The Entombment

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Blessed Heavenly Father, with the presence of the Holy Spirit already here, we approach Thy Holy Word. And although with a bad voice trying to hold back, and speak the words just as slow and steady as I can, I ask for Your divine guidance and the unction of the Holy Spirit to move among us tonight. And may He who is omnipresent, may He take the Word of God and give it to every heart, just as we have need. May He feed us tonight, upon the good things of God.
And tonight, while we are talking on the Word, may our hearts be many miles into Calvary, where Jesus paid that all-sufficient price that was required of the great judgments of God, from the garden of Eden. And today may we realize that we are freely justified by His resurrection, and by His death, burial, and resurrection.

2 And tonight we are no longer of the world, for we have been bought with the price of the precious blood of the Son of God. And may we, with grateful hearts, turn to Thee tonight, with all the mind and strength that we have within us, and serve Thee with a pure, unadulterated heart.
Grant tonight, Father, if there would be some here that does not know You, in the pardoning of their sins, may they this night come humbly to the cross, and there confess their sins to the God that is just to forgive. And may this be a great night for us all. We ask it in the name of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.

3 Now we do realize that there is no one in the earth that is able sufficiently to take the Word of God and reveal it, because the Word is written by inspiration. The Holy Spirit is the Author of the Word.
And when one was sought for, in heaven, to take the book and to loose the seals, there was found no one in heaven, nor in earth, nor beneath the earth, that was worthy to loose the seals, or even to look upon the book. And there was a Lamb there that had been slain since the foundation of the world, and He come and took the book out of the hand of Him that sat upon the throne, and loosed the seals and opened up the Word.
And we are tonight believing and trusting in Him, that He will open the Word for us. And now as I read in 2nd chapter of Acts...

4 As I give out, the first night was The Second Coming Of The Lord Jesus, being Wednesday. And Thursday night was on The All-Sufficient Sacrifice. And Friday night was on The All-Sufficient Atonement; The Perfect. Did you get it last night? Perfect: how we can be absolutely blameless and perfect in the sight of God! And tonight is on The Entombment. And tomorrow, The Resurrection. Just as the days follow.

5 Now I have chosen tonight, for my Scripture reading, out of the book of Acts, the 2nd chapter and the 25th, 26th, and 27th verses, inclusive. And it reads as this (Peter speaking):
For David spake concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
Because thou will not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.
What a beautiful text for this night to get the context of Him being in the tomb.

6 The first thing we wish to draw your attention to, is the infallibility of God's Word. God keeps His Word, to the letter. And tonight we want to fasten our thoughts on that: that God keeps His Word. We can rest assure of anything that God has said in His Word to be the truth. And faith does not rest upon the shifting sands of men's ideas or men's theology, but it has its final resting place on the unmovable Rock of God's eternal Word.
The Word! If God has said it, that is forever the truth. He can never take it back and say, "I did not mean it." I can say things, you can say things; then we are prone to have to take it back, because we said it with the best of our knowledge and with the best of our ability. But, then, God is so much different from us. He is infinite, therefore He does not say one thing unless it is absolutely perfect. He never has to take it back, never has to apologize for what He said. It always stands, the truth.

7 Even for Jesus, in this great days that we're in celebration, when God really slayed His Son for the sins of the world, was perhaps thousands of years before even the foundation was ever laid. God spoke the Word, and it's a finished product in heaven when God speaks it; it's already finished. Oh, if we could only grasp what that means, what different people we would be. To see in His books, the judgments that is placed in here for the disobedient, it would make a man examine himself, hour by hour; and it would make the righteous rejoice, hour by hour, to read the blessings that God has promised to the faithful. And we can rest assure that every word will be fulfilled---just anchor our soul on it. It's always been that way.

8 When God spoke to Noah, way back in the antediluvian world---maybe perhaps before a Bible was ever written, or this Bible, anyhow, was ever written---God told Noah there was coming a storm, and the waters were going to cover the earth. And without one speck of evidence that it would happen---everything very contrary---Noah moved with fear, and built the ark, prepared it. It was for the saving of his household and himself. God never let him down, because it was His Word. It had to happen when God said it would happen.

9 Now, when Job, the oldest book in the Bible, that's written perhaps before Genesis was written, and it was included in the Bible. And Moses wrote the Genesis. Job, in his book, he rested solemnly upon the promise God made him. And he stood by his burnt offering, without a fear in his heart; knowing that what God had said, God was able to perform. And when everything seemed to go contrary, Job stood firm because God's promise was firm. God promised Job, and Job rested on that promise.

10 Oh, if the church could ever get to that place to where it could solemnly rest upon God's eternal Word to be the truth! What a difference there would be, what a correcting there would be, what a cutting away there would be, what a joy there would be, what a power there would be, when men and women would take God at face value, what He said is the truth. No matter what the circumstances look like, that has nothing to do with it. God said so; that settles it.
And Job, when he was in the most trying time of all his experience; when he had been found, in the presence of God, a just man. Even God said he was perfect. There was none like him in the earth. And Satan was given the privilege to tempt him, saying, "I'll make him curse You to Your face."
And he almost took Job's life (and would have done it), but God drawed a boundary line, said, "You can do anything to him, but don't take his life."

11 Then when Job stood at the very tempting of the crucial moment, he said, "I know my Redeemer liveth, and at the last days He will stand on the earth. Though the skin worms destroys this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." No matter how dark it seemed and how unreal it seemed, there was something that Job anchored his soul on: God's eternal promise. Oh, if we could only do that! Notice, he rested on the promise, "I know my Redeemer liveth."
And I want you to notice, for future words I wish to say, Job specified his burying place. And when Job died, he was buried thus.

12 There was another man by the name of Abraham, who took God at His Word. And he believed God. And he called those things which were contrary to the promise God give him, as though they were not. He took God at His Word. And when the days passed, and the weeks and the months, and even the years passed, that never phased Abraham one bit. The Bible said, "He staggered not, through unbelief, at the promise of God; but was faithful, giving praise unto God."
When everything seemed to, every day... It simply did grow more difficult every day; but instead of getting weaker, Job got stronger every day. Oh, what a blessed assurance we have! When difficulties seems to rise to make the thing that God has promised, an impossibility; instead of cowering off back into the world, we ought to stand the more firm than we ever stood on "Thus saith the Lord." It ought to settle it when God says something.

13 And Abraham called those things which were, as though they were not, because they were contrary to the Word. And when Abraham lost his sweetheart and wife, Sarah, after many years living together, he bought a portion of ground near the place where Job was buried, and buried Sarah. Wonder why? They were prophets. They seen. They contacted God. And now when Abraham died, he was buried with Sarah.
Now, he did not want these fellows to give him that portion of ground. He bought it, before witnesses. What a beautiful type of baptism! He bought it, before witnesses, that it was his possession. Oh, that's the way a real believer ought to come, not slip off in the corner, but stand before the witnesses, "I am a witness of the Lord Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit, and of His great works," and so much more as we see this evil day approaching.

14 And then when Abraham's son, which was Isaac, the promise was to be given him. And when Isaac died, he was buried with Abraham. And Isaac begot Jacob.
And when Jacob died, way down in Egypt... But notice: Before he died, he said to his prophet son, Joseph, "Come here, son, and put your hand upon my crippled hip." For remember how he was crippled, is because the Angel of the Lord touched his hip, and he limped from that day on. He said, "Lay your hand on my hip, and sware to me by the God of our fathers, that you'll not bury me down here in Egypt." Why? Oh, they had the Word; they had the revelation!

15 And may I stop here to say that the church of the living God is built upon divine revelation---not upon denomination, organization, not upon creeds or doctrines---but on spiritual revealed truth of the living God.
Abel, in the garden of Eden had it when the church began. How did he know to bring a lamb? Why didn't he bring fruit like Cain did? But it was revealed to him.
Jesus once speaking, said, "Who does men say I the Son of man am?"
"Some said You are 'Moses,' and 'Elijah,' so forth."
He said, "But who do you say I am?"
You see, it doesn't rest upon what somebody else thinks; it's what you know to be the truth. "What do you say?" That question would meet every one of us in the face tonight: "What do you say?"
And Peter quickly speaking up, without one hesitation, said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
As Jesus who knowed the secrets of all hearts, for He was none other than Jehovah manifested in flesh, and He said, "Blessed art thou, Simon, the son of Jonas, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in heaven has did this. And upon this rock I'll build My church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it."

16 And we people as we come on: We Lutheran want to walk by faith, we Methodists want to shout to get it, you Pentecostals want to speak with tongues to get it, but that's ten million miles from it.
It is a divine revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the person of His being made manifest in the heart: "Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." It works perfect with Matthew 24, ... 5:24 ... or, St. John 5:24: "He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life; and shall never come into condemnation, but has passed from death unto life." Not because you had any move, any emotion; but because you have been ... the privilege of having Christ revealed to you from heaven: "Upon this rock I'll build My church."

17 And Jacob, when he died, his son had his body packed up, and he was buried with Abraham, Isaac, Sarah, and Job, in the Holy Land, in Palestine.
Then, Joseph, being a prophet... He prospered down in Egypt. He knew God. God had revealed Himself to him. And when he died, said, "Don't you bury my bones down here, but put... Someday God will surely visit you!" Why? He rested solemnly upon the Word of God to Moses: "Four hundred years they'll serve this nation, but I'll bring them out." He rested solemnly upon the Word.
And what a beautiful illustration here, if you'll notice. Every Hebrew passing by, with his back beat to pulp, by slave drivers. And when he looked upon the bones of his prophet, Joseph, he knew someday they were going out. For, those bones were left there for a memorial, that someday they would go out.

18 It's been about fifteen or eighteen years ago when Billy Paul, a little boy about five years old, hardly so much... We had a little flower we was taking to his mommy's grave, at daybreak one morning, on Easter, just as the sun was coming, peeping up ... or, just before daylight, it was, then going to the service. And as we walked down to the grave, the little fellow took off his hat as we moved to where his little sister and his mother was buried. And he begin to snub and cry, and he said, "Daddy, is mommy down there in that hole?"
I said, "No, son. She is not down there in that hole. She is a million times better off than you and I."
He said, "Will I see mommy again?"
I said, "By the grace of God, if you desire it, you can see her again."
Said, "Will her body ever come up from this grave?"
I said, "Honey, close your eyes, and I will tell you a little story. Many hundred years ago, this morning, there was a tomb left empty." I said, "It's a memorial. 'To those who sleep in God will Christ bring with Him when He comes.'" Without a shadow of doubt, I rest solemnly upon God's eternal promise.

19 As Job of old, when we hear that "ashes to ashes, and dust to dust," it reminds me of Longfellow, who said:
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is just an empty dream!
And the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
He said:
Yea, life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
For dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
They call it a theophany, that when we leave here we go in somewhere else. Whatever it may be, I take the apostle's word, when he said, "If this earthly tabernacle (or dwelling place) be dissolved, we have one already waiting, to move from this into that."

20 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, all the prophets, they trusted and believed that there was coming a resurrection, that the Redeemer was coming. They prophesied of Him. Enoch prophesied of Him; rested solemnly, sealed his testimony with it. Isaac, Jacob, Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, they rested solemnly upon the time that the Messiah would come.
And they died and their souls went into paradise. They could not go in the presence of God, because (we had it last night) that the blood of bulls and goats could not forgive sins; it only covered sins, speaking of a day when the perfect sacrifice; because the blood in the animal could not come back to the worshipper, for then he would have not ceased to offer sacrifices of that type.
But when the Son of God died, the life that was in Him was none other but God, to come back and adopt us into the family of God. And now we are children of God---the life from His blood.

21 Now notice quickly, as we follow. When back in the Old Testament, and those who believed and worshipped, and died in the faith, waiting for that time. The reason those prophets did that and wanted to be buried in Palestine: they knew that the resurrection was not going to be in Egypt. It was going to be in Palestine, alone.
That's what I say tonight. I've got all kinds of names; I don't care what people call me, that doesn't mean a thing to me. The only thing that I want to do, is know this: that I have been dead, and my life is hid in Christ, through God, and sealed by the Holy Ghost; that when He calls from among the dead, I'll answer on that day. Bury me in Christ, for those that are in Christ will God bring with Him at that day.

22 How do we get in Christ? I Corinthians 12:13, "By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, and become fellow citizens of the kingdom of God." We profess to be pilgrims and strangers on this earth, anymore, not seeking these worldly things, but looking for the coming of the blessed King to take over the domain, from sea to boundless sea, when He comes in His glory. Certainly, we look for His coming.

23 And then no doubt in my mind, but that's what Jesus had in His mind when He was here on earth, was that infallibility of God's eternal Word. For, we know that in Him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The entire Godhead was in Him. He was both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that dwelt in a human form; the theophany of God, the great image of God that He made man in, then placed him in the earth. He had a body. God isn't without a body. God's got a body, and it looks like a man. Moses saw it, others saw it, and it looks like a man.
And it's just an impression, this is, of what that is. And everything on earth, the beauty, the sweetness, the beauty of the earth, is nothing else in the world but an answer to a far better than that, that waits us when we leave this world. For, everything in earth is just a pattern of that which is in heaven. Everything that's good, everything that's righteous, everything that's beautiful---trees, birds, everything---is just a pattern of what's in heaven.
Our own life is just a pattern. It's just a shadow, and not the real thing. It's the negative side. It takes death to develop the picture, to put us back in the theophany we come from. Then in the resurrection we come in His likeness, a resurrected body. What a beautiful; not only beautiful, but it is the real, solemn truth of God's eternal Word: that we'll be like Him.

24 Notice, now Jesus, invested with all the powers of God, but, when He met Satan, He never used any of His powers. He only referred to the Word! He did. He said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.'"
Then how can you say you can stay home and be just as good a Christian as you would be at church? You can't do it. Read the Word. The Holy Spirit feeds on the Word. The Bible is God's spiritual diet for His church. And the Holy Spirit is the One who brings it to you and places it in the heart, and with thanksgiving you water it. And every divine promise will produce just exactly what God said it would do. It's got to. It's His Word, and it's life.

25 Now, I had forgot that I was just supposed to have a half hour. It takes me so long to get to what I want to say.
But notice, Jesus in the last hour or two, of His life, many, many prophecies was fulfilled.
Someone said to me, "Brother Branham, this has to happen, and that has to happen."
I said, "It could happen in an hour."
If you'll read the 22nd Psalm, and then watch His dying hour at the cross, I just forget now how many outstanding prophecies was fulfilled in the last two or three hours of His life! Certainly, "They pierced My feet and My hands. My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" and so forth, as David cried it.

26 And then another thing I want you to notice: the truth, the infallible part of God's Word. The Bible said, "He keeps all His bones, not one of them is broken." For in the type, the paschal lamb was a type of it. The lamb must be without a blemish, no broken bones must be in the lamb. And at the hour when He had died, they went up to break His legs with a hammer. And just before... Look at that very crucial moment! The man with the hammer, ready to strike his legs, but God's Word said, "There'll not be one bone broke in His body." "How is it going to happen?" We get in a hurry.

27 God's Word is eternal! If God's Word is that perfect, them who are in Christ is just as sure to raise as there is a resurrection. God's just as obligated to His Word, to heal you, as He is to save you. For it's His Word that promised it. It's God's Word, and we have no right to take away from it. But just say, "It's the truth." Believe it. No matter what happens, believe it, anyhow. That's the way the rest of them had to believe it, and we're not excluded from that. God gave Palestine to Israel, but they had to fight for every inch of ground they got. The promise is yours, but you have to fight for every inch you claim; the devil will see to that, certainly he will.

28 But notice, when they were ready to break the legs of our Lord Jesus, if that hammer would have struck the leg and broke it, God would have been found false. But there wasn't enough devils in all dark torment to let that hammer strike that precious body. For David, eight hundred years before had said, "There will not be one bone broke in His body." God's Word has to stand truth.
But what did they do then? They took a spear and rammed it in His side, and blood and water came out, to fulfill what the Bible said, "They pierced My hands and My side." The Word was fulfilled.

29 Now when He was dying, oh, what a dreadful hour! I think of that song... And, honest, it just makes me feel terrible when I think that song that the poet wrote many years ago.
Mid rendering rocks and darkening skies,
My Saviour bowed His head and died;
The opened veil revealed the way
To heavens joys and endless day.
And when He was hanging there, bleeding and dying, when He bowed His head, the sun got so ashamed of himself, to look down upon mortal creatures who God made in His image; would have to pay such a price as that, to redeem it; the sun refused to look down on the earth in that hour. The moon was so embarrassed till he withdrew his place. And the stars turned their back to the earth. What a horrible thing sin must be, how God had to deal with it.

30 And to see those mocking priests, with spit hanging in His face. A man hit Him on the head, with a reed, and said, "If You're a Prophet, tell us who hit You." One of them pulled the beard from His face, and smacked Him on the face, and wanted Him to take up for Himself.
He said, "If My kingdom was of this world, I would straightway call My Father, He'd send Me twelve legions of angels."
It could have been changed, but how could He do it? He just couldn't do it, for it was His own children crying out for His blood. Could you imagine a daddy, a father, with his own children (in darkness) crying out for their own father's blood? That's the reason He could do nothing else but die. If He didn't, it was doom for His children, it was doom for the creatures. But He had to die, to save His people.

31 And when He did, when He bowed His head, this old earth had a shiver run over its back. It must have had a nervous prostration, for the Bible said that "the whole earth, from the sixth to the ninth hour, was dark, over the whole face of the earth." And the earth shook, and the rocks rent. And the temple veil tore from top to the bottom; the sacrifice blocks turned over. The Son of the living God died. He was so dead until the sun recognized it. He was so dead till the moon recognized it. He was so dead till the stars recognized it. He was so dead till the earth recognized it. He was so dead till the elements recognized it, the atmospheres recognized it. Everything had to know that was the Son of God! For, God's Word could not fail. He was promised from the garden of Eden, "The seed that would bruise the serpent's head."

32 Now what happened to Him? Where did He go when He left the cross and went in Joseph of Arimathaea's tomb?
He was so poor He had not a place to lay His head. He was born in a manger, with a black name behind Him, as "an illegitimate child." He was laughed at, made fun of, scoffed at, in the earth. He was made fun of, and rejected. And when He died, He had to die through capital punishment, between two thieves. And did not even have a place to bury, and He was buried in another man's grave. The very God of heaven coming to earth! Who do we think we are, that have to go through a little suffering? What He did for us! Think of it, friend, study of it.

33 The Roman soldier said, "Truly, that's the Son of God." The sinner had to recognize it. Judas said, "I have betrayed innocent blood." He had to recognize it. The whole earth recognized it.
Then where did He go? When a man dies, does that finish it? No, sir. He had to die that way because God's Bible said that He would die that way. And He trusted God's Word. That's the reason He could say, in His life, "Destroy this temple, and I'll raise it up in three days."
For David said one place, only in the Bible, under the inspiration, when David, the man of God, the prophet that was anointed with the Word, said, "I'll not suffer My Holy One to see corruption, neither will I leave His soul in hell."

34 Jesus said, "You destroy this body, and I'll raise it up in three days." He knowed that God's Word could not fail. Oh, my!
If He could rest solemnly upon that, believing that God's Word could not fail, how much more can we rest as solemnly that we have been born again by the Holy Ghost, and it a witness in our heart right now that we know that our Redeemer liveth and will come again someday. Rest assure that those that are in Christ will God bring with Him. Now notice.
There He was. He knew that not one cell of that body would corrupt. Seventy-two hours, corruption sets in. That's the reason He never stayed the three days. He died on Friday afternoon, was up Sunday morning. But, it was within them three days. Within those three days He was to rise again, because He trusted God's Word.

35 Here He goes. Where did He leave when He left? The Bible said, "He ascended. He went and preached to the souls that were in prison, that repented not in the long-suffering of the days of Noah." His soul, His Spirit, His theophany of His own being, went down. Let's follow Him. Would you like, tonight, to follow Him a few minutes? Let's see where He went.
Just below the regions of mortal beings lays the realm of demon power; just above that lays the souls of the unjust; below it lays the very domain of Satan: hell. Then just above us lays the Holy Spirit; then under the altar lays the souls of the just men; then next is God Himself. One going downward, one going upward; the two spirits are here on earth, influencing the people of this earth.

36 And when Jesus died, He goes up, down there. I can see Him on that Friday afternoon, after His death, [Brother Branham knocks.] knock on the door of the regions of the lost. Let's follow Him a minute. The door opens. There was women, there was men, there were young ladies, there were old, they were all together in that hideous place called the prison of the lost souls.
If I had time, I'd like to tell you... And it might be just a vision. But one time I visited that place, and screamed for mercy, when I was a sinner going under an operation. When I come out, I was standing in the West, with my hands up towards the heaven, and a cross shining on me.

37 But in that mournful place there, Jesus walked to the door. Everything had to witness that He was the Son of God, because they had been preached to in the long-suffering of the days of Noah. Knocks at the door, He said, "I am He who Enoch spoke of. I am the seed of the woman, that was to bruise the serpent's head. Every word of God has been fulfilled; I've just died yonder at Calvary, and I have purchased My church. And the One that Enoch spoke of, I am He." And they were without mercy, without hope, because they had transgressed. And the door was shut in their face.

38 On down into the regions of demons! On down to the very gates of hell! He knocks at the door. [Brother Branham knocks.]
This is when He was in the tomb---His body is---waiting the resurrection. He visited the places that the just and unjust go; where you'll go one of these days, to one or the other places.
And He knocks [Brother Branham knocks] at the door of hell. And, when He did, the devil come out. And I can just hear him say, "Oh, so finally You arrived. I sure thought I had You when I killed Abel."

39 You see, when that seed was promised in the Garden of Eden, the devil has constantly tried to destroy that seed. And the death of Abel, and the coming of Seth, was just a death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. That seed must continue. And he tried to destroy it.
He said, "I thought I had You when I destroyed Abel. I thought I had You when I destroyed the prophets. I was positive I had You when I beheaded John. But now, after all, You've arrived. I've got You now." Oh, my!

40 I can hear Him say, "Satan, come here!" He's boss now. Reaches over, grabs that key of death and hell off his side, hung it on His own side. "I want to serve notice on you. You've been a bluff long enough. I am the virgin-born Son of the living God. My blood is still wet on the cross, and the full debt is paid! You have no rights no more. You are stripped. Give me those keys!" That's right. Turns around and gives him a good healthy kick, and slams the door together, and says, "Stay in there! I'm boss from now on."
Now, He didn't have the keys to the kingdom, because He give them to Peter; we get on that in the morning, in water baptism. But He had the keys to death and hell, and He took them; after His resurrection, He said, "I got the keys of death and hell." Peter had the keys of the kingdom. Satan had the keys of death and hell; but now Jesus has got them; He's boss.

41 Here He starts up. It's getting Easter; time is passing fast. But there is another group. Where is Job? Where is Abraham? Where are they at? Where is those fellows that trusted God's Word? Has He forgotten them? Did death annihilate them? Was that all of it? Never, never; God has to keep His Word.
I can see Him. Let's take a little peep into Paradise, and look over there. And I see Sarah and Abraham walking around there, and after a while [Brother Branham knocks.] something on the door. Abraham goes and opens the door, said, "Honey, come here. Look here. Look here, that's the very same One that stood with me under the oak that day." He is Abraham's God.
Just then I can see Daniel look over his shoulder, and say, "That's the Rock that was hewed out of the mountain, just as certain as I'm standing here."
I see Job raise up, said, "That's my Redeemer that I said I knew that lived, and someday He would stand upon the earth. My body may not be but a little spoonful of ashes, but in fifteen minutes from now I'll be in it again. That's Him."
Ezekiel looks over the top, and said, "I seen that same person as a wheel in the middle of the wheel, turning, way up in the middle of the air." Oh, my!
Then up comes Enoch. Enoch said, "I saw Him coming with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment."

42 There was the Old Testament saints waiting (sure, they was), under the atonement of blood. They could not go in the presence of the God of heaven, because goat and sheep blood could not take away sin.
But He said, "My brethren, I am the One that you think I am. I am the seed of the woman. I am the Son of David. I am the Son of God. I am the virgin-born One. My blood has atoned for it. You waited under the blood of sheep and goats, but now My blood atones, and you're free. Let's go up, it's getting almost Easter." Just think, that was just about nineteen hundred and something years ago, tonight.

43 I can hear Abraham say, "Lord, when we get up in our body again; Sarah and I just loved it so well; do You mind if we make a little whistle stop out here on Your road?"
Well, I can hear Him say, "Why, no, certainly not. I'm going to stay with My disciples for about forty days. Look around and see how everything looks."
On that glorious Easter morning (where we'll take up in the morning, the Lord willing) when He rose from the dead, the Bible said, according to St. Matthew 27, that "Many of the saints that slept in the dust of the earth, rose and come out of the graves." Who was it? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, those who by spiritual revealed revelation knowed that the Redeemer would stand on the earth someday. That's them, the first fruits of those that slept. There they walked in the city. I can see Sarah and Abraham, young, and full of ... and handsome, and full of life, never to be old no more, never to be sick no more, never to hunger no more, walking around in their body.

44 Caiaphas standing there, saying, "You know what? There was something happened the other day; just look at this mess this temple is in. We're going to have to get someone to sew that curtain up. Look at those sacrifice boxes turned over. What happened? Was that guy an astrologer? Was He a witch? Or, what happened? Say! Come here, Josephus; who is that young couple standing there?"
Abraham said, "Sarah, we're recognized. We better get out."
"Appeared to many!" That wasn't all of it. (In closing, watch.) One day after they'd visited ... Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all of them had visited the homeland when Jesus ascended up...
You say, "Brother Branham, is that mythical?" No, sir! I will show you in the Scriptures, in a minute.
When He begin to go up, they only seen Him, but the Old Testament saints went with Him, for the Bible said that "He led captivity captive, and give gifts unto men." And I can see Him as He goes up, and joins with His church.

45 Two angels out of the band that were playing the music, come back there, and said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up? For this same Jesus, that was taken up, is coming again." Certainly! They hurried back to join the procession.
And down through the skies Jesus and the Old Testament saints went. They passed the moon, they passed the sun, they passed the stars. And when they got in sight of that great, beautiful white heavens, the Old Testament saints screamed out, quoting Scripture, "Lift up, ye everlasting gates, and be ye lifted up! Lift up, ye everlasting gates, and be ye lifted up! And let the King of glory come in!"
All the angels gathered up on the top of the banisters of heaven, and said, "Who is this King of glory?"
The Old Testament saints said, "The Lord of hosts, mighty in battle! He was a conqueror!"

46 The angel pressed the big button, and the pearly gates swung open.
Right down through the city of Jerusalem come the great, mighty conqueror, bringing the Old Testament saints. The angelic bands a-playing, and the angels are shouting. He was the mighty Conqueror! He had the keys of death and hell hanging on His side, going right down past the palaces of Glory till He got to the Throne. And He said, "Father, here they are. They believed, in faith on Your Word, that I would come someday. I have conquered both death and hell." What was it, brother? He had the scars in His hand, to show that He had been in the battle. Glory to God in the Highest! He is that mighty conqueror! "Here they are, Father: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
I can hear Him say, "Son, climb up here by My side, and sit down until I make every enemy Your footstool." Brother, someday He will come again, and what a day it'll be!
He wasn't idle when He was in the tomb. We think He was just laying there, dead. But He was down, still conquering: He went down and took the keys away from Satan, He's got the keys of both death and hell, tonight. He said, "Because I live, you can live, also."

47 I wonder tonight, my dear brother, sister, have you thought that over sincerely? Do you realize that you only live because He lives. Have you appreciated it enough to offer up yourself, and say, "God, here I am, a sinner, be merciful to me."? Have you ever accepted that all-sufficient Sacrifice? Have you ever told Him you loved Him? Does it hurt your feelings when you do wrong? If you've never come to that experience now, in this entombment! When, our time is getting away. Just feeling fine. But, I'm wondering, if you haven't ever received Christ as your personal Saviour, I wonder if you would do it while we bow our heads just a moment in a word of prayer.

48 Play that, Mid Rendering Rocks, if you will, Sister Gertie, if you have it. All right, anything will do.
With your heads bowed, I'm going to ask you a real sincere question. Remember, friends---sinner or saint---you're not out of existence when we bury you. Your soul is somewhere. Now, Jesus visited both places, according to the Scriptures. Where would He find you if you would go tonight? Would you have the door of mercy shut in your face because you've rejected? Remember, not only is He a Saviour, He's a Judge. You're the judge now; how do you judge Him? Let Him be your Saviour now.

49 Little story comes to my mind. Sometime ago a little boy was sitting in a wagon. A gun fired down the street, and the horses run away and was going over a cliff. A young cowboy run and stopped the horses just before the wagon went over the cliff, because it had a baby in it. He saved the little one's life.
Many years after that, standing in the courthouse... This same boy had done a crime, took the road that's wrong, been guilty. He was drinking, gambling, shot a man; and was guilty, found guilty. And the judge raised up and said, "I sentence you to hang by your neck until your mortal life is gone."

50 That young man said, "Judge!" And he broke the court procession, as he jumped over the rail and fell at the judge's feet, for mercy.
He said, "Judge, look at my face. Don't you know me?"
He said, "No, son, I don't."
He said, "You remember a certain little boy's life that you saved, many years ago, from a runaway horse?"
He said, "Yes, I remember it."
He said, "I am that boy." He said, "Judge, you saved me then. Save me now."
The judge looked down at him, and said, "Son, that day I was your savior. Today I'm your judge."
Today He's your Saviour, sinner; tomorrow He may be your Judge. Let's think it over now, as the music plays. And everyone praying, those who are on praying grounds with God.

51 I wonder tonight now, quickly, those who would like to accept Christ as personal Saviour, say, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I want to come by the shed blood. I'm tired of joining churches and running from place to place. I want to be born again. I want an experience in my heart that I know that Christ has revealed Himself to me, by the spiritual revelation that you just spoke of, Brother Branham. I want the spiritual revelation, the Holy Spirit in my heart, making me alive, bringing Christ more real to me than I am to myself. I desire that experience, Brother Branham. Will you pray for me as I raise my hand?" Will you raise your hand now, who desires to be remembered? God bless you, lady. God bless you back there, lady. That's good. God bless you, sir. That's good. Raise your hands, now go on up with your hand.

52 How would you be shameful? Could you reject such as that, friend? Remember.
"Oh," you say, "Brother Branham, preachers has preached for years." I know, but one of these days they're going to cease preaching. And the way things look, it might be right away. You're going to hear your last sermon. Frankly, this may be your last.
"Oh," you say, "I'm young." That doesn't matter. Death is no respect of person, or age or ability.
Will you now accept Him as personal Saviour, by raising your hand, saying, "God, be merciful to me"? Raise your hands with the rest of these, and say, "Now I want to accept Christ." Will you raise up your hand?

53 Somebody that's backslid, say, "God, be merciful to me. I want to come back to Christ this night, that tomorrow might be a resurrection, new, for me." Would you raise your hands? Bring up your hand, say, "Be merciful to me. I want to now come." Will you do it? Raise up your hand, say, "I've been a backslider, but..." God bless you, lady. God bless you. That's good. "I will accept Christ as my personal Saviour. I will accept Him tonight. I've wandered, many years away from God, but now I'm coming home." Will you accept Him tonight, that this might be a new resurrection for you, your old life might be finished?

54 This lady is coming up to the altar, to make her confession, to stand. Somebody else want to take their place here, come up here with her, on their confession? Would you stand up, and come up to the altar, too? The altar is open. Certainly. Come right on up, right now. If you want to stand here and pray, it'll be just all right. Come on. Will you come? Upon the confession of your faith, upon your belief in the Son of God, will you now come? All right.
It's up to you, remember. You are the one. Are you a sinner? Are you a backslider? Are you cold and away from Christ? Do you want to be raised anew with Him now, start life anew? How about you, husband and wife that's been at outs for a long time, fussing in your home? Won't you come and straighten that thing up with God and each other now? Make Easter really an Easter for you, start a new home.

55 What about you that's never been, has never had prayer in your home, you just go home from church and try to live the best you can, never bring your family together and pray? That's why we got juvenile delinquency and the things we got. That's why the American homes are broke up. Won't you come, start anew tonight? Will you do it? You're invited. Remember, I'm your minister now; I will be a witness on that day. While we have our heads bowed, then, now for prayer.

56 Our Blessed Heavenly Father, tonight we bring to Thee this audience, in the most solemn sacred solemnity that we know how. We humbly approach Thy Throne. And after the message tonight, that great entombment, He never laid silent, His soul went right on into the regions and finished the work of God, that He was ordained to do. And tomorrow morning, we find where He went through the realms above, conquering everything, in His resurrection. But He come out on Easter morning for our justification. And we find that He sent the Holy Spirit back, to convict men of sin.
And we pray tonight, Lord, that those who raised their hands may be remembered before Thee. May their decision be from their heart tonight, that they have received You, and believe You, and may they be sealed away by the seal of promise tonight, the Holy Spirit. Grant it, Father. For, we commit them unto Thee, with this message tonight. May it bless those who heard it, those, Lord, who will take it with them to their home, and sink it deep in their hearts. May they live on the Word of God. Grant it, Father, for we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.