People that are good to the Bride

    From BelieveTheSign
    Click on headings to expand them, or links to go to specific articles.


    Quotes of William Branham

    Revelation 20:11-15,

    "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away: and there was found no place for them.
    And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works,
    And the sea gave up the dead which were in it: and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
    And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
    And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire."

    There will be both the righteous and the unrighteous in this judgment. It says so. THESE RIGHTEOUS WILL NOT BE THE BRIDE FOR THE BRIDE SITS WITH HIM IN JUDGMENT.

    I Corinthians 6:2-3,

    "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

    Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?"

    Revelation 3:21,

    "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne."

    See, the bride is with Him in the throne. As she is to judge the world she has to be sitting in the judgment with Him. That is exactly what Daniel saw.

    Daniel 7:9-10,

    "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, Whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire.
    A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened."

    See, it is the same scene, for the thousand thousands who are ministering to Him are the bride, for who ministers to the husband but the wife?

    The question now arises, why are these righteous ones in the judgment? There is no other place that they can come up, for there are but two resurrections and since they could not qualify for the first resurrection they must come up in the second which is a resurrection unto judgment. The ones who qualify for the first resurrection (the bride) are not in the judgment. John 5:24, "Verily, verily I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life (that is, the believer is already the recipient of eternal life which he has in his possession now) and shall not come into condemnation (shall not come into the judgment, is what it really says) but is passed (permanently) from death unto life." But notice carefully, Jesus must have yet another group in mind who at a certain resurrection will receive eternal life. They will receive it at the resurrection, NOT HAVING PREVIOUSLY RECEIVED IT AS A MEMBER OF THE BRIDE.

    John 5:28-29,

    "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, in the which ALL that are in the graves shall hear His voice,
    And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."

    Now we all know that John 5:28-29 is NOT THE RAPTURE for only the dead in Christ will arise from the graves at that time along with the living bride who still is on the earth.

    I Thessalonians 4:16-17,

    "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

    But it says in John 5:28-29 that ALL are going to come forth from the grave. This is the very same resurrection that is spoken of in Revelation 20:11-15 wherein THE DEAD were brought before the Lord and judged according to their works, and all whose names were not in the Book of Life were then cast into the lake of fire.

    We now face the question as to why they should be given eternal life at the judgment since the Epistles seem to conclusively point out that one must possess the Spirit of Christ or perish. Though it seems thus, we must not discredit the words of Jesus Who most pointedly sets forth that there are some found in the Book of Life who will either receive eternal life before the general resurrection or after it.

    Paul does not evade this truth for he most clearly says in Philippians 3:11,

    "If by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead."

    Now this statement is most peculiar. We all know that we are ALL going to be in a resurrection whether we want to be or not. All will be resurrected. So Paul could hardly be saying, "If by ANY MEANS I might attain to a resurrection of the dead." The truth of the matter is, he is not saying that. The literal reading is, "If by any means I might attain to the 'out-resurrection' from among the dead." This is not the attaining to the general or second resurrection, but attaining to the first resurrection, of which is said, "Blessed and Holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years." The first resurrection has nothing to do with the second death. That is at the end of the thousand years when ALL THE REST of the dead live again. And in that day there will be those who come forth to eternal life and those others who are caught in the second death. Now we do not need to guess about those who in the second resurrection are given life. We are told it is given to them on the grounds that they have been kind and good to the "Brethren". Those who are raised and cast into the lake of fire will be so treated because of their mistreatment of the "Brethren". Since this is the Word of God we simply accept it. There is no argument here, just a simple statement of fact.

    To further clarify, notice specifically the words of Matthew 25:31-46. It does not say that a shepherd is literally separating sheep from goats, but it is AS a shepherd dividing sheep from goats. These are not sheep in this particular area of time (White Throne Judgment). The sheep are in His fold, they heard His voice (Word) and they followed Him. THEY ALREADY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE AND CANNOT COME INTO THE JUDGMENT. But these do NOT have eternal life, and they are in the judgment. They are allowed to GO INTO eternal life. But upon what grounds do they enter into life eternal? Certainly not upon the fact that they already have His life as does the bride, but they receive it because they were kind to His brethren. They are not His brethren: that would make them joint-heirs with Jesus. They are NOT heirs to anything but life. They share no throne, etc. with Him. THEIR NAMES MUST HAVE BEEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE AND NOT REMOVED. Now because of their love of the people of God they are recognized and saved. No doubt these served and helped the children of God. Perhaps like Nicodemus and Gamaliel they stood for the children in a time of trouble.

    If this seems to smack of "restoration," watch carefully now, for the wicked are NOT restored, but turned into the lake of fire. The names of many of those destroyed were in the Book of Life also; but they were blotted out because they failed to honor the people of God who were the living manifested Word (living epistles) for their day.

    Now let us be very clear here. These are not nations being judged and going into the millennium because they have harbored and helped the Jews. That is very clear because of the conclusion of these verses. "And these (the wicked) shall go away into everlasting punishment (lake of fire), but the righteous into everlasting life." There is no record of TWO judgments set where the wicked are cast into the lake of fire. Only the beast and false prophet are judged at the end of the great tribulation. No, this is the White Throne judgment, and they are judged according to what is written in the books.[1]


    Footnotes

    1. SARDISEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.7, 276-1 to 278-3


    Navigation