THE MERCY SEAT

2. THE VERY FOUNDATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IS THE BLOOD

THE MERCY SEAT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

According to His promise to Abraham, the Lord called the children of Israel out of Egypt to sanctify them in the wilderness before He would lead them into the promised land to take possession of their allotted inheritance. The Lord appointed His Prophet and servant Moses to accomplish this commission, He also sent His Angel before them to lead them by day in a Pillar of Cloud, and by night in a Pillar of Fire.

The Lord wanted to dwell among His people, He ordered Moses to select men to build a sanctuary, a Tabernacle patterned according to the blueprint of God's dwelling place in Heaven. Up on top of Mount Sinai, in the presence of Jehovah God, Moses saw in a vision the heavenly Tabernacle and received all the necessary instructions to build the earthly replica. It consisted of the outer court, and the holy place with a separate section called the most Holy Place. In this 4,5 by 4,5 metre room was the ark of the covenant, a chest made of shittim wood and overlaid with gold, and it was covered by the mercy seat made of pure gold. At each end of the mercy seat was a Cherub made of gold, facing each other with their wings covering the mercy seat.

When the construction of the Tabernacle was completed, the Glory of God filled the Tabernacle and Almighty God came down and settled between the wings of the two Cherubims above the mercy seat in the most Holy Place, to be in the midst of His people who were encamped round about the Tabernacle. Nobody could enter the most Holy Place, only the High Priest once every year on the Day of Atonement, on "Yom Kippur", the most important and holiest day in the Jewish calendar. After all conceivable confession of sins and possible restitutions were made among the believers, the blood from sacrificed animals was collected by the Elders of all the 12 tribes of Israel, this the High Priest took and sprinkled onto the Mercy Seat in the presence of God, while all the people waited at the outer court under great anticipation.

The High Priest knew if the atonement was acceptable and pleasing to God or not. If the Lord God had accepted the sincerity of the people, they could expect good health, peace and safety, good harvests and general prosperity for the year ahead. If the sacrifices were not received by God, sickness, war, famine and suffering would be the result for the whole nation.

Later the Temple was built by Solomon, it also had a outer court, a holy place with the closed off section called the most Holy Place. The layout of the Temple was the same as the Tabernacle in the wilderness, but it was much bigger and very magnificently built. In 2 Chronicles 5 we read about the finishing touches and the dedication of the Temple, verses 13 and 14 tell us how the house of God was again filled with the glory of the Lord when God, "the Shekinah Glory", came to abide between the wings of the Cherubims above the Mercy Seat.

The presence of the Lord continued for a little more than 400 years in the most Holy Place, but because of the constant disobedience of the children of Israel, God vacated His Throne among the Jews and sent Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem and the Temple. There are many different ideas and speculations of what happened to the Ark of the Tabernacle which was in the most Holy Place, many experts believe that it was removed and hidden somewhere just before the destruction of the Temple. Several search teams have tried to find it, in Jerusalem and in other parts of Israel.

After about 60 years in captivity in Babylon, some Israelites returned to build the second Temple as described in the first six chapters of Ezra. At the dedication explained in Ezra 6:15 to 18, there is nothing mentioned that the Glory of the Lord filled it again, there is no evidence that God had ever returned to dwell in the second Temple. 63 years before the Lord Jesus was born, the Roman General Pompey took Jerusalem and went into the most Holy Place to inspect everything without any ill effect to him. In Matthew 27:51 we read that at the time when Jesus died on the cross, the veil which separates the most Holy Place from the Holy Place was rent from the top to the bottom, illustrating that another covenant was about to come into effect.

40 days after His death, burial and resurrection, the Lord Jesus ascended up to Heaven, His body sat down on the right hand of God as we read all over the New Testament. His Spirit was separated from His body, and after 10 days, on the day of Pentecost, He came down like a mighty rushing wind and filled the 120 disciples who were gathered in the upper room in the Temple. That event started the New Covenant, or the New Testament as we call it.

And His body, God raised up on the third day, and took up and set on His right-hand. And on the day of Pentecost, He sent down the Spirit that was in Jesus Christ, the Covenant with the church.
E-59 FROM THAT TIME -- KLAMATH FALLS OR. -- 60-0716

We understand that the importance of the ministry of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament is the same as the ministry of Moses was in the Old Testament. Both men were highly intellectual, but the lives of both of them were dramatically changed when each one had a personal encounter with the Pillar of Fire Who gave them their new commission for their respective ministries. Moses wrote the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament which is the very foundation of the Jewish Religion. Paul wrote 14 books in the New Testament, they contain the main doctrines and instructions for the Bride of Jesus Christ. There are many more similarities, the Prophet explains another important one:

Now, Moses made things on earth, made the tabernacle, like the things that he saw in Heaven. We know that, don't we? We find Paul did the same thing. Must have... Hebrews 9:23, that Moses made things just like he did. And Paul in his vision when he went up into Heaven, when he taught that great Book of Hebrews, he must have saw in his vision the same thing that Moses saw, because he said it, he taught that wonderful Book of Hebrews... how that Christianity was--was the Antetype of the Old Testament.
212 REV.CPT.4 PT.2.24 ELDERS - JEFF. IN - ROJC 585-643 - 61-0101

God will not dwell on earth again until His Kingdom will be established in the Millennium, throughout the New Testament the Throne of God is in Heaven. We read in 2 Corinthians 12:2 to 4 how Paul was taken out of his body and translated to the third Heaven to see and hear unspeakable things, that experience enabled him to write the Book of Hebrews to tell us what is necessary for us to know and believe about grace and mercy. In chapter 1:3, Paul explains again that after the Lord Jesus had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high to continue His ministry as a merciful and faithful High Priest to make reconciliation for our sins as described in chapter 2:17. Verses 14 to 16 in chapter 4 give us a clear description of the fact that we cannot be saved and grow up into the stature and image of the Lord Jesus without Him as the High Priest on the Mercy Seat to cleanse us continuously of our failures.

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that
is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let
us hold fast our profession.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

In chapter 10, Paul explains how the priests in the Old Testament were themselves sinful men, and the sacrifices could never take away sins. But the Lord Jesus, our High Priest Whom we must confess continually, He has by the offering of Himself once and for all sanctified us for ever. We must look unto Him at all times, at the right hand on the Throne of God (12:2), He is the author and FINISHER of our faith, including mine and yours, and there is no other way for salvation as explained in chapter 8:1,

Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum:
We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand
of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens

THE VERY FOUNDATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT IS THE BLOOD

The New Testament means the New Covenant: The old Testament was the old... under the lamb, that the life could not come back on the believer. The New Testament was the Lamb of God, and His Life comes back on us.
Blood is Life, see. Blood is Life in the New Testament, see. Life is from the Blood of the Lamb, which means the New Testament...
43-5 THE TOKEN -- JEFF. IN. -- V-2 N-19 -- 63-0901.1M

The New Testament is based upon the Blood of the Lord Jesus, and the only mediator on the Mercy Seat, which is the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sin of the world. He could not hang on the cross and bleed for our sins and redeem us for 2000 years, therefore the body of the bloody, nail-scarred sacrificial Lamb took His place on the Mercy Seat in the most Holy Place in Heaven. This is basically like a continuation of the cross, till the last predestinated child of God has been "thoroughly redeemed".

...and everything that He had redeemed was written in that Book. All that He died for was written in the Book, and He could not leave His mediatorial seat until He had thoroughly redeemed and He couldn't redeem it at the cross, because they were predestinated in the Lamb's Book of Life, and had to stay on there to make intercessions until that last person was finished. Glory!
24-2 SOULS IN PRISON NOW -- JEFF.IN. -- V-2 N-22 - 63-1110.1M

The Blood cleanses. The Spirit is a Token that the Blood has been applied, see. The Spirit is the Token that the Blood has been applied. Until the Blood is applied, the Spirit cannot come. But when the Blood is applied, then, the Spirit is a Token, sent it back to you, that your faith in the Blood has been accepted.
60-3 THE TOKEN -- JEFF. IN -- V-2 N-19 -- 63-0901.1M

Romans 5:9, Hebrews 13:12 and 20 and 21, Revelation 1:5 and many more Scriptures tell us as plain and as clear as clear can be that every believer can be justified, sanctified and baptised with the Holy Spirit by and through the Blood of Jesus Christ only. There is no other way, there is no other covenant and it is hard to believe that such a large number of Message believers world-wide are convinced that the Lord Jesus has left the Mercy Seat in March 1963 and the Blood covering for our sins does not exist any more. There is not a single Scripture and not a single quote from the Prophet to support that erroneous doctrine.

According to Brother Branham, the Throne of God, the right hand of the Father's Throne, the Altar, the Sanctuary, the Mercy Seat, the right hand of power and Majesty, the great white ivory Throne etc., is altogether one and the same thing. That is the place where the Lord Jesus, the Lamb, the bloody Sacrifice, the High Priest and the One and only Mediator is making intercessions with His Own Blood for every sinner. The following quotes show that this covenant did not change at all in March 1963 at the opening of the seven written Seals.

Each twin set contains a quote preached before, and a quote preached during or after the March 1963 Sealopening to confirm and prove this fact.

Now, if He was here tonight, and was down here in Hammond, somewhere, and, why, you'd go to Him, and He'd lay His hands upon you, and--and you'd get well (See?), now, because He would be Jesus. Now, He has--He's gone up to His Father's house, up in glory. And He sets up there, at the right hand of His Father, tonight, on His Father's throne, to make intercessions for us.
E-52 FOR.HIM.WILL.I.ACCEPT. - - HAMMOND.IN - - 52-0718 = 18 July 1952
Now, that same Jesus is the same High Priest today. The Bible said so. Is that right, minister brothers? See? That He is now a High Priest setting at the right hand of God, the Father, setting there ever living to make intercessions, a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities.
E-162 GREATER.THAN.SOLOMON.IS.HERE. - TUCSON.AZ - 63-0605 = 5 June 1963

...on the throne of God is the Lord Jesus Christ in a corporal body that was raised up from the dead as a memorial that someday we're coming back to the homeland. One day He will rise from that throne, His Father's throne. He's not on His own throne; He's on the Father's throne.
E-11 SHEPHERD.OF.THE.SHEEPFOLD. - - CHICAGO.IL - - 56-0403 = 3 April 1956
Now, if God is raised up from the dead and is here tonight... He promised it. Now, His corporal body sets on the throne of God. He took--set down on the throne of God. But the Holy Spirit is here, which is Christ in Spirit form.
143 WHEN.THEIR.EYES.WERE.OPENED.- TUL- V-22 N-10 - 64-0212 = 12 Feb 1964

Because His flesh sets at the right hand of the throne of God in majesty in glory. "And He that overcometh shall set with Me on My Throne, as I have overcome and set down on My Father's throne." Oh, what a wonderful thing. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, setting in the heavens, and all these mortal souls that's just under the altar, look up and see that body setting there, that corporal body. Oh, I feel religious. That corporal body...
E-55 IT.WASN'T.SO.FROM.THE.BEGINNING. - - PHOENIX.AZ - - 60-0306
There's no one cares like Jesus. Knowing that His body, as a High Priest, in a mediatorial work that He's doing now, that Body must be in the Presence of God at all times for intercession, that God cannot see the sinner's sin; He sees only the Blood of His Own Son.
34 HE.CARES.DO.YOU.CARE?. - - JEFF.IN - V-12 N-4 - - 63-0721

Then if the only thing different in Jesus, His corporal body sets at the hand--right hand of God on the throne of God. That's not Jesus' throne; that's His Father's throne...
... Now, He's waiting there in a corporal body, but God sent His Spirit back to be in the church.
E-87 HEAR.YE.HIM. - - CHATTANOOGA.TN - - 58-0301E
Well, if He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, and the same High Priest, He would act the same way. Only, He, His body is at the--on the throne of God. How many knows that? The body of Jesus is on the throne of God. But He uses our body to manifest Himself through, just like He promised to do.
175 TESTIMONY.ON.THE.SEA. - - DALLAS.TX - V-19 N-11 - - 64-0307

And someday this Holy Spirit, that's in the Church, will scream, and will lift up, and will receive Itself into this body form that's setting at the right hand of the Majesty of God, to make intercessions for we sinners, and by there we're perfectly kept from sin. Not that we don't sin, but kept from sin in the Presence of God; 'cause there's a bloody Sacrifice standing between me and God, and between you and God.
308 HEBREWS.CHAPTER.7.PT.2.CHURCH.ORDER.- JEFF.IN - HEB331 - 368 - 57-0922
Don't look towards a natural temple; but look to the temple in heaven, where Christ sets at the right hand of the Majesty, and the power, with His Own Blood to make intercessions upon our confession.
75 GREATER.THAN.SOLOMON. - - HOT.SPRINGS.AR - - V-20 N-11 - 63-0628E

He taken the Life of Him and gave It to the Church, the Spirit that was upon Him, and took the body up to His right hand as a bloody sacrifice before Him. He's setting there to make intercessions upon anything that Christ died for.
E-14 FAITHFUL.ABRAHAM. - - SAN.JOSE.CA - - 59-0424A
With a--with a love of Christ in my heart and a feeling for the needy, I present them, Lord, to You upon the altar of sacrifice, where the bloody body of that Lamb lays as a propitiation for our sins and sickness, laying there. I plead for mercy for the people.
58-3 THE.INDICTMENT. - - JEFF.IN - - V-3 N-19 - - 63-0707

How many knows that Jesus Christ is the High Priest setting at the right hand of God, right now, bloody Sacrifice, tore apart, sent the Holy Ghost down here...
E-73 ABRAHAM'S.GRACE.COVENANT. - - MIDDLETOWN.OH - - 61-0317
And now, the Bible says also in the Book of Hebrews, that He's the High Priest now. Do we all believe that? Certainly. "He's the High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities." Now, He is, not I am; He is. No man is. He is now a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities.
201 TOTAL.SEPARATION.FROM.UNBELIEF. - - PHOENIX.AZ - V-3 N-20 - - 64-0121

'Cause His corporal body is still a Sacrifice on the throne of God. And He sets there and His--His bloody garment is the--the propitiation for our sins. He, Himself, is acting as a High Priest to make intercessions upon what we confess that He has done. See?
E-222 HAVE.NOT.I.SENT.THEE. - - PHOENIX.AZ - - 62-0124
The Bible said He's a High Priest, right now a High Priest, setting at the right hand of the Majesty of God, to make intercessions upon our confession. We confess we believe it, and we want to touch the High Priest. And we touch Him, how would He act? He's here in the form of the Holy Ghost.
177 HE.CARES.DO.YOU.CARE?. - - JEFF.IN - - V-12 N-4 - - 63-0721

Receive them, O Lord, I ask, as I intercede for them, standing before Your great white throne. By faith we stand there, looking upon the ivory throne of God, with a bloody sacrifice laying before it, making intercessions on our profession.
E-102 ZACCHAEUS.THE.BUSINESSMAN. - - TUCSON.AZ - - 63-0121
I'm your brother, standing as your brother, an intercessor, trying my best to hold you before God. And I'm standing here right before the white throne now, and is taking that--pointing my finger at that bloody sacrifice there, and speaking through His Name that it's done. It has to happen, and it has to happen.
189 PERFECT.FAITH. - - JEFF.IN - - V-6 N-11 - - 63-0825E

I'm coming through the Blood of the Lord Jesus. I'm coming by that welcome mat that's laid out to me this morning, bringing every one of these souls, like I did that little Indian girl, right up to the white throne of God standing yonder, and watching the holy Angels flying with wings over their face.
300 FELLOWSHIP.BY.REDEMPTION. - - JEFF.IN - - V-26 N-17 - - 55-0403
And we bring all these requests tonight up before the great pearly white throne where the Bloody Sacrifice lays, Who forgives all of our sins, and heals all of our sickness.
17 GREATER.THAN.SOLOMON. - - HOT.SPRINGS.AR - - V-20 N-11 - - 63-0628E

Now, remember, His corporal body is the High Priest that's setting before the throne of God, with the Blood, making intercession, His Spirit, called the Holy Spirit, is here living with us in our spirit, doing the same things, carrying on the ministry that He started.
E-32 JESUS.AROSE. - - CHICAGO.IL - - 56-0405
Hebrews 4:14 and 15, "He is now..." says, "He is our High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities." He is our High Priest right now. After His resurrection, after His death, after His burial, after His resurrection, after His ascension (Amen.), He still remains the same yesterday, today, and forever, a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. Amen. He's that right now to every man and woman here that'll believe it. He is our High Priest, same yesterday, today, and forever.
E-126 GOD.IDENTIFYING.HIMSELF. - - DENHAM.SP.LA - - 64-0320

Now, how many knows that His body is setting at the right hand of the throne of God? Let's see. That He's setting there... That body is in there making an atonement; His Life's Blood is on that san--on that mercy seat, and someday He will raise from there and come to the earth in a corporal body. Is that right?
E-96 MINISTRY.EXPLAINED. - - CHICAGO.IL - - 56-1001
The original outpouring of Pentecost (which outpouring came direct from Jesus on the Mercy Seat) is enduing His Church through all the seven ages, and showing forth perfectly that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, the never changing God in His essence and His ways.
50-4 PATMOS.VISION - - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK.CPT.2

His corporal body sets on the Throne of God for a bleeding sacrifice before the throne of His Majesty to make intercessions upon our confession. He cannot help us until we confess it first, for He's the High Priest of our confession.
E-9 EXPECTATIONS.LEADINGS.OF.SPIRIT. - - EDMONTON.AB - - 57-0811E
He said that, He now is a High Priest, this age we're living in now, a High Priest setting in the Majesty of God in the heavens, that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmity.
170 PROVING.HIS.WORD. - - LA.CA - - V-18 N-3 - - 65-0426

The corporal body of the Lord Jesus Christ setting on the throne of God, and when we pass by that one... If we go today and He don't come for a hundred years, I'll meet you there.
E-63 MIGHTY.CONQUEROR. - - JEFF.IN - - 56-0401
He's setting on the Father's throne now. But in the millennium, He sets upon His Own throne, because He is the Son of David.
51 IDENTIFIED.CHRIST.OF.ALL.AGES. - - TOPEKA.KS - V-20 N-1 - 64-0617

But His Body has been raised up and set on the throne of God tonight to make intercessions on our confession. He is a Priest, High Priest of our confession, Hebrews 3:1. Then He's setting there as a High Priest. And may I say this Church, no other mediator between God and man, but Jesus Christ, the Scripture says so. And He is the only One that stands between God and man to make intercession.
E-19 JESUS.CHRIST.THE.SAME. - - FAIRFIELD.ME - - 58-0515
Well, if He is the High Priest, He's the same High Priest that He ever was. "No other mediator between God and man, but the Man Christ Jesus." Then if He's the same yesterday, today, and forever ...
238 JESUS.CHRIST.THE.SAME. - - HOT.SPRINGS.AR - V-20 N-9 - 63-0627

Now, we know that His body will not return to the earth until He comes for the church, because it must remain there for a sacrifice. Is that right? It must be on the altar. He sets on the throne of God tonight, and it must remain there, for by His stripes... He is the Sacrifice, and the Sacrifice is on the altar. See?
E-144 AWAKENING.JESUS. - - TEMPE.AZ - - 63-0117
And I'm believing for each one here. And I--I'm bringing them to that altar, Lord, by faith, where between us and Great Jehovah is the Blood of His Son, Jesus. And the Blood shall speak for us.
211 THE.MASTERPIECE. - - JEFF.IN - - V-4 N-7 - - 64-0705

I don't want to be here when He's not here. I want to be gone then. Yes, sir. For there'll be no Blood on the mercy seat; it'll be dark and smoky and black. The sanctuary will have no Lawyer there to plead our case at that time. You know the Scripture says that? The sanctuary was smoking. There was no Blood on the mercy seat, then it's judgment.
24 WITHOUT.MONEY.OR.PRICE. - - JEFF.IN - - V-16 N-4 - - 59-0802
Now, we're right down at the end time now. Won't be too long until mercy seat will be judgment seat.
468-1 QA.ON.THE.SEALS. - - JEFF.IN - - 63-0324M

He's setting on the throne of God, the right hand of power and majesty in glory. And then, as we make confessions, then that body stands there as a perpetual atonement. And when we confess that He's did anything, He's a High Priest there to stand in our place, a sacrifice, a sacrificed High Priest, that's standing in the Presence of God with His own Blood to make intercessions upon our confession.
E-45 LED.BY.THE.SPIRIT. - - LA.CA - - 59-0407
The LAMB, the High Priest holding His blood as an atonement on the mercy seat for our sins is the Lord God Almighty. That is His present office. That is what He is doing now, pleading His blood for our sins. But one day that Lamb will become the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. He will come forth in power and glory and take His authority to reign as King. He is the coming King of this earth.
24-1 REVELATION.OF.JESUS.CHRIST - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK.CPT.1

There's a great rainbow across that beautiful ivory altar. There lays on that altar a bleeding Sacrifice. And we look upon His back as the prophet bid us to, and said, "By His stripes we were healed." Father, I'm bringing every one of them to You.
E-127 LETTING.OFF.PRESSURE. - - PHOENIX.AZ - - 63-0113M
If you've confessed your sins, if you confessed your wrongs, if you've done everything, confessed you been too dilatory, whatever you've confessed, now it's laid on the sacrifice altar. Now, put your hands upon Jesus and identify yourself.
E-140 CONFERENCES. - - TUCSON.AZ - - 63-0608

Jesus Christ, right now, is a High Priest. He's the only High Priest, the only mediator between God and man. That's correct. And He's sitting at the right hand of God making intercessions. And He is a High Priest that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
E-28 SIMEON.AND.ANNA.- - SAN.JUAN.PR - - 59-0211
Now, the Bible said, the New Testament; He is a High Priest right now. He continues a High Priest after the order of Melchisedec. He's the High Priest forever. There's no other High Priest but Him, no other mediator between God and man, but the Man Christ.
202 LEAN.NOT.ON.OWN.UNDERSTANDING. - PHOENIX.AZ - V-19 N-3 - 65-0120

And we are coming now, reverently up to the throne of the living God, that great white pearl that stretches across the space of time, where Jehovah God sets in there, and the Blood of Christ laying upon the altar. And we speak across that Blood by Him that said, "Ask the Father anything in My Name; it'll be granted."
8-4 THE.ABSOLUTE. - - JEFF.IN - - V-3 N-18 - - 62-1230M
By faith now we're coming up to the great ivory throne of God. There as we see the Blood of the Lord Jesus laying there upon the altar to make sure that our request is answered.
E-2 GREATER.THAN.SOLOMON.IS.HERE. - - TUCSON.AZ - - 63-0605

We could continue and add more than a thousand twin quotes like these to the list. Brother Branham preached 190 recorded sermons between the March 1963 Sealopening and his last sermon delivered in December 1965. In those 190 services, the Prophet said more than 940 times that the Lord Jesus is still the same yesterday, today and forever, that is an average of five Hebrews 13:8 quotations for every one of those 190 sermons.

During the preaching of those 190 tape recordings, he also mentioned 152 times that the Lord Jesus is still the High Priest, the same as He always was as we have seen already in some of those previous quotes. Those 940 Hebrews 13:8 quotes and the 152 confirmations that the Lord Jesus is still the same High Priest, just these two points verify almost 1100 times that the Lord Jesus has not left the Mercy Seat in March 1963! That should be enough to persuade anyone who believes otherwise.

THE BLOOD COVENANT HAS NOT ENDED YET

We understand that after Jesus ascended up to Heaven, His body sat down on the right hand of the Father's Throne as the High Priest and One and only Mediator, while His Spirit separated from His body to come down and fill the 120 disciples on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Ghost, the Lord Jesus in spirit form has been on earth ever since that time, but the physical Lord Jesus cannot leave the Mercy Seat until this process is reversed. As we have seen in some of the previous chapters, according to 2 Thessalonians 2:7, the Holy Spirit will leave the earth and go up to unite again with the physical body of the Lord Jesus on the Mercy Seat. His body cannot leave the Father's Throne while He is in the form of the Holy Spirit somewhere else!

He will come physically in a body form someday, the same Jesus, went away. The Spirit will be taken from the church back to the body of Christ, and He will return again in physical form, just as He went away, the same Jesus eating, and drinking with--and talking with His disciples. I believe that He will come, and believe that's the only answer to the world's problems today.
E-41 PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH GOD -- CHICAGO. IL -- 54-0724

It would be absurd to claim that the Holy Spirit has left the earth before March 1963, no mature believer will believe such a ridiculous assertion.

In Revelation 12:10 we read that Satan is accusing us day and night in Heaven before God. This will obviously continue till the last sheep has come into the fold. Then the church will be taken up to meet the dead saints behind the curtain of time to partake at the Sealopening on the backside of the Book by the Lord Jesus after He has left the Mercy Seat. At that time Satan's accusing will be cut off, he will be cast out of Heaven and he will come down to earth and incarnate himself into the false prophet to become the Beast.

Notice now, he will be given a heart of a Beast at that time, and Satan will incarnate himself because when the Church goes up, Satan is cast out. See? It's done then. All of his accusing is done. See.
Now, as long... Look, as long as the Intercessor is still on the Throne, Satan can stand there and accuse, because he is the attorney of the other side. He's the opponent of Christ.
305-2 THE FOURTH SEAL -- JEFF. IN -- 63-0321

...fourth, the beast--pale horse, Satan being kicked out of Heaven. Do you want to read that? Revelation 12:13, Satan being kicked out of Heaven.
Then in Revelation 13:1-8, he is incarnate in the person of the Beast.
301-5 THE FOURTH SEAL -- JEFF. IN -- 63-0321

This did certainly not happen at the 1963 Sealopening. At this present time, after more than 4 decades, that particular man who will be that false Prophet and become the Beast is not even known yet, he has not yet been elected to his position or office. Therefore, Satan has not been cast out of Heaven, he is still accusing us constantly and the Blood of the Intercessor is still rebuffing his accusations, and to deny that would be a misleading false doctrine which has no sensible foundation.

If the Lord Jesus, the only Mediator and High Priest would have left the Mercy Seat, the right hand of the Father's Throne in March 1963, then half of the epistle to the Hebrews, Mark 14:62 and 16:19, Luke 20:42 and 22:69, Acts 2:34 and 7:56, Romans 8:27 and 34, Galatians 3:20, Ephesians 1:20, Colossians 3:1, 1 Timothy 2:5, 1 Peter 3:22 and many more Scriptures would be obsolete and irrelevant since the Sealopening of the written Word. All the written Word was "unsealed" and opened up by the Lord Jesus through His Prophet, not partly deleted and chapters and verses crossed out. According to Revelation 22:19, those who believe or teach others such a perversion have no chance to inherit Eternal life.

This is the absolute. "Whoever takes anything from It, or adds anything to It," God said, "I will just take his part out of the Book of Life," so That had to be the absolute. And Jesus said that, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word." Then I knowed this "every Word" had to be. Said, "Precept upon precept, and line upon line." That's the way It has to come, just as It's written.
95 AN ABSOLUTE -- SHP. LA -- V-17 N-10 -- 63-1201.1M

When the Lord Jesus leaves the Mercy Seat, the covenant with the gentile Church, the New Testament, is finished and the last half of Daniel's seventieth week will follow on without delay. If the New Testament would have ended in 1963, we would have been without any covenant with God for the past 40 years because the last three and a half years for the Jews have not started as yet.

In Matthew 27:25 we read how the elders persuaded the multitude to deny the Lord Jesus and to consider the value of His Blood as nothing. Brother Branham explains that at that moment God cut Israel off, they were still the children of Israel, but not God's Israel any more. All those who deny that we need the Blood still on the Mercy Seat call themselves Message believers, but they are not part of the Bride and Body of Jesus Christ.

God will never meet with man nowhere else, but under the Blood. When you turn the Blood down, then your meeting place with God has been taken away. God made His first decision in the garden of Eden, that man would only worship Him under the shed blood of the sacrifice...
...and that's the only place He meets with man today, is under the shed Blood of the Sacrifice. See?
17-4 THE INDICTMENT -- JEFF. IN -- V-3 N-19 -- 63-0707

The Prophet refers to certain religious institutions which deny the need of the Blood of the Lord Jesus as "bloodless cults", it is terrible to see so many who claim to be his followers fall into the same category.

No wonder they can't believe in miracles. No wonder you can't believe in the supernatural. No wonder they condemn it. The same reason they condemned it back there is the same reason they condemn it today. You're guilty as guilty can be, 'cause only under the shed Blood...
18-3 THE INDICTMENT -- JEFF. IN -- V-3 N-19 -- 63-0707

But now the Blood of Jesus Christ sprinkles the mercy seat. And as we come in we must recognize the blood and the healing of... the power of God. We must recognize the full Gospel. We must have fellowship with every brother or sister that desires fellowship that come through the same elements that we have. Never let these denomination stand in our way. This church will stand till the coming of the Lord then. For I believe it's soon at hand.
E-78 CHURCH DEDICATION -- CLEVELAND. TN -- 59-0708.1M

In the last quotation, Brother Branham exhorts us to have fellowship only with those who recognize the Blood and power of the Lord Jesus. As we have already seen, there are over 1000 quotations from the Prophet to confirm that fact, but there is not one single quote which clearly and plainly spells out that the Lord Jesus has left the Mercy Seat in March 1963. That is someone else's teaching, it is altogether contrary to Brother Branham's Message.

Hopefully, this chapter will assist many believers to have a clearer understanding of the endtime Message. We must realise at all times that one day we will have to answer before God as an individual and give an account of our personal belief in the Message for our time.