We Would See Jesus

Thank you. Remain standing just a moment now for prayer. Dear God, we have assembled here tonight for no other purpose but to learn of Thee and of Thy goodness to the children of men. And we would ask You to visit us tonight, with a great outpouring of Thy presence. Give unto us, Lord, the desire of our hungry hearts, for it's truly ... that's what we hunger for, is to know Him. And to know Him is life. And oh, what is greater tonight than life? So we would ask You to give us the abundance of life tonight.

And Lord, in doing so, if there would be some here who does not know Thee, and has not yet received everlasting life, may this be the night that they'll say that one eternal, “Yes,” to the Almighty God.

We would ask You also, Lord, to not forget those who are sick and afflicted and so needy: the dumb, and the blind, and the deaf, and the cancer-ridden, and all manner of sickness. Thou art just the same today as You was yesterday, and shall forever be the same. So help us tonight to enjoy this full fellowship of the presence of the Son of God. For we ask it in His name. Amen.

The Lord bless you, and you may be seated.

I deem this a great privilege tonight to be back here in this great city of New York, in the service of the Lord God. It's been some time since I've had this great privilege. And usually when we come, we are on our road overseas. But tonight we're just leaving tomorrow for the neighboring city. And we are trusting that God will meet with us over there also.

Sometime ago, I was asked by our dear friend, Brother Sweet, when I was over in Brooklyn, if I would visit the city or the New England states, for it was on his heart that ... believing that the New England states had been greatly neglected in these type of meetings, such as the meetings of divine healing, and praying for the sick.

And it's always a privilege to get to serve those who are neglected. And we're going now, all through the New England states, this coming thirty days, a full thirty days of service. I believe there's two days, or maybe three, that I will not be preaching.

Then we return back to Dallas, Texas. And then over to the International Fellowship of the Independent Ministerial Association in Greeneville, South Carolina. And then back up to the New England states again for the Full Gospel Businessmen's International Convention.

Then from there we go to Durban, South Africa. Perhaps, back to Germany and some of the places as we can get staged.

So, they have taken much time tonight, because of being the first night. There's always just a little miscellaneous that they can't get to right quick. So, it's usually late then, when we get started.

But I'm sure the Lord will bless us if we just don't be nervous. Just.... We want to think that maybe it will be our time tonight to receive that great blessing that we've looked forward to for so long. I'm sure that every hungry heart here, is desiring something from our Lord. And He's just good to come and do it for us tonight. And we love Him for that, and we're here, myself, under great expectations for God to do something for us tonight.

And I won't speak to you very long. I just wish to read some of His Word. I love His Word. I'm sure you do too.

Now, this place, I suppose, is used for many things here in this great city. It could, perhaps, be used for dances and whatmore, but tonight we have dedicated this place for one purpose: that's for the meeting place of the children of God.

Then the church is in this building. The church is not a building anyhow; it's a people, a called out. The word church, means “called out.” And so, we are the people of God, by the grace of God, the called out, tonight, that's assembled ourselves together in this place.

So I wish to read from Saint John the twelfth chapter, the twentieth verse, just a little portion of the Scripture. Two verses.

And there were certain Greeks among them, which came up to the worship at the feast.

The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethesda of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

And in Hebrews the 13th chapter, the 8th verse, it says,

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday ... to-day, and forever.

This is rather an unusual Scripture reading for a Gospel meeting, yet, it is part of God's eternal, sacred Word. And it just coincides with all the rest of the Word of God. There's no Scripture but what links itself together with Scripture. Jesus said, “The Scripture cannot be broken.” Therefore, unusual, because it is a Word that was written in the first century, and this being the 20th century, it would certainly seem unusual.

Jesus is unusual to begin with, because He is unusual to the world, but not to His own. His acts and the things that He does ever remains, because He is God.

Now this Scripture tonight teaches that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I wonder if we would believe that with all of our hearts. It's got to be true. If it isn't true, then there's no other Scripture true, because they cannot be broken, and they're the words of the eternal God.

And these hungry Greeks who came to ask the question to Philip, I believe their desires is no more than our desires tonight. Every man that's ever heard of Jesus, that could find a place in his heart or her heart to worship Him and to love Him, desires to see Him.

And the Scripture says that He is the same as He was yesterday. Then it would not be an unusual thing if God would manifest Himself to us tonight just as He did in His Son, Christ Jesus, for we truly believe that He is not dead, He is living. If He is dead, our religion is in vain.

And I think that a great deal of trouble tonight, because that Mohammedanism, and Buddhism, and many of the isms of the world is predominate over Christianity, is because the weakness of the members of the body. I don't think that's to be blamed so much on the laity as it is upon the ministers.

Sometime ago, it was said that a young Mohammedan was asking the question ... or, he was asked why didn't he receive Christ as his Saviour instead of his dead prophet? And the young Mohammedan said, “Sir, what could your Christ do for me any more than my Mohammed?”

He said, “Well (the Christian said), our Christ can give you joy and peace, because He is risen from the dead.”

And the Mohammedan said, “Mohammed gives me joy and peace, and he's not risen from the dead.” And he said, “I do not believe that your Christ has raised from the dead,” said the Mohammedan to the Christian.

And the Christian said, “We know that He has risen from the dead, because He lives.”

And the Mohammedan said, “Where is He at?”

And the Christian said, “In my heart,” and that's good.

But the Mohammedan come back with this and said, “Mohammed lives in my heart.” And he said, “Mister, Mohammedanism can produce just as much psychology as Christianity can.” And he said, “We're just as happy believing that Mohammed will raise from the dead and conquer the world as you are believing that Christ will come to the earth again.”

You see, there is a depth to things. And the Mohammedan was correctly right. And the Christian knew that he had not met a man that had just simply—what we would express down in the South—“an overnight man.” We have taught Christianity in the line of psychology, many of us. And we've taught it in the line of some theology of our churches and our denominations.

But let me say this: Christianity goes a million miles beyond that. Christianity is presenting a living and a present day Jesus, just the same as He was then, or the Scriptures are wrong. We must face the fact that Christ said these things.

And the Mohammedan said to the Christian, “We are waiting for the time for you teachers to produce what He said you would.”

And he said, “What do you mean? The promises of, like, Mark 16?”

He said, “That's one of them.”

He said, “Well, we learned (the teacher did),” said, “that we learned that Mark 16 from the 9th verse on, is not inspired.”

And the Mohammedan come back with this. He said, “What kind of a book are you reading? If part of it is inspired and the rest of it is not inspired, how do you know what part really is inspired?” He said, “All of the Koran is inspired.” That's the Mohammedan Bible. And he said, “Mohammed only promised life after death, but your Christ promised that the things that He did, you'd do also, and we're waiting to see that produced, then we will believe.” The Christian was defeated. Certainly.

What we lack today, when Christ gave this commission to go into all the world—not to make churches, or to build buildings or to make schools (which are all right), but He said, “Preach the Gospel.” And the Gospel is not building buildings, or sending people to school, but it's the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit. Then He said, “These signs shall follow them that believe.”

And in the weakness of our theology, we've bypassed that and excused it to another day. But the Bible still remains, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Then if He is the same, He has to be the same in principle and power. He has to be the same as He was: only one difference, a corporal body.

But before He left the earth He said, “I am the vine; ye are the branches.” Now, the vine does not bear fruit. The branch bears fruit, not the vine. So He left in charge of His church, this great commission to bear the same fruit that He bore when He was here on earth.

If you would go to a grape vine, you'd expect to get grapes. If you went to a watermelon vine, you would receive watermelons, if it's a good fertile vine. If you went to a pumpkin vine, you would receive pumpkins.

But when we come to the vine of God's heritage, what do we find but fusses, and troubles, and barriers and all kinds of little isms and not the Spirit of God moving in the church as it should be. And yet, it's the vine of God.

What the palmerworm has left, the caterpillar has eaten. But God said, “I will restore, saith the Lord.” That's the glorious promise that we wait for.

Now, this Greek said, “We would see Jesus. Not so much as we would hear Him, but we would just love to see Him.” I just wonder if that wouldn't be the feeling tonight, of every person here, to see Jesus? Then how could we see Him? In His church, in His people: we are written epistles. The Spirit of Christ lives in His people and produces His life. And His ministry continues to go on until He comes again. And He is here. It's the blindness of our eyes, the reason we don't see Him. If we could just open our eyes to things that are real.

I live on the river (what time I'm home in Indiana); I live by the Ohio River. Sometime ago, a little boy had went to Sunday school in my city. He went up the river with an old fisherman. And he was a discouraged little boy, because he had asked his mommy one day, he said, “Mommy, God is so great, could anybody see Him?”

And she said, “Now, I don't know. You ask the pastor; he's coming home with us for dinner, Sunday.”

And he said to the pastor, “Could anyone see God, sir?”

“Why,” he said, “certainly not, son. No one can see God.”

And he asked his Sunday school teacher and she said, “Why, certainly not. No one can see God.”

But the little fellow with his enthusiasm thought, “Well, if He is so great, why can He not be seen?”

And up on the river one day, with the old fisherman, there'd come up a storm. And on the road back the old fisherman was pulling his boat, and the little lad was sitting in the stern of the boat. And the rainbow came out after the storm. And the old fisherman, with his gray beard, begin weeping as he looked at the rainbow. And the great bright tears begin to run down his white beard. It enthused the little lad until he ran up into the middle of the boat and fell down at the lap of the old fisherman. And he said, “Sir, I want to ask you a question that my mommy, or Sunday school teacher, or pastor could not answer me. Can anyone see God?”

And it was so much for the old man, he pulled his oars into his lap, and threw his arms around the little lad, and he said, “God bless your little heart. All I've seen for the past forty years has been God.” When God gets on the inside, you can see Him; but you can't see Him until He gets inside to look through your eyes.

A few weeks ago in our great city of Louisville, Kentucky, there was a noticeable sight of a woman. She had a little boy in her arms, of about six or seven years old. And she was in one of the great ten cent stores. And they noticed her going from counter to counter, picking up little gadgets and holding it before the little boy. And she would go to another counter, and pick up a different little gadget and hold it up to the little boy, and on down along the different counters. And the people begin watching her. And after a while she got to some sort of a little a thing that made a noise and rattled. And she picked it up before the little lad and she rattled it. And she laid it down and fell across the counter, weeping. And some who were around near, came to comfort her. And they said, “Lady, why are you weeping so?”

And she said, “Oh, it's no better.”

They said, “What is no better?”

Said, “The little boy.” said, “The doctor said he was better, but he is no better, or he could notice some of these things that children ought to notice.” His mind was gone.

And I just wonder, in this day that we now live, if God isn't taking His child from place to place and manifesting different gifts and so forth before them, and they still sit numb-brained—just so dead in sin and trespasses, until they can't see the glory and the gift of the Lord that He's trying to present before them.

May that be far from this great church tonight that's gathered here. As God reveals Himself, may we be earnest and sincere to see that it is Christ trying to make Himself known to His church, for the salvation of souls, and the healing of the body, and for every redemptive blessing that He died for. All belongs to His church and to every believer.

It would not be fair just to start a meeting upon bare testimony. It is profitable that we should search into the Scriptures for a few moments to find a context of the Scripture to what we are speaking of.

Now, we would see what Jesus was and how He made Himself known to people in the days of His walk on earth. Then if He presented Himself in such a way and such a manner in the days of His walk on earth, would not it be logical to think that, if He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that He would present Himself to His people in the same manner today? It certainly would. Then let us look for a minute and see what He was.

In the book of Saint John, the fifth chapter and the nineteenth verse, we find it reading like this: when He'd been questioned on something that He had did, and why He had left a multitude of people and had healed one man, He answered like this: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing in Himself; but what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son likewise.” If that was His answer yesterday, that would be His answer today, for He could not change it. To remain the same, He must be the same.

“I do nothing in Myself but what I see the Father doing.” And God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. God had confined Himself to one body; that was His Son. Through the death of His Son, brought God to the entire church, universal. Through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, through the blood of Christ, cleanses mortal man and makes them—not in themselves, but by the grace of God through His grace—makes them subjects of the Holy Spirit, that He talks and walks and preaches and acts through His church, His vine ... or, His branches that's connected in Him.

He said, “It's not Me that doeth the works. It's My Father that dwelleth in Me; He doeth the works. I do nothing Myself, but what He tells Me to do ... or, shows Me to do—shows Me to do.” So Jesus must have (no other way to make that Scripture right), then Jesus had to see visions of what the Father's will was to do, then He went and done it. If you'll read the preceding context of that, you'll find that it's true, for He could not have passed great multitudes of lame, blind, halt, and withered, and went to one man laying on a pallet and healed him—for He knew he'd been in that condition for many years.

Now, we find out then, that He just walked as the Father guided and directed Him.

Oh, would it not be a glorious thing tonight, if this entire church could have that testimony: “I always do that which is pleasing to the Father”? Would not that thrill the heart of His church to have that testimony? There would be a translation like Enoch's time. And it'll have to be that near His coming.

Now, let us turn to the first chapter of Saint John, and just preview what He was yesterday. Then we will have some general idea of what He would be today. In the first chapter of Saint John, after the Father had come upon Him in the form of a dove (and Him being the Lamb—for the two natures are exactly the same), the Father represented Himself as a bird; He represented His Son as a lamb.

The dove is the gentlest thing of heaven. And the lamb is the gentlest beast on earth. They had to be the same. If the dove would've flew on a wolf, the wolf would've snorted and the dove would have taken his flight. And that's the way today, that we find ourselves—with all of our tempers and our fussings. The Holy Spirit is gentle. It will only dwell in a gentle place: Lamb led by a dove....

And His ministry started. And one of the first things we find, that there was one by the name of Andrew who got converted to Christian religion. And quickly he goes and gets his brother. And his brother's name was Simon. And as soon as Simon came into the presence of the Lord Jesus, we hear the Scripture (Saint John 1) say, that Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, but I'm going to change it and call you Peter.” And He said, “Your father's name is Jonas.”

What do you think took place in the heart of that illiterate fisherman? The Bible said he was ignorant and unlearned. Jesus didn't say, “You need a seminary experience,” or “You need to know all the religious prayers.” He just performed a miracle that set that apostle's heart on fire. “Your name is Simon, but thou shalt be called Peter, a little stone. And you are the son of Jonas.” And it thrilled him.

And then there was another who came, by the name of Philip, that we have just read about. And as soon as he found this great fountain, he could not keep it to himself. And if the church truly found the fountain, there's something about Jesus, when you find Him, you have to tell others. That's how the good news spreads.

And he had a friend that lived some fifteen miles around the mountain. And he took off speedily to find this friend. And when he come to him, perhaps he was under a tree, praying. The Bible said he was under a tree. And Philip waited, of course, being a Christian gentleman, until he had finished praying. Then I could see Nathanael rise up, and brush the dust from his clothes, and greet his friend. And before he could say, “Good morning, or good afternoon, Nathanael.” Said, “Oh, come, see who we have found.” Oh, there's something about Him that when you find Him, your soul is thrilled and that's the first thing in your mind: “Oh, come, see who we have found, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph.”

And of course this orthodox believer said ... now, I can just hear him say, “Now, just a minute, here, Philip. You must've went off on the deep end. You've come here telling me in such a time as this, that the Messiah has come? And you mean to tell me that He would come out of Nazareth, that wicked little city? If He come, He'd have to come from Jerusalem or some great cathedral, and all the great religious leaders would know about it.”

But God does things so peculiar. He just does it in His own blessed way. I'm so glad of that. “Surely He would be at the Vatican, or He would be at the Westminster Abbey, or somewhere, if He comes.” But God comes wherever it pleases Him to come. He does things in His own blessed way.

And he said, “Now, just a minute, Philip. I've known you to be an honest man in our dealings, and now you mean to tell me that you've come here with some sort of a enthusiastic expression to say to me, that you've found the Messiah, and He comes from this type of people?”

And I think that Philip give him the best answer that any man could. He said, “Come and see.” Now, don't stay home and criticize, and don't take the priest's expression or his thoughts, or take what the pastor said, but come see for yourself,

for he had fifteen miles to converse with him.

So, as they went along, I can imagine hearing Philip quote to him the things that our Lord had did about.... Said, “You remember that old fisherman down there, that day when you bought those fish, and he couldn't sign the receipt for the fish?”

“Yes.”

“When he came up in front of this Nazarene, He told him who he was and told him who his father was.” Oh, I can hear him say, “It wouldn't surprise me if He didn't know who you were.”

“Now, just a minute,” says Nathanael. “I will draw my own conclusions when I get there.” And as they went along the road, they came to the meeting that evening where Jesus was at.

And when they walked up into His presence, the eye of the Master looked out and caught him. And He said to him, “Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no guile.”

Now, it might seem just a little thing for us to think on that, but did you know in that day, all people dressed alike and they looked alike. He could've been a Arab, or he could have been a Greek, or of many other of the people of that day of the Orient. They were dark people, and they all looked about alike and dressed something alike. But Jesus knew he was an Israelite and a honest man.

And it astonished him in such a way, Nathanael, until he said, “Rabbi, whence knowest Thou me?” And he's waiting now, for the answer of Jesus yesterday.

And He said, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the tree.” That was enough.

He said, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel.”

And He said, “Because I said this to you, you believed it?”

Now, if that was a sign to the Jews in that day, to mean that He was Messiah, that's the way He made the people to know that He was Messiah—and He hasn't changed a bit—it would have to be the same today if He is the same.

He would be unjust to manifest Himself to us in a way of theology and a way of just keeping a certain declaration of traditions of the elders, and then make Himself known in that way, and then claim that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He would have to keep that same thing.

There were those who stood by, who did not believe that—and religious, very religious, the cream of the crop, as so to say, as we say it in the south. There were the priests, and the high priest, and the evangelicals, the Orthodox. And they said, “This man has an evil spirit. This man must be a fortuneteller. He must be a Beelzebub, the king and the prince of all the fortunetellers.”

And what was the words that come from our Lord? He said, “I forgive you if you speak that word against Me, the Son of man.” But in so much like this: “There will come a day when the Holy Ghost will come and will do the same thing, and one word against it will never be forgiven in this world nor in the world that is to come.” Then how should we approach the Gospel?

Notice, there was one day (And I'm closing), He went, coming from Galilee, he had need to go by Samaria. And while He was weary and tired, he sat down at the well while His disciples went into the city to buy some victuals.

We find that the Orient, the well was just outside the city, usually. And while He was sitting there, weary in His journey, there came a young woman coming out of the city. Let us think that she was an attractive woman. And she let down her pot from off of her head. And they have two large handles and it's very amazing to watch how the women over there can pack water: can set a pot on top of their head, and one on each hip, and carry a conversation, and never spill the water.

But she let this pot down to get the water, and she noticed, sitting back in the corner, a middle aged man which was a Jew. And there was a great law of segregation in the land. And she heard this Jew say to her, “Woman, bring me a drink.”

Now, we will see how He manifest Himself before the Samaritans. You know there's only three nationalities of people in the world. They come from Noah's three sons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth: the Jew, the Samaritan, the Gentile.

Now, let's see how He manifests Himself to the Samaritans. We see how He did it to the Jew. Let's watch the Samaritan. “Woman bring Me a drink.”

And she said, “It's not customary for a Jew to ask a Samaritan such. We don't have any dealings with each other. And this is very unusual. We just don't have this, and we don't have any dealings with each other.”

He said, “Woman, if you knew who you were talking to, you would ask Me for a drink.” And He was contacting her spirit. And in a little while, after the conversation went at length, He said, “Go get your husband and come here.”

She said, “I don't have any husband.”

He said, “You have said well. You've had five husbands and the one that you now have, is not your husband; so you said well.”

Now, let's see what she says. What if she would have lived in New York, Philadelphia, or had been the members of some of our great churches? “My pastor says this is psychology, or it's telepathy.” What did she say? (You know the reason that people would say that? They're not trained in the Word.)

But this woman, though we want to believe her to be a prostitute, she'd put some preachers today, to shame on the Word. That's right. She said, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Now, we know when the Messiah cometh, He will tell us these things. He will tell us all things when He comes. You must be His prophet.” And she said, “When the Messiah, which is called Christ, when He comes, He will tell us these things.”

And He said, “I am He that speaks to you.”

And she left her water pot, and into the city she went with a heart full of revelation. She said to the men in the city, “Come, see a man who told me the things that's in my life. Isn't this the Messiah?”

When the gift of God was dazzled before that prostitute's eyes, she recognized it. But we are so dead and numb with our theologies, until we're blinded from the truth, many times, and can't see the gift of God, the Lord Jesus. “Oh, come, see a man that has told me what I am. Isn't this the Messiah?” Sure it is.

Now, if you notice, Jesus did not go to the Gentiles, and He forbid His disciples to go to the Gentiles. Therefore He was only manifested to the Gentiles through the teaching of Saint Paul. Now, if He manifested Himself yesterday to the Jew with that sign, He manifested to the Samaritan with that sign, and never has it been to the Gentile age (And this Gentile age is closing.) then, to be the same yesterday, today, and forever, He has to do the same. And in doing so, I challenge this little group tonight, if He would do such a thing.

Now, it's not the holiness of a man. There is no holy man. As Peter referred to the Mount Transfiguration once, he said, “The holy mount....” He did not mean the holy mountain; he meant the holy God that he met on the mountain. It isn't the holy church; it's the Holy Ghost in the church that makes it what it is. It is not the holy man; it's the Holy Spirit that has outlet through subjects of His earthly kingdom.

And if He should dazzle Himself before the blinded world tonight, they would have the same conception (and they are doing it) as the blinded Pharisees of the days of His being. Let us, tonight, ask God to open our eyes, and give us sight, and let His Spirit come into our hearts that He can look through our eyes, and hear through our ears, and reveal Himself to us as the risen Son of the living God, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. May His praises ever ring in the hearts of New York until the last person is sealed into the kingdom of God, that God has ordained to eternal life. Let us pray.

O blessed God, just one night in a city with the metropolitan area around here of about fifteen or sixteen million, what could one puny little man do? O Lord God, I would pray Thee to open the eyes of this entire audience tonight, that they might go from this great Manhattan Center here, with the revelation like the woman at the well: “Come, see a man, the man Christ, who is not dead but alive forevermore.” God raised Him up from the dead, set His corporal body on His own throne, and sent back the Holy Spirit to live in His church and to make disciples in all the world until He comes again. Grant it, Lord.

Circumcise the lips and the eyes and the ears of Your servants, that we might hear You speak and see You in Your resurrected power.

And from across this great city, when the people (The service shall end in a few moments.) and shall be going to their different homes, may they talk like those who came from Emmaus. After they had walked with Him all day, and had heard Him preach and tell them of the Scriptures, yet their eyes were not opened. Many here, Lord, You've fed, You've clothed, You've been good to. You spared their lives. And maybe they have never really realized where it come from. But while we're in the inn tonight, and the door is closed.... When You did that little thing just like you did before your crucifixion, Cleopas and his friend was assured that it was You, for no other man did it just that way, or no other man could do it just that way. And they knew it was the Lord, so their eyes were opened. And He vanished to one side, behind the curtain, and was out of their sight. And they went on their road rejoicing, saying, “Did not our hearts burn within us as He spoke to us along the road?”

Lord, as I go to my room and these others go to theirs, may that be our testimony tonight: “Did not our hearts burn within us as He spoke to us in the Manhattan Center, this night?” Grant it, Lord.

Someday when life shall end, and time shall be no more and shall blend itself into eternity, God, we will kneel, bending before Your presence, and worship You, and sit at Your feet. O grant it, Lord, for we ask it in Jesus' name, Thy Son. Amen.

Now, I know we have kept you at length. We don't mean to do it. It's just one night. We will be back, I think it's the thirtieth. And it would be hard. And these meetings, of the New England people, it's too bad it has to be set like this, but we're hurried. The message is urgent. God's message is always urgent.

You know, the angels that come to Abraham in his tent, just before Sodom was destroyed, do you remember, the Angel had His back turned to the tent where Sarah was when she laughed? How many ever read that? Let's see your hands. And the Angel said, “Why did Sarah laugh?” What was that? But that was the Angel that brought the last message before the destruction of Sodom. And remember, that was not an Angel; that was God, for Abraham called Him God in the Elohim, which is the Almighty, Jehovah.

Now tonight, if it so pleases our God, there's people in here.... How many sick people is in the building? Let's see your hands, all everywhere, balconies and all. There's perhaps a thousand or more, maybe more than that that's sick and needy of prayer. Now, my beloved friends, I wish that I could pray for each one of you and lay hands on you.

Now, I know that's a great doctrine, but you bear with me just a moment for this quotation. That's a Jewish sign. Jairus said, “Come, lay Your hands on my daughter and she will live.”

But the Gentile said, “I'm not worthy that You come under my roof. Just speak the word.”

It's not my hands that would help you, or the hands of any of your lovely pastors and teachers that's here, the servants of God. It isn't their hands or my hands; it's His hands. The Bible said that He is a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. Do you believe that? Well, how did they touch Him in His day?

There was a woman, one time, who had an infirmity a blood issue for several years. And she slipped through the crowd, and touched His garment and went off, and sat down or stood up or whatever she did. And Jesus turned and said, “Who has touched Me?”

“Why,” Peter said, “The whole multitude touches You.”

He said, “But I've gotten weak. Virtue has gone from Me.”

And He looked around until He found where that stream of faith was pouring from. Oh, they were touching Him: “Yes, I'm a member of Your church. I'm this, that....” But that isn't the touch that counts. He found that little weak looking woman, and He told her that she was healed, her faith had made her whole.

If that was Jesus yesterday, it's Jesus today. Now, the book of Hebrews says that He is now, right now, a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmity. Now, how would you touch Him if He is the same? It would be the same way she touched Him. Now, He's not here in a corporal body, so you'd have to touch Him spiritually. Then how would you know you touched Him? He would speak back to you as He did then. Would that make Him the same yesterday, today, and forever?

We will not, at this hour, call too many up here to the platform to pray for. We'll just call a few. And let every person in here, if you will just give this much attention to the Gospel.... Maybe it'd be a little different than what you're taught in your church. I have nothing against the way you teach it in your church; understand, not at all. But it's just like the man that was eating the watermelon down south. He said, “That was good, but there's more of it,” see. So it's good. Any man who teaches Christ in any manner, it's good; but there's some more of it coming to us tonight. So let's just not give the children a smell, and rub it across their lips, or paint a fire, and say, “That's what bloomed up in one day.” You can't get warm with a painted fire; it takes real fire to warm you.

What they did in the apostles' time, must be done today if the children's hearts are warmed by the presence of Christ. It's true.

Let's call a few people up to the platform. I believe.... Did you come, give out cards? How many numbers? One hundred? All right. My son, gave out a hundred prayer cards. They bring them down to the church and the people, and mix them up together before you and go out and hand them out one from the other.

All right. Let's start, say from.... We start from anywhere. Doesn't matter, just so we get somebody up here: three or four or five, just to get praying, so that ... by people seeing, then it drives the spirit of evil away, when they begin to believe.

Let's call number 1. Who has prayer card number 1, would you just raise up your hand? Where? Would you come right here, lady?

Number 2.... If you can get up.... If you can't now, the ushers will pack you up to platform if you can't rise when your number's called. Number 2, would you raise your hand, wherever you are? Number 2? Maybe they.... [Blank spot on tape.]

And we're looking for the coming of our Lord. Certainly we do. Now, don't you think that the closing, that the Gentile dispensation could not close...? Did you ever notice? I preached here, some time ago, on the subject of “The Junction.” And I was saying, at every junction the church runs cold and starchy for many years. And then at a junction of time, God sends an angel, prophet, manifestation, Spirit, gifts, miracles, wonders. How many know that, you Bible readers, let's see your hand?

Look at the antediluvian destruction. Before the end come, there was prophets, Enoch. There were signs and wonders; angels appeared; great things taking place.

Look at the coming out of the children of Israel out of Egypt. Look what taken place. See it cold and indifferent and a bunch of cold theology. And all at once an angel appeared, a prophet came. Signs and wonders came. Then it cooled off again.

Then the coming of the Lord Jesus. There came an angel, Gabriel, spoke to John's father and mother. And there came a prophet. Out from the prophet came the Christ. From the Christ came signs and wonders and miracles. We're at the end again. It's been a long spell of coldness, church theology, and indifference. We're at the junction time. We have no alternative at all, no other hope, outside the coming of the Lord Jesus.

I think we've got a fine president, President Dwight Eisenhower. I think he's a wonderful man. But put one in every county in the United States, would never do a bit of good. It will take the coming of the Lord Jesus to do it. Sin must be judged.

And I say this with respect, and as a Christian minister, if God lets this generation get by without giving them judgment, He would, as a just God, be duty bound to resurrect Sodom and Gomorrah and apologize to them for sinking them. That's right. He can't be one thing in one generation and another in another. For the very sins that we're guilty of, Sodom and Gomorrah was burnt up for that very same sin. And here we are, just as guilty and more today, so, there's nothing left.

I was looking tonight from the hotel room. These great high spires of the great city; I thought, “O God, one of these days, there'll be nothing but a pile of dust laying here, and the souls of these who walk in the street now, will be somewhere. Help me, O God, to do something while I'm here to point them to a Saviour.”

Did they all get into the line down there, everybody come? All but how many? Four lacking? Number 4. Number 4 was the one who failed to come. If anybody knows—in here, if there's a woman, man, boy or girl, whoever it is—that can find Number 4, put them in the line. It'll be all right.

Now, let's try that now, while we got these standing here. Now, how many in here are total strangers to me, let's see your hand? And now, all of you out there without prayer cards.... How many doesn't have a prayer card, and yet you want Christ to heal you, raise your hand? Well, just about.... Must not have give out very many cards. Maybe that's what it was. The same group raised their hands looked like. Now, if you haven't got a prayer card, therefore, you won't be in the line, now, as far as we know. But you just look to the Lord Jesus and say, “Lord, this minister has told me tonight that You're a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of my infirmities. And, O Lord God, I want to touch You for mercy.” See what He says. See what He does. See if He acts in the same way that He did when He was here on earth. You don't need to be up here. These are just people that come to get the meeting started. That's no assurance they'll be healed. It's your faith that heals you.

Now, I suppose that the lady before me is a stranger. We're strangers to each other, are we lady? You saw me before? I mean, I don't know you? No. I had a meeting, I suppose, when I was here before or something another. You was never in a healing line? You were just sitting out in the audience like that. All right. Now, of course, I would never know. Like somebody come back to service and say, “I was in the meeting at first. I was sitting in the balcony. I was sitting....” I would never know who it was, 'course not.

I don't know the lady, have never seen her in my life. She's seen me from an audience. Now, if the lady is sick, I don't know. But if the lady is sick, and I could heal her, and would not do it, I ought to take this Bible, and present it to some of my ministering brethren, and walk out of New York. That's right. If I could help her and would not do it, I'd be an awful person. But you see....

“Well,” you say, “Brother Branham, if you lay your hands on her and pray for her....” That might be all right too.

But look. If you went to a doctor's office and said, “Doctor, I'm suffering with terrible headaches” and he give you an aspirin and sent you home, he's only trying to get rid of you. That's right. A real doctor would diagnose that case, till he finds the cause. And from there.... You've got to know the cause before you get the cure. You don't know what you're doctoring.

So is it in the kingdom of God. Before you can pray a prayer of faith, you have to know the reason. Why? This might be an infidel. It might be a very ill-famed woman.

I don't know her. She might be a saint. I don't know who she is. And how can I pray a prayer of faith until I know what I'm doing? I will not ask her; I will ask Father, let Him tell me. Then Father, what He tells me, I know will be true.

Now, if I don't know her, and if the Lord Jesus will reveal just like He did the woman at the well, and tell her something that she has done, or not done, or something that's wrong with her, like there was with the woman at the well, and let it be right here (not in the...), right here so you can see it and know it, how many in here will believe that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead and lives in His church today? Bless your hearts. It may be a big city, but that's a very good representation of believers of Christ.

You know, God won't save all of New York. We know that. No. He will save the ones that by foreknowledge He knew and has elected to eternal life. The rest of their eyes will be closed. The very flood that saved Noah, drowned the unbelieving world. The very Gospel that's bringing healing and salvation to those who are elected to such, is blinding the eyes of leaders, and teachers, and church members throughout the world. Always the same, God can't change; He remains the same.

Now, if I said I could heal the woman, I'd be telling something wrong. I don't say that God will reveal to me; I'm trusting that He will. I have no control of this. I don't control it; it controls me. I don't know whether He will or will not. I cannot tell you. But if He does, we will all be thankful. We're ordained.

And now, Father, this preaching ... I am not a preacher, Lord. I have no education to speak. And I, being kind of broken in my English and my grammar, it's hard to make people understand me. But O Lord, Thou can do something to make the people understand that the cut up message is yet the truth. Declare it to be so, Lord, by manifesting Your Son, the Lord Jesus, in the power of His resurrection. And grant tonight that the life of the vine will come into the branches here and will bring forth to the unbeliever, that they might see and know that Christ still lives in His church. It's the grace of God that He does. Grant it, Lord. We submit ourselves unto Thee, now, for the next few minutes; for one word from You will mean more than all the preachers in the world could say. We're waiting for a word from You. Grant it, Lord, to us in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

Now, everyone just as reverent. And as you people come into the line, just be reverent. All of you in the line, are you strangers? I don't know what you are, or who you are, or to.... Raise your hands if you are, you that's standing in the line, put up your hands, up and down like that, just so that you'll know....

Here's a drama. It's not a show by no means. God don't have to do this, but He promised He would do it. He didn't have to heal when Jesus come, but He promised He would do it that it might be fulfilled.

Now, here is a man and a woman meeting for their first time in life like it was in Saint John 4. I do not know her. She does not know me. We're just standing here. But if the Lord God will tell me something as I have said to you, you have promised, and so has the audience, to believe that He is risen from the dead and is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

If the audience still hears my voice, I am very thankful to the Lord. The picture that you have of the Angel of the Lord, that light stands right here between me and the woman.

The lady has been somewhere to an examination for a doctor. And the examination, the doctor has advised an operation. That's a tumor and the tumor is located in the stomach. It's enormous tumor. And she's up for an operation to take place this next month. That's “thus saith the Lord.” Do you believe? Are those things now true, lady? [Yes.] If they are, wave your hand to the audience.

Now, you say, “That could've been a guess.” Let us speak to her just a little further. Maybe now, that the Holy Spirit is....

How many have seen the picture of the Angel of the Lord, that picture that's hanging yonder in Washington, DC? They have it here in the book and also.... That's what's taken place just now, see. It's the pillar of fire that led the children of Israel. Not me, no more than it was Moses. And when He was on earth, He said ... He was manifested, this same pillar of fire, because He said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” Is that right? That was when He talked to Moses in the burning bush. He said, “I came from God, and I go to God.” Is that right? Well, if He went back to where He was before He came flesh, He went back to the pillar of fire. Is that right?

When Paul met Him on the road to Damascus, what was He? Back to a pillar of fire, a light that put Paul's eyes out in His presence, yet He walked. It's Him.

Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, so send I you.” The Father that sent Him, went with Him and was in Him. The Christ that sends His disciple goes with him, is in you. Not the disciples, but the Christ. “Not me, but My Father that dwelleth in Me,” He said.

Let's see now, whatever it was, I don't know what was said 'cause it's a vision. The recording boys here have it, what was said. Test it; see if it's true. Now, ever what it was was true; is that right, lady? Now, if you'll just be reverent a moment, let's see if He would tell us something, so it'd take the scare from the people (You see?) ... or the thoughts.

Yes, I see a doctor looking at the woman. That's right. I see a man appear. It's a man that this woman has on her heart to pray for. And she's been praying for this man. And this man suffers with something that's crippling. It's arthritis. The man has arthritis. That is right. And that man, if he's standing now by a vision in the Presence, he has a burden on his heart and that's for the salvation of his daughter. It's exactly right, “thus saith the Lord.”

Do you believe? As you have believed, so will it be to you. God bless you. Go and God's peace rest on you. Does the audience believe? Have faith now in God. Just be real reverent for a few moments.

How do you do. I suppose our first time meeting, but God knows us both. He knows all about us. Now, be just reverent as you can, friends. Something's happened in the audience. See, I just ... [unclear words]. Each one of you just ... each one of you is a being. Now, you say, “Brother Branham, that's psychology.” If it is, Jesus used it when He put them all out of the house when He raised Jairus' daughter; when He took the men outside the multitude. No, you're a spirit, the same as mortal. Just be real reverent now.

I seen an operation. Someone with an operation. Where is the lady that's healed just a few moments ago? Was it.... Is she in the audience? Where did she go to? Was there something that taken place about her? Oh, it was a lady there.... No, it isn't her. No. The Lord God will reveal it. We shall never be defeated. No matter what takes place, you will never be defeated.

Here's the lady sitting right over here. She's had an operation. Sitting there on the end of the row, she's had an operation, and the sickness keeps pulling her out of the operation. That was you, wasn't it? All right. Go on your road. It's going to stop now. You'll be well. Your faith made you whole.

Just love Him now, with all your heart, because He's sweet and humble and the Holy Spirit is very timid. Just love Him and believe with all your heart now. You can receive whatever you ask for, what you believe, and you can receive it.

The lady standing before me.... Of course, not knowing you, as different ages and born probably miles apart and years apart, our first time meeting, I suppose. I have no idea who you are or what you are, but if God will reveal to me now, being it's already struck the audience, the people ... their faith now moving. I don't know how far down the line we will come.

But if God will strike or move and will reveal to me something that you are here for, or something that you have done, or some matter, just like I've been preaching about, would you believe that He would give you what you ask for? You would believe it?

The lady, trouble is in her back and in her spine. She has a terrible back and spine condition. She fell and got hurt. That's been two or three months ago you did this. And you're here for me to ask God to heal you. You're not from this city. You're from another city called Brooklyn. Now, return back, for you're going to get well. Jesus Christ will make you well. The thing is cursed; it's gone. You'll be well. God bless you, lady. If thou canst believe, all things are possible.

If the Lord God will tell me what you are here for, what's wrong with you, or something in that manner, you will believe on the Lord Jesus? Your main thing here for, is for somebody else. You have already accepted your healing from some time, for a place that runs. But you are here for someone else, a friend of yours which has a stroke. That's right. Go believe it, and they'll come out of it. Believe it with all your heart. All right. Have faith in God. Hast thou believed on the Lord Jesus as yet? Just have faith now. Don't doubt.

We are strangers to each other, I suppose, sister dear? If thou canst believe....

The lady sitting here, right here, right down in front there looking at me, suffering with cancer, do you believe the Lord Jesus is going to heal you and make you well of this cancer? You believe He will do it? You can have what you've said then. God bless you, lady. There was a dark shadow over you; it's passed away now. Just have faith in God.

The little lady sitting back there with the little white jacket or thing on, you can't sleep at night. Do you believe the Lord Jesus is going to give you sleep from now on? That you might know I was His prophet, or His servant, that's your husband sitting by you. Do you believe that God can heal him? If God will reveal to me what his trouble is, will you believe it? Then the arthritis will go from you, sir. You can go home now, and be well, and be a happy family. What did they touch? They never touched me. They're twenty yards from me. I don't know them. If I do not know you, sir, wave your hand like this that I don't know you. I do not know you. Never seen them in my life, but they touched something. They touched the High Priest that can be feel ... but He turns around and acts just like He did yesterday, He does today, and will be forever. Just believe Him. Don't doubt Him. Believe Him with all your heart, and God shall make it known unto you, your desire.

You believe me to be His servant? Now, the reason I say that, as Peter and John passed through the gate called Beautiful, they said, “Look on us.” See, it was to catch their attention. Jesus said to the woman at the well, “Bring Me a drink.” It's something that you say to a person to catch their attention, 'cause you are a human being. And you have a soul in which Christ died for. If Christ will reveal to me what your trouble is, or something about you that you know that I know not, or act as He did the days gone by, will you accept Him as you're healer? You will? May the Lord grant it.

Just be real patient. Just keep believing. See, you're touching. I wished I could explain it. There's no way to do it; you can't explain God; you've got to believe God.

I see you standing by a stairway or something. Oh, you've gotten hurt on a stairway sometime ago. And it ruptured the stomach and the intestinal track. I see you go to a hospital twice: You've had two times of surgery, and it hasn't done you any good. You believe it's going to be now, though? You know standing in the presence of a man like me wouldn't make you feel that way. That Angel of the Lord is around you, lady. That you might know I'm His servant, Mrs. Eckerd, you're from Jersey City. Return home, 'cause you're going to get well. Amen. Believe with all your heart. God bless you, sister dear.

Just have faith in God. Don't doubt. Believe with all your heart, and you can receive what you ask for. How many out there is believing that? Don't move, please. Just sit real still. Be real reverent.

Now, we're in the presence of Jehovah, not your brother. I haven't even got a grammar school education. I don't know the first thing of.... I might say this: I don't know the book too well, but I know the Author of it. And you might disagree with me in my teachings, but when God confirms it, and I read it out of the Bible, that makes it so, for God testifies of the truth.

If thou canst believe, all things are possible. The little lady there with her hand up over her mouth, and suffering with those headaches, sitting right back behind Mother Brown, there, do you believe that God's going to make you well? You do? You were praying about it, wasn't you? That you might know, the lady sitting right on the end from you there. She's got trouble in her arms. She's suffering with a arm trouble. That's right, isn't it, lady? It's all gone now. Your headaches are finished, too. Raise your hands if that's so, dear heart. There you are. It's all over. What did you touch? You touched the High Priest that can be touched with the feeling of infirmity. That's exactly right. Don't fear. Don't be excited. Just have faith; don't doubt. Believe with all that's in you. Believe it with everything that's within you. Now, have faith. People are praying.

The little lady sitting here with her head down, suffering with sinus trouble. You believe the Lord healed you, lady? The little lady sitting there with the little pink looking dress on, you were praying, wasn't you? You were praying this prayer: “Lord, let him speak to me.” Is that right, raise up your hand? He knows your prayer. That's right.

What did you think about it, sitting next to her, with the white hat on? That thrilled you too, didn't it? It did? You believe He will heal that arthritis you have? You believe He'd make you well? Sure, well, then you can have what you've asked for. Amen.

The lady next to her there, has that bladder trouble. Do you think the Lord Jesus can make you well, lady? You accept it? Raise your hand if you do. All right, you can have what you've ask for. Oh, He's wonderful, isn't He? That's right.

Right behind the lady there a man's got bronchial trouble. You believe God will heal that bronchial trouble and make you well? If you believe. The little lady with the white hair, kind of down.... You believe He heals that bronchial trouble? All right, you can have what you ask for. I challenge you to believe Him here anywhere. Just believe Him.

The lady right behind there with her eyes up, praying, “Lord, I want to get rid of this arthritis.” Is that right, lady, is that what you said? It's gone from you, if you can believe.

The lady sitting next to you, with her hands over her mouth like this, she has sugar diabetes, and she's wanting to get rid of that. Is that right, lady? Wave your hand if that's right. All right. It's gone. If thou canst believe.... Do you believe? Just have faith. Every one of you can be healed right now. Just have faith now.

Here's a lady sitting here. Let's talk to the lady just a moment. See, friends, I could not heal you. I have nothing to heal you with. I'm not a doctor. I don't know nothing about medicine. I'm just His servant, Christ's. And the only thing I can do.... And far as healing, everyone of you is already healed. It's just your faith to accept it. You see what I mean? It's your faith to accept such. Here's the lady standing before me....

Colored lady, do you believe that.... Here we are. Here's a beautiful picture: white man and colored woman. Do you.... This is a picture of the subject I had tonight, the woman at the well. We are strangers to each other. The Lord Jesus knows us both, doesn't He? He does. If the Lord Jesus shall reveal to me the secret of your heart, or something that you are here for, that you know I don't know, would you be willing to spread it among your people and everywhere else, that He still remains the same? That's what you want to do?

Now, here's a picture of Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. I have never seen the woman in my life. God knows that. If I have, I didn't know her. We are strangers to one another, is that right? As a different race of people, both of us. I'm Anglo-Saxon and she's not, and here we are just exactly the same. Jesus let that woman know, there's no difference in the color or race of a person. We are all from the same tree, the same God, whether we are white, black, yellow, brown, whatever we are, we are of one people from one person, Adam. It's exactly right.

The countries we live in is changing our color, has nothing to do with our souls. We're all creatures of God. God made us the way we are, because He wanted us this way. It's exactly right.

The lady is Mrs. Weik. That's your name. You're from the city. Your house number is 555 Edgecombs Avenue. You are very nervous for one thing. But you have a great desire in your heart: you've been seeking the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and that's what you want is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's “thus saith the Lord.” Is that right? Go and receive it now. Christ will give it to you.

How many in here believes now, with all your heart? Do you believe me to be His servant? What about you with the crutches? You don't have to walk out with them if you'll just believe it. What about you in the wheelchairs, wherever you are? Do you believe with all your heart? Then I ask you to do one thing, to believe that the presence of Christ is here, and that's what's bringing these things to pass. Healing is something that's been done since Jesus died at Calvary. The lady sitting there had TB. It's over, sister. You don't have to worry about it no more. That's right.

And you, sitting on the edge of the seat there, that's got prostate trouble, at the back near that post. It's finished, sir. You have it no more. You can go home and be well. God bless you. I challenge you to believe Christ just now. I believe if you will do as I ask you.... The Bible says this now, Christ promised this. And here's, another thing He said in His last commission, “These signs shall follow them that believe: They shall lay their hands on the sick. They shall recover.” How many believers is there in here? Raise your hands. Now, lay your hands on somebody near you. No matter what you want, lay your hands, everywhere, on each other. If Christ keeps this part of His Word, how much easier is it for Him to keep that part of His Word?

Now, the Bible said, “These signs shall follow them that believe. If they lay their hands on the sick....” Now, pray the way you would in your church. Pray for one another, while I pray for you here, and see what the Lord will do. Everyone of you can be healed.

Eternal God, author of life, giver of every good gift, blesser of men's souls, we commit unto Thee, this audience of people, just now, that Thou will heal every person that's in Divine Presence. Grant, Almighty God, that their healing will now take place, as Satan has been exposed. His kingdom of darkness has been brought into the light and been made manifest through the resurrected Jesus Christ.

Oh, our God, we now challenge the devil, upon his bluff, we're calling his hand. Satan, you've held these people as long as you can. They have their hands over on one another as believers; that's the Word of the living God. I charge thee, Satan, through the commission of the Angel of God, by the Bible through the Holy Ghost, that you come out of every person in here and let them go free from sin, from sickness, from chains, from diseases, from afflictions. In Jesus' name, come out of the people. Amen.

I believe that every one of you in here was healed by the power of the Almighty God. He is present now. He's moving in the sanctuary. If you're a sinner, stand to your feet and accept Christ as your Saviour. Wonderful. If you are sick, stand to your feet and accept Him as your healer. Some hundred or more stood for salvation. Hundreds are standing for healing. You are healed in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. “By His stripes people are free....”