APRIL 1985-VOL. 17, NO. 3

BILLY GRAHAM PUBLISHED A BOOK A FEW MONTHS AGO ON THE FOUR HORSE RIDERS OF REVELATION, CHAPTER 6. IT WAS HIGHLY ADVERTISED, AND RECEIVED QUITE A BIT OF ATTENTION, AND I JUST THOUGHT, AS I SAW IT ADVERTISED, I SURE AM THANKFUL TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THOSE FOUR HORSEMEN. I REMEMBER YEARS AGO, WHEN I WAS A CHILD, WE LIVED IN A COMMUNITY WHERE THE JEHOVAH WITNESSES WERE VERY STRONG. I REMEMBER SEEING SOME OF THEIR LITERATURE, SHOWING THESE HORSE RIDERS. THEY SHOWED THEM STRUNG OUT ACROSS THE HEAVENS, ALL RIDING AT THE SAME TIME, AND PORTRAYING TERRIBLE CATASTROPHIC EVENTS THAT IS SUPPOSED TO ENVELOPE MANKIND RIGHT AT THE END OF TIME. THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST ALSO HAVE THEIR VERSION OF IT IN PRINT, AND THEY ARE JUST AS FAR OFF BASE WITH THEIR VERSION AS THE JEHOVAH WITNESSES ARE WITH THEIRS, AND BILLY GRAHAM LIKEWISE. THAT IS WHY I SAY, I SURE AM THANKFUL THAT WE CAN KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THAT THE TRUTH CAN SET US FREE FROM FEAR AND CONFUSION.

SAINTS: I AM FULLY CONVINCED, THAT GOD HAS SOME PEOPLE IN THE EARTH TODAY, THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE TRUTH OF HIS WORD. THEY WILL RECOGNIZE THE TIME WE ARE LIVING IN, AND THEY WILL KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT. WE ARE LIVING IN A DAY, WHEN EVEN LOST SINNERS THAT DO NOT EVEN PROFESS TO BE CHRISTIANS, ARE MAKING REMARKS BASED UPON THINGS THAT ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION. THE FOUR HORSE RIDERS, AND THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON ARE THE TWO YOU HEAR THE MOST. BUT THE MOST DISTURBING IS WHEN YOUR GREAT BIBLE SCHOLARS OF THIS DAY, TAKE IT UPON THEMSELVES TO TEACH ON THESE SUBJECTS, AND THEN PUT IT IN PRINT AND IT BECOMES SOMETHING THAT THEY FEEL GOD MUST ABIDE BY. WELL I HAVE NEWS FOR THEM, GOD ALREADY HAS HIS OWN PROGRAM SCHEDULED, AND IT IS ALMOST THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT THEIR PICTURES PORTRAY TO THE WORLD, AND HE IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE ANY PART OF WHAT HE HAS ALREADY PURPOSED TO DO, JUST SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY HAVE WRITTEN THEIR BOOKS, AND THEY ARE MEN OF REPUTATION IN THE WORLD, GOD COULD NOT CARE LESS ABOUT THEIR GREAT REPUTATIONS, FOR HE IS CONCERNED WITH THOSE THAT WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES, AND ALLOW HIM TO SPEAK TO THEM BY HIS SPIRIT, TO GIVE THEM A TRUE REVELATION OF HIS WORD, INSTEAD OF JUST A HEAD FULL OF MAN'S THEOLOGY. THEREFORE I ASK THAT YOU WOULD PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER WHAT WE WILL ENDEAVOR TO BRING FORTH FROM THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD CONCERNING THESE FOUR HORSE RIDERS OF REVELATION, CHAPTER 6.

(INSERT FOUR HORSEMEN PICTURE)

JOHN'S COMMISSION TO WRITE

In order to get our setting for the subject we want to deal with, I will ask you to open your Bibles to the first chapter of the book of Revelation, where we will read verse 19. John was on the isle of Patmos, where he had been in exile because of the testimony of Jesus Christ he held to be the most valuable thing of his whole life. He was in the Spirit on the Lord's days, and he heard a great voice come from behind him, a voice of a trumpet, and that voice said, 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; then the voice names the seven churches that are to receive what John will write. So as John turns to see who is speaking to him, he sees the Lord Jesus Christ, portrayed in His high priestly role, and symbolized to John, as standing in the midst of seven golden candlesticks, clothed in a garment down to His feet, with hair as white as snow, and eyes as a flame to fire, and He is speaking directly to John. At first glimpse, John fell at His feet as a dead man, but He laid His right hand upon him, and said, Fear not: I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold I am alive for evermore, and have the keys of hell and of death. Then He says to John, verse 19, "Write the things which thou has seen." HAST is a past tense word, so John is going to write of some things that he has already seen, as well as present and future things, but they will all be related in the book of Revelation, and they will be things directly concerning these seven churches of Asia, for that is the area John has been in. The Lord is just simply going to remind John of how these things looked to Him. He wanted John to know how He looked upon what was going on in those churches. So he was not only to write of the things which he had already seen, but as we read the rest of the verse, notice also that he is to write, "the things which are, (things that were going on right then) and the things which shall be hereafter." It was because of what was going on right at the present hour, that caused the Lord to visit John when He did. John was the last of the original twelve apostles, and in 96 A.D., I am convinced that the Lord knew he would not live much longer, and He wanted some things written by him, and sent to these seven churches while he was still alive. Now John could have written many volumes on the things which he had seen already, for he is the one that concluded his gospel account by saying, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." He was a personal disciple of the Lord Jesus, and he had seen those miracles that He had performed throughout His ministry, but what he is to relate in these letters, are the things he has seen take place in these seven churches of Asia. Furthermore he was not even permitted to put it in his own vocabulary, for the Lord told him exactly what to write.

HOW MEN ARE INSPIRED TO WRITE, OR SPEAK

There are two ways to look at inspiration. A man can see something that disturbs him in his spirit, and the Lord can just anoint and unction him to speak against it, using his own vocabulary and intelligence to express it. That is mostly what we see in the Epistles of the New Testament. But when we come to the book of Revelation, we find inspiration of the greatest magnitude, because, when the Lord said, Write, He took John, and showed him various things in symbolic pictures. Things that John could not possibly have had the vocabulary to write of using his own human terminology, so he writes exactly according to the instructions the Lord gave him. Therefore up through chapter 3, we find what those seven churches were, how they were founded, how they had grown in the revelation, what they were known to the Lord by, and the conditions that were then present in them. It was the present conditions, that had put those churches in a very bad state, and limited the work of the Lord through them in future days. The Lord spoke to Ephesus, for example, "I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and has found them liars; and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake thou hast labored, and hast not fainted. (Notice now) Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou has left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." When a person, or a church loses the fervency of their experience with the Lord, and then just simply continues doing the right things out of habit, instead of being moved by the Spirit of God to do them, they have lost their effectiveness as instruments in the hands of God on behalf of lost mankind that still has need of a Savior. In other words, You can go to church every time the doors are opened, go through all the functions of the service, and still be almost dormant in your spirit. When you get like that, you need to be revived, and your soul set on fire anew with the reality of God's great salvation plan, that you are a part of, for you are not worth two cents as an instrument of God, when you are just merely drifting along in a state of dormancy. I must cut this part short though, for I want to get into the part that moves from the past tense, and the present tense, into the future tense, because that is where we get our setting for the four horsemen, that we want to look at.

JOHN TRANSPORTED INTO HEAVEN IN A VISION

Go with me now, into chapter four, and notice the very first verse. "After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter." Now the things that must be hereafter, are what we are primarily interested in, as we go on into this message. The first three chapters give us a spiritual history of the seven local churches up to that point, and we already know that the conditions existing in those seven churches then, portrayed conditions that would characterize the seven church ages, or seven particular phases that the church of the living God would pass through during the dispensation of grace, and Laodicea was the last one. We actually see a type of the rapture of the church set, right here. For as John finished writing the letter to the church of Laodicea, or we should say, As the Lord finished speaking to Laodicea, He called John to, "Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter." He could have showed John everything He was going to show him, without John moving one inch from where he was, spiritually speaking of course. But this was no spur of the moment thing that the Lord did here, for there was a type to be set for those that would later have a spiritual eye to see it, so He lifted John up from the earthly setting, where he had showed him the past and present things he was to write, and conveyed him by the Spirit into Heaven, so notice what John says here in verse 2. "And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne." Now saints, I seriously doubt that John's physical body went anywhere. It was still right there on the isle of Patmos, but by a spiritual vision John was transported into heaven. God had literally taken control of his intellect. He was totally taken over by the Spirit of God. Let me say this also. John was an old man, and in the natural it is very hard for a person that old to remember everything they see and hear. But when John came out of that experience, he remembered every detail of what he had seen and heard. But let us be sure we catch a very important point here. There was only ONE throne in heaven, and there was only ONE there to sit on that throne, not three. Of course all of you here already know that, but perhaps this message will fall into the hands of some who do not have a one God revelation, and every point could help them. This modern church world of our day, seems to take great pride in making the Bible say things that it really does not say at all. They can see three persons in the Godhead so plain, they brand anything that believes God is one, as a cult. That is one of their main gauges that they use to identify a cult. Look our for those that deny the blessed holy trinity, they will tell their members, for they are a cult. It is very simple. Their teachings are Antichrist, and cannot possibly be vindicated by the Bible, and they hold their members under bondage all the days of their lives, by fear tactics, and their secret deeds are evil and ungodly. On the other hand, I will take the scriptures and back up everything I teach.

JESUS SITS UPON A THRONE IN HEAVEN

Alright now, verse 3, "And He that sat (on the throne) was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald." Now some will say, Bro. Jackson: If that one sitting upon the throne was the Lord Jesus Christ, how is it that John describes Him as looking like that? Jesus did not look like that when He walked on earth for 33½ years. Saints: You just have to realize that these symbolic descriptions are to convey the reality of the investment of authority that the eternal Spirit has bestowed upon His only begotten Son. The characteristics of the Ancient of Days (which is the sovereign, eternal Spirit of all creation) are shown here as a vindication of that investment of power and authority that now rests upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Did not Jesus say, in His closing words to the church at Laodicea, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in His throne?" Of course He said that, but that does not make two persons sitting upon thrones in heaven, for the Father is not a person; He is a sovereign Spirit, just like it says in St. John 4:24. Therefore the only person John saw sitting upon that throne in heaven was the Lord Jesus Christ (still in His mediatorial work as high priest) invested with all the authority and attributes of the great eternal Spirit. The rainbow round about the throne symbolizes the covenant God made with mankind. It is a sign of His presence, and has nothing at all to do with a flood, at this time. Verse 4, "And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. (5) And out of the throne proceeded lightings and thunders and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God." Now if there is only one Spirit which is God: what are the lamps, and why are they referred to as the seven Spirits of God? Certainly they have to be symbolic of something, but we know God is one Spirit, and definitely not seven different Spirits. If you fail to get his symbolic terminology straightened out, you will be dealing with Gods again, instead of one God, for you simply cannot take a plurality, and make it singular. Well these seven lamps speak symbolically of those seven great deity attributes that pertain to Jehovah. Throughout the Old Testament God was made known on various occasions by one of these seven deity names that speak of a particular attribute of the one true God. Then when you get over to the New Testament, where the only begotten Son of God is indwelt with the fulness of this one Spirit which possesses these many attributes, you have to realize that He (the Son) is the embodiment of all that the Father is. In other words, All that the Father is, now dwells in the Son of God in full measure, so He now possesses these seven deity attributes. Just like Paul said in Colossians 2:9, "For in Him (Jesus) dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily." That is why Paul went ahead and said, (10) "And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power." Through this one Son, Jehovah purposed to reconcile the world back to Himself. By Him, through Him, and with Him, He has purchased all things. Then when Jesus was preparing to depart from His disciples, He promised to send them a Comforter, one that would lead them into all truth, and that Comforter that came to dwell in those that believe, was the same Spirit that dwelt in Jesus. Now the Church is to reflect the indwelling Christ to the world, in seven distinct ages within the dispensation of Grace. We find also, that each age had a star messenger through which this Spirit of Christ would be characterized, so we certainly have no difficulty recognizing the fact, that God is in sevens. Seven is a number that speaks of completeness.

JOHN SAW PROPHECY BEING FULFILLED

Do not give an ear to these false teachers of what is supposed to be men following Bro. Branham's message, if they start telling you that what John saw in heaven was the seven church age messengers, standing before the throne of God. It never was, and never will be. We must keep the symbolism as it was in the Old Testament. They are seven lamps of fire that symbolize the eternal flame of the seven spiritual attributes of Jehovah. Men are born, but God was not born; He is eternal. Men die, but He who is eternal will never die, and that which God is, has been reflected to mankind through these seven attributable names, all down through time. It seems that carnal mankind always wants to glorify the flesh of some man, and the reason for that, is the fact that they cannot see beyond the flesh of the instrument God uses in an extraordinary way, in their hour of time. Revelation 4, Verse (6) "And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. (7) And the first beast (Notice now, as John sees these beasts, and as he records what he saw, he has them in the exact order in which they will function when the events of chapter 6 come into focus.) was like a lion, (the lion was absolutely first, and we will show you why, later.) And the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. (8) And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him." Every bit of this can be found in Ezekiel. When Ezekiel saw the glory of God, and he saw the throne of God, he saw these four living creatures. Brothers and Sisters, I want you to know, the scenes Ezekiel saw transpire, all pointed to the future, to the time when Christ would literally be positioned in the very place John saw Him in, in this fourth chapter of Revelation. Furthermore I am thankful to God, that this scene has never changed from that day until now. Therefore what Ezekiel saw was a preview of what John saw as a fulfilled reality. When Ezekiel saw it, and wrote it, it was a prophecy; but when John saw it, and wrote about it, it was being fulfilled. Alright, (8) "The four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. (9) And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, (10) The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne saying, (11) Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Alright now saints, we see here, that all those elders were bowed before the throne worshiping the one that sat upon it. They are worshiping Jehovah, the creator of all things, but the person they are bowed down before, is Jesus the Christ, the only begotten Son of God in whom He (the Father-Jehovah) now dwells, and He is fulfilling His office as high priest. Those elders knew exactly what they were doing. That is why it is expressed like this. That is why we, in this New Testament dispensation, worship God through the person of His Son. Jehovah could not be seen, but the Son in whom He dwells could be seen, and God ordained that this Son in whom He dwells could be seen, and God ordained that this Son be a vessel that would exemplify all of His attributes, even to the natural eye of mankind, but only those that had spiritual eyes would ever really know what they were seeing. That is why so many of those that actually witnessed the miracles described in the four gospels, later turned against Jesus, and desired to see Him crucified; they just simply did not have spiritual eyes to recognize who and what they were seeing. That is why all through time, good has been called evil, and evil called good. It is not the true saints of God that gives these adverse opinions, it is carnal mankind, that judges everything according to their own ideas and traditions.

ONLY ONE SEAT - AND ONLY ONE SEATED

Let us go on into chapter 5 now, and get the complete setting before us, before we actually approach the four horsemen, which we find in chapter 6. (1) "And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book (scroll) written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. (2) And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, (scroll) and to loose the seals thereof? (3) And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon." Let me take time right here, to remind you of some things, that you really need to be sure you get straight in your mind. First of all, be sure you know beyond any shadow of doubt, that the one sitting upon this throne is the Lord Jesus Christ, invested with all the authority and attributes of Jehovah, the Creator, the Father of all living creatures. Then be sure you realize that John saw Him in the process of performing His duties as high priest, interceding for lost mankind before the great eternal Spirit, who, even though He indwells this obedient Son, is still omnipresent, and as I said already, This scene in heaven is still the same today, as it was nineteen hundred years ago when John wrote these words. He still holds in His right hand a little scroll, which has one seal that still has not been broken. Of course you will realize why I am saying this, in a few minutes, for I am sure some of you at least have heard from various sources, that Jesus Christ is off of the mercy seat, and that the seventh seal was broken when Bro. Branham preached the series on the seven seals, in 1963. It is a fact that when Bro. Branham was inspired to preach what he did, concerning these things, there were certain things said, which were never explained, and after his death, different ones took those statements, gave them their own private interpretation, and started preaching and presenting their ideas as facts, and it is still going on today. They say, There is no more mercy on the mercy seat of God. Well let me say this, There is only one throne seen by John; not two. It is a throne, and there will be mercy there until the hour appointed of the Father arrives, and that last seal is broken, and Jesus is seen on earth in angelic form, with one foot on the sea, and the other foot on the earth, and that little scroll open in His hand, on earth to claim what He has been interceding for all these many generations since Calvary. I guarantee you, when that scene becomes a fulfilled reality, you will not have twenty years to run all over the world preaching your own private opinions, for the Spirit of God will leave the Gentiles, and go back to the Jews, to fulfill the seventieth week of Daniel. When that time arrives, mercy for Gentiles is over, and judgment is eminent. But you believe me saints, that hour is yet ahead of us. Many of those men that sat there, and heard Bro. Branham preach those messages, were out of oneness Pentecost systems where they had preached one God for all they were worth, and yet the very fact that they have gone out, and preached what they have since then, proves that they still do not know whether God is one, two, three, or a half a dozen. They could not explain the Godhead, if their life depended on it. That is why I say, If they cannot get a true picture of the events described in this fifth chapter, they certainly do not have a revelation of the Godhead, and because they do not have a revelation of the Godhead, they will go so far as to say, Bro. Branham was Elohim. Listen to me saints, when you allow the devil to twist your mind like that, you have already stepped across the threshold between God's mercy and God's judgment. You just simply cannot play around with God like that. The only person God ever dwelt in, in the measure that made that person God in flesh, was the person of His only begotten Son, and the next step, was that He would dwell in all of His redeemed children only by a measure of His fulness. But that measure of His indwelling presence is all any of us need, in order to overcome Satan, and live for God in this life. Naturally there is a dispensation of time allotted to that, but you believe me, we are still living within that dispensation. The Holy Ghost is still in the earth today, regenerating lost mankind, bringing everything to God's perfect plan. Furthermore there have been certain men that have been used by God in an extraordinary way, and Bro. Branham was one of them. But he was a mortal creature just like the rest of us. The man himself was a sinner just like all the rest of us, and had to be redeemed the same way, by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It is a fact, he had a greater measure of the Spirit of God in him, than the rest of us, but never to the extent that he should be looked upon as God. That is why I have said, Anyone who looks upon Bro. Branham as God, is just as much an idolater as any pagan Gentile ever was before the gospel came over to the Gentiles. They have missed the whole purpose for which Bro. Branham had that special anointing of the Holy Ghost. They have not been turned back to the faith of our apostolic fathers at all.

THE LION HATH PREVAILED

Alright now, let us continue reading in verse 3, so we can get the complete setting of what proceeded the four horsemen, as John is shown this vision, (3) "And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. (4) And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon." Remember saints, Everything John saw after he was taken up to heaven in this vision, was for a future time, and most of it was for our generation. So John stood there weeping, because no one was found worthy to loose the seven seals, and open the book. (5) "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. (6) And I held, (John was looking right at the throne) and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." Saints, above everything else, be sure you understand that John had his eyes fastened upon the throne, and the one that sat upon that throne. The only one sitting upon that throne is the Lord Jesus Christ, so keep that in mind, and try to catch the symbolism of what John was here. He has already described the one sitting there, and also the twenty four elders, and when he began to weep, because no man was found worthy to open the little book, what did the elder say to him? Behold, THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDA, THE ROOT OF DAVID, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. That should leave no doubt whatsoever, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who offered His life upon the sacrificial altar of God, for the sins of the whole world, that John is looking at, and He is not changing from one form to another. It is only that John is being shown in a vision, what this ONE obedient Son of God has accomplished on behalf of lost mankind. He was not a literal lamb; He only took the place of the required lamb without spot or blemish of any kind. Neither was He ever, nor will He ever be a literal lion, but symbolically He is called that in connection with His Kingship. Therefore as John stands looking at that throne, and seeing Jesus Christ Himself sitting upon it, he then sees this symbolic Lamb coming right out of the midst of what he is looking at. No, Jesus did not turn into a lamb, but this symbolically speaks of the fact, that the one sitting upon that throne is worthy to open the little book and loose the seven seals thereof, on the merits of what He accomplished at Calvary as the Lamb of God. That is why the Lamb John is seeing appears to him as one that had been slain. That is what merited Him the worthiness to open the book that contains the names of all that He is interceding for as high priest. I am sure you will remember reading in the Gospels, where Jesus came walking past John the Baptist one day, and John spoke something to those who stood by him. Behold, the (What? Messiah? No.) LAMB OF GOD, which taketh away the sin of the world. He spoke that by revelation. He was not even seeing a lamb, like John the apostle is seeing here in these verses, but both instances point to the very same thing. They both point to the glorified one that is now sitting upon His Father's throne in heaven. But no literal lamb is seen at all; John is in a vision, and it looks real to him, and that is what he was supposed to write. That is why these things can only be understood by a revelation given to us by the Spirit of God. Do you think it would do any good to try to explain these symbolisms to a Trinitarian? How could they possibly understand this, when they already see three persons in the Godhead? It takes a one God revelation to understand what John was seeing here. Besides that, this Lamb that John was seeing would have been a freak of nature, and unacceptable as an offering to God under the Old Testament covenant, if it were a literal lamb. Oh hallelujah! This makes me feel good, to read this. Even though no such literal animal would have been accepted as a sacrifice in the Old Testament, the fact that John is being shown this Lamb coming right out from the midst of the throne, having seven eyes and seven horns, shows us that the same one that was slain as the Lamb of God, is also endowed with all the attributes of God the great eternal Spirit. In other words, in this one sitting upon the throne in heaven, is a full embodiment of all those attributes of Jehovah. Those seven spiritual attributes of Jehovah are now at work in the New Testament, through the person of the only begotten Son of God in whom the Father dwells in the fulness of Himself.

WHO OPENED THE SEALS?

Saints: Just try to picture John, standing, looking at Jesus Christ sitting upon this throne, and as he watches, the human form fades into the background, and he is seeing this Lamb as it had literally stepped right out of the throne, and verse 7 says, "And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne." Please take note of the fact that the Lamb is the only one that moved. There has to be a certain physical action here, to portray transition of authority that comes from the investment of the mind of Jehovah, Jesus Christ could not open those seals while in His office work as high priest. It was not His high priestly work that merited Him the right to open those seals; it was what He accomplished as the Lamb of God, that merited Him that right, and it could not be opened completely as long as Jesus Christ is still in His office work as high priest. I never will forget, as I sat there listening to Bro. Branham, when he was anointed of God to teach on the seven seals, I thought to myself, The one sitting upon that throne did not move one inch, only the Lamb moved. Yet because Bro. Branham just merely asked the question, Could it be, that Jesus Christ has left the mercy seat? Many of those that heard him, went out from there saying, Jesus Christ is off of the mercy seat. No one else can be saved, and they have been saying that ever since. Well, if they would have just gone back and read the scripture again, with an open mind, they would have seen that the one sitting upon the throne, did not move at all. Only the Lamb moved. This had to be written like it is in order to show the transition of authority, but anyone with a true revelation of the Godhead knows good and well, that there is no literal lamb involved in the picture at all. Actually, in the introduction, He was introduced as the Lion of the tribe of Juda, which is His next office. But I assure you, He will not fulfill that office as a literal lion; that is only symbolic terminology that describes the kind of rule He will have on earth as King of kings and Lord of lords. Brothers and Sisters: I hope it is clear to you, that in 1963 when Bro. Branham preached on the revelation of the first six seals, Jesus Christ did not move one inch from His position on the throne as high priest. Neither has He yet moved from that office work. If He had left the mercy seat in 1963, we would sure be in the Millennium now. Is that what you want to believe? Of course not! Most of all, we would have to wonder what happened to the resurrection, and the rapture of the living saints. Those things were not written just to fill up space in the Bible; it will all take place just like it is written, when God's time is right. He is the one that is keeping time, you know.

DENOMINATIONAL CHURCHES ARE ANTICHRIST

Let us read verse 8 now, and move on, "And when he (the Lamb) had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. (9) And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us (Who redeemed us? Jesus Christ) by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (10) And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: (Hallelujah! And we shall float around on clouds forever. It that what is says? No, listen.) and we shall reign on earth." Are you aware of the fact that the Methodists do not believe in a Millennial reign of Christ upon earth? Neither do the Church of God people. You cannot preach this to them, for they do not believe the book of Revelation ever should have been written. Some of them have said, John must have been having a nightmare when he saw all of this, and others have said, The book of Revelation is like a mud hole; the more you stir around in it, the muddier it gets. Well I am thankful that the true Church of God believes it is for them, and they love to hear the revelation of it taught. Furthermore the true church does not go to the Baptist seminary to get the revelation of it either, for they all know that these manmade religious systems do not have the revelation of it. If they did, they would not still be in those church systems where there is more unbelief taught, than there is truth. It just proves that man's intellectual learning, does not do the church world one bit of spiritual good. Tell me sincerely, if you were Trinitarians, could you possibly see what you see right now, from these chapters we have covered? Would you know who is on the throne, and by what authority that same one opens the little book? Let us be thankful that God has called us out of those antichrist systems. Bro. Jackson: You ought not call them that. Why not? Any church system that preaches and teaches anything different than that which the early church taught as the gospel of Jesus Christ, is antichrist. What else can you say about them? If the Bible says God is one, and they say, God is three persons, is that not antichrist doctrine? If the Bible says, Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and they say, It does not matter whether you are baptized or not, is that not antichrist? Need I go on? Sure you still have close friends and loved ones in those places, and so do I, but I assure you that just pretending that they are good Christians, simply because they are good moral people, and seem so sincere, is not going to make it so. If they reject truth, they are rejecting God, for God and His Word or one and His Word is truth.

THE WHITE HORSE - THE LION BEAST

Let us move on to chapter 6 now, where we will begin to see one four horsemen come into the picture. As I said already, Billy Graham is telling his great audiences, Read the greatest book for our time, that the world has ever known, "The Four Horsemen." To them, it is some future event, some terrible dark catastrophic time of judgment. But I am so glad to know that the little bride of Jesus Christ does not think like that. She knows that those four horsemen have already been riding for a long time now, riding right on over Billy Graham's head. Then right on down through the Jehovah Witnesses and the Seventh Day Adventist, and any others that are without revelation. So let us look at this first one now. (1) "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, (It is Jesus Christ opening these seals, but He is doing so by the virtue of what He accomplished as the Lamb of God, not because He is the Lion, or high priest) and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, (We have already seen the order of the four beasts, back in chapter four. The first was a lion, so it would be the lion that is saying this.) Come and see." It is important that we see this beast as being in heaven. He gets John's attention saying, Come and see, meaning, Come and take a look. But it was the first beast, the lion, as we will see when we get to the next one. (2) "And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he (the white horse rider) went forth conquering, and to conquer." Now Brothers and Sisters, if that pictorial scene is yet a future event, as Billy Graham and these others believe it is, then that white horse rider still needs an interpretation, who is he, and what does all of this mean? Will you agree with me? But if it is not some future event, yet to be fulfilled, and I am fully persuaded that it is not, then we already have the interpretation. We can check it back through history and see what has been going on all the time, and I believe we will have to accept the fact that the revelation is already here. I will never forget; well I am not sure about the year, but somewhere around 1954 or 1955, Bro. Branham determined to start a series of meetings, to preach on the book of Revelation. He started in the first chapter, and he had only preached one or two nights when Bro. Bozay, from Chicago, who was then pastoring the Philadelphia Church, called him to come for a meeting. He just dropped everything, and went to Chicago, and you know, he never did get back to the book of Revelation again until 1963. I can look back now, and see why. He was not supposed to. It was not time for him to touch it the way he did in 1963, when it was the time for it. When Bro. Branham stood there, that night, and read the two verses we have just read, it just seemed like he stepped back with an expression of joy, and as he would describe this lion, and what it characterized, he then said, but this white horse rider was none other than the spirit of Antichrist, riding in the first church age. The thing that shows that, is the fact that this white horse rider had a bow, and a crown, portraying Christ, in a sense, but he had no arrows. Therefore without the arrows, he is only a bluff. But if you will read the history that is available, you will see that this is the very way Satan's emissaries gained supremacy, through fear tactics. Even in 54 A.D. when the apostle Paul wrote his second epistle to the Thessalonians, he said, "The mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way." He could see that an Antichrist spirit was already causing men to harass the Church with ideas that were completely foreign to true revelation. But he could also see that the Spirit of God was still present to hinder this Antichrist spirit, and would do so until it was time for the Spirit of God to pull back completely, and allow Satan to introduce his literal Antichrist man to the world, the one who will be consumed with the Spirit of the mouth of the Lord, when he returns to earth in glory. Yes, the spirit of the devil was already running parallel to the Spirit of God in the church, before the last of the original apostles of Christ had left the scene. This is why John would say, over in his little epistles, Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. He said also, This is that Spirit of antichrist that ye have hears should come: and even now is already in the world. That was the spirit of that white horse rider moving through the earth in those false prophets, running parallel to the gospel of Jesus Christ that the true disciples preached. What about the lion though? Some will say. Naturally this is all symbolic. There is no literal lion beast. But the Spirit of Jesus Christ in those first age Christians, caused them to fearlessly stand against that spirit of antichrist that was trying to get the church off course. That is why it was the lion beast that said to John, "Come and see." You will see the significance of these four beasts in relation to the spirit of antichrist, as we continue on with these first four seals here in the sixth chapter of revelation. The spirit of the certain beasts that are mentioned, characterizes the Spirit of Christ that was in Christians in the age that these various horse riders went forth. In the animal kingdom the lion is known as the king of those beasts. He fearlessly goes about to fulfill his own will, and nothing will dare get in his way. Well this symbolizes the kind of spirit that was in the early church. They held the line on the word of God, and put those false apostles to the test, and refused to let them spread their antichrist ideas in the church. That is what you see in the letter to the church at Ephesus, "I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars." Brothers and Sisters, they had something in them that would stand up against false doctrine, just like Jesus Himself stood up to those scribes and Pharisees that tried to get something on Him. He walked wherever He wanted to preach, and no one could touch Him until it was time for Him to lay His life down, and then He became subject to those that desired to take His life. But on the day of Pentecost, that lion-like Spirit that was in Christ Jesus, came to dwell in the church, and the church became fearless. Their adversaries would grab them, throw them in prison, and tell them, You cannot preach anymore in that man's name. But along would come an angel, that would get them out of prison, and right back they would go doing the same thing they got arrested for in the first place, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is hard to keep a lion from doing what he wants to do, you know. You can threaten him, and he will roar right back at you. That is the kind of fearless boldness those first age Christians had. When they were told not to preach anymore in the name of Jesus, they answered, We will obey God, rather than man. When that mob came against Stephen, the Bible says they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. They arrested him, brought him before the council, and had false witnesses testify against him, and accuse him of blasphemy and all sorts of thing, but Stephen stood there before them, and the Bible says that they all saw him as one who appeared to have the face of an angel. When he got a chance to preach to the council, he started with the call of Abraham and preached all the way through to his present hour of time, and then said, (using scripture) Acts chapter 7, verse (51) "Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. (52) Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: (53) Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. (Brother, you do not find any fear in that man.) (54) When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. (55) But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, (Not another person) (56) And said, Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." That was the last thing they could take. They stopped up their ears, ran and grabbed him, took him outside the city, and stoned him to death. But did they ever see any fear in him? Absolutely not! He looked up to heaven and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he kneeled down, and said with a loud voice, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." That was the last words he ever uttered. Now I hope you can see how this lion beast symbolizes the spirit that was in those men like Stephen. With his last breath, he exalted Jesus Christ, the one who had first walked that road.

HOW THE LION GUARDED THE GOSPEL

The Trinitarians really love to read those verses, for they think Stephen was looking at two of the persons they say is in the Godhead. See there! Stephen saw both the Father and the Son, they will say. No he did not. That is terminology that shows the investment of authority that was entrusted to that obedient Son of God. This scene Stephen pointed to, portrays Jesus in His intercessory work on behalf of him. When you have a revelation of the Godhead already, you can see these things for what they truly portray. But while speaking of that lion spirit in believers of the first age, there was another time when the apostle Peter ended up in jail, and an angel of the Lord caused his chains to fall off, and said to him, Follow me. He led Peter out through the gates that opened to them as they approached, and Peter went right to the prayer meeting, where they were gathered, praying for his release. You just simply cannot keep a lion caged up, he will find a way to escape. (Do not allow your mind to run wild; we are making a spiritual application of some scriptures. We all know that there are some literal lions kept in cages, but you will have to agree, they are not kept caged up by just any old way, for it takes a littler more to hold them, than it does some other wild animals.) A lion is always on the prowl. You can see that same spirit characterized in Paul. He and Silas were over in Asia Minor preaching the gospel, and casting out demons, when they were arrested, beaten, chained up, and cast into prison. They had that old lion captured, but brothers and sisters, a lion in a cage is like a stick of dynamite, and a can of gasoline. (You have seen in zoos, how a caged lion will just walk back and forth, looking for a way to get out of there.) These lions were in stocks, so they could not walk back and forth, so what did they do? At midnight, with their back's bleeding, and pain surging through their bodies, they began to praise the Lord. Hallelujah! Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. I do not know what they were singing, but they counted it a great privilege to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ, and that lion spirit in them found a way to express that great joy that was bubbling up within them. Then suddenly the ground began to shake, and those old prison gates began to rattle and swing open, and all the prisoners were set free, but they did not leave. God had his sight set on that old jailor and his household. So when the jailor realized that all the cell doors were open, he naturally expected that all the prisoners would be gone, and knew his own life would not be worth two cents, if he had allowed all those prisoners to escape. That is when he drew his sword, and started to fall upon it, and Paul cried out with a loud voice, Do thyself no harm, for we are all still here. Needless to say, the lions got out, the jailor got baptized, and the devil lost another battle. But what I want you to see in all this, is how that lion spirit was working in that first church age. It was a guard to the ministry, so the gospel could get out. That is how the church survived that first age. Another thing, brothers and sisters: a lion has a very keen sense of instinct. That is why old John would prick his ears up when these strange doctrines would come along. Something is not quite right here. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God or not. In other words, Check up a little, on what you are hearing, for many false prophets have already gone out into the world. Why? To deceive as many as will believe them. That lion spirit in him really guarded the true revelation of the gospel of Christ, right to the very end.