Our opening text, Hebrews 11:13-16, speaks of the Old Testament heroes "Who died in the faith, not having received the fulfilment of God's promises, but seeing them afar off, were persuaded, and embraced them, confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Declaring plainly that they seek a Homeland. And truly, were they homesick of that country whence they came, they could have easily returned. But they desire a better country, a heavenly home. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called THEIR GOD: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for He has prepared a City for them".
As Christians, we are the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob through the baptism of the Holy Ghost. We are now the Sons of God awaiting our mansion of glorified flesh in the City He has prepared.
Prophesying of Israel in the Millennium, Ezekiel said, "You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be My people, and I will be YOUR GOD" (Ezekiel 36:28).
"I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 'Behold, the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live among them, and they shall be HIS PEOPLE, and God will be present with them, and be THEIR GOD'" (Revelation 21:3; Ezekiel 37:27).
Now there's a revelation of which we must become more conscious. That God calls Himself OUR God: whoever blesses us is blessed, and whoever curses us is cursed. We must accept our oneness with God, for we are the manifestation of Himself, providing the Token in on display.
The more I read of the barbaric horrors of the coming NWO actually taking place now, under the sponsorship, observation and funding of once Christian nations, the more conscious I am of the fact that very soon now, we will be that "hunted and persecuted little group", as Brother Branham described the Bride. We'll be regarded as "enemies of the people", and among the most dispensable of they who are earmarked to be culled.
We'll be like the unbranded steer Brother Branham mentioned in "The Breach." The cowboys cut him out and cook him for supper. We have no mark of denomination. They'll cut us out from support of every description. We'll have no property, no access to any money, no protection or defence—not even family and friends. We'll have His Word in the "third pull" . . . if the Token is on display in us. We'll have the Spoken Word manifesting through us, or we'll be cut out and barbecued by the false church. Maybe we should be looking more into the subject of the third pull.
In this message we'll add to our comments from last week when we brought Ezekiel 40-48 into Revelation 21-22, a City where the God Who calls Himself "OUR God," and us "HIS people," is dwelling WITH us and IN us.
Abraham and all of his seed have always sought the Promised City whose Builder and Maker is God. This City descends from God out of heaven, not in the sense of one particular event wherein an actual City, or even the returning Bride of Christ, descends, but the fact that all good things come from God. It's the manifestation of God's thoughts over 6,000 years of time, as God HIMSELF, changed His Form from the eternal Spirit alone with His thoughts, to dwell on earth IN the glorified flesh of His saints who are His thoughts expressed in due season. It's the blessing of Abraham coming into reality.
As Jesus died on Calvary, He cried, "It is finished". Our Kinsman Redeemer had paid sin's price. All the elect of Adam's race was redeemed. In God's foreknowledge, that City is finished. Paul said once we're born-again, we're already "seated together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6). "Heavenly places "is the believer's position in Christ. It's THEIR part of the Word, the PRESENT Truth for THEIR day.
Paul said, "You've reached mount Zion, the City of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and an innumerable company of angels (those on the Lamb's Book of Life who in God's foreknowledge will become saints), to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect" (Hebrews 12:22-23).
This heavenly City exists only in God's mind. It's His dream Home as it were. A dwelling-place that expresses the perfection of the magnificence of His glory in the beauty of holiness. It is His own attributes made manifest through the faith of they who voluntarily laid down their desires so their lives may reflect the excellent qualities they saw and loved in Him.
Surrender of free will to His will is true worship. True worship is how Christ redeemed us (Matthew 26:42; John 10:11).
By His foreknowledge, God knew who would receive His mind and like a godly wife, become the manifestation of His heart desires and be His glory. That's what the New Jerusalem is. It's the Glory of God manifest in His elect of all ages. It is God made manifest in His saints. The New Jerusalem is His glorified elect, a by-product of Himself. In this feminine Form, God will be worshipped throughout eternity by the "saved" outside the City. They will be worshipping God IN the Bride, not the material of the bride, as the disciples admired the substance of the Temple in Old Jerusalem (Luke 21:5), but the qualities of God's Spirit transfused through us.
Look at I Corinthians 11. The woman is made in the image of the man to be his glory. She is to reflect his attributes and glorify him. No wonder men adore women. They are made to be worshipped: in a pure way, because they are reflectors of the character of their man. We should worship the inner beauty of the husband's character in the wife, whom he has cultivated and protected as his personal enclosed garden (Genesis 2:15).
King Solomon wrote, "My Sister, my Bride is like a private garden; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed from the world.
You're as a lovely orchard bearing precious fruit; with the rarest perfumes of camphor with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, and fragrances of every other incense tree, as well as myrrh and aloes, and every other lovely spice. You're a garden, a fountain, a well of living water, refreshing as mountain streams from Lebanon".
His Bride replies, "Come, north wind, awaken; come south wind, blow upon my garden and waft its lovely perfume to my beloved. Let him come into his garden and eat its choicest fruits".
New Jerusalem reflects the glory or attributes expressed in God's cultivation and care of His elect through all ages, culminating in the "fairest among women," the little black girl of Solomon's Song, the Masterpiece of Christ's Bride. The new heavens and new earth is an old creation redeemed. New Jerusalem is a brand-new Creation, a by-product of Himself inspirated from Above. (Study "Invisible Union of the Bride of Christ," p. 12:6 - 15:2; II Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15).
God is Light, a form of energy. The first law of thermodynamics, the Law of Conservation of Energy states, "Energy can be transferred from one place to another, or transformed from one form or another, but it can be neither created nor destroyed". The New Jerusalem is a by-product of God manifested in the glorified substance of the earth.
Genesis 1:26-27 is God's foreknowledge of Adam's race, "God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing upon the earth. So God created man in His Own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them".
Here God said, "let us 'asah' or make man out of existing material of the earth which was already manifested". He was not speaking of Adam but of all mankind (Adam's race) that ever will be. This was a decision which did not come to pass until Genesis 2:7, when God (Heb.) 'yatsar,' formed or squeezed man into shape.
"Time" began with "creation," or at the "foundation of the world." But the Book of Life and the Lamb's Book of Life were written in eternity before there was anything manifested. Before there was a son, moon or star, God by foreknowledge said, "Jacob have I loves, Esau have I hated". By His foreknowledge, God knew who would lay down their ideas to identify with and manifest His thoughts. Before there was one molecule, God knew who would be "saved," who would be "lost," and who would be His elect in their age.
In the next sentence, "God (Heb.)'bara.' or created man in His image (spirit, theophany or angel) both male and female" out of nothing. This is God's foreknowledge of every person in Adam's race expressed. It is the spoken Word expressed but not yet manifested. For there is no pre-existence of souls, only God's foreknowledge of them.
"All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, (that's the Word), that He might be the firstborn among many brethren in the New Creation. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified" (Romans 8:28-30).
By His foreknowledge of how every soul would choose to manifest or reject His Will, God's Word has predestinated every man from the foundation of the world. Therefore, when Jesus died on Calvary's Cross, He could say, "It is finished". "Whom He predestinated, He also called: and whom He called, He also justified: and whom He justified, He accounts ALREADY glorified".
These saints who are accounted already "finished" or glorified are the heavenly or New Jerusalem not yet manifested on earth. After the Millennium and white throne judgment, the "heavenly Jerusalem" will rule upon the new earth.
In Revelation 21:1, John (who represents Christ's end-time Bride who will not see death) "saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." The first heaven and earth are not annihilated but redeemed. They are changed or pass from one condition to another. God redeems the heaven and earth in three stages as He redeems His elect. He justified the earth and baptized it in the days of Noah. Sanctified it by dropping His blood upon it at Calvary. After the white throne judgment, He will baptize it with the Holy Ghost and Fire. Lava will break forth; the oceans (which are made up of two explosive gases) will explode, flames will leap thousands of miles into space, and the Shekinah or lake of Fire will annihilate every evil spirit and lost soul.
"And there was no more sea". The abyss was the depth of the sea. In antiquity it was considered the source of evil. The beast comes from the sea. Satan and evil spirits are said to come from the abyss (Revelation 9:1, 11; 20:1).
No man lives on the sea, it is an element of unrest. In antiquity, men did not have the means of coping with its dangers and regarded it as an unnatural element, a place of storms and danger. It divided nations and churches, and could have no place in the world of fellowship and deathless Life.
The sea is never still, there is nothing permanent about it, it's a symbol of changeableness which is contrary to the nature of God, and is something to be crossed—as an obstacle in travel to one's destination.
The sea is one of seven evils John says will be no more in the ultimate destiny of God's people. The others are: death, mourning, weeping, pain, curse and night. The "great Voice out of Heaven" is the Voice of God (Revelation 21:5) declaring He will dwell with His elect, be their God, and reverse the curse of death, mourning, pain and weeping introduced after the Fall in Genesis 3. The FIRST things will pass away with the first heaven and first earth.
And God said, "Behold, I make ALL things new." And He said, "These Words are faithful and true", or THUS SAITH THE LORD. And God said to John (representing the end-time Bride), "It is done." In other Words, "My spoken Word won't return to Me void but will accomplish what has been spoken". "I am the originator and completer of all things. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely" (Revelation 21:5-6; "On The Wings of A Snow White Dove", p. 28:191-262).
Isaiah 55:1, "Ho, every one that thirsts, come to the Waters, and he that has no money; come, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price".
Only the thirsty will want to satisfy their need, and God is not grudging but will give them Life, and more abundantly. "He that overcomes shall inherit ALL things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son" (Revelation 21:7).
The Promise is only to the overcomer, as it was during the Church Ages. He will have no lack, and inherit all things as a joint heir with Jesus Who is our type. David was His type in the prophecy of II Samuel 7:14, "I will be his father, and he shall be My son".
"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8).
These things are spoken to us by the God we know as Jesus Christ, Who came down from heaven and set one foot upon the land and one foot upon the sea. This Message is to the saints of all ages but specifically to Christ's end-time Bride whom John represents. The overcomer is one who is not TIMID or fearful, but "speaks the Word in season and out of season to instruct, rebuke and reprove with all longsuffering and doctrine" (II Timothy 4:2).
Courage is needful in these last days when to be cowardly before the enemies of God is to lose the things of God. Jesus is talking of cowardice which in the last resort chooses self-interest and safety before Christ, which is to take the mark of the beast.
"Hold fast what you have, that no man take your eternal Life".
II Timothy 1:7-9, "For God hasn't given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Therefore don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord . . . but be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who has saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN" (that's foreknowledge).
The unbelieving are they with an intellectual understanding rather than Spiritual faith, and who yield in a time of trial.
The abominable stink in God's nostrils, being polluted with Roman obscenities. Revelation 17:4-5, "The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH". The "abominable" are denominational harlots who refuse to answer the midnight cry of Matthew 25:6.
The murderers are the persecutors of Revelation 13:15 who filled the cup wherewith Rome was made drunk (Revelation 17:4; 18:6). Her doctrine that she pours out produces death. She's killed billions spiritually, and tens of millions physically. And will yet kill billions more, for Jesus said, "In her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth" (Revelation 18:24).
Whoremongers are male prostitutes. Spiritually they're the false ministers Jesus called "them that sell" (Matthew 25:9). "Clergy who creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins and easily led away with evil desires and impulses. Men of corrupt minds, reprobates concerning the faith. Ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" promoting false worship (II Timothy 3:6-8; Revelation 2:14, 20-21; 9:21; 14:8; 17:1-18:2). These men have sold or prostituted their own souls in the service of Satan's false church.
A sorcerer is one who works with the magical arts. These sorcerers are they who have a part in giving life to the image of the beast. They are empowered by the beast to do miracles such as uniting all denominations together into the World Council of Churches to form a so-called Protestant image unto Rome. Through the national might of the United States, this world-wide union of churches will exalt Rome, establishing the Pope as head of the NWO.
(In January 1974, David Rockefeller had an audience with Pope Paul VI—the same pope who wrote the Encyclical urging the nations of the world to form a one world government).
The end of the Gentile dispensation is marked by a catastrophic earthquake sinking Los Angeles and 1500x3-400 miles of California. Shortly afterward, Russia will attack and invade the USA. This is when the churches of the world, and the countries that made up the old Roman Empire, unite their power under Rome, ostensibly to stop Communism, and to restore peace. This union or image to Rome will boycott and eventually kill dissenters, just as the mother church did before (Revelation 13:14-15).
Idolaters are those who put anything in the place of the one true God, Who is the Word. Jesus said the whole world, other than the elect Israelites, will worship Satan, by serving Rome upon which he has bestowed "all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory" (Matthew 4:8; Revelation 13:4, 8).
The eighth class of person who will have their time in the Lake of Fire where even memory of them is annihilated, are "all liars." A liar is one who deceives by deliberate falsehoods. These are those who have committed themselves to the service of the beast and its image, identified with them in their godless task, and identified with them also in their godless fall to the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:14). Liars are the antithesis of Jesus, Who is the God of Truth, and the Amen.
By their own choice, Babylon, and not Jerusalem, is their home. In Revelation 17, Brother Branham first showed the Bride the judgment of mystery Babylon, the great whore. After this, he contrasts this self-styled Queen of Heaven with New Jerusalem, the Lamb's Wife.
He's the angel who poured out the seventh Vial who speaks to the Bride in Revelation 21:9, after God has indicted the apostates in the end time. Revelation 21-22 were revealed to Brother Branham as the preview of the Bride taught in his sermon, "The Masterpiece". You'll recall God showed him a preview of the Apostolic Bride marching to Zion in national dress, all perfectly in step with the Gospel. Then God said, "Now we will review the churches." Brother Branham said, "their leader was a witch," (a sorcerer), "And this witch, to my notion, it's nothing else in the world but the World Council of Churches, leading them right straight down the road where she was going. They went off to the left (communism), and disappeared in chaos (Babylon) . . ."
Then the end-time Bride came into view. She was identical with the Pentecostal Bride, because God said, "I will restore." Each was dressed in national costume, showing God will draw His elect out of every nation, tribe and tongue in Adam's race. Each one had long hair, and no make-up. They were watching Brother Branham. He was watching to see that they stayed in step with the Word. And he noticed two or three of them getting out of line; he screamed, "Stay in line" (The Masterpiece, p. 33:189-198; The Rapture, p. 40:198-203).
That's exactly what we read in Revelation 21:1-9, where God showed us the vision of New Jerusalem, His Masterpiece, descending, and described the sins of the FALSE church. These chapters pertain to THIS day, and are the vision Brother Branham's expounded in "The Masterpiece".
In Revelation 21:9, Brother Branham says, "Come here, I will show you the Bride, the Lamb's wife." He doesn't invite, he commands, like, "Stay in line".
Preaching the First Seal, Brother Branham said, "I'm going to call you Bride" (Seals, p. 139:7) because the Marriage is not now future. "Time" or delay for mediation is over. Mediation was complete when the Seven Seals were opened. The part-Word saints for whose ignorance Christ interceded are baptized into the Church Age part of the Body which could not be fully redeemed on Calvary. But the end-time saints who have the fullness of the Word, were fully redeemed on Calvary, and come into the intimacy of perfect union. "It is finished," so he calls her, "the Bride, the Lamb's wife".
The angel (Brother Branham) who showed us the fate of Babylon now shows us the glories of New Jerusalem. "He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God" (Revelation 21:10; Ezekiel 40:2). We view the City from Mount Zion, whereas we saw Babylon in the wilderness (Revelation 17:3).
(The order in which John mentions the gates, ENSW, is identical to Ezekiel 42:16-19). The twelve gems are those which decorated the breastplate of the high priest, each one bears the name of one of the twelve Tribes (Exodus 28:15-30) and is identical to the jewels worn by Satan (Ezekiel 28:13, see "The River of Water of Life"). But the order of the stones is changed. John broke the association of the twelve Stones with the twelve Tribes and connected them instead with the twelve apostles. So we shall focus our attention upon the stones rather than upon the twelve Tribes.
The following correlation between the signs and the jewels (constructed by Charles) is the order in which the sun passes through the constellations.
1 The Ram Amethyst 2 The Bull Jacinth 3 The Twins Chrysoprase 4 The Crab Topaz 5 The Lion Beryl 6 The Virgin Chrysolite 8 The Scorpion Sardonyx 10 The Goat Chalcedony 11 The Water-carrier Lapis Lazuli (sapphire) 12 The Fishes JasperJohn has for the moment deserted his primary Old Testament source, Ezekiel 40-48. His order of the birth stones is the exact reverse of the astrological order. He has derived his list not from Exodus but from his knowledge of astrology, then deliberately reversed it to show the total absence of astrological influence on the lives of those who have been born the second time: or from Above.
John now reflects upon Isaiah 54:11-12, "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with fair colours, and lay your foundations with sapphires (lapis lazuli). And I will make your windows of agates, and your gates of carbuncles (pearl), and all your borders of pleasant stones".
"The building of the wall was of jasper (Jasper was not built in to the wall; the wall was built of jasper): and the City was pure gold, like unto clear glass" (Revelation 21:18).
In transparent glass, any flaw would be immediately obvious. Among the ancients, glass was usually very dark. Crystal-clear glass was usually very valuable, and fit for a king's court.
The Koran relates that when the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon, she thought that a pavement of clear glass he had set before his throne was water, and lifted up her skirt to pass through it. John is speaking of the heavenly City as built of the most rare costly materials. The foundations or beginnings of the wall are decorated with all manner of precious stones (Revelation 21:19).
Moving down to Revelation 22:2, we see that since Pentecost, men are no longer excluded from the Tree of Life. Whomsoever partook of the trees received Spiritual Food in due season from its fruit, and bodily healing from its leaves, as the Life passed through the Body during the Gentile dispensation. Those who partook became Its offspring, and passed the Life through the Body to others.
"And they shall be HIS PEOPLE, and God will be present with them, and be THEIR GOD". bb971224.htm
Changing LINKS