WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC #26

Breath of Life

December 3,  2000

Brian Kocourek

 

This morning we will take our text once again from paragraph 50 of Brother Branham's sermon, Who is this Melchisedec, where brother Branham said, 

 

WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC    65-0221 50   And remember, you, your eyes, your statue, whatever you was, you were in His thinking at the beginning. And the only thing that you are is the expression word. After He thought it, He spoke it, and here you are. If it isn't, if you wasn't in His thinking, there's no way at all for you ever to be there, for He's the One that gives Eternal Life. You remember how we read the Scriptures, "Not him that willeth, or him that runneth, but God..." And that His predestination might stand true, He could choose before anytime who... God's sovereign in His choosing, did you know that? God's sovereign. Who was back yonder to tell Him a better way to make the world? Who would dare to tell Him He was running His business wrong? Even the very--the very Word Itself, very sovereign... Even the revelation is sovereign. He reveals to whom He will reveal. The very revelation itself is sovereign in God. That's how people pound at things, and jump at things, and hit at things, and not knowing what they're doing. God is sovereign in His works.

 

GENESIS 2:7 And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

 

naphach    {naw-fakh'}    x;p"n   1) to breathe, blow, give up or lose (life) to breathe, blow -  to cause to breathe out

 

Now we know that God does not breathe, as man must breathe to live. Because even before there was one molecule of air to breathe God was. He is a spirit being. And as such, he is not confined to the same laws which govern our mortal bodies. But rather we see that when God breathed into Adam, we are told that God imparted to him Life. Notice, ", God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."  Notice, it was not air that God breathed into his nostril, but the breath of Life. That word breath is   nshamah    {nesh-aw-maw'}  1) breath or spirit - breath (of God)  - spirit (of man)

 

JOB 32:8  But [there is] a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

 

We already have our own spirit, but that which we receive from God is His Spirit. We are born into this world with a spirit which is allowed by God, but then if we are ordained to Eternal Life, we also will receive the Spirit of God in us. God Life. Adam had already a spirit before God breathed into Him the Breath of Life, the Holy Spirit. In Genesis 1:26 God had already made Adam a spirit being.

 

GENESIS 1:26    And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:

GENESIS 1:27 So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.  We know that God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and Truth. Then if we came forth first in His image it would have to be as a Spirit being. Now let's read on.

 

GENESIS 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and [there was] not a man to till the ground. Notice, here that there was no physical man to actually work the soil, so God clothed man in mortality. 

 

GENESIS 2:7 And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

 

 

But here,  after making flesh for him, God breathed into him and quickened Him to Eternal Life, giving him God Life. Now, the Jehovah's witnesses want to believe that this was simply life, the same for every living creature. And that is where they simply take the Hebrew Word and show that this same word for life which is chay.

 

BLASPHEMOUS NAMES  62-1104M 27-6    Now, but here Jehovah Witness in their book, it says that the breath that you breathe is the soul. Now, that cannot be right. The breath that you breathe is not soul. If it is, you're--you're... One time you're one kind of soul; next time you're... Somebody else has breathed that soul. Look where you'd be. Now, the breath is wind, and wind is what you breathe into your nostrils. Now, they take the Scripture from back, "And God breathed breath into his nostrils, and he became a living soul." Now, I want to ask you something. If he was a man, what kind of a breath was he breathing before that God breathed this breath of life into him? See? What kind of breath... He was a breathing, living, man. Well then, if that be so, then every animal is a living soul, 'cause they breathe a human soul, and our soul, and altogether. Then Jesus wouldn't have had to die; the animal sacrifice would've been sufficient. See? So, brother, the argument don't stand. But what God did, He breathed the breath of Eternal Life (Amen.), then he become a living soul, a soul that can't die. Now watch now. We're going to get into honey plumb to your elbows. Notice, breathed the breath of Eternal Life into his nostrils. And he became an eternal soul, 'cause God breathed (not what nature done, but what God did)--breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and he become a living soul.

 

II TIMOTHY 3:16  All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

 

theopneustos    {theh-op'-nyoo-stos}  from Theos meaning God, and    pneo    {pneh'-o}  -- blow -- wind literally  to breathe, to blow: of the wind  -- God breathed

 

Again we see in, JOHN 20:19  Then the same day at evening, being the first [day] of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace [be] unto you. 20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them [his] hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. 21Then said Jesus to them again, Peace [be] unto you: as [my] Father hath sent me, even so send I you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on [them], and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

 

  emphusao    {em-foo-sah'-o}    from two words, en meaning "on" and phuo meaning translated as to blow but meaning AV  -- spring up - to beget - to bring forth - to produce - to be born - to grow - to shoot forth.

 

 AV  -- breathe on (1)  1) to blow or breathe upon; where Jesus, after the manner of the Hebrew prophets, expressed by the symbolic act of breathing upon the apostles the communication of the power of the Holy Spirit to them. This word used only once by the LXX translators in Gen 2:7 where God breathed on Adam and he became a living soul. Just as the original creation was completed by an act of God, so to the new creation was completed by an act from the Head of the new creation. (AWP John 20:22)

 

Notice, he breathed on [them], and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Hagios Pneuma.

 

The word hagios means holy, and the word pneuma means spirit, but when placed together they speak of the spirit of God. For there is none that is holy except God.

 

I SAMUEL 2:2  [There is] none holy as the LORD: for [there is] none beside thee: neither [is there] any rock like our God.

 

ROMANS 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

 

Now, as I said, the words holy is an adjective which points at only one, and that is God. But the word spirit or pneuma does not specifically speak of that One person, God, but is generically a word which means spirit, whether of God, Of God's Own Person that is Spirit, or simply of man. But when used together it speaks not of the One True God but of that Spirit which comes forth from God, even His Own God Life or the actions associated with His God life.

 

The Greek word pneuma is used 379 times in the New Testament.

 

The Gospels                        103

The Acts                               70

Paul's Epistles                    157

All Other  Epistles               25

Revelations                           24

 

It is translated as

Spirit

Spirit

Spiritual

ghost

life

wind

 

accompanied by the word hagion or holy it occurs 93 times.

 

It is used of God Himself, JOHN 4:24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.

 

It is used of Christ,  I CORINTHIANS 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit.

 

II CORINTHIANS 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.  17    Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty. 18    But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.

 

It is used of the operations produced by the Spirit, JOHN 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

 

I CORINTHIANS 14:12  Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual [gifts], seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.  Translated here as the word gifts

 

 

 

I CORINTHIANS 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8    For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;  10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another [divers] kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11    But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

 

BLASPHEMOUS NAMES  62-1104M   33-3    The Church is the mystical Body of Christ, borned of the breath of God. Did you get it? The Church of God is born of the breath of God. God breathed breath into the nostrils, spiritually, of Adam, and he became a living soul. Did you know the Pentecostals, or the true Pentecostal Church is borned of the breath of God? Let me read you something just a minute, just on that. Let me see just a minute. St. John, I believe, is where I'm going to, and we'll find out whether the Church of God is or not. St. John... Let's see, I believe that's about 16, 19, 20. All right, Here, I believe we'll have it right here. All right. Let me read you and see whether the Church is born of the breath of God or not, like Adam was in the beginning. Watch. And the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut and the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed... them his hands and his side. Were... Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord, And Jesus--And then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father has sent me,... so send I you. Watch. The Father that sent Him went in Him. And Jesus, when He sends a disciple, He goes in him. Same one sent...?... And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said... Receive ye the Holy Ghost:... (Church borned of the breath of God.)

 34-1    When this statue is molded itself up there in a condition, God's breath breathes upon them, "Receive the Holy Ghost." Then you are a son of God. You can join anything you want to, but you're borned into the--the Church of the living God, born by the breath of God. God breathed upon them and said, "Receive ye [Brother Branham makes a breathing sound--Ed.] the Holy Ghost." Oh, my, there you are. Not "Come and join, put your name on there," and with your soup suppers and all that goes with it. You join a lodge. You can join a Methodist lodge, Baptist lodge, Presbyterian lodge, Catholic lodge, or a Pentecostal lodge, anything you want to join, but you're joining a lodge. But when you become a child of God, you're born by the breath of God. Amen. Better leave it alone right there now. All right.

    34-2    God's Life is also then in you. Jesus said (just a minute)--Jesus said, "I am the Vine; ye are the branch." Now look. What was their fuss with Jesus? Their fuss with Jesus, because He was a Man making Himself God. He was God. God was in Christ. See? And He told them; He said, "Don't look at Me. It's not Me; it's My Father, and He dwells in Me." See? Now, they was looking at that little body that was borned of Mary. See? That wasn't God; that was the Son of God, but God was in that body. It was God. He said, "If I do not the works of My Father then condemn Me. But which one of you can condemn Me of sin (unbelief of the Word)? Which word has God spoke that hasn't been fulfilled in Me? (Sin is unbelief.) Which one of you accuse Me of sin? (Sin is unbelief.) Show Me. If I do not the works of My Father, then don't believe Me. But if I do the works of My... though you can't believe Me, believe the works that I do for they testify." Otherwise, "The Father's in Me, testifying of Himself," 'cause God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. You get it? Well now, the same life that's in the vine is also in the branch. How are you going to join in that? You can't.

 

 

 

 

HEBREWS CHAPTER 6  57-0908E   208-254    Your old nature died (the nature of the world), and you become a new creation. And your desires (that old life that had a beginning when God breathed the breath into your nostrils when you were born), that life of carnal nature died. And it had a beginning and it had an end, and it died and was done away with forever (the old nature). And God came in with the new nature. Then love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, peace, patience, and meekness, and kindness, that entered and taken the place of malice, and temper, and hatred, and--and emulation, strife, and all those things. It took its place, when you passed from death unto Life. You get it real close now?

 

Melchisedec       52 Now, we find Him at the beginning, His attributes. And now, you were with Him then. Then is when the Book of Life comes into view. Now, we read over here in Revelations the 13th chapter, the 8th verse, that the beast that comes upon the earth in these last days will deceive all those people on the earth whose names were not written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. Think of it. Before Jesus was ever born, four thousand years before He came on earth, and several thousand years before you come on earth, Jesus in God's mind died for the sins of the world, and the Book of Life was made; and your name was put on that Book of Life before the foundation of the world. That's the Bible truth. See? Your name was ordained of God and placed on the Book of Life before the foundation of the world. You were there in His attributes. You don't remember it, no, because you're just a part of His life. You are a part of God when you become a son or a daughter of God, just as you are a part of your earthly father. That's right. You are... The male carries the hemoglobin, the blood. And when that has gone in the egg, then you become a part of your father, and your mother is a part of your father also. So you're all a part of your father. Glory. That lets the denomination out altogether. Certainly does. God in all, the only place...

 

      55 Notice now His attribute. Then the attribute was first God, the thought, the attribute itself all in one, without being expressed. Then when He expressed, secondarily, He became then the Word. And then the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us, St. John the 1st chapter and the 1st verse. Notice, this is in the beginning, but before the eternal. Notice, in the beginning was the Word. When the time begin it was Word, but before it was Word, it was attribute, a thought. Then it was expressed. In the beginning was the expression, the Word. Now, we're getting where Melchisedec is. That's this mysterious Person. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then the Word became flesh and dwelled among us. Hold that there now. Notice. His first being was Spirit, God, supernatural (All right?), the great Eternal. Second, He begin to form Himself towards flesh in a theophany, it's called, "the word, a body." This then is the state He was in when He met Abraham, was called Melchisedec. He was in the form of theophany. Now, we'll get to that and prove it in a few minutes, the Lord willing.

 

  58    He was the Word. A theophany is something that you could not see. It could be right here now, yet you cannot see it. It's just like, well like television, that's in another dimension. Television... People are moving right through this room now singing; there's colors also, but the eye is only subject to the five senses. Your whole being is only subject to five senses, rather. And you are only subject to what the sight has been limited to see. But there is another dimension that can be seen by a transformation by television.  Now, television does not manufacture a picture. A television only channels it into a circuit, and then the television screen picks it up. But the picture's there to begin with. Television was here when Adam was here. Television was here when Elijah set on Mount Carmel. Television was here when Jesus of Nazareth walked the shores of Galilee. But you're just now discovering it. They wouldn't have believed it back there. You'd have been crazy to have said something like it. But now it's become a reality. And so is it that Christ is here. The Angels of God are here. And someday in the great millennium to come it'll be just more real than television or anything else, because they are here.

 

Eph 1: 3-11

Romans 8:28-30

Rev 3: names not written before the foundations

1 Corinthians 15: bodies celestial terrestial you have one already waiting

COLOSSIANS 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10    And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with [him] through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13    And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14    Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

 

EXPLAINING HEALING AND JAIRUS   54-0216   E-37    The devil's just trying to scare you out of something. He's trying to put something off somewhere else, say, "Some of these days you'll be this." You are now. Now, we're sons of God. Now, we're seated together in heavenly places. Now, we have all powers in heavens and the earth. See? Now, we have it. Not in the millennium, we won't need it then. We got it now. We're... Right now we are the sons of God. "It does not appear what we shall be, but we know we'll be like Him."  What you are here is a reflection of what you are somewhere else. "Those who He called, He justifies." Is that right? "Those who He justified, He has glorified." Already in the Presence of the Father, we have a glorified body. Whew! Wasn't that deep? All right. We'll find out whether it's right or not. "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting." Is that right? That's right. So right now, and what we are there, is a reflection. Here, what we are here, is a reflection of what we are somewhere else. So if your deeds are evil, you know where it comes from. You know where your other body's a waiting.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS   54-0103M   71-77    Now, notice then when they were captured and carried away into Babylon because they tried to impersonate the nations of the world... What a beautiful picture today of the church trying to impersonate the world out yonder, and carried away, carried away with their--their living. The church lives just the same as the world does, carries on, acts just like it, and everything else, and claiming to be the church. You can't do that. No, sir. Your very life proves what you are. What you are...As I said in the beginning, what you are somewhere else is what you reflect here. What you are, what your celestial or terrestrial body is up yonder, what your celestial body is somewhere else is what you're reflecting back here. In the spirit land, what you are, is what you are here. If you're still vulgar minded and so forth in the spirit land, you're vulgar minded here. If you still got malice, envy, and strife, you're in the spirit land with that, it reflects back here. But if your whole innermost being has become cleansed and purged, it shows that you've got a body out yonder waiting, that's been cleansed and purged, and it's reacting back in the flesh. Don't you see? See, there it is. "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting." See?

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS  54-0103E   111-37    Here, as I've often said, I believe, in the church here, there's a--a roll here like; in here lives mortal beings. And each one is in this great conglomeration of gaiety, of blackness and darkness. Mortals live in here. Now, they are either influenced from this a-way or from that way. You cannot be here a spiritual being, sinner or saint, without having an influence from the underworld or from the above world. If you're influenced from here, you're from above. Your celestial body is waiting up here. But if you're wicked, and hypocritical, and indifferent, your celestial body is down here, regardless of how much you think it's up there; because the fruit that you bear before people proves where you're from. So you are here what you are somewhere else. Your life that you live here is just reflecting what your inheritance is when you leave here. Do you understand.  112-38 We are right now (oh, when I think of that)--we are right now glorified in the Presence of God, borned again believers, "For if this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting in glory," not somewhere else, right yonder already waiting now. And these earthly bodies groan to be clothed upon with that immortality. Is that right? Sickness, and aches, and pains, and disappointments, and heartaches, and... Oh, I'll be glad when the old pesthouse is closed up, won't you? Yes, sir. We can go home. That's right. Just... We are--groan to be clothed upon, the Spirit groaning. Oh, when you look and see all the pain around about, all the conglomeration, stink, and sin, and mortal living, and deceit, and everything, I think, "Oh, God, how much longer will it be?"

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 54-0103E  112-40    One of these days I'm going to preach my last sermon, going to lay the Bible down like this, and go home. Oh, what a time that'll be. And when this earthly tabernacle is finished here, it won't be one second till I'll be in that one yonder; so will you. Oh, my. No wonder they said: This robe of flesh I'll drop and rise, And seize the everlasting prize; And shout while passing through the air... (Sure, moving on up.)  Now, where is that? When do we have it? Now. "Those whom He justified, He also glorified." And do you realize that our glorified, immortal body is waiting in the Presence of Jesus Christ right now, waiting for us to come?  112-42    Do you know when a baby is begotten in this earth, before it's delivered, it's got life. But it hasn't been delivered. And just as soon as that baby comes to--it--it begins to--is born... It's lungs are all closed up, and it's dead. It's muscles are quivering and jerking. But the first thing, just a little spank or two like that [Brother Branham illustrates--Ed.], and he'll [Brother Branham gasps--Ed.] catch his breath. What's the matter? As soon as that natural body is being formed in the mother, there is a spiritual body waiting to receive it just as soon as that baby's born. And just as sure as this spiritual body is being born, there is a natural body waiting to receive it as soon as it--as it goes out of this world. See? Vice versa, right back to Eden again (See?), just right back.

MAKING A WAY  56-0304   E-3    And then when this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one there waiting. See? We enter into that; we'll know one another. We can't shake hands; we have no senses of that feeling. We can't--I couldn't shake your hand, say, "How do you do, brother," because I--I--you wouldn't have that type of hand, but yet we're not in a corporal body as we are now. We're in a--a celestial body. And then when this...And I was thinking of down in Egypt, that when Joseph left a memorial to the children of Israel, his bones, that someday they were going out. And as they went out, they would take his bones with them up to the promised land. And every Hebrew that desired to be back in the homeland... So no matter how well they was treated, yet his longing was to be back at the homeland. And every time they passed by and saw those bones, they knew that someday they were going back to the homeland.  E-4    While we're here waiting to cross out of this place, we see an empty tomb over yonder in Jerusalem, let us knowing that something happened. And then when we take on that glorified bod--not glorified, but celestial body, and we're walking around in the glory-lands with Christ, looking at each other, speaking to each other, we can talk, souls under the altar crying, "How long?" And then what will be the memorial there that we're coming back to earth again to eat and drink and sleep? There He will be setting there on a throne in a corporal body. Amen. Someday we'll rise in that corporal body, and when He returns back, these celestial bodies will take on glorification, then we'll be like Him and we will live forever in that body. What a--what--what does anything else matter? It's all settled, that's just--just anchor right right there and that--this... My hopes is built on nothing less.  Than Jesus' Blood and righteousness;  When all around my soul gives way,  He's then all my hope and stay.  E-5    Christ was the One Who made it possible, not my church, or not my denomination, not my friends, but Christ; "All other grounds is sinking sand, all other ground..." No wonder Eddie Perronett, they thought he was mad. And that day setting in there, as a slave to the people, the Holy Spirit reached and picked up the pen and begin to write that marvelous song. It'll be sing at the baccalaureate service of the inauguration of the King of Kings: "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name."

SHEPHERD OF THE SHEEPFOLD  56-0403  E-8    We're here in this old feeble body, pest house. But just think, after this earthly tabernacle is dissolved, we're stepping into one right over there just beyond the veil. We won't be there long. That's right. We wasn't made for that one. We wasn't made to be Angels. God's got Angels, but we were created men and women. So that's the way we'll--we must be. And when we're up there in that celestial body, we're not in our right estate. You see?

LIFE   57-0602  E-22    Let's close our eyes to our imaginations for a few moments and go way back into the--'fore there was anything. The great fountain of all eternity was that spirit of love, joy, that spirit of honesty, that spirit of trueness in this perfection. And then out of the existence of the Father went the Logos which was the Son, which was the theophany, which was the body of the great Jehovah God went forth in a celestial Body. That's the Logos. The Word spoke out of them great Fountains of Life and went forth. And there was the theophany, which was God made into Word.

   E-23    Then that theophany was made flesh in the Person Christ Jesus. And then all the fullness of the Trinity dwelt in Him, both Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all in that. And that's the very way we go, plumb back to the original beginning of God. There we are borned again not of flesh, borned again not of blood, but borned again by the Spirit. And in that eternal Spirit of love and honesty comes down to make Its place in us. And then when we die from this life, we go into the body which... If this earthly tabernacle is dissolved, we have a theophany to go into, a body celestial. Then at the coming of the Lord Jesus, this body is picked from the earth again and made in a glorified state to live in His Presence forever. Then all the perversion, all the things that was in--in the perversion all goes out of existence. Flesh goes to its punishment. Hell opens up her mouth and swallows in all the evil and the perversion. And God and His beloved Church, His Bride, takes their stand for the eternities to roll on. That's the great hope of the Christian Church.  E-24    And David screamed out, "O Thy lovekindness is better to me than life." Now, life, everyone wants to think of life. And life... The word "life" has had a perverted aspect to it, because that even life itself has a perverted aspect. And many times people want to refer to life as having a big time, drinking, riling, and going out. They say, "This is life." How mistaken they are. That's death. See? It's not life. It's death.

 

HEAR HIS VOICE   58-1005M  E-13    And when the soul leaves the body, it takes its journey into a place of rest in a body that's in the form and shape of this body, but it isn't this type of a body. You'll meet your loved ones; you couldn't shake their hands. You could talk to them; you could look at them. They look just like they do here. 'Cause when Peter, and John, and James saw Moses and Elijah, they recognized them on Mount Transfiguration. But it's a body. But then when that body, a kind of a celestial body, when it returns back to the earth, it picks up the--the substance that it once lived in and then it becomes a glorified body. And that body is the one that we'll see the Lord Jesus in His resurrected body.  E-14    "It does not yet appear what we shall be," said Paul, "but we know we shall have a body like His own glorious body. For we shall see Him as He is." And all these old wrinkled hands and broken down tissues will all fade away into the splendor of youth. You old men and women, remember you... This is... That--that's a mark of the fall, your old age. But in the resurrection there'll not be one mark of anything of sin. But why did God make you like He did? He brought you to a certain age. When you was about twenty-two, twenty-three years old, you were your best. You were eating food, and getting stronger, and healthy, and what a powerful looking person you was. Then after that you become wrinkling away. See, death set in. But in the resurrection all old age will be wiped away.  

HEAR RECOGNIZE ACT ON WORD  60-0221 138    Then if this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one waiting. See? Just as sure as the natural body was coming forth, there's a spiritual body to receive it when it dropped from its mother. And when it drops from the mother earth, which is, it's in the womb of it now, groaning, crying (O God), groaning, laboring, getting old, and sickness, and everything besetting it, and the spirit on the inside of it looking for a land beyond the river. It's groaning, twisting, jumping (Yes, sir.), because there's a life in there that lives forever. It's in a body that's got to die. And sometime, just as a mother dropped the natural baby, and the spiritual body got it; the earth will drop, and the body of the natural will drop, and the physical body--or the celestial body will grab it yonder. If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one waiting. That's the reason you forget the things of the world. They're dead to you. There's the Spirit. Now, watch it as we move on now, the two spirits.

   139    The Holy Ghost is the new birth; we know that. It's being borned again, of the Spirit of God. That's how you're born, by the Spirit. Born by the Spirit, that's the new birth. All right. You're begotten of the Spirit; then when you're borned of the Spirit, you're filled with the Holy Ghost. All right. Then when these two are in the earth, the natural and the spiritual, sometimes the... I've seen this. Now, in closing, I want to come to a close now, by saying this for a few minutes. In the natural or in the spiritual, either one... Now, I hope that everyone catches this. Now, be just as quiet and reverent as you can.

HEAR RECOGNIZE ACT ON WORD  60-0221   141    Now, have you ever seen this? You see in our churches today, even in the groups where we have separated ourself and made organizations; and we seen all of this. And you seen a man pick up a certain Scripture, and, brother, that man can take that Scripture and make it live new, make it live just exactly what it promised here in the Bible. And the next man will see him do it, and he'll come around and try to do it and fail. Now, I hope you're reading now. He'll fail. Why? The Scripture is not inspired to him. He's only trying to impersonate. He's trying to act like something. He wasn't... Well, maybe he was sent by man. Maybe some man said, "Well, you can do the same thing." See, just like Jesus said it would be this way. The Bible predicts that in the last days: "As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses."

FAITH   61-0813   E-4    Now, the soul is that part of you who knows and understands, your intelligence. You remember the vision I had not long ago, or the little translation and went into that place and saw those people? Now, your spirit will come back to that body, and that--that kind of a body, the soul, which is a body that does not have to eat and so forth. "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting," a celestial body. And with that spirit, and that soul, and celestial body, you'll raise up again this natural body for that great millennium. See? You have the power in you now to do that. Now, but that power that you have in you now could make a new world. God doesn't have little weak spots and big heavy spots that's powerful. The least little touch of God is omnipotent. See? The least little touch of God... So you know... So I'm trying to get you in the faith now.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 64-0830E   1156-58    This is a dying spirit in a dying body; but now, you can't be in two bodies at one time, but there can be two natures in you at one time. Now, the nature of the Spirit of the Lord... When you're borned again, you're not borned of physical, like the baby was; but what's happened, the spiritual birth has come to you. And while this spiritual birth is growing into your heart, of God, there is a physical or a celestial body growing to receive that spirit. And when the life leaves this body, it goes to that body. Just as when the body is presented to the earth, the spirit comes in, and when the spirit goes out of the body, there is a body waiting. "For we know that after this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting." See? That's it, the spiritual body of the people. Brother Branham..   1157-Q-383    383. Dear Brother Branham, what is the difference when Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," and when they--when they had to go to the upper room to tarry? It was a promise He gave them, breathed upon them His promise, said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." It was a promise. They went to the upper room to wait for the promise to be fulfilled. The same thing is when we lay hands upon you to be healed, then you go on about your business waiting for the promise to be fulfilled.

CHRIST REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORD  65-0822M   68    You see these little pockets going through the air they call "saucers," so forth. People so that... Well, we better leave that alone. "Hear how these people come up missing?" you say. Don't hear from them; they're standing there, and they're not there. That's the way the rapture's going to be. One of them would drop right down, and this terrestrial body will take on a celestial body. And they'll be hide, hair, or bones left. It'll be transformed in a moment of time, dropping right out of space and taking home that... We see all this going on now, and the--and the Pentagon wondering about these lights, and mystic lights, and everything they're seeing in the--in the sky. You seen they had one here in the paper at Jeffersonville this week and so forth, a mystic light saw. Oh, they don't know what that is. But listen, little children, it's going to pick you up one of these days (See, see?); don't worry.

GOD'S ONLY PROVIDED PLACE OF WORSHIP 65-1128M   22    And it helped me, because I used to have an idea when a person died, just their soul went off. But then when He quoted that to me, that "If this earthly tabernacle of our habitation be... we already have one." See? And we've got to have everything in three's to make a perfection. See? And there's one body here, then that body there which is the--the celestial body, and then the glorified body in the resurrection. See, that makes it complete. See? So it's a... It's not a myth; it's not an idea; it's not a spirit. It is a man and a woman like you are, just exactly.

 

GOD'S ONLY PROVIDED PLACE OF WORSHIP 65-1128M   23    And then years ago I seen the regions of the lost and was there. I tell you, friend, as an old man, let me persuade you this, across the nation this morning, don't never want to view that place. There's no way at all that I could... If I was an artist with a brush I couldn't paint the picture. As a minister, I couldn't describe to you. Talk about hell being a burning place, it's a million times worse than that, the horrors that goes with it. 24    And heaven... or this place, wherever it was, I don't know what to call it. He referred to it there as "souls that are under the altar." But when it was, I have never; there's no way to explain how great that is. There is... Now, you just have to take my word; I'm just a man. See? But these visions that's always come to pass just as I've told you, and you know they every one has been true; that is true also. Whatever you do, if you miss everything else (health, strength, your eyesight, whatever it is), don't miss That. There's nothing can compare with it. It's... There's no--there's no word in the English language that I know that could express it. If you'd say "perfect," it's beyond that; "superb," it--it's beyond that; "sublime,"... There's no--there's no words that I know that could express it, because it was so... And then, to think, that isn't the end of it yet. I thought, "Me be afraid to come to this?" I said, "Do you eat?" Said, "Not here. We don't eat here, but when we go back to earth we'll receive a body we eat in."  27    Well, I could feel them. They was just like that. See? And they... I said, "Well, you have..." Oh, yes, they have a body. It's just not a myth; it's a body. We know one another. They all knowed me, were hugging me, millions of them. And I said, "Well, I want to see Him Who brought me here." It said, "You can't see Him now; you have to wait." I said, "Why did you put me on--up here?" Said, "You were a leader in life." And I said, "Do You mean all them's Branhams?" He said, "No, that's your converts to Christ." See?  34    I looked around, and then all the hard nights and the trials passed away, when I could see their faces. A young woman run up there, one of the most beautiful women, and she just threw her arms around me, and said, "Precious Brother." And when she passed by... Now, she was a woman. So... But in there, there'll never be sin. See, our glands are changed there. They won't raise children no more there. See? See, all the same. What makes the difference, the sensation. That's the reason I don't believe in dancing on the floor. No man... I, before God and my Bible, I've lived clean, as that way through my life when I was a little boy, all through my young manhood. Any girl I ever went out with, I can walk right back to the Judgment with her. See? But there's no man; I don't care who you are, can let a woman (in the make of a woman) hug herself up close to you; if you're a true healthy man, there's a sensation. But it wasn't there; there's no glands; they're all the same gland. See? Just pure, unadulterated sisterly and brotherly love, more than it would be for your--even for your--hug your own little daughter. See? Your own daughter, yet she's made... She's female and you're a male. See, it could create something, but there it can't. Sin is done; it's all over: real, just real, holy Love.