Obtaining a Better Resurrection
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And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
Pray for teachers and schoolchildren after sermon.
Introduction.
Introduction.
Obtain
Obtain
τυγχάνω, (a) c. gen. I obtain; (b) absol. I chance, happen: τυχών; ordinary, everyday, Ac. 19:11, 28:2; εἰ τύχοι (lit. if it should happen), it may chance; old acc. absolute, belonging to impersonal verbs, τυχόν, perhaps.
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
If we see how they obtained the promises, we can see how we obtain the promise for our day.
Our specific promise is of a resurrection. A “better” resurrection, because it is to eternal life.
In order for those heroes of faith to get what they were after, which is a resurrection, we must attain to the resurrection and rapture.
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
367 You get it? These people who died, in here, are depending and waiting on us. So, this Church has got to come to perfection, in order to bring the resurrection.
62-1014M - The Stature Of A Perfect Man
Look at Paul’s desire.
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
He was already an apostle, he lived in the glorious age of the lion, but he wanted the resurrection.
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
He started it, I’ll finish it.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
I am grateful, Lord, to be living in this day. This is the greatest day. Paul the apostle longed to see this day. The great men of old longed to see it. The prophets longed to see it. They looked for this day.
Abraham looked for this day, for he sought for a City whose Builder and Maker was God; it hangs right above us, tonight. John seen the Spirit of God descending out of Heaven, bore record, knowed that that was the Son of God. And, think now, He’s choosing His Bride.
65-1125 - "The Invisible Union Of The Bride Of Christ"
Who were the women who received their dead raised to life again?
Who were the women who received their dead raised to life again?
Widow of Zarephath and the Shunammite Woman.
Both of these resurrections took place under the spirit of Elijah ministry.
Lets look at the Widow woman. How did she obtain the resurrection of the dead?
She was commanded to receive Elijah.
She was commanded to receive Elijah.
a. Same Caliber as a Believer.
a. Same Caliber as a Believer.
Bro. Branham said she was of the believer type.
He didn’t say that she had her life completely figured out.
Now, you will make your mistakes. You say, “Brother Branham, no matter what I’d ever do, I’d never be worthy.” That’s right. But look! You say, “Brother Branham, at one time I didn’t believe this message.” That’s right, I guess many of you didn’t. I wouldn’t have done it, I guess, myself. I couldn’t have done it ’less God revealed it to me. It’s a revelation. The whole church is built on revelation. Without the revelation you’ll never see it; you’re blind.
Jesus… The Bible said..., “Though Jesus had done so many miracles before them, yet they could not believe, because Isaiah said, ‘They got eyes and can’t see, ears and can’t hear.’” And very… really holy people, the very cream of holiness. So holiness is not all. Holy living’s not all. Faith is the main thing.
61-0318 - "Abraham's Covenant Confirmed"
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
ὑπόστασις (lit. an underlying), (a) confidence, assurance; (b) a giving substance (or reality) to, or a guaranteeing, Heb. 11:1 (where possibly title-deed is the sense); (c) substance, reality, Heb. 1:3.
ἔλεγχος, a proof: possibly a persuasion
Faith is the Title Deed to the Rapture, the Proof of a New Body.
She was the believing type, but she needed a Message to believe in.
She had already been commanded to keep the message alive.
59 He said, “I’ve commanded a widow woman to feed you.” He had already commanded her, she didn’t know it.
60 He might have commanded of you a testimony of your healing; you might not know it, but just hang on. When you are sure that you’ve met all the requirements, when you know that you’ve done everything that you know to do, and laid yourself before God, there’s only one thing to do, is, hang on to His promise then. Stay there!
God promised to answer, He’ll do it. You don’t know what He’s commanded, what angel, or what to do. It may be this night, before the healing service starts tomorrow night. God might have seen your condition today, He might have heard your prayer.
60-0310 - "Elijah And The Meal-Offering"
She was in a desperate situation.
She was in a desperate situation.
a. Without Elijah’s Message she would die.
a. Without Elijah’s Message she would die.
And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
She was willing to be obedient to the Prophet’s Word, even when it seemed impossible.
She was willing to be obedient to the Prophet’s Word, even when it seemed impossible.
And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
The Word and the Spirit together, baked on the fire of self-sacrifice.
That same thing will obtain a better resurrection.
She put God first.
What do we learn here? Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. “How will I meet it?” I can’t tell you, but you put God first. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these other things will be added.” “But bring me one first.”
Look, she didn’t have to go down and get her last penny; she had to go down and get her last piece of bread. She didn’t have to go for this, or that, or maybe change doctors or so forth, some little insignificant thing; but she had to go to the only thing that stood between her and death, and her child.
“Bring me a little cake first in your hand.” I can see her nod her head, obedient. That’s what God requires. You get the Word and the Spirit mixed together, self-sacrifice, obedience. When God’s prophet says a certain thing, do it! Hold on to it! She bowed her head, “Yes sir.” She starts on.
Then she heard the sweetest thing she’d ever heard, that all sufficient word that all of us listen for. For there come across that gate a blast from that prophet’s voice; said, “For THUS SAITH THE LORD…” Amen. That’s what we look to hear. “THUS SAITH THE LORD, the barrel will not go empty, or the cruse will fail until the day that God sends rain on the earth.” There it was. Amen.
59-0810 - "The Reaction To An Action"
By using what she had at her disposal to keep the prophet’s ministry alive, she was actually obtaining a resurrection for her son.
Do you realize what you are doing? by being obedient to the Message of the hour, you are actually obtaining a rapture and resurrection for yourself and your loved ones. Without the message, her son could not be raised.
Keep doing what your’e doing. Keep baking the cake in faith, even when it looks like all is lost.
And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
Before obtaining the resurrection, she had to receive a revelation of Justification.
Before obtaining the resurrection, she had to receive a revelation of Justification.
And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?
1 Kings Chapter 17:1–24
Ver. 18.—And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee [Heb. what to me and thee. Same formula, Judg. 11:12; 2 Sam. 16:10; 2 Kings 3:13; Matt. 8:29; John 2:4. It means, “What is there between us?” or practically, “What have I done?” “Is this the result of my association with thee? Must such sorrow befal me because thou art with me?” Bähr], O thou man of God?
35 Released from guilt, is what we wish to place on this. A pardon from God is a release from guilt. Not the turning away by a psychological doctrine of some sort that might in some way give you a little feeling that you have done what’s right, by joining church, or taking up some creed.
But it’s a release from your guilt, by the power of Calvary. Something has released you. There’s no more guilt. The Bible says, I believe, in Romans 5:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
36 Now, a man, when he is released from sin, man or a woman, there’s no more desire in their heart to walk after the things of the world. He is freely pardoned and becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. And his affections are set on the things that are above, where Christ sets at the right hand of God.
He’s freely released. He doesn’t have to have some priest to tell him or some minister to tell him. He knows in himself that he is pardoned, because he has accepted it upon the grounds that God sent it to him, through Jesus Christ. What a feeling it is to be free from sin!
(slaves and emancipation)
38 Oh, if sinners tonight could only be that anxious to know that you’re pardoned. You’re pardoned the minute that you accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Then you are pardoned.
39 They said that the young men waited. And as soon as the sun begin to shine in the east, they screamed down to the older, “We are free!” And the older down, to the women and children, “We are free! We are free!” Because the sun was up.
40 Oh, when man had sold out to sin, and when the Son of God came up out of the grave that morning, for our justification, I think it ought to be a scream across the nations, “We are free from sin and shame, freely pardoned by the bonds of Calvary.” No greater thing could be given to the human race.
63-1028 - "Pardon"
When bad things happen it reminds us of our past. We must be released from our past condemnation to obtain the promise.
Paul ties the removal of condemnation to the resurrection In Romans 8.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
If you have the Spirit of Christ you are free from condemnation.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Being free from condemnation comes from knowing who we are in Christ.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
A person might disqualify himself from ministry, but not from election. A Pastor must be above reproach (1 Timothy 3)
A person could even disqualify themselves from remarriage, but not from grace.
Anyone else would have died if they laughed at God, but not Sarah.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But it’s another day. This is the opening of the Seven Seals. I know It sounds strange to you, but God has vindicate it so perfectly. There’s no question in It. Just perfectly! Now notice the anointed Word of his day, of which you are a part, by predestination. You immediately, like, knew. When you heard That, you knew right quick that you was an eagle. You also realized that you wasn’t a denominational chicken, to begin with.
You knowed there is something wrong there. There is something wrong, that’s right, for you know that you were trapped into it, at the beginning. He, the Bridegroom, took away your shame, “And put it in the Sea of Forgetfulness, by the washing of the Water of the Word and the Blood of Life.” That’s what the Bible said. Your first husband that you were married to, the world…The anointed Bridegroom, which foreordained you, has washed you by the washing of the Water.
You are standing completely justified, as though you never did it at the beginning. This is my Message to the Church now…. You are standing, if you’re standing on God’s Word and with God’s Word, every amen, every jot, every tittle.
Where you standing? I’m trying to tell you, pull away from them shucks. And get out here in the wheat, where you can get ripe before the Son. I hear the coming of the combine. You’re standing complete, justified, like you never did it in the first place. Hallelujah!
65-1125 - "The Invisible Union Of The Bride Of Christ"
He preached the same thing Paul preached. We are resting on that!
Conclusion.
Conclusion.
In 2014 a study was done in Psychology that found people compulsively wash their hands to rid themselves of guilt. Pilate did that. Lady Macbeth in shakespeare.
We want to be clean. Peter asked Jesus to wash his hands and his head, Jesus replied, you are already clean.
Lady Maccabee.
Cany any of your religions cleanse the hands of Lady Maccabee?
83 Everybody set still. Then he clapped his hands together, and jumped up in the air. He said, “Glory be to God! The Blood of Jesus Christ won’t only clean her hands, but It’ll clean her heart and make her His Bride.”
57-0825M - "Hebrews, Chapter Two #1"
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
To obtain the resurrection by faith we must come to a place of no condemnation.
Pray for children, parents and teachers.
Pray for children, parents and teachers.