Jericho and the Two Hiding Places Pt.3
MARK 6:37-42
37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? (Notice how their minds went straight to their financial power in order to provide bread, but Jesus wanted to open their minds up to a far greater power of the supernatural)
38 He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.
39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. (Notice again from last time - that they were gathered into groups “by companies” – in other words, they were numbered in groups)
40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. (These are like all the different message churches in their separate numbered groups, just like Joshua had every man numbered in their tribes and groups back in the first Exodus – that was a showdown, but in this third Exodus in this hour, it is the reality. So here we are just seeing the parallel in the second exodus of what took place in the first exodus, and this is also showing us what is taking place right now in the third exodus – all three Exoduses parallel)
41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
42 And they did all eat, and were filled.
Jericho and the Two Hiding Places Pt.3
PSALM 119:11
11 ¶ Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
**The heart of man is probably the best hiding place of any other hiding places.
*We think of how in war time they would take some of their captured enemy and try by different methods of persuasion and even torture to try to get the hidden secrets out of their heart in order to give them advantage over the enemy. We are also in war time now with an enemy.
THE.SEVENTH.SEAL_ JEFF.IN SUNDAY_ 63-0324E
558-4 {258} If you want something to happen... Now, you'll have to take my word for this. If I'm planning on doing something, I know better than to tell anybody about it. Not that that person will tell it, but Satan will hear it. See? He can't get it in my heart there, as long as God's got it closed up with the Holy Spirit, so it's between me and God. See? He don't know nothing about it until you speak it, then he hears it.
And I'll try... I'll people I'll do a certain-certain thing, and watch the devil cut off every wheel he can to get there (See?), to beat me to it. But if I can get the revelation from God and just don't say nothing about it, then it's different.
***So there were two people in the time of the destruction of Jericho (as a type for us today) that had things hidden in their hearts, and so we are looking at these two hiding places after the death of Moses the prophet of the first Exodus, and so that was a shadow of this hour, and so it is showing us what will be existing in this third exodus now among the believers of this hour.
MARK 6:41-42 (Read last two verses again)
41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
42 And they did all eat, and were filled.
Notice again (as we pick up from the last time), that after the death of Moses when these two unknown messengers were sent to Rahab that fed her the revelation of that hour that increased her faith to apply the token, so was it the humble local ministry that were feeding the people here in this story after the death of John the Baptist when the sensual entertainment industry was worth hundreds of billions of dollars, because Herod was willing to pay up to half his kingdom because that he had been so amazed by the entertainment that he had received – so this is exactly paralleling the conditions today after the death of the “Moses” that God has sent us in this hour, people today are also so amazed by the entertainment of this day that they are also willing to give up to half their time and money to it.
***So at this same time, and if we study carefully, we will see that it was not by Jesus hand directly that he feed the people of that hour, even though the food came from Jesus, it was given to the people by the hands of the servants that were his disciples – his followers and servants, just like Elisha sent his servant with a message to the gentile Naaman with a message the would give him a body change and turn him young again.
Pick up from last time…
So we see all these parallels of the book of Joshua paralleling Ephesians and also Laodicea of this time that we are living in now (the three Exoduses), and so after the death of Moses in the first Exodus the people were numbered and separated into tribes and heads of their families – and so that is what is also to take place in this day within the message of the hour, people are being gathered into groups and being feed the word that comes from the hand of Jesus, but that word is being given to them by humble servants.
NUMBERS 26:51-55
51 These were the numbered of the children of Israel, six hundred thousand and a thousand seven hundred and thirty.
52 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
53 Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names. (Notice that these groups here were numbered and gathered together after the death of Moses in order to go into the Promised Land and possess their inheritance)
54 To many thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to few thou shalt give the less inheritance: to every one shall his inheritance be given according to those that were numbered of him.
55 Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. (According to Paul’s tribe, and Irenaeus’s tribe, and St. Martin, and Columba, and Luther, and Wesley, and Branham – all these were the leaders of their tribes that were numbered for an inheritance of a portion of the land)
Notice - Each person under their leader and tribe were to inherit, in other words, you had to be connected with a tribe or you weren’t in the numbered and you couldn’t inherit - you couldn’t just be an individual by yourself.
HAVING.CONFERENCES_ CHAUTAUQUA.OH WEDNESDAY_ 60-0608
E-69 …Just then a voice said, "In the Bible where it's said that Jacob was gathered with his people and the other one; this is liken unto that, where you'll gather with your--where you will gather with your people."
… And I said, "Will Saint Paul have to stand before his converts?"
Said, "Absolutely, he will too."
I said, "I never varied one word; I stayed just exactly the way the Bible said it. I don't care what anyone said, or did not say; I stayed right with it like that. So if Paul's group is saved, mine is too."
Paul and Brother Branham were both heads of their tribes with the ones who were numbered under their ministries who followed them and believed their message and hid that message in their hearts and protected the message and the messengers just like we saw with our message from the other week “A Hiding Place” but there was also another hiding place in Jericho that Achan (who was also a believer of the message of that hour) had hidden something – and so we don’t want to hide what he hid because we know where that story ended because certain pathways have certain endings
EPHESIANS 1:4
4 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:
The word “Love” is mentioned 14 times in the book of Ephesians, and each time it is mentioned it is always the Greek word “agape”, agape love, which is a divine love, , not Eros love, not Phileo love, but agape Love which is an unconditional love not based upon how nice you are to me.
BEYOND.THE.CURTAIN.OF.TIME_ JEFF.IN SUNDAY_ 61-0305
E-25 …I am more convinced than ever in my life, that it will take perfect love to enter that place. There was no jealousy, no tiredness, no sickness, no old age, no death, only supreme beauty and joy. (Hallelujah!)
Whatever you do, lay aside everything else until you get perfect love. Get to where you can love everybody, even every enemy.
**The last recorded sermon that brother Branham preaches before he has this experience of beyond the curtain of time is a message called “I Know” taken from Job 19 – I know my redeemer liveth
JOB 19:15-27
15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.
17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body.
18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 ¶ Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!
25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
After brother Branham preaches this message “I Know” (17th April 1960), it is after then that he is taken into that other world and has the experience of “beyond the curtain of time” because he also has to come to an “I Know” understanding of that you don’t just float around on a cloud like a vapour of smoke when you get to heaven, but you are in a real body that can touch and feel – “in my flesh I shall see God”.
**Then immediately after this experience he preaches the message “The Rejected King” because like Job he was being rejected within his household of religious associates, and then he moves straight into the series of Adoption which he goes into the book of Ephesians and shows us how Ephesians of the New Testament parallels the Joshua of the Old Testament just as we have been showing.
**And so in the book of Joshua we find that there are two people hiding things in their “house” and “hearts” because after their victory at Jericho the next place they came to was Ai, a small city, and we know that the children of God were defeated at Ai.
JOSHUA 7:3-13
3 And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few.
4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.
5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.
6 ¶ And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads.
7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan!
8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!
9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
10 ¶ And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face?
11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.
12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.
13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the LORD God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.
The problem wasn’t that they weren’t promised an inheritance, the problem was the disobedience to the word and what was hidden in their tent, there houses. You cannot live in disobedience to the word in your heart and also possess your inheritance at the same time.
JOSHUA 7:14-21
14 In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the LORD taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the LORD shall take shall come by households; and the household which the LORD shall take shall come man by man.
15 And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.
16 ¶ So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken:
17 And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken:
18 And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
19 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me.
20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:
21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.
Look what Rahab hid in her house, and the blessing that that brought to her and her family, and then look at what Achan hid is his house, in the midst of his tent.
Covertness is something that is in the heart, it is a heart condition.
It would appear to the naturally minded man that after the death of Moses that God failed to keep his promise to the children of Israel, but the real problem was what was hidden in the house – in the heart, that’s what was causing the entire group to fail.
But what caused this “message believer” to disbelieve and consequently disobey the commandment of Joshua – part of it was the worldly influence that he had been exposed to in the new land. It affected his attitude toward the word for that hour so that he didn't really believe it in his heart, he became lukewarm in his attitude to the word.
REVELATION 3:14-20
14 ¶ And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
PSALM 119:11
11 ¶ Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
It’s the revelation of it that we are to hide – Achan knew the letter of the word, but it wasn’t real enough to him – he had been dazzled by the garments and the entertainment and the gold of Laodicea, and he had become lukewarm towards the message of that hour.
***Rahab had hidden the word in her heart, but Achan had let the word leak out and had replaced it for something else that he hid in his heart, and that was a covetous spirit for the dainties and riches of Babylon – both were in Jericho, both had families, and both were followers of a God sent prophet.
What are we hiding in our hearts as our real motives and objectives? If we are hiding the wrong thing in our tent then we need to get rid of that real fast, but if we are hiding the word and the message of this hour, then we can go on into a great inheritance. These things are great lessons for us in this hour.
***Herod loved sensual entertainment, he was willing to pay a huge price for it, but it was that that trapped him and forced him to destroy the headship of the prophet that God had sent for that hour.
**What is the price that we are willing to pay in this hour for these eternal things? Herod was willing to pay up to half his kingdom because the entertainment was so amazing to him – but if we can only realise that in this hour that the word and the promises of this hour is by far even more amazing, then there is also a price that we must be willing to pay for that.