Happy Purim!
Well, here we are in the Month of March which translates to the 12th Biblical Month or the Month of Adar as recorded on the Rood “Astronomically and Agriculturally Corrected Biblical Hebrew Calendar.” At the time of this post it will be the beginning of the 14th—day of the 12-Biblical Month, otherwise known as Purim. Yes Purim: to the uninitiated and Semitically-biased among us, it will simply be a repeat of another Jewish holiday. Certainly not something for Christians to even have the slightest inkling to get involved in. No indeed, the Church triumphant has but a few more weeks before the advent of one of her holiest of feast days—Easter. Thus there is no room for such bognosh as those Jewish or Hebrew Feasts. Right? Funny though: Purim comes just before the Christian horror-day of Easter, but Purim entails the story of Esther. Again, to the uninitiated, most would never make the connection between the two names. However, the truth of the matter is that the name Esther (the name given to the Jewish-girl Hadasah who Yehovah would use to save His people from utter annihilation by the evil motives of an agagite) and the title of the Catholic-created horror day of Easter are one in the same names—the name given to Semiramus, the presumed wife of Nimrod and mother of Tammuz. Indeed, the name comes directly out of Babylon and it is Babylon where the story of Purim actually takes.
Certainly fundamental Christianity would frown terribly upon any believer admitting that he or she even thought about celebrating Purim (or for that matter any of the Feasts of Yehovah). It seems that anything having to do with the Jews or the Hebraic Roots of the Christian Faith frightens to death the average card-carrying Christian believer. Indeed, the general consensus interpretation of the Pauline Epistles condemned any celebration, acknowledgment or even leaning towards acknowledging that our beloved Christian Faith was entirely birthed from her Hebraic foundations. It’s almost as if the cognitive reality that the Christian Faith is of Hebraic origins is likened to one having a drunken, whoring, worthless father that one simply wants to forget and never mention again in conversation or in thought. Certainly the enemy has done a superb job in masking the connection. More so, the enemy has done an even greater job hiding the significance the Feasts of Yehovah has for each and every believer in Yeshua Messiah.
Purim is not one of the seven-mandated Feasts of Yehovah. Like Hanukkah, however, it is what I choose to call, an ancillary Feast of Yehovah, that provides another layer of prophetic shadow pictures related to our redemption and the end of the age. For me, it wasn’t until well after I came in to a modest knowledge of the Hebraic Roots of our Faith that I came to appreciate the ancillary feasts of Hanukkah and Purim. I was introduced to the significance of these two feasts through the ministry and teachings of Michael Rood of “A Rood Awakening International.”
The 2-Secrets
Secret One: Purim provides for the believers of Yeshua Messiah a prophetic shadow picture of the end of the age. Two major events in the end times are foreshadowed by the Purim story: (1) modern Israel and the Jews who reside there will be in a position of being almost entirely annihilated just as she was back during the Nazi-driven holocaust and potentially so by the works of Haman the Agagite. Ezekiel 38 and 39 speak to a time when the modern nation of Israel will be invaded and the inhabitants brought to the verge of extinction. Daniel 9:27; 12:1, 11; Zech. 11:16; Matt. 24:15, 21; Rev. 12:13 also speak to this period in the end times when the enemies of Yehovah will march in to Zion and attempt to utterly destroy the Jews just as Hitler attempted to do in the middle of the 20th century. But just as He did in the Purim story, Yehovah will intervene on behalf of the Jew and the nation of Israel will be saved. (2) Hadassah was selected from 100’s of fair maidens throughout the Medio-Persian Empire to be the Bride of Xerxes. This honor (if one could actually refer to it as an honor after being forced into the process) was not awarded without Hadassah having to go through a year of work-up that included oil, cosmetics, myrrh and spice application and etiquette training. Upcoming completing this rigorous regimen, Hadassah still had to appeal to Xerxes heart which she apparently did. Thus she became queen. This scene provides the believer in Messiah with a shadow picture of the redeemed of Yehovah attending the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (reference Rev. 19:7-10). Contrary to that which traditional, fundamental, orthodox Christianity teaches, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will not be an all inclusive event whereby every individual who professes to be a Christian will be snatched up to attend. Oh heck no! Only those who are deemed Saints and whose “righteous acts” serve as their “bright, clean fine linen.” Like Hadassah, if we are to participate in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, there is a preparation process that we are compelled to complete and that process is life–Torah Living; living by Faith; being led by the Ruach Kodesh; living righteous lives worthy of our chosen status. It will be at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb that we are bound together with Yeshua Messiah and thus we will reign with Him for eternity.
Secret Two: This secret is a little strange, but I find the shadow picture with the story of Purim to be quite compelling. Esther 8:15-17 speaks to Mordecai being exalted in the land by Xerxes and Queen Esther upon the decree that went forth throughout the empire to allow the Jews to defend against those who would follow Haman’s edict to destroy the Jews. The Jews in the empire provided those non-Jews throughout the empire with such a witness as to their calling as God’s people, that “many among the peoples of the land became Jews” (vs. 17). We, the chosen of Yeshua Messiah, through our love for the Master through obedience and leading of the Ruach Kodesh, have the opportunity to live lives that will call “many among the peoples of our land to become Messianic Believers in Messiah.” It then behooves us to live lives commensurate to our chosen state. The fields are ripe as more and more people are leaving Christianity and Christian Churches by the 10’s of 1000’s each year. If we exude the right spirit and are obedient to Yehovah, people will naturally wonder about our Faith and some may even seek to affiliate.
There are other secrets contained in the story of Purim. I ask you this Purim, to prepare yourselves for that great day of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and pray for the peace of Yerushalayim. I’m dedicating my life to putting the word out this year that the Hebraic Roots of the Christian Faith is the true Faith once delivered to the first century Saints. It’s one thing to put out words in the hope that one or two might be convinced and come on over. It’s an entirely different thing to live and walk out the Hebraic Roots of the Christian Faith, which is what we need to focus on this Day of Purim. Shalom. Be most bless fellow Saints.