“For
the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to
all men,
Teaching
us
that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live
soberly, righteously,
and godly, in this present world;
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ
Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us
from all inquity, and
purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good
works.”
Titus 2:11-14
INTRODUCTION
The
third day after Passover has come and
gone, and our beloved Lord did not come to rescue and
rapture His Gentile
Church Bride and believing people out of this present evil
world.I
was so let down and cisappointed, and I am
sure other believers were too.
But
hold on!Don’t
throw up your hands and stop looking
for our Lord’s coming.Anyone can give
up and quit.The
Lord Himself pronounced
a blessing upon those of His people whom He would find
faithfully “watching”
when He comes, Luke 12:37.Don’t our
readers want that blessing?Then don’t
give up!
THE
ERROR I MADE!
Of
course I make mistakes.I am not living in my new body yet!No one knows that
better than I do.And
my being 87 years old doesn’t help a
bit.My memory
sometimes fails me, even
in simple things, which should be easy to remember.
But I
do have a gracious, merciful,
forgiving. Savior.When
He did not come
for His Church and people on the third day after
Passover, I began
crying out to Him, for I knew He had awakened me in the
night impressing upon
me that I should study about the third day.I was obedient, and out of that study one Biblical
truth after another
has dropped into place exactly as I believe the Lord
intended.
The
last truth He gave me, after I was so
disappointed on Tuesday, the third day after Passover, was a
truth which I have
probably read a hundred times or more in the 68 years I have
been in the Lord’s
ministry, yet I had overlooked it all these years. My error!
THE
RESURRECTION OF THE SAINTS
A
careful study of the Scriptures makes it quite clear that
the Lord was
resurrected exactly three days and three nights after His
crucifixion on
Passover.This
means He arose exactly as
the Jewish Sabbath Day ended, and Sunday, the first day of
the week began.In
33 A.D. the Jewish Sabbath ended at
sundown (6 pm) on the 17thday
of Nisan (Abib) and the 18th of Nisan (Abib)
began,But we
believers today are not living in 33
A.D.Therefore,
on our calendar today
those days could vary, and they do!
Don’t
fail to notice in Matthew 27:52-53,
that after the resurrection of Christ, the “first
fruit” saints were
also resurrected,
“And
the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints
which slept arose,
And came out of the graves after His
resurrection, and went into
the Holy city, and appeared unto many.”
This
makes it clear that these “first
fruit” saints were not resurrected on the third
day after
Passover.They
were resurrected on the
fourth day following Passover, and very explicitly, after
the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice
that the Apostle Paul explicitly
refers to Christ Himself and the saints which arose after
His
resurrection as the “firstfruits,”
1 Cor.
15:20-23.Folks,
you can’t have “firstfruits”
unless there are more
fruits to follow.Glory!
Now
when were these “firstfruits” raised?They
were raised on the first day of the week, which in
33 A.D. was Sunday,
the day following the first Jewish Sabbath following
Passover.In 33
A.D. those dates were the 17th
and 18th of Nisan (Abib).But this is not 33
A.D., and therefore the
days and datescould
vary on our present
day calendar. And they do!
This
year the Jewish Passover (Nisan 14) occurred on March 27th
on our
Gentile calendar.That
day was a
Saturday, and was the Sabbath day on the Jewish calendar.Now when is the
first Jewish Sabbath day following
the March 27thPassover
this
year?
It is this coming
Saturday, April 3rd.And when then will
be the first day of the
week following that Sabbath day which falls on April 3rd?Why, it will be
this coming Sunday, April
4th.Wow!
April
4th is the first day of
the week, following the first Jewish Sabbath day following
Passover. But
it is also EASTER, the one day in the
year that the entire “Christian” world has designated to
observe THE
RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. Dear readers, there is no way
this could have
occurred just by “coincidence.” This had to be by the will
and under the
direction of God!
This
coming Sunday is the first day of the
week.It is the
8th day
following Passover.“8”
is the Bible
number signifying “new birth; new things; new beginning.”It is also the 22nd
day of Nisan
(Abib) on the Jewish calendar.“22” is
the Bible number signifying “enlightment; to see;to discern.”This month is also the 4th month of the
year on our calendar,
and this comingSunday
is the 4th
day of the month These two
numbers also add up to “8,” signifying “new things; new
birth; ; new
beginning.” It
is the exact same day of
the week, in the same month, in which the “firstfruit” “saints that slept in Jerusalem” arose in 33
A.D.Glory to
God! Hallelujah!
Didn’t
the inspired Apostle plainly state
that the Lord’s Church and believing people “are
not in darkness” as to the time of our Lord’s coming?Read it for
yourself in 1 Thessalonians
5;4-5.
Now
can our readers find a better day for
the resurrection and rapture of the Lord,s Church and
people, than on this
first day of the week, following the Sabbath day, following
Passover this
year?Well…??
Our
readers have the message the Lord laid
on my heart.I
hope to meet every reader
at the Lord’s table in glory this coming Sunday,
April 4th,
Matthew 26:26-29.Please
don’t
disappoint me!