Good evening, beloved friends and brethren present. It is for me a great privilege and blessing to be with you on this occasion, to share with you some moments of fellowship around the Program of God relevant to this end time.
For which I want to read in First Peter, chapter 3, verses 18 to 20, where it says as follows:
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.”
May God bless our souls with His Word and allow us to understand It.
Our subject for this occasion is: “NOAH’S ARK UPDATED.”
When Christ spoke of the end time, of the time or day of the Coming of the Son of Man, in Matthew, chapter 24, it says… chapter 24, verse 37 to 39, it says:
“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
Now, we can see that Christ places the end time, the time of the Coming of the Son of Man for this time in which we live, He places it parallel to the days of Noah.
The end had come for all flesh in the days of Noah, and God told Noah that the end had come and that He would destroy the human race; and God told him [Genesis 6:3]:
“And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”
So from then on the human being would not exceed 120 years; but we can see that even after the flood, Noah lived 350 more years, and Noah lived a total of 950 years; and also his son, his son Shem, which is the one that follows, he also lasted quite a few years. But, notice, let’s see, it says [Genesis 11:10]:
“These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.”
He lived for about… he lived about 600 years, or 602 years, more or less.
And now, didn’t God say that the life of the human being from then on would be 120 years? And if we look at all this list of these people, some lived 600, others lived 438, after the flood.
Noah lived the longest after the flood, he lived 950 years; and his eldest son Shem followed him, who lived 600 years; but the age of the human being was decreasing. But from the moment God told Noah that He would destroy the human being, from then on the human being (that is, that antediluvian generation) would not exceed 120 years.
Now, Noah took a number of years to build the ark: between 100 and 120 years; and when it was finished, the flood came.
Now, that period of time of the construction of the ark is the time of which Saint Peter tells us here (in his letter says):
“Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”
In other words, those 100 or 120 years that Noah took to build the ark was a time of God’s patience while the ark was being built, in order for Noah and his family to escape in the ark, Noah and all the people who would be listening to Noah’s Message.
God could not destroy mankind before Noah finished the ark. Why? Because He would also destroy Noah; and so it was a time of God’s patience. But from the moment God told Noah that the end had come for all flesh, from that moment the end had come; but there was an extension there, a time of about 100 to 120 years, 120 years of God’s patience out of love for Noah.
And now, in those 120 years, God’s mercy was upon Noah, who offered to God the relevant sacrifices for sin and believed the Word that was revealed to him and he preached that Message.
And notice, with 100 or 120 years of Noah’s preaching, with that Message that pertains to Noah’s time, how many people were converted and how many people were ready to escape from the divine judgments that would come upon the human race? Only Noah and his family. And Noah was a greater prophet: he was a dispensational prophet, the prophet of the third dispensation, which is the Dispensation of the Human Government.
When God sends a dispensational prophet to the planet Earth, a major event of the Divine Program takes place on the planet Earth and also a divine judgment is on the way for the human race; but that prophet has to carry out a work, where all those who will escape the divine judgment that will come upon Earth are prepared.
And now, Christ places the end time, of the gentiles, He places it as in the days of Noah, because this end time marks the end for this generation that is currently living.
Now, how long, how many years will it take for the divine judgment to come upon the human race?
Look, even since the days of Jesus Christ, the human race has been in a situation where it requires the divine judgment to fall upon the Earth; but since Christ, the Messenger of the Dispensation of Grace, appeared, the divine judgment that was going to fall upon the Earth, by Christ taking our sins He received the divine judgment.
See? Whenever a dispensational messenger is on Earth, a divine judgment falls upon Earth.
In the time of Abraham, a divine judgment also fell upon the Earth, upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
And then we also find that when Moses was on Earth, a divine judgment fell upon the Earth, upon the Egyptian empire and the pharaoh.
And when Jesus was on Earth, a divine judgment would come upon the whole human race, where the human race would be destroyed; but Christ, by taking our sins, He took…, that divine judgment fell upon Him. That is why Christ had to go to hell when He died, He went in His theophanic body, and there in hell He preached to the imprisoned souls who were disobedient in Noah’s time.
Those people died and went to hell, they went to hell in their bodies, bodies of the fifth dimension; and when Christ went there, He was preaching to them. Christ was also in His body, but His theophanic body of the sixth dimension.
When He went there, the Angel of the Lord went there, which is Christ Himself in His theophanic body.
What was the First Coming of Christ? Well, the Coming of the Angel of the Lord, of the Angel of the Covenant, clothing Himself with a body of human flesh, to reveal Himself in the midst of the human race and make known the heavenly Father.
What will the Second Coming of Christ be? Well, the Coming of the same Angel of the Covenant manifested among human beings in human flesh. It is the Coming of the white horse Rider of Revelation 19, of which the Reverend William Branham says on page 256 of the message of the Seven Thunders [The Seals]1:
“But when our Lord appears here on earth, He’ll be riding on a snow-white horse. And He’ll be completely, fully, the Emmanuel, the Word of God incarnate in a Man.”
And now, we can see that Christ, when He spoke of the Coming of the Son of Man for the Last Day, He pointed out that they would be days like those of Noah, in other words, parallel to those of Noah.
They did not understand the Program of God in Noah’s time. The Scripture says that they did not know, until the flood came and took them all away.
What did they not know? Well, the Program of God. They did not know that in their midst was a dispensational prophet with the Message pertaining to that time, who was making known the things that were going to happen at that time; and although the things that were going to happen were terrible, he was announcing the divine judgment that would come upon the human race.
And when God says that a judgment will come upon the human race, some people are not interested in knowing about that judgment. They are ignorant people, they do not know, they do not know how important it is to know what is going to happen.
Look, the flood came; and since they did not know how to escape from the divine judgment, the flood came and took them all away.
It’s also like people who live in a certain country, and the weather news announces that a storm is coming, and people say: “I’m not interested in knowing about any storm. I have a lot of work and I do not have time to attend to what those people are going to be saying on the radio and television about a storm. I have a concrete house that can withstand any downpour; and I have all things well secured.” That is a negligent, silly, foolish person…, who does not know what a storm is.
And when the storm comes, that person may be in his car, traveling from one place to another, and there the storm destroys him; because he was a person who did not know, did not know what was coming, and therefore he did not prepare himself to escape from that storm that was coming for that territory. And that person is a fool, an irresponsible person, and he only deserves to go where those who did not know on Noah’s day went, to that same place. Now, he has also been negligent with his family.
But look, Noah knew what was coming; the revelation came to him from God, he made it known to his family, and he prepared himself with his family, and did what God told him to do: they prepared the ark; and when the flood was about to come, God said to him2: “Seven days from now the flood will come, and it will rain upon the Earth. Enter the ark, you and your family, and the animals that I have told you.” And the animals, and the birds and the reptiles, began to enter into the ark, which was now finished. When the ark was finished, they could enter the ark to escape the judgment that would come upon the Earth.
Now, mankind could perhaps say: “That old man, who is now about 600 years old or close to 600 years old, has been preaching the same thing since he was about 500 years old, and it has not been fulfilled.”
It is that people think that because they are preaching for 1 year, 10 years, 100 years, 1000 years or 2000 years (the divine judgment that will come upon the human race), they think that it will not be fulfilled because a long time has passed and it has not been fulfilled.
Christ spoke of the divine judgment that is to come upon the human race, where the tares will be burned and thrown into the oven of fire. Also, the prophet Malachi spoke of the fire, of the day burning like an oven that will come, that will burn all the wicked. That is the day burning like an oven, where the radioactivity will burn millions of human beings, that is the day of vengeance of our God; and it has been announced since the Old Testament.
And some people say: “That has been announced for hundreds or thousands of years (!).” But look, that is a time of grace and mercy that God gives while those who believe and are going to escape, are preparing themselves to escape.
And now, we find that the ark typifies Christ, who is the Ark of Salvation; and Christ, after He died, resurrected and ascended to Heaven, He poured out His Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, He came in Holy Spirit upon 120 people, and there the Church of Jesus Christ was born.
The Church of Jesus Christ is Christ Himself in the form of His Church; like the corn of wheat which is sown in the ground, then that corn of wheat is turned into what? Into a wheat plant.
And now, in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is that the sons and daughters of God are born again through the Spirit of Christ; and thus we enter into Christ, the Ark of Salvation.
And notice, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is also built, designed by God, in the same form of Christ and in the same form of the ark and in the same form of the temple that Solomon built and the temple that Moses built.
Notice that the temple has three parts: outer court, holy place and most holy place; and the ark has three parts: ground floor, intermediate floor and upper floor or third floor; and it also has a door and it has a window on the upper floor, which represents Christ, who is the Door of Salvation to enter the Ark of Salvation (which is Christ) and is also that window or door to Heaven; because “no one comes to the Father but by me,” said Jesus Christ3. He said that He is the Door4.
And now, see how from stage to stage, from age to age, Christ has been building His Church with that same design; and He has extended His mercy and patience for all these two thousand years that have passed; and the construction of the Church of Jesus Christ has not yet been finished, and for that reason God’s mercy is still extended to the human race.
But someday the construction of the Mystical Body of Christ will be completed, and the dead in Christ will be resurrected and we who are alive will be changed; and then, from then on, the divine judgment will fall upon the Earth, but we will already be in eternal bodies and we will go to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb with Christ.
But 144,000 Hebrews will have to go through the great tribulation; but although they will go through the great tribulation and give their lives for Christ, they will only die physically, but they will have eternal life; and that is why when the great tribulation is over they will resurrect to live in the Millennial Kingdom.
And Noah with his family is representing there those 144,000 Hebrews, who will have the messenger of the seventh dispensation, of the Dispensation of the Kingdom, which the sons and daughters of God from among the gentiles have first, in other words, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as for that time when God’s patience was extended over the human race in Noah’s time, there was a dispensational prophet with the Message that revealed what God would do at that time (it revealed the divine judgment that would come upon Earth), in this end time, according to the prophecy, there will be a dispensational prophet messenger, the prophet of the seventh dispensation, with the Message of the Gospel of the Kingdom, which is the Message of the seventh dispensation, with which He will be revealing all these things that God will be fulfilling in this end time.
That is why he will also be preaching the day of vengeance of our God, but he will also be showing us how to escape from the divine judgment that is to come upon the human race.
Now, many years have passed since Christ until now, and God’s patience and God’s mercy has been extended over the human race because Christ is building His Church, His Mystical Body of believers; and until that construction of His Church is finished, He cannot pour out the divine judgment of the great tribulation upon the human race.
It is because of God’s elect that God’s patience waits, until the Mystical Body of Christ is completed. It is out of love for His elect that God’s patience has been extended over the human race.
We find that after it was extended all those years in Noah’s time, when there was only very little left for the flood to fall, God appeared to Noah and said to him: “The flood will come in seven days’ time”; and He gave him seven more days of grace. But already during those seven days, Noah had to settle everyone inside the ark and settle himself inside the ark; and God closed the door of the ark and no one else could enter.
And someday the door of mercy will be shut, when the very last one of God’s elect has entered, and no one else will be able to enter. And then it will happen as in the parable of the ten virgins5, that the bridegroom came and those who were prepared —that is, the wise virgins— entered with him into the marriage, and the door was shut; and the foolish virgins or fatuous ones had gone out to seek oil, and when they returned the door was already shut.
And the door of mercy will one day close; and the person should not wait for it to close to then seek of God.
In Luke, chapter 13, verse 22 and on, it says:
“And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.
Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,
Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.”
Here Christ shows us that we must take advantage of time while the Door of Mercy (which is Christ), while the Door of Mercy is open; because there will come a time when the door of the Dispensation of Grace will be closed, and there will no longer be mercy for any person. And then, the one who was left out: he is left out; even if he says: “I now believe in Christ”, it is already too late.
Revelation, chapter 22, verse 11, says:
“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still…”
That indicates that there will come a time when he who is unclean will no longer be able to wash away his sins in the Blood of Christ, because the Door of Mercy (which is Christ) will have closed and Christ will no longer be as High Priest in Heaven making intercession with His own Blood for the forgiveness of people’s sins; He will no longer be washing anyone else with His precious Blood, because He will already have come out of the Temple that is in Heaven and He will already be as Judge of all the Earth.
And then the people who did not come to Christ to receive Him as Savior, and receive Him as Advocate making intercession for us (they did not receive Him as High Priest making intercession for us), then they will have to face the same Jesus Christ, no longer as High Priest, but as Judge of all the Earth.
And then no one will have the opportunity to say: “Now I want to wash away my sins in the Blood of Christ”; there will no longer be Blood on the Throne of Intercession in Heaven; therefore, he who is dirty, he remains dirty, with his sins; and then, the wages of sin is death6, therefore the divine judgment will fall upon those people during the great tribulation.
And the great tribulation, where the judgments, the plagues will fall upon the human race, is typified in the judgment of the flood that fell upon the human race. Now, there will not come a flood of water, but of fire [Malachi 4:1]:
“… and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”
Now, we can see that before the flood, Noah entered the ark with his family. And before the divine judgment falls upon Earth, all the elect of God have already entered Christ, the Ark of Salvation, and also the 144,000 Hebrews will enter Christ, the Ark; and although their physical bodies die in the great tribulation, they will already have life because they have received Christ; and they will resurrect after the great tribulation to enter the glorious Millennial Kingdom of Christ.
Now, we can see how Noah’s ark is updated in Christ our Savior. And Christ manifested in His Church, which is His Mystical Body of believers, we find that it also represents the Ark, where they are born, where all the elect of God enter; and in this end time the last elect of God will enter.
Also, the elect of God, the Church of Jesus Christ with the elect of God, is represented in Enoch, who before the divine judgment of the great flood fell upon the human race was taken with God to the House of our heavenly Father, that is, he was raptured not to see death7.
Now we have come to the time where Noah’s ark is updated. That is why that ark could have in its bosom those animals, birds and reptiles, and Noah and his family, and preserved them to live in a new world that began after the flood.
Now, there were boats in those times, there were buildings and all those things, but none of those things had God’s promise that it would keep people to escape from the flood.
And now, why did Noah’s ark have that promise? Because Noah’s ark was given or designed according to the order, the design of the Temple that is in Heaven. And being that it is type and figure of the Temple that is in Heaven, and it is type and figure of the temple… or it is also type and figure of the temple that Moses built and the temple that Solomon built, and it is type of figure of Christ, for that reason, notice, it had the promise to preserve all those who would be within it to escape from the judgment of the great tribulation. Though the judgment came, it did not destroy the ark or those who were inside the ark.
And now, Christ has been building His Church with the same design; in other words, the ark also represented the Church of Jesus Christ. And all those who are in the Church of Jesus Christ will live in the new world: the glorious Millennial Kingdom of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ, in a new dispensation, which is the Dispensation of the Kingdom.
Now, we have seen “NOAH’S ARK UPDATED.” And one must be inside the Ark to escape the divine judgments that are to come, and one must also be inside the Ark in order to have eternal life: be inside Christ our beloved Savior and be inside the Mystical Body of Christ, which is His Church.
It has been a great privilege for me to be with you tonight, testifying to you of “NOAH’S ARK UPDATED.”
May the blessings of Christ our Savior be upon all of you and upon me also; and may the number of God’s elect be soon completed in the Mystical Body of Christ; and may we soon all be transformed and the dead in Christ resurrected, and taken to the House of our heavenly Father, to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. In the Eternal Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.
God bless you, and may you all have a wonderful evening.
“NOAH’S ARK UPDATED.”
1 The Seals in English, Fourth Seal, page 303
2 Genesis 7:1-4
3 John 14:6
4 John 10:9
5 Matthew 25:1-13
6 Romans 6:23
7 Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5