Hebrews, Chapter 1

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 To give a little... I think there's nothing better to me than just the Word. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing the Word of God.
On Wednesdays, and maybe on Sundays (one of the services of Sunday), giving the pastor just a little rest, which he's very deserving of it, and I thought maybe we'd just take a book in the Bible. We used to do that, and sometimes stay a year on it.
I remember one time we stayed a solid year on the book of Revelation. But, oh my, the things that we learned, and how wonderful it was. Then we went back and got the book of Daniel, or the book of Genesis, or Exodus; and just take it chapter by chapter, and it just ties the entire Bible together. Oh, I just love that,

2 A little later on, we will have to get the... If the Lord continues to bless and we go on, we will get into some real deep things in here, real deep. And we will just go from place to place through the Scripture with it.
And I like to make scripture compare with scripture. That's the way it must be. It's just one great beautiful picture. And in this Book that we're studying, we're going to get in (Oh!) salvation, and divine healing, and miracles, and mercies, and... Oh, everything comes in here.
And maybe when I get to a place where I'm ... have to get to the meetings... I never know just when I'm going to be to a meeting ... called to a meeting, because I don't have anything set until I just feel led to do a certain thing. And that may be... Before in the morning, I may fly to California, up to Maine or somewhere, just where He would call me. That's the reason I don't set great, long itineraries because I can't do that. My ministry's not cut out that way, and it's just different.

3 And now, I come home just for a little rest. I lost twenty pounds in this last meeting; and Brother Mercier and Brother Goad was up awhile ago and said, "Brother Branham, I notice what you do; you put your whole heart into it."
I said, "That's the only way you can do a right kind of a job for the Lord, is put everything you've got right to the forefront for Christ; all your strength, all your soul, all your heart, all your mind, everything that you got." When you're doing anything, do it right or don't do it at all, see. Just leave it alone. If you're going to be a Christian, put everything that you've got to Christ. That's your time, your talent, your everything.
I was just noticing this young fellow here. That's your wife, Brother Burns, isn't it? Playing and singing there, that young couple; and it isn't a piano, neither is it an organ, but it's some kind of a instrument; they strum it and pick it and do something for the Lord. If you could do that and sing and that's ... win souls. Do something no matter. If you can whistle, why, whistle. Just do something. Just testify or do something for the kingdom of God. Whatever you got, put it to the use in God's service.

4 Now, we're not going to try to stay very long, because I know you work, you got to get up early, and... I'm going squirrel hunting every morning. I'm just telling you the truth; that's what I'm doing. That's what I come home for, is to rest a little. And so I'm getting up about 4 o'clock and going out in the woods and, well, hunt a little bit and go to sleep. And I'm gaining some of that weight back, so I will get rested up after while, the Lord willing. And everything's fine.
All right now, we're going to turn in your Bibles... I want you to bring your Bibles each night as you can. If somebody lacks a few, would somebody want to follow along with the readings, we got some here; we'd have some of the ushers to pass them out. Anybody want one? Well, just raise your hand.

5 Wonder if Brother... Doc, come here and get these Bibles. You're standing close there and Brother Burns. Is that right: Burns? I heard him say... What? Conrad. I called him... I'm getting kind of hard of hearing maybe, Brother Neville. How did I ever get the name of Burns? I know the man's face, and I just can't ... couldn't call his name.
And you know, as you get a little older, I find out one thing: It's harder for me to read this Bible. And I just hate to think of having to wear glasses to read the Bible.
But here not long ago I thought I was going blind. And I went over to see Sam. And Sam said, "Bill, I don't know." Said, "I will just get you an appointment with some specialist."

6 And I went to Louisville. And it must have been the will of the Lord; some famous specialist, I forget his name now. But he had read my book, and he said, "If you ever go back to Africa, I want to go with you." He said, "And if you... Them African people love you." And said, "They're very superstitious, especially with a knife, to go to cutting, so," said, "I want to give six months of my life, for operations of cataracts and things through in missions." And said, "If we could go together and you could win favor of them like that..." Said, "Then if they had cataracts and eye works," said, "I'd just love to give it free of charge, six months of it." (And I forget how long you have to wait for a appointment with him.)
And we was sitting in a little room and it had a little red light come on back there in a dark room. Why, I could read them letters it said ... twenty-twenty. I could read it either way. And he snapped it on fifteen-fifteen, and I could read it. And put it on ten-ten, I could read it. He said, "Well, there's not much wrong with your eyes."

7 So he had a little telescope. He put a little gadget back there, a little thing... You know them old telescopes? How many remember them? We used to look through them and look at pictures? It's just like that. And he said, "Can you read that?" And I said, "Yes, sir." He said, "Read it for me."
And it had oh, a whole paragraph, about like that, and I started reading it, and he started pulling it up. I kept getting slower and slower, and he got about like this, I stopped. He said, "I can tell you one thing: You're past forty." I said, "Yup, that's right, a long ways past it."
He said, "How have you done it?" He said, "The human eye, naturally when you get forty years old, like your hair gets gray and so forth, the eyeball gets flat." Said, "Now if you live long enough, that'll come back again." He said, "That's second sight, they call it." But said, "A human being at about forty years old, they'll actually..." Said, "There's nothing wrong with their eyes."
I can see a hair if it was laying on the floor. Get it off from me... But get it close to me... And he said, "Now you read your Bible," said, "you push it away from you." Said, "After while, your arm's not going to be long enough. You can't get it out there far enough to get a hold of it."

8 And so, he made me a pair of glasses, and the bottom part you can ... it's for reading. He said, "Now, in your pulpit..." He thought I was one of these here dignified preachers, you know. And said the top part's just regular window glass---just regular glass. And the bottom part's got some kind of a grind in it that I can read it close, you know, like that. So I just hate to put them on; I do.
And now, in Bible teaching and... I've got the New Testament tonight. I got a Collins New Testament, and it's got good-sized print. But now, when I get back in the other one, I may have to go to them old buddies and kind of read through them. But whatever it is, I'm glad that I got something I can still read. And whatever I got, I'm going to give everything I can to the glory of God, hope that He will take that age sign away. I can't ask Him to take my age away. You know, that's just one thing that we all got to do, we got to go through that. And I know I'm not a little boy like I used to be, standing here on the platform; I'm forty-eight years old. And just think, two more years to be fifty years old, Brother Mike.
My ... can't hardly believe it. I never knew that I was apast twenty till about two years ago. That's right. That's right. I just ... I couldn't believe it. And yet it's hard for me to believe till I look in the glass, and then I know it is, then. But just to be looking, I just feel just as good as I ever felt in my life, and I'm thankful for that too. Oh, praise be to God!

9 Now, we're studying the book of the Hebrews. It's been... Oh, it's one of the most deepest, richest books of the Bible. I tell you, it's a book that really will... If God permits, and we just get down into this, I believe we will find golden nuggets till we will just shout the praises of God [unclear words].
And now, I... The book of Hebrews, really what it is, it's supposing to be written by Saint Paul, the greatest Bible expositor, I guess, the world's ever had outside of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul was a separating... Now, Paul was a real Bible teacher; that is, the Old Testament. That's the only Book was written then that's called Bible. And he was trying to show to the Hebrews, separating the Old Testament and showing the Old Testament being a shadow or a type of the New.

10 Right there we could strike a home line and stay three months right there on that one thought, right there. To go right back... If we could turn in our Bibles now ... of course we're on Hebrews the first chapter. But if we'd turn to Revelation the twelfth chapter, you'd see it perfectly again, how the shadows...
If you that's got your pencils and going to jot down the Scriptures... In Revelation 11 we find out that John on the isle of Patmos saw a woman standing in the skies, and she had the sun at her head and the moon under her feet. And the woman was ... and travailed with a child to be born. She brought forth a man child. The red dragon stood to devour the child as soon as it was born, and the child was caught up into heaven, and the woman fled into the wilderness where she was nourished for a time, time, and a half time, or a dividing of time.

11 Now, the woman represented the church, and the child that she brought forth was Christ. The moon under her feet was the law, the sun at her head was grace. Twelve stars in her crown was the twelve apostles. And there's where... The twelve apostles was the glory or the crowning of the New Testament, see. "For no other foundation can be laid than that which is already laid," see. The foundation, the New Testament, the apostles, the doctrine of the apostles and so forth, is the founding crown of the New Testament.
And then, the moon is a shadow of the sun; the sun just reflects its light when its behind the earth. And the moon gives light to walk by at night. And what a beautiful picture we have here, another beautiful picture. The sun represents Christ, the moon represents the church. They're just like husband and wife. And in the absence of Christ, the church reflects the minor light, the Gospel, and it's the light to walk in until the Son rises again. Then the church and the Son, the moon and the sun, blends together, see. The moon is a part of the sun, and the church is a part of Christ. And while the absence of Christ, the church reflects His light. And then as sure as we can see the moon shining, it's knows the sun's shining somewhere. And as long as the church is reflecting the light of Christ, Christ is alive somewhere. Amen! Think of it.

12 Now, the law was a type of grace, but law had no saving power in it. Law only was a... A law was a policeman. The policeman puts you in jail. But you see, it taken grace to get you out of jail, see.
So the blood of Christ, the Gospel, delivers us from sin. Law only makes us sinners. The law only said, "You are a sinner. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not bear false witness," see. It's a policeman that says, "You're wrong and you're guilty." But the Gospel is the good news. Christ died to save us from all of our trespasses, transgressions of the law. Christ died to take us out.

13 Now, Paul, as soon as he was converted, he never consulted with any seminary, neither did he consult any ministers. But did you notice, he went down into Arabia and was there three years, in Arabia.
Now, this is to my opinion. Now, we got to get a background of this, so we will know how substantial it is. And the first lesson tonight, we take our background.
Now, Paul was such a Bible teacher, because he was taught under that great all time, famous Gamaliel. And he was one of the best known of the day, that great teacher of the law and the prophets. So, Paul was well schooled in those things.

14 And then I like him this way, this great revelation, being honest in his heart, a murderer, had consented to Stephen's death and saw Stephen die under the rocks and clods of being stoned to death. And I think it must've got next to Paul when he saw Stephen raise his hands to heaven, and said, "I see the heavens opened, and I see Jesus standing at the right hand of God." And he said, "Father lay not this charge of sin against them." And he fell asleep.
Did you notice that? He never died; he fell asleep. Just like... I don't believe he ever felt another rock. Just like a baby on the bosom of its mother, falls asleep; Stephen fell asleep in the arms of God.

15 There's something about Paul, that got next to him ... any man under conviction trying to fight it. He goes over to the high priest and he gets some letters; said, "I will arrest all those people that's making all that noise, and those heretics," (which was considered what we would call today, some 'radical fanatic' or something like that, making a lot of noise and causing disturbance). " We'll just go down and settle it."
And on his road down, a little old ... not a great highway like we travel. Them roads in Palestine, just little trails, like a cow trail through the woods where the cattle, and the sheep, and the horses, and the donkeys, and the camels went over the hills.
And Paul, on his road down to Damascus, about noon one day. A great light shined down and struck him to the ground. No one saw it but Paul. I want you to notice that. And right here, this is not personal now, but just so we're leading into this background, that you'll know that that same Jesus...

16 Now, when He was here on earth, He said, "I came from God, and I go back to God."
Now, when He led the children of Israel, He was a pillar of fire and He was made flesh; then, He returned back to that same pillar of fire. And when He met Paul on the road to Damascus He was that pillar of fire, that light, see. A great light. And Paul said, "Who is it that I persecute?"
He said, "I'm Jesus, who you persecute." The light! Oh, isn't He wonderful?
And here He is, tonight, right here with us. Had His picture taken right there. The same thing: Pillar of fire, light! Just the same as He was; same yesterday, today, and forever.
Now, the men that was with him did not see that light. But, it was there just the same. The results give the same.

17 Now, is it possible that someone could see Christ in this building and no one else see Him? Sure! It happened there.
It happened also one night when Peter was in prison. And that light came into the prison, and touched Peter, and walked right by the inner guards, the outer guards, walked by the gate, the main gate, and the city gate. Peter said, "I must have been dreaming." But he looked around, but the light was gone: Christ, that eternal, everlasting light. There He is.
Now, on the road down... And look, another thing, today, we would speak of this, just come in my mind. But the wise men that followed the star, all the way from India, the Orients---months coming through the valleys and deserts, passed over observatories. And they kept the time of the night by the stars. And no historian or anyone ever mentioned of ever seeing that star but the wise men. It was just meant for them to see it.
So you can see things that the other fellow might not see. To you, it's a reality. To him, they don't understand. Just like a conversion; you can be converted and enjoying the blessings of God, just drinking it in the blessings of God. And the next fellow, sitting by you: "I don't see a thing!" See, see? That's it. "I just don't get it. I don't see what it's all about." Well, he's just not getting it, that's all; where you are.

18 Notice now, Paul on his road down, and as soon as this great experience happened to him... Now he wasn't satisfied. That's what makes Paul so good.
Now our lesson tonight is not deep. It's a shallow lesson, but, oh, we will get into the deep after a while. But this is a very shallow lesson; but it's just starting off. And what it is, it's one thing, that's exalting Jesus Christ. (Paul, to begin with.)
And before he would do this, Paul was a Bible scholar. And a Bible scholar will never rest his doctrine upon experiences. No, sir! They'll never rest their doctrine upon experience. You can have any kind of an experience. But it must be "thus saith the Lord." That's right.

19 Now in the Old Testament, they had three different ways they could know a message. First the law, that was just the law. Then they had a prophet, a dreamer. And they had the Urim Thummim. Now that may be a little deep.
The Urim Thummim was the breastplate that Aaron wore on his breast. In there was twelve stones: jasper, sardius, carbuncle, and so forth, on down. They got all twelve of the big stones that was in the breastplate showing that he was the high priest of every tribe, the twelve tribes of Israel. This breastplate hung on a pillar in the church, and when a prophet prophesied and they wanted to be sure it was right or not, the prophets or the dreamers stood before this Urim Thummim and he told his dream or his vision, whatever he had saw. And if the sacred light... Oh, do you see it? God's always dwelt in the supernatural realm. The conglomeration, those lights were just normal until this voice went forth. And when the voice struck those stones, if it wasn't supernatural, she laid dormant. But if it was supernatural, those lights all reflected the rainbow color together. Amen. Then that was God speaking, "That is My prophet," or "That dream came from Me." It was according to the Urim Thummim that they judged.

20 You remember Saul when he backslid? He said he couldn't have a dream. And the prophet, Samuel, was dead and there was no way. He said, "Even the Urim won't even speak to me." Nothing! Saul stood before the Urim and his words were dead thumps, see. God just refused him. And that Urim Thummim, that was Aaron's vindication of his priesthood. After Aaron going, Moses ... the plate hung on the pillar.
Now, the Aaronic priesthood ceased when Jesus died. And now, separating the law from grace, we still have a Urim Thummim. And Paul was using it. see. The Urim Thummim today, is God's immortal, eternal, everlasting Word see.
For whosoever shall take anything out of this Book or add anything to it... "I don't want anything outside of it, but I want all it's got." (That's the church.) And all things must be proven by the Word.
That's the reason I took a flop recently of among the Pentecostal people is because, saying, "I could not understand where oil run out of your hands, or blood out of your face was a sign you had the Holy Ghost." That's not Scriptural and I just couldn't take it. I... It's got to come from the Word.

21 Then now, Paul, he just loved the Word. So before he would ever witness this great experience that he had, he went down in Egypt for three years---I believe it was three years---three years down in Egypt. And you know what I believe he done? I believe that he took the Old Testament, and searched through the Old Testament, and found that that was really the absolute Messiah. He had to prove his experience by the Bible. Amen. Oh, my!
Look at him when he was in prison. You notice, there's a space of Paul's life when he was in prison there for a long time. He wrote the book of Ephesians. He wrote this Hebrew letter, see, He had time. God laid him away over there in a prison, and he wrote these letters to the churches. One to the church of Ephesus. He wrote one to the Pentecostal church (had lots of trouble with them). The Pentecostal church he had more trouble with than anybody else. Still has it. But he was thankful for them. The only thing he could teach them... When they'd come in, one had a tongue, one had a psalm, one had a sensation, one had a feeling. He couldn't speak to them, "Eternal security." He couldn't speak to them, "predestination." He couldn't talk to them; they were babies. They all had to feel something, or see something, or have funny feelings, or something around them, some evidences.

22 But I believe, when he spoke to the Ephesians, he could speak on, "God has predestinated us unto sons and daughters and adopted us as children in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world." Look at that. My!
Watch him come over in the book of Romans and so forth. They were grown-up. Oh, they spoke with tongues. Sure! And they had other signs of the Holy Spirit among them. But they didn't make doctrines, and sensations, and little quivers, and funny feelings.
Paul said, "You go to extremes with that when you ought to be teaching you're still babies and have to have milk."
That's what I've always tried to contend this tabernacle to be, not a bunch of babies. Let's be grown-up. Stand on the road. Oh, my! There you are.

23 So Paul goes down there first to see if his experience matched God's Bible.
Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful today, if people only done that again? If we made our experience match God's Bible... If it doesn't, then our experience is wrong; it don't flash in the Urim Thummim! If it flashes in there (Amen!), we got it. But if it doesn't, I don't care how good it seems, how real it looked like it was right; if those lights didn't flash on that Urim Thummim, it was wrong!
And no matter how much experience you've had, how real it seems to be, how presenting it is, how educational it is, what a great tool it is to win souls; if it doesn't flash in the Word, it's wrong. That's right. It must line up with the Word.

24 Now, I believe there's a middle of the road. The road a lot of times... I used to go to a Nazarene church (the Lord bless those dear people). Old-fashioned, sanctified Methodists is what they are; church of God, Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness and many of those good old holiness churches. And they used to sing the song: I'm walking in the grand old highway, Telling everywhere I go, I'd rather be an old time Christian, Lord, Than anything I know. (Good, it's wonderful!)
And then they used to talk about the highway of holiness. Now if you'll read over... They get that out of Isaiah the 35th chapter. Now if you notice, he said, "There shall be a highway, and a way."
Now, "and" is a conjunction, see. A highway... It wasn't a highway of holiness. "It shall be a highway and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness." Not the highway of holiness, "the way of holiness." And the way of the road is the middle of the road. It's built like this so that the waters will wash off the trash to both sides, keeping the road clean. If you don't, you have puddles standing in your road all the time, if it isn't built right. The way is the middle of the road.

25 Now on this side, when people get converted their minds are set right on Christ. And if they're just a little scholarly and don't keep under prayer, they'll get real cold, and stiff, and starchy, and indifferent. And then if they're just a little bit nervous, if you don't watch, they'll just get radical and wild, on this side; see, they go into sensations and everything.
But the real church is a real sane Gospel, right in the middle of the road. It's not cold and starchy; neither is it fanaticism. It's a real good, old warm Gospel, heart-felt love of God, going right down the middle of the road, calling from both sides. That's right. Now that's what... And how you going to get that church? Right out of the Word, the Urim Thummim.

26 Now, Paul wanted to get this church right in the middle of the road. So he went and studied three years on the Scriptures that he knew. Therefore, Paul wrote the bigger part of this New Testament. God had him to do that because it's coming a Gentile age. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (the four gospels), they were Jews. But Paul wrote the most of the letters.
Now notice, now we're going to start getting this background now; where he's at, writing it from prison. And he's had all this experience. But first, this experience was first proven, and this is his key letter to it. This is his key letter. Romans and Ephesians and so forth had their place, but this is the key letter.

27 Now, the whole first chapter is exalting Jesus, and separating Him from being a prophet. That's the whole theme now. (And I will try to get to it just as quick as I can now, so we won't stay too long.) The whole theme is separating the New... The first chapter is separating Jesus from any prophet, or any law or so forth, and showing who Jesus is. Now, look:
GOD, [We start out the first word: GOD!] GOD, who at sundry times [sundry means that, "way back, back time"] ... sundry times and ... divers manner spake in the ... past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Now see, God in sundry times, way back, He spoke to the fathers by the prophets. That's how He had to give His message: through His prophet.

28 God would send His prophet like Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah. And if you'll notice, never in all the history of the world, did ever the church produce a prophet. Search it in the Old Testament, New Testament, or in this day---in the latter day. Show me any prophet was ever raised out of the church in the last day. Show me one that ever come up out. And show me one time that a prophet, a real servant of God, that the ecclesiastical system of the world didn't condemn him.
Just think of it. Jeremiah, Isaiah, all down through the Old Testament, they condemned them. Jesus said, "You garnish the tombs of the prophets and make them white, and you put them in there." That's right!
The church continues that. Look at Saint Patrick. You Catholic people claim him. He isn't no more Catholic than I am. That's right. But you claim him.
Look at Saint Francis of Assisi. Claim him! He isn't no more Catholic than I am.

29 Look at Joan of Arc. You burnt her to a stake as a witch because she saw visions and was spiritual. Burnt her to a stake! And that woman screaming for mercy and they burnt her to a stake. About a hundred years later they found out that she was a prophetess. She was a servant of God. Oh, of course, you done a big penalty. You dug up the priest's body and throwed them in the river.
"You do garnish the tombs of the prophets, and put them in there." That's right. Never did the ecclesiastical system ever produce a man of God---never did, hasn't today, and never will. Organized religion has never been God's theme.

30 The oldest organized church in the world is the Catholic church; Luther second; then come Zwingli; after Zwingli come Calvin; and Calvin on to Anglican; Anglo-Saxons taking up, then the Anglican church; and King Henry VIII, when he protested and so forth, and on down to the Wesley Methodist; and Nazarenes; Pilgrim Holiness; and on down to the last is Pentecostal. All organized! And the Bible plainly teaches that the Catholic church is a ill-famed woman, and the Protestant churches and their organizations are her daughters---Revelation 17. That's exactly right.
So they... Not the people now... There's good in all them churches (sainted, saved people). But God doesn't call His people by an organization. He calls them as individuals. God deals with individuals, whether you're a Methodist, Baptist, Protestant, Catholic, or what you are. God, before the foundation of the world, knew you, and predestinated you to eternal life; or either you was predestinated to eternal loss.

31 He wasn't willing that you should be perished ... would perish. But Him being infinite, He had to know the end from the beginning or He isn't God. So Jesus never come to earth just to say, "Well, I will see if somebody be mercy... If I act and die in a hard way, they'll probably think, 'Well, it'll persuade their hearts, and they'll..." God don't run His business like that.
Jesus came for one specific purpose: that's to save those who God before the foundation of the world knew would be saved. He said so! That's right. So, "It's not him that willeth, or him that runneth; it's God that showeth mercy." Paul said that. Same man here.

32 He said, "That's the reason God could say before Esau or Jacob was either born... He said, 'I love one and hate the other one.'" Before either boy was born, God knew that Esau was a shyster, and He knew that Jacob was a ... he loved his birthright. So He knew before the world ever was formed, about it. Now, we're going to find out in a minute who that was that knew it. This chapter's got it.
GOD, ... in sundry times and in divers manners spoke ... to the fathers by the prophets,
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. [Has done what? Has spoken to us in this last days by His Son.]
Now, how would you think then... What would be a prophet? Would we have a prophet then of this day? Absolutely! Would He speak by it? Sure! But the prophets of the old day was the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Now let's get that straight because I don't think it's soaking in right. Now this is just like Sunday School, so we want to get this clear, see.

33 Notice. Let's take the Spirit of God that was in Moses: perfectly is a foreshadow of Jesus Christ. All of the Old Testament characters foreshadow the cross. Moses: born a proper child, hid in the bulrushes, taken away from his parents, so forth. He was a king ... or a leader, law-giver, intercessor, priest. Everything that he was foreshadowed Christ.
Look at Joseph: loved of his father, hated of his brethren, and sold for almost thirty pieces of silver. Throwed into a ditch, supposedly dead; taken out. In his persecution, butler saved and butcher lost---two thieves at the cross. And then when he come out, he raised up out of that ditch and was set at the right hand of Pharaoh, the biggest commercial ... the nation who'd whipped all the rest of the world. And no man could come to Pharaoh except they come through Joseph---Jesus sitting at the right hand of God, and no man can come to God except through Christ. And when Joseph left that throne and started out, men went before him, screaming and blowing trumpets, sound the trumpets saying, "Bow the knee, Joseph is coming."
And when Jesus comes, a trumpet shall sound and every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess. Yes, sir! There He was.

34 And when Joseph died, he left a memorial to them who were waiting for deliverance.
I put my hand on the old casket, here not long ago; it was made out of lead. And his body was supposed to stay... His bones ... said, "Don't you bury me here, for someday, God's going to visit you." (He was a prophet.) " God's going to visit you." And he said, "When you go up to the promised land, take my bones."
There, an old Hebrew, with a beat back and bloody, could look over in that casket and say, "Someday, we're going out."
Jesus left a memorial: an empty tomb. Someday when we go over to the grave and our loved ones ... and hear them little clods when they say, "Ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, and earth to earth." But brother, we can look across the sea to an empty tomb. Someday we're going out of here; we're going home. He's coming. Everything's a type.

35 Look at David: rejected by his own people, dethroned by his own people---being a king of Jerusalem---was drove out of Jerusalem by his own people. And as he went up Mount Olive, he looked back and wept. He was rejected.
Eight hundred years from then, the Son of David, King of Jerusalem, sat on a hill and wept because he was rejected.
That was the Spirit of Christ in David. All foreshadowed the cross. Them prophets back there spoke in His name. They lived in His name. They acted in His name. Sure! "God in sundry times and divers manners spoke to the fathers through the prophets, but in this last day through His Son."

36 So the prophets and spiritual man in this day is only the reflection of Christ. There, by the law they stood---look. Over here, they stand looking back the other way through grace.
That... In the Hebrews 11, the last chapter, I've often wondered that, in the last chapter, the last part of the 11th chapter of Hebrews when he talks about Abraham. The great faith chapter, and at the end he said, "They wandered about in sheepskins and in goatskins, and was made destitute and sawed asunder." They wandered about, no place to go, hated, and despised, and persecuted; of whom this world isn't worthy of such people.
Then Paul stands and said, "But without us they're not perfect." For they only looked to the cross and we look through the cross. We have the Spirit of Christ after it become human flesh and dwelt among us. We come here by the Holy Ghost, which is a far better plan.

37 And sometimes I wonder what Christianity expects today. A preacher going with a tent has to be ... or some new church or some new charge, calls himself a prophet, walks up there and say, "Well, if they'll give me so much money. If I can have the best car. If my salary will be raised every six months."
We have to have the best. We have to have the best homes. We have to have the best clothes. What will we do when we stand in the presence of those men who wandered in goatskins and in sheepskins, no place to lay their heads; wandering about in deserts. And somebody can make fun of us and we're ready to quit church and not go back anymore. What Christianity requires today! We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. (O God, be merciful to us.)

38 In that day, He spoke by the prophets, but this day through His Son. That was the word of a prophet, there. This is the Word of the Son, today. Oh, blessed be the name of the Lord!
In other words, if you're looking at the shadow, the negative, you might make a mistake; but this is developed. The picture's clear. That was by the prophet; this is by His Son. That was by a negative; this is by a positive. Amen. You see it? There isn't a chance to lose. It's a positive thing: this day through His Son. Oh, how wonderful!
...whom he has appointed heir [oh, my] heir of all things,...

39 What was it? It was an appointment. Oh, listen! He was appointed (Christ was) heir of all things. Oh, the devil knowed that from the garden of Eden. You see, when the devil heard that Word there that day at the judgment of those people, said, "Because you come from the dust... dust you'll return; and the woman's seed shall bruise the serpent's head." A promised seed!
Satan constantly watched for that seed. When Abel was born, he said, "There you are, that's the seed." And he killed Abel. His son, Cain, killed Abel. And as soon as Abel died, he said, "I got the seed." He slew it. He said, "I got it." But Abel's death... Seth's birth was the resurrection again. Watch how they come down.

40 That line of Seth: it come down a humble, righteous man; on down through Enoch; on down to Noah, to the end of the antediluvian destruction.
Look at Cain's line: become smart people, educated, science. Don't the Bible say ... did not Jesus say that "the children of this world are wiser than the children of the kingdom?" Look at the side of Cain yet today; smart, educated, skeptic, very religious, see. Very religious; but scientists, builders, great men.
Take great men... Look at Thomas Edison. Many great men... Look at Einstein: the brains of the world, so-called today, the brains of the world. But we don't try to use brains. We let the mind that was in Christ be in us, and look to this Word and call that so!
Medical doctors, though we salute them with whatever we have, but the most of those are skeptics, agnostics. Look at the smart, intelligent people today. They're on that side over there, the Cain side.

41 But look at the humble and meek. There's your resurrection again. Oh, blessed be the name of the Lord. There you are.
Notice:
...he ... made him heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; [Who made the worlds? Christ. Christ made the worlds? Yes, sir!]
Let's go just a little further:
Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His presence, [The brightness of whose glory? God's glory. The expressed image of whose presence? God's! Oh, I love this.] or the expressed image of his person, and upholding all things by the word...
There you are! The Word that upholds all things. Jesus said, in Matthew 24, "Heavens and earth will pass away, but my Word shall never pass away." He upholds all things.
Science tries to down it and say, "It's an old book; it's been translated."
Even the Roman Catholic church, Bishop Sheen said, "That's been translated four or five different times and not much to it. You couldn't live by it if you had to." But He upholds all things by His Word. Amen. That's what I think about it. I believe the Bible:
...the word of his power, [There's power in the Word.] when he had by himself purged our sins, [looky here] sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

42 What's Paul trying to do? He's trying to show that God purposed all things in Christ, and Christ was the express image of God. The entire rest of the chapter deals with how that He was higher than angels, higher than all powers; angels worshipped Him. Paul was trying to magnify Him.
Now, I want to try... If I don't get any further than this, the rest of it's just magnifying Christ. What Paul says over here, like in the 11th chapter, talking about the world, he said, "What angel did He say, Thou art My Son, this day I have begotten Thee," see.
The end of the world... They shall perish, the world shall perish, and all the things of the world shall perish. He would hold them up like a vesture. They'd be old, and turned, and go away. "But Thou remaineth; Thou remaineth forever. Thou art My Son, this day I have begotten Thee, and will never perish." Sitting at the right hand of the Majesty. What does right hand mean? Not, God's got a right hand and that somebody's sitting on it. Right hand means the "power and authority;" got the authority of everything in heaven and earth. And all the heavens and earth was made by Him.

43 Now, who is this great guy, this great fellow, Christ? Here: God in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it's a trinity, but it's not a trinity of people. It's a trinity of office, of one God.
He was the Father leading the children of Israel. That was His office, The Great Jehovah Father. And He dwelt on earth, called the Son. And now He dwells in His church, called the Holy Ghost. Not three Gods, one God in three offices. Father, Son and Holy Spirit! People try to make Him three different Gods. God the father... That's the reason the Jews... You could never bring this to a Jew. No, that there... He's got a commandment that "I'm One God." There's only one God.

44 In Africa they baptize three different ways. They baptize once for the Father, once for the Son, and once for the Holy Ghost. The Apostolic Faith mission, they baptize three times face forward to His death. What they call the Full Gospel on the West Coast ... or the East Coast, baptize three times backward; "unto His burial." And he said, "When He died He fell forward."
Another said, "No, you bury a man on his back." Just little old technic things, when they're both wrong---both wrong according to the Scripture. This is the Urim Thummim; it settles it.

45 Now here, let's just picture that out and see what it looks like tonight. Here it is, if you want to see it. In all of about twenty-five years I've been a minister. I've studied that, and I've often wondered if gifts in the church... What is those gifts: prophecy, speaking with tongues, interpretation of tongues, Divine revelation, and so forth? That all comes through Christ.
Now look, Christ is the head of all things. And He's the head of the church. And did you ever see a big diamond? A great big diamond that is chipped right... It's got little chips knocked off of it, chipped off of it. That makes a correct diamond. What's the chips for? The real diamond, the way it comes out, it's been bruised. The real diamond when it's out... I was in Kimberly. Many of you that's heard you can pick up diamonds on the street; that's correct. Billy and I and Mr. Bosworth... The president of the Kimberly diamond mines, he was my usher in the meeting there and they'd taken us over and just out of... They mine them about ... oh, about 1700 feet under the earth. They come out a blue stone---big blue, like this blue stone you get around here. And those natives, they put them 1700 feet in the ground to mine them to keep the price up. You'd go on the river there and they got it guarded for hundreds of miles. Take two ten-gallon buckets, he said, and pick it up full of sand; and if you could get home with it, you'd be a multi-millionaire, there'd be so many diamonds in it. But they have to work and mine them to keep the price up on them.

46 Now, the diamond, when it comes forth, it's just a big smooth, round like piece of glass. There's a blue diamond, black diamond, emerald, and a clear diamond, white diamond. But when it come forth... Then when it's made and put into use, there's a part of that diamond has to lose. And it has to lose the chips off of it. Knock little chips, because when it comes in direct light, like that, it makes a sparkle. The chip what makes a sparkle, the way it's cut. It's cut, chipped, and then when it does, it makes a sparkle and one will go a green light, the other one will go a blue light, and maybe another an emerald light, and a red light, and different lights go from it like a rainbow color. They call it fire in the diamond.
Now, each one of those lights represents gifts. But it's only... Christ is the diamond. And He was the One who came, and was bruised, and wounded, and chipped that He might reflect Himself back as a light to the world. He's that Master Diamond.

47 Could you imagine before there even was a earth, before there was a light, before there was a star, before there was anything? There's a great fountain going forth of Spirit, and out of this fountain came the most pure of love, because there was nothing for it to come from there but love. Now we... What we call love today is a perverted love. But just as we get a essence, or a little bit of that love in us, it changes our whole opinion.
Then out of there come another stream off of this main fountain, the diamond, and it was called righteousness; absolutely righteousness. Now that's the reason we had to have law. That's the reason law has to have judgment. If judgment doesn't follow law, law doesn't do no good. And when judgment was passed by law, which brings death... And there's no one who could pay the penalty but God Himself. And He paid the penalty of our death, and took our sins upon Him, that we might be the righteousness of God through Him.
Now, when these great lights went out, or great rays of Spirit: love, peace... That's all there was. There was no suffering, there was no hate, nor no malice. It couldn't come from this fountain. That was Jehovah! That was Jehovah God. And now, as the theologians call it, a theophany went from that, which was called in the Scriptural the "Logos," the Logos that went out of God. It's hard to explain, but it was a part of God.

48 Now, here's what happened. Oh! (excuse me), I just get on this... This just gets me right where I love it, see. The Logos... And this great fountain, this great fountain of Spirit which had no beginning or no end, this great Spirit began to form in the creation, and the Logos that went out from it was the Son of God. It was the only visible form that the Spirit had. And it was a theophany, which means a body, and the body was like a man.
Moses saw it when it passed through the ... by the rock. And he looked at it, and said, "It looked like the hind part of a man." It's the same type of body that we receive when we die here: "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting." That was it. And that was the theophany which was the Son of God. That Son, that Logos, became flesh because we were put in flesh. And the theophany, the Logos, became flesh here among us, and it was nothing else but the dwelling place for that entire fountain dwelt in Him. Oh, do you see it? There it is! That was the One that in...

49 Looky here, let's turn now right quick to Hebrews the seventh chapter. Just for a moment of grace, God being willing. Let's see what it looks like here. Abraham ... (How much time we got? We got ten minutes.) All right, we catch this and then we will finish it up next Sunday, Lord willing.
...Abraham was returning from the slaughter of the kings,...
For this Melchisedec, king of Salem [How many knows what Salem was? Jerusalem.], king of Salem, prince of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; [Listen!]
To whom also Abraham give a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation the King of righteousness ... after that also the King of Salem, which is, the King of peace;
Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor ending of life;...

50 A King come down from Salem, and met Abraham coming from the slaughter of the kings. And this King didn't have no father, had no mother, had no beginning of days nor ending of life. Who did Abraham meet? Now, think: He didn't have no father, He didn't have no mother, He never had a time that He began, and He never has a time when He will end. So that same King of Salem has to be living today. Do you see it? It was that Theophany that was that Son of God! What Salem? That Jerusalem which is above! That Abraham, being blessed was searching, trying to find a city whose builder and maker was God. He wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, everywhere. Destitute, wandering, and was seeking a city whose builder and maker was God. And he met the King of that Salem coming down, and he paid Him a tenth of all the spoils. Amen! [Unclear words.] Oh, Brother Graham, that was Him. That was Him! Abraham seen Him again. One day he sat in the tent. He looked, coming up there, and he seen three men coming.

51 You know, there's just something about a Christian, that he knows Spirit when he sees it. He just knows it. There's just something spiritual about it. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. You know, yeah, he could just tell it. If he's really born, "My sheep know My voice."
And he just knew there was something. He run out, and he said, "Come in, my Lord. Sit down. Stop a little bit. I'll get a morsel of bread and put in Your hand. I'll wash your feet. Rest Yourself, then go on about Your journey, for You've come to visit me." Up in the barren lands, taking the hard way, the way with the Lord's despised few. While Lot was living in riches, the nephew down there; but he was living in sin. That's what most riches-ness produces: is sin.

52 So Abraham brought them up; while he got a little water and washed their feet. He run out after a calf, and got a fat calf---into the herd---and killed it; give it to his servant to dress. And said, "Sarah, knead your meal." You know what kneading... It is, means ... you know, Mom used to have an old, kind of like a wedge, she had in the meal barrel. Did you ever see one of them with a sifter? And it had a wedge in there, you raked the meal you know; and it get heavy like that, and rake it through like that. I've seen Mama do it many times with a wedge, have a little round thing that's got a little screen wire on it. She'd get that meal up and sift it like that, you know. And pat it back and forth like that. And then take the wedge, and rake it around like that, to get it all down. And that's when we have to go down and get our meal ground at the old grist mill; and big old burrs (you know, heavy)--- made real corn bread. You could saw logs all day on it.

53 So then, said, "Knead some meal, right quick. And make some hoecakes right here on the hearth, right quick." And they milked the cow and got some milk. And they churned it and got some butter. And then they went and killed the calf and got some meat, and they fried the meat. Got the buttermilk, corn bread; and they got some butter to put on the hot hoecakes (Ah, that's really good!) and they smeared it all on there. And he took it out, and set it down to these three men.
And while they were eating, they kept looking towards Sodom. And after a while, they got up and started walking away. And He said... Abraham said, "You won't keep it from me."
"I can't keep from you what I'm going to do. I'm going down there. The sins of Sodom is come in My ear." Who was the man? Dust all over his clothes, and sitting there eating the flesh of a calf, and drinking the cow's milk, and eating some hoecake corn bread, and some butter. Who is this strange fellow? Three of them sitting there. Dust all over his clothes. Oh, yeah: "We're from a far country." (Yeah, way away!) And so he said... Well, who were they?

54 He said, "I can't keep from Abraham, seeing that he is the heir of the earth." (Amen!) " I reveal My secrets [in other words] to those who are heir of the earth." That's where the church ought to be today. That's right. Get the secrets of God, know how to hold yourself, and act, and what to do, and how to walk, and how to live. We're the heir of the earth. That's right. He reveals it to you because He won't keep nothing back. That's why we're watching these things come to pass. And the world says, "Ah, that's a bunch of fanaticism." But, let them say it. The heir of the earth knows these things. [Gap in the audio.]
...they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they that are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
He makes His secrets known to them, reveals it to them; showing them what to do and how to live; forsaking the things of the world; walking godly and living godly, in this present world. Walking along with Him! Let the world say what they want to.

55 So He said, "I can't keep this secret from Abraham, because ... seeing he's the heir to the earth." But He said, "I'm going down to destroy Sodom. I'm going down..."
"What are you going to do, mister? Where you from? What's it all about?"
Come to find out, He said, "And another thing, Abraham, you've waited twenty-five years for this promise I give you. You done got all the bird-eye up, and the pins and everything for this baby, twenty-five years ago. You've still been waiting on Me. Now, I'm going to visit you, just about the time of life; according to the time of life, next month, I will be with you."
And Sarah, back in the tent... And this man had His back turned to the tent, talking to Abraham like this. And Sarah went... [Brother Branham illustrates by snickering.]
He said, "What made Sarah laugh?" How about that? That was quite a telepathy, wasn't it? "What made Sarah laugh?"
Sarah said, "Oh, I never laughed."
Said, "Oh, yes, you did!" She was scared. She was trembling. Who was that to know what she was doing back in the tent. That's That same God that's with us today. Same One! He knows all about it, see. He just reveals it as you have need, see.
"What're you laughing about?" See, His back turned to it. The Bible stated that: "And His back was turned to the tent" (but He knew it). What's she back there a-doing this, you see? So, He said, "I'm going to visit you."
Who is this strange fellow? You know what happened? He walked right out there and vanished. And the Bible said that that was Almighty God, Jehovah, that great fountain, that theophany, that Logos.

56 Some preacher said to me some time ago, said, "Brother Branham, you wouldn't actually think that was God, would you?"
I said, "The Bible said, 'It was God, Elohim,'" which He was Almighty God, the El Shaddai (that's right), the strength-giver, the satisfier. Amen! Oh, I feel religious. Think of it!
Here He is. Now, I'm going to show you who He is here, and then you'll see who the Son is. That was Jesus before He had the human name "Jesus"!
Stood there at the fountain that day... And they was all drinking on "Having the waters that was in the wilderness," and things like that. "They was eating the manna..." Somebody said, "Our fathers eat manna in the wilderness for forty years."
He said, "And they're every one dead." Said, "I am the bread of life that come from God out of heaven. He that eats this bread shall never die."
Said, "Well, our fathers drank from a Spirit ... from a spiritual Rock that was in the wilderness, that followed them."
He said, "I am that Rock." Glory! St. John, the 6th chapter. Why, they said, "What?" "Yes, that's right."
Why, he said, "You are... You're not even fifty years old." (Of course, His work made Him look a little old, but He was only thirty.) Said, "You're a man not over fifty years old, and you say you've seen Abraham that's been dead for eight or nine hundred years. We know now that you're a devil."
He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." There He is. Who was the I AM? A perpetual name for all generations. That was that pillar of fire in the burning bush. "I AM THAT I AM." There He was, that Theophany made here, called the Son of God; the I AM! The Jehovah!

57 Thomas said, "Lord, show us the Father and it'll satisfy us.
Said, "I've been so long with you, and you don't know Me?" Said, "When you see Me, you see the Father. And why say, 'show us, Thou, the Father'? I and the Father are One. My Father dwelleth in Me. I'm just a Tabernacle called the Son. The Father dwells in Me. Not Me that doeth the works; it's My Father that dwelleth in Me. He doeth the works; not Me."
Now, standing back there again. Moses seen Him, the hind part of Him, said, "It looked like the back of a man." The Logos that went from God.
Then what happened? This was God, and the reason He had become from Logos to flesh... What happened to that? Five minutes before that, He was the Logos. But what did He do? He just reached over...

58 Now, our bodies are made out of sixteen different elements of the world. We know that. It's made out of potash, and a little calcium, and petroleum, and cosmic light, and atoms and so forth; all bundled together and makes this body. Comes from the dust of the earth. You eat food, you eat the food that... It turns into ... from the dust, and it come from the dust, and it just goes right on. Your flesh, as far as your flesh, is no different from a horse or from a cow or anything else. It's still just flesh.
And boy, you glorify the flesh. But that spirit has a soul in there, my brother. That's right. But your flesh is just dust of the earth like the animal. Your flesh is no more than an animal. And if you lust after the flesh and the things you see, lust after women, lust after all these different things, it's still animal. That's right. That's right. You shouldn't do it. The Spirit of God will lead you on and put you on a higher plain than that. That's exactly right.

59 Now, and here, this great theophany standing there... That Great Jehovah God, you know what He said? He just reached over and got a handful of atoms, got a little light, and poured it in like this, and went, "Whheww!" A body! And just stepped right into it, and that's all.
Said, "Come here Gabriel!" (That great Archangel.) Went, "'Whheww!' Step in that!"
"Come here, Michael! (The angel on His right side.) ' Whheww!' For the Jew. Step in that!"
God and two angels walked down here in human flesh, and drank the milk from a cow, eat the butter out of the milk, and eat some corn bread, and eat the flesh of the calf. Two angels and God! The Bible said so. That's Melchisedec that Abraham met coming from the slaughter of the kings. That's the Son of God.

60 Go ahead here in the Hebrews, the 7th, said, "But made in the order like unto the Son of God." There He is. He made all things by Him. And He walked right out there... And just changed that dust right back to dust again, and stepped right back into glory.
And the angels, as soon as they delivered Lot and Mrs. Lot (and she kept looking back. He said ... told them not to do it again.)... And they stepped right back into the presence of God.
Now, what a great hope we have, in this great faith that we serve tonight. The living God, the Jehovah, the pillar of fire is with us! Shows Himself in power, and action, and magnify ... let them take the picture of Him, the same Jehovah! The Son of God that came from God went back to God, and dwells in His church forevermore! There He is!

61 He has our names on His book with a sworn oath by Himself, for there's no one greater He can swear by, that He will raise us up at the last day. "He that eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, has everlasting life. And I will raise Him up at the last day. He that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out. He that heareth My Word and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall never come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life."
That same One could just reach and grab a handful of calcium and potash, go "Whheww!" And there you are again. And my name is on His book. Oh! What do I care how stooped my shoulders are getting or how old I get. Certainly not! Not a bit of worry!

62 Brother Mike, one of these days... Bless your heart, Brother, when that great trumpet will come, and that ... a sound, and that Joseph will step forth. Hallelujah! He will say, "Children! 'Whheww!'" There you'll be, made in His likeness. Young forever, old age is passed away. Sickness, troubles, sorrows has vanished. Glory be to the living God!
That's who He speaks to today, His Son! "In Sundry times and divers manners, He spoke through the prophets, but in this last day through His Son, Christ Jesus." He speaks to every man's heart that He has called. If you've ever felt His voice or heard Him knock at your heart, please don't turn it away. Let us pray.

63 Heavenly Father, tonight, as we're so happy to know at the opening of this Hebrew letter, how Paul went right back into the Gospels. He just wouldn't take it upon a hear-say or upon an experience. He wanted us to know what was truth. And he went right back into the Gospels, and back into the Old Testament, the Gospel that was preached to them. And he seen, through the Old Testament there, all the shadows and types. That's why we got this great book of the Hebrews tonight. And we see it, Lord, and we love it. And through ages it's been burned, it's been scattered, it's been tried to be done away with, but she waves on just the same. For as Thou hast said, "Heavens and earth will pass away, but My words shall not."
Then the skeptic would say, "Well, you said, Paul wrote this." Not Paul, but God that was in Paul; that creative Being, that was inside of Paul.
Just like was in David, when he said, "I will not suffer my Holy One to see corruption, neither will I leave His soul in hell." And the Son of God taken those words from that prophet, and went right into the bosoms of hell. And said, "Tear down this Tabernacle and I will raise it up in three days." And He did it, because God's Word can't fail one iota, it can't fail. How we thank God for this, this great Urim Thummim. And to know that our experiences tonight, Lord, flashes right on this Bible here. We're born again, have the Holy Spirit.

64 Dear God, if there be a man or woman in here tonight, boy or girl, who has never witnessed this... How could they raise up if there's no life in there? Oh, they say, "I have life."
But the Bible said, "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she's alive." You say you have life, but you're dead. "You claim," said the Bible, "that you have life, but you're dead. Thou say you are rich and have need of nothing; but not know that you're miserable, and poor, and naked, and blind, and don't know it." And that's the condition of the churches tonight, Lord. How they miss these great, valuable things.
To know that the great Jehovah God, who can only produce by... He said, "Bring me those little fish." He had to take the fish to make something with it. Showing, that the resurrection had to be something, to do something with. He not only made fish, but he made cooked fish; He cooked bread. He fed five thousand with five little loaves and two fishes. O Lord, it was in His hands, and He was the Creator. But He had to have something in His hands. God, may we lay ourselves in His hands tonight, and say, "O God, take me as I am. And when the end of my life is here, let me go with this hope that was within me, knowing that I've been borned again, and Your Spirit has bore record with me, and witnessed with my spirit, that I'm Your son or Your daughter." And at that last day, You'll raise them up. Grant it, Father.

65 And while we have our head bowed, would there be one would raise your hand, and say, "Remember me, Brother Branham, in prayer. I want God to know me before I leave this earth, that He will know me so much that He will call my name. I will answer." The Lord bless you son. God bless you, and you; and you, lady. Someone else? Just raise your hand. Say, "Pray for me, Brother Branham." That's what I'm gonna do. God bless you, young lady. That's good.
Now, while your head's bowed, praying, I'm going to sing a verse of this song:
Covet not this world's vain riches,
That so rapidly decay,
Build your hopes on things eternal,
They will never pass away!
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
Build your hopes on things eternal,
Hold to God's unchanging hand!

66 While she's playing, now, and your head bowed, will you just reach your hand up and say, "Yes, Lord, here's mine"? What will it do? It'll show your spirit in you made a decision. "I want your hand, Lord." God bless you, little girlie. "I will raise my hand." God bless you, little girl, down here. That's fine, honey. God, you know, is happy to see you do that. "Suffer the little children to come to me."
"I want, God, You to hold my hand, And at that day, I want to be in Your hand; that when You call, I will come." Yes, like Lazarus was, God bless you, sister.
When our journey is completed,
If to God you have been true,
Fair and bright your home in glory,
Your enraptured soul shall view!
(What do you do now, then?)
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
Build your hopes on things eternal,
Hold to God's unchanging hand!

67 Heavenly Father, several hands went up in this little meeting, tonight, that they want to take a hold, tonight, of Your unchanging, eternal hand. Knowing that what is committed to You... You said, "All the Father has given Me will come to Me. And none of them will be lost. And I will raise them up at the last day." Can never perish, can never come to the judgment, but has eternal, eternal life. And there's only one eternal life, and that comes from God alone. It is God! And we become part of God, so much that we're sons and daughters of God. When we have God's Spirit in us, we think like God. We think of righteousness and holiness. And we try to live to please Him.
Grant, Lord, that that type of life will enter every person that raised their hand. And those who should have raised their hands and did not, I pray that You'll be with them. Grant it, Father. And when journey is ended, life is finished, may we enter into peace at that day with Him, where we will never be old, never be sick, never be no trouble. Until then, keep us joyful and happy, praising Him; for we ask it in His name. Amen.

68 All you believers... Now, let's just raise our hands and sing that chorus:
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
Build your hopes on things eternal,
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
Now, let's hum it. [Brother Branham hums.]
While you're doing that, your neighbor... You say, "God bless you, neighbor." Shake hands with somebody sitting next to you. "God bless you." On both sides now. On both sides, shake hands. "God bless you, neighbor. God be with you." Build your hopes on things eternal.
When this journey is completed,
(It's going to happen one of these days.)
If to God we have been true,
(We will see Brother Seward there.)
Bright and bright your home in glory,
Your enraptured soul shall view!
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
(I like that worship after the message.)
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
Build your hopes on things eternal,
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
Time is filled with swift transition,
Naught of earth unmoved shall stand,
Build your hopes on things eternal,
Hold... (Let us catch a view of Him,
That unseen One in the midst now.
And just worship Him now, as we sing.)
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
Build your hopes on things eternal,
Hold to God's unchanging hand!
Peace! peace! wonderful peace,
(Just worship Him.)
Coming down... (The message is over;
worship.)
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray,
In the fathomless billows of love.
(Just bathe in Him.)
Peace! peace! wonderful peace,
Coming down from ... (That great
fountain is opening up.) ... above;
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray,
In the fathomless billows of love.
(Doesn't that just do something?)
.....peace! wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above;
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray,
In the fathomless billows of love.
(Isn't there something about it
just rich and sweet?)

69 I wonder if there's a sick person who wants to be anointed and prayed for you. If there is, just find your place. This is the lady in a wheelchair there? Just let her remain, I will come and pray for her. She don't have to get up from the chair. Another? Oh, don't you just love this part of the service? How many feel... just to know that the Presence of God is here? That's what I talk about. That same... Do you feel like it... How many feels like you could just scream out? Now let's just see. Just feels like something you could ... just wants to scream out, you see.
It's peace! peace! wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above;
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray,
In the fathomless billows of love.
While we're in worship, we're going to anoint the sick now, and pray for them. Won't you come right this way, lady?
What does this mean? The prayer of faith shall save the sick. Everybody just hum that song.
[Brother Branham prays for the sick.]