Bible Believers' Newsletter #131
"We focus on the PRESENT Truth -- what Jesus is doing NOW . . ." ISSN 1442-8660
We greet you in the wonderful Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and appreciate your fellowship. This newsletter serves those of like precious faith and whosoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
Born in Zion
I looked through my window today, and looking back at me was a red fox. Perhaps he had been unable to steal a chicken or attack a pregnant ewe last night, and was scouting out more promising territory for tonight's hunt.
This put me in mind of Jesus Who is the Shepherd and also the Door to His sheepfold. John 10:9-11 "I am the door: if any man enter in by Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find provision for all of his needs." The only way to His flock is through Him.
"The thief comes only to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have Life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives His Life for the sheep."
That slinking fox was not about to enter by the door. He was a self-made type intent on stealing what he could. Like the sinner fighting his way to hell, he was without a shepherd and had missed another meal. Jesus said, "I am come that they might have Life, -- "Zoe", God's Own Life -- and that they might have It more abundantly" -- beyond measure or more than is necessary.
The Christian life is not a self-made lone walk but an individual walk with God through relationship with Jesus Who died that we might have His Life without measure. It is all of grace. The more we are able to die to worldly desires, the more He will impart His Life.
Jesus wants us to have exceeding abundantly of His Life. We need only follow His Voice to come under pre-eminence. To receive more abundance of His Life we must be Spiritual athletes who "lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily hinders, and run with patience the race that is set before us". We must examine our lives and check our priorities with the mirror of God's Word.
Let us be single-minded and make our calling and election sure. The prize is only to the Overcomer.
In each age the Voice of God has been calling His elect out of the dust of the earth. Out of the world of the ten senses of mortal spirit and flesh to preminence under His Word united with our born-again soul. We who have answered the Call to this present age must bring our bodies subject to His Word so that His Life may be seen in us, and more abundantly. We have the wherewithal by the fullness of Word and Spirit released when Christ opened the Seven Seals in 1963, and revealed them through His prophet.
Once born-again, our soul is already resurrected from the dust and is taking charge of that dust we call our body. At the manifestation of the Sons of God our faith will rise to change that dust to glorified matter not subject to gravity.
We are to have the faith of Enoch who pleased God and was not, for God took Him Home without death. We are to have the faith of Abraham who, because he believed the promises, willingly offered up Isaac his only begotten son. For God had promised, "In Isaac shall your seed be called", and Abraham knew He was able to raise Isaac from the dead if necessary, in order to fulfill His Word.
Abraham saw in the sacrifice of Isaac and his redemption by a ram, a type of Christ's substitutionary death for Adam's fallen race. Jesus testified, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56). Like Abel, Abraham was familiar with the Law of the Kinsman Redeemer (Leviticus 25) and saw how by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, Christ should be crucified and slain, as a sacrifice, and raised again the third day (Acts 2:22-32). Abraham saw it was the son of Promise God required, not the son of the flesh (Ishmael). Grace, not works. And that as they traveled three days to the place of sacrifice, it would be on the third day after his sacrifice when Isaac, who was as one raised from the dead, would be seen by those who knew him.
Abraham's revelation of Jesus' day was so clear, he was obliged to go to the land of Moriah and offer Isaac on the mountains of Jerusalem. A type of Christ who was also crucified in Jerusalem. This became the site of God's temple and the one place Israel could meet God under the blood.
Here Abraham looked for the City whose builder and maker is God. He had the right revelation but he was four thousand years too early. Two thousand years later, Jesus Christ said He would go away to prepare that City and promised "I will come again to catch you away to Myself and to the City. And where I go you know, and the way you know. . . I am the way, the truth and the Life" (John 14:3-6).
Abraham met the King of that City, paid Him his tithes, and took communion. It still hasn't come down from God out of heaven, yet the way into that City and abundant Life is open through Christ, the Door.
When David numbered Israel, God's plagues slew 70,000 in three days. As he saw the Angel of the Lord standing above Jerusalem with his sword stretched out over the city to destroy it, David threw himself into the breach for his innocent subjects, a type of Christ, and the Angel commanded him through his prophet Gad to build an altar on the threshing floor of Ornan on top of Mount Moriah. God consumed his sacrifice with Fire from heaven, and perceiving the Lord had answered his prayer, David prophesied, "This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel" and began abundant preparations for construction of the temple (I Chronicles 21-22).
God has blinded Israel until the end of the Gentile dispensation which will be marked by an earthquake that sinks Los Angeles, splits the mount of Olives, and destroys the Dome of the Rock that profanes the holy mountain, enabling Israel to restore their sacrifices on the altar of David. Then God will fight for Jerusalem.
Isaiah 29:6, 10-11, 18-20, "You shall be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. . . For (until the Gentile dispensation is fulfilled) the LORD has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers has He covered. And the vision of all is become to you like the Words of a Book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is learned, saying, Read this: and he says, I cannot; for It is sealed. . . And in that day shall the deaf hear the Words of the Book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off."
Regarding the close of the Gentile dispensation Zechariah 14:4-10 says, "His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south."
(This earthquake will destroy "es Sakhra", the Dome of the Rock, but Jesus does NOT physically stand upon this earth until after the destruction of all life when He returns with the glorified saints of all ages at the start of the Millennium (Malachi 4:1-3). This is a symbol of Christ's parousia to Israel, as Revelation 10:1-2 where He stood with one foot on the earth and one foot on the sea, was a symbol of His parousia to we Gentiles.
Notice the mount of Olives where Christ stands is "to the EAST of Jerusalem." In Revelation 7:2 Christ ascends from the EAST to seal the 144,000 elect Israelites when they "see" Him and are born-again in one day.
Ezekiel 43:1-2 describes the same event, "Afterward he brought me to the gate that looks toward the EAST: And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and His Voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory". The glory of the Lord departed the temple to the East just as the Lord Jesus departed Jerusalem from the East (Ezekiel 11:23; Acts 1:9-12). And they return from the same place to anoint the 144,000 elect Israelites who as I see it are symbolized by the Millennium temple).
"And you shall flee by the valley of My mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, you shall flee, like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with Him."
(The earthquake in the days of Uzziah apparently occurred while the king was trying to force his way into the temple, against the protests of the priests, to unlawfully offer incense on the golden altar. He was polluted with leprosy by an offended Lord: a mark of apostacy on his forehead where those who please Him are sealed. A similar situation will soon occur in Jerusalem -- II Thessalonians 2:1-12).
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be Light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be."
(We live in that uncertain day when ethics and morality are no longer absolute but "situational". However, God has restored the Apostolic Alpha Light of the morning of the faith to prepare an evening time Omega Bride. After the Latter Rain has anointed the Bride (or hinder, Western or Mediterranean Sea -- sea or water represents multitudes of people) for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation in summer time "when the day of Pentecost is fully come" . . . again, the Former Rain will then anoint 144,000 elect Israelites (the former, Eastern or Dead Sea) in winter for the Day of Atonement and their ingathering at the Feast of Tabernacles. This closes the annual harvest cycle, the pattern for Israel's sacred cycle, typing the sowing, watering, cultivation and harvesting of men's souls.
The fullness of Christ came to the end-time Bride by faith in WORD form. It was a "parousia" not an "erchomai" or physical Coming. Likewise His Presence will come to Israel in Word form, through a clear understanding of their Trumpet mysteries. They will not physically see the Man Jesus until after they have been martyred, and resurrected for the Millennium).
"And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and His Name alone will be worshipped. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba (Judah's northern border) to Rimmon (Judah's southern border): but Jerusalem shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, From Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses."
Expounding Scripture verse by verse can be difficult because we are accustomed to narrative that follows in chronological order. "This happens, then that, and whatever the next verse says follows after." But the Bible is not so straightforward. Part of one verse may happen immediately whilst the remainder of the same verse may be delayed in its fulfillment for a further two thousand years. So when we read of the earthquake and so-forth in Zechariah 14 we should not suppose that these events happen in succession.
For instance the uniting of the New Testament Bride of all ages in the first resurrection and translation is the start of mount Moriah pushing up to form the pyramid mountain to fulfill the sign of Enoch. Brother Branham called this "the mount Zion Rapture". However the transformation of Earth's surface into that 1,500-mile high pyramid mountain does not take place until after the Millennium, when Earth receives its baptism of Fire which renews the heavens also. Exposition is generally more readily understood and easier to present in colloquial language independent of a parallel explanation of long Scriptures quoted verbatim . . . by the grace of God we do our best.
Isaiah 65:17-25 announces the promise, "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy."
(God promises to create a new cosmos, a new world order, not a new universe. He promises to purify the present heavens and earth from sin and the demonic influences of 7,000 years, renewing the existing structure and restoring the whole to equilibrium. Isaiah proceeds to speak about the New Jerusalem which is Christ's Bride and the saints of all ages, God's eternal dwelling place, which descends after Armageddon has destroyed all life, one thousand years before He renews the heavens and earth).
"And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. In it there shall be no infants that live but a few days, nor old men who die prematurely: for one who dies at the age of a hundred years will be considered a mere youth; only sinners will die that young."
(Isaiah is using hyperbole or exaggeration to emphasise the point that there shall be no death in the holy mountain of Jerusalem. There will be no infants, aged or sinner people. We will be immortal in glorified bodies like His glorious Body. Time shall not weary us, nor age condemn us to death).
"They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD (Christ -- Galatians 3), and their offspring with them."
(Isaiah is describing the Millennium, not the new heavens and new Earth, which are to be restored to Edenic beauty, and where any building or planting will be done by the "saved" outside the City. The "offspring" are those who have been born of the Word through the testimony of our life and lips, not our physical increase).
"And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the LORD."
That fox which I saw, if he's there, will eat honest straw and not stolen chickens. . . and like it. There will be no sickness, death or destruction in mount Zion.
Jesus said, "Heavens and earth will pass away but My Words will not pass away" or change (Matthew 24:35). Heavens and Earth ARE God's Word made manifest so they cannot be annihilated but will or "change" back to what His Word declared they should be in their original perfection.
II Peter 3:5-13 explains how heavens and earth will be changed or renewed for eternity: ". . . the heavens came into existence long ago by the Word of God, and also the earth, formed and surrounded by water: and God destroyed that original world by Flood: but by the same Word the present heavens and the earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men . . . the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night (like that fox) in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the material elements shall dissolve with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."
"Since we are living in this process wherein all things shall be dissolved, we ought to live sanctified lives with godly qualities, looking forward to and hastening the coming (or "parousia") of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat (Isaiah 34:4; Revelation 6:13-14). Nevertheless, according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new Earth, free from sin and in right standing with God."
There are three stages in the redemption of heavens and Earth just as there were three stages in our redemption. Justification by grace through faith and water baptism to testify that faith is real; sanctification by the blood which fell upon Earth at Calvary, and the baptism with the Holy Ghost which is your new birth as it will be Earth's regeneration.
The first Earth was baptized by the Flood in Noah's day. This washed away sin and sinners, but did not annihilate its structure. We live on this baptized Earth which must be destroyed and renewed by fire that will explode the oceans and change the surface of the whole Earth, burning up the works of man, but not the planet. Also Supernatural Fire will destroy Satan and his demons, making it a place fit for God to dwell.
God can't dwell in you until "you are dead and your new Life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). You must be a brand new creation. And the earth must be renewed through three stages of salvation before God can make it His abode.
In Revelation 21:1-4 John describes the result, "And I saw a new heaven and a new Earth: for the first heaven and the first Earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I saw the holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."
The Millennium is not the new Earth, its only the antitype of the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles as we explained in last week's Newsletter. This is the RETURN of New Jerusalem which is to be taken from the Earth after the Judgment at the end of the Millennium, while heavens and Earth receive their baptism of regenerating Fire. Then when all is new, the City will return for Eternity.
The holy mountain on which New Jerusalem will rest commenced as a little stone. It was the Word, and It grew into an immense pyramid mountain as described in Daniel 2:34-35, ". . .a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image on its feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. Then the whole image collapsed in a heap of iron, clay, brass, silver and gold, and its pieces were as small as chaff of the summer threshingfloors and the wind blew them all away. But the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth."
Jesus said that the vision on mount Transfiguration signified the Kingdom coming in power (Mark 9:1). It was the mountain Daniel saw. The saints were all represented on Mount Transfiguration -- the resurrected and the translated -- all caught up in the air with the glory of God overshadowing Jesus like New Jerusalem on mount Zion in the new heavens and new earth.
The holy mountain was the Word of God where Abraham offered Isaac, where David met the Angel of the Lord and built an altar. Here Solomon built the temple of the Lord where every adult Israelite must assemble before Him at three specific times in the year. Here Christ was crucified, and Omar built the Abomination that makes desolate.
That Stone, manifest in one Man, was smitten, died and resurrected to become the foundation and headstone of the final temple of God made not with hands. The lively stones from which it is built were gathered from throughout the world and perfected in the field so that when the Spiritual pyramid of the Body of Christ unites for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb in the Sky, "there will be neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the House" (I Kings 6:7).
That Stone will become a great mountain 1,500 miles high and 1,500 miles at the base of each side. The City will rest upon and above It. The Shekinah will beam forth the glory of the Lord, and the nations shall walk in its Light.
It has taken 2,000 years for the Stone to transform into the City. Jesus said, "In my Father's Kingdom are many mansions; I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14:2). In the pyramid diagram of the Body of Christ, which is the Kingdom of God, you will recall there were nine major divisions -- Pentecost, Seven Church Ages, and the Capstone or Bride Age. God's elect must recognize their dispensation and find their individual place in that part of the Word Body. It will be another thousand years before It is transformed into the pyramid mountain.
Zechariah 3:8-10, "Listen, O Joshua the high priest, you, and your colleagues who sit before you: they type the seven Church Age messengers while you type Jesus Christ, My servant the BRANCH, Whom I will send. He will be the foundation stone of the temple. And that stone will have seven facets or eyes, each reflecting one portion of the seven-fold Spirit of God. And I will engrave the Word for each dispensation upon it (Revelation 2-3). And I will remove the iniquity of the Land of Israel in one day. And after that, says the LORD of hosts, you will all live in peace and prosperity during the Millennium" (William Branham, The Revelation of the Seven Seals p.577:4-578:1).
This will be Israel's parousia, expounding the Seven Trumpets and Seven Vials to reveal Jesus Christ and His Bride as we see in the next chapter where the Angel shows the prophet another vision equivalent to the vision Jesus showed Peter, James and John on Mount Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8).
Zechariah 4:1-14, "He beheld a golden lamp stand with seven lamps thereon, and above them a bowl of olive oil flowing through seven pipes: and an olive tree carved on either side of the reservoir."
(This signifies the seven Church Messengers God anointed with seven portions of the Spirit to inspire seven Messages to Lighten the elect of seven Church Ages who drew their Life from the Holy Ghost. The two olive trees represent the Old and New Testaments. And the Angel declares that the Church can of itself accomplish nothing for the Christian walk is all of grace).
Then the angel explained, "This reservoir yielding a ceaseless supply of oil from the olive trees is God's Message to Zerubbabel (who was the governor of Judah charged with rebuilding the Temple, and types Brother Branham the angel to the Laodicean Church Age who was commissioned to restore the Church -- Malachi 4:5-6), "Not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit (symbolized by the oil), I will make My Word live, says the LORD of hosts, you will restore Jerusalem" (and, your Message, William Branham, will restore the apostolic faith to New Jerusalem, the Church).
(God will not use human scholarship, organization or denomination which shall be abased. Theologians crucified Jesus the first time; by their theology they are crucifying Him unto themselves afresh today. But the humble will be exalted to inspiration by the grace of God and the power of His Spirit).
"Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone (that's Christ's parousia) thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto It."
(Brother Branham was publicly commissioned on the Ohio River in 1933 by an audible Voice from heaven to introduce Christ's second or parousia Coming. This he did in 1963 -- the revelation of the Seven Seals brought Christ back to earth in Word form -- I Corinthians 13:10).
"The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me unto you."
(Brother Branham restored the Church to the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Matthew 17:11; Ephesians 2:20) and he also finished the Church by introducing the Headstone which is Christ, through the revelation of the Seven Seals (Revelation 1:1; 10:1-7; Acts 3:23; I Corinthians 13:10).
"For who has despised the day of small things? (God hiding Himself in simplicity and revealing Himself through humility) for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet (or absolute of the revealed Word) in the hand of Zerubbabel (like "the King's Sword" representing the fullness of the Word with authority, that materialized in Brother Branham's hand when he was praying in Sabino Canyon before the opening of the Seals) with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth." (The seven portions of the Spirit that anointed the seven angels to reveal Jesus Christ to the Seven Church Ages).
"Then I asked him about the two olive branches through which the two golden pipes empty the golden oil into the golden reservoir? And he said, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." (The two witnesses of Revelation 11 with the anointing of Moses and Elijah whose ministry will unveil the vision to Israel).
God will personally establish Zion, and when He publishes the role of those who remain in the Book of Life after the second resurrection and pertained to Zion, He will place a mark besides the names of those who were born there. And the singers will sing, "My life and joy are in Jerusalem, the City of our God" (Psalm 87:5-7). So come and dine. The Master calleth, come and dine on a seven course Meal that will impart God's own Life, and more abundantly -- It will put you in the rapture. nl131.htm
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Brother Anthony Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister. He has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations in various countries. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to minister in your church.
For Further Information Contact:
Bible Believers' Church
Currabubula, NSW 2342, Australia
e-mail: ags@biblebelievers.org.au
URL: http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/