Future Home #15 The Ultimate of Ultimate God June 19, 1988 Shall we pray. Heavenly Father, we’re very grateful for Your continued Presence with us, trusting that there’ll be a greater realization of that same Presence and what it means to us at this particular time. Yet, Lord, we are aware, in a mechanical sense, of the Truth. And we praise You that all things are in You, as this universe was in You, by virtue of the fact of Your spoken Word, which brought it to pass, even so Your Presence brings everything into view, what You have taught us in this last day, that we might know the things of God, that we might know You personally and, then, find ourselves a part of it all. We appreciate that so much. We pray you’ll help us in the service this morning to receive from you what we need to receive, even strength for the journey, (and above all, Lord,) to glorify Your great and holy Name, to love You, Lord, and to love each other here, and to serve You, Lord, and to serve each other, and to know what it is to be part of the family of God on earth, with headship in our blessed Father, Himself. We know these are only vain words, if we don’t speak them as heartfelt sincerity; but Lord, we do as much as lies within us, to speak it out and ask for Your help this morning, in this particular manner. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. 1. Now this is number fifteen, the “Future Home of the Earthly Bride”, and it’s part of course, of the ministry of Bro. Branham which was to bring a message of the Word of the Lord for this hour before the actual Resurrection and the Rapture. And he told us that it was his obligation, as it was, because he was that prophet which was sent to sow the seed of the entire Bible, from the serpent to the prophet in the former rain. And he did not give us an outline as to exactly what all that was going to be, but by the time his ministry was finished here on earth, he had covered all of that which was necessary, he said, which would put us into the Rapture, and therefore make accessible to us, previous to the departure from this earth, everything that God had decreed for His people, and according to His Own position with those people. So, one of those messages was the “Future Home of the Earthly Bride”, which was a more lengthy title, the “Future Home of the Earthly Bride and the Heavenly Bridegroom”. So, this is number fifteen and perhaps by Wednesday, we might just be able to finish it up. 2. Now from this message, we seem to be gathering certain insights relative to God’s sovereign purpose in this matter as to information on the physical, specific material, or the specifications of the New Jerusalem, the future home of the earthly Bride, as well as other information which is not specifically mechanical, or you might call blueprint, but has to do with other insights, which are more spiritual. In other words we’ll be gaining something from this in the realm of information, and we’ll be gaining from this in the realm of a spiritual impact, because this is why the message comes—for the spiritual impact of faith. 3. Now the specific information is: Number one. That the present earth and heavens, as we know them at this time, are to be completely and irrevocably loosed from the thralldom of sin by fire that reduces the earth’s crust and the atmosphere to gases, from which residue God will re-create and perfect a wonderful universe that can never be changed because of the personal presence of God and His divine and authoritative sovereign Government. As It says, and Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And he’s not speaking now concerning those things which went awry before this earth was formed the way it is, but he’s speaking of the fact that God is a sovereign Being, Who can do what He wants, anytime that He wants it done; and, of course, you understand that God, being what God said He is, then all which He does will not only be a matter of self-gratification concerning His will, His authority, but will be a matter of gratification to everything under the sovereign jurisdiction of God—in other words, a tremendous Kingdom with all of God’s innate nature. And, remember; it can’t be both good and dark. In God there dwells not good and evil; there dwells only good. In God there is not a purpose which is derogatory, but every purpose is defined toward good. And all things work together for good to those that love the Lord. There is a sovereign purpose that we see here. 4. So, there’s going to be a re-created heaven and earth in the near future. Now God annihilates (of course, to institute His Own perfect Government) the evil one, which is Satan, and all evil, and things which are contrary to His Will and His Kingdom. In Rev 21:27 It says concerning the New Jerusalem: (27) There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. And, of course, the Lamb’s Book of Life has to do with all of those that have the same life that the Lamb had, but not in the same quantity, nor with the same privileges—and you consider that God was the Father of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. So therefore, nothing will be there, but essentially the Life of God, God Himself, Who is Life, and those to whom He imparts it, and nothing else. So, you can see that it will be irrevocable. It will be a satisfactory change, what we’re looking at. Of course, we do not dismiss those angels that did not fall. 5. Number two. At the time of this re-creation, God reducing all to gases—the outer crust and all, then re-creating and bringing it all back. You know, science has a theory that the major building block of the universe, I think they say, is hydrogen. Yes, hydrogen. I don’t know that that’s true, and I don’t know if anybody can prove it’s true; and I’m not interested, because I’m not scientifically inclined. But I do know that God is going to reduce everything to literally the invisible. It’ll be in some form, and He will re-create from that what we are going to have in the future. 6. Now at the time of this re-creation, God will raise up a mountain on this earth, and upon that mountain will descend the New Jerusalem, absolutely fashioned by God, made by God, not by us, to God’s Own specifications. And It will absolutely satisfy those for whom It was made. In other words the nature of the individual will be perfectly compatible with the environment. You won’t need to worry about the EPA. And that’s a mighty good thing to worry about, because I tell you what: they’re trying to do something, and they’re going about it wrong, (which government always does) but they recognize there’s a problem. We are not compatible with the universe, and the universe is not compatible with us, but it’s going to be. Yes, it’s going to be. That’s a beautiful thing. 7. Now, upon this mountain that God raises up upon this newly created earth, will come down the New Jerusalem, made of pure transparent gold, and also of jewels and pearls which make up the gates and the foundational walls round about it, with this pyramidal city sitting inside of it. And this city, 1500 miles square at the base and 1500 miles high, will be a veritable paradise with the river of life coming from the very Throne of God, and the Tree of Life bridging that river, getting it’s sustenance from It. 8. Number three. The City will be inhabited by God, the Lamb, and the Bride, and the 144,000, who are the virgins or the eunuchs who take care of the Bride, as the Bride ministers to the Lamb. Remember, God, then, ministers to all by His Holy Spirit. And, as Bro. Branham put it, which is so wonderful, “At that time before they call, He answers,” which I’m speaking in terms of, then, the perfect compatibility of the people and their environment. Like Bro. Branham said, “Before God made a fish with a fin to swim, He put a bunch of water out there. Then, He said, “Let the water bring forth the fish.” Well, the water didn’t bring forth the fish. You know that it was just time that the fish should be in the water. God made them—created—in form like He did man. So, you’re going to see this wonderful compatibility. Now the Bride, by the way, is composed of the wise virgins of both Old and New Testament, and depends on the First Resurrection, of which the first half of the First Resurrection has already taken place. Now the question is: Where are they? I don’t know. I don’t have a problem at all with that. All I want to know is: Where am I going to be? We’re looking for the second half of the First Resurrection. 9. Now, number four. Outside of all these elect that are in the New Jerusalem, there will be others out there, even kings. It’ll be a monarchy, a real good government. Like Plato once said… I think Plato once said, or was it Socrates? Imagine Plato said, “The best form of government is benevolent dictatorship.” And that’s what we’re looking at. We’re looking at the benevolent God, Who is not looking out for Himself; He is looking out for us. See, like many years ago, a man one day said, “I don’t want to pray to God.” He said, “He’s got enough troubles of His Own.” And I said, “Well, that’s the trouble that God has, is trouble with people like you giving Him trouble, because you won’t bring your troubles to Him, so He can solve them for you.” He said, “Man, you got a twist on this thing I don’t understand.” So, all the others outside, they’re the foolish virgin. They’ll bring their glory in. And, if you want more information on that, you can find that maybe in book three of Question and Answers. We’re not going to have time for it, though I’ve got much of it duplicated here. 10. Now, in this New Jerusalem… And, of course, flowing out across the land, is a certain ceremonial protocol, of which signifies peace. Because there’s going to be status, and there’s going to be protocol. You simply can’t get away from it, when you come to government. There’s always a right thing to do. And, of course, in this case, always the right thing will be done. Wouldn’t it be nice to get up in the morning and know for just one day, the right thing was going to be done? 11. But there’s coming a time when everything will be institutionalized with God Himself, which is something wonderful to think of. And at that time, there will be kings plucking the leaves off the Tree of Life, perhaps many trees spread around. I don’t know how many. Bro. Branham seemed to indicate more than one. And they will extend to others the leaf, showing their peaceful nature. The desire for peace has been fulfilled. And this is only a symbol of what you and I have desired all of our lives: “O God, can’t we just one time have some peace?” No matter how good things ever are, there’s always lurking in the mind, “Yes, but, it won’t continue.” There’s never a perfect peace in anybody. Now I realize people say, “Well, I’ve had a perfect peace.” But we’re talking about something different here. We’re talking about the pervasiveness, the essentiality of the Person, Himself. If you were omnipotent and omniscient, especially omniscient and omnipotent, wouldn’t you be peaceful? You surely would. Well, that’s why He’s called the God of Peace. And at that time there is going to be the constant remembrance, as there is with the Lamb, the wounds, in the hands, the side, the feet and the brow. They’ll never disappear. Now what it accomplished, will never disappear. What it came against, has disappeared. And now man is no longer in a state of flux. That’s why Bro. Branham categorically said, “If you’ve got the wrong mate here, you’ll get the right one there.” Was he saying, ‘Well, I’m going to be married up there’? No, no, no. There’s no marriage and giving in marriage in the Resurrection. It means pure compatibility. Now some of you folk have had wonderful marriages. I know that. You’re going through wonderful marriages. You haven’t seen anything yet. What you’ve got, and I’ve got, in a good marriage, is nice! But that’s all it is. Nice. But you wait, and I wait, until we meet with people, and all of us changed. 12. Now, let’s just visualize this and get in the spirit of it, because that’s what I’m building up to. It’s getting back to the essential part of the message, is to get the spirit of it. Wouldn’t it be nice if you and I could really hug each other and love each other, and there’s nothing there but love with the hug, and the hug with the love? Didn’t have any doubts anymore? Didn’t have any fears anymore? You didn’t have to look on the past anymore, because, you see, there’s no more remembrance. Wouldn’t it be nice, if someone could (kinda, sorta) hit us on the head with a rubber mallet, d-oing, and we sort of pass out into a nice, happy existence? A little lobotomy maybe? Everybody happy? [I] can’t do it. I don’t care who you are. You know why? You can forgive, but you can’t forget. Over there you forget. Over there, it’s an entirely brand new situation. Everything’s different. Bro. Branham made a little comment that may help you out. He said, “You and I do not remember our previous existence, because we were in the genes of God, sons of God.” I can’t delineate too much upon it; I haven’t enough material. But he said, “Jesus did remember, because He had His Spirit body which was a theophany.” Now He was a theophany, which purely and simply from the greek is ‘theophenera’, which means ‘God manifesting Himself’ or coming in a form which you can apprehend. We also, whether we know it or not, are theophanies. “My,” you say, “What a miserable theophany.” I agree a hundred percent. I won’t argue. But over there, you see, it isn’t going to be that way. All what we bypassed, we catch up to. All what we left there in a seed form, we fall heir to. See? So, the emblem of peace is significant of the reality of God. 13. Now, as to the insight we gathered, (And we’re talking about it really right now.) it is that we are approaching, and soon will see, that we are a part of the ultimate of the ultimate of God. Now we were dwelling on that, because, as human beings, with 6000 years of background… And you know my theory. My theory is that this business of hypnosis and regression is not what people think it is. I have this crazy little understanding, that is, (I don’t know if it’s an understanding, theory, or my own thinking.) if I could be regressed plumb back thousands of years, which I don’t intend to be, you could pull out of me, or out of you, fabulous things, because you and I are a microcosm of the entire universe; and the life that you got from your parents, they got from their parents, from their parents, their parents, their parents, their parents, their parents, their parents, their parents, their parents. And I’m going to tell you, there’s something to that life. What was it picking up those 6000 years? See, I look at that. 14. Now, because we are essentially human beings and have all this back-grounding, because so much in our minds, our souls, our spirits, and so much we gather by experience, and so much by history, and all these other things, we are so far into the negative, that most people term what we are talking about this morning “pie in the sky,” the “sweet by and by,” the “never-never land.” “Ah, it’s supposed to be there, but nobody knows anything about it, and we’re not going to get it anyway.” 15. So, my question this morning to you and to me is: How real is the New Jerusalem? Let me read again my sentence: Now, as to the insight, the essentiality of this message, what it’s supposed to do for us and inculcate in us and bring out in us, the seed that is supposed to sow, that is necessary for this hour; the insight we gathered is this: it is that we are approaching, and soon will see, that we are a part of the ultimate of the ultimate of God! Is this the ultimate? Or, is it a pie in the sky, never-never land, hope-so, but nobody gets it, “Well, maybe down the road”? Well, what are you going to do about it? Some of you a little sleepy, or are you trying to think? Now I’m testing ourselves out. I want us to know: What is this Word doing to us? I’m not trying to hurt anybody, you understand. I’m not critical. I’m trying to get you to see: Listen, if this is the true Word of God, It’s going to do something to you, and this message by Bro. Branham will get you to know you are a part of the ultimate of the ultimate of God! This is the ultimate! Not some circus! Not any other thought! You hear what I’m saying? This is it! Like we saved all our money to get this microphone. And it’s the only microphone that’s going to the job. Now we get the microphone. Now, do you understand what I’m saying? I’m taking a little silly illustration here, to get us to understand: This is the ultimate! And you know what? As sure as you sit there, and I stand here, I know that our hearts are not beating in unison with the New Jerusalem. Now that’s true. David’s was. Abraham’s was. William Branham’s was. And the Bride’s will be. I’ll prove it. We’ll never get to it. I could take five or six more sermons on this. 16. The ultimate. New Jerusalem is the ultimate of the ultimate God. “Well,” says somebody, “I think maybe that He had something way back yonder, and He’s got something way over in the future.” I want to tell you, as far as you and I are concerned, if you believe that, you are believing a lie. Your ultimate and my ultimate is New Jerusalem. And, according to the Scripture it is the ultimate of God, the ultimate of the ultimate. In other words, when you get this far, there ain’t anymore. What’s your attitude? This Bible is full of men who loved the New Jerusalem—who loved Zion. It’s my home. Don’t you try to take it from me. Look at the Jews today with Palestine. Why would they want to be in that poor country? They are nothing but a problem, while they’re over there. They’re draining our country of money; they’re making everything upset. They can’t help themselves. There’s something burning in them. You bet. There’s a several thousand year fire. And they can’t help it. 17. Now we look around at William Branham, prophet of God, and say, “Well, he couldn’t help it.” You and I cannot help this either, when this realization gets a hold of us. This is why this message was preached, as the ultimate of the ultimate. Not some game; not something you and I had fixed in our minds that we would like. But this is the ultimate. This is that Kingdom that people press into. This is what Paul says, “I sell everything out to get it. This is what I believe I saw, but I can’t tell you about it.” See? This is that ultimate. 18. Now, to realize this, what I’m talking about, is to stand with the apostle Paul, in Eph 1:3-12. So, we’re going to look at it. (3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Let’s find out what they really are.) (4) According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, (We were there and didn’t even know it. Jesus was there and knew it. He didn’t bypass it; we did. Now we’re going to know it.) that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Now Bro. Branham did not punctuate it that way, but that is the punctuation. Let’s read It both ways. (4) …that we should be holy and without blame before him. (5) In love (Now that’s what it should be. Now) having predestinated us (Now, watch.) (4) …and without blame before him; in love: (…In love having predestinated us.) I don’t care how you read It. You can’t change It. Whether you’re predestinated… Whether it’s ‘before Him in love we stand’, or whether it’s ‘in love you’re predestinated’, it’s all the same thing, because it’s all love. It’s what God has predestinated. (5) …unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (Now, that’s what It tells you: You’re His children.) (6) To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (7) In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (8) Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; (9) Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (10) That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, (That’s one place.) both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (11) In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: (12) That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. Now everybody goes right along there, and they got some idea that God’s going to work some little thing out in you and me, and that’s going to make it beautiful to God, and He’ll just take us there. I’ve got news for you: You notice what It says down here: (12) That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in (Him). …and all that there goes above it? So that you do not get your perfect satisfaction and show the perfect praise toward God, until you and I get there! And everybody, then, has a lesser vision of what it is to be there. How can we have a lesser vision of the ultimate? That’s what I’m screaming about this morning. We need our minds stirred up. We need our brains joggled this morning to understand: This is what we’re pressing into, the New Jerusalem coming down upon earth. This is it! This is the work of redemption perfected. 19. Now Paul addressed the people concerning this, and he knew it’s a difficult subject. So, we go to 1 Corinthians 1, beginning at verse 18. Now Paul is speaking of this glorious Gospel that ends in New Jerusalem—because without redemption you wouldn’t get it. And this is what God wanted for us: the children in one place that were in Him to the praise of the glory of His grace, which cannot be fully manifested until you get there! Well, certainly not. Why? Because that’s His grace! A City that He brings down upon earth, and we say, “This is ours!” “That’s yours. Come on in, children.” You’d say, “Look at that vistas out there… Look how, pure and transparent is the gold! A gate of one pearl, 216 feet high! Maybe 400 feet wide of pearl!” And you women love those little nasty things you pick up now called pearls. But you know the value of them. And diamonds? Doesn’t even mention diamonds. Rubies, sapphires. Twelve different kinds. Stones as big as a city block. Put one of them on your finger! But He allowed you to know the type down here of what’s there. And, if you can take a light and agitate and excite it, and put it through a ruby and cause a laser to come forth, what will be that day, when the light from God strikes the children of God?! My, you haven’t got a thought of what health is, and I haven’t either. You know I get up some mornings, and I feel pretty good. And I say, “Something’s gone wrong, I feel good for a change.” Is that right Joe [White]? Come on, you know it’s the truth. You people know what I’m talking about. Imagine being there. Imagine being there. See? Paul knew this. It's a reality. 20. Now he said, “Listen…” [1 Cor 1:18:] (18) For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved (it’s) the power of God. This is the same thing. What’s this foolish story about the cross? What’s this crazy pie in the sky and New Jerusalem? Well, if this is all God has, who wants it? Oh, no. This is what God has and is going to do it all over again. He’s going to re-create it. Same animals, same people, same everything. We’ll see that. Verse 20: (20) Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? (Where’s the smart guy that can argue? The sophist?) hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? (21) For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Then, what about the teaching of God’s Word? If the gospel of preaching is stupid, what is the teaching of It? Twice as stupid! Or four times as stupid, because now you’re getting into the depth of It. “See, I can’t stand that stuff, this prophet stuff.” Well, that’s all we can stand around here. If you can’t stand that, you’re in trouble, because that’s all I’m going to preach. I love you, but I’m sorry for you, and I am not going to change for anyone. 21. Now he said: [1 Cor 1:22] (22) The Jews require a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom: (23) But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, unto the Greeks foolishness; (24) But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. (25) Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (26) For (you) see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: (27) But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things (that) are mighty; (28) And base things of the world, and things which are despised, (yea,) hath God chosen, (and) yea, and (the) things which are not, to bring to (nothing) the things that are: (29) (As) no flesh should glory in his presence. (30) But of him are (you) in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (31) That, according as (written), He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now, It tells you right here, that the person who is not a true Bride member, truly born-again, simply will not receive the things of God. Now I hope we’re not running a sword in the middle of our church today, where we’re cutting people down. Now, don’t feel bad, because I haven’t got this spirit on me the way I intend to get it yet. I believe God’s going to do it, because I see in here, what I’ve preached, I’ve preached all these years what Bro. Branham preached, the properly germitized seed, that’s a living seed, that you know, you test it to your paper, your blotting paper and stuff, put it in there, little bit of water, say, “Ah ha, that seed’s got life. That’s a good bunch of seed there. I put in a hundred seeds and eighty-five germinated.” Properly germitized seed. Now you put it in a properly fertilized earth, all it needs is sun and rain. It’ll struggle against the weeds, but it’s got a better life than the weed’s got. And you know about the weeds? Those bad ones out there, those weeds? They will always move toward the sun. They will always hog the water. They will always get up to get it all. They’re workers. But you see, the wheat has got to depend whether it’s wheat or not. He’ll have a struggle, but he’ll get there. 22. Now, you see, Paul tells us here, “Look, you people, are you going to really understand what I’m saying?” Now it’s not easy for the human being to incorporate this into his thinking and into his psyche. It’s difficult—to become the spiritual part. But as we enter more and more into the spirit of this message, which we’re trying to get, we will see that this is what God and His Word is all about. This is what we’re looking at. That’s why this is one of Bro. Branham’s final messages. And, at the heart of the Gospel of grace, and the Message of this hour, is not the escape from judgment and destruction, though that is true, but it is Eph 1:15-22! There’s your message. Take a look at It. 23. Now, let’s look at It [Eph 1:15-22], because I made a statement here. I want to see if I can prove it right. (15) Wherefore also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus (Christ), and love unto all the saints, (They’re baptized with the Holy Ghost; Acts 19 proves it.) (16) (Wherefore also) cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; (17) That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: (What for?) (18) The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that (you) may know what is the hope of his calling, (That you may know all about New Jerusalem. You may know the hope that Jesus Himself had. You may understand it, be partaker.) and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, What the name produces! What will the name of Jesus produce in this hour? New Jerusalem. New Jerusalem. (Now:) (19) What is the exceeding greatness of power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, (20) Which he wrought in Christ, (That’s resurrection.) (and) raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places, (21) Far above all principality, and power. (That’s the Rapture and the placing, the Wedding Supper.) You see what we’re looking at? That’s the spirit of this thing we’re looking at. 24. Now, let’s keep looking further. We go back to 1 Corinthians again, and try to put It together for you, because I don’t want you to have loose thoughts on the matter. I want you to understand exactly what I’m saying here. Now, watch: verse 9. [1 Cor 2:9.] (9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: (Now you haven’t seen them; you only know they’re there.) for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. Now, what is the deep thing of God? Not that the Gentiles be fellow heirs with the Jews, but that God has a City! God has an ultimate. Absolute ultimate. An estate of immortality. You know, brother/sister, let me ask you a question. You like to feel good; everybody likes to feel good. I want to ask you, what do you like to feel good in? My body! Absolutely right. What to feel good in? My mind! Absolutely right. What else? In my heart! In other words you just want to feel good all over! Yes, sometimes it happens, but it’s the environment out there. Right. But that’s all going to change. Well then, you believe what I say! I’ve said many times: If this is the squeeze, give me two thousand more years in good health. 25. See, brother/sister, I betray myself, and you betray yourself. The sons and daughters of Abraham know there is a City, and they are looking for it. Now it’s nice to farm out here; that’s the Millennium. But up there you don’t farm. I mean down here, you don’t farm, after the thousand years. You say, “Well, Bro. Vayle, I don’t think I’d like to be indolent.” You won’t be indolent. What would you really like to do? Even the grossest criminal, except for a few that are completely devils… And they are genuine, genuine serpent seed, like a pharaoh, but they’re so few. If you took anyone but a completely disturbed, distressed and completely demonized, devil-possessed individual, you could pull out of him something that was an ideal! Even when Dillinger died, before he died, he said, “Look,” he said, “here is a man who wished no harm toward anybody.” He didn’t want to do anybody evil. He was a killer. Even Pharoah thought he was doing a good job. So, I’m trying to get the point here, and the point is this: There isn’t anyone who’s not an idealist down inside somewhere. Now, what is the ideal? The ideal is what we’re talking about: New Jerusalem. 26. Let’s keep reading here. Now It says: [1 Cor 2:11] (11) For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. (12) Now we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things which are freely given to us of God. New Jerusalem is something that God did for us. Now therefore, there has to be, at sometime in this world, a revelation concerning this, whereby the people become a part of it, because you have got to be a part of the Word for your hour. Right. This, then, goes to Rev 10:1-7, where the mighty messenger comes down. This goes to the Scripture to Revelation at the end time, where the Seals were opened, and there was a division, where the people stand right here, and they can take the Tree of Life, and It says ‘without are dogs and whoremongers and those that love a lie’ and so on, the same as It says about those outside of New Jerusalem. 27. So, there is a people who have to stand here at the end time, who are a New Jerusalem segment. They’re of it, and they know it. And they know it, almost, not quite almost, as much as those that are already risen from the dead in the Old Testament. Now they can’t know it that well, but they’re going to know it pretty close. They’re going to know it like no other group of people. I don’t care what anybody says, that has got to be, because otherwise, Bro. Branham lied. Because he said, “I put my hand up here, the light goes to it, and the more, I see a shadow on the wall… And he said, “The closer I put my hand, it’s a shadow, and it becomes a hand. Now, he said, you wouldn’t see the shadow of an elephant turn into a spindly little man.” He said, “A shadow of an elephant means there’s an elephant there.” And there’s a negative; there’s a positive. And there’s got to be a New Jerusalem, and it must be breaking on the scene of our consciousness somehow, because that’s the Word! That’s the Word. Now, don’t feel bad. Just remember it’s there. 28. Now, listen; it’s the same as in Rev 21:1-14, describing the holy City. And this is the same thing you see, where It says in Heb 11:8-10, Abraham heard from God. He went out, not knowing where he was going, but he knew one thing: there was a City. You understand what I’m saying? He didn’t know anything else, but there was a City. How much do we know of the City this morning? Now, if you want something for a Friday night meeting, just go to the Book of Psalms and the prophets, and find out what they thought of Zion. How come their hearts, over two thousand years ago, were blistering and burning, and ours are hardly perking like an old tea-pot or coffee pot? I’m not fussing at you, because I’ve got the same problem myself. I’m not fussing at anybody. I’m just bringing up a question. And they have to be relevant at this moment, or otherwise Bro. Branham was a false prophet. And he wasn’t a false prophet. He was vindicated. So, there’s something wrong somewhere. But it can be rectified. 29. Now, no one can properly deny this, concerning this City. And I’ll tell you why. Because in Genesis, the first two chapters, we find the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. See? True. And in Revelation, the Tree of Life is put in the New Jerusalem. And it was the thing that Adam missed and had to get to. See? So, what we’re looking at is this. That the word ‘zoe’, which we explained some time ago, when we had the meetings over there in Sidney, particularly. We looked at the fact of the ‘pneuma’, which is the spirit and the ‘psyche’, which is the soul. We looked at the ‘body’, which is mortal. And we found the word ‘zoe’ applies to all three. The zoe of God is an eternal Zoe. It means that whatever God was essentially within Him, in His thinking, in His makeup, He had to do something about it; and He did. And that becomes Zoe. And you think God’s going to lose this nature out here? Your cars are going to go. And your cars will never come back. But the horse will. [End of the first side of the audio tape.] Those electric lights will go. But the same God that made everything out here, will shine forth, for He is the light of the whole world! He said, “I will lose nothing!” And He’ll lose nothing. It’s all going to come back; God will raise it up. I know I’m on the right premise, brother/sister. No detour from Eden to the New Jerusalem, though it be over 6000 years, can obviate the fact that the New Jerusalem was God’s ultimate for Himself and His Own, because that’s where we all end up together, forever and ever. To me, it’s like little kids, who like the taste of chocolate bars. You know what a wine taster does. A good wine taster tastes the wine, rinses his mouth, spits it out and says, “Let’s take another taste.” We have got too used to drinking without spitting it out for another taste. We have a casual thought within ourselves: “I’d like to be someplace else and a better person, a better atmosphere.” 30. Today, what I want to impress upon our hearts, (Though that is good. We are looking at it to rise to the place where we are a part of getting out of here.) is that we are New Jerusalem—that we live and breathe it, see? It is exactly what God wanted, and we wanted, though perhaps didn’t know it. He planned it; He started it; and some of us that are here will not die, until we see it. That’s Zoe. That’s real Zoe. That’s understanding Zoe for the first time—outside of what? Enoch and Elijah. Jesus died. Paul died. Bro. Branham died. You and I could die. But there’s going to be a people standing right here that are real zoe. Imagine. No longer accidents of birth. Every one of you is an accident of birth; that’s all. Had to come that way, of course. But, when you stand before Him, you will stand in His likeness. We’ll talk about that, too. Everything about your birth is gone but the seed that caused it, which was eternal, which was elected, to come through a natural means. Remember, Bro. Branham told about that African? He was a slave, the black man nobody could figure out, because he walked so nobly. He never complained; he did his job; he lived above the crowd. They said, “What makes him that way?” Well, he said, “What makes him that way? I took a long time finding out, because I found out he was a son of a king; so, he acts like the son of a king.” The consciousness of New Jerusalem, and what we’re talking about, makes us understand we are sons and daughters of the King. 31. Now I won’t cover any more than that. But last Wednesday I brought up a point, because Bro. Branham mentioned, God said, “I want this earth populated. I want it replenished.” He turned it over to Adam and Eve. What happened? God turns right around, just before Noah, and destroys the whole thing. Well, that’s peculiar. Anybody knows something’s wrong somewhere. Now He’s promised He’s going to destroy it all again! Then, there’s something wrong with the refurnishing—the replenishing! Because He gave a command to do it. 32. Now God gave life on earth. And He put the stream of life in the male. You think of female now, also. To bring forth children, it was there. And He turns around and destroys them. Drowns a whole bunch. Drowns five billion people, maybe. Now He’s going to burn up… There’s over six billion now, and there’ll be seven billion pretty soon; maybe seven billion people. He’s going to burn them up. Why would God destroy, when He told the people to do it? Then, there’s got to be something wrong with how it was done. And that’s where he brought in serpent seed. It was the beast that was so close to man that the seed could mingle, and he seduced Eve. The Talmud tells it; the Jews believe it; John 8 proves it. The beast copulated with Eve and brought forth Cain, and he was of that wicked one. See? Now I talked the other night about the black and the white marrying, which we know is wrong. I’m dead against it. Pass a law if you want; you’re not going to stop it, because of sex. All right. You take a black man, a white woman. The child is born as a mulatto. You turn around, take a white man marries that girl, and you get a quadroon. All right, she has a baby, also. It’s a girl. A white man marries her—likes the color and all, which is fine. (They do what they want.) You have an octoon. That one marries, you see nothing but white blood. All right, listen. Noah was the only man genetically perfect at the time of the flood—the only true human being. Then, what was his wife? She had some serpent in her. What were his kids? Had it in there. After the flood you’ve got nothing but a complete mixture! So, God worked by election, and He followed His Own seed through the human vessels! Now I’ll ask you a question. How many people are going to be here for the fire and get destroyed, if God said, “You populate the earth,” and He gets so angry because they populate the earth, obeying God, that He wipes them out! You see your answer? Serpent seed. Because the righteous do not die with the wicked. And the foolish virgin that are saved are killed by the serpent seed! Hunted down like dogs. 33. Now we went, then, to paragraph 303. Bro. Branham said: [303] Brother/Sister, death doesn't change you. When you die as a Christian, you come up as a Christian. You die as a sinner, you come up as a sinner. If you’re seed of God, you come up seed of God. If you’re serpent seed, you come up serpent seed. You’ll come up with the body that fits your own seed. Who you are. Only your dwelling place changes. Remember, Samuel, when he was dead and buried two years; was in Paradise, and the witch of Endor called him up, and Saul recognized him, and the witch did too and she fell upon her face. Samuel hadn’t changed one bit. He was still the same Samuel being dead two years, still a prophet. Sure. He prophesied, “Tomorrow you’ll fall in battle, your son with you, and by this time tomorrow night, you'll be with me.” That's just what happened. See? And when Moses returns back with Elijah for Revelations 11, they’ll still be prophets. Hallelujah. They certainly will be, and there’s nothing any one can do about that. See? So therefore, the great moral here, as Bro. Branham says, is how identified are we with the life of Christ? And how dedicated? That’s the big thing right there. We just don’t change anything, just our dwelling place. And Bro. Branham’s letting you know, when he comes back, he’s going to be a prophet. What’s he going to do when he comes back? Don’t ask me; he’ll do something. I can’t tell you what. 34. Now, paragraph 304. We left off there. [304] And over yonder in the land, in the City where the Lamb is the Light, (That’s New Jerusalem.) I will know you, Brother McKinney. (He’s talking about a man that lives up here around Lima.) And I'll know you, my people, my jewels in my crown. (That’s scriptural.) When they come from the east and the west in this City, which is fifteen hundred miles square, (not Jeffersonville, New Jerusalem) she'll be setting there in the City built foursquare. When Christ is sitting there on the holy mount, where God sets upon the mount and Jesus on the throne, and the golden trumpet sounds when Joseph leaves to walk down through the Paradise, the children of God fall upon their knees and worship Him, knowing they were redeemed, by Him. See? Amen. Hallelujah. (And he sings.) Sometimes I grow homesick for heaven, And the glory I shall behold, What a joy that will be, and so on. Now, this which we read here, about the fact that you don’t change what you are, you only change where you are, is based upon 1 Corinthians 15, concerning the Resurrection. So, we read It: verse 35. (35) But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? (36) Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: (37) And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or some other grain: (38) But God give(s) it a body as it pleased him, to every seed his own body. Now It tells you right there, the seed that you go down as, is the seed you come up. If you go down as the wise virgin seed, Lamb’s Book of Life, pure part of God, you will come right in the image of Jesus Christ. What about foolish virgin? They’ll come with a body that’s due them. What if I’m serpent seed? You’ll come with a body due that. What’ll happen? Lake of Fire, a time of suffering. Annihilation. Just like the devil. 35. Now, reading further. [304] Isaiah said in Isaiah 9:6, “And of His peace and of the increase of government there’ll be no end. (Just gets better and better and more and more peaceful, always that.) The government shall be upon His shoulders; His Name shall be called Counsellor, Prince of Peace, the mighty God, the everlasting Father. (Now that’s His government.) And the government shall be upon His shoulders, and of the increase of peace there’ll be no end.” Even the animals are there. Not going to lose anything. See? Look today. Never saw so many groundhogs and racoons and possums killed on the road today—and a bunch of squirrels. Never saw so many. It’s years since I saw that many out there. And it’s the first time in years I’ve seen a male and female pheasant, a variety of the ring neck, in a field. And I’ve been in Ohio thirty-four solid years. What happened? They’re dead. Man did it. Are they coming back? Yes, they’re going to be back right here. Don’t worry about that. They’re coming back. [304] I’ll be changed from the creature that I am. Now, changed into what? Into His glorious image, which was an outraying or the physical manifestation of light. 36. Now, hold your thinking. I just made a statement there. And I wanted you to look at it. Hebrews 1:3. This is speaking concerning Jesus. {3} (God Himself) Who being the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person… All right. What’s the brightness of His glory? That is the effulgence, the outraying, (See?) of what God was Himself essentially, as to His essential Being, which is Spirit and which is Life. God outrayed it. In other words the outraying signifies vibration! Signifies life, movement, vitality! Now then, when it vibrated and outrayed to the extent that it would take on a physical expression, it took on Jesus! All right. Just think a minute. Just think a minute. Before Jesus was ever in a human form, Adam already had the form that Jesus had to take. Follow me? Because it was that life. The life could produce nothing else but that. Now that was a tiny bit. A modicum. Just a modicum. A little teensy, teensy bit. Like one drop of water from the entire oceans of the world. That was Adam. That’s you and me. 37. Now, watch; we are going to have a body like unto His, which means it will vibrate faster than the speed of light—to go through brick walls—and will manifest the glory. You say, “Well, Bro. Vayle, what’ll I be doing in that?” I don't know all the answers. But can’t you let your minds go and just visualize what it’s going to be? You’re vibrating today with diseases. Doctors can literally take the Kirlian photographs from Russia. They photographed the aura. Bro. Branham spoke of the four rings of the aura. Nobody can deny them. By the time you get to the fourth ring, you’re almost dead. X-rays deplete your life. Now, you’ve got vibrations in your body. How many wake up with just kind of shaking in the morning? Ever had that? Be honest with me. I have it so many times, it’s pitiful. You know what you’ve got to do? You’ve got to treat yourself better. How many of you feel yourself shaking internally at times? Everybody does. Don’t raise your hands. I know you. Vibrations. Wrong vibration. “Why, that person I don’t like!” That’s right. Wrong spirit. “Oh, can’t stand the way that person does things.” That’s exactly right. They can’t stand you either. 38. What about God’s Kingdom? No problem. What are you waiting for? You are waiting for New Jerusalem, of which, for the first time, there are a people standing here that are literally going to inherit it. We’re going to take hold of it with greedy hands and greedy hearts. Not toward anybody here, but toward God. He turns away the full empty, but the empty He will fill. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, and this is the ultimate! We’re going to get there. I know I’m preaching against a brick wall this morning—not you people. Now, don’t you think for one minute I’m talking about you. I’m talking about me and you. I know what you’re thinking, and I know you’re going along with me. And I know that you believe what I’m saying, because I’m telling you the truth. And it’s got to get us; because, listen, when a stronger than the strong man (And we’re pretty strong.) wants to take control, he’s going to do it. See, God is in this to do this, because this was His sovereign will to get a people there. And to have the Lamb on the Throne and all of us round there, sons and daughters, and Him over the Throne, and “before they call, I have answered.” Can't you put it together now? Everything is restored, and God is there in that perfect emanation! It’s like a continual coming forth of Christ! And we’re looking now at this same Word with the same Pillar of Fire, moving and moving like a cyclotron, to catch us up in this revelation. Because it’s by faith, and faith is a revelation. Listen; you take this sermon Bro. Branham preached, and you listen to it. And you listen and sing, “I’m bound for that heavenly land.” And, let him tell you… We’re going to read what he says. See, you just can’t help it. 39. Now we look what he said here about this change. He said… Now, listen: [304] I'm going to that City when that day comes. I'm bound for that beautiful City. (Now, listen.) I feel the redeeming power in my whole heart now. Now, what’s he telling you? He’s telling you he feels exactly what he was redeemed for. And I read it in Ephesians 1. And I read it in the second portion of the first chapter, who it’s going to come to. The man spoke from the heart of God, as the heart of God, to you and me. And he’s speaking now of the stimulation of revelation, as it should be and enjoyed by all, which I say, is the spirit of the New Jerusalem, that gripped him, that will grip us! And it’s got to! 40. Look, I say with Bro. Branham, if we’re not Bride, there’s a Bride out there somewhere. If I just can teach, and that’s the best I do, and I drop dead myself, and go to hell, I’m sorry, that’s exactly going to happen. The New Jerusalem, may be one thousand years away, a little better, but I can tell you right now, there is an imminency in the hearts of the elect; and, if it’s not there, it’s going to come from this, which is that sermon. Because you’ve got to have a seed. And remember, the Tree of Life has got twelve manner of fruits; so, it had to have twelve manner of buds. I’m trying to show you here, every single thing the man preached, as under the Seven Seals, the Seven Thunders, absolutely will bring forth in us that life and that spirit of understanding that’s in there. I’ve got to believe that, brother/sister, or I don’t know what I’m doing up here. 41. Time and eternity and all its components and the effects are blending together. And we, as a part of it, recognize it. The specific Scripture we use is absolutely Heb 13:8, and Genesis 18. “He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever.” He never changes the way He does it. And the fact is that all Scripture is compound. Right now, as Bro. Branham said, “The Judge is that One.” And he looked right down for a thousand years to the White Throne, as he looked in Malachi 4, knowing it would come shortly, within this generation, and he put it all the way down, neither root nor branch are left. Annihilation—at the White Throne. As John the Baptist, said, “He’s coming. His fan’s in His hand, thoroughly purge His garner, gather the wheat—and burn!” He knew it was that hour! and the hour at one thousand years away! Compound meaning. And brother/sister, Bro. Branham had the same spirit, and we’ve got that same spirit. We are not prophets, but we’ve got the same spirit to know the imminency of New Jerusalem. It’s within our hands. 42. We’ve accepted the Judge. We understand it. We understand White Throne. We will now understand this! You say, “Bro. Vayle, you’re quite emphatic.” Yes, I’m quite emphatic. That’s what I am: Lee Vayle, the emphatic, because I am basing everything on a vindicated prophet. If that is not a genuine picture, (And it is; that’s been authenticated.) the thing is, what is it? This Bible answered back to us. It came alive. It came to pass. Oh, I feel good right now. How about you? If you want to shout, shout. 43. Now, all these three, Matthew, Malachi, 2 Peter, say, “Where’s the promise of His coming?” The earth is going to burn with fire just the same. All of those hold with the present truth. And, what is the present truth? Now we got time to do this; so, I’m going to do it. We’re getting just exactly where I want you to be in your minds and in your hearts and my heart. I do not know: that’s before God. But in your minds, I know I’ve got you where I want you. 44. Now, listen; Hebrews 6. (1) Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, (2) (And) of doctrine of baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. (3) And this will we do, if God permit. We will go to perfection, if God allows it. We will go to completion. We will go to completion, and the ultimate is the New Jerusalem! He’s talking to this people! He said, “I’m going to put you there, if God allows me.” But God didn’t allow him. So, God’s got to allow somebody. Elijah. Only one prophet: Rev 10:7, Rev 22:10-14. Once that prophet comes, holy’s holy, righteous, righteous, filthy, filthy, and here’s the City and everybody else outside. Do you understand he’s talking to the explicit Bride, New Jerusalem? Because the foolish virgin don’t get it. Now, listen to me! We’re come to perfection. (3) And this we will do, if God permit. (God wouldn’t permit it.) (4) For (it’s) impossible for those who were once (for all) enlightened, and tasted the heavenly gift, partake of the Holy Ghost, (5) Tasted the good word of God, the powers of the world to come (all of that my brother/sister), (6) (Having fallen) away, (they’ll never be renewed to) repentence; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, Doesn’t that tell you that the ministry of Jesus comes back to earth without Jesus? Doesn’t that tell you that is the epitomization, that is the whole thing, that is the great thing, and that’s an outraying from God that never was before. As Bro. Branham categorically said the truth, (And people hated him for it.) he said, “He had more success in my life than He had in His Own.”—concerning the ministry. William Branham flew around the world. When did Jesus? See? Now: (7) For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing (of) God: (8) But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. It tells you right here, upon this generation of this prophet, there comes the burning, there comes the cursing, but there also comes the taking away. And, when you go, you’ll never die. “Say, what are you?” “I’m Zion. I’m the ultimate.” Brother/Sister, we cannot rise above our thinking, so it must be God’s thinking. We cannot rise above our faith. If our faith is going to be low ebb, there’s going to be no power there. All right. 45. Listen, paragraph 305 on page 67. [305] There will come a time. People, you will see this; we're not gathering here in vain. Now you see, Bro. Vayle’s right on target. You follow me? Keep alert. I’m right on target. Haven’t told you one lie; haven’t expressed one thing wrong. I’ve just amplified it for you. We’re right on target. It says right here: “We’re not gathering here in vain. We’re only waiting for that time.” What’s he talking about? New Jerusalem. We’re not going to die! What’s a thousand years? One day! Twenty-four hours. I’ll be in it. “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.” If He really is. “Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God; born of His Spirit, washed in His Blood. This is my story, this is my song; praising my Savior all the day long.” I wish I’d made more notes on this. I knew the Psalmists said many things about Zion. I’d have read some for you this morning, just to lift your hearts up. 46. [305] We’re only waiting for that time. (See? That’s the spirit of New Jerusalem coming back, now. See, he’s in the spirit now, preaching this sermon.) It’s very, very late, but Jesus is very, very near, and as for His glory, it’s wonderful. His Name shall be called Counsellor. Isn’t that true? He’s the Counsellor right now: “I counsel you to buy of me gold, tried in the fire.” See? “I counsel you to get right, and turn all these things away that you might have had as your prized possession. You know, sell everything you have to get what God’s got for you. Give it all away. I don’t mean literally now. I’m talking in terms of spirit, because I don’t believe the physical. That’s not going to do you a thing. Talk about counselling. Peter counselled us. “In those days,” he said, “the scoffers are going to come. And they’re going to say, ‘Where’s the promise of His coming?’” Here’s the promise of the coming right now: that you and I have in our hearts what Bro. Branham has, about New Jerusalem. I’m a part of it! I’m as good as there. I’m it! See? You’ve got to understand these things; you’ve got to have that faith to take hold. And you don’t look at yourself and say, “Well, bless God, I’m a loser. I was conceived in sin, shaped in iniquity.” This is all grace. You've got to understand there’s grace involved here, brother/sister. This is the predestinating power of Almighty God. And the scoffers say, “Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?” And I’m trying to tell you, day by day they miss this Message looking back and looking forward. They don’t know what’s going on. I’ve only got one thing left in this life to do, is to try to help you see what’s going on. I’ll stand right here and try to help you see what’s going on; and, if it doesn’t even help me, I’ll still do it. Bro. Branham couldn’t use his healing for himself; maybe I can’t use my teaching for myself. 47. Now he’s telling the people who are here: “The great Counsellor’s here, preaching through the great prophet.” [306] Now, if you think it's wonderful when we drive hundreds of miles to sit here and feed on the Word—which this is only a shadow, what will it be when we live in the City with Him? Now, you look. You and I, we understand that there’s no way you can know, until you get there and are with it. If I could remember, I could name you some fruit that I have eaten down in Venezeula and drunk the juice of it. You wouldn’t have a clue, until I gave you a drink of it. How do you know anything, until it comes into manifestation? You’ve got a baby, like a woman, forming in you. Nine month period of gestation. They can take anything they want to try to figure the features and everything else of that child; but you still got to wait for the baby to come out. See, there’s lots of things you can know, but you don’t know, until you really know! And that’s because you are not just a part of it; the thing is right there before you. And so with this. 48. And he said, “This is just a shadow of it, but I want to tell you something, it’s what’s bringing forth the other.” Don’t say, “Well, that’s just the shadow.” A shadow, my brother/sister, is a type! And a type means, this will do till the real thing comes along. But, look at this! It’ll give you an idea. My, those days we would go there so excited for the sermons. Tremendous. Just the thought of being there made you vibrate. You know, just being by a real Christian makes you vibrate. What’s it going to be when you all get over there in His Presence and His likeness, when there’s that perfect emanation coming out? What’ll it be like if two Jesus Christ’s stood there? Well, they’d just be one. But, when you boil it down to little bits like you and me, and we stand side-by-side, it’ll be very lovely. My, I like that. More blessed than father, mother and children. More blessed. They’ll never understand. And yet, parents can understand to a degree. Just think what it’s going to be to God. See, God’s planned this. He’s got a real stake in this; don’t worry. Wisdom and power did it. 49. Now, getting in the divine flow is what Bro. Branham is telling us here. This part of the prerequisite of the Rapture. The faith of Abraham: “Come on City, be ready in a hurry, because I’m coming. Meet you half way.” True enough. Abraham’s said, “I’m going to get there. I’m going there.” God even gave him a taste of it. Melchisedec came down here, and He was not a man. He was in the form of man, God. He had a retinue, He had soldiers, He had people all around about Him, and He must have had buildings and things. At least, it seems to me, if there is a king, he'd have a kingdom. And Abraham understood by taking Communion—the emblems, taking what lay now, future in the City. Peace! Peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb on the Throne. Perfect peace in the soul. This is our destiny, Bro. Branham tells us. How much do we appreciate it, love and feel it, and live it? Well, he did, and we’re on our way. See? 50. [307] It's worth everything. The road seems rugged; and sometimes it’s hard. But, oh, it'll be so little when I see Him, so little. (In other words, that little trial we have is nothing. That’s true. The Bible says so.) What will the bad names… (And they called him a false prophet and that was the killer. I never saw a man go to pieces like that, when they called him a false prophet, because he knew he was not false. He was under the control of an Influence, of a Force, that spoke this. I don’t know.) Bad names they've said. What will it be when I see Him in that beautiful City of God? He said, Let’s bow our heads, (And he quotes:) I'm bound for that beautiful City, My Lord has prepared for His Own; Where all the redeemed of all ages, Sing `Glory' around the White Throne. Sometimes I grow homesick for heaven, (That’s his spirit.) And its glories I there shall behold, What a joy that will be, When my Savior I see! In that beautiful City of gold. John on the Island of Patmos saw it... [308] He said, Dear Jesus, this hope—my hope's built on nothing less, Lord, than the mother of my heart. Now, what’s the mother of his heart? New Jerusalem according to Gal 4:19. Read It for yourself. 51. I’m going to read this and quit. I haven’t got time for anything else. Well, as usual, we get someplace, but not very much. But we love the Lord. All right. [Gal 4:19] (18) My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, (19) I desire to be present with you now, to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. (20) Tell me, (you) that desire to be under the law, do (you) not hear the law? (21) (It’s) written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. (22) But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman (by the spirit). That’s right. If God had not made a promise, that boy would not have been born. Any other child could have been. There’s Cain. Abel’s different. Abel’s different. Now he said here: (23) Which things are an allegory (an extended parable, a deep illustration): for these are two covenants; the one from mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. (24) (And) this (Agar’s) mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is bondage with her children. (25) But Jerusalem which is (from) above is free, which is the mother of us (not ‘all’. That’s a wrong word in there. See? It should be in italics: “which is the mother of us”). Bro. Branham said, “It’s my mother, too.” Speaking with the mouth of the apostle Paul, speaking the very words—Alpha is Omega. “Just think, the same Pillar of Fire that gave the Word to Paul is here revealing it to us now.” The same… If we can accept without any actual proof in history that this is real, that Paul was real, that there’s a real God, and this is a real truth, then what about this that’s been vindicated? Something in my heart made it real, that this is real, and this is the way I got to go. What does that mean? Something real in your heart may tell you some day, if it hasn't already. I wish you have been in his presence the way I was. You’d know what I’m talking about. You know what it is to see God in a man, not just Christian. I’m not talking about Christian, which I love and I presume, and I have faith for also that we are all born again. That’s God in us, the hope of glory, Christ in us. I’m talking about something way greater. I’m talking the Pillar of Fire goes into a man. There’s a different story there, brother/sister. It’s all together a different situation. Please, never let us be confused. See? 52. Now he says here: (26) Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, (That’s Sarah.) thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she (that) hath an husband. Now It says, you break forth and cry, because you are going to be the one who brings those children. Jerusalem’s our mother. So, if that’s the case, where were we at one time? You had to be in the Architect. Because that’s just a manifestation of part of it. That’s part of your and my environment. Remember, before there was a fish with fin to swim, there had to be water. Before there was a New Jerusalem to sit in, there had to be a son and a daughter. And, if you and I believe that Bro. Branham was the one that spoke those Seven Thunders under the Seventh Seal, you can begin to see the spirit of this Message, brother/sister. Not just, “Here, we’re learning something.” This is where we’re taking on something, and that is a spirit of revelation, which is a Spirit of Christ, which is a true faith, which can never be defeated. 53. I'm closing. I make up my notes by attempting to feel and understand what is in this, what is beneath this. What is moving. But I’m not a prophet, and I don’t want to be a prophet. But, if he lets me know that I can find something that nourishes that seed, having placed the seed, then, brother/sister, this is really worthwhile. Because, remember; this seed is vindicated. It is, therefore, germitized or living. It must fall in good soil, because God would not give a seed without soil, because before there was a soil to have a plant, there was a seed to be planted. Right? Let’s rise and be dismissed. Tonight, heavenly Father, we want to thank You again for Your goodness and mercy to us, the love You bestow upon us, the fact we can come here and sit in this building one with another and talk these things over, be at home with each other, just look at each other, and discuss them as it were, with a little leadership up here, with Your help, I hope, O God. I’m banking on it. And then, Lord, we all come in a knowledge together, which knowledge is marvelous, because it brings us a unity, that we are not divided nor divisive, but we are unified in ourselves, in our midst, and with Thee and with the Word, and pressing on. Lord, help us all this morning to know and to be of one accord in one mind and the understanding of this message that “We are the New Jerusalem. We are that part of it.” We see the Scripture all coming together, Father, and we’re very grateful for it. And we appreciate it. And now, Lord, as the prophet said further on in his message, “May not one person in the building be lost.” May every single person come to the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and know that there is this heavenly home which is going to come down upon earth and we in it. O God, we praise You for what we learn moment-by-moment, and day-by-day, and we never fail with it. May we grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, until all are changed. I thank You, Lord, for every person that came out today, and as the prophet always said, may there not be one sick amongst us, knowing that that one day is going to happen. Lord, we need a little shadow today, for the full positive of tomorrow. Since healing is a sign of the Resurrection, Lord, may we have more. May the people simply claim Your goodness and healing power this morning and say, “I believe.” Father, we believe with them. May Your Will now be done. And unto Thee we ascribe the glory, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. “Take the Name of Jesus with You.”