This-morning, we'll take a look at some Old Testament shadows and types which are fulfilled, and what Jesus is doing NOW. We'll play some great music, and check out the Computer Bulletin Board.
When Jesus visited the synagogue in His home town of Nazareth, He was handed the scroll of the Book of Isaiah to read aloud (Luke 4: 16-21). And turning to Isaiah 61, He read the first one and a half verses: 'The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the meek (or the elect, who'll inherit the earth as joint-heirs with Jesus Christ); He's sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound (in man-made traditions). To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord' (which was the jubilee or release).
Jesus stopped there, because the rest of the chapter could not be fulfilled, until His parousia in this day indicts the world, and brings it to judgment. He stopped in the middle of the verse. Had He continued, He would have read, 'And the day of VENGEANCE of our God'. That's Jacob's trouble: the great tribulation, after the Gentile dispensation - it's yet future, though it'll soon come upon the earth.
Now before we go any further, I think we need to comment upon two points. Firstly, I said when Jesus resurrected, the Old Testament saints resurrected with Him in glorified bodies. We read this in Matthew 27(:52-53; Luke 13:28; Revelation 6:9-11) Ephesians (4:8), and in Hebrews (9:13-15; 10:2).
Paul tells us He led the Old Testament saints from their captivity in chains of death, to liberty through a resurrection to glorified bodies. And that He anointed a five-fold ministry to bring the New Testament saints to maturity in the liberty of His own Life.
The second point is that Isaiah's prophecy that Jesus read, spoke of two Comings. His first Coming, born of a virgin to pay sin's price that we may receive God's grace; and His second or parousia Coming with warning before judgment upon those who've rejected His Mercy. Jesus stopped half-way through the verse because the Spirit of the Lord was not upon Him to preach the day of VENGEANCE.
Most churches do not preach that Christ comes three times. This is what the Bible teaches. His first Coming was through the womb of a virgin to preach grace and the acceptable day of the Lord then die on Calvary's cruel cross. Secondly, through the mouth of a prophet in the revelation of the Seven Seals which finished the mystery of God and brought Christ back to earth in Word Form. The Bible calls this the parousia or Coming of the Son of Man. His third Coming is with the glorified saints of all ages when they step out upon the ashes of the wicked for the millennium - the atomic conflagration of Armageddon leaves them neither root nor branch.
Jesus did not read: 'to proclaim the day of VENGEANCE of our God', for these Words apply to OUR day (Isaiah's (61:2). And the Bible instructs us that God does nothing without first revealing His secret through a vindicated prophet (Amos 3:6-8).
Jesus and the apostles and prophets promised us a prophet in this day. That prophet was the late William Branham. Brother Branham's ministry proclaimed 'the day of VENGEANCE', and restored the faith of the apostolic saints before 'the great and dreadful day of the Lord' - foretold by Jesus, Matthew, Luke, Peter, Malachi and Joel.
I hear some of you say, 'But my church says the days of prophets are over'. Yes! That's why Jesus has been calling His people out of your church, and all other denominations. Read Revelation 18:4. Are you relying on your church for salvation, or upon God's word? Did your church bleed and for you on Calvary's cross ... or was It the word that died.
Listen to what your minister or priest says, but if you've come to the age of reason, take that back to God's Word, and obey what It says do.
William Branham lived between 1909-1965. He was the prophet God promised and sent in OUR day. His ministry RESTORED the apostolic faith, FINISHED the mystery of God, and is calling His people OUT from all MAN-made systems, into ONENESS with the Word, for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation.
This ministry proclaimed the day of vengeance, fulfilling Isaiah 61:2, by offering us WARNING and a way of escape BEFORE judgment.
His proclamation was the Shout of I Thessalonians 4:16, fulfilling Jesus' prophecy by crying, 'Come OUT of Babylon and be filled with the Spirit' (Matthew 25:6-7; Revelation 18:4).
This SHOUT continues in the end-time evangelism of Christ's Bride. - what you're listening to NOW. This is described in Revelation 10:8-11. I'll warrant it's a Scripture you've never heard in your church, 'And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, "Go take the little book which is open in the hand of the Angel who stands upon the sea and upon the earth". And I went unto the angel, and said unto Him, "Give me the little Book". And He said unto me, "Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey".
And I took the little Book out of the Angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as i'd eaten it, my belly was bitter'.
And He said unto me "You must testify this revelation again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings".
Throughout the Book of Revelation, John represents the end-time Bride, because the MYSTERY of that Seven Sealed Book is revealed ONLY to the end-time Bride. Like Daniel, John was told to SEAL-up the words of the seven thunders until 'the time of the end', when they'd be revealed by the prophet-messenger to the Laodicean Age. William Branham was this seventh angel. This revelation brings us into oneness with the fullness of the Word, for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation.
Has your church ever preached on the seven thunders of Revelation?
'And the Voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, "Go take the little Book (that's the Book of Life, the Holy Bible, or Book of our Redemption) which is now open in the hand of the Angel which stands upon the sea and upon the earth". (In chapters 4 and 5 the Book was SEALED. Here It's OPEN. That Angel is CHRIST, the CHIEF Messenger or ARCHangel, who was the ONLY one worthy to OPEN, read, or even LOOK upon the Book. He's placing JUDGMENT upon the BEAST from the SEA, and its IMAGE from the EARTH, preventing their union - UNTIL His Bride has been translated (I Thessalonians 2:7).
And I went unto the Angel, and said unto Him, "Give me the little Book". (It's the Bride's Book, our BIRTH right, the TITLE Deed to our inheritance). And He said unto me, "Take It, and eat It up; and It shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey".
(Christ is speaking metaphorically when He tells us to 'eat' the Book, just as He was speaking metaphorically in the institution of the Lord's Supper. The bread and wine are not Christ's flesh and blood: they symbolize or represent the Word and Spirit which were made flesh and blood. Likewise, God spoke metaphorically when He told Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. That Tree was Lucifer, the sum of wisdom and beauty. It was Lucifer's carnal knowledge they were forbidden to receive. His fruit is unbelief in the revealed Word. The end-time Bride is commanded to eat the OPEN Book, or apartake and become one with the fullness of the Word).
"So I took the little Book out of the Angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I'd eaten it, my belly was bitter'. (The stimulation of revelation of God's Word is truly sweet to speak, and able to defeat the enemy, but It's bitter when received into our innermost being because we must bring our body subject. That sharp two-edged sword circumcises the senses of our flesh and mortal spirit, by faith, so our desires become His desires, so that the TOKEN may be seen in US (Romans 2:29; Colossians 2:11). In order to be one with the Word in our innermost being, we have to DIE to self. The Token is the LIFE of Christ on display in us. It's the Sign our redemption's been paid - like the half shekel atonement money paid by every male Israelite - and we're sealed into the Body of Christ.
And He said unto me, "You must prophesy again concerning many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings".' That's the end-time evangelism I was speaking of.
Once the Bride is truly one with the Word - the 'little Book' that was open in Christ's hand - we're to share Its Fullness fearlessly - like Peter and the saints after Pentecost. Since that which is perfect is come, we now have the perfect interpretation of the Word and Christ is no longer a Mediator. It's Life to those who receive It, and it's death to those who encounter and reject It. This is the ministry of Christ's end-time Bride. This tremendous Message is bitter because It's so contrary to the world and to the world church system. That's why Jesus said we must 'SHARE It with many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings' ... "Come OUT of Babylon and be filled with the Spirit".
Are you catching the revelation? Is it coming clear to you? Now remember, make your standard of comparison God's UNCHANGING Word, the Holy Bible, not what some church teaches against the Bible.
So far we've said that Jesus comes three times. First, through the womb of a virgin to proclaim salvation. Second, through the mouth of the prophet, William Branham: the revelation of the Seven Seals brought Him back to earth in WORD Form to incarnate His Bride for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation. Has your minister told you the true Christians who are genuinely born-again in this day will not see death! God has an end-time Bride who will be translated without death. Christ's third Coming, which is His second PHYSICAL Coming, is after the Atomic has destroyed all life on earth; and He comes back with His glorified saints of all Ages.
We also said that God promised a prophet in this day, with warning before judgment. This was William Branham, the Elijah of Malachi 4:5-6 and the seventh angel of Revelation 10:7. His Message is the fullness of the Word which is Christ. That Message is reproducing Christ in His Bride, bringing her under pre-eminence to His Word.
Paul said, the revelation of the Seven Seals would be the fullness of the Word. And when that comes, PART-Word would be done away, as Christ would no longer be Mediator for the ignorance of PART-Word.
The end-time Bride becomes a written epistle, or the manifestation of the Message of the prophet. When she is born-again, she comes out of all man-made traditions into oneness with Christ, the Word, And she shares the Message with others.
Did you ever notice that after His crucifixion, Christ continued to preach? His body went to the grave but He went to the place of the departed and preached to the impossible to be saved. Those who had rejected the message of the Old Testament prophets, and the testimony of the saints.
Well, if that was the ministry of the Holy Spirit in Christ. Won't It repeat in His Bride? One day soon Los Angeles will sink beneath the Ocean, and the Mount of Olives will split, marking the end of the Gentile dispensation. Should you hear His Word today, harden not your hearts, because the false church and her daughters are uniting with the state, crucifying the word unto themselves the second time. One day this Message will be preached to the totally lost. And as Jesus continued preaching to those who could not be saved, the Bride will continue her testimony after the end of the day of Grace.
Anyone on the 'Net, can call Bible Believers', 24-hours a day, seven-days a week. Teaching sermons, freeware Bibles, Concordances, Books, Bible games and much, much more is available for download. Users may participate in Conferences with other believers across Australia and throughout the world, for the cost of a local call.
Computers, are a wonderful tool, enabling far more productive use of that scarce commodity, time. Through computer communications, three souls recognized the PRESENT Truth on Bible Believers' Site, found God in His Word, and were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The youth group of a local denominational church are on-line with a WWW page on the InterNET. And in touch with like-minded groups in many countries.
But InterNET and Computer BBS' are NOT the exclusive domain of the young. A visit to the Sydney Computer User's Group will convince you of THIS. We have about five thousand members, and I'd guess our average age would be quite senior.
There's a group who instruct the residents of retirement homes and other senior citizens in surfing the net, and cruising the Bulletin Boards. It's not hard to learn, and can be a most rewarding interest. Through computer communications one can conference with like-minded people throughout the world, and access information on any subject in libraries, universities, museums, art galleries, government institutions, and thousands of databases in the form of print, or audio visual media.
Anyone from anywhere in the world may participate in the conferences. It's on the Network across Australia, and throughout the world by InterNET. Bible Believers focus on the PRESENT Truth. radio042.htm