The Battle for Life
January 9th, 2002
WHO IS THIS
MELCHISEDEC 65-0221E 106 Jacob wrestled all night and
wouldn't turn Him loose until He blessed him. That's right. Battle for
life. And after the battle is over, then God gives you of Himself.
That is His true Communion. The little bread and wafer just represents it. You
shouldn't take it, 'less you've wrestled it out and become part of God.
Remember, at this time the Communion had never been instituted, not until
before the death of Jesus Christ, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years
later. But Melchisedec after His child Abraham had won the victory, Melchisedec
met him and gave him wine and bread, showing that after this earthly battle
is over, we will meet Him in the heavens and take the Communion again; it'll be
the wedding supper. "I will not drink no more of the vine or eat the
fruit, until I eat it and drink it with you anew in My Father's Kingdom."
That right?
This is an interesting
thought brother Branham is making here. He is speaking of Jacob when he was in
a real battle for Life. And I would like to stop here for a moment and take a
look at this battle for life that Jacob was going through.
It all takes place in the
book of Genesis from the end of Chapter 30 all the way through chapter 33. In
these chapters, we see how Jacob had worked for Laban for 20 years and during this time Laban changed his wages 10
different times for the worse each time. And yet through it all, God turned
Laban's deceitful treachery to the good of Jacob each and every time.
Surely what Paul said in
Romans chapter 8 was taken from the annals of Scripture.
ROMANS 8:28 And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to [his] purpose.
And again we find in ROMANS 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
It seemed that Laban thought
nothing of changing Jacob's wages whenever he wished. Laban continuously tried
to cheat Jacob, but God's hand was upon Jacob, and God gave him the victory in
every single battle. The victory was never apparent up front to the eyes of the
beholder, but with patience Jacob learned as he went from one trial through the
next that God was with him, and when God makes a promise He is not only able to
keep that promise, but is more than willing to do so. Jacob learned to have
confidence in God, even as the Apostle Paul said, in…
II TIMOTHY 1:12 for I know whom I have believed, and am
persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against
that day.
Jacob seemed to be confident
in God, that God would watch over him and protect him, and it seemed every time
that he had another life battle take place, he would just quote back God’s Own
Word to the same God Who made that Promise to him. This is where he learned to
rest in his life battles.
GENESIS 31:41 41 Thus have I
been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two
daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. 42 Except the God of my father, the God
of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me
away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands,
and rebuked [thee] yesternight.
PSALMS 30:1 ¶ A Psalm [and] Song [at] the dedication of the
house of David. I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and
hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. 2 O LORD my God, I cried unto
thee, and thou hast healed me. 3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from
the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4
Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of
his holiness. 5 For his anger [endureth but] a moment; in his favour [is]
life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy [cometh] in the
morning. 6 ¶ And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. 7 LORD,
by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst
hide thy face, [and] I was troubled. 8 I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the
LORD I made supplication. 9 What profit [is there] in my blood, when I go
down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? 10
Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper. 11 Thou
hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my
sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; 12 To the end that [my] glory may sing
praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee
for ever.
Now, if we can picture this
time in the life of Jacob, it seemed that he was battling with everyone and
everything. He was so stressed out that he even wrestled with God. His brother
Esau was on his way to kill him, Jacob had just fled from one near calamitous
event when his angry father in law caught up with him. And after many days of
running from that bad situation where his father in law had continuously tried
to cheat him of his wages for over the 20 years that he worked for him, and so
Jacob took flight not knowing what tomorrow will bring but knowing who holds
tomorrow. Then he came across the desert and found that Esau was coming for him
from the other direction with 400 men. Not knowing if Esau was going to kill
him or not, he sent almost everything he had to him, convoy after convoy,
hoping to find grace in the eyes of Esau.
Finally Jacob got to the point where he is totally destitute.
Trouble behind him and
trouble in front of him and so he gets desperate and he cries out to God for deliverance.
He cries out to God to remember his promise to him, that “all things will work together to those who love Him and are
theee called according to His Purpose.”
All that he had worked for
the past 20 years he had now given up. He hids his family in two separate areas
just in case one part of them is slain he will still the others. So he sends
out his servants, and animals and acquired goods to meet Esau . Gift after gift
after gift comes to meet Esau his brother, knowing that his brother had sworn
in an oath to kill him if he ever saw him again. Finally, destitute of all, he
comes before God in desperation and when God appears to Him in the form of a
man, Jacob reminds him of the promise and clings on to the Promisor until,
finally, he receives his assurance once and for all that what God had promised
to Him, He was more than able to perform.
And so we are dealing with a
Faithful God who is Faithful in all His Word. He that began the good work in
you shall perform. He that spoke of an end time and an end-time message is the
same one who has come down to bring that message. Not a man, but God, but he
used a man to speak it.
It is then, not a man’s
message. Brother Branham said, “You are not
feeding on a man, a man’s word can fail, but you are feeding on the unfailing
body word of the Son of Man.” Therefore, it is not the message of
William Branham. No, more than the Words Jesus spoke were His own Words. Jesus
said, “it is not my words, nor my doctrine, nor my
actions, nor my will but the Father’s that sent me.” He said, The Father worketh, and the Son worketh hitherto.
Being the Revealed Word, The Message belongs unto those it has been revealed
to.
Deuteronomy 29 : 29
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things
revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the
words of this law.
Acts 2 : 39
The promise is for
you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our
God will call."
God is the One Who has made
the promise and He is the One who also brings the results. In fact Brother
Branham said,
PRESENCE
OF GOD UNRECOGNIZED 64-0618 1 Now, while our crowds are small, we're going to try to--to
hurry up, get out so we can, working for this one purpose, for you to recognize
the Presence of Jesus Christ. See? If He is present, then, why, everything is
settled. He madetheWord. He is here to confirm It. He proves that He'll confirm
It. "He is just the same yesterday, today, and forever." We see Him
do it last night, infallibly; we see Him night after night, and day after day,
and year after year. Never one time has He predicted anything, regardless of
what it was, when it would happen, out of the thousands of times, of what was
perfectly on the dot, on time, and right. How can it? How many knows that, and
knows the ministry, and knows that that's true? There you are. Not one time,
regardless, how even impossible, happened just the same. He's God. And if we
would just recognize that, take a hold of it...
Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD
while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked
forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he
will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. 8 "For
my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my
ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 As the rain
and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering
the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower
and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will
not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the
purpose for which I sent it.
Brother Branham said, “Jacob wrestled all night
and wouldn't turn Him loose until He blessed him. That's right. Battle
for life. And after the battle is over, then God gives you of
Himself. That is His true Communion.”
And so we are looking
tonight at this battle for life. We have seen how Jacob was thrown from one battle
into the next and it was not of his choosing. It just seemed that every which
way he turned someone was out to get him, and his own testimony was that had it
not been for the Lord, surely he would have been swallowed up.
I believe God uses these battles
for life to mold into us a dependence upon Him. The battles mold our character.
They are called, “the trials of our faith,” by the Apostle Peter. These trials
come as a result of our believing God, and our following the leading of His
Spirit. These trials are placed before us, by “God Himself,” and they are for
one purpose, and that is ensure our total dependence upon Him.
James 1: 2 My brethren, count
it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the
trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her
perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing. 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,
that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given
him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth
is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that
man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double minded man
is unstable in all his ways.
Now, I want you to notice
that Faith does not waiver. At least not the type that God is desiring to bring forth in us. And so he places us in
certain trials and tests to see whether we will see the promises and hold onto
them, or if we just do not have confidence in the promise at all.
Romans 4:18 Who against hope
believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to
that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19 And being not weak in faith, he
considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old,
neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of
God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And
being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
You know, I really think it
is kind of strange that we will place more confidence in our own ability to do
something than we place in God who created the World by simply speaking the
words to do it. Just think of that.
God, simply thought it and then spoke it, and it happened. Now, that is a man
who has confidence in his own word. And if God has so much confidence in His
own Word, and He did what HE promised to do, and what He says comes to pass,
then who are we that have no power to back up our own word. Think of how silly
it I then to try to do those things that God has promised on your own without
help from Him.
In the scriptures we are
given many examples of men who trusted God no matter what the circumstances
were. These men, like David, said, “You turned my
mourning into dancing.” In other words, I had about given up all
hope and You, Lord, You Oh Faithful God, came through again on my behalf. What
recognition of the Faithfulness of God. What trust in the Lord who is the
Author and Finisher.
He said, Jesus Christ is the
Same, Yesterday, Today and Forever! He said, I am the Lord who changes
Not. Do we believe that this same
unchanging God will bring us through our Battle for Life? If we are the Seed of
Abraham we will.
Let’s bow our heads in
prayer.
Gracious Father, we are so
thankful for your faithfulness. You promised the Word are here to confirm it as
your prophet taught us to believe. Therefore, help though our unbelief. Help us
to stand strong amongst the battles for life. Help us to be resolved in our
hearts that whether we live, die, sink or drown, we might say as Job said, “I
know my redeemer liveth, though the skin worms devour my flesh, yet in my flesh
shall I see him in the power of His resurrection.” Grant to us that overcoming
victory for we ask it in the name of your son who also overcame and is set down
in your thrown. And we have his promise to us that if we also overcome, we
shall sit with him in his thrown even as He has overcome and is set down in
your thrown. Grant us that victory for we know that character is our victory,
and we ask it in the name of your obedient Son our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!