An Honest Answer!
                                                                                           By Pastor F. M. Riley
                                                                                           March 11, 2019
     "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear," 1 Peter 3:15.
Introduction
     I have been repeatedly asked by brothers and sisters in Christ if our Lord Jesus Christ is coming to resurrect and rapture His Church and believing people to glory on the Jewish Festival of Purim, to be observed on the 21st and 22nd days of this present month of March?   Or, if the Lord Jesus is not coming for us  until  Passover, April 20th, of this year?  
     It is glaringly obvious that almost all true believers who are seriously studying the prophecies of God's Word, and watching the "signs" the Lord told His disciples to watch for, believe that the Lord Jesus is coming on one of these two Jewish Holy Days during the Spring of this year?  The question is, which one?  
     I do not know!  This is my honest answer!  I too believe our precious Lord Jesus is coming this year, on one of these two dates, or on some other date of His choice, during one of these two months.  Every day now, is worth watching for, and praying for, the coming of our Lord.   
The Festival of Purim
     This festival is not found in the list of Jewish Holy Days set forth in Leviticus 23 and 25, all of which were appointed by the Lord God Himself as days to be observed each year by the Jewish people.  .  
      This day was added to the holy days of Israel, as recorded in the Book of Esther.  This inspired book sets forth the plot to totally destroy the Jewish people out of the kingdom of "Ahasuerus," [Xerxes] who was  king over the Media-Persian Empire at that time.  
     In his kingdom was a wicked man named Haman, an Agagite [Amalekite] by race, Esther 3:1. These were the same people that the Lord God commanded King Saul, to utterly destroy, 1 Samuel 15:3.  However, Saul disobeyed the Lord, and so the descendants of Amalek were still living on the earth in the days of King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther.  One of them later cut off the head of King Saul, 1 Samuel 31:9; 2 Samuel 1:8-10; Galatians 6:7-8.    
     Haman hated the Jewish people, and wanted to exterminate them from the earth.  He devised a plot against the Jews, and set a "date" for all of his followers to rise up and totally destroy the Jewish people.
     However, the Lord God had arranged for Esther to become the Queen, and  had put a great love for her, in the heart of King Ahasuerus.
Esther was informed of the plot by Haman to destroy her people, and was able to expose that plot to King Ahasuerus.  As a result,  instead of the Jewish people being destroyed, Haman and his followers were destroyed.  The "date" the destruction came was the 13th day of the twelth month; the month of Adar, Esther 3:13.  That day was then made by the Jews a day to be observed every year, commemorating Israel's deliverance from wicked Haman.  
     As our readers study this account in the Book of Esther, keep in mind that wicked Haman was a type of the anti-christ, who stands as a threat today to all peoples who believe in and trust the Lord God of Israel.  Is the Lord God then going to rescue [rapture] His believing people today out of the hands of the coming wicked anti-christ?  Of course He is!     
     Dear readers, we are living today in the Jewish month of Adar 2, and Purim will be observed this month on March 20th-21st. These dates on the Jewish calendar are  Adar 2, 13-14.   These dates are also the beginning of Spring and the first day of Spring, Song of Solomon 2:8-13.  These dates are also the time of a third "Blood Moon" to appear.  In other words these dates are important, and in the light of Bible prophecy, they have a lot going for them.  
     Will the Lord come on these same dates to rescue and deliver His Church and all true believers?  I do not know!   But Purim is a "'high watch" date for God's people, and certainly a time to be much in prayer for our Lord's coming.        
The Jewish Passover
     Dear believers, if our Lord should not come on the Jewish Festival of Purim, then the next important date to "watch" will be the Jewish Passover.   Why?   Gee!  I'm so glad you asked!  
     The Passover was set in place by the Lord God Himself, when He delivered His chosen Jewish people out of bondage in the land of Egypt.  Read the whole account again in Exodus 12.  
      It was preceding Israel's deliverance from Egypt that the Lord God Himself gave to Israel a new calendar, which today is referred to by the Jewish people as the "sacred calendar."  The first month on the new calendar was called by the Lord God Himself,  Abib.  Most of the Jewish people today, and many prophecy teachers refer to this first month as Nisan.  This latter title was assigned to the month by the Babylonians, when the Jews were in captivity in Babylon for 70 years.   When the Jews were delivered from Babylon, many of them just continued to refer to the month as Nisan.  Either title is Scriptural, as both titles for this month are used in God's Word.  
     It was on the night of the 14th day of Abib that the Lord God "passed over" the land of Egypt, and all the firstborn of the Egyptians died that night.  This caused the Egyptians to want the Israelites to leave their country, and the Egyptians "thrust them out," Exodus 12:39.  
    Now what I want to emphasize to our readers is that the Lord God "passed over" the land of Egypt that night.  He did not land in Egypt, or set foot on the earth.  He "passed over" in the sky above the earth.  Yet He delivered His chosen people out of bondage by that event.  
     Dear readers, the only other place I can find in all of God's Word where the Lord God will "pass over" the earth, without ever setting foot on it, is set forth in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. This passage is a prophecy of the resurrection and rapture of His Church and believing people, which will deliver them out of the danger of entering into the terrible Tribulation Period, will keep them from entering into God's wrath [1 Thess. 5:9],  and will protect them from the wickedness of Satan and the anti-christ, poured out upon those unbelievers left behind on the earth following the rapture.    Glory to God!      
     Now are these two instances of the Lord God "passing over" the earth, without coming down upon the earth at those specific times, just "coincidence," or is the Lord God giving His people the "date" of His coming for them on Passover, April 19th-20th, the Jewish month of  Abib, and the 13th and-14th days of that month?      
I Don't Know!  
     I make no claim to knowing which of these two dates the Lord will come to rescue and rapture His people to glory, or whether He will come on either one of these dates.  It is possible His coming will not take place on either date, but both of these dates are "high watch" dates for me.  Our readers can decide for themselves if these two dates" are important dates for them to be "watching"  for the Lord's  coming, Luke 12:37; 12:43.  
     By God's Grace, I have been permitted to set before our readers the importance of both of these dates in the light of the Lord's coming.  Now what the reader does with this information is their own choice.  
      May our gracious God add His blessings to this brief study.
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      My personal contact information:
POSTAL........Pastor F. M. Riley, 14275 Co. Rd. 8120, Rolla, MO 65401
EMAIL..........francismriley34@gmail.com
PHONE........573-202-6493
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