The Resurrection
and change of the Body
January
23th, 2002
Wednesday night we examined
paragraph 109 of WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC 65-0221E where brother Branham
was speaking of the way that we go to meet Jesus in the Air. He said, "We meet Jesus in the air before we get home. That's
right. I Thessalonians tells us that, for we meet Him in the air. A
beautiful type of Rebecca meeting Isaac in the field in the cool of the day. We
meet Him in the air; I Thessalonians tells us so: "For we which are alive and remain shall not prevent (or
hinder) those which are asleep; for the trumpet of God shall sound; the dead in
Christ shall rise first; we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them to meet the Lord in the air."
Brother Branham then spoke
of the condition of the living and that of thosesaints which are asleep in the
graves, and what will have to happen with each in order for them to go in the
Rapture or catching away. He continued by saying, "Perfect,
all these types... Therefore the theophany, if you have died and entered into
that theophany, what happens? The theophany comes to the earth to pick up
the redeemed body. And if you're here in the air, you take the
body to meet the theophany (There you are.), and caught up and go to
meet the Lord in the air. Who is this Melchisedec but God?
We then examined this scene that he was talking
about here.
#1) notice he said, if you are among those who have
already died, you enter first into that theophany. Then with that theophany,
you come forth to get your redeemed body. if you
have died and entered into that theophany, what happens? The theophany comes to
the earth to pick up the redeemed body. Then once that redeemed
body is joined to the Theophany, it becomes a glorified body.
#2) On the other hand, those of us who are among the
living, will get our body change and then go to that theophany to complete the
glorification process. And if you're here in the
air, you take the body to meet the theophany (There you are.), and caught up
and go to meet the Lord in the air.
We then went on to share
many quotes from Brother Branham to confirm the order of the resurrection, but
we don't have time to fully review this, so you will need to go to the web to
read them for yourself, or borrow the tape from the Library. Please, if you do,
return it for these are the masters and someday we would like to get around to
copying them all onto mp3 so we can store them at about 100 to a disk.
Jehovah Jireh #1 - 62-0705 And then,
remember, if we go before He comes, we will be up and in His Presence, or,
raised before the others are changed. "The trumpet of the Lord shall
sound, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which alive and remain
shall be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, and be caught up
together with them, to meet the Lord in the air." Look at the order
of the resurrection. See, God knows that we long to see our loved ones.
And if we got there to meet Him first, we'd be looking around to see if mother
or dad and the rest of them was there. But see how, the Holy Spirit in His
wisdom? We meet one another first, and then when we get there and sing
"Amazing Grace," that's when there's going to be a time of worship.
Notice brother Branham speaks of an order to the
resurrection. You see, God is a God of order. He set the World on it's frame in
an orderly fashion, and that is the way the resurrection and rapture will come
as well. There will be a shout, a voice and a trumpet.
Brother Branham tells us the
order is that the Holy spirit Who is now in our midst will leave the midst of
humanity and when He does, He will take us with Him, and then we will meet the
Son of God, and when God incarnates His Son Once more, then we will crown Him
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Now, here is the quote from
Brother Branham, FIRST SEAL THE 63-0318 161-3
{301} Notice, and when this Holy Spirit that we have, becomes
incarnate to us, the One that's in our midst now in the form of the Holy Ghost,
becomes incarnate to us in the Person of Jesus Christ, we'll crown Him King
of king...?... That's right. See?
Now, let's find this in the Scripture. II THESSALONIANS 2:5
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And
now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will
let], until he be taken out of the way.
Now, this may sound a little confusing to you, so
let me read it from the Wuest translation, and you will find the same thing
brother Branham is telling us in this quote. That the Holy Ghost Who is now in
our midst will at this time leave the earth.
Wuest Translation II Thessalonians 2: 5-7 Do you not
remember that while I was still with you I kept on telling you these things?
And now you know with a positive assurance that which namely, the departure
of the church, the saints being assembled to the Lord, is preventing his
being disclosed as to his true identity, in his strategic, appointed time, for
the mystery of the aforementioned lawlessness is now operating. Only He, the
Holy Spirit, who is holding the lawlessness down, will do so, until He
goes out from the midst of humanity. And then shall the lawless one be
disclosed in his true identity..etc.
So we see here that this Scripture speaks first of
the Saints assembling to the Lord and then it speaks of their departure from
the earth. Then, as if in the same breath, Paul also tells us this will happen
when the Holy Spirit departs from the midst of humanity. Now, the Holy spirit
could not depart from the midst of humanity if He were not here. And if we are
to be gathered together to Him first, then when he goes we go, for nowhere in
scripture does it speak contrary to this. Nowhere in Scripture does it speak of
the Lord leaving at a different time from the earth than the saints leave. So,
if we are gathered together unto Him first, then it is He that takes us up from
the midst of humanity just like Jesus took Peter James and John up into the
Mountain.
MATTHEW 16:13 ¶ When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea
Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man
am? 14 And they said, Some [say that thou art] John the Baptist: some, Elias;
and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto
thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the
kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 20
Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus
the Christ. 21 ¶ From that time forth began Jesus to shew
unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things
of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again
the third day.
22 Then Peter took him, and began to
rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23
But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an
offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those
that be of men. (I feel sorry for Peter, He had just been called Blessed, by the Lord
Himself, and He must have had a swelled up head, because in a short space He
goes from being called Blessed, to being called Satan, and told that he is now
an offense to the same One He called the Christ, the Son of the Living God.) 24 ¶ Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will
come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his
life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange
for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with
his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. 28
Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of
death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Now,
I want you to notice the promise is that some, not all, but some of you shall
not die until they see the son of Man coming in His Kingdom. Then immediately
we see Jesus taking some of them, three in all because three is a witness, to
see this scwene he has just told them would come.)
17:1 ¶
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth
them up into an high mountain apart, (Now, the word bringeth comes from a Greek word anaphero which
means to carry or lift up to a higher place. So we see that it is
possible here that these brethren did not just walk up the mountain side
following behind Jesus as though He was just leading them. Actually the
combination of the words, taketh and bringeth suggests a closeness or a
gathering together to himself as though embracing them and then lifting them up
with him. This would suggest to us then, that they were sort of lifted up in
some manner, perhaps in some supernatural way up to the mountain top.) 2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did
shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. (now,
notice, something supernatural is taking place here. Something is happening to
the physical being of the Son of God. The Bible tells us that Jesus is transfigured
which means he is being changed into another form.)
3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with
him.
Now, remember we are talking
about the order of the resurrection. Then if there is an order of the
resurrection, the order must have some meaning to it. Notice Moses is seen first. Then Elijah. Now can anyone tell me
the difference between these Two prophets of God. I am not speaking of the
difference between their ministries which were full of the Miraculous. But what
happened to Moses at the end? Did he die? Yes He did. Did Elijah Die? No he did
not. Notice it speaks of Moses first and then Elijah. And notice they are
separated by the word AND which is a conjunction. And what does a
conjunction do? It links two things, right? And what two things are these two
men representing? Remember, we are examining the ORDER of What? The Order of
the resurrection.
Moses then, represents the saints that have died,
while Elijah represents the saints that have been caught up without dying. Then
what do the three Jews standing there, watching represent? I'm talking about
Peter, James, and John. What do these Jews represent? They represent the 144
that Jesus will return to manifest Him self to, in His glorified state. The next thing we hear is God, the father of
the Son speaking and telling them that He is pleased to dwell in His Son.
4 Then answered
Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt,
let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one
for Elias. 5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and
behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, IN
WHOM I am well pleased; hear ye him. 6 And when the disciples heard
[it], they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. 7 And Jesus came
and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. 8 And when they had lifted up their eyes,
they saw no man, save Jesus only.
Now, this was a foreshadow of the Coming of the Lord
Jesus. These men were given a glimpse of the Order of the Second coming. And
John was privileged to actually see it take place in a vision before his very
own eyes years later on the isle of Patmos.
REVELATION 1:7Behold, he cometh
with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they [also] which pierced him:
and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Jophn then tells us how he
heard a VOICE and turned to see it, And being turned, I saw seven golden
candlesticks; 13And in the midst of the seven candlesticks [one] like unto
the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the
paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and [his] hairs [were] white like
wool, as white as snow; and his eyes [were] as a flame of fire; 15 And his
feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the
sound of many waters. 16 And he had
in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged
sword: and his countenance (his face) was as the sun shineth in his strength. Now, remember, the last time john saw Jesus like
this where His face shown like the sun, was when he had been caught up into the
mountain when Jesus was transfigured.
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as
dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the
first and the last (The last time John was privileged to see Jesus in this Glorified
condition he also fell to his face and Jesus came to him back then and said the
same words this time that He said the last time, Fear
not I am the one who was transfigured
before you the first time, and I am the same one now again for good, this time.
): 18I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am
alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
REVELATION CHAP FOUR PT 1 60-1231 180 Peter, James,
and John, and them standing present, when Jesus spoke to them and said, "There's
some standing here will not taste of death until they see the Son of man coming."
He didn't say "all" that was standing there, but "some."
And they went a few days after that, and saw the order of the resurrection
rehearsed, and the coming of the Lord. Elijah represented the dead
saints--I mean Moses, and being resurrected. Elijah represented the translated.
But remember, Moses was first, and then Elijah. Elijah was to be the
messenger of the last day, that with him and his group would come the
resurrection; would come the... Well, it would come the rapture, I mean.
Moses brought in
the resurrection, and Elijah brought in the raptured group. And there, both of
them was represented right there… Now
we could skip this next paragraph to save time, but since wee just came through
this stud he is going to talk about, I thought this would be interesting to see
how he perceived it. 184 Oh, tomorrow we got a great lesson, the Lord willing. Tomorrow
we take the judgments; we take the sardine stone, see what it represents, what
part it played. And we take the jasper, and we take the--oh, all the different
stones, and we take these all down through Ezekiel, back into Genesis, back
over to Revelations, come down in the middle of the Bible, tie it together, these
different stones and colors, and so forth. And then we bring it right
straight back to that and see if that ain't right. See? See if it ain't
the same color and everything, just the same thing. And the same Holy
Spirit, the same God, showing the same signs, same wonders, doing the same
thing just as He promised...
185 He told
Peter, James, and John, and them standing there, all of His disciples, said,
"Some of you will not see death until they see the Son of man coming in
His Kingdom." Said to John, said... Peter said, "What are You going
to do with him?" He said... "That fellow, what's going to happen to
him?" He said, "What is it to you if he sees Me coming?" And
He let him live to see it. After the rest of them was dead and gone, John lived
to see the coming of the Lord rehearsed in power, the whole scene set from his
time until the judgments was over and the millennium was issued in. John saw
every bit of it, and the millennium over, and the Kingdom age started. So
He keeps His Word, doesn't He?
Paul also speaks of this order of the resurrection
in I CORINTHIANS 15:20 ¶ But now is Christ risen from the dead, [and] become the firstfruits
of them that slept. (Now, notice that the use of this word
firstfruit shows there is an order to the resurrection. Christ first, then the
rest.) 21 For since by man [came] death, by man
[came] also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: (And
notice what that order is?) Christ the
firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming (Parousia).
Now we know there was an order to the first
resurrection, and as Paul taught, jesus was the first fruit and then the rest
could come after he came. MATTHEW 27:50 ¶ Jesus, when he had
cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil
of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did
quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the
graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And
came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy
city, and appeared unto many.
Notice that Jesus cried with
a Loud Voice and the graves opened, and the saints which slept arose, but
notice that they did not come forth as resurrected beings until He came
forth. So the order of the resurrection
is a very important thing. And look, what is a resurrection anyway? Isn't it a
coming back to life? Isn't it a re-awakening of the body that was asleep in
death? And doesn't it have to do with Life coming back into the body? And if
the body was at one time active, and then it fell asleep or went into such a
deep sleep that it was constituted as dead. But a resurrection is a coming
forth with the same life that it had before it died. Not a human coming forth
with a gorilla life, or a cat life or a goat life. And not with someone else's life
either. But their own life, that was ordained in God before the world was
framed coming back into that body again and raising it up. And there is only
one life that will do that, and that is the God life you had in Him before the
foundations of the world.
EPHESIANS 2:1 ¶ And you [hath he quickened], who were dead
in trespasses and sins;
Now, I want you to notice that Paul is speaking of a
people who have been quickened. Now, this statement should be read in the
context of chapter one where Paul speaks of a people who are elect and were in
Christ before the foundations of the world and who have been predestined to a
great plan and purpose of God who wanted to have children, and these children
would come in like fashion as His Only begotten Son came. He speaks of this
plan calling for a quickening by the baptism of the Spirit, which Paul calls
the earnest of our inheritance, or the down payment.
II Cor 5:1 ¶ For we know that
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of
God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in
this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we
would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of
life. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also
hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always
confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from
the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say,
and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9 Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of
him.
Now, a down payment we also call an earnest payment
because it shows we have made an earnest or sincere commitment to honor the
contract. And when we receive a portion of God's Spirit, by receiving His Word,
we receive in us the sincere pledge by God to finish the work that He has
begun.
Now, the word quicken that Paul uses here in
Ephesians chapter 2 is the Greek word which means to restore again to life, to
animate or rather to re-animate. That
is why brother Branham could say in the message, FUTURE
HOME 64-0802 34-3 "You wasn't saved
on any day. You was always saved. Amen. Jesus just come to redeem that, but you
was saved from the beginning, because you had Eternal Life to begin with."
In fact the word redeemed means to buy back, and how
could it be redeemed or bought back if he did not own it to begin with. And how
could your Life and Soul be redeemed if you didn't have it to begin with. You
see, what we are here is only a reflection of what we are somewhere else. I
believe we are dealing with a dimensional principle that we know so little
about. But, brother Branham said those very words.
Q & A 54-0103E 143-191
What you are here... Get this in your mind now. I'm going to close. But what
you are here is a sign that you are something else somewhere. You've
always wanted to be in perfection, you Christians. There is a perfection,
and that perfection is not in this life. But every man and woman here that
is a Christian, every person that is a Christian here now is already glorified
in the Presence of Jesus Christ. And you've got another body. You won't
have some other time; you have right now. Right now there's another body
waiting for you if this one should perish. Could you think of that. Study that
just a minute.
The Entombment - 57-0420 Our own life is just a pattern. It's
just a shadow, and not the real thing. It's the negative side. It
takes death to develop the picture, to put us back in the theophany we come
from. Then in the resurrection we come in His likeness, a resurrected body,
what a beautiful, not only beautiful but it's the real, solemn truth of God's
eternal Word, that we'll be like Him.
ROMANS 8:29 ¶ For whom he did (already a done deal) foreknow, he also did (another done deal) predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he
might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did (done
deal) predestinate, them he also called (again
it is in the past tense) : and whom he called (past
tense), them he also justified (past
tense): and whom he justified (past
tense), them he also glorified(past
tense). Therefore it is finished. It's a
done deal. You can't change the outcome, no matter how hard you try.