The Sweet-Smelling Savor of a Heavenly Citizen

Good afternoon, partners in the ministry of Christ in His Church at this end time. It is a privilege for me to be with you on this occasion, in this ministers’ meeting, to share some moments of fellowship with you around the Word of God and His Program relevant to this end time, which is the one that we have been given to live in, and the one that we need to concern ourselves with and work on.

This is the most wonderful, most beautiful, most important time in the Divine Program, because it is the time for the adoption of the children of God, which is the transformation of the body that is promised for all the believers in Christ.

Saint Paul tells us in Second Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14… a passage that we heard being read by Missionary Miguel Bermúdez Marín, and it says the following: Second Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14:

“Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.”

May God bless our souls with His Word and allow us to understand It.

“THE SWEET-SMELLING SAVOR OF A HEAVENLY CITIZEN.”

Saint Paul the apostle says that the heavenly citizens are the believers in Christ. That’s why it’s important for us to know whom the apostle is speaking about so that we carry the sweet-smelling savor of the knowledge of Christ.

In Colossians chapter 2, it tells us… chapter 1, verse 12 and on, says:

“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light…”

In other words, there is an inheritance of which and to which we are partakers. It is the inheritance of the saints in light, to which we are heirs and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus our Lord, according to the words of Saint Paul in Romans chapter 8, verse 14 and on. Now, this passage goes on to say in verse 13:

“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins…”

We have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness, from the dominion, from the power of darkness, and we have been translated into the Kingdom of His dear Son, into the Kingdom of Christ.

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”

We find that God through the Word, Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, created all things; because all things were created by Him.

All things were in Him, just like in a tree, in a seed of a mango tree, an avocado tree, are all the things that tree will bring forth: leaves, the trunk, the branches, the leaves, and the fruit; the fruit, which is the one that has to ripen. The purpose is for it to bear fruit.

That’s why on one occasion He said something regarding a tree or a fig tree, and the servants in the parable said: “Why let it take up space anymore, if it doesn’t bear fruit?” The lord said: “Leave it one more year; and if it does not bear fruit during that year, it will be cut down.”¹ Because the purpose is for trees to bear the fruit that is inside them, which must come forth from within them and ripen.

The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as Christ, are compared to a tree. The Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden was Christ, and the tree planted by the rivers of water, from the Psalm,² is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is also why we find Christ saying: “I am the true Vine, My Father is the Husbandman.” And referring to the believers in Him: “Ye are the branches.”³ (The galhos, as they say in Brazil; but not the meat kind, like people may think, but rather the branches of the grapevine).⁴

On the branches is where the fruit appears, it’s through the branches that the life of the grape plant or tree, of the vine, shows its fruit, shows what is inside it. And what is inside Christ as fruit, as the Father of the household, as the One who begets sons and daughters of God, through the branches He brings forth sons and daughters of God from age to age.

We have had, in the grape tree, in the Vine, among the Gentiles, the first branch on the trunk back then: the apostolic age, Christ and His disciples. Then, from there comes the first branch of the age among the Gentiles, of which Saint Paul is the messenger instrument for that branch of the true Vine, of Christ, and He brings forth sons and daughters of God in that branch. And the ages, the different branches, continue the same way until it reaches the end time, the top part of the Vine, where there is one that has to come out of the trunk, one that receives life directly from the trunk. And that’s our age.

Just like the first fruit to ripen is the one that is at the top part of the tree, likewise, the first ones who will mature will be the believers in Christ of this end time. Those of past ages didn’t come to maturity, because that great blessing is for our time.

Notice what Reverend William Branham says in the message “Adoption #4”⁵:

“[75] His Blood was shed that I might go to my inheritance. To be what? What inheritance? The sonship, to be a son of God.

76 And now This may just choke you to death. But did you know that men that are sons of God are amateur gods? How many ever knowed that? How many knows that Jesus said so? The Bible, Jesus said, ‘Did not your law say, itself, that you are “gods”?’” (that is, when He says: “I said, ye are gods”).⁶ “‘And if you call them gods…’ Which, God said in Genesis 2 that they were gods, because they were, had full domain over the dominion of the world. He give him dominion over all things. And he lost his godship, he lost his sonship, he lost his domain, and Satan took it over,” (he took it from him, he grabbed it from him). “But, brother, we are waiting for the manifestations of the sons of God who will come back and take it over again. Waiting for the fulness of time, when the pyramid gets up to the top…”

What is the top? (I’m reading from page 46, at the bottom.) [P. 17 in Eng.] The top is the age in which we have been given to live; it is the age, the stage for the adoption of all the children of God; because in other ages, they didn’t reach adoption, they didn’t reach the adoption of the body, the redemption of the body, which is the glorification of our bodies, to have the glorified body like the glorified body that Jesus Christ our Savior has.

“[76] Waiting for the fulness of time, when the pyramid gets up to the top, when the full sons of God will be manifested, when the power of God will walk out (hallelujah) and will take every power that Satan’s got away from him. (…)

[77] He made man a god, a god in his domain. And his domain goes from sea to sea, from shore to shore; he has the control of it.

78 And when Jesus came, being the One God without sin, He proved it. When the winds blowed, He said, ‘Peace, be still!’ Amen. And when the tree, He said, ‘No man eat from thee.’

79 ‘Verily, I say unto you, you that’s little gods, if you’ll say to this mountain, “Be moved,” and don’t doubt in your heart, but believe that what you’ve said will come to pass, you can have what you’ve said.’

80 Go right back to Genesis, to the original, what is it? Now the world and nature is groaning, crying, everything’s moving. What? For the manifestation of the sons of God, when true sons, born sons, filled sons speak and their word is backed. I believe we’re on the border of it right now. Yes, sir. Say to this mountain, let it be so.

81 ‘Brother, I—I desire so-and-so, a certain thing done. I’m a believer in Jesus Christ.’

82 ‘I give it to you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Amen. There’s a manifestation.

83 ‘Oh, brother, my crops are burning up out yonder. I haven’t had any rain.’

84 ‘I’ll send you a raining, in the Name of the Lord.’ There she’ll come.”

In other words, what Jesus did, the Holy Spirit in Jesus, and what we saw Him do through Saint Paul and Saint Peter, and we saw as a sample of what the Third Pull is, we saw it manifested as a sample in Rev. William Branham, will be in all its fullness in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In which stage, in which age? In the Age of the Cornerstone.

Just as the Spirit of God led Christ to go up a high mountain with Peter, James, and John, to show the vision there of what the Second Coming of Christ will be;⁷ He was transfigured before them there, His face shone as the sun, His hairs were white like wool, His eyes (which appears in Revelation)⁸ as a flame of fire, and so on. But in Revelation it is also showing what the Second Coming of Christ for the adoption will be.

And notice, Moses and Elijah appeared there on Mount Transfiguration. The ministries of Moses and Elijah are tied to the adoption of the children of God at the Last Day.

In other words, God is putting something in its place for the adoption of the sons and daughters of God, to give them the faith to be transformed and taken with Christ to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

That is why it’s important for us to be prepared. The adoption will come in the manifestation of the Third Pull mentioned by Reverend William Branham; It will come in the Age of the Cornerstone, and It will be in a Great Tent Cathedral, as Reverend William Branham saw It.

When God showed it to him, the Vision of the Great Tent Cathedral, he saw the Angel that would accompany him, who was accompanying him and spoke to him, and also showed him a small place where sick people would go in and come out the other side healed; and he didn’t understand why in there. And the Angel said to him: “It won’t be a public show like before,” as it used to be done; in other words, the way he would do it, publicly. He says:

“It won’t be that way. Doesn’t the Scripture say: ‘When thou prayest to your Father, enter into your secret closet,’” (that will be the secret closet). “‘And enter into your secret closet there, and pray to your Father who sees you, and He shall reward you openly’?”⁹

Notice how the Scriptures come together for what is promised for this end time.

Then he also saw the Pillar of Fire, the Angel of the Covenant, the Holy Spirit, which moved, whirled away, to that place as well.¹⁰ In other words, it will be a wonderful time for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ; and God, in that manifestation, will impact His Church, revealing to Her, giving Her the faith, the revelation, to be transformed, through the revelation of the Seven Thunders, of what the Seven Thunders spoke. That is what will be spoken: the Voice of Christ speaking to His Church consecutively in the Age of the Cornerstone. In other words, seven ages will pass by consecutively, without the need for seven stages with a messenger for each stage.

In that stage is when the adoption will take place, the redemption of our bodies, our transformation, the resurrection of the dead in Christ in glorified bodies. And once all of that takes place, the services of the transformed believers in Christ will be youth services.

And we will be the way God saw us before the foundation of the world: with eternal, immortal, glorified bodies, just like the glorified body of Jesus Christ our Savior. And then we won’t have to carry out services in one place or in another place, but all together. All the believers in Christ will gather… probably from the moment they are transformed perhaps they won’t separate, or they will go see some family member, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and those who resurrected with Christ, who visited their relatives.¹¹

And that will be a shock for their relatives; but, surely, for God to have mercy on their relatives as well.

Remember that Christ was appearing to His disciples for 40 days. It seems certain that He appeared every Sunday;¹² we don’t know about the other days; He appeared to His disciples at least eight times. And on the Day of Pentecost, He came upon 120,¹³ and it was also the first day of the week.

Therefore, let’s be prepared because we are in a spiritual Sunday as well. Seven ages, and then the Age of the Cornerstone is number eight. The number eight falls on eternity, and it falls on the first day of the week as well; the first day of a new week. It is also known as the eighth day, but there is no eighth day, it is the beginning of a new time, of a new week. And therefore, Sunday speaks to us of resurrection, it also speaks to us of adoption, of transformation, of great blessings for the believers in Christ.

The love and mercy that God has had towards me is great. And towards whom else? Towards each one of you as well, by showing us, revealing to us, these things for this end time.

In the upper room, the day that the Holy Spirit would come upon the believers in Christ, notice, at that time there were religious groups: Sadducees, Pharisees, the doctors of the Law, the Pharisees were there, the Herodians; and similarly there were religious groups, religious people at that time. But there was a small group who followed Jesus, who had the revelation of what they had to wait for those days: the spiritual adoption, which is the baptism of the Holy Spirit; and then, at the end, upon reaching an age parallel to the one of Jesus Christ and His apostles, the physical adoption would come for all those who would already have the spiritual adoption.

And the spiritual adoption is the new birth, where one receives the Spirit of Christ; and the physical adoption is the transformation of our bodies, where we will receive a body like the glorified body of Jesus Christ our Savior.

It’s important to be aware and to keep our congregations aware, of the time we have been given to live in, and of the need to be waiting, just like on the Day of Pentecost they were waiting for ten days there in the upper room for the coming of the Holy Spirit in order to obtain the new birth, to obtain that spiritual adoption.

Because he who is not born again, he who is not born again cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, Christ tells Nicodemus in Saint John, chapter 3, verse 1 to 6; and one enters into the Kingdom of Christ in the spiritual way.

And to literally enter into the Kingdom of Christ, as kings, priests and judges, we need the eternal body, the glorified body; because flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither can corruption inherit incorruption.¹⁴

And Saint Paul says: “Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep (meaning that not all of us are going to die physically); but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the Last Trumpet; for the Trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we who are alive shall be changed.”¹⁵

A resurrection for those who died, in incorruptible bodies; and a transformation for those who are alive: a transformation of our bodies, in order to have an incorruptible, immortal, and glorified body, just like the glorified body that Jesus Christ our Savior has.

That is God’s goal through Christ, and that is also our goal: the transformation of our bodies, to go with Christ to the Marriage of Supper of the Lamb.

And now, as Reverend Andrés Cruz Gallegos was saying: there’s a secret in the Tent Vision, where the Third Pull will be manifested and where the faith to be transformed, the rapturing faith, will be given to the believers through the Seven Thunders of Revelation chapter 10. Because it is the Thunders, it is the Voice of Christ speaking consecutively, that will give the revelation, the faith, for the believers in Christ of this end time to be transformed; meaning that everything will culminate in the fulfillment of the Tent Vision.

So, let’s be prepared and working on that project, just as they worked on the project of the construction of a tabernacle back then with Moses (Moses returns); just as they worked with Solomon back then, like when Solomon dedicated the temple and the Pillar of Fire came, the Holy Spirit, the Angel of the Covenant, and entered and went into the most holy place,¹⁶ as He had done in the tabernacle that Moses built in the wilderness, and He accompanied them throughout the wilderness;¹⁷ we find that He also accompanied Israel in their land, by being there in the temple as well.

And Christ has been building His spiritual Temple, His Church, through which, when He completes It, He will manifest Himself in all His fullness and enter into It, just as He entered into the tabernacle that Moses built according to the pattern that was shown to him on the mountain; and according to the pattern that was shown to David, and he gave the pattern or blueprints to his son Solomon to build the temple in Jerusalem;¹⁸ likewise, God through the Holy Spirit, Christ through the Holy Spirit has been building a new Temple, a spiritual Temple: His Church, to dwell in Her in all His fullness. In all His fullness.

And the most privileged place in that Temple… just as the most privileged place was the most holy place of the tabernacle that Moses built: There were two cherubims of gold upon the mercy seat there; and between the two cherubims of gold was God’s Presence in that Bright Cloud there in the temple, in the tabernacle, in the most holy place, which, the most holy place was made of gold, wood overlaid with gold; the ark: of wood overlaid with gold on the inside and on the outside; the cover of the ark, of the mercy seat… the mercy seat, which is the cover of the ark, was made of pure gold; and the two cherubims were made of pure gold as well. It was a cover with two cherubims, a monolithic workmanship; and between the two cherubims was God’s Presence.¹⁹

Then we find, in the temple that king Solomon built, that in addition to the two cherubims of gold on the mercy seat, he set (not on the ark of the covenant, but next to it) at each side of the ark of the covenant, two giant cherubims of olive wood covered with gold;²⁰ because in the Most Holy Place is where God will have those Two Cherubims of olive wood covered with gold, that is, covered with Divinity, God in them.

That is why it will be fulfilled… Page 30 of the book of The Ages will be fulfilled, where it says [pp. 36-37 in Eng.]:

“Now, when is the Gospel returning to the Jews? When the day of the Gentiles is finished. The Gospel is ready to go back to the Jews. Oh, if I could just tell you something that is about to happen right in this our day. This great thing that is about to happen will carry over to Revelation 11 and pick up those two witnesses, those two prophets, Moses and Elijah, turning the Gospel back to the Jews.”

Who is going to take the Gospel to the Jews? The Two Olive Trees. And where are they going to be? In the Most Holy Place of the spiritual Temple.

“We’re ready for it. Everything is in order. As the Jews brought the message to the Gentiles,” (How did they bring it? Through Peter and Saint Paul. They are a type and figure of the Two Olive Trees), “even so the Gentiles will take it right back to the Jews, and the Rapture will come.”

That’s the way for God to deal with the Jews at this end time. That’s why when Reverend William Branham, having the ministry of Elijah for the fourth time, saw that there are 144,000 jews who will be called and gathered, as a responsible minister, he wanted to go talk to them; but the Holy Spirit, the Angel of the Covenant, told him that it was not time yet; that it still wasn’t, that the iniquity of the Amorites had not been fulfilled yet.²¹

And until then, he believed there were only four manifestations of Elijah. Later on he realized and knew that there are five, and that that manifestation for the Jews was for later on. That’s when he understood that Elijah… that Elijah will ride that ministerial trail for the fifth time, and that it will not be the ministry of Elijah alone, but the ministry of Moses as well.

In other words, the Two Olive Trees of olive wood covered with gold, of the Most Holy Place, will have a great mission with the Hebrew people. They are the only Ones that the Jews will listen to, those two ministries being manifested. They will say: “This is what we are waiting for!”

All of that contains a great secret, and they are waiting for Elijah. That is why they don’t receive anyone, except when Elijah appears to them, when he appears to them at the time for the call; when that time comes, they will see him.

Reverend William Branham, on page 41 of the message “The Feast Of The Trumpets” [p. 33 in Eng.], says that they will see Christ coming for His Church, they will see Him in His Church.²² It is a great blessing that the Church will have at the Last Day. And they will see Christ in His Church, coming for Her.

In other words, there are many things that are about to happen; and they cannot happen in the first age, because that age already ended, and its messenger left and he is in Paradise waiting for the Coming of the Lord to Paradise, to the sixth dimension; because every messenger must be judged there, in order to then come here into this dimension, by receiving a glorified body.

Just as He passed through Paradise: when Christ died and went to resurrect, first He passed through Paradise, after He left hell, He went to Paradise and brought with Him the saints that were physically sleeping; their bodies were dead, and they were there in Paradise in soul and spirit; and in the resurrection of Christ, they resurrected young with Christ, and visited some of their relatives.

We are in a very, very glorious time; we are in the time of the Most Holy Place of the spiritual Temple of Christ, that is, of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ as a spiritual Temple. And just like the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the believers and messengers of each age, and in the work that they carried out, was a sweet-smelling savor before the Presence of God, that is how it is at this time.

And be obedient to the Word of God: do as God tells us in His Word; and work according to the time in which we have been given to live, so that the promises for this time become a reality.

Reverend William Branham says that the right attitude… Let’s read it. In the message “The Hour Is Come,” of 4-15 of 1951,²³ says:

“17 Now, the right mental attitude…All you along here, do you understand what I mean when I say, ‘The right mental attitude?’ That’s…Your right mental attitude towards God’s Divine promise will bring any promise to pass.”

In other words, have the right attitude about the promises – towards the promises that God has made for our time, believing them wholeheartedly, no matter the adversities, no matter the problems, no matter if it seems like they are not going to be fulfilled.

Abraham received the promise of having a son,²⁴ and every year that went by it seemed like the fulfillment of that promise was getting farther away; but it was the other way around: it was a year closer to the son that he had been promised.

They could laugh at him, that he was waiting for a son, and his wife couldn’t have children anymore, and his wife also thought that she couldn’t have children anymore; but he remained steadfast, believing in the promise. He had the right mental attitude towards the promise that God had made him: believing that God was able to fulfill what He had promised.

And God is able to fulfill what He has promised for His Church for this end time.

Therefore, never get discouraged, never look at problems as something that will prevent the promise from being fulfilled. He is going to fulfill it because He promised it; and He is able to fulfill it.

And by us having the right attitude towards those promises, we will… That right attitude will bring about their fulfillment, will bring to pass what God promised.

Therefore, onward ministers and your congregations, bringing a sweet-smelling savor before the Presence of God, working in the Gospel, taking the Gospel to every place and working in the Divine Program so that the promises that He has made are fulfilled, by working around those promises; and God will support the work, because they are according to what God promised.

By always doing the Work of God: we will always receive God’s blessing. Christ said that He came to do the works of the Father, the works that He was given to carry out.²⁵ And His Church has been placed on Earth to carry out the works that Christ has entrusted Her to do.

Therefore, let’s be aware of the age that we are in, of God’s Message for our time, with the promises relevant to our time, let’s work with our faith steadfast in Christ and His promises; without doubting any one of them.

And always thinking and believing and confessing: “I am going to be transformed,” because He has promised it. If He has promised it, He will fulfill it; and we will receive it because we believe it wholeheartedly.

That’s also in every believer. And the faith in every believer activates the promised Word for that time, so that it becomes a reality; and God activates His power through people’s faith.

Remember that Christ said: “If you can believe, if you believe…” In other words, it is up to us to believe; because God cannot work against what you believe.

If you don’t believe that you are going to receive a blessing, God cannot give you the blessing, because it would be against what you are believing. You are believing that you can’t, so God doesn’t do it. All things are possible to him that believes,²⁶ all of God’s blessings come.

Of all the stages of the Church, the most blessed stage is the one we have been given to live in. It has the greatest blessings promised in the history of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has the promise of the physical adoption in addition to the spiritual adoption; in other words, it has the promise of a double-portion: the spiritual portion and the physical portion for the believers in Christ of the Last Day, in the Age of the Cornerstone; which are the ones who will be bringing a sweet-smelling savor to God, before the Presence of God.

It has been a great privilege and blessing for me to be with you on this occasion, testifying to you about “THE SWEET-SMELLING SAVOR OF A HEAVENLY CITIZEN.”

Remember that Christ said through Paul in Philippians chapter 3, verses 20 to 21: “For your conversation is in Heaven.”²⁷ And therefore, we are what? Heavenly citizens.

“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.”

All things are subject to Christ. He said: “And all power is given unto Me in Heaven and on Earth.” Saint Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 to 20.

Therefore, by Him being in Spirit in the midst of His Church, He manifests His power, which He has placed in the midst of His Church, He has given to His Church, to carry out the works that Christ would continue to carry out; He would continue to carry them out through His Church, from age to age. And therefore, the members of His Church are the instruments of Christ for Him to work and fulfill what He has promised.

May God bless you and keep you, heavenly citizens, bringing a sweet-smelling heavenly savor; bringing a sweet-smelling savor to Christ, to God, because the sweet-smelling savor of the heavenly citizens goes up to Heaven at this end time, as it has in past times.

May God bless you and keep you; and we will see each other soon, God willing, in the next activities. Tomorrow we will also be with you to share some moments of fellowship around the Word of God and His Program relevant to this end time.

I leave Missionary Reverend Miguel Bermúdez Marín with you to continue and then conclude at the time he has scheduled.

I leave with you Missionary Miguel Bermúdez Marín.

May God bless you and keep you all.

“THE SWEET-SMELLING SAVOR OF A HEAVENLY CITIZEN.”