GOD’S REDEEMED FAMILY

Thought for the book taken from the

Message delivered on January 10, 2010

Dawsonville, Georgia U.S.A.

©2010 by Ben Howard

All rights reserved. This book cannot be sold, nor in any way be used

for the soliciting of funds.

All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version Bible

Published by the Sound Of Liberty

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GOD’S REDEEMED FAMILY

As we look to the Word of God, I want to speak about God's Redeemed Family and as we look at God's family, we want to look at the different sections of it. We are going to deal with how God redeems all His family, and this is very important. One of the thoughts that I will bring in is the story of Ruth and Boaz and we see that Boaz wanted Ruth. He fell in love with Ruth, but in order to get Ruth, he had to take Naomi. Boaz married Ruth and in doing so he redeemed Naomi. This was the way the law was set up, Naomi was next of kin, so he couldn't get Ruth without taking Naomi; not for his wife, but he had to buy her possessions and take care of her. I am not going into all that part now, but it is a point I want to make a little later. In order to get Ruth, he had to redeem Naomi. I am looking at this: In order for Christ to redeem His wife, He had to redeem the whole thing. So that is one of the thoughts we will deal with. So I want to start in the Book of Genesis (genes) which is a seed book. Let's begin reading in Chapter 1:1 as we begin our journey in the Word of God. But let us pray before reading.

Father, I pray that you will bless us this morning and we will be able to speak words to benefit and bless your people and to be of a help. Oh God, as we look at your great story of redemption and see that we are part of it, we thank you Lord for your many blessings upon us. Bless the congregation here and bless the people that hear this Word wherever it goes and we will be careful to give all the praise and glory in Jesus Christ Name. Amen.

Genesis 1:1-3, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." Now let's go on to Verse 26, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: (watch what it says here) and let them have dominion (control) over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." Now I want you to notice, He said, "Let them have dominion." That means control. God made the earth for mankind. I have often said the earth is God's workshop to work out His plan, to bring us where He wants us, and here is where the redeemed family is going to live. He created and put mankind on earth and we will find out here that although mankind failed, God never fails.

The Word continues on, Verses 27-28, "So God created man in his own image, (that's spirit) in the image of God created he him; (now watch) male and female created he them." We see that God works this thing male and female, Christ and His wife. The devil wants to get it perverted with the so called same sex marriages of two males or two females; but God created it male and female. The fact is Adam was made spirit to begin with. God hadn't put them in flesh yet. Let's read on…"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.., which means back somewhere in another part of God's plan the earth was in use in another age. It was during this time that God tried the angels He had put in charge of the earth, but they sinned against God and the earth was overthrown. Now we see here in Genesis, God is putting man on earth and He told them 'before' He put them in an earthly body, He says; "Multiply and replenish the earth." He is planting that within the spirit of man to replenish the earth and subdue it. That means make it a habitable place for mankind to live. What He is saying is, "Make it the Garden of Eden all over." To begin this process God started the Garden of Eden, it was a small place and He told them, "As you need more space, subdue it and take it. Make it the Garden of Eden all over the whole world." But there was another spirit, there was a devil. The devil came into the picture and it was absolutely necessary to have a devil; otherwise we couldn't be tried. This old earth has gone through a lot of trouble, a lot of heartaches, but the whole thing is going to be redeemed, and it's going to be like the Garden of Eden. He is going to redeem the earth and all His family, and all the predestinated ones.

Notice what He says, "Subdue it and have dominion over it." Take dominion over it, it's yours. It's paid for. You don't have to make payments on it. The point being, God gave the whole thing to mankind to take care of it. The American Indians would say, "We can't sell the earth, it's not for sale, God gave it to us." Somehow they had that within them, that they knew it. "How can we sell something that doesn't belong to us? We are just keepers of the earth," the chiefs would say; which was impressive as far as I'm concerned. God said, "Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." We see that is the original commandment of God and that is the way it has to be.

Now Adam and Eve were the first son and daughter of God, and God put them in an earthly body. So we come to Chapter 2:7 of Genesis and it says, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Now I want you to notice that. He took that spirit that He made and He built a body here out of the dust of the earth. He breathed into that all those attributes that He had created, and that made Adam the god of this earth. Verses 8-9, "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; (I preached a message in Zambia entitled, "Paul Planted, Apollos Watered, and God Gave the Increase as We Labored together." We labor together; but it is God that makes things grow) … the tree of life also in the midst of the garden. Then he goes on and says.., (He now talks about another tree, and this is a tree that can get them in trouble)…and the tree of knowledge of good and evil." These are two Spiritual laws that God put in to govern mankind. Now He gave no instruction concerning the tree of life at this point; but He does the tree of the knowledge, because He was going to bring Adam and Eve together and they would have had children according to the plan of God that would have had eternal life. They would be partakers of the authority of God and there would be no death, no one could die.

Let's go on to Verse 10, "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads..., what I want you to notice is, God created one great place for the rivers to flow from; and that is just like the Spiritual bride. The Bible talks about the River of Life that is flowing now, the water of the Word. There is a great ministry that God set in the earth; apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Now Paul was that apostle to the Gentiles, but from the message he preached went forth – prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Those are the four streams of water that came forth from the one stream. Like Paul said, "I'm an apostle, teacher, preacher and that is why he taught the other ministers to teach the same thing as he did, because that is how the church would see eye to eye on the Word of God as they went forth. Paul told Timothy, "These things that you have heard of me, go teach other faithful men and they will teach others the same thing," and there is a ministry speaking the same thing seeing eye to eye. That's why Paul said, "As this River comes into the Spiritual realm, he said, "I would that you all have the same mind and same judgment so there would be no division among you." So the ministry has to start from the stream that God has ordained; then from there it goes to the other streams and it is all the same water, all the same teaching, the River of Life as it goes forth.

Now I am going to skip down to Verses 15-17, "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.., that's the fruit, vegetables, and all; but down here is the Spiritual law.., But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Now God gave no instruction concerning the tree of life, because He was going to connect the two trees together. In other words, don't go by your own knowledge. But Satan came into the serpent when he saw the law of reproduction begin to work in Eve's body. He made his move towards Eve, putting this carnal knowledge in Eve's mind, and convincing her to be with him in the intimate way. Then she in turn brought this carnal knowledge to Adam, and he partook with her thus stopping the connecting of the tree of knowledge and the tree of life together which would have produced children with eternal life. Not a single one of them would have died. But then there would not be a single one to go through the trials and testings that we go through today. I preached a message sometime back entitled, Unlike Eve, We Waited for the Voice of Authorization to Eat. As you see, Eve didn't wait until God connected that tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life together to bring forth the proper fruit in the way that it would have been, had they waited for instructions before eating.

Continuing on Verse 18, "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." 'Help meet.' Most preachers will say that God made Adam a helpmate. They say, "Eve was Adam's helpmate." But that 'help meet' means different, it means someone compatible, suitable, someone that would think like Adam, someone to share with Adam; not just a helpmate, but someone that was part of Adam. So a wife is a help meet, not a helpmate, not someone to work for you or help you in that sense; but someone compatible and we work together. We labor in the things of God, we share what God has given us together, and God put them more or less on equal terms here with Adam being in the leadership position. The old timers, mountain people use to say, "If my wife don't do what I tell her, I'll get me a limb off this tree and wear her out, whip her real good, because she is supposed to be my helpmate. She is supposed to do what I say." But that is not the original; that is what man has done, not God. He made man and wife one.

Notice, Adam was here in a body. He was now living, he was breathing; he was a human walking around. In Genesis, Chapter one, God created man, male and female created He him. See, it was all in Adam. But then it couldn't work as long as it was all in Adam. So God made a help meet. Let's go on down and read Verse 20, "…..but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." As with all of God's creation it takes male and female. God is not going to change it here in this last day with the wife of Christ. God started it off this way and that is the way the perfect plan of God is going to work. And in the millennium that is exactly the way it is going to be. So you can about figure out what's going to happen to those that want to change it now. Now some of our states have gotten same sex marriages. Well, let's go back to the Bible. Amen! Many people want to go along with it. Well, I'm sorry for you. I read the Word of God and what it says is the way I go, with no apology.

Let's continue Verse 21, "And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.., now I want you to notice that Adam was made from the dust of the earth, but Eve had a little advantage; she was made from Adam. I know when I went to school the girls would sing, "Boys are made of snails and puppy dog tails; but girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice." Well, the point being made here is that God took a rib from Adam and made Eve. Let's see how He makes her, Verse 22, "And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man." Now we have male and female. God created them in the spirit first and told them to multiply and replenish the earth, and then He actually put them into bodies so they could do that. And I tell you there's a people put into a body today, the Word of God says, "By one Spirit we are baptized into the body of Christ." Well here comes Christ down to earth in Revelation, Chapter 10; the Mighty Angel comes down and He has a body in the earth that He can do His work through. Paul said, "Ye are members of the body of Christ. You are part of the body of Christ and one member can't say to another, I have no need of you." Christ came down and took on a body; the same with Adam and Eve. That's the Mighty Angel of Revelation, Chapter 10.

Continuing our reading.., Genesis 2:23-25, "And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. Not only are they one flesh; but one spirit.., And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." Now there was the law of eternal life there. There was the law of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and they had not partaken of either tree yet; but they were full of the life of God ready to do what God ordained them to do. And that is the way the early church started out, full of the power of God. Paul introduced the bride to Christ as a chaste virgin ready to go forth. The dead were raised, the sick were healed and many, many things took place. They were ready to take the earth; but here came another being…Paul said, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity in Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:3) Also he said, "Now the spirit of iniquity is working among you, and when I am gone men will rise up and draw disciples after themselves." In other words, they will get out of that River that God set forth to carry this perfect Water to the nations of the world. They would make their own 'river' and dig their 'own wells.'

Now the serpent came – Chapter 3:1-2, "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? He's twisting the Word here. Remember last Sunday's message, How Jesus Disarmed Those That Were Armed with the Bible. Jesus came with the living Word and disarmed them. Well here comes this being, this preacher we could say, this priest, this denominational leader and he began to talk to Eve, the bride of Adam. He began to say, "Hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree?" He twisted the Word just enough to get her away from God's plan. "And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: (this is the natural fruit, we can eat of all of these) but notice, she brings in a different tree. Verses 3-5, "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, (which was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." Now God didn't say you couldn't touch it. See, the Word is beginning to get twisted a little bit here. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:" You can have a denomination and still be a good church. You can have a form of worship and still God will accept it. No you can't! It has to be led by the Spirit of God coming like the Word of God said it would be. I tell you, this is working just like God has ordained it to work; even though sometimes it looks a little out of kilter.

The serpent continues talking…"For God doeth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Notice what the serpent says here, "Because God does know." Now how did he know about God? Because he (the spirit that he was operating by) existed in a prehistoric age, before God created Adam and Eve. God overthrew his kingdom then in that prehistoric age. Yes, the devil knew about God's working. We could say here this man which was the priest, which was the preacher, which was the leader of the congregation that was not born again; that wanted to put his knowledge forth (the serpent here was like a carnal man, a beast of the field. He was not a son of God like Adam was). He began to tell Eve certain things, just twisting it a little bit, just enough to get her away from the Word. "For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, your eyes shall be open, and you shall be as gods knowing good and evil." Prior to this time, they only knew good and had they waited until God said, "Now it's time to join the tree of the knowledge and the tree of life together," they would have produced children with eternal life. But here the old serpent says, "The reason God doesn't want you to have this is because He wants you to stay dumb." This is the reason they say, "We'll go to Bible College and get smart. We don't want to be like some of those dumb mountain preachers." But that's where the life is.

Verses 6-7, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, (food for thought) and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." Now I want you to watch here, God's Redeemed Family is what I'm talking about. Here is how the family failed. The serpent and Eve came together in an illicit affair and broke God's Word. No longer could the tree of the knowledge and the tree of life be joined together to produce children with eternal life. We hear the words today, 'carnal knowledge' – some woman who wants to flaunt herself before men; they call her a carnal woman. Carnal men do the same thing, there's your – carnal knowledge. Well, Eve got the carnal knowledge here in the garden; but left off the tree of life which is revelation from God. God would have given revelation when it was time for Adam and Eve to come together and bring forth a child, connecting that tree of the knowledge of good and evil with the tree of life, and there would be children born and not one of them would have ever died. But we see it got off track and God allowed it. (When God gets His family over there, and all the members of that family are going to be there, yet they all had to come against the devil having one voice saying one thing and another voice saying another, but God's seed stayed with that Word). There are people like Joshua, when other people started going different ways Joshua said, "As far as me and my house, we'll serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15) He made a decision. That's why God allowed this in the garden to take place. So everyone that serves God has to make that decision on their own. I can't make it for you; father and mother can't make it for you. You have to make it yourself as God's Spirit begins to deal with your heart. Jesus said, "No man can come to me except the Father draws him." And He said, "And all that the Father has given me will come." There's not going to be a one of them lost. The book of life was ordained and written before the foundation of the world and now, 'because of the mess up' of the tree of the knowledge and the tree of life, there are multitudes in the earth today that could care less about God. Many of them say there is no God. But the scriptures tell us that, "It is a fool that says in his heart, there is no God." (Psalm 14:1)

Let's go to Verses 14-16, "And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life." Can you see that one? The serpent was a creature that walked around. I am not talking about snakes, there were snakes there already; but God took this man (serpent) from the highest level next to Adam and Eve, stripped him down and threw him on the ground and he became a serpent. But the point here is that he had already sowed his seed; he's already been with Eve. Now watch what it says, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." God is saying, "Never more will this thing be possible. I am going to send forth another seed (which would be Christ, seed of a woman), and He will bruise your heel; it will defeat you. "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception;.. in other words, I will multiply the times this condition in your body will occur and cause it to be unpleasant to you and your kind. So that eternal life was never connected in the woman. Therefore every child that is born into this world has to die unless it accepts eternal life, a second birth. That is why when the seed came back, the tree of life which was Jesus Christ; He said, "You can have a new birth to undo all of that." That's why Jesus said, "Ye must be born again to see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus asked, "How can I be born again; should I go in my mother's womb and be born a second time?" No this time it is by Spiritual birth. Everyone that is born into the world that receives eternal life, this side of the millennium, has to be born again by a Spiritual birth. Can you see that? The first birth, they messed it up – "in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, (not some other creature) and he shall rule over thee." And it stayed that way all through the Old Testament. But when the seed came back it was through the woman, the one who sold it out. It came right back through who? Mary. It came back through the woman. She became pregnant by obeying God; yet the Jews wanted to stone her and even Joseph tried to figure out a way to put her away without stoning her to death, because they thought she had been unfaithful. The religious leaders said unto Jesus, "We know ye be born of fornication." But it wasn't, it was the seed of God. Eve broke the Word of God and sold woman out; and He said, "Your husband will rule over thee." But here in the New Testament, it's not like that. Now to Adam God said, "Because you went along with it, I'm going to curse the ground for your sake." Watch what happened that day when the fall took place.

Verses 18-20, "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust thou return. And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living." She was the mother of all living, because there were two children born, Cain and Abel, twin sons begotten of two different fathers, the serpent and Adam. (When we look in the Bible we find no place where it says that Adam was the father of all living, think about it.)

Then God drove them from the garden. In other words, He took this from them, the opportunity to live there and live forever. He took that tree of life away. Verses 22-24, "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." Now notice man was set on a new level. Woman was on a new level, but was it good for them? Ultimately it would be. God made them where they could discern what was good and what was evil, and He put the choice in their hands. From now on, you're not innocent; from now on what you do, you are responsible. Then He goes on to say, "Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. "Now they didn't go anywhere physically; He sent them out of that Spiritual realm. "So he drove out the man (from the Spiritual garden) and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." I want you to notice that God took it away. That law was never lying there anymore, it was taken away, otherwise they could have realized later on, "Well, we've sinned," and went back and tried to do it the original way. There are people today, churches today that I have been acquainted with and know this is the truth yet they will say, "A man and a woman shouldn't have intimate relations unless they are doing it to have a baby." Well, that is total nonsense because God told Eve, "I will multiply thy sorrow and 'your desire' shall be to your husband." And God took that eternal law of life away. Now every child born has to get a new birth if they ever desire eternal life. Now we see that is where the human race failed. Let's watch God fix it for His glory.

Now let's go to Chapter 5 of the Book of Revelation, and then I want to make reference to what Jesus did at Calvary. God is going to redeem His family and it is going to be back like it was in the beginning – there was man and his wife – Adam and Eve. God gave them charge of the earth, to subdue it and take dominion over it. Well, it has come back to a man and a woman; and Paul said, "The first man Adam was earthy, but the second man was the Lord from heaven." As Adam was given a wife, so was Christ; and the Word says, "He would go to the Gentiles to get a wife for His Son." Acts 15:14 says, "Out of the Gentiles He would take a people for His namesake;" this is the wife of Christ. We find that Paul introduced the bride; he got her engaged as a chaste virgin to Christ, the Word. It says in 2 Corinthians 11:2, "I have espoused you as a chaste virgin." This was the Gentiles; this was God getting a Wife for Christ. But just as Eve got led aside by the serpent, so did that early church; they fell. The Bible says in Revelation, Chapter 2, to the very first church age, "Thou hast fallen from thy first love." Paul said, "There is a spirit of iniquity already working among you. There are men going to lead you aside." That is why they fell and went through the seven church ages. In the Old Testament there was a long period of time where they killed a lamb. But finally the seed was back on earth, that tree of life, the living Word. But those Jews said, "This man is of the devil; He's born of fornication," because they didn't have a revelation that He was born of the virgin, Mary. But there was someone that knew, the angel told Joseph, "….that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." (Matthew 1:20)

So the Jews, they rejected Him and God turned from them. He blinded them, Romans, Chapter 11. God blinded them and got a wife for His Son. Now you are that wife. You are Gentiles. Now the reason I brought that in about Naomi and Ruth at the beginning was, because in order to get Ruth, Boaz had to redeem the whole thing. In order to get the bride, Christ had to redeem the whole thing. Therefore in the Word of God, you'll hear talk about sons and daughters of God. We've had the question asked, "Who are sons and daughters?" We are all sons and daughters as God looks at us, but Christ has one wife and it is a Gentile bride. He calls out of the Gentiles a people for His namesake, and Paul introduced the Gentiles to Christ; a Gentile bride that would be married to Him as He brings back total redemption which includes a glorified body. But that sin had to be paid for somewhere down the road, that's why God typed it out in the Old Testament by killing a lamb. The Bible says, "To make atonement for their sins." Now the word atonement means covering. Don't miss this, I want to say something here, it means a covering. Their sins were covered; every year they would have to cover their sins. The sacrifice would have to be done over and over again. You get this in the Book of Hebrews. Every year they had to do it all over again – cover their sins, kill a lamb. But the blood of Jesus Christ doesn't just cover your sins, it 'remits' them. That's why on the Jewish Feast Day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost came back, Almighty God wanted to get Israel His wife first, which were the brethren of Christ. It was not the Lamb's wife at Pentecost, but that came later after Israel rejected God's plan. Acts 2:38 gives a clear signal. Peter said, "Repent and be baptized (not in the name of Adam – that day is over with. Adam lost it, but here came Jesus – the tree of life back again) in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission (notice it doesn't say 'covering' – but remit/remission; that takes them away as though you had never committed sin at all) of sin and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." When your sins are dropped into the blood of Jesus Christ, it's like dropping a drop of ink in bleach. It just takes it away and it doesn't exist anymore.

Now redemption in the Old Testament was when they offered the blood of bulls and goats to cover their sin; there the word 'atonement' was used. That is just like if you get something on your clothes, you might be able to wash it out and it may look like it is gone; but most of the time I find out if it is a white shirt or something that stain will appear again. But the word 'remission' means 'take it away as though it never happened.' Now what happened to that ink that was dropped into that bleach? It broke it up and sent it back to where it came from. The chemistry of it is totally broken up; there is no more ink, it's gone, it's finished. It's the same thing when your sins are dropped in the blood of Jesus Christ, when you repent and are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. It takes them away and God gives you the gift of righteousness. He took your sins and gave you His righteousness and you become as righteous as He is. Amen. You have no sins. That is why God can look at you and you can say, "I'm as righteous as Jesus is righteous, because He took my sins and gave me His righteousness."

Now here is a wife without sin. Here is our Adam which is Christ without sin and He has a wife without sin. Hallelujah! But what did the devil do? The serpent slipped in – where the Word says, "Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins," the serpent says, "No let's do it this way – instead of using the name of the Lord Jesus Christ let's change all that and use the titles, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost and sprinkle them and not call the name because it means the same thing." No it doesn't mean the same thing. He didn't say, "Repent every one of you and be baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." He said, "Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." When it was brought to the church it was the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me tell you something, after the day of Pentecost there is not one single incident in the entire Bible where anyone was ever baptized except in the name of the Lord. There is not one single incident in the Bible where anyone was ever baptized using the titles of, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, until the church fell away and went into the dark ages. In 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicaea when the Catholic Church began to spring forth that form of baptism started from there. The church fell away from the Word and it stayed that way and God took the little book, took the tree of life and He sealed it away within the Bible. It's the writings of Paul, the Spirit of it.

That is why I want to read here in Revelation, Chapter 5. I want to show you a book here. Now notice, there's two things I want to get: When Eve fell and Adam stepped across the line with her, then the devil had stopped them from getting the tree of life (book of life); but it did not go to the devil. Do you know where it went? It went back to the original owner. Let me give you an illustration so you will know what I am talking about. Like the deed to this property; I could say, I want to give you this whole entire place, but I want to connect one thing to it and that is that you mow the grass every two weeks and that you keep it clean, and that way it is yours forever." But here comes the neighbor and he says, "You don't need to mow grass every two weeks. It doesn't hurt anything to let it grow up a bit. You don't need to do that." Well, in that case I could get my deed back; but it wouldn't go to the neighbor, it would come back to me. When the devil got them to break the deed book – the Word – it didn't go to the devil. No. It went back to God who gave it. Now, here is this book in heaven in Revelation, Chapter 5. And the same thing when Paul gave the message to get the bride engaged to Christ, they fell away. But the tree of life (little book) for His wife didn't go to the devil, it didn't go to the antichrist; but it went right back to the hand of the Almighty and it was sealed within the big book (whole Bible) with seven seals. It stayed there throughout the seven church ages until He comes and brings it right back to earth, this time to marry the bride to Christ; now she becomes His wife. We see this happening in Revelation, Chapter 10. He brings it back and He tells John, "Go and take the little book." You're redeemed!

Now here's the book in Revelation 5:1-4, "And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals." Here it is, the book of redemption, and only one man could ever get it back. It was the Lord. "And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?" It couldn't be opened until the seals were taken off.

"And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon." Here was John the apostle, he knew these things. He said, "I wept much because no one was worthy to open or to even read the book." Meaning everything is taken from mankind's reach and is back now in the hand of God in heaven. The church fell. It didn't go into what God said it would. We have lost everything, the earth is not going into the millennium, the earth is not going to be restored and repopulated, because the deed is in heaven and no man can get it. John just began to cry, and the world today doesn't even know about it. But watch what happened here in Verses 5-8, "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the Tribe of Juda, (Jesus of Nazareth) the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the Book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain," (that was at Calvary). Here came a bloody Lamb with perfect blood. He's the only one. He came the Bible says, in the Book of Peter, "He neither sinned, nor was guile found in His mouth." He was the only one that could do it.

Now He was worthy to come and get what Adam lost. He was worthy to get what Paul lost. He was worthy to get what all of them lost. Here comes one that could do it, because He became a Lamb; because He died. "I beheld in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts stood a Lamb as it had been slain." That means He was a bloody Lamb… "having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne." Now watch, these seven eyes and seven horns have to do with the seven church ages as God dealt with them coming through this time period. But here He comes and takes the book. It is no longer in the hand of the Almighty, the deed of redemption that was in the hand of Adam, but Adam lost it and I'm glad he did. Do you know why? Because Eve would have had to die for her sins, or she would have been lost. But Adam stepped across the line, across the chasm. Adam would have been saved. Adam would have been a perfect man; but he wouldn't have a wife. He couldn't reproduce himself. He couldn't have a family. So he stepped across and went down with Eve. He paid the price and because he did this, all God's seed would be born, but all humanity would have to die. But here came one that had no death sentence on Him. In the garden He had prayed three times, His sweat became as great drops of blood and He said, "Lord if it be possible, is there any other way to get the book back to the people? If there is, let this cup pass from me." But then He said, "Nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done." And the angels came to comfort Him. Then He was taken to Pilate and to the cross. Pilate said, "Don't you know that I can kill you or I can let you go, whatever I want to do?" Jesus answered, "You can't do anything to me except the Father allows it." He said, "No man takes my life, I lay it down." He willingly laid down His life. Why? For you and me. How can we turn our backs on Him now? He died there, and obtained the right to the book of redemption. Now you have everything that Adam and Eve lost and also what the church lost; the earth belongs to you. The Lamb has redeemed everything, all God's sons and daughters, servants, and elders, all of them. Because the Lamb had to buy the whole thing in order to get the little book out. And when He came down in Revelation, Chapter 10, He gave the little book to His wife here. Therefore, when you eat the little book you pass a point as the trumpet (trump) sounds and the dead in Christ shall rise, you'll be changed in a moment and in the twinkling of an eye. You're just getting back what Adam and Eve had to begin with, plus the born again element gets a glorified body to go with it.

Continuing Verses 8-10, "And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. (There's not one prayer that goes unheard) And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." Now the world goes through the great tribulation period and there are many, many people that are not the bride. They are called foolish virgins and tribulation saints, and many of them die for their stand for the Word. The Bible says, "They wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb." At this time we have already overcome. We have already eaten the little book. We have already been raptured and gone to glory. He redeems the whole family by taking the book of redemption, by opening the seals and He redeems the earth also; but the part known as the little book, Christ brings down to a specific people, and that is the bride of Christ.

Now the earth goes into the millennium. Remember God told Adam and Eve multiply and replenish the earth, subdue it and take dominion over it. Well, that will take place in the millennium; there will be a thousand year period of time that we will be conquering this earth and taking dominion, and there will be natural people living on this earth to take care of it. These natural people have never had a new birth. They are just natural people that love God. They will love to farm; they love to take care of the earth. You can't talk to them much about spiritual things; but don't you try to tell them how to plant a garden. They will let you know quickly that they know how to plant a garden. They know how to take care of the land and they will take care of the earth in the millennium. God is going to give them eternal life and they will never die. They pass that great white throne judgment. They will enter into the joy of the Lord just the same as His wife and just like the tribulation saints. They will enter into that joy of the Lord with their natural body living eternally. The Bible says, "The nations (natural people) they shall walk in the light of that city and bring their honor and glory into it, and the leaves of that tree is for the healing of the nations." No one is going to be sick, but that is the natural, if they get a little fussing or argument amongst them they will sit under the influence of Christ's wife (the tree of life) and it will just go away. Then eternity will roll on. Because of Him! I can face tomorrow. Because of Him, that's it! He opened the book, because He became a bloody Lamb and He took the seals off. The Bible was opened, and Christ took the little book part of it and brought it down to earth and gave it to His wife.

Now getting back to Boaz and Ruth – in order for Boaz to get Ruth, he had to take Naomi, too. In order for Christ to get a wife, He had to redeem the whole thing. Therefore, He took the little book right out of the big book of redemption. He opened the seals, so the whole thing could be opened. He redeemed the whole thing and took the little book right out of the Bible. He had to open the whole Bible in order to take from it the little book and claim His wife. God bless you today. How God redeems His family! In the family there are servants, there are sons, there are daughters; and when you look at it from the standpoint of God; we are God's children. But there is a specific group that becomes Christ's wife. She becomes the Eve of the second Adam. When God looks at it, it is sons and daughters. If you will read the first three books of little John, he talks about sons and little children, and then he makes reference to the elect lady and thy sister one time. But we are the wife, we are that elect lady. John made reference to her. And in order for Christ to redeem the wife, He had to redeem the whole thing. And in order for Boaz to get Ruth, here stood Naomi. He had responsibility to Naomi, because she was the first one in line, like the Jews were the first one in line. In order to get Ruth, he had to redeem Naomi. See, there was someone that was in the natural kindred to Naomi, but did not wish to claim or redeem her, so that opened the door for Boaz and he relished the opportunity and did it. So Boaz went into the city and said, "Are you going to receive Ruth? And if you do, you're going to have to take Naomi, too." The near kinsman said, "I can't do it unless I mar my own inheritance." (Ruth 4:6) That's the way a lot of people are. Denominations can't take this, because if they do it will mar their inheritance with their denominational system. So, Boaz got the elders together and pulled his shoe off as a witness and said, "Let it be known that I purchase this. (Ruth 4:8-9) Let it be known that denominations, they don't want it." The Lamb bought it, and in buying it He got Ruth (Gentile wife) and Naomi (Jews). Christ dying on the cross, He got all the children of God, Jews and Gentiles. God's Redeemed Family – that's what we see over in the millennium. There will come a time the natural people can't even die. They will take care of the earth and it will be like the Garden of Eden all over; but His wife will be Spiritual just like Christ, bone of His bone, Spirit of His Spirit. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, Lord as we have brought this Word that you laid on my heart, it makes a complete picture and it makes us see, by Him opening the seven seals so the big book could be opened it let the little book out. By Boaz redeeming Naomi he got Ruth, his wife. I thank you Lord for the Word of God. I thank you for your people all over the world whether they are in the bride, wherever they are at, Jews or Gentiles. All nations, kindreds and tongues heard John praising God, because the book was opened and redemption is bought. Christ claimed the redemption that Adam lost of mankind and all the human race. And in Christ claiming it, He got a bride, a Gentile wife. Lord thank you for making us that. I thank you for it and commit this message into thy hands. Use it for your glory I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Do you love Him? Do you see this book of redemption? All the way through it is so perfect and so beautiful, so wonderful. And because He redeemed Israel, He got a wife. Amen again!

*Note to the reader: Read the books entitled, Finding the Little Book within the Big Book, and God Gave It All to the Wife of His Son for further enlightenment of the Book of Redemption.

AUDIO/VIDEO SERMONS AND BOOKS

All sermons by Brother Ben Howard are recorded on Cassette tape, CD's, DVD's, and Mp3 formats. Also, there is a collection of published books that are available for download or by request as well. Please feel free to visit us at our website often as new materials are constantly being added, or write to our postal address below.

Sound Of Liberty

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