Archived Thoughts

4   Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.    5   I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. ~ JOHN 15:4-5

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Jesus uses the analogy of a tree to express the benefit of our union with Him. A tree is to bear fruit. That is its purpose. The branch of the tree receives life from the roots and turns it into fruit. Fruit trees don’t take each other’s fruit. The Bride is not for the benefit of the Bride. In other words, the New Jerusalem, God on the earth, is not so that we can rejoice in our blessings. It is to BE a blessing. We are blessed in order to be a blessing. The problem today is that people don’t want life. They want money. Their hands are extended, not to receive life, but to receive money. Blessing is life, and life is the source of all things.

1   Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:     2   And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:    3   And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. ~ GENESIS 12:1-3

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What does it mean to be “blessed”? Or what does it mean to “be a blessing”? The word bless means to kneel down and extend your arms as if to provide a gift. The gift has no conditions. It is what grace is: unmerited favor. It is not “if YOU will, I will”. It is not “because”. It is totally a result of love and nothing else. Jesus said, “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses” (MATTHEW 10:8-9). To bless or be a blessing has nothing to do with money, or things. It is not a response to begging. It is the motive behind the giving.

Sometime the Capstone will return, the head of all of it, and receive the Bride unto Himself; which the woman is took from the man, a part of the man. Every... Genes of the man is in the woman, what makes the woman. And that's the way the Word of God is in the Church, what makes the Church the Bride. ~ 65-1128M  GOD'S ONLY PROVIDED PLACE OF WORSHIP

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“And receive the Bride unto Himself.” There is absolutely no difference between this event and the Lamb taking the Book to reveal the contents. We can claim to understand the Seals and talk about horse riders and living creatures, but the secret of the Seals lays in the statement, “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth”. All authority lays in this statement. It’s not the flesh of the Bride, but it is the life that is controlling that flesh. It is like that skinny little policeman that walks into a busy intersection that throws up his arm to halt all the traffic. It is not his physical ability but it is the authority behind that man. People are looking for a future event and failing to realize what has already happened.

53   Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?      54   Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:      55   Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.     56   Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. ~ JOHN 8:53-56

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“And he saw it, and was glad.” Jesus said that Abraham saw His day, the day when God would become flesh. When did he see it. We can point to several instances, but first he saw it in Melchisedec, and when Melchisedec served him Communion something happened. Remember, Communion is a testimony of the Body and Blood of the Lord. In Genesis 15 God confirmed the covenant with split sacrifices, pointing to the crucifixion on the Cross. Then, in a climax to Abraham’s faith, God again appeared in the flesh to Abraham before the tent in Genesis 18, and confirmed the promise in a way that brought the physical promise to pass in the birth of Isaac. We can look at all this and see our day. Think on these things.

And now we notice also in Genesis 15:5, when He confirmed the covenant, or spoke to him again about it, He said, "And go outside and look up; can you number the stars?" How that there's so many stars, innumerable...  Look, from dust to stars. Oh, my. From the earth, grave to glory. And you remember, the real promise Seed of Abraham, which come through Isaac, was Christ. And “He is a Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star, the Fairest of ten thousands to my soul.” How we look at that, how God in His great solar system declares. ~ 61-0210 ABRAHAM’S COVENANT CONFIRMED

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“From dust to stars…From the earth, grave to glory.” What a change! After the Melchisedec Communion it completely changed Abraham’s perspective. He was no longer looking at his condition, but he was looking at what God said he was. “He looked for a city Whose Builder and Maker was God”. What should the Melchisedec Communion do for us? It will take us from an earthly perspective to an eternal perspective. It will take us from an everyday looking at our condition, into a realm where all things are possible.

8   And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.     9   And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;     10   And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. ~ REVELATION 5:8-10

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There is such a potential in these verses, that just as a Melchisedec Communion opened Abraham’s eyes to an eternal City of which he is a part, the taking of the Book opened the eyes of the Bride to Her eternal heritage. Before the opening of the first seal, the Bride declares her eternal position. The true realization is not just a knowledge of a position but it contains all the authority that comes in that position.

Jesus gone to prepare, with the Divine hands, a Divine City; Divine Architect, for a Divine-boughten people, for a predestinated people. He has gone to prepare. Abraham was looking for it. "And he professed that he was a pilgrim and a stranger, for he looked for a City Whose builder and maker was God." That prophet, knowing it was somewhere! John saw it coming down, but Abraham thought it must be on earth right then. Why? He met Melchisedec, the King of it, and give Him a tithe. "Which had no father, or no mother. He had no beginning of life or no ending of life." Abraham met Him, and they took communion right on the literal spot where the City will be raised up, the holy Mountain of the Lord, where the Redeemed will live. Oh, my! ~ 64-0802  THE FUTURE HOME OF THE HEAVENLY BRIDEGROOM AND THE EARTHLY BRIDE

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The Melchisedec Communion opened Abraham’s eyes to the truth of God coming to flesh. He had met the King of that City and knew it must be present. He lived in tents, temporary dwellings, because he had a revelation of his permanent home. How should we be if we have had this same Communion. I believe that if we claim to be a partaker of the opening of the Seals, then we have the same revelation that Abraham had. It should do the same thing for us.

8   By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.     9   By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:     10   For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. ~ HEBREWS 11:8-10

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“Abraham looked for a city”. This statement, which has no scriptural reference in the story of Abraham, is a product of pure revelation on the part of Paul. The Book of Hebrews deals with Melchisedec and Who He was, and Paul draws a conclusion that Communion with Melchisedec revealed to Abraham that the Messianic Seed, of which he had become the caretaker, was to bring with Him a relationship that was the true hope of every believer since the fall of Adam. Abraham lived in tabernacles, or tents, while he looked, not for a physical city, but for what that city represents, a return to the fellowship between God and man.

What God was showing there He was doing, that God Himself was coming down to be made flesh, and He was going to be in the covenant. And God took Christ, the Spirit; God Jehovah took Christ, at on the cross, and He tore Him in two. He ripped out His soul and set it on High, and took the body and put it in the grave. And lifted up the body, in the morning of the resurrection; and sent back the Spirit that was upon Him, to be on the Church. That, the same confirmation in this last days, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever," with that same covenant, would have to be in the people. ~ 64-0402  JEHOVAH JIREH 1

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I think it is a good idea to study the life of Abraham and how God dealt with him in bringing him to an understanding of the spiritual seed of promise. He is first called in Gen 12 but following the battle with the kings he met Melchisedec, Creator of heaven and earth. That would change Abraham from that moment on, because he looked for a city. Then, in Gen 15 he is told to prepare a split sacrifice that was to represent the Royal Seed coming to flesh that Bro Branham speaks of. It is from this perspective that Abraham is the father of our faith.

37   I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.    38   I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.    39   They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.    40   But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. ~ JOHN 8:37-40

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Being the physical seed of Abraham doesn’t mean much unless you are born by the will of God. Obviously, Ismael was the seed of Abraham but was not a child of promise. While the Royal Seed of Abraham are those that are born by Christ, there is an elect in Israel that were the physical seed and inheritors of a physical land. It is through that physical elect seed that the Royal Seed were to come, placing Israel in a special place with God.