Branham Stories
The Flaw Made It A Masterpiece – Spiritual Version -Part Two
Now let us turn the page, of Michelangelo, and close the book.
And let's open another Book and read of the great Sculptor, the Almighty. Who, before there was a world, and before the foundations was laid, He had in His mind what He wanted, and He wanted to make man in His Own image. He wanted to make something in--in reality of what was a vision to Him, what was in His thinking.
Now, to Michelangelo, that was an attribute of his thought.
And God wanted to make a man after His image, the great Sculptor, and He went to work on him. And we notice as He brought up from the materials. The first perhaps was fishes, and then the birds, and--and then the creeping things upon the earth, and--and many things that He brought. But, finally, as He brood, of being Creator, He had... He wasn't like a man, now, a sculptor that has to take something that's been created, to hew an image. He was the Sculptor of Eternal things. He was the Sculptor that could create and bring into existence that which He has in His mind to do. Or, otherwise, He can make material what His attributes desired.
And as He begin to work upon creeping things, like upon the--the--the little animals upon the earth. And then He began to bring it from that into something else, higher. Then finally He brought it into the larger animals, such as the lion, tiger, bear. Then He brought it into the--the--the life of maybe of--of monkeys and apes, and so forth. Now, not an evolution, as we think that one came from a e-... That was a complete creation; God working in a pattern.
But finally there came forth upon the earth, a perfection, and that was a man. And then He could see in that man, that it looked like Him. So now when He looked upon him, he was a reflection of what his Creator was. God had now been able to achieve the thing that He wanted, a man in His own image.
And then I might say, to this, that, when He made this man, there was something about him yet that didn't look just right, because that he--he was by himself. And that's how God had been, by Himself; He was the Eternal. And the man now, in the image of God, also existed on the earth by himself. So He must have struck a little blow over on his left side, and from there He took the piece that struck off of it and made him a helpmate, a wife, then he wasn't by himself. He was--he was, he had somebody with him. And that's His great work.
And, He, as any great sculptor would take his--his--his masterpiece...
Now, first, He had a masterpiece of Himself. But now He seen that the masterpiece was lonesome, like He was, so He divided the masterpiece by striking it in the side and brought forth a helpmate.
And now, to make the two one, He put them, like any great sculptor, in a place that--that's beautiful.
A--a sculptor wouldn't make a great masterpiece, and then take it and set it in an alley somewhere, or hide it behind buildings. As our Lord told us, "A man doesn't light a candle and put it under a bushel." When we become God's masterpieces, we're not hid in a alley somewhere. We--we must give Light.
So we see that--that He, after He had made this masterpiece, He placed it up here on the earth, and put it in the most beautiful place there was, in the garden of Eden. He placed His masterpiece, the two being one, in the garden of Eden. How it must have pleased Him, that He saw this masterpiece was well. He, after that, we find out that He rested; He was so well pleased with His work.
Now remember that, my opinion, the masterpiece is the stroke that marred Saint Angelo's Moses masterpiece in the monument.
And it was the stroke that cut the side of His masterpiece, that brought out the bride. And now we see them as a masterpiece family in the garden of Eden. How beautiful it was! And it so pleased Him, till He--He took rest then. He said, "I, I'll rest."
But while He was resting and trusting to His masterpiece, His enemy come in and found this great masterpiece. And he, by deceit, he--he crawls under the--the garden walls, and then he--he marred this beautiful masterpiece. He--he marred it, so that it--it fell.
Now I'm trying to watch that clock. And I asked Mike, my nephew, to ring that bell in thirty minutes, but I... He's not done it, and I've already been thirty minutes. But, it's, we continue on a little bit. See? Now, I don't want to--to break these rules. I--I made these rules, see, and I--I... and here is breaking your own rule.
Now notice, then, this masterpiece. When Satan got a hold of it, the deceiver, broke through the walls, and--and he marred this masterpiece. Because that the way he did it, what... How did he do it? I'll go more in detail of it. How he done it, was... This masterpiece was walled by the Word, God's Word. And the masterpiece, itself, of the family, was fortified by this Word. But the broken part, that was broke off of the original, went out beyond that wall, it gives Satan a chance to mar it. And now as you know what I believe on those things, so I won't have to say that. But the masterpiece was broke.
But, the great Sculptor, when He seen the fall of His family, the masterpiece, He wasn't willing just to leave it lay there, face down, and ruin. He went to work, immediately, to build it up again. He wasn't willing that it should perish, lay there like that all the time. Because, He is God, and He will not be defeated. So, He went to work immediately and begin to build, again, unto His Own image, a man.
Now, we find that the antediluvian world come along and destroyed the whole thing, because the covenants that was made, was made conditionally, "If you will not do this, or if you will do that." God, the great Sculptor, seen that man could not--could not keep a covenant. He just can't do it. There is just no way at all.
On the interview a few moments ago I was speaking to a person in the room, that's present now. Said, "But, Brother Branham, I have so many things that I--I know that's wrong," and a--a godly little woman.
I said, "But--but, look, sister, you don't look at yourself. It's just what your desire is and what you try to do. And if you really love the Lord, you try to serve Him with all your heart, and then all your mistakes is hid in the Blood of the Lord Jesus." See? See, He made a way.
So He begin now, taking man from His covenants, of--of saying that, "If you will, I will." And He begin with the man called Abraham, and give to Abraham a covenant, unconditionally. Every time He would start a masterpiece, Satan would get it, because the Word... But when He started with Abraham, He said, "I have already done it. Now this is unconditionally, not what... that--that, 'If you will, I will,' but I've already done it." Now He, the--the Sculptor, is determined to have this masterpiece.
Then, from Abraham, come the patriarchs. And the patriarchs really... Now what's God doing? He is rebuilding this masterpiece that had fallen. So, in the patriarchs, the first we find was Abraham.
Now watch, every masterpiece is put on a foundation, a sculpture. Angelo's monument of Moses is on a three- or four-foot piece of marble. It's got a foundation. So, God, in preparing this masterpiece, He put it on a foundation of the patriarchs. And the patriarch foundation, first, was Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, then Joseph, the four corners.
And, now, Abraham was the foundation of faith. Let's say it had four foundations. The foundation of faith was Abraham. The foundation of love was Isaac. The foundation of grace was Jacob, God's grace to Jacob; anyone knows that. But in Joseph was perfection, there is where He could set the monument; upon not the first foundation, the second foundation, the third foundation, but on the fourth foundation.
Abraham portrayed Christ, of course; so did Isaac, in love. Abraham did, in faith; Isaac did, in love; Jacob did, by His grace. Because, Jacob means "deceiver," and that's what he was, but God's grace was with him. But when it come to Joseph, there is nothing against him, just one little scratch, for the foundation must also be a masterpiece. When he told his father, the prophet, "Say to Pharaoh that your people are--are cattle raisers and not shepherds, because a shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptian."
But when the old prophet got before Pharaoh, he said, "Your servants are herdsmen." So it scratched it, see, that's why it still makes it the masterpiece.
Now the foundations is laid, through faith, love, grace, and to perfection, through the patriarchs.
Now the bodywork that come on to this great masterpiece was the prophets, which was the Word. I hope you can read it. See? The prophets; not the laws! The prophets, for the prophets was the vindicated Word which makes the body; not the patriarchs. The prophets, they were the Word.
Finally, as He started way back in the days of Moses and come down through the prophets, to each one. And, finally, building up the body, coming closer all the time. And the greatest of all of them was John. The Bible said so. Jesus said it. "There is not a man, ever born of a woman, as great as John the Baptist," for he was the one that could introduce the Word.
And then come, finally, the great Head, the Head of all of it. The rest of the body just spoke of It. The foundation was laid by the patriarch; but the body was built by the Word, which was the prophets; and here comes the Head of all of it, Jesus came on the scene. There, when this Head piece was put upon it, we find in Him the entire handiwork of God. We find in Him the perfect reflection of the Word, for He was the Word, the fullness of the Word. Now, again, God has the perfect Masterpiece again.
As Isaiah said, "Behold My Servant, My Masterpiece, that I have portrayed through all the ages of this perfect One coming. And here He stands right before Me, a perfect!" There, in His Own image, reflecting God! For He said, in Saint John 14, "When you see Me, you see the Father."
And, then, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God," and the Word was hewed out and reflected what the Word was at the beginning. Him, the Word, reflected in the Masterpiece in His Own likeness, God back again in His Own likeness, the Word form being reflected in the image of a man, the Masterpiece.
All the prophets had flaws; all the ones was a portion. But here, at last, coming up through that, finally comes the Masterpiece, the perfect One, no fault in Him at all, so perfect reflected of the Builder Himself, His Own image was reflected in His work. "God and Christ were One," insomuch until He put His Own Spirit into Him, and then even the image and the Builder became One. God and His sculpture work, His Masterpiece! Where Mose--Moses was, in the work of Saint Angelo, was a... or Michelangelo, rather; was a--a sculpture work that was dead, because it been made out of stone. But here, the Master Builder, when He got His handiwork perfected, He stepped into It.
So perfected a Redeemer of man, so perfect, so godly; yet, there was no beauty we should desire Him. When this virgin-born Son of the living God become so perfect, and humble, and in the image of God, until the great Master Who had brought His Life up through the prophets... And He was the fulfilling of all the prophets. He was so perfect, until, God seeing this, He smote Him and has cried out, "Speak!" as Michelangelo did. "Speak!"
You say, "Is that so?"
Saint Mark 9:7, we find, upon the Mount Transfiguration, when there stood Moses, the law, there stood Elijah, the prophets. All the way back from the patriarchs, the fathers, the law, the prophets, and all of them standing there. We hear a Voice coming down from the cloud, and said, "This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him!" And if they're going to hear, He's got to speak. It was just a few days before He was smitten. "This is My Son, Who I'm pleased to dwell in. I have molded Him. I've been four thousand years bringing Him to this. And now, He is so perfect, I've got to smite Him so He can speak. Hear ye Him! He is the perfected One. He, He is the Masterpiece."
Remember, He was portrayed all times, back through the Old Testament.
We find Him being the Rock in the wilderness, that was smitten, Rock in the wilderness. "I am that Rock that was in the wilderness." But that was a stone that had not come to its perfection yet. But in type form It followed the church, to draw from It that that He could draw, give Life to those Who He could give Life to. But He was that Rock in the wilderness. He had not been made man yet. He was only in type.
Moses saw Him standing on this Rock. He saw Him pass by, and he said, "It's the back part of a man." You see, the Sculptor was presenting to Moses, which was a potential image of Christ, what the great Masterpiece would look like when It was perfected. He passed His... He injected, or--or projected to Moses the vision of what the Masterpiece was going to look like. It was the back part of a man, when It passed by in the wilderness.
Remember, Angelo could only cry out and smite the image, and say, "Speak!"
But how different it was to God, the great Sculptor. When He made a man in His Own image, so perfect that It reflected Him, God spoke through the image of man, showing what He would do. He spoke through the prophets as they were in their potential image, as He was bringing it up to the Head. But when He come in the Head, He was all the image of God; He was portraying Himself. Then, smitten for us, now He is the Masterpiece to us, the Gift of God, Jesus Christ, Eternal Life. I hope we never forget that.
God, when He looked upon Him, He was so inspired! He was so... to see Him the way He looked, and to see the--the form of Him, He was so inspired that it would be the perfect Masterpiece of a Redeemer, Jesus the Redeemer. So, God, in order to be smitten, Himself; because, to pay His Own penalty, God and Christ became One, so God could be smote in the Image, He could be scarred. And that's why Isaiah said, "We did esteem Him smitten and afflicted of God. Yet He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquity; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we were healed."
The perfect Image, the God-Man! God, in en morphe, had changed from Supernatural to the vision, and the vision was projected into the Image. And the Image was smitten so that the Supernatural could taste the feeling of death, God's perfect Masterpiece.
He could not do it in Moses. He could not do it in the prophets; Isaiah, who was sawed with saws till he was sawed to pieces. He could not do it in the prophets that were stoned. He could not do it, because He couldn't feel it; there was just a portion of Him.
But in this perfect Masterpiece, He was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He could not only project Moses; He could project His entire Being into this Person, and taste death for the whole human race. God's perfect Masterpiece! God, so inspired by seeing It, He become the Redeemer of all ages; to speak for those in the backgrounds, who had been before, and now.
All promises was met in Him. He was the Perfection of the perfection. All types was fulfilled in Him; our Kinsman Redeemer, in Ruth and Boaz; our Law-Giver, from Mount Sinai; our Prophet, from the wilderness, as He come from the mountain, as He come from the wilderness; as He come from Eternity and become man, the perfect Image!
God, down through the age, hewing away, by the patriarchs, and made His platform, and brought them up from the different things that He would lay this foundation upon. Upon this He begin to build His Word, the prophets. And then, finally, come out to the perfect Prophet, the perfect Foundation, the perfect vision God had.
And now, in order for this to speak, He is the Word. And for the Word to speak, He must come into the Image. And then for the Image to speak, it's got to be smitten. He comes into the Image, and then in order to speak, the perfect Redeemer.
All the types of the Old Testament was met in Him. As I said the other day, Jehovah of the Old Testament is Jesus of the New. Yes.
Like many of you, man, women, my age; we used to have, around the country, a lot of Chinese laundries. When the Chinese first started in, they come from the West Coast, moving eastward, coming over from the Eastern country, moving this way. And as they did, they were a people who were not acquainted with our language and our ways, but they were fine laundrymen. And they couldn't write the ticket so you could get your right laundry back.
But, the Chinaman, he got himself a bunch of little cards with nothing on it at all. So when you come for your laundry, he would take this card and tear it in a certain way; and hand you one piece, and he kept the other piece. And, now, it's a little better than what we have now, because when you come back to claim what was your own, those two pieces must dovetail. You couldn't impersonate it if you had to. There's no way of doing it. You can make copies of letters, but you can't impersonate that tear. It's got to fit exactly with the other piece. Therefore, your dirty clothes that you brought in, you could redeem them by this ticket, because it matched the ticket that was turned in.
And when God, by the prophets, and under the law, condemned us to sin; and the law has no grace, it's only tells you you are a sinner. But when Jesus came on the scene, He was the fulfillment, He was the--the fulfillment of everything God had promised. He was the perfect, identical image of the promise. Therefore, all promises of the Old Testament was met in Jesus Christ. It couldn't be met in Moses, it couldn't be met in any of the prophets, but it was met in the Masterpiece. It matched all that It said It was going to be.
So will the Church have to be a match to everything God has promised. It must be the piece that's smitten off of It. So if the original is the Word, so will the subjects that's been taken from It be the Word, to match Its side.
Therefore, the Chinaman, you could claim... Where, the law condemns you and said you were dirty, and you were guilty, and could put you in the prison. But when He came, He was the Match-piece for it, that could take you out; and bring you back, to--to be the complete ticket, the redemption that God had promised back in the garden of Eden. "Thy Seed shall bruise the serpent's head. But, His heel shall bruise--bruise its head."
Now we find this perfect Masterpiece that God had completed. Now, we notice that He was all that it was promised to be. He's all the promises, all of the prophecies, everything that God had made a promise of. "Thy Seed shall bruise the serpent's head." Now, He could not bruise it with the law, He could not bruise it with the prophets, but He did do it when the woman's Seed became the Masterpiece, Christ. He was the Stone that Daniel saw hewed out of the mountain. He was the One could smite. He is the One that could bruise, bruise the serpent's head.
His life matched, exactly, the life of Moses. His life matched David"
