Revelation (Part I)
Spiritual Building-Stone No. 148

St. John 14:21, -"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

Listen what God’s Prophet said about it:

"Thou hast tried them that say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars" (Revelation 2:2-3). My, that is a blunt statement. "Thou hast tried them who call themselves apostles." Isn't that presumptuous? What right has a people to try those who call themselves apostles? And how do they try them?

Here it is in Galatians 1:8, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have (already) preached unto you, let him be accursed."

It was the apostles who brought the original Word to the people. That original Word could not change, not even a dot or dash of it. Paul knew it was God Who had spoken to him so he said, "Even if I come and try to give a second revelation, try to make one little change in what I gave originally, let me be accursed." You see, Paul knew that first revelation was correct. God can't give a first revelation, then a second revelation. If He did, He would be changing His mind. He can give a revelation and then add to it, as He did in the Garden of Eden when He promised the Seed to the woman, and then later designated that Seed had to come through Abraham, and then later said it would come by the same blood lines in David. But it was the same revelation. It only gave the people more information to help them receive and understand it.

But God's Word can't change. The Seed came exactly as revealed. Hallelujah. And see what those false apostles were doing. They came with their own word. Those Ephesians knew that Word as Paul had taught it. They were full of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of Paul's hands. They looked those false apostles in the eye and said, "You are not saying what Paul said. You are, therefore, false." Oh, that sets my heart on fire. Get back to the Word!

The church, too, has departed from what she originally was. She is a hybrid. That is, the church nominal is a hybrid. People say, "I am a Baptist." It wasn't so in the beginning. "I am Methodist." It wasn't so in the beginning. Instead of the straight Word of God, instead of the Spirit-filled men in the church who were led by Spirit-given revelation, there are now creeds, and by-laws, and the educated guesses of educated men. Learning has taken the place of revelation. Reason has replaced faith. Program has replaced spontaneous praise in the Holy Ghost. It wasn't so from the beginning. The whole specie has changed. It has become a hybrid church. [1]

Now, what did they do? They didn't know it. Today men walk ignorantly; they don't know that's the Truth. They think it's some kind of a ism. They don't dig down deep enough to get into the spirit of revelation. They don't pray enough; they don't call upon God enough. They just lightly take it, "Oh, well, I believe it's God. Sure." The devil believes the same thing. The devil believes it more than some people claim to believe; the devil believes it and trembles (James 2:19). People just believe it and go on, but the devil trembles, knowing his judgment is coming. And people believe it and don't pay no attention that judgment that's coming. [2]

Jesus asked His disciples one time, "Who does men say I am?"
And some said, "You're a prophet." Some said, "You're one of the old prophets raised up." And, "You're Moses," or "Elias," or something.
Said, "I asked you; what do you think?"
And Peter said, "Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matth. 16:13-20).

He said, "Blessed art thou, the son of Jonas (Simon, the son of Jonas), for flesh and blood never revealed this to you. You never learned it from a book, or from a creed, or from a catechism. My Father, which is in heaven, has revealed this to you." There's a genuine believer: spiritual revelation of the Word. See? Now, and up...

"Thou art Simon, and upon this rock, of your revelation of Who I am, I'll build My church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it." See?
No wonder Simon said, "To whom would we go?"
Jesus turned and said, "Do you wish to go also?"
And they said, "Lord, where would we go to, for Thou alone has the Words of Life. You're the only One." For not only did He have the Words of Life, He was the Word of Life. See? He was the Word of Life, and Simon thoroughly recognized this. And when he recognized it, that was what that kept his hope, because it was revealed to him that He was that living Word (John 6:60-71).

Now, that's a genuine believer. When the Holy Spirit, not some persuaded by some other person, not by some other thing, but when the Holy Spirit has revealed to you the Word Itself, and you see the Word made plain, vindicated; then the Spirit of God come and get into that age for the Word for that age and make it manifested. [3]

Once again: Peter, when he called, said, "Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Now, watch, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona (that which means son of Jona.)--blessed art thou, for flesh and blood never revealed this to you (You never learned it from some school.), but My Father which is in heaven has revealed it to you." Notice, what He said to him: "Upon this rock..." That's Peter, the predestinated seed of God that had received this Light and given the keys to the Kingdom. "Upon this rock of revelation of Who Jesus Christ is..." He's the full manifested God. "Upon this rock..." Not of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and Him being the second person... "Upon this rock I'll build My Church, and the gates of hell will never shake it down--never prevail against it. I'll build My Church upon this rock," a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Look, Christ in you makes Him the center of Life of the revelation. See? Christ's Life in you makes Him the center of the revelation. Christ in the Bible, makes the Bible a complete revelation of Christ. Christ in you makes you the complete revelation of the whole thing (Col. 1:26-29; Col. 2:1-3). See what God's trying to do? [4]

Now there is different arguments of that. The Roman people, the Catholic says, "He built It upon Peter.” See, and if that be so, Peter backslid in shame (Luke 22:54-62). So, It wasn’t. „It,” sure wasn’t built upon Peter, Petra, the little rock. And then the Protestant says, that, „He built It upon Himself, Jesus Christ.” Not to be different, but I differ with them. He never built It on either one.

He built It upon the revelation of Who He was. Not by knowledge! You didn’t learn It by books. You didn’t learn It by joining church. You didn’t learn It in the shops. You didn’t! But the Holy Ghost Itself has brought the Person of Jesus Christ to you, then, „Upon this Rock I’ll build My Church, and the gates of hell can’t prevail against It.” That holy thirst has been satisfied in the Person of Jesus Christ. There you are. That’s the thing that we want to look for, satisfy that thirst with That. All right, we find that we must. [5]

What is the new birth then? You say, "Well, Brother Branham, what is the new birth?" It is the revelation of Jesus Christ personally to you. Amen. See? Not you joined a church, you shook a hand; you done something different; you said a creed; you promised to live by a code of rules; but Christ, the Bible... He is the Word that was revealed to you. And no matter what anybody says, what takes place, it's Christ. Pastor, priest, whatever it might be... It's Christ in you. That is the revelation that the Church was built upon.

You say, "Well, I'm a Lutheran"; "I'm a Baptist"; "I'm Presbyterian." That don't mean that to God, not a thing, not a snap of your finger. What is it? It's Christ being revealed, and He is the Word. And when the Word is revealed, It expresses Itself. See? That's God's purpose for Jesus Christ, was to express Himself, to take His own laws and live by His laws, and fulfill His law by death (Rom. 8:1-4). Christ, God died in flesh in order to condemn sin in the flesh that He might bring to Himself a glorious Bride, redeemed back, that will believe only in the Word of God and not swap It, like Eve did, for intellectual conceptions of men (Gen. 3:1-7). You see it?

That's Christ's idea. That's God's idea. The new birth reveals this. And if a man says he's borned again and try to place these promises of Christ in this last day to some other age, making Him Christ yesterday, but not today, then that man or that person has been in a delusion by Satan. And if that man says that he believes that, and it doesn't manifest itself through him... Jesus said in Mark 16:17-18, "These signs shall follow them that believe... into all the world and to every age." Casting out devils, and speaking with tongues, and all of these great manifestations of gifts that would follow, that they shall--not that they maybe, they ought to; they will. And heavens and earth will pass away, but His Word won't (Matt. 24:35).
So it's Christ expressing Himself in the individual, whether he's intellectual, or whether he don't know his ABC's. Half the apostles didn't know them. That's right. But they knowed Christ. [6]

To know Him is Life, the Person, Christ Himself, not comparing. It's a revelation that God built His church upon. And if we don't build upon that same church... The Bible said, "Abel, by faith..." And faith is a Divine revelation. See? Faith is a Divine revelation. All right. This whole Thing's built upon the revelation then, and unless this is revealed to you... Jesus said, "I thank Thee, Father, that Thou has hid these things from the wise of this world, and revealed it to babes such as will learn" (Matt. 11:25). See? Now, the whole thing is built there; you've got to know the Person. [7]

Not to know His Word even gives you - to know It, it doesn’t give you Eternal Life. To know Him, the Bible said, „To know Him is Eternal Life,” not know His Word, know Him (John 17:3). [8] They never taken heed to Peter and John, knowing that they had been out of some seminary. They said they taken heed and noticed that they'd been with Christ when they healed the lame man at the gate. They knowed they had been with Christ (Acts 4:13-22).

The new birth is Christ, is a revelation. God has revealed to you this great mystery, and that's the new birth (I Peter 1:22-23). Now, what are you going to do when you get all that group together, where the revelation is perfectly in harmony, and God expressing it through His Word by the same actions, the same things that He did, making the Word manifest? Oh, if the Church only knew its position. It will one day. Then, the rapture will go when it knows what it is.

Now, notice. You say, "Brother Branham, but that ain't..." Oh, yes, it is, too. It is the Truth.

Did you notice? Paul never knew Jesus physically. Paul never knew Him. The only way that Paul knew Him was by a revelation, by a vision. Is that right? (Gal. 1:11-24). Paul only knew Jesus by the revelation, just like Peter did.
Peter had seen Him in flesh, but he didn't know Him by flesh, 'cause Jesus said so. "Flesh and blood didn't reveal it to you. Even My own Life didn't reveal it to you, but My Father which is in heaven has revealed the thing to you," that He is the Word of God. "And upon this rock I'll build My Church." Peter didn't know Him by flesh.

Men walked and handled Him and everything else. Paul had something greater than any of the apostles did. See? They said, "Well, I've got more of a revelation than you, Paul, because, you know, I walked with Him. I went fishing with Him one day. I heard Him talk. He set in a boat with me, and after He told me, 'Let's go over here and fish in this place, and we'll get more fish.' And we did it. See, we seen Him do things."

But Paul saw Him after He was dead, buried, rose again, and expressed Hisself in the Pillar of Fire that led the children of Israel, knowing... Paul, being a Jew, would've never called that "Lord" unless he'd have seen the expression that He was back the same yesterday, today, and forever. He said, "Paul..." in other words, "I'm the same God today that I was yesterday. Here I am in the same Light, the Pillar of Fire that Moses talked to in the burning bush." No wonder he could separate the Law from grace over in the Book of Hebrews. He met that same Pillar of Fire. He said, "I'm Jesus, Whom you persecute." (Acts 9:1-20).

Paul only knew Him by revelation. Peter knew Him by revelation. He walked with Him, talked with Him. Therefore, you can set this Word... Now, I've just said that He was the Word. Now, a scholar can sit down and read that Word till he can just tie your mind up in any way, if he wants to do it; 'cause he's smart, brilliant. Get a Catholic priest, or not so much as that as a real good trained theologian in the Bible, brother--a Baptist, or a Presbyterian or something; he'll make you think that you don't know nothing. See? When it comes to talk... Why? See? Because that he has knowed Him in the flesh, the Word.

But the only way that you're saved is by know Him by revelation. If I can take... I can take the Presbyterian doctrine and tie you Pentecostals till you won't know... I can take the Baptist doctrine and show you Pentecostals a million things that you know nothing of. That's right. But that's not it; that's not His Church. That's not His Church. His Church is Himself revealed (Amen. Do you see it?) and expressed by the Word Itself that He is God.

How can you say, "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" then and be baptized in it? Heathens. Right. How can you say you know Jesus Christ, He's the Word, when there's not a Scripture in the Bible, there's not a place where anybody was ever baptized in the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?
And you "Jesus Only" people, just using the name "Jesus" for baptism, I'm personally acquainted with four or five Jesuses myself. So, you see what your denominations lead you into? That's the darkness, the expression of Cain, who brought fruits in the stead of blood. But the revelation come through the Blood, through Jesus Christ, Who is the Blood of God, creative Blood in the womb of Mary.

And Paul knew Him by revelation. That's how we know Him today, is the only way you could know Him. Not say, "I'm Methodist." That means nothing. "I'm Baptist." That means nothing. "I'm Catholic." That means nothing. But by the revelation that God has revealed the Word to you. He is the Word, and the Word, how you know It's revealed, It lives Itself and expresses Itself through you. Oh.

Churches has long forgotten that great revelation. That's right. Revelation of the Truth, they have forgotten it. They accepted intellectual message--intellectuals, membership, knowledge instead of the revelation of the truth of the Word.

It's Jesus Christ, the new birth revealed in you that He has the preeminences, that He might express His Words. And anything that He's promised in this last days, He can bring it to pass through His Body as He's working. Amen. It's just exactly the Word of God made manifest.
Notice. All right, same as in the days of Christ... God holds the key to this revelation of Christ Himself. You believe that? Schools of theology can never find it. Jesus said so (if you want to read it now) in St. Matthew 11:25 and 27. "I thank Thee, O Father God of heavens and earth, that Thou hast hid this from the eyes of the wise and prudent, and revealed it to babes such as would learn."

So therefore, there's no school, no theologian, no teachings of the Bible, among any school that knows anything about it. They cannot know nothing about it. It's impossible for them to know anything about it. God has hid the senses of knowing it from the very elected teachers and everything else. It's a personal, individual affair with the person that Christ is revealed to them. And if you say, "He has been revealed to me," and then the Life that Christ produced here in the Bible (that same Life was in Him) does not produce Itself in you, then you got the wrong revelation.

If I put a life of a pumpkin into the life of a pear tree, it would bear pumpkins. "By their fruits you shall know them" (Matt. 7:16-20). It's exactly right. And if the first you put a tree (a grape vine), and it put out a bunch of grapes (the first shoot it put out brought grapes), the next one brought out lemons, the next one brought out pears, the next one brought out apples, there's some kind of a grafted affair in there that's bearing its own life (John 15:1-7).

Every denomination will bear a life of itself. But if that original vine ever puts out another shoot, it'll bear grapes like it did the first time. And if the Life of Jesus Christ ever puts out another body of believers, it'll bear the fruit that the first one did; they'll write a Book of Acts behind it, 'cause it'll be the same Life. See, what I mean? You just can't get away from it. It's the Life of Christ in you, been injected in you by the Holy Spirit Itself, living Its Life through you.

Notice, God holds this key alone. No theologian can tell you. It's not known; it's hid from them. They know nothing about it. So the schools... "Well," you say, "I got a Ph. LL.D." You only make... To me and I believe unto God and to any real, true believer, that means you're just that much farther away; you just backed off. God is not known by education; He's not known by how to explain it.

God is known by simplicity and of revelation of Jesus Christ in the most illiterate person. See? Not your theology; it's a revelation of Jesus Christ. "Upon this rock, I'll build My Church." No other rock's accepted; no other thing's accepted; no other Roman rock; no other Protestant rock; no other school; no other nothing; but on exactly the revelation of Jesus Christ in a new birth. He born in there and injects His own Life, and your life is gone (Col. 3:1-4), and the Life of Christ is projecting Itself through you with the preeminences to the people (Col. 1:18) that they see the very Life, and works, and signs and wonders that He did is doing the same thing through you. Outside of that, the rest of it's not even called to at all.

Watch God's great revelation unfolding. By lack of this revelation is why we have so many different divisions among us and so much mockery, so much division among us, is because the people lack that revelation. See, they lack that revelation: the teachers. [9]

Children of disobedience means... "Disobedience" means "rebellion." I looked that up in the dictionary to be sure. Rebellion, rebelling against what? The revealed Word of God. Like Cain rebelled against Abel's revealed revelation, vindicated of God that it was righteous... And Cain rebelled against it and slew his brother. The Pharisees with their own denominational knowledge of what the Word of God was, selected handpicked men, rebelled against the vindicated Word of God made manifest for the day, Jesus Christ, and killed Him. That right? That's what the children of disobedience is, a rebellion against the Word of God. Now, see where they are? "Oh, days of miracles is past. Jesus Christ is not the same... There's no such thing as the baptism of the Holy Ghost. All that stuff is nonsense." Rebellion, they don't have to say two things, just have to say one. That's all; that's rebellion right there. They can't say, "You don't have eyes; you don't have ears." (I Cor. 12:16-20). You've got to take the whole Body, the whole Word. [10]

But then, God said in this last days He'd bring out a people washed in His Blood. And they were predestinated to be there; they've got to be there. God said so. And It would reveal... And the very sign I was--Malachi 4:5-6, and what he would do--restore back again, bring back in the last days these great things that He promised. He'd bring the revelation. What is he to do? Malachi 4 was to bring back the faith of the fathers to the children. See? That's right--to bring that same thing, the same Pillar of Fire in on the scene, the same signs, the same wonders, the same Jesus, making Him the same, preaching Him the same, vindicating Him the same yesterday, today, and forever.

"But I will restore again," saith the Lord, "all the years..." (Joel 2:25-27). What?--"all the signs and wonders that they have forsaken. I'll take it right back to that original Tree again, and I will restore It," saith the Lord. That prophet was a vindicated prophet. His words has to come to pass. Amen.
The Holy Ghost alone is the Revealer of the Divine revelation of Christ and has been in all ages. Remember... All ages? Who did the Word of the Lord come to? Prophet alone. That's right. Is that right? And the prophet had to be vindicated first. Not 'cause he said he was a prophet, because he was borned a prophet and proved to be a prophet, and everything he said was exactly on the Word and come to pass, then everything else let go. See? It was... The Word of the Lord came only by the Holy Ghost. The Bible said, "The man of old, moved by the Holy Ghost wrote the Word" (II Peter 1:20-21). [11]

You remember in Daniel 12:9-10 He said, "The wise shall understand in the last days"? It's been given to him.

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 (Eph. 1:15-23). Just the same as Gabriel come to Daniel (Daniel 10/12), the Holy Spirit comes to the church in the last days to reveal these great, deep, secret things. Do you understand now? [12]

Reference:
[1] Church-Age Book, pg. 124, 83
[2] „The Indictment” (Vol. 2 No. 19), pg. 43
[3] „Three Kinds Of Believers”, pg. 9
[4] „Christ Is The Mystery Of God Revealed” (Vol. 3 No.7), pg. 36
[5] „Thirst”, pg. 43, par. 150-151
[6] „Christ Is The Mystery Of God Revealed”, pg. 36-37
[7] „Thirst”, pg. 18
[8] „Sirs We Would See Jesus”, pg. 22
[9] „Christ Is The Mystery Of God Revealed”, pg. 37-40, 43-45
[10] „God Of This Evil Age” (Vol.4 No.9), par. 168
[11] „Christ Is The Mystery Of God Revealed”, pg. 49
[12] „Seventy Weeks Of Daniel”, par. 68

Spiritual Building-Stone No. 148 from the Revealed Word of this hour, compiled by: Gerd Rodewald, Friedenstr. 69, D-75328 Schömberg, Germany
Phone: (+49) 72 35 76 13, Fax: (+49) 72 35 33 06

There´s coming one with a Message that´s straight on the Bible, and quick work will circle the earth. The seeds will go in newspapers, reading material, until every predestinated Seed of God has heard It. [ Bro. Branham in „Conduct-Order-Doctrine“, page 724]