FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END

FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END

WE ARE CONTINUING THE THOUGHT WE WERE ON IN LAST ISSUE. WE ARE LOOKING FOR CLUES THAT POINT TO THE COMING OF THE LORD.

This chart we are using is to give a little illustration of time: as we talk about the seven Church Ages in relationship to how it all climaxes here in the end time. Through the years when Bro. Branham was ministering there were many things said that many people misinterpreted. When he preached the seals messages and told how God had dealt with him in Arizona: when he saw that constellation of angels and things of that nature, you would be surprised the number of people that memorized all those things and have a feeling that those seven angels he saw definitely have to be connected with the seven thunders. I am aware of what Bro. Branham said; but I wonder if a lot of those people really do know what was going on? That is the question: Do people really know what was going on, or are they looking at something because they have a mental picture they are cultivating simply because they have read and memorized so much they figure this has to be in here and that over there: whether it makes any scriptural sense or not? If he had not said some of the things he said, they would all still have to go by the Bible. For too long people have assumed that everything he said had to have a meaning concerning how you and I see ourselves in these last days in relationship to what we believe. When I say that, I realize some people in their mind will say, Well Bro. Jackson, don't you believe what he said? To that I have to say, When you question me like that, you have not heard me right. Therefore I am using this chart because it is the only way I can think of to try and illustrate to you what we are talking about. I ask you this question, When the Grace Age started, what did we have in the Old Testament that could give us any indication as to how the Holy Ghost would come? You have one scripture in Isaiah 28. Then you have another scripture, Joel 2. Joel prophesied that in the last days He would pour out of His spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, old men shall dream dreams, young men shall see visions and so forth. That prophecy is applicable to the whole Grace Age, as long as it lasts. When the day of Pentecost did come, it came with a manifestation of the Spirit of God and none of the disciples knew what to expect. They had read Isaiah 28, no doubt many times; but did they really know how to acquaint that with what was taking place? No. Everything that took place on the day of Pentecost was a complete new experience, unrehearsed, and not even thought of. Only when it came, were the disciples beginning to be able to put together a few things Jesus had said so a revelation could be formed in their mind's. Did He not say, I have yet many things to tell you, but as of now you are not able to bear them? However, after the Holy Spirit, the Comforter is come, He was to lead the believer into all truth. The age of grace was then in effect; and you will notice that when the Holy Ghost came, He came with manifestations. After the Holy GHost came upon those disciples there in the upper room, they were heard speaking in other languages as they came down into the streets of Jerusalem. That manifestation caught the attention of a great multitude of people; and as they questioned it the apostle Peter stood up and spoke to them by the direction of the Spirit he had just received; and as a result of the whole thing 3000 Jewish men and women came to repentance. The apostle Paul later spoke of it remembering a scripture over in Isaiah 28:11 which says, "For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people." This people, was the Jewish nation. Yet in the light of all of that, the nation as a whole would not believe. Anyhow what took place on that particular day of Pentecost is what set the Grace Age in motion. Then as you read the rest of the book of Acts and the Epistles you can easily see that it is the Holy Ghost that is leading in the establishment of New Testament Christian assemblies. There are many things written in the New Testament in such a way it causes people to read over it without seeing anything of significance until the generation is on earth that those things apply to: then the Holy Spirit begins to open it up to chosen one's that are to be held responsible for the ministering of that truth to others. That has been the rule down through the ages; and now we are facing the end of all God has purposed to accomplish in the Grace Age: so He is revealing things that have been right there in the Bible all along: but were only meant for this generation to understand them. The reason I chose the title "Looking For Clues, is because we are looking for everything that can possibly be a clue pointing to what is to take place in the hour of time we are living in. We have to realize that the last days, in the overall collective term, is talking about an allotted period of time when we begin to see prophecy set in motion, but that allotted period of time can last for several years before it finally terminates. That is what causes a lot of people to miss the boat completely when they start trying to deal with prophecy meant for the last days. However as we look at all the things going on in the earth today, we are fully persuaded that we must be living in the later days of the last days. It behooves us then to keep our eyes open every day, to watch how God is beginning to do things among His people. The things He is revealing to us in this hour of time are the things that will close out the Gentile dispensation and return the gospel message to the Jewish people it was first given to. Not the same individuals: but of the same nation.

Once the gospel came to the Gentiles, Ephesus stands out as the model assembly for the Grace age; and the first Church Age is called by that name. The apostle Paul was the star messenger to that age as the gospel was given to the Gentiles. The apostle Paul was taken off the scene around 66 A.D. of course: Yet that does not change the fact he was God's star messenger to that age. There were five other Church Ages between the Ephesian Age and the Age of Laodicea we are living in; but just as Paul was the star messenger to the first Age, William Marrion Branham was the star messenger to this Age. That can be questioned by the church world of our day because most of the church world in general does not even read the book of Revelation to see the seven types characterized in the seven churches mentioned therein. Therefore when we come to this hour, they would look at us as though we are just a fanatical element of people propagating something that we do not have a thread of truth or proof to back up. That is what causes me to approach this message the way I am approaching it. Well saints, just remember what I said earlier: God is definitely going to play a trick on this age of Christendom, an age when you see all these well learned, well dressed, celebrity type preachers on Trinity Broadcasting, with all their beautifully arranged TV programs constructed and run by high tech mechanisms. To the natural minded person it is wonderful that man can have such an attention grabbing program; but I personally cannot see God having anything to do with any of it: other than to bundle tares. Naturally when you say something like that, you automatically make yourself look to the church world like you are some kind of crazy fanatic. You are actually looked upon as a fanatic when you follow scriptural truth. The church was not born in the midst of all that high celebrity type of fashion speakers. Those men on the day of Pentecost, Peter, James and those, were just fishermen before the Lord called them to follow Him. They were not learned men of the priestly order. No. They were common ordinary people of the street like you find in everyday walk of life. That is what made it look strange to the priestly hierarchy of Jerusalem. How could this people be creating such a dynamic influence on the Jewish society when after all, they were not ordained priests. They were not wearing the robes; and they were not sacrificing lambs on the altar; but they were pointing spiritually hungry souls to another Lamb that had already been sacrificed. They knew by divine revelation exactly what was going on; and I believe we likewise know what is going on in our day. Believing that, is what caused me to make those remarks about God using the image of Bro. Branham to speak to the bride Church here in the ending of this age. Why do I say that? Simply because Bro. Branham was the star messenger to this age. His message is what called us out of Babylon (denominational religion). We do not have to be fanatical to believe that: It makes good spiritual sense. Denominational religion is so well versed in what has already been, they cannot see one thing that is about to be. They are trying to base all their insight on what has been, rather than what the Bible shows is about to be. The apostle Paul a Jewish man led by the Spirit of God and chosen by God before the foundation of the world to be a light to the Gentiles, wrote most all of the New Testament Epistles. To me, this is vindication that he was God's apostle to the Gentile people. With that in mind we can say also, It was the apostle Paul that established the seven churches in the area of Asia, the area we call Turkey today. It was the apostle Paul that established the churches in Greece and Macedonia, the region where so many problems are today. Those two areas were the Gentile areas of Christendom that were established under Paul's ministry in that first age of Gentile Christianity. Paul was martyred, beheaded, in Rome, in 66 A.D.; but look what happened thirty years later. Thirty years go by and that brings time to 96 A.D. That is where the apostle John stood out. He was the last one of the old saintly patriarch disciples. He was an apostle; but he is not pictured as being a star to the Gentiles. He is one of the twelve that was chosen by Jesus to represent the various tribes of the nation Israel; but he was not a star to any particular age. Peter was the spokesman to the Jews; but it was the apostle Paul that became recognized as the star messenger to the Gentile Church Age known as Ephesus. When we come to 96 A.D. we find that without any foreknowledge of what God was about to do, authorities had taken this old man and put him on an island which was not very far from the mainland of Turkey. You can see it from the mainland. Anyhow there he was: put in a solitary condition just to wander among the rocks and lizards, and whatever else was there. They probably thought they were putting this old man out of commission. Little did they realize God was going to use him to see things and write down those things for people within the ranks of the professing church to read down through the centuries of time. The point is this, and I want all of you to think seriously, No one in Christendom at that time knew what God was about to do. In 96 A.D. John was on the Isle of Patmos and he already had the Holy Ghost. He had written the gospel of St. John; and the three little Epistles over next to the book of Revelation. That constitutes the record of his writings. Look what Paul wrote, a great number of epistles, touching many things within the overall gospel of doctrine and such like within the Christian faith. However for some unknown reason God does something very spectacular after the death of Paul; and has John write it down and give it to the Church. Being in exile on this particular island, John says he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day when God began to show him prophetic visions and he was told to write it down. If you look in the marginal references it says, he became in the Spirit: which in reality means he continued to observe the worship practice he had been accustomed to in former days. However he made no special plans for the experience he had: God was the author of that. Keep in mind though, The day of the Lord and the Lord's day carry two different meanings. We must separate the one from the other. The day of the Lord points to that period of time dealing with God's judgment and wrath when Jesus comes to rule and reign as King of kings on earth. It is not a day of 24 hours. However the Lord's day, it is an expression used by the early disciples as they gathered together for worship on the first day of the week. Why did they choose the first day of the week as the day they would gather together for worship? Because that is the day the Lord Himself rose from the dead. That is why you can tie it right into Leviticus 23. He had to rise on the first day of the week and the Holy Ghost come on the first day of the week. These two infallible types substantiate the fact of why the early disciples chose, without making it a law, without making it some cardinal teaching of the Church, to worship on that day. It was a practice they observed because they did it by divine revelation. The early Christians chose the first day of the week for worship because it is the beginning of a new creation, a new day, a new cycle. It is fulfilling something that has already been typed in the Old Testament. Nevertheless you still have a lot of Gentile people that are still hung up on Saturday worship. That is why they will write these teachings how that somewhere man, the Catholic Church, changed from the Jewish Sabbath to the first day of the week, calling the first day of the week a pagan holy day. Let me just say this, Every day of the week, as far as I am concerned, is God's day. Otherwise you could not use the Psalm, This is the day the Lord hath made. You could only apply that to one day of the week. Anyhow John says in Revelation 1:9-10, "I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet." In the first verses of this first chapters he gives an introduction of himself, (1:1) "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto His servants (His servants had to be those pastors of the seven churches of Asia. Naturally his writings have been given to ministers and ministry through the various generations and ages; but when John wrote this later, keep in mind, he had in mind those seven men of those seven churches that lay there on the mainland while he was in exile out there on the Isle of Patmos) things which must shortly come to pass; (notice here what it say) and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John." We are going into this for a reason: so bear with me. We know John saw something. Further on he describes how he turned to see the voice that spoke to him; and he saw One like unto the Son of man. This man called John was an eye witness to everything that happened concerning the man called Jesus. This man called John had been at the river when the other John baptized the One he saw when he turned to see the voice behind him. He was one of the twelve chosen disciples of this man; but my point is leading to something I just mentioned. I hope you will follow me all the way through; because we want to get this whole thing straight. When we are talking about how God uses a man's image, keep in mind, either it is a vision or an angelic being anointed with the Spirit of God to act in the person of the one whose image who is being expressed. We must understand this if we are ever to get a true revelation of how God does certain things. If Jesus the man, the Son of God who rose from the dead 2000 years ago, and ascended into heaven where He has been seated on the right hand of the father, is ever seen by anyone still living here on earth, that is the way He is seen. We do not necessarily want to say He has been sitting in that position 2000 years. That is not the point. One saw Him seated at the right hand of the Father and another saw Him standing at the right hand of the Father: so His standing or sitting position is not what we are concerned with. Whenever there is something taking place on earth, that His image should be seen, you rest assured just as Philip saw Him standing on the right hand of the Father, and John was taken up and saw Him sitting on the Father's throne the point is, He is High Priest: He has been High Priest for almost 2000 years. He has not been personally running around all over the world: here one minute and somewhere else the next. When Jesus was taken from this earth 2000 years ago, that physical, glorified, immortal body has never physically been back here since then. When you hear someone say, Jesus stood by my bedside and said, Thus and so, just know that He was not physically there. I have no reason to doubt the vision: but be assured, that this is exactly what it was: a vision. Remember what the two angels said to those disciples that stood that day watching Jesus as He ascended into heaven? (Acts 1:11) "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Those angels were absolutely referring to His coming in Revelation 19, and not any other time scattered through the dispensation of time. As we read this, we will begin to understand that in the spirit world, there are angelic beings projecting various visions to people on earth. The apostle Paul writes a very descriptive picture of them in the Hebrews epistle. He speaks of these angels as ministering spirits sent forth to be ministers to them that shall be heirs of salvation. That means within the domain, within the realm of God's divine omnipresent Spirit, God has chosen and delegated for His spirit, His purpose, His thought, His plan, to be communicated to humanity on earth. That is the delegated position of angels in the overall plan of God. At least we know that is one of their functions: to commune with humanity on the behalf of the Creator. That is why so many Trinitarians and Bible scholars go back to Genesis and see where God spoke and said, Let us, and they refer to that as proof that God is three persons. They do not even realize God was speaking to His angelic helpers instead of two other persons within the Godhead. He had to be speaking in conjunction with the angelic family: or a lot of other scriptures would make no sense whatsoever. When we follow the record of angelic beings down through time, never did God do anything without an angelic being conveying His presence, and His purpose to the earthly person He was dealing with. Having said this, let us now look at those things John saw and wrote about in what I usually refer to as God's love letter to the bride Church.

Like I said, the first thing we find here is John's introduction before he really goes into the dynamics of what he saw and heard. He is plainly telling you first how the Lord sent His angel to testify of these things unto His servant John. (1:1) "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, (Now this is not an epistle that touches doctrine, nor the plan of salvation in any way. This is every bit prophecy.)and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." (From here on John begins to explain and bring forth the overall picture. We pick up with verse 4.) "John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; (5) And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (6) And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (7) Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen." When that verse is fulfilled, I want you to know humanity will not be looking at an angel. They will be looking at the immortal glorified risen Christ Jesus, coming to earth riding a white horse. It will not be an angel coming. It is the Lord Jesus Himself. (8) "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. (9) I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." In other words he has been arrested and put there in exile as a penalty for having preached about this man Jesus. (10) "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, (John was out there all by himself. Little did he realize what was about to take place. I can see that old man sitting out there somewhere, looking up into the sky. He no doubt just began to meditate and communicate with the Lord when all of a sudden an anointing came upon him like he had never experienced in all his prior days. It started something strange, something unusual. It did not last for just 15 or 20 minutes: It lasted no doubt for many hours as he was caught up in the Spirit.) "Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea." All of what John has written up to this point is concerning what he saw from this point on. He heard this voice behind him, so let us go on. (verse 12) "And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks." Notice now, he saw seven golden candlesticks. We know what they signified at that time. They represented those seven churches which existed in Asia Minor. I would like for us to realize there are some things God shows one man in the Spirit that are a confirmation. It is just the way God deals with that particular man. It is how God gets inside of him, gives him a picture of what he is looking at, and establishes relativity to the time he is living in. If you and I took all these things and tried to apply them to ourselves, rather than opening our hearts to God and say, Lord lead me the way you want to, I am open: we would not necessarily be receiving what we need for our day and hour. We need to keep our heart's open to the Spirit of God so He can deal with us according to what is to be, rather than what has already been. You could never convince me that John was sitting out there on that island with certain things fixed in his mind as though to say, If God has something for me, it is going to come the way I see so and so. That is the wrong way to approach God. What He has for you does not have to come any certain way. He has His own way He wants to talk to you. I am a part of a generation of older ones that can look back to the years of WW2 and remember when the Jews were slaughtered by the scores in Europe. We never thought much about it at the time it was going on; but years later we realize what it all adds up to. What Hitler did then, actually began to set the world in a trend that will eventually lead right up to the coming of the Lord. That which we read in the fifth seal was written 1900 years before it was fulfilled. I can say this also, God surely has a lot of things in His category that He wants to deal with mankind on; but it will be only at the proper time; and it will be only those who have a proper understanding of His plan and purpose in the redemption of lost mankind. How He chooses to lead the person as an individual, is strictly up to Him. I know just as sure as you are sitting here listening to me, the overall realm of religious people in the world have their ideas as to what God is doing, and what God is going to do; but I am looking at something that causes me to know, We have not come close to seeing yet what God is going to do among the Bride of Jesus Christ as the Age comes to a close. We have a profile here, and we have a plan laid out in His book; but none of that tells us exactly what He will do inside of you and me before this race is over. No sir. His Spirit, I enjoy it. I rejoice in it. It is eternal life to me. I would know nothing if not for the grace of God, and for His Spirit in me. The question is, How does He purpose to lead you and me in these last days? Do not try to plan it by the way God is doing something else. What He does for the bride, no one else will be able to copy it and commercialize it on TV. In fact, when God gets through dealing with His Bride Church the way He is going to deal with it, they will not even want your testimony on TV; because they will say you are crazy for sure. Well let me get back to what John described here. As he turned to see these seven golden candlesticks, keep in mind, John was not the one who established these seven churches. It was Paul, the star messenger too the first Age, that had established them. However Paul had been dead thirty years and John was the last old apostle of the original twelve still alive. God is using him. God has a reason for using him. Sure God could have got a younger man; so why is He using this man? Let us read. He turned and saw one like unto the Son of man. You should notice that he did not say, I saw the Son of man. He saw one like unto the Son of man. That is the part we want to catch: and really emphasize: He saw one like unto the Son of man. First we have to realize he knew what the Son of man looked like in His earthly image. That is what he is looking at. We can say that this is where that angelic being came in. That is why he wrote, who had sent His angel to testify of these things in the church. We know it was a spirit being, anointed of the Spirit of God, and we are going to see in this, in no less than four different places through the book of Revelation, how this angel escorted John. Even to the point where one time John fell at his feet to worship him. (Rev. 19:10) "And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." You will notice that the angel would not accept his worship: He said, Don't do that! Worship God! Every true child of God is going to enjoy the way the Creator deals with the Bride Church after she is completely freed from all of the shambles of religion she has been called to rise above. Let me read these next verses in chapter 1. (13) "And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle." This was an angelic being portraying Jesus Christ in His priestly role. That is what you are looking at in verse 13: you are not seeing Jesus in person. John was on the Isle of Patmos. This whole experience took place there. It was on the Isle of Patmos he saw the seven golden candlesticks. He saw all of that there: he did not see that in heaven. Jesus the immortal one that rose from the dead was in heaven; and there, is where He has stayed. The Spirit of God can use an angelic being, and an angelic being can convey the image expression of whoever God, the eternal Spirit purposes for him to. Notice the description. (14) "His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; (All of this is portraying that as Jesus was taken up and positioned in that position of High Priest, then we will say that ancient authority that only belongs to God the creator, is now invested in Him. In other words, it is like a man being put on a judge's bench. You have seen the pictures how the old judges, years ago, when they took the judge's bench, they wore a white wig. Well I do not know whether if I was a natural judge I would like to wear a white wig, I would like to stay as young looking as possible, but keep in mind, the white wig is always symbolic of ancient authority delegated and handed down through the ages of time.) and His eyes were as a flame of fire; (15) And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; (He took our position, in other words He was judge. God judged our sins in Him and that is why He stands in our place, in that respect.) and His voice as the sound of many waters." I have to keep emphasizing, this is not the literal embodied Christ talking. This is an angelic being conveying the image of Christ the High Priest, because it is on earth where it is taking place. It is not in heaven where Jesus resides. We will see more further on. (16) "And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. (17) And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, (The angel speaks in the first person, he speaks as the person of Christ, not the second person, as the angel himself. When I say that, I realize how far people's mind's are from the real picture. When we get on over a little farther you will see.) Fear not; I am the First and the Last: (18) I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." Those words absolutely portray the immortal Christ who really suffered and died and took our place. Yet keep in mind, it is an angel sent forth to convey the revelation of Jesus Christ, and not the person of Jesus Christ in the actual immortal body. It is important that we understand that: for I am using this very point of truth to scripturally establish another point. God can project the image of anyone He chooses to: for His own specific purpose in the overall plan of redemption and restoration.