So Lord, may you graciously help
me, I will draw your prayerful attention to the book of Esther
and take in for a text a verse you will find in chapter 9 of
the book of Esther and verse 1. It's somewhat of a summary
of the book of Esther. Esther in chapter 9 and verse
1. Now in the twelfth month, that
is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's
commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution,
in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power
over them, though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews
had rule over them that hated them. Esther chapter 9 and verse
1. In the book of Esther, we have
an account of how the Jews fared after the captivity. It seems
after the captivity, not all of the Jews went back to live
in Jerusalem, but they were still scattered around in many places,
and many were living at this time all over the provinces that
were under the control of Ahasuerus, who was the king at this time.
And there came, at this time, this man who was promoted to
great authority under King Ahasuerus, who was called Haman. We're told
that he was the son of Hamadatha, the Agagite, and many believe
that he was He was linked to the Amalekites. He was an Amalekite
by origin. Many believe that because one
of the kings of the Amalekites was called Agag. So they think
that there was a link there. And if you remember, the Amalekites
were long enemies of Israel. Haman was a very proud man, we
read, and he was set up by the king in a position of great authority. And we read in chapter 3 And
all the king's servants, in this verse 2 of chapter 3, that were
in the king's gate, bowed and reverenced Haman, for the king
had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did
him reverence." So here we have the beginnings of the problem,
which resulted in an edict being sent out that would be for the
destruction of the Jews. But as we see in our text, that
in the wonder-working hand of God, that message which was for
the destruction of the Jews on a certain day, which was the
twelfth month, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that
was the day that had been set. This was going to be a day of
destruction for the Jews, all the Jews in the 127 provinces
of the king of Ahasuerus. But that very day, God turned to be a day of liberation
and blessing for those very people who it had been a day on their
calendar that would have been a day of great fear and great
consternation. But in the book of Esther we
do not have the name of God mentioned and yet we see his hand orchestrating
all the events in this book to bring about his purposes of love
and mercy for the Jews. And it's interesting to note,
it's a very different working than you have, for example, in
Israel's day, how Israel was brought out of the land of Egypt. In that situation you had many,
many miracles taking place. God was supernaturally changing
the laws of nature as we know them, so that water stands up
vertically, So the water turns into blood and so forth. Many
different miracles took place to bring the children of Israel
out of Egyptian slavery. God was able to put to one side
the laws of nature as we know them and bring his people out
of slavery. But really in the book of Esther,
there's no real miracle takes place in the sense that anything
really particularly against what we'd know as the laws of nature.
But God is still orchestrating and was orchestrating everything
in this account to bring about his purposes. And we need to
think about today. You might say, well, we don't
see so many miracles today. We don't see water standing up
so that you go through a lake and there'll be waters on your
left and your right and you go through dry land. We don't see
God often doing that sort of thing. But God was still working
in the life of Esther and in this book of Esther. And we need
to remember that today, that God is working in our lives and
God is still able to orchestrate things by bringing together the
timings of events just at the right time to bring about his
purposes. of love and mercy for his people. And of course, this is what God
had done. And this edict that was given
that was for the destruction turned out to be a time of blessing
for the Jews. This is what God did. God reversed
something that was so against them. And of course there's a
similarity here, we've sung of it in this middle hymn. There
is these two verdicts when it comes to us as sinners. There's
the law that stands unchanging, and in a sense, in this law that
was given by Hasuerus, the law never changed. The law was never
revoked. The law stood that at that certain
time that the Jews' enemies were to attack them, and yet a second
law was given which gave them victory over their enemies. And
we have that when we think of the things of God. That the law
was as loud as thunder cries, the soul that sins against me
dies. That doesn't change. There's a mercy, there's a way
of deliverance, there's a way made whereby we can be saved. Now let's look then at this precious
account given in Esther and remember that this shows how God is working
in providence and we need to think about in our lives. These
were real people with real problems, with real powers against them. And yet, when we consider particularly
the faith of somebody like Mordecai, it's astounding when you consider
what Mordecai did. Well, Esther chapter 3 then,
we read that this man Haman, this enemy, this proud man, this
man that seemed to hate the Jews, was put into a position of power
and authority. And we read that Mordecai bowed
not, nor did him reverence. Mordecai would not bow down to
this man Haman. Now it seems that it must have
been to Mordecai an issue like when it says in the Ten Commandments,
Thou shalt not bow down to these idols, that you are to worship
only the living God and indeed our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
When we have that in his temptations after he was taken into the wilderness
in Matthew chapter 4, we have something similar. Satan said
to Jesus, all these things will I give thee if thou will fall
down and worship me. This is Matthew 4 verse 9 and
verse 10. Then said Jesus unto him, get
thee hence Satan for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God and him only shalt thou serve. We have also in the account of
Daniel, we have that situation where Daniel purposed in his
heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the
king's meat. There was something clearly in
their minds that this was breaking their devotion to God by performing
this act. And no doubt in Mordecai's mind,
bowing down and reverence in Haman was would basically be breaking this
rule, this law of God that he should worship only God. So this
matter continued. And then we have it coming into
a climax in verse 4 of chapter 3. Now it came to pass when they
spake daily unto him, that's to Mordecai, and he hearkened
not unto them that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai's
matters would stand for he had told them that he was a Jew.
So clearly his unwillingness to bow down to Haman was linked
to the fact that he was a Jew, one that served God, one that
bowed down only to the living God. He was God to Mordecai,
and he was not going to bow down to this proud man, Haman, that
hated the Jews. Well, he came to hate the Jews
anyway. So in verse 5, and when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed
not down, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath,
and he thought scorned to lay hands on Mordecai alone. For
they had showed him the people of Mordecai. So Haman didn't
just want to destroy Mordecai, He found out that the reason
he would not bow down to him was because he was a Jew, and
there were Jews all over the realm. So Haman didn't think
it was sufficient to just get rid of Mordecai, he wanted to
get rid of all the Jews. He wanted to make a wholesale
sweep of the entire Jewish population. people that lived in the provinces
of Ahasuerus. So this was a very, very solemn
time for the Jews that were living around those provinces. This
was a holocaust, you could say, in their day. It was a time of
mass killing, or intended to be, of the Jews, like we knew
took place also, of course, in the Second World War. But in verse 7 you see In the first month, that is the
month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus. So Ahasuerus
had been twelve years king. It was in the third year of his
reign, when he had that great feast and Vashti, his wife, his
queen, refused to come in to parade herself in front of loads
of drunken men. she refused to do that, as a
result of that he put her out so she wasn't to be queen and
then in the seventh year we read of his reign Esther was placed
in a position as the new queen in place of Ashti And this is
the twelfth year, so we are five years into the reign of Esther
being Queen. So God, you see, had put Esther
in a position of power and favour and privilege five years before
this attack on the Jews that was being hatched by Haman. But in verse 7 you see we read
this, in the first month, that is the month Nisan, in the twelfth
year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is the lot before
Haman, from day to day and from month to month, to the twelfth
month, that is in the month Adar. And it seems that this was Haman
being a into witchcraft, no doubt. He
wanted to find which would be the best day, the lucky day,
in their terminology. They wanted to find the best
day when they could destroy the Jews. When would be the best
day? Well, the options were over a whole year. But we find that
the day that this lot appointed was on the 12th month on the
13th day of the month. So it was right at the end. As
long as it could be away, they were casting the possibility
between now and a year's time, the end of the year, it fell
in the last month. To God's mercies to the Jews,
it gave them time. gave them time for a second law
to happen. You think of it, these posts
were going out over a region of something like travelling
1,500 miles in different directions from Shushan. and they were doing
it on horseback and so forth, and mules and dromedaries and
camels. It was a tremendous thing to get this message out over
the whole kingdom. If the message, if the time,
the day appointed was too quick, there wouldn't have been time
to get another message to go out to change that message. or to give a different slant
on it. Well, God's mercies then, even
overruling the lot. And of course, today, I understand,
the Jews still keep this Feast of Purim, which is based on this
P-U-R, this lot that they cast. And this, the whole thing was
this special day, and of course that's in our text. Now in the
12th month, that is the month Adar, on the 13th day of the
same, this was the day that was appointed. So this was the day
appointed by their lucky charms or whatever they did by throwing
these lots, that was the day appointed where the Jews should
be destroyed. And the edict was to destroy,
to kill, and to cause to perish all the Jews, both young and
old, little children and women, in one day. So in one day there
would be a destruction of all the Jews that lived in the whole
of his realm. So this was a very solemn thing.
This was, you could say, a very bad backlash as a result of what Mordecai
had done. He stood up against Haman, and
Haman now was going to have the last word. He said, you don't
bow down to me. I will delete you from the face
of the earth. I will give a decree. I have
this great powerful king as my friend and I will cause you to
be killed and to perish. On a certain day, you will be
destroyed. and we read then in verse 15
of chapter 3 and the post went out being hastened by the king's
commandment and the decree was given in Shushan the palace and
the king and Haman sat down to drink they didn't seem to care
less, they were content they were happy with what they'd done
but the city of Shushan was perplexed now I want you to consider if
you were Mordecai right now You felt that it would be wrong
to bow down to Haman. That was a personal thing that
you felt, perhaps. You felt that your allegiance
was to God. You were to bow down only to
God, and you therefore stood straight when other people bowed
down, when this ungodly, proud man went past. You did not want
to give your worship to him. You felt that your worship was
reserved to the living God. You did that out of a sincerity
in your heart to God. You did it with a clear conscience. But what's been the result? The result has been that not
only you have been appointed to death, but the entire nation of the
Jews throughout those 127 provinces were now consigned to death on
a certain day, as a direct result of your actions. I think that
would, well, if that was me, that would be a very frightening
thought, to think that I was responsible. If I did something
and I was personally responsible for that, and I was put into
prison for it, and I was burnt at the stake for it, that would
be one thing. But to think that the whole of the Jews in those
provinces were now going to be exterminated because of you,
and because of your stand. I think that would be heartbreaking. Particularly when you consider
also, I think you've got to move on to Esther chapter 10, to understand
the heart of Mordecai. You might think he might say,
well, I just stood up, I don't care what happens to everybody
else, I just did this, But look in verse 3 of chapter 10. For Mordecai the Jew was next
unto King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, accepted of the
multitude of his brethren. These are the words. Seeking
the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his people. This is what Mordecai did when
he was in a position of authority. He sought the good of his people. He didn't seek to prop up his
own position. He was there and he sought the
good of his church, the good of the Jews, the good of the
people of God. And yet, because of his actions,
he had on his head the absolute opposite of the good, it seemed,
of all those people. It seemed by his actions he had
done exactly, precisely, completely the opposite of what would be
for their welfare, for their profit, and for their peace. So in verse chapter 4 we have,
and when Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent
his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes and went out into
the midst of the city and cried with a loud and a bitter cry.
And no doubt he did. It wasn't just for himself, it
was for all his people, the people that he loved. The people that
he wanted to see prosper, the people that he wanted to encourage,
they were the very people that had issued to them throughout
all these 127 provinces a death warrant on a certain day, sealed
by the king, this great and almighty king. It was frightening. And he came to the king's gate,
and in every province whithersoever the king's commandment came,
And his decree came. There was great mourning among
the Jews, fasting and weeping. These are the people he wanted
to help. And many lay in sackcloth and ashes. That's the end of
where we read. What a low position Mordecai
must have been in. How dejected, how sad. But it
had gone, it had backfired as he would have seen it, so badly.
But now that instead of him being a help, all he was, it seemed
to be, was the greatest, he had seemed instrumental as being
an enemy of the Jews. Because he'd got Haman to, provoked
Haman you could say, to cause this law to be written. But I
want you to consider this man's faith. This man, Mordecai, was
a man of great faith. You think of it, what I've pictured
what he went through. Move on now to, well, first of
all he goes in sackcloth and ashes. Then Esther, who's the
Queen, hears that her cousin is in Sackcloth and Ashes at
the King's Gate. She doesn't seem to know anything
about what's happened. She doesn't know about the edict. She just
knows that her cousin is in rags at the King's Gate, so she sends
some new clothes for him to put on. He rejects them and says
that's not the point. The problem is that this edict,
he sends the edict to Esther and he gives her a very clear
command of what she should do. and he gave him the copy of the
writing of the decree that was given in Shushan to destroy them,
to show it unto Esther and to declare it unto her and to charge
her that she should go in unto the king to make supplication
unto him and to make requests before him for her people. So
Mordecai gives Esther, the instruction, yes there was this weeping and
fasting and no doubt there was prayer to God that God would
have mercy on them and that somehow this evil law should be reversed. This was their lives, this was
their families, this was their children, this was everything
they had, was, had been given a law that they could be completely
obliterated by their enemies. Mordecai gives Esther this message
that she should do something. She shouldn't just sit there
in her kingly state or queenly state, but she had to be busy. And you see, we see here that
when these things come to pass, we are to pray, we are to commit
our way to the Lord. But these people had been put,
Esther had been put, as a well-known saying is, for such a time as
this. because Esther writes back and
says, well, I haven't been asked to go into the king for 30 days,
and there's a rule that if you go into the king and he hasn't
asked you to come in, and if he doesn't hold out the golden
scepter, that you have to be killed. It was a dangerous thing
for her, but she ventured. She had to venture, although
to start with she thought that was a good enough excuse. But
Mordecai, you see, then, this is the faith I see of Mordecai
in verse 14 of chapter 4. For if thou altogether holdest
thy peace, this is Mordecai really charging Esther with not thinking
that she can get out of this, For if thou altogether holdest
thy peace at this time, then shall their enlargement and deliverance
arise to the Jews from another place." What faith that man had!
It was his edict to the king. that all the Jews should perish,
and yet he had the faith to believe that somehow God would deliver
his people. He didn't know for sure how.
He felt that Esther was in a position, a very powerful position, and
she was, to be able to gain the king's ear, but he didn't know. He thought even if Esther was
removed, or not willing to be faithful at this point, then
shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another
place, but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. And
who knows whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time
as this?" So these were the words that Mordecai spoke to Esther
to encourage her, to use her position of power and authority
and privilege to cause the king to change this verdict, this
edict that was so terrible and damaging for the people of God,
for the Jews. I think we need to remember these
things. These people stood up for what
was right then, and today we have powers that are coming Thick
and fast against Christians. There's issues that are coming
more and more into our situation where we're being forced to do
things more and more contrary to the word of God. And we think,
well, it will be for the detriment of our families. It will be for
the detriment of so much if we don't jump when they say jump. If we don't just go along with
the haymans of this world. We just don't go and march to
their tune. It will be terrible for us. But
I think here in this book of Esther we have a worked example
of how God rewarded the faith of Mordecai and promoted that
man, as we read in chapter 10, that man who was so despised
and I just wonder how many of the Jews to start with would
have almost perhaps felt angry with Mordecai for making such
a stand. Was it really that bad to bow
down to Haman? Couldn't he have just bowed down
just quietly? Couldn't he have just looked
the other way? Couldn't he have just gone away
so he didn't have to make Haman so angry? I'm sure many would
have thought along those lines, but Mordecai was a man of principle. And you see, Mordecai got promoted to second
in the kingdom, which was the position that Haman had. So God,
you see, was able to put this man who was so despised and so
rejected and so hated and so despised, and put him into a
position of such authority and such blessing. You see, this
is what God does. He humbles the proud and exhorteth
the lowly. This is what God does. And what
a beautiful work it is. He gives hope. He gives deliverance
where there seems no hope and no deliverance. And this is the
God that we serve. A God that has made a way of
salvation. You see, the enemies of the Jews
were laughing, they had appointed a day, they had sent out the
messages, the king had signed it, it seemed that certain destruction
was against the Jews and they were sure to gain, and there
was also you see this law, that those who attacked the Jews should
gain all of their wealth. Well, that was a very encouraging
thing, wasn't it, for all those that were greedy of the wealth
and the riches of any of the Jews, and the Jews generally
are quite well off, because they're industrious sort of people, they're
generally quite rich often, not always, and therefore there was
a great incentive, so that their enemies would say, well, you
get rid of the Jews and then you can have all their riches
for yourself. And it seemed, you see, that
it was a time destined for destruction, a time destined that would be
an awful day for the Jews, a day of devastation. We think of these
things spiritually. The law, you see, that was given
The law says the soul that sins against me dies. The law that
says the soul that sinneth it shall die. The wages of sin is
death. There's this law, and there's
a frightening law, and the day of one's death will be the day
when the judgment after death that they should come to death
and after death the judgment. There is going to be this judgment
day and this day about death then. It is a day when there
will be a realization of the awful nature of being an
enemy of God, of being outside. And yet you see to a child of
God, Think of the Apostle Paul who
said, I have the desire to depart. and to be with Christ, which
is far better. That last enemy which is death,
that enemy which would sound for the unbeliever, for those
who are dead in trespasses and sins, that which would be a very
solemn day, a day when justice would be realised and they would
be, all the nations that fear not God would be cast into hell.
Yet, that same day, For the church of God is a day of deliverance,
a day of rejoicing. You see, we've said it in our
hymns, should the law against her roar, Jesus' blood still
speaks with power. You see, the law And it's interesting
in this account that the law was never revoked and we see
that a lot. The laws that were made then, if they made the law
it had to stand, they couldn't just change it. You see in a
sense that we have that with the Lord Jesus. The justice,
he couldn't put aside his justice to save his church. The law still
stood. He satisfied it. He satisfied
it. He made it honourable so that
there would be a way of escape so that those that came to him
pleading for mercy, those who came with fasting and weeping
and truly came and asked for God's mercy and God's favour,
they could find forgiveness. So we see that God works, you
see, to put people in right positions for the right time. Five years
before, Esther was in a position, established as queen, before
this edict would be given, that there would be death to all her
people. The king, not knowing that she
was a Jew, ignorant to the fact, and Then she comes, you see.
Mordecai says that she must go in to the king, and she does.
And that's the beginning of chapter 5. So Esther went in to the king. and pleaded, went into the king,
found favour, the sceptre was put towards her so she wasn't
killed, but in verse 3 of chapter 5, then said the king unto her,
What wilt thou, Queen Esther? And what is thy request? It shall
be given thee to the half of the kingdom. And Esther answered,
if it seemed good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this
day unto a banquet that I have prepared for him. So her request
was that her and the king and Haman should come to a banquet.
The king granted that request. At that banquet he asked Esther,
what is your request? He knew there was something more
that she wanted. I wonder what he thought she
would want, some great palace or some great great thing for herself, but
in the end, she ends up at the end of the second banquet saying,
please King, give me my life. I'm under the curse. I'm cursed
by this writing, this edict that Haman has put into practice. Well, we see that God, you see,
is in control, not only of putting people in the right position,
but also of restraining the enemies so that they could not have this
day of death immediately. The lot fell on the furthest
date it could have done nearly, from the time that it was cast,
so that the Jews had time, and Esther and Mordecai and so forth
had time to do something about it before it actually was executed.
And then, you see, we have the trial. It was a difficulty for
Esther. Esther had to put her life in
her hands. She had to go in, which was against
the law, without being invited, and ask for her people, ask for
her life. So that was a trial for Esther.
Esther prayed and no doubt fasted with her maidens before. But
it was a great trial for Mordecai. Mordecai had done what he thought
was right. He sought to do good to Israel
and yet it seemed to backfire so badly that now the whole of
the people he loved and sought to encourage now were under a
death warrant. What a trial that the trial of
your faith being much more precious than gold that perisheth. This
is what we learn from this narrative. We learn that these peoples had
their faith tried, and yet they were blessed, they were rewarded.
We know that towards the end, as this story unfolds, that God
showed who was really in control. He stood Haman utterly on his
head Heyman thought that he got it all stitched up. He was such
a proud man. After this first banquet with
the King and the Queen, he went away thinking that it was such
a privilege to be with the King and the Queen. He thought himself
so great. And then as he walks past and
sees Mordecai on the side of the street and not bowing down
to him, he's so angry with Mordecai that he decides that his greatest
problem in life, he cannot wait until the 12th month on the 13th
day of the month to see Mordecai killed. He wants Mordecai killed
immediately. He can't stand Mordecai being
able to live any longer. talking to his wife and his friends,
telling them of his greatness. You see, pride, you see, this
is so... much in the Bible is spoken against
pride. We should be humble. We should
be lowly. Let God exhort us, but don't
exhort ourselves." And Haman was so proud. He was telling
everybody of his greatness, and how the king preferred him, and
the only problem that he had in life was Mordecai, and his
wife and his friends foolishly told him, you build a gallows
and hang him on these gallows. And I asked, talk to the king
and get permission to do this. So God is in control. He's trying
his people. And yet there was something going
on, you see, in Mordecai. Mordecai didn't know about this
extra-urgent request for his life. He knew that his life was
on the line on the 13th day of the 12th month, but he didn't
know that his life was on the line for the very, very next
day. Haman had gone in early one morning
seeking to talk to the king to have Mordecai hanged. And of course the king was such
a despotic sort of king, he didn't seem to ask too many questions,
no doubt he would have granted it. And yet we read at the beginning
of chapter 6, on that night could not the king sleep. God in control
of everything, the greatness of the whole empire, and yet
this man could not sleep on that very night. The king's heart
is in the hand of God. We've seen it in our government
at times, haven't we? How God has signally brought
to nothing their claims. I remember it was one time in
Tony Blair's time, I forget what the law was that was against
Christian things and he thought he got it all stitched up and
he thought that the vote would go against the Christians and
in his favour and he was advised that it would definitely go that
way, he could go home, his vote wasn't necessary and yet his
vote would have been the casting vote and he lost it You see,
God is in control. We need to remember that. We
need to remember that God is in control in our government.
I mean, a year ago, could we have imagined that we would not
now officially be part of the European Union? what God is able
to bring to pass, things which we perhaps thought was impossible
or they would never come to pass, but things have taken their course
to bring these things to pass. We need to realise that God is
in control. We think that it's politicians.
I don't think many politicians at all this time last year thought
that now we'd be out of the European Union. I don't think they thought
that. It wasn't what man thought, but God's thoughts, you see,
are greater than all these things, and God knows what he is doing.
We don't always understand it. God is in control. On that night
could not the king sleep. And why was that so important?
Because he needed to hear the record book read and he needed
to hear that Mordecai, this man that sat at the king's gate,
had saved King Ahasuerus' life. He needed to have read that to
him instead of sleeping. And he needed to have in his
mind When he came to his senses, he asked, is anybody about at
this time of the day, because Mordecai has done this great
favour to me and he's never been thanked. So when Haman comes
in to ask to have Mordecai hanged, the king is thinking of how to
honour Mordecai. What a bringing together of opposite
events. in our text, though it was turned
to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated
them. God is able to turn to the contrary,
that the Jews had rule over them. Well, is not this pictured gloriously
in Calvary? What powers were ganging together and rejoicing
at Calvary. The chief priests have been longing
for Calvary for three years really. Right at the beginning of his
ministry they took him and wanted to cast him out of the hill when
he was preaching. For three years they've been
trying to get their hands on this man and do away with him. There was an appointed time,
and they got their end. They'd lied, they'd deceived,
they'd done so much evil, they'd prompted the people. Satan, we
read, was involved. He'd entered into Judas. Judas
had been kind, as they thought it, to the chief priest and told
them that he would be willing to show where Jesus was, They'd
managed to get it through their own court system, and then they'd
got it through to the Roman court system, and they'd managed to
twist Pilate's arms so that he lost control of the crowd, and
then just washed his hands and said, well, you see to it. They'd
managed to get through all these things. It was a time of great
power and rejoicing for the enemy. It was a time when it seemed
that they were victorious. And the disciples saw it that
way. The disciples fled. And the disciples
on the road to Emmaus, after the event of the resurrection,
they came and said this, we thought that it would have been he that
should have redeemed Israel. But the obvious inference to
that is that somehow it just didn't work out. Somehow he was
overcome by all these forces that were against him. But you
see in this Old Testament account, though it was turned to the contrary,
that the Jews had rule over them that hated them. There's a text that says, wherein
they dealt proudly, he was above them. And that's what we need
to remember. That's what we need to remember in our daily lives,
and that's what we need to remember is that what happened at Calvary
was that Satan's head was bruised. Yes, Satan bruised the heel.
He bruised the son of God. He bruised him, he killed him.
He put him to death and yet he rose again. Victorious over sin,
death, hell and the grave. So that there could be, you see,
an edict of joy. So these people who were who
by nature under the law, the soul that sins it shall die,
they should hear an edict, come unto me, all ye that favour. and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest." Because I, on this day appointed, which Satan
would have appointed to be a day of destruction and a day of ruin,
and a day when at last they could get their hands on the Lord Jesus
and get rid of him, as they thought. He saved others, himself he cannot
save. They threw all the fury at him. Yet, you see, We read that he
was exhorted and he has been given a name which is above every
name. They didn't, they didn't bring down the Son of God. Finally,
he was exhorted and now he sits, you see, and the Lord helps me
to speak of that this evening, how that he ever lives. Just as Mordecai, he went on
in his position of power and authority to be an absolute blessing
to the rest of the Jews. And so Christ, having ascended
into glory, having been humiliated, despised, rejected by his own
people, is now exhorted seeking the wealth of his people
and speaking peace to all his seed. May the Lord have his blessing
on him.