Who
is this Melchisedec #145
“Will God Keep His
Word”
August 14, 2002
Who Is This Melchisedec 65-0221E 170 Now,
if God will keep His Word, and if it happens to fall on someone that I
know, then I'll get someone else. See, I want somebody that I don't know. And I
want you to pray. Now, look, there was a little woman one time had an
infirmity. She'd spent her money for the doctors; they could do her no good.
And she said within her heart, "If I can touch that Man's garments, I'll
be made well." You remember the story? And so all of them tried to get her
to stay back, but she pressed through until she touched His garment, went back
and set down. Now, listen close. And then when she did that, Jesus turned
around and said, "Who touched Me?" Why, Peter the apostle rebuked Him. He might
have something like, "Lord, don't say a thing like that. The people will
believe there's something wrong with You, because when You ask them to eat Your
flesh and drink Your Blood. They already think there's something wrong. And You
say, 'Who touched Me,' why, the whole crowd's a-touching You." He said, "Yes,
but I perceive that virtue went out of Me." That was a different kind of
touch. Now, anybody knows that virtue is strength. "I got weak; virtue
left Me." And He looked around on the audience until He found the little
woman and told her about her blood issue. And she felt in her body that that
blood issue had stopped. Is that right? And He said, "Thy faith has saved thee." Now, the Greek word there is "Sozo," which absolutely means
"saved physically or spiritual," just the same, just saved. He's your
Savior.
Now this paragraph might seem at first glance to be a little shy in the
department of doctrine, but actually if you examine it closely, it is loaded
with statements that speak deeply of the doctrine of God’s unchanging nature in
salvation. Notice he says “Now, if God will keep His Word”, and that is the
big question. I would like to stop right here for a few moments and examine
this thought. , “Will God keep His Word?”
Now, that is a very good question because if He doesn’t then we are men most miserable.
For to Keep His Word means to possess His Word, It means to maintain His Word, and it means to continue in the state, condition or course of action of that Word.
Now, the Apostle Paul tackles this question in the book of Hebrews where he says…
HEBREWS 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because
he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, 14 Saying, Surely (or, of a certainty) blessing I will
bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15 And so, after he had
patiently endured, he obtained the promise. (Now, what good is a
man’s word if he changes it. And what good would a promise be from God if He
does not perform what he says He will do?) 16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for
confirmation [is] to them an end of all strife.
You see, Paul tells
us here, that when men swear by an oath, it is considered as good as done. Then
how much more important for God to be unchanging in His Word.
17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed [it] by an
oath:
Now, Paul tells us
here that God used an oath to show without any shadow of doubt that what He
promised to do, He was obligated to perform.
18 That by
two immutable things, in which [it
was] impossible for God to lie, we
might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the
hope set before us: 19 Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
Now, I want you to notice that Paul says that God gave His Word, which is one immutable thing, and He backed it up with an Oath which is another immutable thing. Now the word immutable means not able to be reversed. Once it has been promised, there is no going back. And so Paul uses this word several times in speaking of God’s unchanging nature when it comes to His Word. In verse 18 he says, That by two immutable things, or by to irreversible things, namely God promises it, and two, God backs up His Own Promise with an oath of confirmation. Now, what does that mean.
Well, usually when two men enter into an agreement, it is because they have come to a meeting of the minds. They talk about the transaction that is to take place and then they define the parameters of what course of action is to follow, and they shake on it and agree that it will be done. That is one thing. The next is when that transaction actually takes place, that manifestation or action in itself is the confirmation of the agreement. Therefore, God who gave the promise comes on the scene to confirm that promise by bringing to pass what he did promise. Those are your two immutable or irreversible things. And both are the same God doing it.
First He speaks the Word of Promise, and then He confirms it by bringing that promise to pass. The first is the spoken word and the second is the manifested word, but it is the same word no matter which way you look at it.
Notice Paul says that God gave the Word or Promise and then confirms it by an oath. The Word oath in the Hebrew is the Word Horkos meaning a pledge and comes from the root word herkos which means a fence. In other words, that which sets the boundaries or makes sure the parameters are set up.
Now, to give you a clue as to what that means. Did not brother Branham teach us that God interprets His Own Word by doing what? Yes, by bringing it to pass. Then the manifestation of the spoken Word, or the spoken word promise, is the surety that you have the covenant fully operational. The manifestation brings surety or certainty that the spoken word has been confirmed, and brought into full effect.
Notice that Paul tells us that God confirms His Word with an oath, and the word confirm used here is the Greek word mesiteuo which means to act as a mediator between covenanting parties. To accomplish something by interposing (or placing something) between the two parties in order to give surety. In other words, God uses the oath as surety, as an intercessor to make certain the fulfillment of His promise. Therefore, the Oath itself is the act of bringing into manifestation the spoken Word promise.
So we see in this verse Paul is saying there are two immutable or irreversible things that takes place when God makes a Promise. !st He speaks that promise and then He brings that promise into manifestation, showing you the exact interpretation of what that promise means.
18 That by two
immutable things, in which [it was] impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for
refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19 Which [hope] we have as an
anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within
the veil;
Notice there are two
irreversible things, the spoken word, and then the confirmed word which is the
manifested Word. And Then He says for it is impossible for God to lie. Now this
speaks then of God’s very nature, for it is impossible for God Who is the very
Essence and source of all Truth, and Righteousness to speak a falsehood that
would lead to deception. Even the Apostle James says, JAMES
1:16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no
variableness (that means with God there is no variation, you get
what you get), neither shadow of turning.(In
other words, there is nothing dark and hidden about God. His very nature is
Truth, and Light, and Right-Wise-ness
And then James keys on our relationship with God.) 18 Of His own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should
be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Now, this is where I would like to go with this because we are looking at the very nature of God that He is so open and honest and truthful that what He is, is what you get. And He gives us new birth by the Word of His Power, and by receiving the Word as a seed it brings forth the very God-Life that is in Him into us by the conduit of his Word.
In John 6:63, Jesus said, “The Words that I speak to you, they are Spirit and they are Life. And James tells us we are born again by the Word of Truth, and therefore our lives should not err which means to stray from the straight and narrow, or to deviate from the light in any way, for we have been conceived in truth, and therefore the very nature of our conception is Truth, for God is Truth. Now, I want you to see what Jesus says about this. In St. John 17 Jesus prays the most beautiful prayer that could ever be prayed for concerning a brother or sister.
JOHN 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine
own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 6 ¶ I have manifested thy name unto the men
which thou gavest me out of the world: thine
they were, and thou gavest them me;
and they have kept thy word. (wow,
just think about these words, here. Father, I have manifested Your Words to
them, I have confirmed them, I have made those Words of Yours, those promises
you made, I have manifested them, I have made them certain, and those men who
you have ordained from before the foundations of the world to receive them,
have done so when they saw the oath performed through the manifestation you
gave them or your spoken word promise. And Father, they have kept Thy word even
as you have kept Your Word showing that in them is Your very nature.) 7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever
thou hast given me are of thee.(They know Father that the Words
which I spoke to them were Your Words that I only repeated, for I have no Word
of My own and they know that and they received that these Words are Your
Words.) 8 For I have given unto them the words which
thou gavest me; and they have
received [them], and have known surely.
(They know with certainty) that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. (Oh, My! No wonder they could say, He that hath not the doctrine of Christ has not God, and He that has the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son, because these men knew Who the Son of God was and they knew His relationship that He had with His Father, for they are His Brothers and have been established themselves in the same relationship, and KNOW it. ) 9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Jesus says, Father I know that these are those who were in you before the foundations of the world and that they have come forth from you because they have received everything I gave them from you even as I have received everything you gave to me.
Now, listen real closely to what I am going to tell you. “If you were not in Him in the beginning, you will not be in Him at the end. And if you were not in Him at the beginning and at the end, there is no way for you to ever be in Him, for He changes not. And How do you know that you will be in Him at the end? Because you are in Him now. And Who is He? He is the Word. Therefore, if you are in the Word you were in him to begin with, because He cannot change, and if you were a part of Him then, you are a part of Him now, and you will be a part of Him for all Eternity. That is what Jesus is telling us in this prayer. He is only acknowledging what he now knows by what he sees manifested in these men.
Remember, God says it and then confirms it with an oath which is the literal bringing into manifestation that spoken word promise. And Jesus knew for that very reason He was to come to earth, and so when he saw in these men the manifestation of the promise, He knew that these were the men that God, His Father Had sent Him to earth to bring forth in them that manifestation of the promise.
10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.(I am doxazo in them. My Opinion my assessment, my judgment, My Word is in them, and it was not my Word but thy word o Father, and it is manifest in them, even as it has manifested itself in me.) 11 ¶ And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me,(Keep them o Father as you keep your own Word because they are your word brought into manifestation) that they may be one, as we [are]. (Oh, how I love that What He is saying. Notice how all the Oneness Jesus only in this message want to say that Jesus and the Father were one like your finger is one, but Jesus prays that we will be one even as He and the Father are one. Now if that means that when You see Jesus you see the Father, then when you see me, you see the Father. And that is what He is praying. ) And brother Branham says the same thing in the message the Unveiling of God.
UNVEILING OF GOD 64-0614M 257 When
this veil is took off of the Word, the traditions is taken off the Word, as
Jesus once said, "When you see Me,
you see the Father." See? God and His Word is One. Now you understand? When the
Word is manifested, what is It? Right. See?
260 Jesus said, "Search the Scriptures,
you think you have... You believe in God, believe also in Me. If I do not the works of My Father, then
don't believe Me. But if I do do the works, I and My Father are One. When you see Me, you have seen the
Father." And when you see the Word made manifest, you see the Father God,
because the Word is the Father; the Word is God. And the Word made manifest is
God Himself taking His Own Word and manifesting It among believers. Nothing
can make It live but believers, just believers. It's not... It won't... 262
You can take wheat and plant it in a different kind of a soil; it'll
never grow. But what? It's got to have certain fertilize in the ground to raise
wheat. And If the fertilize in the ground isn't, the wheat isn't germitized to
that fertilize, it'll never grow. So no matter where the Word falls, if It doesn't fall in the right kind of a
heart...
Jesus said so,
"Some fell by the wayside, upon stony ground, and the fowls of the air
come and fed on it." And then He said, "Some fell into thorns and
thistles, which raised up and choked out right away," traditions,
denominations, cares of the world choked It. But said, "Some went over into good ground and brought
forth a hundredfold," said, "that's the Kingdom of God."
It's the same thing. See? Some will not
believe at all. Some will believe for a little while. Like the disciples,
they followed Him, many of them, the seventy followed Him for years, to find
out, about a year and a half or two years, just to find out if they could find
something in Him, like some way He had some power to do these things, or like a
rabbit foot, a magician of some sort, what He could do to produce these things,
how He could know what was in the people's heart, and what they were thinking.
And they finally found out that He said that He come down from heaven, He was
the Word Himself. And when they did, that, that was too much for them, they
said, "No man can understand
this." And they walked away from Him. That's those who fell among thorns.
265
It brings back to the same thing, in
every congregation, you have make-believers, unbelievers, and believers.
It's been in every congregation. You find them all the time. Some of them make out like they're
believers; that's the worst of type. And then they have those who are
actually unbelievers; he won't bother
you; he'll just walk away and shake his head. But those who make-believe, say they're believers, that's the
kind--that's the kind you have to watch, is those make-believers. And then
there's some genuine believers. See them three there? There was the unbelievers. As soon as He said, "Eat the flesh of
the Son of man," oh, man, that was it. The other one was make-believers. They stayed till (just like
Judas did) right up to the end. (And I would like to add that
brother Branham said in the message Three
Kinds of Believers that the make-believer is the guy who stays long enough
to find some fault like Judas did, and then betrays you. And from the Message GO AWAKE
JESUS63-1130E 67 He said, Now, there is another group that always
hangs around, and that's the make-believer. Now, that make-believer is
considered the hypocrite. Now, let's take a make-believer. It was Judas. He was the
make-believer. And the make-believer hangs on and on, trying to find some way
that they can get something on it. They stick around long enough just to find
out if they can't find a little fault, then go out and expose it somewhere.
"We want to find what kind of a gimmick, what rabbit foot you got that
rubs behind your ears. What is the gimmick?" so they can impersonate It or
something. That's make-believers. That's Judatarian.)
It’s the make believer that gives you trouble. The unbeliever never causes trouble. He simply don’t believe it and walks off. It’s just nonsense to him. But it’s that make-believer that will hang around and find fault and then he or she is the one that will try to stir up trouble against you. And if this message isn’t full of them, then I don’t know a thing. Brother Vayle said to me, “The make-believers have taken over this message.”
UNVEILING OF GOD 64-0614M 257 268 (continued) But then the real
believers, they couldn't explain it, but they believed it anyhow. They went on
through.
269
The veil, tradition of unbelievers, taken away, you see God. When the
veil of traditions has been removed, you can see that God is still God of His
Word. He still keeps His Word. He's
the God, Author of His Word that is hid behind skin veils to others. Yes, that
is right. To those who cannot go behind the veil, He's still behind skin veils.
270 Notice, then we become part of Him, as you are the veil that veils Him. You are part of Him, as long as Christ is in you, as Christ was of God. Because God was in Him, made Him God. (Oh, how I love that. Notice what he just said, He said, because God was IN him is what made Him God.) And as Christ is in you, the hope of glory, you become part of Christ. "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he also." See? You become part of Christ as long as Christ is hid in you. Then it's veiled to the unbeliever, but you know He is in you. You're templing Christ that's behind the veil, the skin. Then we become... behind... Because of this veil... The veil again, in human flesh, hides God the Word from the unbeliever. (No wonder they could not take brother Branham. No wonder they could not take the flesh of brother Vayle. No wonder they can’t take my flesh, it Hides God from them. It’s hiding the Word from them, because they are not meant to see it.)
271 As it is written (See?), written, "You are written epistles," the
Bible said. Now, what is "epistle"? Is "a written word." And you
are the written... Other words, you read it like this; you... he'd say,
"You are written epistles," or, "You are the Word that has been written, made manifest."
Nothing can be added to it. You can't say, "I'm a written epistle,"
and living some other kind of a something but what This has already wrote,
because nothing can be added or taken away.
Now, isn’t that
exactly what Jesus is saying in this prayer to the Father aboiut you and me
being One with Him even as he is one with God. We are One by manifestuing the
same Word. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: (and
Why did Jesus Keep them? Because He was keeping God’s Word.) those that thou gavest me I have kept,
and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be
fulfilled. 13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in
themselves. (Now, here it is, catch this. This is what it all
comes down to.)14
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because
they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.(did the
workld hate them before they received the Word? Absolutely not. Then they hated
them because of the Word.) 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the
world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 ¶ Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (Now this word sanctify means to set aside for service, so He is speaking of God, separating the believer from everything that is not Truth. Separate them Father by Thy Truith, for Thy Word is Truth and then thy Word is what separates.) 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. 20 ¶ Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
And this is made
possible only by our having the same Word in us that was in the Son of God, for
the Father is the Word as we heard brother Branham say in the message Unveiling
of God)
22 And the glory
which thou gavest me I have given them; that
they may be one, even as we are one (Let me read that quote to
you again in case your oneness mindset creeps back into your little mind.)
UNVEILING OF GOD 64-0614M 257 When
this veil is took off of the Word, the traditions is taken off the Word, as
Jesus once said, "When you see Me,
you see the Father." See? God and His Word is One. Now you understand? And then he went on to say, … If I do not the works of My
Father, then don't believe Me.
But if I do do the works, I and My
Father are One. When you see Me, you have seen the Father." And when you
see the Word made manifest, you see the Father God, because the Word is the
Father; the Word is God. And the Word made manifest is God Himself taking His
Own Word and manifesting It among believers.
SHOW US THE FATHER IT'LL SATISFY 56-0422
E-36 Now, it's many
times it's been said that no man can see God at anytime, the Bible said so. But
the only begotten of the Father has declared Him. Philip, here was very
inquisitive; he wanted to see the Father. Says here He said, "I've been so
long with you, Philip, and you don't know Me?" Said, "When you see Me
you see My Father."
In other words, you see the Father express Hisself through
the Son. Him and the Father were one in the sense that His Father was dwelling
in Him, not Him doing the works; He was a Son, Himself, the
immortal, virgin born, Son of God. And
then in Him was dwelling the God the Father, expressing Hisself to the world,
His attitude towards the people. See? Well, that's how Christ and God were one.
God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Now, He said, "When
you see Me, you see the Father, and why do you say, 'Show us the Father?'"
HE SWORE BY HIMSELF 54-1212 156 And God Himself living in this, making a
tabernacle, and He dwelt in Christ. There's God walking around. He said,
"I and My Father are One. My Father
is in Me." Said, "Show us now the Father." Philip said,
"Showeth me the Father and it'll satisfy me." Said, "Philip,
I been so long with you, and you don't know Me?" He said, "When you
see Me, you see the Father. And why say, 'Show me the Father.' I and the Father
are One. My Father's living in Me now.
It's not Me that doeth the works; it's
Him that dwells in me, that does the works." Oh, my.
DIVINE HEALING 54-1219M 114 Thomas looked at Him, or Philip, rather,
and said, "Lord, show us the Father. Who is this Father You're going
to?" He said, "Why, I've been so long with you. You don't know
Me?" He said, "When you see Me, you seen the Father. The Father is in Me. Believe that I and the Father are one. Or,
believe Me for the very work's sake, that the Father's in Me. It's not Me
that doeth the works; it's the Father
that's in Me, doeth the works." 116
I'm not the Holy Spirit. You're not the Holy Spirit. But if there's
anything... He's not the Holy Spirit. But
those messages he preaches was not of him. It's the Holy Spirit in him. Is that
right? Well, some of these days, this whole, little, old frothy frame of
his is going to drop down, but his Holy
Spirit and his spirit become one. And as that Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the grave, also brings his body up
in the resurrection. You see? So that's the hopes that we have today.
QA ON THE SEALS
63-0324M 520-2 {377}
Now, I want to ask you. Do... That Holy Ghost dwells within you, is that
right? Do you talk to Him? Speak to Him? Pray to Him? All right, that's all I
want... Thank you very much. See? Now, do you get it?
I'll ask you one:
How did it come that when Jesus in St. John 3, He said, "When the Son of
man shall be, which now is in heaven (See?)--now is in heaven, shall come to
earth." See? "The Son of man which now is in heaven," and here
He stood right here talking to the person. Now, you answer me that one. Jesus
and the Father was the selfsame Person, just the same as the Holy Spirit in me.
You're looking to me preaching, but it's not me. It's not me can speak a word
that could bring, as you know, an animal; set there and looked at it, and kill
the animal and eat it. That's creative power. That doesn't lay in a human
being.
QA ON THE SEALS 63-0324M 520-5
{380} It's not me could
take a little boy here laying--the doctors laying him on his back, with heart
trouble tonight, and say, "Thus saith William Branham..." No.
"THUS SAITH THE LORD, it's finished." And bring him down to the
doctor the next day and it's all gone. A kid with leukemia, till its eyes were bulged
out, and yellow all over, and its stomach... until they taken it to the
hospital to give it blood and things to even get it here; and in five minutes
time, cry for a hamburger, and take it back to the doctor the next day and
can't even find a trace of it. That's Thus Saith William Branham? That's
THUS SAITH THE LORD. Yet He is an individual different from me, but the
only way He's expressed is through me. See? That's how Jesus and the Father was.
Jesus said, "It's not Me that doeth the works, it's My Father that
dwelleth in Me." Now, the Son of man shall ascend from heaven, which
now is in heaven. See? What was it? He was omnipresent because He was God.
JOHN 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; (In
One what? One Word), and that the world may know that thou hast
sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 24 ¶ Father, I will that they also, whom thou
hast given me, be with me where I am;(Look, he is now praying for
Parousia, He is praying for eternal Presence) that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me (And
if God gave it to Him, He did not have it to begin with) for thou
lovedst me before the foundation of the world.(Now, there is for
those who do not believe in the pre-incarnate Son of God, he said God loved Him
before the foundations of the World.) 25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known
that thou hast sent me. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will
declare [it]: that the love wherewith
thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Let us pray…