1st Question: The spreadsheet that you mentioned before, is there an email address where you can send this out?
Chris: I was just given a good suggestion that we put this up on the website. I will send this to Bill Burton and maybe he can put this up.
2nd Question: I do not know if you have heard some of the studies regarding the Friday night study, but maybe you can touch on this. One of the things that is being taught there – and some people are accepting this while I do not – is that Satan knows the date but Christ does not. Can you say something about this?
Chris: As far as Satan, I think that this is based on the statement that is made by the demons, “Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” This seems to indicate that they have some idea of the time.
The date is in God’s complete control. We see in the book of Esther that this was chosen by lot, and the Bible tells us that God is the One who determines the lot. The Bible tells us that He knows the end from the beginning, and there is just no way around this.
This is being said at the Friday night studies and this is also being said in the churches, “Well, Christ is God but He does not know this one thing”; but this is not what the Bible teaches.
The moment that anyone says that Christ does not know the least thing, they are then making Him less than God. Job says in Job 24, “Times are not hidden from the Almighty.”
To say that Christ knows everything but that He does not know the particular date for the end of the world, how then does He know eternity future beyond this? There will be a big change in eternity future when this world ends. If He does not know the date for the end of the world, then He does not know exactly the moment when all of His sheep will join Him in Heaven and be with Him forevermore in the new Heaven and new earth. This means that He lacks an awful lot of knowledge about eternity future.
In other words, by simple deduction, if you are God and you do not know the date of the end of the world but you do know that this world is not going to be here on one date because at the next point all of the elect will be with you in Heaven, then you could figure out that that must be the date for the end of the world.
This just makes no sense and this is something that is not new. This is not a new revelation. We have heard this for several years from the churches.
3rd Question (continued from Question #2): Can you explain why Satan would not know the date? I am hoping that someone is listening and maybe they can hear this.
Chris: I do not know all that Satan knows or does not know. I know that he understands “dark sayings.” The Bible tells us this. Satan has a lot of Bible knowledge.
As far as whether or not he specifically knows the date of the end, I do not know if the Bible gets into this. We know that he knows that Judgment Day was May 21 because there was a big change in the program for him. He was put down and he was deposed as the ruler of the churches and of the world and Christ was exalted; and so Satan is fully aware of this.
Additional Comments: What about the verse that says, “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father”? I believe that “the Son” there is actually Satan.
Chris: I have not looked at this recently, but that is the last understanding that I had the last time that I looked at this.
People are trying to figure out, “What happened? Maybe we cannot know.” I said this many times leading up to May 21 and this still stands. Nothing has changed in this sense. God has a lot of information in the Bible that indicates that His people will know the timing of the end. This has not changed.
Also, if you just look at this from a practical standpoint or from a worldly perspective, there have been many inventions in this world. For example with flight, there are those who attempted to take flight and they failed and failed and failed.
At that point, if you were back there in history before the Wright brothers or before those other earlier pioneers of flight, you would have had a decision to make, “Since no one has ever flown before and because I have just witnessed someone crash into the bottom of the valley and what was left was nothing but a wreck, am I going to think that it is an impossibility that anyone can ever fly?”
Many people went this way, but some realized that there was a little progress that was being made, “They had more time in the air at this point before they crashed.” But whatever, some people were going to think, “I still think that it is possible.”
For those who based their decision on what they could presently see with their eyes and on past history, they concluded that man could not fly; and the reality is that they were dead wrong. This is how it has been with many, many things in the world, and this is how it is now with understanding the end.
People who are just concluding this based on certain things not occurring as we thought and believe that it is now impossible to know, this information did not change prior to what happened. It is just really the circumstances that we have now and what they are seeing with their eyes that are making them come to this conclusion.
4th Question: You mentioned billboards. The second letter that was sent out in the book of Esther, did that just go to the Jews and not to the entire province? Would that letter have concerned anyone else apart from the Jews?
Chris: This is a good question. Let us look at Esther 8:17, which is the last verse of Esther 8:
And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.
It goes on to emphasize this two more times in chapter nine. This means that, necessarily, everyone had to hear. A decree like that could not have been put up without everyone hearing.
5th Question: Do you think that there is a tie-in between the first month in casting the lot and God first introducing the feast of unleavened bread in Exodus 12? Also, the lamb was kept from the 10th day until the 14th day.
Chris: No; I do not. Again, it was the 13th day of the 1st month that the decree was made. It was probably on the 1st day of the 1st month of Ahasuerus’ 12th year that the lot was cast. Then 338 days after that would be 12/13, which works out to be 2x13x13. Also, the 17th day of the 2nd month when Haman was killed would be 46 days after the first casting of the lot, and that would break down to 2x23. But this does not relate to Passover.
6th Question: Can you explain Romans 7:9?
Chris: We read in Romans 7:9:
For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
I can tell you what I have heard Mr. Camping teach on this verse. I have never personally checked this out, but I tend to agree with Mr. Camping that this verse is speaking of mankind. We were “alive without the law once” before God gave the Law to Adam and Eve and they broke the Law; then sin entered in and they died, as it says:
…when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
If you are looking at the word “revived,” I cannot help you with that. I am sorry.
7th Question: Since the title of “the son of perdition” was given to Judas and Judas was not one of the elect, could this mean that the title of “the son of perdition” could relate to any who are not of the elect?
Chris: In relation to Mark 13:32 where it says “neither the Son,” Satan is identified as “the son of perdition” in the Bible. And it is also interesting in the book of Job when the sons of God came to present themselves before God in Heaven, it says “and Satan came also among them.” This is said twice. So I think that it could refer to Satan there.
Additional Comments: How about referring to mankind who are not of the elect?
Chris: No man knows, not even the elect. We cannot know of ourselves, as it says in Acts 1:7:
…It is not for [of] you to know the times or the seasons…
When we were able to know that May 21 was Judgment Day, that came from God. God is able to impart that information.
8th Question: In Esther 9:10, Haman’s ten sons were slain in Shushan the palace. Then in Esther 9:14, it says that they hanged Haman and his ten sons.
Chris: They hanged Haman’s ten sons at that time, not Haman.
This is significant. Haman who clearly represents Satan, had ten sons. This is significant because if we look at Revelation 13, we find the beast that comes up out of the sea. “The beast” is a name for Satan. It says in the middle of Revelation 13:1:
…having seven heads and ten horns…
In Esther, we read that Haman had ten sons, and these sons would identify with these ten horns.
On May 21, Haman (or Satan) is put down. He is humiliated. He is brought low and Christ is exalted. Haman is even killed, like we read in Isaiah 14. Remember the language of Isaiah 14:7-10 where it says:
The whole earth is at rest…
We will tie this into Zechariah 1 later. Then it continues:
…and is quiet: they break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.
This is referring to the king of Babylon or Satan. Then it continues:
Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
If you read Isaiah 14, it clearly reads as though Satan were slain. In a way he was, but he continues to exist.
This is why the ten sons are significant. This is really referring to Satan himself, because the ten horns and the beast are one and the same. But as for how God is viewing them, He gave the beast rule in the church. Then after the end of the great tribulation, the beast is put down, his rule is taken away, and yet Satan continues to exist as he does now and will until the very last day.
Also compare what happened with Babylon at the end of 70 years. King Cyrus, who is a type of Christ, came and took Babylon. Where was the king of Babylon at that time? He was at a banquet of wine. Do you remember that? Just like when Haman meets his fate at a banquet of wine, the king of Babylon at the end of 70 years is at a banquet of wine and he is slain that very night.
God is confirming this. Yes; Satan lost all power but he exists, and this is because God has another plan. May 21 was not the physical destruction or the end in that sense, but it was Judgment Day. Now the plan is to try the faith over a period of time of all those who said that they were believers, because they are going to misunderstand or not fully comprehend what happened on May 21. October 21 is like another blow to them, and yet it is right on course.
Haman dies, and yet there is no mention of October 21 in the book of Esther. Then there is a set time path that is straight from May 21 to the Feast of Purim. And what is the Feast of Purim? It is a time when the Jews avenge themselves of their enemies and then enter into rest. This is exactly parallel to the Jews who destroyed their enemies in the land of Canaan and then rested afterwards and stood in their lot, because the land was given to them by lot.
So we have this match with the Feast of Purim. You kill your enemies, you then rest, and then you stand in your lot, like God said to Daniel, “at the end of the days.”
9th Question (continued from Question #8): With regard to Haman’s tens sons being killed twice, would this have to do with the second death?
Chris: Yes, probably. Also, this really sets up that interesting situation that Purim is a feast. We have the 13th day of the 12th month, but they rested on the 14th day and the 15th day. It really stretches over a period of three days. We have the Bible speak of 12/13, but it also mentions 12/14 and 12/15.
What happened was that on the 13th day, they killed their enemies in Shushan and in all of the provinces. Then Esther asked the king if they could do it again the next day, and so it was only in Shushan that they slew on the 14th day.
So out there in all of those provinces, they killed their enemies on the 13th day, and then they rested on the 14th day. In Shushan only, they killed their enemies on the 13th and the 14th day, and then they rested on the 15th day.
This means that all of the world will be on the Feast of Purim at the same time. Some might experience more of the feast while others experience less of the feast, as far as God fulfilling this spiritually, but we actually have Biblical information that says that those in Shushan experience more of the feast than those in the rest of the provinces; but it was all the feast.
In other words, let us say that March 7th comes in Australia first. Yesterday around 4 or 5 P.M., I started hearing reports that it was already the New Year in this country and in that country. This was how it was when we were waiting for the date of May 21. Other countries had already reached May 21, and then we heard that nothing happened. Then they left May 21 while others entered into that date. We were thinking that even if things had happened at that point, what about those who were already on May 22nd?
In this case, Australia enters day one of the feast, but we are not in the feast yet. Then they go to day two, which is the 14th day. We enter day one, which is the 13th day for us; and yet everyone will be on this same feast everywhere in the world at the same time.
10th Question: The true believers who are asleep will rise up first.
Chris: Do you mean the resurrection at the end?
Additional Comments: Yes. Would they be already at the feast at a certain time and then finally be alive with the true believers going up to meet them in the sky? The dead in Christ will go up first though, right?
Chris: How ever God is going to do this, we know that it does say that the dead in Christ will rise first. I do not think that the Bible indicates at what hour this will be, because it is laid out over a three-day period. It could be potentially the 13th day or it could be the rest days of the 14th or the 15th. We cannot know the precise day or hour. We just know that this feast will occur as God has locked in May 21 to the book of Esther. Then the natural time path just goes to the next time that Purim is observed.
11th Question: Could you compare Esther 5:1 with Hebrews 9:3-4? Is the inner court of the king’s house a picture of the Holiest of Holies?
Chris: We read in Esther 5:1:
Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house…
Then we read in Hebrews 9:3-4:
And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
Yes; the inner court is a picture of the Holiest of Holies. It is God’s dwelling place; and we read of Ahasuerus being seated on his throne.
Concerning the golden scepter, remember that this statement is made in Hebrews 1:8:
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
So Esther needs Christ’s righteousness. Actually, Esther becomes a picture of Christ.
What we will find, and we will try to discuss this more next week, but notice that prior to her entering into the king that there is a period of fasting of three nights and days. This was a period of intense fasting, as we read in Esther 4:16:
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king…
Remember that when Esther enters into the king, this leads right up to May 21. There was an intense period of fasting prior to her entering in. On the third day of the fast, she enters in.
Spiritually, what does fasting point to in the Bible? It points to getting the Gospel out. God tells us in Isaiah 58, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen?”
Was there a time of intense fasting leading up to May 21 in getting the Gospel out? Yes; there was and it was a time like never before.
God’s people were fasting leading up to the moment that Esther went into the king. Esther is a type of Christ. Christ, of course, paid for the sins of His elect before the foundation of the world. He did all of the work at that time. But still, He interceded on behalf of His people whenever we can say that they became saved. It was as if Christ was there before the Father saying, “I have paid for this one’s sins,” and interceding for them.
So when Esther goes into the king and the king says, “What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom,” basically, at that point, she is making intercession for all of the Jews in the provinces; and all of the “Jews” become saved on or prior to May 21, 2011.
There is then only a working out of this, because time still has to go to the 12th month of Adar, but all of the “Jews” were interceded for and basically saved at that point. It just becomes a matter of working out the details. But when the king says that the Jews can write a second letter and that the Jews can avenge themselves, we have to ask when we can avenge ourselves.
Maria asked me a good question, “I do not understand. How can God allow the Jews to avenge themselves?” They typify the elect; and when is the only point when the elect can avenge themselves of their enemies? It is on the very last day. That is the end of all things. Actually, this is what God does with His people as He ends the world and so forth; that is, He brings vengeance on the people of the world.
12th Question: A few weeks ago in your study, Esther Part 5, you said that God’s people who are married to Him and who are the Bride of Christ can never be divorced, that they can never be put away or put asunder and separated from Him no matter what sin they commit. What about the true believers in the churches prior to the end of the church age who had the Holy Spirit living in them and were doing their best to obey Scripture but who stayed in their churches throughout the end of the church age, through May 21st, and to this day? Could these folks, including some of our loved ones, be part of the Bride of Christ whom Christ would never divorce no matter what sins they committed, as you said?
Chris: No. It is true, no matter what sins we commit, they can be forgiven; but there are also other principles at work that we cannot avoid. When God saves someone, He puts His Spirit within them and He gives that person an ongoing desire to do the will of God. They might still sin, like David, and do something grievous. They can still do that, but they will not continually do that.
For instance, someone in the world becomes saved. Every Friday and Saturday night, he was in the bar. He becomes saved and maybe after salvation he even goes back to the bar, but then he gets so convicted, “I know that I cannot do this and I know that I cannot be here.”
This is exactly how it would be with anyone in the church. God led His people out of the churches and none stayed there when the final day of May 21 came. I am sorry to say this, but this is how it is.
We will stop here.