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The Lambs Book of Life
A BOOK OF RECORDS
God is the Author of Life and Life is a sacred thing to God. Life, therefore, is recorded in a Book. God in heaven owns a Book which consists of two parts: one section is called the “Book of Life” and the other section is known as the “Lamb’s Book of Life”.
Every person that was ever born and will ever be born upon this earth, man or woman, boy or girl, good or bad, rich or poor, righteous or wicked, are all written in the Book of Life, with the exception of the reprobates who are spoken of Revelation 13:8, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (the beast), whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
All who are listed in the Book of Life will have to face judgment in the General Resurrection Day and will be judged according to the works that they’ve done in their body. Hebrews 9:27 states, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Revelation 20:12b also makes it plain -“And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works”.
The names of people who are written in the Book of Life can remain in there or be blotted out depending on their attitude and subjection towards God’s laws and statutes.
Generally, the Book of Life is also called the “Book of Deeds” which is our old record, our old union with carnal nature, before we were ever born again by the Spirit of God.
EXODUS 32:33 - “And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my Book.”
REVELATION 3:5 - “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will NOT BLOT out his NAME OUT of the BOOK of LIFE, but I will confess his NAME before my Father, and before His angels.”
REVELATION 20:11-15 - “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.
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, 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. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the
Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
THE LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE
On the other hand, the “Lamb’s Book of Life” is a special section of the Book of Life. It contains the names of the elect of God, the chosen ones, the predestinated seed, the Bride of Jesus Christ, as spoken of in Ephesians 1:4-5, “According as HE hath CHOSEN US in HIM BEFORE the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having PREDESTINATED us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.”
These people are foreknown of God and are redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ who was the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). Romans 8:30, “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (past tense).
Romans 8:33 states- “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? [It is] God that justifieth.” These people were ordained to eternal life and their names can never be blotted out of the Book because they were especially created to be the Queen of Jesus Christ, which is composed of a many-membered Body also known as the Church, the Wife of the King, who is destined to live with Christ in the Millennium and in the new heaven and earth. They were foreknown of God before the foundation of the world as evident in how God addresses his son Job in Job 38:4,7 –“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding…When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
Those that are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will undergo the New Birth in their appointed time on earth. They will be cleansed, regenerated and forgiven and justified, as II Corinthians 5:17 states,“Therefore if any man [be] in Christ, [he is] a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Those that are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are what the Bible calls the “overcomers” and are more than “conquerors” in Christ Jesus. Only those people that belong to this group are able to resist the devil and can never be deceived no matter what comes and goes. “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if [it were] possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” (Matt. 24:24). The elect can never be deceived because their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. That is clearly stipulated in Revelation 17:8, “The BEAST that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose NAMES were NOT written in the BOOK of LIFE from the foundation of the world…” “And ALL that dwell upon the earth shall worship him (the Beast), whose NAMES are NOT written in the BOOK of LIFE of the LAMB SLAIN from the FOUNDATION of the world” (Revelations 13:8).
A RECORD OF NAMES
The following notations were extracted from the sermon SARDISEAN.CHURCH.
CPT.7 by Rev. William Branham:
At the very start of this study, let it be known that there is NOT ONE Scripture that teaches that God is presently compiling a record of names. This was all done before the foundation of the world.
Also, it is not a question of simply involving ourselves with two groups of people both of whom had opportunity to receive eternal life, wherein one group received it and had their names placed on record while the others who refused did not have their names so placed. Brother Branham had shown us by Scripture that multitudes who were not even born again will go into eternal life. As strange as this may sound, it is certainly true. We will also show that there is a group of people whose names having been placed on that record before the foundation of the world, CANNOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES HAVE THOSE NAMES REMOVED; but will also show that another group WHOSE NAMES WERE ON THAT RECORD BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD WILL HAVE THEIR NAMES REMOVED.
The following is an account of the six different types of people in the records of God:
A. THE WORD-BRIDE: THE WISE VIRGINS
FIRST of all we know most assuredly that the purpose of God stands in ELECTION. It was purposed in Himself. It was God’s purpose to bring forth a people like unto Himself that would be a Word-Bride. She was chosen before the foundation of the world IN HIM. She was foreknown and beloved before she was ever brought forth during the ages upon the earth. She was redeemed by His blood and can NEVER come into condemnation. She can never be in the judgment because sin cannot be imputed unto her.
Romans 4:8, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” But indeed she shall be with Him in His throne of judgment, judging the world and even angels. Her name (each of her members) was written in a section of the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world. (281-1 SARDISEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK.CPT.7 )
Brother Branham describes the Word-Bride follows:
”It’s the Elected who God, before the foundation of the world, seen every one of them. And He sent Jesus to redeem that people, not the whole world... And then, Christ died to save those who God, by foreknowledge, elected to meet Him yonder without spot or wrinkle. Before the foundation of the world, He seen you in Glory. That’s what the Bible said, Ephesians, the 1st chapter. 5th chapter, the 1st verse. God predestinated by foreknowledge.
Now, if God did that, predestinated us before the foundation of the world; and knew every one of us by name, before the foundation of the world; and He Elected us to Eternal Life; and sent Jesus Christ to redeem us; that, six thousand years ago, He saw us, that we might appear to His praises in Glory! How can you ever be lost? Now, if you’re saved, you’re saved.
If God saves you tonight, knowing He’s going to lose you ten years from today, He is defeating His Own purpose; the infinite, Almighty, Eternal, everlasting wisdom, God, doesn’t know enough then to know whether you will hold out or whether you won’t. Then, when He saves you, you say, “Well, I’ll give Him a try. I’ll see what He do,” then He does not know the end from the beginning. God knows what He’s doing, don’t you never worry about that. It’s you and I stumbling along. God knows what He’s doing. And He knew we... whether we’d hold out, or what we would do.” (HEBREWS.CHAPTER.SIX.2_ JEFF.IN HEB SUNDAY_ 57-0908E )
The WORD-BRIDE will sit with CHRIST in JUDGMENT. I Corinthians 6:2-3, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?” Revelation 3:21, “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.”
See, the Bride is with Christ in the throne. As she is to judge the world she has to be sitting in the judgment with Him. That is exactly what Daniel saw. Daniel 7:9-10, “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, 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. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.”
See, it is the same scene, for the thousand thousands who are ministering to Him are the Bride, for who ministers to the husband but the wife? She is part of Him. She is in the throne. She can never be judged. Every one in the Bride is a member of Him and He loses none.
B. THE FOOLISH VIRGINS
Secondly, there is another class. Their names are also in the Book of Life and they will come up in the second resurrection. Such are the foolish virgins and the righteous as are spoken of in Matthew 25. In this class also are those who do not worship the beast or become involved in the antichrist system but die for their faith even though they are not in the bride, not having been born again. But they will come up in the second resurrection and go into eternal life.
”Virgin” means “purity.” They were all good people, everyone of them virgin, sanctified vessels of God. But those who had oil in their lamps went in. And the others was left out. They were all virgins, everyone people that you couldn’t put your finger on for anything wrong. They everyone believed in the coming of the Lord. They were ready to go meet Him, but some of them let their oil go out… Ten virgins went out to meet the Lord, all sanctified, all holy, every one of them sanctified. Five were dilatory and let their lights go out.
Five had oil in their lamps. “And, behold the Bridegroom cometh.” And the five that had oil in their lamps went into the wedding supper. And the others was left outside , where they were weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Be ready, for you don’t know what minute the Lord comes. Have... What is the Oil represented in the Bible? Holy Spirit.
The FOOLISH VIRGIN didn’t know until she come back and found the WISE VIRGINS GONE. Then she was LEFT for the tribulation period. No good teacher believes that the church, the BRIDE... The church goes through the tribulation, but NOT the Bride.
The church goes through for purification, sure, under the sixth seal. Right. ISRAEL does the SAME thing, for the hundred and forty-four thousand, but NOT the Bride. There’s... The bride’s forgiven. She goes STRAIGHT to glory in a rapture. That’s right. She’s... My opinion, the last member will be caught up one of these days. It might come, and you wouldn’t know nothing about it. Remember, it’s a SECRET, secret catching away. He’ll come an hour that you think NOT. You won’t know nothing about it; she’ll be gone, be too LATE then.” (GOD HIDING.HIMSELF.IN.SIMPLICITY.title ALBQ.NM 63-0412E)
“Now, if you were with us in the last teachings in Revelation, you find out there that those virgins, the-the five foolish virgins were not lost; but they were not permitted to go into the wedding supper, but they suffered persecution, and was martyred, and raised again at the general resurrection in the last day.
Those are the people where He separated the sheep from the goats (See?); they stood before judgment. You say, “Well, Brother Branham, don’t we stand, the Church?” No, sir. We do not stand before the judgment. We are now standing before the Judgment. God put our sins upon Christ, and we... “He that heareth My Word (St. John 5:24) and believeth on Him that sent Me has Eternal Life, and shall not come into the judgment but has passed from death unto Life.” No more judgment for the Church, it’s took up in the rapture, and comes back to pass judgment upon the people who did not receive the Holy Spirit. Does not Paul say that he dares any of us to take a-a matter to the court, to the unjust magistrate, when, “know ye not that the saints shall judge the earth?” We will set with Christ and judge, kings, and priests, and judge these people that we preached to and told them about the baptism of the Holy Ghost and they refused to receive It. Think of it. No, they were not lost, but they will never be in the Bride. They were come in the second resurrection, but never be in the Bride, to be judged according to the way they treated the Light that they received. Now, that part will be up to Christ. They were not lost though.” (QA.GOD.BEING.MISUNDERSTOOD.title JEFF COD 61-0723E)
The Foolish Virgins will have to go through the tribulation period. And the reason of it is, is because she has rejected the Atonement in Its fullness. She is a believer, a professed believer, but she will have to go through the tribulation period. She’s not the Bride, but it’s the church, the pure people that didn’t have the opportunity, maybe, to receive the end-time message, or in some way that they were blinded by these false prophets, and they didn’t get a chance, and yet they’re really sincere in heart, and God knows their heart, and here they’re purged during this time. (SEVENTH.SEAL.THE.title JEFF.IN 63-0324E)
It is the second resurrection wherein the five foolish virgins come up. Notice that they were virgins. They did not have the Holy Spirit (oil) so they missed being in the Bride, while the five wise who had oil became a part of that bride. But these people, being a separated, God-loving people, and trying to abide in the Word, according to what they knew of it, and being a help in the work of the Lord will come up at the end of time. They will miss the millennium. (279-2 SARDISEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK.CPT.7)
C. THE BORDERLINE BELIEVERS
Thirdly, there are the borderline Christians such as we saw in Israel coming out of Egypt. These had their names in the Book of Life and their works written in the books. These having failed to obey God and being void of the Spirit, though even the signs and wonders were amongst them, will have their names removed from the Book of Life. Amongst this group will be the ones like Judas who though entirely void of the Spirit, but are religious, will have manifestation in their lives, and though on the books were not the elected IN HIM. Such also as Balaam will be in that group. Judas was numbered with the twelve and actually had a part with them in the ministry previous to Pentecost. Acts 1:16-17, “Men and brethren, this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.” The part that Judas obtained amongst the twelve and then lost was neither inferior to the ministries of the other eleven, nor was it a devilish foreign ministry interjected amongst the ministries of the others. Acts 1:25, “That he may take part of this ministry and apostle-ship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” Judas, a devil, lost a God given Holy Ghost ministry, and killed himself and WENT TO HIS OWN PLACE. His name was even in the Book of Life. But his name was blotted out.
D. THE REPROBATES
Fourth are the ones whose names have never been or will ever be written on the books. Such are found in Revelation 13:8 and Revelation 17:8, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not: and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
Jesus said that a certain group would accept one who came in his own name.
That one is the antichrist. And that is exactly what it says of them in Revelation 13:8, and 17:8. These were ordained of God but not unto election. And with this group is such that are as Pharaoh. It says of him, “Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up.
Vessels of wrath fitted for destruction.” Romans 9:17 and 22. None of these would be placed on the records of life. I am not saying that there is no record of them. No doubt there is some kind of a record of them, but NOT IN THE RECORDS OF LIFE. Their purpose of existence has been dealt with slightly in the rest of this book but we can add four more Scriptures.
Proverbs 16:4, “The Lord hath made the wicked for the day of evil.” Job 21:30, “The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.”
In 1 Peter 2:8 and it says, “Even to them which stumble at the Word, being disobedient: whereunto they were appointed.” Jude 1:4 says it, too: “Who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness”.
E. THE 144,000 ELECT JEWS
And out of that JEWISH bunch that’s there now to be the 144,000, God will call with these prophets... What is it? The Spirit of Elijah off of this Gentile church will just continue right on into that Jewish church, go right on in and call Moses with him.
Hallelujah. You see it? And he’ll preach the same message of Pentecost to those Jews, that they rejected the Messiah. Amen. You see it? It’ll be the same Pentecostal message that these Jews will preach right over to them. And they’ll hate those Jews so bad till they’ll kill them. And they were hated by all nations, and in the midst of the week...
Because that they’d raised up a great powerful 144,000... They had the Holy Ghost, and brother, you talk about doing miracles; they did them. They stopped the heavens, and it didn’t rain in the days of their prophecy, smote the earth with plagues as oft they wanted to. They give plagues and everything else. They’ll give them Romans a hard way to go. But finally they’ll be killed.
Now these 144,000 are NOT in the BRIDE. In Revelation 14:4 they are called virgins and they follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. The fact that they have not defiled themselves with women shows that they are EUNUCHS (Matthew 19:12). The eunuchs were the keepers of the bridal chambers. They were ATTENDANTS.
Notice that they do not sit in the throne but are before the throne. No, they are not in the bride, but will be in the glorious millennial reign..
Now getting back to the story of Joseph meeting his brethren. You recall that not all the brethren came. Joseph knew that and insisted that all the brethren appear before him, or he could not make himself known unto them. Finally they brought the one that was missing, little Benjamin. It was little Benjamin, the full brother of Joseph, that set his soul on fire. And when our Joseph, even Jesus, will come to the people who have kept the commandments of God and who have gone back to Palestine, His soul will be set on fire. Little Benjamin typifies the 144,000 Israelites from all over the earth who have gone back to Palestine for their redemption. They will be standing there ready to receive Him, Whom to know aright is Life eternal. They will say, “This is our God for Whom we have waited.” Then they will see Him Whom they have pierced. And they will cry out in dismay, “Where did these awful wounds come from? How did it happen?” And they will wail and cry, every family apart, everyone apart in the agony of sorrow.
When the Jews rejected Jesus there was a literal turning away of God from them to the Gentiles. Acts 13:46-48, “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, it was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the Word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”
This is not to suggest that there will be no more names from the tribes of Israel remaining in the Book of Life, for many of these (but not multitudes) through the principle of election will be in the Gentile church age and come into the body of Jesus Christ, showing that their names did indeed remain in the Book of Life. Also, as we will show, according to the fifth seal multitudes of martyred Jews will be given white robes and eternal life by the Lord. Also the hundred and forty-four thousand will be sealed at His coming, proving that their names were not deleted either. But it is even as most accurately set forth in Psalms 69 that it is the wicked or unrighteous rejecters of Christ and the destroyers of His people whose names are removed.
As Israel (chosen people of God) in majority forfeited their rights in the Book of Life by rejecting Jesus, so the majority of the Gentile church will also come into condemnation with the resultant removal of their names from the Book of Life by rejecting the Word and thereby entering into the world ecumenical movement which is the Image erected unto the Beast.
“We have a perfect type of Israel leaving Egypt. All Israel is NOT Israel. And all but a tiny minority had their names blotted out of the Book of Life. When Israel left Egypt, there was approximately two million people left at the same time. Every one of them heard the message of a prophet. Every one of them saw the Pillar of Fire. Every one of them was baptized to Moses in the Red Sea. Every one of them shouted in the Spirit, beat the tambourines, and run up-and-down the bank with Miriam, when Moses sang in the Spirit.
They every one drank from the same spiritual Rock. They every one eat fresh Manna every night, every one of them. But there was two made the land: one out of a million. ONLY TWO WERE TRUE OR REAL BELIEVERS. That is correct because the Word tells us that the rest died because of unbelief; and because of unbelief they could not enter in (Hebrews 3:19).
Then since that is so, and only TWO ENTERED, then the rest were not true believers. What made the difference? Two stayed with the Word.”
When the hearts of the ten spies failed at Kadesh Barnea, Joshua and Caleb did not stagger for they believed the Word and said, “We are more than able to take the land.” They knew they could because God had said, “I have given you the land.” What was the test? the other ten came back and said, “We can’t make it. The people are like... We’re like grasshoppers to them, their great walled city. The opposition’s too great.” But Joshua and
Caleb stilled the people. They said, “We’re more than able to do it.” Why? God said before they left the promised land, “I’ve given you the land. I’ve give it to you. It’s yours.”
F. THE RIGHTEOUS & THE WICKED - THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS
In the great White Throne judgment there will be a separation of people.
The Book of Life will be opened and another book will be opened. Matthew 25:31-46, “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: And before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. 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: For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger and ye took Me in: Naked and ye clothed Me: I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered and fed Thee? or thirsty and gave Thee drink:
When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily, I say unto you, In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. 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: For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in: Naked, and ye clothed Me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visite not: Then shall they also answer Him saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison and did not minister unto Thee? Then shall He answer them saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not unto Me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
THE SHEEP ARE THOSE WHO WERE GOOD TO THE BRIDE
To further clarify this, notice specifically the words of Matthew 25:31-46. It does not say that a shepherd is literally separating sheep from goats, but it is AS a shepherd dividing sheep from goats. These are not sheep in this particular area of time (White Throne Judgment). The sheep are in His fold, they heard His voice (Word) and they followed Him.
THEY ALREADY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE AND CANNOT COME INTO THE JUDGMENT. But these do NOT have eternal life, and they are in the judgment. They are allowed to GO INTO eternal life. But upon what grounds do they enter into life eternal? Certainly not upon the fact that they already have His life as does the Bride, but they receive it because they were kind to His brethren. They are not His brethren: that would make them joint heirs with Jesus. They are NOT heirs to anything but life. They share no throne, etc. with Him. THEIR NAMES MUST HAVE BEEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE AND NOT REMOVED. Now because of their love of the people of God they are recognized and saved. No doubt these served and helped the children of God. Perhaps like Nicodemus and Gamaliel they stood for the children in a time of trouble.
GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY
The sovereignty of God which sets forth that GOD IS GOD, and because He is God, one cannot defeat His counsels or thwart His will and purpose. But He, being omnipotent, is ruling in ALL affairs and is doing whatever He will with all His creation because all were created for His good pleasure. Therefore, as Paul says, “If God should take of one lump of clay and make of that same lump one vessel unto honor and another vessel unto dishonor, who can be offended and cry against Him?” That He has the right to do this on the grounds of creation alone, we cannot deny. Yet He went even further, for according to Romans 14:7-9, we have the irrefutable proof that Jesus paid the purchase price of the whole world, and therefore He can do as He wills with His own. “For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the
Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord BOTH OF THE DEAD AND LIVING.” (Ownership; NOT relationship is meant here.) This is also set forth in John 17:2, “As Thou hast given Him power OVER ALL FLESH, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him.”
GOD’S OMNISCIENCE
Now, if we impute omniscience to God, we must also accept that He is perfect in wisdom and righteousness. This plan of election and reprobation is the wisdom of God revealed in all ages even, as it says in Ephesians 1:3-11, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all Spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him. In love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace; wherein He hath abounded toward us in all WISDOM and prudence, Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fulness 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; 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.”
CONCLUSION
Thus, if God has so designed that there be those whose names are placed in a section of the Lamb’s Book of Life and cannot be erased for they are the names of His Bride, then we must accept that. If it also states that there are those whose names were placed in the record of the Book of Life but in the foreknowledge of God they were to fall and have their names removed we must accept that. And if there are those whose names were NEVER placed upon a record of life, we must accept that, also.
And if there are those who will enter into life eternal after the White Throne judgment solely on the grounds of being good and kind and just to the elect of God who are His brethren, then we cannot but accept that. FOR WHO KNOWETH THE MIND OF THE LORD THAT HE SHOULD INSTRUCT HIM? Rather let us be subject in faith to Him Who is our Father and live. (Extracted from the sermon SARDISEAN.CHURCH. CPT.7 by Rev. William Branham)
THE “NEW BIRTH” PULLS OUT YOUR NAME FROM THE OLD BOOK
We, Christians, need the New Birth in order for us to be restored back to what we were in the beginning, the spotless, blameless, Bride of Jesus Christ. Only when we are born again can we rest assure that our names are truly written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
The new birth frees us from God’s wrath and judgment.
JOHN 3:3 – “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my Word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” (John 5:24)
Brother Branham explained this whole process of the New Birth in the Message INVISIBLE UNION OF THE BRIDE, (1965-1125) :
“Your name of your first nature was born and put in a Book of Life, and all your deeds was wrote in it, too. Everything you done under that nature was put in a Book called the Book of Life. The first life or your first union, you were joined in at birth by nature. A natural act, a natural human being associated, man and woman together, associated together in sexual affair which brought your first life here, and that’s associated with sin and death. It was nature associated with death.
Your first husband that had rule over you was your nature by natural birth.
Naturally, you love the world, because you are the world and part of the world. Is that right?
Your desires was by nature to love the world which you’re a part of. You’re a part of nature. You believe that? And that’s your natural thing. That’s the reason you have to be born again (JOHN 3:3). You have to separate. You have to die to that first husband. You can’t live with it. You just can’t say, “Well, I’ll divorce him and hang him up here till the occasion.” No, sir, no writing of divorcement. He dies. The nature of the world has to die. Every speck of him has to die. You have to be reunited again with another nature.
You were separated from your first union by spiritual death. Now, you are born again or remarried again to the new spiritual union of, not your natural life of the things of the world, but of Eternal Life. That Germ that was in you at the beginning, found you. Now, your old book is gone with your old union. Now, your name has been transferred. Now, you say, “Do you mean to tell me, that my old book.” God put it in the sea of His forgetfulness. You stand perfectly before God. Now, your name is now in the new Book, not in the Book of Life, but the Lamb’s Book of Life. What the Lamb redeemed, not the old book of your natural union, but you’re new Bride. Hallelujah!
Your new Life is in the Lamb’s Book of Life, your marriage certificate (Hallelujah.) where your true eternal germ from the beginning takes hold.
Now, you’re not only forgiven, but you’re justified. Glory! Justified: Romans 5:1 said, yeah, Romans 5:1 said, “Therefore being justified by faith...” Look up the word.
The word don’t mean forgiven. The word means justified. It don’t mean you’re forgiven. But the word “justified,” as though you never done it. Amen. It’s not even regarded at all.
How’s it done? In God’s Book of the sea of forgetfulness, your old book and marriage is divorced and dead and is not even in the memories of God. Amen.
You are justified. Therefore being justified... You were accused; you never done it in the first place. The old union’s in the sea of God’s forgetfulness. You wasn’t married to it to begin with. He, the Bridegroom bore your shame Himself for you in your place.
He took your place, for you were predestinated for Him to be in His Bride before the foundation of the world. The Bible said so. You are the predestinated Seed.
How did you come to do this? You were deceived into it by your first marriage, to your adulteress parent Eve. It’s no fault of your own. By your natural birth, you come after Eve, who committed adultery. That’s the reason you was born an adulterous.
You were a sinner to begin with. That’s right. You was deceived into it. You had no... No, it ain’t your fault. You never did it, because that little Germ that was in you, was to be YOU before the foundation of the world. God put your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
You’re standing completely. You never sinned in the first place. God don’t even know... It’s in the sea of forgetfulness. You never did it. You were accused of it by the accuser; but really from the beginning you were predestinated to be a son or daughter of God. You’re standing there washed, and your old book of divorcement’s put away and is dead, absolutely out of existence even in the mind of God.
You are the virtuous Bride of Christ, washed in the Blood of Christ: precious, virtuous, sinless, Son of God standing with a pure, unadulterated Bride Word that He washed by the Water of His own Blood that become flesh and manifested that He might take you, which were predestinated in the bosom of the Father before the beginning, the same as He was.
ADAM FORFEITED THE BOOK, THE “TITLE DEED” TO ETERNAL LIFE
Adam, in the beginning, was given power by God to have jurisdiction over all the earth. When God put Adam on earth, He gave him the jurisdiction over all nature, all animals, all life everywhere. Adam was an amateur god.
GENESIS 1:26-27 –“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
GENESIS 2:19 -”And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought [them] unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that [was] the name thereof.”
But Adam, our father, forfeited it to Satan. Adam lost the rights of that Book. He forfeited it when he listened to his wife, and she listened to Satan’s reasoning in the stead of the Word of God. (REV.CHAP.5.PT1.BRUISED.SERPENT JEFF.IN ROJC 717-746 61-0611 )
See, Adam lost his inheritance: the earth. Now, it passed from his hand to the one he sold out to: Satan. He sold his faith in God to Satan’s reasonings.
Therefore, his Eternal Life, his right to the Tree of Life, his right to the earth belonged to him, and he forfeited it every bit to the hands of Satan. He passed it from his hand to Satan. (BREACH.THE.title JEFF.IN 63-0317E)
Now, notice. What did we lose? Well, it was given to Adam to have Eternal Life, as long as he eat from the trees he had Eternal Life. And we notice again that Adam was the... He—he inherit the earth. He was like an amateur god over the earth. The earth was his. Everything was given unto his hand; he could do with it whatever he wanted to.
He named it, and called it, and done whatever he wanted to. He was truly a son of God.
Now, in the fall Adam forfeited the title deed to that. He forfeited it to Satan. Satan took the title deed. Adam was very slothful, and he did not redeem his right for he could not redeem his right. But Satan, which does not rightfully own it, but he possesses that, he is the god of this earth. The Bible said so. He possesses that. Not because that he really rightfully gets it, but he possesses it. Now, do you get it? Satan possesses that; he holds it into his hand. Death is in his hand; the earth is in his hand; the world belongs to him; every nation belongs to him; he governs and controls the whole world and everything in the world. Satan does.
The Title Deed to the earth and to Eternal Life, when Adam forfeited it, then Satan’s dirty hands could not take it; so it went back to its original Owner, God Himself. The Title deed to Eternal Life, abstract title deed to Eternal Life, when Adam forfeited it for wisdom and instead of faith, it went back to the hands of the Owner: Almighty God. (BREACH.THE.title JEFF.IN 63-0317E)
God made us to live forever. But sin brought on death. The sin of Adam and Eve brought sickness upon mankind. Without sin, there is no sickness, no death. The human race, as we’re taught in the Scripture, didn’t have any sickness before sin came in. Sickness was issued in as an attribute of sin, which had to bring death. Sin is death.
JESUS, THE SECOND ADAM, REDEEMS THE BOOK FOR HIS BRIDE
I Corinthians 15:22 - “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
ROMANS 5:14, 16-19, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. And not as [it was] by one that sinned, [so is] the gift: for the judgment [was] by one to condemnation, but the free gift [is] of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [the free gift came] upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”
I Corinthians 15:45, 47- “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit.. The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven.”
When Jesus died at Calvary, He settled the sin question for ever before the Father, because He was a perfect Sacrifice for our sin. He was our Kinsman Redeemer. Just like Boaz, he had to be a kinsman redeemer to redeem the lost estate of Ruth. And he had to make a public testimony. And then everything that Ruth had fell to him as he redeemed all of her possessions. When he redeemed Naomi, why, he got Ruth in, which is a type of the Gentile Bride, and so forth. But he was a kinsman redeemer.
Now, God, Who is in Spirit, in-veiled Himself in a body of flesh, which was His Son, Christ Jesus. And God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and become kinfolks to human beings to suffer the penalty that He had put on the human Himself. And He became Kinfolks and a Redeemer. In other words, like this. We was put in the devil’s pawnshop, and Jesus paid the price and brought us out. See? The price was already paid. Now, when Jesus died at Calvary, He saved every sinner in the world that— or ever would be in the world, as far as God was concerned. Now, Jesus didn’t come down and die just for me, or die just for you. He settled the sin question. But it’ll never do us any good until we accept it. It’s your accepting of Him as your personal Saviour. And it’s by faith that you receive it and believe it. (MANIFESTATION.OF.THE.SPIRIT.title TOLEDO.OH 51 0717)
Jesus Christ pulled the stinger out of death and sin at Calvary. By His stripes we are healed. Jesus took the stinger out of sin. He has redeemed us from death.
Eternal life has been restored unto us by Jesus Christ. God promised to resurrect the body of the believer in the last days. We rest in that assurance. Jesus possessed every gate. He conquered every sickness. He conquered every sin, He conquered every temptation. He conquered death, He conquered hell, He conquered the grave. He took the keys of death and hell from Satan. And we in Him are more than conquerors now.
The devil put us in the pawn shop, but Jesus redeemed us. He’s our kinsman Redeemer, God made flesh, kinfolks to us, in order to redeem us from the curse of sin and sickness, and tonight, has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell with the church, and show signs and wonders of healing and salvation, until He returns again. (GOD.PROVIDING.HEALING.title CHICAGO.IL 54-0719E)
THE LAMB WAS SLAIN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD
“Where was Jesus slain at? At Calvary? No, sir. Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world. “Behold the Lamb of God that was slain before the foundation of the world.” God in the beginning when He saw the sin, He saw what was happen, He spoke the Word and Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world. And every person was saved, was saved (according to the Bible) when the Lamb was slain in the mind of God before the foundation of the world; you were included in salvation then. So what are you going to do about it?” (HEBREWS CHAPTER 7 PT 1.title JEFF.IN HEB 57-0915E)
It’s God. Blessed be the Name of the Lord. “It’s God that worketh; not him that willeth or him that runneth, but God showeth mercy.” If Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world, it taken four thousand years before it actually happened. But when God spoke it back here, every Word of God is steadfast. It’s immutable; It’s impartable; It cannot fail. And when God slayed the Son before the foundation of the world, He was just as much slain then as He was at Calvary. It’s a finished product when God says so.
And remember, when the Lamb was slain, your salvation was included in the Sacrifice, because the Bible said that your name was written on the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world. What about that? Then what are we going to do? It’s God that showeth mercy. It’s God that called you. It’s God that chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world. Jesus said, “You never chose Me; I chose you. And I knew you before the foundation of the world.” There you are.
So, see, that takes the scare out of you. “Oh, I wonder; if I could keep holding on, I’ll make it. Bless God, if I’ll just keep holding on...” It’s not whether I hold on or not; it’s whether He held on or not. It’s what He done. Not what I done; it’s what He did.
And it’s Christ that God looks at, not you. It’s Christ. So if there’s no fault in Him, how can there be fault? How can He find fault when you’re dead and your life is hid in Christ through God, sealed by the Holy Ghost? “They that are born of God does not commit sin, for he cannot sin.” How can he sin when a perfect Sacrifice is laying in his place? God never looks at me; He looks at Christ; because we’re in Christ.
Now, if I love Christ, I’ll live with Him. He’d never brought me in ‘less He knowed. If God saved me today, knowing He was going to lose me six weeks from today, He’s defeating His own purpose. Right. He don’t even know the future then, if He saved me knowing... What’s He want to save me for, knowing He’s going to lose me? God doesn’t do things and then take it back and too weak to keep His promise. When He saved you, it’s
for time and eternity. (HEBREWS.CHAPTER.7.PT.1.title JEFF.IN HEB 57-0915E)
Oh, isn’t He wonderful? Now, with our confessions, our belief, our confession of our sins, believing that all of our sins is in the sea of forgetfulness.
He that will confess his sins, God is just to omit them. See? They’re in the sea of the Blood of Jesus Christ, never to be remembered no more. How many of you women know what bleach is? All of you. Now, let’s just take a great big washtub full of Clorox; that’s one bleach, a great big tub full of Clorox. And then you’re going to take a little eyedropper, and you got one drop of black ink in that eyedropper; that’s your sins. Stand right up over the tub, and squeeze it down, then look down in the tub and find it. What become of it? What become of the ink? When it struck that bleach, it was so powerful it just took the coloring right out of it; it can never be no more. What is it? It’s gone, it’s eternally lost. What is it? The ink itself becomes Clorox. That’s the Blood of Jesus Christ to every confessed sin. What is it? It’s forgotten; it’s done; it’s finished; it’s omitted; it’s divorced; it’s put away. It can never be remembered against you no more. (POSSESSING.ALL.THINGS.title JEFF.IN V- 10 N-4 62-0506)
Think of it. Before Jesus was ever born, four thousand years before He came on earth, and several thousand years before you come on earth, Jesus in God’s mind died for the sins of the world, and the Book of Life was made; and your name was put on that Book of Life before the foundation of the world. That’s the Bible truth. See? Your name was ordained of God and placed on the Book of Life before the foundation of the world. You were there in His attributes. You don’t remember it, no, because you’re just a part of His life. You are a part of God when you become a son or a daughter of God, just as you are a part of your earthly father. That’s right. You are... The male carries the haemoglobin, the blood. And when that has gone in the egg, then you become a part of your father, and your mother is a part of your father also. So you’re all a
part of your father. Glory! (WHO.IS.THIS.MELCHISEDEC.title JEFF.IN V-5 N-10 65-0221E)
It’s the elected who God, before the foundation of the world, He seen every one of them. And He sent Jesus to redeem that people, NOT the whole world. He wanted to, but He had to make a way for those. And the only way He could do, was to send Christ, that He might come the propitiation of our sins, that those who’ve been elected, He could bring to Him in glory. And then, Christ died to save those who God, by foreknowledge, elected to meet Him yonder without spot or wrinkle. Before the foundation of the world He seen you in glory.
That’s what the Bible said, Ephesians the 1st chapter, 5th verse. God predestinated by foreknowledge.
Now, if God did that, predestinated us before the foundation of the world, and knew every one of us by name before the foundation of the world, and elected us to Eternal Life, and sent Jesus Christ to redeem us, that six thousand years ago He saw us, that we might appear to His praises in glory, how can you ever be lost?
Now, if you’re saved, you’re saved. If God saves you tonight knowing He’s going to lose you ten years from today, He’s defeating His own purpose. The infinite, almighty, eternal, everlasting wisdom God doesn’t know enough then to know that, whether you will hold out or whether you won’t. Then when He saves you, you say, “Well, I’ll give Him a try; I’ll see what He’d do,” then He does not know the end from the beginning. God knows what He’s doing; don’t you never worry about that. It’s you and I stumbling along. God knows what He’s doing. And He knew whether we’d hold out, or what we would do. (QUOTES EXTRACTED FROM THE MESSAGE “HEBREWS.CHAPTER.6.title JEFF.IN HEB 57-0908E”)
YOU WERE CHOSEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD
You see the Book actually was planned and written before the foundation of the world. This Book, the Bible was really written before the foundation of the world. And Christ, being the Lamb, was slain before the foundation of the world. And the members of His Bride, their names were put in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world, but it’s been sealed up. And now it’s being revealed whose names were in there, all about it. (FIRST.SEAL.THE.title JEFF.IN 63-0318)
He came to die for those that God had ordained to Eternal Life. See, see? By His foreknowledge He saw them, not by His own will. His will was that none should perish, but by His foreknowledge He knew who would and who would not. Therefore as long as there was one name hadn’t never yet been declared in earth, Christ had to stay there as an Intercessor to take care of that name. But as soon as that final name had been splashed in that Clorox or bleach, then His intercessory days was over. “Let him that’s filthy be filthy still. Let him that’s holy, he’s holy still.” See? And He leaves the sanctuary, and then it becomes a judgment seat. Woe unto those outside of Christ then.” ( FIRST.SEAL.THE.title JEFF.IN 63-0318)
Your name was put in God’s Book before the Lamb was slain. When His program was laid out, the whole thing, you were recognized in that program because you got Eternal Life. The word eternal, never did begin and neither can it end, and you are an attribute of God’s thinking before the world was ever created. That’s the only way you can have Eternal Life. And that Life, that He was thinking of you, is in you now. There’s no way to separate it. It’s in there to stay. (GREATER.THAN.SOLOMON.title DALLAS.TX V-19 N-10 64-0306)
And God in the beginning knew every person that would ever be on the earth at the beginning. He knew every fly, every flea, everything that would ever be. He’s infinite, and He knew everything. And so therefore, the day that our name’s on the Lamb’s Book of Life, they were placed there before the foundation of the world. Just think, of everyone of you in here today that’s got your name on the Lamb’s Book of Life, you never put it there; and your preacher never put it there; neither your church put it there; but God put it there. And when did God do it? It’s written in the Blood of the Lamb. How many believes that? There isn’t enough ink remover, or whatever it is, in the world to get it out of there. Look. God put your name on the Book of Life at the foundation of the world, the Bible said. We’re just nothing. You never had nothing to do with it; I never had nothing to do with
it; God, Himself, did it at the foundation of the world when He slew the Lamb. By foreknowledge He knew that Christ would be here, and He was called the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. And the beast will deceive all that dwells upon the earth whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life from the foundation of the world.
And the Gospel to be preached is nothing in the world but the seining all of the fish out of the lake, as Jesus said. The Kingdom of heaven’s like one that’s cast the net in and pulled it. Now, there’s so many fish in that lake, and when the last one’s brought out, that’s the end of it. Now, a preacher he just throws in the net; he
pulls. In that great net, the Bible teaches, he brings in everything. He brings in water spiders, frogs, snakes, lizards, terrapins, tadpoles, and fish. Now, it’s not for me to determine or to judge, to say which is fish and which is tadpoles. You watch a Gospel message go forth. Many will come up around the altar. Sure, the net’s got them. Just a little bit they’ll be an old Brother Terrapin will stick his head up to say, “I just didn’t believe it in the beginning.” He was a terrapin to start with; that’s all. And the snake will say, “You know, there’s just something about that old holy-roller stuff I can’t stand.” Snake to begin with... That’s right. And the old water spider starts plop, plop, plop, clung, clung, going back. It was that to start with. When the net went over them, they were that. That’s exactly right. But the fish was fish when the net went over it too. We are seining for fish. God’s the One to determine.” (WHY SOME PEOPLE CAN’T KEEP.VICTORY.title OAKLAND.CA 57-0324)
Brother Branham said, “I different with our great famous Brother Billy Graham in his message the other day. He said that the antichrist has already deceived the elected. But I do not believe that, because it’s not possible. They were elected and their names put on the Book of Life before the foundation of the world when the Lamb was slain. Now, who it is, I don’t know. See? But the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world, and the antichrist will deceive all upon the earth who’s names were not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life from the foundation of the world. So you see, we’re pulling and seining to try to find where those people are that their name was put in the Lamb’s Book of Life. All that He foreknew He called, those that knew... called, He justified. Those who He justified, He has already glorified. (IT.WASN’T.SO.FROM.THE.BEGINNING.title BLOOMINGTON.IL 61-0411)
And Noah in his great intellectual age, God came down to save the elected people. Do you believe God has an elected church? Certainly He does. And He comes to save that elected. The rest of them, it’s just common cannon fodder.
But He knows that there’s going to be so many of them saved because He put their names on the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world. That’s exactly according to the Scripture. And the antichrist in the last days will deceive every one whose names were not written on that book before the foundation of the world. The Bible said so. The antichrist, so close, it’ll be Pentecost to the dot. See? But it’ll deceive those whose names are not written on the Book of Life from the foundation of the world when the Lamb was slain. (GOD.HIDING.HIMSELF.IN.SIMPLICITY.title ALBQ.NM 63-0412E)
THE BOOK OF REDEMPTION
The Book of Revelation shows us that the Lamb’s Book of Life has been sealed with seven seals, holding the hidden mysteries of God that needed to be revealed in these last days. Such a Book is the “Abstract Title Deed” to the earth and contains the NAMES of the Bride of Jesus Christ who needed to be called out in these last days by the seventh angel messenger of Revelation 10:7.
JOHN THE BELOVED HAD A PREVIEW OF THE BOOK
John the beloved has seen the Book which was claimed by the bloody Lamb from the One sitting on the throne. Revelation 5:1-10 - ”And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a BOOK written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the BOOK, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the BOOK, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the BOOK, neither to look thereon. 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. And I beheld, 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. And HE came and took the BOOK out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he 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 odours, which are the prayers of saints.
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; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”
We can see that this Book was sealed with seven seals. But then a bloody Lamb claimed the Book from the One sitting on the throne. Now, that was our Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus Christ the Lamb of God. Unto Him is handed down the seven sealed Book of redemption from the original Owner, Almighty God. When we lost it at the garden of Eden, through Adam, it went back to the original Owner. But there’s been a poacher on the land, a squatter; that’s Satan. This earth don’t belong to him; it belongs to God. But now the Title Deed is being handed back to us again by God. Jesus had defeated Satan and had confiscated from him the keys of death and hell.
This seven-sealed Book is our title deed to our redemption. It’s the title deed and Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God breaks the seals, reveals, gives His inheritance back to His people. He gives the inheritance that He inherited by becoming Kinsman Redeemer, and freely gives it out to us. It all belonged to Him. He was the One who redeemed it. But instead of keeping it to Himself, He gives it back to the people. That’s His love for us. Its redemption means all legal possession to all that was lost by Adam and Eve are restored back unto us. Its legal possession to the abstract deed, title deed of Eternal Life means that you possess everything that Adam and Eve lost. That book is title deed to redemption of the whole heavens and earth.
THE MIGHTY ANGEL BRINGS DOWN THE OPEN BOOK UPON THE EARTH
In Revelation chapter 10, we then see a Mighty Angel carrying this OPEN BOOK upon the earth. This mighty angel delegated to the 7th angel of Revelation 10:7 to fulfil the final commission of revealing the mysteries contained in those seven-seals upon God’s people.
REVELATION 10:1 -7 - ¶ And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a CLOUD: and a rainbow [was] upon his head, and his face [was] as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: And he had in his hand a little BOOK OPEN: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and [his] left [foot] on the earth, And cried with a loud voice, as [when] a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
And when the SEVEN THUNDERS had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer.”
THE SEVENTH ANGEL’S VOICE DECLARES THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK
Revelation 10:7 - “But in the days of the VOICE of the SEVENTH ANGEL, when he shall begin to sound, the MYSTERY of God should be FINISHED, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”
This mysterious Book has now been opened to us by a prophetic ministry which transpired and was fulfilled in the life of William Marrion Branham, the seventh messenger to the Laodicean Age. This seven sealed Book was revealed to Him by a constellation of angels in the Sunset Mountain of Arizona, USA, in February of 1963. Our Bible has become a New Bible because all the loose ends in It were perfectly dovetailed now when the seven-sealed mystery BOOK was finally opened. Salient doctrines such as the Godhead, the Original Sin, Water Baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ, and many, many more others were restored and corrected.
With this open Book, names of those people who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are being called out one by one out of every nation, tongue, and race. When the MYSTERY of this End Time Message is supernaturally revealed to you and you accept it by faith and live for it, that just proves that your name is on the LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE. It’s the Deep calling unto the deep. It’s the Midnight CRY of Matthew 25 waking up the sleeping virgins.
The New Birth is a clear understanding of the Message. This End Time Message brings us the OIL necessary for the Wise Virgins for her to be able to enter into that Wedding Supper of the Lamb. The prophet said that the evidence of being baptized with the Holy Ghost today is when you can receive the Message that was sent for the day in which you live.
“But thank God, at this moment, this age is not over. He is yet crying. And His cry is not only in the spiritual ears of men by His Spirit, but once again a prophet is in the land.
Once more God will reveal the truth as He did to Paul. In the days of the seventh messenger, in the days of the Laodicean Age, its messenger will reveal the mysteries of God as revealed to Paul. He will speak out, and those who receive that prophet in his own name will receive the beneficent effect of that prophet’s ministry. And they that hear him will be blessed and become part of that bride of the last day who are mentioned in Revelation 22:17, “The Spirit and the bride say come.” The corn of wheat (the Bride Wheat) that fell into the ground at Nicaea has come back to original Word Grain again.
Praise God forever. Yes, listen to the authenticated prophet of God who appears in this last age. What he says from God, the bride will say. The Spirit and the prophet and the bride will be saying the same thing. And what they will say will have already been said in the Word. They are saying it now, “Come out from among her now and be ye separate.” The cry has gone out. The cry is going out. How long will the voice cry? We do not know, but one thing we do know, it won’t be long, for this is the last age. (365-2 LAODICEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK.CPT.9)
THE BRIDE MUST EAT THE BOOK
Jesus, the Lamb of God, has done loosed the seals of the Book thereof and has revealed the contents to the Bride of Christ through His seventh-angel messenger. Now, that the seventh angel is gone, the BOOK has been delegated to the Bride of Jesus Christ to feast upon it, to nurture and to harness it, and to get rapturing faith out of It. The Bride of Christ must “EAT” the BOOK. She must digest the contents of the BOOK spiritually to bring her to the full stature of a Perfect Stature that’s required of Christ. That is the ministry of the Bride today. To be pregnated by the Word and to get ripened under the S-O-N, the WORD-MESSAGE-of-the-Hour.
Brother Branham told us that John types the Bride. When the seventh angel left the scene, John took the Book from the angel and ate the Book (Revelation 10:8-11). It was sweet in His mouth (just as the revealed mysteries are sweet to our spiritual taste buds), but It was bitter in his belly (just as the trials and persecutions that go along with receiving this Message is “bitter” in its strictest sense of the Word). But the Bride is commissioned to “prophesy” again unto all nations, tongues and kings.
To “prophesy” means to preach and to testify about the same Message that was preached to us by the seventh angel. That is our mission today. To propagate the Message unto all the ends of the earth... “Ye shall be My witnesses unto all the world”, saith Jesus, “Preach the Gospel”. That is the Word being fulfilled in our midst today before the rapture ever takes place. Brother Branham said that “there’s no more future but the coming
of the Lord”.
THE MINISTRY OF THE BRIDE
These last verses of Revelation 10 is a continuation of the end time commission of the Son of Man Ministry (Luke 17:30) but it’s for the Bride. “She has become Him.”
Brother Branham said that, “When the denominations failed, God raised up His Bride Tree and so it has gone on through the years until in this last day there is again another people in the land, who under their messenger will be the final voice to the final age.”
“Sure. That’s what’s going on right now. See? The Bride of Christ... Certainly. It is the Message of the hour (See?), the Bride of Christ. Sure, She’s consist of apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastors. Is that right? That’s the Bride of Christ. Sure, She’s got a ministry, great ministry; it’s the ministry of the hour; it’ll be so humble...” ( QA.ON.THE.SEALS.title JEFF.IN 63-0324M)
Since John types the Bride, REVELATION 10:8-11 pertains to the ministry of the Bride, to declare the Message of the Hour unto all the world in these last days.
The Bride has to continue with the ministry of Christ until every predestinated seed has heard the Gospel.
REVELATION 10:8-11, “And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go [and] take the little BOOK which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take [it], and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.”
“This ministry of the Christ Himself impersonated among His people with the very same things that He did when He was here on earth; in His Body, the Bride, which is part of Him, doing the same things, as Husband and Wife, or King and Queen, just before the marriage ceremony”. ( ONE.IN.A.MILLION LA.CA 65-0424M)
“It has to be, because a woman and her husband become one. They become one, and so does the Bride and Christ become One. The ministry of the Bride and the ministry of Christ is the same”. (TOKEN.THE JEFF.IN. 63 0901)
“In the days of the seventh messenger, in the days of the Laodicean Age, its messenger will reveal the mysteries of God as revealed to Paul. He will speak out, and those who receive that prophet in his own name will receive the beneficent effect of that prophet's ministry. And they that hear him will be blessed and become part of that bride of the last day who are mentioned in Revelation 22:17, "The Spirit and the bride say come." The corn of wheat (the Bride Wheat) that fell into the ground at Nicaea has come back to original Word Grain again. Praise God forever. Yes, listen to the authenticated prophet of God who appears in this last age. What he says from God, the bride will say. The Spirit and the prophet and the bride will be saying the same thing. And what they will say will have already been said in the Word.“ (365-2 LAODICEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK.CPT.9)
“Those in the Bride do only His will. No one can make them do otherwise. They have ‘thus saith the Lord’ or they keep still. They know that it has to be God in them doing the works, fulfilling His own Word. He did not complete all His work while in His earthly ministry so now He works in and through the Bride. She knows that, for it was not yet time for Him to do certain things that He must now do. But He will now fulfill through the Bride that work which He left for this specific time”. ( 172-4 PERGAMEAN .CHURCH AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK.CPT.5)
“And if it does something different from the Groom, it isn't the Bride, because She's flesh of His flesh, bone of His bone, Life of His Life, power of His power. She is Him. As man and woman are one, and woman taken from his side, She has taken His Spirit (the feminish Spirit from Him), the flesh from His side, made both mechanics and Dynamics, the Wife--the Spirit of Him and the flesh of Him and put it together and made
mechanics and Dynamics.” (RISING.OF.THE.SUN.title JEFF.IN V-3 N-12 65-0418M)
“It's called the eagle age in the Bible. God calls His prophets... Eagle age... We realize over in the Bible, we find in Malachi 4, that we're promised that in the last days. Now, He likes His prophets to eagles. He calls Himself eagle. He's the great Jehovah-eagle. He's able to achieve to Himself a Bride. He's going to in the last days be able to get a Bride, that with a ministry that's so exactly that... Like a man and his wife becomes one. And when Jehovah gets His people like Him, then He lives in His people. They are one.
It fulfills the Scripture, exactly what He said in St. John 14:12, "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he also." It also fulfills what Jesus said would take place, "As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man." (COUNTDOWN.title BAKF.CA V-22 N-9 64-0209)
“The Church is ready. She's sealed in, ready to come. There will be a big outpouring of the Spirit, yes, sir, to grab that Church and take her into the skies. Exactly.
Because see, the Church, the Word, the Bride... And, Christ, His ministry is in His Bride, which is His Body, the celestial Body, or I mean to say, the--the supernatural Body of His here on--the spiritual body on earth, His Spirit is in there living His Life right out, until Him and the Church becomes one in the wedding. See, they become one. He takes them, just a little minority in the last days.” (WORLD.AGAIN.FALLING.APART.title SHP.LA V-17 N-4 63-1127)