The Two Thieves Pt.2
MATTHEW 27:38
38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
DEUTERONOMY 32:43
43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. (Notice here that God is showing both judgement and mercy because he is both a God of judgement and a God of mercy – he is both the kinsman redeemer and the kinsman avenger)
The Two Thieves Pt.2
As we spoke of last week - The account of these two thieves (as being associated with the crucifixion of Christ) is mentioned in all of the 4 gospels.
*And we know by the teaching of the message of this hour that there has also been another crucifixion of the word in this day, and so because of this we can be sure that there must also be of necessity these two thieves represented again in this end time hour that we are living in.
THE.BREACH.BETWEEN.THE.SEVEN.CHURCH.AGES.AND.THE.SEVEN.SEALS_ JEFF.IN SUNDAY_ 63-0317E
98-1 {202} What's He been? (He is speaking of Christ) He's been an Intercessor. No other person... Tell me where Mary could make intercessions then. What could Mary offer? What could Saint Francis, Saint Assisi, or--or any of the... Saint Cecilia, rather, or any other human being? John never saw a thousand saints come out from the mediatorial; he saw a Lamb, a Lamb that had been slain: bloody.
I don't care how many saints have been slain; they were all due it, every one of them. Like the thief said at the cross, "We've sinned, and we are due this, but this Man's done nothing."
Notice here how he is showing us that the true saints of God are like the thief on the cross on Christ’s right hand side – in this life we will pay for our mistakes and suffer with him as he did in life on earth, but we will also be with him in paradise and reign with him.
BUT.IT.WASN'T.SO.FROM.THE.BEGINNING_ BLOOMINGTON.IL TUESDAY_ 61-0411
E-27 Many people sees only three crosses on Calvary. There was four. One of them was the thief on one side, the thief on the other side, Jesus in the middle. And Judas hung himself on the sycamore tree which is the cross. "Cursed is he that hangeth on the tree." And there was the Son of God, came from God, returning to God, taking with Him the repented sinner. The son of perdition coming from hell returning back to hell, taking with him the unrepented sinner. (Jesus took the repented sinner with him to heaven, and Judas took the unrepented sinner with him to hell)
And just about the time the Christ poured out His Holy Spirit, It had come on the scene, the antichrist come on the scene. Just about the time in this last days when the Holy Spirit begins to reveal Hisself, the antichrist reveals himself. And about the time the coming of Christ, the anti-spirit comes also; the antichrist spirit. So we see they work one with another. Jesus said, "So close till it would deceive the very elected if it was possible."
So now we are beginning to see the significance of these two thieves and how that they are representing something to us of this hour at this time of the crucifixion of the word that has taken place in this day – and how that we as the bride of Christ are to be identified with his rejection and his crucifixion of him who is the word of this hour.
II TIMOTHY 2:11-12
11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: (we all go through sufferings of this life time – suffering qualifies you for reigning - it is by suffering that you receive empathy)
*Brother Branham tells us that Christ became a kinsman redeemer to one thief and took him with him to paradise that same day, while Judas took the other thief with him to his place that same day also – and so this is a type of this age that we live in where both Christ and Lucifer will take a people with them to their eternal destination.
**Christ and his bride who has become one with his word, and Lucifer and his bride who have become one with his lie – that is what is going on right now, the marriage of the Lamb has come, and the marriage of Lucifer has come.
**So these two thieves are showing us something important for us to know about this time now.
***In this hour both Christ and Lucifer become incarnate in people.
THE.SECOND.SEAL_ JEFF.IN TUESDAY_ 63-0319
204-4 {202} Now, but in the age after the Church goes home, he becomes a beast. He becomes the devil incarnate, the red dragon himself. Oh, my. Can't you see what I mean? He's incarnate in his people then. He's got his people bound by his power. The false prophet has prophesied them right into it, give them over to strong delusions to believe a lie and be damned by it, denying the Word with a form of godliness.
God works His place in a trinity: justification, sanctification and incarnate Himself in His people with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Same thing. The devil's just in a type after Christ. Oh, Satan incarnates himself.
**So we notice how that both of these thieves were revealing their future destiny while still in this life by how they were acting in their attitude to the word for their day at that judgement time hour just before the resurrection took place for that time.
***Both of these thieves on their respective crosses where experiencing a time of judgment – and we know that this is also the time that we are all living in now because it has been foretold to us that at this time of the second coming of Christ that this would be the time of His vengeance and judgement when he would take his bride off the earth and bring judgement on the ones who have rejected His message.
ISAIAH 61:1-2
1 ¶ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD (That was at his first coming), and the day of vengeance of our God (This is his work and purpose now, is to execute his vengeance); to comfort all that mourn; (I am so glad that he is also giving his bride comfort in this hour)
***In His appearing in this hour, he has shown himself in the form of his face that is wearing the judge’s wig, showing that he is about to pronounce judgement and sentencing.
John heard him announced as a lion, but when he looked he saw a lamb.
THE.BREACH.BETWEEN.THE.SEVEN.CHURCH.AGES.AND.THE.SEVEN.SEALS_ JEFF.IN SUNDAY_ 63-0317E
96-4 {190} …And when he looked around to see where that Lion was, he saw a Lamb: strange, look for a Lion and see a Lamb. The elder called Him a Lion, but when John looked, he saw a Lamb--a Lamb as It had been slain from the foundation of the world: a Lamb, having been slain...
I am so glad that even though he is called a lion in this hour, when we have looked, we have seen him as the lamb – mercy. But he has spoken as a lion in this hour, and a lion is the king, and this king is executing his judgement.
REVELATION 10:1-3
1 ¶ And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud (With his judge’s wig on): and a rainbow was upon his head (His head is where his thoughts proceed from – the covenant of his word for his bride), and his face was as it were the sun (It is the rising of the sun light of a new day of the bride age, shalom, good morning), and his feet as pillars of fire: (judgement like in the days of Noah and Lot – a time of both mercy and judgement – the kinsman redeemer and the kinsman avenger)
2 And he had in his hand a little book open (the title deed to the inheritance of the earth is about to be read and legally given back to the human race of which it was owned by originally): and he set his right foot upon the sea (Rome – the religious power of the world), and his left foot on the earth (America – the political and military power of the world),
3 And cried with a loud voice (that is the voice of the resurrection that wakes up the bride by the message of this hour), as when a lion roareth (the loin’s voice is the word of the king): and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. (These seven thunders are the revelations contained in the seven seals)
Pick up where we left off last week…
**So this event was clearly taking place in a time of judgement for these two thieves. They were serving the sentence of what the justice system of that day had found them both guilty of, and then on top of this they also were about to go on to their eternal place of abode wherever that was to be.
HEBREWS 9:24-27
24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
So both of these thieves were receiving the judgment of their deeds of this life while still in this life - both the believer and the unbeliever will both go through sufferings of this life time, but the difference here is that for the thief on his right, Christ was taking the future judgement of God of what he would have had to have face God with after his appointed time of death. So we see here that for the thief on his right hand side (which we are identified with in this hour), these two judgments were taking place here for this one man at the same time and hour.
***There is only one eternal life, but there are many categories of saved people within the scope of what eternal life will include.
*There is the bride of Christ category - these of course are the ones that are his sheep and that hear his voice of the word of God for the day that they live in, and this is the category that he will leave the 99 to seek that last elected sheep for each age to get the word of their age to them, but then there is the millions of the saved category of the subjects of the kingdom of heaven because there has to be many subjects in the kingdom apart from the king and queen.
These people will come up at the general resurrection at the end of the millennium and will be given new bodies by God at that time and go into eternal life.
*Remember that their old bodies that they took with them into the grave is what they are raised up in again at the general resurrection. If they were old and crippled when they died, then they are raised up in that old and crippled body again, but to go into eternal life they are given a new robe to wear of a new body that is theirs for eternity – so that is like a body change from an old garment into a new garment for them. Can you imagine how thankful those people will be to God throughout eternity.
***Then there was Brother Branham’s horse and dog that he saw on the other side, they both had received eternal life and had received new bodies that they will live in for eternity because of their relationship with a son of God upon the earth – both of these animals had been faithful to their master while on the earth.
*These are powerful truths that were placed in the message of the hour for you and I to understand that everything here is just the negative reflection of what is over there.
HEBREWS.CHAPTER.FOUR_ JEFF.IN HEB SUNDAY_ 57-0901E
147 Every time I see a tree, I think, "That tree is the negative. There is a positive somewhere." That tree was made off of something. An intelligence made it. And all this earth does is reflect the Heavenly. The Bible said so. And if there is a tree here that has to perish, there is one in Glory that won't perish.
148 If I see a man, I see a lovely little young couple, man and his wife, walking down the street, sweethearts together. What does it reflect? Blessed be the Name of the Lord! There is one in Heaven that'll never perish. "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting, the theophany."
*When Brother Branham’s first wife (Hope) died and he called her back, she told him that she saw the most beautiful big birds flying from tree to tree – we can only have birds here in this negative realm because there were already birds there in that positive eternal place. This is just the negative reflection of that.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
11 So we--we realize that we're here in a negative form. And as long as there is a negative, there has to be a positive. There cannot be a negative without a positive, see, because it's because of the positive that makes the negative. Like you had a negative picture of some object. There has to be an object somewhere, or to strike, the light strike that lens, or there wouldn't be any--any negative. So when we see that our life here is in the negative, and knowing that we're in the image of some life somewhere, then we know that there is a positive somewhere that the light has struck, and it's reflected something here on earth. And we are only that reflection. The genuine object is somewhere. If that isn't, I'm the worst deceived man in the world; I've spent my life in vain. But I know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that it's there. See? That's why we're here. See?
He had been to that place beyond the curtain of time, and he had seen those things and told us these things – this is not some conspiracy theory, that is thus saith the Lord that there is land that is the positive to this life that is all negative.
There is no death there in that positive place – but there is death here in this negative place.
***There is no sorry there, there is no sickness there, there is no pain there, there is not parting there, there is no hurt there; there is no weariness or sadness there. But all these things we experiences here as suffering is the contrast and the negative to all of that which is positive in that place of where God dwells.