Covenants #02

Heavenly Father, we recall that Your prophet said that his ministry was to declare that You are here.  And we know that that is in a way that hasn’t been for two thousand years.  As he said on another place, “Just think, the same Pillar of Fire that brought the Word to Paul, is here revealing the Word to us”.

We’re grateful for that, Lord, and we ask You, now, to help us in our study, tonight, so we’ll go slowly and easy with the people and not presume for one minute, Lord, to think that they know that which they do not know or that they are necessarily getting everything, Lord, though they desire to do so, and by Your grace will do so, Lord.

So, help us to just slow down tonight, Father, and be very careful to take our time and to see what You would have us to see.  Knowing, Lord, there are things in here that are absolutely true, Lord, and they’ve already come to pass, are coming to pass, and will come to pass because we have a Word-God, and a God-Word, Lord, and we realize that.

We know that that Word is in us, and the Lord is in us by the same Word.  And so, here we are all one.  We believe that, Father.  May we recognize that tonight and be happy in it and progress in You until that perfect day.  In Jesus’ Name we pray.  Amen.

You may be seated.

Now, last Sunday we covered the fact that though all testaments are covenants, all covenants are not, therefore, testaments, because testaments can be wills, and thus deal with inherited benefits upon the death of the testator.

Now, you may recall having heard on a tape where Brother Branham mentions that “a testament is a covenant”. And he looked down at me and said, “Isn’t that so, Brother Vayle?” It is true, a testament is a covenant. But when you deal with covenants, testaments (call it what you will), you must understand there are different kinds.

And so, last Sunday we took much time… actually, two services on “the Blood of the Everlasting Testament”. And that’s what we realized, that this testament was not merely a covenant, but it was a special kind of a covenant. It was a covenant which actually was a will. So, you can see here, then, that there are covenants of different descriptions, and they are not all ‘wills’, of necessity.

Therefore, many testaments spoken of by Bible scholars as covenants are not truly testaments as seen, as we just mentioned over here, in Hebrews 13:20-21, where Paul says, here:

Now, in his statement… actually, you see here that Brother Branham said, “The Bride is perfected by the Blood”. So, don’t ever forget that.

So, as I mentioned here, the Bible scholars called covenants ‘testaments’ and so on. And they are not all as in Hebrews 13:20-21, but they are ‘contracts’. That’s more or less the term we could use today in the 20th Century, here.

They’re contracts that exist between two people, or parties, in which a solemn binding agreement is made to either do or not do a specified thing. That is, to deliver something, and so on, or to enter into some compact, which means you’ll abide by certain mutual beneficial rules, and so on.

Now, a Bible covenant or contract being made in respect to God’s Kingdom is very different from a covenant or contract made in man’s cosmos government. Now, there is God’s cosmos and there is man’s cosmos. And you’re going to find that when God makes contracts (testaments), when He makes oaths, promises (testaments… that’s what it amounts to), they’re very different from what we would do in our own human type of government.

Now, whether man wants it or not, he is bound thus, having no input. Now, what we’re saying, here, is that usually on earth, here, in a contract you have an input. But when it comes to some of God’s contracts, you don’t have any input. In other words, you have nothing to say about it.

You weren’t asked to give some sort of understanding that you might have which is beneficial to you. Just no input whatsoever. Now, the only issue at stake, then, in a contract which is one-sided, is: will the person whom God approaches, accept His contract or reject it?

Now, that’s what Brother Branham called free moral agency, and so on. However, even his acceptance of the contract depends on what kingdom he actually belongs to. Now, God lays a contract out, presents it to the person,  it can be a promise or whatsoever and the person can accept it or reject it.

And you will notice, as you read your Bibles, that the acceptance or the rejection depends upon the person as to what kingdom he is in, whether the cosmos of God or the cosmos of human government. In other words, it’s just like I might say that the United States government couldn’t possibly go up to Canada and say to the Canadians, “Hey! We’re going to put a tax on you fellows, the same as the British did upon the American colonies (because they thought they had a right to do it).”

And the colonies, of course, rebelled and threw the British out, and that took care of that (which was a mighty good thing). So, you couldn’t go up to Canada and say, “Hey! We’re going to do thus and so”. But the thing is, in America you can do that. (See?) It can be done. You can say, “Well, this is what we’re going to do. And this is what now is incumbent upon you. This is your position, and this is it”.

So, you take that back to the Bible, then. The very first covenant of God was a command-covenant. It was a command-covenant. Now, that’s a very good term, and it’s very true. So, let your thinking begin to come in line with what I am saying. And you might have to reorient your thinking. You might have to just sort of drop a lot of things out, and come to what we’re talking about. Because, what you’re getting is the Word of the Lord.

So, the very first covenant of God was a command-covenant of God, and it was also a promise-covenant of God. And it was entirely one-sided in its origin and initiation, and was autocratically superimposed on the children of God… (now, listen) in the Spirit of the Creator Father Who entered into fellowship and agreement with His Own.

Now, what you’re looking at here, and what you must watch: even though it is arbitrary, you have to watch the Spirit behind it. And what was the Spirit behind this autocratic arbitrary promise-command covenant that God initiated and brought to man, and superimposed upon him? It was a Spirit of a loving, kind, generous, beneficent God that, I’m sorry to say, we don’t even understand what I’m saying tonight.

I’ve got to break down and be honest, because I’m not a liar in this pulpit. I might lie to you outside the church, but up here, forget it! (I won’t lie outside, either.) But, how far are we in our understanding of the arbitrary decisions of God that are wrought in omniscience and the God Who is Love?

Now, it’s not the Love of God we’re talking about. We’re talking about the God of Love. Now, this is something that most people like to talk about, and it’s talked about in all the various fundamental circles, fundamental religion. But to really see this… very few ever enter into the fellowship of this understanding.

So… “the very first covenant of God was a command-covenant of God. It was also a promise-covenant of God. And it was entirely one-sided in its origin and initiation. It was autocratically superimposed (that’s arbitrarily imposed) upon the children of God, in the Spirit of the Creator Father Who entered into fellowship and agreement with His Own.”

Now, what do you think would be, to be back there in a Garden of Eden with God smiling at you, and God talking with you? And everything that God did, He initiated, and it was so wonderful! “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard; neither entered the heart of man, the things that God has for us”. We just haven’t apprehended this truth.

Now, to understand and fathom this agreement of the first and second parties, what we’re talking about… remember, there are two parties. And the one party, God, arbitrarily binds Himself and us. Now, this is something that I don’t think that too many people see. And, if I’m teaching you wrong, may the Lord help us both. But, I don’t believe I’m teaching you wrong.

Let’s go to Genesis 1:26-29. And here is what it says:

To what end? To have dominion, is that right?… Well, is it or isn’t it? See, you just got to look at it, and say, “What in the world is God doing here, anyway?” “Well, I think He’s… He’s pretty foxy, this old Fellow we call God, and He’s got a carrot dangling before the noses of those two jackasses”. Come-on… spill your guts.

You know I’m telling the truth. Or am I the only honest person in the entire building? [Laughter] How much is sinking into us? How much of the Spirit of renewal… even Gorbachev is into that. “See, I’m going to tell”, he said, “Heckle, Marx, and Lenin did not preach the garbage that Stalin preached”. Isn’t that funny: everything points a hundred percent to what’s going on, that Brother Branham brought us.

The world and everything, they’re saying “Hey! That’s not what it was”. There’s a phony idea, even in the minds of those who claim to believe in sovereignty, which embraces foreknowledge, election and predestination concerning this subject. Now, my question is: what did God say this one was supposed to do? See, I read it to you: He created him in His Own image to make sure he could do it.

Now, do you think it would be very good for God to have made this person in His Own image, to His Own ends, and then God Himself made a person that couldn’t get there? What good is that? If the Wright brothers had always made a plane that couldn’t fly, ‘phooey’ on airplanes. Then if God made a man that couldn’t fulfill this, ‘phooey’ on the man! (Then, God wasn’t much of an inventor either, by the way.)

Well, let’s look at this subject. All right, we read it. Now, this was before Genesis 2:7-9.

This is not two accounts of two different creations, no way, shape and form. This is the after-work of God, when everything was finished. Like Brother Branham said, “Eve was not in the original creation.” She wasn’t an after-thought; she just wasn’t in it.

That’s what He said. Now, also, He said,

In other words, He took the component factors and put it all through that system. You’ve got the component factors right today, through the sperm and the egg. There’s no difference; it’s how God did it.

And that’s it. Now… what we’re looking at, here, is the fact that you have two different situations entirely. In the first covenant (command-covenant), it was absolutely God making a man in His own image in a spirit form. And He said, “You are going to be a ruler of the universe, as far as the earth is concerned.

Now, He puts him in the Garden, here, in a body. And in there, it says, “Now look, you can stay in the Garden and you can enjoy it. And it didn’t say one thing about a superimposed structure way out there that took care of everything else. It said, “Stick in the Garden and tend it and eat the food”. And from that point, he could have ventured forth, for all I know. I know he was kicked out later on. But you notice, we’re looking at this thing.

Now, he was put under a different contract entirely than he was from the beginning. Now, let’s read and make note of Brother Branham saying, “We came just the same as Jesus came.” He said that in Who Is This Melchisedec?

Now, I want to go back to Hebrews… way back. Now, you try to follow me; just let your thinking come along.

Now watch, in Hebrews 1:2-3.

Now, listen: when Jesus was upon earth, he never made any worlds. We don’t know anything he ever created. So, you’re talking about something very strange, here. And you’re not talking about a Trinitarian Godhead of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. That’s a lot of hogwash! Because, the Bible doesn’t say that. And it doesn’t call him eternal Son.

All right, let’s read the next part:

It says, “That One… when something happened somewhere at some time, this One could purge us from our sins, and then sit on the right hand of the Majesty on High.

Now, listen: let’s go to Philippians. Now, I don’t pretend to understand it all, and I care less. But I can believe it all. What I cannot comprehend I can still apprehend. And this is apprehendable. Okay, Philippians 2:5-7.

Now, remember, the Jews said, “You make yourself the Son of God. That means you’re equal with God. We won’t stand it”. Because the first-born has an equality, one half of the entire substance of his father. Read your Bibles; you know I’m telling you the truth.

Now, our conclusion is that Adam, the lesser son of God, was like Jesus the Only-begotten Son of God and that Hebrews 10:7 more than just implies it as man’s former ability.

So, let’s go to Hebrews 10:7

Now, you say, “That’s said of Jesus Christ”. That is exactly right! That’s said of Jesus Christ. Now listen, though: from this, it is at least inferred if not definitely established that Genesis 1:26-29 and we read it, that’s where God made him and didn’t put him in the Garden at that time.

He said, “You’ve got the whole thing in your hands; it’s yours”. He didn’t say that when he [Adam] was in the body form. He said, “Watch the garden and take care of the ground out here”. So, that’s a different thing. Now, let’s keep watching.

From this it is at least inferred, if not definitely established that Genesis 1:26-29 is a one-sided covenant, blessedly and benevolently imposed or conferred on Adam, and consequently the seed of God that would come forth through Adam by a responsible purposeful creator-controller Father Whose sons would be of one mind with Him and literally fulfill the entire purpose and will of God, which was the complete control of the earth and all that pertains to this planet.

That’s exactly what God said! Because, He said, “In that form, be fruitful and multiply, and you and your seed”… and he was a son of God. The Bible says so, Adam was the son of God. He said, “They are going to have dominion”. Now, did He say it, or didn’t He say it? Did He say that, when He put him in the Garden? No, He didn’t say that. But He didn’t take it away. He said something else.

Now, we look at it this way. Genesis 1:26-29, what He speaks of forming and creating man in His Own image, giving dominion and all, we look at it this way: Genesis 1:26-29 is the original spoken-Word agreement of God, which Word cannot be changed, or short-changed, because it has been spoken according to what has been written. And once spoken must come to pass, because there are no escape clauses in it.

Do you understand what I said? There are no escape clauses. It is something that God spoke. And Brother Branham said, “When God had it in His mind, He put it on a Book, and then He spoke it.” Even Jesus… “In the volume of the book it is written”. And until it was spoken… and then when it was, you couldn’t change it.

Now, listen to me: we’re going to tell you, this is the truth. We go to John 6 (I think it is): 37-39.

So He tells you, right there, that all the sons that were with Him were going to go off the beaten track, were going to get into sin, but they were going to come right back where God put them in the first place. Not only in His mind, but put them in their career, careers that God wanted for them, and they got side-tracked. Do you follow what I’m saying?

Now, listen: if there was any hidden meaning or any duplicity in this contract, it had to be from God, which is utterly ridiculous! In other words, we’re not going to shilly-shally in this pulpit, and get away from the truth of Almighty God as taught by Brother Branham, and the true theologians and prophets of the Ages, who understood sovereignty. Now, let’s see if God shilly-shallied. Let’s see if He’s a God of duplicity.

Let’s go to James 1:16-18.

Now, he tells you, right here, that God is Light. And so therefore, God is a manifester, because everything that manifests is Light. So, the manifested God can’t change. Never can you get Him to change. There’s “no variableness nor shadow of turning”.  He said (listen):

“Why, I don’t think I really believe that, you see Brother Vayle, because… because…”. Shut up! You don’t believe nothing. I don’t mean to be rude to you. But you’re just sitting here, pretending. Now, I don’t believe you’re doing that, here, tonight.

These tapes go a long way around the world. I might as well give people a lot to criticize for, because they’re going to criticize anyway. I’m not at all concerned, because I know the Word of God. And the Word doesn’t lie. And as long as I use that Word correctly, I’m not going to lie, either.

If there was any hidden meaning or duplicity in this contract of Genesis 1:26-29… and God chuckled, and He said within Himself, “Ha-ha! Oh, the surprise they’re going to have when I give them the next one!” You’ve been thinking that, haven’t you? I know, you’ve been taught this all your life, the clever God who surprises His own.

Chuckle, chuckle, ha-ha-ha (with that Machiavellian laugh)… old Mephistopheles, himself, hee-hee-hee. So much for your theological hogwash. Did you hear what I said? “Do not err, my beloved brethren.”

The variableness of man and society lies within man and society, not within God. The pure God, Who is pure Light, Who cannot change, said it! And nothing will ever change it. He will have a people! And it won’t be because of you and me. It will be because of Him. And perchance we came from His loins… yah, He’s got them.

Thus, promise-command covenant # 1 is originated by omniscience and controlled by omnipotence. And God will have an earth full of original Adams and Eves, who will be the only and entire population of earth. And in complete control of it somehow, someday, somewhere.

Romans 9:21-24 unveils what is the first covenant, which covenant number 2 is taken by the unlearned and foolish to attempt to destroy the sovereignty of God, and of the seeds’ part in that sovereignty of God, as found in the first covenant of promise and command.

What was the command? “Adam and Eve, come. I want you to have a part with Me”. You say, “Oh boy, Rockefeller just said, ‘Hey, I want to give you the power of attorney to sign your name on my checks’. Oh, mama-mia! What a blessed beautiful day”. When it comes to God, though, we’ve got to spit in His face, right? There’s something wrong, brother/sister. Our thinking [had] better begin to change.

Let’s go to Romans 9. (I’m going to take my time. We’ll get out of here next year, it’s okay. It’s not very far off. We went through eight months so fast, you never know what’s going to hit you.)

Now, hold it! Well, Isaac said to his mother and father, “Where did I come from?”

Well, you were found under the gooseberry bush.

“Oh, interesting”.

So, Isaac and Rebecca have children, and they say, “Where did we come from?”

We found you under the gooseberry bush.

Do you get what I’m talking about? I’ll read it again.

Why? Because there’s serpent-seed around the place. Because the serpent got next to Eve. Caused her to have a child; his name is Cain. And Cain was of that wicked one, and he hated his brother. And then John turns right around and says, “Love not the world”. And “The world doesn’t love you”. Cain was of the world. So was this fellow, Esau.

Now, just a minute: Who is He going to show mercy on? Seed… seed. And what did He say to Adam? “Be fruitful and multiply”. That’s what he did. He’s supposed to inhabit the earth. And all his children are supposed to be there with him. That’s what the Bible teaches. You’re not going to change it. Now listen:

You talk about a cop out! It wasn’t a cop out. He just told the truth. They say, “Well, I’m going to tell you crazy people there, in that Grace Gospel Church in St. Paris, if you believe that kind of junk, we won’t have a thing to do with you.”

That’s exactly right, we believe that kind of junk, because it’s the truth. I didn’t have one thing to do with me being here. I didn’t have one thing to do with me being a child of God. Neither did you. And you cannot go to God and say, “Lord, You are not fair in what You do”.

Do you see what I’m talking about, now, in this covenant? Let me go over it again.

Thus, promise-command covenant # 1 is originated by omniscience and it is cared for by omnipotence. And God will have an earth full of Adams and Eves, that’s the seed who will be the only and entire population of earth, and in complete control of it.

Now, that’s exactly what He said. He said, “You be fruitful; you multiply; you replenish the earth”. He said, “Your seed, your Adamic race, will be the one that takes over”. Now, did He say it? Now, the question is: does it have to be? Now that’s where people take covenant # 2 and run with it and destroy the Word of God. So, therefore, we see this.

Now, covenant # 2, which is in Genesis 2:7-9 and 15-17, where God Almighty forms the body for the man, puts the man in it. Then he separates it; got them in the Garden and puts them under covenant, and said, “Now listen, you take care of this Garden; you prune it. The earth needs someone out there working it, and you’re going to be able to do it.

And remember, it’s all yours; it’s right there. But there’s one thing you’ve got to watch: don’t you dare enter into a wrong contract with that tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. Now, remember, the Word of God said every tree was good to eat. So, if this tree would kill you, then it wasn’t a tree that you could eat. And therefore, it wasn’t a tree.

I ask you a question: the Scripture is right, and Brother Branham spoke of a disease at the end-time where men would walk on this earth and I talked of it, not knowing I was telling the truth, years and years ago and their bodies would be decaying while they walked. That is AIDS. Ahah! “One thousand fall at thy left, ten [thousand] at thy right; it shall not come nigh thee”.

And remember, the curse is the Sodomites. And they’re running everything. And they stand right there and tell you they’re going to do it, and you’re going to pay for it. And we’re doing it. And we’re going to pay for it.

Now, what I’m trying to get across is very, very simple, brother/sister, to see. What was that tree of the knowledge of good and evil they got into? It was sex, plain and simple. And it was wrong sex! With Adam, her husband, it would have been legitimatized. But the devil played on her senses, took her from the Word of God and seduced her! And that means, moral, physical sexual seduction.

Or why does Paul talk about “nevertheless, in childbearing she’ll be saved”. What in the name of God, has eating apples got to do with sex? Psshh! Talk about stupid. Having babies has to do with sex, not apples. They’re not an aphrodisiac either. How ridiculous people can get!

And the Canadians are the worst of the works. I don’t want to hurt any Canadian’s feelings, but listen, I get the material; they are the stupidest up there. They believe anything. They won’t believe the truth if you paid them.

Cellular therapy is known world-wide, but the Canadians say, “Oh, no such thing”. In fact they said it would kill you. I’ve got and my wife, how many shots, have we got, kid? Six, to begin with. Five more, five… sixteen shots, and I’m better than ever. And they all have to do with the immune system. What nonsense people talk about.

Doctor Guy could go from California and take cellular therapy to Russia when Chernobyl burnt down, but you can’t have it here. And Canada’s worse. But you can have AIDS… be my guest. But what I told you tonight is the truth.

They destroyed the fellowship with God in the human body. Such fellowship as they had outside of that body in the beginning, they never had in the physical. So, all right… Covenant # 1 was given to Adam in a spirit-form body. Then, # 2 was given him in a physical-form body. We understand that, don’t we? There’s no problem there.

All right, now watch: we get our key to understanding as we read Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever”; Ecclesiastes 3:14-15, “God and His ways do not change”. Malachi 3:6 tells you flat, “God does not change”, there’s no way you can change Him.

Now, let’s go to Galatians 3:15-18.

What did He do for Adam and Eve? Now, you tell me, then, that the second covenant takes away the first… it added to it, I tell you you’re out of your mind. What was the law given for? A school master to bring you to Christ [Galatians 3:24]. Why were Adam and Eve put in bodies of flesh? So they could go through the training that God would give them.

And God Himself had to predestinate them. As Iranaeus said… and Brother Branham, absolutely a prophet of God vindicated, there’s your picture, right there [Brother Vayle points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire]… he concurred with Iranaeus, that God being a Savior, it was necessary that God predestinate a man who would be a sinner, in order to give God a reason and purpose of being. And that’s what you’re looking at.

You’re looking at the complete sovereignty of God. You are looking at a one-sided, undistorted covenant. We just can’t seem to reconcile the truth of the Word of God. We want to put experience and every other idea ahead.

You can’t do it. We’ve got to recognize that that first covenant cannot be changed, because that was the purpose of God. Here we see that Genesis 2:17 does not abrogate Genesis 1:26-27.

Now, let’s go back and look at it. Now it says here, if God should go ahead and add to something, it doesn’t abrogate. But man has no right to add. Now, God can do what He wants. Now, what did He do? In Genesis 2:17, we find here, categorically:

Now, [Adam] he’s in the human body. He said, “I want you to know, you can die”. Now, my question is this: Does this abrogate Genesis 1:26-27? No! Because it’s under two separate conditions entirely. I say, “Hey, kids! Listen: you want to play basketball. Play all the basketball you want in that building right there. But, you don’t play basketball in that building, that’s for tennis”.

Do you understand what I’m saying? There was a covenant given here, in the beginning. It was not abrogated, because it’s under two separate conditions. Hey, man! Years ago I could lift a hundred pounds. Don’t even give me twenty pounds any more to lift. See, we’re looking at different things entirely.

So, here we see Genesis 2:17 does not abrogate Genesis 1:26-27, but abrogates Genesis 2:8-9. Now, look… [Genesis 2:] 17: “Don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you’ll die”. That abrogates the Garden of Eden and flesh. Now, did God say, “Okay, stupid head, you spoiled the whole thing.

You’ll never (or your seed) ever, ever reign on this earth!” ? Oh, come-on, did He? He did not! And you find me one place where He ever changed it. Because, He’s still dealing with the human race. Oh, I suppose, on the Great White Throne we’ll get there and He’ll say, “Okay, bums, out!” Well, come-on… that’s thinking in modern 20^th Century religion.

That’s Pentecostal. That’s Latter Rain. That’s legalism. And the so-called Calvinistic Baptists are no different, because they’ve forgotten the truth and got rid of it. It doesn’t abrogate it, brother/sister. There’s no place you can find it.

And this is made very clear by Genesis 3:19, 23-24.

Come-on, now! That’s Genesis 2. That’s not Genesis 1. Okay, let’s read further:

Do you know something? His body was even made out of ground that wasn’t in the garden of Eden. So, when you and I get to the Millennium it ain’t gonna be the same kind of soil. We’re going to be different. Then he said:

But he let the tree of the knowledge of good and evil stand there, and stand there, and stand there, and stand there. And it’s still standing there, because men are partaking and dying. For, everyone born of sex dies. Until finally it’s over, and God said, “The last few will not die. I’m going to do something special for you”.

Now, you know that’s the truth. Now, listen… and this is made very clear by Genesis 3:19, 23-24, taken in the light of Genesis 2:7-8 (which is not Genesis 1:26-28, by any stretch of the imagination). The spirit-form body of Adam and Eve in one, by no stretch of the imagination, is what took place when He put them in a body, then separated. Two different conditions entirely.

Now, notice carefully, Genesis 3:21-22.

Now, these Scriptures show that Adam could not have sinned unto death in his original form. And when in the physical form he did sin, he was stopped from immortality in that condition. But he was not prohibited to have two other kinds of bodies. Do you believe that? Let’s find out. 2 Corinthians. Brother Branham absolutely taught on this, right down the road; make no mistake about it, brother/sister.

The prophet of God, vindicated of God, in 2 Corinthians 5 categorically said:

And in 1 Corinthians 15: Paul said, “There is a physical body, there is a spirit-body”. And when you leave here, you go to your spirit-body. And Brother Branham said they could hug and kiss. They could embrace. They were beautiful, but they didn’t have one sensation which was human sexually, or anything else. They can’t eat; they can’t drink. But they’re very happy.

And Job said, “One day, skin worms will eat my flesh, but I know that my Redeemer liveth. And when He stands on the earth, I’m going to stand with Him in my flesh, just like Him”. So, you see, you can go to a spirit-form body. And you can go to a glorified body.

So, you see, it wasn’t abrogated. It wasn’t taken away; it’s still there. Now, listen very carefully: death and decay got rid of Adam’s condition. It got rid of Job’s condition, his boils (although, he got healed). It got rid of Daniel’s problems. Poor old Elisha died with the sickness where of he was sick, and that took care of him, he died.

And he went straight to a body that was commensurate with his soul. How would you like to wake up some morning and find yourself trapped in a dog’s body? “Well”, you say, “That couldn’t happen”. That’s right, it couldn’t happen. But we were trapped in this one, the old pest-house. One day we’re getting out, when God springs the trap. You know, it should be wonderful to just get out of here, to know we can get out.

Brother Branham was so happy to know that he’d get out of the old pest-house. Death and decay got rid of that rotten condition. Now God can take Adam and give him a new body, if He so desires. But God cannot annul His promise to Adam, “Replenish the earth and rule it”.

Now, since God wants Adam back to Genesis 2: 7-8 (He wants him back there), He will have to raise him and give him a new body. And that’s exactly what it tells us in 1 Corinthians [15:] 15-28, and 35-50 (and we read it many, many times). And over here, then, we see the consummation of it… I don’t think I’ll take time to read it to you, but over here in Isaiah 65:23-24.

That’s what it says. Now, who are they? “Well, Brother Vayle, God (you see) was double-crossed. So He just wipes them all out and raises angels”. Does He? No! God wasn’t double-crossed. You’ve got to get up awfully early in the morning to fool God. In fact, you can’t get up early enough, because “He neither slumbers nor sleeps”, the Bible says it.

Surrounded by thick darkness; you can’t get to Him. Can’t look on His face, or anything else. But we can take His Word. And His Word says, right here, “When you come up as the seed of the Lord, and the offspring… “Be fruitful, Adam, and multiply; replenish the whole earth” (See?). There’ll be no troubles then.

You know, God never messed up one covenant, never lost one.

The one-person originated promise-covenant”… Now, let me read this again: “The one-person originated, in other words, one person originates the promise-command covenant (you understand what I’m saying).

Now. “The one-person originated promise-command covenant will all be fulfilled perfectly by God Himself as He brings forth the ultimate promise-Word in man to men” He’s going to do it. Since no given Word of God is void of power (it says that in Isaiah 55:11…“My Word cannot return void”), how could Genesis 1:26-28 ever be abrogated or thwarted in one iota?

Now, come-on! God starts His plan, right here, for sons. I ask you a question: Who put them in the Garden? Who put them, in the shape they were in, in the Garden? Who laid it out before them? God did. Don’t blame the devil, brother/sister. And I don’t mean the word ‘blame’, like as though you’re going to try to pick on the devil and try to absolve God. God doesn’t need absolving.

He did this! He knew what He was doing. When He brought Eve to Adam, He warned him, and said, “For this cause a man leaves father and mother. Adam, watch out. You will leave me for her!” He did it. What if I told you, “Hey, you watch out, I’m going to tell you something: if you touch that wire, boy, it’ll knock you flat”. [Brother Vayle imitates a derisive laugh] Say, “Okay, kid, you put your hand in the meat grinder; don’t blame me”.

God knew they were going to do it. God never made them do it. Oh boy, they talk about ‘peer’ pressure, peer pressure on kids, peer pressure. Is that you’re big excuse, kids peer pressure? You ain’t got one. You mess up, you’re messed up. Just understand the Scripture and take refuge in it, because you’re going to need refuge like I never needed. You’re in a tougher day.

Genesis 1:26 can never be abrogated. In no way can any covenant be changed from its originally intended destiny. If it can, it never was THUS SAITH THE LORD… it never was.

Let’s look at Hebrews… (I’m going to try to get rid of this little bit in a hurry) Hebrews 6:13.

All right, I ask you a question: If God multiplied Abraham, who multiplied Adam? I ask you a question: where does Abraham’s genealogy take him? Right back to Adam. Not Cain… unh, unh. Not Cain, Adam. Adam was the son of God. Bible says so, right? Absolutely. You can’t change the Word of God.

Now, in the Garden, and before the Garden, He said, “You multiply…”. And to Abraham, He said, “I’m going to multiply”. Do you see what happens? One lump! Election. Brother Branham categorically said the truth, “A virgin birth is nothing in complexity compared to a regular birth”, when God takes a great, great, great, great, great… grandfather, and a great grand [mother], God knows how many and brings you right here. Knows exactly.

Now, what counsel was confirmed? The counsel confirmed [is]: “You are going to take the earth over”. That’s what He said to Adam! There’s only one covenant. Only one predestinated plan of God, not fifteen hundred of them. I said, “Look (following Brother Branham’s lead), Alpha is Omega”. Go and look at the ultimate of God!

It is God (the Pillar of Fire) above the Throne, the Lamb on the Throne, and New Jerusalem and multitudes around about it. That’s what you’re looking at! Where did it come from? Genesis, 1st chapter. Then, Genesis 2 had to come along in order to bring forth the full grace and glory of God. We’ll never understand it.

I’m going to tell you, brother/sister, this Age is so bankrupt. God help us to have a little bit of the mind of William Branham. God help us to get some anointing, what he had in the understanding of the Word. Because, we need it… we need it. We need it so desperately.

In no way can any covenant be changed from its originally intended destiny, no way, shape and form. To get this picture word-perfectly clear, let us view some Scriptures in the light of the Only-begotten Son of God, and all other sons likewise.

In John 17, notice what it says in verses 1-5.

Pre-existence. 2 Philippians 5:2, Hebrews 2:1-6, (I read it). And what about us? What about, where were we? As He said to Job, “Where were you when all the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God clapped their hands and came in a great big conclave?”

All right, Ephesians 1

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world…

We were already there before there was a speck of stardust. You say, “Brother Vayle, I don’t understand it”. I don’t either, but I believe it.

Hebrews 2: look what it says there, beginning at the 9th verse,

What are you going to do about that? How are you going to change the Word of God? How can you do it? I know, you can numb your minds and say, “Well, it doesn’t make sense”. It does to me. I don’t know about you. I’m not boasting. Okay, go to Hebrews 1:3-7

Pre-existence. The Son equal with the Father. The rest of the sons aren’t equal. No, no, no, no. The birthright goes to # 1. The rest are just like Abraham’s children… “Isaac, it’s all yours. But, here, gifts for the rest of Keturah’s kids… here, here, here”. It’s clear, brother/sister.

Now, with this, listen, Hebrews 1:9

What about it, see? This is the Word in flesh. Did this happen outside the Word, or was it in the Word? This, what we’re talking about here, is John 1: 1 to 5 and 14.

Now, let’s face it: God was in Christ doing it every inch. God was in Christ. And with this we see exactly, now listen: let’s go to Philippians 2 (and I think I can finish this up till we let you go for tonight). Philippians 2:13.

Now, verse 13, which tells you and me, “It is God in us working, willing and doing of his good pleasure”… watch what that follows. It follows Philippians 2:5-12.

Jesus said, “I listen, I say what He says, I do what He tells me. It’s not I, it is God in me”. Now right down… it says, “Have the same mind”. That God is in us, in our measure. Not the measure of Christ… no, no, no, no, no. No, no… no way. But God, we are part of Him, the same as Jesus was, but not in that particular and complete order.

And this is made very clear by Genesis 3:19,23-24. And that’s where… you know, Genesis 3… Now, we go back and forth because I want you to know these Scriptures very, very well. At least you’ll know where they’re placed, so it’s not too hard to think of them.

And it says Genesis 3

And this came from Genesis 2:7-8, which is not Genesis 1:26-28 (one was spirit; one is flesh) by any stretch of the imagination, no way, shape, and form. He couldn’t have that. Wouldn’t work.

All right. So, what do we see? We see here, then, if you had listened perhaps to last Sunday’s tape (which I didn’t ask anybody to do, but you can remember), you can remember a bit of the fact of these covenants that we just talked about tonight, you know that we moved on to the next covenant, the one that was given to Eve (and subsequently the Savior of the world), which was Genesis 3:15, the Seed of the woman.

Now, I’m going to close right here. We’ll go on with this tomorrow morning. But here’s what I want you to remember, in case I don’t bring it back to your attention tomorrow: what I want you to get back in your attention tomorrow positively about this ‘Seed’, is that if I don’t mention it tomorrow (if we have time), remember that God put Jesus under a covenant, “This day have I begotten thee. Let all the angels of God worship him”.

And before it ever happened, He said, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity”. When did he love righteousness and hate iniquity? You say, “That’s when he was upon earth”. What about the time they kicked Satan out of heaven? What about the time that Jesus stood there being Michael? And Satan stood right there… the archangel who covereth? What about it?

I can’t answer your question, but I’m letting you know Brother Branham categorically set forth who that One was. And he put us back there, at the same time. And he showed us exactly how we come down, just like Jesus. I know it’s beyond our minds, brother/sister.

But I’m going to tell you one thing: we can believe it. Because, that’s the Word of Almighty God. We’re not here to explain everything. We’re here to make a witness to the truth. And I’m going to tell you something: that was a witness to the truth, right there [Brother Vayle points to the picture of the Cloud] and it didn’t explain everything, and it’s not going to. It’s not incumbent to explain; it’s not necessary. But we know the reality is there, and by the grace of God we’re going on.

We’ll start tomorrow morning on the covenant that God gave Eve, in the form of ‘Seed’, and that covenant coming on. And there is a covenant there concerning Jesus Christ the Lord. Let’s bow our heads in prayer.

Gracious Heavenly Father, we want to thank You for Your Word that You gave us tonight, Lord, the truth as we see it. Father, we know that we don’t have every bit of truth, Lord. We know that. We have some truth, and by Your grace, Heavenly Father, we’re looking forward to whatever truth You want to give us concerning these covenants. And we know that one does not abrogate the other. We’re starting, Lord, right back in that very beginning, when You said this was the destiny of man. And I’m glad, Lord, that it was the destiny of man to get back again. To get back ,the cycle completed.

And what a wonderful time it is, Lord! And we know we’re right at the very edge of it, where people will suddenly come to the realization, “Yes, we’re going there”. Oh, God! How we’ve often longed to see places, and gone and seen them. How we wanted little bits of vacation and gone and had them. How we’ve wanted something, Father, and we’ve gone and got it. And it’s been wonderful, because it’s been a possession. But, Lord, with Abraham we stand tonight. Perhaps there is still a lot of veil over our spiritual understanding. That’s all right. We know that You’ll help us where it’s needed. But we want to stand like Abraham that “looks for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”. Which the prophet often brought to our attention: I’m just a pilgrim; just a wayward person travelling through and I’m on my way to the land of never-ending rest, the solid, striking, wonderful things of God.

So, Father, You’re the only One that can help us to renew our minds, and get us to see these things that are there. You’re the only One, Lord, that could do what was done on the road to Emmaus, where it was just like a dream to the people, when You were right there and told them these things. It sounded great, but then it was quickened to them. Now, I’m asking You tonight, Lord, to quicken to us the things that we see in Your Word, here, these covenants that You never did change it, Lord. Never changed it. And we’re going back to it. Going right back to the promise: “Replenish the earth”. We’re going to be here with You, Father. We trust we’re believing it. And we’re putting our whole faith, not on any feelings, not in any experience [or] any emotion. We’re putting everything right back on Your Word, Lord, that a vindicated prophet brought us. And we thank You for the vindication, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

[Brother Vayle proceeds with the communion service]