The Book Of Redemption

That's all right, I didn't know that you had moved it. That's fine. In the ninth chapter of the book of Corinthians, and then I want to move over to maybe the tenth chapter, but I'd like to read just a little bit, if you've got your Bibles, you can read with me. (Brother Pike reads: I Corinthians 9:1-27; 10:1-33; 11:1.) You know Paul uses the terms here, that they were all under the cloud; and then he said many of them died, were bitten by the serpents even though they were under the cloud. All of them drank of the same spiritual drink and eat the same spiritual meat. But he said, They still died. The Lord still cut them off. And then he points out that they, even natural Israel which eat of the sacrifice of the alter was partakers of it. Saying unto you and I that the body of Jesus being that which is sacrificed for us, if we eat of that body then that makes us part of that body, because we are partakers of that body of which we eat or that from which upon we feed. All right so we see that being under the cloud is not enough and drinking of the drink is not enough; eating of the meat is not enough, for the Bible said, Even in doing that they still lusted after evil things. And the Lord destroyed twenty-three thousand of them at one time. And it said, That these things happened for our example, that later on we could know that God was not pleased with that manner of life, and that He would not tolerate our foolishness, but that we would have to get down to business with God and serve God. John tells us in His Word that just believing is not enough, but he said, We're going to have to obey God. That we're going to have to keep the commandments of the Lord if we are to enter into His joys. Now, you know this is a real day, outstanding day that we're living in right now. It's a real outstanding day, and it's an unusual day. Now I want to point out a few things to you in connection with what we're talking about here. You know we're speaking of being under the cloud. And the Bible speaks of Revelation 10. It speaks of the angel coming being clothed with the cloud. There's a great significance when it speaks of the cloud. But let's look here at the book of Revelation if you've got your Bibles. If you'll notice, and we'll probably have to refer back to a scripture or two here, so we'll probably have to teach a little bit, but if you'll notice in the fifth chapter of the book of Revelation which is not too far after the church ages has ended, the recording of the church ages here end in the third chapter, and then immediately in the fourth chapter the door is opened in heaven, and John looked and he sees the throne set in heaven and he sees somebody sitting upon the throne that looks like a jasper and a sardine stone; and then he looks around about the throne and he sees the rainbow that's like unto an emerald and then he sees twenty-four elders around the throne and in the midst of the twenty-four elders around the throne that's in the throne of the twenty-four elders, he sees the four beasts, one of them being an eagle, one of them being a calf, one of them being a man, and one of them being an eagle. He sees them in a circle around the throne. Out of the throne, the Bible said, he sees lightnings and he hears voices; and the Bible teaches that there is seven lamps, or that is as we say, candlesticks that are burning before the throne of God and the Bible refers to these seven lamps as being the seven spirits of God. Then as John beholds these things, the Bible tells us that all of a sudden the elders fall down on their face, throw their crowns down at His feet and begin to worship Him and say, Thou are worthy O Lord to receive honor and glory and power, for Thou hast created all things and for Thy pleasure they were created. Then he tells us here that he looked and in the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne, he saw a book and this book was sealed with seven seals on the backside of it. Now, right here we can see that the sealing on the backside of the book would fit just right because it is recorded in the fifth chapter right after the church ages. Which means that if the church ages has come to a close, if they are finished then it would, it would seem right for the book to be sealed on the backside because the book apparently had been opened from the beginning. Read all the way through as we would say or finished all the way through, and then closed over to the backside, in that the church ages have just closed out and finished everything, and then on the backside is the seal of the book, in that He has gone all the way from the beginning to the end and then having been sealed it cannot be opened by anyone. And the Bible said here that John listened as they looked all through heaven and earth and they could not find anybody that could open this book. John said, I wept much, though I heard ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices praying, praising God in heaven, praising God in earth, praising God under the earth, he said, But yet, when the Spirit searched for an individual to loose these seals and to open this book, he said, There wasn't any. He said, So I wept; I cried; I wept much. Now then, why is it that John wept so much seeing that this book had not been opened? What was John's great concern about the book? Let me say this just before we get into our thought here, if you'll notice, in reading here in the opening of the seals as you go on a little farther in the sixth seal when it is opened the Bible said, Now is come the time of His wrath. And then as you continue on over, you find a little further over as to the sounding of the trumpets, when the last trumpet sounds at the opening of the seventh seal, again it is stated at the end of the sounding of the seventh trumpet that the time of His wrath has come. So we see that the opening of the sixth seal at the sounding of the last trump of the trumpeters is relative one to another. They're relative because the same statement is made. It is obvious that the ending of the sounding of the last trump that then and there that the kingdoms of this world became the kingdoms of our God. All right so we want to talk to you just a little bit and see if we can bring out a few thoughts here tonight. Now, first of all, what was John's great concern? Why was he so concerned about this book? Because this book was the book of redemption. Today, what are we so concerned about? We're concerned about the book. What kind of book is it? It's the church. What kind of book? It is the book that is known and read of all men. It is an epistle. That is known and read of all men. That is as far as our lives, as far as what we do everybody can see it; everybody can read the book. But when it comes to the mystery of the book, nobody can read the mystery of the book except Christ Jesus Himself. So then the sealing of the book, now somebody would say, Now wait Brother Pike, Paul, the apostle, made known the mysteries of the book. I realize that, but Paul the apostle also referred to the revelation, saying, That it pleased God that His Son should be revealed in my life. And if you'll check back you'll find out that the man that stood in the midst of the candlesticks that John saw referred back to Paul the apostle because it was not Paul that lived but it was Christ Jesus that lived. That's why that Paul had the revelation, because he understood the mysteries of God. He understood then, why? Because God had revealed Christ in his life. All right, so then we see that the Bible refers to it after this manner. We read in the book of Revelation, the Revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave unto Jesus Christ. Are you listening, now? The revelation, it didn't say the revelation that God gave unto Paul the apostle. It doesn't say the revelation that God gave unto Brother Pike. It doesn't say the revelation that God gave unto Brother Branham. But it says the revelation that God gave unto Jesus Christ, that He should show to His servants the things which shortly must come to pass. That is why that Paul was able to expound the mysteries because the revelation of Jesus Christ was Christ revealed in Paul. That's what the revelation was. All right so then we see that this book is the great book of redemption. Nobody understands the mysteries but Christ, Himself. Therefore, the sealing of the book means the sealing of the mysteries. And what is the mysteries? The knowledge of redemption that brings about the redemption of my body and of your body. Grieve not the Holy Spirit whereby thou art sealed unto the day of redemption. Or that is don't grieve the Spirit of God, because we are God's book. We are Christ within. We are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, and we are sealed by His Spirit. Nobody can loose that spirit. But the Bible teaches that Paul in one place, he made this statement, he said, I'm persuaded that nothing can separate me from the love of God. Nothing can break the seal. Nothing can touch me. He that is born of God keepeth himself and the evil one toucheth him not. The seal cannot be broken. Only Christ can loose the seal of our soul. We see also that the church is sealed as a book. How is it sealed? It is sealed with seven spirits. It is sealed by one Spirit, which is God the eternal Spirit, but it is still in seven major or dimensional steps that's referred to as the church ages. The seven spirits that is before the throne of God, a spirit being a seal, we see that these seven spirits is that which protects the church and that which is the covenant that had been made with the church. This is why that we see the rainbow over the throne like we do, because of the seven lamps, because of the flames, because of the beauty and radiance of His own appearance that is like a jasper and a sardine stone and as the emerald that is about the throne and all of the jewels around the throne, then we see the beautiful colors of the rainbow as these seven spirits of God or these seven lamps reflect their light into what we refer to as the ark of the covenant. Now like, in the Old Testament we speak of it a lot of times, the priest had their breastplate. On their shoulders they had what they call the urim and thummim. That was two little stones we spoke of it. We've got a message somewhere where we bring it out what the stones were. They, one on one shoulder, one on another in ounces of gold, and the Bible spoke of these two stones that was connected to these things as being the urim and thummim. And then a plate that was on here that was made of gold that had twelve stones in it that was called the breastplate. Now, when somebody would come to the priest and they would speak to the priest, then the priest would know whether or not it was the truth, in that if it was truth, then that which had to do with the urim and thummim would light up, flash as we would say. So then speaking the truth, that is God's Spirit of truth. If it was in a person, or upon a person the Spirit of His Shekinah glory, the Spirit of truth radiating into the breastplate and into the priest's urim and thummim. We know then that that was the Spirit of truth by that. They knew that that was God within that man. That was the Spirit of truth. But if it didn't light up then they knew or the priesthood knew that there was no, that it was not related to the urim thummim which was God. See there was nothing that was related to it in that person. I spoke this morning about having something on the inside of you that would relate to God. See, this is the Word of God today. This is God's urim thummim today, and when we speak the Words of truth, it flashes on the Word of God. When you confess the Word of truth, it flashes on the Word of God, and if your deeds doesn't confess truth, it doesn't flash on the Word of God, therefore the glory of God isn't flashed back to you. You don't have the Holy Ghost. You don't have the infilling of the Spirit. You don't have anything that relates to you and to godliness. So then we see that we have a covenant. We have a spiritual covenant with God, which has to do with these seven lamps. The Bible speaks of the spirit of mankind like this. It says, And the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord searching out the inward part. So then we understand that even in our own life. Our own spirit is referred to as a candle on the inside that's constantly searching out the inward parts. That is, God is surveying to see if truth dwells on the inside of us. Is a light on the inside that searches out and sees if truth is in our heart? Whereas the Bible uses the term, that the heart is deceitful. It's desperately wicked above all things and who can know it? God is continually searching it out. All right so then we see why John wept the way that he did. He wept because this was the great book of redemption. If there was no one that could loose those seals then that meant that John was lost. That meant that all of the inheritance of Adam was lost. That means that everything that was lost in Adam could not be redeemed because that was the book of redemption. Only the Lamb of God had the power to open it. And only those that were holy and righteous was found within that book, because it was the book of redemption. It was that which held the redemption of all of our inheritance. All of our bodily rights, everything that we had ever lost, that which would bring us back through the change and back to God and back into the celestial condition that God intended for us when He first created Adam and put him in the garden. All right now, we see here that John was much disturbed. He said, I cried much. I wept much! And then the voice said, The Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed to open the book. All right we watch, we see as He opens the book, the first thing He does, He begins to open the book and one of the seals is broke loose. Now, if I could take the mike and back up just a little bit here at the board I'd like to bring out a thought or two on this. Now, this board here, the way it's fixed it works real good for what we want. If you'll notice here now, they have this board drawn to where, it depicts to the human eye the seven seals. When He opened these seals, here we find the first thing that was seen was a lion. Now let's just take a few thoughts tonight and see what we can understand. The first thing that comes forth was a lion. All right, now we say, where does the lion come from? How did the lion get into the picture in the opening of the seal. Because we are told earlier that around the throne was this lion, this eagle, this calf or ox, and the man. So then we see that the first one here that come forth is the lion. We also see that he is one of the four beasts. All right now in this as he comes forth, I see something in it. Perhaps you do too, but in this as this seal is opened, this has to do with the Jew. Now you say, Brother Pike, where do you get it that it has to do with the Jew? If you'll go back to the Old Testament you'll find out that when that tabernacle was set in the wilderness, whereas three tribes was in one direction of the north, three tribes to the east, three tribes to the west, three tribes to the south. So then, when you check it out to find out what is denoted, it goes back to the four beasts that was around the throne, because when they're spoken of and when Jacob give the blessing back there, the different things that come about you check them out and they're liken to these different beasts here that are around the throne. So then we see that they are liken to beasts because when the Bible speaks of the church, it speaks of a celestial thing which is liken unto angels, for in heaven they are all as the angels, but when it speaks of the Jewish people, it speaks of them that are relative to the beast in that they are going to be a natural people that will dwell on the natural earth and inherit the natural things of this natural life. So then we see that a lion comes forth, which indicates that it has to do with the Jewish people. When this lion announces the opening of the seal, then the Bible tells us that a white horse came forth. When the seal is opened then comes a white horse. Now I know you probably heard a lot of things about the seal and you believe whatever you want to, I'll tell you what I understand about them. But when the seal was opened there was a white horse came forth. In this the rider on this white horse as you know he had a bow, he went forth conquering and to conquer; but the thing is the horse that came forth denotes something that is clean and pure. Because it was a white horse. It has to do with the early church and the stride of the early church and the dispensation of the early church when God was spreading righteousness and there was a conquering. There was a conquering, and the church was conquering. Now, in that we see that it has to do with the Jewish people. A horse denotes power. Now, you say, But that rider was antichrist. We're talking about the horse. So then we see here that as he comes forth there is some righteousness that is denoted in a power of conquering. That dispensation was fine, because it indicates some light was there. There was some strength that was there. But then in the opening of the next one we see the ox come forth, which again denotes the Jew. We see him not here as a conqueror, as a lion, but we see him as an ox or a sacrifice, as a slaughter. We see a light represented here, a white horse, which represents a spiritual thing or a spiritual life; but when we see the second one, we see something that doesn't represent angelic life, but it represents human life. It is a human life for it is a blood, it is a blood type here. So we see that changing from the conquering time of the church that the church falls into the slaughter. As it falls into the slaughter they become the sacrifice, for they're headed for the dark age; back in that day when Titus came in,plowed the field, plowed Jerusalem as a field, and they fell into the hands of the slaughter and you find from Ephesus down through Pergamos you find a slaughter going on, especially when they fall into the third part here which has to do with the man. The man comes forth here and we see it again. It still has to do with the Jew. When it comes forth here, just as it was in Ezekiel when they saw the four-faced man over there, it was the same thing over there. So then we see here again here comes forth another horse, a black horse. Whereas the first one denotes life and spiritual life and the second one denotes blood life which is human life, the third one here denotes judgment and darkness which is satanic life. From life the blood which is the sacrifice, the killing, goes into darkness and the fourth horse that comes is a pale horse for the Bible said, Death and hell followed. So we see that it's represented again as the Jewish people. All of these as we see them represent the Jewish people still having to do with the beasts as we say. Coming on down step by step, now, I see something here in these because in every one of these right here it has to do with the Jewish people. The Jewish people having been put out of the presence of God. If we want to look at it, it's Jesus here, we see the life on the left side of Calvary as we would say, and then when we look at the blood we see the blood being spilt at Calvary, the Jews going through the sacrifice; then when we the next one, we see the darkness that come over Jesus whereas the Bible said, The sun veiled itself as sackcloth of darkness; and the next thing we see Jesus as being dead, the pale horse as it is laid in the grave and death and hell following in that the Bible said, That He suffered not His holy one to see corruption nor His soul to remain in hell. All of these we can see in the four seals are leading up to something. In these four seals they're leading up to something, and I believe that this seal of the eagle still has to do with the age that has just past. The eagle age of America. I believe that the fourth seal has to do with the age of America and that these other seals step by step where the Jewish people were there at the beginning in the light, and here as we find this next step coming in, the slaughter of the church ages, and then the next one coming in the dark age where the Catholic powers rule, and the next one coming in bringing in America, the eagle age, which is the war age. I believe that the next age which was the seal that was to be loosed, being the fifth seal, was the souls that was under the altars of God that was crying, How long? O God, how long before You avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? It's obvious here that the cry of those that have passed on are calling out asking God, How long? When the Lord said to them in that age that it's just a little while longer, until the rest of your brethren should be killed as you are, no doubt referring to the tribulation period, which is going to bring in the mark of the beast, the antichrist and the slaughter of the rest of the Jewish people. But anyway we see the souls crying out under the altars of God. In that they're crying out under the altar, again we realize that this is on this side of Calvary. In that Calvary denotes the great brazen altar. These were given white robes. Now, the Lord gave these white robes. I believe that if the eagle age had to do with America, then the place that we're living right now is in the fifth seal where the souls are crying out, How long O God, how long O God? You say, Brother Pike, Why do you believe that? Because I believe that the eagle age has faded out, passed and gone. I believe that the government of America has been gone and that she's been infiltrated with confusion and everything but the true government that was set up by Washington and the patriarchs. So than this seal, the fifth seal, being the place of waiting, the place of waiting, then we find that the very next seal which is opened is the sixth seal and the Bible said, When the sixth seal is opened the heavens departed as a scroll. And the Bible said, The time of Thy wrath has come. Which indicate that when the sixth seal is opened it is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the judgment of the world. It is very obvious that we have never yet approached that seal nor got pass that seal yet. Now, I know that we have if we take it to the Old Testament application, we bring it up, we see the sixth seal. Now, the sixth seal having to do with Calvary, but to be manifested in the latter times at the coming of the Lord, because that's what Calvary was. All right so then we have never approached this seal as of yet, but we are fixing to approach it and the Bible said, When this seal is opened that the scrolls of heaven rolled back and the Bible tells us, When it opens up that the wrath of God appears and then the rich men cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne. And the Bible said, They will take their money and they will throw their money to the bats. Now when that is opened that only leaves one seal. And that seal is the seventh seal. Notice this that in the opening of the sixth seal, when the sixth seal is opened, it is then that John begins to recognize something. Now notice in the fourth chapter, the Bible said, That a door is opened in heaven and the voice said to John, Come up hither. When John got into heaven he saw the things that I spoke of; the throne, the elders, the book, the seals, then the seals started to being opened. Then when we get down to the sixth seal, we find out that in the sixth seal, just before the four winds of the earth can come sweeping over the earth the voice cried out, said, See that ye hurt not the trees, nor the earth, nor any of the, of the servants of God until they are sealed in their foreheads. And the Bible said, The seals that they were given was the name of their God. Which no doubt was the name of Jesus Christ, meaning that the Jews would at last receive the Lord Jesus as the Messiah; and the Bible said, They were sealed in their heads. Notice this that in the sixth seal when this happened, John was looking and he said, I looked and I beheld a great multitude of people. First of all, a hundred and forty-four thousand, and he named them twelve thousand per tribe. He said, I saw these. And the Bible said, And God sealed these in their foreheads. It is obvious when John said this, that he saw these people in the earth. Now that's where we want to be sure that we differentiate between the two. John was in heaven but when he saw these people it was in the earth. Now you say, Brother Pike, where do you get that he was in the earth when he saw those people, or that they were in the earth? Because He said, Don't hurt the trees. Don't hurt the trees. Don't hurt the things of the earth as of yet. His conversation was about the earth. He said, Until these men are sealed, which makes it evident that the destruction that was going to hit the earth was going to hit these men which proved that they were in the earth. So then He wanted these men sealed. A hundred and forty-four thousand, because they were going through the tribulation. These Jews were fixing to go through the tribulation and He wanted them to be sealed to where they could not be deceived. All right now, we see that when they were sealed John immediately goes right on, continuing in his teaching. He said, And behold I saw a great multitude, that no man could number of all nations and kindreds and tongues, these stood before the throne, and the Bible said, That the Lamb of God spoke saying that I will lead them to fountains of living waters. I will wipe all tears from their eyes and the heat of the sun shall never light upon them again. Neither shall they thirst anymore, neither shall they hunger anymore. Notice this now, that was not in the earth. That was in heaven, because the Bible said, They were before the throne of God. They were before the throne of God. That is evident that the ones that he spoke of was those who had been raptured up into heaven. It is evident that those are the ones that was before the throne of God, that the rapture had taken place and had taken place just before or at the time of the sealing of the of the hundred and forty-four thousand just before destruction hit the earth. Now, in this notice following John's teaching of the hundred and forty-four thousand in the seal, the Bible said that The seven trumpeters got ready to sound. It is immediately after the sealing of the hundred and forty-four thousand and evidently the rapture of the church that the seven trumpeters make ready to sound. And then the Bible said, They sound. And when the first one sound, you know how we've taught it on tape about the different things that happen. The streams turning to blood, a third part of the sun and the moon being smitten and the water turning to wormwood and men dying of the bitter water and all these great things begin to happen as the trumpeters begin to sound. When they got on down a little ways sounding a voiced cried out, saying, See that ye hurt not the trees and ye hurt not them that are sealed with the name of the Lord in their foreheads or them that are sealed by the seal of God. So then we find out that those men were in the earth because the trumpeters are beginning to sound and the judgments are falling upon the earth. Now, and He said, See that you don't hurt these men that are sealed in their foreheads, which proved that they are in the earth during the time of the tribulation. One thing that is worthy of notice is, is that these men being in the earth were not to be hurt because God had a place prepared for them. For notice this, immediately after the sounding of these trumpets, just prior to this the Bible said, That the angel of God went over to the little golden altar before the throne where John had seen it when he was caught through the door, said, And he took the censor that was filled with the prayers of the saints, he put into it the little coals, remember Aaron, when Aaron would go into the tabernacle, he would go to the little golden altar, he would take the coals and put it in there with that sweet smelling perfume that they made to bring up the vapor of the cloud that stood between him and the ark of the covenant. That was typical of the prayers of the saints. It is the Spirit of the Holy Ghost, the prayers of the saints for we know not what we should pray for but He prays for us, making intercession. Christ within the holy of holies interceding, the great Holy Spirit stands between us and between the judgments of God as the mediator between heaven and earth. Just as His body stood between our body and God so does His Spirit stand between our spirit as the Holy Ghost between our spirit and the great Spirit of God so that we can have peace. All right so then we see that he took the censor filled it with these coals, he took it and the Bible said, he slung it into the earth. When it went down into the earth there was great earthquakes. There was great noise. There was lightning, there was thunderings. Now, and the Bible said, There was thirty minutes of silence in heaven. I believe that that was where the blood come off of the mercy seat. I believe that right then and there the blood come off of the mercy seat that God had said, Hold back those four winds until the servants are sealed in the earth. The church being raptured out, being the salt of the earth. The Bible said, The very day that Lot went out of Sodom and Gomorrah then rained fire and brimstone down upon them. Right here the church is raptured out, the hundred and forty-four thousand is sealed and just as quick as they are sealed that censor is slung into the earth and the fire and brimstone of the explosion of the bombs, the turmoil of the war, the four winds of doctrines that we spoke of wrestling over the waters, the powers of the earth that's trying to get dominion over the earth begin to clash with each other and begin to fight with each other, and then here comes the bombing, here comes the hell, here comes the brimstone, here comes all of that that the Bible said would come to pass. Why? Because when the hundred and forty-four thousand was sealed when the saints of God went out of the earth, there was no more need for grace in the world, there was no more need for the blood to be on the atonement seat, so God took the blood off of the atonement seat and then came the judgments of God into the earth immediately when the blood went off of the mercy seat at the sealing of the hundred and forty-four thousand. And then look at it a little farther, not only was they sealed but the Bible said, Immediately we see a wonder in heaven and we see the man child going up to the throne and we see the great red dragon being cast out into the earth. So then we again know that the blood is coming off of the mercy seat. See, as long as the great red dragon is in heaven, that means that the blood is still on the mercy seat because Satan is a spirit that lives in the bloodstream and he is called the red dragon because he embodies himself with the blood of humanity. So as long as the blood of humanity is in heaven that means there has to be an atonement or it couldn't be in heaven. So then the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is in heaven, which means that Satan is still in heaven. You say, What do you mean by that? I mean that he's still living in the bloodstream of the people that are in the realms of grace which is in the spirit which is in heaven. But the day that the blood atonement leaves the mercy seat those people that are covered by the blood that have the days of grace, that is the age of the Gentiles, they will have no more grace and Satan can no more be in the presence of God in the days of grace in this great grace dispensation by living in the blood of humanity. Those who are not anything but just church members and trouble-makers. So then that means the Shekinah will be lifted from them and only the true saints of God who have the life within them will continue to be in heaven. We see then that the woman flees into the wilderness which is the Jewish people, a place prepared for her for a times and a half a time. For the Bible said, That immediately up comes the antichrist. Just as quick as Lucifer is cast out of heaven, that means the blood is off of the mercy seat. That means that he has to personify himself. He can't hide as a spirit anymore; he has to personify himself in a human being; then we see in that that as quick as he is cast out of heaven he comes up out of the waters, which means the great lot of people, personifies himself and starts him a three and a half year regime, for that's the middle of the week; and when he starts that three and half years regime the Bible said, he will go about like a roaring lion because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. He knows then that he only has a few years because he's been cast out of the spirit. Immediately the woman which is the Jewish part that gave birth to the church goes into the wilderness. So then Jesus travailing at Calvary the Jewish head and the Jewish members being the woman, immediately the man being caught up to the throne over there, the man child, the inner Christ, at Calvary, the Jews go into a darkness, they go into a wilderness, they wonder and wonder. So then we see it at Calvary, we see it manifested in the tribulation period. All right now then when we look at this, the woman in the tribulation period has a place prepared which is believed to be the Valley of Petra, for the Bible said, antichrist shall stretch out his hand across all the land and he'll have control of all of it, but then it speaks of Edom and Moab and the land of Ammon escaping from his hand which is where, which is just across the Jordan over there where the seed of Lot settled and where the children of Israel had to press through coming through over there. Over in the area where the cities of refuge are, and down in the place where Moses was back over there, where he was supposedly buried, and the same place over there where the Moabitess married over there into Naomi's family, and Ruth came up from the same place where Moses was suppose to be buried in the valley over there. So then you remember how she come across the Jordan at the time of harvest to show the resurrection of the things and how that it was restored back. Now if you understand revelation you know what I'm saying. So then we see a great thing because immediately antichrist starts his regime. But, if you notice before he starts his regime during the time of the sealing there has been two prophets that have come on the scene. And the Bible said that, They prophesied for three and a half years and then when they end their ministry antichrist comes up out of the sea and he kills the two prophets. And then immediately the Bible speaks of the great turmoil and the things that start taking place. So antichrist is in power, but there's still something else to happen. See the trumpeters have sound. The last three trumpets of the trumpeters are called the three woes which is Woe, woe, woe. When two of those trumpeters have sounded, which would be the sounding of the sixth trumpet, then between the sixth trumpet and the seventh trumpet, Revelation 10, the angel with the rainbow over his head comes on the scene. Declares the seven thunders and immediately saying, That the mysteries shall be finished with the sounding of the seventh trumpet. We find that the seventh trumpet begins to sound and just as it begins to sound the Lord intervenes by telling about the prophets. And then when they sound the great, the great earthquake takes place and then it signifies the coming of the Lord Jesus to set His foot upon the Mount of Olives, and its cleaving in half, all of a sudden the trumpet sounds and the Bible said, The time of Thy wrath has come to reward the prophets and to reward the righteous, and to judge the dead. Then a voice said, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God and His Christ. So it's obvious that something is happened right there. What is it? The days of the Gentiles are finished. When the lightning, when that censor goes into the earth at the sealing of the hundred and forty-four thousand then immediately the days of the Gentiles are finished. And the man child goes up to rule. Lucifer goes out into the earth. He becomes a king in a human being. He starts his regime and God reserves seven last plagues that'll be poured out by the seven last angels out of the vials into the air and on the seat of antichrist, He reserved these seven last plagues which is exactly for one purpose and that is to torment and to tear down the kingdom of antichrist. Then the Bible said, a little bit later, After this that Babylon is fallen. Babylon the great which is his habitation or his kingdom. It goes down with antichrist. But just as antichrist comes up in the middle of the week, up to personify himself, coming up out of the waters, immediately a voice says, as an angel flies through heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach to them on earth, the Bible says then, Blessed are they that die in Christ from henceforth. And the Bible teaches that immediately everyone starts to taking the mark of the beast. So then the mark of the beast comes in there in the middle of the week when antichrist goes into power. But the Bible says that at that time that there comes forth a great angel of God and he looked one like unto the Son of Man, He comes forth in a cloud and a voice says to him, Cast in thy sickle, for the harvest of the earth is now ripe. And then the Bible said there come forth another angel having power over fire and the voice said to it, Cast in thy sickle or whatever or reap the earth, it says. Doesn't speak about the sickle as it does the other but reap the earth for the vine is ready to be reaped. We use the terms the grapevine. Then the Bible says that they gathered it all together and cast it into the winepress of the Almighty God and the winepress was trod without the city until the blood run up to the horses bridle. Which means the confederation of armies when the antichrist takes over, that he will confederate, his armies will get together. All of the armies of the world for the Bible said, Who can make war against him. And all of the armies of the world will band together and go to slaughter Jerusalem and when they go out against Jerusalem, they'll come into the Valley of Jehoshaphat where me and Betty stood not to long ago looking down through that valley and when they come to that great valley all of them will come together and there will be a great slaughter until the blood runs up to the horses bridle in that great valley that the Bible calls the valley of blood. So then we see that the reaping of the earth is the gathering together of the people where they go into this great valley for the great slaughter that's called the battle of Armageddon. So the reaping of it is to take them into the valley that the Jews and all of those who will come in there fighting on horses and whatever will fight until the blood runs up to the horse bridle. Then with this they get a glimpse of New Jerusalem. John gets a glimpse of the new city and then immediately we find out that Babylon is cast down and then the ninetieth chapter of Revelation we see the Lord Jesus coming and when He comes back in the ninetieth chapter, the Bible said, The dead in Christ are raised which is called the First Resurrection and the great millenium sets in. Now that sounds like a lot to take place but all of that happens within a period of seven years. It's only seven years of tribulation which we call bad government. That government is fallen. Out yonder in the world the government's fallen. I say this again, God has been in the government down through the years, but God will not be in the communistic government because it is an atheistic thing. So then when that government went communist everything failed. The last phase of the government holding up was America, when it went communist then God done away with it. There had to be another government and though people laugh at us and though they mock us and say all kind of things, What's the preacher doing out there doing the things that he's doing out there? Why is he doing those things? But there had to be another government. It had to be done in a governmental way. It had to be done step by step as a city because it is a government that is coming up because it is the government of God in that that government is done gone out there. It is God preserving His government and taking His government to where it will stand until He finishes what He is doing and then the government of God as the man child of the church will be raptured up and over the tribulation to come back celestial to sit down on the throne of David and rule with a rod of iron for one thousand years. At the end of, at the end of these tribulation period, Revelation 19, we'll come back, the resurrection will come, we'll come back on white horses, we'll band ourselves together, we'll throw antichrist into the lake of fire. We'll put Lucifer in a hole and bind him for a thousand years and the dead in Christ, those which are Christians, will come forth, the wicked dead live not again till the thousand years is finished, but the righteous dead come forth with them of Thessalonians change, for the Bible said, The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with the trump of God, the voice of the archangel with a shout and the Bible said, We shall not exceed the dead in Christ for them that sleep shall awake from the dust. They shall be changed, caught up, and we shall be changed, caught up with them, so shall we meet the Lord in the air and ever be with the Lord. So then the righteous dead live and reign with Him a thousand years as well as we who have caught up at the change. We reign with Him a thousand years. But notice this, that when Lucifer is cast out of heaven the voice said, Now is come salvation, now is come strength, now is come the power of our Christ. That means that what Jesus did at Calvary is now effective to the natural body that death is not only swallowed up in victory by faith, but it is a manifested, whereas the redemption of the body is come, and the immediate change in that we receive our immediate inheritance because Lucifer can no more be in heaven. The accuser of the brethren is cast down which means death is conquered. That means time shall be no more, for the angel of Revelation intervenes just before the sounding of the last trump for one purpose, and that is to say, Folks, it is now the end of time. Get ready for the end of time because the last trumpet's fixing to sound and when this trumpet sounds it'll be time no longer. And He was saying that with the fall of Adam and Eve in the garden time begun. And then when time began it continued on over to Revelation 10 when the angel stands there saying, one foot on the land and one on the sea, saying, that time shall be no more. The trumpet is about to blast. That means that that is the end of time. It starts with the fall in the garden. Time continues on till the angel of Revelation 10 says, Time is finished. And that is the end of time. That means the clock won't work any more. That means death hath no power because death works in the radius of time and when time is finished death is finished. That's why it says the kingdoms of this world is redeemed. The redemption of the body, the redemption of the earth, the power of His Christ is come, the redemption of our body. That's why John saw the seals being broke, because when the seventh seal it was when these seven trumpets sounded. That showed the redemption that we was looking for. And the losing if the seventh seal continues to show all of that right on to the fall of the antichrist, the gathering of the people into the valley of Jehoshaphat and the coming in of the millenium. And also over the millenium and then the change into the celestial world which is the coming of New Jerusalem where the Ancient of Days Himself sat and all of the earth vanishes away. No longer a natural earth but New Jerusalem comes down to earth and this earth changes into a celestial earth and we who are already a celestial people from the change before the tribulation we meet with those that are suddenly changed into what we've already been during that thousand years millenium reign as the head of the people. The Jews being the head of the nation. Now there's a lot of things that I'd like to say there and maybe we'll comment just a little more. But trying to give a continuity of it, it makes it clear when we say the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and we see John standing there on the Isle of Patmos having been exiled 96 A.D., and when we see Him standing in the midst of those candlesticks and those stars in His hand, and we see Him as John described Him as His head and hair as white as wool, a two-edged sword coming out of His mouth, His paps up here girded with a golden girdle and then a garment all the way down to His feet and His feet like fine brass that burn in a furnace. We see that as he described it. He starts to describing the church ages. And immediately He starts saying to the churches and He brings it over first He says, Ephesus, and then Smyrna, and then Pergamos, and then Thyatira, and then He moves on over to Sardis and Philadelphia and then Laodicea and then the fourth chapter of the book of Revelation where the door is opened in heaven. John to the throne and then the seals are opened. So it is obvious that when we look at it this way we see that there is a beautiful continuity of the entire book of Revelation that shows us that it, it is a record of the tribulation period but that it shows the saints of God being taken out. And that the saints of God will be saved during the time of the tribulation period. That they don't have to worry as some would have them to think that they do. But I said this the other day in the things, I'm not going to go back and relate them, but in the things that I related the other day, if those things are taking place the way that they appear to be taking place in that the stars would fall from heaven. Matthew 24, Jesus told them said, Those stare are going to fall from heaven and in seeing those stars fall from heaven and those things take place knowing that the nova and all took place, it was so obvious that at that time it had to do with the coming of the Lord Jesus. For the Bible said, Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. When these stars fall from heaven then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man which puts it right in to where the scientists are predicting the great calamity because it says in Matthew 24, When the stars fall then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in that the falling of the third part of the stars indicates the war with the angel and Satan and those stars are Satan being cast out of heaven. So then when that happens the man child is up there, that's what's causing the casting out. That means His sign is appearing in heaven. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven and all of the tribes of the earth shall morn. A lot of people say now, When He comes Brother Pike, it's going to be like a thief in the night and nobody won't know nothing about it. That's not Bible. See, He'll just slip in and get the jewels and be gone and nobody will never know He's been here. That's not Bible. The Bible said, The sign of the Son of Man shall appear in heaven and all of the tribes of the earth shall mourn. Not only that but even they that are under the earth, the Bible said, They that have pierced Him shall narrowly look upon Him. For as the Bible said over there Everything in heaven, everything in the earth and everything under the earth gave glory and praise and honor to Him that sitteth upon the throne. So then it said, All of the tribes of the earth mourn because they saw the sign of the Son of Man being in heaven. So it isn't that God's just going to appear in heaven and going to catch them away and hurry away, it may appear up there and that sign of the coming of the Son of Man may stay there for ten hours. It may stay there for a day, but it'll appear in the heavens. And as it appears in the heavens and the sign of the Son of Man coming, all of the tribes of the earth will just about go berserk! Because they'll see the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And all of the tribes of the earth shall mourn. And the Bible said, The rich men shall begin to howl and begin to run and try to get rid of their riches because see they realize their riches are a testimony against them that their garments are moth eaten. And that they should have give all that wealth that they got laid up to those little starving children and the wrath of God in now upon them because they hoarded it and fed their flesh to the full and they're really in trouble. And they're trying to get rid of it and they throw it away and run for the caves and the mountains and beg for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them. See that proves that it isn't just going to (shuuu) be like that. But they're going to have time maybe to get in their cars and run up to the mountains or get in their, get in their cars and run over to the hillside or whatever, they'll do anything to get out of the way of the Son of Man, but it'll be to late. So then we see in these great things that's taking place that's the ending of the days of the Gentiles. It is obvious that that happens exactly at the time of the sealing, the thirty minutes silence in heaven,and when this little censor is thrown into the earth. That the blood then comes off of the mercy seat and the seven trumpeters start their awful sounding where the beasts, the locust that is, and all of those horrible looking beasts, hair like women and these horse with breastplates of fire, and all of this. There when they come up out of the bottomless pit, we see that all this happens at the sounding of the trumpeters. And then at the sound of the last trumpet, then comes the Lord. This is why I don't agree with some of the teachings that some of the people have about Brother Branham's teachings and others, where they talk about Brother Branham sounding that last trumpet. Now I know there is a spiritual perspective of it, I see that. I believe in that. I know that brings us to the close of the church ages, but see the trumpeters don't even sound, they don't even sound until the seventh seal is opened, and it's in the sixth seal that the coming of the Lord is, so they don't even sound until the coming of the Lord. And it's there that these things strike. They don't even sound until after the church has been raptured and taken out of the earth. So you see there is a difference all together. Now you say, Brother Pike, don't you believe that the church goes up in the middle of the week? I do. I believe it all has to do with the middle of the week. I definitely do. But I believe the rapture is just prior to the seven years. Now and I believe that the final analysis of it is the resurrection of the body, the Jew being ready, three years later for marriage, that is the male, at the middle of the week, which brings the Jewish powers, or the Jewish people in. And that's why the Bible seals them at the first of the week as we would say, so that they can be ready through the horrible part of the judgments that are being poured out upon the people, and antichrist can have no power over them because they are not to go through the regime of the antichrist in the way you think. He said, I will make them to pass under the rod and Jacob will pass under the rod of God, not under the rod of antichrist. And the Bible said, That after the birth of the child which is the middle of the week, the woman which is the Jewish people, flee into the wilderness in a place that's prepared for her from the face of antichrist where she is to be nourished for a times time and a half a time which means for the three and a half years of antichrist times time and a half a time, antichrist can't even get to her. She has done her job. She goes through the first part where the trumpeters and all these things that's sounding and all the horrible locusts and these things, but even then they are sealed during that period of time. Now that doesn't just mean any of the Jewish people. It doesn't just mean any of the Gentile people. All right the Bible said, Though he be as the sands of the seashore a remnant thereof shall be saved. OK, let's stand together. I really believe that after the fifth seal, which is the mourning of them under the altars, that then will come the sign of the Son of Man in heaven which is the next seal to be opened. I believe that. And in the opening of the seventh seal is the finishing of the mysteries of God, which bring on the trumpeters in the tribulation period. Which I believe that the church is going to miss and going to escape. I can not see God pouring out His wrath upon His own wife. No man in his right mind would take his own wife and scare the life out of her and beat her and run her through that kind of doings. And the Bible teaches that we are the bride of Christ, For the Lord, Himself, shall descend from heaven, with the trump of God, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the dead in Christ shall rise and we which are alive and remain shall be changed and caught up into the air to meet the Lord, so shall we ever be with the Lord. It doesn't say that we'll go through the tribulation and then that will happen. You say, Brother Pike, that means in Revelation 19, I know there's one of the great holiness churches, leading churches, that teaches we'll go through the tribulation and that that change is over there in Revelation 19, that over there where it says, And this is the first resurrection. I know that they teach that, but I cannot picture the saints of God being caught up after going through all the horrible tribulation, going through the regime of antichrist, and then after they get over there, the Lord, Himself, coming back to earth to slaughter, what will we be caught up for? We're suppose to come back with Him on the white horse. We couldn't be caught up, He's coming down to the earth at that time. Whereas the Bible said, At the beginning He appears that we be caught up in the air to meet Him, so shall we ever be with the Lord. But in Revelation 19, He's coming down to the earth to fight a battle, to bind antichrist. So then we see that they're mistaken on that; and what we have to do is hold to the Word of God. Hold to the truth. Understand the truth so that we can tell which way we're going. It would deceive the very elect if it was possible, but it's not possible to deceive the elect of God. The goodman of the house had a known what hour the thief would have come, then he would have watched and not suffered his household to broken up. You say, Well right there Brother Pike, shows that He's going to come out as a thief and break up the household. No, not our household. The Bible said, the wicked shall not see when good cometh but we know when it's nigh, even at the door. Said, If the goodman of the house had a watched, we're watching, watch and pray. He's not going to break up our household, because we're watching for Him. We love His appearing. We'll open the door when He comes. He don't have to sneak in on us, as we would say. He's coming and we'll open the door. I stand at the heart's door and knock, he that openeth to Me. We'll gladly open the door for Him, but it will be in the night, that is carnal reasoning. He will come within the carnal reasoning in the night, gross darkness covering the people and it'll be a carnal night. They won't be in the light of God, they'll still be in carnal reasoning in the night. Be as a thief in the night. Thief because it will be unexpected. They won't be expecting. As things continue on, they'll say, As it was in the days of our father, so it is now it continues on the same as when the fathers fell asleep. We don't see His sign of His coming. So they just go on with their sports and getting bigger and worse. Being religious and going right on. Eating, drinking, marrying, building, having a good time, all this happened until Noah entered into the ark and the flood came and they knew not till it took them all away. Let's sing this little chorus together. Don't forget to pray for my trip into South America, because the trip into South America has to do with the resurrection of the dead. That's why we're going down there. There's a typical thing that's taking place. It also has to do with Brother Branham's following, and you pray for us. Pray that the Lord will bless us. Pray that the Lord will help us. Make us to understand because if He doesn't then we can't see. But if we'll try to understand, He'll make us to understand. OK. let's sing this together. As far as I know they'll have school Monday. Have to get some of them to go down and fix the heater so they can have a little heat because I think they're about out of heat down there. Let's all love the Lord and worship God. You know you get a chance to be a spirit, or you can be a human being, whichever one you want to be. It don't make any difference. If you want to be a spiritual being, you can be a spiritual being. The last man Adam was made a quickening spirit. They that are born of the spirit are spirit. You can be a spirit or you can be a human being. If you be a human being, you'll die. If you be a spirit, you'll be eternally preserved forever. But they that are in the spirit mind the things that be of the spirit and they walk after the spirit. They think according to the spirit. Their conversation is in the spirit. All the things that they think, they do and they say is of the spirit. And they're interested in the things of the spirit. They meditate in His laws day and night. They're like a tree that's planted by the water. (Brother Pike sings a chorus.) If Brother Tilden will bring the little one on, we'll dedicate him. We didn't get to dedicate the baby this morning. We'll dedicate him tonight. (Tape not real clear in first part of prayer.) Let's just everybody bow our heads in honor to the Lord. Father in heaven tonight, we're so thankful for Your love and mercy. Dear God, we give You thanks for this little child. Lord it come into the world to glorify Thee. As we hold it we're made to know another soul, heavenly Father is in the world. And dear God, even as You have given it to Tilden and to the wife, they give it back unto the, that it may be dedicated to Thee and that it might belong to Thee, for only that which is given unto Thee by the saints of God belong to the Father. Lord and all the rest of the earth Lord Jesus has been taken away from Thee, but Father we dedicate the little child unto Thee. Hallelujah! In the name of Jesus. Hallelujah! As we feel the Holy Ghost, the mighty loving Holy Ghost right now. Father take the little child into Thine arms, O God and receive it for Thy glory. Dear God, we dedicate it to Thee in the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God. We ask Thee O God to bless it, Father, whenever it is sick, we ask for Thy healing. Father, whenever it is hungry we ask that You feed it. Father, whenever it's in trouble, when it has fears dear God and complex of life, we ask for You to intervene. Make its enemies Thine enemies O God. Clothe it and take care of it all the days of its life. Father, watch after it. Help Tilden and the wife to bring it up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. Dear God, may it be blessed. May Tilden and his wife live a holy life. May their children be blessed, as well as little James Isaac. We ask it in Jesus name and for His glory. We see the little baby so helpless, you know that's the way we are in the arms of God and the church ought to be so tender. Some day I think God is going to be so upset with some of us; we've not been very good mothers. The little tiny babe that He sometimes has given to us or put here in our arms, we scold them and we don't treat them right. And some of you are so harsh with them when they're but little biddy tiny babes and they don't even, they can't even help themselves. They're dependent on you to take care of them and God is dependent on you. When He told Peter, He said, Feed My little lambs, feed My lambs. And if we don't do a better job, I'm afraid that we'll have to answer to God someday for our ruthlessness and our carelessness, so let's be tender. The Bible teaches the minister of God should be gentle. All right, let's bow our heads together as our Brother Taylor comes. I want to remind you again of the services. Don't forget to come to the house of God every chance that you get. Reverence the Word of God. Take it into your heart. Let it do something for you. And take the Word of God with you. And pray for us. Pray for us for our trip. It's dangerous. The Lord has done made the way; the tickets have done come. They've already been purchased. We've got them at home now. And all we have to do is just step on the plane on the ninetieth. So you pray for us. Pray that God will bless us and everything will go well with us. We'll be praying for you. Still a few more days before we leave, and we'll have a chance to fellowship you, but you need to pray for us during that time. Keep praying and seeking God so that the Lord can bless us here at Little Bethlehem. Bow your heads with me as our brother comes.

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

Founder and first President of Jesus Christ’s Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc.

Holiness Unto The Lord