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Elijah Shall Come First
Lee Vayleat 51:46
And Elijah precedes this coming of his own. 35. Now, what is the Rapture but Christ coming to His Own? Certainly, coming to His Own, for the Rapture, He has to, that is the Rapture. According to 1Thessalonians 4:16-17. He descends. He comes to take the Gentile Bride in a Rapture. Now, let's ask this question: Is the Rapture a curse? Nobody could answer the Rapture is a curse. Nobody could. (See?) So therefore, He's got to precede this Rapture. Because the Rapture is part of the Coming, (isn't that, right?) "He descends and we're caught up to meet Him in the air,) (that's what the Bible teaches) so shall we ever be with the Lord." [1 Th 4:17] 36. Remember, that's His coming, and that's no curse. Now, He said, "I am Coming, but if I don't send Elijah, all I can do is come with a curse. Now, who said the Rapture is a curse? You never make It a curse, it's a blessing that we're looking for. It's the hope of the Saints, because that's what is going to take us up and be with Him, and remain with Him. (See?) So, therefore Elijah must precede the Rapture.
Then come down and write something else. But, to the Church, the Bride, the Rapture is a revelation. It's revealed to her. Absolutely the true Bride will be waiting for that revelation of the Rapture. 32. All right, (shows she's in doubt) we go to page 17, begin to read in paragraph 81. [81] Now, the rapture is only, this rapture that we're talking about is only for the Bride. Why certainly, because It's a revelation revealed to her. The rest haven't got a prayer. You know what? There's no room in there for a rapture. There's no room to get caught up. Remember, the Bible said, "And the rest of the dead lived not for a thousand years." [Rev 20:5] This great rapture... If there's not a rapture, friends, where are we at? What are we going to do? What age are we living in? What promise do we have? There is going to be a rapture. The Bible says there will be; and it'll be only for the Elected, the elected Lady, the Bride in this day that's pulled out, the church.
Take notice. (31) … the kingdom of God is at hand. (32) Verily I say unto you, (that) This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. And it tells you, there are some in this generation; at what age- I don’t know. I don’t know. But this generation cannot pass away until every single thing be fulfilled; which is the great tribulation and the establishment of the Kingdom of God upon earth in a millennium. 11. Now notice, what it says here. It is not the literal. Rather, this is not a cloud of angels with Christ- that is the Rapture. Now many people want to make that the Rapture. They make 1 Th 4:16 the rapture. It is not the Rapture. It’s the conditions preceding the Rapture. So, this is not the Rapture. This signifies that the Rapture is right in your generation because you cannot go in that Rapture unless you are immortalized.
There's no way. There's no way because this is the word that lost it to this hour. This is the word that comes into preeminence. This is where the bride has something that she's never had before. Now, this is the background. Now, I'll continue while before we go to the other part of the service. Now, after Brother Vail's background, We looked at the fact that he then brought the next scripture concerning scoffers. And as he talked to scoffers, we brought to your attention time after time that the subject was the rapture. Because he said the subject is the rapture. Now, therefore, every scripture is going to be about the rapture. Getting out of here. Every illustration, no matter where it's taken from, is going to be contingent to delineating upon and showing you a facet that's going on now concerning the rapture. Because everything is rapture. You follow me? As I said, Brother Branham, talking about a horse doesn't suddenly switch to a camel. He's not talking about being in Pennsylvania and ends up in Israel. He's talking about a rapture. And everything is about the rapture. Now he says concerning the rapture, scoffers.
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Let’s begin to find these things where people sneer, “But I am my Father are one.” Well, if you and your Father aren’t one, I can tell you one thing: you never had a representation then, and you haven’t got one now! Make up your mind; you’re going to burn. Yeah. Let’s get down to the ‘nitty gritty’. I’m not on the warpath; I just want get your mind straightened out. You can’t sit on both sides of the fence. You can’t have creed and dogma at the same time. 39. [81] Now, the rapture is only, this rapture we are talking about—not the Rapture other people talk about, not the Rapture I heard about when I went around the denominations, but this Rapture Bro. Branham is talking about, is only for the Bride. Remember, the Bible said, “And the rest of the dead live not for a thousand years.” He is telling you flat, then: anybody miss this, you’ve shot it. You won’t live for a thousand years; you’re going to die. See? The Bride doesn’t cease living. This great Rapture ... If there’s not a rapture friends, where are we at? What are we going to do? What age we living in? What promise do we have? Now you keep that word ‘promise’ in mind when we finally get to Peter. There is going to be a rapture. The Bible said there will be; it’ll be only for the Elected, the Elected lady, the Bride in this day that’s pulled out of the church—that’s going to be living. The rest of them are going to die. The rest are living in pleasure and in their sins, after their own lusts, which means their own pleasures.
The hour we’re looking forward to, brother. [179] Look, the second resurrection, all the first one’s past. The second one is at hand now. [180] Now, the third one is the two witnesses of Revelation 11:11 and 12, which these are the ones that turned back with the Spirit of Christ to witness to the Jews like Joseph did to his brethren. And you remember their dead bodies laid in the streets for three days and a half; then the spirit of life came into them and they were raptured, taken up into Heaven. There’s your three raptures of the New Testament. Three raptures of the Old Testament, all of them past. [181] And now we’re ready, waiting for the rapture‑‑the rapture of the saints. It’s been spoken about and so shall it be. 55. Now, all right. We’re up to page 38 here, and paragraph 181. Now: [181] Now we’re ready waiting for the rapture‑‑the rapture of the saints. It’s been spoken and so shall it be.
Amen. You may be seated. Now, we're going to continue with the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ in this hour. And the last time I preached, I tried to show you that the parousia, which most people call the rapture, is not so at all. A parousia is not being with Jesus in the rapture and at the waiting supper, but has to be with the personal presence of Jesus for an indefinite period prior to the rapture. That's what the scripture teaches, it's an indefinite period prior to the rapture, but it is not the rapture itself. So the parousia... which is the personal presence of Christ precedes the rapture. And the rapture then, of course, will take place at a later time. And this parousia concerns the living who are about to be changed and the dead who must come up out of the earth. Now, this was seen in Matthew 24, beginning at verse 3.
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That’s what He promised... 23. Now see, that's why he's hitting it, revelation. Now he's letting the people know the book's got to be opened, there's got to be a revelation. And, when he talks about the Rapture, he lets you know that the Rapture, was given to him by revelation. It's under the mysteries revealed under the Seventh Seal in Revelation 10: 1-7. …Now, it won’t be nothing outside the Word, because you can’t add to the Word or take from the Word. It’s got to remain always the Word. But the revelation is to reveal the Truth of It, (that's the Word) what It is, to make It fit with the rest of the Scripture. And then God vindicates that to be the Truth. 24. Well, the point is. How are you going to vindicate the Rapture? You're stuck. You'll see the dead come out of the ground. That's when no more won't die. Up north, we have a little previous, he wants us cooped up with his gimmicks. We don't buy gimmicks here. You, stick with the Word. Because, you wouldn't even know the Rapture was even going to take place. Because, you're not changed. You know the Rapture is going on now. That's what you know, and you know this generation cannot pass away. Now, what is the vindication of the truth of the Rapture? Mount Zion, the Rapture itself. You'll see the dead come out of the ground. You'll get changed, you'll wave the world, good-bye. I don't think, you'll even take the time to wave good-bye, actually. Too busy, looking up. And then, God vindicates that.
And that’s the age that we are living in. Notice, he puts it in the singular so that it is not a community revelation, because he’s talking on the Rapture. It will categorically come to a person in the singular, and that will be a messenger of the Seventh Church age, as every other age had a message and messenger in the singular. 9. Furthermore, let us note he places a further mystery of this mystery, in page 17, Para. 81 and 82. [81] Now, the Rapture is only… This Rapture that we’re talking about is only for the Bride. Now that’s compounding the mystery. Remember, the Bible said, “And the rest of the dead lived not for a thousand years.” This great Rapture... If there’s not a rapture friends, where are we at? What are we going to do? What age are we living in? What promise do we have? There is going to be a rapture. The Bible says there will be; and it’ll be only for the Elected, the elected Lady, the Bride in this day that’s pulled out of the Church.
I wish I had that a little better, but I don't. 23. Anybody else: [Question five: inaudible] Well, he categorically said that: "The Bride had everything she needed under the Seven Seals to put her in a Rapture." So, we know the rapturing faith which was very much on his mind as greatly missing categorically as to its magnitude that would bring about a Rapture. Because, he would say, "We've hardly enough faith for a healing." So, he said, "We don't have the faith for a Rapture." Well, I'll put it this way: since faith is a revelation, (and in one place he did say the Rapture was a revelation) it would be my opinion, or my thoughts on what he said that until the revelation under the Seven Seals, particularly the Seven Thunders, the great mysteries become dynamic to us, there will not be enough of the definitive positioning of each person through a true divine revelation as being a part of that Rapture to take her off the ground. But, that's what I believe what he had in mind right there.
So it certainly is what the prophet said, a full revelation as the things in nature grow, vines grow, the world history of God grows, you see a growing understanding and manifestation and a fullness of the Christ through the Life that wrote iI all, starting in Genesis going to the Book of Revelation. 8. Now: He was the Word of God revealed, the whole complete book of redemption. (Now you notice in here then that He would have to be the Redeemer if it's a book of redemption which it most certainly is.) The Bible is God's Word, foretelling the future events. Well, now, did it tell about the Rapture? Well, it certainly did tell about the rapture. But how well did it tell about the Rapture? According to Bro. Branham, if you didn't have a revelation which is discernment for this hour, you can say, "It's Rapture. There's going to be Rapture." That's all you know about it and your guessing will be wrong without a doubt. And remember, that Rapture must be a further unfolding of Jesus the Christ, and the Bible said we're going to meet the Lord in the air. "The Lord shall descend with a shout and meet the Lord in the air. And when that Spirit that's in the midst of us is incarnated to us, we'll crown Him King of kings and Lord of lords." Now nobody believes like we do because it's impossible. Nobody could guess this.
You’re getting ripe. 54. Now, with this ripeness comes hope, which means that ‘earnest expectation’. You come to the place where you say, “Look, I don’t know how I am going to be in the Rapture, but I know I am going to be in the Rapture, because I got a revelation of the hour. I’m not going to die, though I could die tomorrow. I’m standing in the light of the Rapture. I’ve got an earnest expectation of what this is all about, which is to put me in the Rapture, or under the Seventh Seal with the Seven Thunders, which gave us rapturing faith. I’m going to see the dead come out of the ground, and I am going to have resurrection faith, which means I am going to be changed, which gives me one thing left, which is rapturing faith, and I’ve already got it in a measure.”
She became his convert. 22. Now you apply that to what’s going on in the church today and you can see we’re in a pretty rough spot. The devil in the church system will deliberately turn the Word of God so that in the minds of the people it means something exactly opposite to what it really is which is death instead of life, sickness instead of health, lake of fire instead of the Resurrection, going to death and burning instead of being raptured. Now if you don’t believe that what are you going to do about 1 Th 4:16 which is not the Rapture? It’s the conditions leading to the Rapture. And you know what? That’s the Appearing, the actual real Appearing, but everybody says in the world today, outside of those that don’t believe, they’re fundamentalists, there’s millions of them. “Why,” they say, “that’s the Appearing. The Rapture is the Appearing.” It isn’t at all. The Rapture is the days of the Son of man. The Appearing, I mean, the Appearing is the days of the Son of man. There’s your Appearing right there. The Rapture will follow it.
See? So, you begin to see in the parallel how that Bro. Branham did this and the sorry thing is: the majority of people that say they believe this Message do not comprehend It. Oh, some say they do, I don't doubt for one minute that many people look at it and said, "Well, so what?" That's the reception I got as I went around preaching. "Well, that's nice, it explains a lot of things, so what?" See? 10. Well, what did Bro. Branham say? He said, "God, Jesus Christ Holy Spirit come down. Set's Himself at the Head of the Church in order to raise the dead." Alright, if He isn't here, the dead won't be raised. The Rapture itself, the event for seeing the Rapture, (actually it's the events surrounding It,) are in three things. Shout, Voice and Trumpet. The Trumpet is not the Rapture. The Trumpet is the summoning to the Rapture. None of those three things is the Rapture. Not one of the three. But all three sets the tenor, and without the three you'll never make the Rapture. If you don't hear the Shout you won't hear the Voice, you won't hear the Trumpet. I'm sorry, that's it. He does all three in descending.
Then, read the rest of the prophecy: the Laodicean Church age, the third chapter. (20) “Behold I stand at the door and knock.” 20. What does James say? The Judge is at the door. What are we supposed to look at in this hour? Everybody just... “Oh, Rapture! Rapture! Rapture! Rapture! Rapture! Rapture!” Come on! Are you going to build a hope on one little verse in 1 Th 4:16 that people don’t even know the meaning of? I don’t understand people. Just take what the church says; take what the church says. God Himself says, “I will kill her children with death.” And, who are the children? Protestant churches. I keep on telling you about the article I got from Time Magazine. I’ll never find it likely. But you could write Time Magazine and ask for it. They’ll find it for you. Time Magazine shows that every single church in Christianity came out of Rome—bar none.
So, it’s a new creature people. Two, it was producing a rapturing condition. Now, remember that Bro. Branham stated he would preach on the conditions of the Rapture when he spoke on “The Wings of a Snow White Dove”, over there in Shreveport, Louisiana, in November of ’65. And one of the conditions of the Rapture was the ‘Shout’, and he also said, “The Rapture is a revelation.” So, you will notice, when he started the sermon, he let us know that nobody understood the Rapture, the Appearing, until that hour when he gave it. And this revelation of the Message, in the Message, and the Message being a revelation, puts us under the Shout, which, of course, will bring about a Resurrection, and this is a rapturing condition. And this faith, of course, was not previously a faith that could be apprehended. It was there in potential, but now we are at the end time.
Wrong. So therefore, Brother Branham said, get rid of your thinking. Is that what he said? Get rid of your thoughts. You don't have any thoughts on the rapture if you do their manure head thoughts. Right? Your thoughts are wrong thoughts. My thoughts are wrong thoughts. It was constantly the idea, look, your thinking is wrong. Get your thinking lined up. Don't think anymore the way you used to. Listen to Brother Branham. Those are the thoughts. Is that right? All right. For the next two meetings, it'll be subject, subject, subject. You understand what I'm saying? Keep in mind what the subject is. I am not going to be talking about a horse then without any reason to switch to a motor car. I'll not be talking about a motor car and weaving an airplane. It's going to be rapture, rapture, rapture. Do you understand? What is a rapture? A catching up. Do you understand what I'm saying? Not mad at you. Just getting right down to business because we're not fooling. All right. The subject is the rapture. Not horse and buggy pentagon.
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That's not as good as the joke. Because you see, the streetcar and the taxi are both means of conveyance and will get you home. And I'm going to tell you, if you miss the last bus you walk home, you'll be here for the Great Tribulation. The rapture means catching the weight. And Brother Branagh said, we're dealing with the rapture. And let's say the rapture is the taxi. Then you don't take a streetcar. Because though they both speak of conveyance, one is not the other. And when you speak of rapture being a catching up, the rapture that the world preaches is not the rapture. They're going to stay here and miss the bus. Do you see what I'm talking about? Now he said, I'm going to background it. And he said, the Lord is my light and my salvation. All right. The word Lord. That's the one we're talking about. He is my light. That means my brightness, my clarity, my revelation.
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Now, He tells you, "It shall be light about the evening time."He tells you the light is a Message through a prophet by a Presence, and you got It right there. [points to the Pillar of Fire picture] Now, I don't understand why people don't understand that. 16. Now, Bro. Branham categorically said in the 'Wings of a Snow White Dove'. He said, "When I go to Yuma, Arizona, I'm going to teach on the conditions of the Rapture." All right, let's just stop and think. What is Rapture? All right, Rapture is catching up, right? Catching up. Catching up. [Bro. Vayle illustrates on a board] Okay, I'm not going to do this very good, because I'm sure I won't be able to make it. These are people. Very fine people too. Okay, they're going to get caught up, see? Oh, I got them all. Caught up. That's Rapture. Now, what are the conditions? Shout, Voice. Now, I want to know why people can't understand that. What are the conditions of a Rapture? The conditions of a Rapture is Shout and a Voice. All right, what is a voice? A Voice is when the Lord Himself descends from heaven with a Message, and He gives It to a prophet. Wherein 2 Thessalonians, by our gathering together to the Lord Jesus Christ is a Message and we come together on a Message.
It is just a subtle thing of the devil. 33. Now: [57] And we find out… Now watch, the Rapture... He is talking about the Rapture... and we find out in this day when this great scoffing and making fun of the Bible and trying to push It out... Now hold it! Now hold it! They aren’t pushing this Bible out. For the first time the Roman Catholics want everybody to read it. Even a Cardinal said, “Go and hear Billy Graham, and you will come back a better Catholic!” And Billy Graham stands there and says, “We preach the same gospel you do.” So much for Billy Graham and the Protestant churches. Now listen. They are not pushing this Bible out (the book itself). It is the Bible of the Rapture, the Shout! the revealed Word of the hour—not Luther; not Wesley; not Moses. This Word. Understand why this is the Rapture message? this is the subject? If you do not keep these things in mind, you will read the Rapture a dozen times, fifteen times, twenty times, not too many times; and you’ll say, “Wasn’t it nice?” What was nice? Well, I really don’t know, but I liked it. When you quote from it, what are you quoting? Rapture! Shout! Voice! Trumpet!
Okay? 7. [65] But to the church… So, these people are scoffing, and this subject is ‘The Rapture’, and the Rapture is a revealed doctrine. But to the church, the Bride, the rapture is a revelation. It is revealed to her, that’s the revelation, the true Bride of Christ will be waiting for. The revelation of the Rapture. Now he just hammers and hammers this. In English it is very hard to punctuate that the Bride is waiting for a Rapture, and it is a revelation. Now I’ve mentioned already, that, because it is a revelation, and he is telling us here that the Church has been waiting for it, it is most evident that the true revelation of the Rapture was not given to Luther, was not given to Wesley, was not given to Pentecost, but is given to the prophet for the Bride at this hour. Now I’m not drawing a conclusion. I’m telling you a simple statement of fact, because he said, “She’s waiting for it.” And the Church was in death, until the time of Luther. And everything that Bro. Branham taught us starts with the Church coming back to its original and restored condition starting with Luther and ending in this hour.
You may be seated. 1. Now we are into the study of the “Rapture” and this study of the “Rapture” as is and has been delivered by Bro. Branham in Yuma, Arizona, December 4, 1965. His exact words are, “I want to speak on the subject of the ‘Rapture.’ I want to speak on the subject of the Rapture.” And that is exactly what he did. And this sermon that he preached is doctrinal. It is the exact teaching on exactly what the Rapture is and exactly how is takes place, and it is placed of course also in the seventh church age. We read therefore on Page 6, paragraph 30: [30] ...The Bible teaches there will be a rapture of the Church. A catching away of the church. There will be a catching away. Page 27, paragraph 128 [1 Th 4:16:] [128] ...The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
You just have to watch what he says and realize what he is saying. 6. Now he said: [176] The next rapture takes place in 1 Thessalonians: for the Church, the Bride to be resurrected, to be raptured. (15) ...We which are alive and remain, (that is, the body left on earth,) won't prevent or hinder them that are asleep. (16) The trump of God will sound first. The dead arise. Now he is talking about the fact of the continuity of the Rapture. He is not talking about the trumpet sounding, and then there is going to be a resurrection. He is not saying that. He is saying the Voice takes care of the dead that come forth. Then the Trumpet brings up the first group ahead of us, and then we are caught up after them. 7. Now what we are actually looking at here, and we better just get this lined up here. We will look at and watch paragraph 169 again. “One rapture is passed.” Now that one rapture passed... You’ve got to watch. There are three that happened in the Old Testament. So there is evidently raptures that took place before them.
Now he said, “There is a danger of faith at this moment.” 53. Now what is the danger of the faith? Unrevealed Rapture—that’s what hasn’t been revealed. That’s what she is waiting for. So therefore, the revelation of the Rapture—if it has been revealed to you—makes you a part of the Rapture. And that’s the last thing. And remember, the whole thing was building to the Rapture. That is why it is the same Message. There is only one Message. That’s why they screamed at Bro. Branham, “We’re resting on that.” He said, “I preached what Paul preached.” “We’re resting on that.” Now they had the revelation for their hour, but they couldn’t have it for the Rapture, or there would have been a rapture. And the Bride cannot be aborted. So we see at the end time, there is to come in a completely finished Gentile Bride, which we know that she is. All right.
Well, here we've got the Holy Ghost.) …it (never hath happened) not yet what we shall be: (it never yet come into existence) but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Now, when is He going to Appear? Up in the Rapture? No sir. He's got to Appear before the Rapture in order for you to get your change to make the Rapture. Then how are these people talking about they're going to make the Rapture without Him Appearing first? Because if he doesn't appear in human flesh by the Word, you'll never be raptured, because it takes a glorified body to be raptured. So, there you are, He's got to Appear in the Bride. 57. Then 1 Peter 1:23-25 (23) Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
“He was of the evil one.” Now we find here that Enoch was the seventh from Noah, which was a type of the church ages. Now, all of the rest of the six men, before him, died, but Enoch was translated. Enoch was raptured, the seventh, showing that it’s the seventh church age that takes the Rapture. Now, there’s no doubt, we’re in the seventh church age. We all know it. The Rapture Now, it’s the seventh church age that takes the Rapture. All of the other six died. But Enoch was translated, because, “He was not found. God took him.” But Enoch, raptured, was a type of all of the rest of them dying. But the — the end-time Bride will be called out of the…The rapturing, without death, will be called out of the seventh church age, which we are now bearing record of that age. Oh, my! Let’s dig in now, real deep. See?
Amen. 1. Now, what I wish to do at this time first of all is to carefully examine what revelation, that's the word, 'revelation' concerning Jesus actually means. Which we'll go into the mechanics of it, because it's not simply a definition from a dictionary, it's to actually see it from the Scripture, so we know the mechanics of it, how it works, and so we'll know what to look for. And of course, we have to find that in the Word also not a dictionary. I mean the Word of God, not a dictionary. Then secondly, we wish to show that this revelation though basic to the Rapture does not occur in the actual Rapture itself, but prior to It, and is necessary to bring the Rapture about. Now, you are absolutely aware of that fact which is fact number two, and you will no doubt be aware, or somewhat aware of the examination of the revelation, the word revelation how it works. And so, what we're going to be doing with the two thoughts is to bring out the doctrine of the pre-rapture revelation of Jesus Christ that's necessary to make this Rapture that we're looking for to take place.
I thought the Rapture mystery was us being changed.” Don’t you understand, the Lord Himself descends from Heaven? So, there’s got to be something about Him in there. See. Now, this is where the people are missing it. The people say, “We believe Bro. Branham.” I don’t say they don’t believe him, but they don’t know what he’s saying. Now, look; I read it, [80] “Praise be to God! The revelation of the mystery Himself.” Look, the Rapture per se is not Himself. Himself is, ‘Himself’. You’re dealing with a different thing. Now he tells you then; when you deal with Rapture, you’re dealing with a person. Then, why don’t they listen to what he says about the person? Now he says, in there, there’s a revelation of Him. [81] Now, the Rapture is only, this Rapture that we’re talking about is only for the Bride. Now, that’s true; it’s only for the Bride. Remember, the Bible said, “And the rest of the dead lived not for a thousand years.”...It’ll only be for the elected, the elected Lady, the Bride who is pulled out.
Peter warned of these days. [80] Now we’re living in that day. Praise be to God! The revelation of the mystery of Himself. What has this been anyway? That One came down. Why he said, “There’s no pope and holy one amongst us.” Why he said, “Elijah himself is the Lord Jesus Christ.” God’s His own prophet, and if He’s his own prophet; He’s His own teacher, His own apostle, His own pastor, His own evangelist. He’s everything, if they only knew it. 26. Let’s keep reading. [81] Now, the Rapture is only, this Rapture that we’re talking about, is only for the Bride. Remember, the Bible said, “And the rest of the dead lived not for a thousand years.” This great Rapture... If there’s not a rapture friends, where are we at? What are we going to do? What age are we living in? What promise do we have? There is going to be a rapture. The Bible says there will be; and it’s only for the elected, the elected Lady, the Bride in this day that’s pulled out, the Church.
Now, we’ll take our time for a little bit and look at this. [166] Notice, we saw in types. Now, If you want to read in Matthew 18:16, It said, there’s three that bear record. See? John 1, 5:7, and so forth...Three is always a witness. Is that right? It’s a verification; something that’s right. Three witnesses bear...” In the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established.” [167] Now notice, we’ve had three witnesses. Three is a witness. Now, we’ve already had three Raptures in the Old Testament. (Did you know that?) That’s for a witness. Now, watch! Enoch was one; Elijah was the other one; and Jesus the other One. See? Watch it, one, two, three now. Jesus, being the Keystone now, see, he’s placed in a peculiar position between them. All right. ...He’s the Keystone between Old and New Testament, because He had to die first and then rapture. He died, come to life, and walked around here with us, then was raptured up; because He was the Keystone that tied the two together. What’s that? The Old and New Testaments. After His resurrection and rapture (Look!), after He did that and proved the Old Testament there... We all know Enoch was translated. We know Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind in a chariot of fire. And Jesus died, buried, rose and lived here on earth and then was raptured up, the Keystone. There’s three to bear record. Is that right?
See? 43. Now It says, the end is going to be worse than the beginning. He said, you can’t imagine. He said, “What you think that you escaped, you can’t imagine the bondage you’ve actually placed yourself in.” Let’s go back to Malachi. Except those who speak this certain way and fear the name, except by a revelation, It says, all of you are going to be destroyed. Wait until the tribulation hits them. And they’ll say, “My God, what happened? Where did we miss it?” See? They’ll …?… Of course there’ll be some saying, “Well, we told we because we don’t get raptured until the end.” Then when will the end come? Rapture, Lord, rapture, Lord, rapture, Lord. No rapture, not …?… See? 44. Now listen, (21) …it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness… It were better that they didn’t know the difference between right and wrong. It were better that they hadn’t had the chance to know… that’s what he’s really saying, knowed it right from wrong. See? Far better than to… than after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. How many times was it delivered? Twice.
They are the Elect which come down and inhabit the earth. Now, as I mentioned here, you will notice that the Great Tribulation and the literal Second Coming of Christ as people caught It. That is, His descent to earth. Now I am bypassing the actual Rapture, because I do not agree with the fundamentalist, that the Parousia is the Rapture. That the Coming is the Rapture. 7. That is, they put it as the first part of It, I do not. I put that all as part of the Presence, with bringing the Rapture about. So number one, is the Presence which contains the Presence on earth here to bring the Bride together, the living Bride. Secondly, to bring about a Resurrection. To thirdly, to bring about a Rapture. Then, after the Wedding Supper they will be coming back. This is how we understand it in this Message. So, there is a period of time here, and it's right after this Presence, what that Presence accomplishes is when the Great Tribulation will set in, then at the end of the tribulation there will be that Coming-back because His Presence was known upon earth.
The people got so mad, they rose up against him. In that week they buried three men from that church that came against him. And he said, “You don’t like God being sovereign? Why don’t you get Him, pull Him down out of heaven, beat hell out of Him, then, with a big club?” Say, “Those words, brother, those words… They’re bad words. They incense people.” Maybe they do incense people. They’re still the truth. What are they going to do with God? You can’t even see Him. So, how do you know that’s His picture? He vindicated it. That’s why, or you wouldn’t know. See? People are so wrong in their thinking. 18. How in the world is there going to be a Rapture, unless the thinking lines up with the thinking of God? Because God’s thinking is a Rapture and certain conditions with that Rapture, and if you’re not meeting His thinking with His conditions, you won’t make it. Right? Then you need a revelation. Bro. Branham said, “The Bride is waiting for the revelation of the Rapture.” And the Rapture is what? God, coming down, Jehovah-Elohim, with the Shout, with the Voice, with the Trumpet. And they don’t even listen to the Voice.
(11) Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest (unto) your conscience. Now, he's telling you something there where people could be terror stricken, and there are those who could not be, and would not be. Now, to put this manifestation in the Appearing, or the Rapture as they call It, in my understanding is a bit weird for two reasons. The same theologians that quote these Scripture as referring to the bema [raised platform in a synagogue or church]the Judgment Seat in the upper atmosphere after the Rapture, use 1 Cor 1:7 as the Rapture. (7) So that (you) come behind in no gift; waiting for the (Apocalypses) of (the) Lord Jesus Christ. (That is the revelation, which we also call that Rapture.) Now, as I see it, they use verse7 for the Rapture, and yet in verse 8, It says, "We'll be blameless."
So therefore, He is coming, we'll be with Him, then in the bodily form together, and there is never any sensation at any time. Now, you cannot isolate Presence and Revelation, and Manifestation to just the Rapture alone. See? What manifestation is needed at the Rapture? No manifestation is needed at the Rapture Itself. See, because you've got to be in shape somehow here to make it up there. Bless God, if you ever get one foot off the ground even, that is two feet at one time off the ground in a regular Rapture, what have you got to worry about? See, they've got it all messed up. There's no way you can make this Bible come out right, except through the prophet. So you cannot isolate Presence and Revelation , and Manifestation, and so on to the Rapture. He is here and revealing Himself on earth now. 42. Now, that's absolutely true. We go to Rev 10:1, we see that One seated on the Throne, the Logos comes on down. And you'll notice also, that it is absolutely the Son of man in the 1st chapter in the Book of Revelation.
Now if you're born again you're a spiritual person, a spiritual being in a limited sense, you follow me, and that will give you access to the rapture. Now then, if you turn down the access to the rapture, it shows you haven't got it. If you want a guide book, I preached about twenty-three, twenty-four sermons on the Rapture in a whole series. I didn't exhaust it; no way can I exhaust the Word of God, there’s no way. But I'm going to tell you something: you'll find in there a lot of answers. Not because I preach it but I preach it from the Word. That's your guidebook. Now you miss it, you miss the Rapture. Now Israel alone knew how to get there. Everybody's talking about Appearing and Coming but they're all mixed up. The Appearing to them is the Rapture. It isn't so! That's the Coming. This is the Appearing. And remember that Spirit that's in our midst has got to take us up. He hasn't gone. The Pillar of Fire leads us to the Millennium. Bro. Branham said so. All right.
But as God indwelt prophets and used prophets, now in His fullness, when Christ was all of it, He stood there before the people and they crucified Him, because they could not understand that He was the revelation of the living Word of God for that hour. 15. And so there’s a revelation at the end time, it’s called the Appearing. And everybody but us calls it the Rapture, it is not the Rapture, the Appearing is not the Rapture, the Appearing precedes the Rapture! “As it was in the days of the Son of man,” it says, “So it’s going to be again.” But everybody just says, “Oh that means they turned Him down, that means hardly anybody believes Jesus, what’s this Son of man stuff anyway?” Hey, that’s the same thing they said when Jesus was here upon earth. Are they going to act any different? You got to be kidding if you think they act different. Come on, you that like chocolate, you’ll die liking chocolate, you’re chocoholics. And like my wife, you’re going to try to grab a cup of coffee on the way up in the Rapture. And I’ll be handing it to her, so you get a sip out of mine. Come on, they never change; they’re not going to change! God doesn’t change, the devil doesn’t change, and people don’t change. It’s according to seed. If you haven’t got the right seed in you, you’re going to lose it. If you’re hybridized you’ll lose it.
See? 36. Note, the title is “Unveiling”, not doctrine of Godhead per se, but like the Rapture, wherein he said, “I will now preach on and reveal the conditions of the Rapture.” What did he say about the Rapture itself? Why, it’s not even in the Bible. It means ‘a catching away, a catching up’. That’s right; that’s ‘rapture’. How much did he speak about the catching up? Ha! Out of the hour and half to two hours, about five minutes. What did he speak about? The conditions. Then, if you are one with the conditions, you’re believing you are one with the Rapture, because everybody else is going to turn it down. 37. Now, he will preach here in such a way that people will turn it down, and others will believe. He’s going to tell you, then, about how it is done, not so much what is done, not so much the Who, as to how the Who is revealed. And his will be a relationship because he says, “Here is a ministry.” It involves a ministry.
Which would be the Great Day of His wrath when He comes in power, and in final judgment and retribution upon the world. 6. Now, the fundamentalist invariably place both Presence and revelation (remember those two words I brought to you) in Rev.1:7, and then over in chapter 2:1, the word 'Presence', and those two words are used invariably by the fundamental scholars and I suppose all theologians to designate the Rapture. Least the majority going that particular way. Now, my understanding of what Bro. Branham taught is that though we do not discredit the idea of both Presence and Revelation in the actual Rapture, because they'll both be there, we don't discredit that. But what we do believe though they are part of the Rapture, we believe that the Presence and Revelation which is actually the Appearing start here on earth with the living just prior to the Resurrection and are necessary to the living in order for the living to be in the Rapture. That is His Presence and Revelation is the Appearing which literally will put the believers who are living into the Rapture. Because you see, God deals with the dead on the premise of the Seed having been watered by the Holy Spirit, into that everlasting Seed within them, they were predestinated.
But they think that the rapture is not. It precedes the rapture. The rapture is the going away and embraces the second coming because he comes down immortal and the spirit that amongst us becomes incarnated at that wedding supper. We crown him king of kings and lord of lords and the tribulation has set in for three and a half years and we come back and take over with him. Now let me start closing off by running down. And I hope I can get things very quickly now. So there it is. Who is William Branham? And I haven't begun to really cover. You know that. That's a 250 -page book. Close -type material. It is evident he was Elijah which was to come, which was the prophet of God, which was vindicated by God himself to introduce the church to and make known Ephesians 1 .17, which is the spirit of revelation and wisdom and the knowledge of him that brings. about the rapture, the resurrection, pardon me, and the rapture into glory. It is the truth of Matthew 12, the one in the form of the Spirit, who comes to the Gentiles to do exactly what he did in the flesh when he was here in the Spirit, I mean, to do in the Spirit what he did when he was here in the flesh. And he is the voice of Revelation 10 and 1, stated in Revelation 10 and 7. He's the one that stood by. And he is the same one that Paul spoke of in 1 Thessalonians 4 .16. He is the voice, for the Lord himself shall descend him with the voice, and it is known in the Greek, it does not say, it is the voice of the one that descended.
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And since, I think about in 1870 or earlier, I'm not sure, there has been much said of a secret rapture which is supposed to be His Presence. Now, the devil knows the Bible. Why, he understood way before the rest did what was going to happen because he was privy to the... much of what was going on in heaven, way back there before he was kicked out, and he still gets up there, I guess, in the Presence of God when he wants to. Evidently, that's true. Job... Book of Job proves that. But you see, the doctrine of the Rapture being the Presence - and it's not that there's not a Rapture. There is a Rapture and it's secret, and it's before the great tribulation of three and a half years. But you see, a certain Scottish girl spoke in tongues and interpreted and said there'd be a secret rapture, and Darby took it up and Scofield took it up and the church took it up. They listened to a woman and she's all wet. Now they listen to the church and it's drowning, now, in the slop of its own imagination. They couldn't wait for a prophet.
Now, watch a moment before we close. [166] Notice, we saw in types. Now I want you to read Matthew 18:16…three bears records. See, 1 John 5:7, and so forth…always a witness. Is that right? It's a verification, something is right, Three witnesses…In the mouths of two or three witnesses let every word be established. [167] Now notice, there we have two witnesses, there's the witness now, We've already had three raptures, it in the Old Testament (did you know that) as a witness. Now watch, Enoch was one; Elijah, one; Jesus the other. Jesus, being the Keystone now. (The One between, you see, the crossover) He bears record. See? He was the Keystone between old and new, because He had to die first, then rapture. He died, come to life. Walked around here, then was raptured up; because the Keystone that tied the two together. After His resurrection and rapture (look!) after He did that He proved the Old Testament there, we all know that Enoch was translated. Elijah taken up in a whirlwind ,in a chariot of fire. Jesus died, buried, rose up, lived on earth and then was raptured up, the Keystone. Three to bear record/ Is that right?
Second one is at hand right now, will come at hand now. [180] Now, the third one, (of this series, one, two, three) is the two witnesses of Revelation 11:11 and 12, which these are the two that turns back, with the Spirit of Christ, to witness to the Jews like Joseph did to his brethren. (Notice, it says two of them, not one.) And you remember their dead bodies laid in the streets for three and a half days. Then the spirit of life came into them, and they were raptured, taken away up into Heaven. There's your three raptures in the New Testament. Three raptures in Old, all of them past. [181] Now, we're ready, waiting for the rapture. The rapture of the saints. It has been spoken. It's been spoken, so, shall it be. [182] When God says anything, all heavens and earth will pass away: but the word will never fail. When God said back there in Genesis 1"Let there be light"… It might've been hundreds of years before there was even any light. He said, “Let there be a palm tree; let it be an oak tree; let it be a desert; let there be a mountain; let there be this, let there be that.” He spoke it. You see? As long as it went out of His mouth, in a Word, it had to be manifested. It has to be.
The revelation of the mystery of Hisself. 26. In other words, he said, “Look what happened in Luther's day. You could take it, you took the Word. You saw what was there, you identified. You went to Wesley. You saw what was there, you identified. Now, you're at Pentecost. You see it was right, you identify. Now, what about this? Each group felt there was no further identification. And, yet each time, there was a measure of the Word, that hadn't been fulfilled. See? Now It says, “We're living in that day. Praise be to God.” The revelation of the mystery of Himself. Now, the Lord Himself, descends from heaven with a Shout. See? You're living in the revelation of the mysteries. [81] Now, the rapture is only, this rapture that we’re talking about is only for the Bride. Remember, the Bible said, “And the rest of the dead lived not for a thousand years.” This great rapture... If there’s not a rapture friends, where are we at? What are we going to do? What age are we living in? What promise do we have? There is going to be a rapture. The Bible says there will be; and it’ll be only for the Elected, the elected Lady, the Bride in this day that’s pulled out, the church.
That would be Satan. [105] Now, we find here that Enoch was the seventh from Noah which was a type of the Church Ages. Now, all of the rest of the six men before him died, Enoch was translated, Enoch was raptured, the seventh, showing that it’s the Seventh Church Age that takes the rapture. Now, there’s no doubt we’re in the Seventh Church Age. We all know it. But they really don`t know it, do they? They are guessing at it. [106] Now, it’s the Seventh Church Age that takes the rapture. All of the other six died. But Enoch was translated because he was not found; that’s a hint right there, you’ll be missing, you won’t be found. God took him. But Enoch raptured, was a type of all of the rest of them dying, but the--the end time Bride will be called out ( rapturing, without death)--will be called out of the Seventh Church Age. Which we are now bearing record of that age. Oh, my. Let’s dig in now real deep.
Bro. Branham said if you get ten people with the same thoughts there's going to be a Rapture. Is there going to be ten in the Rapture? Maybe ten hundred, I don't know, maybe ten thousand. Who knows? I am not interested. But comparatively, with four billion people in the world, the few hundreds, or thousands, are infinitesimal. Literally, the percentage is horribly small. Now, we sit here. What is it? They turned down the light. Now, Bro. Branham categorically said, “The Bride is waiting for light on the Rapture.” And, everybody sat back and said, “Well, his opinion will be like the rest. It'll be do we go before the tribulation or don't we?” Now, as I told you, I talked with Bro. Branham on the tribulation, pre-tribulation and post tribulation Rapture, I couldn't see what he was saying. But, that was before he preached December 4,1965, Yuma, 'The Rapture'.
We're out there in the world, the world church for anybody else. Here's the one place where edification is. All right, that's the background. Now, today, speaking on this subject. What subject? Is this part of the rapture, Psalm 27? Fine, thank you. That's good. Now, speaking on this subject, the rapture. And now, some of you may differ from the avenues that I take. Now, I said, you're going to be different from what I'm going to tell you. They said, you're wrong. I don't care what you believe about the rapture. Post -trib, pre -trib, pre -millennium, post -millennium. This thing, that thing, the other. I don't care what you believe. You're wrong. Because you differ. How many here believe the Bible teaches there'll be a rapture of the church? Yes, that's right. A catching away of the church. What is a rapture? A catching away of the church. And Brother Branham differs on it from everybody else.
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We commend ourselves unto you in this moment. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. I don't know, Brother Evans, if the amplifier got a voice compressor on it. I noticed that they listened to a tape. When my voice went down, we almost lost it on a tape. It should have a compressor, I guess. If there's something there, you can kind of work. It'll be fine now. It's kind of difficult. I don't know just what I'm going to do this morning. I'm not going to do anything other than start to read out of the chapter, I mean out of the rapture message as I did last Sunday because there's just so much that can be said and I oftentimes don't know just where to place it in the saying of it. But we'll just start off anyway here in the rapture tape now. We got to page 11 from page 6. And you notice that we started with Brother Branham in the backgrounding of the rapture. Now remember that the subject is the rapture. Now that's what you're dealing with. And this is far more extensive and intensive than most people realize. Now we started sometime back on Wednesday night bringing you to the position where you understood that Brother Branham said that the rapture was... a revelation that the bride was waiting for. Now, what people don't understand when Brother Branham says that, he goes back to the fact that every age has its own message. Every juncture has something that is vital to that particular period. Now, he also said that God reveals His Word or interprets His Word by bringing it to pass by manifesting it.
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It is tremendously factual and deals with the literal resurrection and a transformation of human body and attaching away into the millennium of Almighty God. And you don't get it by nice thoughts. as though the rapture were simply a thinking process. It is an inevitable spiritual reality that's going to change us. And we don't have to get into some nether neverland. See, this is what hit the people, and Brother Branham brought this out, that the rapture was a revelation, so they wanted to put themselves out here in some kind of never neverland. Forget it. The rapture is the most fundamental thing that God will have done in 6 ,000 solid years. Solid... Solid, solid. Now he says here, faith is something that has been revealed to you like it was to Abraham. Now here's where your faith is. That could call anything contrary that what had been revealed to him as though it wasn't so. So everything that's contrary to the rapture doctrine doesn't exist to a person who has the revelation of the rapture doctrine. You just say, I'm sorry.
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You can see when he went off the scene, he still hadn’t done it. The last sermon that Bro. Branham actually preached, in ’65, that closed his ministry, was The Rapture, which if you are in the Rapture, it’s over! So why should he preach beyond the Rapture? You give me one reason where I’ve got to know one thing beyond the Resurrection, just give me one reason why I got to know it. And I’ll say, “You’re crazier than I am, drop dead.” Don’t have to. If you’ve made the first Resurrection, you got …?.... You say, “Why?” Because that’s exactly what Paul wanted! Didn’t say one thing about the Rapture. But let’s go further. If you’ve got the Shout, you’ve got the Resurrection. Which means you’ve got the Rapture. 24. Completely insane. Let’s go to Luke 21. I think I’ve showed you this before, but you might have forgotten it. Lk 21:11.
