The Cornerstone

Good morning, beloved friends and brethren present, and those who are in different nations, ministers and congregations in different countries.

May the blessings of Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, be upon all of you and also upon me; and may He open the Scriptures to us at this time, and our understanding so that we understand them, and the strength to fulfill them at this end time. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Also, greetings to Missionary Miguel Bermúdez Marín there in Bogota, Colombia, where he is.

For this occasion, let’s read in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 19 to 22, the words of the apostle Paul, who tells us:

“Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

May God bless our souls with His Word and allow us to understand It. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

“THE CORNERSTONE.” That is our subject for this occasion.

Throughout the entire Scripture, we are told about the Capstone or Cornerstone. We have the rock or stone that Moses smote on Mount Sinai and it gave water to the people, and we also have the rock that he smote with his rod in another place. God had told him: “Speak to the rock; and it shall give forth water for the people, it will give water to the people,” but Moses smote it.¹

The apostle Paul says that the Rock that followed them was Christ;² in other words, Christ was represented in those two rocks that gave water to the Hebrew people in the wilderness.

And therefore, the first rock on Mount Sinai represents the First Coming of Christ, who would be smitten and would give Water of Life to the people, in other words, He would give the Holy Spirit to the people, who thirsted for the Water of Eternal Life, the Water of Eternal Life that Christ offered to the Samaritan woman in Saint John chapter 4; and which He also offered to mankind in chapter 7, verses 37 to 39, when He said: “‘If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.’ But this He spoke of the Holy Spirit, which they that believed in Him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given.” The Holy Spirit had not yet come, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Let’s read it so that it’s clear to us:

“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)”

(Saint John chapter 7, verses 37 to 39.)

Why does Christ offer Water of Eternal Life? The Water of Eternal Life is the Holy Spirit that gives Eternal Life to the person, it brings forth the new birth in the person.

Christ offers the Water of Eternal Life, the Holy Spirit, because Christ is the Rock, the Cornerstone.

Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, the Holy Spirit, is the Cornerstone, He is also the Foundation Stone of the Church, and also the Stone that crowns the Church; the Foundation Stone in His First Coming, which was rejected and did not crown the Hebrew people, because they said: “This Man will not reign over us.” They rejected Him. Therefore, He was smitten just like the first rock there on Mount Sinai.

And then, in His Second Coming, the Angel of the Covenant, the Holy Spirit, the Christ, comes to crown His Church in the stage of the Age of the Cornerstone. Because if the Capstone, the Cornerstone comes, It must come to a Cornerstone Age. The age, the stage where Christ will fulfill His Second Coming, becomes a Cornerstone Age in order to crown His Church by completing it at the end time.

The second stone that Moses smote represents the Second Coming of Christ, which wasn’t supposed to be smitten, instead he had to speak to it and the rock would give water for the people. And therefore, He would give – He will give the believers in Him who are alive the transformation of their bodies, and He will give the resurrection in glorified bodies to those who died in Christ and were part of the Church in the age in which they lived, together with the messenger and his Message pertaining to the time of each stage or age of the Church. Because the Voice of Christ through the Holy Spirit in those messengers, was bringing the Word of God relevant to each stage; and they were the Voice of God, they were the instruments through whom the Voice of God, the Message relevant to each time was heard.

That is why they are represented in seven stars: one star, one messenger for each stage, and they are also represented – they are the seven spirits of God that run to and fro throughout the whole Earth;³ those are the angel-messengers of the seven stages or ages of the Church among the Gentiles.

And after those seven stages or ages and those seven messengers, comes the Capstone, the Cornerstone, for the Age of the Cornerstone, and to seal and bring about the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the transformation of those who are alive; for which He will give us the faith to be changed, which comes through the Voice of the Mighty Angel that comes down from Heaven, who cries as when a lion roars and Seven Thunders utter their voices.

The secret of the Seventh Seal, the mystery of the Seventh Seal, the secret or mystery of the Second Coming of Christ, is revealed by the Mighty Angel, Christ, the Holy Spirit, crying as when a lion roars, in other words, speaking as a lion; and the Voice of Christ speaking consecutively seven times.

Just as He spoke seven times during the seven Church ages through each messenger, He will be speaking consecutively, without changing from one messenger to another. And with what He will speak to us, with that revelation that He will bring us, He will open the mystery of the Seventh Seal to us, He will reveal to us the mystery of the Second Coming of Christ, the mystery of the Coming of the Cornerstone, to crown His Church in the Age of the Cornerstone.

The Rock, the Cornerstone, is a man: it is Jesus Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, the Holy Spirit coming at the Last Day to His Church in the Age of the Cornerstone, just as He came in each age to the messenger of each age; and through the messenger He revealed Himself, He manifested Himself, and He called and gathered the elect of each age. At this end time the Angel of the Covenant comes to His Church, manifests Himself in His Church, the Angel of the Covenant, Christ in Holy Spirit, and He calls and gathers the elect who will form the Age of the Cornerstone.

Remember that the Church is represented in a number of living stones, just as it says in First Peter chapter 2, verse 4 and on; because just as Christ is the Cornerstone, the believers in Christ are living stones, which are added to the Church and form the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s see, First Peter chapter 2, verses 4 and on, says:

“To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.

Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”

And now, we can see that the believers in Christ are also living stones, living human beings; and above all, alive in Christ, with Eternal Life, and they form the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s see here in First Timothy chapter 3, what it tells us. Chapter 3 of First Timothy, verses 14 to 16, says:

“These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly:

But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”

And now, the House of God is not the tabernacle that Moses built (which was in the time of Moses and in the time of the judges); nor is it the house or temple that Solomon built, that is no longer there; it was the House of God in those times when the temple was there. All of that was under the Old Covenant, which, all of that is a type and figure of what would happen in the New Covenant, covered with the Blood of the New Covenant, the Blood of Christ.

Now the House of God as individuals are the believers in Christ; they are the House of God, the Temple of God, Saint Paul said. He says:

[First Corinthians 3:16] “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”  

That is why the human being, the believer in Christ, has a body, which pertains to the outer court; he has a spirit, which pertains to the holy place; and he has a soul, which pertains to the most holy place. That is why he is told: “Give your soul, or give your heart to Christ so that He may save your soul.”

Remember that the Scripture also says: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”⁴ The most important thing in a person is the soul, because that is what the person actually is, and in the soul is where God comes to dwell in order to rule, because that is where the Throne of God is, where God places Himself to rule in and over the life of the person. From there, He directs the person, He rules in the person’s life, and puts in the person’s life to will and to do,⁵ with God helping him at all times.

The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is also a spiritual Temple: it has an Outer Court, it has a Holy Place (the Holy Place is relevant to the different ages of the Church), and it has a Most Holy Place, which is the Age of the Cornerstone.

That is why the Second Coming of Christ as King to His Church and as Lion of the tribe of Judah (as Lion, He is the King of kings and Lord of lords), must come to the Soul of the Church, which is the Most Holy Place of the Church, the Age of the Cornerstone, to welcome the Cornerstone, the Second Coming of Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, who is also the Holy Spirit, the Son of God.

And all of that is after the seven stages or ages of the Church. The seven stages or ages of the Church end in and with the Laodicean Age, whose messenger was Rev. William Branham, just as the messenger of the first age was Saint Paul the apostle.

Notice, the construction comes from the East. The creation of that spiritual Temple was born on the Day of Pentecost, and from there – in Israel, in Jerusalem; and from there, later on, it went to the Gentiles to call out from among the Gentiles a people for His Name, starting in Asia Minor, then going to Europe to have five stages over there, in different European nations with different European messengers; and then the Holy Spirit goes to North America, to the continent of the Americas, to have the seventh age of the Gentile Church: the Laodicean Age, where He places His Messenger, Rev. William Branham, as the messenger of the seventh age of the Gentile Church, who came in the Spirit and power of Elijah in his fourth manifestation; and he also came as forerunner of the Second Coming of Christ, forerunner of the Coming of the Cornerstone.

And the Coming of the Cornerstone is for the Age of the Cornerstone, like the Coming of the Cornerstone was two thousand years ago. The Coming of the Lord was for a Cornerstone Age back then, because He is the Cornerstone that was rejected two thousand years ago. He had a forerunner, who was John the Baptist who came in the Spirit and power of Elijah in his third manifestation.

Every time it is promised in the Scripture that Elijah will come or that Moses will come, it will always be the ministering spirit, the Holy Spirit operating the ministry of that prophet in another man, in another prophet. As simple as that.

We have the promise that Elijah will come for the fifth time; and that Moses will come for the third time, if we count as the second time the coming of a prophet like Moses: Jesus. If we count Him as the second time, then it will be the ministry of Moses for the third time being operated at this end time by the Holy Spirit in a man, a man of this end time.

Remember that the Coming of the Son of Man, the Coming of the Lord, the Coming of the Messiah was represented on Mount Transfiguration; and beside Jesus, on either side, appeared Moses and Elijah; and Jesus transfigured, glorified. In other words, in that vision, the apostles were translated to that vision to see what will be the Second Coming of Christ, the Coming of the Cornerstone to His temple, to His Mountain, Mount Transfiguration, which represents the Holy Mountain of God, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that a mountain always represents a Kingdom.

On the Mountain of God, in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, is where the Cornerstone, the Son of Man, the Lord, will appear with Moses and Elijah; in other words, that is where the ministries of Moses and Elijah will appear being repeated at the Last Day, in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the Holy Mountain of God under the New Covenant.

Remember that out of the mountain (in Daniel Chapter 2, verse 30 and on), out of the mountain was cut a Stone which smote the image in the feet of iron and clay and broke them to pieces. That Stone is the Cornerstone, the Second Coming of Christ to His Church with His Angels, which are the Two Olive Trees, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in the vision of Mount Transfiguration; a vision that shows what the Coming of the Son of Man will be, the Coming of the Cornerstone with His Angels, which are the Two Olive Trees of Zechariah chapter 4, verses 11 to 14; and Revelation chapter 11, verses 1 to 14.

The Two Olive Trees, the two olive branches, are the Two Anointed Ones that stand before the Presence of God, they are Moses and Elijah; as they were introduced on Mount Transfiguration.

That is why when Jesus speaks in Saint Matthew chapter 24, verses 30 and on, in the Prophetic Message, where He shows the things that must come to pass in the end time, He says… chapter 24, verse 27, says:

“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

The Coming of the Son of Man will be as the lightning that comes out of the East and shines, is revealed, in the West. That is the Coming of the Lord, the Coming of the Cornerstone coming to His Church at the Last Day; like He came in His First Coming to the Church of the Old Covenant, of the Old Testament, which was in the Covenant that was in effect at that time.

The Cornerstone came to crown the Church, but the Lord was rejected; and now, at the Last Day, He comes to crown His Church of the New Covenant; and He is the Cornerstone, the Stone cut out of God’s Mountain.

It goes on to say in chapter 24, verse 29 [Matthew]:

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

The Angels are the ministries of the Two Olive Trees, the ministries of Moses and Elijah, who call and gather 144,000 Jews, 12,000 of each tribe. And the Son of Man comes to His Church with His Angels; meaning that the Two Olive Trees will be in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Age of the Cornerstone, in the Age of the Most Holy Place; just as King Solomon placed two cherubims of olive wood overlaid with gold in the most holy place, with their wings extended covering the mercy seat;⁶ and also on the mercy seat were two cherubims of gold, made of one piece together with the mercy seat.⁷

In other words, the Most Holy Place is the most important part, because it is the part where God dwells in the Temple; both in the temple that Moses built and the temple that King Solomon built, as well as in the person as a spiritual temple. The Most Holy Place, well, the soul. The soul of the temple that King Solomon built was also the most holy place. The soul of the tabernacle that Moses built was the most holy place, because it was God’s dwelling place, where the Ark of the Covenant was and where the Word was, the tables of the Law, which were taken to that place.

And in the spiritual Temple of Christ, at the end time, just as the tabernacle that Moses built was dedicated, and the Presence of God entered, the Pillar of Fire, the Angel of the Covenant, and dwelt upon the Ark of the Covenant, upon the mercy seat, between the two cherubims of gold;⁸ the same thing happened when Solomon dedicated the temple of God: the Presence of God came in that Bright Cloud, in that Pillar of Fire, It entered and dwelt upon the mercy seat (which is the cover of the Ark of the Covenant) and dwelt there.⁹ And when a person receives the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit enters, God in Spirit, to the most holy place, which is the person’s soul, and He dwells there in the person’s soul.

And in the spiritual Temple of Christ, at this end time the Church is completed; and God manifested in all His fullness will come in all His fullness, to dwell in all His fullness in His Church, and He comes with His Angels; and the Angel of the Covenant will enter in that Pillar of Fire, and manifest all His power.

Mankind will be shaken by that manifestation of God in the Most Holy Place of the spiritual Temple of His Church; and from there come the Angels: Moses and Elijah, the Two Olive Trees, to call and gather 144,000 Hebrews, 12,000 of each tribe.

As the Jews brought the Gospel to the Gentiles through Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the Gentiles will take It to the Jews, and the rapture will happen, Rev. William Branham says on pages 22 to 23, and 36, of the book of The Ages.

The Gentiles will take It, because the ministries of Moses and Elijah will be there to take the Gospel to the Jews; and God will open their understanding and He will have mercy on them; and the Holy Spirit, the Angel of the Covenant, will seal 144,000 Jews or Hebrews, 12,000 of each tribe, according to Revelation chapter 7, verse 1 to 17. And in chapter 14, verse 1 and on, they appear sealed already; and they appear again in Revelation 22 with the Seal of God. As simple as that.

And all of that is done by the Cornerstone, who is Jesus Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, the Holy Spirit, at the Last Day, in the Age of the Cornerstone, which is the Age of the Most Holy Place of that spiritual Temple. The Most Holy Place of the Church is the Age of the Cornerstone, the Golden Age of the Church.

That’s why we can see that from age to age the Ark, the Word, has been carried on the shoulders of priests, of the messenger of each age with the group of ministers of each age, taking It from one age to another, taking the Word from one age to another.

And at this end time the Word is to be taken to the Most Holy Place by… Just as It was taken from age to age by the messenger of each age and his group, at this end time the Ark will be passed from the seventh age to the Age of the Cornerstone, which is the Most Holy Place where the Ark will rest upon the Most Holy Place, and where Christ will come in His Second Coming to dwell in His Church and manifest Himself in all His fullness; and thus crown His Temple of the New Covenant, His Church of the New Covenant, which is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is a Holy Temple for God to dwell in Holy Spirit in His Church. As simple as that.

And His Church, His spiritual Temple, is made up of living stones, human beings represented in stones; just as Christ is represented in the Cornerstone, in the Capstone, in the Headstone, which crowns His spiritual Temple, His Church.

And it is a blessing, a great privilege, to be part of that spiritual Temple of Christ as a living stone placed in the age in which we are to be at this end time.

That is why on page 37 of the book of Quotations, Rev. William Branham says [para. 311] [60-0522E – “Adoption #4,” p. 10, paras. 34, 36]: “Now, look at the age coming now right up to the Headstone.”  That is our age. And the Message for us at this time is the Message of and for the Age of Cornerstone, to receive the faith to be changed and taken with Christ to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

The promises or prophecies given to the Church for the end time, for the Age of the Cornerstone, will be fulfilled at this end time; and the Coming of the Lord to His Church will also be fulfilled as God designed for it to be carried out at this end time. And everything will be in simplicity.

Therefore, let’s be watching for the Coming of the Lord. “Watch and pray, for you know not when the hour, the time, is.”¹⁰

Now we already know when the age will be, which age it will be. We are already in the Age of the Cornerstone. It was not for past ages, but for this end time: when the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is completed and Christ rises up from the Father’s Throne, and takes the Title Deed, opens It in Heaven (which is the Book sealed with Seven Seals of Revelation chapter 5), and carries out His Claiming Work: claims everything He has redeemed with His Blood, transforms us, and takes us with Him to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. But before He takes us with Him, there will be a full manifestation of God’s power in the midst of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Rev. William Branham says: “Shake this world again, Lord.”¹¹ He says: “It won’t last long, but that manifestation will be here.”¹²

After the resurrection and transformation, Christ was with His disciples for forty days, and then He ascended to Heaven and sat at the right hand of God on the Throne of God.

That manifestation will perhaps be for 30 to 40 days and then we will leave this place. We will be transformed under that time of Divine manifestation, and for which we receive the faith, the revelation to be transformed, which is the faith, the revelation of the Coming of Christ to His Church at the Last Day.

In the meantime, the words of Rev. William Marrion Branham were: “How He will come, and when He will come, we don’t know. And it’s a good thing that it isn’t said.”¹³ Why? So that it is not imitated. Because everything will be so simple, that when we come to realize, we will have the Cornerstone, the Capstone, with us, and with the Two Olive Trees. And then we will see that full manifestation of the Son of Man, of the Lord, with the Two Olive Trees: Moses and Elijah.

That manifestation will be the greatest manifestation of God on Earth under the New Covenant in the midst of His Church. That is where the elect who will be living at the end time will receive the redemption of the body, which is our transformation, the physical adoption as sons and daughters of God, with physical Eternal Life in young, immortal, glorified bodies, like the glorified body that Jesus Christ our Savior has, who is as young as when He ascended to Heaven.

May God bless you and keep you all. And watch for the Coming of the Cornerstone, which is the Coming of the Second Coming of Christ to His Church. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

“THE CORNERSTONE.”