Who Is This Melchisedec? #
14
Bro. Lee Vayle
September 28, 1988
Let us
pray. Heavenly Father, again we want to
express our appreciation and love for You tonight, having called us out of this
world of darkness Lord and made Light to shine into our hearts, especially this
last day, Lord, when the final Light coming out of the east to the west, comes
to us and then goes back to Palestine.
Lord, we thank You that we are aware of it and it’s only because of
grace, it’s only because, Lord, we’ve known You from the beginning and we pray
Father that You’ll teach us tonight that the things concerning Yourself that
You’ll help us in the Word that will build us up in the most holy faith, get us
ready for the Resurrection and the Rapture.
In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. You
may be seated.
Now, I
think we’re about number fourteen on “Who Is This Melchisedec?” And in the study of this particular subject,
that Bro. Branham brings to our attention, we find that it deals with much of
the same insightful material as did “The Future Home” for in both of these
messages we find God’s ultimate plan revealed and which plan is soon to be
manifested in its finality. Now, that
plan, of course, we’ve discussed it sort of, and epitomized it, and we find it
in Ephesians the 1st chapter, and we won’t read all of it, we’ll just read
7-12.
(7) In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Now those
are the ones that were in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world.
(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 fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, 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 (or hoped) in Christ.
Now, these
gathered ones are called a family in Eph 3:14-15.
(14) For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
(15) Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
Now, an
actual vision of this family and its entirety is described by a Heavenly vision
in the Book of Revelation, chapter 21 and we look at verses, perhaps 1-12.
(1) And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
(2) And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
(3) And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
(4) And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
(5) And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
That’s the
one in Revelation chapter 4 and chapter 5, seated upon the throne looking like
an emerald stone, and so on.
(6) And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
(7) He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
(8) But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
(9) And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
(10) And he carried me away in the spirit to a
great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy
(11) Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
(12) And had a wall great and high, (and so on.)
And with
that we take verses 22-27, then read into 20, chapter 22.
(22) And I saw no temple (in that wonderful city) therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
And you’ll
notice at that particular time it’s different from the Millennium.
(23) And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
(24) The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. (Now notice particularly what he’s saying there, “The people on the outside coming in.”)
(25) And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. (So they’re open continuously.)
(26) And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
(27) And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Now the
inhabitants are the Bride, the others bring their glory into it. Then of course the Bride brings her glory
into it also.
(1) And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
(2) In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
(3) And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
(4) And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
(5) And there should be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
Now, here
what we see here is this pyramidal structure, this city, fifteen hundred miles
at the base wide, square, the base of course being a pyramid, and it’s fifteen
hundred miles high and that is what you call the Bride’s city, and the Lamb of
God is on the throne, and the Pillar of Fire is above the throne, and all the
other sons and daughters, all the rest of the family of God, surround this
great city in their proper order. Whatever that order is is not told us, we’ll
have to find out when we get there.
Now, this
ultimate fulfilment, what we’re talking about is this city that’s...maybe we
just kind of start drawing on it to get moving what we have in mind here. We’re getting up here where we have this
great city and looks like this is not a very good pen. We’ll try for red and that’s better
there. It’s a city fifteen hundred miles
high, wide, and of course there’s a fence around it like the wall of the city
goes around there, and outside of this wall here is all these people around
here. So we’ve got Bride here and we’ve
got the rest here, and they’re called nations, and kings, and what have
you. Okay? And up here of course there is the throne
of--the Lamb is on it, and above the throne is that Pillar of Fire up there.
Now, what
I’m saying here is that this ultimate fulfilment, and that’s it, has been building
for several thousand years, I suppose six thousand years at least, and in this
hour was launched to its imminent conclusion by the Presence of Christ
appearing. Now let’s go to that in 1
Corinthians 15 because if you don’t see this you don’t see White Throne, you
just see the hour in which we’re living, which you must recognize that
twenty-four hours from now, in a matter of seconds, you will be there if you
were in the beginning. Now if you
weren’t there in the beginning, you’re not going to be there. But there’s twenty-four hours to go. That’s exactly why Peter said, “What manner
of people we ought to be knowing this.”
Now there’s something here that we must know, we must heed, is going to
do something for us, or we’re going to do something with it. It’s very, very, important to know this hour
that we are living in. All right, the
hour that we’re living in is 1 Cor 15: 20-28.
(20) But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
Now this
is the only begotten Son in this particular way as a first-fruit. Now we’ll talk about that more.
(21) For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. (Well it simply tells you the first man died and this One here died also but He rose again where the others just had to stay in the grave and wait.)
(22) For as in Adam all die, even so (in like manner, identical manner) in Christ shall all be made alive.
(23) But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his presence.
Now we’re
talking about Christ and when you talk about Christ remember, God was in Christ
and the scenario never changes. Never
changing God, never changing way of doing things. We have to reorient our thinking entirely to
Bro. Branham’s message because we are not Oneness, we are not Three-ness, we
are not Trinitarian but we are not Oneness in the sense of Jesus Only. We are Oneness in our understanding of
Godhead. Now it says,
(23) ...they that are Christ’s at His
Presence( The Lord descend with a
Shout.)
(24) Then cometh the end, (Now it tells you, literally skipping with one breath over one thousand years. Then cometh the end,) when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
(25) For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
(26) The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
(27) For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is (left out, or) excepted, which did put all things under him.
(28) And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
Now what
he’s telling you here, that there’s got to come a time, starting with the
actual Descent, with the Shout, 1 Thessalonians
4:16, it has to do with the Resurrection, that’s the start of when God
begins to wrap everything in subjection to Christ who is now seated on the
throne and God Himself here. The One on
the throne’s the One that came down. And
He’s putting everything under subjection so that Jesus can literally come and
rule.
Then after
that period, now God Himself is never subject, it’s always the Son that’s
subject but God is doing this for the Son and let’s understand that. Now, when this is culminated you will find
the Pillar of Fire is at the top, the Lamb is on the throne, and the Bride is
below. Now of course this is a great big
wonderful panoramic view that’s there and it’s really real, it’s not just a
little silly drawing on the wall, on the board that you see there. Now, that’s when God becomes all and in
all. Now you keep that phraseology in
mind because that’s very, very, important.
He becomes all and in all. See?
Now, so
what we see in this great plan of God, the Father, and His only begotten Son,
and all of His children. So that’s what
you see here now. You see when God
becomes all and in all, that’s right up here, God. All right, now here’s the Lamb and He’s the
only begotten Son, and you’re going to find that, that only begotten has
actually several meanings--only begotten Son.
Okay, now in here are the Bride children--the Lamb’s Book of Life, is
the LBL, the Lamb’s Book of Life and down in through here outside the walls but
there’s gates, there’s gates to go in through here, and this wall. All down in through here are all the
rest. Now that’s exactly what you’re
looking at whether you knew that what you’re looking at or not, whether you
knew that that was the plan of God for you, that’s the plan of God and that’s
what it is. Now that’s the ultimate and
what anybody else tells you otherwise is a lot of hogwash because that’s
nothing but the Word of God.
All right,
now, here in is also fulfilled Rom 11:33-36, so let’s read it.
(33) O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! (Now that’s a special thing that’s in this hour according to Ephesians. The wisdom and the knowledge of God, the knowledge of Him.) how unsearchable are his judgments, (Now there’s the judge.) and his ways past finding out!
Bro.
Branham says, “We don’t know how He’ll do
it but He’ll do it.” Keep just these
things in mind.
(34) For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor?
(35) Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? (In other words, who started the ball rolling so that now God’s got to listen to him.)
(36) For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.
Now that’s
a direct statement concerning God. Every
single thing, what we see there, was of Him, and to Him, and for Him, for His
honour and His great glory. Especially
verse 36.
(36) For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things:
Now just
remember what he says. Now, this which
we see is the plan fulfilled. We see the
Father, we see the Lamb, we see the Bride, we see those outside. And here it is that we see the Kingdom is
handed back to the Father, that the Father is all in all, and therefore all
things now are in that perfect harmony with Him. Thus we are now back to the original one
God.
Do you
follow what I’m saying? Well tell me,
how many gods are up there? How many do
you see? Is there a Father, Son and Holy
Ghost up there? You’re sure seeing
something the Bible doesn’t teach. Now
keep it in mind. There’s your picture. God.
Thus we are taken back to the original, where all things that were of
Him, and by Him, and for Him, and to Him have been consummated and God is all
alone again but this time He is not alone with His plans, and His ability to
implement them. He is there with the
plans implemented. His foreknowledge
personalized and glorified.
Now here’s
what we’re driving at. Alpha is Omega,
and Omega is Alpha. There is only one
God, has always been and always will be inspite of the mystery. Now the Trinitarians would like to try to
mess that around, but you know it isn’t going to work. They say there’s a great mystery of the
Trinity. You bet there is, there is a
great mystery in the fact there’s one God.
And to see God play Himself back and forth and how He does it is the
greatest mystery of all. I don’t pretend
I have all the answers.
And the
true theology of the Word of Life is exactly what Paul said in Heb 1:1-5. Okay, there’s always one God, always will be,
there’ll never be another One, there’s just the One. And here is the true theology that we need to
know.
(1) God, who at sundry times, (or God in many parts, in many ways) spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Now the
word ‘speaking’ is absolutely tremendous in its impact because God is
personalized in His Word and the Word is personalized in God so that all the
Old Testament equates God and His Word to be one as we will see in the book of
Proverbs, without going to the Psalms, and without going to the Book of wisdom
and other books which are not in the Bible but are inspired at least to the
degree where the understanding of Godhead is brought out. What I’m talking about--will talk some more
later on--is this is called the Memra.
M-e-m-r-a (or) r-h-a, in contrast to the Logos. What Hebrews is Memra, Logos is in the
Greek--it’s one in the same and you’ll find it isn’t something that’s in the
Bible per se. It’s an understanding,
it’s like Shekinah, It is not in the Bible but it is a good word, it’s
understandable. So anyway, we look at
this and we’re looking here now.
(1) In many parts( in many ways,) God spake in times past unto the fathers in the prophets,
Now notice,
God was in the prophets and the speaking is where Bro. Branham equates Word;
Rhema, and Logos to be one, and where this fellow that says he’s some kind of a
big teacher and knows all the answers he’s trying to make Rhema work out
contrary to what is in all theology, all text books, and the Bible. Stick with the prophet. They’re interchangeable to a degree. All right, they’re equated.
(2) Hath in these last days spoken unto us
in Son, (Not by Son but in Son.)
He spoke
in the prophets, now he speaks in Son.
In other words, He has changed the place of His habitation whereby He is
uttering and giving knowledge concerning Himself: but it is the same God. Not more, not less. The only reason people think it is more--and
Bro. Branham did explain the truth of that, that they spoke in part--but many
people think it is more, actually the reason is, that Jesus Himself played a
great part in salvation and redemption which the prophets couldn’t do, they
were merely harbingers, or heralds of Who was to come and this is He Who was to
come. So He has a greater by far place
than anybody. That’s why Paul goes in
and describes Him in comparison to other people and to angels, and other powers
and all. There is no comparison.
Anyway;
(2) Hath spoken to us in Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the (ages or) worlds;
(3) Who being the brightness, (Or the out-raying, the effulgence) of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
All right,
that’s fine. The same One that spoke in
the prophets spoke in the Son, S-o-n.
Now what if He should come along and decide to speak in a whirlwind? What if He should come along and speak in a
Pillar of Fire like He did to Paul? Now
I want to ask you a question, who’s doing the speaking? Now I want to ask you, who’s the channel? So just think it over. Son-ship’s not such a terrible thing to
understand, we’ve just got to let our thinking go and try to absorb what the
Scripture says here. Now,
(4) Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
(5) For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a son?
Now you’re
talking right there about a relationship and you know that father supersedes
sons, and sons come out of fathers, not vice a versa. You can’t have it, you’ve got to have it just
the way it says. Now, let us stop here
and carefully consider verse six.
(6) And again, when he bringeth back (You look in your margins, He doesn’t “bring,” but He “bringeth back.”) the first-begotten into the world, (That’s inhabited world.) he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.
So I
submit to you that verse three is pre-incarnation. That God spoke in a pre-incarnate form of
flesh and blood. And He could actually
be in the world, Heavens, or any place else.
And it says, He brings him back.
So could this be literally Melchisedec?
The answer is certainly. That’s
what Bro. Branham said, “It could give
way to Jesus, it would give way.”
Now, it says, “And He bringeth back.”
(6) He bringeth back, (So He must have been away.) the first begotten into the world, and said, Let all the angels of God worship him.
(7) And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
(8) But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
(9) Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
(10) And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
(11) They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
(12) And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.
Now what’s
he doing? He’s telling you right down
here, the full course of history that’s going to be run because of God in the
role of Son. Everything that you see
here, in present manifestation is going to be changed. We’re all going to be changed and there’s
nothing here that’s not going to be changed.
It’s all going to be perished, it’s going to be, it’s perishable,
nothing is going to remain, but God Himself with all His ability to do what He
has always done, and He will do what He always had done in the way that He’s
done it. We’ve got to learn about these
things.
(13) But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, (And so on.)
You can’t
do it. Now, let me read again because I
read awfully fast last Sunday from Bro. Branham, Questions and Answers, in
Genesis.
[21] Now,
if God created man in His own image and in His own likeness, what kind of a man
did He create? A spirit man. Now, if you’ll notice, after He made all the
creation...He created a spirit man, in close reading of this now, you will
find, that God gave dominion of the cattle and
fish and everything to the man.
But, in His making up there, He made man in His own image to lead the
cattle, lead the beasts of the field, just like the Holy Spirit leads the
believer today.
[22] He
was, in other words, Adam, the first man in the lower creations of God. The first creation was God Himself; then out of God came the Logos which was the
Son of God; then out of the Logos, which
was the Word, came forth the man.
[23] Oh,
I’ve got a beautiful picture in my mind now, if you can take a little trip with
me. I believe I’ve talked on it before,
but to get to this place, get this to the place where you’ll be able to see
it. Now, let’s take a little trip and go
back for a little while. Now, don’t
think how hot it is, get your minds right on, what we’re going to talk about.
[24] Let’s
go back a hundred millions before there ever was a star, moon or anything else
in the world. Now, there was a time when
there wasn’t anything there, it was just all forever and Eternity. And all of ever and forever Eternity was God,
and He was there in the beginning.
Okay,
right down here, never mind...well put up here, we’re going to put, “There was
God and that’s all there was.” Now it’s
hard to fathom, you can’t do it but that’s what we’re going to look at. Nothing there but God. Okay?
[25] Now,
let’s go out on the edge of this banister and look over and see things happen.
[26] Now,
“No man has seen the Father at anytime.”
No man can see God in a bodily form, because God is not in body
form, God is a Spirit. See?
“No man has seen the Father but the only begotten of the Father has
declared Him.” Now remember that; the only begotten has declared Him. That’s
in John 1:18. Led Him forth by
Words, showing exactly Who He is.
And
remember, “No man can know the Father but the Son unto whom He’ll reveal
Him. But the Bible also says, “That no
man can know anything about anybody outside the Holy Ghost which is God.” Now you don’t have just a play upon words
here, you have the very fact that when you use these very words, you are
referring to Godhead itself and one God, not to three persons. You’re talking about one and He is in the
roles, and the offices.
[27] But
notice now, there’s nothing, there’s just space. There’s no light, there’s no darkness,
there’s nothing, it just seems nothing.
But in there is a great supernatural Being, Jehovah God, Who covered all
space, and all places at all times. He was from everlasting from everlasting,
He is the beginning of the creation.
That is God. And that’s
right, He is the beginning of the whole thing. Can’t see anything, can’t hear
anything, not a move of an atom in the air, nothing, no where nothing, but yet God was there. That
was God. (Now let’s watch a few
minutes...) No man has seen that, now,
That’s the Father. That’s God, the
Father.
[28] Now
notice. Then after awhile I begin to see
a little sacred Light begin to form, like a little halo or something ,you could
see only by spiritual eyes.
And my
question is; if there’s nothing there to make it out of, what is that? It’s made out of God. I don’t care what happens to it, because
that’s all that’s there and there’s nothing been created. So whatever was there, whatever could be seen
with spiritual eyes--it has to be God.
“In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.” Pure and simple. See?
And when you form an image of something, my brother/my sister, all you
do, if you cannot see the real thing and you have an image, then you know as
well as you’re ever going to know concerning that thing as per appearance, when
it begins to talk and act. Then you know
more about it as to nature and character, and those other things. So we’re looking at something very peculiar
here.
[28] ...See
a little sacred halo begin to form, like a little halo or something, you could
only see it by spiritual eyes.
Because you see, you can’t see spirit.
But if you had understanding, it was told you, you could then say,
“That’s what I’m looking at.” It’s
looking by understanding: not looking by
senses, but looking by understanding.
[29] But
look now, while were looking, the whole church now. We’re standing on a great big banister,
watching what God’s doing. Watching
what God’s doing. And we’ll get right down to this question here, you’ll see how He
brings it in.
[30] Now,
no one has seen God. Now the next thing
we begin to see, by eyes of supernatural looking, little white Light forming
out there. What’s it called Bible
readers? “Logos,” or “the anointed,” or
“the anointing.”...As I was going to say, the part of God began to develop into
something so human beings could have some type of an idea what it was.
Now that’s
exactly like the thought, before there was a fish to swim in the water...had a
fin to swim, there had to be water to swim in.
And so therefore we’re looking at, that God putting Himself available so
that when His creation comes forth they’ll be able to recognize and have
communion, and communication. It’s all
getting lined up.
[28] ...The
part of God begin to develop into something so human beings could have some
type of idea of what it was. Little
low...Light moving. That was the Word of
God.
[31] Now,
God gave Himself birth to this Son which was before there was even an atom.
In other
words, I came out of God. I read in
Hebrews here, “Who being the brightness of His glory, the express image of His
person, and upholding all things by the Word of his power,” that’s what He was. And it says, “Then He became flesh.” That same One literally transformed Himself,
or transfigured Himself into flesh and purged our sins. So what you’re seeing here, the same thing as
your looking at John. “In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word
became flesh, and dwelt among us.”
[31] Now,
God gave Himself birth to this Son which was before there was even an atom...So
Jesus said, “Glorify Me, Father, with the glory that We had before the
foundation of the world.”
In fact
Jesus said, “Glorify Me, with thine Ownself.”
So you can say what you want, you can be a Trinitarian say, “Out of the
great fountain there came forth the Son,” that’s not Scripture, there’s one
God. And see what the end is? Now the
end tells the beginning and the beginning tells the end, they both have got to
line right up. Now there’s your picture
exactly what Bro. Branham said, There’s
the Lamb. There’s the One that came
out. All the rest came in their
order. We came in our own particular
order and we all end up at the same place, in the same way. See?
This time God is all and in all, and all the full manifestation of what
was in God and of what God required of Himself, and for us, is all in the
glorified state right there. That leaves
God right back at the beginning.
See? With the picture completely
done.
[32] Now
John 1 said, “In the beginning was the Word.” And first...”The Word was
God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us.” God unfolding Himself,
down to a human being.
God
unfolding Himself. Now how does God
unfold Himself? He makes a veil or a
mask and He hides in it, which in turn reveals Him for there is nothing hidden but
for the express result of being revealed.
So therefore when the Seals have been hidden they must be revealed. If the Thunders are hidden, they must be
revealed. There is no other choice.
[33] Now,
back there, then, when this little halo comes.
Now, we can’t see anything yet, but just by eyes of spiritual, we see a
halo standing there. Now, that’s the Son
of God, the Logos. Now, I can see Him
playing around like a little child, before the Father’s door, with all
Eternity. See? And, now, then in His imaginary makeup He
begin to think of what things would be, and I can hear Him say, “Let there be
light.”
Then he
describes how He’s writing the Bible in the Heavens, in the stars and so
on. Now, he talks about the earth being
cooled off and the land being drained and vegetation and things coming. Then he said, on page eighteen, paragraph 43.
[43] He
got all these together made...Made all the other things, all the animal life,
the birds, the bees, monkeys, whatever it was, put it all in the earth. Then He asked the question. Father and Son, “Let us make man in our
image.” It wasn’t a question, it was
an assertion. “Let us make man in our
own image.”
[44] Now,
if man was made something like that little sacred Light yonder, or something
like that, It could not be seen (which was a spiritual Being.) Now
letting you know what’s there--spiritual being. He manifested or unfolded
Himself a little more, to make a trinity of Himself by Father, Son and Holy
Ghost.
Now that’s
not a very good word there, it should be a tri-unity because you’re getting
into the thought of a trinity. Bro.
Branham was not a Trinitarian. It was a
trinity of offices and God being a tri-unity expressing Himself in those three
ways. Those three major ways, within
those three major ways. There are many
other attributes of expression subdominant to the dominant. Like for instance, the dominant application
of the role as Son has the subdominant of Judge but at this hour you can’t find
a more dominant role being manifested to us than the role of Judge, which comes
under Son. All right.
[44] ...And
here was God, unfolding Himself now, down into, “let us make man,” which was
His son, an offspring (?-offering--Ed) from
Him, “man in our own image,” and he was a supernatural being. “And let him have
dominion over the cattle in the field,” and so forth.
So what
you’ve got now, you’ve got man, you’ve got coming from the Logos, you got
coming on down.
[45] Now,
the man led the cattle just like the Holy Spirit leads the true believer,
and so on.
Now, let’s
go over here and read in Rev 1:5.
(5) And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten (The first born among the dead. The first born,) among 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,
Okay, now
you’ll notice in there...just hold that little page right there and go back to
Heb 1:3 again.
(3) Who being the effulgence, (or the out-raying of his glory. That’s a full attestation, all the attributes.) and the express image of his person,
Like you
could take a sharp die, like you’re going to stamp something and just stamp it
down like an etching tool and whatever comes out is that perfect replica. See?
Now an image is not the real thing.
So what you’re looking at, you’re not looking at Jesus, as though He is
God, or the Logos, the Son of God in the sense that He is God as Son. So that we got God the Father, now we’ve got
God the Son, and now we’ve got the Holy Ghost--it doesn’t say that. He is the Son of God. God beginning to materialize Himself, not by
sex but by expressing Himself.
And it says;
(3) ...Upholding all things by the word of his power, (Then it says;) when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Now watch
this here.
(5) And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, (That’s the martyr.) and the first begotten, (That’s the first born.) from among the dead, (That’s the first fruit. See? Because that is the first One that actually came back from the dead having died. Now you want to make sure you’re getting the right person.)
(5) ...the prince of the kings of the earth.
That’s
what He is, the Prince, there He is up here on the throne. And what is a prince? He’s a son of a king. He’s not the king. He’s the King when the King is in Him at the
incarnation, Jesus, when that Spirit that’s in the midst of us becomes
incarnate to us, we’ll crown Him King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. But you notice you’ve got another title
here. He’s the Prince of the kings of
the earth. So now this is all down here,
is earth. Then what’s above? God.
You’re showing your form of strata, your cast, your social cast in that
area.
(5) Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
So you’re seeing there that this One is another type of God begetting, of an actual process. So what I’m trying to get your minds used to, and my mind used to is this; that God has many ways of using His various roles of many forms. He can live in a prophet, He could raise up a man, He could be in a cloud, He could be in a wind, He could be in many things, God