DEWITT TABERNACLE TEACHING SERIES

 

CONTINUATION OF

THE BOOK OF REVELATION

AS REVEALED TO

BR. WILLIAM BRANHAM (NO. 5)

 

By C.W. Wood                          January 2008

 

This sermon starts where the October sermon ended. We stopped with Rev. 4:5, the Seven Lamps of Fire. We start with Rev. 4:6, the “ Sea of Glass .” May the gracious Lord guide our thoughts.

Rev. 4:6, “And before the Throne there was “a Sea of Glass” like unto crystal, and in the midst of the throne, and around about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.” This is the Bride of Christ, seen as a “ Sea of Glass .” But they are not the only group that the Scripture describes standing on a “ Sea of Glass .” To see this truth will broaden our Revelation concerning the people that our gracious God intends to give Eternal Life. There is another group called “The Foolish Virgins” that will also stand on the “ Sea of Glass .” The true Bride is thanking God for this group of people. The Bride is not trying to shut the door on any person, but rather is striving with all her spiritual strength to bring in one more soul to safety before God closes the door, as He did in Noah’s day. In Rev. 7, after John the Revelator saw the 144,000 Jews saved, He also saw another group saved. We will give the Scripture that tells who these people are. They are Foolish Virgins who went through Great Tribulation and got the victory over the Beast.

Rev. 7:9-17, “After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

Verse 10, And cried with a loud voice saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

Verse 11, And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,

Verse 12, Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

Verse 13, And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? And whence came they?

Verse 14, And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Verse 15, Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

Verse 16, They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

Verse 17, For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

These saved ones had come out of “All nations and kindreds and people and tongues.” They had been saved from everywhere around the world. In verse 12, they were worshipping and giving honor and glory to the One True God, the same God that the Bride of Christ is worshipping today, YET THEY WERE NOT BRIDE! In verse 13, one of the Elders asked John the Revelator, “Who are these in white robes, and John replied, “I don’t know, but Thou knowest!” And the Elder said to John, “These are they which came out of GREAT TRIBULATION, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

Notice that they had come out of GREAT TRIBULATION. All Saints endure tribulation during their lives, but not all Saints will go through THE GREAT TRIBULATION! But this group had endured the three and one half years that is to take place on Earth after the Rapture of the Bride. They had been purged from their unbelief, and had given their lives for their testimony. They had received the message that the Bride is receiving now they had come out of the systems and refused the Mark of the Beast. It had cost them their physical lives, but now they were standing as a “ SEA OF GLASS ” before the Throne of God, to be judged by Christ and His Bride. It is after The Rapture, after The One Thousand Year Reign of the Bride on Earth, and after The Second Resurrection! We know that The Foolish Virgins do not come up until the Second Resurrection, and this group that no man can number is The Foolish Virgins. It is White Throne Judgment time when this second group stands on the “ Sea of Glass .”

In our text Scripture (Rev. 4:6), the “ Sea of Glass ” represented the Bride. The Rapture had come and the Bride of all ages was standing before the Throne. It is important to see that the Bible and the Prophet teach that two different groups, at two different times, stood before the Throne as “a Sea of Glass ”, or “on a Sea of Glass .” In Rev. 4:6, we see the Bride as a “ Sea of Glass .” Now we will go to Rev. 15:4 and see another group that at a later time also stands before God’s Throne as a “ Sea of Glass .”

Rev. 15:1-4, “And I saw another sign in Heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Verse 2, And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Verse 3, And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of Saints.

Verse 4, Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

It is no wonder this group was worshipping God. He had come to them during the greatest trial humans can have; a battle for their physical lives! He revealed to them His message of the hour. They believed it and our merciful Lord had then given them the spiritual strength to take their stand, and “they feared not their lives unto the death.” (Rev. 12:11) And so they died for the Message you and I are now believing. We have said that this group appears in Heaven at a later time, and so they do. It is White Throne Judgment time. The Bride that first stood on the “ Sea of Glass ” is now seated on thrones around Jesus! And now another group stands on the “ Sea of Glass ”, to be judged and given Eternal Life, as we see in Rev. 15:1-4.

We see this purged group standing on the “ Sea of Glass ”, where the Bride had stood in Rev. 4:6. When the Remnant of the woman’s seed (Rev. 12:17), which is the same as the Foolish Virgins, when they come up, the Bride has taken her seat on thrones around the Throne of God, and these “children of the Kingdom” now stand on the “Sea of Glass.” They are not Bride, but never forget they gave their lives for the testimony of Jesus and will be given Eternal Life because of their works. Read it for yourself in Rev. 20:12-13.

May I explain the statement above, where we called these Foolish Virgins “Children of the Kingdom”? Jesus called them children of the Kingdom in Matt. 8:12 , “But the children of the Kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Please note they were called Children of the Kingdom! The outer darkness was the Tribulation Period they must suffer in order to be purged! Do not scorn this group of God’s Children. They are our Brothers and Sisters, and we shall spend Eternity with them. The Bride is now ministering to millions of the Remnant of the woman’s seed. They will remember it after Rapture and believe it. No one can plumb the depth of God’s Love, but we must take care not to sell Him short! This love and compassion will give a reward to any person who takes any kind of a stand for the Lord Jesus. Even a cup of cold water given will receive its reward!

We will now let the Prophet explain the “ Sea of Glass ” as seen again in Rev. 15:1-4. The time frame of his statements is when the Tribulation Saints come up, and we know this is at the Second Resurrection, after Rapture, after the Tribulation, and the Thousand Year Reign. It is White Throne Judgment time.

QUOTE: REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, PAGE 679-680, “Now we’re at the “laver.” And you’ve noticed this laver was empty and was as clear as crystal. Why? The church had already been redeemed! (The Bride)

Now, now we notice a little later on, though, when the Tribulation Saints comes up, we find it again full of fire. Did you know… Would you like to read that? Let’s go over to Revelation now, 15th chapter, the 2nd verse, and read where we see this brassy fire again. All right: (The Sea of Glass)

And I saw another angel…I saw another sign in Heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having…seven last plagues; for in them is filled up with the wrath of God.

Now the “wrath” of God. Watch:

And I saw as it was a sea of glass mingled with fire:….(now watch)….and they that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over the mark, and over the number of his name, stood on the sea of glass, having …harps of God.

And they sang the song of Moses the servant of God….

          Oh, do you see it? “Tribulation period.” Oh! Are you in a hurry? (Congregation answers, “No!”-Ed.) All right, listen, let’s notice something here.

          How do we come? We’ve got to come (the Gentile Bride Church ) to this Word, sea of glass, water, water of the Word (is that right?), recognize the Word the way it’s written. Then the sacrifice is received and filled with the Holy Ghost from the inside, shining through the Light of that age. From this….Here It comes out of the holy place into here, out of the star into here. Get it?

          Notice now at the end of this age, John when he saw the sea of brass there, it was “clear as crystal.” What was it? The Word had been taken from the earth, raptured in the Church (The Bride), and was “clear as crystal,” no more Blood, the Church age was over. (But John saw another group!)

          Now in Revelation 15, the remnant of the woman’s Seed, which was the Tribulation Saints that went through the Tribulation, was found (look!) standing on this sea. And it was filled with fire, blood, red blazes licking forth, the fire of God. They had gotten the victory over the beast ( Rome ), over his number, over the letter of his name, and over his image (the Confederation of Churches), and had come out. And through the preaching of Moses and Elijah, those two prophets that will appear to Israel to pull out the …this group of people, those Tribulation-period Saints, back in that time that’ll be brought in. The………

          See, the Church is done raptured now, but remember the Wife is on the Throne.

          CONTINUING QUOTE: REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, PAGE 680, “Now, these Tribulation-period Saints that come up, had went through Great Tribulation. (The Church will not go through the Tribulation! Do you see they was already in Glory? And here’s the Tribulation Saints, the sanctified ones that had….being it’s mine and your fault they had never heard the Word. If they heard It and rejected It, they went to hell, they was cast out into outer darkness because they rejected the Word. But if they had never heard It, God’s just, Tribulation period comes to them.

          Now notice just a minute, think, “Washed by the same Word,” ‘cause it’s the same altar, it’s the same sea of glass and the same Word. Revelation 2:5, Revelation 15: (or rather) 2 to 5.” (End quote)

          Speaking of the Foolish Virgins who will be purified and stand on the same “Sea of Glass”, we must clear up a correction Br. Branham made in his own teaching concerning who the people are in Rev. 7:9-17,. In the Church Age Book, pages 316-317, he said they were Bride. Again, in the “Revelation of Jesus Christ” (The Church Ages printed word for word as he preached it) on page 448, that the group no man could number was Bride. But after the Seven Seals were opened, he said in the Seal Book on page 545 that this group is the purged church, not the Bride! He also corrected it in the Seal Book on page 575.

          Oft times the Bride of Christ has been discouraged at the very few in number who are now receiving the End-Time Message. One of the purposes of this sermon is to show the great mercy of God, in that He is going to grant Eternal Life to a number of people that are so great that no man can count them. Of course the Bride grieves because some of this group will be alive in the end-time days and will have to suffer the Great Tribulation, but at the same time, we can also rejoice that a merciful God will grant them Eternal Life at the Judgment Bar.

          QUOTE: CHURCH AGE BOOK, PAGE 274-276, “There is another point to see here. In the Great White Throne Judgment there will be a separation of people. The Book of Life will be opened and another book will be opened. Matt. 25:31-46, “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: And before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger and ye took Me in: Naked and ye clothed Me: I was a sick, and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered and fed Thee? Or thirsty and gave Thee drink: When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily, I say unto you, In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” (End quote)

          QUOTE: CHURCH AGE BOOK, PAGE 275-276, “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 Cor. 6:2-3)

          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. (Dan. 7:9-10)

          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 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.”  (End quote)

          Oh Lord, we rejoice that many who are now not seeing your End-Time Message, will later be purged of unbelief and receive Eternal Life. Bride of Christ let us not refuse to minister to the Foolish Virgins; God’s Word will not return void! Amen.

 

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