Good evening, beloved friends and brethren present, and those who are in other nations gathered on this occasion, ministers and their congregations, today, the first Saturday of the month; taking as a basis the book of Genesis, where it tells us: “The evening and the morning were the first day.”1 In other words, every day begins in the evening and ends the following evening. For example, to Jews, Sabbaths begin on Friday evening and end on Saturday evening.
It is a great blessing for me to be with you on this occasion, to share with you some moments of fellowship around the Word of God and His program pertaining to this end time.
In Revelation, chapter 22, verse 12 and on, it tells us:
“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
May God bless our souls with His Word and allow us to understand It.
“THE REWARDS FOR THE BELIEVERS IN CHRIST.”
Christ Himself said in Saint Matthew, chapter 6, to lay up treasures in Heaven; that is the right place to lay up our treasure. Therefore, following the recommendation of Christ, we all want to lay up treasures in Heaven; for which, the person must seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, enter into the Kingdom of God to lay up those treasures in Heaven. Chapter 6, verse 19 and 20, speaks to us… up to 21, it speaks to us about those treasures, about laying them up in Heaven.
We all want to have treasures in Heaven, because that is where we will go to be with Christ and enjoy the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and then afterwards enjoy the earthly Kingdom of the Messiah, which will last a thousand years, and then live eternally in the Kingdom of God.
Remember that the Throne of the Lord Jesus Christ is the Throne of David. When the Son of Man sits on His Throne, that is, on the Throne of David, then He will gather all the nations and He will judge them at the end time. And in that Kingdom, they will be with Christ, as His Ministry of Justice: Christ as the Supreme Judge, and the members of His Church; for the Scripture says that the righteous will judge the world and even angels.
Therefore, the believers in Christ, which are the ones who form the Church of Jesus Christ, belong to the judiciary of the Kingdom of the Messiah; and if they belong to the judiciary of the Kingdom of the Messiah, then when Christ is judging all the nations, all the believers in Christ who have formed the Church of the Lord from age to age will be there with Him.
Chapter 6, verse 1 to 3, of First Corinthians:
“Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?”
And verse 2 said:
“Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?”
When it speaks of the saints, it is referring to the believers in Christ who form the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The saints, the members of the Church, will judge the world together with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Supreme Judge of that judiciary of the Kingdom of the Messiah; and that is a great privilege for every member of the Mystical Body of Christ.
And they are also priests, who have been washed with the Blood of Christ; therefore, in the Dispensation of Grace, they have a special work as priests in the spiritual realm, and then in the Kingdom of the Messiah they will also be priests; it says that they will be kings and priests with Christ for a thousand years.
And thus, as for the political power, they will also belong to the political power of the Messiah and His Kingdom, as kings; and in the religious power, as priests; and in the judicial power, as judges, because they will judge the world with Christ. Those are blessings that He will give all the believers in Him.
There are many blessings promised for the believers in Christ. And in Revelation there are countless rewards that He will give, for He says:
[Revelation 22:12] “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”
Every work, every labor that the believers in Christ do, they do it without expecting a reward, without expecting to be rewarded; but Christ has rewards for all His believers, according to the work of each person.
When a person works in the Work of the Lord, he shouldn’t do it because he wants a reward, but rather because he loves Christ and he loves working in the Work of the Lord. And if he contributes financially in the Church, he shouldn’t do it so that people know that he contributes financially or so that Christ rewards him with a reward, rather, he does it because he loves the Work of Christ and because he believes that the believers in Christ are called to give offerings, to tithe, to contribute in the Work of the Lord always, in order to support the whole labor of the Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Work should not be done to show off, to be seen, but rather out of love for Christ, wholeheartedly; and Christ will reward you openly. And that reward that He will give us openly, when He gives it to us at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and then in the Millennium, every person who will be there will see it. And the greatest thing is Eternal Life, that is the greatest thing He has given us; and then other blessings will come along with that for all the believers in Christ, together with the messenger that they were given, at the time in which they have been given to live.
These messengers of the Church among the Gentiles began with Saint Paul and then continued with other messengers all the way up to Reverend William Branham, who is the seventh messenger of the seventh age of the Gentile Church or Church among the Gentiles; just as John the Baptist was the seventh messenger of the Church of the Old Covenant or Old Testament. And then the Messiah came as the messenger, not only for the group of that time but for the rest of the stages or ages; He came in the cycle that corresponds to the golden Age or stage of the Church, the Cornerstone Age; and that pertains to the Fiftieth Day or Fiftieth Year.
In the time of Jesus they were also living in the cycle of the Year of Jubilee; that is, they were living in that cycle that covered the three and a half years of the ministry of Christ, and continued on with the apostles; they lived in that stage, and on the Day of Pentecost they obtained the spiritual transformation, they obtained the new birth. And then among the Gentiles the first stage began with Saint Paul.
And seven stages of the Church have passed and now we find ourselves in the stage that pertains to the Year of Jubilee again; a cycle parallel to the one of Jesus Christ two thousand years ago. And the cycle in which Reverend William Branham lived is a cycle parallel to the one of John the Baptist.
Just like for the Age of the Cornerstone, the Lord came in His First Coming, for the cycle of the Age of the Cornerstone, the Lord will come in His Second Coming. That is why it is the only group that has been waiting for the Coming of the Lord, and It will be materialized in their time; and He comes to reward them according to their works; to reward.
And just as it happened on the Day of Pentecost, on the fiftieth day, in which the Holy Spirit came and brought forth the new birth, an inner change in the people, at this end time He will come and bring forth a physical change in all the believers in Christ who will be in the Upper Room of the Age or stage of Cornerstone (that is the spiritual Upper Room), waiting for the Coming of the Lord for our transformation, together with the resurrection of the dead in Christ who will come with Him in His Coming; and they will resurrect and appear to the believers who will be alive, and the believers who will be alive will be transformed; and there will be a very glorious period of time here on Earth.
And after about 30 to 40 days here on Earth, with the dead believers in Christ already resurrected in eternal bodies and the living transformed, we will leave from here to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, before the great tribulation begins; because there will be no reason for us to be in the great tribulation, for the Blood of Christ has cleansed us from all sin. And the great tribulation will be to purify people and to purify the Jews, to purify the foolish virgins, and to purify the Earth as well; but Christ has already purified the believers in Him, who form His Mystical Body of believers; therefore, we don’t have to be here in the great tribulation, and no one wants to stay here either.
And Christ comes to change our bodies, according to Philippians, chapter 3, verse 20 to 21, that is the reason for His Coming.
“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall change our vile body…”
Why is He coming? To change our bodies and to resurrect the believers in Him, who will come with Him. They come with Him in heavenly bodies to resurrect in eternal, young bodies, glorified bodies just like the glorified body of Jesus Christ our Savior; and then we will all be just like Christ.
It is because we were eternally in Christ; that is why the believers in Christ who form the Church are redeemable, they can be redeemable, they can return to eternity, where they came from.
There are many rewards that He has promised for all His believers. For example, we have in Revelation, chapter 2, verse 7, which tells us:
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
It’s because the Spirit has been in the midst of His Church since the Day of Pentecost. He was with His disciples before Pentecost in human flesh: in Jesus; and then on the Day of Pentecost, He came down as He said: “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” And He told them: “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, I will be there.” Saint Matthew, chapter 18, verse 20, and Saint Matthew, chapter 28, verse 20.
And in the book of Acts, chapter 1, He told His disciples: “Do not depart from Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high,”2 meaning, until the Holy Spirit comes and they are endued with the Holy Spirit, and therefore, they obtain the new birth; because that is how one is born again: of Water and of the Spirit, of the Gospel and of the Holy Spirit.
Christ has been in the midst of His Church in Holy Spirit, speaking to His Church from age to age, revealing Himself to the messenger of each age; and through the messenger, revealing Himself to His Church. That is the way of the revelation of Jesus Christ in and to His Church from stage to stage.
That is why Reverend William Branham says that these messengers have promises like those that the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ have. Page 227 [p. 209 in Eng.] of the book of The Ages says: “Now…” it says:
“Each message to each age holds out an incentive to the believer, encouraging him to be an overcomer and thereby be rewarded of the Lord.”
In other words, one must be an overcomer; therefore, in each time there is a struggle for the believers in Christ.
“In this age the Spirit is promising the hidden manna and a new name written in a white stone.
Now since each of these messages is directed to the ‘angel’ — (human messenger) a very great responsibility as well as a wonderful privilege is his lot. To these men God makes special promises, as in the case of the twelve apostles sitting on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Then, remember Paul was given a special promise: that of presenting the people of the bride in his day to Jesus.”
In other words, every messenger is the one who receives God’s revelation, he brings it to the people, and God gathers the people, the group of believers of that time who will form His Church; and he is the one who presents that group of people to Christ, he is the one who presents the Bride-Church of his age to Christ.
He also tells us on page 265 [p. 241 in Eng.], in the fourth paragraph [The Ages]:
“As we have already stated, Jesus identifies Himself with the messengers of each age. They receive from Him the revelation on the Word for each period. This Word revelation brings the elect of God out of the world and into full union with Jesus Christ. These messengers are called stars because they shine with a borrowed or reflected light of the Son, even Jesus. They are also called stars because they are ‘holders of light’ at night. Thus in the darkness of sin, they bring the light of God to His people.”
See? There we are seeing how God works in His Church, from age to age. On page 168 [pp. 155-156 in Eng.], in the second to last paragraph, at the end, he says:
“He that hath an ear, let him (singular) hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.”
Remember that not every person has ears to hear what the Spirit says to His Church. Many people have ears to hear other things; but those who will form part of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ have ears to hear the Word of the Lord for the time in which the person is living.
“He that hath an ear, let him (singular) hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.”
Now let’s see how the Spirit speaks, from age to age, to His Church:
“Notice here that Jesus (by the Spirit) in EVERY age addresses Himself to ONLY ONE person relative to the Word for that age. Only ONE messenger for each age receives what the Spirit has to say to that age, and that ONE MESSENGER is the messenger to the true church. He speaks for God by revelation to the ‘churches,’ both true and false. The message is then broadcast to all. But though it is broadcast for all who come within range of the message, that message is received individually by only a certain qualified group in a certain way. Each individual of that group is one who has the ability to hear what the Spirit is saying by way of the messenger.”
That is the way the Holy Spirit speaks to His Church from stage to stage; the Holy Spirit speaks to His Church through a veil of flesh.
“Those who hear are not getting their own private revelation, nor is a group getting their collective revelation, BUT EACH PERSON IS HEARING AND RECEIVING WHAT THE MESSENGER HAS ALREADY RECEIVED FROM GOD.”
In other words, first the Holy Spirit reveals it to a messenger; and what has already been revealed to the messenger, then the Holy Spirit through that messenger speaks it to the people through that veil of flesh: the messenger who already received that Message and is ready to give It.
“Now think it not strange that this is the case, for Paul set this pattern under the hand of God. Paul alone had the full revelation for his day as evidenced by his confrontation of the other apostles who admitted that Paul was the Prophet-Messenger to the Gentiles for that day. And also note by actual illustration in the Word, that when Paul desired to go to Asia, God forbade him, for the sheep (His children) were in Macedonia and they (the Macedonians) would hear what the Spirit had to say through Paul, while the people in Asia would not.”
Further down, another paragraph says, the second to last paragraph says:
“They add here, or take away there, and soon the message is no longer pure, and the revival dies down.”
One cannot take away from nor add to what the Holy Spirit speaks for a Church age; one cannot add to nor take away from that message; nor can other people come out saying that they also receive revelation. The revelation to come to the Church in each age already has a Divine order established. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing without first revealing His secrets to His servants, His prophets.” Amos, chapter 3, verse 7. And Deuteronomy, chapter 18, verse 15 to 19, also talks to us about the way that the Voice of God comes.
“How careful we must be to hear ONE voice, for the Spirit has but one voice which is the voice of God. Paul warned them to say what he said, even as Peter did likewise. He warned them that EVEN HE (PAUL) could not change one word of what he had given by revelation. Oh, how important it is to hear the voice of God by way of His messengers, and then say what has been given them to say to the churches.”
That is the Divine order for the revelation that comes to the Church, from stage to stage, from age to age. There is no other way for the Mystical Body of Christ to receive the revelation in each age.
When we say that we want God to speak to us, God to speak to His Church, we have already seen the way He speaks to His Church. And if in the time of Paul, another person came to the Gentile Church, speaking to the Church, he was called to speak according to the Divine revelation that God had given to Saint Paul for the Church among the Gentiles. As simple as that.
At this end time, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ will be waiting for the Coming of the Lord and the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the transformation of us who are alive. Why? Because they are waiting, hearing one Voice alone, the Voice of the Holy Spirit at the Last Day according to the order established by God. And the Church as a Mystical Body of believers and each believer as an individual will receive great rewards.
There are great rewards for me, and for who else? For each one of you as well.
“THE REWARDS FOR THE BELIEVERS IN CHRIST.” That has been our subject.
Not because we have been working for rewards, but because this is something that He said He would do; not because we asked for them. For we work out of love for Christ, in other words, not out of self-interest, but out of love for Christ and out of love for the Work that He carried out for us, out of love for God.
Therefore, let’s work in the Work of the Lord out of love, in everything we do in the Mystical Body of Christ, as believers in Christ.
For our time, it is a great blessing and privilege to be working in the Work of the Lord: in the evangelistic and missionary work, the work of the Bible classes, those who attend the Bible classes; and those who listen to the Bible classes are also blessed, because they obtain the knowledge of the Word of God, of the Divine Program, and they are affirmed and confirmed in the faith.
And when a temple is built for Christ, those who labor in that Work, and support that Work in different ways, are also blessed.
Therefore, let’s be aware that when we labor in the Work in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are working for Christ and His Kingdom, which is in the spiritual sphere; so that Christ is manifesting Himself in the midst of the believers.
Because He said: “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, I will be there,” Saint Matthew, chapter 18, verse 20. And He also said: “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world,” Saint Matthew, chapter 28, verse 20, where we have those promises that Christ will be where the believers in Him are gathered.
And temples are made, whether of concrete, of wood, of tin, of canvas, or whatever it may be, to be gathered, protected from the sun, also from the rain; and to all be united together, praising God, and thanking Christ for His blessings, and hearing His Word, His revealed Word for the time in which we are given to live.
That is how it has been from age to age, that is how it has been from time to time, and therefore, it continues to be that way in our time.
There was a time when they had to have their activities in caves: catacombs, and all those places, because they did not have a place to gather together, and it wasn’t possible to start building a temple because they were under persecution; but in our time, many temples have been built for the people of God, the believers in Christ, to gather, and to have their activities, sing to Christ, worship Him and hear His Voice, His Word, through His Spirit in the preaching.
Therefore, onward serving Christ with all your heart, ministers and brethren in the different churches, different congregations; and may Christ fill us with the knowledge of His Word promised for our time, may He open our understanding so that we can see how Christ gradually fulfills what He said that He will carry out at this end time.
We don’t want to miss a single promise that He has made to fulfill at this end time, because in each of those promises there is a big blessing for me, and for who else? For each one of you as well.
Therefore, onward serving Christ and hearing the Voice of the Lord all the days of our lives. And may God use you, ministers, greatly in His Work, and each one of you brethren present and those who are in other nations. And we will see each other next Sunday, God willing.
May God bless you and keep you, and continue having a happy evening filled with the blessings of Christ our Savior.
I leave Reverend José Benjamín Pérez with you to continue and conclude on this occasion.
“THE REWARDS FOR THE BELIEVERS IN CHRIST.”
1 Genesis 1:5
2 Luke 24:45-49