To the Church of Smyrna
To the Church in Smyrna
Revelation 2:8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
The Elect Commended Against the Antichrist
Revelation 2:9-10 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
The Reward
Revelation 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
Exactly the same Four points! First Jesus reveals himself as the first and the last, the one who was dead and now he is alive forever, never to die again. There are two points again to that revelation, first it is he who is the first and the last for you; the foundation and the headstone for you; the Alpha and the Omega for you; the author and finisher of your faith, not your pastor, teacher or prophet! why? He is the one who died for you! That is the second point of revelation, and the second always qualifies the first. See? That he died for you to be forgiven and rose again for your victory against death, then he is your first and last, thou shall have no other god besides him.
And note that the most deceiving idols are church leaders. Be aware of them! 99% of them are serpents! John the Baptist found them almost in every hole in Israel; Jesus found the same thing! Brother Branham found them in every church in his day! So, say I unto you, be aware of the serpents! They will seduce you away from the Word of God being fulfilled in your day by pointing back to some history. Yes, be aware of clergymen!!!
Jesus is your first and your last; the foundation and the headstone; the first messenger and the last messenger; he holds all the seven in his hands, none of them is like him, not even Branham! None of them can take his place, not even Branham! For you to overcome the serpents hold that revelation dear to your heart. Jesus is your first and your last. He laid the foundation in Zion for you, now he brings the headstone for you, not Luther, not Wesley, not Branham please! Jesus is your Bridegroom, not some past tense saint please! He is the one who died for you, not your great apostle Cephas, not your eloquent Apollos, not your most wise apostle Paul; none of the rest are worth an ounce of your worship! It is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, and only Jesus! Please! Don’t be bought and sold so cheaply by the serpents in your midst assuming the place of Jesus! Jesus is present with you today as he ever was! Why dote upon some guy who is more miserable than yourself, the outspoken eloquent guy in your midst! Eloquence means nothing. Moses was a stammerer yet a man with the word for his day. Anointing means nothing! It is the most anointed cherubim who first fell from glory. Anointing can be so deceiving! Jesus may not be that eloquent, may not be an orator, may not appear so anointed; but one word from him may mean the end of the world! It is the truth being spoken that matters!
So that is the revelation of Jesus to that church, the first and the last; the only one who died for them, and now is risen from the dead and is among them as their Saviour, their foundation, their head and their all in all! Is it like that to you?
Now, they who received that revelation had to resist the devil in two points. First, by the synagogue of Satan called the sect of the Gnostics, Satan was claiming that Jesus was not the Christ, and that Christ (the Messiah) never took on flesh, but that Jesus was a fleshly son of Joseph who died and never rose again. So, the true elect had to resist that error by receiving what the Spirit spoke to that church age. He revealed himself to them as the first and the last, the one who became flesh through the virgin and then died on the cross and rose again. No other Christ but Jesus!
The blasphemy of the synagogue of Satan is the gnostic sect which Irenaeus writes against in his four treatises which he titled Against Heretics. The centre of their blasphemy was their absurd doctrine that claimed that the creator of heaven and earth is not the true and perfect most high God, but that there is another lower god who is animalic in character and who originated from a defect. That because the creation is imperfect and has many defects, so it came about as a result of a defect. That was the centre of their blasphemy. That the true and perfect God is higher than the God who created all things, and that the Bible speaks about the defective god who is imperfect and animalic in nature. They also claimed Jesus is not the begotten son of God, but that it is Christ who is the begotten son, thus they claimed that Jesus and Christ are two different persons, and that Jesus was like any other human being who died and never rose from the dead, but that it is Christ who came upon him and afterwards flew back to heaven.
They also claimed that this knowledge which they had discovered was above what Moses and the prophets declared, and that even the apostles did not write about it but declared it only to few chosen persons who had attained perfection. So, they claimed that their revelation comes from the perfect God who is above the creator whose son is Christ who could not take on flesh because he being perfect could not put on the imperfect matter created by a god who resulted from a defect. They still claimed that those who attain that perfect knowledge concerning the God who is above the creator are a chosen and elect group, thus they claimed to be the true and spiritual Jews. If you want to read more about this sect of the Gnostics you can search from the internet the four books of Irenaeus under the title of Irenaeus of Lyons Against Heretics Book 1, Book 2, Book 3 and Book. He speaks about this synagogue of Satan in details and in great depth. It was indeed a great blasphemy from those who claimed to be the followers of the apostles.
Secondly, the elect had to stand the fiery persecution that Satan unleashed upon them, they had to withstand the pains of death that were upon them, so he tried to frighten them with the fear of death … behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days But the revelation they received gave them faith to overcome all that. As Jesus died for them and rose again, so must the overcomer take up his cross and follow him! Whoever reserves his life on earth shall lose it forever, but whoever loses his life on earth shall preserve it eternally. The enemy came against them with the threat of death, but Jesus who is their first and last strengthens them by revealing himself to them that he died for them, and they should therefore fear death no more. They are facing the very enemy who crucified him, but he rose up triumphantly for their sake. So, he tells them, fear him not who kills the flesh but has no power over the soul. Stand the man and die like I died, and you will receive a reward of the crown of life!
You see it clear right there, that according to what they overcome so is their reward. As they stand and overcome death in the flesh and refuse to deny Jesus, then they are crowned with life eternal! Exactly according to the message that they believed and stood for was their reward! Jesus revealed in their day is their reward!
Matthew 10:41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.
Hallelujah! see? If you receive and hold on the one who walketh in the midst of the church, and with that reject all serpents offering you religious historical knowledge, then you receive the same reward, eating from the tree of life in the midst of paradise, the same one who has seven stars, that is the seven-star General, Field Marshal, the captain of captains, becomes a tree for you to ever eat from! And if you stand and die with him who is the first and the last, who died and rose again defeating death, therefore you also die in him and rise again defeating death by him. Thus, you receive the same reward, the crown of life! And with the crown of life you can’t be hurt by second death.
With all humility I want to say this, that those who teach and reteach seven churches, year in year out, starting and stopping where the prophet started and stopped, only serve you with the historical knowledge of serpents! Now that is just a Gnostic theology! The prophet received it as the revelation of his day and preached it by inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit, so that by that the elect overcame the enemy of that day; therefore, they will receive the same reward as Brother Branham. But the devil has since changed his tricks and you won’t overcome by reteaching that same message as a literature set book in school! You need new wine upon that message! The prophet was only used by Jesus to lift the lid from the book of revelation, therefore from thereon we dig and get more! We can continue prospecting in the same line, going deeper and deeper by the Spirit of revelation!
They claim that they are keeping “thus saith the Lord” as they reteach the message of the prophet, year in year out, starting from where he started and ending where he ended, but that is a lie! That was “thus saith the Lord by Brother Branham to his day. What they teach out that message is the fruit of their imaginations from the tree of knowledge of good and evil! It is a disguised Gnostic system again on earth! Through the prophet Jesus opened the lid from that book to present it to us as the food for the end time seasons! Thus, as more seasons unfold as we get more unfolding from that book. You can weep and mourn, contradict and counteract what I have said above, but it remains a fact! Jesus who brought the New Testament into light ended his message with a comma, and all the rest who came after him continued on also ending their messages with commas! How could Branham who was not the headstone put a period on his message on Jesus’ work! Paul never put any period on his ministry, he allowed others to build on, but only cautioned that every man’s work shall be tried by fire.
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 1Corinthians 3:10-15
Brother Branham laid the foundation for the end time gospel message; others come after him and build on! Nothing wrong with that! We can’t pretend to lay the same stones which Branham laid! We can’t build what Branham built! With what you are teaching you build your own part! The only true way of building is that we must return to the same quarry exposed by Branham and dig out more gold pertaining to this hour, then we use it to build on. By the grace of God and by His Spirit I believe you can see it happening before your eyes. It is not a man doing it! A man can do nothing in himself. It is God doing it.
Jesus revealed himself to the first age by Paul, but John went on building on it, digging out more gold! Jesus revealed himself to St. Martin, but St. Patrick went on digging more of that gold and building his part. Luther received the revelation for the fifth age, but Bunyan who came after never dwelled on chanting Luther’s messages but dug more of it. Just read Luther and read Bunyan and tell me whose light was brighter. Same thing with all who came after Wesley, they dug more deeper than Wesley. Read J C Ryle, Spurgeon and Finney and you will quickly discover it.
Look at it again. Jesus reveals himself to the second church age as the first and the last, the same thing he had told John as he fell at his feet as one dead in fear, but he tells him not to fear. So, he tells the second church age elect not to fear, for he is the first and the last, he has the key of hell and death, he can open and shut them any time he wants. And as the enemy threatened them with death in the flesh, he revealed to them that he had already overcame all that! And to him who overcomes by resisting the antichrist unto death, he will give a crown of life, and he won’t be hurt of the second death. By the second death those enemies will be judged and burnt away, so let them not fear the little fleshly pains. I hope you see it. Your reward comes to you in the message of your day, the same is the revelation of Jesus Christ to you.
Another thing you can see in the message to the second church age is this:
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Romans 8:17 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 2Timothy 2:11-12
So, you see it clear how that the elect here are promised a crown of life. A crown means they shall reign as kings with him. Now, in order to reign with him as kings, they must also suffer as he suffered. The very experience they get through suffering makes a crown of glory for them. They are glorified through suffering as it is written,
And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. John 12:23-24
He was to be glorified through death. By dying upon the cross, he suffered because of the redemption of the human race. By his death as the seed of life he multiplies into many children, and by that work he receives a glorious crown to reign. So also, all who will reign with him must likewise suffer. By suffering such a crown is fashioned for them, so he tells them, “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life.”
A crown is the glory that one wears as a king. There is such a glory in Jesus Christ, for he is the king of kings. To have some of that glory, one must suffer with him. The more one suffers because of the gospel, the more glory he receives from the word that he believes. So, we are willing to suffer for the sake of the Gospel so that we shall also be crowned to reign with him forever. Thus, the reward is from the very message that one believes and serves.
Echoes From Paradise 