Post Resurrection Ministry
MATTHEW 28:1-6
1 ¶ In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake (earthquakes and resurrections are associated together): for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. (What a tremendous revelation for these two Mary’s)
Post Resurrection Ministry
A study on the Post Resurrection Ministry of Jesus… Post of course meaning after His resurrection. There is pre and post resurrection ministries of Jesus with the resurrection being the main dividing point. We probably won’t get through this subject today – so (Lord willing) this will be more of an introduction to this subject.
We want to also do some review from other subjects that we have ministered on this topic of the resurrection over the years and look into this subject of the post resurrection ministry of Christ to see how his after resurrection ministry was very different to His public pre resurrection ministry of his first and second pull, because this is also the ministry of Christ that we are under today – we are not living back in the stage of the first and second pull ministry of Christ’s public ministry anymore that he expressed again through a prophet of this generation, but we are now under the third pull phase of His ministry which is a very private ministry that is only for the bride to recognise and understand.
**The ministry of Christ that we are under today is like Ruth and Boaz at the midnight hour – this was not a field visit in a public place with all the other workers looking on, when Boaz was revealing his plan of redemption to Ruth, it wasn’t a public show. We saw how that God prophesied of this not being a public show in the vision of what we call the “Tent Vision”.
WHY.ARE.PEOPLE.SO.TOSSED.ABOUT_ JEFF.IN V-2 N-14 SUNDAY_ 56-0101
6-3 Then He taken me from there, and I seen a great huge tent. I never seen such a--a tent. And it was packed and lined everywhere with people. And I walked out to the... Looked like I was standing above the people, looking down, where I'd just made an altar call; and hundreds and hundreds of people were weeping and rejoicing after they had accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour.
And I looked, and then heard a man get up and say, "Call the prayer line." And people begin to line up over on this side, the left from where I was looking down towards the platform, and they lined all the way up and down the street for a prayer line. (Notice that this vision was portraying him like in the healing campaigns and the great tent meetings of the 1950’s – that was his first and second pull ministry) I noticed to my left, which would've been to my right if I was on the platform, a little wooden building. And I seen that Light, that all--they have the picture of, you know, that's always in the meetings; I seen that Light leave me, and go to that building, and go in that building; and a Voice said to me, "I'll meet you in there; that'll be the third pull." (We know now that the third pull was the opening of the word which of course is the highest order of a prophet)
I said, "Why?"
He said, "Well, it won't be a public show like the other." And I came to.
And I... Now, at the beginning of this new year, back to my tabernacle where I started from (See?), back to the beginning where I--I started... I--I am very grateful to God for these things.
The little building was like his home church of where he would preach the seals and many of the messages from 1963 to the end of 1965, we also know that when he received the revelation of the seven seals, it was in a little room at Brother and Sister Wood’s house – so the things of these truths of the opening of the word was not meant for the big public tent meeting campaigns, it was a different ministry altogether from the first and second pull ministry and directed to a specific group of people only.
**So by reading the gospels we can see that Christ’s post resurrection ministry was very different to that of his first and second pull ministry of the supernatural healings and the discernment that attracted the crowds and the attention of the people, and this same pattern has repeated again in our day in the ministry of the revealing of the son of man.
**So when we study the ministry of Christ after he was rejected by the religious denominations of that day, and after his crucifixion that followed his rejection, and after his resurrection that followed his crucifixion, we will also see the same thing repeat of the rejection and crucifixion and resurrection of the word in this hour.
We know that the word was again rejected and crucified in this day by the religious people of this day that claim to be Christians and believers of the word. The very one that they were looking for to come, when he came they crucified him again just like they did at his first coming.
THE.INDICTMENT_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-19 SUNDAY_ 63-0707M
68 And my indictment is against the churches of today. Now I--I'm not bringing the sinner into this. I'm just speaking this to the church. And it's--it's to be in the--the--the tapes now, and I--I'll try to get through as quick as I can. I indict this generation for the second crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
129 Therefore, I indict this bunch of clergy today. I indict this generation, in the Name of Jesus Christ, under the authority of God's Word. You are crucifying Him again.
220 That's the reason I indict this generation, of guilty, of crucifying, blaspheming the manifested Son of God as was promised by all the prophets, and Christ Himself, to be in the last days;
267 Guilty of crucifying Him! Sure! I indict this generation, finding them guilty, by the same Word that found them guilty at the beginning. That's right. Jesus said, "Who can condemn Me?" He was the Word made flesh. And today the same Word is made flesh.
**All these things that took place in the first coming of Christ of his first and second and third pull ministry have repeated themselves again in this day, and so if there was a resurrection of the word back then after they had crucified him in that day, then we know that there must also be a resurrection of the word in this day after the word has also been rejected and crucified in this age.
That is why in 1965, brother Branham preaches – “The Easter Seal” and “It IS the Rising of the Sun” showing us that from this point on there would be a change in the ministry of Christ of how he would deal with us in his post resurrection ministry of this hour after the denominations of this day had killed the influence of the word to the people of this generation.
And so when we study the Post Resurrection Ministry of Christ back then of how he dealt among the elect of that hour, then we can see exactly what he is doing amongst us in this hour.
MARK 16:1-2
1 ¶ And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
**Everything was about to change from this point on. Notice that this was at the beginning of the 8th day, and the 8th day represents the bride age, and so we know that that was the beginning of the bride age for that day before the falling away took place and the start of the 7 church age dispensations began where only the candle lights would shine – but this was not a candle light age, this was the rising of the SON age of the fullness of the word.
***That is why it is the Rising of the SON in this age because we are not in the candle light of the church ages anymore, we are living in the bride age when the sun has risen after a long night of 7 church ages – and when the sun comes up, you don’t need your candle lights anymore.
MATTHEW 28:1-2 our opening scripture…
1 ¶ In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
Notice how much information is put into these two verses.
Let’s follow the pattern of this as it plays out.
There are two women at the dawn of the eight day at the rising of the sun (Mary Magdalene and the other Mary), and there is also a great earthquake and a descending angel that breaks a seal and rolls back a stone to reveal to them the resurrection of Christ – these were the two sun rises of that morning – the SUN rise, and the SON rise.
**And we notice that it was an angel that broke the seal that held Christ in the tomb, so from this we learn that there is no resurrection unless the seal is broken by the angel, and so there is also no resurrection for you or I unless an angel breaks the seal for you and I also, so the breaking of the seal is a very important event in order for the resurrection to take place, and we know that the breaking of the seal revealed Christ to these two women – and Christ is the word. So the breaking of the seal is to reveal the word to you, and only Christ can open that seal. So when the word of this age is revealed to you by the angel’s message, then that is the evidence in your life that a seal has been broken and the resurrection is on and you are a part of the resurrection of this day.
***This event at the rising of the sun was a mighty revelation to these women at that time, and notice how it came, it came by an angel and the braking of a seal – “The Easter Seal”, and this is the message that brother Branham preaches in 1965 – he preaches this message called “The Easter Seal” in Phoenix Arizona on the 10th of April 1965, and then he goes back east and preaches “It is the Rising of the Sun” 8 days later in his own church in Jeffersonville Indiana on the morning of the 18th of April 1965.
***From this point on we see that the ministry of Christ was going to change because less than 8 months later brother Branham is taken off the scene and the public ministry of the first and second pull was over, but the ministry of the third pull of Christ Himself was only beginning.
THE.EASTER.SEAL_ PHOENIX.AZ V-2 N-6 SATURDAY_ 65-0410
60 Look at the millions on earth that didn't receive It when Jesus was here. But how thankful that we should be this morning, to know that we have the direct evidence and the Bible proofs, that we are included in that great resurrection morning coming, that great Easter. (He is speaking of the great Easter of this day of the resurrection of seven church ages of sleeping saints. This great Easter has actually begun already, it has started within a people that are on the earth now by the seals being broken in this hour and by the revelation of the word that they have received in this hour – What is that? It is Christ making himself known again to believers of this age seeking out his own sheep that will hear His voice) We have the earnest of it, right now in our mortal bodies. The predestinated ones are the first, of course, to be quickened, when the Holy Spirit comes to claim Its own.
How does he claim his own? By revealing himself personally to them in this bride age of his Post Resurrection Ministry.
JOHN 16:15-16
15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. (Reveal the secret things of the word to you – that is what he has done in this hour)
16 ¶ A little while, and ye shall not see me (His physical body): and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. (They were going to see him in another form, the form of the Holy Spirit leading them into all truth)
JOHN 14:18-20
18 ¶ I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me (He is talking about another way of seeing – a seeing by an understanding): because I live, ye shall live also.
20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
He couldn’t be in them in the form of Jesus of Nazareth, but he could be in them in the form of the revelation of the word which is what he has always been from the beginning – “in the beginning was the word, and the word was God” Not “in the beginning was the body of Jesus, and the body of Jesus was God”. **He was the word first, and a word is a thought expressed, and so the thought of God became the word of God and the word of God became flesh and dwelt among us in the form of Jesus of Nazareth, but that same Jesus is not in the form of Jesus of Nazareth today. If he will show himself to you in this hour, then it will be by the revelation of the word of this hour, and then that same thought that was in God’s mind from the beginning is now coming into you by the message of this hour that you have received because of predestination.
THE.EASTER.SEAL_ PHOENIX.AZ V-2 N-6 SATURDAY_ 65-0410
122 …if we are ordained to be on that ground; like the eagle walking in the chicken's nest. If you're ordained on that ground, the Holy Spirit is here to find you. And when It finds you, you recognize Its call. You know the hour you're living. You know that these things are supposed to happen. Quickly you're raptured up to meet It (Notice what he is talking about - you are raptured up to meet the word for your day), and now you're setting in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Oh, what a promise! What a Heavenly Father, Who would give us these things!
Let’s look at a couple of scriptures that show him in this post resurrection ministry of the bride age for that time.
LUKE 24:30-32
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
LUKE 24:44-45
44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
This was Jesus in his third pull ministry of the opening of the word to the elect for that day – opening the understand of their minds to the truth for that hour.
**The seal of the tomb had been broken by the angel in Mathew 28:1, but now Jesus had to visit each one of the elect for that age individually or in small groups to break the seal of their minds and open the scriptures to them for that day.
He had to first open to them what had been opened back at the tomb by the angel, just like the Holy Spirit today comes to each of the elect of this age to get you to see the truth for this age and the modern events that are made clear by the prophecy of this age – and that is the proof that you are one of his sheep, because he only reveals the word for the age to His elect for the age because He knows his sheep, and His sheep will know His voice also.