Thank you Art and Eric and Sarah. Let's turn now to Esther. Esther
chapter 10. Esther chapter 10. You may have
to use your table of contents to find it. Esther 10. And I want to just read verse
3 to begin with here. Esther 10 verse 3. For Mordecai
the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus. He sat beside him. He was next
in command, beside the king. And great among the Jews, great
among his brethren, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people,
That's what Mordecai was doing, seeking the wealth of his people
and speaking peace to all his seed. Now, does God really work
all things together for good to a believer? The Scripture
says He does. The Scripture says, we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose. Psalm 135, 6
says, Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven and in
earth, in the seas, and all deep places. Now the book of Esther
is showing us this. The book of Esther is showing
us that God is sovereignly working all things around us to bring
salvation to His people by Christ and in Christ all to glorify
Christ. That's what we're going to see
here in this book. Let's go back to the first chapter
just a moment and we're going to just take a little bit of
an overview of the characters and then we'll look at the general
story that's told in Esther before we get to our points tonight.
The characters that we have here are four characters mainly. You
have King Ahasuerus, And this man is king of Persia. His name means venerable father. He's the ruler over this mighty,
mighty kingdom of Persia. Now he's a sinner. All of these
people we're looking at are sinners. not as a sinner, not in regard
of his sinfulness, but as it regards his power and his relation
to these other people we're going to see in this story. King Asherah
stands here before us as a good picture of God our Father. And
then we have Mordecai. His name means little man. He was regarded as just unimportant
by everybody when this story starts out. Remember how Christ
came into this earth, the God-man? He had no form, no comeliness
about Him that when we would see Him we would desire Him. And then Mordecai, though, was
the one who brought about God's will. He was the one that God
sent forth to bring about His will in this whole story. And
that's the same is true with Christ. Christ is the one who
came forth to accomplish the salvation of God's people, to
honor and magnify his holy law, and to declare God just and the
justifier. And that's what he did. And at
last, Mordecai was highly exalted above everybody. And what we
just read there in chapter 10, verse 3, he was exalted to the
right hand of the king. And he worked peace for his people,
his brethren, and he worked for the wealth of his brethren, and
they all praised him. So Mordecai here is a picture
of the God-man, a picture of Christ. And then the third character
we have here is a beautiful woman named Esther. She was the cousin
of Mordecai who he adopted. He adopted this woman named Esther.
Esther means star. Her name means star. Esther becomes
the new queen. She becomes the star beside King
Ahasuerus. And that's what Christ is at
God's right hand. He's the star. And then her name
was also Hadassah. Hadassah. And that means myrtle
tree. Myrtle tree. And in the scriptures,
the myrtle tree is a symbol of blessing and peace. Let me read
this scripture to you. Isaiah 55.3 says, promise to
the believer, instead of the thorn shall come up the myrtle
tree. In place of the thorn, A briar
that burns and sticks and cuts will come up a myrtle tree. Blessing,
peace, that's what myrtle tree means. Just as great peace and
blessing comes to God's people through Esther, through Hadassah,
so great blessing and peace comes to God through Christ. So Esther
is a picture of Christ too, a picture of Christ too. And then Haman,
his name means magnificent. Magnificent. Because that's what
he thought he was. He thought he was magnificent.
And that's what he sought for himself. He wanted everybody
else to think of him as magnificent. And he was an evil, wicked man.
An evil, wicked man. He stands here as a picture of
all our enemies. Of the old man of sin that's
in our flesh that wants to be magnificent constantly. He stands
here as an illustration of all sinners, dead in sins, who just
want honor and glory for themselves to be magnificent before men. And he stands here as a picture
of Satan himself, our chief enemy, our chief adversary who wants
magnificence for himself. So you have these four characters
here. Mordecai and Esther are the two
main ones though. Because as Esther made intercession
for the people in the inner court, in the presence of the king,
we see a picture of Christ doing that for his people. And as Mordecai
worked work outside of the temple, out in the presence of the people,
we see Christ working amongst his people. That's what Christ
is doing right now. He's making intercession for
His people in the presence of God the Father, and He's working
in our midst at the same time. All right, let's go back now
and look at the story. The story starts out here, and
it says that in verse 1, in verse 19, that Vashti, who is the queen,
she's removed from being the king's wife. And the scripture
says, let the king give her royal estate to another that is better
than she. Now what happened to bring that
about? Well, King Assurus was having this great big party,
a royal party. Everything was the very best
in this party. And he called for Vashti, his
wife, the queen, to come and he wanted to march her before
the men so that he could show off her beauty. and Vashti wouldn't
do it. She rebelled against the king
and said, no, I will not do it. And they said, now if she gets
away with this, she's going to teach all the rest of the women
to rebel against their husbands throughout the land. You know
what happened in the garden? The bride of Christ, the bride
of God, rebelled against God. And you know what that sin taught
the rest of her, the rest of the brides throughout, the rest
of the sinners? It taught them to rebel against
their husbands. It taught them to rebel against God, to rebel
against authority, to rebel against anybody that represents God in
the earth. And so the king took her away from being his wife,
put her away, and they said, let the king give her royal estate
unto another that is better than she. Then in chapter 2, Mordecai
and Esther come into the story. And as we begin reading this
in verse 5, I want you to see what all that Mordecai and Esther
had gone through. Look at verse 5, Esther 2 verse
5. Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew whose
name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the
son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem
with the captivity. This man had been taken captive.
which had been carried away with Jeconi, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar,
the king of Babylon, had carried away. And he brought up Hadassah,
that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither
father nor mother. And the maid was fair and beautiful,
whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for
his own daughter. He adopted her. You suppose that
when Mordecai was taken captive, you think that brought about
a lot of sorrow to him? He was taken captive by an enemy
king. Surely when Esther's mother and
father died, that brought sorrow to her. Surely it was a great
responsibility to Mordecai to have to adopt this girl and care
for her and take on the responsibility of providing for her. But you
see, in all these things that were sorrowful, God was bringing
about His will and His purpose to glorify Himself in the person
of His Son. That's what He was doing. And
save His people. Even from the garden, whenever Adam sinned
in the garden, and whenever we lost all our family in that garden,
and lost our mother and our father, and we became orphans before
God, even that was God bringing great glory and honor to Himself,
so that He could send forth His Son and do this great and mighty
work that He did in the earth. And then next, you see, here
comes King Ahasuerus. He's seeking out the most beautiful
woman in the kingdom of Persia to be his new queen. And guess
who he chooses? He chooses Esther. He chooses
Esther. In Esther 2.17, it says, Esther
2.17, Esther 2.17, it says, And 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 Vashti. Then the king made a great feast
unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast. And he made a release to the
provinces and gave gifts according to the state of the king. You
see, in Vashti's disobedience and the fact that she was replaced
by one highly favored of the king, we get an illustration
of Adam being replaced by Christ here. Adam rebelled against God
and was replaced by Christ, the last Adam. He's highly favored
of the father, just like Esther was favored over all the women. And he has a crown on his head,
just like the king put a crown on her head. And he has a feast
of fat things. It said there, through Esther's
feast, he made a release to the provinces and gave gifts according
to the state of the king. And that's what God's doing.
You know what Christ's feast is? It's the preaching of the
gospel. and through the preaching of
the gospel. You know what God does? He makes a release of His people
and He gives gifts according to the state of the King. We've
received grace for grace according to the abundance of His grace. According to the state of the
King, we've received gifts from Him. Well, at this time, while
all this was going on, Mordecai is still unknown. It's still
unknown among the people that Mordecai is her father, that
he's adopted her. Nobody knows this. But probably
through Esther, having been promoted to this position, she gets Mordecai
a position in the gate of the king. So he's sitting there where
most of the business is going on in the gate of the king now.
So you got Esther in the inner court with the king and you got
Mordecai working in the outside of the court out in the gate
of the king. You got a picture of Christ with the father and
you got a picture of Christ in the midst of his people. Now
while Esther's being showered with all these gifts in the king's
house, Mordecai thwarts an assassination attempt on the king. Look down
at verse Esther 221. In those days while Mordecai
set in the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Big
Than and Tiresh, the whole time I've been studying this I've
been calling them Big Ten and T-Rex. Big Ten and T-Rex, of
those which kept the door, they got angry, they were wroth, and
they sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus. And the thing
was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen, and
Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai's name. And when
inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out, and therefore
they were both hanged on a tree. Both these fellows were. And
it was written in the book of the Chronicles before the king.
They wrote the whole story in the Chronicles. The Chronicles
is like the newspaper, but it was the records of the king.
They wrote it all in the Chronicles. what happened, how that Mordecai
found out about this assassination attempt and it came into the
king's court and these men were hanged and it prevented the king
from dying. Alright, then evil Haman comes
into the picture. Here he comes now in chapter
3. Let's look over to Esther 3. The king promoted Haman now,
so he was over all the princes in the kingdom. Everybody bowed
before Haman. Verse 2 tells us, Esther 3, 2
tells us, everybody bowed for the king had so commanded concerning
him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did
he do him reverence. Everybody in the kingdom was
bowing before this Haman. But Mordecai doesn't. He doesn't
bow before him. Look down at verse 6. And he
thought scorn, Haman thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai
alone. He just wanted to kill Mordecai.
But then they showed him the people of Mordecai. Wherefore
Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the
whole kingdom of Asherus, even the people of Mordecai. So Haman,
he brings this matter before the king. And Haman is a great
picture of Satan. Satan's the accuser of the brethren.
He's always making lies up against God's people. So look at what
happens. Esther 3 verse 8. And Haman said
unto king Asherus, There's a certain people scattered abroad. That's
what God's people are. The elect of God are a certain
people scattered abroad. and dispersed among the people
in all the provinces of thy kingdom." That's what we are. We're scattered
about in all the four corners of the earth. And their laws
are diverse from all people. Isn't that true? We're marching
under a different law than the rest of the people. We're under
the law of faith, the law of grace is how we're marching. But look at this, neither keep
they the king's laws. That's not true. We keep the
king's law. It's not true at all, but he's
accusing them of this. Therefore, it's not for the king's
profit to suffer them. It's not going to profit you
to let these people live in your land. If it please the king,
let it be written that they may be destroyed. And I'll pay 10,000
talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge
of the business to bring it into the king's treasuries. And the
king took his ring from his hand and gave it unto Haman, the son
of Hamathadai, the Agagite. Do you remember Sunday's message
that brother Eric brought? The Agag, the Amalekite that
Saul was supposed to kill? Well, this is his son right here.
This is his son. Haman is his son. He was Amalekite,
an Agagite. He was the direct sworn enemy
of God. God said, I'll destroy them,
the Amalekites. And the king said unto Haman,
The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them
as it seemeth thee good. So he sends letters out to everybody
far and wide. And his letter was sent out with
the king's signet on it, which meant this was by the authority
of the king. And it said, Kill every Jew you
come across, and you'll get a reward for doing it. What if that went
out in our land today? Kill every believer. kill every
believer. That's who these Jews represent,
the people of God, the people from beyond, the true Hebrews
of God. That's who believers are. What
if the king, the president, sent out a command and said, kill
them all and you'll get a reward for doing it? Can you imagine
how the people felt? The Jews felt? They were shaken
by this and they were terrorized by this. So in chapter 5, Esther
put on her royal apparel And she approached the king on his
royal throne. Look at Esther 5 and verse 2. And she obtained favor in his
sight. She came in her royal apparel and she obtained favor
in his sight. And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter
that was in his hand. So Esther drew near and touched
the top of the scepter. Then said the king unto her...
Now listen to this. What wilt thou, Queen Esther,
And what is thy request? It shall be even given thee to
the half of the kingdom. That's what God's willing to
do for his son, for Christ, whatever he will. What do you ask of me?
I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance. Now, she asked
the king and Haman to a banquet of wine. To come that afternoon
and sit down at a banquet of wine with her. Verse 6. And the
king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, What is thy
petition? And it shall be granted thee.
What is thy request? Even to the half of the kingdom
it shall be performed. Now he said it twice and now
he said it in front of a witness. I'll give you whatever you want,
Esther, you just tell me. She tells them both this. She
says, You attend a banquet for me that's held by me tomorrow. You and Haman come to this banquet
tomorrow and I'll tell you what my petition is. So Esther 5 verse
9. So then went Haman forth that
day, joyful, with a glad heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in
the king's gate, that he stood not up nor moved for him, he
was full of indignation against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman
refrained himself. He wanted to kill him right there
on the spot, but he refrained himself. And when he came home,
he sent He sent and called for his friends, and Zeres his wife,
and Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude
of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted
him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants
of the king. Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther
the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet
that she had prepared but myself, and tomorrow I am invited unto
her also with the king. Man, he's bragging. He's telling
his friends and everybody to listen. Look at what... Look,
I've been promoted. I'm right there beside the king.
Even the queen's invited me to a banquet. Just me and the king. We're rubbing elbows together.
Verse 13. Yet all this availeth me nothing,
so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.
Then said Zeres his wife, all his friends unto him, Let a gallow
be made fifty cubits high. Build you a big old hangman's
gallow fifty cubits high. And tomorrow speak thou unto
the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon. Go ask the king
for permission that you can hang Mordecai on that gallow. And then go thou in merrily with
the king unto the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman,
and he caused the gallows to be made. Now do you realize what
will happen if Haman gets what he wants? If Haman destroys Mordecai
and all the Jews, the Jews will be eliminated. God's promise
that Christ is coming through the seed of Abraham will not
be fulfilled. God's eternal purpose will not
be carried out. Christ will not come into the
world. The law will not be upheld and magnified by Christ declaring
God just and the justifier of His people. The salvation of
God's elect will not come to pass. They will not be redeemed
and me and you today would still be lost if Haman gets what he
wants right here. Do you think he will? Do you
think there's a remote possibility he's going to have his way? Not
at all. Not at all. Now, let's look at
seven lessons for us to learn from this. And I'm going to be
brief. First of all, God sovereignly rules everything, putting everyone
in the position we need to be in to promote His glory and our
good. Here we have a Jewish woman.
A Jewish woman in the middle of a Persian kingdom and she'd
been promoted to queen. The queen of a Persian king. God put her there to make intercession
on behalf of His people and to glorify His name. And isn't that
a beautiful picture of Christ? Her parents had died, her people
had been carried away into captivity, and a great enemy is set on destroying
all the children of Israel, all her brethren. That's why she
emerges here. That's why she comes forth. Well,
Adam and Eve died in sin, and all of Christ's people were carried
away into captivity. Satan and all our enemies sought
to utterly destroy us, and that's why Christ came forth. Just like
she did. She represented God's people
in the inner court where the king resided. Christ is at God's
right hand. He ever lives to make intercession
for His people there. When Mordecai mourned out in
the street in sackcloth, look what she did. Esther 4, verse
4. She mourned, I'm sorry, Esther
416. No, wait. Yeah, Esther 4444. The queen exceedingly grieved
and she sent Raymond to clothe Mordecai and to take away his
sackcloth from him. You know what? Christ is touched
with the feeling of our infirmities. Just like she's in that inner
court grieving for Mordecai out there on the outside who's ripped
off his clothes in sackcloth and he's mourning because this
news has come forth that he's going to be destroyed and all
his brethren are going to be destroyed. Well... Christ knows
the feeling of our infirmities just like she's grieving for
Him. And when Christ brings His child to mourn our sin and to
repent of our sin and to be in sackcloth in repentance and mourning
over our sin, He sends from the inner court the best robe outside
to where we are to robe us in that robe of His righteousness
and comfort us where we are in our mourning, in our sackcloth. Esther was willing to lay down
her life for these people. That's a picture of Christ. It
had been 30 days and the king had not come to her and held
out that scepter to her. He had not done it. And so this
is what she decided. Esther 4.16. Look at the end
of it there. She said, So will I go in unto the king,
at the very end there, you see it at the end? So will I go in
unto the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish,
I perish. You know what Christ, she was
willing to stand before the king as a lawbreaker to save her people. And she said, if I perish, I
perish. You know what Christ did? Christ was willing to stand
in the place of his people as a lawbreaker. before God and
take the wrath of God for His people and bear that wrath for
His people. See, what I'm showing you here
is that everything was in place here to glorify God and to glorify
His Son. And just like He put her in the
place He put her in, He puts you in the place He puts you
in to bring glory to Himself and honor to Himself. You have
Mordecai. He's in the gate among the people.
Beautiful picture of Christ working amongst us in our midst. And
He's working there in all the people amongst the people. Look
at Esther 4.16. Esther told Mordecai, 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 verse 17 says, so Mordecai
went his way and did according to all that Esther had commanded
him. Christ in glory, He's making intercession for His people.
And He said, I'm going to beseech the Father here, and then He's
also gathering up His people without, in the earth. He's gathering
them together. And when He brings us to behold
Him, He brings us into a fast from this world, from our sin,
from our flesh, to Him, to cast all our care upon Him to make
intercession for us before the Father. You see, there's Esther
in the inner court and there's Mordecai out there working this
among the people. God's overruled everything about this to put
them where they are. From their parents dying to them
being brought into captivity. Even Haman. You know what Haman
did? Haman went, he's so superstitious. He's got the permission from
the king to kill the Jews. He goes and he goes to his astrologers
and he wants to know what will be the best day for me to do
this so I'll be a success. And his astrologers cast lots.
to just try to figure out they drew straws try to figure out
which tell him some day and God ordered the whole thing and you
know what day they pick. They picked a day 12 months from
then. Why. So God could work all this
work. We have plenty of time to work
all this work needed to work. So the Hamel we're going to kill
the Jews for 12 months from now. So he had all that time to work
this work. God's God's working everything here. So here's my
point. God working everything in my life and in your life.
So serve Him wherever He's put you. If He's put you amongst
kings and royalties, serve Him there. If you're a pauper, serve
Him there. If you're in great light, serve
Him there. If you're in great darkness, serve Him there. Serve
Him wherever He's put you. Paul told the Corinthians, let
every man abide in the same calling wherein he is called. Are thou
called being a servant? Don't think that you have to
be, because you're free now in spirit and in truth, that you
have to be freed from being a servant. He says, care not for it, but
if thou mayest be free, use it. Whether you're a servant or you're
free, use it either way. For he that's called in the Lord
being a servant is the Lord's free man. If you're a servant,
you're the Lord's free man. And if you're free, you're Christ's
servant. You see, we're free men and we're
Christ's servants. So it doesn't matter if we're
free or we're bond. He's saying to you, you bought with a price.
Don't be the servants of men. Don't let men dictate whether
you can serve God or you can't serve God. And that's what we're
doing when we're going, well, if I had this and this and this,
I could serve Him. I just can't do it where I'm
at now. You know what we're doing by that? We're serving the flesh.
We're serving men. Serve Him right where you are.
He's giving you everything you got right now. Serve Him where
you are. That's what He did with them. Put them right where He
did so they could serve Him where they were. Here's the second
thing. Stand ready to lose your life to speak up for Christ and
speak about Him, rather than keeping silence and saving your
life. Now let's see this, Esther 4.14.
Esther 4.14. This is what Mordecai told her.
If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall
there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another
place. Mordecai believed God. Mordecai
knew none of this stuff was coming to pass. He said, if you hold
your peace, God won't use you, but he's going to deliver us
by somebody else other than you. And that's true, brethren. You
can speak up and be used of God in His kingdom, or keep your
mouth shut, and God will use somebody else. But He's going
to deliver His people. He's going to deliver His people.
Now, but look at the next thing, verse 14. But thou and thy father's
house shall be destroyed. Remember what Christ said? Whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for My sake,
the same shall save it. God's going to save His people.
He might use you, He might not. But if we say, well, I'm going
to save my life here and not suffer myself to be persecuted,
I'm not going to speak up. You're going to lose your life.
You're going to lose it. Look at the next thing now. And
here's the lesson. Verse 14. And who knoweth whether thou
art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? He said to her,
it might just be God's put you right here where you are, right
at this moment that you're here right now for this very purpose,
for you to open your mouth and sing His praise right now. That's
what we ought to tell ourselves when we come into a place where
we can open our mouth and speak for Christ, we ought to say,
who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such
a time as it? Maybe God saved me out of darkness
and brought me into His kingdom for this very purpose right now,
to speak for Him. Alright, here's the third thing.
Know that if we approach God's throne of grace with nothing
but the royal apparel of Christ's righteousness, we shall be received
and our petition shall be granted. Look at Esther 5 verse 1. On
the third day, Esther put on her royal apparel, and she stood
in the inner court of the king's house over against the king's
house. And the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal
house over against the gate of the house. Now this is after
she said, you know, I don't know if he's going to receive me or
not. I don't know if he'll receive me or not. But you see what she
came dressed in? She came dressed in royal apparel. And look what happened. Verse
2 says, And it was so when the king saw Esther, the queen, standing
in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight. And the king
held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand,
and so Esther drew near and touched the top of that scepter. She
was received. If you come confessing your sin
and your nothingness, not with any garments that you've worked
out, not with any righteousness that you've woven out for yourself,
but dress solely in the royal garments of Christ's righteousness
alone. In other words, come confessing
your sinner with nothing, who can do nothing, and that all
your hope is that God will have mercy on you in the precious
blood and righteousness of Christ, and God will receive you. He'll
receive you. You'll find favor in His sight.
That's true. God's faithful to His promises
and He's just to His Son to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. So what should we do? Hebrews
4.16 says, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. She did. She found just that. She found
grace and mercy from the King upon His throne. That's what
we'll find. Fourthly, remember that God's
ruling even the smallest details as well as the big things. He's
ruling the smallest detail as well as the big things because
for the exaltation of Christ and for the salvation of you
and I, His children. All right, Esther went in there
and she told the king and she told Haman that she would let
her request be known the next day at another banquet. Look
what happened, Esther 6-1. Esther 6-1, on that night could
not the king sleep. Well, you think that was by accident?
I've titled this, Insomnia is by God's hand. insomnia by God's
hand. He couldn't sleep. The marginal
reference says his sleep fled away because God made it so. He couldn't sleep. And so it
says verse 1, and he commanded to bring the book of records
of the Chronicles. Nothing will make a man go to
sleep like reading the Bible or having the Bible read to him.
So he said, bring me the Chronicles and read that to me. That will
put me to sleep. And they were read before the
king, verse 2, and it was found written that Mordecai had told
of Big Ten and T-Rex, two of the king's chamberlains, the
keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus. Was that luck, was that just
chance that the page they turned to in the Chronicles to start
reading that night when that king couldn't sleep was this
account of Mordecai and how he saved the king from an assassination
attempt? Of course it wasn't. It was by
God's hand. Look at verse 3. And the king said, What honor
and dignity has been done to Mordecai for this? And then said
the king's servant that ministered unto him, There's nothing done
for him. And right at that time, all these little things that
are taking place, right at that time, the king hears a noise
from outside because God's ruling everything that's going on right
here. Look at verse 4. And the king said, Who's in the
court? Verse 4, now Haman was come into the outward court of
the king's house to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on
the gallows that he had prepared for him. Who put that into Haman's
thoughts? His brethren back there at that
party he was having praising himself said, go to the king
and tell him you want to hang Mordecai on these gallows. So
there he is. About to ask the king's permission
to hang Mordecai. Verse 6. So Haman came in and
the king said unto him... Here comes Haman walking in,
the first words out of the king's mouth. What shall be done unto
the man whom the king delighteth to honor? Now Haman thought in
his heart, to whom would the king delight to do honor more
than to myself? Oh, Mr. Magnificent. Who would
he want to honor more than me? Look at verse 7. And Haman answered
the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honor," Haman
said, and here's what I'd do for him, "...let the royal apparel
be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the
king rides on, and the crown royal which is set upon his head.
And let this apparel and this horse be delivered to the hand
of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may array
the man with whom the king delighteth to honor, and bring him on horseback
through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus
shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor.
Verse 10, Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take
the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so
to Mordecai the Jew that sitteth at the king's gate. Let nothing
fail of all that thou hast spoken. Verse 11, And then took Haman
the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought
him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed
before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king
delighteth to honor. And you know what? That's true.
Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king delights to
honor, the God-man, Christ Jesus. You see, everything that Mordecai
had was the king's. He was on the king's horse, he
was wearing the king's crown, he was wearing the king's clothes,
he was being led by the king's prince, everything was the king's. You couldn't tell him from the
king. And he said this is what's going to be done for the man
that the king delights to honor. That's what's going to be done
to Christ the king and his people are robed in with his crown and
his garments on his horse, on his stallion. Everything that
he has we have in him. So God's ruling every little
thing for our good too and the glory of his son. God's ruling
everything to destroy our enemies. All right? Haman comes to Esther's
feast the next day. She wants to see what her petition
is. He wants to see what her petition
is. Esther 7, verse 3. Esther 7, verse 3. Then Esther
the queen answered, and this is what she said, Let my life
be given me at my petition and my people at my request. I want
my life, she said, and I want the life of my people. Verse
4, For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be
slain, and to perish. Verse 5, you know, that's what
Christ is saying He wants for His people right there too, because
that's our case. We're sold to be destroyed, to
be slain, and to perish. But we got Christ representing
us to the Father. Look at verse 5, Then the king
Asherus answered, Who is he and where is he that does presume
in his heart to do so? Verse 6, And Esther said, The
adversary and the enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was
afraid before the king and the queen. Verse 9, And Harbonah,
one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also,
here is a gallow fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai,
who had spoken good for the king, standing in the house of Haman.
Then the king said, Hang him on it. Take him out there and
hang him on it. So they hanged Haman on the gallows
that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.
You know what I think of every time I read that? The kings of
the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against
the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus whom thou has anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together.
They made them a big gallow, but they made a cross. But they
did whatsoever God's hand and His counsel determined before
to be done. And because they did it, God's
wrath towards His people is satisfied. And now, this is our prayer.
Lord, behold their threatenings and grant unto Thy servants that
with all boldness we may speak Thy word by stretching forth
Your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done in the
name of Your holy child Jesus. So sixthly, here's the sixth
thing. The reason all things are working for our good is because
the God who's doing it is our Savior at God's right hand. Look
at Esther 8 verse 1. On that day did the king Asherus
give the house of Haman, the Jews' enemy, unto Esther the
queen. Remember who Esther pictures?
She pictures Christ. He gave the whole house of Haman
to Esther. And Mordecai, remember who Mordecai
pictured? He pictures Christ too. Mordecai
came before the king, for Esther had told what he was unto her.
She revealed that this is my father. And the king took off
his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto
Mordecai. And Esther sent Mordecai over
the house of Haman. So now you got Esther and Haman
ruling over all the house of their enemies. And Christ is
ruling right now from God's right hand over the house of all our
enemies. He's doing it. Look down at verse
8. Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's
name, and seal it with the king's ring. For the writing which is
written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring,
may no man reverse. Verse 10. And he wrote in the
king Asherus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and
sent letters by post on horseback, and riders on mules, and camels,
and young dromedaries. Esther petitioned the king to
reverse all the accusations that Haman had made against her and
all her brethren, and seal it with the king's ring so that
it could never be reversed, and sing forth posts on horses and
camels and things throughout the land to announce this good
news to all her people." You know what God's done? He's given
His signet to Christ our King who has reversed everything that
Satan accomplished in the garden And he's sending forth his post
right here, right here tonight. I've come forth to tell you this
good news. What Christ has done will never be reversed. It'll
never be reversed. Here's the last thing. Christ
will receive all glory. He'll receive all glory. He did
everything. Verse 15. Esther 8.15, Mordecai went out
from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and
white and with a great crown of gold and with a garment of
fine linen and purple and the city of Shushan rejoiced and
was glad and the Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor.
That's how Christ... He's adorned now and by Him we
have all this light and this gladness and this joy and this
honor. Esther 9 verse 4, For Mordecai
was great in the king's house, and his fame went out throughout
all the provinces. For this man Mordecai waxed greater
and greater." Isn't that what Christ is doing? He's waxing
greater and greater. And his fame's going throughout
all the world. Verse 5. Thus the Jews smote
all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter and
destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.
Believer, that's what we're going to do. We'll do whatever God's
pleased for us to do over the hand of all our enemies, and
triumph over them gloriously in Christ. Hebrews 10 verse 3,
this is where we started. For Mordecai the Jew, let me
re-read it. For Christ the Jew was next unto
God our Father, and great among the Jews, the elect of God, and
accepted of the multitude of his brethren, and seeketh the
wealth of his people, and speaketh peace to all his children, all
his seed. Amen.