I Know My Redeemer Liveth

All the holy things.... This is the day. The day of the resurrection to come together with gladness of heart because that He lives. And He said, “Because that I live, ye live also.” And what a hope that is that we can rest upon this morning.

Now just before we have the morning message, let us bow our heads just a little further for prayer.

Dear God, we are grateful this morning to be the people that is called by Thy name. We are so glad that we do not have to just imagine any more of a great resurrection that is to come; because it's become a reality to us, as we read it in Thy Word and see that Thou hast promised this, and feel it within our souls that Jesus lives.

Oh, we are thinking this morning of the many heartaches that's been in life, and the many sadnesses that we've went through. The experiences that has tore in us and thrown us to the winds of the earth. How we have buried our loved ones and we have mourned at the grave. And our soul seems to almost perish within us, but then we can think of today. Oh, what it means that Jesus raised from the dead! He spoiled every power of the enemy when He rose up triumph. He took all the shadows away. Now we walk in the precious light of His resurrection.

Oh, we can imagine some nineteen hundred years or better this morning, when two little women on their road up to the tomb, wondering who would take away the stone; but God had already moved it. And the One that had been holden had raised from the dead, and spoke with them and said, “Go tell My disciples, and Peter, that I will meet them over in Galilee.” Oh, how we thank Thee for this great experience that we can still witness that resurrection. It becomes just as real to us as it was to them that morning because He has risen from the dead.

Forgive us of our sins and our shortcomings. All that we have done or said or even thought that was wrong, Lord, we pray that You will forgive us for these things. And seal us deeply. Draw close this morning. Oh, many times You are standing in the shadows when our troubles are so deep.

When Mary turned from the tomb that morning and was weeping, and she heard a voice behind her said, “Why weepest thou?”; He was just behind her, just watching what was taking place. And when He spoke her name, how her heart must have jumped for joy because her Lord had risen from the dead.

O speak to us this morning, Lord. Give unto us Thy Word and Thy Spirit. And ensure us newly this morning as we speak of the prophets and the different ones who waited for this great time.

And we wait for the general resurrection in the last days when our Lord shall come again. Until then, Lord, keep us healthy, happy, full of joy, rejoicing, and not living by bread alone: but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God may we make our living. Grant it to us, Father, for we ask it in His name who raised from the dead and gave the assurance of our resurrection. Amen.

As I was coming down the road just a few moments ago, and I was thinking as the birds were singing, “What a springtime it is today!” After the.... How appropriate Easter is. After the great dark and cold winter is past, and all of its blizzards and so forth, then breaks forth the sunshine.

And the coming of the sun brings new life, new hope, new seasons, new crops, new flowers. Everything comes to life. How that a man, even that did not have the Bible to read, could yet know that there is a God when he could just watch nature, how it goes and comes. The fall of the year is the crucifixion, spring of the year is the resurrection, and—you just see God in everything.

And I was thinking, as I was hearing my little birds sing out in the yard this morning, my little robins.... And I just love them. I call them my little radios. And I get out and turn my radio on of a morning. Listen to it.

And now you know the little legend of the robin. He was a little brown bird, according to the legend, until Good Friday. And there was One dying alone, and there was no one to help Him. And He stood alone. And He was nailed onto a cross. And a little brown bird was trying to free Him from the cross. And his diving back and forth to the nails and to the thorns on His head, he got his little breast all red with blood. And since then it's been red.

And I thought, O God, that's the kind of shield I want. And if you'll notice the little robin when he's picking himself, just beneath that little red layer of feathers is blackness. It's the rest of his feathers. But the red shield protects him. That's what I want. No matter how good we would try to be, we're still sinners. But just that little red shield is all it takes to make him different from other birds. That's all it takes to make us different from the world, is just that little red shield of His grace.

We come this morning on Easter, like each Easter morning: we look forward to it together at this early sun-rising. And it's been my privilege for the past many years to come here to the tabernacle, and to baptize the people, and to preach to them the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

And as I was studying last evening, during the storm, and was thinking what would be appropriate words to say in the morning at this resurrection service; and my thoughts fell upon this, a subject that our brother has just read of Job the 19th chapter and the 23rd to the 27th verses. “I know my Redeemer liveth,” said Job. And I chose that for the subject.

And as we come, why are we coming, is for this purpose only —that we could find new hopes. We are on this earth here and we are ... know we're living in darkness. We just don't have to kind of imagine these things, or kid ourself, as it was; because we know that we're living in the shadows of death.

Each time we hear an ambulance scream, when we pass the cemetery, when we see a hospital, every gray hair, marks it on our memories that we are a doomed people. To both young and old.

And we come on such a morning to gather hopes, some new hopes, of what we are here for and what is the purpose. And I think that this is a wonderful time to think on the hopes that God has given us.

Now we want to draw this first into our mind, that there is not one thing that can destroy us until the purpose of He who created us has been fulfilled. There could be nothing. We are made for a purpose.

This church was built here for a purpose. This foundation was not dug, and the cornerstone laid, and the blocks laid into the building, and the roof and the interior was not put here, just to see if it could be done. It was put here by a purpose, or for a purpose. Your home that you live in was not just accidentally put there, or somebody just wasting some time. Your home was made for a purpose, to serve a purpose.

If you did drive this morning here in your automobile, that automobile was not made just to see if it could be made. The materials was not wasted by man. It was put here for a purpose and to serve a purpose. The clothing that you wear was not just to see if somebody could fashion something. It was for a purpose. The food that you eat was not grown on the earth just to see it grow. It was made to serve a purpose. And God did not have to just make a tree just to be a tree. He made a tree for a purpose.

And God did not make you and I just to see if He could do it. He made us for a purpose. Therefore, there is a purpose of us all being here. You're not here just to be another human being. You are here because that God made you for some purpose. You're not here just to eat the food that God growed. You're not here just to live in the house that man made, or to wear the clothing that someone fashioned. You are here for a specific purpose.

No matter how little you are, how big you are, how important you are, or how unimportant you are; you are here to serve a purpose. Just as my finger is here for a purpose. My nail on my finger is for a purpose. My eye and every part of our bodies is to serve a purpose.

And it was not put here just to see what it would look like when it was put here; but it was put here to serve its purpose. It was God's divine plan to do so. And if we were put here for a purpose, then there is nothing can destroy us until God's purpose is fulfilled. Nothing can harm us until that purpose that God has put us here for has been made manifest.

No matter how much trouble we have, how much heartaches or sorrows that we go through; all of these are reasons, and there's a reason for it.

We will take, for instance, Noah in the Bible. There was a flood that came on. And all the earth was destroyed—the vegetation. And everything was destroyed but Noah and the seed that he had taken into the ark.

God's purpose can never be defeated. There is nothing can defeat it. So how happy ought we to be today, resting upon that beautiful revelation of the Word of the living God: that there is neither things present nor things that can come, there is no sickness, no sorrow, no death, no perils, nor nothing can separate us from the purpose of the living God.

What God has imagined in His mind, what God has purposed in His heart to bring to pass, there is no demon, there is no power, there is nothing can ever separate God's great, immortal, eternal plan. It must be as God has said.

Then we find that in the days that all of the world was going to be destroyed by a flood, but God made a preparation. A preparation for what cause? To preserve His purpose. He did it in the days of Noah, and He's doing it today! He has made a preparation to conserve to His own purpose. He will conserve a church. He will conserve a people. He will conserve subjects for His great domain that death cannot destroy.

And we realize that it is by faith that we believe this; but the resurrection produces a solid foundation on which our faith rests. Nothing can destroy it.

As a poet once wrote:

Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God,

Born of His spirit, washed in His blood.

What an assurance upon this solid rock—the resurrection of our blessed Lover, the Lord Jesus. Nothing can destroy it. It has been planted. It is the seed of God. It is a purpose of God to give us the blessed Holy Spirit. It is a purpose of God to show us signs and wonders and miracles. It's a purpose of God, and nothing can destroy it.

All powers of hell might wager against it, but it will prevail. We have God's eternal promise. There may be teachers, there may be isms rise, there may be great programs rise, there may be things that look like that it would be destroyed; but it can never be destroyed. It is a purpose of God to see that it will prevail.

Then it's not up to me and it's not up to you whether it will be destroyed or not; it's up to God. And we can rest assured on it, that God will never let our heritage be destroyed, for it's His purpose to give it to us.

Now we would think also today upon destructions trying to destroy. We have Christ on promise. We think of the Hebrew children, when God had a purpose for them; when they were down in Babylon and the furnace was het seven times hotter than it ever was heated, to destroy the purpose of God. And all Babylon was on a rage! They were determined, Satan was, to destroy the purpose of God; for he knew those children were going into the furnace.

So he made the furnace, when they heated it, seven times hotter—to be sure that the program of God would be destroyed. But God wanted to display His power. And all Babylon and all hell could not defeat that purpose. No, sir. No matter if they could've heated that furnace a million times hotter, it would have never destroyed the purpose of God. God wanted to show that He was a God of deliverance. And He'd bring deliverance to whomever He desired to bring it, and nothing would interfere with His program.

So when they heated the furnace, little did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego know that they were coming from that furnace. For they said themselves, “Our God is able to deliver us; but nevertheless, we will not bow to the image.” God had someone who would serve Him, and His purpose would not be defeated.

Fire cannot defeat the purpose of God's plan. And, oh, how I love to say this this morning. All the hydrogen bombs in the world can never defeat the resurrection of His church. All the explaining away, and all of the mathematics and so forth that this intelligent world has disguised to a purpose to do something about ... to destroy the faith of God's children; it will never do it. That faith will live on forever.

It was the purpose of God to show that He had power over the wild beasts of the fields. And they put some lions in a cave one time. And they had starved them until they were so hungry, that they could've tore a person to pieces just at one great grab.

And the devil thought, “Surely I will be able to destroy this prophet Daniel.” But Daniel had purposed in his heart to do the purpose of God. And God had placed that in his heart. Before Daniel could have had this desire, there had to be something to create that desire. Before he could have that faith, there had to be something to tell him that there was a God that could deliver.

And, oh, how that coincides this morning with the faith, the living faith, of the living God in His church. There is something in our heart that speaks that there is a land beyond the river. I cannot put my finger on that land and neither can any man; but there is something within us that tells us that “the grave is not its goal. And 'Dust thou art, to dust returnest,' was not spoken of the soul.”

There's something within us, a fire that's burning, a light that's been lit by God; and no breezes can blow it out. There's no cold spells in the church, there's no indifference amongst the people, no persecution of the world, that can blow out a flame that God has lit. For it's God's purpose that His torch light of freedom will burn until the coming of the Lord. And no powers can blow it out. They will only make it burn brighter as they blow.

It's been proven through the ages that persecution strengthens the church.

And Daniel: not knowing how God was going to do it, and not knowing whether God was going to do it; but knowing that He was able to do it, and knowing that something down in him told him so.

See, God had a purpose. He had everything working to that purpose. And all today, no matter how indifferent we seem to be at times, and how strange things goes, and how the church gets in this condition and that condition; it's all in the divine purpose of God to mold us and make us in His own way. Who knows how to fashion the material more than the Creator?

And the lions could not eat the prophet, because God sent an angel. He had a angel standing present to protect this prophet, because God had a purpose. He wanted to show that self-style king His mighty hand and His purpose!

I think that's what's going on today, that God is getting a people ready, that He can show His mighty hand to fulfill His mighty purpose.

Oh, I'm so glad this morning that He lives in my heart; that He is not a dead God, He is a living God. And way down in me.... Yesterday morning I was sitting in a barber chair to get a hair cut. A young fellow was cutting my hair down at Brother Egan's shop. And I was just sitting there with my head down. And, oh, I've been so tired, my meetings has been so long; and I'm trying to get away in the morning for a little rest before this next services begin.

And I was so tired, just seemed like my heart would just quit beating. And while I was sitting there, all of a sudden—I could hear everyone talking, but seemed like I was out in space. I thought, “Have I had a heart attack and I'm just leaving from this barber chair?” I thought, “Wonder if that's what's taken place?” I felt my hands, they was numbed; and my heart seemed like it was quit beating. And I thought, “Oh, but there is the Gospel has got to be preached! And there is no power that can take me until God's purpose is fulfilled.” There is nothing that can hurt me, not a thing, until God's purpose is fulfilled. And when that is fulfilled, I want to go with His purpose.

When He's finished, then I am also. When He's finished with me, I'm finished with life. When He is finished with you, you are finished also. So what difference does it make? God holds it all in His hand.

Whether we are young or old, we do not know when God's purpose will be fulfilled and finished. God takes little babies sometimes to show that He can guide their little soul. Everything He does is for a purpose! He said not even a sparrow can fall from the heavens without Him knowing it. Everything goes for His purpose, just at the hour and at the time, all in His divine plan. Nothing can destroy.

How it was an assurance to Abraham after He had found God, and knowed that God had a purpose, that in this purpose He was going to bring through Abraham and Sarah a son. And through this son, Isaac, was going to come the Lord Jesus. And in this purpose, He was bringing forth Sarah and Abraham and was going to make them a great people. And bring this son, taking the very worst persons that could be, to do it with.

How strange that God moves in mysterious ways. Well, look like if He'd wanted to bring a child through to the world like that, He'd've got some woman that was fertile. It looked like He'd've got some man that wasn't sterile.

Like Abraham and Sarah, had been married for many, many years, and she was infertile. She couldn't raise a child. Well, looked like then He would've got some young woman that was fertile that could've brought this child. But God likes to display His grace! God likes to take something that isn't nothing and make something out of it! For He's Creator.

That's why He took you and I—we were nothing!—that He might make children of His own out of us who were wretched and miserable and lost and blind and unlovely: to make us His lovely children. It's God's purpose to do so.

And then again, it looked like God would've took a young woman and a young man to have done this, a young woman and a young man who had just been married. He would have said, “Now you've had no children, and I'm going to have you, your first son to be borned ... and I'm going to ... he's going be My Isaac.”

But God chose a man seventy-five years old, and a woman sixty-five, to do His purpose: to show that you can be both young or old, God can still, and will, work out His purpose. Certainly.

And when Abraham was seventy-five, he got the promise of God. He told it to Sarah. And now the devil said, “You know what? I'm just going to delay that for a while. I believe if I'll get them so old, they'll lose faith and they'll know it can't happen. If they are already shaking at seventy-five, if I can just keep that away for a while.” And he kept it away until Abraham and Sarah was stooped in age—gray hairs and stooped shoulders.

It just goes to show that nothing can defeat His purpose. Not even death can defeat His purpose. Abraham was as good as dead, and Sarah's womb had been dead for forty or fifty years. But nothing can defeat God's purpose.

Her body was old, it was wrinkled. The milk veins was dried up. Her heart was so weak, it could not have went through labor. But God let us know there that His purpose will not be defeated. He changed Sarah and made her a young woman again. And took a man a hundred years old and turned him back to his youth. No matter how unreasonable it may seem, God gave the promise! And Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong, giving God praise; for he judged Him that He was able to perform what He had promised.

Then what should we be this morning? We are the children of His promise. We, being dead in Christ, we are Abraham's seed, and are heirs with Him with the promise.

Then no matter how much sickness comes, how kind of a death we die, how much poverty we go through, God's purpose cannot be defeated, He will raise us up again. “Because I live, ye shall live also.” That's our hope.

When I know today being my birthday, and I'm getting to be an old man. I looked at myself in the glass, and I see that that little boy that built this tabernacle is not that little boy any more. He's becoming an aged man, stooping shoulders, the beard turning gray, the hair going out. But nothing can defeat the purpose of God! Nothing can. Therefore, I rest assured upon the promise, “Because I live, ye shall live also.”

I join with Job of old, “I know my Redeemer liveth. And at the last day He'll stand on the earth.” It's a purpose that God has. I must serve this purpose. My life must be brought into His purpose and to His program. Each of us is that way.

God has a purpose to where, oh.... Abraham could endure, as seeing Him who is invisible, because it was a purpose of God, that he knowed that God gave him the promise.

But, no matter how contrary everything seemed, God gave Abraham that promise. So God fulfilled His promise. He did to Abraham, He did to all of His children; and He will keep His promise.

It was Moses, when he was taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, why, he knew that God had a purpose in his life. It was Jochebed, his mother, who took her darling baby (the prettiest baby in all the world at the time, a sweet little fellow), and put him in an ark, and shoved him out into the Nile: where the crocodiles was fat on little Hebrew children, because they'd been feeding them to the crocodiles. And she took her baby and shoved it right out in the jaws of death, knowing this, that God's purpose could not be defeated.

“God of Abraham, take care of my child and bring him to the purpose that You have brought him for.” There wasn't enough water in the Nile to drown him. There wasn't enough crocodiles in all the world could have swallowed him. He was God's chosen. And as he was God's chosen for that purpose, we are God's chosen today who believe in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And there's no bombs, there's no hell, there's no nothing else can destroy God's purpose. We've got to go in the resurrection. It's a promise we have of God. God's purpose.

And Moses, when he become full forty years old, a middle-aged man.... And he'd been trained in school, but God has such a rigged way sometimes of bringing His things to pass that He has promised.

How that He took Moses back at the backside of the desert, and let him hear the screams and the haunts as he staggered in the wilderness. And as back there, alone in the deserts—and the howling winds, the scorpions, and the cobras—and alone out in the wilderness till he almost perished! There's nothing can defeat the purpose of God. God had brought Moses forth, and Moses had to do what God told him to do, 'cause God's purpose cannot be defeated.

It was our character this morning, Job, that when he was in the deepest of his distress: when all of his riches had gone from him, his children was dead, his body was broke out in boils, and he was in the greatest distress that he was ever in. Sitting on an ash-heap with a crock, scraping the boils, and his wife in the door, “Why don't you curse God and die?” When the members of his church had their backs turned to him for seven days, and accusing him, when they ought to've been comforting him. But they were accusing him of being a secret sinner, accusing him of being a backslider. It was in that great hour, it was in that great momentous time, that when God took Job to the sacred sands where He takes every believer: to an experience, unto the backside of the desert like He did Moses. (Unto the little secret closet where He took you; unto the coal shed where I received it.)

God has a place, and a purpose, and a time. And when He had Job in this condition, He had him on the sacred sands, for He was going to reveal something to him that would never go away! O for those sacred sands! He has to take every real child there. He gets you on those places where there's no devil can ever come. There's no teacher can ever explain it away. He gives you something on those sands back there of experience that you'll never forget as long as ages roll on.

No matter how atheistic your mother, your daddy, your husband, wife, your associates may become, every true believer has that spot where God has met him! There isn't one left out. Every believer has it. Every person that's born of the kingdom of God knows that spot, that minute, that hour that where God took him. And on those sacred sands in the presence of the burning bush, He did something to that believer that all the mentality of the world could not destroy. “Upon this rock I'll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not destroy it.” Upon this rock, this spiritual revelation of the resurrected Jesus. Upon this rock.

Job in his distress, everything gone; his wife had turned against him and was accusing him, and all his believer friends had turned against him because they only had theology, and all the rest that turned against him. But God said, “Come here, Job. I'm going to give you something, boy. I'm going to place within you something that all the devils of hell can't shake out. And if every teacher in the world might accuse you one way or the other, but it'll never move.”

You know what He did? He just raised up the curtain a little bit and said, “Job, look yonder.” And what did Job see? What do you think he saw? He saw Easter for its first time! He saw the first Easter, and he screamed, “I know my Redeemer liveth!”

Oh, what a blessed place to be! Every man that's chosen of God, and every woman and child, comes to that spot on those sacred sands to where God lifts the curtain and you see Him in His resurrected power. You know that He lives. And we as Job can cry, “I know my Redeemer liveth! And at the last days He shall stand on the earth: Though the skin worms destroys this body, yet in this flesh shall I see God.”

That first view of Easter made a prophet scream. And the thunders roared and the lightnings flashed. He saw Easter his first time. When did he see it? Not when he had his well-groomed clothes on, not when he had his hair combed perhaps to the dot, not when he was enjoying the very best of health; but when he was in trouble. When he was laying in trouble at the hour and almost of his death, that's when he saw Easter. That's where he saw the first resurrection.

Oh, it's been similar to you and I. It's been when we laid at a altar somewhere until we were ready to die, and said, “Lord God, do something for me!”; it was then that God raised the curtain. And we seen Easter. We seen Easter, not in a way of theology so much. We never seen Easter as wearing new clothes. We never seen Easter as little rabbits and colored eggs. We seen Easter in the power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ! That was the real Easter. And when he screamed, God answered back with fire.

It was David, when he was rejected and exiled. It was David after he had sinned and committed that horrible crime. It was David when he was perplexed and his son had been taken, the joy of his heart. It was David, the prophet and the king, who cried when he seen that he was getting old and he must go back to the dust of the earth. It was David that said, “Moreover my flesh shall rest in hope. Because He will not suffer His Holy One to see corruption, neither will He leave His soul in hell.” It was when David was having his worst of time. It was when David was perplexed and distressed and at the very hour of death almost, when God raised up the curtain. Said, “Look yonder, David.”

David said, “My flesh will rest in hope. Because He will not leave His Holy One to see corruption; neither will He leave His soul in hell. So my flesh shall rest in hope.”

Oh, it's at that hour, friend. It's at that time. It's at those crucial, crucifying hours that we see the resurrection. It's in that time when God loves to display His grace. It's in that time when God loves to comfort His children.

The darkest hour this world ever seen was Good Friday, when all hopes ... all was written. All the hopes they had was what was written on paper. All the hopes they had was what some philosopher had said. And there was the Prince of life, dying at Calvary. It was the darkest hour the world ever seen.

But Easter produced the brightest hour that the world ever seen; because all superstitions and all doubts and all fears were taken away when God raised Him up.

Why was it dark? What makes it dark? Let's follow as I said a while ago about the birds, about the flowers, about, why does little Easter lilies bloom on Easter? Why does the birds sing in the spring of the year, and why does blossoms come forth? Is because it's coming summer.

What makes it in February just about the worst month we have? Winter has been coming on, on, on, on till it takes its last strike! Then she moves back to give way for life. Death has took her last strike! It must move back and let life have its place.

What makes it dark before day? It's the darkest before day. We are told by scientists that it's the light pressing, coming on, moving down. The sun is coming up around the world. It's light is pressing the darkness. She's making her last strike. She can't stand no more. Darkness can never stand in the presence of light. It cannot do it. Light is ten million times stronger than darkness! So light and dark cannot dwell together.

And when light begins to rise, darkness settles and gets dense. It's pressing it together. Just like dropping ink in a washtub full of bleach. It just isn't no more. There is no more blackness of ink when its dropped into bleach. It becomes bleach itself.

Oh, that's the way sin is. When it's dropped into the blood of the Saviour, it just isn't any more. It's gone! No wonder He said it's in the sea of forgetfulness—the tub of God's bleach. That can never be found no more, it just disintegrates, it's no more. That's the way sin is, when you once see the real resurrection and the price that was paid for that resurrection.

Darkness condensing together because soon it's to vanish. And then as soon as light comes, darkness is no more. Where does it go to? What happened to that black night a few hours ago hung around this tabernacle? It just can't be now. The sun is shining. Where did it go to? What part did it lift up or where did it go down to? It just wasn't no more.

And the reason it was dark, is because there was no light. And the reason that men had to hope, there'd been no resurrection. But Easter produced resurrection! Now darkness is no more, it's light!

We will walk in this light, this beautiful

light,

That comes where the dew drops of mercy

are bright;

Shine all around us by day and by night,

Jesus, the light of the world.

Night presses on. And let's put that now to nationally. This is the darkest hour, the darkest hour this world has ever seen. Even nature trembles. At one moment, this whole earth could go to powder. What would happen with the reaction to ... with a reaction of hydrogen or oxygen or some of these great bombs? The atomic reaction. Every tree, every grass, everything, every limb, every purpose, every person—everything would just break to pieces and turn back to acids.

See what it is? The whole world's trembling. There's bombs ready. Everything seems to be set right at time. And if darkness has its time set, how much more will the light have its set? What's making it so dark now? What's making these things? The churches all disfellowship. We're fussing. “Oh, is there...?” “I'm a Methodist,” “I am a Presbyterian,” “I'm a Pentecostal,” “I'm Church of God,” “I'm Assemblies.”

Oh, can't you see, children? If that's all we had to stand on, we'd be most miserable people in the world. I'm so glad for a little sacred place—a little place down yonder on Ohio Avenue, in a cold shed one night, where God lifted up the curtain. Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostals all flew away then, for I seen Easter. I seen Jesus as my Saviour. I saw Him as the resurrection and life.

“He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” I seen Him as the only King and Potentate, the only thing that could help me, the only giver of eternal life. The only One that could heal my sickness, could take away my diseases, who could raise me up in the last days.

He just let me look past the curtain. And I seen Him, the resurrection. Then I joined with Job, “I know my Redeemer liveth.” And after there is no more Methodist or Baptist or Presbyterian or Pentecostals, my Redeemer will still live on just the same.

You might say, “Well this is this way, and that's that way; except you do this, except you do that.” I know better, because I've looked past the curtain of time. I've been on the sacred sands with every believer in here. There's no devil can touch that sand! There's no doctor of theology can explain it away!

He healed me when I was sick, He saved me when I was lost. He lives forevermore! “Ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.” He's not dead, but He's raised from the dead.

And this great darkness that's swinging over the earth now, is nothing but to declare that light is pressing its way down—when death is hanging so close that it could be an hour. One hour from now the world could meet its death. If death is hanging that close, what is it doing it? It's light, life coming: the resurrection, the Easter for all God's children. It's hanging low, it's pressing. The angels are coming down. The great Holy Spirit's moving in. Darkness is taking its last toll, for light will soon be here! Christ will come, the joy and the hope of the ages! A real resurrection for all the believers, for we will share with Him in His resurrection as we have shared with Him in His suffering. “He that suffers with Me shall reign with Me.”

Oh, then, must I be carried home to heaven

On the flowery bed of ease,

While others fought to win the prize,

And sailed through bloody seas?

No, I must fight if I must reign,

Increase my courage, Lord.

That's my prayer.

Oh, I must not go as a coward. I must not go around daily with my head hanging down as if something was terrible; when I look at the world, in all their darkness, and all their carrying on. I must raise my head, walk with my head among the eagles; knowing this, that I know Him in the power of His resurrection. Because He lives, we live also. Because He raised from the dead, I shall rise also. You shall rise also. That's what Easter means to the believer.

Sometime ago, over in ... the First World War was going on. They had great gases that they throwed, such as mustard and chlorine gas. And it was dangerous. It would poison everything. The leaves would die, the trees would die, and the grass would die, everything—where that gas, that mustard gas, would burn it up when they'd throw it.

A chaplain, one Easter morning, he was going down through the tents where the wounded and the dying was laying. A Red Cross nurse come along. The boys had been on the front for so long out there, they'd just ... so weary. And so she had a bunch of roses in her hand. And as she passed by each little cot where the boys was laying, crying (It was Easter. What a Easter for them: planes were going over, bombs dropping) she'd take a rose and give to each boy, say, “God bless you. God bless you, brother.” Those soldiers would grip that rose and scream, for they knowed that rose was growed in a land where they belonged.

Brother, this morning we're in a world of dangerous poison gases. We're in the world where all kinds of doctrine and stuff ... that says there's no resurrection and there's no divine healing, there's no this or that or the other. But not a Red Cross nurse, but the Holy Spirit comes along once in a while, and brings us over on those sacred sands of God's grace, and pours into our heart a little token from the land beyond the river.

He said, “Preacher friend,” he said, “I stood there and wept till I was weeping so, till I said.... One of the boys was going in a motorcycle out to the front lines. Out about past Alsace-Lorraine.” And he said, “He was going out there to do some kind of a reconnaissance and said, I said to him, 'Sergeant, can I ride with you?'

“He said, 'Certainly, Chaplain, jump right in.' He said, 'You're taking your own....'

“I said, 'That's all right. I'd just like to ride with you.'

“And said, 'Certainly, jump right in.'”

Said, “We rode till we got out into that bleak desert, where not even a speck of grass or nothing was.”

And said, “While he was planning down his material that he was to send, message back, or whatever he was to do,” he said, “I walked around there a little bit. I thought, 'Oh, isn't this some Easter! Out in this land: where the bombs has knocked all the buildings to the ground, where the trees are run down with machine gun bullets. There's not even a speck of grass left.'” He said, “'O God, this is a picture of this world some of these days, when sin has took her toll. This'll be the picture.'”

And said, “My mind and my eyes was attracted to a certain rock.” And said, “I went over there and thought, 'Lord, what do You want me to stand by this rock for?'” He said, “I just raised the rock up. And when I did, a little Easter lily had its head sticking up. It had been protected all through the storm. All through the poison gases, had never bothered it, for it was hid in the rock.”

I know my Redeemer liveth. O God, regardless of what the world says, hide me in the rock of ages, Lord. When the storms are past, let me raise my head to life again. Because He lives, we live also. What can the believer say that's been on the sands, who's witnessed these things? “I know my Redeemer liveth.”

The church, the world, is going to church this morning: lot of them to show a new coat, some of them to show a new hat. They won't see them no more till next Easter again. It's going out for a display of world and vanity. Many of them are going to church just to hide behind their sins and belong to certain great organizations and say, “I am a so-and-so. I belong to so-and-so.” That's all they know. That's all they believe.

But, oh, to we this morning, by the grace of God we've stood on a spot where Moses stood. We've stood in the spot where Job stood. We've stood in the spot where David stood. And we scream with all of our voice, “I know my Redeemer liveth, and at the last days He'll stand on this earth: Though if the skin worms destroys this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Who I shall see for myself, my eyes shall behold, and not another.”

We've brought nothing into this world. It's vanity and pride. It's certain we take nothing out.

“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” One thing he knew, “My Redeemer liveth.” Not “He will live”; “He liveth.” That's continuation forever. He liveth! And because ... Jesus said, “Because I live, ye live also.” Let us bow our heads just a moment now for closing prayer.

Oh, today, my poor, decrepit friend, if you have never come to this spot.... “Oh,” you say, “I've been here at the tabernacle many times, Brother Branham.” That's wonderful, I appreciate that. “Oh, I've been to other churches. I've heard fine ministers speak.” That's wonderful. “I read my Bible.” That's still fine, but have you ever come to that spot?—where He's lifted up the curtain. That sacred place where an experience struck your heart, that you know Easter wasn't some fairy tale. That you know Easter wasn't a Santa Claus, some little fiction something. That you know it for yourself that He lives; and because that He lives, you live also.

If you've never experienced that, this is the best time in the world to let God raise up the curtain this morning. Jesus is alive. He's loose in the earth this morning. He's your Saviour today, He may be your judge tomorrow. But have you never met that experience? If not, would you just raise up your hands and say, “God, be merciful to me, I now will believe.”

The person back there with their hand. God bless you, sir, over there. Someone else, raise your hands. All in here now that has not had that experience, would you raise your hand, say, “God, this morning in your own divine way—I'll not asked You or tell You how You must give it to me, Lord—but in Your own divine way, Lord, will You take me to that spot where something will happen in my heart? I've had my ups and my downs, my ins and my outs, and I just simply can't stay steady, somehow.

“But let this be a real Easter to me. Take me to that spot, Lord, at the backside of the desert. There mold my heart just now, and give me those sacred sands to stand on: where no demon or nothing else or anyone would ever say anything to me, I know it's real. Let me look past the curtain of time for tomorrow. That's why I come here this morning, Lord, to find that. I heard the preacher try to explain it. I want You to reveal it to me.”

Would you raise your hand. God bless you, lady. God bless you, you back there, the young man. God be with you. To my left here, over in the left aisle, to my left, would anyone say, “God, be merciful to me just now”? God bless you over here in the other aisle. Yes, raise your hands, say, “God, be merciful to me.” God bless you, young lady.

I'm homesick and tired, and I want to see Jesus,

I want to hear the sweet harbor bells chime;

It would brighten my path and would banish all

fears;

Lord, let me look past the curtain of time.

Let me just look just a little, see Jesus in His resurrection.

Would there be another before closing in prayer now? Just be sincere. Raise your hand, “I've never witnessed the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Brother Branham.” That's what I'm speaking of. That's the only way you can become heirs of the promise is through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You know that. That's your birth, that's your sacred sand.

God bless you, lady. God bless you back there, son. God bless you, sir. God bless you, lady. God bless you in the back, that's right. God bless you, mister. God bless you, young fellow.

Lord, let me look past the curtain of time.

Let me look past the curtain of sorrow and

fear,

Let me hear the sweet harbor bell chime;

It would brighten my path and would banish all

fear,

Lord, let me look past the curtain of time.

If you're standing in that spot that you don't know just where you're at(Been ten or fifteen hands up, I feel that there's more.) on this Easter morning, why don't you raise your hand and say, “Lord, here I am. And when that pool opens at eleven o'clock, I'm going be right in that water, too. I'm going down for baptism, so I can be raised in newness of life to walk with You, Lord. I want to look past the curtain of time. I want to have an experience right now on this Easter morning, that I can say anytime through life, 'Yes, I was sitting in a little old block tabernacle one beautiful Easter morning. God raised up the curtain; I looked past. I seen my church didn't mean very much. I seen there was nothing on earth that meant very much to me anymore. There I sold out everything I had, I bought the Pearl of great price. I accepted Jesus as my Saviour.' I now raise my hands, Lord God. Be merciful to me, God; I want to look past the curtain of time.” Would there be another before closing just now?

Dear God, this is a solemn moment. We are enjoying the blessings. We have enjoyed the Word. We've enjoyed more than we can explain: the presence of the Holy Spirit who has given us this great assurance that we have passed ... and we have passed from death unto life.

And there are those who are present now, Lord, many of them have raised their hands. This is a solemn moment. Maybe they might've been trained in some religious school. They might've burnt candles, they might've repeated prayers over beads, they might've joined some denomination, been immersed in some certain way, had water poured on their head or sprinkled, they might've repeated the Apostles' Creed and went through a ritual routine—but have never come to that sacred sand, have never come to that spot like Job did, like Moses, like Abraham, like all Thy children did. They've never come to that spot like those disciples who went to the tomb that morning and found He was gone.

Grant, Lord, just now, those who raised their hands, that the great Holy Spirit will come into their hearts and perform this great work that we now ask for. Hear us, Lord. They're Yours, they're the fruits of the message. I pray that You'll bless them wonderfully. Give unto them the baptism of the Holy Spirit, today. And we don't know, we may never see another Easter. No doubt there's some in here that won't. Not a Easter like this, an Easter as a memorial. But, Lord, may they see that real Easter. That one, Lord, that where their body shall shape in the form of a young man or woman again, come forth from the grave to live forever. Bless them, Lord; they're Yours.

You was the One who drawed them, for it is written, “No man can come to Me, except My Father draws him first.” Now they're Yours. If You drawed them, if You're close enough to them to draw their hands up in the air, You're close enough to do the rest of the work. They're Yours, Father. Grant that this will be the peace time for them.

Thank You for all these who have made their decision long ago, and have experienced a new life, stood on the sacred sands. We're here to rejoice this morning with them in the hopes of the coming of the Lord Jesus; when we too will fellowship with Him in His resurrection, as we fellowship in His suffering. Grant it, Lord. May His Spirit lead us and guide us as we journey on.

Give us a great service now at nine-thirty, Lord. And immediately heal the sick and the afflicted. May those who have never been immersed yet come to the grave this morning, go down and rise again in the water grave here, Lord, as been commissioned by our Lord. After His resurrection He appeared and said, “Go unto all the world, preach the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Grant, Lord, that it'll be so.

Give us a great night tonight. Do, Father, give us a great day. May we long enjoy the presence of God, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

There's something about that old song, it just does something to me. When darkness is gone what happens? Light. Let's sing it now to the glory of God. Everyone together, now.

Oh, we'll walk in the light, a beautiful light,

Come where the dewdrops of mercy are bright;

Shine all around us by day and by night,

Jesus, the light of the world.

When He come forth on Easter morning, He broke all the darkness. Just fled away. Now He stands as the light. “I am the resurrection and life.” The resurrection and the life, the resurrection and the hereafter. All in all is in Him.

Don't you love Him? How many loves Him, raise up your hands real high. That's good. Shake hands now with somebody sitting next to you while we sing again.

We will (To the right, to the left, to the

back, to the front.) beautiful light....

The services will be next, now, at nine-thirty. And then there'll be a preaching service, a prayer for the sick, baptismal service will start at eleven o'clock. All you who wants to be baptized, by immersing, the pool is filled. I'll bring my clothes, we'll be back in a little while.

Then tonight is another service tonight coming up. Healing line. A message and the healing line, and we'll see what ... tonight is communion night at the tabernacle again. Well, see, we got a very busy program; so, we'll have to hurry on now. Go to your provided places, have breakfast, and return rejoicing.

While we stand now and sing, “He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today.” All right, Brother Neville, would you come over.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along

life's narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives? He lives

within my heart.

Now, everybody, a great “hallelujah!” Hallelujah!

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along

life's narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives? He lives

within my heart.

Let's sing it again. When we get to that, “He lives, He lives,” let's raise our hands to Him like that. “He lives, He lives. Ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.” Everybody now.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me, He talks with me along

life's narrow way.

He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know He lives? (all right,

now) He lives within my heart.

Isn't He wonderful? This sacred, solemn moment now, before we're dismissed to go to our homes for our breakfast. Return back rejoicing. I'm going to ask, as we bow our heads, if our beloved Brother Faust here, from Canada, if he would dismiss us in a word of prayer. Brother Faust, if you will.