The Stature of the Perfect Man
God Bless you, Bible believers. We love him with all of our hearts, because He first loved us. That chorus expresses the heart-thoughts of each one of us here this-morning. Where would we be if we hadn't heard the Message of this hour? Certainly, we'd be in church somewhere this morning, religious as can be, loving God, worshipping Him sincerely. But without faith, we'd be sincerely wrong.
Can you say "Amen" to that?
Let's go straight to the Scripture, I Corinthians 10:1-12:
"Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well-pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.' Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."
Even as Moses was admonished, 'See that you make all things according to the PATTERN shown to you on the mount,' we also find the natural or material things of this physical existance are types or shadows of the heavenly or Spiritual reality.
For instance the natural manna God provided for Israel's necessary meat was a type of the Word which is the Life-giving resource for our soul.
The Rock which followed Israel was the Word; when smitten it brought forth water for natural life, as Christ brought forth Living Waters of the Holy Spirit when smitten on Calvary. Notice, Moses smote the rock twice, showing the insufficiency of the Word Which is twice-smitten, once on Calvary; the second time in this last day, to bring forth the Latter Rain which condemns the world and takes the Bride to Glory in the Rapture. And It's being smitten across the land today.
Israel were a natural people, God's chosen nation; the Bride of Christ is Spiritual Israel, overcomers and princes with God, a chosen people separated only unto the Word, and to EVERY One. When Israel came out of Egypt they were a mixed multitude of Believers, make-Believers, and un-Believers and there were murmurers among them. . . women who wanted to wear slacks and jeans like the women in Egypt, men who wanted to wear shorts and go mixed bathing, like those in denominations, that is Egypt, spiritually bound to sin and the senses.
Spirits don't die, that's why history repeats itself. The Devil takes his man but never his spirit. And God takes His man but never His Spirit, It just goes on to another person. So the unchanging God could show through types and shadows in the Old Testament, things which would come to pass in the New.
If I hold my hand in front of the light from the overhead projector, it casts a shadow against the wall which is an indistinct image of my hand. But if you'd never seen a hand before, you would have some idea what one looked like by observing the shadow. The shadow is not the very image, mind you, but notice as my hand moves closer toward you, or the wall, the shadow becomes more distinct. So when my real hand comes into view, instantly you recognize it from your understanding of the shadow.
That's "faith," And that is how the Scripture has been written, so the elect of God who are looking for the Promise to be fulfilled will receive the Word when It is fulfilled and not be deceived by a glare.
Look at those who came out of the denominations in Laodicea, baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, (and that's the only water baptism commanded in the New Testament.) They were sanctified, saw He's still a miracle-working God and have tasted of the heavenly Gift and of the good things to come, but they're wandering to death in a Spiritual wilderness. They "came out of her" but never entered into Him.
Let's take note of all these things. God deals with individuals always. Because we have heard the "shout" of the prophet and come out of Babylon does not mean we have entered into Christ. The foolish virgin also heard the "shout" of God's prophet and came out, and they're worshipping with us this morning. Don't think they're in the denominations.
We have three kinds of Bible believers in this room today. There are real true saints, un-Believers, and impersonators with us today. Let us each work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Paul said "if the same Spirit which raised Christ from the dead dwells in us, It will quicken our mortal bodies to the Word."
Let each of us examine his own life. Do we believe? Do we REALLY believe the Bible is God's Word, and William Branham was His prophet? Then we will obey everything they say do. Is that right? Even if we don't have a revelation. We'll believe and obey God's Word regardless whether we understand "Why?" God said so, and that is sufficient. All things are possible to those who believe . . . just carry on in the Word and He'll reveal faith to you.
"If the same Spirit which raised Christ from the dead dwells in us, It will quicken our mortal bodies to the Word." If our bodies and spirits are NOT coming subject to the Word it's a good sign we do not have the in-dwelling Spirit of Christ and are NOT a part of His Body.
One married Brother here who took out a woman recently. That's sin and a standard of behaviour not tolerated even by the Roman Catholic church. Where is the conscience that convicts the heart of sin? Others of you wear shorts and go mixed bathing, when you know the Bible forbids it. Some of you are not even baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
I might be preaching to four bare walls some day but I put you on notice this behaviour will not be tolerated in this assembly. And I expect YOU to warn me if you think you see me bringing a reproach upon the Word.
James (5:16) tells us "to confess our faults one to another, and pray one for another." Paul tells us to "examine ourselves" before we observe the Lord's Supper, "judging OUR life by the Word lest we bring a reproach to the Lord's Body," that is, our Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
This might be "legalism" but It is God's Word. We should be ready at all times to observe the Lord's Supper which represents our oneness with the Word and Spirit, typed in the bread and wine. I say at all times, because we do not know when He will require us to give an account of ourselves. "If TODAY you should hear His Voice, harden not your hearts as they did in the Wilderness". Repent and make things right now.
This church is in no shape to take the Lord's Supper, were we to serve it tonight. If we bring offence in any of these things, we offend the Brethren and must apologise to the Brethren before we can make things right with God. This requires sincerity and either speaking privately with one we feel we might have offended, or standing before the congregation, confessing our faults, and asking prayer (Matthew 5:23-24.)
Each of us is expected to be present for service whenever the doors are open. Attendance is not optional, it is mandatory. This is a privilege we will not have for very much longer, and something we should all look forward to. When we attend service don't come thinking, "what can I get out of this?" If you believe we are preaching the Present Truth and you are part of the Body, come along for the benefit of the other members of the Body. We are each individuals, but we are all members of the same Body and we are incomplete without you.
God is holy and He requires His Bride to be holy. If our lives are not holy and we don't repent, we know for sure we are not His Wife. Jesus in Matthew 18:15-20 instructs us on correction.
In His letters to the Corinthians Paul puts this into effect when he encounters a man having an incestuous relationship with his father's wife. He fails to repent when confronted with his sin, is put out of fellowship with the Church, and out from under the protection and blessings of the Blood.
Now he can attend service, but Brethren are not to have fellowship with him. The whole object and purpose of the exercise is to discipline the man with a view to his correction. Church is not a social club. We don't come here to drink tea and fellowship with one another. As Paul taught us in I Corinthians 11:34, we have homes where we can do those things. We come to church for correction and edification by the Word of God, and to encourage one another in worship together.
When someone is out of fellowship, particularly when he is out from the protection of the Word, it is for a purpose. If he is a Christian, Satan will give him such a hard time he will quickly repent and ask the Church to forgive him. if he fails to repent, you know he went out from us because he was never one of us. In other words, he was never under the Blood, not born-again in the first place.
Now there is such a fellow in Sydney, a fine sanctified chap I baptized in 1983, who has been out of fellowship and baptized many times since. He must be well-known as a visitor to scores of churches around Sydney, maybe the Catholic paper, the "Sunday Visitor" is named in his honour. There appears not the slightest evidence he ever was under the Blood as there is no repentance. He's spoken terrible words against the prophet and for years now has denied the revelation and promoted total salvation for everyone, including Satan.
Now that's quite alright for him, each of us has a perfect right to believe whatever we perceive to be truth. But it's not alright by God or this Church and if I as your pastor say do not fellowship with him, do not 'phone or visit. Should he call or 'phone, tell him you are unable to speak with him. "Friendship" is irrelevent. How a son of God can call a man his friend, who has counted the Revelation whereby he was sanctified an unholy thing, is more than I can say?
If he is our friend, we are not acting as his true friend by fellowshipping with him. Shun him and stop interfering with God's Word. How can Satan give him a hard time, how can he come to repentance when you are blessing him, telling him he's alright?
One of the Brothers has done just this. What this assembly does is the private business of this congregation alone. This chap isn't interested in us, sharing our news with him is gossip from which we are to abstain. If you don't have confidence to obey the things I say, then you have come to the wrong church, and you should find a pastor in whom you can have confidence. If you have confidence in the Word, don't interfere with It, It will do what It says It will do and he will be in or out.
I Corinthians 10:6-10: "Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.' Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer."
And I Corinthians 2:9-14:
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
"Words" hold many promises for God's children, not everybody, but the Elect, chosen in Christ by foreknowledge unto Glory before the foundation of the world. . . called, justified, and already glorified in His great thinking. These promises are revealed by His spirit through faith.
We are admonished to be Spiritual men, not natural men, to judge or discern in all things by the Spirit or revealed Word of God. Paul said the Gifts of the Spirit are to be desired but it is more desirable that we prophesy, or possess Spiritual discernment, which is faith or understanding in the Word.
God is building Christ a Body, a Word-Bride, by faith and the purpose of that faith is to reproduce "Zoe," God's Own Life in us. He is expressing His Own glorious character and nature in the living Body-Word of the flesh of His Wife to reflect His Own Attributes and He will not share His glory with the attributes of this world. So if we are that Body, we had better be holy, get our revelation in order to control our spirit to think right so our body can behave worthy of the high calling.
This morning we are going to teach on building the Living Tabernacle of the Living God's Dwelling Place, the stature of the perfect Man.
I Corinthians 3:11-13, "No other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall become clear: for the day will declare it, because it will be revealed by Fire; and the Fire will test every man's work of what sort it is".
Now let's read II Peter 1:1-12:
"Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained LIKE PRECIOUS FAITH with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:"
Paul said, have the same mind and speak the same thing. The "common salvation" is by a common faith. And did you notice Peter is addressing the saints, those who "have already obtained" the faith, not the outside world. As we learned last week, the ministry is not for the sinners but for the perfecting of those who are saints and for the edification of those already in the Body (I Corinthians 1:10; Ephesians 4:11-12.)
"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us ALL THINGS that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these (PROMISES) ye might be PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
What is our Goal? To be made partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the desire of the world and the things of the world that is by sensual desire. How do we overcome the world? Through faith which unlocks every promise of the Bible.
"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith VIRTUE; and to virtue KNOWLEDGE; And to knowledge TEMPERANCE; and to temperance PATIENCE; and to patience GODLINESS; And to godliness BROTHERLY KINDNESS; and to brotherly kindness CHARITY. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But he that LACKETH these things is BLIND, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, GIVE DILIGENCE TO MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
Without the Spirit or new birth we are not "guided into all truth and cannot see things to come," which is the evidence of the new birth (John 16;13.) The Token, or evidence of the new birth, is the Divine Nature, the Life of Christ on display, fulfilling the Present Truth — what he promised He would do in this day.
"Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know, them, and be ESTABLISHED in the PRESENT TRUTH."
Now Peter is teaching us how as individual saints we grow into the stature of the perfect man, or come to maturity. At the same time he is prophesying how the corporate Body of all Ages produces the Fullness of Christ through the Pentecostal Feast or Gentile Dispensation which will be displayed at the manifestation of the sons of God by the end-time Bride under pre-eminance to the Word.
So this morning, we will take the key of faith, and unlock the way to becoming Living Bibles — virtuous Christians in the stature of God. Remember, the Bible is the story of God changing His Form from the eternal Spirit alone with His thoughts, through the Spoken Word to the flesh of those thoughts in the Form of His family: Jesus Christ and His Brothers and Sisters, the New Testament saints.
He revealed Himself to Israel in a Pillar of Fire, called "the Fatherhood." Then that same God was manifest in Jesus Christ, the Son. Finally through the death of that body, He sanctified a Church that He can dwell in. It was God above His people, God with His people, and God in His people — the same God (singular) all the time.
Isaiah 9:6 explains it, and so does Matthew 28:19. Not three Gods — three major Offices or Dispensation Claims of one God, Who is the "everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" or Son, and the "Wonderful Counsellor," or Holy Ghost, and His Name is Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the Seventh Day Adventists and other groups regard the Sabbath as a "day" of rest, but God's Bible calls the sabbath a "Place" of rest. God led Israel into Palestine, a "Place" of rest where they could observe a day of rest.
Acts 7:44-49: "Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Which also our fathers who came after brought in with Jesus (that's Joshua), into the possession of the Gentiles whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; who found favour with God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon built him an house. Howbeit the most High dwells not in temples made with hands; as said the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is My footstool: what house will ye build Me? said the Lord: or what is the PLACE OF MY REST?"
The Presence of God dwelt in the Tabernacle and appeared above the Mercy Seat between the cherubim over the Ark in the Tabernacle of Witness in the wilderness. It was patterned after the vision of heaven where God dwells alone between the cherubim. The evidence that He had taken His abode was the Shekinah manifest at the inauguration of the Tabernacle, and witnessed by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement (Exodus 40:34-35.)
He displayed the same Sign when He took His abode in King Solomon's Temple (I Kings 8:10-11), and later in the Temple of the Lord Jesus Christ at His baptism in Jordan (Luke 3:23.)
Hebrews 10:5-6: "Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, 'Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices thou hast had no pleasure.'"
We know God's perfect will was obedience, not sacrifice. Ideally He never wanted the sacrifices of bulls and goats, or the Lord Jesus, our kinsman Redeemer: He wanted a Body under pre-eminence.
Where is the place of God's Sabbath today?
God is tabernacling in a Body, the Bride of Christ.
Nothing could approach His holiness. Cherubim in heaven covered their faces in reverence, and their feet in humility. When He visited Moses, if an animal so much as touched the mountain, it must be killed. Then God was made flesh and dwelt among us in the Form of Jesus Christ, His Son — His Creation. That Son gave His Life, and the blood cell of God was broken that the Life might come out of the blood to us and cleanse our lives which came through sexual desire, changing our nature into the Divine Nature of God so that we can become a dwelling place for God, the Place of His rest.
If the Pentecostals are looking for the "initial evidence" of the new birth, It's found in Acts 2:3: "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of Fire, and It sat upon each of them." When God inaugurated the many-membered Body of the Bride of Christ, He identified It with the same Sign by which He identified His previous tabernacles.
'Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a Body hast thou prepared me.' That Body is the Family of God, Jesus Christ and the New Testament saints. Jesus said, "At THAT day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you" (John 14:20.) WHEN YOU are IN the Body.
The Church is now taking the place of Christ, carrying on His ministry. "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also. Yet a little while and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also," carrying on the work of reconciling the world to the Word.
God dwells in the stature of a man; reflecting Himself into that being when we live our lives a pleasing sacrifice unto Him, that's perfect worship. We become the Word in our flesh, written epistles of the faith read and known of all men, the hope of glory.
Pagans worship an inanimate idol, in the image of their god. Those idols look just like the demon spirits, for the artist or sculptor was inspired by the spirit to make a representation so they could receive worship. Christians are a living image of the Living God — CHARACTER.
Man was made to reflect God's attributes, and God has always reflected Himself in man. Look at the shadows and types.
Born a deliverer, Moses went to the mount for 40-days, returning with the Law, the Ten Commandments for Israel. Also born to deliver Israel, after 40-days in the wilderness, Christ magnified the Law in His sermon on the mount, the Beattitudes (Matthew 5-7.) "Moses said, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery:' But I say unto you, 'That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.'"
Another man who reflected Christ was Joseph. A spiritual man, he could interpret dreams and see visions. His brothers hated him for it, threw him in a ditch as one dead, then sold him for almost thirty pieces of silver. From there he came to sit at Pharaoh's right hand and no man could come to Pharaoh but through Joseph. Before Joseph left the Palace, a trumpet sounded and messengers went before him shouting, "bow the knee, Joseph is coming," and everyone stoped whatever they were doing and bowed before him.
A perfect type of Christ. No man can come to God, only through the Sacrifice. And when the Seventh Trumpet sounds, our Joseph will leave the Palace to meet His Bride in the Air, and two messengers will go before Him to the 144,000 of Israel. All work will be over then, the Bride will bow the knee and confess Him as Lord, and three and one half years from then, Israel will have ceased from its labour to receive Him as Lord.
Another shadow or type was David, scorned and spat upon by his brethren, plotted against by his own son, as Christ was betrayed by his brother in the Church. He sat upon the Mount of Olives and wept over Jerusalem, a perfect type of our rejected King who sat upon the same Mount a thousand years later.
These shadows and types reflected the Word in part, foreshadowing Christ in Whom dwelt the the Fullness of the godhead bodily. Since that perfect One has been and has redeemed His Bride, we press to get into that Tabernacle, the Stature of the perfect Man where God dwells.
God's purpose and plan is to tabernacle or dwell in the flesh of His Family, Jesus Christ and the New Testament saints. Now the Bible is the story of God unfolding or changing Himself from the eternal Spirit alone with His thoughts to the manifestation of those thoughts in glorified human flesh. Can you see that?
God wrote three Bibles. The first one was the stars. Romans 1:20-21, also Psalm 19:1-4 "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims His handiwork. Day after day poureth forth speech, and night after night shows forth knowledge. There is no spoken word from the stars; their voice is not heard yet is evident throughout all the earth, and their sayings to the ends of the inhabited earth. . . " We can't and are commanded not to attempt to read the stars today. Since the flood, the earth has been off its axis.
Job, the oldest Book in the Bible, speaks about the stars. Now I'm not presenting this as doctrine, but to show you, by God's help, that His first Bible was written in the stars. It starts off with Virgo the virgin and ends with Leo the lion (as symbolized by the Sphinx).
Bailly (Astronomy) says, "the Zodiac must have been first divided when the sun at the summer solstice was in 1 degree Virgo, where the woman's head joins the Lion's tail." Astrologers will tell you there is no continuity of time beyond the victorious triumphs of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Death, hell and the grave with the Devil and all of his children, are cast into the lake of Fire. Then a great voice in heaven will sing, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God."
Virgo the virgin (August 23 to September 22) is followed after nine months, the period of Mary's pregnancy, by Aries (March 21 to April 20). Jesus was born in April in the Northern hemisphere Springtime, when all little lambs are born, not in December, which is Winter when Bethlehem's hills are snowbound. He was the little Ram sacrificed for the sins of the world.
Passover was followed by the Pentecostal Feast where the middle wall of partition which separated the Gentiles from God was broken down, and the Church, predominantly Israelite until the seventh century, became mostly Gentile. This is the Cancer age we live in now.
Cancer (June 23 to July 23) means crab, a crustaceous animal that can walk in any direction — sideways, and even backwards. The malignant growth which tends to spread or reproduce itself, corrupting the cells concerned, and generally ending in death, was named after this characteristic. How appropriate to the Gentile dispensation which spread the Gospel throughout the world, ending in apostacy and death (John 3:18; Revelation 6:8).
Leo (July 24 to August 23), the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, completes the circle of time back to Virgo. This coincides with Christ's "parousia" to the 144,000 elect Israelites and also to His second "erchomai" or physical Coming.
Heaven is in harmony, the names of Leo in Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and Coptic all mean, "He that rends, that tears asunder, that destroys, that lays waste". And the stars in this constellation unite in describing what is written of "the Lion of the Tribe of Judah." Christ is called by this Title when He advances to claim His inheritance and to indict the world for judgment (Revelation 5:5).
In Israel's dying blessing the prophetic words foretold of Judah: ". . . Your brethren shall praise You: Your hand shall be in the neck of Your enemies; Your Father's children shall bow down before You. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my Son, You are gone up: He stooped down, He couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse Him up?" (Genesis 49:8-9).
In the prophecy of Balaam, we read: ". . . He shall eat up the nations His enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with His arrows. He couched, He lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir Him up?" (Numbers 24:8-9).
The same testimony is borne by the prophet Amos: "Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has taken nothing? . . . The lion has roared, who will not fear?" (Amos 3:4, 8).
When "the Lion of the Tribe of Judah" is roused up for the rending, the Spirit describes the scene in Isaiah 42:13, "The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: He shall cry, yea, roar; He shall prevail against His enemies."
However He has not come to the exercise of His powers and prerogatives as the Lion without first clearing away all impediments and overcoming all embarrassments by His sacrificial atonement and satisfaction for the sins of those for whom He takes the character of the Lion, to tear His and their enemies in pieces (Psalm 50:22). This is what is meant and included when the Elder says, (to comfort John who throughout the Book of Revelation represents the end-time Bride), "the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has prevailed." Hence He is "worthy to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing" Revelation 5:5, 12).
When God created the heavenly bodies and set them in the firmament, He said, "Let them be for signs and for seasons" (Genesis 1:14). The full import of these words means "signs of something or some One to come" at a "set or appointed time". Here then we have a distinct declaration from God that the heavens contain not only a revelation concerning "things to come" in the signs, but also concerning "appointed times" in the wondrous movements of the sun, and moon, and stars.
And to demonstrate the perfection of God's heavenly Bible, the motions of the sun and moon are so arranged that at the end of a given interval of time they return to almost precisely the same position, with regard to each other and to the earth, as they held at the beginning of that interval. "Almost precisely", but not quite precisely. There will be a slight outstanding difference, which will finally destroy the possibility of the combination recurring, or else lead to combinations of a different character.
Whether we look at the primeval revelation in the heavens, or at the later revelation in the Word, the story is the same. Thus the probability of God's prophecies being fulfilled is so finely balanced as to vindicate Its Supernatural infallible inspiration. Not one jot or tittle of His Word or one degree of turning in the heavens can be changed.
Many books have been written on the stars by godly scholars such as Seiss, Bullinger and Chambers. And although they were not prophets, and God has sent a prophet in our day with the perfect interpretation of the Bible, there are certainly great blessings to be had by reading their commentaries in conjunction with your Bible.
God's second Bible was written in stone. The Great Pyramid: built by Enoch before the Flood. Now we see in this diagram a representation of the unfinished Great Pyramid which appears as a witness on the US one dollar bill as the Great Seal of the United States. Like the stars, there is no nation under heaven to which this Sign does not testify.
The Latin mottoes say, "He has favoured our undertakings," and "a new order of the Ages." The illustration represents Christ and His Bride, the New Jerusalem, the City foursquare, symbolized by thirteen rows of masonry, the number of woman, and Christ the rejected capstone surrounded by the Shekinah, descending as head to complete the Body.
God's third and last Bible is the one we read today. In II Peter 1, the prophet outlines how we get to our position in that Place, the stature of the perfect Man, and which virtue represents our part of the Body or Dispensation.
It's by one Spirit that we are baptized into this One Body. Jesus said, you must be born again, then you've got FAITH. Until you're born again, you may have a little Bible knowledge but It won't agree with the Word. The new birth PRODUCES faith, and faith is a clear understanding of the revealed Word. Jesus said, "Except a man be born again he'll never understand the Bible" (John 3:3.) And "without faith it is impossible to please God: for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that DILIGENTLY seek Him."
So the whole Temple of the Living God is based upon faith on the foundation of Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 3:11-13) which is "the doctrine of the apostles and prophets" (Ephesians 2:20). This double line on the base represents your new birth in Christ. Once you've laid the foundation, you are a "babe in Christ" and you start to grow into the Token which is the Life of Christ represented by these attributes.
Add to your faith VIRTUE. The Bible said "virtue went out of Him" to the people. Virtue is strength. Until we become strong in the faith, we have no strength others can draw upon.
If our spirits are up one day and down the next, doubting, unstable, not able to hold to the strict line of God's Word, we have no virtue for ourselves, let alone sufficient take the place of Christ Who was our Example. Before we can give out strength to others for healing, answer to prayer, salvation, the Rapture, we've got to have overcoming power in our own lives.
When you possess virtue, add It to your faith. You're growing character and character is not a gift, it is a victory. Next add KNOWLEDGE of His Word to judge right from wrong. Paul said, "Let he who is spiritual judge in ALL things" (I Corinthians 2:15.) Jesus said, "With what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Matthew 7:2.) So we judge by the revealed Word which is the judge of all men and what God says, God is able to perform. The revealed Word is our standard. The promise, NOT the circumstances.
Abraham, 100 years old and his wife 90, staggered not at the Promise of God through unbelief. Faith was a reality. God had promised him a son by Sarah and he knew that God was able. When God later told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, he knew God would somehow provide for Himself a substitute sacrifice because a mighty nation was promised through Isaac.
If you read Acts 2:38 which says we are to be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Matthew 28:19 which says Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and don't know what the Bible means, you have no knowledge to add, leave it there until you can see that Scripture does not contradict Scripture, and by revelation can say "Amen" to every Word.
But when you can see these things and have obeyed all you know to do, add that. You're approaching the stature of the full measure of Christ.
When the preacher sings, "the things that you're liable to read in the Bible, ain't necessarily so" or, "the days of miracles are over." You declare, "He's the same yesterday, today, and forever." Be a witness, add that knowledge to your faith, there are no private interpretations.
If God has watched over you when you transgressed His laws and condemns you for it, how much more has he watched over His Law which condemns you? Holy Ghost knowledge will always say, "Amen" to the Word of God.
If you can't understand the Word, sit and study It prayerfully. With the Father's Word, Jesus defeated every devil. It may take a year, but God will reveal and tie It together from Genesis to Revelation.
After you've added Holy Ghost knowledge, we come to TEMPERANCE. Having the pre-eminance over your senses. Temperance is controlling your tongue and actions, keeping your passions and prejudices under due bounds. As in the Beatitudes, let Christ be your attitude. Be slow to anger, swift to bless, and learn to turn the other cheek.
St. Martin, the angel to the Pergamean Church Age and a man whose ministry was followed by a constant witness of the Supernatural, is said to have been "always one and the same." A biographer wrote of him, "No one ever saw him angry or disturbed, or grieving, or laughing. Many hated him for virtues they themselves did not possess and could not imitate. . . "
After godly knowledge, add PATIENCE. If you have faith, it will produce patience. The first thing is to have patience with God. Abraham's faith was tested for 25 years while he waited for God's Promise to be fulfilled, all the time calling the things which were not as though they were. Discounting his infertility and the barrenness of Sarah's womb, he held patiently to God's Word.
For 120 years, Noah patiently preached repentance as he erected the Word of God on top of his hill. The sky was still clear and blue seven days after he began loading the animals. His neighbour's children scoffed and threw rotten tomatoes and stones at the Ark. Noah did not lose patience, he did as instructed and he waited, God said, "It WILL rain."
The Rapture has been the same way, friends. God loaded the saints into the Ark of the Word through Seven Church Ages. It will be thirty years next March since 1963 when those Seven Church Ages ended and the Seals were opened for the Former Rain. Have patience with God. You have patience BECAUSE you have faith BECAUSE God said so, and has revealed It to you. The denominational children of disobedience will scoff saying. 'Where is the sign of His parousia? Since the fathers fell asleep things continue as ever.' But they'll see one day, too late, for He also promised the Latter Rain, and It will come.
Have patience with one another too. The apostolic saints were told to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on High? After five, six, seven days, Satan tried to tell them, "I think you've got It now. Just accept It by faith and start your ministry." But godly knowledge taught them they did NOT have It yet, 'cos Isaiah 28:11 said, "With stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people." And the types said, when "This" comes you'll know It, 'cos you'll be anointed by the Pillar of Fire as God dedicated his earlier tabernacles.
When you have faith to see God has given YOU a promise AND you see It in the Bible, then wait. Add that kind of patience to your faith. Put Him always before you, for it was He that made the Promise, not man, and He is able to keep His Word.
Next add GODLINESS which means to be like God. Jesus told us to bless those who despitefully use us, to love our enemies, and to be perfect or complete LIKE our Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48.) But don't try to add this till you're born again, or you'll only become religious.
We GROW to perfection or maturity, Ephesians 4:11-14:
"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, (TO BRING TO MATURITY THOSE WHO ARE ALREADY SAINTS) for the work of the ministry (WHICH IS THE MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST, RECONCILING THE WORLD TO THE WORD), for the edifying (OR BUILDING-UP) of the Body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:" Where we KNOW who we are.
We are to be like Jesus who was in absolute agreement with the Father by faith and under pre-eminance to the Word. He said, "I do always that which pleases My Father." He taught us to pray, not "God do My will, but Thy will be done." We should not try to change God's mind but ask Him to change our minds to conform to His Word. Godliness is to be like Jesus.
Last, add BROTHERLY KINDNESS. Endure with your brother — put yourself in his shoes and look at the world through his glasses and you'll better understand his problems. Be longsuffering without compromising the Word for evil spirits. An old Brother once defined "Fellowship," as "two fellows in the one ship."
Next add CHARITY which is love. The seven virtues combined produce love. which is Christ the Capstone which completes the building. The headship of that rejected stone controls and is the strength of every one of these virtues. Like the Shekinah which surrounds the Capstone of the Pyramid-city New Jerusalem, keeping It in the Light so it casts no shadow at anytime, there can be no darkness around the Capstone.
So the Holy Spirit above this welds the Body into the "unity of the faith" at the end-time, "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the Truth in love, ("AGAPE," God's own benevolent affection,) may grow up into Him in all things which is the Head, even Christ" (Ephesians 4:14-15.)
This diagram represents not only the individual Christian as he grows from a babe in Christ to maturity, and in THIS Age, to the manifestation of the sons of God and full adoption, which is the body change. It also represents the corporate Body of Christ of all Ages. It illustrates what Paul said in I Corinthians 12, and Jesus defined in Revelation 1-3, One Body made up of many members, each with his unique position in the Building and a particular part to fulfill.
It represents One Bride drawn out of the whole Gentile Dispensation represented by the Pentecostal Feast in Leviticus 23.
The Pentecostal Feast commenced on the second of seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread which represents Christ, the pure Word, without sin (or leaven.) The original Church Jesus founded on the Day of Pentecost, is the ONLY one He recognizes as His Own and is represented by the double base line or foundation of the pyramid in our diagram. This "Alpha" Church is restored in Christ's end-time or Omega Bride.
The Pentecostal saints held and understood the Word pure and undefiled for a brief season until numbers increased and the antichrist spirit began to work through the make-believers, and un-believers.
Leviticus 23 informs us seven sabbaths or 49 days were counted from the beginning of the Feast. Now a "sabbath" is a rest and these type the Seven Church Ages or mercy seats of the Gentile dispensation.
Each of these Church Ages formed a distinct Part of the Bride or Body of Christ which is made up of the Holy Spirit which came out of Christ on Calvary. A PORTION of that Spirit made up the saints of the Ephesian Church Age who heard It through the message of their "angel", St. Paul. The token or evidence of the Life of that Portion of the Spirit in that Age was Faith.
Isaiah 59:19: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him."
When the Church "left its first love," Christ the Word, and tolerated the "deeds of the Nicolaitanes," the introduction of a hierarchy between God and the congregation which Jesus hated (Revelation 2:4, 6,) He sent Paul, to the Ephesian Church, anointed with a Portion of the Spirit of God with FAITH to withstand Satan's sophistry and carnal reasoning against the Word.
Once all the saints predestinated to the Ephesian Church Age had been baptized into the Body, God sent Irenaeus with a different Message to build the next part of the Body, known as the Smyrnaean Church Age. The Portion of the Spirit represented in his Message produced the Token Life of VIRTUE, or Spiritual strength in the saints of that Age.
So you can visualise from the diagram how each Age or Dispensation was built by a different Portion of Word, and how the number of the true saints diminished in proportion to the increase of "nominal Christians" as the Body grew.
God kept building His House through the Church Ages. When the church world had fallen for Satan's lie at the First Nicea Council, organized the Roman Universal church and the "deeds of the Nicolaitanes," became "doctrine," the distinguishing Token of the indwelling Spirit in Pergamos was godly KNOWLEDGE. And when Rome killed the Christians through almost a thousand years of Dark Ages, TEMPERANCE was added; PATIENCE in Sardis, GODLINESS in Philadelphia, and BROTHERLY KINDNESS in Laodicea, or Pentecost. From this example, we can see the way to overcome our faults and shortcomings is to do the opposite.
Now we know the Capstone was never placed on the Pyramid. It could not be completed because the Capstone represents Christ, the Word sealed from the foundation of the World. The pyramid Body of Christ could not possibly be completed or capped by the "parousia" of Christ incarnating His end-time Bride until the Seven Seals were opened and revealed.
Meanwhile the faith which was in the heart of the saints was LOST when they were martyred by Rome, so the Church Age saints could not worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. And perpetrating Roman Dogma instead of the Word, they were rejecting the Capstone, Christ!
After the Dark Ages cane the Protestant Reformation of the Roman Catholic system of worship. Did you hear that? Protestant denominations are the Roman Catholic church at different stages of its Reformation. They are an image or idol unto Rome, and teaching her traditions in place of the Word her harlot daughters also reject Christ, the Capstone.
Christ was a Mediator from Pentecost until the last saint predestinated to the Laodicea Church Age was born again. Since then He has been Judge.
The Protestant Reformation of the Roman Catholic system of worship in the last three Church Ages restored three major Revelations: Justification by Grace through faith in the Sardis Age, Sanctification by the blood in the Philadelphian Age, and the baptism with the Holy Ghost in Laodicea. As water, blood, and spirit constitute the natural birth, all three steps of Grace are required for one Spiritual birth. Read I John 5.
Now the Messenger to the last Church Age came at the end of the Age. But before he sounded his Message, the Church Ages had ended. He revealed the seven unknown thunders which finish the mystery of God, calling the Bride out of the denominations, and baptizing her into Christ.
Note the gap or breach with "Holy Spirit" written in it, between the capstone and the top of the pyramid. This is Revelation 3:20, where the prophet stood with the Christ who had been put out from His Own Church. When Israel worshiped the Golden Calf, God moved His Tabernacle without the camp (Exodus 32-33.) He wanted to destroy them all and start a new nation with Moses, but that prophet stood in the breach and pleaded for Israel. And after Christ's Mediatorial Office was fulfilled and He was rejected in our day, Brother Branham stood in the Breach. There he received the Fullness of the Spirit as he preached those Seven Seals and introduced Christ, the Fullness of the Word to those able to obtain His mercy.
Let's look Malachi 3:1: "Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, Whom ye delight in."
The Elijah who introduced the first Coming, when Elohim came to indwell the temple of the Lord Jesus Christ, was John the Baptist. The Elijah who foreran the second Coming of the Lord was Brother Branham. As we know, the second Coming is not a Man, It is the Word. The second time Elohim comes, He incarnates the temple of His many-membered Body, the end-time Bride, by the Fullness of His Spirit for the manifestation of the sons of God and the translation.
The Capstone is now on the Pyramid. The Capstone is the end-time Bride. It is Christ Jesus incarnate in His Word Bride. "Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a Body have You prepared Me," a Body, a Bride (Hebrews 10:5.) Glory!
The Church Ages, the seven sabbaths of the Pentecostal Feast are over. Leviticus 23:15-16: "And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD."
This is where we are today, the Capstone is beyond Pentecost, beyond the Seventh Church Age. The seven times are over , we are in the fiftieth day, feasting on the manna of all Seven Church Ages, a full seven course meal. Leviticus 23:18 is this Message!
The corporate Body of all Ages grew or matured into the Fullness of the Stature of the Perfect Man the same way we individuals mature or come to perfection in the Word, adding the virtues until we all come to the Divine nature and in the unity of the faith (II Peter 1:4; Ephesians 4:12-13.)
When the last member predestinated to the Body enters the top of Mount Transfiguration. Amen! God will place It in the full adoption as He did Jesus in Matthew 17: "This is My beloved Bride in whom I am pleased to dwell in. Hear ye Her. What She says I will do for we two are One." We're in perfect agreement on the Word! And those two witnesses will go before Him into Israel.
These virtues are the character-building blocks which make-up the Divine Nature of the dwelling Place of the Living God. It's not a building with a steeple "But a Body has Thou prepared Me," a Body God can dwell in, walk in, talk in, work in. God walking on two feet.
Those seven "adds" together equal love, which is the Fullness, which is God incarnate in His Bride in the end-time.
It's One Body but many members. And this body, when it's completed, is the Church of God that's going in the Rapture. And this being, when completed, is a servant of God in the Church of God, that's going in the rapture.
As in Hebrews 11:39-40, none of the Church Age saints can be made perfect or glorified without the completion of the Capstone Bride to finish the Body and bring it to maturity and perfection for the new wave offering (Matthew 5:48.) See how few saints there are in Christendom today? Now we have the perfect interpretation of the Word and Christ is no longer a Mediator, the Church is in such a minority. It has the same kind of ministry He had.
Can you see where the Church is today? Can you see your place in It? Then reckon yourself dead to the world and the flesh, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Know your weaknesses and keep them covered, live to the glory of God.
Let's press the Battle, yeild to the Spirit, ensure our lives are at all times under pre-eminance to the Word. Don't let some transitory thing of this present world keep us from the millennium. "As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit."
God Bless you, Bible Believers, and to those of you who are following this Message through the Net, we have you in our prayers and ask your prayers in our behalf. When you have the Revelation of this Message, be sure you live It, and fax or mail It to another soul who might receive. bb930221.htm
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