Questions & Answers On Hebrews, Part 3
Questions 66 (COD Page 309)
Second Peter 2:4, “For if God has... For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down into hell,” then why did Christ preach to the spirits in prison, in First Peter 3:19?
614 Now, we got Peter 2:4, first. All right:
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down-down to hell, and-and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto the judgment;
615 Now, now let’s find out in First Peter (that’s Second Peter), First Peter 3:19, listen at this. Here we are, right here. These just come in, the reason I didn’t have them wrote out.
... which also... went and preached to the spirits in prison;
616 Oh, yes, here we are. Let’s begin a little before that, the
18th verse:
For Christ also... once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
Which sometime were disobedient,...
617 My dear friend, if you’d just read the next verse, and there It explained it. See?
Which were sometimes disobedient, which once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark being prepared, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. (See?)
618 Now, if you’ll notice in here, I think this preacher’s got another one on the... something on the same line, will be answered a little later.
619 First Peter 4... or 2:4, if you notice, “for if God spared not the angels,” how is that angel spelt? Little “a.” See? Now, over here, “the spirits that were in prison that repented not in the long-suffering of the days of Noah,” same angels. It was man: messengers, preachers; “spared not the angels.” Did you know that a... the word angel comes from the word “a messenger”? How many knows that angel is “messenger”? Absolutely, angel is a messenger, “and He spared not the angels.” See?
620 And over here in the Hebrews, you remember we went through it a few weeks ago, “the angels”?
621 And over in He-... in the Revelation, “To the angel of the church of Sardis write these things. To the angel of the church of Ephesus write these things. To the angel of the church... ” Remember that? And we run the angel word back, and from the dictionary, and find out that that means “a messenger.” It could be “a messenger on earth, a supernatural messenger,” the word angel.
622 So in this state, if we’d take the lexicon and run it back, you’ll find out it starts from “messengers, the first messengers.” See, “If the... If he spared not... For if God spared not the angels that sinned,” (See?) “and the supernatural beings,” (See?) “after the waiting... ”
Now watch, he said:
... if... spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be preserved unto judgment;
623 Then look over in First Peter here again, 3:19, watch how this reads now:
For by which also he went and preached to the spirits in prison;
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah,... (see,it was the messengers of that day, messengers)... while the ark was being prepared, wherein... that is, eight souls were saved by water.
624 Now if you’ll notice when those beings were in Heaven.
Now, over in Revelation 11... or the 7th chapter, I believe...
or no, no, it’s the 12th chapter. He gives a picture of the woman
standing; the moon at her head and the sun... or, the sun at
her head and the moon under her feet. And the red dragon
stood to devour the child as soon as he was borned, and he took
his tail and pulled a third of the stars of Heaven and cast them
to the earth. Did you notice that? Now, that doesn’t mean that
Satan has a-a long tail that he hooked around people, but “the
tale that he told,” and pulled a third part of those stars. Those
stars were Abraham’s seed.
625 Abraham said, “Oh... ”
626 God told Abraham, “Look up to the heavens, and number the stars if you can.”
627 He said, “I can’t do it.”
628 He said, “Neither will you be able to number your seed,” the stars.
629 Who is the bright and Morning Star? Jesus of Nazareth, the brightest that ever lived in human flesh. He is the bright and Morning Star. And He is the Seed of Abraham, coming through Isaac. And we, being dead in Christ, take on Abraham’s Seed and are heirs according to the promise.
630 So the stars of the heaven represented the spirits of man here. And when the red dragon (Rome, under its persecution) hugged in two thirds of the... or a third of the stars, and cast them down, that was at the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus when they rejected Him and He was... and cast Him out and had nothing to do with Him; there was that third part of the angelic stars, the angelic beings.
631 See, in your body, inside of you... (we got another question on that, directly, to answer it better). So when... Inside of you is a spirit, another man. The outside of you is a one man, the inside of you is another man. So the inside of you is the supernatural, the outside of you is the physical. See? And this being, if you are Spirit-led, by God, you became a messenger of God, or an angel.
God’s messenger, God’s angel, is the very same word; can’t separate it: God’s messenger, or, God’s angel.
632 And which has the greatest authority? An angel from Heaven or an angel at the pulpit? Which has it? The angel at the pulpit! Paul said, “If an angel from Heaven comes and preach any other gospel to you than this which I’ve already preached, let him be accursed.” So the angel anointed with the Holy Spirit and with the Word stands next to God. That’s right. In the Heaven, his authority...
633 “All powers in Heaven and earth is given to My hand. Go, and I’ll go with you. Whatever you bind on earth, I’ll bind in Heaven. What you loose on earth, I’ll loose in Heaven.”
634 Oh, if the great holy Church only realized its power to do these things. But there’s so much doubt and fear and trembling, wondering if it will, “Could it happen?” As long as that exists, the Church can never stand upright. And when every talk of fear is vanished and the Holy Spirit is completely in control of the Church, then all fears are gone, and that Church has the power. See? Why, they have everything that Heaven owns behind them. They’re ambassadors of the Throne. Absolutely! An ambassador of Christ has the authority, and everything that Christ owns belongs to that ambassador. And He said, “Go ye into all the world, you are My witnesses after the Holy Ghost is come on you.” And what is a witness? Is an ambassador; is to come and witness something. The whole powers of Heaven is right in your hands! Oh, why do we set? And the church is barren, and we set dormant. Is because that we don’t recognize these things.
635 Now, the souls that were in prison (that repented not), were not Angelic beings that had-had been brought down in the form of Angels, but it was the spirits of those angelic beings that fell before the foundation of the world, back there when the war went on in Heaven. And Satan and-and the dragon fought, and then... or Michael and-and the-the dragon fought (and Lucifer). And Lucifer was cast out with all of his children (all of the angels that he had deceived), and those angels come to the earth and was subject then to become human. And when they did, that’s when “the sons of God saw the daughters of man was fair, and took unto them wives.”
636 They are sons of God. Every man that’s borned in this earth is a son of God. Regardless of whether he’s sinner or what he is, he’s a son of God. Created in the image of God for the praises of God, he’s created that way. But God in the beginning knew who would receive Him and who would not receive Him. Therefore He could predestinate... or not predestinate, but by foreknowledge He could tell who would be saved and who wouldn’t be saved, for He knew which person would take up which spirit.
637 And those spirits that come from the Throne of God, and stands before the Throne of God, and lived... and billions and billions and aeons of time before the world ever begin, in the Presence of God, do you think they don’t know something about worship? And they come down and get right into man, and they worship God! Absolutely, they worship God; and they have a knowledge of God, and they’re smart, and shrewd, and educated, always. But God rejected them from the beginning!
638 So therefore, friend, membership of a church, or-or knowledge of some theology or something, doesn’t have one thing to do with It. It’s got to be the Blood of Jesus Christ and a new birth that joins you to Him as one person. There you are.
639 God, in the beginning when He knowed that... Man and women was made one, not two, they were made one. They were separated, one put in flesh and one in a theophany. He knew that. So in order to prove that to you: when God made the woman, He never took some dust and made her like He did the man; He took a rib out of the side of Adam, and she become a by-product of a man (because she’s part of him). You get It now? See? There you are.
640 There are the angels. And God and the spirit that’s joined with God is one Spirit. That’s right. Now, the Spirit of God that dwells in the Church, is the Spirit that come from Heaven, that God knew before the foundation of the world, that rejected the devil’s lie. And that spirit had to take a body of flesh to be... to take his testings. He had to come flesh like these others did, and all of them put on the equal yoke. And God, by the beginning, know the spirits that would, and which would not. There you are. That devil is so wise he’d just deceive the very elect, if possible.
641 So these spirits, these angels that preached, was in prison; angels, if you’ll notice it here, it’s a little “a” which means “man”; angels, messengers here on the earth. They sinned, and the only way that they could sin would be disbelieve! And the way... They had their own religions, and they did not believe the message of Noah. They did not believe the message of Enoch. And they rejected their Message, “and was condemned,” the Bible said they were.
642 Enoch prophesied to them, said, “The Lord’s coming with ten thousands of His saints.”
643 And they prophesied. And Noah built an ark, and they said, “He’s a holy-roller! He’s a fanatic! There is no such a thing as the rain coming.” And a hundred and twenty years went on, and he had a religion that had salvation in it, there was a way of escape made, but they were satisfied in their condition.
644 That’s the way it is today, that man are satisfied in their condition. But there is a way of escape, and that way is through Jesus Christ. Amen. There you are: the same tribe, the same spirits.
645 And they were absolutely religious man, very religious, but they missed the covenant vow.
646 So is it today. Man go to church, and join big churches, and try to be the most popular person in the city. If they want to join a church, they get the biggest in the city, the best and well-thought-of in the city. How far they miss the calling! How far they miss It!
647 The only way you’ll ever know Jesus Christ is by spiritual revelation, not by theology and how much you study the Bible. Whether you be Christian Science, Methodist, Jehovah Witness, or whatever you are; no matter what you are, you’ll never know It by the Word, it’s the Spirit of God that reveals Him to you. It’s a spiritual revelation!
648 When Adam (in the Garden of Eden) and Eve... when those children was cast out, here come Cain with good theology. He said, “God should know that we are doing this from the best-best of my heart. I’ll build a beautiful altar, I’ll put flowers on it, I’ll put fruits on it, I’ll make it pretty. Surely I can appease God with this and let Him know that I’m sincere in my heart.” He was right as far as the Word went; God wanted worship, he went to worship. He made a beautiful place to worship in, great, fine cathedral (as they call it today). And he made it right, he built it right and put an altar in it; he wasn’t an infidel.
649 But Abel, upon the Word of God... There was no Bible wrote then, but God revealed to him that it wasn’t fruit that brought us out of the Garden of Eden, it wasn’t apples that Adam and Eve ate, it was absolutely sexual things that had separated them and divided them. And knowing that they become mortal, and through the blood of Adam, and through the blood of the serpent that had started this, Abel, by Divine revelation, went and got a lamb and offered it. And God said, “That’s It!” Sure.
650 When they come down off of Mount Transfiguration, Jesus said, “Who does man say I the Son of man am?”
651 “Some say You’re ‘Moses,’ and some say You’re ‘Elias,’ and some say You’re ‘Jeremiah,’ and some say You’re ‘that prophet.’”
652 He said, “But who do you say I am?”
653 Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”
654 He said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.” (Watch!) “Not no more through the letter, not no more through the school; you never learned it in a seminary, neither did somebody tell you. Flesh and blood hath not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in Heaven has revealed it to you. And upon this rock I’ll build My Church, and the gates of hell can’t prevail against It.” There you are. There’s the Church of the living God. That’s it. Upon that church... Upon that revelation, this Church is built. It’s a Divine revelation that God has revealed, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and you’ve accepted Him as your personal Saviour, you’ve passed from death unto Life.
655 And the Holy Spirit’s moving and working in the members of this Body. There’s the Church! No matter if it’s poor, and in a mission, and you stand out under a pine tree somewhere, or wherever it is, if it’s in somebody’s house in a private meeting, no matter where it would be. Beauty and things doesn’t enchant God. It’s the sincerity of the heart by a revelation that Jesus Christ has been presented as the Son of God, our personal Saviour. Amen!
656 My, we... you never get these, going through like that, will we?
657 There’s the ones that... over there that He went; the angels: the messengers, them preachers, them the intellectuals, them messengers that believed not when Noah went to preach to them and told them, “Why, come into this ark.”
658 They said, “Listen to this holy-roller. Listen to that fanatic. Why, there’s no rain. Who ever heard of such a thing? Why, my, don’t we have churches? Aren’t we religious?” Why, they were religious!
659 Jesus said it would be a generation that passed just then, that generation would repeat again just before His coming, “As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the coming of the Son of man. For they were eating, drinking, marrying, given in marriage.” They had a Reno, Nevada then, somewhere. They had all kinds of nonsense that they got today; rallying, and frolicking, and making fun, scoffers and so forth; having a form of godliness, but denying the real Truth: the covenant, the Message of grace. God making His way, and giving the people His-His covenant, how they could escape; It had salvation in it, salvation was a place to escape.
660 “What do we need with salvation?” Today people say, “Aren’t we living under a good democratic form of government? What do we need?”
661 I don’t care how much democratic form of government we live, we need the Blood of Jesus Christ. Right! We need Christ. I appreciate a democratic form of government; that has nothing to, do with the salvation of the soul. Absolutely! Those governments will pass, and every nation will pass. And I’ve stood by the... where the pharaohs stood, and you have to dig twenty feet under the ground to find their thrones where they set. All the pharaohs and his kingdoms of this earth, and all of its faltery things will fail and go away, but Jehovah will reign forever, for He’s the immortal God. Solidly upon the Rock Christ Jesus we stand, for all other grounds is sinking sands.
662 Care whether it’s... kingdoms will rise and fail, but oh, there’s nothing... I don’t care whether it’s... anything; there’s nothing present, nothing future, nothing (starvations or perils or anything) can ever separate us from that love of God that’s in Christ. When a man is borned of the Spirit of God, he’s a creature no longer of time, but he’s a creature of Eternity. Amen. He’s passed from death unto Life. He’s passed from the... He’s passed through the time element, into the Eternity. He can never perish! And God swore that He’d raise him up in the last days.
663 So they can have all your big churches, and all your big times, and all you wish to, and tell your dirty jokes and have your Bunco games, and soup suppers and everything else that you want to; and have some educated preacher standing there. Maybe he can do a better job at it than some of these little ol’ boys hardly knows their ABC’s. But I’m telling you the truth, I’d rather have a boy didn’t know his ABC’s preaching to me (that knowed Christ) than all the great theologians there is with all you’re educations could be thought of. Absolutely!
664 Down here in Kentucky, not long ago, a little ol’ boy that couldn’t even hardly read his own name, said the Lord called him to preach and he wanted a schoolhouse. Why, the authorities wouldn’t let him have it. Some great big preacher come by there with a handle on his name like that, some great doctor of divinity, why, they let him have the school. Sure. Held a two weeks revival, not one soul. And his father went back, said, “Now you let him have it, I’m a taxpayer, I got a right for my boy to have it. And my boy should have it also.”
665 So he went back to find out, and ask them, they said, “Well, we’ll let him have it at least two nights.” And they went on and let him have it two nights.
666 And that night that little ol’ boy got up there and couldn’t even read the Bible, had somebody read his text. But when he walked to the platform, he was anointed with the Holy Ghost. And when he preached, about twenty come to the altar; and that self-styled preacher wept her way through to Calvary, at the altar.
667 Sure, brother, it’s not-not what you know, it’s Who you know. That’s the idea, that’s what it takes, it takes to know Christ. To know Him, is Life; to reject Him, is death.
668 Quickly to our other questions, the questions now that goes down to Georgia: