Jesus was once asked by His disciples, "What shall be the sign of thy Coming and of the end of the world (Matthew 24:32?) He responded with a lengthy dissertation on the events to take place from that time to the consummation and concluded with "the sign of the fig tree" (Matthew 24:32).
There is little dispute among Bible students, that the fig tree represented Israel and that Jesus was indicating that it would be the key sign at the end of the world to awaken the elect for the Second Coming. This is further endorsed by His Words in Luke 21:24, "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled." This prophesied reversal of the position of Israel in relation to the Gentiles, has seen its fulfillment only since the end of the Second World War. The people of Israel, through great suffering, were gathered from the nations of Europe and returned to the land of their heritage. A tiny fledgling nation, faced with insurmountable obstacles, astonished the world by winning a succession of wars and becoming the dominant military force in the Middle East.
This, of course, was not the only sign foretold in relation to the end of the world and the Coming of Christ for His Bride. Actually, the prophetic list is quite lengthy, including such occurrences as the increase of knowledge, the days of Noah and Lot, the rise of the anti-Christ, the flourishing global economy, the wars and earthquakes, etc. The graphic current fulfillment of these and the ever-increasing turbulence of world affairs, has convinced scientist, economist, politician and psychic, as well as theologian that a major catastrophic happening is imminent.
The purpose of this little booklet is to alert the reader to one more vitally significant sign which, likewise, has found its fulfillment in our day. This sign is unique in that it is God's essential warning before any major, scriptural happening. It is at once His most vivid and yet His most overlooked and misunderstood sign.
"Surely the Lord God will do nothing but He revealeth His secret to His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7.) God's pattern of dealing with His people has always included sending prophets. Amos states emphatically that God does "nothing" without a prophetic forerunner as disclosed by the most rudimentary study of scriptural history.
History also reveals seldom was a prophet not greeted with skepticism and abuse. No matter how great their divine vindication, they suffered at the hands of those to whom they were sent. Jesus told the Pharisees in Matthew 23:31-36, it was their forefathers who were guilty of the blood of "all" the prophets from Abel to Zechariah.
In this study, we will try to illustrate how, in maintaining the consistency of His Word, God promised the world a prophetic messenger to announce His Second Coming. We will show that only one ministry in this century could qualify as that messenger, and that William Branham was vindicated by God, recognized by his contemporaries as a major prophet and then rejected by a wayward and arrogant Laodicean generation.
Before we view directly the life and ministry of William Branham, we will list some of the Scriptures which identify that a prophet is to forerun the Second Coming of Christ. It is commonly considered that since the first advent of Jesus Christ, God no longer uses prophets to minister to His people. A carnal interpretation of Scriptures such as Luke 16:16, "The Law and the prophets were until John," and Hebrews 1:1, "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers in the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us in His Son..." is taken as proof of this. Let it be clearly understood; these Scriptures do not point to a cessation of prophets. They state only that the partial Word each Old Testament prophet uttered was fully expressed in Christ, the Logos (Word,) when he appeared in flesh. The New Testament abounds with prophets after Christ, even aside from the prophetic ministries obviously manifest in the Apostles such as Peter, Paul and John. Let the reader consider Ephesians 3:1-5:
"For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles. If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me toward you: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, (or prophets - Ezekiel 2:1,) as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit."
Here Paul shows that New Testament prophets not only exist but are ordained to carry the mysteries the Old Testament prophets (sons of men) under the Law could only see as a shadow. "In these last days God has spoken unto us by His Son," defines the first advent. The son is still speaking through His ordained messengers.
The Scriptures are equally clear that a prophetic ministry would be focal at the end of the world; first, to return the Gentiles to the true message of the Son, (the Logos or Word,) and second, to carry the message of the Messiah to the Jews during the great tribulation (Revelation 11.) Following, are some Scriptures which as seen together, point to this Gentile forerunner:
AMOS 3:7, "Surely the lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets."
Remember - before any significant, Scriptural event, God always speaks to a prophet. For example, Noah before the flood, Abraham before the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah; Moses to deliver Israel; John the Baptist before Christ's first advent, Paul to the Gentiles, the two witnesses to the Jews of Revelation 11, etc.
MALACHI 4:5-6, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."
The Spirit of Elijah is here prophesied to precede the Day of the Lord; any Bible student understands the great and dreadful Day of the Lord is Christ's Second Coming in power and judgment (Isaiah 2:12,19; I Thessalonians 5:2,3; II Peter 3:10.) Notice this twofold prophecy, Elijah will come:
1. To turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
2. To turn the heart of the children to their fathers.
In the following Scriptures we will see where this prophecy was partially fulfilled.
LUKE 1:17, "He shall go before Him in the Spirit and power of Elijah; to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."
This speaks of course, of John the Baptist, but notice: the Holy Spirit divided the prophecy of Malachi and showed John fulfilling the first part only; John did not precede the great and dreadful Day of the Lord, but the earthly ministry of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
MATTHEW 17:10-12, "And His disciples asked him, saying, 'Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come?' And Jesus answered and said unto them, 'Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things, But I say unto you, That Elijah is come already and they knew him not...'"
Notice how Christ maintains the continuity of the previous Scriptures, also dividing the prophecy concerning the Elijah ministry. Jesus indicates that part of the Elijah ministry is already fulfilled and part remains to be fulfilled. In this further aspect of the Elijah ministry, he declares he will "restore all things."
II THESSALONIANS 2:3, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition."
Paul was stating the Lord's Day would not come until there was a "falling away." The Greek word is "apostasia" and means a forsaking of the faith. If the reader continues through II Thessalonians 2, noting particularly verses 12 to 15, it becomes evident that Paul was warning of a falling away from the Word of God as brought by the Apostles. This is precisely what occurred from about the fourth century when Roman Catholicism gained pre-eminence, replacing the authority of Scripture with the authority of the church and married Christianity with paganism.
ACTS 3:20-2l, "And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began."
Peter also identifies the fact that before Christ can return physically, there must be a restitution. Restitution has the same Greek root word as restore and could have read "restoration of all things." Notice the similarity to Matthew l7:11. Both indicate a restoration of "all things." Peter also identifies these things are: "All things which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets." It is a restoration of all the Word of God. What else is spoken through His prophets (II Peter 1:20-21).)
Now, let us now apply this Scriptural picture to our concluding text to establish:
1. Elijah is to restore "all things" (Matthew 17:11.)
2. All things are to be restored before the second physical Coming of Christ (Acts 3:21.)
3. All things refer to God's Word as it came through His prophets (Acts 3:21; II Thessalonians 2:3; II Peter 1:20-21.)
REVELATION 10:7, "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to His servants the prophets."
This seventh angel is identified as the messenger who would preach the mystery of God that has been declared to the prophets. This mystery is the mystery of Christ which, according to I Timothy 3:16, is God manifest in flesh. That incarnation was the whole Message of the early church prophets and apostles. This seventh angel then will reaffirm this same Word or Logos to the Gentile church.
The reader must be aware of the significance of the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation to the Gentile church. They describe the condition and characteristics of seven Gentile churches once located in Asia Minor. It is erroneous to presume that this discourse only had an application to John's day. The first verse of the Revelation describes its contents as "things which must shortly come to pass" (in the future,) thus the entire Book is prophetic, beginning with the immediate future and continuing through the Gentile dispensation to the calling of the 144,000 Jews, the millennium, the White Throne Judgment and even the new Jerusalem.
These seven churches then were also prophetic and their characteristics applied to seven ages which would make up the whole dispensation allotted by God to the Gentiles. From Ephesus to Laodicea, each age had an angel which would bring to it a Message from God. The word "angel," means messenger and here it refers not to heavenly messengers but to earthly through which "the Spirit speaks to the churches." (Refer to Appendix I - Angels.) Over the past two thousand years, God has raised up a succession of great, spiritual leaders such as Paul, Irenaeus, Martin, Columba, Luther, and Wesley to preserve the faith, from age to age.
The reformers, particularly after the Dark Ages, were anointed to begin this restoration. God blessed the ministries of Luther and Wesley with mighty revivals as the Light of the Word was reopening to them. The followers of these messengers, however, refused to walk in the Light as God was CONTINUING to unveil it. They stopped at a partial restoration, organized, denominated, then died and assumed the identical formalistic characteristics of the organization from which they were once delivered. Hence Revelation 10:7 indicates that the ministry of the seventh angel, or the angel to the Laodicean Church Age, would be to sound the complete mystery before mentioned. When this final messenger arrives, he will declare all the Word (all things), from which the early church apostatized and reveal the mysteries surrounding the rapture and the second appearing of the Lord Jesus.