Presence #01

Now I want to go into the Presence of the Lord which we have been studying in the Scripture tonight, many of them will attempt to show you the simplicity of what we have before us in this subject.

Now, the purpose therefore of the Presence of God is to catch up loose ends that’s what we’re going to try to do tonight, catch up loose ends. And also in the future to elucidate on the words.

Tonight we’re going to look at the word ‘parousia’, and what it means. Then we’re going to go into the ‘epiphania’, and into the ‘phaneroo’, and right down the line so the ‘apocalypses’.

So that we that we begin to see that we are into the Appearing which is the Presence of the Lord.

Now, the purpose then tonight, pick up some loose ends and to elaborate and make it clear as we can about this Appearing which Brother Branham said is what the people didn’t understand the difference between the Appearing and the Coming.

Now, if you said that to, (what do you call him,) a fundamentalist, he would deny that. He would say, “No, you’re entirely in error, we do see the difference between the Coming and the Appearing.” And he would inform you that the Appearing is where you appear before the Lord as you’re caught up into Rapture.

I disagree a hundred percent. That is not the Appearing, that’s the Rapture. The Appearing precedes the Rapture. The Appearing takes place now. And the Coming literally for Jesus to gather His things is very distinct from Him coming with His Saints.

So you would actually put the Resurrection, the Rapture and the Wedding Supper, all of that more into the realm of what starts here on earth, and what we call ‘this Appearing’.

All right, we’re going to consider the word ‘parousia’, or ‘presence’, and this word ‘parousia’ is erroneously translated as ‘coming’. It should not be translated as ‘coming’, but it is in the King James Version and it should not be translated anything but ‘presence’.

Now we’re going to take this Scripture on that, so that you’ll know where they are concerning the Lord Himself. Now we’re not going to deal with the presence of Paul, that’s fine.

We’re not going to deal with the presence of Peter, that’s fine. We’re going to deal with the Presence of the Lord per se. So the first Scripture is we go to is Matthew 24:3.

And this is where they sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, Tell us, when these things shall be?

When the stones are going to be laid bare on the ground, everyone pulled down.

Number two: What shall be the sign of Thy Parousia. Not coming, but parousia.

And thirdly: What’ll be the end of the world.

Now that word there is ‘presence’. “What will be the sign of Your Presence.” Now, if you want to look at that as the sign indicating when the Presence will come, that’s no big problem. But, I don’t look at it that way. I look at the fact that it is a secret Presence, that the world will not be aware of It, although It will not be done in a corner. It’ll be done where It is absolutely open before the public, the public simply will not know.

Remember… when Simeon took the little child up in his arms, he was speaking and he said, “I beheld Thy salvation which was prepared for all the people.” That means literally before the eyes of everyone. And there’s maybe five hundred or a thousand people saw it.

In other words, as long as it was a public display that could not be gainsaid, that was enough to challenge the whole world in the face of Almighty God. You see what I’m trying to tell you? Presence.

There is a presence, it’s indicates here, “What shall be the sign of Thy Presence?” And my thinking on this is: How do we know that you’ll be there as the case of John the Baptist? John, as the Voice came and said, “You’re going to baptize Him Who is God manifest in flesh.” And he said, “Well, what’s it going to be? Is it going to be a retinue of thousands of angels and thousands of horsemen and earth quaking, shaking events?”

Said, “No, you’re going to know, because there’s going to be the Holy Spirit like a dove descending upon Him.”

In other words, I won’t even know He’s there until something happens, that’s right. And when that thing happens, that which is indicated, then He is there. You follow me?

All right. We go to Matthew 24:27. You want to write these down, that’s fine. They’ll be on the tape anyway, I suppose if we got a tape, I don’t know.

Now, that articulates exactly earmarks what this Presence will be like. We won’t go into that for the time being, we’ll take that up once when we get to the… up to the ‘epiphania’ on that one.

Now you see, when everybody thinks that means the ‘Coming’, you are taking a series of events that points you what you think hopefully to give you an understanding He’ll soon be here and you miss it, because He’s already here.

The prophet said, “I’m not running through the streets screaming He’s coming. He’s already done come.” See? Okay, 39.

Now, It tells you how secret that Presence is. The world isn’t going to know it period. Now if this sounds strange to your ears, you better pick your ears up, because I’m telling you the truth. See?

1 Corinthians 15:23. That word cannot be translated ‘coming’, we’ll show you from the Greek in a few minutes, as I quote you authority. Because I’m no authority.

There cannot be a Resurrection unless He is Present. Tell me, where do the dead rise if not here on earth? Then He has to be here on earth, if they’re going to be raised.

Again 1 Thessalonians 3:13. [4:15] Let’s take a good look at this one. This deserves some derision when mis-apprehended by translation.

Now, I’m going to tell you something. What if I was up here in midair or somewhere, hanging on the corner up here, and I descended. Would you say I descended if I came down this far? You’d have to qualify and say, “Well, he descended part way.” There is no part way here. It says, “Descended.”

The same people understand the Holy Ghost did not come part way down. But It says, “He that ascended, what is it that He also descended, speaking of the Holy Ghost.”

I want to ask you a question. Is the Holy Ghost up there, or did He come down here to indwell men? If you can see that He came down here to indwell men, you’ve got to concede that Somebody’s got to come down here on this earth. Because descended is descended. See?

That tells you what the Parousia is, see? Never mind Who’s there, let’s understand What is there. And I’m not going to define the what till later on. Well it already tells you, the Lord Himself.

You mean to tell me our hearts are got to be in that condition when we get up there? Let me tell you flat, our hearts are already in that condition to get up there. And how are you going to put the Parousia in a Rapture? Because It says right here,

Something is going to transpire at that Presence.

What’s he talking about? He talking about the individual who is living.

As he says in,

In other words, there’s coming a time when the dead must rise and mingle with the living. And he’s talking to the living here as in 1 Thessalonians 3:13, and 23.

God would sanctify you body, soul and spirit at the Presence of the Lord. And you know as well as I do though we have a sanctified body by virtue of the Holy Ghost, that body is not in a state of immortality.

So the body at this time will be in a position at His Presence to receive immortality the same as those come out of the ground.

2 Thessalonians 2:

And brother, that word is ‘assembling’, and so therefore there is an assembling unto him Who is Present.

And Brother Branham categorically said, “That was the Message,” which indeed It is, the same as he said categorically, “The Shout is the Message,” which indeed It is.

And over also we’ll show you later on in Ephesians that that is a revelation, so therefore, the Message is a Revelation. See, the whole thing begins to dovetail.

James 5:7-8. Here we get another beautiful picture.

Now, he’s telling you right there, that there cannot be a Resurrection for the precious fruit of the earth are the body. That’s why the Blood dropped upon the ground in order to sanctify, so the bodies could come out of those graves. See?

Now, they were already marked by the Holy Ghost, having been born again. Each one of those cells was touched by the Holy Spirit. And if that body goes back even to gases as Brother Branham said, “God will raise that Body completely changed and Glorified.”

Now, It says here, He is waiting for His Presence to get the fruit out of the ground. That’s exactly what It says in 1 Corinthians 15. It’s what It says in 1 Thessalonians the 4th chapter. It’s what It says here in every single place you will find it takes the Presence of God to raise the dead.

Now, if you’re getting a little bit chattered tonight in your thinking, remember what I taught you formerly; “There is One God and His Name is One with His Son.” There is One God Who has a Son, and the Son per se is not God, but He’s got the same Name.

So therefore, when you see Lord Jesus Christ, and here Lord Jesus Christ, you’ve got to know the doctrine or you’ll be confused every single time.

It’s just like if I had a son and his name was Lee Vayle, and every time you talked about and used the name Lee Vayle you’d say, “Which one are you talking about.”

Unless you understood as it were doctrine concerning each one. So therefore, when we use the Scripture here many times, “Lord Jesus Christ,” let me assure you the Name of Almighty God is Lord Jesus Christ. And the Man sitting on the Throne now Melchisedec is Lord Jesus Christ.

And unless you know exactly what the Scripture says by divine revelation, you’ll never, ever understand the Word of God. That’s why the world today is outside the pale of safety. Because they don’t even know what the Scriptures says and they don’t want to know. That’s right.

Remember there’s One Name, you look a little puzzled, just think it over you’ll get there. You’re alive and you’re not going to die. When It bursts upon you, as It burst upon me you begin to feel a whole lot better about the whole Word of God.

Another thing, that same Man can be worshipped, because God said so. Don’t feel bad about saying, “Praise You Jesus,” and worship Him. You take Him by the feet, it’s perfectly legitimate, because God said, “All the angels worship Him.”

And He’s given Him every Name, that every tongue must confess, and every knee must bow to the glory of Almighty God.” And you look at Him as God Himself.

And God smiles down and He says, “He’s worthy, hallelujah, just pour it on.” Amen. I’m going to start screaming. I feel good about Jesus, not about myself. Forget it. But about Him I can feel good.

2 Peter 1:16. Talking about the Mount of Transfiguration which was a period of time, and Jesus was there present. It says in 16 here,

The 3rd chapter in the 4th verse of the same one.

Now you notice right here that these men understood something that’s been veiled to the world. And they spoke of His Presence. They weren’t talking about a Rapture, that goes without saying. They weren’t even talking about the Resurrection, that goes without saying. They were talking about His Presence.

And remember, who can abide His Presence? That was the question asked concerning that Messenger of the Covenant. Who can abide it? The fact that we can literally abide in His Presence, because of the High Priesthood of Jesus Christ shows there is no limit to His saving power from grace to grace.

Again, in the 12th verse of the same chapter, It says here,

There again, you have the very same thing, because positively it’s the same understanding, Present. In other words, there’s always a time when God Himself will do certain things. He will be there to do them.

We go also to 1 John 2:28. We’re talking of the Person the Godhead now, we must understand this.

Notice the very same thing here. Appearing is Presence. John defines it. How in the world would you be ashamed when you’re caught up to the Wedding Supper? If the buttons would ever pop off your royal garments, they’d pop off then.

You’d say, “I’ve made it.” Elation, the joy would overcome any. How can there be a thought of dissatisfaction, even with ourselves when we know He is the One who’s done it, see?

So you see, here,

Now that sounds very strange. But Brother Branham said the same thing about a woman whose hair is not long. “That she should be ashamed in the presence of the angels, the messengers,” he said.

“Why,” he said, “A messenger would have to come in and say, ‘woman, you’re entirely out of order with your hair the way you are.”‘ See?

So therefore, at this particular time will the church… let’s ask the question, will the Church however be ashamed in His Presence? You bet it will be. Now I’ll prove it to you.

In the Book of Revelation the 3rd chapter. Right here It says about the end-time church.

That church was in a horrible mess. Certainly at the end-time we would be ashamed in His Presence. But the point is, His Message came with such grace… Now John was hoping they wouldn’t be ashamed.

John like Paul understood that there’d be a falling away. These men could not be anointed of God and one man anointed above another man. The one man could say, “Well there’s going to be a falling away.”

And the next man say, “Well, I think maybe there’s going to be a falling away.”

And the third fellow saying, “Well, I’m praying to God there won’t be.”

Now, you can pray to God all there won’t be, there’s going to be a falling away.

Now, John was hoping here that that first Church Age though he knew it would happen down the road, because he wrote the Book of Revelation. He knew it was going to happen, hoping that somehow that they’d be there prepared for His Presence.

I want to ask you a question. Who was prepared when He came? If you believe He really came, which He did start down there in the river, and this is actually Ohio and Indiana history in Kentucky.

It’s more Kentuckian then Indiana-ian, there’s Ohio. But remember the Ohio River has the Ohio name on it. Down the Ohio River, 1933, July 11th. That’s when the first intimation come.

And I was talking to Sis. Branham the other day, and I even forgot to ask her more questions than I did, and we talked about it, I said, “Sis. Branham, when you were there did you see that Pillar of Fire?”

And she said, “No Brother Vayle. Brother Branham told us to bow our heads and close our eyes,” and she said, “I was used to obeying. So I closed my eyes and bowed my head.”

But she said, “I went afterward and I said, “Bill that was your voice I heard say, ‘As John the Baptist foreran…”

And I said, “Meda, it had to be.”

And I took her to 1 Thessalonians 4, and showed her that the voice is not said to be the voice of God. No way it’s somebody else’s voice. And he said, I was just a voice standing near when He used me.”

See, she caught it. She didn’t understand it at that particular point. He just looked at her and just kind of nodded his head and went on. But he knew that he was that voice.

Now, we’re going to read what the authorities and Greeks say about this word ‘parousia’. Rotherham and Vine. So here we go. This is by Dr. Rotherham and I’m going to read quite a bit of it.

In this edition the word ‘parousia’, it is uniformly rendered ‘presence’. Coming as a representative of the word, as a representative of this word being set aside. (He said, “In no way will I use the word ‘coming’, because that’s not what it means.”) The original term occurs twenty four times in the New Testament. (And he names them. Which I’ve named only those that have to do with the actual Presence of God .) The sense of ‘presence’ is so plainly shown by the contrast with ‘absence’ implied in 2 Corinthians 10:10, and expressed in Philippians 2:12.

So let’s go to 2 Corinthians just to make sure we know what we’re talking about, and we’ll read It where It says, 10:10. All right.

Okay, over here in,

Notice, presence as contrasted with absence the word must be translated ‘presence’, because it has nothing to do with the event itself of the coming of the person, it has to do with the person having come being there.

As when Martha did not know that Jesus was already in Bethany, and suddenly he’s there. But she didn’t know he was coming, and there he looms before her. So that we understand the word the word ‘presence’. Okay.

The question naturally arises, why not always so render it? (That is Presence.)

The more so in as much as there is in 2 Peter 1:16, also (we read it) a peculiar fitness in our English word ‘presence’. This passage it will be remembered relates to our Lord’s transformation upon the Mount. The wonderful manifestation there made, was the display and sample of ‘presence’, rather than ‘coming’. The Lord was already there. And being there He was transformed and the majesty of His glorified person was then disclosed.

(I’m going to leave some out here.) The ‘parousia’ in any case is still in the future, and may therefore being shrouded in a measure of obscurity which only fulfillment can clear away.

Now that guy was the best man I’ve ever heard, because Brother Branham a prophet said, “God reveals His Word by manifesting It, bringing It to pass.”

It may in fine or fact, be both a period, more or less extended (It certainly is) during which certain things shall happen and an event coming on and passing away as one of a series of divine interposition.

And that’s exactly right. He does come down here, He does bring us the Word, He does gather the living, He does raise the dead, He does change those that are here into immortality. He does catch us away to a Marriage Supper, ain’t nobody knows the difference.

Brother Branham said, they’re going to look around and say, “Wasn’t so and so to happen?” That’s exactly right and you missed it. Now that’s what we’re up against. Okay.

Let me read to you what Dr. Vine said.

‘Parousia’, literally a ‘presence’. (And he describes it, two words.)’ Para – with’ and ‘ousia – from ‘amo, to be’, denotes both ‘an arrival’, and a ‘consequent presence with.’

In other words, the person couldn’t be present unless he had come. See, that’s what he’s trying to tell you here.

It’s usual translation ‘coming’ is misleading. For ‘parousia’ always where it occurs, refers to a period of time more or less extended. It is the word ‘erchomai’ that fixes the attention on the journey to and the arrival at a place. While ‘parousia fixes it on the stay, that follows the arrival there. It is preferable therefore, to transliterate the word, rather than translate it. That is use ‘parousia’ rather than ‘coming’ where reference is made to the Lord, where ‘parousia is used of the Lord, it refers to a defined period of time. (As in 2 Peter 1:16.)

Now, here’s what he said. Rotherham says, “That word is so peculiar, why don’t we wait until we find of what it is when God reveals it?”

Vine said, “Why don’t you just leave the word parousia in the Bible? A little foot note: A little foot note there.”

And every time you see that word you say, “That’s parousia.” It means ‘a certain thing’, it means ‘a presence’. What would that do for you? It would get you mechanically instructed, so that you would know something lies there.

Look it, you know how it is if you didn’t know that there’s a rattlesnake lying there, you take an awful good chance of being bit. And if you didn’t know a diamond was lying there, you take an awful good chance of losing a treasure. And that’s all these men are saying. So you understand when we use the word ‘parousia’, and this is the repeat of some of the things we’ve gone over before on purpose.

Now, as we view the Presence in the light of Scriptural authority we immediately see that even as both Vine and Rotherham say, there is coming a time when the personal Presence of God will be here on earth for an indefinite period of time, and in such a way as He is not Present with the things by rebirth, or divine favor, but actually among the Elect in a distinct and known way of His own Person.

In other words, I want to say this, over in Matthew It says, “I’ll never leave you, nor forsake you.” Verses like that in the Old Testament… the one in Matthew 28, “I’ll be with you even to the end of the ages.”

Okay, that has nothing to do with this verse. Nothing at all. It has literally to do with a present which will be at some date. And that date fixes it definitely at the time of the Resurrection. No way can you get away from that One.

It is absolutely the time of the Resurrection. So therefore, if anybody can fix by Scripture the time of the Resurrection, you know that’s the time that he’s got to be here, whether you see Him or not. Absolutely, He has got to be here.

All right now, in John 14:23, which we go and take a look at for a second. Now remember, I want to pass this on to you again. Make sure when you read the New Testament, even the gospel, don’t you dare read this Book any other way, then written right for this hour.

Because the First Church Age should have seen a Rapture. But it didn’t, sin crept in. Age number seven finishes It, where the tide is turned back, and we start where Age number one left off.

Therefore, categorically there are not Seven Church Ages, there are Six Church Ages, which should be right. Because man has six, God takes seven. The seven is only, because God winds everything up under seven, the only reason.

But you see what I’m trying to tell you? You chop Age number one and two where it belongs, then you bring us back to where it is, and you’ve got a perfect Age.

That’s why Brother Branham said, “It doesn’t matter what’s in the middle exactly, always watch the ends.”

And that’s what I’ve always said, “If a board is ash at both ends, it is an ash board.” Don’t worry about the middle. Of course today people might want to mess things up… I’m talking about that which you take a tree and phfft, run it right through. Not some junk some people bring to get it.

Now, I’m not saying there aren’t Seven Ages, I’m just trying to tell you this, “That when it comes to man, there is actually only the six on the ground that one and seven literally belong to each other.”

Or if you want to put it this way, you took a part out of one, and you take a part out of seven, you come up with seven. It won’t matter to me. I’m just trying to show you something here, that you cannot read your Bible in the light of a gap in between and you’re looking down the corridors of time.

Even Jesus did not look down the corridor of time when this gospel was written. No way! No way is anything future.

You read your Bible as the present now, or you’ll be confounded, because everything He talks about as a generation, this and that, and you don’t put it in the present now, you’ll be looking down the road and say, Hey, this could happen there, this could happen there, this could happen there. Forget it!

It’s all happening right now, or the Seventh Seal has not opened. Or the Seventh Seal is not in progress, because when the Seven Seal is in progress there’s nothing stops anything, she just goes clean into eternity.

We’ll discuss that later on. Not tonight.

Okay, I was going to read,

Now, we have here a very certain promise, and this is not the individual as the temple of the Holy Ghost, but He is speaking to a segment of the Bride.

To the individual He says, “But you know Him, for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” But down here He says, “We’ll make our abode with.” Now He’s talking about a segment.

It’s just the very same thing that Brother Branham used over here in,

He put that right in this hour. He never put It back in the First Age, He put It in this Age. So therefore, you read your Bible as of the moment, as of this hour. It’ll begin to open up to you. Otherwise, you’ll have a lot of problems.

So, there’s a promise here that there is going to be a time when the segment of the Bride will have the very Presence of God, very God. Everything thing that ever was in the Father and dwelt in the Son the whole thing comes right down into this hour. Or whatever hour that is which believe is this hour.

Now, the assured and prophesied Presence of God should not be strange to our ears, though indeed it is. Now I said, “The assured and prophesied Presence of God should not be strange to our ears, though it is strange to our ears.”

We go back to Ecclesiastes 3:14-15 to see this.

Now, It lets you know here that God plus His ways never change.

So, if this is the case, if we go to the Old Testament and prove the Presence of Almighty God, and I mean the literal absolute Presence of God in the Old Testament in amongst the people, then it cannot be gainsaid, that that can happen in this hour.

Because, “He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever.” And what He does, He does not change.

All right, we’re going to look at the word ‘presence’ in the Old Testament. And this word ‘presence’, comes from the root word ‘face’.

Now you don’t have a person there without a face. And you don’t have a face without a person. It comes from the word ‘face’, which means ‘to appear’, which means ‘presence’.

Okay, we’re going to start right off in the Book of Genesis, and we’re going to see the Presence of God, then we’re going to see that the very same word describes the presence of man. So we’re going to make a comparison.

So somebody can’t say, “Well hey, you’re getting out of your depth there, bud, because you’re trying to take a word for Presence of God here, and a presence of man here, and they’re two different words. No they’re not! No they’re not, it’s the same word. Because I checked it through in the Hebrew.

Okay, Genesis 3:8. And we can pretty well guess this one.

So there was the Presence of the Lord in the Garden, and that Presence was so defined and present that they literally hid in the trees. So therefore, He wasn’t out someplace outside the Garden, He wasn’t someplace up in heaven, He wasn’t someplace under the earth, He was right there in the Garden.

And the Presence was known. Now how they knew It, don’t ask me, that’s God’s business and their business, because we don’t have the answer to every single question. But we do have the answer right here, “God is Present and they were present before God.”

Just like It says in the Book of Acts, when Cornelius said, “We are all here present before you and God to hear the good story.”

Okay, 4:16. Now here we see a good one here.

Now, God must have been there, because Cain couldn’t of gone out. So God is Present.

Okay, let’s go to 16:12. This will deal with man this time.

Now, how are you going to dwell in the presence of your brethren if they are not somewhere near, and you’re near, where you can actually have a kinship and a relationship to by presence, because they’re not up there, and they’re not down here, they’re out here somewhere.

So therefore, they likely were neighbor’s, and they were neighbors. He’s going to be in the presence of his brethren.

In other words, “Cain you can be there and nobody is going to hurt you, you can go right in through their houses, you can go right though their lands and nobody is going to touch you.”

Okay, 27:30. Same word, no difference.

Now, where was this fellow Isaac and Jacob? They were in each other’s presence. Same word, no difference.

Okay, we go to 41:46, I think it is.

Now, there you see what we’re talking about, it’s the word that refers to a literal face to face. Now you know, that’s what the Scripture tells you.

There’s going to be a face to face confrontation at the end-time according to 1 Corinthians 13, “We’re are going to know as we’re known.” The Presence of God is vouchsafe to us.

Okay, let’s look at the Scripture now where God has vouchsafed His Presence to mankind, now these won’t be that perfect at this point.

We’re going to go to Job to begin. And then when we get past Job we go to the Psalms. Job 1:12. This is a good one.

Okay, we go now to,

All right, now let’s get in Psalms. We’re going to get to the ones we’re interested in now, to catch up again with God Present with man.

Now, that’s fulfilled in Christ the High Priest. The word ‘present’, John saw One upon the Throne. In Revelation 4, John saw One in the midst of the Throne, having gone off the mercy seat to come to His Father’s Throne in Revelation 5.

Okay, we now go on to Psalm 68, read the whole thing.

Now, that’s as It tells you is going to happen over there in 2 Thessalonians at the very end time, when the divorce is over, finalized, the Bride is caught away.

It’s says in Revelation 19, and I think also in Isaiah chapter 66, and chapter 28. I just forget some of the other passages now. The very time.

Now,

Now, you got the thought here as in Malachi. “I’m going to send fire on the earth. But I’m also going to send Elijah to you. I’m going to come and destroy with fire, I’m going to come and arise upon you with healing in the wings.”

Now, you know that those are historical factors of the Presence of God, which you can bring right to this very moment which is going to happen in our day.

And by the Presence of God, to those that are blessed by His Presence, and those who will be destroyed by the very same Presence of the time when it is time for destruction because we don’t need to take a lot of time on this.

Reading the whole thing.

Now, you know that that refers to the Exodus wherein we are going at the same time, and there is a today that if we harden our hearts there is left no more room for repentance.

Now, when you talk about wrath you know immediately you are talking about a form of hyper punishment which took place with Israel when God destroyed in the wilderness, which took place at the time of the flood when sin had filled its cup up, which took place under Titus, because they had done despot but to Almighty God, and which will take place in our day as the Great Tribulation.

So every single time you see the word ‘wrath’, you do not refer to the White Throne Judgment. And you’ll notice that every single time there was a Presence in everyone of these. There was a Presence.

And you’ve got a Presence right here at the end-time, because this is the hour when the fire is going to come. And remember fire did not come at any other time.

We had a flood that did it, then we had a mini tribulation under Titus, but when you look at this hour there is going to be fire at the end of the Great Tribulation.

Now he said,

Then you can tie It into the Book of Malachi very easily there, and see again as I said, the day of the great Judgment of God is coming, and He is going to be there to destroy. But there’s another time when He is there and He does not destroy.

Now, It says, “Today if you will hear his voice.”

What happens? The actual rejection of His Presence. Now, I brought you that and read you what Brother Branham said concerning this Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He said here in, Discerning of Spirits – Phoenix Az 60-03-08

[89]  Now watch and see… where the gates of hell is against. [Not what, but where, in other words, what hour we’re in.] It’s not against denominations. The government recognizes that [it’s not. That we’re] recognize denominations all of them.

We have the right, each one of us as American citizens, we have the right [to] denomination which is fine. We appreciate that. But that’s not what the gates of hell is against. [It is a] spiritual revelation of Christ being here now, [and] the same yesterday, today, and forever. That’s what it’s against. The gates of hell shall be against it, but it shall never prevail. 

So, the revelation of His Presence ending in rejection is going to bring on the Great Tribulation and the wrath of Almighty God.

Now, Psalm 100, also reading is a short one.

Now, you’ve got the same thing over here in verse 7. “For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.”

Well, do you know there comes a time when the end generation is taken in that’s our time here? So there again, we see the Presence of God to be manifested.

And the 114th Psalm, verses 1-8.

And you will notice in here, that at this particular time the Presence of God was there for the squeeze. And Brother Branham mentioned the squeeze coming down, and I would believe absolutely that that is what we’re having in our day too.

Psalm 139:

Now, let’s go back to the Book of,

Now that absolutely as far as I can see is what this is all about for the end-time, the very Presence of Almighty God. Now notice what It says, “The Word of God is quick and powerful.”

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” But in verse 13, “Neither is any creature that is not manifest in his sight:” Doesn’t say its sight, It says ‘His sight’.

So God the Word, the Logos, at the end-time is what you’re looking at has visited the land as you saw in the ministry of Brother Branham when he said, “I take every spirit under my control for the glory of God in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And nobody could hide, there was no way that person could hide whatsoever. That also is what I see over here in,

There again we find the Presence of God, where Brother Branham said, “That which is perfect has come, which is God Himself.”

Now, going on to,

Now, you know that this is the age of the mind, the “mind age”, as Brother Branham said, and therefore, it is a time of repentance and a time when the mind must come under the Word of Almighty God. And this is where we have the helmet of salvation, which is so important.

We see here at the end-time in my understanding here, we’re right at the time of the Presence of Almighty God, the goodness of God. And I’m just doing these quickly.

Isaiah 63:

Now, what I want you to see here particularly is in this last day, because it always runs in a parallel, it never fails, God always does the same thing. We’re in an Exodus now.

And in verse 9, he said, “The angel of his presence saved them.”

Now the Angel of His Presence, the Angel of the Covenant is one and the same. It is God Himself the Logos the Holy Spirit. And His love pitied them, He redeemed them. And “He bare them and carried them all the days of old.”

Now listen in verse 10. “But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit:”

Then what is the Angel of the Covenant? What is the Messenger? The Holy Spirit Himself. See, the Holy Spirit Himself, is the One that comes down in His Presence.

Now, you can see that the Presence has been all through the Old Testament. Nahum way back there in the minor prophets.

Now, there again you’ve got the same parallel as over there in the Book of Malachi. “The great day of the Lord is coming when the whole world is going to burn as oven, all that do wicked shall be burnt up, but unto ye call upon His Name shall He arise with healing in His wings and go forth as calves of the stall.”

Zephaniah also 1:

Now, that’s Scripture, the Scriptures I’ve not taken them all, but there’s sufficient evidence in the Old Testament which I will go into, even a little more later on, on the Presence of the Lord, that He absolutely was there in the Presence of the people.

And though the people could not look upon Him face to face, He was absolutely there. The next word that we’re going to look at is the word ‘midst’, m-i-d-s-t.

Now that’s simply what it means. Like a segment and something divided and there He is right in there, in the word ‘midst’.

So we go back to the Book of Numbers to get our first Scripture, and that’s in 5:3.

Now, right there God says, He’s dwelling in the midst of the camp. Okay… now, that’s a physical thing he’s talking about.

Now if He was just up in Heaven you’d have a different situation come up. It would be something entirely different there.

Psalm 22:

Okay,

Now, as I say, everybody is always willing to consider that God is in the Millennium, or God is in the Heaven, God someplace. But they don’t want to consider that God can come right down here and be in the midst of the people.

You get people into a rut, and what I’m trying to do tonight and I think you’ve caught on, is to show you by numerous Scripture that the Presence of God is nothing to be stumbled at. That absolutely God can be here period. See?

That’s the thing we’ve got to see, but you’re not going to convince by a jug full, the fundamentalist, there’s no way that you’ll even convince the Pentecostal.

There’s no way, because they’re so absolutely inured by their own understanding, “Oh, the Parousia, that’s the Rapture.”

The Parousia is not the Rapture. It’s only a part of the Parousia. Oh, let’s face it, the floor is a part of this building, but the floor is not the building. Now we’re talking about the Parousia, the parousia has different parts to It.

The main thing is the Presence. And It’s the Presence here that starts the ball rolling. We’ve talked about that before, we’ll go more and more into It.

Tonight, I just want to show you in the Word, that we’ve got a good ground tonight to believe what we believe.

Not that we have to go to the Bible and prove every single point that Brother Branham brought us, but look, when you see what he taught in the Bible, you know what you’re doing?

You’re just right beside him preaching his Message. Because that’s where he got It, was out of the Bible.

Okay,

Now this prophet understood something, that God was there and He was treated just like a guy passing through the land.

Like I’ve said many a time here in this pulpit and every place I’ve preached the Message like this with you along this line, I said, “Look, two thousand years ago at least we spit in His face, pulled out His beard, plucked His head, ran a spear in His side, but today they won’t even spit on Him.”

Oh, but they sure can praise His Name. Nobody’s got time for God that’s Present.

Now God that’s so far off He said, “Hey,” he said, “You’re not a a way…,” the prophet is trying to tell the folk here.

God stands back, He’s astonished like a… say, “what is this all about? Don’t they appreciate anything? Don’t they understand? Are they ever going to learn.”

Now, he said, “We’re called by Your Name and You’re in the midst of us.” So you can see the situation back there was a very desperate situation. And a disparate situation at the same time.

Let’s go to,

Now, did He mean It, or didn’t He mean It? “Oh, that was just a nice thought that God had. What He really meant was, “If you did a certain thing He’d kind of look down.”

That’s not what He meant. It had nothing to do with the predisposition of God toward people. It had to do with the disposition of God Himself amongst the people.

And that’s the thing we’ve got to understand, something has happened. And the signs tell you what has happened, that He is here, see?

Okay, now we go further. We go to,

In other words, He said, I manifest and prove Myself and it’s day by day I’ve done It. How many years was Brother Branham with us, from 1933 until 1965. Twenty [thirty] two solid years and a little bit longer.

Absolutely shown the Presence of God, but It didn’t make any difference. No one is going to listen anyway. See? Verse 15.

And what is it? The same One Who is going to take us right on with His Presence until It ends up in New Jerusalem. We will never be away from the goodness of the Lord once this thing breaks. And It has broken already.

Zechariah 2:

There again, you see God Almighty has not relegated Himself a simple privilege of just making statements and saying, “Well I’m this way, I’m that way, but I’m really not there.” You just can’t buy it. He has come down to visit His people.

Let’s go to John 20:26. It says,

Acts 2:

Hebrews 2:

Does anyone dare to disbelieve that Jesus is going to be in the midst of thee, and entire aggregation of the Elect of Almighty God? Or is He just saying, “Well, I’m going to be there, but you really won’t see Me.”

See, when you begin to play with words you’ve got to go all the way. As Brother Branham said, “Change one, change It all.”

All right again, He’s been in the midst of us by the Holy Spirit, has He then changed His will at the end-time, that He cannot appear again in the Holy Spirit as He did in the First Age, Alpha being Omega? No way can you say It cannot happen.

Now, let us further consider a most known and notable event concerning the Presence of God. We’re going to go to Ezekiel 1. Should get you out of here in the next ten minutes with a little bit of help.

Remember he said, “I saw visions of God.” He didn’t say he had visions from God, he had visions of God. Now here’s what you can see of God.

Now, this is what he looked at. This is what he saw. He was in the Presence of God, and this is the most definitive description in the whole Bible as far as I am concerned.

Okay, compare that with,

What I’m trying to show you here is the fact that God literally went into that temple, and then He went out when He wanted to go.

So when people try to tell us no way could God come down here and do what He is doing in this age, they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Not only because God can do anything He wants, but this is the pattern of what God does, because “He’s the same yesterday, and today, and forever,” and His ways do not change.

Now, let’s go back to Genesis 18… We won’t have to read this whole thing here, but you’ll notice that God comes flanked by two others that who looked just like He looks like which were men.

“Theophanies,” as Brother Branham would say. God manifested in human form came and stood at that particular time and talked to Abraham.

Then the two angels went down to Sodom and Gomorrah while God stayed behind in the form of a man and addressed Abraham. Okay, we understand that.

Now, we go back to Genesis 14:17-20, and we see Abraham dealing with Melchisedec.

Now, let’s go back to the Book of Hebrews, because here is where we see the Logos again as described to us.

Now, Brother Branham brought to our attention here that the Logos, the same One that was made flesh, God. “In the beginning was the Word, the word was with God, and the Word was God.”

That same One Who made all things. That One came down here and was in the human form of a king.

Now let’s look at this picture here. Do you think for one minute that This man suddenly appeared on the land, and everybody said, “I’ve known him for hundred years, or fifty years, or twenty.” No!

He could have been absolutely veiled in a type of human flesh, or in that which looked exactly like human flesh, but was not human flesh literally. And then again, could have been, I don’t know.

Eating and drinking and ministering just the same as Jesus did, and he could have been of earth with a retinue, and with a palace and with armies. Everything God Himself put there, and it could have been there five years, ten years, twenty years, who’s to say.

Now, you tell me that in Jesus the Holy Spirit couldn’t be here tonight from 1933 to 19… I just say, “Have your head examined.”

First of all, better have your heart examined, because it wouldn’t matter if it was in your head anyway it wouldn’t do you any good. That’s tough preaching, but I’m a tough preacher, I hang tough.

Because here tonight, you can see by Scripture there it’s incontrovertibly correct. That no man can rise up and say, “This couldn’t happen.” Because It has happened.

Now, let’s go and prove It. Ephesians 1, you know that this is one of my favorite portions of Scripture right here.

After verses 13 and 14, where he tells them he knows that they are born again, where they have been full of the Holy Ghost and their bodies are going to be redeemed at this future date he said, “Because of this, because you’re Bride, after I heard of your faith unto all the saints…”

Now he’s identifying the God and what God is, the God of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whoever Jesus Christ is, He’s got a God. Now, let’s get that down flat, because that’s the truth, see?

Now It says here,

Now 1 Corinthians 2, unequivocally are you told that no man knows the things of God, say the Spirit of God. So therefore, God Himself, Holy Ghost, must reveal in the way He has allowed Himself to reveal Himself to that people. To what end?

That’s the first thing, which is a definitive revelation and purpose of God in the hour. Now, how does He do it? “For the Lord Himself shall descend there with a Shout, with the Voice of the archangel, trump of God.” Okay fine.

Now secondly,

If that took place brother/sister, the dead would come out of the ground. That power is here, but potential. First of all comes the Revelation, right? Then comes Resurrection. Right? Then to the right hand is Rapture.

Okay, “The Lord descends with a Shout.” What Shout? Voice, Trumpet. What is He going to do? Reveal, Message, Resurrection, Rapture.

Show me where the prophet went wrong. Who’s going to do it? Holy Ghost. Now let’s face it, why is the world in the mess it’s in? Because they rejected God the Holy Ghost veiled in the Word. That’s the trouble with it? See?

Now, that is identically… oh I’ll get you out of here, just five minutes late that’s not bad at all. I’m a better boy then I thought I was, just put a mark on the wall, so don’t make it so that it can’t be rubbed off.

Listen.

“Well, that’s only figurative. He’s up there somewhere.” Shooow brother. You know what? I would sooner be a spiritist.

When I was twenty years of age about, there was some friends of mine up in Canada went to hear a spiritist. I didn’t bother, because I knew it’s too fluky, and too flakey, wouldn’t go. But they came back and told me that this spiritest had it all figured out that Jerusalem was your belly.

I’d just as soon believe that. Sooner believe that Jerusalem is my belly, then to believe where people say, “Well, he really didn’t put His foot on land and sea, He’s up there somewhere.”

Well that fellow that said, “Jerusalem was the belly had…” Look he’s got, even in my books far better right then the guys that pervert this.

Now when did the lion roar? In the First Church Age. But It doesn’t say it’s the lion roaring here. It’s as when the lion roared. So it’s the Last Church Age, we’ll show in a minute. It’s an eagle.

At the time the One puts His foot on the land and sea when God Himself comes down. Because He’s got the rainbow. Now who had the rainbow in Revelation 4? God. Same One Ezekiel saw.

Now,

Now, he’s talking about the Church Age, he’s talking about the Seals. The whole thing is there before us. What’s he talking about? The Seventh Messenger.

How many messengers are there? There are seven and seven church ages. Who is the last Messenger? The Seventh one is. What is he to? Laodicea. There is a ..?.. at that time.

In the days the voice of the Seventh Messenger when he shall begin to sound at the last trump the bride is gonna get changed. Whats the last trumped? Seventh Church age Messenger trumpet. The mystery of God should be finished that he perfected it.

Absolutely flawless, can’t ad to it can’t take from it, its finished. There it is signed, sealed for delivery. As God had declared the good news of the gospel by His servants the Prophets.

Now, at that time then when that One comes down there is a Messenger standing there. See? And the scripture says, “He shall descend with a shout.”

And the Greek categorically said, “It is not set to be the voice of the Lord.” Then who’s voice is it? Seventh Church Age Messenger. See?

Now, what kind of a man is he? God has never used anything but a Prophet. God was in the Prophet. Now you can say anything you want about it. But right in the bible it said, “God was in the Prophets.”

So therefore there’s got to be God the Word, whatever that amounts too, for this hour. And if we take the whole Word then the whole Word would be in that Prophet, at this hour.

As Brother Branham said,… see if I can find it here… “The Elijah of this day is the Lord Jesus Christ, He is to come according to Luke 17:30, He is the son of Man that’s revealed himself amongst His people. Not a man, God! But it will come through a prophet.”

He also said, “And today He is standing among us, in the Person of the Holy Ghost, manifesting Himself more and more, coming into His Church, making Himself known;”

Brother Branham said this over here about the one I’m talking about in Ephesians the 1st Chapter and verses 15-23, “The Spirit of wisdom comes into the Church, to make known to the Church, by the revelation of the Holy Ghost, bringing the Church in and revealing what day that we’re living in. Just the same as Gabriel come to—to Daniel, the Holy Spirit comes to the Church in the last days, to reveal these great, deep, secret things.”

Alright he says here, “The Son of man has already come from glory and is revealing Himself for the past few years [he said that in ’58] to His Church in mercy, showing them His great Presence, doing the same things that He did when He was here on earth, revealing Himself like He did to Abraham, before the destruction. He has come now in mercy, revealing Himself to the Church.”

That’s absolutely what it says in Ephesians 1:15-23.

“The next time He reveals Himself, it’ll be in judgment on the world and the nations that’s forgot God” [that’s when the church goes through the tribulation]

“The Headship is here. Amen! Christ, the risen Lord, is here in the same Power of His resurrection that He ever was, manifesting Himself.”

“Now, we know that Christ is here. Maybe you don’t see Him with your eyes. But through vision, I tell you, He’s here.”

And when the Seals are broken and the mystery is revealed down come the Angel Messenger Christ, setting his foot on land and sea with the rainbow on his head. Remember the Seventh Messenger is on the earth at the time of his coming.

So therefore he is telling you He is here, and the messenger is here, they get together. And the Seventh messenger tells what the Messenger from heaven said.

And remember the messenger of the covenant of  God Himself, Holy Spirit which we saw. The Holy Spirit is here. After almost 2000 years God has visited again.

That brings the entire Fullness of the Godhead bodily among you. The Headstone coming into the body that’s Redeemer coming to take His own, He is here with us.

That light is present here tonight it is Christ in Spirit form, His Spirit, the anointing is here, now listen, now how He said that He shall appear in the last day is to bring the people back to the Word so the bride will know her mate, the revealed Word.

Isn’t that what it says in Ephesians?

First Seal, when the Holy Spirit that we have becomes incarnate to us, the one that’s in our midst now in the form of the Holy Ghost becomes incarnate to us in the person of Jesus Christ, we will crown him King of kings.

Now the word on that one takes us back up there and Jesus himself the man will stand there, the Holy Ghost will step right into him and reincarnate himself and we will crown him.

Don’t worry Jesus is here, he is here today manifesting himself doing the same things He did then just the same doing the very same thing he did then.

And He’s amongst us today he showed himself here with us and proofed and vindicate his Word. And in the evening time it shall be light [listen] that’s when comes Christ the Holy Spirit Jesus comes up.

You say make up your mind which three? All the same name. There’s not three, there’s two and one isn’t God, one’s a man. If that… if that’s not true then I cant read my bible.

There’s one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Doesn’t call him God; the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn’t say the God. But God hath made him both Lord and Christ.

That’s where people gets all mixed up. Certainly we worship Jesus. There’s nothing the Father does without him…

Tape ends.