God's Three Stages to Perfect the Earth
February
24, 2002
WHO IS THIS
MELCHISEDEC 65-0221E 112 Notice, there is still three
stages to perfection. Just like He redeems the world; same way He redeems His church.
He redeems the people in three stages. Now, look, first is justification
like Luther preached; second, sanctification like Wesley preached; third,
baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's right. Then comes the rapture.
Now, the world, how did He redeem the world? The first what He did, when
it sinned, He washed it off in water baptism. That's right. Then He
dropped His Blood upon it from the cross and sanctified it and called it
His own. And then what does He do? As He tore all the world out of you and renovated
the whole thing by the fiery baptism of the Holy Ghost, He also will
renovate the world. And it'll be burnt over with fire and cleanse every
germ for millions of miles high, and every thing will be cleaned off. And
then there is a new heaven and a new earth, just like you are a new creature
in Christ Jesus when the Holy Spirit takes a-hold of you. See, there you
are. The whole thing's just as plain as it can be.
Let's stop for a moment and look at this cleansing process of the earth. Notice the first thing brother Branham says is that God has a cleansing process for renewal.
Notice he speaks first of the three stages of perfection.
He says, first is justification and then he ties that with Luther's Message. Then he tells us the second is sanctification, and he ties that with Wesley's Message. Finally he states, the third is baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Now, first is justification.
That means you never did do it. The English word "justify"
means 1. To demonstrate
or prove to be just, right, or valid: 2. To declare free of blame; absolve.
Now the second stage brother Branham speaks of concerning our perfection is sanctification. Sanctification means 1. To set apart for sacred use; consecrate. 2. To make holy; purify. Therefore there is a double meaning. To cleanse and set apart for service. It does not mean that we must put on an act.
It simply means we must separate ourselves from everything which defiles. We must be ready to serve. The first part is to set aside, and the setting aside is what does the cleansing. Now, I want you to understand that. The setting aside is what when the cleasning takes place. And we must understand the reason for the setting aside. The reason for setting aside is to be ready to serve. The cleansing is not something we can do or ourselves anyway. It is not an act, but a washing of water by the Word. Psalm 119 How does a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed to the Word thereof.
The third stage of our
perfection is when the Holy Fire of God comes into the believer and burns out
every desire for evil, and replaces the desires for what God Life will produce.
QA
HEBREWS PART 2 57-1002 271-373 The baptism of the Holy Ghost is a different act from
the new birth. One is a birth; one is a baptism. One brings you Eternal Life;
the other one gives you power. It gives power into Eternal Life (See?) to
operate. Now, you got it? Okay, all right.
II PETER 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and Godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Now, I want you to notice what brother Branham is saying here. He says there is a difference between the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the new birth. Sure, one is the power of God coming upon the believer, and the other is the new Life coming forth in the believer. But although these are two different things, yet you cannot have the one without the other. But it doesn’t work both ways. You can have the baptism of the Holy Spirit without having the new birth, but you cannot have the new birth without the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The difference is that you can be baptized every hour of your life with the genuine Holy Spirit and still never receive a new birth if there is no gene seed in you to be born.
Therefore, with this understanding, we will now turn our thoughts toward the second part of brother Branham's paragraph 112 where he tied the three stages of perfection to the three stages the world must go through for its preparation to receive the new heaven and new earth.
Now, let's read once more from this paragraph to catch the thoughts of what he is telling us.
112 Notice, there
is still three stages to perfection. Just like He redeems the world; same way
He redeems His church.
Notice that brother Branham
is telling us there is a similarity to the way God redeems his church and the
way he redeems the earth. Therefore as we have spent the last couple messages
examining this process in the church, so now we will take our focus on the
redemption of the earth itself.
He redeems the
people in three stages. Now, look, first is justification like Luther
preached; second, sanctification like Wesley preached; third, baptism
of the Holy Ghost. That's right. Then comes the rapture. Now, the
world, how did He redeem the world? The first what He did, when it
sinned, He washed it off in water baptism. That's right.
Now, we all know where to
find this. It is the sotry of Noah as we see in Genesis chapter six.
GENESIS 6:1 ¶ And it came to pass, when men began to
multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of
men that they [were] fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3
¶ And the LORD said, My spirit shall
not always strive with man, for that he also [is] flesh: yet his days shall be
an hundred and twenty years. 4 ¶ There were giants in the earth in those
days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of
men, and they bare [children] to them, the same [became] mighty men which
[were] of old, men of renown. 5 And
GOD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually. 6 ¶ And it repented the LORD that he had made
man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
GENESIS 6:7 And
the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the
earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air;
for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8
¶ But Noah found grace in the
eyes of the LORD. 9 These [are] the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man
[and] perfect in his generations, [and] Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and
Japheth. 11 ¶ The earth also was
corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God looked
upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his
way upon the earth. 13 ¶ And God said
unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with
violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14 Make
thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch
it within and without with pitch. 15 And this [is the fashion] which thou shalt
make it [of]: The length of the ark [shall be] three hundred cubits, the
breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16 A window
shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the
door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; [with] lower, second, and
third [stories] shalt thou make it. 17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood
of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein [is] the breath of
life, from under heaven; [and] every thing that [is] in the earth shall die. 18
But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark,
thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 19 And of
every living thing of all flesh, two of every [sort] shalt thou bring into the
ark, to keep [them] alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20 Of fowls
after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of
the earth after his kind, two of every [sort] shall come unto thee, to keep
[them] alive. 21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou
shalt gather [it] to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22 ¶
Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
GENESIS 9:11 And I will
establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by
the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the
earth. 12 ¶ And God said, This [is] the
token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature
that [is] with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a
covenant between me and the earth. 14
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the
bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15 And I will remember my covenant, which [is]
between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall
no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 And the bow shall be in the
cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant
between God and every living creature of all flesh that [is] upon the earth. 17
And God said unto Noah, This [is] the token of the covenant, which I have
established between me and all flesh that [is] upon the earth.
IT IS I 61-0517
E-7 Shall we bow our heads
just a moment, as we speak to the Author of this Word. Lord, the God of
creation of the heavens and earth, Who made all things by Christ our Lord, Who
sent Him to be the propitiation of our sins, giving us His Word, which is the
water of separation, washed by the water, through the Word of separation. That
through faith believing if we are separated from our sins, called out, set
apart, ordained to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, the good news: goes all the
way from the pulpit Lord, to the little housewife that could testify and tell
of the goodness of our blessed Saviour.
EPHESIANS 5:25 Husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself
a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it
should be holy and without blemish.
The next state to perfection
that brother Branham mentions is the cleansing by the Blood of the Lamb.
112 Then He dropped
His Blood upon it from the cross and sanctified it and called it
His own.
ISAIAH 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith
the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
If you look at a red object
through a red filter, the object, no matter how red it is, will appear to be
white. Take this red book here. Notice that it has white letters on it. But
when I hold it behind this red filter (red overhead transparency), as I now
look at this red book it appears to be all white. I can no longer see the white
letters because the entire book appears to be white. And notice as I shine more
light on it, the whiter it appears to become.
I JOHN 1:7 But if we walk in
the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
So God spilled the blood of
His beloved Son to the earth in order to redeem back the earth. Satan had come
into power and control of the earth, but his stinger was pulled out on Calvary,
and his dominion over all the earth. He has been given notice that his ruling
days are numbered and that is why he has gone about like a roaring lion seeking
whom he may devour.
Finally we come to the last
part of brother Branmham's analogy concerning the redemption of the earth. He
said, 112 And
then what does He do? As He tore all the world out of you and renovated the
whole thing by the fiery baptism of the Holy Ghost, He also will
renovate the world. And it'll be burnt over with fire and cleanse every
germ for millions of miles high, and every thing will be cleaned off. And
then there is a new heaven and a new earth, just like you are a new creature
in Christ Jesus when the Holy Spirit takes a-hold of you. See, there you
are. The whole thing's just as plain as it can be.
REVELATION
21:1 ¶
And I 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. 2 And I John saw the
holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a
bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with
them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and
be] their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any
more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things
new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And
he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I
will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he
shall be my son. 8 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 burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the
second death.
I
PETER 4:12 ¶ Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is
to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers
of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad
also with exceeding joy.
II
PETER 3:10 But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a
great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and
the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 ¶ [Seeing] then [that] all these things shall be dissolved, what manner
[of persons] ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation and Godliness, 12
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a
new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace,
without spot, and blameless. 15 And account [that] the longsuffering of our
Lord [is] salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the
wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
THINGS
THAT ARE TO BE 65-1205 63 This one come by sex and from the fall and
must fall with the fall. No matter how much you patch the old thing up, she's
going to fall anyhow. She's done, because she's doomed; because God said so.
She's finished. God is going to destroy it. He said so. There'll be a
renovation of the whole thing. You believe that? In the beginning when the
world had it's birth, when God pulled back the water first off the earth, like
He did the water from the mother's womb, there was a world born. Yes. And
peoples begin to live on it when God put them on there. And then they begin to
sin. And it was baptized by immersing in the days of Noah. Then it was
sanctified by the Blood of the Creator dropping upon it. And now, that's the
way you come: through justification to believe God. You were baptized unto
repentance or to--for the remission of your sins. You confessed your sins
before God, and He forgive you for it. And you was baptized to show that you
had been--you'd been forgiven, confessing to the people and showing to the
world that you believe that Jesus Christ died for you, and you--He took your
place, and now you stand in His place. He become you that you might become Him.
Then the sanctifying power of God cleansed all the habits out of your life. You
used to smoke, drink, do things that wasn't right, tell lies, everything. Then
the sanctifying power of the Blood of Jesus Christ comes into your life; it
takes all the things away from you. If you happen to say, something's got
wrong, quickly you say, "Wait a minute; pardon me, I didn't mean to say it
like that." See? The devil got a trap setting there, but you've got grace
to come back if you're a real Christian, say, "I was wrong." Yes. So
therefore...
INFLUENCE 64-0315 E-67 Did you notice how God?... We see how God
set His servants in order and what He fixed him with, how he could be humble,
reverent, and put hisself in action. Watch. When He cleansed the servant, He
never done it by a seminary. He never done it by a bunch of books. We find here
that God cleansed His servants by fire. A coal of fire touched the prophet,
cleaned his lips. God cleans His servants by His holy fire, not by books, not
by education, theology, but He cleaned His servants by fire.
FUTURE HOME 64-0802 18-3 Now, the world, to be redeemed for this
redeemed person, He uses His same method. He baptized it in water after the
antediluvian destruction, shed His Blood upon it to sanctify it and claim it.
It's His. Satan tried to say, "I'll give it to you. He said, "No,
sir, I'll buy it." Let it be a witness. He was lifted up for an ensign--that
He bought it; He purchased it. But now it has to go through a baptism of fire,
holy fire from God which cleanses the earth and the heavens around it. Then
it's purchased so that the redeemed can live on it--live in it in peace.
18-5
Notice, the baptism of fire is to cleanse it from sin, from sickness,
from disease germs, from sinners, from the devil and all of his group. He's to
be cast out into the lake of fire. Holy fire from God comes down from God out
of heaven and burns it up (notice) to make it ready for God to dwell in. For
God, in the new world that is to come, is to dwell in the earth 'cause... You
say, "God? He dwells in the human heart." But He and the Bride
becomes One, and they go to their home in the new world. And the same plan of redemption
is used to redeem both world and the persons that live in it.
19-2 Notice, see how Satan tried to take it, as
I said a few minutes ago by giving it to Jesus without buying it. Then Satan still
has a claim because it's earmarked (See?), but Jesus buys it by His shed Blood
and brings it back to the rightful Owner. See? That's how He bought us by His
Blood, how He bought the Church. And now, it's baptism of fire cleanses from of
all germs, all diseases, all sicknesses, even all the spiritual things (which
is by us too; it does the same way) to make it ready for God to dwell in, in
this great age that's to come, the new earth. See, He redeems it in the same
way He does His people. He makes it all just the same, His plan of redemption.
For He is the unchangeable God, always the same in His plan.