Who is worthy?

William Branham.

Read the full account in...
The Breach.

Revelation 5:2-4,
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

Now. And a strong angel... Now, verse two... the strong angel with the loud voice proclaiming, “Who is worthy?” worthy for what? “Who is worthy to take that book?” Now, we find out... Where's the book at now? To its original owner, because it has been forfeited by a son, the first son of God in the human race. And when he forfeited his rights, to listen to Satan, he give up... What did he do? He accepted Satan's wisdom instead of God's Word.

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The angel's call was a call for the kinsman redeemer to appear. God said, “I have a law. A kinsman redeemer can be a substitute.” Where is that kinsman redeemer? Who's able to take it? And it come from Adam, all the way down through all the apostles, and prophets, and everything else, and nobody was found. Now, what about that? Nobody in heaven, nobody on earth, nobody that ever lived... Elijah was standing there. Moses was standing there. All the apostles were standing there. All the ones that had died—all the holy men—Job, the sages. Everyone was standing there, and nobody was worthy even to look at the book, let alone take it and break the seals! Now, where's the pope and all these come in at? Where's your bishops? Where's our worthiness? We're nothing! That's right.

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But John wept. Here's what I think he wept for: because if no one was worthy and could open this Book of Redemption, the whole creation was lost. Here is the Book; here is the title deed; and It will be offered to the Kinsman Redeemer that can meet the qualifications. That's God's own law, and He can't defile His law—can't defy His Law, rather. See, God required a kinsman redeemer who was worthy, who was able to do it, who had the substance to do it. And the Angel said, “Now let that Kinsman Redeemer step forward.” And John looked. He looked all over the earth, he looked beneath the earth, and there was nobody. The creation and everything was lost. Of course John wept— everything was lost. His crying didn't last but just a minute though. Then there stood one of the elders, said, “Don't weep, John.” Oh, my! His crying didn't last but just a minute. John thought, “Oh my, where is the man? There stands the prophets. They was born like I was. There stands the sages. There stands... Oh, ain't there nobody here?”

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And this Lion of the tribe of Juda prevailed. He said, “Don't weep, John, for the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David has prevailed. He's already overcome. He's done it. It's over, John!” Oh, my. He produced a bleach that sends sin on back to the greasy hands, with his wisdom, that defiled it—the human being. Yes.

But when John turned to look, he saw a lamb. What a difference from a lion! He said, “The Lion has prevailed.” See, again I can use that there: “God Hiding in Simplicity.” He said, “He's a lion.” (That's the king of the beasts.) The Lion has prevailed. The strongest thing there is is a lion. I've laid out in the jungles in Africa and hear the giraffes squealing, and the great mighty elephant with his trunk in the air, “whee, whee, whee”; and hear the savages of the desert screaming out their bloody-curdle cries, and the beetles till... and Billy Paul and I laying in a little old place covered over with stickers. And hear away off in a distance a lion roar, and everything on the desert shuts up. Even the beetles stop hollering. The king speaks. Oh, my. I tell you, that's when denominations and doubts fall to the ground. Everything is still when the king speaks. And this is the King. That's his Word.

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Now, He said, “The Lion of the tribe of Juda.” Why? Out of Juda! Oh, Juda! “A lawgiver shall not go before... from between its knees until Shiloh come.” But he'll come through Juda. And the Lion the symbol of the tribe of Juda, has prevailed, He has overcome. And when he looked around to see where that lion was, he saw a lamb. Strange— look for a lion and see a lamb. The elder called Him a lion. But when John looked, he saw a Lamb, a Lamb as it had been slain from the foundation of the world. A Lamb, having been slain—what was it? What was that Lamb? It was bloody, wounded—a Lamb that had been slain, but was alive again, and He was bloody. Oh, my! How can you look at that, folks, and remain a sinner?

A Lamb stepped up. The elder said, “A Lion has overcome, the Lion of the tribe of Juda.” And John looked to see the Lion, and there come a Lamb, shaking, blood on Him, wounds. He had prevailed. You could tell He'd been in battle. He'd been slain, but He was alive again.

John hadn't noticed this Lamb before, you know, here. It hadn't been mentioned before. Nowhere had it been mentioned. John didn't see it all over the heavens as he's looking, but here it come forth. Notice. When it came forth, where did it come from? It come from the Father's throne, where He had been seated since He had been slain and raised again. He raised up and sat on the right hand of God, ever living to make intercession (amen), raised there today as an intercessor, with his own blood to make intercession upon the ignorance of the people. That's the one I'm depending on. He still was covered with bleach—the bleach of the forgiveness of sin.

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Now, watch real close. This is something you must get. Now, He had been doing his mediatorial work, making intercessions for the believer. For two thousand years He'd been back there, a Lamb. Now, He is stepping forth from eternity to take the title deeded book and to break the seals and reveal the mysteries. When of it? At the endtime. Do you get it? All right, we'll go on then. Now, break the seals and release all the mysteries to them... to the seventh angel, whose message is to reveal all the mysteries of God. The mysteries of God lays in these seven seals, see? That's what He said here. All the mysteries lays in these seven seals.

And the Lamb comes forth now. From being a mediator between God and man, He becomes a Lion. And when He becomes a Lion He takes the book. That's his rights. God's held it, the mystery. But now the Lamb comes. Nobody could take the book. It's still in the hands of God. No pope, priest, whatever it might be, they can't take no... the book. The seven seals hasn't been revealed, see? But when the mediator... when his work is done as an intercessor, He comes forth. And John... The elder said, “He's a lion,” and He comes forth. Watch Him. Oh, my! See?

He comes forth to take the book (now watch), to reveal the mysteries of God that others has guessed at in all these denominational ages. See then, the seventh angel... If this book, mystery, is the Word of God, the seventh angel has to be a prophet for the Word of God to come to. No priests, popes, or anything else can get it. The Word don't come to such. The Word of God comes only to a prophet, always.

Malachi 4 promised such. And when He come forth, He'd take the mysteries of God, where the church had got all scrupled up in all these denominations, and restore the faith of the children back to the fathers. And then the world judgment would strike, and the earth would be burnt. And then the righteous would walk out upon the ashes of the wicked in the millennium. Do you understand it now? All right.

Others had guessed at it in the denominational age. But see, he must be... This man, the seventh angel of Revelation 10:1-4 is a... The seventh angel has the mysteries of God given to him, and finishes all the mysteries that's been left off down through the denominational ages.

Now, you can see why I do not strike at my brethren in denomination. It's the system of denomination! They do not... There's no need of them trying to know it, because it could not be revealed. That's according to the Word. They presumed at it, believed it was there, and by faith walked by it but now it's evidently proved. Amen! Oh, my, what a scripture!

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God's laws require (He's the one that holds it), God's law required a kinsman redeemer, and the Lamb come out boldly. “I am their kinsman! I am their redeemer! And now I've made intercession for them, and now I've come to claim the rights for them.” Amen! Amen! “I've come to claim the rights. In that they had a right to everything that was lost in the fall, and I've paid the price.” Oh, brother! Whew! Doesn't that make you feel religious? Not by good works which we have done, but by his mercy! Oh, wait a minute! And them elders and everything else began to throw off crowns, and dignitaries begin to get on the ground, see.

No one, no one could do it. And He walks right up to the right hand of God and took the book out of His hand and claimed His rights. “I have died for them. I am their kinsman redeemer. I am the mediator. My blood was shed. I have become man. And I did this in order to get that church back again—the one I foresaw before the foundation of the world. I have purposed, and I spoke it would be there. And nobody was able to take it, but I went down and done it Myself. I am their kinfolks! I become kinfolks!” And He takes the book! Amen! Oh, who's waiting there for me tonight? Who is that one, church, that's waiting there? What else could wait there for you? That Kinsman Redeemer! Oh, my! What a sublime statement, or act.

Now, He has the title deed to redemption. He has it in his hand. Mediation is done now. He has it in His hand. Remember, it's been in the hand of God all the time, but now it's in the hand of the Lamb. Now, watch, the title deed of redemption of all creation is in His hand, and He's come to claim it back for the human race. Not claim it back to angels; claim it back to the human which it was given for, to make sons and daughters of God again. Bring it back to the garden of Eden, everything they lost—the whole creation, the trees, the animal life, everything else. Oh, my! Don't that make you feel good?

Read the full account in...
The Breach.

And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,

And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:

But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Revelation 10:5-7