The Mystery of the First and Second Husbands of Ruth, Abigail, and Bathsheba Pt.3
ROMANS 7:1-3
1 ¶ Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? (We humans have to have laws written down to govern ourselves from our natural human born tendencies to do evil - because there is a law written within our fallen nature and in our bodily members that is contrary to that which is good because of the fact that we were born in sin, so we have to make external laws to rule over us and try to govern man from the evil that he is naturally born with by nature)
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. (Paul is now taking this like a woman that is married to a husband that has the rule over her, in that she is bound to that husband as long as he is alive)
3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Before Brother Branham reads this scripture in Romans 7, he makes this comment…
THE.INVISIBLE.UNION.OF.THE.BRIDE.OF.CHRIST_ SHP.LA V-2 N-15 THURSDAY_ 65-1125
23 Now in Romans 7. Trusting that you have your Bibles open, everywhere now, across the country. We want to read closely now. This--this Message out of here, it seems like it's on marriage and divorce, but it really isn't. To me, it's a prophecy for the Church in the last day.
This is a mystery that the message has opened up to us in these last days.
I SAMUEL 25:1-3
1 ¶ And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran. (Notice that this story of the death of Abigail’s first husband and her marriage to her second husband David is placed directly after the departure of Samuel the prophet, this is showing us of what would also take place in this hour after the departure of the prophet of this generation – so this is a prophecy for this hour)
2 ¶ And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings (Notice – this is showing us a mystery of the fallen nature of man, of what we all came married to by our first birth of a fallen nature that ruled over us); and he was of the house of Caleb.
The Mystery of the First and Second Husbands of Ruth, Abigail and Bathsheba Pt.3
In this service we want to try to give a clear overview of this subject of the mystery of the first and second husbands of Ruth, Abigail and Bathsheba, and then go into more detail in further services.
*It is important for us to see how this subject applies directly to our lives in this hour, because God has placed these three women in the bible to show us a mystery of our own lives in this day of the marriage of the Lamb that has come in this hour and that we are to be a part of this great event and what that looks like in our lives.
*We have been studying the sermon of Brother Branham of the Invisible Union of the Bride of Christ – preached November 1965.
- In this message he takes his scripture reading from the first 6 verses of Romans chapter 7 (of which we have read a portion) which talks about that a woman’s first husband must die before she is legally free to marry another husband – and he tells us that this is not placed here as a teaching on marriage and divorce, but that this is a prophecy for these last days.
*So then when we look back in the bible, God has placed accounts of certain woman in the bible that we know for sure that are also a prophecy for this end time age, and when we looked closer, we found out that they had two husbands of which their first husband had died by various means and they were then united to their new husband of which were a type of Christ.
**And so as believers of this end time message, we can see that there is a great mystery that has been written by God for us to understand behind the stories of these three women.
So as we looked into these Old Testament stories of these three women - Ruth, Abigail, and Bathsheba, we find a parallel in that they all outlived their first husbands and then went on to marry new husbands.
*All these women’s first husbands represented our first fallen human nature of what we were born with when we came into this world. It was a nature of unbelief of the word, and this is because we were conceived by a method of a sex birth of what Eve was deceived into by her unbelief of the word.
PSALM 51:5
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Sin is unbelief of the word of God – and so we were conceived in unbelief, and that caused each one of us to come to earth with a fallen nature.
In other words, we were all born by a method of what a woman was deceived into by the way she brought forth children into the world. Each one of us were born under this system of a method that was based on unbelief of the word of God, and so our human, instead of being the nature of God, it was a nature that was tainted heavily with unbelief, but we were foreordained by God to outlive this old nature and to become partakers of the divine nature of God by our second marriage in this hour by our union with Christ.
**So we want to try to give out an overview of these three women, Ruth, Abigail and Bathsheba, and then by the help of the Lord we will go into more details in further services.
**Ruth’s first husband’s name was Mahlon, and Mahlon means sickness - weakness. And so, Ruth’s first husband that she was married to was a weak and sickly man.
We also know that Mahlon had no inheritance to leave to Ruth in order to keep her in a comfortable and sustained living standard - he had no inheritance on account of his family’s lineage falling into poverty just like Adam had lost the title deed to the inheritance of the earth and then the rest of humanity that followed after him suffered in poverty because of that loss.
*From the beginning, God had planned for Ruth to marry Boaz and become (by virtue of that marriage) joined into the kingly lineage of Judah that would produce Christ. Ruth gave birth to Obed who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of King David who through Bathsheba was the father of Solomon, a type of Christ in the Millennium.
So this Boaz (Ruth’s second husband) was a man of great wealth, a type of Christ also – it’s the story of Redemption.
And so from the beginning, Mahlon’s death was planned by God so that Ruth could become a part of (by virtue of marriage) the house and lineage of Judah.
GENESIS 49:10
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Judah represents the lion (King), of which is Christ the King of kings.
Ruth was a gentile woman that married into Judah.
Rahab was a gentile woman that married into Judah.
Bathsheba was a gentile woman that married into Judah.
*All these gentile women that married into Judah is showing us that in the last days there would be a gentile woman bride being married into Christ – united with the fullness of the word of this day.
Abigail was first married to Nabal, and his name means a “fool”.
He was rich and increased with goods, and he had need of nothing, or at least he thought he had need of nothing.
And Nabal also had no respect for David, he didn’t care anything for David and his rag tag gentile army of only 600 men.
The scriptures tell us that Nabal was “churlish and evil in his doings” in other words he was cruel, hard, difficult, severe, obstinate, fierce, intense, vehement, stubborn, and stiff-necked.
*And we also notice of when this story takes place in that it was at a time of when David was in exile and directly after the death of Samuel the prophet (in 1965 for our day). David was rejected, but he was soon to come into his position as king of Israel.
**David knew that he would come to the throne, because Samuel had already prophesied it, but the bible is showing us the timing of when David married this woman Abigail – it was after the death of Samuel, but before he was crowned as king. It was in a time of when he had been rejected and was in exile and on the run, and this is where we are also in this day of this message that has been rejected also.
We are living in a time after the death of our prophet and also of when the denominations have rejected the one who is soon to become King - of when Christ will be crowned King in the millennium. And so this is the time that the marriage of the Lamb is to take place, of an invisible union between God and his Gentile Bride.
And so this is where these events occur right here in David’s life, because it is a prophecy for this hour, because these conditions in this account show us the same hour that we are living in now.
**David saw that this women Abigail was a woman of wisdom and character. Look at the spirit that was in her - she threw herself in the gap at a time of judgement and prevented innocent blood from being shed. It was her wisdom and character that save the lives of many men.
But yet the story also shows us how that Abigail was already a woman married to her first husband Nabal who was this rich man that was increased with goods - a type of this Laodicean age.
**Maybe Abigail’s marriage to Nabal was an arranged marriage by their parents of what she had no choice, just like we had no choice with our first marriage to our first nature either. Our marriage to our first nature was already arranged by our first parents Adam and Eve.
So it is clear that this woman Abigail is a prophecy of a people of this last day of whom were first married to an old and arrogant unbelieving nature, but are then to be married to Christ after the death of their first old husband nature.
I SAMUEL 25:40-42
40 And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife.
(She is first hearing of her proposal of marriage to David by the servants of David – this is the ministry of the servants of Christ to the bride in this hour – the ministers)
41 And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
42 And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.
Notice how that she first followed the messengers of David, and then she became his wife.
Rebekah follow Eliezer, and then she became Isaac’s wife, and then we find Abigail following David’s servants before she becomes David’s wife – so the bible is showing us that in this hour it is both the prophet and the 5-fold ministry. Press play and obey is good, but it’s not the whole story, because the scriptures also include the 5 fold ministry.
Then there is Bathsheba. She was a gentile woman who was already married to husband but was ordained by God to be married to David.
The story of David and Bathsheba in second Samuel begins with an invisible union in the evening time - a woman is pregnated by a seed – that’s how this story begins.
Then we find that as the story continues, that David is going about actively planning Uriah’s death just like God is planning the circumstances of your life in order to kill the first husband of your fallen human nature of unbelief in the word – this is why we must rest, knowing that God is dealing with our first husband, it was not Bathsheba that planed Uriah’s death, it was David, her future husband to be.
*Uriah’s death was necessary so that Bathsheba would be loosed from her first husband in order for her to be married into Judah so that King Solomon could come through her womb according to prophecy – and your first nature of unbelief of the word had to first die before you could be joined to your new husband nature of faith in the revealed word of this hour by the new birth of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
CHRIST.IS.THE.MYSTERY.OF.GOD.REVEALED_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-7 SUNDAY_ 63-0728
234 What is the new Birth then? You'd say, "Well, Brother Branham, what is the new Birth?" It is the revelation of Jesus Christ personally to you.
THE.FUTURE.HOME.OF.THE.HEAVENLY.BRIDEGROOM.AND.THE.EARTHLY.BRIDE_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-5 SUNDAY_ 64-0802
195 Now, that's what we was talking the other day, the evidence of the Holy Ghost. See? The evidence of the Holy Ghost is when you can receive the Word; not some system, but have a clear understand.
It is the new birth that gives you a clear understanding of the word for your day – the revelation of the word that God has made known for your day.
WHO.DO.YOU.SAY.THIS.IS_ PHOENIX.AZ V-6 N-9 SUNDAY_ 64-1227
218 …The evidence of the Holy Ghost is believing His Word. Always been every age if you can receive the Word. (He is speaking of the revealed word for your day, not the word of a bygone past age, any denominational person can believe that…)
*If God didn’t plan for your first nature to die, then you would still be living in a condition of unbelief of the word right now, but God planned the conditions and the circumstances of your life to bring about the death of your old carnal Adamic nature husband of unbelief of the word.
***That is why Bathsheba had to do nothing about Uriah’s death, all she did was to receive seed from David, and then it was David that went on to plan out Uriah’s death.
*So we notice that this story begins with this gentile woman Bathsheba in 2nd Samuel 11 receiving seed from David by an invisible union, and we know that David is Christ, and Bathsheba represents the gentile end time bride.
*And so then after Bathsheba’s womb had received seed, then the rest of the story is built on top of this event – this receiving of seed by a woman was the cause of everything else that followed, it was all because of this seed that was sown – and so this is showing us a prophecy of this end time hour, because the spoken word of God was the seed that was sown in this day.
**Remember, it was the sowing of a seed into the womb of a woman in Eden that stared all the troubles for mankind, and now in this last age, it is the right seed placed in the right womb of the right woman that will bring us back to peace and to Eden again.
***Christ in this hour (our David), in secret, He placed a seed within us from birth, and so then as our lives when on, He began to create circumstance in our lives in order to bring the about the death of our old unbelieving husbands nature, and by the quicken power of that seed that He had sown within us, He will bring us up into a new nature of faith in the word for your day - from a natural life of a fallen nature of unbelief, to a spiritual life of the revelation of the part of the word that we are.
*We must realize that our lives in this hour were raised up to fulfill all these types and shadows.
**So then we want to notice this point here (as it may seem a bit confusing, but it isn’t), of how that David’s seed was in Bathsheba while she was still married to Uriah. God had the story played out that way to show us that the seed of the word of God for this age was already placed in you while you were also married to your first husband nature, and even while that first husband ruled over you.
COMMUNION_ TUCSON.AZ V-8 N-4 SUNDAY_ 65-1212
44 Like in the Book here, and the spot there we was talking about the--the two Books being One, the Book of Life. The first Book of life coming up, was when you were born, that was your natural birth. See? But then one time, way back down in there, there was a little grain of Life as I was explaining to some of the young sisters at the house this afternoon. See, there's a little grain of Life laying there, that you wonder, "Where did It come from? What--what these strange things?"
45 I was saying this, taking for myself, like you was going to say, "William Branham, well, forty years ago, the William Branham, it isn't the same one tonight." If somebody back there would say, "William Branham, he was a rank rascal," see, because I was born of Charles and Ella Branham. In their nature I was a sinner, I came to the world, a liar, and all the habits of the world laid right in me. But down in there, too, was another Nature present, see, predestinated, was in there by God. In this same body, see, two natures in there.
46 Well, I only catered to one. As it growed, I gooed as a baby, "Dad-da." First thing you know, I become a liar, become everything else that's a sinner, because I raised up that way. But down in there was a little speck of Life all the time.
*This is why we couldn’t stay in a denomination. Our womb was predestinated for the revealed mysteries of the word to be birthed through that will bring forth Christ in this hour.
This is why our first denominational husband of man’s teaching had to die, because our womb is designated by God to bring forth Christ just as Bathsheba’s womb was designated by God to bring forth Solomon.
THE.INVISIBLE.UNION.OF.THE.BRIDE.OF.CHRIST_ SHP.LA V-2 N-15 THURSDAY_ 65-1125
212 Now, it was nature, associated with death. Your first husband, that had rule over you, was your nature by natural birth. Natural, you love the world because you are the world, and part of the world. That right? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Your desires was, by nature, to love the world which you're a part of. You're a part of nature. You believe that? ["Amen."] And that's your natural thing.
213 That's the reason you have to be born again. You have to separate; you have to die to that first husband. You can't live with it. You just can't say, "Well, I'll divorce him, and hang him up here till occasion." No, sir. No writing of divorcement! He dies. The nature of the world has to die. Every speck of him has to die. You have to be reunited, again, with another Nature.
*We are foreordained by God to outlive the old nature and to become partakers of the divine nature of God by our second marriage in this hour by a union with Christ. The Invisible Union of the Bride of Christ.
The word has advanced to such a strange that we have been given access to this level of relationship with Christ in this day.
All these women in the bible – Rebekah and Ruth, and Rahab and Sarah - No bride in any age could fulfil all their types but in this last age. They might have little similarities, but before Sarah could be changed, God had to first come down in a human body and turn His back to the tent and discern the secrets of the hearts.
It must be a day that is in the same condition as Sodom and Gomorrah and with three angels appearing and a time of an investigation judgment.
This is the age that we are living in; no other age fits all these shadows and types but this last age.
So in the last days, we see these three women, Ruth, Abigail, and Bathsheba, they all had outlived their first husband and then they were married to the new husband. And their new husbands (Boaz and David) were types of Christ, they were a mystery of Christ for this last day.
All these women came into Judah by marriage.