A Virgin out of Nazareth Pt.2
LUKE 1:26-28
26 ¶ And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, (An Angel was sent to a city because of a certain woman that was living in that city)
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. (We noticed from last week how this angel had come from an eternal realm to a geographical location on earth and at a specific time and to a specific woman – there was no guesswork involved, and there is no guesswork involved by God when it comes to your life and the message of this hour that has also come into your life by an angel)
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
JOHN 1:45-46
45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. (Nazareth wasn’t a city that you would necessarily be proud to have your name associated with)
46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
It is so easy to misunderstand the ways of God when we put our reason to how God seems to do the opposite to how we would do things.
We would probably have had Jesus raised up in Jerusalem under the great rabbis of the day – we would certainly not have had him raised in Nazareth with all the drunks and every other thing that went on.
A Virgin out of Nazareth Pt.2
*From our last week’s study we looked at how geography plays a very important part in our lives of the towns and cities that we are raised in, and also adding to that (of what influences us) is the family and the culture that we were born into, and then adding to that is the different experiences of life and all the different troubles that come across our pathways that each one of us go through as we grow up in this world - all these things combined together have a great influence on the way our human spirits are moulded and shaped on top of the personalities that we are born with – and so when you put all these things together, it can become very complex to the human mind to even try to understand yourself, but we know that God is the one who is the great orchestrator of all this complexity, because all along our life’s journey He has been shaping us for a great purpose and future that He has planned for our lives, and not only for this life, but for the future life that is to come.
“Thou art the potter, I am the clay” Mould me and make me after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded and still.
*Cities in the bible played a big part in the ministry of Jesus as they do with any ministry.
MATTHEW 11:20-24
20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not:
21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell (Capernaum meaning "village of comfort", was on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in the "land of Gennesaret", just like Los Angeles is on the western shore of the United States in the land of America. Capernaum was the scene of many miracles and gracious works of the Lord. Matthew 9:1 refers to Capernaum as "Jesus' own city." – it was also the home city of many of Jesus disciples. It was also known as one of the main trading cities of that area. And so we can see a parallel in this generation of how that these two cities of ancient Capernaum and modern Los Angeles have both had the mighty works of God performed in them but failed to receive the message of God for their day, and so will both be judged on that basis): for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. (If the level of works of what Jesus did in Capernaum had been done back in the city of Sodom, then it would have cause the city of Sodom to repent and to have not been destroyed)
24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.
LUKE 1:26-27 (opening scripture)
26 ¶ And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
*The historical events of this visitation of the angel (to this virgin woman Mary from Nazareth) have repeated themselves again in our generation and in the place and the geographical location that you and I live in.
*As God had a plan for Mary and Joseph to be living in a certain geographical city called Nazareth to receive the appearing of the Angel, He does not change his plan or pattern when dealing with us, and so we know that this also applies to us of where God has placed us in our own towns and cities.
If we are a part of this end time bride of Christ, then each one of us have also had an angel visit us in this day with a message, and there has also been a conception that has taken place within us after the visitation of this angel of this day – and that word has to grow in your womb as it did in Mary’s womb.
Remember that the growth of the word in the womb of Mary took place in the city of Nazareth – and it was in that city that she had to bare the reproach for the word.
*And so just as Mary had to suffer the reproach for the word of that hour because of her unusual conception, then there is also a reproach that we have to bare in this day because of the conception that has followed the angel’s visitation of this day. And so if Mary was lied on and misunderstood in her day as a result of the angel’s message to her, so will the angel’s message of this day cause us to be lied on and misunderstood in our towns and cities also just as Mary was in Nazareth.
**And so as the world gets further away from God and from the truth of the knowledge of His word, the reproach and the rejection that we have to bare will become greater and greater. And so this is the pressure that we are all feeling, and this is why it is important to encourage one another not to be influenced and conformed to the culture of this sin cursed world.
GOD.HIDING.HIMSELF.IN.SIMPLICITY_ ALBQ.NM FRIDAY_ 63-0412E
311 Now, you hear me, then. If you believe me to be a--a messenger sent from Christ, to you, you believe me. If you're not in the Kingdom of God, you better press right quick.
312 It will not get better. It will grow worse, all the time. Now just mark that down. See? Just remember, see whether that's right or wrong. You see if it's going to be right or wrong. It's not going to get better. It's going to get worse. It's going to get harder, all the time. The revival is gone. You're only gleaning in the fields. She's over.
HOW.CAN.I.OVERCOME_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-12 SUNDAY_ 63-0825M
44 We see this age that we're living in. It's one of the grandest ages of all ages. This Laodicea Church Age is the grandest of all the church ages, because it's the ending of time and the blending of Eternity (The blending of Eternity is the revelation of this message into the heart of the believer, because this message came from eternity and into the hearts of a people of time). And, then, it's the greatest sinful age. It's more sin in this age than there's ever been. And the powers of Satan is--is many times harder to fight against than it was in any age.
**So we have to realise that this is the struggle and the pressure that we are all going through in this age, and just knowing this will help us to understand ourselves of the reproach for the word of what we are to withstand in this hour, and that God has raised up a standard of which we are able to overcome in this age because of the eagle anointing that is upon the bride of this age.
*We have left the realm of the earthly, and have flown into the realm of the heavenly of Revelation 4:1.
**Human beings were never designed by God to be rejected by their peers and to be in disagreement with their environment – but it is not the word of God that has caused this problem because the word of God has not changed, it is the environment of the spirit of the world that has changed, and so as believers we are commanded to stay with the word and not to be conformed to the world of the forever changing winds of man’s ideas.
SPIRITUAL.AMNESIA_ BIRMINGHAM.AL SATURDAY_ 64-0411
97 … if you're a Christian. You have to be identified in his rejection.
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*So it is clear that by the wisdom of God that each one of us have been placed on earth at a very precise time and season of history and into a very specific geographical location that has been custom made for us – and yet as human beings with our minute level of wisdom compared to God’s wisdom, we cannot understand why we are where we are, because to us our surroundings and our situation in life mostly looks contrary to what would seem to be for our good.
*But we know that God has a purpose in all of our struggles and misfortunes to shape our lives in a certain way so that he will be able to reveal Himself to us down through the pathways of our lives – He has every circumstance in our lives in His full control.
YE.MUST.BE.BORN.AGAIN_ GREENVILLE.SC THURSDAY_ 58-0619B
E-30 Now, we'll have to use a imagination here as to make a drama. Then the great Holy Spirit went forth, and spread forth His wings over the earth, and begin to brood for a purpose. And that was to bring forth something to project what God was. As I said the other night, "Which was first, a sinner or a Saviour?" What's all this about anyhow? Which was first a--a Healer or sickness?
Why, certainly a Healer, cer... Well, why did--why did we ever become sinners then? It had to be that way. If God is a Saviour, He had to have something to save. So there's nothing wrong; it's just all working His way. Now, I don't--couldn't say this to sinners; I'm saying it to ministers (See?) and children of God. It's all working all right, no matter what we do, or do not do; it's going to come out all right. 'Cause what God foreknew He ordained.
Now notice, then as It's a moving around, as--as--as it is. It's coming out all right, there's no need of us worrying, because it's going to be okay.
***Look what he is saying - it’s going to all work out, so there no need of us worrying – it’s all going to be okay no matter what we do or what we don’t do.
JEZEBEL.RELIGION_ MIDDLETOWN.OH V-6 N-14 SUNDAY_ 61-0319
41 And America, upon the basis of our forefathers who came here for religious freedom... We had godly men in them days as leaders: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, men of renowned character, men of God. America was America in those days.
When we look at the parallel of the nation of Israel and the nation of America, we see that how that Israel was in the East, and America is in the west. In the same way that the natural sun shines across the sky from east to west, this is how Christian history has also travelled.
And even the cities of ancient Israel and the cities of modern America are also like a parallel.
WHY.LITTLE.BETHLEHEM_ PHOENIX.AZ V-9 N-9 SATURDAY_ 63-1214
9 We're glad to be here in Jericho with you brethren this morning, and we invite you, Monday night, up to Jerusalem, at Tucson, to at the banquet down there. See, Phoenix is in the valley, like Jericho. Tucson, where I live, is on the mountain, that's--that's Jerusalem.
**Brother Branham called Tucson Jerusalem and Phoenix Jericho, because we know that the ministry of what Jesus was to Israel repeated itself again throughout the cities of America.
**We know that there are different spirits on different cities just like there are different spirits on different people, so God has to deal differently with each city (like he does with each individual person) in a way to try to combat the false spirit like how Paul had to preach a different style of message to the different churches that were in the different cities of his time - each church had a different set of problems because of the influence of the city that they were from – the spirit of the cities they lives in affected them in a way that God had to deal with them differently in order to raise up a standard against the culture of the cities that they were living in. We even see that same thing in this day with how Brother Branham would preach different messages in different places to try to win the people to God for that area.
So if America had a Jerusalem and a Jericho, and there was elect in those cities of old that Jesus preached in, then there must also be the elect of this hour in certain cities of America also, and so the message of this hour had to be preached in the modern cities of this day in order for the word to find the elect in this day of where God knew that his elected people were, because it was God who had placed them in those cities for that purpose.
**And so if a virgin came out of Nazareth in Israel in the East, then there must also be a virgin that will come out of Nazareth in the West.
THE.GOD.OF.THIS.EVIL.AGE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-9 SUNDAY_ 65-0801M
182 Look, there wasn't a meaner, wickeder, lower, prostituting city in the world, than Nazareth, and out of there God chose a virgin. "Could any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
And out of this evil age, where the god of this age has blinded the eyes of the people, with their dogmas and denominations; out of that very age, God is choosing a people for His Name.
ACTS 1:8
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
*Saint John wrote the book of Revelation on the Isle of Patmos which was a relatively small and insignificant island thirty miles off the coast of Asia Minor in the Aegean Sea. It was a rocky island with snakes, lizards, and scorpions, and because it had little commercial value, it was used by the Roman Empire for a penal colony of where were housed the more desperate of criminals and political prisoners, etc.
Convicts were guarded by Roman soldiers against leaving but were allowed relative freedom to roam the island, and most had to provide their own food and shelter.
Many of the convicts died of exposure, violent attacks by other convicts, or starvation. Tradition holds that John’s friends and followers in Ephesus sent food and other supplies to John on the island, and that is how he survived.
*So we notice here, that it was in the harshness of this geographical location that God gave to John this great revelation of the future of the seven church ages and the opening of the seven seals and the three world wars and the downfall of the Vatican and all the many other events of this end time age.
*And so this shows us somethings of how that God will often cause us by various circumstances to live in harsh and even unpleasant environments while traveling along on our earthly journey – and that it can be in these times that the greatest revelations of God will come to us.
***During the history of the 7 church ages – there was a geographical move of God of the gospel light that shone from the eastern countries to the western countries - from Jerusalem in Israel to the west coast of America in this last age. So the concentration of the light of the revelation of the word shone far greater in certain concentrated geographically places on earth.
*We see that today of what God is doing in Africa with the message spreading in certain places with many tens of thousands of people coming into the truth of the message in different geographical locations.
THE.IDENTIFIED.CHRIST.OF.ALL.AGES_ LOUISVILLE.MS WEDNESDAY_ 64-0401
150 We are told, in Zechariah 14:6 and 7, that, "There will come a day," prophet prophesied, "that they can't be called day nor night. It's a gloomy, dismal, dark day, "but in the evening time it shall be Light." The Bible said so.
Now look, in closing.
151 Geographically, the sun rises on the Eastern people, first. It rises in the East and sets in the West. Now follow me close. Civilization has traveled with the sun. We all know that, don't we? [Congregtion says, "Amen."--Ed.]
152 So has the Gospel. The Gospel started in the East. It come from the East; across, over into Germany, across the Mediterranean, into Germany; from Germany, across the English Channel, into England; from there, across the Atlantic, into the United States, on the East Coast; and has travelled to the West Coast. Now the East and West has met.
153 And the same sun that rises in the East, is the same sun that sets in the West.
** In order to receive the revelation of the seven seals, Branham had to travel further west from where he was living in Jeffersonville. So we know for certain that God uses geographical places of where a person lives to play an important part in their life spiritually of how He wants to advance his child in the revelation of himself, and so the locations of where people move to and live can have a very positive or negative influence on their spiritual life.
***Many people will place a lot of value on a city of where there are certain natural benefits such as for their work, or the price of housing, or schooling opportunities for their children etc. – and this is just a natural thing of life that is a natural human thing to do, but to my belief the Lord does it opposite to that, because to me it is more important to be where the Lord wants you to be for your advancement with God, and that may not always be in the most prosperous town or city.
***Mary was not in the best town, but it was the town that the angel of the Lord came to of where she received the revelation of the word that would later be conceived in her womb.
JOB 38:31
31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Pleiades is a group of 7 stars that are also known by some as the Seven Sisters.
It was a star that led the wise men to Bethlehem – and it was to a specific location that the star led them to in order for them to see the Christ child – for Christ to be made know to them.
*We also know that it was the seven stars in God’s right hand that he sent to the earth in order to influence the people of God during the seven church ages to lead the people to the light for their day.
*So God is in all of these things.
***He is in leading his people to certain geographical places for the purpose of revealing himself to them when they get there.
*Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem, then he had to live in Egypt for a season, then he moved to Nazareth (the city where his mother had been raised).
Once he had to go to Samaria for the woman at the well, and then at the end of his ministry He had to go to Jerusalem to die. All of these geographical locations of the journey through his life played a significant part in the plan of God for his life.
To be continued - the Lord willing...