De Witt Tabernacle Teaching Series

                              The King’s Bride In Satan’s Eden

                  By C. W. Wood                         February 2001

          QUOTE: SATAN’S EDEN PAGES 2-4­, (On page two, Brother Branham reads from Gen. 3:1-7, where the serpent approached Eve and persuaded her to partake of the forbidden fruit. Then on page four of this message, he makes the following statement:)

          “Now let us look, for a few minutes, to this great, sinful day that we’re now living in. I don’t believe there ever was a day, that I’ve ever read in history….there has been greater days of persecution when the children of God were put to death on every hand, but to see the deceitfulness of the enemy, we have never had a day like this (one) we’re now living (in). It is the most cunning, deceitful day.

          CONT. QUOTE: “Now let us compare some scripture, or prophecies, spoken of in the Bible for today, and compare it with the day that we are now living in. In II Tim. 3, we learned this: that the Prophet said it would come to pass in these days that man would be heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God…..truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent and despisers of those that are good. Now, the Spirit spoke expressionaly that these things would be in the latter days. That is this day…the prophecy speaking of it.” (End quote)

          (After Brother Branham had read his text scriptures on page two, he said,) “Now, I would like to take a text tonight out of that and call it “Satan’s Eden” a very crude little thing to say, “A Satan’s Eden”……Sometimes these little crude expressions brings us to something, and gets us to study and puts you to reading the Word…..and study it with the eyes of God to give your intellectuals understanding of how we should live in this present day.” (End quote)

          The Prophet telling us that God has ordained His Bride to live her physical life on an earth that he chose to call “Satan’s Eden!”

          How can it be that the Saints of God, the Bride of “THE” King, is found in such a place as this sin cursed and dying world? Surrounded by the spiritually dead, the atheists, the God rejecters and those whose minds have been made “reprobate” by planned sin and continued rebellion, she seems to be in a most unlikely place; this place called by her Prophet, “Satan’s Eden.” Except for Hell itself this earth, it seems, would be the most unlikely place for one to look for the Great King’s Bride. The carnal mind supposes that He would not treat her so. Yet, she is here and it is their Bridegroom Himself that has placed her here! Rom. 8:20, “For the Creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, BUT BY REASON OF HIM who hath subjected the same in hope.” It pleased the Father to take a portion of the Bride’s original Creation (out of their Theophany…Gen. 1:27) and place it here in a world that has since the Garden of Eden, rejected God’s rule and authority. But, in His great heart lay a plan that so far out distanced the thinking of man that it was necessary to send His Prophet to preach and explain it.

          The plan included the Bridegroom, Himself, partaking of flesh and blood that through His death He might destroy Him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil, (Heb. 2:14). Then having destroyed his power, He placed on him a bridle with a curb bit and made him an instrument for the perfecting of His beloved Bride. Lest she should be exalted above measure by the mighty revelations she would receive through God’s Prophet, she was, “Given a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet her.” (II Cor. 12:7)

          Surely, the devil is even now bearing a portion of his punishment as he sees the Bride come into the revelation of his total defeat and sees her, not destroyed by his buffeting, but rather polished and perfected by the same. Though it is in his mind to uproot her, she is indestructible, in that the Seed of God has been quickened to life in her. The cutting that Satan would hope to destroy her with is turned into a beneficial pruning by the Great Husbandman, and she thrives and produces more and more fruit.

          And so it is from the unlikely soil of a world where the “Dead are busily burying the dead,” that God has raised up flesh bodies to house Himself. In their earthly beginning, they were a part of the mass of humanity on earth. But, when the Seed that was placed in them at their physical birth was quickened, the world began to fall back from them. The Church Natural, who has never been quickened, let it be known that she was not welcome in their midst. They have cast her out even as they did her Bridegroom 2000 years ago.

          And so, this “Queen”, this “Bride” of the Mighty King, Creator lives and walks in this dark, spiritual night. It is the darkness that always exists in the natural world just before the breaking of day. When the sun looks up over the horizon, the darkness has no choice but to give way to the light and in this glorious hour when the “Son” has descended, He is shinning forth a tunnel of light, guiding the steps of His Beloved. She knows to stay within that Ray of Light, for outside of it is murky darkness. Those around her question the certainty of her steps, for their eyes are not opened to see the light that shines on her path. One look at the brightness of that Light, and they were blinded by it.

          The Bride is not what she appears to the world to be. She is rather just the opposite of what they suppose. They see her in her unstylish garb, with uncut hair and unpainted face and think her to be a relic from the past. They watch her deportment and see her faith in God and suppose her to be unlearned and, in fact, she is often unlearned in their programs. She has no need of their man-made teaching concerning their “security” in this life. Her soon coming Bridegroom is the supplier of all her needs while she is passing through Satan’s Eden. He is her Health; He is her Banker, her Knowledge, her Wisdom. He is her total Life.

          But, her faith is said to be ignorance and her revelations of the scriptures are said to be of the Devil. In this kind of an atmosphere, she is not only living, but thriving and bearing much fruit. For 2000 years, the Great Husbandman has caused His plants to flourish in this kind of soil. Here, the Heavenly Potter fashions His Vessels. Here, in Satan’s Eden, the Master Builder polishes His living Stones and places them in His Eternal Temple. It is true that this Bride of the Heavenly King retains some of her former self outwardly, but inwardly she has received the soul-nature of her Bridegroom.

          She is still in a flesh body and for the moment must remain in Satan’s Eden. To many who look at her, she is much as she used to be. She still lives in the midst of her kindred according to the flesh and in her flesh man is seen some of the same sins as those around her. But, unknown to them she is washed moment by moment in the Blood of God as she has need to be forgiven. Unknown to them, she has been made “The Righteousness of God.” (II Cor. 5:21) Unknown to them, she is without condemnation. (Rom. 8:1) Though the FEELING of condemnation still comes to her, she refuses to live her life according to her emotions and clings even tighter to her Bridegroom, who has sent her His Words of Life. She believes His Word and is sin free!

          Often cut off from family and friends and at times denied her earthly inheritance, she has the full assurance of these things soon to be hers in another dimension. Giving credit to the Message of this Hour, and honoring (not worshipping) the Prophet that brought it, she lives a life of anticipation, expecting at any moment to be gathered together with those who have been in the grave, those who died “in Christ.” In darkness she sees light, in sorrow she is filled with joy in her inner being, in the night she looks forward to the morning. In bearing the shame that the religious world casts upon her, she basks in the glorious secrets her Bridegroom is whispering in her ear. She knows she has been acquitted and will not stand to be judged at the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11). This encourages her forward through this wasteland and moves her to reach out with her heart and her hands to those blind ones around her. The saving of lost souls is her top priority.

          Her Bridegroom does not turn midnight into noon for her, not yet. But, He comforts her; He soothes her hurts. He pours His balm into her broken heart. He draws her aside into His secret chamber and shows her what is just ahead. He shows her how he is answering her prayers for the souls she is crying out for and she shouts for joy through her tears as she anticipates that great reunion with her loved ones. She cannot tell the glory of it, but she believes it with every bit of her strength. These things make Satan’s Eden less oppressive and she presses the battle for other victims of the darkness to be set free.

          This lovely Bride of “THE” King is not what she seems to be in the eyes of the world. She is thought to be a beggar. She is not received into the fellowship of their churches. As she lingers around the fringes of their meetings, she is thought to be a poor, deceived, cult member. But, she is far richer than they. She offers them the oil and the wine. She tosses on her bed in the night hours, asking her Bridegroom for words to say that would break through their wall of resistance.

          So, She lives in the Morning of the Evening Light even before the Morning has come. Her faith has no boundaries. She knows all things are possible with Her Lord. She looks beyond the deathbed and the grave. She looks beyond this Laodicean Church Age. She looks beyond the trouble of the hour and beyond the storm that is to wreck the world (the Battle of Armageddon). It is as though She has already taken up Her abode in the New City of Jerusalem. She is already being sheltered by the Branches of the Tree of Life. In Her faith, She has entered the Bridal Chamber and while still in Satan’s Eden, She is enjoying the Sabbath of Rest. She is even now in that Eighth Day spoken of by Her Prophet.

          In our physical being, this time now is our “Night Watch” to which the Bridegroom has appointed us. “Watch ye therefore, for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock crowing, or in the morning, lest suddenly He find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, WATCH.” (Mark 13:35-37) it is the revelation of His soon coming that keeps Her watching. Watch after watch has come and gone, but never before have we had the signs of His coming that we now have.

          Only God Himself is holding back the Four Winds that will soon be let loose and bring the destruction of this world through the Battle of Armageddon. Hosea said, “His going forth is as the Morning.” (Hos. 6:3) And that Morning cannot now be far off. After this terrible battle, the Morning will break forth on Earth in one thousand years of peace. But for now, until the Rapture, the Bride must suffer Satan’s Eden. Whether the time is long or short, she must bear His Cross with Him. When the trials seem unbearable, she must draw closer and place her hand in His bleeding side.

          A great part of His faithfulness is to be seen in that He will not allow His Bride to become earthly contented. He will see to it that this world does not receive Her and make Her to feel at home. He will see to it that we do not settle down and become comfortable without Him. We see confusion everywhere, but know that our Bridegroom, though not its Author, is in control of it. We see divisions in our beloved Message, yet we believe that the Bride is of One Heart and One Mind. We see mighty kingdoms who suppose that they are ruling, yet we know, “The King's heart is in the Hand of the Lord, and as rivers of water He turneth it whither soever He will.” (Pro. 21:1) we see the Saints trodden down for now, but we know they will be with their Bridegroom when He “Treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” (Rev. 19:15)

          We look at the graves of our loved ones and believe that they are not dead, because the Bridegroom has promised us that whomever we have loved in this life will have life eternal. (His promise of this was not only to the Prophet, but to His Bride also.) We see the Bride being persecuted around the globe, but know that she is being made to conquer. We see the steps of the anti-Christ as he supposes he is making progress in his church and know that his so-called progress only spells his doom. We watch the world caught up in what they suppose to be joy and know that it is only a momentary thing of the flesh. We see the sorrow of the Bride, but know that it is not the sorrow the world experiences. We see the night, thick darkness all around us, yet know that the Evening Light has come and that we are not part of the darkness.

          We do not grow weary in watching, for we know that the day is ours and we will possess our souls with the patience He sends. God’s plan must run its course. His work must be finished and the long night must do its work both in His Bride and in those who forever refuse the Light. Just as we say by faith, “The Kingdom is ours,” we also say, “The day (this day) is ours.” Its light, sent by God through His Prophet, is ours. Though we suffer with the sick and grieve over their sorrows, the joy of the Lord is our strength and produces health in our own bodies. For this we take no credit, but turn it all back to Him who called us.

          The Apostle says, “The night is far spent.” Behind us lay the years when God called His Prophet from the womb. Behind us lay the years of his growing to manhood and the three stages of his ministry. Behind us by some thirty-eight years is the opening of the Seven Seals that was to give the Bride rapturing faith. Also, behind us is the time the cup of iniquity was full and the curse was ready to be poured out had not God chosen rather to send us His Prophet (Mal. 4:6) Yes, the night is now far spent and the most of it must by now be over. It is drawing to a close, this world, as we have known it, is soon to be destroyed.

          We rouse ourselves and strain our eyes to look for the resurrected Saints who are soon to appear to us. The very thought of it brings a quickening that increases with each passing hour. In our times of stress and pressure, we are overcome and even dazzled at the thought of seeing and embracing our loved ones again. It is true that when we look upon the earth, in its natural realm, there are no signs of the coming morning. That is except for this: that the darkness grows deeper each day. This, of itself, is a scriptural sign to us.

          The children of the night are waxing worse and worse, doing the unfruitful works of darkness in our streets, waking from their beds each day to continue in their lust, revilings, banquetings and idolatries. It is night for the Church Natural as she yields herself to making provisions for the flesh and giving in to the seducer as he lays in wait for them at every corner. As God’s grace holds back the end so that one more may come in, Church Natural uses this grace period to become worldlier. Luxury, sports, and sex fill her mind. She knows not that she is being led to the Battle of Armageddon for the slaughter. (Rev. 19:11-21)

          But, we will not end our sermon in this negative vein. There is victory for “Whosever will come” to the Man with the nail scars in His Hands. He is the Victor, not we ourselves. It was His Sword that smote the enemy of our souls and under His protection we are conquerors. He overcame by allowing Himself to be overcome. He plucked the sting from death. By allowing death to take hold of Himself, He made the grave to let go its hold as He arose out of it; He made way for His Bride to do the same.

          Soon, the Trumpet shall sound and this corruptible shall put on incorruption. There will be a complete casting aside of this mortal, fleshly body, with all its memories of dishonor. Every last particle of sin shall be torn loose from us and this “vile body” shall be made like unto our Bridegroom’s own Glorious Body. All the scars and wounds from the battle we have been in will be removed; mortality falls from us and all that pertains to it will be left behind.