Bible Believers' Newsletter 459
"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you, Brethren.
People often focus on what God has done in the past, look forward to what He has promised to do in the future but ignore the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. Israel looked for a Warrior in the office of Son of David to destroy Rome and restore the kingdom. But God sent a baby, who, in the office of Son of man, would surrender His sinless Life as kinsman Redeemer for Adam's fallen race.
Today men who look for Messiah to return as a Warrior, destroy Rome and establish the Millennium, fail to see His second Coming is a 'parousia' coming or Presence in WORD form through the mouth of William Branham, the prophet of Malachi 4:5-6 and Revelation 10:7; not the physical 'erchomai' return of the glorified Man (Matthew 24:22-28). The revelation of the Seven Seals brought Christ back to earth in 1963 as the fullness of the Word (I Corinthians 13:10; I Thessalonians 4:14-16; Revelation 10:1-7). He came "as a thief in the night," and will return to Israel in WORD form through the mouth of their two witnesses in the office of Son of Man. When the Man Jesus returns after the destruction of all life on earth, the glorified saints of all Ages come back with Him (Isaiah 13:9; Malachi 4:1-3; Matthew 3:12; Revelation 19:20).
Christ's second or 'parousia' Coming is the 'apokalupsis,' unveiling or disclosure of Himself out of the Logos (Luke 17:30; Romans 16:25; I Corinthians 1:7). This becomes precious when we read Revelation 1:1, "The 'apokalupsis' of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by His angel (William Branham) to His servant John." As the Bible was sealed with Seven Seals unto the time of the end when it was revealed to the angel to the Laodicean Church Age, you know that John represents Christ's end-time Bride who will not see death, and can identify your experience with this Greek word as the Prophet's Message uncovers Christ, the mystery of God revealed ('apokalupsis') personally to you.
Many people are looking for "that man of sin," not realizing his is also a 'parousia' coming in which his presence is unveiled or made known (Gk. 'apokalupto' - II Thessalonians 2:3) through the "falling away," apostasy or defection from the faith once delivered to the apostolic saints, finally manifesting his 'erchomai' or physical incarnation in the pope of Rome.
II Thessalonians 2:7-11, "The mystery of iniquity is already at work: only God will restrain him until the Holy Spirit departs the earth in the translation of the New Testament saints. Then shall that Wicked one be revealed (incarnate in the pope), whom the Lord will consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His ('parousia') Coming: even him, whose ('parousia') coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved (i.e. like Esau, God did not love them). And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie", Eve believed—"that God loves us all," but God does not love us all.
If you have recognized the 'parousia' and 'apokalupsis' of Christ in His Word, you should also be aware of Satan's 'parousia' and 'apokalupsis' in this world with the oncoming "squeeze" and fulness of his 'erchomai'.
We have discovered in recent Newsletters that the Book of Revelation is a Book of symbols and metaphors that must be Spiritually discerned by the Message of the angel of Revelation 1:1 and 10:7. Therefore, since all evil is destroyed before heaven descends to earth as new Jerusalem, (which is the 'erchomai' counterpart to the 'parousia' of I Thessalonians 4:14-16, Jude 4:14 and Revelation 10:1-7), salvation and praise are our security, not walls and city gates. Zechariah 2:4-5, "Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: for I will be to her a wall of fire round about, says the Lord, and I will be the glory in the midst of her." God was speaking of new Jerusalem, for the glory did not return after the Captivity.
We have seen that the beast and false prophet of Revelation 19:20 are not the incarnate pope and his predecessor of Revelation 17, but signify the revived Roman empire and its US image, the head and tail of apostate Christendom (Daniel 7:11; Isaiah 9:14-16; Jude 16; Revelation 13:11-12). They will be cast alive into a nuclear fire burning with brimstone as a pledge of their destiny in the lake of Fire that follows the White Throne Judgment and the renewal of this earth. We have also seen that "the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners." If therefore "you are led of the Spirit, you are not under law but under grace." But "as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse" since the law condemns without redemption it makes faith void and the promise of God of no effect (Deuteronomy 26:27; Nehemiah 10:29; Daniel 9:11; Romans 4:15; 5:13; Galatians 3:10, 13).
When they rejected His promise to Abraham, those sinners were blotted from the Book of Life and Moses marched them to Sinai where God placed Israel under the curse of the Law. Brother Branham called Kadesh "the judgment seat of the world in that day. . . I believe that the church is standing today at Kadesh-barnea: judgment!" (Israel and the Church, Part IV p. 106; Psalm 95:10-11; John 6:49; Hebrews 6:4-8; Jude 5).
Sinners in breach of their own law (Halacha) have sought for thirteen years to bring this Church under condemnation to laws of their device enacted to divide and conquer the Goyim. Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) asked, "What, is legislation?
It is an assumption by one man, or body of men, of absolute, irresponsible dominion over all other men whom can be subject to their power.
It is an assumption by one man , or body of men, of a right to subject all other men to their will and their service.
It is an assumption by one man , or a body of men, of a right to abolish outright all the natural rights, all the natural liberty of all other men; to make all the other men their slaves; to arbitrarily dictate to all other men what they may, and what they may not do; what they may and may not have; what they may, and may not be.
It is, in short, the assumption of a right to banish the principle of human rights, the principle of justice itself, from off the earth, and set up their own personal will, pleasure, and interest in it's place. All this and nothing else, is involved in the very idea that there can only be any such thing as legislation that is obligatory upon those whom it is imposed."
Because of sin, the whole world is being brought under man's arbritrary and unjust law for the great tribulation when God will purge and purify the 144,000 elect Israelites, and prove the "saved" from among the Gentiles, all of whom will be martyred for their faith. Those who do not surrender their lives are the "lost" who will be made a sacrifice to the fowls of the air and beasts of the field.
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
Your brother-in-Christ,
Anthony Grigor-Scott
Big Earthquake West US this Year?
Heat in form of hot methane gas is coming out from [Earth's] mantle via contracting crust at visibly increasing rate, which means there will be earthquakes soon. . .
Sornette has begun looking at seismic data from the southern California fault system, including the famous San Andreas fault. From an initial study of the data, he thinks he can pick out a faint chorus signal among all the noise. What's more, the timing between seismic choruses has been diminishing fast recently, and the southern part of the California fault system may be just months away from the "critical state". He thinks that California is gearing up for another big quake, measuring around 7.5 on the Richter scale. . .
I would not be surprised that this build up of stress by slow Earthquakes in Megathrust rupture zone will be followed by increased release of methane, increase in CO2, heat, wildfires, number of cracks, speed of fault movement etc., all of which are present in California this Year.
So I believe as a result of these slow earthquakes Stress has been already built up. What is missing is just a triggering pulse to set it off. Full story: physorg.com
US sends Warplanes to Turkey's Incirlik Military Base
Ankara, January 11, 2000 – US F-16 jet-fighters arrived Thursday in Incirlik Air base in southern Turkish city of Adana, for the first time in three years.
According to Local Cihan News Agency, at least 16 F-16 jets joined by early warning system AWACS airplane, as well as tanker airplanes landed here at Incirlik coming from an American base in Germany. Full story: kuna.net
Comment: Will Cyprus be used to launch the third woe?
Instead of 'al-Qaeda,' US Kills Nomads in Somalia
January 13, 2007 – Instead of killing Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and Abu Taha al-Sudani, supposedly "al-Qaeda" operatives responsible for the 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, the Pentagon killed "herdsmen. . . gathered with their animals around large fires at night to ward off mosquitoes" in Somalia. . .
As should be expected, the operations against innocent Somalis serve but one purpose only, that is beyond satiating the blood lust of Muslim hating neocons—it was an excuse to get "boots on the ground for the first time since a 1993 mission backfired and led to a humiliating withdrawal from Somalia," a mission mythologized in violent Hollywood fashion in the film Black Hawk Down.
"Under international law, there is a duty to distinguish between military and civilian targets," said Paul Smith-Lomas, Oxfam?s regional director. "We are deeply concerned that this principle is not being adhered to, and that innocent people in Somalia are paying the price," as innocent people have since the neocons captured the Oval Office and large swaths of the Pentagon.
It is of no concern to the Pentagon that above mentioned "terrorists" were not killed and innocent nomads suffered instead. In fact, such reckless behavior will serve as a "blueprint" for future operations against Muslim enemies.
The Pentagon?s Special Operations Command runs P2OG, or the Proactive and Preemptive Operations Group, a black budgeted psyop designed to "stimulate reactions" among "terrorists," or maybe that should be nomadic animal herding Muslims careless enough to light fires as AC-130 gunships roam the night skies. . .
Full story: kurtnimmo.com If America Only Knew
The US-Iran-Iraq-Israeli-Syrian War
January 12, 2007 – The countries on Bush's "axis of evil" hit list saw that Iraq's WMD disarmament and acceptance of United Nations inspections didn't stop the US-led invasion. . . So there can be little incentive for Iranian or North Korean leaders to follow the Iraq model of disarmament and inspections. Further, the explosion of anti-Americanism in the Muslim world has increased risks to the pro-US dictatorship in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where Islamic militants with close ties to al-Qaeda are reported to be gaining strength.
Not only could Patriot missiles be used to knock down Iranian missiles while they're heading toward their targets, but the fearsome firepower of two aircraft carrier strike forces could deter any Iranian retaliatory strike following a US or Israeli attack. In other words, the deployments would fit with Israel or the United States bombing Iran's nuclear sites and then trying to tamp down any Iranian response.
Another danger to American interests, however, would be pro-Iranian Shiite militias in Iraq seeking revenge against US troops. If that were to happen, Bush's escalation of troop levels in Iraq would make sense as a way to protect the Green Zone and other sensitive targets.
So, Bush's actions and rhetoric over the past several weeks continue to mesh with a scenario for a wider regional war . . . Other data points that same direction. Full story: truthout.org Pentagon abandons active-duty time limit
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' recommendation that the US Army and Marine Corps be expanded by 92,000 soldiers (65,000 and 27,000, respectively) over the next five years. This is considerably more than expanding the force by 7,000 soldiers a year to keep the Army from breaking under the strain of the Iraq deployment, as previously called for by outgoing Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker. So the current proposed troop surge of 21,500 soldiers in Iraq could just be the tip of the iceberg. After all, Gates is on record during his confirmation hearing that "the United States is going to have to have some presence in Iraq for a long time" Full story: freedomsphoenix.com
Comment: "The marriage of the Lamb has come to pass, and His wife has made herself ready for the Wedding Supper".
African Lion kisses, hugs Woman Who saved It
January 11, 2007 – People in Cali, Colombia, are shocked to see the bond between a large African lion and a woman who saved it from abuse, involving long, affectionate kisses and hugs between the pair.
Ana Julia Torres, who runs the Villa Lorena animal shelter in Cali, fed and nursed Jupiter the African lion back to health years ago after it was found abused and emaciated in a traveling circus. "It is amazing to see an animal like that be so sweet and affectionate," said Torres. "This hug is the most sincere one that I have received in my life."
Full story: local6.com
Comment: Romans 8:19, "The earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God".
A Continuing City in the Kingdom of Glory
Revelation 20:11, "I saw a great white throne, and One sat on it, from whose Presence the old earth and sky fled away; and there was found no place for them".
Here is the perfect unity between God and His manifestation in Christ (John 1:18; 12:45; 14:9; 17:21-22): "He must reign, till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (I Corinthians 15:26), for "The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son" (John 5:22-23). In the regeneration there is no place for the old form of the world which as a reproach to His glory is 'cherem' and renewal pervades everything, "then the Son will also subject Himself to the One who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be utterly supreme, and everything to everyone" (I Corinthians 15:28; Psalm 104:30; Daniel 2:35).
Revelation 21:1, 4, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. . . God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither mourning for the deceased, nor vehement outcry at such acts of violence (as indicated in Revelation 2:10; 13:10, 17), nor chronic pain: for the first things, (like the first man—I Corinthians 15:47-56; II Corinthians 5:17) are passed away".
The first earth and sky must pass away before New Jerusalem, which is God's mind, the womb of His foreknowledge and "mother of us all" wherein the saints were conceived as attributes of the Logos, can descend to rule over the renewed earth (Galatians 4:26; Revelation 3:12).
Isaiah 60 portrays New Jerusalem permanently overshadowed by a new Sun, the principle of new Life risen upon Jerusalem, gathering the elect and saved of all nations of Adam's race into its Light from the darkness that covers earth and gross spiritual darkness that covers the people. "The sons of Gentiles shall (be the lively stones that) form Jerusalem's walls . . . and her gates shall not be shut day nor night; that the kings of the nations of the saved may tithe of their increase" (Isaiah 60:10-11; Revelation 21:23-26; 22:3).
Carnal interpreters of this chapter presume the subjugation of the world to Jews, however it is certainly not Jews, or even genuine blood Israelites after the flesh who will rule from New Jerusalem, but the Israel of God: they who are born of Christ and so true seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:28-29; 4:26-31).
Isaiah 65:1-2, 15-16, "I am sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who sought Me not: I said, Here am I, here am I, to a nation which did not call on My Name [the Church comprised of Israelites and Gentiles (Romans 10:20; I Peter 2:9)]. I spread out My hands all the day to a rebellious people [Israel], who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices . . . You shall leave your name for a curse to My chosen ones [His elect Church]: and the Lord God shall slay you [so that nothing will remain but a name on which a curse rests, and in swearing one will believe that he can take no stronger oath than by invoking upon himself the curse of those wicked persons, in case he is guilty of falsehood], and call His servants by another Name. [One name originally united the wicked with the godly, for they were both called Israelites. Now His servants will be called Christians]: so that [when Israel is restored] he who blesses himself in the land of Israel shall bless himself in the God of the Amen [who is firm and true to His covenant with the fathers]; and he who takes oath in the land shall swear by the God of the Amen; because the former troubles are forgotten, and are hid from My eyes".
Our Lord Jesus Christ is "the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God creating Himself in the form of His glorified Family" (Revelation 3:14; 19:11; 21:5). "In Him all the promises of God are yea and Amen" (II Corinthians 1:20).
There is neither temple nor ritual service in Isaiah's New Jerusalem. As in Revelation 21:23, it will be the object rather than "the place where men ought to worship," for it is the place of His sanctuary in which the Holy of Holies is manifest in His glorified Family. When the non-elect "saved" outside the City bless themselves in the God of the Amen, and call Jerusalem "the City of the Self-existent One, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel," they confess their faith (Isaiah 60:13-14). Thus "the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie, will come and worship before our feet, and acknowledge that God has loved us on whom He has written His Name and the Name of His City" (Revelation 3:9, 12).
Although earth and all therein had become marred by sin, the perfect creation remained in the Logos of God, reserved in heaven for the people of faith (Hebrews 12:22-24; 13:14). Now their faith is to be made manifest, embodying God's thoughts in the substance of His permanent dwelling place. His first dwelling with Israel was temporary, a tent, which was stolen on at least one occasion by the Philistines and removed outside the boundary of Judah. Solomon's temple was also made by human hands and impermanent. It was destroyed by Babylon; but even beforehand Ezekiel saw the departure of the glory of the Lord (Ezekiel 10-11). Then the Word became flesh in the temple of our Redeemer, but only for thirty three years. Now the flesh of His Bride is becoming Word and His permanent temple.
Revelation 11:18, "The nations raged and God's wrath has come; also the time for judging the dead and for rewarding Your servants the prophets and saints, and those who fear Your Name, small and great; and for the destruction of those who are destroying the earth".
The world and worldly people are in the grip of entropy, a process in which the highly developed order of the organism is reduced to a random and disorderly collection of molecules, or dust and death (Revelation 6:8; 20:14-15). Death is the penalty for sin or unbelief in God's Word and the necessary preliminary for setting up the Kingdom of God on earth. The Supernatural power of God's Word is Spirit and Life: applied by faith it can harness and overcome the laws of natural science by an infusion of eternal energy.
Because of man's greed and his love of money: fresh water, clean air, marine life, timber and certain mineral resources are said to be exhausted and man is turning earth into dust and death. Sin abounds, while morality and the milk of human kindness have entropied, but Revelation 21:5 speaks of complete restoration "and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads".
Revelation 21:3, "It is as good as is done," says Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega, the Amen, the faithful and true witness, in a loud Voice out of the throne (Revelation 1:8-20). Here is the Lord God Almighty, El Shaddai, manifest in glorified flesh (Revelation 1:8; 11:17). His promise to the overcomer in the Laodicean Church Age was that they should be enthroned with Him on earth, as He overcame and is seated in His Father's throne (Revelation 3:21).
In Revelation 21:5-8, Jesus is speaking directly to His end-time Bride, not through the manifestation of angels, for the seventh angel rests, having introduced us to Christ who is no longer a Mediator (Revelation 10:8-11).
Revelation 21:7-8, "I will give of the fountain of the water of Life freely to him who thirsts after righteousness. The overcomer shall have the fullness of this heritage: I will be his God, and he shall possess the consummate dignity of being My son. But cowards who elude the painful combat with the world through lack of manly courage, and the faithless, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death".
Revelation 21:9, "And there came to me [that is, to you and I, because John represents Christ's end-time Bride] one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show you the Bride, the Lamb's wife".
This angel, who previously showed us the abominable world city of Rome as a metaphorical harlot, was Brother Branham. Now he previews the metaphorical City of New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven as Christ's the Bride of all Ages adorned in deity. In his message, "The Masterpiece" Brother Branham recounts his vision of Christ's end-time Bride and the denominational harlots.
Old Jerusalem's Temple was a dwelling place that sheltered and concealed Jehovah in the Holy of Holies so that the Shekinah glory of His Presence (photographed here with Brother Branham) was not visible. New Jerusalem on the other hand, will dwell under His sheltering Light manifest to the horizon of even the non elect. As Christ is the glory of God, New Jerusalem is the glory of Christ. The Shekinah diffuses its radiance over the whole City because it is omnipresent throughout this new Holy of Holies into which only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life may enter (Revelation 21:27).
Like Israel's high priest, each member of Christ's Bride bears His Name in her forehead which is the revelation of the Word for their day. This makes us priests and kings and will vindicate the 144,000 elect Israelites (Revelation 3:12; 14:1; 22:4; Zechariah 14:20-21). We shall see His face (I John 3:2; Revelation 22:4), whereas "all that dwell upon the earth whose names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life will receive the mark of the beast in their foreheads [which is trinitarian belief], or in their right hand [signifying obeisance to Rome]" (Revelation 13:8, 16).
Isaiah 4:2-5, "In the last days [or Messianic age of redemption and completion, which for Israel will be the time of Jacob's trouble or Great Tribulation of Daniel's Seventieth Week (Isaiah 2:2; Ezekiel 38:16; Hosea 3:5)], the 144,000 sproutings of the Lord shall be glorious and beautiful [typified in Aaron's garments (Exodus 28:2)]: the escaped of Israel shall appear as fruit of the Life of Christ. In consequence of which, all who are left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, all whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life: when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for it will be a protection over all that is glorious. . ."
The City will have the glory of God as He will be dwelling there manifest in His glorified Family, overshadowed by the Shekinah. The Light of the glory of God is likened to jasper (Revelation 4:3), sometimes greenish, sometimes of a reddish hue, which is described as the most precious of stones, and spoken of as crystal jasper, so ordinary jasper cannot be meant and it is undoubtedly diamond, which Brother Branham called Jesus' birthstone.
The dimensions of the wall, its gates and foundations, and of the City itself, are all duodecenary or divisible by twelve, the number of theocratic perfection. Hence it is the number of the twelve patriarchs, twelve tribes, and twelve apostles. It crosses and blends with four, the number of the world, and with three, the number of completeness, so we see three gates on each of the four sides.
In Revelation 11:1-2, the 'naos' or holy of holies and holy place were measured, but the city of earth, "which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified," was left expressly unmeasured and therefore 'cherem' or doomed to utter destruction, since it is defiled beyond hope by the Edomite oppressors who will rule Israel to the consummation (Daniel 2:35; 9:27; Luke 21:24; Revelation 17:3).
The precious stones in Aaron's breastplate of righteousness and judgment (Ezekiel 28:11-15) are inextricably linked with perfect righteousness, faith and love, for they flash THUS SAITH THE LORD (Isaiah 59:17; Ephesians 6:14; I Thessalonians 5:8). Even so in Revelation 21:27 "nothing unclean nor anyone practicing immorality and falsehood but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life can enter into new Jerusalem through the foundation stones" (Ephesians 2:20), which separate the Lambs Book of Life and God's elect from the Book of Life and the "saved" who reside without the City. As we explained in Newsletter 458, the twelve foundations in the wall between the gates bear the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, four of which, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, comprise the four cornerstones to salvation that seal the elect of God into the mystery of the Kingdom revealed for their day of salvation, reflecting the four living creatures who kept the way to the Tree of Life after the Fall, and the four principle tribes of Israel who guarded the Ark of the Covenant in its journey to the Promised Land from intruders and the profane. In New Jerusalem "there shall be no more Canaanites in the house of the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 14:21; Isaiah 52:1).
The walls of the City were built of diamond, while the City itself was pure "gold tried in the Fire" (Revelation 3:18) refined to the mirror-like brightness of crystal to reflect the transparent holiness and heavenly faithfulness of the saints' Christ-character. God addresses Jerusalem in Isaiah 54, "O afflicted one, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will re-set your stones in antimony on a foundation of sapphires, and make your buttresses diamond, your gates crystal, and your walls of precious gems. All your sons shall be taught by Me and the peace and contentment of your children shall be abundant. . . This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their justification reflects Me".
The grounds of the City likewise shall be pure gold refined to the mirror-like brightness of crystal, reflecting the luminous glory of God and signifying "the steps of a man are confirmed by the Lord, and He establishes him in whose way He delights" (Psalm 27:33).
There is no temple for in union with Christ the saints are God's Temple and above ordinances which were the means of our preparation. Perfect and immediate communion with God and the Lamb will more than take the place of Gospel institutions (Isaiah 65:24). Jesus will not be on the Father's throne, but here on earth, which is His own throne, and the Shekinah of the Father will overshadow the Son, illuminating the City of His glory.
We learn from John 4:21 that after Calvary the worship of God would not be geographically limited to Jerusalem, which shows the folly of Mecca and the hypocrisy of Rome today. Paul explains in II Corinthians 6:16 that God's temple is His born-again saints, and in I Corinthians 6:17, that God and the soul that is joined together with God is One Spirit through the invisible union or new birth, as Jesus prayed in John 17:22-26.
God's glory is sufficient to make the saints glorious without the aid of created luminaries. Isaiah 60:19-20, "The sun shall be no more Jerusalem's light by day; nor shall the moon give light to you at night: but the Lord shall be your everlasting Light and your God your glory. Your sun shall never set; and your moon shall never wane: for the Lord shall be your everlasting Light, and the days of your mourning for the dead shall be ended" (Revelation 21:23-24).
In the unredeemed world, the nations and kings of the earth trample Jerusalem underfoot (Revelation 11:2, 18). Here they are the redeemed saints who bring a tithe of the splendour of the increase of God's abundant blessing of the nations of the "saved" into the holy City (Revelation 21:24-26).
"The angel Brother Branham showed me a pure river of water of Life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb and flowing across the plain through the middle of the City; and on either side of the river, the Tree of Life, bearing a fresh harvest each month. And the leaves of the Tree are for the healing of the nations" for He is "the fountain of living waters" (Jeremiah 2:13; John 4:10; Revelation 7:17; 21:6). "Pure," "clear," "transparent" underscore the resplendent nature of the materials of the City; that is, the character of the saints, free of every taint like the waters of "the sea of glass, like crystal before the throne of God" after the redemption of the Church Age saints (Revelation 4:6).
Unlike the river of Babylon, which dried up, this river is cosmically and eternally permanent, for its source is the deep, irrepressible fountain of God's own love and Life first revealed and promised by Israel's prophets, and subsequently opened on the day of Pentecost in the resurrection Life of Christ. Its continuous flow from God, the Fountain of life, symbolizes the uninterrupted continuance of life derived by the saints, ever fresh, from Him: Life in fullness of joy, as well as perpetual vitality. It is prefigured in the full Gospel grace of the Millennial waters of Ezekiel 47:6-12 and Zechariah 14;8, however these waters of new Jerusalem represent Gospel glory perfected.
In the first Paradise was but one Tree of Life, the theophany of Melchisedec who later manifest as the virgin-born Jesus Christ; now there are many Trees of Life on either side of the river. As we see from Genesis 26:4-5, Daniel 12:5-7, Isaiah 53:10 and 65:23, this forest of Trees of Life is the increase of Abraham's Seed, the offspring of Christ, signifying the saints of the Old and New Testaments (I John 3:2). Each month will have its own fruit, just as different seasons are now marked by their own produce; only then, there shall be no season without fruit, and there shall be an endless variety, answering to twelve, the number symbolical of worship and the theocratic perfection of the Church.
In place of the Lord's Supper we now observe (I Corinthians 11:26) will be a memorial of the reconciliation of the nations to God and between one another. Brother Branham said: "The leaves will be for the healing of the nations, that is the kings that live in there, bringing their honor in. When they bring their honor in and lay it before the throne of God (just like the eleven tribes brought in, every one of them, a tenth to Levi), when they bring their honor in from the blessed land, they'll . . . break off a Tree of Life leaf, and they'll walk out together. There's no more war; everything's at peace. The leaves are a memorial for the healings of the nations" (Future Home of the Heavenly Bridegroom and the Earthly Bride, p. 52:425-439).
When Christ has delivered redemption to the Father, all goodness will be gathered together and God will be all things to all people (I Corinthians 15:28). Revelation 22:3-5, "There shall be nothing accursed [i.e. cherem] in the City (Zechariah 14:11): for the throne of God and of the Lamb [who has redeemed earth and its fruit from the curse of sin and the law of death (Leviticus 27:28; Galatians 3:10, 13) shall be in it, and His servants [having yielded the desires of their ten senses to serve His will (John 15:15)], shall worship Him: and they shall see His face (Matthew 5:8; I Corinthians 13:12; I John 3:2) and the revelation of His Name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; they will need neither lamp nor sunlight, for the Lord God will be their Light, and they shall reign forever and ever" over the nations of the "saved" with a glory that transcends their Millennial reign over nature.
So we see the antithesis between the holy City and the domain of the damned, where day and night continue (Revelation 20:10). Within New Jerusalem all dependence upon the power of nature shall be done away, while among the redeemed non-elect without, "seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease" (Genesis 8:22). However, the eons of the blessed are raised above temporal vicissitudes, because in God is eternity. The inexhaustible fountain of holy, holiday seasons, and Christ, have in reality freed even time from the curse of temporality, making it the rhythmic succession of the fullness of eternity.
The Kingdom of glory is the consummate development of all the human capabilities regenerated through Christ together with the cosmos and restored to Edenic perfection in glorified form to the domain of all fulfillments. It is the fulfillment of all the truth and all the longing of mankind throughout history (Hebrews 11:10), and of all the prophecies of nature (Romans 8:19-25). nl459.htm
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Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations overseas. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
Bible Believers' Church
Gunnedah NSW
Australia 2380e-mail e-mail Bible Believers
URL Bible Believers' Website
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