The Last Will and Testament of God Pt.4
MATTHEW 13:10-11
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
**Notice – it is either given to you by God to know, or the understanding is withheld from you by God. Because it is only God that can give a person the true light of understanding in order for them to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven – and the mysteries are to do with the revealing of the inhabitances of that future kingdom.
MARK 4:9-12
9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Again - you can only “hear” at the level of understanding that God allows you to understand)
10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. (Notice how that this was not a public event, but that He would reveal these secret things in private – “alone”)
11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: (Notice again, Jesus is making it very clear that there is a separation between those who were within (those that would know the mysteries of the kingdom) and those who were without – (those who would not know the mysteries) So we see that there is a clear dividing line there. But then He goes on to tell them the purpose for this - of why he keeps the understanding away from the group that is without)
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand (Because we all know that you can hear words and even understand the meaning of those words, but then still fail to understand the true meaning of the thought behind the context of what those words are trying to convey); lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. (This word “converted” means to turn one's self about, because we know that true revelation is the thing that changes your thinking - that turns you about in another direction in life)
LUKE 8:9-10
9 And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?
10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
Mathew, Mark and Luke all record this purposeful separation by Jesus between those that are ordained to know the mysteries, and those of whom the understanding of the mysteries are purposely kept from them lest they be “converted” into a different category of which they were not ordain to be in.
This is what the bible teaches us.
PSALM 2:8
8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
When we think of Inheritance and possessions, we think of ownership by family inheritances - of the last will and testament by the death of a near kinsman. And we know that Christ death is what makes the way back for us to inherit all that Adam lost, but then we also notice here, that if we ask of the Lord, that the heathen are also to be a part of our inheritance.
The Last Will and Testament of God Pt.4
PSALM 2:8
8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Notice – not just the earth as our possession, but the heathen also (the nations – gentiles - unbelievers) given to us for an inheritance – and we are not saying that everyone will be save, but the bible is telling us clearly that the earth and the inhabitance of the earth is to be under our rulership – you shall reign as kings and priests (Revelation 5:10).
*We remember that Israel was God’s chosen people, and they had been given a possession in the Promised Land, but under Solomon’s reign, the heathen (the unbeliever) all live in peace round about the kingdom which is a type of the future reign of Christ with His gentile bride.
**And so we know (according to Mathew Chapter 25) that there are those of whom are ordained for different positions in the kingdom of heaven yet will not be a part of the bride category, but they are of these other categories that are “without”.
**There is a quote that has been taken from an old poem about forgiveness that states…
“Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heal that has crushed it”
To truly forgive someone from the heart can be one of the greatest things to do, because (depending of the circumstances) it can often be one of the hardest things to do.
**And this is why we find that the character of God is revealed by how He is able to forgive to the uttermost. – and so when He should judge us guilty, He judges us sinless, because when God forgives you, He actually truly forgives you from His heart, and He does it so powerfully that He even casts your sins away forever from His thinking.
PSALM 9:16a
16 The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth:
In other words, the way the LORD judges us, it reveals the character of His mercy - like how He didn’t condemn the woman that was caught in the act of adultery. And the reason that He didn’t condemn her was because He knew that He was about to take her judgement of death upon Himself.
*It wasn’t that He did away with the law of Moses, but that He came to fulfilled the law of Moses, and this is why He didn’t condemn the women, because He would take the judgment of death for her in her stead so that she could go free and not be condemned by the law. These are very powerful examples in the bible.
**And so this is the reality of what Christ has done for every one of us personally and also for every person that has ever come into the world - because the bible tells us that that He took upon Himself the sins of the entire world – and so that is the default setting for the entirety of Adam’s fallen race since the death of Christ.
I JOHN 2:2
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
And so the fact is that He has taken the judgement of the entire world upon himself in order to redeem the world as His possession, and proclaimed us sinless, this is the very thing that truly reveals the great depth of His character and love toward us.
**But the problem is that our human minds struggle to grasp the depth and the extent of this great love and mercy of God upon the human race in that often we fail to understand of how that God is able to save at many different levels, from the woman at the well, to rich Zacchaeus perched up in the sycomore tree, to the thief on the cross, and to even just someone who gives a glass of water to the least of His brethren.
**We know that God has ordained an elected group of an exact number of predestinated people that will make up the membership of the gentile bride of seven church ages.
But then we also know that there is to be a 144,000 elected Jews that are also to be saved at the end of this age during the great tribulation period. And then there is also the “whosoever will” groups of what Mathew chapter 25 shows us along with many other scriptures.
***And so because the bible is the last will and testament of God written in mystery form, but of which that mystery has been opened up to us in these last days by the opening of the seven seals that were opened in 1963 - when those seven seals were opened, they began to clearly identify and defines the lines of what characterizes these different groups, like the parable of the wedding guests.
MATTHEW 22:11-13
11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
***Outer darkness is the great tribulation period after the gentile bride had been taken to the wedding supper, and the garment is to do with being clothed with the understanding of the revelation of the word for your day.
It is your revelation that is the thing that seals you, because the seal of God is written upon their foreheads, and your forehead represents your revelation. **Your natural clothes is your covering naturally, but spiritually your covering it is your revelation of the word - this is why that the word religion is to do with your covering, because it is this covering of a person’s revelation that defines the person’s religion, and so God is looking at your revelation, your garment, because that is what defines your position – and that is shown here in the parable as the wedding garment being the defining point.
***And so the garment (of the revelation of the word) is only to be given out to those of the elected wedding party – and this is why God purposely hides revelation from those who are not predesignated to be in the wedding party – and this also aligns perfectly with the parable of the wise and foolish, because the wise had light (the revelation of the word) and went in to the wedding, and the foolish virgins did not have light and were kept out.
MARK 4:11-12
11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: (Parables can lead to many false interpretations)
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
***And so when God hides truth from people, He is not being unjust as if He is purposely keeping them from being saved by being converted by a certain level of truth – but it is like the Jews who were blinded, but yet were saved under another category of eternal life because of the grace and mercy of God.
*And all this must be so because the kingdom of heaven is made up of many different categories of the saved of which God foreknew each person’s eternal position in the eternal kingdom because He needs all those positions in order for that great eternal kingdom to function correctly – and so He has to protect each ones position for them in that eternal kingdom by the guarding of what qualifies them here in this life.
And so for those of us who have come to the message of the hour – it follows a similar pattern of principle, because we also find that God has had His seventh angel prophet speak the message in such a way that can be very confusing to even many within message circles, and especially to the purely intellectual mind. And God has allowed it this way in order to hide the third pull of the opening and the revealing of the word from those who are not ordained to see it. And this is why he told His prophet not to try to explain the third pull of the opening of the word like he had done with the first and second pull.
**The reality of how that God unfolded the message of the hour, is that it was a progressive revelation from God to his prophet over many years from 1947 to 1965 (around some 19 years), and so God made allowances for His prophet to teach things (especially in the earlier day) that as the message developed, and as time went on, that the Holy Spirit would correct him on certain doctrinal things.
*And this is why that when he got to the opening of the seven seals, he said that many things were altogether different to what he had previously taught.
THE.SECOND.SEAL_ JEFF.IN TUESDAY_ 63-0319
178-4 {11} And now, tonight we are studying this Second Seal. And e... For the first four Seals there is four horse riders. And I tell you today something happened again, and I--I... Something that I... I go and get the old script that I had that I talked on long ago. And just set down there, and I thought, "Well, I--I did the very best I could." And many writers and things... And I thought, "Well, I'll read a little while, and look over and see this and that," and the first thing you know, something just happens, and it's altogether different. It just comes in different. Then I grab me a pencil right quick and start writing down just as fast as I can while He's there.
THE.SEVENTH.SEAL_ JEFF.IN SUNDAY_ 63-0324E
527-4 {17} Now, I say this... Looking over old notes that I preached on many years ago, I was just coming in and saying what I thought was right and going on. It was away off of the line.
And now, all four of them Seals, I had it in about twenty minute sermon. Oh... The four horse riders of Revelations, I throwed them all together, and said, "One horse went in white"; I said, "perhaps that's the--the--the early age. And next horse went in famine," and then on like that.
But my, when the Word really was opened up, it was a hundred miles away from it. So it behooves us to watch and wait.
*And so we want to carry on from last week by reading these quotes that show this clearly of what we have been speaking about of how that all through the message from 1947 up until he preached the seventh seal in March 1963, that by the best of Brother Branham’s own understanding he had always believed and taught that the gentile group spoken of in Revelation Chapter 7 was emphatically the bride, but then when he came to the night of the opening of the seventh seal, we notice that the Holy Spirit corrected him on this by showing him that this group was not the bride but was of some of those of whom Mathew chapter 25 speaks of that are to be purged and saved out of the great tribulation period after the rapture of the gentile church has taken place.
**Because remember that both Ruth and Naomi (the gentile bride and 144,000 Jews) have to be redeemed according to the prophecy.
Because Ruth under her first husband (Mahlon) descended into poverty and became like a beggar picking up leftovers in the field. But under her new husband Boaz, she finds Redemption and is restored back to everything Elimelech lost.
***And we know that this story of the redemption of Ruth and Naomi is the underlying mystery of the entire bible, but what many people fail to notice, is that there were also these other maidens in Boaz’s field that were a part of his dominion and under his blessing and protection – and so they represent all these other categories of the saved people out of the world that will make up the subjects in the great kingdom of heaven that is to come.