strangers here among us in the tabernacle this morning. I want you to shake their hands. Invite them, go home with you, and what more. And make everybody welcome. I want everybody to be sure to do that.
E-412 And remember the service will start at seven o'clock, tonight. And at seven-thirty, I'll be speaking The Vision On Patmos. Tomorrow night, the Lord willing, I'll be speaking on the first church age, Ephesus, of the Church Age.
E-413 Now we're going to sing Take The Name Of Jesus With You, our little tabernacle dismissing song. And let everyone sing now. All right.
Take the Name of Jesus with you,
Child of sorrow and of woe;
It will joy and comfort give you,
Take it everywhere you go.
Precious Name, O how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of Heaven;
Precious Name, precious Name, O how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of Heaven.
E-414 Now before we sing the next verse, I want Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, Catholics, Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness, to all just reach around, shake hands with somebody in front of you, at the side of you, at the back of you, say, "Christian pilgrim, friend, I'm glad to have you here this morning. Glad to fellowship with you, around the things of God. I know we've had a great time. Hope to see you here again tonight." Something like that, as you shake hands with people, front of you, back of you, around you.
At the Name of Jesus bowing,
See you tonight, Brother Neville. See you tonight.
… feet,
King of kings, in Heaven, we'll crown Him,
When our journey is complete.
precious Name, O how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of Heaven;
Precious Name, O how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of Heaven.
Till we meet! till we meet!
Till we meet at Jesus' feet; (till we meet,)
Till we meet! till we meet!
God be with you till we meet again!
E-415 Now as we bow our head:
Till we meet! till we meet!