RAPTURE #12

The Day of the Lord and the Lord’s Day #1

December 11, 1983

Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we’re very grateful that You’ve given us freedom of religion, freedom of belief, and faith to trust in You at this hour, to have a special place of worship that we can come to, and that’s granted to us by the virtue of Yourself, Lord, that You have kept the hand of the enemy away that we can come here. We pray now, Lord, that you’ll keep the enemy away from us, relative to our thoughts and minds—all those things, Lord, which might hinder us. We pray that we’ll have a free access in this hour to know the things of God, they might be very real to us to increase our knowledge and understanding so that our faith becomes more and more revealed as we know where we stand: no errors, Lord, but strength given to us from Your revealed Word in this hour. We commend ourselves to You, for whatever You might give us. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.

1. Now the subject relative still to the “Rapture,” but not going into the reading of it at this point is: “The Day of the Lord and the Lord’s Day.” And because it’s very relative to this subject, we want to try to get the difference between the two of them. We’ll read first of all in 1 Th 5:2, 2 Pet 3:10, “the day of the Lord,” and then get to Revelations, “the Lord’s Day.” It says then in 1 Th 5:2:

(2) For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

And then in 2 Pet 10, that Bro. Branham connected to the Rapture, as part of the reading:

(10) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

And in Rev 1:10 It says:

(10) I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet.

2. Now according to the theologians and the students of Scripture, there is a difference between ‘the day of the Lord’ and ‘the Lord’s Day’, although you might not think that, because both would be in the genitive case showing possession. But there is a difference, and it appears that ‘the Lord’s Day’, used over in here in Rev 1:10, is used in contradistinction to ‘man’s day’. ‘The Lord’s Day’, then, is that which is no doubt a period of time in contradistinction to ‘man’s day’.

Now man has had his day which, of course, is roughly six thousand years, and that same period of time Bro. Branham called Satan’s Eden, wherein He was fashioning man and has brought man to this point, where he is today in his culture, and his religion, and all those things pertaining to him, especially in the spiritual. And, of course, God has to have His day later on.

Now it’s time for ‘the Lord’s Day’ to begin, which will last at least one thousand years, which is the Millennium, which has been called the honeymoon or the getting-acquainted period of the Bride and Groom, which of course, will not last only that one thousand years but will continue on. It goes much further. However that one thousand years is the starting point actually.

3. Now in “Patmos Vision,” Page 95, paragraph 131, Bro. Branham says:

[131] Now John was transmitted from the Isle of Patmos, in the Spirit, over into the Lord’s Day. This is the day of man. So he agrees with the theologians and students. ...Men are fighting, but the day of the Lord will come when these kingdoms will become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, then there’ll be the great Millennium. The Lord’s Day, the day of His coming, His judgment, that’ll be the Lord’s Day.

Now, from what he said there, it is quite easy to see that what Bro. Branham said on Page 95 is literally Rev 19:11 to Rev 20:15, and that would be the Lord’s Day. And in reading it you’ll find that it is very, very, sure that man’s day is over, and the Lord’s Day has set in. And so reading, beginning at Rev 19:11:

(11) And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

(12) His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

(13) And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God.

(14) The armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

(15) And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

(16) And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

(17) And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven; Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

(18) That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

(19) And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

(20) And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

(21) And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth; and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Rev 20:

(l) And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

(2) And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and (or even) Satan, and bound him a thousand years.

(3) And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

(4) And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

(5) But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

(6) Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

(7) When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.

(8) And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

(9) And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and the fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

(10) And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

(11) And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was no place for them.

(12) And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

(13) And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works.

(14) And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

(15) And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Then he goes on, seeing the new heaven and the new earth, the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down, which is the Bride, the Lamb’s wife. And then, the setting shows that this goes on into the eternal ages, where nothing of a nature which we know today, such as abominations, sin, or whatsoever, will ever be able to enter in to it.

4. Now further reading in Page 95, paragraph 132, Bro. Branham said:

[132] This is the day of man, that’s the reason they slam you around and do what they want with you, but there’ll come a time... They call you now “holy roller and fanatic,” but there’ll come a time, see, that they won’t do that. They’ll scream and wail, and fall at your feet. The Bible said in Malachi 4: you’ll even walk out on the ashes after they’re burned up; and leaving them neither root nor branch. Exactly what the Bible says, “The righteous shall walk upon the ashes of the wicked.” That’s exactly. They’ll not be left root nor branch, nothing to come back to. They’ll be done. Now this is man’s day, man’s doing, man’s work, man’s church, man’s idea’s, but the day of the Lord is coming.

You can see he’s talking there in terms of the literal start of it, when He begins to take over, so there will be a complete consummation of everything as we know it now. Now the day of the Lord is spoken of in many verses. We’ve looked at the Lord’s Day. Now the day of the Lord is spoken of in many more verses than is the Lord’s Day, because—except for an allusion to the first day of the week, which would be symbolic of the Resurrection, and death giving way to life, coming into the Lord’s Day—there’s only really one place the Lord’s Day is spoken of, and that’s in Revelation 1:10. But the day of the Lord is spoken of in many places, in actually many verses.

5. Now among the references to that—we’ll just go to the New Testament to begin with, and get to the Old Testament—is Acts 2:20; and It says:

(20) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.

Now we took that, because that take us instantly back to Joel 2:30‑31:

(30) And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

(31) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.

Now with that we’re going to look at Isa 2:12:

(12) For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low;

Now we’ll have to turn instantly to Malachi 4, though we could run these in sequence of chapters, but you’ll notice in Mal 4:1:

(1) Behold the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

(2) But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

(3) And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord.

(4) Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

(5) Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord;

(6) And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Now going back to Isa 13:6‑11:

(6) Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

(7) Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt.

(8) And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth; they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

(9) Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof, out of it. (Now that sounds like the atomic bombs.)

(10) For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

(11) And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, (Now you are right back to the proud again.) and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

Ezek 13:2‑5:

6. (2) Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord.

Now that’s a lot like Micaiah back there, in the days of old Ahab, when the four hundred prophets of Baal were against him. So no matter how many people purport to be prophets—and there’s going to be a slew of them, whenever there’s a genuine prophet—there’s always somebody that is the real prophet to rise up and bring the Word of the Lord.

(3) Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

(4) O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

(5) Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord:

(6) They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.

In other words these prophets have got to stand together and bunch together, and sort of prove to each other that they’ve got something, but the prophet of God doesn’t have anybody but God. He stands all alone. They always kick him out. They don’t want him. But these other fellows get together, and they form the little groups. They’ve got to, because, you see, they’re prophesying lies out of their own spirit. So they’ve got to have somebody like a man who had this vision that he saw the Bride being tied down, and just like myriads of spirits had got her under control, then like a mighty giant she rises.

7. And of course everybody got screaming, you know, with his prophecies, and they got this idea, you know, the great thing, and they’ve got to back each other up. Well I’ve got news for them: they’re wrong. The very time Cerrullo stood in there and told how the big revival is coming, and Bro. Branham walked in that room, on that platform, and just like a hound dog scenting out an animal, stood there, head back, and he said, “There’s a wrong spirit in this room. Somebody told you a lie.” Oh, that was like a lead balloon. Thank God for lead balloons, brother, if it came from God. He knows how to get His balloons rising. See? God’s balloons are not full of hot air. They’re full of dynamite. He’ll get them off the ground. They’re rocks, in fact, to build on. Sure.

(7) Have ye not seen vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The Lord saith it; albeit I have not spoken?

(8) Therefore thus saith the Lord; because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God. (And so on.)

8. Well, we won’t read anymore there. We’ll go to Joel, and in there we’ll see Joel 1:15:

(15) Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Now you notice that word ‘destruction’ has been used previously. So these prophets, you know, they speak the same Word. Joel 2:11:

(11) And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible: and who can abide it?

That’s where it takes you right to Rev 19:11, and what follows it. Then we go to Joel 3:9‑16:

(9) Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:

(10) Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong.

(11) Assemble yourselves (together), and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.

(12) Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: (Now you remember, there’s Armageddon as in Revelation.) and there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. (Now you’ll notice the judging there, what it’s going to be.)

(13) Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. (There’s your judgment right there.)

(14) Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

(15) The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

(16) And the Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

All right? Do you notice? There’s a connotation now, one of destruction, one of deliverance.

9. Then we’ll go to Amos 5:16-20 and read along:

(16) Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful of lamentation to wailing.

(17) And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord,

(18) Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord!

In other words the desire is there, because they’re bringing it on. Now God prepares the vessels unto glory, but It says in the Book of Romans that those prepared unto destruction prepare themselves. And these people are rushing headlong, because they know better. As Bro. Branham said, “Iniquity is: you know better than to do it, and you do it anyway.” And that’s also the same thing, you know to do better, and you won’t do it, even though you know it.

(18) Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! (That’s bringing it on.) to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.

(19) As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him,

(20) Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it? (Now that’s to the ones, of course, that are coming under the element of destruction.)

10. Now we go to Zeph 1:12‑18:

(12) And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, “The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.”

Now that’s over in 2 Peter, to the Gentiles, where all things just go on as they were.

(13) Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but they’ll not drink the wine thereof. (Because, you see, the time is coming to an end.)

(14) The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

(15) That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

(16) A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.

Now you’ll notice back over there in Amos 3:6:

(6) Shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?

(17) And I will bring distress upon men, that they should walk like blind men, (That’s exactly again you’re in Revelation 3.) because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. (Now that sounds like the atomic bomb again, or something comparable.)

(18) Neither shall their silver nor their gold be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; (Now that speaks against the money system, and the church has it all, in the day of the Lord’s wrath.) but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

Now there you are; you’re seeing your day of the Lord.

11. Let’s go to Zechariah 14, and that’s the Chapter we’re going to have to read quite a bit of it.

(1) Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

(2) And I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle: and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

(3) Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

Now you may wonder about that; but remember, in the great tribulation the church is purged, the earth is purged, and Israel is purged. See? The destruction is coming.

(4) And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

12. Now many times people think some of these descriptions are in contradistinction to each other, or at least contradicting. They are not. It is simply successive descriptions of what can happen in a chain of events, and they’ll all be carried out, just as It says here.

(5) And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.

You notice there now that Enoch prophesied that, and that’s Rev 19:6 again.

(6) And it shall come to pass in that day, (Now watch.) that the light shall not be clear, nor dark.

Now here you’re getting, not two days that are in contradistinction to each other, but you’re getting elements of an unfolding, and you put them all together. Now It says:

(6) And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:

(7) But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night; but there shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.

Now that’s going on right now. So, you see, you have to understand what we’ve been teaching all along: everybody, but pretty well a few of us, are falling into the trap of looking forward or backward, and they cannot understand what is going on.

13. Now categorically, I’ve taken my stand that we do know what is going on. I’ve categorically said, “The Judge is here. He is here.” I’ve categorically said, “The King is here,” and He is here. And Bro. Branham says that in “World’s Falling Apart,” in 1963, in New York. I don’t remember him even saying it. I wasn’t there. I don’t remember the tape. I never got it. I never got the book until recently. But we do know these things from the Word of God, because these things are revealed to us, and we’re walking in the light, because there is light at this hour. And many of these things may be to a degree obscure to us, but we know positively what is going on, which is the unfolding, and we’re coming in to this great hour of the day of the Lord and the Lord’s Day. We’re faced with it, and you’ll see how they come together. Now:

(7) ...At evening time it shall be light. (Now the evening time, of course, is the sunset upon the day of man. And now you’re getting the sunrise upon the day of the Lord.)

(8) And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

That’s when the light returns. When it goes as far as the west it stops, and it goes back east. So you’ve got the water now moving both ways. It’s moved from God, and it comes to a standstill. There’s only one place it can go, and that’s back. See? All right.

(9) And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. (That day which is what? The peculiar time—the very thing that we’re all talking about, that the world is talking about—it’s coming into being.) And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: and in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.

14. Now It tells you categorically there that this is the Lord’s Day, and you’ll see over here, the day of the Lord. You’ll see what is coming, the destruction. In one time It signifies it only: there can be gloom and darkness, and then It turns around and tells you, that there is something in here for the Bride. Now this is what people always miss: “As it was in the days of Noah,” “As it was in the days of Lot.” And all they can do it think of the negative, when there is a positive there. So you have to always keep those things in mind. Now:

(10) All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate to the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.

(11) And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

(12) And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, (That’s the atomic bomb.) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

(13) And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

(14) And Judah shall fight at Jerusalem: and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.

(15) So shall the plague of the horse, the mule, the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.

And that’s exactly right, because they’re going to find at that time, there is nothing, nothing, nothing, that’s going to avail. Their money is going to go. Their animals are going to go. Their lives are going to go. There’s nothing that is not going to go. It’s got to devolve back upon Almighty God Himself.

15. Now let’s go to the last Book, Malachi 4. You already read It:

(1) For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall leave them neither root nor branch:

In other words there’s nothing to come back to. That system is over. It’s all over. The day of man is finished. It’s gone. There’s nothing to commend it. It’s entirely eradicated. And then God’s going to start His Own with His Own Bride.

(2) But unto you that fear my name shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; (That’s immortality.) and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

Now It tells you right there that you’re going to have a growth you never had before. You are going to have something that you’ll be able to do and accomplish that which was never previously within your reach. You’re going to attain a maximum growth for the first time.

There’s none of us that don’t understand the stilting conditions that are forced upon us by the enemy. He has done nothing but circumvent and entrap us. He has done nothing but to destroy us. But when God gets us free of all of this in His kingdom, there is a growth that will amaze us. You talk about revelation, you talk about things beginning to move in a civilization, which is of faith by God that lies ahead, there is no comparison. It is the most marvelous thing in all the world, and man cannot envision it. Man has no way at this time to even get a glimpse. There is simply no way. There is no way, because you don’t have the capacity. You have a modicum of the Spirit in order to know something is there, but you haven’t got what it takes to enjoy it.

16. It’s just like the sinner, by himself, hasn’t got what it takes to enjoy the things of God. Now he can enjoy a fluke. He can enjoy a perversion. He can enjoy something which is hypocritical, farcical, and certainly not anything but a hybridized condition. Now he can get that. But for him to come in and dwell in the presence of the Lord, with the pure things of God, he has no more time for that than nothing. That’s why you hear people say, “He’s here. So what?”

Well are you going to tell me that person is born again? and even claim they’ve got the Holy Ghost? That’s exactly right with the so-called ‘Holy Ghost that came into them’ so what? You’d better believe it.

Now it’s not a time to be fooling around and not pulling your punches; not when men can come around and tell you that you’re going to listen to them. No way. Try to make me some Nicolaitane. No way! I wouldn’t even tolerate this church for five minutes; we would disband it in five minutes from now. If anybody thinks I’m going to take any undue authority, they’re wrong. I am so anti‑religion, and anti‑organization, at this point as I can be, and with the help of God, I’ll be even more so.

17. (3) And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

Now God’s going to do it, and we’re going to be doing it with Him, because I’ll tell you what: when you stand around and see something perpetrated, you become an accessory after the fact. I hope that sunk in; I’m especially thinking of all these nice people. They’re just too nice for God. That’s right. Just too nice for God. I’m not bloodthirsty, but I’d better tell you one thing: I don’t care what He does, as long as I’m there with Him, and He’s doing it. I would be glad to be accessory after the fact. I’m an accessory after the fact by virtue of this: I am not identified with God. I am a part of God. We’re through with all this hogwash people teach as the Word of God. The errors have been revealed. Life has come in. You bet. If that’s what He wants, I’m for it. That doesn’t name any names or cause any fight. I’m just for it. You bet.

(5) Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

(6) And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children (back) to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

18. Now, let’s go back to Acts 2 again, where we started, which is taken from Joel, and he says in Acts 2:19:

(19) And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke;

(20) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.

It tells you right there that the main thought of the great and notable day of the Lord is not the circumstances that precede it, because the circumstances have been going on for a long, long time and merely accelerate. Then there’s got to be a sudden chopping off. All right?

19. With it we go to 1 Th 5:1-3:

(1) But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.

(2) For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

(3) When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Now that’s a very strange way to say things. It’s coming as a thief. They’re going to say, “Peace and safety.” Then destruction will come “as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.” In other words, as a woman conceives, and gradually becomes larger and larger, showing the manifestation of that which is to be born, and issue out of her, and the pain comes suddenly, but she knows it’s there.

So it is that these people, in spite of all their talk, they know that something is coming, but they make no preparation for it. Therefore, they are caught at that time, when the destruction comes suddenly.

2 Th 2:2:

(2) That you soon not be shaken in mind, or troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Lord is at hand.

It is not the day of Christ. You might as well just take and rub that out or put a line through it. It’s “The day of the Lord is at hand.” Now that’s concerning the antichrist and all those things that are coming.

With that we go to 2 Peter 3. We read It:

(10) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.

20. Now when all these Scriptures are put together, and we re‑read what Bro. Branham said in paragraphs 131 and 132, it reads this way:

[131] Now John was transmitted from the Isle of Patmos, in the Spirit, over into the Lord’s day. This is the day of man, men are fighting, but the day of the Lord will come when these kingdoms will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Then there’ll be the great Millennium. The Lord’s day, the day of His coming, His judgment, that’ll be the Lord’s day. What? He’s taking over. This is the day of man. That’s the reason they slam you around and do what they want with you. They call you now, holy rollers and fanatics, but there’ll come a time, see, that they won’t do that. They won’t be able to do it. We won’t be even here to let them try it. They’ll scream, and wail, and fall at your feet.

Now you better believe he’s telling the truth.

You say, “Well that kind of sounds like they’ll be saying, ‘I recognize you. Why don’t you do something?’”

I recognize you, too. Why didn’t you do something? I don’t know; could be true.

...The Bible said in Malachi 4, “You’ll even walk over out on the ashes—That’s their ashes—after they’re burnt up. Leave them neither root nor branch.” Now he’s putting that in our person, along with the great One, God. Exactly what the Bible says, “The righteousness shall walk upon the ashes of the wicked.” That’s exactly. “They’ll not be left root or branch.” Nothing to come back to. We do. Now this is man’s day, man’s doings, man’s works, man’s church, man’s idea, but the day of the Lord is coming.

21. Now from what we’ve read, it seems very apparent that the ‘day of the Lord’ and the ‘Lord’s Day’ are inseparable in that the day of the Lord is the literal foundation for the Lord’s Day, for it wipes out man and his day, and establishes the Lord, and His Day, in contradistinction to our day, His kingdom, His throne. Let’s go to Rev 11:15‑18:

(15) And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; (That’s what Bro. Branham quoted.) and he shall reign for ever and ever. (And of His kingdom there shall be no end.)

(16) And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,

(17) Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and was, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.

(18) And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

That tells you the things that are going to be going on—not necessarily chronologically, but putting the emphasis where they belong, and then telling you how the emphatic things come to pass.

22. Rev 5:8‑10, after the opening of the Seals:

(8) And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having everyone of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, 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 to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

(10) And has made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth.

Now a look at Scripture seems to confirm this. So we go to the Book of Matthew. In other words the two days are irrevocably linked, and it’s certainly true that the day of the Lord wipes the slate clean for the Lord’s Day. He’s going to get His Day back. He’s going to get His Kingdom back. Mt 15:13:

(13) And he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

That’s why it’s root and branch. Get rid of the root, and there aren’t any branches. [End of the first side of the tape. If you kill the spider, there aren’t any spider webs. You burn the seed, that’s one of the best ways to know there will not be any further manifestation. Every plant is going to be uprooted and destroyed. Mt 22:44:

(44) The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?

23. Let’s just check some of that out. Let’s go to Lk 19:27:

(27) But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

Mk 12:1‑9, this gives you the picture:

(1) And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the wine fat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.

(2) And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard.

(3) And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty.

(4) And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.

(5) And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.

(6) Having yet therefore one son, his well beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.

(7) But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.

(8) And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.

(9) What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.

Now you say, “Well, that’s talking about the Jew.”

I’ve got news for you: even at the White Throne, Satan is going to deceive billions to come against God, and they’ll be destroyed. So just keep your wires straight.

24. Rev 19:15:

(15) And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: (That’s the ruling He’s going to do over the wicked. Some people think that in the Millennium children are going to be born—they’ll be born sinners, but of course, Satan will be trapped. So it doesn’t matter too much—but they’re going to hate the rule. This is His rule right here.) He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. (verses 19‑21):

(19) And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

(20) And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

(21) And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

And that of course is Mal 4:1‑6.

25. Now let’s also notice Rev 20:7‑15, and I read this:

(7) And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

(8) And he shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

(9) And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

(10) And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever (day and night).

(11) And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

This is not necessarily chronological, because over here he’s talking about Resurrection, and then tells what happens, and this is what happens after the Resurrection in order to cause them to do the things they did. That’s as far as I understand this.

(12) And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, this is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things written in the books, according to their works.

(13) And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

(14) And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

(15) And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

All right. Rev 21:23‑27:

(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) And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour into it.

(25) And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

(26) And they shall bring their glory and honour of the nations into it.

(27) And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither worketh abomination, or a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

There’s no place there for anything other than the totally redeemed. Now you can see that destruction follows a certain period of time, and in every instance when there must be a cleansing, there is a continuing of the uprooting of what God has not planted until there is nothing left, but only the plants of God. All right?

26. Now let’s go back to Mt 25:31‑46:

(31) When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, and shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

(32) And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides sheep from the goats:

(33) And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

(34) Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

And then, He tells them why He’s going to take them in. In verse 41:

(41) Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

And in verse 46:

(46) And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (You can see the separating there.)

27. Now you get this picture back in Daniel 7:

(9) And I saw till the thrones were placed (Bro. Branham said, “‘Cast down’ means ‘they came down to the earth’.”) and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

(10) A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: and the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

(11) And I saw then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

Now what he’s doing is tracing this whole thing down to this point here, which is the Ancient of Days and the White Throne Judgment.

(12) As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. (In other words, this has not taken place even yet. It’s still down the road.)

(13) I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they were brought him near before him.

(14) And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, (“That’s God and His Christ,” as Bro. Branham said.) that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

In other words the kingdom, which God has on earth, is completely affiliated with Him and thoroughly dedicated to Him and His cause. Everything else is going to be burned up.

28. Now this lines up with 1 Cor 15:20:

(20) But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

(21) For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from among the dead.

(22) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

(23) But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his presence. (And that Presence of course goes plumb right on.)

(24) 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, and until he hath put all enemies under his feet.

Now you saw how that was done—destruction. First of all, they’re destroyed in physical sense, then they’re brought back to prove, then proven to them, that in the spiritual sense, they’ve got to go. And that’s at your White Throne, and that’s the Lake of Fire, where body, soul, and spirit is all destroyed—it’s annihilated.

(26) The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. (That’s what it says.)

(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, which did put all things under him.

29. In other words God is doing this now in the person of the Holy Spirit, bringing everything so that Jesus Christ can come to the Millennial Throne, and then go into the Great White Throne, and then go on to the New Jerusalem and sit upon that throne. And every single thing is under him, except God Himself, because God is doing all things, because God was in Christ. He’s doing it all.

(28) ...Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Now that’s exactly right. So therefore, as Bro. Branham said, “If there is no representation up there, you’ll not have representation down here.” Now remember, the wise virgin and the foolish virgin are all one elected piece of cloth. Now I talk of the general foreknowledge and election and predestination of the cloth, but when the great Designer puts the pattern on the cloth, then you speak of a Bride cut out of the cloth. So that’s the only difference.

(22) But as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all are made alive. (There’s not one lost. There never has been and there never will be.)

“Every plant, that my Father hath not planted, is uprooted.” [Mt 15:13] Then “every plant that my Father hath planted shall be established in its proper and divine order, because everything is in order.” And God so loved the world, His Own order, that Jesus Christ died for that order. It’s all going to be established again so God can be All in all. It’s the most fantastic thing under heaven. I’m going to preach on it some time to show you where these things are going because, believe me, it’s absolutely fantastic.

30. All right. I’d say, “So far, so good.” We’ll go on. We’ve got to the place, the day of the Lord and the Lord’s day. They work in conjunction with each other. We can see that God must take a terrible destruction upon everything, and wipe it all out, in order to establish what He wants established in His kingdom, which is a kingdom of priests and kings unto Almighty God.

All right. We’ll go on. To do so, we’re going to go back now to 1 Thessalonians 4, because we’re going to try to weave it into the present situation. Now we’ll read from 1 Th 4:13 right into Chapter 5, because It’s all one piece. Ignore the division that says “Chapter 5.”

(13) But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

(14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring forth with Jesus. (That’s what I believe that says there.)

(15) For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the presence of the Lord shall not take any precedence, (or any superior stage, or anything.) over them that are asleep.

(16) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

(17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

(18) Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

(1) But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.

(2) For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

(3) For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then (comes) sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

(4) But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

(5) You are the children of light, and the children of the day; we are not of night, nor of darkness.

(6) Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

(7) For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

(8) But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

(9) For God hath not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.

(10) Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

31. Now 1 Th 4:13‑17 is the Rapture. This is the treatise on the actual programming and carrying out of the catching up of the living, and the sleeping Bride to the Marriage Supper. Do you understand what I said? This is the treatise on the actual programming, what God has programmed, and the literal putting into the effect the program that is going to get the living and the dead both changed and up to the Wedding Supper. All right.

Now in 1 Th 5:1‑5, we are appraised of exactly when 1 Th 4:13‑17 takes place. Well, he’s talked about it, and then he said,

(18) Comfort one another with these words.

(1) But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write.

What times and seasons? When this is going to take place. Now he said, “Times and seasons.” So this is going to be in a period of time that people are bound to recognize, if they have anything to do with the living God that is really true. Now they won’t be asleep. If they are, they’ll awake. They won’t be unaware. They will not be trapped. They are not appointed to wrath. They are vessels that are not fitted to destruction. They are vessels fitted to glory. So therefore, they are not going to be trapped at the time that this takes place, which, according to Scripture, is the day of the Lord—the day of destruction.

Now, so 1 Th 5:1‑5, we’re apprised of exactly when 1 Th 4:13‑17 takes place. It is an absolute conjunction somehow with the day of the Lord.

32. Now let’s take a look at the day of the Lord. Let’s go back to Matthew 3. Now, John speaking of this One, he said in verse 11... Well look, you could read the whole thing, because It kind of repeats for our day, because we have our own John the Baptist, and we have the Christ appearing amongst us, pr