Israel And The Church #2

1 Here at this meeting, we're opening the Bible now to the 1st chapter of Exodus, to begin tonight in a study. It's a lengthy, very lengthy study, and we're trying to compile it into just a--a few nights. Reason I'm doing this, that I believe the revival will go on through Easter, and maybe on. We never want to start too much of when you're just feeling your way. I'm a great believer in that.

2 Just to why I'm here in this revival, I--I don't know. I... It's all a mystery to me. When the manager called me this afternoon about the meetings over at Macon, Nashville, and through there, and we've canceled everything out, some of them at auditoriums we been trying to get for the past three or four, five years, seating up to, many, twenty thousand people. And the--we left the last meeting (pardon me) at Meridian, had forty-five hundred inside, and we don't know what was on the outside, standing in the rain and storms and things, we... standing out there. And when we left Tallahassee, it was the same way, we couldn't even get a place to put the people. And the Holy Spirit said, "Stop. Go home now. Wait, I'm fixing to send you overseas." Well, here I am.

3 I just canceled out seven meetings. Just got through canceling seven meetings, and one of them here in Indiana, Connersville. And one of them in--up in Alberta, Canada, in a big arena there, seats twenty-five thousand people, that we been trying to get that arena for some time. And just when we got it, and everything just ready to start a nationwide canvas there where we expect maybe thirty, forty thousand people, the Holy Spirit said, "Stop," and then send me here at the Tabernacle like tonight. See? You have to do what He tells you to do.

You say, "Would you leave groups of people like that to come to a--a little bitty Tabernacle?" Well, now, wait a minute. We're serving God. See?

5 Philip left a big revival, when he had all Samaria on the move, and went out in the desert, Gaza, and stood there to find one man, and never did return back to the revival. Is that right? Up to the desert Gaza, found one man, the Ethiopian. He was converted. And then he turned from there, he never did go back to Samaria again where he had the--the great revival.

6 Now, we are indeed thankful for the leadings of the Holy Spirit. We must go as we are led to go. And I feel very definitely led to--to come here in this meeting to do this. Am I just a little...

Oh, excuse me, brother. Here's a couple more too, Brother Fleeman, if you will. Maybe take them, somebody who doesn't have a Bible... The Old Testament, we're studying in the Old Testament, specifically tonight, 'cause we are taking the pattern. Raise up your hands, you who would want one, so they could bring it to you. Bring your Bibles, your pencils and paper, and everything, and so you can take down the text.

8 Last evening we stayed a little late, last night. I'm going to try my best to redeem that tonight, if possible. I just love the Word so well, till when I get into It, I just get lost. I think we went from Genesis over into Revelations last night, all the way through. I just forget about all time and everything else.

This is the first time I've had one of these meetings for seven years, this next week. I closed the revival at the Tabernacle. How many remembers what my farewell sermon was? Who Is This Uncircumcised Philistine Trying To Defy The Armies Of The Living God? That was my farewell sermon at the Tabernacle seven years ago, last, this coming week. All right, my little girl there was two weeks old. I promised God if He would let me stay until she was born, then I'd go. And then I've traveled ever since, night or two here and there. So the Lord has blessed us in great ways. Somewhere around a half a million souls has been converted right in our--our meeting. Just think of that, in seven years. It goes to show. Thirty thousand, in one day. You know, that's marvelous. Every time I think of it, swims my head. Today getting letters from down in Africa, that said, "The whole southern Africa is stirred again, ready," just wanting to know the date when we will return. Oh, my.

10 And then the Lord gave the vision, and said, "In India, that three hundred thousand people attend one meeting." You write that down, see if that's right or not.

Now, so much on that, that goes on the healing, about healing. I'm trying to relax my mind from that now, just to teach the Word. Now, I'm a poor hand at it, but I--I love to tell what I know about It.

12 And now, Sunday we're going to have, Sunday morning, questions, any question on the Scripture that you want my opinion of. And so we'll try to bring it through the Bible the best we can Sunday morning. You bring it before Sunday morning, up as far as Saturday night, any question on the Scripture, anything that confuses your mind. And it'll be questions Sunday morning. You like that? Now, you got something, you just say, "I can't understand how these things could be." Well, bring it and let's see if we can go together. Maybe all of us together can get it. I'll do my very best to line it up in the Scripture, 'cause I believe that it must be Scriptural or it isn't legal.

13 Now, last night we picked up the first beginning of the church, God promising who? Abraham, which is the father of us all. For it was Abraham, the promise was made; and only Abraham was the promise made to him and his Seed. Is that right? "Abraham, and to his Seed." And his Seed was not all of his children, but "In Isaac was his Seed called." Is that right? And here is the results of Abraham's Seed: Jesus Christ is Abraham's Seed, and we, being dead in Christ, take on Abraham's Seed and are heirs according to the promise. Amen. God be blessed.

14 We here who are getting along past, when a man, woman passes twenty-five years old, you might as well face it (See?), your youthful days are finished. And to think, that glorious promise, as we're facing the setting of the sun. What is it? Is life finished? Oh, no. Life just hasn't begun yet. Oh, we're just going. I just wish that there was some way we could settle down, till time didn't mean nothing, and just stay in like that and get those things out of the Scriptures before the people. They are there, friends. I can prove it by God's Bible, and the help of the Holy Spirit, that every one of you that's in Christ, born again, that one of these days those gray hairs will change, and the wrinkles will run from your face. You'll go back to a young man or woman again and live forever with Christ Jesus. I can show you where God proved it in the Bible, showed the shadows and the marks of it, and promised it, and swore by it, that He'd do it. How marvelous.

Will I love my wife then? Sure, more than I do now, even. I don't know how it could be, but I will. Will she be mine? Sure, be my companion. She'll... Be no children or nothing, but the children that we have here on earth will be there with us if they're born again. That's right. Won't that be marvelous?

15 I used to think... Mom used to tell me (Excuse me, Mom, that was before you knew better too.) that we'd have wings and fly around up there, you know. Why, I like to eat, drink, shake hands with people, fellowship. I thought, "Oh, my, that'll be finished then." Oh, no. I found out God never did make me an Angel. He made me a man, and I'll always be a man and never be an Angel. That's an error. God's got Angels, sure; He made Angels. And He made Cherubims with wings, and He made Angels without wings.

16 When I used to hear these old songs, when I was a sinner and go in them places, about "brown-eyed angel awaits me;" I thought, "Oh, my, an angel..." And I found out that's a lie of the devil. Never was such a thing. See?

We are absolutely men and women. And we'll return back to this earth men and women. That's right. That's God's teaching. When you see those things, it makes you appreciate Jesus Christ.

18 Now, what we're trying to do tonight is throw a shadow of what the Old Testament was to the New Testament. "And all the old things," the Scripture says, "was a type or a shadow of the things that is to come." Now, beautiful lesson tonight, Exodus... We left the children of Israel last night.

Israel was called what before he had his name Israel? Who in the class can answer? Who was Israel before he give--was given that spiritual name? Now, somebody 'sides a preacher. I seen a preacher raise his hand up. All right, somebody besides one of you preachers... [Someone says, "Jacob"--Ed.] Jacob, that's right. And what--what caused him to receive this spiritual name? Somebody said something. [A brother says, "Prevailed with the Angel."] Prevailed with the Angel, and wrestled with Him, and said, "I'll not let you go until you bless me."

Hey, you want a spiritual name tonight? Just get a hold of the Holy Spirit and say, "Lord, I'm not going to leave this Tabernacle till You bless me." Things will look different when you leave. You be just as determined as Jacob was. You'll get a blessing.

21 And, watch, He touched his thigh, and Jacob walked different. Amen. I hope that goes way down home. When you wrestle with God, you'll walk different after that. Watch. A strong... On the other side of the brook, the little river, he was a strong, great man, backslidden though, away from God, running from his brother, running from God; but stout and sturdy. And on the other side of the brook, a limping prince... "Thou art a prince before God, for you have power with God as a prince." A limping prince, and he limped all of his life. How God does things. Isn't He marvelous?

22 Now, the patriarchs, we left last night, in Genesis, where that the last of the four that God gave His promise, was Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. God's... What was it? In Abraham we found, last night, to the Christian church today, election, election; and in Isaac, justification; and in Jacob, grace.

You'd have to believe in grace if you read Jacob's life. You'd have to see it was election and calling, 'cause, oh, the things that fellow did. But yet, God had blessed him. God had told him what was going to happen, so He called him. But you notice after he wrestled with this Angel, things begin to look different. Then when he got before Pharaoh, he said, "My pilgrimage has been so-many years." God had let him know that he was only a pilgrim. Now, and in Joseph, perfection.

24 Notice, three stages: justification by faith, sanctification through the Blood; baptism of the Holy Spirit; then perfection, glorified. The Bible said, "Those who He justified," this is to the spiritual mind, "He also glorified." Is that right? "He who He justified." Then if He justified us now, we're already glorified, in His state. Not He--He will; He hath glorified. Say, that's deep, isn't it? But that's what the Scripture says.

25 God told Abraham, "I have blessed you, and I've made you a father." Not "I will." "I have. I have made you. And you'll come to Me in an old age. You're going to be saved. I've already done it. I've already said so. You haven't got nothing to do with it. It's unconditional." God determined to have His church. So every time He made a covenant with man, man breaks his covenant; and he does yet today. Man will always break his covenant with God, but God can't break His covenant with man. So "I will."

26 You notice back there when He told Adam in the beginning, He said, "Now, don't do this, and you can do this, and don't do that." Adam turned right around and broke it. But then God seen that he was lost. He said, "I will put enmity. I will put enmity between thy seed and the serpent's seed. And He will bruise the head, and--or He will bruise his--his head will bruise your Heel."

27 Now, "I will," when God says He will do anything, you can look for it to be done. When man says he will do anything, I don't know about that. But God told Abraham, "I will save you, and your seed after you." Not only Abraham, but all of Abraham's seed, Unconditional. Say, if you'll excuse me, I believe I could shout a little. Look. Oh, you just don't realize, people, what it means. Maybe some of you has never thought deep enough to get into it.

28 God has already glorified His church. Those who He justified, He also glorified in the church, in Christ. If you're justified in Christ, you're glorified in Christ already, as far as God is concerned.

Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." How could you ever be perfect? But in the sight of Christ tonight, every born-again Christian is perfect. I'm just as perfect in God as Christ was. You are too--every other believer. For it's not my holiness, it's His holiness. God can't accept mine; I have none. But I come in Christ, by faith. And by Christ I'm in Him, and perfect in the sight of God.

30 Look. "By one Spirit we're all baptized into one Body, and become members of this Body." In Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh, but the Spirit." And a man that's in Christ Jesus walks after spiritual things. To the world, its carnal mind; it's foolishness. But to them that believe, it's Everlasting Life. Amen. There you are. Oh, how marvelous. Then what can harm you? You're in Christ. And just as sure as God raised Jesus from the dead, we'll come in Christ. Amen. Yes, we've got to; God's done promised it. For just as sure as that Body goes up, I'm in that Body. I have to go with It.

31 Now, say, "You believe in eternal security then, Brother Branham?" In one way I do. I believe that the church is eternally secure: the church is. God's already said it would appear before Him without spot or wrinkle; the church will. Now, the next thing, if you're in the church, then you are secured if you're in the church.

32 "He that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out." Is that right? And listen, here's the Man's Word about it, Jesus Christ, St. John 5:24, "He (whosoever), He that heareth My Words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath (present tense) Everlasting Life (That's not just from one meeting to another.)--Everlasting Life, and shall not come into judgment (or condemnation, never be cast away), but hath (past tense) passed from death unto Life." St. John 5:24, Jesus said so. "I am the Bread of Life that come from God out of heaven. Your fathers eat manna in the wilderness and are dead, but he that eats My flesh and drinks My Blood hath Everlasting Life, and I'll raise him up at the last days." That's what He said.

33 Now, there's many that pretend to be in there. There's many that's warring themselves, and trying to live right, and trying to press in; I don't know about that. But if they are in there, it's just as easy to live a Christian life as it is to live any life, 'cause you're in Christ, and nothing else but just so full of the Holy Spirit leads you, and guides you and directs you. And, why, sure you'll make mistakes and fall, but you can't stay down, because no more than you could make a--a stalk of corn a--a sycamore tree... You can't do it. Jesus said, "By their fruits you shall know them." You have Everlasting Life.

34 One of the greatest curses on the church today is fear. Everybody's scared to death; it's "What's going to happen, who, what?"

Why, Jesus said, "Even when the fearful sights come, lift up your head and rejoice, for great... Your redemption's drawing nigh when these things happen."

36 Now, how He took the church through that journey, how back there, even in Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all them, look at the mistakes they had, but God was with them: a shadow. Look at Abraham for a minute.

I--I--I know I got a lot of Arminian listeners tonight, but I--I want--I want to clear this up, to you.

God told Abraham, by election and by grace, that, "I am going to bring you to Me in an old age." In other words, "I'm going to save you. I'm going to take you through. You're going to live a long life. You're going to have a child. Not... Being childless, Sarah... you go... And you're going to have a child. And in that child I am going to save the world." Now, before Abraham done one thing to merit it, but He just simply... God called him. That was all.

39 He was just a Chaldean down there in the city of Ur, come down in the valleys of Shinar from the tower of Babel from idol-worship. I think his daddy was an idol worshipper. And I think Laban, after he got down there, proved it, he had them idols. Where could he have got them, if he didn't come out of the tower of Babel? And out of Ham's people come Nimrod. Nimrod set up the tower of Babel, which was idol worship, the first idol worship on the earth.

40 Now, and watch that Babel tower come right on down, Babel, and right on down through there and end up over here in Revelations, a Christian religious idolatry, pretending to be Christianity. Oh, John seen her in Revelations 17, admired her, how she set, looked like, and wore the Name of Jesus and everything else, and yet persecuted and martyred the saints of the living God. The Angel said, "Come here, and I'll show you who she is." Said, "She's a great church that sets over many, on seven hills, and rules over the earth, and so forth, how she drank the blood of the martyrs of Christ." Oh, mercy.

41 People, we're living in the end time. How many of you people has heard years ago down here when they was going to have me arrested down here for preaching on that mark of the beast? When I said that Mussolini, when he first come in power twenty-some-odd years ago, I said, "If Mussolini ever goes towards Ethiopia, mark this down, there'll never be peace till Jesus Christ comes." And I said, "There'll be three great isms, Communism, Fascism, and Nazism." And I said, "They'll wind up in one ism, and that one ism will dominate the world and will burn the Vatican City." You remember me saying that years and years and years ago. And just exactly that way.

I said, "Just before that time comes, that automobiles..." Which was built that old straight back, twenty years ago or twenty-five years ago. You can remember twenty years anyhow. I said, "They'll look like an egg. They'll be shaped. That's a vision. Be something on the shape of something like that." And that's the way they'll be just before the rapture.

43 But God's just now loosening up the church everywhere, getting in order now so He can get into the rapture, got to give it rapturing faith before it can go in the rapture.

The people are in the spirit of the last days, just like they was in the days of Noah, eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, unconcerned, don't care, walk around, and anything else. And these American people is the worst on the face of the earth: heady, high-minded, incontinent, fierce, and despisers, a know-it-all. If there's any place in the world... With, my Bible over my heart, and God knowing that I--looking down on me and know I may have to stand before Him before morning... If I had to say so, the place needs missionaries worse than any place in the world is the U.S.A., the United States of America. The greatest bunch of heathens that I know of anywhere is in America. "Heathen" means "unbeliever."

45 Oh, they believe theology. They're so calloused and drug back till you can't speak to them in no way. I can take a man out there, never heard of God, worshipping an idol, and do more with him in five minutes than you can do with a fellow that professes to be a Christian, an old mossback something that's hung along and had a lot of this embalming fluid, and jerked into his veins. Puts me in the mind of one of them old cold morgues down here somewhere, like an undertaker establishment. That's right. Settle down down there, go in, put... I go in them old, big old churches, and it puts me in the mind of a--a morgue; the spiritual thermometer go a hundred below zero. You have to wade yourself in almost. I'm not saying it for a joke, but it's the truth. Some of them know no more about God, stand up there and say, "Well now, I'll tell you; oh, I believe it's all..." My, goodness. Why, you deceiver of man. You stay out of the Kingdom of God and teach others to stay out.

They put some fluid in, like taking a dead man to a morgue. They--they take all of his blood out and put something in there to be sure that he's dead. Well, that's about the way they do: take what little religion the people's got, or what little faith they got, and inject some old, and--and theology into them, and kills them worse, and keeps them dead. That's all. That's right. Terrible. My. And then they say, "Oh..."

46 I said to a woman, "Are you a Christian?"

She said, "I'll give you to understand; I'm an American."

I said, "That's not what I asked you."

Another one come up to the platform. Said--Brother Bosworth said, "Are you a Christian, lady?"

She said, "Why, the very... Well," she said, "I'll give you to understand; I burn a candle every night." Oh, my. Burn a candle every night, makes you a Christian? You could burn a whole world full; it'd never help you. Until the burning fire of the Holy Ghost has cleansed your soul from sin, you're still a sinner. It's in the heart.

"Well, I live in America." Well, that don't make any difference. That don't make you anything. God don't respect me because I'm an American. He doesn't respect a German because he's a German, or a--or a Poland because he's from Poland. He doesn't respect a African because he's from Africa. God's not interested in Africa, neither is He interested in Germany, or neither is He interested in the United States. God's interested in one Kingdom, and that's the Kingdom of God, and men from all nations come into It. And they're borned into It through the Seed of Abraham, which was Jesus Christ, and are heirs according to the promise.

49 Every nation under the heaven is dominated by Satan. The Bible said so. Boy, that put a choking thing, didn't it? Satan took Jesus Christ up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world. Is that right? And he said, "They're mine and I'll do with them what I wish to. And I'll give them to You if You'll fall down and worship me."

Jesus said, "Get thee hence, Satan." See? Jesus knew He was going to fall heir to them kingdoms.

51 Now, over in Revelations when the ending up of the world, the Bible said, "Rejoice, ye heavens, and all ye holy prophets, for the kingdoms of this world has become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He will rule and reign forever."

Daniel saw Him as a Rock hewed out of the mountain, rolled in and strike the image in the feet, and break it to pieces, and the Kingdom of God grew. When Christ takes over in the Millennium, there'll be no sickness, no sorrow. Every, all the arms will--will be beat into plowshares, and will study war no more. That's all. It'll all be over when Jesus comes. Until then, as long as Satan's dominating the nations, then there'll be wars and rumors of wars until Jesus comes. Amen.

53 God, help us. As I look at you and realize tonight, standing here teaching out of the Word of God, that you're eternity bound people... Every man and woman, boy and girl in here is going to stand in the Presence of Christ someday. I'll have to answer for what I said before you as His servant. And why would I shun to tell you the truth of God? God has so honored the Word that I have preached, till He swept it around the world, and honored It in the kings' palaces and everywhere, and not one time has He said anything but what it was just exactly the way He said it. Then surely He wouldn't let me tell something that was wrong. And I'm saying tonight my Christian friend, no matter what church you belong to, wherever you are, if you're not into the Kingdom of God by the baptism of the Holy Spirit bringing you into the Body of Christ, you press in now, for you don't know what hour He's coming.

54 Israel down there now in Egypt, type of the church being called out, Exodus the 1st chapter... Israel located in Egypt, after Joseph. Now, it gives me just exactly about around thirty minutes. I'll try to compile as much of it as I possibly can.

Now, they were located in Egypt because of the drought, Isaac going down and taking the patriarchs. And there they lived in Goshen. But Joseph, when he died (a beautiful illustration), he made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and made mention concerning his bones. Listen. If you'll excuse me, I'd like to drop...

55 You know, if you read the Word right like this here, it's all right, but you sure miss the meanings of It. The Word is written between the lines. Jesus said, "I've hid It from the eyes of the wise and prudent and revealed It to babes such as will learn." These theological seminaries are just like them priests was back there, and the high priest, and all of them that read the Word but failed to see Jesus being the Christ. See what I mean?

56 Now, look at those patriarchs. Why did old Jacob, when he died down there in--in Egypt, he said, "Don't you bury me here"? And he made Joseph put his hand upon that crippled thigh and swear by God that he would not bury his bones in there. Did you know that? Said, "Take me back to my homelands and bury me."

57 Look at Job back there setting, broke out full of boils, and he cursed the day he was born. The oldest book in the Bible is Job; it was written before Genesis. Watch him standing there, combing his--with a crock, setting out in the back on an ash heap. I preached on that here one time for about three months straight. Some people give me, write in, tell me, said, "Brother Bill, when you ever going to get Job off the ash heap?" And I--I... About him setting there... That great time of decision, something had to be done, that zero hour. But you know what happened when we got him off the ash heap, something happened.

58 That's the way we try to do these revivals. We get the attention of the people pointed to Christ, then hold these places till you can get a place you drive it in. That's the thing. That's Holy Spirit getting ready. Feel the Spirit moving amongst the people, and you know when the kill's ready.

59 Notice, there's Job setting there, distressed. His wife even turned against him, walked over, and said, "Job, why don't you curse God and die?"

He said, "Thou speakest like a foolish woman." He said, "The Lord gave, the Lord taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord."

Here come the church members down and set with their backs to him for seven days; what a consolation. Said, "Job, you're a secret sinner. You been sinning." Job knowed he hadn't sinned. Showed what they knowed about it.

62 So in the distress, a righteous man, God dealing with a saint, He sent a man by the name of Elihu. And Elihu didn't accuse him; only of accusing God. But Elihu told him, said, "Now, Job, you've watched all these things." He said, "Now, there's coming a Just One Who's going to stand in the breach between a sinful man and a holy God. And then will that man that they'll go to the grave to mourn for, and you perceive it not, then will he rise."

Then when Job heard that, he stood on his feet. My, the lightnings flashed, the thunders roared. What was it? The prophet got back into the channel of God again. My, his eyes come open. He said, "I know my Redeemer liveth."

Look, four thousand years before He come on the earth, "I know my Redeemer liveth (continuation), liveth. And at the last days (the last two thousand years), He will stand upon the earth. Though the skin worms destroys this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." There you are. When he got ready to die, said, "Bury me right over here in Palestine."

64 Along came Abraham with a promise. Sarah died. He buried her right near Job, bought a parcel of ground and buried her. When Abraham died, he slept by Sarah.

Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac died; he slept with Abraham.

Isaac begot Jacob. Jacob died way down in Egypt; he said, "Don't bury me down here. Swear that you won't bury me here. Take my bones and bury them up there with my father." Why, why? That's not written, brother, it's in between the lines.

Joseph, when he died, said, "Now, you put my bones here in a casket, but don't you bury me here. Don't you bury me down here. You take me up there and bury me, up in the promised land. Bury me up there." Why? Said, "God's going to visit you someday. I'm leaving my bones here to represent something."

67 Just as Joseph left his bones, so did Jesus leave an open tomb. Every old Hebrew, beat across the back, weary and worn, stagger by there, and all those Egyptians look over and see that little old casket... I was supposed to have looked at it here not long ago, a little old lead coffin, beat out thing. That's where his bones was supposed to have laid. They have it in a museum there, and I looked at it; he said, "That's where Joseph's bones laid when Moses picked them up and took them with him." And every Hebrew looking in there, would say, "Someday it's going to be changed down here. We're going out." The prophet that had the beautiful coat, the one that represented Christ in every way, as we had last night's lesson. He said... Because he's banked on what God told Abraham. There you are.

68 I'm still banking the same thing tonight: what God told Abraham, "I'll save you and your Seed." I believe it.

"Someday you're going out of here," and they believed it. And one day old Joseph's bones...

Moses started out, the Holy Spirit spoke to him, said, "You're forgetting something, Moses. Go down and get the--the bones of Joseph." Moses wrapped them up, and here he come, the Pillar of Fire leading him on to the promised land, and buried them by the side of Isaac and Jacob. Why? They knowed there was coming the firstfruits of them that slept. They knowed there was coming a resurrection one of them days. They knowed that Just One, that Job said, "I know my Redeemer liveth, and at the last day He stand upon the earth." And they knowed that Job had an idea where He was going to stand, so he said, "Bury me here." They wanted to be with Joseph, or with Job, and they buried right around there in Palestine, because that was the promised land. And they knowed the resurrection wasn't going to be in Egypt; it wasn't going to be in Europe; it wasn't going to be somewhere else. It was going to be in Palestine, so they buried them there.

72 Along came Jesus, they--the promised One. They done to Him what they said they would, and, oh, they killed Him. He died. His soul descended into hell, preached to the souls that are in prison, taken the keys of death and hell away from the devil, returned back on Easter morning. And as He come through paradise, He knocked at the door. Hallelujah. I can hear Him say, "Children."

Abraham say, "Who is That?"

"I'm your Seed, the Seed of Abraham."

Daniel said, "Who is That?"

"I'm the Stone that was cut out of the mountain."

There they are, the Old Testament saints laying there, waiting to be clothed upon in paradise. He opened up the door. Abraham said, "Are we going out?"

"It's almost daylight on earth. Let's get ready to go."

Abraham said, "Can we make a little whistle stop? I'd like to look the city over."

"Well, yes, I'm going to visit with My disciples for forty days." And on Easter morning He arose.

And Matthew 27 says that many of the bodies of the saints that slept in the dust of the earth, rose, and came out of the city, and appeared to many of them in the city.

I can see Sarah and Abraham coming down the street, saying, "Oh, honey, look there. They've changed these things a little bit. Look around here how this looks."

Somebody said, "Who is that couple there? It seems like they're strangers."

They say, "We're recognized." [Brother Branham snaps his finger--Ed.] Vanished out of their sight, like He went through the wall, you know, and they didn't even know or see Him come in. Went out. They had glorified bodies, and they appeared back on earth (Hallelujah.) for a firstfruits of the proof of God's power and the resurrection. There they was. Robbed and stripped principalities, and took death and hell, smothered it up, and rose up on Easter morning, and entered into the Kingdom with Him.

No wonder they said, "Bury me in Palestine." They knowed the resurrection was going to be in Palestine.

81 Therefore today, brother, you can have whatever you want to, all the old cold formal religion you want to, but bury me in Christ, for those that are in Christ will God bring with Him in the resurrection. Say whatever you want to, and call it fanaticism and whatever you want to do, but just let me stay in Him, for those that are in Him is coming out of the grave on the resurrection, for God shall bring them up. He promised to do it. Amen.

82 What difference does it make if you're getting old? Well, glory to God. What does that have anything to do with it: closer home. Amen. Oh, glory. Going to call me holy-roller anyhow; you might as well get started. All right. How wonderful. That's enough to make a holy-roller out of you. Why, how can I keep from being happy and know that's the truth? Why, sure I'm happy. And everybody that's got that hope is bubbling up.

83 I used to go to an old spring where I used to drink at. Junior, I used to go down there. I thought, when I was patrolling I'd go to this old spring. I said it was the happiest thing down there, below Milltown. I used to look at it, and I thought, "Well, well, what makes you so happy?" It--it just bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble all the time: best water I ever drank. I thought, "Well, what makes you so happy, because stock drinks from you?"

"No, Brother Bill, that ain't what it is."

"Well, what makes you bubbling all the time? Because that--that somebody comes down here, gets water at?"

"No, that ain't it."

"Well, maybe you just bubble because I drink at it."

"No."

I say, "Well, what you bubbling about?"

If he could talk, he'd say, "Brother Bill, it isn't me a-bubbling; It's something behind me pushing me, bubbling up."

86 And when the Holy Spirit comes into a human being, there's something, gushers, fountains of water that's bubbling up into Everlasting Life. How can you... Jesus told the woman at the well, "He that drinks this Water will have Everlasting Life. It'll be in him, fountains of Water, bubbling up into Everlasting Life," Hallelujah. (Let's go back to Exodus.)

Oh, my, think of it, Everlasting Life, after ten thousand million years has past, when these old seas, which over two thirds of this water of--of the earth is covered in water, a-sweeping through them great dashers out there, when they'd roll two or three times big as this tabernacle, burst into ships, falling one side, the other; some of these days, brother, they'll... Sin's heaped so high on the earth until they'll weep themselves in the deserts. When there's no more sea, no more moons, no more stars (Hallelujah.), I'll be living on. And every other born again men and women will be living in His majestic Presence yonder, made conformed in the image of His only begotten Son. By His grace are we saved.

No wonder the poet said that, "The love of God, how rich, how pure, how fathomless and strong! It shall forevermore endure, the saints and Angels song." How could we keep still? My.

"Is it proof, Brother Branham?" Yeah.

89 Now, Isaac, Jacob, and now Joseph. And Joseph died, what a perfect example that was, his bones left there for a memorial.

90 Here not long ago... I don't think Billy's in back there; I don't say this to him when he's around. We put a flower on his mother's grave, decoration morning. He was crying, standing there. And I said, "Billy, don't cry. Just shut your eyes; look across the sea yonder." I said, "Mother's laying there, and little sister's laying with her; but they're not there. There's an empty tomb across the sea yonder." Hallelujah.

91 That's where I look, just like the Hebrews looked, "Someday we're going out." And someday we're going out. I never hear that "ashes to ashes, or dust to dust, and earth to earth," but what I think, "Someday..."

92 The other day when I was preaching a funeral of an ex-sheriff here of the city. The boy just come to Christ a few hours before dying. I seen his old gray-headed daddy reach over the casket, with trembling lips, and the tears rolling down, kiss that boy good-bye, and almost fell into the casket. I heard that; I turned back. And he dropped the flowers. Turned back, and I said, "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, and earth to earth." I thought, "Some glorious day..."

Some golden daybreak Jesus will come!

That's right. All right.

93 When we going to get to the lesson? Way down in Egypt times had passed. (Pray for me.) And there, then, there finally rose up a Pharaoh who didn't know Joseph. Four hundred years God promised they'd be there, and they were four hundred and twenty years when they went out.

94 Now, 1st chapter, from the 1st unto the 5th chapter--5th verse, is Israel in Egypt.

And from the 7th verse on over to the 22nd verse deals with their bondage. Many of you has read it many, many times.

I'm going to come to a short point now, just got a--a little bit of time. Then we start in the 2nd chapter, the preparation of deliverance, the birth of Moses. The people begin to get ready. Taskmasters beating, children slain... The hour of the cogs of God's prophetic wheels had ground up to the time.

97 Listen, I want you to get this: I believe they've ground up to it again. I believe we're here. That's the reason I think things are going the way they are now. The old prophetic clock's ticked right up to nearly the zero hour. Preached on that sometime ago, and a German artist painted it; I've got it hanging in my house: a man in prayer, the Bible open, a little grease candle burning, and the clock five minutes till twelve, on an oil painting. Preparation, getting ready, God getting ready to do something. Now, watch.

98 When He got ready to do something, He gave a peculiar birth down in Egypt, to a little old boy, no more than any other boy. It was just a man of the tribe of Levi went took him a wife, was Levi, and they had a little baby. And they was killing all the little boy babies, but when this baby was born there was something strange about the baby; something happened: Predestination, foreordination. Moses didn't have nothing to do with that. But he was Moses, so they didn't fear the king's commandments. They put him in a little ark, and he was raised right up under Pharaoh's doorstep (Was that right?) to become even his son. All right, now.

99 Moses, from the 11th verse on down to the 25th verse is Moses identifying himself to the children of Israel. Many knows how it taken place there. He identified himself. And then when he did, he thought the brethren would understand that he was the man that was sent to--to bring them out from under the bondage, but they failed to understand. Is that right?

And, oh, people, how a beautiful type that is of today. The very Thing that's come to deliver the people, they are afraid of It. They're afraid of the Deliverer.

101 Listen, when they built the temple of Solomon, they, the... Any of you masons here now could get this pretty good. They brought the cedars down from Lebanon; they floated them in as far as Joppa, and hauled them by ox cart, and so forth, you know. Then they cut out all their stones all around the world. But when they come together, they were such perfect masonry, and in forty years in the building of the temple, there wasn't a buzz of a saw or a sound of a hammer. Every stone went, one was cut this a-way, one was cut that way, one was cut back this a-way, but every one of them went together. They started laying the thing, putting the building up, getting along fine. And they found a funny looking stone. They didn't want that thing, said, "That don't belong here." And they kicked it out, throwed it over in the weed pile. And come to find out, they built on and on and on, and, come to find out, the very stone they had rejected was the chief cornerstone. Jesus said so.

102 And today, the Methodists, the Baptists, the Lutheran, the Pentecostals, everywhere around, if you don't watch out, friends; the real Cornerstone, you're rejecting It, and the Cornerstone in the building of this spiritual house is the Holy Spirit. You're afraid of It. You're afraid of fanaticism. I know we got a lot of old scarecrows and mockery. Why, if there wasn't that, there wouldn't be a real One. But there's a genuine article of the Holy Spirit in the baptism. That's true. All right. And now they've rejected It, say, "Oh, we can't do that. Oh, well, we can't have That, Brother Branham."

103 I set there the other day, where a dean of a great college was setting in my house, and from Billy Graham's institution, Doctor Sanden, a bunch of them setting there. And they said, "Brother Branham, we'll tell you what's the matter." Said, "That's enough to convert the world." Said, "I tell you what's the matter," said, "you got too many Pentecostals and holy-rollers in your meeting. That's what the complaint is."

I said, "Will you sponsor it?"

"Well, of course, we'd have..."

"Yeah, I thought so. No, you wouldn't. Certainly, you wouldn't." That's exactly.

105 Them big churches can go ahead and have their theology, and their crow about this and crow about that, and stand off and look with their D.D.'s behind them, and things like that, and some of them know no more about God than a rabbit would know about putting on snowshoes. That's right. Oh, oh, certainly they know all the Greek words, and they know the--their education. God isn't known by theology or education. God's knowed by faith. Knowledge takes a man away from God; faith brings him to God. That's what separated him from God in the garden of Eden. He went to the tree of knowledge.

106 And the very baptism of the Holy Spirit that's brought Life to the people, the reason the Pentecostals and the holy-rollers, as you call them, receive me on the subject of Divine healing...

Oh, sure, kings and potentates, they hear about it; they say "come over here," the Lord, being merciful, heals them that's like that. That's true.

But all the rest of it, when you talk about Eternal Life, they belong to the Anglican church; they belong to this, that, the other; they belong to church. That don't have nothing to do with it. You belonging to church don't mean that [Brother Branham snaps his finger--Ed.] with God. Unless you're born again...

There's only one church, and that's them that are born into the Body of Jesus Christ, by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah. Let me tell you, my brother, there's only one way to get into Christ. That's not by shaking hands, neither by water baptism, by sprinkling, by stop eating meat, by keeping sabbath days, by quit smoking, chewing, drinking, swearing, all these things, that's not the way into Christ.

110 Smoking cigarettes, drinking whiskey, running around with the other--with women, unlawfully, and all these things that you do, that's not sin. There's nothing... That's not sin. Cussing, swearing, drinking, that's not sin; that's the attributes of sin. You're a sinner, what makes you do it; but that isn't sin; that's the attributes of it.

Just like now, this is going to hurt you. But I'm responsible with God's Word, willing to discuss It, any time. Here's where you Pentecostal people has made your mistake, many of you setting here, of teaching the initial evidence of the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues being the Holy Ghost. Why, speaking in tongues is all right, but that is an attribute. That isn't the Holy Ghost; that's what the Holy Ghost does.

The Holy Ghost is the love of God. I can prove it by the Bible. "Though I speak with tongue of men and Angels, and have not love, it profit me nothing."

If you want a apple tree, and just got an apple, you're a long ways from getting a tree. See, it's an attribute.

114 Sin, the reason you curse, smoke, drink, get angry and fly off of the handle, and things like that, is because you are a sinner. That's not sin; it's because you're a sinner. Jesus said, the Scripture says this, "He that believeth not is condemned already." If you believe, you don't do those things, because the Life of Christ is in you. And if you do do them, it's because that you are a sinner and you're not a believer. Though you profess to be, yet you're not. The tree's knowed by its fruit. Now, that... Let that soak just a minute while I read. That's right. That's what Jesus said, "The tree's knowed by the fruit it bears. A corrupt tree does not bring forth good fruit." All right.

115 Way down, here they come, time of deliverance. Moses was born, raised up by Pharaoh's doorstep, come out, hoped the children would realize that he was the guy to do it. But did they do it? No, sir. They said, "Who made you a ruler over us? Will you slay us as you did the Egyptian?" And Moses fled. All right. Moses, rejected of his brethren.

116 Beginning at the 21st verse of the 2nd chapter, we're going to stop just in a minute on this. I'm just trying to give you a background. We just got a few minutes left, maybe we have to finish up tomorrow night. Notice, he was rejected of his brethren, and he went out into the land of Midian and married a Gentile woman.

A perfect type of Christ, was Moses. Is that right? All those patriarchs were Jesus Christ living pre-lifes. Moses born under persecution, just as they was killing all the babies in the time of Moses. Jesus, when He came, they was killing all the babies to get Him. Is that right? The devil trying to catch Moses, the devil trying to catch Jesus... He was trying.

118 I can see Jesus when He went up, down there, knocked on the door down there in hell that morning. Hallelujah. (I don't know. It just ain't in me to teach, I guess, tonight.) When I can see Jesus when He died at Calvary, ascended, went down there, and seen all those people back in there, weeping and wailing, and carrying on, said, "You ought to have listened to the prophets." He preached to the souls that were in prison. "You had Enoch; you had the prophets; you had the laws; why didn't you listen to it?" They didn't. Close went the door.

Went down to hell, knocked at the door. Satan said, "Who's there?"

He said, "Come, open the door." Oh, my. I'm just giving drama, of course.

Walked up to the door, and pulled open the door, and said, "Who are you?"

Why, He said, "I'm Jesus Christ."

"Oh, so you finally got here, did you? Huh. I been after you for a long time, Boy."

"I know you have."

"Now, look. I thought I had you when I killed Abel. I thought I had you when I killed Moses. I thought I had you when I done all these things. When I got John the Baptist, I thought I had you sure. But now I got you; you're here in my possession."

I can hear Jesus Christ say, "I am the virgin born Son of God. I came from the ivory palaces of My Father, and I came to the earth. And on the earth is bathed this morning with My Blood that I gave and paid the price of death, sin, and hell. Give Me those keys." Hallelujah. "I'm taking over from here on. You've kept the people in bondage; you've kept them in fear and everything else; but I'll take over from this on." Hallelujah. Took them off and hung them on His Own side, pushed him back in hell, and walked away. Amen. Amen.

125 The Mighty Conqueror, since He rent the veil in two. Lo, behold Him in full view. The Mighty Conqueror rose up said, "I am He that was dead and is alive again; and I'm alive forevermore, and have the keys of death and hell." Hallelujah. "He that heareth My Words and believeth on Him that sent Me hath Everlasting Life. I've got the keys of the resurrection; I'll raise him up in the last day." That satisfies me. Amen. "I'm He." Amen. Oh, my.

126 Moses, rejected by his own brethren; Jesus was rejected by His Own brethren. Joseph was rejected by his own brethren; see Jesus living down in there, that Spirit of God coming out to perfection. And here is where It was perfection in this Man. That's right. He was in Moses, sure He was: rejected of his brothers, and was an alien in his own country, and took a Gentile wife. Hallelujah.

Two sons again. Amen. I'll get to that right at the end of these lessons, right about Saturday or Sunday, them two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Two sons again, that right?

128 Rejected by his brothers, like Jesus Christ was rejected of His brothers; sent the Holy Spirit, rejected of the brethren, and come over and now is getting a Gentile Bride. Giving it like Joseph; rejected by his brothers took a Gentile bride. Oh, my. Now, 2nd chapter.

129 The call of Moses, the burning bush. Oh, I wish we had time to go in that. We haven't. Just a few seconds now, then we'll--then we'll try. When you get tired, raise up your hand, and I'll--I'll quit, honest I will.

130 Look. Oh, brother, this is like corn-bread and beans; It sticks to your ribs. It'll hold you some way, you can go and do a good day's work for the Lord tomorrow, go out and meet the devil, say, "I know where I'm standing, not because a chill run down my back, because THUS SAITH THE LORD. Move off, Satan, I'm taking over now."

131 Now, we are the sons of God. Umm. When? Now. Tomorrow night? No, right now. Now, we are the sons of God. Now, we're seated together in heavenly places. Now, is the Holy Spirit here. When? Now. Now, we have Eternal Life. "Will you get in Eternal Life when you die, Brother Branham?" I have it now. I now possess it. How? Jesus Christ said so; THUS SAITH THE LORD.

So move away, death. Move away, Satan, you have no more bonds to me.

133 Old Paul. They was building a chopping block out there, said, "You know what that is, boy? Going to chop your head off."

"It is? I've fought a good fight. I've finished the course. I've kept the faith."

"Hey. What are you going to say before you die?" Death said, "Oh, you little hook-nosed Jew, I knowed you was beat with stripes, and let you down by... so forth, and they done this, that, or the other, but now I've got you." He looked. Old death said, "I will make you shiver and shake."

He said, "Death, where is your sting?"

The grave out there, and the mud (that Roman soldier throwed up some mud to pile him down in there), said, "I'll hold you."

Said, "O death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory? But thanks be to God."

The grave said, "I'll hold you. I'll mold you. I'll canker you. The worms will eat you up. Your bones will turn back to dust."

But Paul said, "Look at that empty tomb out yonder; I'm in Him. Hallelujah. I'll rise again on that morning and receive a crown that the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me. Not only them, but every one of them (even them in the Branham Tabernacle) that love His appearing." Amen. Sure.

The devil's nothing but a scarecrow, just scares you into something. He has no legal rights at all. He was stripped of every right, principalities. He spoiled everything when He died at Calvary. Here He is, coming down now.

141 Moses had fled, was out there on the backside of the desert, herding Jethro's sheep. My, forty years he'd been out there, and he had a couple of kids. Going on right out there... And his wife, little old... She was a high-tempered little thing, and Moses had some temper too; so I imagine they had a big time out on the backs of that desert. Don't you? God knows how to tame you down. Yes.

142 So one morning I see him with an old crooked stick, hobbling along, hanging on, eighty years old, and the white whiskers hanging down like this, and the hair hanging down. He looked over to one side, said, "That's a strange sight." Looked again, said, "Why don't that tree burn up?" Said, "I believe I'll just turn aside."

You know, sometime you hear a lot of noise; just turn aside, see what it is, and get saved. A lot of Fire, you know; yeah, It gets to burning, the Holy Ghost Fire gets to burning, people turn around and say, "What's the matter with that."

144 Now, Moses begin to draw up, say, "Wonder why that thing don't burn up? Been burning there for a half hour, it ain't burned it yet." Walked up and said, "Well, I'll just walk up and see what it's all about."

And a Voice spoke out of there, said, "Take off your shoes; the ground where you stand is holy ground." Now, It didn't say, "Take off..." Not, Moses said, "I'll take off my hat." He said, "Shoes." So he reached down and slipped off his shoes. Said, "Who are You, Lord?"

Said, "Moses." Now, this, begin at the 3rd chapter, goes down from the 1st verse, down to about the 12th.

Said, "Moses, I've heard the groans of My people, and I remember My promise. (Oh, hallelujah.) I remember My promise with Abraham. I've heard their cries and groaning. I've come down to deliver them." (Amen. Come down to keep His Word.)

147 Some of these days, the old graves yonder, tombstones setting sideways on grandma's grave, that don't make any difference. "I remember My promise; I've come down to deliver them." I don't care; let it come in a little while; it don't make any difference to me. Hallelujah. I know Who's guiding the ship. Don't you? Just set still.

"I've come down to deliver them."

"What are You going to do?"

"Moses, I'm going to send you."

"O Lord. Send me? I--I can't do it, Lord."

"Oh, yes. I've put you in this world for that purpose."

"Well, I'm eighty years old, and kind of stiff in my back, I may have arthritis. I'm a--not an eloquent man. I--I can't speak very well."

"Now, Who made the mouth of man?"

148 He said, "Lord, if You'll show me Your Glory, I'll go." Amen. [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] (Don't get scared, that word means "so be it," See?) "Show me Your Glory and I'll go." I like to see a little of that Shekinah Glory, don't you? Yes, sir. "Show me Your Glory, Lord. Now, what, what is Your Glory, Lord?"

"Moses, what is that in your hand?"

"It's a stick, Lord, an old crooked stick."

Said, "Throw it on the ground." Throwed it on the ground, turned to a serpent. He jumped back. Said, "Pick him up in the tail." He did, it turned back a stick. Said, "Now, Moses, what's that in your..." Said, "Take your hand, put it in your bosom." He did, over his heart, pulled it out, it was white with leprosy. See, means the conscience of man, the heart of man is white with leprosy, very thoughts of his mind is leprosy, sin. He put it back in his bosom and pulled it out again. What had to be done? When it come back out, it was white, cleaned off, just like a baby's hand, like the other hand.

He seen God's Glory. What is God's Glory, then? Miracles, signs, wonders, and Divine healing. "Show me Your Glory, Lord."

151 When He was ready to deliver His people, a Moses comes along, the Holy Spirit, and shows signs, wonders, and Divine healing. Amen. Right. Then he looked in his hand; he said, "My." And, watch, this was a judgment rod. That was the rod; we'll find out in tomorrow night's lesson on how that rod did wave over Egypt. That wasn't Mo... That was God's judgment rod. And the hand that holds God's judgment must be cleansed (Amen.), a cleansed hand from his leprosy. He picked it up, said, "Now, get on down in Egypt. Your brother's on the road up here, and he will be a prophet to you, and you'll be like God to him."

152 Here goes Moses, come over and said, "Jethro, I got to leave you today." Grabbed up an old mule and put a halter on him, like that, set his wife on astraddle this old mule, with a young'n on each hip, and here she went. Could you imagine that? An old man, eighty years old, whiskers, long beard and long hair, a crooked stick in his hand, lead an old donkey, with a woman setting on it, with two kids, going down to take over Egypt? Could you imagine a sight like that?

"Going down to do what, Moses?" Some of them.

153 "Here he goes." My, he was having a big time. "Come on, Zipporah." That's his wife, you know. Pulling the old donkey too, along. Said, "Come on, we're going down to Egypt, going down to take over." Egypt was like Russia. The biggest mechanized units, the greatest army in the world was in Egypt. They could--had the whole world whipped to the ground. And Moses was going down to take over. An old man with a stick in his hand, a wife setting on a mule with a kid on each hip (Here she was going.), they were going down to take over. Why? God had promised. Glory to God.

154 That's the same way at Kadesh-barnea. God had promised them. Joshua said, "We can do it because God said so."

There they are, going down to Egypt. And now watch how neglectful a man can get. In the end God met him down here in the end, and would've slayed him, and Zipporah went and took a sharp rock and circumcised her two children with a sharp rock, and throwed the foreskin before Moses, and said, "You're a bloody husband to me," only saved Moses life. What was Moses doing? Moses got in such a hustle and bustle of the day, till he was in such a--a place to go down there, he forgot the seal of circumcision.

156 And that's where we are doing today. That's where the holiness churches are failing. We've got so much time, the Lord has give us a lot of money, we're building great big churches, and big spires, and putting plush seats, and pipe organs, until we forgot the Seal of God, which is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. True. God, send us a--a Zipporah. That's right. Circumcision, every male in Egypt--of Israel, that wasn't circumcised, was cut off. And circumcision was the seal of the promise. And circumcision of the Old Testament is the baptism of the Holy Ghost of the New. And every man outside the baptism of the Holy Ghost will be cut off. There you are. God, be merciful.

157 I--I--I know I'm wearing you out, but I'm just having such a time. I... Well, maybe I have to stop. All right. Just start tomorrow night at the 4th verse then, the 4th chapter.

Jehovah, in the last part of the 4th here, 3rd, makes His Name known, "I AM THE I AM."

Said, "Who am I going to say sent me?"

Said, "I AM."

Said, "The people won't believe it."

Said, "Tell them I AM sent you. I AM." Not "I was; I will be." But, "I AM," that's present tense.

159 The Jews one day were standing there drinking water, and rejoicing, and talking about the manna they eat in the wilderness. And Jesus stood in the midst of the people (St. John 6) and cried and at the feast. And they said, "Why, our fathers eat manna in the wilderness."

And He said, "They're every one dead." He said, "But I am the Bread of Life that come from God out of heaven (the Tree of Life from the garden of Eden, if you wish.) I am the Bread of Life from the--from heaven. And if a man eats this Bread and drinks this Blood, drinks My Blood and eats My flesh, has Everlasting Life, and I'll raise him up at the last day."

161 They said, "This Man blasphemeth. How is He going to give us His body to eat?" He said, "Well, now, we know. We believe Moses. Moses is our--is our prophet. We believe Moses. And our fathers was fed in the wilderness for forty years with manna."

He said, "I know that." He said, "I know that. But every one of them is dead." He said, "But I am the Bread of Life."

"Why, they said, "Well, you mean to tell me that..."

He was the Rock that was in the wilderness. He was the Manna that was in the wilderness. He was the Shewbread in the temple. Oh, He was the Waters in Jordan. Glory. He was the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending. It was He that Was, Which Is, and Shall Come. He was before there was a world; He will be when there is no world; the Root and Offspring of David, the Morning Star, the Lily of the Valley, and the Rose of Sharon (Hallelujah.), both Root and Offspring of David (Hallelujah); before David, in David, and after David. Glory.

I believe in the Deity of Jesus Christ. He was more than a Prophet. He was more than a good Man. He was God inveiled in flesh: God in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. That's Who He was. We'll get into that in a few nights, Who He was. That's the reason you can't have faith, 'cause you don't know Who He was.

164 "Why," they said, "You say that you saw Abraham, and you're not fifty years old yet." The Man wasn't but thirty. He was weary, and His services had drawed Him down. He said, "You're not a man over fifty years old, and you say you've seen Abraham who's been dead for eight or nine hundred years?"

Listen. He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM. (Hallelujah.) I am Jehovah." He's Jehovah-manasses. He's Jehovah-rapha. He's, oh, and all the redemptive Names of Jehovah was in Him, and in Him dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily; there He is.

166 "I've come down to deliver them. I'm declaring My Name. Tell them that'll be a memorial through all generations, that I AM THE I AM. Not the 'I was' or 'I will be.' I AM."

The same God was there that night is here tonight.

"Now, I'm going before you. I'm going to send My Angel, and He's going to be in a Pillar of Fire. And I'm going to send Him before you now, as a Pillar of Fire, and He will lead you." A Pillar of Fire, so big, like a pillar. "A Pillar of Fire shall go before you, to lead you. The I AM will be in that Pillar of Fire."

168 Now, to the Branham Tabernacle, and to you who are associated and know these truths. Did you know that same Pillar of Fire is with us tonight? You remember having His picture taken down yonder, and how It's swept across the world now, the same Pillar of Fire that followed Moses back there in the burning bush. What is it? Any scholar here daresn't... If I have been slopping along here with these words and things, I do know where I'm standing. I got my head screwed on right, I believe, by the Holy Spirit. Let me tell you, any scholar here knows that that Angel Who followed the children of Israel through the wilderness was the Angel of the Covenant. And the Angel of the Covenant was Jesus Christ. Moses esteemed the riches of Christ greater treasures than all of Egypt. Is that right? Sure, the Angel of the Covenant. Then what is It here with us? They may say we got, lost our mind, we're this, that, or the other, a bunch of holy-rollers, or something. Maybe they might say it. But God Himself has a-vindicated Himself in the same Pillar of Fire that led the children of Israel, is leading us right on today. Hallelujah. Glory to God. The same One was with Jesus Christ back yonder when He stood and He said to them Pharisees, they was standing there, told the woman at the well where her secret sins was, and so forth. It's operating in our midst now. "He that Was, Which Is, and Will Come." Hallelujah. I'm looking for Him, are you? Glory to God. Hallelujah. All the guessing is gone. Oh, my.

169 When I survey the wondrous cross where on the Prince of Glory died, all my fame I count but loss. Oh, wretched, oh, my sinner friend, how can you stand to see that great church yonder in its foreshadows, heaping up with that Pillar of Fire to lead them, and look right back here right today? How many's got the picture, let's see your hand. How many would like to have the picture, let's see your hands raise up. I'll have them tomorrow night, here to show you. All right. There it is, a-vindicated.

171 Thirty thousand people, critics standing there, I said, "I don't claim to be a healer. You know I don't. I only speak of the truth. When I was born in a little Kentucky cabin up there, the Angel of the Lord come in the window and stood there. There was a Pillar of Fire." And I said, "God has proved that. And if I tell the truth, God will a-vindicate the truth. And if I'm a liar, God will have nothing to do with me." And about that time, she went "Whoosh," here He come. The American Photographer Association, all them there, "Look," "Life," "Times," "Collier," and all of them. The American Photographer Association shot the picture of It. Said, "I believe it's psychology. We've seen It before, but I believe..." And they took it home. And there the Light struck the lens. They took it to George J. Lacy. They put it under everything they could. And now it hangs in Washington, DC, in the hall of fame. Hallelujah. What is it? Jesus Christ with that bunch that they call holy-rollers. God bless your heart.

172 Every famous picture that's ever painted, first had to go through the hall of critics. But when they painted the Last Supper there, it went through the hall of critics. Why, they criticized. It cost him his lifetime, but now it hangs in the hall of fame. It has to go through the hall of critics.

Brother, sister, when we started in this, what they call this Holy Ghost religion, way back yonder years ago, we had to get in little old stables, somebody's house, a little storefront somewhere. And they stood on the outside, the sinners, chewed chewing gum, laughed and made fun, called us holy-rollers. And we slept in jail and everything else. That's right. They've been beat; they've been made fun of.

174 A little old preacher set in my house the other day, that they turned him out of a city, and him and his wife to feed his babies... They'd sleep out in on blankets, wet blankets, and hang them up in the trees, let them dry out of a morning. And they'd go down the railroad track, picking up a grain of corn at a time. Had a little old skillet; they beat it up with a rock. And they'd live for twelve or fourteen days at a time on beat corn.

My little old manager, God bless his heart, old Brother Bosworth, laying yonder in Durban, Africa, tonight praying for me to come there, laid yonder in Texas, with his back beat into stripes when they threatened to cut his throat and everything else. When he walked with a broken wrist trying to pack his suitcase, beat for preaching the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

"Wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, and destitute, and in desert places, of whom the world is not worthy to receive."

177 The big churches made fun and pointed their fingers. They said we were holy-rollers. When I built the--I laid the cornerstone there, they said they'll turn that little old thing into a garage. It's been twenty years ago, and the Holy Ghost still lives here. Hallelujah. That's right. And what they said was fanaticism and everything, kings and monarchs across the world has called. Great men has been healed, the powers of God has swept the world around, till now we stand millions strong. Hallelujah. And one of these mornings... She's went through the critics. They said it would burn out. They said to me down here, said, "Oh, Billy, you lost your mind. That's all there is to it." Even my own mother-in-law said, "Why, the boy's gone crazy." But if I am, I'm having a wonderful time.

178 Let me tell you something, brother. Listen to this, and I say this with respect. Hallelujah. All hell can't stop it. It's ordained of Jesus Christ to be so, and it will be. "For upon this rock I'll build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." How, what is it, what kind of a church? "Flesh and blood has not revealed it to thee, Peter. But My Father which is in heaven has revealed it to you (Spiritual revelation by the Holy Ghost, of the Word of God). On this rock I'll build My church, and the gates of hell can't prevail against it." She's moving on.

179 Now, brother, being she's been made fun of, and persecuted, and pushed back, and everything, one of these glorious mornings (Hallelujah.), the Great Master Who stands in glory, pointing out His servants... "Not by power, not by might, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord." Not by theology, not by grammar, not by these other things, but by simple, holy, unadulterated faith in the Son of God and what He said in His Word...

He's painting a picture. He's painting a picture. What is it? A Holy Ghost filled church that He foreordained before the beginning of the world to appear yonder in His glory. And some of these mornings He will sweep down through from the heavens (Hallelujah.), like a great magnet, and He will pick up that little church that's been persecuted, hang her yonder in the hall of fame, when She goes to the sky, shouting:

This robe of flesh I'll drop, and rise,

And seize the everlasting prize.

Shout while passing through the air,

Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer.

Amen.

180 Heavenly Father, we thank Thee tonight. Don't know what's the matter, just couldn't get into this lesson somehow, the Holy Spirit moving, bursting out, moving over. Oh, we thank Thee, thank Thee from the depths of our heart for Your love and power. Thank You, Lord, thank You for a humble people who in this great dark age down here, in this great time of self-satisfying, oh, haughty, high-minded, and lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, the Spirit speaks expressingly that in the latter times these things would be. II Timothy 3, in Your Word said they'd be "Heady, high-minded," know more than somebody else, "high-minded, incontinent, fierce, and despisers of those that are good, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away."

181 God, You spoke in that day that You'd have a little church, said, "Fear not, little flock, it's your Father's good will to give you the Kingdom."

Thank You, Lord, for ever opening my poor eyes, me, a poor blinded wretch out yonder in sin, borned in a sinful family, and reared up over a whiskey barrel. Oh, but, God, how You protected and helped, and blessed, and satisfied. How can I ever express my feelings to You, Lord. O God, just let this be just the beginning, Lord, that I can go again to the corners of the worlds everywhere, proclaiming the Message of deliverance and salvation.

183 God, shake this little old church like never before. May the Holy Ghost get a hold of every person here, cause them to fast and pray, and lay on their face day and night, screaming out, Lord, until the old fashion revival breaks out here, Lord, and sweeps all out through here and sends in an old fashion time that'll bring men and women back to God. Grant it, Father, for we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen. Amen. (Shall we stand.)

Oh, I want to see Him, look upon His face,

There to sing forever of His saving grace;

On the streets of Glory let me lift my voice;

Cares all past, home at last, ever to rejoice.

184 Hallelujah. I look down along here; I remember an old man that used to set there when I'd be preaching them messages, crying, wipe the tears out of his eyes, and put his arms around me.

Some bright day I will go and see him.

I look over there and see another one who set yonder, and old Sister Webber. I remember those different ones, and Sister Snelling that used to sing in the choir, little old redheaded Brother George set back there, where they at? Hallelujah. They're carried away yonder in the bosom (Hallelujah.), sealed in the Kingdom of God. I watched them when they went. I seen little Brother George going there; he kept looking through the door and going [Brother Branham makes a panting sound--Ed.] and said, "Where is... What's going on?" (Prayed for his little nephew tonight; he was sick.) And then he would look down there, and they kept... They said, "He's watching for Brother Bill." He wasn't watching for me. First thing you know he turned his head over to the east; he said, "O Jesus, I knew You would come after me." Reached out his hands and died, went out to meet God... Hallelujah. Oh, my. Let's go home. You love Him?

185 I wonder if there's a man or woman in here, say, "I'd like to know Him in the fulness of His power of His resurrection..." raise your hand. God bless you, lady. God bless you. God bless you. You wonder why I'm waiting on this altar call? I have a reason for it. All right, raise your hand. "I'd like to know Him in the power of His resurrection."

186 But... how... resurrected power, brother, I don't mean something you have to dig and pull and try. I mean just throw yourself loose and God's done packed you away yonder somewhere, where it's just such a pleasure to live for Him. There's nothing in the... Why, the other things is just as dead as--as twelve o'clock. See? Nothing, no desire at all, no condemnation to them that's in Christ Jesus... My. Those old things of the world, you don't have to quit them, you don't; there ain't nothing to quit; it just quits you. You just... It's simply it's not there no more; it just goes away. Amen. How many loves the Lord, say "Amen." [Congregation says "Amen"--Ed.] Say it real loud. [Brother Branham and congregation shout together--Ed.] Amen! All right.

Take the Name of Jesus with you,

Child... (Turn around and shake hands now)... and of woe;...(Shake hands with somebody near you, say, "I'm glad to meet you here in the Tabernacle," then straighten up again.)

.. you,

Take It everywhere you go,

Precious Name, O how sweet!

Hope of earth and joy of heaven;

Precious Name, O how sweet!

Hope of earth and joy of heaven.

Now, real quietly, listen.

At the Name of Jesus bowing,

Falling prostrate at His feet,

King of kings in heaven we'll crown Him,

When our journey is complete,

Precious Name (precious Name), O how sweet! (Isn't It sweet? Everything in heaven, named It, everything on earth, named It, Jesus.)... heaven;

Precious Name (precious Name), O how sweet!

Hope of earth and joy of heaven.

189 Now, shall we bow our heads. The Great Teacher Who set upon the mount one day, and You said, "After this manner you shall all pray."

[Brother Branham and congregation pray, Matthew 6:9-13--Ed.]:

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thine will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us of our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Good night. The Lord bless you.

At the Name of Jesus...