Spoken Word no 48
“All Scripture must be Fulfilled” The Voice
Brian Kocourek
Now, this morning I would like to continue in our
study of brother Branham’s sermon The Spoken Word is the Original Seed, and in
paragraph 35 we
will begin our reading. “Jesus said the
Scriptures must be fulfilled. That is, that all that's written in the Scriptures... Now bear this in mind,
'cause you who are getting the tape now; at the end of these tapes you'll find
I come back to that again, that all
that's in the Scriptures must be fulfilled. Now, let that soak just a minute, class. See? All that's in the Scriptures has got to be fulfilled. Then if God said anything, there you are; It's got to be fulfilled. Or if it
isn't, that's not the Word of God. Then if that isn't the Word of God, then
where are we at? Let's get something that looks like God or anything we want to
do: as the Bible said, "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die."
See?
Now, notice that He said, “all that God spoke must be fulfilled”.
Not all that you speak or all that I speak, or all that anyone else speaks, but
this vindicated prophet says, “all that God speaks must be fulfilled”.
Now, remember, part one of our study concerned the
Shout of 1 Thessalonians 4 15-18 which Shout brother Branham taught us is the
Message. This morning I would like to continue on our mini series showing that
the next thing for the bride is the Voice which is the resurrection of the
sleeping saints.
For starters we began by examining the chronology of 1
Thessalonians 4 in order to know what must take place in this age let’s turn to
the Word of God.
1
Thessalonians 4:13 But
I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are
asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in
Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say
unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead
in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with
the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with
these words.
We see here in these verses that Paul is speaking of
the Presence of the Lord coming down and doing three major things. A Shout,
which is the Message, the Voice which is the resurrection, and then the Trumpet
which is the calling to the marriage supper. Therefore, we are looking at the
Parousia Ministry of the Holy Spirit doing three things.
Now, this Voice is the resurrection. That’s what Brother
Branham taught us in his sermon, the Rapture. The Voice is the resurrection.
That is what he said. Rapture the 65-1204
P:88 The first thing is the shout, and then a voice, and then a
trumpet. Shout, a messenger getting the people ready... The second is a voice
of the resurrection. The same voice that, a loud voice in
Now, there are basically two things that will occur at
the time of the resurrection.
1) The world will go into tribulation, and the foolish
virgin will be hunted down and slaughtered,
and all who do not take the mark of the beast will
suffer a great boycott and will not be able to buy or sell.
Now, I do not wish to say too much about this because
that is not for the Elect, and I do not like to focus on anything outside of
what is for the elect, as that is the pattern in which William Branham also
followed. He did not say much, and therefore I can not say much about what will
come upon the entire world during that time.
However, we do know that the Wall-street Jews own the
paper and the Catholic church has the gold and when the paper is cheap enough
she will buy it all up and back it with her gold, then she owns it all. And if
you do not belong to her then you won’t even have a job, because she will own
the wealth of the world, so that means she has gotten the world’s wealth and
she owns it.
For more information on this you will have to see my
study on the end-time depression judgment on our website under end-time
conditions, or last Wednesday nights sermon in which I took the first eight
pages of that study.
Now, what I wish to cover this morning is what happens
to the elect, because that is what we are by God’s Grace, and as His elect,
that is what our focus should be on.
1) Therefore this morning we will begin
to look at the time of the resurrection, which is the voice
of 1 Thessalonians 4.
Now, the resurrection is not something that takes
place in the moment or twinkling of the eye. That is the body change. The
resurrection will consist of a period of time. Brother Branham alluded to a
time somewhere between 40 and 70 days that the event of the resurrection will
take place.
Letting Off the Pressure 62-0518 Can't
you see we're at the end time? It's all over. The next thing will be a sweep of getting that little group together,
and in a month or so she'll be gone - as
soon as she's gathered together. We're at the end; there's no hopes left
anywhere. Run to Christ, people!
Now, this is scriptural for we see the same thing
took place in the Alpha ministry of
Christ.
Matthew
27:45 Now
from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a
loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?
that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 47 Some
of them that stood there, when they heard that,
said, This man calleth for Elias. 48 And
straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it
on a reed, and gave him to drink. 49 The rest
said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. 50 Jesus,
when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And,
behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;
and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And
the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came
out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and
appeared unto many. 54 Now
when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the
earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly
this was the Son of God.
Now, we know that the day of Pentecost did not take
place until 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead, so he was with the saints
during that time. We know very little about that period of time from Scripture,
but we know that when Jesus led captivity captive he took the dead saint up in
a rapture.
Rapture
the 65-1204 P:98 David said over there, "Lift
up, ye everlasting gates, and be ye lifted up.” He
led captivity captive and give gifts unto men. When the Old Testament
saints went in with Him, they said, "Who is this King of
righteousness?" "The Lord of glory, mighty host." Here they come
in, marching. Jesus led captivity captive. And here He comes with the Old
Testament saints, and went into the new gates up there, and said, "Lift
up, ye everlasting gates, and be ye lifted up, and let the King of glory come
in.” The voice come from the inside, said, "Who
is the King of glory?""The Lord, mighty in battle.”
The gates flew open. And Jesus the Conqueror led captivity captive them that
had believed on Him, and the Word had come to them. There the Old Testament
saints laying in there waiting. He led
captivity captive, ascended on high, took the Old Testament saints, and went
in. There's one rapture already passed. The next rapture takes place is II Thessalonians for the church, the Bride,
to be resurrected to be raptured into glory. "We
which are alive and remain (That's the body that's left on earth.) will
not prevent or hinder them which are asleep; for the trumpet of God shall sound
first, and the dead in Christ shall rise. (See?)
And we which are alive and remain shall caught up together with them."
Next we will see Brother Branham speak of the
condition of the living and that of those saints which are asleep in the
graves, and what will have to happen with each in order for them to go in the
Rapture or catching away. He says from his sermon Who is this Melchisedec,
In the sermon, Who is this Melchisedec
65-0221E P:47 Brother Branham reads from Scripture and says, II
Thessalonians tells us so: "For we which are alive and remain shall not
prevent (or hinder) those which are asleep; for the trumpet of God shall sound;
the dead in Christ shall rise first; we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air."
Perfect, all these types...Therefore the theophany, if you have died and
entered into that theophany, what happens? The theophany comes to the earth to
pick up the redeemed body. And if you're here in the air, you take the body to
meet the theophany (There you are.), and caught up and go to meet the Lord in
the air.Who is this Melchisedec but God?
And from his sermon called Life 57-0602 P:23he says, 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 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.
Therefore
instead of our focus on the condition of the world, as we see it’s financial
kingdoms crumbling all around us, our
focus should be on God’s promise for us in this hour that we live in.
Notice
he said, if you are among those who have already died, you enter first into
that theophany. Then with that theophany, you come forth to get your redeemed
body. if you have died and entered into that
theophany, what happens? The theophany comes to the earth to pick up the
redeemed body. Then once that redeemed body is joined to the
Theophany, it becomes a glorified body.
On
the other hand, those of us who are among the living, will get our body change
and then go to that theophany to complete the glorification process. And if you're here in the air, you take the body to meet the
theophany (There you are.), and caught up and go to meet the Lord in the air.
Next I would like to share several quotes from Brother
Branham and several Scriptures to confirm the order of the resurrection as Paul
declared to us, and as William Branham reconfirmed the order of the
resurrection. For if the resurrection will be a period of time more or less
then there must be an order to it. The resurrection just doesn’t happen and
everyone suddenly appears and poof we are gone. There is a period of time, and
as a period of time, there must be an order to the events.
Jehovah Jireh #1 - 62-0705 And then, remember, if we go before He
comes, we will be up and in His Presence, or, raised before the others are
changed. "The trumpet of the Lord shall sound, the dead in Christ
shall rise first. Then we which alive and remain shall be changed in a moment,
in a twinkling of an eye, and be caught up together with them, to meet the Lord
in the air." Look at the order of the resurrection. See, God
knows that we long to see our loved ones. And if we got there to meet Him
first, we'd be looking around to see if mother or dad and the rest of them was
there. But see how, the Holy Spirit in His wisdom? We meet one another
first, and then when we get there and sing "Amazing Grace," that's
when there's going to be a time of worship.
Notice
brother Branham speaks of an order to the resurrection. You see, God is a God
of order. He set the World on it's frame in an orderly fashion, and that is the
way the resurrection and rapture will come as well. There will be a shout, a
voice and a trumpet.
Q & Answers 64-0823 1M Across the world,
they won't be gathered in one place to have things in common. But little groups
of them will be scattered all over the earth. I believe, maybe if the Lord
permits, this is a little group of It.
Maybe another little group in Asia, one down in
Seven Church
Ages 54-0512 "Behold He cometh
with clouds." Now, let me stop here just a moment. Clouds doesn't mean
that He's coming on a big thunderhead as mama, bless her heart - she's sitting
here somewhere. I remember her voice, she used to set and tell me, said, He's
coming on, a great big cloud gonna raise someday and God's gonna come on. Now the Cloud that He's coming is, if we
just had the time to get this back, and get the real background and the whole
thing. Now the Cloud He's coming in is
not a cloud, like a thunderhead, but it's a Cloud of Glory He's coming in.
See? Now, when Jesus was overshadowed by God on
What Is The Holy Ghost? 59-1216 Now, the Spirit of
God has worked under Justification under Luther, Sanctification under Wesley,
the Baptism of the Holy Ghost under Pentecost; and here It is in the last day
performing and doing the very same things that It did when It was in Christ!
What is it? The Church and Christ has become One. And as soon as They connect
together, that last link, She will go through the sky shouting. Up will come
Wesley, Luther, all the rest of them back in those days there. He that's first
will be last; he that's last will be first; and there'll come the resurrection.
Q & A
64-0823 1M The time of the
rapture will be the awakening of the dead and the get together with the living,
for the rapture to take place. And Jesus can not come until a church, a body of believers
and the ministry that He once...?... will have to be the same as it was then
to... And then, that brings... "Them without us is not made perfect,"
Paul said, Hebrews 11.
"Without us they cannot be
perfected." They must have this
ministry to raise up the Lutheran, Wesleys, and all them down through their
ages.
Now, in reading from 1st Corinthians
chapter 15 which Paul speaks of the resurrection, I want you to look for two
things.
1) an order to the resurrection, and
2) the need for the body change that is associated
with this resurrection.
1
Corinthians 15:12 Now if Christ be preached that
he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of
the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of
the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if
Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain,
and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea,
and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that
he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ
raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith
is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then
they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If
in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20 But now is Christ
risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits
of them that slept. 21 For
since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his parousia. 24 Then
cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up
the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and
all authority and power. 25 For he must reign,
till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The
last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet.
But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And
when all things shall be subdued unto
him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things
under him, that God may be all in all. 29 Else what shall they do which
are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then
baptized for the dead? 30 And why stand we in
jeopardy every hour? 31 I protest by your
rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32 If after the manner of men
I have fought with beasts at
Brother
Branham tells us the order is that the Holy spirit Who is now in our midst will
leave the midst of humanity and when He does, He will take us with Him, and
then we will meet the Son of God, and when God incarnates His Son Once more,
then we will crown Him King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Now, here is the quote from Brother Branham, FIRST SEAL THE 63-0318
161-3 {301} Notice,
and when this Holy Spirit that we have, becomes incarnate to us, the One
that's in our midst now in the form of the Holy Ghost, becomes incarnate to us
in the Person of Jesus Christ, we'll crown Him King of king...?... That's
right. See?
Now,
let's find this in the Scripture. II THESSALONIANS
2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet
with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that
he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of
the way.
Now,
this may sound a little confusing to you, so let me read it from the Wuest
translation, and you will find the same thing brother Branham is telling us in
this quote. That the Holy Ghost Who is now in our midst will at this time leave
the earth.
Wuest Translation II Thessalonians 2: 5-7 Do you not remember that while I was still
with you I kept on telling you these things? And now you know with a positive
assurance that which namely, the departure of the church, the saints being
assembled to the Lord, is preventing his being disclosed as to his true
identity, in his strategic, appointed time, for the mystery of the
aforementioned lawlessness is now operating. Only He, the Holy Spirit,
who is holding the lawlessness down, will do so, until He goes out from the
midst of humanity. And then shall the lawless one be disclosed in his true
identity.
So
we see here that this Scripture speaks first of the Saints assembling to the
Lord and then it speaks of their departure from the earth. Then, as if in the
same breath, Paul also tells us this will happen when the Holy Spirit departs
from the midst of humanity. Now, the Holy spirit could not depart from the
midst of humanity if He were not here. And if we are to be gathered together to
Him first, then when he goes we go, for nowhere in scripture does it speak
contrary to this. Nowhere in Scripture does it speak of the Lord leaving at a
different time from the earth than the saints leave. So, if we are gathered
together unto Him first, then it is He that takes us up from the midst of
humanity just like Jesus took Peter James and John up into the Mountain.
Mother's Day 59-0510M
81 And as the light begins to spread we'll
know as we're known; we'll understand. And we'll remember our acquaintance and
the ones that's been there. And there'll be many there that we didn't even
think would be there, for you know it's at that time that I believe that the
bread that we have cast upon the human troubled waters will return to us, on
that day. When we see the effects of our
testimony on people that we didn't understand their actions towards it, will
probably be there. What a day that will be! And then the seeds that we
sowed not even thinking what they would do, but here they are. They brought
forth precious fruits and we'll see them on that day.
Mother's Day 59-0510M 86 As that great light begins to spread all - as we begin to
look around, and the great circle will be getting and greater and greater; it's
all just reflecting the approach of Jesus. And after while, as the song said,
And I shall we see Jesus at last. He will be waiting for me, Jesus so kind and
true, On His beautiful Throne, He'll welcome me Home After this day is through.
Then as we see Him...and we'll not be as we are now. We'll know how to love Him
more. We'll not stand back with a little fear, because we'll be like Him. He'll be more of a relative to us than He
is now. We'll understand Him better, because we're so far away in the
mortal bodies. Then we'll have a body
like His glorious body. We'll know how to worship Him. And when we see what the Presence of His Being
has done to us, changed us, the old back young, all the deformed straightened
out, oh, we'll understand then why His power healed us. The questions
that's been in our mind, "How can He do it? What would this?"
somehow, mysteriously, they'll all fade away. The knots that's been tied in the
back of our minds, "Will it be this? How could it be?" somehow, or
another, majestic fingers will just untangle, unravel those knots, and it'll
all fade into the one big crown of love.
Jehovah Jireh - 62-0705 And then, remember,
if we go before He comes, we will be up
and in His Presence, or, raised before the others are changed. "The
trumpet of the Lord shall sound, the
dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall
be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, and be caught up together
with them, to meet the Lord in the air." Look at the order of the resurrection. See, God knows that
we long to see our loved ones. And if we got there to meet Him first, we'd be
looking around to see if mother or dad and the rest of them was there. But see
how, the Holy Spirit in His wisdom? We
meet one another first, and then when we get there and sing "Amazing
Grace," that's when there's going to be a time of worship.
When Their Eyes Were Opened 56-0420 The time of the
gathering of the people is at hand, and we must look forward to great things to
happen.
Greater Than
Solomon Is Here - 58- 0625 So I pray that
someday I'll see that great uniting
together of all the body of Jesus Christ coming together at one great big body;
then the rapture shall come
In MATTHEW 16:28 we
read, ¶ Verily I say unto
you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they
see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Now,
I want you to notice the promise is that some, not all, but some of you shall
not die until they see the son of Man coming in His Kingdom. Then immediately
we see Jesus taking some of them, three in all because three is a witness, to
see this scwene he has just told them would come.
17:1 ¶ And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James,
and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Now,
the word “bringeth” comes from a Greek word anaphero which
means to carry or lift up to a higher place. So we see that it is
possible here that these brethren did not just walk up the mountain side
following behind Jesus as though He was just leading them. Actually the
combination of the words, taketh and bringeth suggests a closeness or a
gathering together to himself as though embracing them and then lifting them up
with him. This would suggest to us then, that they were sort of lifted up in
some manner, perhaps in some supernatural way up to the mountain top.) 2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did
shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. (now,
notice, something supernatural is taking place here. Something is happening to
the physical being of the Son of God. The Bible tells us that Jesus is
transfigured which means he is being changed into another form.) 3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and
Elias talking with him.
Now,
remember we are talking about the order of the resurrection. Then if there is
an order of the resurrection, the order must have some meaning to it. Notice Moses is seen first. Then Elijah. Now
can anyone tell me the difference between these Two prophets of God. I am not
speaking of the difference between their ministries which were full of the
Miraculous. But what happened to Moses at the end? Did he die? Yes He did. Did
Elijah Die? No he did not. Notice it speaks of Moses first and then Elijah. And
notice they are separated by the word AND which is a conjunction. And
what does a conjunction do? It links two things, right? And what two things are
these two men representing? Remember, we are examining the ORDER of What? The
Order of the resurrection.
Moses
then, represents the saints that have died, while Elijah represents the saints
that have been caught up without dying. Then what do the three Jews standing
there, watching represent? I'm talking about Peter, James, and John. What do
these Jews represent? They represent the 144 that Jesus will return to manifest
Him self to, in His glorified state. The
next thing we hear is God, the father of the Son speaking and telling them that
He is pleased to dwell in His Son.
4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us
to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and
one for Moses, and one for Elias. 5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud
overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my
beloved Son, IN WHOM I am well pleased; hear ye him. 6 And when
the disciples heard [it], they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. 7
And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. 8 And when they had lifted up their eyes,
they saw no man, save Jesus only.
Now,
this was a foreshadow of the Coming of the Lord Jesus. These men were given a
glimpse of the Order of the Second coming. And John was privileged to actually
see it take place in a vision before his very own eyes years later on the isle
of
REVELATION 1:7Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they
[also] which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of
him. John then tells us how he heard
a VOICE and turned to see it, And being turned, I saw seven golden
candlesticks; 13And in the midst of the seven candlesticks [one] like unto
the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the
paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and [his] hairs [were] white like
wool, as white as snow; and his eyes [were] as a flame of fire; 15 And his
feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the
sound of many waters. 16 And he had in
his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword:
and his countenance (his face) was
as the sun shineth in his strength.
Now, remember, the last time john saw Jesus like this where His face shown like
the sun, was when he had been caught up into the mountain when Jesus was
transfigured.
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his
right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last (The last time John was privileged to see Jesus in
this Glorified condition he also fell to his face and Jesus came to him back
then and said the same words this time that He said the last time, Fear not I am the
one who was transfigured before you the first time, and I am the same one now
again for good, this time. 18 I [am] he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold,
I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Revelation chptr 4 pt1 60-1231 180 Peter, James, and John, and them standing
present, when Jesus spoke to them and said, "There's some standing here
will not taste of death until they see the Son of man coming." He
didn't say "all" that was standing there, but "some." And
they went a few days after that, and saw the order of the resurrection
rehearsed, and the coming of the Lord. Elijah represented the dead
saints--I mean Moses, and being resurrected. Elijah represented the translated.
But remember, Moses was first, and then Elijah. Elijah was to be the
messenger of the last day, that with him and his group would come the
resurrection; would come the... Well, it would come the rapture, I mean. Moses brought in the resurrection, and Elijah brought in the
raptured group. And there, both of them was represented right there…
Now
we could skip this next paragraph to save time, but since wee just came through
this stud he is going to talk about, I thought this would be interesting to see
how he perceived it. 184 Oh, tomorrow we got a great lesson, the
Lord willing. Tomorrow we take the judgments; we take the sardine stone, see
what it represents, what part it played. And we take the jasper, and we take
the--oh, all the different stones, and we take these all down through
Ezekiel, back into Genesis, back over to Revelations, come down in the middle
of the Bible, tie it together, these different stones and colors, and so
forth. And then we bring it right straight back to that and see if that
ain't right. See? See if it ain't the same color and everything, just the
same thing. And the same Holy Spirit, the same God, showing the same
signs, same wonders, doing the same thing just as He promised...
185 He told Peter, James, and John, and them standing there, all of
His disciples, said, "Some of you will not see death until they see the
Son of man coming in His Kingdom." Said to John, said... Peter said,
"What are You going to do with him?" He said... "That fellow,
what's going to happen to him?" He said, "What is it to you if he
sees Me coming?" And He let him live to see it. After the rest of them was
dead and gone, John lived to see the coming of the Lord rehearsed in power, the
whole scene set from his time until the judgments was over and the millennium
was issued in. John saw every bit of it, and the millennium over, and the
Kingdom age started. So He keeps His Word, doesn't He?
Paul
also speaks of this order of the resurrection in I
CORINTHIANS 15:20 ¶ But now is Christ
risen from the dead, [and] become the firstfruits of them that slept. (Now,
notice that the use of this word first-fruit shows there is an order to the
resurrection. Christ first, then the rest.) 21 For
since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every
man in his own order: (And notice what that order is?) Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at
his (Parousia).
Questions
& Answers 59-1223 And then, when God's
people begins to gather back together, there's unity, there's power. See?
And whenever God's people gets together
completely, I believe the resurrection will take place then. There'll be a
rapturing time when the Holy Spirit begins to gather it up. It'll be in the minority, of course, but
there will be a great gathering.
Uniting Time
& Sign 63-0818 We find that now the
time comes when the Trumpet sounds, and those sleeping saints back there that
could not be made perfect without us (there's many of those Hebrew brethren),
and when they come together, they unite
with the living ones. The Church
uniting with the Word, then the Church and the Word uniting together, being
come one. The dead saints with the
living saints uniting together to be one; and all going together to unite with
Christ yonder, for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. And to think of us standing, (in a moment, in a twinkling of
an eye, when the world won't know what's going on), but all of a sudden, you'll see appear before you, your loved ones that's
gone on has come to unite with you again. And we'll be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye; and be caught
up, together, to meet our Lord in the air. Let's get ready Let's get ready
for this midnight cry. It's coming in a hour when you think not. There'll be a
cry, not amongst the unbelieving world; it'll be a secret.
How Can I
Overcome 63-0825 1M Sooner or later we're
going to have to give each other up. But that won't hurt the rapture now. See?
No. They come first then. Them are
privileged that's gone on. They come first, See, we which are alive and
remain to the coming of the Lord will not hinder or prevent those that are
asleep. The trumpet of God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then when our eyes behold our loved ones, then we'll be changed in a
moment in a twinkling of an eye, and with them shall be caught up together.
Going Beyond
The Camp 64-0719 2E And you know, we'll
be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. Think of it! Missing people,
they can't see you no more, but you're
getting together with the rest of the group. "They which are alive and
remain to the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (or `hinder,' the word is)
those which are asleep." Not dead, no, Christians don't die. They're just
taking a little rest (see?); that's all. Oh, my! "And the trump of God
shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, appear to many.."
And all at once you happen to stand and look, and "Well, there's a
brother..." And you know it ain't long. In a few minutes we'll be changed in a moment in a twinkling of an
eye, and together with them be missing
on earth, caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
Q & A
64-0823 1M Then you believe that
Jesus Christ is that Word, and that Word is made flesh now among us, fulfilling
exactly what He said He would do in this age. Now, the first thing happens when we're
resurrected ... The ones which are
a-living will just still remain ... The resurrection will set in first, the
resurrection of those that are asleep. There'll
be a wakening time, and those which are asleep in the dust now will be awakened
first, and - these corruptible
bodies will put on incorruption in the rapturing grace of the Lord. And then we'll all get together. And when they begin to get together, then we
which are alive and remain shall be changed. These mortal bodies will not
see death, but just of a sudden,
there'll be like a sweep go over us, and you're changed. You're turned back
like Abraham was, from an old man to a young man, from an old woman to a young
woman. What's this sudden change? And
after while you're traveling like a thought, and you can see those then who are
already resurrected. Oh, what a hour! Then
we'll gather with them and then be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the
air. Yes, the Church will all be together, but after, after the resurrection and
the rapture has set in.
Now
we know there was an order to the first resurrection, and as Paul taught, Jesus
was the first fruit and then the rest could come after he came. MATTHEW 27:50 ¶ Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice,
yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain
from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many
bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves
after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto
many.
Notice
that Jesus cried with a Loud Voice and the graves opened, and the saints which
slept arose, but notice that they did not come forth as resurrected beings
until He came forth. So the order of the
resurrection is a very important thing. And look, what is a resurrection
anyway? Isn't it a coming back to life? Isn't it a re-awakening of the body
that was asleep in death? And doesn't it have to do with Life coming back into
the body? And if the body was at one time active, and then it fell asleep or
went into such a deep sleep that it was constituted as dead. But a resurrection
is a coming forth with the same life that it had before it died. Not a human
coming forth with a gorilla life, or a cat life or a goat life. And not with
someone else's life either. But their own life, that was ordained in God before
the world was framed coming back into that body again and raising it up. And
there is only one life that will do that, and that is the God life you had in
Him before the foundations of the world.
EPHESIANS 2:1
¶ And
you [hath he quickened], who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Now,
I want you to notice that Paul is speaking of a people who have been quickened.
Now, this statement should be read in the context of chapter one where Paul
speaks of a people who are elect and were in Christ before the foundations of
the world and who have been predestined to a great plan and purpose of God who
wanted to have children, and these children would come in like fashion as His
Only begotten Son came. He speaks of this plan calling for a quickening by the
baptism of the Spirit, which Paul calls the earnest of our inheritance,
or the down payment.
II Cor 5:1 ¶
For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we
have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house
which is from heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found
naked. 4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for
that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed
up of life. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who
also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always
confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from
the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say,
and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9 Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of
him.
Now,
a down payment we also call an earnest payment because it shows we have made an
earnest or sincere commitment to honor the contract. And when we receive a
portion of God's Spirit, by receiving His Word, we receive in us the sincere
pledge by God to finish the work that He has begun, And the word quicken that
Paul uses here in Ephesians chapter 2 is the Greek word which means
to restore again to life, to animate or rather to re-animate. That is why brother Branham could say in the
message, FUTURE HOME 64-0802 34-3 "You wasn't saved on any day. You was always
saved. Amen. Jesus just come to redeem that, but you was saved from the
beginning, because you had Eternal Life to begin with."
In
fact the word redeemed means to buy back, and how could it be redeemed or
bought back if he did not own it to begin with. And how could your Life and
Soul be redeemed if you didn't have it to begin with. You see, what we are here
is only a reflection of what we are somewhere else. I believe we are dealing
with a dimensional principle that we know so little about. But, brother Branham
said those very words.
Q & A 54-0103E 143-191 What you are here... Get this in your mind
now. I'm going to close. But what you are here is a sign that you are
something else somewhere. You've always wanted to be in perfection, you
Christians. There is a perfection, and that perfection is not in this life.
But every man and woman here that is a Christian, every person that is a
Christian here now is already glorified in the Presence of Jesus Christ. And
you've got another body. You won't have some other time; you have right
now. Right now there's another body waiting for you if this one should perish.
Could you think of that. Study that just a minute.
The Entombment
- 57-0420 Our own life is just a
pattern. It's just a shadow, and not the real thing. It's the negative side.
It takes death to develop the picture, to put us back in the theophany we
come from. Then in the resurrection we come in His likeness, a resurrected
body, what a beautiful, not only beautiful but it's the real, solemn truth of
God's eternal Word, that we'll be like Him.
ROMANS 8:29 ¶ For whom he did (already a done deal) foreknow, he also did (another done deal)
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did (done deal) predestinate, them
he also called (again it is in the past tense) : and whom he called (past tense), them he
also justified (past tense): and whom he justified (past tense), them he also
glorified(past tense). Therefore it is finished. It's a done deal. You
can't change the outcome, no matter how hard you try.
Daniel 9:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt. In other words, this will be at the time of the Resurrection. 3 And they that be wise (This speaks of the Wise Virgin) shall shine (send forth light by warning and teaching and this teaching shall be) as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness (right-wise-ness) as the stars (brothers) for ever and ever.
God In Simplicity 63-0317 1M 58-5
God just speaks and the Rapture will come. It ain't
going out there and them Angels come down and shovel out the grave and get out
an old dead carcass here. What is it? It is born of sin to begin with - but a
new one made in its likeness. If we have this, we will die again. See? Nobody
can say, "The graves will open. The dead shall walk out." That may be
true, but not open the way you say open.
That's right. See? It won't be like that. It'll be a secret, because He said He
would come like a thief in the night. He's already told us this, the Rapture, then judgments will strike -
sins, plagues, sickness, and everything. The people will cry for death to take
them from the judgment. "Lord, why is this judgment upon us when You
said that there would be a Rapture first?" He will say,
"It's already come, and you didn't know it." God hiding Himself in
simplicity. Oh, my! All right. "It's already happened and you knew it
not." Why don't believers believe the simple signs of His coming? They're
expecting all this things that's spoke of by the Scripture, and the moon is
going to go down in the middle - the sun in the middle of the day, and there's
going to be all kinds of things... Why don't believers believe the simple signs
of His coming? They're expecting all these things that's spoke of by the
Scripture, and the moon's going to go down in the middle of, the sun in the
middle of the day, and there's going to be all kinds of things. Oh, if we just had... I got the notes wrote here on it
(See?), to show what them things are, and we'll get it on the breaking of these
Seals this week anyhow. See, see? There it is, just where it's already passed
and you didn't know it. See? See if it is. If the Angel of the Lord will break
them Seals forth to us... Remember, it's sealed with them seven mysterious
thunders. See? Now, why can't people believe the simple simplicity of a humble bunch of
people and the Voice of the signs of God? Why can't they believe it? Just
like it always been. The true Word of God being made manifest. They're too
smart and too educated to believe the simple form of the written Word. They
want to put their own interpretation to it. "It don't mean this."
"It don't mean that." It DOES mean that. Listen. May I say
this right quick now? Even the visions
that God gives here at the place, it's so misunderstood. That's the reason
you hear me on the tapes say, "Say what the tapes say. Say what the
visions say."
Hebrews Ch7 - 57-0922 359-422 And
He took His dead body from the grave on the first day of the week, and brought
it up into Heaven; and sat it there as a High Priest, as a memorial, setting
there perfect, forever. And He sent the Spirit that He tore out of that body,
right back down on the Church. And that Church will have to have the same
Spirit that was in that body, or it won't dovetail with It in the resurrection.
Those two pieces must come perfectly together; and if this church isn't perfectly (just exactly) the same Spirit that was
in Christ, you'll never go in the Rapture.