The Communion

...the Lord. And we are certainly sorry that we don't have seats to accommodate the people, and to those who are turned away, to the outside. I just heard a few moments ago where we could have got a theater in New Albany, that would have perhaps taken care of about three thousand people. But we just.... The revival was for just the little group here at the church. And we are just a little homecoming time. And we are very happy to see you all in.

If I'm not mistaken, I see my Georgia brother here. Brother (Can't call your name just now.) Palmer, from Macon, Georgia. We're glad to have you here, Brother Palmer. Brother Creech, here at the front, we're glad to see you.

And I know that somewhere in the building is Dr. Lee Vayle, one of the sponsors of the meeting at Lima, Ohio. He's the pastor of the First Baptist church, and a personal friend of mine. He was up home today, and has come to visit with us through the meeting. We probably, one of the nights, we will have him to get up and say something. I tried to get him to take my place tonight to speak, and he refused it. So, we hope, maybe, that maybe tomorrow night, or sometime, Brother Vayle or some of the ... will be able to say a word or two, of concerning maybe the meeting or something up there, whatever the Lord puts on his heart.

There is others here that I wish I could just take the time to recognize them all, but we're happy for you to be here. I see one little fellow back here, who is a group of ministers that come ... that were visiting with me this afternoon, from over in Arkansas and also from Missouri.

And now, tonight, we want to redeem the time, because each night we are going to try to be finished by nine o'clock, if possible. Tonight is Communion night, so it'll be just a little later tonight than usual.

Tomorrow night, the Lord willing, I want to preach on: Be Ye Therefore Perfect, and The Perfect Sacrifice, tomorrow night. And, then, that's Good Friday.

And then on Saturday night, The Entombment, if the Lord willing.

Sunday morning, Sunrise service at six o'clock. And at ten o'clock, a baptismal service. And ten-thirty, the Sunday school lesson, of the resurrection.

And Sunday night, a regular healing service like we have out in the evangelistic field.

So, now we are trusting that you will get the sinner friends, and so forth, and come, be with us and help us in this meeting this coming ... continuation of this meeting, rather.

I got a new Bible tonight, was give to me by a Dunkard brother. And it's kind of a big thing. It's the first time I've ever preached out of it. It's a little awkward to me.

Now, I know that we have met for one purpose, that is, to further the cause of Christ, and to find peace in our souls, and to make us better men and women, better servants of the Lord. And if we've come for any other idea, why, then we will not be blessed of the Lord. We've come for help. We've come, looking to God. And this is the house of correction, where God gives us of His blessings, and corrects us from the wrong.

Now just before we open the Word ... or, ask the Holy Spirit to help us, let us bow our heads.

Blessed Heavenly Father, into Thy divine presence we present ourselves now, as listeners to the Gospel, and as speakers of the Word; circumcise lips that speak, and ears that hear, and hearts that receive. And may the Holy Spirit divide to us tonight, and impart the truths of God's eternal grace, to every one of us; that, when we leave this building tonight, we will say like those who coming from Emmaus, “Did not our hearts burn within us, because He talked to us along the road?” For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Over in the book of St. Matthew's Gospel, in the twenty-sixth chapter, the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth verse, for a text, I wish to read.

And he took the cup, and when he had gave thanks, and he gave it to them, and said, Drink ye all of it;

For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom.

And now we're going to speak on: The Communion. And this is the original communion night.

And communion was held first, way down in Egypt—the first of the communion, which was the Passover lamb that was slain, which was the type of Christ. And many of us are familiar with that blessed old story, of how that they who took the communion down there, walked through the wilderness for forty years. And when they come out, there wasn't a feeble one among them, and even their clothes was not even threadbare. For, forty years God had kept them.

What a blessed assurance it is to us tonight! If that be the type, then Christ is the antetype. And how that God delivered the children!

And, in the taking of the communion, was the difference between life and death. Those who were on the inside, under the shed blood, took the communion. No one could take the communion outside being under the shed blood. The blood of the lamb was shed first, and then was put on the lintel and the door-post. The lintel is the cross timber. And on the door-post. And then the lamb was roasted, and was eaten with bitter herbs. And they girded themselves. After the blood was shed, and they had passed under the shed blood, they were girded and ready for the march.

And now it's a very beautiful type tonight of people who take communion, is not to be associated or affiliated with things of the world anymore. They must come under the blood first, and be cleansed from all sin, which is unbelief; and then be shod with the preparation of the Gospel, having on the whole armor of God, ready for the summons at anytime.

And it was the sign that the death angel could not go beneath that blood. The death angel had to rise and go over the blood. And that is where the poet got the inspiration, saying, “When I See The Blood, I Will Pass Over You.”

It was near the hour of deliverance when they accepted the communion, the roasted lamb and the herbs that they taken before leaving.

Now, in the antetype that we're to speak on, it was many years ago, tonight, that Jesus taken what we know as the Lord's supper, the communion. And there is something about it, that He was going to talk to His disciples. And just before going away, He wanted to talk it over with them. And they had a room prepared. It was a time of fellowship. And the “communion” does mean a fellowship.

Many of the churches has “closed” communion, that is, just to their own church when they have the communion. But here we are not a denomination. We have an “open” communion for all, for we believe that every believer has a right to the table of the Lord, and to fellowship around the good things of God, with every believer, regardless of creed, color, or whatever he may be. That all have been made drink of the selfsame blessing, Christ!

Now, this great hour had approached our Lord; one of the most trying times of all of His earthly journey was just at hand. Testing time! Jesus had to go through testings, just as we go through testings. And the Bible said that, “Every son that cometh to God, must first be tested, trained, corrected.”

Now, many people, it is a showdown when the testing time comes. It's a time of a proving place. And the Bible said, “If we cannot stand the testing, then we become illegitimate children,” we are professing God to be our Father, and then He is not our Father. For, if we have correctly, and with all of our heart, received the Lord Jesus as our personal Saviour, there is nothing in this earth or in all dark eternity can ever separate us from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus.

I'm astounded in this day, and have always been, when people profess to be Christians, and the first little trial comes on, they fall by the wayside. It goes to show that it was an intellectual conception of Christ. That's the reason so many doesn't hold out today, is because it's an intellectual conception. Intellectually you could believe it, but it goes further than that. To accept Christ, is to accept the person of Christ.

Many of us accept religion of Christianity upon the learning of creeds. Other accept Christianity upon doctrines of baptism. Others believe that they are Christians because of some emotion that they have exercised, such as shouting, or dancing in the Spirit, or speaking with tongues, or having some marvelous gift to present. All those things are good in their place. But to accept Christ is to accept the person of Christ, and then these other things just automatically fall in line.

Now, if God did not spare His own Son from the cruel testings, then He will not spare you or I from the cruel testings.

And Jesus was here confronting the greatest test that He had ever had. Gethsemane laid just before Him, where that once and final all-sufficient test must come, when the burdens of the entire world laid upon His blessed shoulder. There was no one in all heavens or earth could ever stood it but Him. And to know that all of the sins—of past sins, and present sins, and future sins—rested upon this decision. And it was one of the most greatest victories that Christ ever won or proved—His great Messiahship—as when He said to God, “Not My will; Thine be done.” That was the greatest victory He had ever won. All the demons of torment was around to tempt Him and try Him.

And when we get right with God, when our hearts become pure and the Holy Spirit has taken its place in our heart, it's the most glorious thing to have testing. The Bible tells us that, “Our testings and trials are more precious to us than silver and gold of this world.” So, we should be thankful.

I do not wish to bring my own-self into some experience. But just as it comes on my mind, I remember the great and final test that I had of my Christian experience. It was yonder in the hospital out here on Spring Hill when my wife was laying in the morgue down here, a corpse, and she had just moved out of this life to be with God. And the testings and trials was on! Not just someone saying, “Billy, you're a holy roller.” That wasn't much testing. And these other little trials and so forth of criticism from the men that I work with, it wasn't much testing. But my great hour of testing come when the Dr. Adair (that I rehearsed it to him yesterday in the hospital when we sat together), and when he come down the hall to meet me and took me by the hand and said, “Billy, your baby is dying, and there is not a chance for it to live. It's got tubercular meningitis.”

I said, “Surely not, Doctor!” And its mother laying, a corpse!

And I'd go in. He said, “Just come with me.” And we went to the laboratory, and there he picked up a little glass tube and he shook it. And there seemed to be a streak in it. He said, “That is the meningitis germ and it's in the baby. We drew this from the spine to release the spasm.” And he said, “In this we find that it's tubercular meningitis.” Said, “It nursed it from its mother.” And said, “If that baby should live, it would be crippled, afflicted. But,” he said, “by the mercies of God, the baby is going to be with its mother.”

I said, “Doctor, I want to see the baby.”

He said, “You can't do it, Billy, because of Billy Paul, your boy.” Said, “You would pack the germ back to him.”

And after trying to encourage me the best that he knew how, when he left the building, I slipped around and went down into the basement. And when I got there, the hospital at that time wasn't fixed as it is now, and the window was up and the screen was out, and some flies had got into the little fellow's eyes. And I shooed the flies away and looked down at her little body, all drawed and her little legs moving back and forth. And I said to her, “Sherry, honey, do you know daddy?”

And it seemed like that she was trying to wave her little hand to me; about eight or nine months old. And I looked at her. And she was suffering so hard, a little innocent baby, until one of her little baby-blue eyes crossed. So much pain! Oh, I would have took it at anytime in her stead.

And I knelt down on my knees, with the doors closed, and I said, “O God, Father, there lays my wife—the baby's mother laying yonder in the undertaker's morgue. There's Billy Paul on the bed, sick. And here is my baby, dying. You surely, Lord, won't take her. I love her. And she resembles her mother. I want to raise her. Won't You please, O God, spare my baby's life?”

And as I looked up.... And as you all know, I've always been subject to visions. It seemed like a black sheet begin to unfold, coming down, and as if God took my prayer and throwed it right back in my face. And I said, “What have I done, God? Have I transgressed Your laws, that I should have this punishment? If it is, You just reveal it, and I will repent. I will do anything, but don't take my baby.” And I seen she was going anyhow. I raised up.

And then the tempter came to me. There was the one time in all my life that I can call, was the crucial moment my Gethsemane. When I was just barely holding to the bed, the devil said, “There you are. That's the reward for trying to serve Him. You mean that He will take that young twenty-two-year-old mother, and lay her yonder as a corpse in the morgue? And will take the precious baby, your own flesh and blood? And slam your prayer right in your face? And then you mean to say that you will serve Him?”

I was standing between opinion. It had to be decided. Then I put my hand over on her little head. I said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord!” I felt relief.

I said, “Sherry, honey, daddy cannot go where you are now, but daddy can come someday. I will lay you on the arm of mother, and bury you, but daddy will see you again someday.”

Mr. Isler, who is probably sitting present now (I can't see through the crowd), the ex-state senator here of Indiana. I was going up the highway. Mr. Isler, I guess you can well remember it.

I had my hands behind me, going up to the graveyard right after the flood, weeping. I used to go up there in the evening. An old turtledove would sit over in the tree, and would sing to me. And seemed like down through the breezes of those pines and trees, seemed like the song would whisper through it, saying:

There is a land beyond the river,

That we call the sweet forever,

We only reach that shore by faith's decree;

One by one we gain the portal,

There to dwell with the immortal,

Someday they'll ring those golden bells

for you and me.

Mr. Isler, driving his old truck, jumped out and put his arm around me. He said, “I've heard you preaching on the street corner, Billy; I've seen you standing in the Tabernacle; I've heard you at the hymn singings; how you exalted Christ, what you said He was!” Said, “Now He has taken your father, your brother, your wife and your baby.” Said, “Now what does He mean to you?”

I said, “Mr. Isler, if He would send me to the regions of the lost, I would still love Him! For one day down yonder in an old coal shed, something happened down here in my heart that there is nothing that can rub it out. It was nothing that I did. It was God's eternal grace that held me in the hour of great decision!”

And when our blessed Lord in the Gethsemane, when going there, when He was to be rejected at Jerusalem, and the council was going to take His life. When the eternal destination of every soul that ever was or would be on the earth rested upon His decision.

Oh, how little mine was, comparison to that! How little yours was, in comparison to that! Such a pity that we can't stand these little things!

But in that great crucial hour until He suffered, knowing all things, until the water and blood separated in His body, and great drops of sweat-like blood dropped from His brow. He died more death in Gethsemane than He did on the cross.

We was just at the event of this, just before the great battle was to start, and He took the communion. He brought His disciples together to talk over things with them.

And that's the way He does you and I just before the great battle of life starts. Before the great battle of right and wrong begins to battle within us, God brings us to a Gethsemane. He brings us to the communion and He talks it all over with us.

Way out in Phoenix, Arizona, there used to be a little trio that used to sing for me, “I would like to talk it over with Jesus. I'd like to say, 'Jesus, You loved me when my path got so narrow. When it was so dim that I could see no farther, You loved me when it was dim.'” And the little song goes on to say, “I'd like to talk it over.”

And it's a good thing that men and women of this earth stop in life's long travel and talk it over with Jesus, have communion with Him in a fellowship. Then the battle begins of the testing and the trying. “Every son that cometh to God must be tested.”

Now, the communion is not error. It's not given for the purpose that many people think it is. It's taught by certain denomination of church, that communion is called “The last rites” —that it pertains to salvation. Communion does not pertain to salvation. Communion does not give you salvation. Whether you take it in your death, or what, it does not have nothing to do with your salvation.

It is a commemoration. Jesus said in the Gospel, He said, “This do in remembrance of Me.” Not, it leaning or pointing to salvation, but it's in commemoration of a finished work that's been done in you by the Holy Spirit. It's a commemoration.

Now, there is many that take the communion is not saved. Many ate the paschal lamb and perished in the wilderness. And many take the communion today that will never see God.

But you cannot be a partaker of His salvation and not see Him, because salvation is a gift of God. And communion is commemoration of the great all-sufficient Sacrifice that was made for that salvation. It's to let people see that we believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It represents a finished work.

Salvation once was not completed, in the offering of the goats, the sheep, the heifers, in the Old Testament, because the Old Testament blood could not atone for sin. It could only cover sin. It was pointing to a time when it would be completed. Tomorrow night we're to get right in on that. But it was only a type.

But when Jesus came and His blood was shed at Calvary, it was a complete divorcing of sin. It taken sin away. it's the only means of salvation. There is no church-joining, no letters of fellowship; there is no ritual baptism; there is no communion or nothing in the ritual or any article that's been left of God, as articles pertaining to salvation; it's all in commemoration of a finished work!

Water baptism does not save you—as much as people sometimes think it does. Water baptism is a commemoration of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord. It does not save you.

Communion is in commemoration of His great agony and His going out and His broken body, and His blood that was shed. It is not the literal blood, it is not the literal body; but it's in commemoration of His literal body, and of His precious blood. And we take this as an order, and Jesus commanded us to do it. As long as He stays away, we are to take it.

We have a great, beautiful picture over in the book of the Hebrew letter, in the seventh chapter. I would like to read just a little place in Hebrews 7, to get a context to go with this.

For this Melchisedec, King of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;

To whom ... the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of all; first being by interpretation the King of righteousness, ... after that the King of Salem, which is, King of peace;

Notice, we want to go back and think. Paul here is referring back to an Old Testament character. In the book of Genesis we take up the life of Abraham from the twelfth chapter of Genesis. God giving Abraham the promise, and through Abraham would come the righteous seed. And Abraham, as believed by many to be a Jew, he was not. Abraham was a Gentile, a Chaldean from the city of Ur. And he became God's servant—not because he was different from anyone else—but because of the election of God.

You are not saved because you are a good person. You are saved because Christ chose you. No man seeks God; God seeks man. Jesus said, “No man can come to Me except My Father draws him first.” And if we could stop just for a few moments and realize the great importance of that one thing, that it was God who chose you, not willing that you should perish; but give to you the opportunity and called you and elected you to be His servant. Well, what could be more precious than that? Without you having a choice! It would be total impossible for any man to seek God; for he is by nature, is a sinner; and he has nothing within him to give a desire to serve God.

Could you go to the pig and tell him he is wrong? He is a pig by nature. Could you tell him his diet is wrong? Certainly not. By nature he is a pig. You should tell him he'd be a lamb, but he is satisfied as a pig.

And a sinner is satisfied as a sinner, because his nature is a sinner.

And here it is. “We are all born in sin, shaped in iniquity, come to the world speaking lies;” by nature a child of disobedience, without God, without a hope, the wrath of God abiding on us. And by the love and grace of Christ, God in His sovereign grace and His omnipotence knocks at your heart and gives you the blessed opportunity, and turned you around and sent you up the road. How could you turn that down? Changes your whole desires, turns you around, and starts you the other way! Oh, you will be silly to the world; but you will be blessed in the sight of God. “Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled,” said our Lord Jesus Christ. God by His amazing grace!

Notice, it was what God did, what God called. You had no will to call. You could have had no desire to call, because your nature was completely contrary to it. But God by election called you and turned you around, and set your affections towards Christ and the things above. How could we turn it down?

Then God showed in Abraham what He would do for all. Not only was this blessed promise of the resurrection and eternal life given to Abraham, but to his seed after him, the called, the elected of God.

And we notice that Abraham out in the fields where he was sojourning. His brother, he called it: Lot. It was really his nephew, his brother's son. And the time come for the testing. And Lot weakened under the testing. He is a perfect picture of the carnal believer today. When the testings come, to stay on the barren land, Abraham give him his choice. And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the fields, the valley, and it was full of grass. It was also full of fine homes. It was full of gaiety. It was also full of sin. But Lot, being of the carnal nature, loving this present world more than the things to come, chose rather to live luxurious in this life than to have life hereafter.

Abraham, a perfect type of the true believer who has been washed in the blood of the Lamb, whose affections was set on things above, said, “I will take the way with the Lord's despised few. Regardless if it cost my popularity, whatever it cost, I will take the way with the Lord's few.” And he chose to stay in the land where God placed him, under the testing time.

I wonder tonight if I'm speaking to people who once made a start to go through with God, and when the testing time come, you chose rather to go back into the world and do the things of the world, or did you take the rugged old way of salvation?

Did you do like Moses when he was under testing? When he had his foot on the throne of Egypt, but “He esteemed the riches of Christ greater treasures than all the riches of Egypt.” He forsook Egypt, did not care how much gold, how many popular.... He took God at His Word and forsook the things of Egypt, counting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.

What do we do under the testing when the hard trials come? When they say, “Because that you separate yourself from the things of the world, that you are a religious fanatic,” does the strain come? It's got to come. And you have got to make the choice.

But I would rather abide under the shadows of the Almighty. I would rather take my way and, like Jacob, have a pillow of stone. I would rather be considered by the world “a crank,” than to have all the riches and blessings that this world could afford to give. For greater is the blessings of God than all the riches and gold and silver of this world! Now notice.

Then, when the great testings come, Lot went down into sin. Remember, he went from the mountain down into the plain. He backslid, like the.... A perfect representative of carnal Christianity today, so-called, choosing rather to take the road of ease, the flowery bed of ease, than to stand true in the time of trial. And he finally got in trouble.

And you will too. When you choose that feather bed of ease, remember you are going to get in trouble.... Something.... “Your sins will find you out!” And God will catch up with you someday.

And one day the king ... the Gentile kings of the great regions away, came in and took Lot and his children, his wife and all that he had, and escaped with them.

And someday, my frail friend, if you don't stay under the blood, the kingdoms of Satan will overtake you and carry you away if you don't stay under the blood.

And Abraham, a type of the just, he was so concerned about his nephew; a representative of the real, true Christian that is tested and tried and been proven.

Now, the women had a lot to do with it. Lot's wife was carnal, very carnal. She stands today in the fields there as a pillar of salt, as a disgrace to those who pass by.

Sarah, a beautiful woman, she wanted to do what God wanted her to do. She respected her husband, as we spoke so definitely on that last evening. And she stayed with Abraham regardless of what come or went. She stayed with him because he stayed with the promise. That's the thing.

Then, when Lot was packed away, Abraham's heart went for him. And he gathered an army of his own servants and went after his brother: a very beautiful type. They took their swords and chopped those kings down till there was not one of them left.

And that's the type of the Gospel preacher when he sees that sin has caught his church and caught the people. He takes the blessed old Gospel, the sword of the Spirit, and he chops it and chops it until he cuts out sin from his church, if he's a true servant of God. He removes all the nonsense, the tattling, the backbiting. He removes all of the things and carnal natures of the world that's creeped into the church. If he's a true servant of God, he takes the Word and chops it from one side to the other until he has cut everything out.

And then when he had got Lot, his backslidden brother, and the children, and he was bringing them back to reconciliation, (notice), this great King come down from Jerusalem and met him. Melchisedec! What type of man was that? He was called the “King of Salem.” Which, any scholar knows that Salem was “Jerusalem.” It was called Salem before it was called Jerusalem. Who was this man that met him, that thought he had taken the right step? Who was this person that stood by him? Watch who He is.

He is the King of Jerusalem, and He is also the King of Peace;

Third verse:

Without father, without mother, without descent, without beginning of days, or without ending of life;....

Who was this great Prince that met him after the battle was over? Let's turn over to Genesis, the fourteenth verse ... the fourteenth chapter and the eighteenth verse.

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: ...

...blessed it, and said,...

...blessed be ... the most high God, preserver of heavens and earth: and blessed be Abraham who is His servant.

After the battle was over, after the victory was won, after the purge had been made, Melchisedec met Abraham on the plains, and brought bread and wine, and served it to him.

And who? No other was that than the One that met Abraham about a year later, sat under the tree and talked to him.

And this same Melchisedec said, “I will take no more of the fruit of the vine until I drink it anew with you, in My Father's kingdom, after the battle is over, when the victory is won.” Then we will take it anew in His kingdom, when the last battle is fought, when the last sword has killed the last evil of the world, and the great church of the living God triumphs. Christ will meet them in the air with the bread and the wine again, to take the communion, and for eternity in the presence of the Father.

Oh weary pilgrim tonight, come back to the Father's House. Come up out of Sodom! You've been reconciled by the blood. And this glorious memorial night, when our great Melchisedec, who had no beginning of days or ending of life, but is a King and a Prince forever and forever.

The Holy Spirit here tonight is a-wooing to the unsaved, now if you are without Christ tonight. And when the battle is over if you want to meet Him in peace and take the communion with Him, and you've promised that you love Him, and separate yourself from the things of the world.... Take the old rugged Gospel in the old-fashioned rugged way, and drink the cup of the bitterness of the persecution of the world. And drinking the bitter drugs of persecution of the world—it's given to us by the Bible that we will drink the sweet wines of heaven someday, when we meet Him in peace yonder between heavens and earth when He comes to serve the communion.

May our hearts think this over: “I will drink it anew with you in My Father's kingdom.” If He should come before another Easter comes, if you should die before another Easter comes, it will not prevent that great event. For I say by the Word of the Lord, that those which are sleeping in Christ shall come forth first. And we which are alive and remain shall be caught up with them, together in the air to meet the Lord. And the great Melchisedec of heaven, the King of not the natural Jerusalem but the King of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem, will meet us, and we will be served again the wine and the bread.

Tonight we are to take the symbols of this. We are to do it till we find Him coming again. May we be found faithful, as we bow our heads just a moment for a word of prayer.

Everyone just as quiet as possible in this most solemn holy moment. How easy is it to let these things slip! The Bible said, “Lest we should let those things slip, and neglect such a great salvation.” It's so easy to forget it. We do not come to church to be seen. We do not come to hear good singing or a good sermon. We come to church to worship, to worship God.

And each one of us, our mortal beings has got a soul that's got to meet Him someday. And on the eve of this great crucifixion day, in commemoration of His going away.... Tonight, if you're not a Christian, have never accepted Christ in your life as Saviour, are you convinced enough by the preaching of the Word and is the Holy Spirit standing near you, to say you're guilty? Now turn and start the other way. Would you declare the same by raising up your hand saying, “Brother Branham pray for me; I now solicit your prayers that God will be merciful to me.”? Would you raise your hand while we are waiting? God bless you, Sir. Someone else? God bless you. God bless you, Sir. God bless you, little one. God bless you. Would someone.... God bless you, lady. You say, “Brother Branham, does that mean anything to raise my hand?” Just the difference between death and life. What's any greater than life? You love.... You look at nature; you love it. You hate to go away from it.

Just across the street here, when my brother's wife was dying one morning many years ago.... When poor little Ruth raised up her head, and there was a robin sitting in a cherry tree, and she wanted to see it one more time. How she loved nature.

But someday when Jesus comes, she will hear the birds of eternity singing. The flowers immortal will be growing. There will be no sickness, sorrow, or death, because she made her peace with God and accepted the great Christ who died for her. With this blessed assurance who cannot fail.... The blessed Word of God who cannot lie, promised eternal life to those who believed. When you raise your hand, it shows that a spirit inside of you has made a decision. God bless you, lady.

Something in you: a spirit. By nature your arms was made to hang down; and when you raise your hands, you defy the very laws of gravitation. It has to be supernatural. It's against scientific, against all scientific things for you to break the laws of gravitation. It cannot be done unless there is something supernatural. Your arms would continually hang down. But if in your heart you believe the Gospel story and have made your decision this night that you are through with sin, and on this beautiful approach to Calvary when tomorrow at three o'clock in commemoration we celebrate the day when Jesus died for your salvation. And you think enough of it and the Holy Spirit has come and knocked at your heart and you have now accepted it.

You just.... Something in your heart says, “Raise your hand.” That shows to the people and to God that you believe it and accept it. God bless you, all you little children—three or four of them on the altar—little boys and girls about eighteen years old. They all put up their hands at one time. Jesus said, “Suffer little children to come unto me. Forbid them not, for such is the kingdom.” Is there another before we pray. God bless you, lady. That is a real.... You might have done many things, lady, in life; that was real. I believe you to be an honest woman. And remember, you could not have put up your hand, sister dear, unless something inside you, something way down in you, said do that. It may seem just a little foolish now to the carnal mind, but, brother, on that day when the doctor walks away from the door and says, “It's finished.” When he goes away from that wreck and pulls that little body of yours out and the blood flowing away, and your heart, the pain: “There is no need of fooling with them; they are gone.” Oh my! And frantically in one hour you will try to repent, and God said, “In your calamities I can only laugh.” But while you are sane, in your right mind....

Father, as we bring this message to the close, and the harvest of about fifteen people raising their hands, that's been sinners all their lives. And now by grace You have spoke to them, turn them around and let them face Calvary, and hearing them words come from the lips of the Son of God, “Father, forgive them, they didn't know what they were doing.” But tonight they have received the Gospel. We hear Him say, a few days prior this, “He that heareth My Words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life; and shall not come into the judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

We present them to Thee tonight, Lord, as Thy children. May Thy eternal blessings rest upon them, in Christ's name we pray. May they come Sunday morning packing their clothes saying, “I desire to make a public confession to this world that I am a believer. I am now desiring to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, calling upon Him to fill me with the Holy Spirit and care for me through life.”

Bless these young women, these young men, the aged, the little children, and all. Care for them, Father; they are Yours. And as the fruits of this message tonight, I present them to You as the attributes. And they are in Your hand as love gifts from God the Father. I pray that You will care for them through life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

We are very happy to have you here tonight, and we are glad that you came. And tomorrow night our message is (tomorrow night) on: The Perfection Of The Believer. And now come, bring someone with you if your own church doesn't have services.

And now we are going to have the communion. Maybe some of you.... I'm just a little teeny bit late a few minutes, and we're going to dismiss those who have to go.

And those who wish to stay to take the communion and foot-washing with us.... We believe in absolutely doing every article that Jesus left for us to do. And if He shall come in my generation and will let me stay in my right mind and keep His love in my heart, I will be trying my best to do every one of them and be found faithful at the post. God bless you now.