Good morning, beloved friends and brethren present, and those who are in other nations. May the blessings of Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, be upon all of you and upon me as well. And on this occasion may He speak His Word to us and may He open the Scriptures to us and open our understanding in order to comprehend. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
For me it is a great blessing to be with you on this occasion to be in fellowship with you regarding the Word of God.
Recently, last week, on Wednesday, September 30th our brother and partner in the ministry, Reverend Mario Elizondo departed, and he was buried last Thursday, October 1st, and he will resurrect at the Last Day. As Christ said “I will raise him up at the last day.” (Saint John chapter 6, verses 39 to 40).
I would like to express my condolences to the family members of Reverend Mario Elizondo, in Xalapa, Veracruz: to his wife Jenny Valeska Maldonado, widow of Elizondo, and his daughters: Sara Abigail Elizondo and Alma Gabriela Elizondo, and to his sons: Josiel Elizondo, Miguel Angel Elizondo, Ezequiel Elizondo, Carlos Miguel Elizondo, and Israel Elizondo (children of Mario Elizondo and Loyda).
I express my condolences to you and to the congregation in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, on my behalf and on behalf of this congregation, here in Cayey, Puerto Rico. And I repeat: he will return in the resurrection, in a young and glorified body for all eternity.
Christ Himself said of His believers: “And I will raise Him up at the Last Day.” And He also represented this in the resurrection of Lazarus, who wholeheartedly believed in Him.
Therefore, death, for Christ’s believers, means the end of their days in the earthly body, for them to go and rest in a heavenly body in Paradise, the sixth dimension, until Christ passes through Paradise and resurrects them at His Coming at the Last Day; then they will physically be immortal and young for all eternity.
In First Corinthians chapter 15, verses 49 to 58 and in First Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 11 and on, Saint Paul also speaks to us about the resurrection and that it will be at the Last Trumpet.
And also in Philippians chapter 3, verse 20 to 21, it says:
“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”
To the Elizondo family, once again, please receive my condolences and I say to you: Be comforted with the words of Saint Paul the Apostle, and the words of Christ, who said: “And I will raise him up on the last day.”
When believers in Christ end their days on Earth, they continue to live in Paradise, in a heavenly, theophanic body which is young, and then in the resurrection they will receive a physical, glorified body in the resurrection at the Last Day.
May these words comfort the Elizondo Maldonado family, and his wife Jenny Valeska Maldonado Elizondo and their children, as well as the children of Reverend Mario Elizondo and Loyda. May your hearts be comforted with these words, with these Biblical Words of God through Jesus and Saint Paul the Apostle.
I also express my condolences to the Peña Family for the departure of Sister Sol Maria Torres de Peña. My condolences to her husband Dionisio Peña and their children, David Peña, harpist of the Symphony Orchestra of the GEAP.
Once again Family Peña, receive my condolences and I say to you: our sister is alive, Sol Maria Torres de Peña is in Paradise, in the sixth dimension, looking at us and seeing everything that is happening, and hearing the hymns, just as all of you who are present are also listening to the hymns and the preaching.
I also wish to express my condolences to all the family members of believers in Christ who have departed recently or during this year, 2015.
And to Reverend Miguel Bermudez Marin and his wife Ruth, I express my gratitude to you for being the hosts in Venezuela for the International Youth Summit: “Music Bringing Peace and Happiness to the Human Family,” (to the human family and to the integral human being). This international youth meeting was a total success.
Some people lost their cell phones or purses or money. Those who found them must return them to Missionary Miguel Bermudez Marin or his wife, Ruth Flores de Bermudez so that they can return it to the people who lost the cell phones, cash, or purses or any other belongings, just as the Bible says. Because not doing so means that you are accountable for theft or robbery, and the consequences, according to the Bible are not good for people who keep what belongs to someone else. My recommendation is that you return it to the rightful owner through Missionary Miguel Bermudez Marin or his wife Ruth Flores.
Let us read the Scripture in Joshua chapter 3, verse 1 and on, where it says:
“And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over.
And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host;
And they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it.
Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
Our subject for this occasion is: “FOLLOWING THE ARK OF THE COVENANT AT THE LAST DAY.”
The Ark of the Covenant typifies Christ, and Christ is the Word. God’s commandment to the people was to follow the Ark of the Covenant, because the Divine Law, the Word, was in the Ark of the Covenant, and the presence of God was accompanying Israel; and from there, the Pillar of the Cloud would rise up and follow the people, guiding them along the way so that the people would follow the Ark of the Covenant towards the Promised Land.
During the day, it shined the way for the Hebrew people, it guided them with that Pillar of the Cloud that protected them from the sun, and during the night it was light so that the people could also walk during the night towards the Promised Land, on the nights when God wanted them to travel. And on the days they were not supposed to walk, but instead remain where they were, God’s presence in the Pillar of the Cloud rested in the Most Holy Place upon the Ark of the Covenant.
And the presence of God was seen there, shinning upon the Tabernacle that Moses built; and God dwelt among the Hebrew people as He promised it.
Now, how does what happened with the Hebrew people relate to the Ark of the Covenant in the past? It’s because the Ark of the Covenant represents Christ, who is the Angel of the Covenant, and who was upon the Ark of the Covenant, upon the mercy seat, in the midst of the two cherubims of gold, in that Pillar of a Cloud that entered into the Most Holy Place when Moses dedicated the temple or tabernacle to God.
Remember that the Angel of the Covenant or Angel of the Lord is the image of the Living God, it is the Word that was with God, and it is none other than Christ in His heavenly Body.
That is why Christ said in Saint John chapter 8, verses 56 to 58: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” Then the Jews told him: “Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?” Jesus said unto them: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
Who was He before him? He was the Angel of the Covenant who on a couple of occasions appeared in the form of a Pillar of Fire or a Cloud of Fire, or a Cloud that protected them from the sun, and on some occasions in the form of an Angel, of a Man from another dimension. That was the Angel of the Covenant that was upon the Ark of the Covenant where the Commandments of God were written.
Now, in the New Covenant, we find that when Christ spoke about that New Covenant at the Last Supper with His disciples, he took the bread and broke it after giving thanks to God (upon breaking the bread), and He said: “Take, eat; this is my body.” In other words, His body was broken for many. And taking the cup of wine and giving thanks to the Father, giving the cup to His disciples, He said to them, “Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” [Matthew 26:26-28.]
Now, Christ, the Angel of the Covenant comes to establish a New Covenant with all the people who are written in Heaven, in the Lamb’s Book of Life, which is everyone who will receive Him as their only and sufficient Savior.
Christ is the Angel of the Covenant, Christ is the Ark of the Covenant. And just like the blood of atonement was placed upon the Ark of the Covenant, upon the mercy seat, now we find that just as the Ark of the Covenant contained the blood of the atonement, in the New Covenant, Christ as the Ark of the Covenant has the blood of the New Covenant that was shed on Calvary’s Cross.
And just as the Ark was the one that guided the Hebrew people, and God commanded that when they saw the Ark depart upon the shoulders of the Levite priests, the people should follow the Ark. The Ark had to be carried on the shoulders of the priests who worked in the services of the tabernacle that Moses built over there.
And now, in the New Covenant, we find that just as the Ark of the Covenant—which represents Christ—was carried upon the shoulders of the priests, now in the New Covenant, Christ, the Ark of the Covenant, in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ from age to age, going from stage to stage. The Ark of the Covenant is carried upon the shoulders, upon the heart of the messengers of every age in the spiritual Temple of Christ, together with those who are supporting each messenger.
Notice, the Ark of the Covenant is carried upon the heart of every messenger, passing from age to age in the spiritual Temple of Christ. And the believers in Christ follow the Ark of the Covenant that is being carried from age to age in the trajectory of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It passes through the Holy Place from stage to stage until the Last Day in which it’s placed in the Most Holy Place of the spiritual Temple of Christ, which is His Church. Just as the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle that Prophet Moses built and then that tabernacle was dedicated to God (that earthly temple was) which was built according to the pattern that God showed him in Heaven, on Mount Sinai.
Then we find that when the tabernacle was dedicated to God, God descended in the Pillar of Fire and dwelt in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle, among the two cherubims of gold. The same happened when King Solomon built the temple and placed the Ark of the Covenant inside the Most Holy Place.
That Most Holy Place was made of gold, that Most Holy Place was covered in gold, those wooden boards from the wilderness were covered on the inside and out, and they were made of shittim wood. The wood represents humanity and the gold represents divinity, God’s Divinity.
It’s because with human beings God would build His spiritual Temple, His Church, where the Divinity, the gold would dwell.
We find that God’s presence in the Most Holy Place was upon the mercy seat which is the cover of the Ark of the Covenant. There, we find a place that does not have lamps or light, but rather the light that is there is the Light of God’s presence.
Therefore, the Most Holy Place of the temple that King Solomon built and the tabernacle that Prophet Moses built was the most important part of the temple, because that is where God dwelled in the Pillar of Fire.
In plain words, God dwelled there in the heavenly Body and with the heavenly Body, which is Christ the image of the Living God, also called the Angel of the Covenant or Angel of the Lord.
And now, the spiritual Temple of God is being built with living stones, human beings who, as living stones, are forming part of the spiritual Temple of Christ until reaching the stage of the Most Holy Place of that Temple.
The past ages pertain to the Holy Place, and now we are in the time of the Most Holy Place of the spiritual Temple of Christ. The spiritual Temple of Christ is His Church, formed by all the believers in Christ, from the past times of the apostles to the time of the seventh messenger of the seventh Church Age, the seventh stage of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which was Reverend William Branham.
As I said to you, from age to age the Word—which is Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, the Ark of the Covenant—was carried upon the heart of every messenger from age to age, passing from one age to another age, but It does not remain in the Holy Place, It must pass onto the Most Holy Place, being carried in the heart of a Prophet messenger pertaining to the stage of the Most Holy Place of the spiritual Temple of God.
We are in the stage for the Ark of the Covenant to be placed in the Most Holy Place; and all the believers from different stages, the remnant that is left, together with all the elect of the Last Day are to follow the Ark of the Covenant, follow Christ in the Most Holy Place to receive the blessings concerning this end time, and thus receive the faith to be changed to be taken with Christ to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
It is important that Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, the Holy Spirit, enters the stage of the Most Holy Place, the stage of the Cornerstone, and It must enter to that stage as It entered into every stage of the past, relative to every stage of the Church among the Gentiles: He passed from one age to another in the heart of each one of those messengers. And it must pass onto the Most Holy Place of the spiritual Temple of Christ, made up by the believers in Christ of the Last Day, which are the living stones with which the Most Holy Place of the spiritual Temple of Christ is built, which is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which at the Last Day will pass on to the Golden Age, the Age of the Most Holy Place, the Age of the Cornerstone. It is as simple as that!
Therefore, just as you saw the Ark of the Covenant being carried in the heart of each messenger of every age, the believers of each age followed the Ark, each one in the stage in which they were allotted to live; they followed the ark that was in the heart of the messenger of every age. We remember that Christ is the Ark, the Angel of the Covenant, the Holy Spirit, moving from age to age and taking His children to the Promised Land of eternal Life.
Therefore, let us be warned, because the command is to follow the Ark of the Covenant, because God, through the Angel of the Covenant, is the One who knows the way to the Promised Land of spiritual and physical eternal Life.
During this end time, those who will be changed and caught away with Christ to go to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will be following the Ark to the Most Holy Place, as far as It takes us, to receive the faith to be changed and taken with Christ to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
We are at the Last Day or the Seventh Millennium from Adam to the present time or the Millennial Sabbath, in which there are big promises for the believers in Christ. Therefore, following the Ark of the Covenant at the Last Day, we will obtain the victory of Love Divine promised for this end time, we will receive the faith to be changed and taken with Christ to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. But if someone departs beforehand, he will resurrect in a glorified, eternal, and young body, and he will meet with us in this End Time. Therefore, following the Ark of the Covenant at the Last Day we will obtain the great victory in Love Divine.
If someone has yet to receive Christ as Savior, you may do so at this time and we will be praying for you so that Christ receives you in His Kingdom, forgives you and with His Blood cleanses you from all sin, and you be baptized in water in His Name, and Christ baptizes you with the Holy Spirit and fire, and brings forth the new birth in you.
God has many people in Puerto Rico and in all of Latin America, and in North America: Canada and other nations, and He is calling them in this end time to place them in His spiritual Temple, His Church.
Those in other countries may also come to the Feet of Christ so that Christ receives you in His Kingdom and gives you eternal Life, which is the biggest thing a person can receive: eternal Life through Christ, our Savior.
Let us remember that Christ said: “My sheep hear my voice; and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (Saint John chapter 10, verses 27 to 30.)
The time to receive eternal Life is the time an individual is allotted to live on this Earth, and it is by receiving Christ as their only and sufficient Savior.
Therefore, those in different countries can continue to come to the Feet of Christ as well so that you are included in the prayer we will make for those who are receiving Christ as their only and sufficient Savior.
Children ten years of age and older can also come to the Feet of Christ our Savior, the Ark of the Covenant that guides us to the Promised Land of God’s Kingdom with eternal Life (with spiritual eternal Life and physical eternal Life), which He will give us when He changes us in the end time.
Let us stand up to pray for the people who are coming to the Feet of Christ on this occasion.
With our heads bowed and our eyes closed:
Our Father which art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in Earth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Heavenly Father, I come to You with these people who have heard Your Gospel and have received Christ as their only and sufficient Savior. I beg You to receive them in Your Kingdom. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray to You.
And now, those who have come to the Feet of Christ our Savior, repeat this prayer after me:
Lord Jesus Christ, I heard the preaching of Your Gospel and Your faith was born in my heart, in my soul.
I believe in You with all my soul. I believe in Your First Coming, I believe in Your Name as the only Name given among men whereby we must be saved. I believe in that glorious Name that has been given unto men. I believe in Your death on Calvary’s Cross as the Sacrifice of Atonement for our sins.
I acknowledge that I am a sinner and that I need a Savior. I give public testimony of Your Faith in me, and I receive You as my only and sufficient Savior.
I pray You forgive my sins and with Your Blood may You cleanse me from all sin, and may You baptize me with the Holy Spirit and fire after I am baptized in water in Your Name and bring forth the new birth in me.
I want to be born in Your Kingdom; I want to live eternally with You in Your Kingdom. Make a reality in me the salvation You purchased for me on Calvary’s Cross. I pray to You in Your Eternal and glorious Name, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now, You may tell me: “I want to be baptized in water in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, because He said: ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.’” [Mark 16:15-16.]
That is how simple it is for the human being to obtain the benefit of the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, for those who receive Him as their Savior. And it is a sad situation for him who doesn’t believe and does not receive Him as his Savior: he will be condemned (Christ said). But he that believes and is baptized, Christ said, will be saved. There is not much to choose from: you either believe or do not believe, you are either saved or condemned.
Therefore, water baptism, being a Divine Commandment of Christ, is typological, it does not take sin away, it is the Blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin, but water baptism is a commandment from Christ in which we identify with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. That is why water baptism in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ is so important.
When an individual receives Christ as his Savior, he dies to the world; when he is immersed in the baptismal waters, he is typologically being buried, and when he is raised from the baptismal waters he is resurrecting to a new life: to eternal Life with
Christ in His eternal Kingdom. That is how simple the typology of water baptism is in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, you may indeed identify with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. And may Christ baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire and bring forth the new birth, and we will continue seeing each other eternally in the Kingdom of Christ our Savior. We will see each other in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, we will see each other when we return with Christ to begin the Millennium, and we will see each other in the Millennial Kingdom and throughout eternity.
I leave Reverend Jose Benjamin Perez with you to inform you what to do to be baptized in water in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in each country, I leave each minister to do the same: to tell you what you must do to be baptized in water in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We will meet again next Sunday, God willing, and also next Friday in the introduction to Sunday’s School, Sunday’s Bible Study. On Friday, I will be with you for the introduction of that subject, and on Sunday I will be here with the subject of the Bible School, which we will calmly see, with the maximum amount of details we can have for our spiritual knowledge of God’s Program for our time.
Continue having an evening filled with the blessings of Christ our Savior.
God bless you and keep you all.
I leave Reverend Jose Benjamin Perez with us, and in every country I leave each minister.
“FOLLOWING THE ARK OF THE COVENANT AT THE LAST DAY.”