The Redeemer and the Great Redemption

The Redeemer and the Great Redemption

As we continue the story of the lost Siamese cat in Changi Point, which of course is at the East End of Singapore, close to Changi International Airport, Singapore Freight and some major Aeronautical companies and supplies.

And as we continue to watch the drama unfolding before us, it was a lesson I learned of how much a man would do to retrieve a lost beautiful cat! Why do you think this cat is so precious? I am sure with their wealth, they could easily get another such cat? No, but this cat is probably what they have and come to love, either the parents themselves or it belongs to one of their children. It was what the family had known and come to love and there was probably a bond, a petship so to speak. Her name, assuming it was a female feline, was given and their home was her home.

The search alone that evening, whilst we were watching from the sidelines, seeping our coffee and sensing the excitement and anticipation of finding that cat, caught in the thickets of a thorny bush that unless you use a large shear to cut through the boughs, you would not be able to reach the cat. How it got itslef entagngled and trapped inside there coud only be explained by the flexibility and agility of a frightened animal. Such an adorable creature, greenish-yellow eyes with a ghostly slit staring both in fear and in defiance. The bluish tinge of the head made it look sinisterly dark inside the enclosed and darkened space. It did not move nor could it moved.

Now think about ourselves like that cat, our names were written in the Lamb's book of Life. We are family to God but like the lost cat, we were caught in the thickets of the thorny bush of sins in this world. We were trapped when what we thought escaping from God was freedom. The more we burrow, the deeper we are caught. There seems to be no way out. A creature frozen in fear and dismay. We feel the insincerity of the people of this world, only seeking to reward themselves, the hypocritical attitude and the selfish abandonment of their wealth to pursue pleasure for pleasure sake. Chasing a false ideal, mermerized by the glitter of the materialistic world drummed daily into us by appealing to our senses in grandiose advertisements and the glitter of the Hollywood. As though, having wealth is evidence of success. Do we realise that everything we do seems to be just to pamper to our flesh? Where do we go from here? Two years ago, such a billionaire died in Singapore. When he was alive, he was feared by his employees, lived in a huge house, cars and servants were common.

But someone in that circle of employees, who had jumped at his very word, who had to be alert whenever he was near, ready to act upon his every syllable, oh how she realised then,  how fragile and transient, how powerless he was when he was laid into that plot of earth, in the cemetary, not larger than the maximum allowed coffin size of 3 by 7 feet and 6ft deep. Instead of fear, there was a hopeless feeling, of what is going to happen to everyone without his influence and business acumen? We read from the book of Job, chapter 14, particularly verse 6, "Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his days!" Job could not understand when he realised the Tree has a better hope than a dead man. It took a flash of revelation, to suddenly realised it depends on the fountain of life, that scent of water that a dead root felt, and us humans, when we die, our soul continues the journey if the price of redemption has been paid, that we are His possession because He sent His Son to die in our stead and we have accepted the pardon. This choice must be made when we are alive and when we are confronted with this offer of Salvation. Accept it and we live. Deny it, and we are His no longer.

Let us read the two accounts in the book of Job then:-

Job 14:1-12

(1) Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

(2) He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

(3) And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?

(4) Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

(5) Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

(6) Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.

(7) For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

(8) Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;

(9) Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.

(10) But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

(11) As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:

(12) So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

But in Chapter 19, when the revelation struck Job:-

Job 19:23-29

(23) Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!

(24) That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!

(25) For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:

(26) And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

(27) Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

(28) But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?

(29) Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.

Job chapter 14 described that trap, the devil has got us into. But Job 19 tells us the way out. Yet there is hope, there is love and there is bonding. Our heavenly Father is looking for us to help us because we are in no position to get out by ourselves like the lost cat. Her owner paid a dear price for her recovery. A S$1,000 reward for “lost and found” flyers printed and valuable time spent in looking and worrying over her. Our Father paid a heavy price too. He sent us His Son Jesus Christ to take our place. His only begotten Son. Conceived of the Holy Ghost born through the channel of the virgin Mary, a borrowed womb, a borrowed birth place and a borrowed tomb.

How can we not accept such Love. Unconditional and without boundaries because we are family, we are His and He knew us before the foundation of the world. He gave us Life that we can be an expression of His great love through recognition of our sinful state and how it will take the fuller's soap to make us clean.

We have to make a difference this year, the year 2015. We throw off the dirty rags and put on linen pure and white. Though our sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. In God's sight, we are justified.

65-1125 THE.INVISIBLE.UNION.OF.THE.BRIDE.OF.CHRIST_ SHREVEPORT.LA V-2 N-15 THURSDAY_

« 223 † Now, your old book is gone, with your old union. Now, your name in your old, in your... has been transferred. Now, you say, "Do you mean to tell me that my old book..." God put it in the Sea of His Forgetfulness. You stand perfectly before God.

224 Now, your name is now in the new Book; not the book of life, but the Lamb's Book of Life, what the Lamb redeemed. Not the old book of your natural union, but your new, Bride. Hallelujah! Your new life is in the Lamb's Book of Life, your marriage certificate, hallelujah, where your true Eternal germ, from the beginning, takes hold. Now you're not only forgiven, but you're justified. Glory! "Justified," Romans 5:1 said. Yeah. Romans 5:1 said, "Therefore being justified by faith."

« 225 † Look up the word. The word don't mean forgiven. The word means justified. It don't mean you're forgiven.

226 For instance, you heard I got drunk and--and done some evil things, and everything. Then you come around, say to me. You found out I didn't do them, then you come around, say, "Brother Branham, I forgive you." Forgive me? I didn't do it, at the first place. See?

227 Now, if I did do it, I'm guilty. But you could forgive me, and I wouldn't be guilty. But yet I'm not justified, because I actually done it.

228 But the word, justified, is though you never done it. Amen. It's not even regarded, at all. How is it done? In God's Book of the Sea of Forgetfulness, your old book and marriage is divorced and dead. It's not even in the memories of God. Amen. You are justified. "Therefore being justified." It was accused. You was accused. You never done it, in the first place. The old union is in the Sea of God's Forgetfulness. You wasn't married to it, to begin with. He, the Bridegroom, bore your shame, Himself, for you, in your place. He took your place, for you were predestinated for Him, to be in His Bride, before the foundation of the world. The Bible said so. You are the predestinated Seed.