I'm real excited for some of
you who have perhaps not heard this message before. Luke chapter
24. This is a fitting passage to
read. Verses 13 and following. Behold, two of them, that is
disciples, went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which
was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs. And they talked
together of all these things which had happened. And it came
to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus
himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holding
that they should not know him. And he said unto them, what manner
of communications are these that you have one to another as you
walk and are sad? And the one of them, whose name
was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Are thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to
pass there in these days? And Christ said unto them, What
things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth,
which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and
all the people, and how the chief priest and our rulers delivered
him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we
trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.
And beside all this, today is the third day since these things
were done. Yea, and certain women also of
our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher.
And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had
also seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive.
And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher,
and found it even so as the women had said, but him they saw not. And then the Lord said unto them,
O fools, and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets
have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses,
and all the prophets, and down in verse 44, he includes the Psalms, and all
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village
where they went, and he made as though he would have gone
further, but they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for
it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went
in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat
at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and
gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and
they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they
said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while
he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the
scripture? Let's pray that the Lord will
cause our hearts to burn tonight and pray that he opens these
scriptures to us. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you again for this high honor and blessed privilege. It's afforded,
bestowed upon a few. Many are called, a few are chosen. These things are hidden from
the wise and prudent, but revealed unto babes. The secret things
belong unto thee. The revealed things unto us and
our children. How we thank you that you, by
your Spirit, have revealed these things unto us, that you've given
us the mind of Christ, that you have shown us Christ in the pages
of this book, and our hearts Many times have been made to
burn as we, as you open the scriptures to us. And we believe and are
sure that he is the Christ, the son of the living God. And yet,
Lord, we, we need a fresh vision of Christ. We need a new revelation
of him. We need to see him more clearly. We need our faith to be strengthened. Lord, we believe help our unbelief. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing
by your word. And this word speaks of Christ,
the word incarnate. So we ask that you would glorify
yourself tonight by revealing Christ to us. Glorify
the Son before our eyes. May he be lifted up so that we
see our hope and our salvation. is completely in him. We've met
here tonight in the name of Christ to hear from thee. Forgive us
of our sins. It's in Christ's name we pray
and ask thee so. Amen. All right, now go back
to the book of Esther. The book of Esther, I hope you
read through this as I suggested that you do. I did, and after reading through it again,
I was utterly amazed and astounded by it, just utterly amazed. This
is another one of many glorious types of Christ and his salvation
that are found in God's work. Now, there's something I want
you to notice about this book before we begin. There's not
one mention of God's name in this book. I don't know if you
noticed that or not. Not one mention. Not one mention
of the word mercy, salvation, not one mention of blood. And that's significant, because
the truth is hidden. The truth is concealed here and
must be revealed. It's hidden from the wise and
the prudent. There are many, back through time, who do not
believe this book belonged in the canon or the inspired book
of God. But it's been revealed unto us
and our children. Our ladies have taught our children
this story, and I know they will be blessed by it. Time will not
allow us to read too much here. I'm going to paraphrase much
of it, all right? I hope you did read it. Verse one, came to pass in the
days of Hasuerus. Now this is Hasuerus, which reigned
from India, even unto Ethiopia, over 107 and 20 provinces, 127
provinces, a vast kingdom this man had. This was a king of the
Medes and the Persians, the most powerful king on earth. He reigned
and ruled over all the then known world. This man as you must know,
represents our God who reigns in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. Well, verses 3 and 4, in the
third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes
and his servants, power of Persian media, nobles, princes, province
being before him, when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom,
the honor of his excellent majesty, many days, a hundred and 80 days
he made a feast to show forth his glory. And the scripture
says, God Almighty in the beginning created all things for his glory,
for his pleasure. They are and were created and
for his glory. But this king had a queen. Her name was Vashti, verse 9.
Also Vashti, the queen, she made a feast. for the women in the
royal house, which belonged to King Hasverus. Vashti was the
king's under subject. A queen is not a queen by birth,
but by privilege. She's made so. She is chosen
by the king to be her bride. This woman was the king's under
subject. She had some authority. She had
some authority. She represents Adam. Adam whom
God created for his glory, God's subject. Adam was given some
authority, was he not? God said, multiply, replenish
the earth, have dominion over it. So Adam had dominion over
the earth, as Vashti had some authority herself. Verses 11
and 12. The king commanded to bring Vashti
the queen before the king with a crown royal. to show the people
and the princes her beauty. She was fair to look on. But
Queen Bastia refused to come at the king's commandment by
his chamber, and the king was very wroth. His anger burned
him. Now, the king's right was for
everyone to do his business, and this woman was for his glory. That's what she was for. And
he told You come in and show yourself for my glory. I want
everybody to see what a beautiful wife I have. She refused. She rebelled. She rejected the
king's command. And so, verse 19, the king banished
her. Verse 19, he banished her. his advisers said, Let there
go a royal commandment from him. Let it be written among the laws
of the Persians and the Medes that be not altered that Vashti
come no more before King Assyria. Because of her rebellion, the king set forth this decree.
You can't come in my presence anymore. You're banished forever.
And so it was with Adam and Eve, right? Created for God's glory,
yet rebelled against him. And so God banished them from
his presence. Banished them from his presence.
Now, there's much comedy in this story. There really is. You know, the Lord said in Psalm
2 that he that sits in the heavens laughs. He laughs at men and
their Rebellion and so forth, but. This is fun, the the man the
man in the kingdom, the princess. They said to the king, now, if
if the queen doesn't do what you tell her to do, all the rest
of the women are going to do the same. And we're going to
have a rebellion on our hand, all the women. So you have to
get your wife in line. That's why he issued this command. That's out of the type, but he
did. He made this command. And look
at verse 19. The last line of verse 19. Let
the king give her royal estate, this rebellious queen who's banished. Let him give her royal estate,
give her place unto another that is better than she. The king
deserves an obedient wife, one who is much better than she.
Now who do you suppose that represents? The whole of the book of Hebrews
speaks of one who is better, one who is better. The second
Adam, it was to come, better, infinitely better than the first. So the king made the decree,
verse 20, the king's decree was published throughout all his
empire. All the wives shall give to their husbands honor, both
the great and small." Do you hear that, ladies? That is the
king's decree. It certainly is. Verse 22, he
sent letters into all the king's province, to every province,
according to the writing thereof, every people, after their language,
that every man should bear rule in his own house. It should be
published according to the language of every people, and every language
this law was set forth. And this is a picture of God's
law that's written on the heart. God's strict rule. God's authority
over all flesh. He's written that law on their
hearts. And Paul said in Romans 10, 18, Have they not all heard?
Yea, verily, the sound is gone throughout the ends of the earth.
All have heard God's command. Now, something I want you to
notice throughout this story. I want you to notice the significance
placed on the king's word. If you read this, you'll notice
everything done throughout this book was at the word of the king.
Everything. In other words, the word of the
king, the commands of the king were magnified throughout this
book. The king never did anything without a royal decree. And God upholds all things by
the word of his power. Everything has been decreed by
our sovereign God. Everything is according to his
word, which was written before. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. And he wrote it all in a book,
the book of life. The book of life. In every language. All right. But look at this.
Chapter 2. Now Vashti was a rebellious woman. And the king banished her. But
verse 1. And did you notice this, Deborah, when you studied this?
Verse one, after these things, when the wrath of the king Hasseras
was appeased, he remembered Bathsheba. Though she was rebellious to
him, he was merciful to her. He remembered
her. He thought on her in mercy and
in kindness. And I'm just certain that he
provided for her needs from then on. As God, as our God did remember
Adam. who rebelled against him. All right, now let's look at
a servant of the king. A man named Mordecai, down in
verse five. Now in Shushan, the palace, there
was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai, son of Jair, son
of Shimei, the son of Kish, of Benjamin. Verse seven, he brought
up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, his niece,
Now she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair
and beautiful, who Mordecai, when her father and mother were
dead, took for his own daughter. Now this Mordecai was a faithful
servant of the king. He was a Jew, that is, one of
God's own, one of God's chosen. He was a servant of the king,
faithful to the king, servant of Esther. He served Esther all
his life. He attended to her. He waited
on her all his life. Down in verses 21 through 23,
Mordecai uncovered a conspiracy against the king. He was loyal,
a loyal subject of the king. We'll not read that, but he uncovered
a conspiracy of two men who conspired to overthrow the king. And Mordecai,
loyal to the king, zealous for the king's reign and rule and
glory, uncovered that. and exposed those men unto the
princes, and those men were apprehended. Who does Mordecai represent?
God's prophet, God's apostles, God's evangelists, God's pastors,
God's teachers. They are servants of the Lord
Jesus Christ, attending always to him whom Esther represents. They are loyal to and zealous
for the glory of their God. And they expose all conspiracies
against. Well, look at Esther now, verse
seven. And as I said, it's hard to. Leave anything out, verse seven
says this is he brought up Hadassah. That was the title of the message
last time we looked at this Hadassah, what does that mean? Go over
to Isaiah 55 very quickly, Isaiah 55. with me, if you're listening
carefully, you'll get a blessing. The word Hadassah means myrtle
tree. That's Esther's real name, her
Hebrew name, Hadassah, myrtle tree. Isaiah 55, look at verses
3 and 4. Incline your ear and come unto
me, here and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you. even the sure mercies of David.
Behold, I have given him, speaking of Christ, for a witness to the
people, a leader and a commander to the people. Verse 13, instead
of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, instead of the briar
shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for
a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Here
we are speaking of Esther, that myrtle tree, the tree of the
Lord's planting. the witness to the people, a
leader of the people, a commandment, and the sure covenant was made
through her concerning her. Well, Hadassah, or Esther, in
verse 7 of chapter 2, said she had neither father nor mother.
Well, Hebrews 7 speaks of our Lord, who is a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek, does it not? One having neither
father nor mother, neither beginning of days nor end. It says she
was fair, verse seven, fair, fair of form and of good countenance,
and beautiful. What about Christ? What of Christ? Fairest, the psalm says, fairest
Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature, Son of God, Son of Man, the beautiful,
beloved Son of the Most High God. Fairest of ten thousand. Look at verse eight. What came
to pass when the king's commandment and decree was heard that many
maidens were gathered together on the shoes in the palace to
the custody of a guy and Esther was brought also under the king's
hat to the custody of a guy keeper of the women what it was was
the. Advisor to the king said we're
going to have a beauty pageant. The king needs a new wife and
we're going to have a beauty pageant and we're going to search
the land for the The fairest virgins, the fairest maidens
throughout the land, and they're going to come in and present
themselves before the king. And the fairest of them all,
and the one who pleases the king, will be perhaps the king's new
bride, the new queen. And it says all of these women
came, the choicest women, the best among women, the best. And Esther came to it. She was
among the women. She's chosen from among the women.
You remember that verse, Fancy? She came among the women, too,
gathered herself among the women. Verse 9, And the maiden, and
Esther pleased this man named Haggai, and she obtained kindness
of him. And he speedily gave for her
things for purification, things as belonged to her, and seven
maidens, which were servants given to her out of the king's
house. And he preferred her. She was preferred above them
all. under the best place of the house of women. It's man. Hey, guy in charge of the women. She, he preferred Esther above
the rest of the mate. He favored her verse 10 said
Esther though, had not showed her people nor her kindred. She's a Jew. We're going to see
why in a moment, she was not, uh, did not make herself known.
She's a Jew and nobody knew She kept her identity, her true identity,
hidden from the people. And verse 10 says Mordecai charged
her that she should not show it. But in verse 11, it says
that Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's
house. He brought Esther in, and after he left her within
the custody of Haggai, It says that Mordecai every day walked
before the court of the women's house to know how Esther did
and what should become of her. Mordecai was concerned with one
person. All he could think about was Esther. Esther, what's to
become of her? If she's to be the queen, if
she's to be the one accepted on our behalf. And that's what
the true prophet of God is concerned with, the true preacher of God,
concerned with Christ, As Paul said, determined to know nothing
among you. Save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Are you with me? Save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
His glory, his honor, and what's to become of him. What's to become
of him, we'll see, is what's to become of us. As he is, so
are we. All right, there were some requirements
placed upon these maidens. Purification requirements in
order to be accepted by the king. In order to be accepted by the
king, there were requirements placed upon them, certain laws
to purify them. Verse 12, now when every maiden's
turn was to go into the king, Hasuerus, after she had been
twelve months, according to the manner of women, those were the
days of their purification, six months in oil and six months
with sweet odors. for the purifying of women. In
other words, they were to spend twelve months getting ready to
see the king. Twelve months trying to get beautiful. Bathing in oil, swimming in oil,
and myrrh, and trying every perfume available to womankind. Twelve
months, think of it. Y'all reckon you could get pretty
in that amount of time? Twelve months, verse 13, it says,
stay with me, and then thus came every maiden unto the king. Whatever
she desired was given to her. If she thought something else
would help, give it to her. Whatever she wanted to try to
make herself lovely before the king, it was given to her. Anything
she wanted. If a woman said, I need some
bath oil beads from Mesopotamia. Okay, we'll get it for you. Whatever
it was, was provided for her in order to try, to try to make
herself lovely to the king. Try anything to make her accepted
as the king's queen. Anything they wanted to try. And she went in on a marshy return
to the second half of the custody the king's chamberlain which
kept the concubine she came in and the king no more except the
maiden would go into the king and then leave and unless the
king delighted in her. And she were called by name.
Unless king delighted in her and called her issued a specific
effectual call to her. She couldn't come see him. That
means she was not accepted by the king. Not accepted. Are you getting that? All right. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified, the scripture says. Try what you may. Try it off. Keep it off. Go to
the ends of the earth. Try to keep every jot and tittle
of the law. It'll avail you nothing. Nothing. Nothing we can do to make ourselves
accepted. The scripture says it shall be
perfect to be accepted. And in our flesh dwelleth no
good. Tries we make, we cannot make
ourselves acceptable to the king, can we? But there is one, and
only one, who is well-pleasing to the king. All right, let's
look back at this fellow named Hegia. All these women were put
into the... I don't want to leave this out. There's three persons in the
story of salvation. Three persons involved in our
salvation. God the Father, who's the King. God the Son, the Redeemer, the
Intercessor, the Mediator, and God the Holy Spirit. Is He in
here? Oh, yes. He's the keeper of women. He's
the keeper of women, this Haggai. Verse 8, it says that they were
all gathered under Sush in all the maidens if they wanted to
go into the king, were put into the custody of Haggai. And he
instructed them what they needed to go into the king. He's the
one that instructed them in protocol, a certain protocol that you need
to observe if you're going in under the king. He told them
how to approach the king. You don't just go in like you
belong there. No! You don't have any right
there. You're here by privilege. So
you just don't go rushing into the king. You go in bowing a
certain protocol before the king. He told them how to go. He told
them what to wear. Now, you just can't just wear
anything. You can't just wear anything you think you can wear.
But there's certain garments which are required, royal garment,
that all were to be robed in, in order to please the king.
Well, verse 9, it says, Esther also. went in, and she was in
the care of this Haggai. She was also in his care. Yet,
it says that he preferred her above the rest of them. She was
elevated above the rest of them for her natural beauty. He saw
beauty in her that he didn't see in any other. What does the
Scripture say about Christ? It says he was justified, and
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit justified him,
declared him to be who he was. He says he had the Spirit without
measure, the Holy Spirit, declared to be the Son of God by the Spirit
of holiness. Scripture says, though he were
a son, yet learned he obedience. He was under the tutelage of
the Holy Spirit himself, the keeper of women. And Esther, oh look at this,
verse fifteen says, Now when it came Esther's turn, when it
came Esther's turn to go into the king, the daughter of Abaham,
the uncle of Mordecai, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her
for his daughter, it was her time to go in under the king.
She required nothing but what was required of all women. She didn't need any adornment.
She didn't need anything special. She didn't need anything added
to her to go into the king to make her wealthy. She was marvelous.
She was so pretty by nature. So beautiful. So, carried herself
with such dignity, yet meekness and humility. So beautiful. She didn't need anything. She
didn't need any mascara, any makeup, any oil, any of that
stuff. She didn't need anything. What of our Lord Jesus Christ? His natural beauty, His grace,
His dignity, His humility was so great. Oh, some of these maidens,
don't you know, some of these maidens were very fair to look
upon. Oh, but Christ is the fairest of ten thousand. Some of them
were lovely. I'm certain they were. You and
I would have taken them. But He's the fairest of ten thousand,
the Bride and Morning Star. And it says, look at this, I
love this. It says in verse 15, the last line, Esther obtained
favor in the sight of all them that looked upon her. If anybody
beheld her, they would say, she's the fairest, most certainly.
And our Lord is the fairest of all. Let's look at her coronation. Verse 16, so Esther was taken
in under the king of Hasuerus in his royal house in the tenth
month, which is the month Tiba in the seventh year of his reign. Now, this was the fourth year.
This is significant. Everything here. This is the. Scripture says, in the fullness
of time, how long? Four thousand years. Christ came
four thousand years after the fall of Adam, made of a woman,
made under the law, to do what? What Esther is going to do, redeem
her people, redeem her people. Esther, this whole story is about
Esther, the redeemer of her people. And Christ came to save and redeem
his people. Verse 17, it says, The king loved
Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favor
in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal
crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of, in the
place of, oh yes, one better than Vashti had been found. Her
name was Esther. And the Lord Jesus Christ, second
Adam from above, reinstated us in thy love. Loved by God above
all the sons of men, obtaining grace and favor in his sight.
And he has upon his head the royal crown. And he's our king
in the stead of that first Adam. Well, the king made a marriage
feast for the queen. A marriage feast. He was so happy,
so thrilled with his bride. Verse 18, the king made a great
feast. under all his princes and his
servants, under his—whose feast was it? It's Esther's feast.
It's all for her sake, all for her honor. And it said he made
a release. Do you have a marginal reference?
What does it say by release? Rests. This whole feast was all—the
king had found his bride. And the people didn't know it
yet, but they found their Redeemer. And this was a time of feasting
and a time of rest. Rest. And it says that even gifts
were given. The king gave gifts. Roy, if
no accident, you read that Ephesians 4 tonight. When he ascended up on high,
what did he do? Gave gifts. According to the state of the
king. gave you our Lord. Everything you know, every feast
in Scripture, every time of worship in Scripture is called a feast.
There are many of them, but especially the Passover. And all these feasts
are for whose sake? Who do they represent? What are
they about? They're for Christ's sake. And
all the gifts, God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings,
where? In Christ, for Christ's sake,
in and through Christ. Well, verse twenty, Esther had not yet showed her
kindred nor her people who she was. She had not revealed her
true identity as Mordecai charged her. For Esther did the commandment
of Mordecai. She was in subjection to Mordecai.
She must be until she's enthroned completely. until she has redeemed
her people. She must be in subjection to
Mordecai. Well, Christ, the scripture says,
it behooved him to fulfill all righteousness. He must be subject
to the prophets. Until Christ is finally enthroned
in glory, he must be subject to the prophet. That is, he must
fulfill every prophecy written He must fulfill everything written
in the Word of God about him in order to prove that he is
indeed. And these things are hidden. His true identity was
hidden in the Law and the Prophets, were they not? And he must fulfill
them, all of them. Well, the king had an evil servant. Chapter 3. The king had an evil
servant, a man who made rulers. Verse 1. The king promoted Haman,
the son of Hamadaka. And advanced him, and set his
feet above all the princes that were with him, and all the king's
servants, all the king's servants that were in the king's gate,
bowed in reverence to Haman. The king had so commanded concerning
him. The king had this ruler appointed
by him, who served his will, yet he was an evil ruler. I want
to see that he's an evil rule what is the scripture say it's
a proper sixteen verse four the Lord has made all things for
himself. Even the wicked. For the day
of Satan is God's doing it oh yeah read the first two chapters
of of Joe God for this purpose God raised him up like Pharaoh
to show his power. To show his power. The Lord made him, and he's called,
Satan is called the prince of the power of the air. He's called
the ruler of darkness. He's called the god of this world,
because the whole world bows to him, and they're held captive
by him at his will. They do his bidding, just like
this Haman does. But one man didn't bow to him. One man refused to bow to him.
Mordecai, it says in verse 2, Mordecai bowed not, nor did him
He refused to bow to him. He had allegiance to one, the
true king. He wouldn't bow to anybody. No
other god. He had no other king but Hesperides,
and refused to bow. Well, the king allowed this man
to rule, and our God, the scripture says, only he who now letteth
will let. Satan, even now, works, yet God
allows him to do so according to his purpose. Chapter three
verses four and five that came to pass. And when they spake
daily unto Mordecai, that is, Haman's fellows, they told him
that he should bow to Haman, but he refused. He hearkened
not unto them. And so they told Haman, and this
is comical, they told Haman to see whether Mordecai's matters
would stand, and he told him that he was a Jew. And when Haman
saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, Haman
was full of wrath. He hated Mordecai. Every time
he saw him, he hated him. He was full of wrath against
Mordecai. In verse 6, because of this one man, he determined
to destroy all the Jews, found out he was a Jew, and so he determined,
Haman sought to destroy all the Jews throughout the whole kingdom,
even the people of Mordecai. Scripture says concerning God's
prophets that. Hated despised rejected like
their Christ. And. But what was Mordecai say? What was his faith? As somebody
on the throne that right and he's as long as he lived he lived
his life going to be preserved. by her on the front. Same with
us, same with us. Well, here's the decree. In chapter
3, the king, according to his will, according to his purpose,
according to God's word, the king sent out a decree, verses
8 and 9. Haman said, there's a certain
people scattered abroad, dispersed among the people. Their laws
are diverse from all people, neither keep they the king's
law. They're rebels, It is not for the king's prophet to suffer
them. Haman said, these are an unprofitable people. They're
lawbreakers. They have their own set of rules, and they need
to be destroyed. Verse 9, if you please the king,
let him be written that they all be destroyed. The king said,
OK, I don't need an unprofitable, rebellious people. We'll destroy
them all. And so it is. So it is. that the decree concerning all
the sons of Adam, unprofitable as we are. The decree is gone. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. After we've done all that's required
of us, we're still what? Unprofitable. And the decree
has gone out from the king. We're to die. We're to die. The stolen sinner must surely
die. Verses fourteen and fifteen,
the decree went out for everybody to read. A copy of the writing
of the commandment given to every province was published unto all
people to be ready against the day, getting ready to die. Everybody. You're going to die. The king
said so. Phew. Is there nothing that can
be done? No. Is there no hope? There's no hope. Men and brethren,
what shall we do? There's nothing we can do. But there's one who can. There's
only one. There's only one hope for Jews. Verses chapter four. And when
Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes
and put on sackcloth and ashes, went out in the midst of the
city and cried with a loud and bitter cry. He mourned. Scripture
says, Blessed are they that mourn. Mourn over this sentence. Mourn
over this decree to die. Mourn. Verse 2. It came even
before the king's gate, because none might enter the king's gate
clothed in sackcloth. And every province, whether it's
wherever the king's commandment, his decree came, was great mourning
among the Jews. All the Jews mourned because
of this great decree of the king. They all got to die. And so do
all of God's people. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. What's our comfort? The same
comfort that Mordecai gives. It's in a person. No comfort.
Verse 4, it says that Esther sent out some clothing to take
away Mordecai's sackcloth, but he received it not. He knew there's
not going to be any comfort. There's no peace. There's no
hope until this decree of the king is taken care of. until
the justice of the king's been satisfied is not going to be
a piece of something got to be done about this decree. You can't
change the law of the means in the first. Somebody's got to
do something and we haven't. We don't have no clue what to
do. And so he kept mourning. No comfort. Verse eight, it says
that Mordecai sent letters to Esther. He gave him a copy of
the writing of the decree he was given and show it under Esther.
to declare it under her to charge her. So Mordecai petitioned on
behalf of the people, showing the writing of the king, the
decree of the king, to go into the only one that could help
them, Esther. Show her this law. Maybe she
can do something about this law that's against us. The handwriting,
the ordinances that are against us. Maybe she can do something
about this. We can't. We're subject to die. We're scheduled to die. Supported
on the back show this to Esther perhaps she can go into the game
and do something. And for this cause Christ came
in. To redeem them that were under the law. Native woman made
under the law to redeem. Esther reminded Mordecai though
verse eleven. She reminded Mordecai that all
the king's servants and the people of the king's province do know
that whosoever, man or woman, shall come into the king, into
the inner court, who is not called, he will put him to death. No man can come, she said, under
the king, unless they're called, except the king draw them. Does
that sound familiar? You can't just go in under the
king. He got to be called. And it says, she went on to say,
and except the king, such to whom the king shall hold out
the golden scepter. There's only one way you can
come into the king if you're called by him. And then when
you get there, he's got to hold out this golden scepter, his
golden scepter, which the king dubbed The king would could kill
or make alive with a golden scepter. These scepters were the object
of the king's rules. He could say, kill, or he could
say, live. He could say, cast him down into
the prison, or he could say, lift him up. Promote him, cast
him out, anything, whatever the king. And if the king hold out
and dub this person acceptable in his eyes, they'd let him go
Well, look at verse fourteen. Mordecai, he knew something,
didn't he? He said, verse fourteen, if you
hold your peace, then there shall there be enlargement or reparation
or deliverance to the Jews from another place. And Mordecai knew
something of the God of the Jews. then. God's chosen people said
there'll be a people forever. I know God's going to save us
somehow. Somehow, verse 14. But he said, Who knows the last
line? Who knows whether thou art come
to the kingdom for such a time as it is? Perhaps this is why
you're here. Esther, this is why you're here. Yeah, it is. As I quoted to you, Christ came into this world to save
them. That's why I came to redeem them
that were under this curse of the law. Well, here's the good
news. Queen, Queen decided. She decided what she would do.
She was willing. She decided to willingly go into
the camp. She sends the good news. Verse sixteen. King and the Queen,
verse 15, made return Mordecai the sanctuary. Go, gather together
all the Jews. Tell all the people. Tell all
my people. What a president's unit. Fast
for me. Watch with me, that is. Neither
eat nor drink three days, night or day. I also, my maidens, will
fast likewise, and so will I go in unto the king. Not according to the law, if
I perish. Tell Mordecai, tell all the Jews,
I'm going. Against the law, but I'm going. If I perish, I'll perish for
my people. Oh, the Lord, the Scripture says
of Christ, He was willing. Scripture says of Christ, He
was made sin for us, a lawbreaker. Made sin for us, he who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And did Christ perish? Yes, he did. He died that we
might live. God spared not his own son. Why? To spare us. Yet he ever liveth
to make intercession for us. Scripture says he went into the
Holy of Holies, right where the king is. Here it is, chapter
five. Verse one, 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 over against the king's
house. The king sat on his royal throne in the royal house over
against the gate of the house. And it was so when the king saw
Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained in his sight. And the king held out to Esther
the golden scepter that was in his hand, accepted. So Esther
drew near, and she even laid her hand on the top of the scepter. Oh, what about our Lord Jesus
Christ? After he died as our sin payment and went in, as I
said, to the Holy of Holies the very presence of the thrice-holy
God for us. Did he obtain favor for us? He
most certainly did. Accepted, accepted of the Father. And he laid hold on God, our
daysman, laid hold on God and man, our mediator. And he obtained our salvation,
obtained eternal redemption for us. In verse 3, look at this,
the king said unto her, after she was accepted of him, and
they held out this golden scepter. It says, What wilt thou, Queen
Esther? What is thy request? It shall
be given thee even to the half of my kingdom, whatever you ask
me. Ask me, Esther, I'll give you
anything you want, because you're accepted by me. You're my queen.
Scripture says, Ask of me. And I shall give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possessions." Of the Christ, accepted of the Father
on our behalf. Well, O Haman, the story continues
with O Haman. The king and the queen had a
council concerning Haman. Don't think that the king is
naive to what's going on here. Kings aren't naive. They know
what's going on. And, you know, God, the God of modern
preachers, they make him out to be naive. Like, he doesn't
know what's going on. The king, Hasuerus, was the greatest
king on earth. He had his spies, he had his
informers he knew what was going on. He knew all about Haman.
Don't you think he knew the man? Sure he did. But this was all
in the purpose of God. He was raised up and he knew
Esther too. He knew Esther. Sure he did. He knew every subject in history. Well anyway, the king and the
queen had a council concerning Haman, verses 8 and 9 of chapter
5. The Queen said, if I found favor
in the sight of the king, if it please the king, grant my
petition, perform my request, let the king and Haman come to
a banquet, I shall prepare them, and I'll do to tomorrow as the
king has said. That is, I will make known to the king my request. And Haman heard that he was invited.
Haman heard, now Haman's not, he's not, he doesn't know everything.
He doesn't know everything. He only knows what's told. And,
you know, I was thinking the other day about Satan. As I said,
modern preachers make God out to be less than man and even
less than Satan. They make Satan to be more sovereign
than God. They make Satan out to be like
he's omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. He's not omnipresent. He cannot be everywhere at one
time. You know that? He is not omniscient. He doesn't
know everything. No, sir. He is not omnipotent. He does
not have all power. He only has what power God allows
him to have. He is not everywhere at the same
time. He has his devils and his demons doing his work for him. But Satan is not omnipresent
like our God is. Our God is. Our God filleth all,
and in all. Not Satan. He's a created being. He's a finite being. He's subject
to the king. He must do his bidding. And the
king knows every move he makes. And the devil doesn't know one
move God makes. He doesn't know. He doesn't know
the future. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. He doesn't know
the future. Be comforted by that. Well, old
Haman had some temporary joy here. He heard that he was invited
to the queen's feast. Verse 9, this is from Then went
Haman forth that day, joyful and glad. He heard he was invited
to this feast, and he was headed home to tell his family about
it. And when Haman saw Mordecai at the king's gate, he stood
not up. There Mordecai sat. He's not
going to bow to him. He's full of indignation. And
he went home and told his family, told his family all about it.
And he said, the queen has invited me to her own personal banquet. that he was bragging all his
riches and his promotion and so forth. And Haman, verse twelve,
Haman said moreover, Yes, Esther, the queen, let no man come in
with the king into the banquet but me, and tomorrow I'm invited
unto her. Yet none of this matters as long
as I see Mordecai. Right here in this fence. Mordecai
represents the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, man is whom Satan used,
he thought, to thwart God's purpose, to bring down God's reign and
rule, man. Yet it was a man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who came, the God-man, whom every time Satan behoves,
fills him with wrath. He can do nothing. You can do
nothing as long as that man exists. Well, there was some gallows
made, old Mordecai, or old Haman determined to hang Mordecai. And verse 14, he said, let a
gallows be made fifty cubits high, and tomorrow speak unto
the king that Mordecai be hanged on it. Go in merrily to the king
and have a good time." And it pleased Haman. He caused the
gallows to be made. Yeah, I'm going to get rid of
this Mordecai once and for all. As I said, Mordecai represents
the Lord Jesus Christ, whom Satan bruised, crucified, thought he
put away. Put him away, did he? Oh, no.
The very gallows upon which Mordecai was to be hung. With
the means of hanging hang. First chapter six chapter six
King. King had a dream all right King
woke up couldn't sleep. And began to read his word God's
word and he found out of Mordecai. Uncovering that conspiracy. That's
back in chapter two. And the king didn't know it was
Mordecai that did that, and they told him that Mordecai did that.
And the king, verse four, said, what's been done for him? Verse
three. They said, what's been done for
Mordecai to honor him for this, for his loyalty to me, for uncovering
this conspiracy? And the king's servant said,
nothing. There's nothing been done here. Well, the king said,
I will now. I'm going to honor him. I will
bestow honor upon him. Well, while he was talking, old
Haman came. Haman was coming in to ask the
king to hang Mordecai. You're with me. Haman was coming
in at that very time when the king had determined to exalt
and honor Mordecai, Haman was coming in to And the king, this
is so common, the king, verses 4, look at it, Haman came in
to the outwards court, the king said, who's in the court? They
said, Haman, Haman, bring him in here. And verse 5, old Haman
stands in the court, let him come in. Verse 6, Haman came
in, the king said unto him, Now, paraphrase all this, the king
said to Haman, I am going to honor somebody
in my kingdom, somebody that's been loyal to me, somebody who's
been, who's a great man in my kingdom. I'm determined to honor
him. What do you think should be done
to honor the man in whom I delight and who I am determined to honor? What do you think should be done? I mean, Haman thought it was
him. Haman said, verse 6, now Haman thought in his heart, well,
whose does the king delight to honor more than me myself? He's
talking about me. So Haman said, the man whom the
king delights to honor, verse 8, let the royal apparel be brought.
Robe him in royalty. Royal robes. the king wears,
and the horse that the king rides on. Set him on the horse that
the king rides on, and put a crown on his head. Let the horse be
delivered to the hands of the king's most noble princes, and
array the man with all whom the king delights to honor, and proclaim
it to everybody in the streets. Proclaim it done to the man in
whom the king delights to honor." And old Haman's waiting for them
to bring in the and put the crown on his head. And old King Hasler
said, that's a good, good thing. He said, bring it all in and
put it on Mordecai. Oh, Haman, put it on Mordecai. He said, yep, that's good. Put
the royal apparel on him, put the crown on his head. Yes, you,
you, Haman, you do it. You put him on the, he knew what
he was doing. You put him on the horse, and
you bow before him and you tell everybody else about it, and
parade him through the streets. Again, this represents our Lord
Jesus Christ, whom Satan thought to put away, but cannot. As I
said, man, he was man that was the subject of Satan's wrath
in the beginning, yet it was the God-man used by God to destroy
Satan himself. And Satan, I love this, there's
an old saying, one of the old writers said, Satan can do nothing
but what God allows him to do to his people. Even the crucifixion
of God's son, Satan thought he was doing that to put him away,
but it was Satan's very undoing. And listen to this, one of the
old writers said, Satan, with every blow against
God's people, with every blow that Satan hurls against God's
people, he sweats at the task of conforming them to the image
of Christ. In other words, Satan says, I'll
get you. I didn't mean to do that. I'll
get you. Oh, that's not what I meant. It's not turning out
right. I'll do this. Oh, that didn't
work. all going to be doing. They can do nothing and only
he who now led it will. Well, chapter 7. In verse 9 and 10, it says, Behold,
the gallows, 50 cubits high. Now, Haman was exposed. I wish
we had time to look at all this. Oh, Haman. Haman chapter seven. Esther and the king were speaking
of Haman his evil plot. And Haman Esther revealed this
to the king and while the king stormed out in his wrath it says
that Haman pled for his life to Esther. Esther was lounging
on a on a couch a bed laying on her royal set to. And old Haman when he threw himself
on that couch. Pleading for his life. He knew
his end was coming. He knew the king had determined
evil itself for him. And I said that Satan does not
know the future. He does know that. I believe
he does. I know he, I believe he knows
his end is coming. Scripture says you have a little...