Tidings of Great Joy
LUKE 2:1-11
1 ¶ And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. (Notice - a time of high taxes – it will be the same at the second coming of Christ. High taxes put high burdens on people that are already struggling in a world that is not bringing forth its full strength – it produces a cost-of-living crisis)
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 ¶ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. (Tidings is news, information, and this information would bring great joy to all people because for the first time in all eternity, God Himself had become a part of his own creation by being born into the human race. God became a human in order to become a kinsman to man so the He could bring redemption to man. The eternal spirit of God needed to feel what it was like to be human in order to qualify to be our highpriest)
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
In God was the attribute of Saviour, He was a healer, He was a redeemer, He was a father, He was a son, He was all of these attributes, but He would only be able to express these attributes in Christ, so God himself became a human being in the person of Jesus Christ.
HEBREWS 12:2
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross (Notice – a future joy. Dying on the cross wasn’t the joy part, but there was a future joy that was set before him after the cross that gave Him the endurance to suffer), despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
PSALM 16:11
11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life (The path of life is a journey to an eternal realm of joy): in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Eternal joys and pleasures for evermore)
Tidings of Great Joy
Christmas Message…
We want to press pause on our study of the “Categories of Eternal Life” of which it would be great to continue that subject the Lord willing in the new year - 2024.
Who ever thought we would be looking in the face of the year 2024?
I have really enjoyed going into this subject “Categories of Eternal Life” in the way that we have done.
*There are so many aspects of this subject that have become clearer to us that has shown us of how that the grace of God is able to make a way for people to be given eternal life that aren’t actually a part of the bride.
There are many people that will not be in the bride and yet will receive eternal life, even many non-Christians - that is what the 5th seal and also Matthew 25 have shown us.
In Mathew 25 we read of a people who are granted eternal life simply by giving a cup of water to the least of God’s elected, or visiting hem in prison etc. These small and maybe even solitary acts within all of the activities and acts of their lives would be the single thing that would cause them to be given eternal life by God – what grace is this? what grace is this?
*There are so many things that the message of the hour has made known to us. We spoke about the Morris Chair last week - Before the message of the hour came, we never knew that there were literal Morris chairs in heaven.
*In studying a little of the history of the Morris chair, I read that it was adapted by the Englishman Mr. William Morris's firm (Morris & Company) from a prototype that was designed by a Mr. Ephraim Colman from rural Sussex in England around the 1860’s.
The design soon spread and became popular in America where many varying designs of the Morris chairs were built.
*But we must realize that art and good design come from the inspiration of the Almighty, so that before Mr. Ephraim Cloman could conceive the inspiration from God to build the first prototype of the Morris chair on earth – there had to first be one in heaven – Remember that Jesus prayed “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”.
**So the inspiration that caused Mr. Ephraim Cloman to design a certain chair style that would go on over into America and evolve over some nearly 70 years until it would match perfectly the design of the one that was already in heaven – it’s like how the word moves from east to west and evolves into a greater revelation. The inspiration when from England to America – from an east to west direction.
**Like how the word can be inspire to one person back here like Job concerning the resurrection, but then unfolding over time into what we have of the full revelation of the word in this hour.
*We have never understood these things to this level until the message of the hour came across our pathway – all these things are the truths that the message has made clear to us. What Paul preached 7 church ages ago is now being fully opened in this last age.
*God places inspiration into people’s lives and then continues to unfold that inspiration over years to bring out the very thing that He had in his thinking from the beginning.
*True design is from God, Art is of God – true art comes from the inspiration of God, that is why art inspires something spiritual within us – it speaks into our very spirits.
Poetry, Art, Music, Architecture, all these things originated in God’s thinking from the beginning, and men on earth catch the inspiration of these things from the great mind of the Almighty. The inspiration of these things have not originated from the earth, but from an eternal realm that has been reflected down here into this earthly realm.
JOB 32:8
8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
So then we realize by this that it wasn’t that there was a Morris chair first designed here on earth and then God thought He had better get his carpentry staff to make one to match up there in heaven so that when his prophet got there it would make him feel better about losing the one on earth.
**True Inspiration and art and design flow from God down to man and not the other way. So the original chair was there first, and then the reproduction was created on earth in reflection of the one that was already on the other side.
**And so notice this – that what was on that side came into the prophet’s life along the journey of his earthly life – the experience of that here was only showing an eternal ownership of something over there. So don’t ever worry if you own nothing here, or if you lose things here that you treasure, you will have all those things on the other side because God knows what makes you tick and will provide you with all the things that will satisfy you in the way he’s made you.
**God knew that Brother Branham liked guns, so by the end of his life he allow it so that he could have his den room walls plastered with guns.
MATTHEW 6:19-21
19 ¶ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: (you lay it up there by being willing to lose it here)
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
All those things we treasure will be on the other side waiting for us…
So this is why the message shows us that when the prophet visits his home in heaven, he sees his Morris chair there of the identical design of the one that was repossessed from him on earth.
Notice – He lost his hair down here on earth, but he had it there.
He lost his Morris chair here on earth, but he had the real one waiting for him there.
He lost little Sharon Rose here on earth, but she was already waiting there.
He lost his dog here on earth, but his dog that he lost here was waiting for him there.
***This is why we dramatized that a little last week about how that when brother Branham saw this particular chair for the first time in the store on earth – there was somethings of a deep that was in him that called to an inspiration of something that was in his spirit that he couldn’t explain.
**He didn’t know what it was, but there was something about that chair when he saw it for the first time that spoke to something in his spirit, and it was because the design of that chair had come from another realm because the design hadn’t originated on earth, but had come down to earth by the inspiration of the Almighty from the original Morris chair that God Himself had designed in heaven for his prophet to sit on to rest in when he would get there – and so there was a joy that was associated with that.
LUKE 2:7-10 Opening scripture…
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 ¶ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
When we look at the life that Jesus lived, we find that there was a lot of struggles and sorry and grief associated with his life – his life on earth didn’t seem to be filled with things of great joy as one might have supposed by the announcement of the angel. Nor did his disciples have a life filled with flower strewn pathways of joy and calm.
*When Jesus was dying on the cross, there was no one who would have said that that was an experience of great joy – the reality was that it was an experience of great sorrow and suffering and grief.
*Yet at Jesus birth, the angel announced that His birth would carry the news of tidings of great Joy. And that would be because that this was the kinsman redeemer that had come on the scene to redeem man back to Eden and the perfection and the joy of where he had fallen from – that was the tiding of great joy – it would be a future joy after the trials of life.
**Adams fallen race and fallen world and fallen nature would all be restore back to a paradise again because of the birth of this one human being of God himself becoming a human infant.
**So if there were tidings of Great Joy associated with the first coming of Christ for all those who heard the message of that day at His first coming as a little baby in a manger, then there would also have to be tidings of great joy associated with the second coming of the Lord for all the people who would be associated with His appearing in this day.
THE.FIFTH.SEAL_ JEFF.IN FRIDAY_ 63-0322
383-4 {418} So then, but however, there was Fritz standing there licking me on the hand. (we never knew that our loved pets would be their waiting for us – these are the things that the Lord has opened up to us in this day by the opening of the seven seal - these are the tidings of this great Joy) And I--I looked... I couldn't cry. Nobody could cry. It was all joy. You couldn't be sad, 'cause it was all happiness. You couldn't die, 'cause it was all life. See? Couldn't get old, 'cause it was all youth. See, that's what... It was just perfect. I thought, "Oh, isn't this wonderful?" And the millions... Oh, my. I was right at home. See?
And--and just then I heard a voice and it cried out, said, "All that you ever loved..." (Reward for my service). I don't need no reward. He said, "All that you ever loved, and all that ever loved you, God has given to you."
(You can only imagine the joy of when we will see all of our loved ones there with us in that beautiful and eternal land)
HEBREWS 12:2
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Notice here – a future Joy was shown to Christ that helped him to endure the cross and despise the shame of what he had to go through. He knew that there was great joy that awaited him just beyond the curtain of this life – and these same joys have been shown to us in these last days by the message of the hour.
Jesus knew of the joys of that future place.
LIFE.STORY_ PHOENIX.AZ SUNDAY_ 51-0415A
E-100 …She said, "Oh Bill." She said, "You've talked about it; you preached about it, but you don't know how glorious it is." Said, "Just before you called me, there was something in white was taking me home. I was going down through a great big place where there was pretty trees and big birds and swings. I was at perfectly at peace being taken to my home."
Notice - There are swings in heaven for those of you who like swings.
There are great big places with pretty trees for those us who like great big places with pretty trees.
There are lakes in heaven for those who like lakes.
There are mountains in heaven for those who like mountains.
There are horses in heaven for those who like riding horses. There are dogs for those who like dogs.
There are homes and mansions in heaven with lights shining on them – the message of the hour speaks of all these things.
All that you ever loved and all the ever loved you will be there.
There are pretty birds in heaven, there are tree strewn pathways in heaven. There are flowers of every variety and colours in heaven.
There are fruit trees of every imaginable kind of fruit there.
There are parks and avenues and streets of transparent gold and houses and lands.
*All the animals and fish life and bird life that have become extinct on earth will all be there in their respective habitats with each individual specie and animal having an eternal part to play in that great eternal kingdom of heaven.
*These are just some of the things of the “Tidings of Great Joy” that have been made known to us in this hour of the second coming of the Lord of our future home – these tidings is what gives us a spirit to endure and to press on in this hour.
THE.FUTURE.HOME.OF.THE.HEAVENLY.BRIDEGROOM.AND.THE.EARTHLY.BRIDE_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-5 SUNDAY_ 64-0802
425 Oh, holy Mountain! There will be streets of transparent gold, avenues; and houses, and parks. If you want to read this, Revelation 21:18. The Tree of Life will be there; twelve different manners of fruit, one each month, will be bore on it. The people that eat these fruits, they'll change their diet every, every month.
You will change your diet every month – think of all these things. You’ll be able to eat and taste all the different fruits in their seasons.
A.MAN.RUNNING.FROM.THE.PRESENCE.OF.THE.LORD_ JEFF.IN V-5 N-8 WEDNESDAY_ 65-0217
167 Many here tonight, Lord, and will be here, that's confused on these subjects that's vital. O God, open that fountain in the house of God, that--that's for cleansing us. I pray, God, that You'll wash us and cleanse us in Thy Blood, and make us new creatures. And give us grace and strength, to bring forth the Word of Truth in Its Divine revelation of the Being of Jesus Christ.
May He appear before us, Lord. May He come and heal our sickness, forgive our sins, fill our hungry hearts with good tidings of great joy, the Gospel made manifest in our lives.
**This message of the hour has brought many of these things to our understanding of the reality and the promises of the great joy that awaits each one of us who are associated in the body of Christ by this end time revelation.
I PETER 4:12-13
12 ¶ Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
JUDE 1:24-25
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.