Revelation, Chapter Four #2

1So glad to be in again this morning. I was just thinking of how that this snow... Now, and if we were in Colorado, this snow would be real soft and fluffy, and be about forty below zero. And you could [Brother Branham exhales--Ed.] blow like that, and go plumb down to the dust. And it'd be like that all winter long. But now, as here, in this off... kind of a twixt, between zone, now it gets real wet and sloshy and bad, and--and it just looks like that I--I wish I could just fly away, over in Arizona, and wait till the spring come and then come back.

That's how we all have colds, the germs and things now just lay on the ground and it'll freeze and then thaw, and then freeze and then thaw. And that comes up and we breathe that in, and get sore throats, headaches, and aches and pains. And, my, my, what a time, what a place.

But there's a land beyond the river,

That they call that sweet forever,

And we only reach that shore by faith decree;

One by one we gain that portal,

There to dwell with the immortal,

Someday they'll ring those golden bells for you and me.

That's where we go Home to stay then, isn't it? That's the day we're looking for.

4Now, last night I certainly enjoyed those wonderful sermons and things that I heard from my brethren. Where's Pat Tyler, is he in this morning? Pat, oh, I didn't see you sitting right there big as life and twice as natural. And--and I--I didn't see you sitting there. First time I ever had Pat... heard Pat speak. I certainly enjoyed that, I'm sure we all did.

And then the little brother that give that fiery testimony of a sermon here that really did sound like a machine gun firing. Some brother, I met him, from Ohio. Is he here this morning? Somewhere here? Brother Neville remarked about him being so rapidly firing.

Then Brother J. T. Parnell. And--and I think they never did get to Brother Beeler. And is he, Brother Parnell here? Brother Parnell, Brother Beeler? I'm not sure, I thought I seen Brother Beeler.

7These lights, this is a... When they build the new tabernacle, I hope that they fix the thing different, a little different. This is our first one, experimental. And so we ever get a new one, why, we want it a little different from this; you can't see; I like for a tabernacle to be built kind of slanting down like this, the audience. You're looking right straight into your audience all the time. And then especially in the discernment meetings, you can just go right around. See, pick them right around like this, right back and forth. And then, even if you have to have a small balcony to come out, it's better.

8Brother Littlefield, if Billy's here, called me last night and he's sending the descriptions of that tabernacle I dedicated there, which the architects... Brother Wood, it cost, I believe, five hundred dollars just for the architect to draw it up. And he--he's sending that with the price and everything of all the material and every two-by-four and so-by-so that goes in it. And he's sending it to us, and wants to come; and said he'll go to the lumber people and so forth and see if he can't get them to make a--a cut like they did on his. Very beautiful tabernacle, not very big, but it's a beautiful structure.

So I told him, I said, "I--I will give that to the trustees and deacons as soon as you send to Billy and--and then we'll let them see what the appropriation of how much they have to have to start their building."

He said, "When you do, I'm coming, put on a pair of overalls and just stay right with you during that time." Brother Littlefield is such a graceful man, gracious man, very fine.

11Now, are you all feeling right up to it, to start the New Year now? Amen! Go right out in the New Year. We want to start it off right, serving the Lord. How many got up this morning and thanked Him for the old year and what all it meant, and asked Him, "Forget the back"? So, we did at the bedside when we got up, and then come in to the table and where usually a little family altar, they gather around the table and pray.

And so we always try to make it a habit of praying of a night before we go to bed. I have, that, since I was first converted. Get up of a morning, and it's too dark and too misty for me to walk, I--I don't know where I'm going. But if I just ask Him to take my hand and guide me through the day.

13Then I remember, right across the street here, when I was just a young man, Billy Paul was about three years old, or four, and we lived just across the street. And one night he wanted a drink of water, and it was out in the kitchen, the dipper in the bucket. And I said... Oh, I was so tired, I had worked hard all day and preached half the night. And--and he said, "Daddy, I--I want a drink."

And I said, "Billy, just go right into the kitchen there, it's on the little table." I said...

He got up, rubbed his eyes, and looked through there, he said, "Daddy, I'm afraid to go." See?

And I said, "Well, that's... it's all right." I said, "Just run on, honey, and get a drink. Daddy's so tired." Just a little distance, about to that window.

And he--he said, "But I'm afraid to go, daddy." See?

18Well, I got up with the little fellow. And reached over and got a hold of my hand, and it was a good thing; we hadn't walked four or five steps till he hit a rug where Meda had waxed the floor, and on a piece of linoleum, and you know how that is. And he just made a scoot, but I had his hand, and then he just squeezed me that much tighter. And then I stood there a little bit, and I thought, "God, that's right." See? "I don't want to make one step without You hold my hand, 'cause I don't know when I'm going to slide." You see? "And as long as I can feel Your big, powerful hand grip mine, I know You'll hold me up in the times of my... " See?

19So I try to make a habit of that, to--to keep my hand in His. And sometimes I've done things that seemed ridiculous in my own sight, such things that seem so unnatural to the human mind; but if we just let it alone, I find out it was the only thing that could be done to be right.

You know, the things that don't look right here, if God leads you into them, they'll be right out here somewhere, you see, 'cause He knows how to lead. So, seeing that He is our all-sufficient grace, and all that we have need of or care for is in Him, then let's lay aside everything else besides Him and hold to God's unchanging hand.

21We used to sing a song here, I haven't heard it sang in a long time. Now, I can't sing and there's... I don't think there's any strangers with us. So I... That's the reason I try these little songs, you know, 'cause I just love it. And Gene, if you let this go through that tape out in the public... Used to sing a little song here:

Time is filled with swift translations.

Naught on earth unmoved can stand.

Build your hopes on things Eternal,

Hold to God's unchanging hand!

How many you ever heard the song? Oh, I love it, don't you? Let's try a verse of it:

Hold to God's unchanging hand!

Hold to God's unchanging hand!

Build your hopes on things Eternal,

Hold to God's unchanging hand!

Let's try a verse:

When our journey is completed,

And to God we have been true,

Fair and bright your home in Glory,

Your enraptured soul shall view!

Hold to God's unchanging hand!

Hold to God's unchanging hand!

Build your hopes on things Eternal,

Hold to God's unchanging hand!

Let's stand now just a minute for prayer, if you will, while we raise one of our hands to God and sing that again:

Hold to God's unchanging hand!

Hold to God's unchanging hand!

Build your hopes on things Eternal,

Hold to God's unchanging hand!

[Brother Branham hums--Ed.]

[Brother Branham hums--Ed.]

.. -vet not this world's vain riches,

That so rapidly decay,

Build your hopes on things Eternal,

They will never pass away!

25Heavenly Father, as we stand, Lord, we just love to sing those old songs, they go way down deep into the inner parts of our heart and bring out the expression of our love to Thee, the living God. And as we raised our hands, Lord, this morning, it was a little memorial that "Hold our hands, Lord." As I was telling about Billy Paul, how that he gripped onto my hand, he would have fell if it hadn't been I was holding him. And, O God, how many times would have we have fallen if You hadn't have held our hand! Thinking how that he, with no mother, as a little baby... and how that... how down through life, that the roads that he had taken, would have been killed long ago, but there was a great Hand that could reach out where mine couldn't reach, and take a hold. Now, we're so grateful for that.

So glad to know, Lord, that when we feel our soul separating from this body, that there's still a hand that we could reach out and take a hold of, will guide us over the river. We thank Thee for these things, this assurance, this blessful assurance that we have, a Anchor of the soul, that keeps us steady while we're walking over this journey or sailing life's solemn main.

And we pray, Father, that as the poet said, "The forlorn, and a shipwrecked brother, seeing our steadiness (on keel), seeing it, shall take heart again, or take courage again and try again"; know that the all-sufficient God, if we stumble or fall, His great hand is there to help us. His grace is sufficient.

28Now we pray, God, that we will, this morning, start the New Year off in hymns and singing and rejoicing, and knowing that God will guide us down through life's journey and over the river of death, into that promised Land. Our eyes look beyond Jordan's swelling streams this morning, to where the fields of--of clover and the fields of evergreen is growing, and we pray, God, that our souls will catch that vision and never let it loose. Someday when we have to come down to that stream where she crosses, that, like Elijah of old, the Robe of God will smite death's streams and we'll walk over without a fear. Grant it, Lord.

Help us as we approach Thy Word. O Lord, I pray that Your Holy Spirit will anoint these Word. We are certainly insufficient to teach them, not being a teacher. We know that the only way that we'll be able to know It is for that great master Teacher to come and take His--His place of abode in our hearts, and--and overpower our minds in such a way (and our thoughts) till we'll... He'll interpret the Holy Scriptures to us. We're solemnly depending on that. And think of it, God.

30Oh, how wonderful that a living Father like that, that was from... that's the very birth of Eternity, that would come down to a mortal beings and help us, and would bring His Word and give It in our mouths and hearts and ears that we might hear It and live, to redeem us from a curse that we had nothing to do with it coming, Father, because it was done by the human race and we're the offsprings of that--that first couple. "And we're born in sin, shaped in iniquity." But a just and living God knows that we had nothing to do with that, but has made a way of escape and give us the privilege of coming. How glad we are we've come to Father's House!

31We pray now, that You'll bless our church here, Brother Neville, our--our gallant pastor, Your humble servant. We pray for our deacons and our trustees, that You'll give them the greatest year that they've had. Grant it, Lord. Give them long life. Strengthen them, Lord, they're Your servants. May they always stay gallant at the post of duty. Bless the laity, the--the members, Your dear beloved children that comes to this house. God, we claim the soul of every one of them that crosses the threshold of this house. We claim it for You, Lord. Help us to be such ministers that will bring the Word so simple and so true, by the Holy Spirit, that they'll long to be like You, Lord. Grant it. Heal the sick and afflicted that comes in. And all around the world, grant it in every house of God.

Finally, when You're finished, Lord, may we enter into Thy portals, sit down at the welcome table of God, and eat and live together through ceaseless ages. Until then, may we have health and strength, happiness, joy, power and might, and the blessings of the Holy Spirit to guide us. We ask in Jesus' Name. Amen. May be seated.

33I appreciate that fine musical this morning. That... I just got in, in time, talking to my good friend, Brother Skaggs, and--and Brother Gene back there, and another brother at the door; till I just got to hear part of it, but it was coming in on the recorder very beautiful.

34How you all enjoying the Revelation? All right? I believe a whole lot like my little girl, Sarah, back there, it's become "revolutions" to me, it's just--it's just revolutions going over and over. You know, I wish we just had now until about March or April, just to put a great big canvas across the back here and just come down in daytime and draw out those pictures and the whole chart, and just raise them up and down like window shades, you know, like I've always dreamed sometime of having a great big tabernacle somewhere where I could reach down and pull this chart down, come all the way across the platform; and revelations and the interpretations the Lord has given me, and take a pointer and start through there and bring these ages down. Then when we get through with that, raise that one up, pull the other one down like this and start on that, and teach it through. Oh, that would just be like a little heaven, wouldn't it? Just sit the complete winter through, just sit it out with the Lord.

So good to be alone with Him! You know, we used to sing a song, "There are times I like to be all alone with Christ my Lord, I can tell Him all my troubles all alone." See, that's the way to get. They used to sing, Roy Davis, used to sing a little song, Steal Away and Pray with Jesus. Everything just points... everything you can look at always falls right back in the line of Jesus Christ, doesn't it?

36Now, on the church ages that we talked of, last eight days in the meeting... Then last night I think we got to the 2nd verse of the 4th chapter of the Revelation. And I suppose all of you were here last night to--to get it. And so I... maybe if I get down a verse or two of it this morning, and... Or how far the Lord will lead, I don't know. I've got down to about the 6th or 7th verse here, just little context wrote down where I can go back in the different parts of the Scriptures and pull out those things, and where I studied yesterday.

37And now, we find out, we left off last night, I believe, at the 2nd verse, beginning on the 3rd, I think it was. And we just left off with "The Voice of the Trumpet." Wasn't that right, "The sounding of the Voice"? Let me read it all so we get back now:

After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it was of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things... must be hereafter.

And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

And he that sat on the throne... he that sat was to look upon like... jasper and... sardine stone: and there was a rainbow around about the throne, in the likeness of an emerald.

38Now, this beautiful, oh, beautiful lesson! And this morning, just before I was coming down, I got down here into the 6th verse, I thought, "Oh, my, I can't get apast that, because here's something in this 6th verse I want all the peoples to hear real well, when we get to these beasts." The different definitions of these beasts here, looking back into the original, one is a one kind of a beast, and the other four beasts is another. One is a animal's, in the Greek, like "wild animal." This other one is not translated right in the King James, for it isn't beasts, it's "living Creatures." And how those Creatures, what they were, it wasn't human neither was it Angel. So it's "living Creatures," and how they had four faces and four... Oh, my, we bring that right down to the Gospel, and bring it right back and placing it today just as perfect as it here. And, remember, four is an earthly number. See? And it's just a beautiful lesson there, and so I--I'm pretty sure we won't get down into that; maybe we will. But it's so wonderful!

39Then, the Lord willing, then if we're around, maybe next Sunday we may try that again; try, down, see if we can finish up this 4th chapter before we get away. We don't know exactly yet where the first start will be.

Now, we find that after, "After these things." After meant that "After the church ages had ceased."

Then John was summonsed to come up higher, "come up hither," which means "come up here." He showed him all that was going to happen in the world of the--the Church age. Then after the church ages was over, we find then that John was a type of every true believer that will be summonsed by Christ on High. That right? Summonsed, "Come up hither."

And we find out that the Voice that spoke to him was the Voice of a trumpet, clear, distinctly, and it was the same Voice that spoke to him here on earth. See, as long as He was in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, He was speaking to... or from. Oh, I like that, "speaking from the candlesticks." See, He was in the candlesticks, speaking from them to His Church. Then when the church age had ceased, He left the earth and moved up into the Heavens and He called His Redeemed up with Him. Oh, isn't that beautiful? I--I... Oh, it just makes my heart jump.

43And remember, as we bring these things, I want especially young converts like Sister Ina here, or, and Ina, rather, and her husband, and Rodney and--and his wife, and Charlie and them, to understand that these things, and many of you young people that just come into the Lord, that hasn't went very far down the line yet, just tasted Him and seen that He's good and gracious. Now, notice this, that these things that we're speaking, what we're trying to do is settle your faith, that when God says anything it's got to happen. It just simply won't fail! No matter... It may look like it's a million miles... and never can happen, but God will move it right around and make it happen. And He does that to test you.

44Look what He said to Abraham. "Take your son up here on top the hill and kill him," after he had waited for him for twenty-five years. And He said, "Take him up here and kill him." And how's... ? "I'm going to make you a father of nations."

And Abraham, a hundred years old; his wife, ninety; and their only child... Abraham was about a hundred and fifteen then. So he said, "How's he going to be, how--how can it be? If me, an old man, as old as I am, and waited for twenty-five years... You give me the promise at seventy-five, and here I am a hundred. And Sarah was sixty-five, and now she's ninety. How? After we've had this baby... And You told me way back there, twenty-five years ago when I was seventy-five years old, I was 'going to have the baby' after living with Sarah all these years, I was sterile and she was unfertile. So then how? Yet, You made me fertile and made her fertile, and then come along and give us this baby. And we've raised him up here to fifteen years old, and through this child You said You'd 'Bless the Gentiles and every nation in the world,' and make me a father even of the Gentiles, make me a father. Then in the ages that is to come, Lord, that You'd make me a father of every nation under the heavens through this child. And through this child there'd come a Redeemer, and through that Redeemer would redeem the whole human race. How You going to do it, Lord?" That wasn't Abraham's thought, that wasn't Abraham's question. Obedience! Didn't say, "How You going to do it?"

"It's none of my business. You said it, so I know Your Word's right, if You can keep Your Word for me and can show me that when I was seventy-five years old; when you called me and said, 'Separate yourself and journey into a strange land,' I've been in this land for twenty-five years. Left, an old man, living with a wife that I've lived with since she was a girl," she my half sister. "And then I li-... all this time. And You give me this baby that You promised; I received him as one from the dead. And if you say 'kill him,' You're able to raise him up from the dead again." Oh, my! That's the way, that's it. And He did.

47And as soon as he obeyed God in fulness, raked Isaac's hair from his face, pulled out the lance to kill the... his own son, his only begotten son. God was showing a pattern, showing us. What did He do that for? He didn't have to. But He did it so that you and I, that we might look upon these things in this dark dreadful day where men's hearts are so filled with evil, that we might know that God keeps His promise. No matter how insufficient it seems to be, how impossible it might be, God still remains God and He keeps every promise that He made.

48That's what I'm trying to say to you when we stand here in a healing service. Stand here, you say, "I'm sick." And you... That's no doubt, you are sick. But God keeps His promise! Then He'll come down. Now, see, He made an atonement here that He--that He would heal you. That's what He's done. Now, the only thing He asks you to do is believe that, hold to it just like Abraham did.

"Well, the doctor says I'll--I'll live one more day."

I don't care. That's fine, that's all the man knows, that's the best that he knows. How was Abraham going to receive this child after already laying him up here, and the Word of God told him to "go kill the boy"? How's he going to do it? That's not the question. God said do it and that settles it. "How am I going to get well and the doctor says that I can't get well?" I... that's not my... me to question; it's take God's Word. And as soon as that's revealed to you that you're going to be well, then you--you just remember you're going to be well. There is nothing can keep you from it. That's right. See?

51So when Abraham fully in obedience... How's He going to do it? The last moment, last five minutes come, the last three minutes, last two minutes, last one minute, last thirty seconds, last second come, when the hand was already up to take the boy's life, God said, "Stop it right there. Stop it right there, see. I see that you really trust Me. Now, I just done this, Abraham, to show the Branham Tabernacle in days to come, see, of what's going on, that they must trust Me. They mustn't doubt Me at all. Trust Me!"

Just about that time, he... Here was a sacrifice, he never made it in vain. No, he never did it in vain, for just then a--a lamb bleated, a little ram had been hooked in the wilderness there by the horns. And how many times we've went through that. How did that ram get there? How, through all them wild animals? A hundred miles from civilization, amongst lions, jackals, wolves, every kind of a wild animal back in there, way up on top of the mountain where there's no water nor grass, what was it doing there? God created it, just placed it there.

53And to see Him in our days that we're living in! Now, this morning I'm going to have to do a whole lot of--of personal things to say it, to get what I want to say. That's why I'm backing this the way I am, 'fore starting on this. I want you to understand that these things that sounds personal, they are not meant personal. They're only brought in to give an example to you that your faith might rest solemnly in the faith that's in Christ, you might rest upon His promise. Cause God keeps His promise just as perfect as it can be, now showing to us.

54And look at that same Jehovah-jireh, which Abraham called Him, which in the Hebrew means "God will provide for Himself a sacrifice." God can do that. He made His way. If He said... He told Noah...

You said, "Well, that was just Abraham." No. He told all down through the age, and He's still telling.

He said to Noah back there, that, as we're getting into this morning, "Why, it's going to rain." Why there wasn't... never was a cloud in the sky. The biggest stream of water was a branch where God irrigated the land, a little spring somewhere. That was the biggest stream of water there was.

Now, people say, "How in the world is there going to come any water down from up there? Show me where it's at up there in all that hot sun, if there ain't any up there."

"If God said, 'build an ark, that it's coming,' it's my business to build the ark and get ready, 'cause it's coming. He's Jehovah-jireh, He can provide water up there."

58And the only thing He done was let man, foolish, silly man, do exactly with His science, to bring to pass that what He knowed would come. God never destroyed the world; man destroys the world. God don't destroy nothing, God tries to preserve everything. Man destroys himself by his knowledge, like he did in the garden of Eden at the tree, so forth. And so some fanatic got a hold of some atomic power, somewhere, that they had it.

They--they could work with it then, 'cause they could do things then with it that we have never learned yet. We are not that far advanced. Maybe take three or four years yet, or more, 'fore we can do it, to do what they did. They built the pyramids and the sphinx and so forth. We could never do that. We couldn't reproduce that, there's no way for us to do it, only unless we can get an atomic power. Gasoline power, electric power, wouldn't lift one of them boulders, wouldn't move it off the ground. And some of them are a city block high, up in the air, and weighing a billion tons. How'd they get them up there? See, they knowed.

61And they let that loose, somebody let one of them atomic bombs fly into the screen of some other's, back in the days. 'Cause, "As it was in the days of Noah, as it was, that kind of a civilization, that kind of a smart people; as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be, so will it be in the coming of the Son of man." A repeat of what it was! See?

Here not long ago they dug up a modern waterworks, was down--down here in Mexico before the antediluvian flood. You seen it? It was in the paper, where a modern waterworks just like we have now, that sunk so far beneath the ground; some atomic something covered it over. She just blew up and went over like that. See?

63Now, "as it was in the days of Noah," smart men, smart men with their atomic powers and everything, could build pyramids and sphinx and so forth. "As it was in that day, so will it be." But the work's to be cut short in this day, 'cause there's to be a Raptured people taken out. Like Enoch, there's to be a people carried over. We're in that class this morning, the people that's carried over like Noah was through the flood.

But remember, before... Don't forget this! Before one drop of rain fell, before there was one thing in the sky, before Noah ever--ever had the ark completed, Enoch was taken Home. Enoch was raptured without death, just started walking one day, and--and gravitation lost its hold on him. And he found one foot a little higher, and the other foot a little higher, and another foot a little higher, and first thing you know, he said, "Farewell, world." Just walked on up into Glory.

And when Noah looked around and couldn't find Enoch anywhere, he looked around and he didn't know where Enoch went, then he said, "It's time to get to building the ark now." See? And he went to work on the ark to carry over the remnant.

66That's the same thing that takes place right here. The Church was taken up into Heaven, and John now is brought up with It as a type of the resurrected, as we took it last night. And find out that this same Voice that summonsed him to look back on earth, was the same Voice that summonsed him to come up.

Oh, every Christian! The very Voice, Charlie, that summoned you one day down there in Kentucky, to "Turn around," is the same Voice that'll summons you, "Come up!" Aren't you glad of that, Brother Evans? The Voice that said, "Turn around," same Voice said, "Come up!" Oh, my! There, what a summons! What a reality! Clear, distinct like a trumpet, "Turn around, serve Me! Come up to where I am."

68There we seen him representing those who died, Moses to represent the dead saints; rose. Elijah, with his group at the last day, with his Raptured group standing there. All before the Lord Jesus! John revealed that... Jesus told them that he--he would not die, and what was it to them if he would live until he seen His coming. And disciples put a saying out.

Oh, I wish I could get real, real deep right now, for a few minutes, to the church. Everyone knows... And everyone lives a--a private life with God. It's an individual affair, things of the Spirit that carries you into places you'd be daresn't to even speak of it.

I've noticed this in my own little, humble ministry, that there's many times that I'll say something and not know why I said it, and it don't look right (But yet, somebody will say something.), but I'll watch and that thing will come just as perfect around to that as it can come. God will make it happen! When I just want to say something, I'll say, "Well, now, wait a minute. That guy, so-and-so, this to happen over here, now that--that just has to be that way." Well, really, I--I don't know why I said it. And the first thing you know, it's just that way. God does it!

71Now, when these disciples had said, "Oh, Jesus said 'this man wouldn't die.'" Jesus never said that.

Jesus said, "What is it to you if he lives till I come?"

But to see the disciples making a saying of it, then Jesus reached down and took John and brought him up and let him rehearse the whole thing, see the rehearsal of the Coming of the Lord. John seen the Church, he seen the end of the Church age, he saw the end of the Jews, he saw the Second Coming, he saw all the order.

And look what God had to do; boil him in grease for about twenty-four hours down there, to let them see that he was Divine, that the Divine Spirit had anointed the--the soul-ish... (that outside, soil-ish, or whatever you call it, the human flesh), had so Divinely impressed it till hot burning grease for twenty-four hour didn't even scorch him. Trying to boil the Holy Spirit out of a man; can't do that. Then put him out on the isle of Patmos, and he wrote the Book, and come back and preached several years. Hmm. Hmm.

74Course, now, he had to pack a bad name, "He was a fortuneteller, he was a witch." How many knows that John was called a witch? Absolutely! Jesus was called one, too. See? See, the world don't know nothing about these things. "He was a mind reader." See? They said that "He was such a witch till he bewitched that grease, that the grease couldn't burn him because he had bewitched it," just because he didn't agree with their Catholic ideas. That was all.

He was a servant of God that... humble, had a little mission down there that he kept. He wouldn't tolerate with them big ol' things, and so God just kept him and preserved him. So did He: Saint Martin and--and Irenaeus, and all down through the age.

And He's doing the same thing today, coming right on down.

76Now, don't never forget this, that God promised great shakings, and great, mighty works. Now, write this on your notes that you're writing (See. See?), that what man calls "mighty and great," God calls "Foolish!" And what man calls "foolish," God calls "Great!" Don't forget that, see, don't forget it. That'll help you along in the years to come, because we're looking for something greater all the time. And we're receiving greater all the time, but the peoples of the world don't know it. Neither did they know it in the days of Noah, neither did they know it in the days of John, in the days of Jesus, in the days of the apostles, in the days of Irenaeus, any of those days, they never knew it.

77Even Joan of Arc, she was a sainted, little woman. When she was nothing but a girl, God spoke to her in visions, and a Angel talked to her. You know what the Catholic church said? "She's a witch." And they put her on a stake and burnt her to death, the Catholic priests did; killed her, sentenced her death as "a witch," and Joan of Arc died as a witch. About two hundred years later, they found out she wasn't a witch, she was a--a disciple of Christ.

They did the same thing to all the saints. Jesus said, "Which one of you your fathers didn't persecute? Which one of the prophets ever come that they didn't refuse?" Said, "You whited walls." Said, "You--you go down and--and put the garnish on top of the prophets' tombs, and you're the very ones that put them in there." Hmm! My! My! See? He didn't pull any punches on them. Hmm! He just told them.

79"This generation of snakes," John said, "who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Don't begin to say you have Abraham to your father." "We belong to certain, big organizations."

"Are you a Christian?"

"Oh, I'm a Methodist. I'm Presbyterian. I'm Pentecostal." That isn't in it at all. That has no more to do than--than--than--than--than snow does with sunshine. See? It has nothing to do with it. If you're a Christian, you're a born-again servant of God.

81Now, now, when John came, we had it last night. Now, remember, when you come to this... For the context of the thing, I--I told you then. Remember, the world is getting the hardest shake it's ever had, right now, the church world.

Now, remember, no doubt, in the days of--of John, the days of Jesus, there was great festivals and great speakers in their days, great intellectual men, and they drawed tens of thousands times thousands of people. What would Caiaphas do if he called a--a meeting together? He'd bring all Jerusalem, he'd bring all Israel together, from pillar to post. None of them said, "Aw... "

"Now, if Caiaphas says certain-certain things, that'll be great." "Oh, do you believe the Scriptures, Rabbi, Reverend, Doctor, Bishop? Do you believe the Scriptures?"

"Certainly, I believe the Scriptures, I'm a noted scholar!"

83"All right. Now, the Bible said here that there will come a time that there will be, 'All the mountains will skip like little rams, all the leaves will clap their hands, and all the high places will be brought down and made low, all the low places will be brought up and made high. And it'll be done by the voice of one crying in the wilderness.' Do you believe that, Rabbi, Reverend, Doctor, Pastor?"

"Sure, I believe that!"

"How will it happen?"

"Oh, God will send a mighty man on earth someday. Oh, he'll be great. He'll be a voice of one crying in the wilderness, or he'll forerun the coming Messiah. And when he comes, there's no doubt in my mind but what he'll come down out of Heaven and come down to the temple. He'll come right down here to the temple, and say, 'Now, we're going to take all the Romans and beat them to death. That's all. We're going to beat all the Romans down.' And--and then he's going to say, 'Come on down, Messiah!' And Messiah is going to come down, and we're going to mold all of our pruninghooks into... or our swords into plowshares and pruninghooks, and there'll be no more wars." And, uh-huh, that's their interpretation.

85But what happened when it come? What taken place? There was no display of Heaven, what they ever seen; there was one, but they didn't see it. They didn't see it. See. When did all the mountains skip like little rams? When did all the high places come low and the low places high? An ol' fuzzy-faced preacher come walking out of the wilderness and didn't even know his ABC's. According to history, he went in the wilderness at nine years old and never appeared again until he was thirty. He lived off of locusts and wild honey. Locusts is grasshoppers, them long grasshoppers.

They eat them all the time. Well, you can buy them right here in the... Don't think that's bad, 'cause you can buy them right here in the supermarket if you want them, bumblebees, honeybees, locusts, rattlesnake, whatever you want, see.

87So he lived off of locusts and wild honey. Quite a diet! But he was kept by the power of God. He didn't dress with his collar turned around; as somebody said last night, Brother Parnell or some of them. He didn't dress with a frock-tail coat, and all about it. Come out of the wilderness with a big, old piece of sheepskin wrapped around him. As I've said, maybe... We have to take a bath every day, and perhaps he never took one every three or four months, out there in the wilderness. I don't know. He wasn't very much to look at. He didn't have no pulpit. He didn't go into any big cities and have big campaigns. He stood out there on the banks of Jordan, mud up to his knees, and said, "You generation of vipers, who's warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" Hmm. That's when the high places was made low, see, and the low places made high. Uh-huh. Yes, sir.

88Then, the first thing you know, they was expecting the Messiah to come down with Angels and things, and settle down on the canopies out there and the temple where they had built for Him to come to (like we are building great big places today across the nations and so forth). See? And when did He come? He bypassed every one of them synagogues, every one of them organizations, and come down to a stable. They forced Him into it.

That's what it is today. He's forced into things, forced to do it, forced to be interdenominational, because His Message don't cooperate with the denomination. His Message today, preached by His ministers, is interdenominational 'cause the denominations oust Him out. The Bible said so. He was on the outside, knocking, trying to come in (See?), in His Own church. That's where it's at. See, it's just the same today.

90So, remember, what looks big to man, is little before God. Now, that's the reason you don't have to have a lot of flowers. And when God comes again, when Jesus comes again, you'll be surprised, that little washwoman back in the alley. Uh-hum. You'll be surprised, that guy that don't say nothing, keeping his secrets to himself and walking around before God, humble. You'll be surprised. It'll sur-...

I preached not long ago, at the judgment... The Surprises at the Judgment. It won't be surprise to see the bootlegger there, he knows he's going. Sure. Won't be surprise to see the liar, the adulterer, everything there, that ain't. But the surprise will be, and the disappointment will be, those who think they were going; uh-huh, yeah, and then be turned down. Those who said, "Well, wait a minute, my mother belonged to this church, my father belonged to this church, my grandfather and grandmother. I've been a member there all my life."

"Depart from Me, you worker of iniquity, I didn't even know you."

93Look in the days when little, old Simeon, unknown man, no reputation, we know nothing of him in the Bible. But the Bible said, "It was revealed to him by the Holy Ghost," (There he is; there you are.) "that he'd not die till he seen the--the Lord's Christ."

Then look at who was John the Baptist, some kind of a odd-like fellow, a woodsman out in the woods. It was revealed to him. He come forth preaching the Message. Look at that!

Who was little Anna?

The little virgin, Mary, down in the--the city of Nazareth (mean as Jeffersonville) and where sin and everything abounded, but she had kept herself pure because she knowed someday there was a coming Messiah. See?

Joseph, a carpenter, had lost his wife and--and was courting this little girl. And it was through there the Holy Spirit come to that. And then the world comes around and black-names it, like "holy-roller, pentecostal." See, black-named it. "Why, that, she... that child was born out of holy wedlock." See, they believed that, and it looked like it was. But God does that to blind the eyes of the wise and prudent, and reveal It to babes such as will learn.

97I hope there's enough background to when I hit something after while. I'm going to show you. You see this oil? Now, what I've told you, the background, to see that it isn't man, it's God, I'll point to this. All right.

Now, "Come up hither," was the Voice. And when he opened he heard the trumpet sound, and then immediately John was in the Spirit--was in the Spirit, and as quick as he got in the Spirit he begin to see things. You begin to see things when you get in the Spirit. First you got to get in the Spirit. Is that right?

99Now, what if you went to a ball game, and you say, "I sure love baseball." Um-hum. And you get you a front-row seat, right down in the box seat and you're watching the Yankees or Bulldogs, ever who they are, playing. And they're all having a big game out there.

And your side is just about to lose, and all at once the modern Babe Ruth winds up his bat like this and says, "See way over yonder?" Got three men on base. "Whammy!" And he drives her plumb out of sight; takes off his hat and fans hisself; walks down at the first base and looks around, all them guys; go to second base, shake hands with the second baseman; walk, walk quietly right back home, bow his... Why, my! My! The screams, the jumps, the hollers, the shouts of, "Hurrahs!" Why, they'd...

101I've actually seen them take these... You remember the old straw kady hat? I went to a baseball game one day and seen a guy hit a home run. And this guy sitting in front of me with a straw hat, he got all excited; took his hat and just pulled it right down, just put him a collar around like this where the top went out. Why, he was having him a big time! He--he was so beside himself he didn't know what he was doing. Just kicking and hurrahing and hollering and jumping. Well, now, you know what I think, he sure had... he was a ba-... he was a... he loved baseball. He was a baseball fiend, just like a cigarette fiend or a whiskey fiend.

I'm a Jesus fiend. Yeah. I just love that. I... If you get to be a Jesus fiend, you see, a fiend after something.

Then could you imagine that guy say, "Oh, sure, I'm a baseball fiend." And his side's about to lose, and they seen him come up and win the game like that, he looked around and, "Yeah, suppose that was all right." Uh-huh. Say, he "loves baseball."

"Oh, he's something!"

You'd say, "Why, you don't like it, do you? There's something wrong with you!" Every good baseball fiend would say, "What's wrong with that guy? Something wrong with him. Look at him sit there." Huh! That's just so...

Put two to two together now, see. Oh, when you're a fiend of Jesus, and you feel the Holy Spirit sink in those Words, then something screams out! Oh, you get beyond yourself!

107I hope this man forgives me, he's sitting close here. The big, tall black-headed fellow sitting here, that was standing out there one night in the hall, and somebody said something kind of... help, you know, kind of blessed him like that. And the poor boy has had an awful time, I know his--his wife left him and sued him for a divorce because he loved the Lord Jesus. That's right. And somebody said something about Jesus, you know, he was kind of one of those fiends. And he had been in the war and all shot up, and everything, the boy was; felt sorry for him. Come home with a... his children and wife. Then he--he promised the Lord he'd serve Him, and as soon as the Lord begin to bless him and he got right with God, his wife just turned around, sued him for a divorce and left him. Left him set out in the cold. But he still was a fiend.

And when he stood there one night and somebody said something about Jesus, something, how great He was, like that, he said, "Oh, Glory!" Shot his arms out and here his fist was sticking through the wall like that. He didn't know he done it. Had his fist stick in the wall. Said, "Brother Bill, I'll pay for that." I think Brother Wood come down and put the piece on, put another piece on. We didn't mind that, Brother Ben, we just--we just glad you was a fiend. See?

109When the Holy Spirit does something to you, you just can't sit still, there's something bubbles over. Amen. Whew! Yeah, something takes a hold, a fiend for Christ. When you love the Lord, just something in you reaching out, grabbing, hungering and thirsting, Jesus said, "Blessed are they, for they shall be filled. Blessed are they to even thirst, whether you've got It or not." How many wants more of God? All right. Well, the reason that you want more of God, you're blessed just to be that. If you haven't got It, you're still blessed. "And blessed are they that do hunger and thirst." You're blessed just to hunger and thirst. Because you want It, you're blessed. Cause there's many people don't want It.

Remember my sermon the other night? See, like the moron, he kept the box and throwed the gift away. See? Don't take the box, take the Gift.

111All right.

Now, immediately... in the spirit: and, behold, a throne... set in heaven, and one sat upon the throne.

Now, notice, a little later on, or, we got it last night, I believe, that upon this Throne that... We find out that first there was nothing on the Throne, and now there's Someone on the Throne so it showed that Jesus had come with His Church up into Glory and was set on His Own Throne. "Sitting on the Throne," that's after the Church age. Now, now, we want to get to that after a while.

Now, you say, "Well, where is His throne at today?" Now, Brother Neville, if I pass over that, you ask me after a while, "Where is His throne at today." I think I'll get to it down that far. "Where is His throne at now if He's not on His Throne now?"

He isn't on His Throne now. No, sir.

113All right, now:

And he that sat was to look upon like... jasper and... sardine stone: and there was a rainbow around about the throne, in the likeness... in the sight like unto an emerald.

Now, let's take now the 3rd verse, to start. And so "jasper," this One that set on the Throne was to look upon... In other words, when you looked at Him, He was in such splendor, such beauty! Oh, I want to see Him. Don't you?

115One day... I remember Sister Cadle, Sister Howard Cadle, I think many of you remember her. I was across the street there, and my wife sitting there now remembering she was cold, in the room. And I had got up, and had a little, ol'... it was a monkey stove out there with a... we baked our bread up in the oven, in the pipe. And I... it was real cold and wind was blowing, wintertime, snow on the ground, and wind down the smokestack, and I couldn't get that thing to burn, to save my life. And I was just so tore up about it. And I put some in, it'd blow it out again. Billy was cold and she was cold, I was trying to make a fire. And then I happened to turn on the radio and (a few minutes before, and just got warmed up, come on), and Sister Cadle was singing, "When I reach that Land, on a far away strand, I want to see Jesus. Don't you?" Oh, my!

I just set right down in the middle of the floor and just set there and started crying. You know how she could sing, down, out of that real sweet mockingbird voice of hers. I want to hear her when I cross over the border over yonder; said, "I want to see Jesus. Don't you?"

I thought, "O God, yes, I want to see Him someday. When the flowers are all floated by, I want to see Jesus." How... To see Him upon His Throne, His beauty, His splendor! And if I... Oh, I want to stand where John did, so I can just stand and look at Him.

118Here some time ago, down... the slavery time. I say this in behalf of my colored friends that's here this morning. There was an old, colored man and he was... going over to a little place, they used to.

And used to do this down in Kentucky, have singing. Maybe Mama Cox and them can remember when used to go and have singings, you know, go out to the houses and they'd play a organ, the young folks and all sing. Used to do it up here at Utica, and around in the country places. Now they got a quart of whiskey, out somewhere to a rock-and-roll party.

But, then, they sang hymns.

120One of these old hymn-singings, there was an old, colored brother got saved. And the Lord called him to preach, and the next day he went around telling the slaves on the plantation. He said, "The Lord saved me last night and has called me to preach to my brethren."

And finally it got back to the owner of the ranch or the owner of the plantation. He called him in, said, "Sambo, I want you, come in here." Said, "Come up in my office."

He said, "Yes, sir," walked up to the office.

He said, "What's this I hear you're scattering amongst the slaves, amongst them fellows out there, my hands, my slaves, that the Lord made you free?"

Said, "Yes, sir." He said, "Boss, I'm your slave." He said, "I was bought with your money, but... " He said, "But the way that God made me free last night, Jesus made me free from a life of sin and shame, and a life of death. He made me free."

He said, "Sambo, do you really mean that?"

He said, "I mean it."

124He said, "I heard them say that you was going to start preaching around here to your--your people on the plantations and thing."

Said, "Yeah, sir!" Said, "That's what I aim to do, is preach this Gospel to my people."

Said, "You really mean it, Sambo?"

He said, "I really mean it."

Said, "Come, go with me down to the--to the court, I'm going to also give you your freedom. You're free from me, and you're free from any more slave. I bought you, you're mine, and I'm setting you free so that you can preach the Gospel to your people." He went down and signed the emancipation, or the proclamation, and he was set free. He could no more be sold as a slave. He was a free man to preach the Gospel.

127He preached among his brethren for years. Many white people was converted under his ministry. One day the old fellow come down to die. He had preached for thirty or forty years, or more. And when he come down to die, he was laying in the room, and many of his white brethren had gathered around in the room and they thought he was gone for about two or three hours. Then when he finally woke up and looked around in the room, he said...

"Where was you, Sambo?"

He said, "Oh, is I back here again? Is I back again?"

They said, "What's the matter, Sambo?"

Said, "Oh, I crossed over into the other Land."

They said, "Tell us about it."

He said, "Well, I just come in, to His Presence." And said, "When I stood there," he said, "there was an Angel walked up, said, 'Is your name, Sambo So-and-so?'"

He said, "Yeah, sir, it is."

He said, "Come in."

"Walked inside, and I looked at Him sitting there."

He said, "Sambo, come here now, after you've seen Him I want you, come out here, we want to give you your robe, we want to give you your harp, we want to give you your crown."

Sambo said, "Don't talk to me about harps, crowns, and robes."

Said, "But you've won a reward, we want to give you your reward."

Said, "Don't talk to... about me... about the rewards." Said, "Just let me stand and look at Him for a thousand years. That'll be my reward."

I think that's about the way we'd all feel, "Just let me stand and look at Him." Oh, I'll have to have a different body than I got now, every fiber of your being just to look at Him.

134There John stood and he seen Him sitting on the Throne, and He "was to look like jasper and sardine stone." Now, all things and every word has a meaning in the Bible. Now, "jasper and sardine stone."

Now, if you'll notice, it compares with the rest of the Scripture. In the back parts of Scripture, He was Alpha, Omega, He was the Beginning and the Ending, He was the First and the Last, He was Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He was "all in all" was bundled in Him. Matthew 17 shows that He... up in the Mount Transfiguration, it was all gathered in Him.

136Now, "jasper" was a--was a stone, and "sardine" was a stone. (Now, we'll get to their colors after a bit.) Now, I want you to notice that each one of the patriarchs when they were born, yeah, every person, has a birthstone. Mine, I was born in April, diamond. And different months represents different stones. Well, the patriarchs was the same. Every time that a patriarch, when he was born, he wa-... had a birthstone.

And just to stop right here just a moment. When them Hebrew mothers... Let me show you a Divine Word, friend, so that your faith will be built certain in the Word of God. Every time, them Hebrew mothers, when they were in labor, giving labor pains, to born... birth these children, the very words that she uttered in her birth give the man (the baby that was born of her) his name, and positionally placed him in Palestine where he'll be at the coming of the Lord. The labor pains in this mother! Like, Ephraim means "by the sea." See? And Ephraim was given his lot by the sea. And, say, Judah meant... I don't know what the word means, but I could pick it out. Now, see, that's where I don't have time, these short things, to pick those things up. But then go back, and Judah, wherever Judah means, meant's his position placed among the children of Israel.

138And take at Genesis 48 and 49, you'll find out there that Jacob, when he was dying, leaning on his staff, blinded, he positionally told those children where they would be at the end of the world. And they're positionally set right there now since they've went back to the homeland. Told Joseph, "Thou art a fruitful vine by the wall," see, "by the well," the water. He went over. He said, "You've trusted in the Lord God. You made your--your bow strong" (United States. See?) "in the Lord, but someday that vine was coming back over the wall." And there she is, right there now. Just exactly what he said pretty nearly three thousand years ago, turning right back. Told Ephraim he had dipped his feet in oil, and Ephraim settled right there where the big oil wells are. Just exactly.

The utterance of those people, what was on those mortals? God taking their fibers and moving in them!

140Looked like when the Roman Empire scattered them, when others scattered them, when they was hated by Hitler, tens of thousands times thousands, he shot bubbles in their veins and they died, you could see their bodies hanging on fences with their babies and everything else, and bones... and took and made fertilize out of their bone. Just take them out there and give them a shot, put them in the wagon. Then get out, time they get out, even in the start, they was singing, "Messiah will come and we'll drink the blood of the grape again." When they went down, dying, them Jews, walking right out there, knowing a few little more beats and their heart will be gone. And down they'd go, singing, "We will see the Messiah soon." Oh, my! Making fertilize out of their bones.

A lot of you soldiers in here know that and seen it. I stood on the grounds where they burned them and everything else, there, Hitler and them. And look up at Stalin and Russia and all them, done the same thing. That's right. But that Jew, what was the matter? He was forced back to his homeland. There's where they're standing.

I got that great film, Three Minutes Before Midnight. When them Jews come in, they was asking them, said, "Why you coming back for, to die in the homeland?"

Said, "We've come to see the Messiah." Amen. Hmm! We're at the end time.

144Each one of those children when they were born, they had a birthstone. And when Aaron, the high priest over each one of those children, had a breastplate on him, his dress. That's what I want to hold off just a little longer, to get into this 6th verse, because that brings in every symbol of the Old Testament right into there. Every... all the furniture and everything in the Old Testament was a pattern of that was seen in Heaven, patterned back to the human being.

And here's Aaron's breastplate, he was a high priest. Notice, the birthstone of each tribe was represented in there. One, a birthstone, put his stone in there; the tribe of Ephraim, the tribe of Manasses, the tribe of Gad, the tribe of Benjamin, all was represented in here. And that's how... Then they take those birthstones, them pretty gems, and hang it on the post like this. And if a prophet prophesied, and if it sound right or not, they taken him down to this Urim Thummim and let him tell his prophecy; if there's a sacred Light come on there and begin to flash these stones together, it was God speaking back. It was for the whole tribe, all of them, every tribe.

146Now, on these, the first stone. The first, how many knows who the first child was? What was his name? Reuben. All right. Who was the last one? Benjamin. That's right. The birthstone of Reuben was "jasper," the birthstone of Benjamin was "sardine." He was to look upon as "Reuben and Benjamin," the First and the Last, He that Was, Which Is, and Shall Come, He was Alpha (A) in the Greek alphabet, Omega (Z) in the Greek alphabet. He was the First, the Last, He was from Benjamin to Reuben, from Reuben to Benjamin. Oh, my! There He was, "Look upon as sardius stone and as jasper stone." He was setting on this Throne!

147How would you all like to see Him sitting upon His Glory? Let's turn over in Revelation 21:10, right quick, and just take a look at Him here. All right, 21:10 to 11.

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

Having the glory of God:... Having the glory of God: and her lights was like unto a stone most precious, even like... jasper... , as clear as crystal;

"Her Light." The Light! Who is the Light? "And the City had no need of the sun, because the Lamb is the Light thereof."

149"Jasper, sardius" stone. The Glory of God is Jesus Christ, the Glory of Jesus Christ is His Church. And He was the First. What was He? He was the Beginning of time, He is the Ending of time. He was the First of the patriarchs, He is the Last of the patriarchs. He was the Church that was in the... He was the--the Spirit that was in the Church of Ephesus, He is the Spirit of the Church in Laodicea. He is the First and the Last, A to Z, First, Last, He that Was and Shall Come, Root and Offspring of David, the Morning Star, the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon! Oh, there's four hundred and something titles in the Bible pertains to Him. Just think of it, what He was! And yet He was the lowly Lord Jesus that was born in a manger to the praises of God.

Anything that's humble, watch it 'cause that's right. Anything that's big is a stuffed shirt, so don't pay no attention to it; see, it's a lot of wind, and not nothing to it. All right.

151Now, "He was to look upon as jasper and sardius stone." Let's turn back. Have you... ? We got a little time, haven't we? We got about forty minutes yet. Let's notice, let's turn back to Ezekiel 1. Go back in the Bible to the Old Testament, unto Ezekiel, and let's read here where Ezekiel saw Him, too. And compare these Scriptures now and see where we're at. Ezekiel the 1st chapter, all right, now let's read for a moment. Now I'm going to read the first five verses, and then we're going to read, I've got marked out here, from 26 to 28. But let's read the first verses now of the 1st chapter of Ezekiel, the prophet. All right:

And it came to pass in the thirtieth year, and in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month,... I was among the captives--among the captives by the river of Chebar,... (Is that right, Chebar? C-h-e-b-b-r, Chebar.)... and the heavens were opened, and I saw a vision of God.

And in... (Now, watch.)... In the fifth day of the month, which is the month that king Jehoiachin's captive,

The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of... Chaldeans by the river of Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was... upon him.

And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north,...

152Watch this prophet here, five hundred and ninety-five years before the coming of Christ, see how his vision compares with John:.

.a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud,... a fire unfolding itself, and the brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof was the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had a likeness of... man.

Notice, the color of the Spirit of God which was above the likeness of these four Creatures, was amber. Amber is yellowish-green. Now, watch, [Brother Branham pauses and taps on something to illustrate--Ed.] "yellowish-green," amber, oh, He's the same yesterday... He--He revealed Hisself to Ezekiel; in the midst of Ezekiel's vision, this Light that he saw coming above the four living Creatures was yellowish-green. When He come to John, He appeared in the emerald which is also "yellowish-green." He comes now to the revelator in yellowish-green. He comes to us in yellowish-green, the Light! Walk in the Light, He is the Light.

154Let's go to the 26th verse now, so we can read to the 28th. The 26th verse:

And above the fir-...

Oh, when you get home, I want you to mark that and read every bit of it. Save time:

And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of stone, as the appearance of sardine stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance of a man above... it.

That was the Son of man, see, Christ. Now watch how He was, how He was arrayed here:

And I saw as the colors of amber, (watch, around this Son of man) as the appearance of a fire around about within it--about within it, from the appearance of his loins...

156Listen! Be spiritual, be understanding, and in your own hearts here. I adjure you in Jesus' Name, keep this to yourself! But just remember how blessful!

"I s-... " Let's start again in the 27th verse. Listen, everyone! Be real understanding now!

And I saw as the colour of amber (that's yellowish-green), as the appearance of fire around about... it, (Fire around the amberish-green. Now:) from the appearance of his loins even upward, (From his loins upward.) and from the appearance of his loins... downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had the brightness around about. (Fire all around.)

As the appearance of a bow and in the color in the days of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness around about. This was the appearance and the likeness and the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

158Watch! Are you ready? Listen! Keep this now, just remember, to let you know. (Gene, you can hold this tape.) Listen! (No, I don't have to hold it there, that's all right. I mean just keep the tape; permit this to the Church.) Notice this! Now, that you might know that the color of the Light that's with the Lord, and the Lord's Light that follows the Lord, and it's as the Lord, is amber, yellowish-green. That's the same color of the Light that's with us today, as the scientists has took Its picture, yellowish-green, amber.

When a little boy, and I've seen It for my first time, you remember, the old-timers here. I always told you before the actual picture was taken, "It was yellowish-green, which is amber." Now, to let you know that the Spirit of the Lord...

He said, when he seen it from the loins of the living Creature that stood in his presence, "From his loins upward was like fire, a Light from his loins downward, was covered with Light. And all around was many colors like unto a rainbow." Is that right?

161I want you to remember, God still exists in the same colors, "from the loins upward, fire, amber color," shot with a movie camera or with a color camera, "amber from the loins up, from the loins down, and all around, many colors like is in the rainbow in the sky after a rain." Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever! The Holy Spirit still in His power, still in His Church in this last days. There you are. Not me, I was just standing there, but it was a picture that was taken. I want you to look at that, just exactly what Ezekiel saw. Same colors, the same way, and acted the same way, and flush the same way, of the living Creatures. What is it? The living Creatures represents the living Church, the Church that's living by the power and the resurrection of Christ. Them same amber colors has covered it from the loins upward, from the loins downward.

162There's no more guessing, science has took the pictures! Look at their colors, just look at the colors of fire in there. See? The rainbow. Look at this yellowish-emerald color. Now, on this camera, it was just a straight photographer's camera. On this camera was color, colored pictures, Kodachrome color. Look at the emerald colors in there. If I could get it over a light somewhere where you could see it in the back. Can you see now? "Like unto a rainbow," look at the streaks coming back and forth like the rainbow, every one a different color. We're going to get into that in a few minutes, what are those colors and what do they reflect?

Oh! That just makes my poor heart jump for joy. And to know that in this day that we're living, that Christ... when all other grounds is sinking sands, all other ground. I think, "Why can't I tell that? Why can't I make the world see It?" The world wasn't meant to see It. The world won't see It, they never will see It! But the Church is receiving the mightiest shaking It ever had!

164In them days they couldn't have took a picture of It. They can now because they got the mechanical deviceties. The ones who are trying to take the mechanics to deny God, comes right back around and proves there is a God. That's right, "Emerald." Now, you remember, I never made that up, I'm reading it to you right out of the Bible. Watch as I read, and look, and behold that It is the same Lord God, there's no difference. Watch the 27th verse:

And I saw... the colour of amber, as in the appearance of fire...

See, like blazes licking. See? Amber colors coming from a fire. You see it now? Amber, this is the amber colors coming from a fire. Down here it says:

And the appearance like a bow, or a rainbow, in the days after a rain,... rainbow, in the days after a rain,...

166And there was a--a "living Creature." What John represented, the entire Church, was taken up. I told you. One person here in a vision can represent the entire Body of Christ, covered! Now, watch:

And I saw... the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire... about with it, and the appearance... from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire,...

Watch, look at the fire spraying. Out of what? The rainbow, the seven colors. Now, watch, there's exactly seven colors there, and the rainbow has seven colors.

..I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had the brightness around about.

As the appearance of a bow that is in the clouds in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness around about. (Round about the Throne of God, see.) This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

Not the Lord, now, the glory of the Lord. The glory of the Lord covering over His Church because He is in His Church! Amen! Oh, it sounds foolish to the unwise, but how great It is to those who believe. Uh-huh.

..This was the appearance and likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice speak...

Now he goes ahead and tells what the vision meant, which we not have time to get into this morning.

170Now, notice how the Lord in His great mercy give us these things.

Now let's take another one. Both Ezekiel and John saw Him in the mystery of His colors and Light, and called It a "amber color." John later... You that puts... you're putting down the Scriptures, First John 1:5 to 7. John, later (and he was on the isle of Patmos about three years when he wrote the Book), when he come back, an old man in his nineties, in First John 1:5 and 7, he said, "God is Light." John had an experience, he had seen Him and he knowed that He was Light, Light, Eternal Light; not cosmic light, not lamp light, electric light, sunlight, but Eternal Light! Oh, how I love Him. "God is Light."

172Notice, we're going to start back now and see where we're at. On the 3rd verse yet, aren't we? Are we going to get It? I hope. All right:

..he... was to look upon as jasper and sardius stone: and there was a rainbow... about the throne, in the sight like unto an emerald. (Yellowish-green.)

Now, "rainbow," you notice it was a rainbow. Let's go back in Genesis 9 and find out, in Genesis 9:13. And we'll find back here the "rainbow," when a rainbow first appeared. Genesis the 9th chapter, and we will begin at the 13th verse, Genesis 9:13. All of you like This? Oh, I love It! I just don't like It, I love It! Look:

I do set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a token (Watch!), token of a covenant betwixt me and the earth.

What? "Betwixt Me and Noah"? No. "Betwixt Me and the earth."

And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

And I will remember my covenant, which--which is betwixt me and you...

Now He come back to His covenant betwixt them, but the rainbow covenant... See, the covenant was life for Noah, that He spared him, but the covenant that God made with Himself was a rainbow, that He would not... Now, I'll show you what Noah's covenant was with God, in a minute. But this here was God's Own covenant with Himself, amen, a rainbow.

175Now, we find out that a covenant then is a "token," a token. God said it was a "token" here, didn't He? See?

I... set my... I do set my bow in the clouds, (That's after the destruction of the world, destroyed by water; all flesh, besides Noah--Noah, was destroyed.) and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Not "Me and the world." The world's a "kosmos." See? But this is "between me and the earth." God said, "I made that earth. And I so evilly entreated it, that I just turned it upside down and flashed her to pieces. And--and I--I--I--I--I oughtn't to have done it, maybe." He said, "I--I was even sorry, it was such a horrible thing."

177What do you think it will be when He comes in His anger now? Be right, sinner friend.

Oh, be watching and waiting that sight to behold,

He's coming again. (You believe that?)

He's coming again. (I love that, don't you?)

Oh, would you be numbered as one of His foe? (I wouldn't want to be that. Would you? No, sir. Be a foe agai-... Or, be a foe for Him; be with Him would be fine. But against Him... )

Be spotless within, be watching and waiting that sight to behold,

He's coming again. (Hmm!)

178Now, a covenant, a token of what? A token of what? Of a sacrifice that has been accepted. Now get Genesis 8:20 and 22. Now, Genesis 8:20 and 22, all right, right across the page it is.

And Noah built an altar unto the LORD; and took... every clean beast, and... every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar.

And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground (curse the ground) any more for man's sake; for the imagination of his heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing liveth, as I have done.

And now we can read the last verse:

And... While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest,... cold and heat,... summer and winter,... day and night shall not cease. (A covenant.)

Same thing that John saw: Jesus, God's accepted covenant surrounding in the heavens. And around about Him was a rainbow around about the Throne, in the sight like an emerald, amberish-green Light around the Throne. Praise be to God!

181Watch! Noah's composed of primarily... Noah's rainbow composed primarily of seven colors. Anybody knows the rainbow's got seven colors. Now, what are the colors? Red, orange... violet. No, red--red, orange... green, blue, indigo, and violet. That's the colors of the rainbow. Now, we got a deep thing here, and I'm just going to have to hit the high spots of it 'cause it's getting too late. Now, remember, orange... or, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Now, if you notice, seven. Watch. Seven rainbows... seven colors, I mean, seven-color rainbow. That meant seven bows! Seven bows, seven churches reflecting seven lights, each light wrapped into the other one. It started off with red, red. After red come orange, which is a reflection of red. After orange was... after--after orange come yellow, which is red and orange mixed together, makes yellow. Then green. Green and blue makes black. Then come indigo. And then from indigo come violet, which is part of blue. Hallelujah! Don't you see? God, in His seven-colored rainbow, His covenant that He made, a covenant that through Seven Church Ages, the seven colors, He would save the earth.

183What would He do? Remember, He made it with the earth, His color. But now watch. This rainbow only, horizontally, just covers (in a bow) one half the earth. That's all Noah's rainbow colored, just... covered, just half the earth. It was in a arch, that's all you can see. But when John saw Him in His emerald color, He surrounded the whole Throne of God. The half has never yet been told. He covered... He just... the earth just makes an arch, it's just a half of it; that's the church ages.

But when John saw Him in this amber color, the amber color, He surrounded and covered around like a halo. A halo! [Brother Branham pauses and taps on something to illustrate--Ed.] A halo of amber color, It surrounded His being! See? One color, one God over all, through all, and in all, but there is Seven Church Ages.

185Watch a great diamond. Used to find them... you can find them in Africa laying on the streets. You're daresn't to keep one, 'cause it isn't cut. You got one that isn't cut, they'll penitentiary you for it right now, and give you a lifetime sentence for keeping it. You've got, turn it in as soon as you find it.

Now, they take this diamond... Oh, it's a hard thing. I've seen a big forty-ton grinder standing up like this, they pour that bluestone in there, grind it around, it mashes that rock into just like ashes, but it won't mash the diamond. That forty-ton hanging on a swivel, up here, rolling around with them big cogs like that, just crushing that rock to pieces; but a diamond will go right through it, it'll move that forty-ton casting. Oh! When it crushes out and comes down through a sifter, sifts down the other sifters, washes down and then finally goes on a long runway.

187The manager of that great Kimberley Diamond Mines was one of my ushers down there in the line, real humble, sweet brother.

And then for about three feet over that water, where it flows, it's, is Cosmoline put on there. (You know, what--what is it you call this stuff? The... Meda, what is that we got in the jar in the cabinet in there? Vaseline!) And we put that Vaseline, about a inch deep, way up here on the slide. And it comes down, and notice, every time that that rock comes over, it'll roll right off that Vaseline; but when a diamond comes over it, it'll stick. A diamond's dry and it'll stick to that. I've seen them pick them up, even them little bitty ones, and separate them with eyeglasses. And I asked them what they was doing it for, they said they sell them to America for Victrola needles and things; they won't wear out, see.

189But those big diamonds, now, there they are, just one big ball. But when... They take them and take electrical machines and cut them, and make a cut diamond. Then when they cut it, it's to reflect the fiery colors of its carat, and it'll reflect seven colors, also.

Oh, how that Jesus...

Oh, you might have a lot of money, you might own a fleet of Cadillacs, you might be a pastor of some great big morgue or a cathedral of something, you might be a bishop or an archbishop, but, oh, brother, when you find that Jewel, that Diamond, a man sells all his wealth he's got, gives it away, everything else.

191Look at the sleeping virgin. Oh, what did she do? She had to sell something in order to buy her Oil. What did she have to sell? Her old creeds and denominations and things. She sold out all she had in order to find Christ, Christ, that great Jewel. Jesus, that body... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]...?... I have a ticket to go to Heaven when the train comes by, one of these dark mornings. Oh, what blessing!

Oh, precious is that flow

That makes me white as snow;

No other fount I know,

Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.

No popularity, no big things, no nothing, no riches, no--no nothing, just give me that precious Flow. That's all!

Nothing in my arms I bring,

Simply to Thy Cross I cling.

193That great Jewel! What was It? It was perfect. It was at the age of thirty-three and a half years old when God put It through the big bumping machine, when He took It over there and begin to shape It up. He cut It, He mashed It, He bruised It.

.. he was wounded for our transgressions,... bruised for our iniquity: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we were healed.

What did God do to that perfect Man? There's only one of them in the world, only one in the world, and that was Him! And God chiseled Him off here, "He was wounded for our transgressions." Because I was a sinner, He let the rainbow Light of His Seven Church Ages flash upon me, to know that He was wounded for my transgressions.

There's your seven-colored rainbow. "He was bruised for our iniquity, the chastisement of our peace upon Him, with His stripes we were healed." God cut Him, and bruised Him, and mashed Him, and cut Him, that He might reflect through His dying wounds, forgiveness of sin, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, meekness, gentleness. The seven Spirits of God are the seven fruits of the Spirit that would reflect back in His people. He was bruised, shaped and formed, that the Light of God shining through that one Man's body might redeem the whole world; "I'll be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all men unto Me." Watch those rainbow of colors as they reflect.

196But when John saw Him here, what was it? The day of redeeming was over. It was all over, so he seen Him back in His original condition, an amber color. Not only just half the world, it can only... the sun, it only shines on half the world at a time, see, as it goes around. But when John saw Him, He was sitting to look upon as jasper and sardius stone, amber colors; mix the two together, you got amber. "And a amber color around the Throne!" Oh, my! Oh, I--I tell you, that just... we could just go on and on.

Seven Spirits, seven colors, seven church ages, seven ministers, seven lights, everything's in a seven. God is perfect in "seven." God worked six days; seventh day, He rested. The world will exist six thousand years, and the seventh thousand is the Millennium.

198Notice, in a half circle, "half's not yet been known." Now, surely these things represent something.

Now, in Exodus 23:13 and in Hebrews 6:12, God made a covenant with Himself and swore by Himself. Hebrews :13 tells us that, or 9, :13, that "He swore by Himself." There was no greater to swear by when He told Abraham and Isaac, there He had told Abraham that He would make a covenant with him, an everlasting covenant. God...

A covenant is always made by an oath, so there's nobody... You take an oath by somebody greater than you; take an oath by your mother, take an oath by your nation, take an oath by something, take an oath by God. But you can't take an oath unless it's somebody greater than you.

And there was nobody greater than God, so He took an oath Himself, by Himself. Amen! Swearing by Himself that He would confirm this covenant. Amen. Oh! Whew! Sware by it, He would "preserve the Seed of Abraham." What is the Seed of Abraham to the Gentile? The baptism of the Holy Spirit, a Seed of Abraham. Swore by Himself, "I'll raise them, every one, up. I'll give them Eternal Life and place them back here on the earth." What we got to hur-... to think about?

202So we see Him in the circle bow of green, amber color. This greenish, what does green represent? Life. Green is the evergreen, always stays green, is life. What does it mean? That God has promised, as He took a oath back there in Genesis, that He "would no... " (Put the rainbow in the sky.) that He "would no more destroy this world by water." He also takes His oath and swears by Himself that all the Seed of Abraham He'll raise up, and this world will stand all of its shaking judgments. The judgments we're going through on the future lessons we got coming, will show you where this world will belch and turn into volcanics, and blow to pieces, and upside down and everything. But He swears by Himself that He'll not destroy it, but He'll smooth her off again and put His children on the earth for that Millennium. Oh, my!

I'm watching for the coming of that glad Millennium day,

When our blessed Lord shall come and catch His waiting Bride away;

Oh! my heart is longing, crying for that day of sweet release,

When our Saviour shall come back to earth again.

Oh, how we are longing to see that Day, He promised the great Millennium would come. And another thing, the reason He was surrounded, He is a covenant-keeping God. He will keep His covenant!

204Now let's get the next verse, anyhow. My, we want to get one more, and we got just about ten, fifteen minutes to do it. Are you too tired? You want to go ahead? [Congregation says, "Amen!"--Ed.] All right, let's take the 4th verse:

And around about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed with white raiment; and they had on their head crowns of gold.

We may not get all the way through that verse. Well, let's start. The 4th verse, look now, when John saw Him, that emerald color around Him, we got all the colors, the rainbows, and so forth, and what it all was about. Now, on the 4th verse, first thing he speaks of here, on the 4 ver-...

And around about the throne...

Watch! It's such a beautiful picture here, don't miss it, "the Throne."

207You know, let's go back to Moses. Moses... We ain't got time to dig it up, so you just take what I'm saying. Moses, when he was give a vision up on Mount Sinai...

I want you to notice that this was not a Throne of grace no more. There, the blood had been gone, and the sacrifice was back again and they had been accepted, and the blood was off the mercy seat. And it was now a judgment seat because thunders and lightning issued off of it. Is that right?

Remember, it was like Mount Sinai. When Moses went on Mount Sinai, what happened? Thunder, lightning. And even if a cow or a calf or a sheep, or anyone, even touched the mountain, it must die. The Bible said, "So great was the quake till even Moses feared it." And Mos-... He said, "Take off your shoes here, you're on Holy grounds." Joshua the great warrior, was to take the children over and divide their inheritance, could only come halfway up the mountain.

Here stood Moses up there with the colors of God's flashes and lightnings and emeralds around him, watching them commandments be written. Standing in the Presence of God, that Voice speaking back out, "Moses, where are you? Take off your shoes, you're on Holy ground."

A judgment seat, it was now, nothing could stand there but the redeemed. Sinner could not approach it at all (it's finished), the judgment seat. All right.

212Now, Moses made things on earth, made the tabernacle, like the things that he saw in Heaven. We know that, don't we? We find Paul did the same thing. Must have... Hebrews 9:23, that Moses made things just like he did. And Paul in his vision when he went up into Heaven (when he taught that great Book of Hebrews), he must have saw in his vision the same thing that Moses saw, because he said that (he taught that wonderful Book of Hebrews), how that Christianity was the antitype of the Old Testament. He was a great teacher, Mo-... Paul was. Now, that was His Throne then. Then in the...

213Let's just... There's no use, I can't... I was going to pass this up, but I just can't do it. Where's the blackboard? Did you take it back? Is it back, Doc? Well, maybe I can make you see it from here. I--I... Now, look, get your pencils and paper, for I want to say something here. I--I was sitting this morning as something came to me. Now I'll tell you what I did, if you notice, I got it drawed on the back of here. See? Just draw it out as the Spirit gave it to me, see, drawed out on here of what it'd be. But I--I want to say something right here.

Now, God, when He is enthroned, He is then Judge. Is that right? When does the judges judge? When he comes to his judgment seat, a throne. Now, I want you to watch how the Old Testament was made, how the courts approaching to His throne was made, and how John saw here. We won't get to it this morning, all of it. But how John saw the same courts of the approach to Him, and what the approach to His courts is. Now, oh, I love this.

215Now, in the Old Testament, there was what was called the "congregation," where the people gathered. First thing, 'fore they come in, the congregation, to enter in there, they had to come under the shed blood, outer courts. First they come to the waters of separation, where the red heifer was killed and made a waters of separation. That's the sinner who comes and listens at the Word.

That's how this great Jewish rabbi was just brought to the Lord, heard me preach on that down in... at Tulsa. At Tulsa, it was. We were there at Tulsa, Oklahoma. And he come over there, just a bystander. And he went after the service, he said, "I know!" Said... He's one of the seven outstanding rabbis of the world. And he come over there, said, "I want to see what them Christian Businessmen... They call them, 'Pentecostals.' I want to go over, sit down, listen."

217And when the Lord had me to speak on that red heifer sacrifice, after the service he met some of the brethren back there, said, "I want to meet the man. I know that he hasn't even got an education but... " Said, "I'm a Jewish rabbi who knows all those different approaches and things like that," said, "I never seen that in all my life." Said, "I never seen it."

And now he's a Pentecostal rabbi, filled with the Holy Ghost, going everywhere, preaching the Gospel. "Pentecostal rabbi," he calls himself. He went over to at the Washington Youree Hotel, the other day when we met together down at Brother Jack's, and the lady knew him, she said, "Rabbi," she said, "we got a nice room for you, but" said, "we haven't got in no television there."

He said, "Them things are 'hellevisions,' cast them out! Don't want them in there, anyhow; it's in there, I'd make you throw it out."

She said, "Rabbi!"

He said, "I'm a Pentecostal rabbi." Hallelujah!

Said, "Now, when you go to Israel, Brother Branham, I want to go with you." Said, "We can take it to our people."

I said, "Not now, Rabbi, not now. Not now, not the hour yet, wait a little bit."

222Now, notice these holy places. Now, when you come into the courts, the first was the courts, the outer courts. The next was the altar, where the sacrifices was offered, the brazen altar. Then outside of the brazen altar, there was a veil hung here that went into the Holy of holies; in there was the mercy seat, in there was the Cherubims. That's what I want to get to in our next lesson, those Cherubims overshadowing the mercy seat. Oh, my! I... We can just stay all month on it, see, on that Cherubim.

223Now, now notice as they entered in. The congregation could come there; the priests could stand here; but just the high priest could go in there, once a year, taking the blood with him.

And he had to be dressed a certain way, a certain garment; had to have a bell and a pomegranate, one to one another. And when he walked, he had to walk a certain way. As he walked, he played, "Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord. Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord," those bells and pomegranates ringing together, "Holy, holy, holy!" Why? He was approaching God, having the blood of the covenant in his hand, going before Him, bearing the blood.

Anointed (Oh, my!) with certain perfumes. His clothes had to be made by Holy Ghost-filled hand, registered hands make his clothes. The rose of Sharon, the anointing oil, poured it on his head, it run all down his beard and then down over. He was placing the royal perfume; a pomegranate and a bell; taking the blood of an innocent lamb; and he daresn't approach that veil outside... he'd die right where he was standing. So he had to go, walking a certain way, "Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord. Holy, holy, holy," (approaching God) "unto the Lord. Holy, holy, holy!"

226And he went there and offered the blood on the mercy seat, once a year. And while he was in there, he was privileged to see the Shekinah Glory; when the Pillar of Fire, the amber Light that come down, that led the children out of Israel. He even smoked up the temple so no one could see It. The Glory of the Lord fell till it was all smoked up. And He came in Hisself, went in behind the veil and settled down on the mercy seat in the Holiest of holies. "Most Holy place," it's called, Holy of holies. And he had to be dressed a certain way, walk a certain way, anointed a certain way. He was a special person to go in there. How the congregation must have envied him!

But when Jesus died, the temple veil rent. Not only a high priest, but "whosoever will" can have that same anointing of the Shekinah Glory and walk a holy life, "Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord," and approach in the very Presence of God, through the Blood of Jesus Christ before him. Take him with: "Lord Jesus, here lays a sick man, he's my brother. He's on the deathbed right now, to die. I'm approaching You, 'Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord.'"

"What for?"

"As a high priest."

"What for?"

"In behalf of my brother. 'Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord.'"

228There you are! Your daily walk, your daily talk, your daily behavior, your heart, your soul, and all, "Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord." No roots of bitterness, no nothing else, "Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord. Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord," as we begin to approach in behalf of our brother. Whosoever will may come, anointed, Blood in front of him, the Blood going before him, playing "Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord."

Now, that was the outer courts, the holy place. And the Holiest of holies, that was God's sanctuary on earth. Watch, it was typed after that one of Heaven. Now, we're going to come right back again to this same Scripture. Oh, all as we go through Revelation, we can come right straight on back to this again. See?

230Now he... John, where's John standing? At the courts. Let's just read just a little farther here so you get the picture:

And out of the throne proceed lightnings... thunders... voices: and there were seven lamps of fire (Wait till we get to that!) burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Reflecting the Light of God into the Church, right straight from the Throne of God, not through a seminary, not through some bishop, but from the Throne of God, by a revelation of the power of His resurrection, making Him the same yesterday and forever; them seven stars standing there reflecting that Light, the Shekinah Light, from the Shekinah Glory from the Holiest of holy. Seven lamps on fire, setting on top of these candlesticks, reflecting His Light, His colors, of His power of His resurrection, right into the Church. Amen! Hmm!

And before the throne... was a sea of glass liken unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and around about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

And he goes ahead and he begins to give this... these beasts, the same thing Ezekiel saw; them guards... one like a man, one like a lion, and one like the eagle. What was it? Now, watch, when we bring them in and show that Lion of the Tribe of Juda and all those different ones out of their tribes, that set on four walls, and they were guarding this mercy seat. Oh, what a picture! Oh, I just... There's great days ahead.

233As we seen them, now, that was God's Throne in Heaven, Moses patterned It on earth, was God's Throne because His judgment seat was represented here on earth in the Holy of holy. God... All Israel come to that one place to find mercy, 'cause God only met under the shed blood.

Now, listen close. Then the Shekinah Glory raised from that mercy seat one day, and It settled on another Tabernacle (Amen!), this One, "The Father judges no man but He's committed all judgment to the Son." God's Judgment Seat. Whew! "You speak against Me, it'll be forgiven you," speak another--another One coming, another Mercy Seat. "Speak... you speak against the Son of man, I will forgive you; but someday the Holy Spirit will come to dwell in the hearts of the people, one word against It will never be forgiven."

235It keeps getting more severe and more severe all the time, the judgment, 'cause God is continually wearing His patience out, trying to get sinners to come to Him to be reconciled. First, He was in the heavens above and shining through the stars. The second, He was on earth shining through the Shekinah Glory. Next, He come and was made flesh and dwelt among us, still wearing His patience. There, He redeemed man by His Blood, came into His Church in the form of the Holy Ghost, and speak against That it's a finished thing, done.

Now you can see where the shaking come. Where the time, they don't realize. People can't comprehend what It means.

237Now, the first Throne was in Heaven, judgment seat. The second Throne was in Christ. The third Throne is in man.

Now, let me take this little thing that I got drawed here. We're going to make... I wish I had a blackboard, that I could make it maybe more sensible for you. We're going to take and draw the courts, only make it in a round ring, or like this, either one. Now we're going to take... I believe, like this maybe would be the best, we're going to take and make the courts.

Now, what is a man? He's a triune being; body, soul, and spirit. How many knows that? Watch God's approach. What is his heart? You remember my message, God Chose a Man's Heart for His Control Tower? The Devil chose his head for his control tower; see, he makes him see things, look through his eyes. But in it... God in his heart makes him believe things that he cannot see. Did He? See, God is on his heart, in the heart of man is the Throne of God. You get it? Man! God made His Throne in the heart of man.

Now, watch. What's the first part of the man? The first part of the man is body. The next part is his soul, which is the nature of his spirit that makes him what he is. He approaches now. Now, the third part of the man is his spirit, and his spirit is in the center of his heart, and in the center of the heart is where God comes for the Throne.

241You remember, recently, the--the papers give in Chicago about four years ago, when the old believer... old unbeliever, rather, used to say that God made a mistake through Solomon when He said, "As a man thinketh in his heart." Said, "There's no mental faculties in the heart to think with. How could he think with his heart? He has to... He meant his head."

If God would have meant his head, He would have said, "his head."

Like Moses, what if Moses... God would have said, "Moses, take off your shoes, you're on Holy ground"; he said, "Well, why don't I just take off my hat, that's just as good"? He said, "shoes." He didn't say, "hat," he said, "shoes."

244And when He said, "Repent, and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ," He didn't mean "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." He meant just what He said.

When He said, "You must be born again," He didn't say, "You ought to be."

He said, "These signs shall follow them that believe," He never said, "Maybe they will."

He says what He means! And He's God and He can't take It back. He knows what's perfect so He makes It that way, and that's the way He--He intends It to be. And you have to come up to That. Not Him come down to your idea, you got to come up to His Idea. That's the difference.

248Now, now, on this system of body, soul... Now, if you'll get the word soul and look it up, it'll tell you in the--in the Bible dictionary or Webster, any of them, it is "the nature of the spirit."

Now, here's a man, we say, here's John Doe. All right, John Doe. And here's Sam Doe. All right. Now, John Doe is a man, body, he's a brother to Sam Doe. Now, John is a spirit, soul, body; and Sam Doe is the same thing (body, soul, spirit) as he is, body, soul, spirit. Now, this man is evil, mean, cheat, steal, lie, commit adultery, any evil thing that he can do; but this man is full of love, peace, joy. They're both got soul, body, and spirit. Well, what's the difference? This man can go back and say, "I remember my mama, I remember things that we done when we was boys"; both of them can. They both got spirits, they both got souls, they both got body.

But the nature of this man's spirit is evil; the nature of this man's spirit is good. See? So the nature of the spirit is the soul of man. See? So, now, God is trying to get into the what? The spirit and heart of man. Where the spirit lays is in the heart.

250You know, and science said (as I never finished that), that man couldn't think with his heart. And science begins to find out that there's a little compartment in the human heart (not in animal heart, but in the human heart), there's not even a blood cell, nor nothing. They said, "It must be the place where the soul occupies, or the spirit." Just let--just let them alone, they'll take their own silly things and prove God. That's right. God just makes the foolish testify of Him.

Now, there it is, big headlines in the paper. Brother Boze's little girl said, "Brother Branham, you know what you was saying the other day?" Said, "Look, look, science has already found out."

Said, "Well, bless God! I want that, sister, I want--I want that."

The soul of man is the nature of the spirit, and the spirit dwells in the heart of man.

255Now, now, what is the outer courts? That's the flesh. See? That's the first thing you come to, the flesh. You've got to consume that first. You got, pass beyond the flesh. "I--I don't feel like getting up and going to church, the roads are too slick. I--I... It's too hot. Oh, church, I don't know." That's the flesh. All right. Now, you got to consume and walk through that, God has to get through that.

The next time He come, He has to come into the soul, that's the nature. "Oh, what will the Joneses say about me? Oh, my! You know, my church will kick me out if I--if I do something like that. See?" But you got to walk through that.

257And when you walk through that, then He goes into the heart and there's where He's throned. That's the Holy Spirit in you. Jesus said, "It'd be far better that a millstone was hanged at your neck and you was drowned in the depths of the sea, than to even offend one of these little ones that believe in Me." Not do them any harm; just even to bring offense to them, just upset them about something. It'd be better that you had your ownself drowned, or had never been born on the earth, than even to bring an offense to one. Did He mean it? Could He lie? Did the apostles say it? No, no. Jesus said It! Jesus said, "If you even bring an offense to one of them, these little ones that believe in Me."

258"These signs shall follow them that believe!"

Some great, big fellow say, "Oh, I believe in Him! Hallelujah!"

"Have you ever spoke with tongues, interpret tongues, cast out devils, visions, and so forth, as He promised?"

"No, that day's apast." He's not a believer, he's a make-believer.

Jesus said, the last words He said, "These signs shall follow them that believe, into all the world and to every creature." That's right. "They shall follow the believer until I return." That's the last Words He said. How many knows that? The Bible, Mark 16.

Now, see, he's a make-believer.

But when you find a believer that really believes, with signs following, and you see the humility of their life, not an impersonator, know that they are a Christian, a real, genuine article, just keep still. Thing you ought to do, is join right up with them, start moving along, 'cause you're moving right up the King's highway.

263Now, what happens? Watch this. Outer courts: was Luther's age, as we start in the Body of the Gentile Church.

You remember, they were Jewish on up till about the time of the--of the A.D. 606 when it come into Thyatira, it was nearly all Jewish converts. But after the Jewish, it dropped over in here at both Jew and Gentile (but mostly Jewish). But when it really come into the Gentile age, come this side, see, come Martin Luther, John Wesley, and so forth. See?

Now, watch these last three after that Dark Age, come up to the Middle Age and pass over. When it comes, watch these outer courts. See: flesh, soul, spirit. See? That outer courts, the flesh. The holy place: Nazarenes, Pilgrim Holiness, Free Methodist. See? And then Holiest of holy: back into Pentecostal, to where it began at the beginning, see, back to the beginning.

266Now, if you're drawing it out, I want to mark. Now, there's five gates that goes into the flesh, that controls the flesh. You know that. Isn't there? That's the five senses. How many senses control the body? Five: see, taste, feel, smell, hear. Is that right? That's the flesh, the outer courts, that's the things you can't depend on because it's flesh.

The inner courts then, we have the inner courts, which is the next altar. And the next altar comes in, and it comes in with--with conscience, imaginations, memories, passions, and affections. That's the five senses that control the inner courts. That's the soul. Senses of affections, that's the soul, love, and so forth. And then the next in this sensor in here, there would also be memories, and conscience, and mercy, and so forth, and--and--and imagination. You sit down and imagine things, what are you doing? You don't do it in your flesh, your senses don't imagine. It's an inner court inside of you.

268It's got three gates. What are we doing? We're breaking now, don't miss It. Coming from the flesh, the five senses; to the next, the soul, the inner courts; but now you come into the heart. See?

Now, there's where you good Pilgrim Holiness and Methodist stayed on that altar out there. See, you're in the courts. You Lutherans and so forth back in the flesh, back there with the five senses, what the eye can see and make out. See?

Here come the Pilgrim Holiness which was merely the Free Methodist, come to the next courts and believed in holiness, 'cause it was called the holy place where the sacrifice was laid.

But once a year went the high priest into the Holiest of holies which was condemned. There was the Lutheran age; then the Methodist age; then this age, the Church lights coming, which is like in the system of the human being.

272Then how do--how do we get into this? Now, remember, there was a veil, a veil that hangs between the holy and the Holiest of holy. In the Holiest of holies is where Christ comes to sit down on your heart's throne, Christ is enthroned. He comes through justification (Is that right?); sanctification; "And then by one... " (water... by one church... by one creed... No!) "by one Spirit," from here are we all baptized into one Body which is the Body of Christ. By the what? Holy Spirit.

Who comes in? Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostals, whosoever will. That veil, you know what that veil is that veils your heart from It? Are you ready? The veil is called "self-will." Do you get the picture now? The senses out there, the senses on the body and the senses to the soul, and the veil between that and the holy place, the Holiest of holy. And the only way that you can get in there is to have self-will! "For whosoever... " What? Whosoever shakes hands? Whosoever is immersed? Whosoever joins the church? Whosoever passes his letter? Whosoever does... ? No! "Whosoever will come beyond the veil."

274Let Christ come to the senses; say "Well, I ought to. I don't want to go to hell, that's one thing. I'll join church." All right, Lutheran.

"Well, I'll tell you what, I believe that I ought to live a different life, what I can," sanctification at the altar. All right, Methodist.

All right, and then whosoever will, let him pass the riven veil. Oh, glory be to God! I'm on the other side. Hallelujah to His Name! Oh, my! Whosoever will, let him tear it down, the curtains of his own will, and let God come into his heart. There's Christ on His judgment seat in the human heart! What is to happen?

277You say, "I got to... Oh, I--I can tell dirty jokes, it don't condemn me." Why? They ain't got nothing It can condemn. No One's there to--to take it out. No One's there to--to condemn you. "Well, I'll tell you," the women say, "I can have short hair, it don't condemn me." No wonder! See? "Oh, I can wear short... I can do this. I... " The men said, "It don't hurt me to smoke cigars, and it don't hurt me to play some--some cards and shoot some dice," and whatever they do. "It don't hurt me." And they still belong to the church, see, "Don't hurt me to do this." Why? Why? There's nothing there to judge you.

But when Christ comes in, you've created an altar on your heart and your sins are taken daily. The great Saint Paul, he said, "I die daily. Nevertheless I live, but not me live, Christ liveth in me." There's the inner veil. Oh, brother, sister!

279Hurry, I know... Oh, no, I'm... I just can't finish it, I'm past time. Let's see, let me just... No, I better not. See, I want to take the twenty-four elders, and I know I'm holding you all off from your dinner. We'll just... Let's see, that... How many says take the twenty-four elders? Just... [Congregation says, "Amen!"--Ed.] All right, just a minute. All right, just a minute. "Twenty-four elders," then, let's get them right quick now, "around about the Throne, and were twenty-... around the Throne."

Now you see what... Where's the Throne at now? In the heart. In the heart of who? The members of the Seven Church Ages, Christ! "Speak a word against, or action, you're condemned," you'll answer for it in the Day of Judgment. And who will judge the earth? Saints shall judge the earth.

Who did Daniel see coming with tens of thousands times ten thousands? The Saints. The Books were opened, sinners. Another Book was opened, which was the Book of Life, the sleeping virgin. Oh, my, can't they see that? The sleeping church, them that went out to meet the Bridegroom, they let the Oil go out of their lamp; never entered into This, never let Christ take control so He could work miracles and speak with tongues and do wonders and things to prove that He lived in His Church.

282What if Jesus would've come to earth and said "I'm Jesus, I'm Son of God," never done nothing, He'd just say "I--I'm going up here and join the church"? Would that been the Son of God?

What did He say? "If I do not the works of My Father, then don't believe Me."

Oh, my! Do you see? God declares Himself, He loves to. He's Jehovah. He likes to make Hisself known. Oh, I'm so glad of it. Yes, sir. He's made Hisself known to me, I know He has to you. Some of you young people just converted, yet you don't... might not know Him in the power and great things that the older Christians do, but you're coming right on into it. You're coming right up the King's highway. Don't... Just keep looking and pressing just hard as you can. Run, run, run just as hard as you can. Don't stop for nothing, just keep on going.

Like poor old Sister Snelling used to say:

I'm running, running, running, I just got over;

Running, running, running, I just got over;

Running, running, running, and you can't sit down.

Poor old soul, she's over there today.

286All right, now, and there were--there were thrones and there are, there's twen-... there were four and twenty seats. Now, how many would that be, four and twenty? Twenty-four. All right:

.. four and twenty seats: and upon the seat... upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders (one on a seat), clothed with white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

Now, "the twenty and four elders." I want you to notice they were not Angelic Beings. Angels are not associated, Heavenly Beings are not associated with crowns and thrones. See, they're never associated, they're Angels, they never did overcome. If you notice a little later on, the songs that they sang, and things, proved that they wasn't. See? They sung the song of redemption; so, Angels don't need to be redeemed. See? All right. But they were redeemed men.

288I'm not... you people, I ain't going to have time to catch this. But you that's writing down, if you want to know they were redeemed men, take Matthew 19:28, all right, 19:28, Matthew, Revelation 3:21, then get those, Revelation 20:4, Revelation 2:10, First Peter 5:2 and 4, Second Timothy 4:8. That'll let you know that they are redeemed. I want to go through that this morning, you see. And you could just comb it for weeks, you see. They were not--they were not Angelic Beings, they were not Heavenly Beings, they were redeemed men. See? You can consider their dress, the way they were dressed; you can consider their position, what they had; you consider the songs, what they sang; and know that they were not Angelic Beings. Hmm.

289I hate to come to this, but let's read one more Scripture. Will you? All right. Let's go back to Daniel 7, just a moment, back here, Daniel 7, and just read a Scripture here. I want... so this is going to help you a whole lot in the rest of the message this morning. I'm sure that it'll--it'll make you feel a lots better after you read this and see this, see what Daniel, the 7th chapter of Daniel, and let's begin now from the... Daniel 7, let's take the 9th chap-... 9th verse. Now, listen close now to these things:

And... I beheld until the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garments was white as snow, and whose hair of his head were like... pure wool: and his throne was like the fiery flame, (You see again, come back to that emerald fire.) and his wheels as burning fire.

And... A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousands times thousands ministered unto him, and tens of thousands times ten thousands (There comes your Redeemed.) stood before him: and judgment was set, and the books (books, plural) was opened.

Now, notice, this judgment was set. See? Now, watch. Daniel, when he saw the thrones at the judgment, they were empty, he seen "thrones cast down, come down from Heaven, the Ancient of time came down from Heaven." But when John saw it, the Throne was already occupied by Jesus, and the thrones for the disciples and the patriarchs, redeemed, was already fulfilled. See? Daniel saw it five hundred years before the time of Christ. And then after Christ, makes twenty-five hundred years, and John was living over into the age that is to come, and he had done seen all this happen. Where, Daniel didn't see it, (See?) he just seen the Ancient of time come; he saw Him come. But when John saw Him, the Throne was filled, see, the thrones was cast down with the Ancient of time, and Judgment was set. But when John saw Him, the elders had not yet been chosen in the time of John... or the time of Daniel, but they was already redeemed at the end time. Hope we're taking thought. Oh my! Oh, isn't that... Isn't He wonderful?

291So, Daniel 7, he... what did Daniel do? He foresaw the Judgment, seen the seated thrones was empty. See, they was supposed to be empty. As John in his time, after the raptured Church, they were occupied by the redeemed elders. Hmm.

What does a elder mean? If you take the word elder, I got about... all these definitions wrote out here, I'm just skipping down. Elder means "the head of a city" or "the head of a tribe." An elder, "a head of something." Like I--I'd be a... Brother Neville right now is an elder to this church. What is he? He's the head of this local body. See? And the mayor of the city would be a elder of this city; see, the elder of the cities. You remember back in the Bible times, the elders of the city? Elder means "the head of a city" or "the head of a tribe."

293Now, how many was they? Twenty and four, twenty-four elders. Is that right? Now... Oh, my! Who was it? The twelve apostles and the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve patriarchs. The... Now, we're going to take it right on down till we come in the other lessons, and prove that to be right, so you, I'm glad you're writing it down now. See? The twelve patriarchs and the twelve tribes of Israel! Now, watch. Jesus said that...

Peter asked one day, said, "What will we receive? We have left father, mother, husband, wife, children, everything else, we've left everything." Peter said, "We've left our wives, we've left our children, we've left our father and mother, our homes and lands, to follow You."

He said, "Verily, verily I say unto you, that you'll sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes." There you are, that's the redeemed, the redeemed elders.

296Look--look at David portraying Christ. See? When David was coming into power, the first thing, he had an awful time before he got into power. Yet he had the anointing on him, yeah, the anointing was on him. And a lot of people thought "He was just a little renegade, a little guy that was different, trying to tear up something." But there's some men knowed that he was coming king, they stayed right with him. Brother, I mean you couldn't get them away from him, as they walked on.

One day he stood up there on the mountain, looked down and seen his own little, beloved city beseiged by the enemy. And he stood there and remembered when he was a little boy, he used to take sheep out through there and drink that water, it was real water. (We've spoke of it here not long ago, The Waters of Life.) And there he is, "Think, I drank out of that."

And his least desire was a command to any man he had. Brother, two of those men grabbed their swords and fought through fifteen miles of Philistines, chopping them from right to left, to get him a drink of water out of that well. They knowed he was coming in power. Yes, sir. One time, one of them, to save him, jumped into a pit and killed a lion, single-handed. They were warriors. And when--when he come in power, you know what he done? He made each one of them a ruler over a certain city.

299See Christ there? "He that overcomes shall rule over a city." The overcomers! Today when we see that He's coming in power, Christ will rule in this world. Germany, and United States, and all must fall, every nation must fall. The kingdoms of this world has become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ, and He'll ruled and reigned on them. That's right.

We know He's coming in power, so the least of His desire is a command to us! "He wants me to represent Him in a little bitty Timbuktu where there ain't fifty cents of money, where there ain't nothing, or a poor bunch of people," that's a desire. Amen!

"You don't have to get so many, you don't have to do this, just let me know He wants to go." Amen. That's all."

If He wants me to do different, act different," like these sisters and things, "if He wants me to do a certain thing, bless God, it's a privilege for me to do it." There you are! We know He's coming in power, no matter what the world says. "If I have to lay aside every weight and the sins does easily beset me, let me run with patience the race that's set before me. Let me look to the Author and Finisher of our Faith, Jesus Christ." Coming in power!

303That "elders," the twenty and four elders. All right. Twelve... Over in Revelation, we find this. In the Book of Revelation, about 21st chapter, we find that the city of Jerusalem had twelve foundations. That right? And he had twelve gates, that was three on each side, three fours is twelve. Just exactly the way the tabernacle set in the wilderness, for John said exactly and saw exactly the same thing that Moses saw when he was up there, same thing that Paul saw.

And now we notice that the twelve foundation were names of the apostles. And the twelve gates had a name of each tribe on the gate. How we look at that and see those twelve elders, the twelve tribes, the twelve apostles, the twelve foundations, the twelve gates! Oh, my! Take them numerals of God and you can't miss it nowhere, she'll run right smack straight everywhere every time.

305That's the reason, you see, we got these six days that the world has labored in, and we're way up close to this seventh day now. The first two-thousand years, God destroyed the water... the world with water. Second two-thousand years, Christ come. This is 1961, right at the door, just a little time. And look, Jesus said, "Now, it won't run all the way out," He said, "'cause I'll have to cut the work short. If I don't, the atomic bomb will destroy all flesh. Uh-huh. For the Elect's sake, I will cut the work short in righteousness. Cut it off, part of the time." See, then the thousand-years' Millennium, the great Day.

While the Church has labored against sin for six thousand years, and the seventh thousand is the Millennium. Like God made six thousand years to build the world, and the seventh thousand He rested from all of His works. And the Church labors against sin for six thousand years, and the seventh thousand the Church rests.

307The white robes that was on the elders is the righteousness of the Saints. The white means "righteousness." And because they were robed showed they were "priests or judges," white-robed, priests, judges, prophets, so forth; see, what they were. They were white-robed, the twenty and four elders. There will be twenty and four elders. There will be twelve of them for the twelve tribes of Israel; the twelve apostles for the Church.

And they set in the courts of the great King. Remember, they're sitting out there, these are. And here is the Bride and Christ sitting on His Throne, and His Wife sitting by Him, the Church. The twenty and four elders... The hundred and forty-four thousand eunuchs of the temple ministering to Him. Where He gets up, His Wife goes with Him. Oh, oh my! Through that great Age that's coming, when all the sin and the resemblance of sins...

All the big, fine buildings that people are so cherishing today, all the money and lust and all the sin and beautiful women and men, and whatever they try to make their body, something or other, to be a trap for the Devil to send their souls into hell, will perish and rot, and skin worms will eat it up. And first thing, even to the skin worms... all that they ever was will just go into a volcanic fire to return back to nothing but fallout and--and all volcanic ash.

310But one of these mornings, friend, one of these morning, when that's all over, she'll bloom forth again. The fields with its whitening clover and the--the fragrance off of the rose will blend in with the blossom off of the Tree of Life, and Christ will return some morning. When the big birds, the doves, will sit in the trees and coo, and there'll be no more death and no more sorrow. Christ and His Redeemed will return to the earth; not old people, but young forever. Immortal, we'll stand in His likeness, the sun and the stars we'll outshine.

I'm bound for that beautiful city

My Lord has prepared for His Own;

Where all the redeemed of all ages

Will sing "Glory!" around the White Throne.

Sometimes I get homesick for Heaven

And the glory up to behold;

What a joy that will be when my Saviour I see,

In that beautiful city of gold!

How I long to see Him! Oh, I want to see Him!

I'm bound for that beautiful City!

John saw it, on the isle of Patmos, coming down as a Bride adorned for her husband. The glory of it I want to behold, someday.

I want to see Him, and 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.

312The little slipping and sliding in the snow, the little heat and toils of the day; I wish my wife and Mabel would come forth and sing that song for me, if I--I could, "The toils of the road will seem nothing, when I come to the end of the way." That's right.

I remember the night when I left the church to start in the evangelistic work, when you all crying; none of them's left, hardly, probably a few of you here. Sister and Brother Spencer, and maybe a--a few of the old-timers left, when they cried here. But when the Holy Spirit said, "You must go!"

314And I remember my first meeting after I'd been gone for months, Meda come down to Jonesboro, Becky was a little bitty baby, come down on the old Cottonbelt train, take them days to get there. And I was standing out there when she come in that night. We tried to get to the auditorium, three blocks away, the policemen was holding the streets like that. The streets was even packed. Had, take me through the streets and wind around to get into the place. Meda said, "Did they come to hear you preach, Bill?"

I said, "No." Then we sang:

They come from the East and West,

They come from the land afar,

To feast with our King, to dine as His guest;

How blessed these pilgrims are!

Beholding His hallowed face

Aglow with love divine;

Blest partakers of His grace,

As gems in His crown to shine.

Oh, Jesus is coming soon,

Our trials will then be o'er.

Oh, what if our Lord this moment should come

For those who are free from sin?

Oh, then would it bring you joy,

Or sorrow and deep despair?

When our Lord in glory comes,

We'll meet Him up in the air.

Amen! Oh, I love Him! Would it bring you sorrow and deep distress, or would it bring you joy? When our Lord in glory comes, we'll meet Him up in the air. With those thoughts on our mind, let's bow our heads. Lord willing, I'll finish this service some other time.

317Our Heavenly Father, oh, they'll come from the East and West, they'll come from the lands afar. I'm thinking of that great Rapture. The people I've preached to in Africa, India, and around the world, how I'll see their face again. Many of them crying, going out to the airplane, and leaning across the fences and screaming and crying. I'm thinking of when then they went out with Paul one time, knelt down and they prayed. He said, "I'm sure none of you... many of you here will see my face no more."

But they'll come from the East and West,

They'll come from the lands afar,

To feast with our King, to dine as His guest;

How blessed these pilgrims are!

Beholding His hallowed face (in the emerald Glory)

Aglow with Light Divine; (Not just a lamplight or a candlelight, but--but Divine Light, aglow with Light Divine.)

Blest partakers of His grace,

As gems in His crown to shine.

O God!

When the coal of fire had touched the prophet,

Making him as pure as pure could be,

When the Voice of God said, "Who will go for us?"

Then he answered, "Here am I, send me."

318Oh, send the Angel this morning, the Cherubims with six wings, as Isaiah saw them, flying through the building, crying, "Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord." And Isaiah the young prophet said, "I'm unclean lips, and amongst unclean people, and my eyes have seen the Glory of the Lord." The pillars moved from the temple. And a Angel took the tongs off the altar, and got a coal of fire and laid it on his lips, said, "I clean your lips. Now prophesy, son of man." Send the Angel this morning, Lord, clean our lips from any vileness. Clean our hearts, and come in, Lord. Break down the self-will. Let--let my will (in Thee) be Thy Will, Lord. Oh, will Thy Will in me, O God. And let me and my church and my people be thine, O Lord. We commit ourselves to Thee.

319And as the poet went on to say, Father:

Millions now in sin and shame are dying; (Over in Africa, down in India, around the world, thousands a hour, and meeting You without knowing You.)

Millions now in sin and shame are dying; (Yet, God, it tears my soul to pieces to think of it.)

Listen to their sad and bitter cry;

Hasten, brother, hasten to their refuge;

Quickly answer, "Master, here am I."

Grant it, Lord, grant it again. I've made all kinds of mistakes, Father, through this past year, I pray You forgive me for them. And in this New Year, Lord, anoint me afresh. Let me go to those millions sitting yonder in sin and shame, are dying, bring them this great revelation of Thy Truth, bringing to them the anointing of the Holy Spirit; that on that day they might come from the East and West, shining as gems in Your Crown. Help me, Lord, to go down and prospect and dig them out of the ground, the dirt of the earth, the dirt and filth that they're living in. And let them see a Holy God that makes them clean up and live like Christians, sanctified and pure before You; turning away from evil, from all kinds of worldly amusements, and turning to a living God, and making them delegates of Thy Kingdom for that great day.

321Sanctify this little church this morning, Lord. Sanctify every person in here with Thy Spirit, and let the Holy Ghost come into their hearts, each one of us. Freshen up the Spirit in them who's already re-... opened their hearts through their self-will, has denied their own will and has come to know Your Will.

Those young ones, Lord, many of them just little babies. How You nurse them in Your arms! How a mother takes care of her little one, wiping the tears from their eyes and--and giving them special things because she loves them. That's how You love Your little newborn babes, Lord. They can't walk yet, they can't even talk. Only thing they can do is cry and look to Mama. O God, hold them in Your arms, tenderly, like little lambs, and lead them until they become mature that they can walk. Then lead them, Lord, down through the paths of service. Grant it.

Forgive us of our sins, as we forgive those that sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, through Jesus Christ's Name. Amen.

324God bless you! I trust that the Lord has done something for you this morning to make you start the New Year upon this one thing, that you love Jesus Christ, and someday you want to see Him and love Him and live with Him forever. It's my desire that not one of you will be lost, that every one of you will be saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, and be preserved unto that day of His Coming, because I believe it's soon at hand.

Now I turn the service back to Brother Neville.