All right, the Book of Esther.
I didn't realize it, but two years ago, we looked at this
two years ago, and we did five part messages,
five messages on these ten chapters this morning. We're just going
to try to do a summary of the whole thing. Who is sufficient
for this? And again, I don't want it to
be I have no control over anything,
but I don't want it to be merely an interesting type, but I hope
we'll see salvation that's in our Lord Jesus Christ, completely,
totally in our Lord Jesus Christ, His person, His work, the love
of God the Father and sending Him to save his people. Chapter 1, this begins with a
great king named Hacerus or Artaxerxes, same man. His power, his dominion
was large, was great. He was a powerful man. There
are no kings like this anymore. We'll never see another. man,
this powerful. He represents our God. Our God
truly reigns and rules over everything and everyone. And when I say
our God, I mean our Christ also, the Lord Jesus Christ, Father,
Son, Holy Spirit reign and rule over all. And this king was offended. He had a wife named Vashti who
offended him. He told her to come forth to
show her beauty for the king's glory, and she refused to do
that. You know the story, you've read it. She refused to do that,
so she was banished. And this is a picture of how
that Man, by one man's disobedience, sin entered into the world, and
so death by sin. Man was created for God's glory.
That's the reason he was created. And he failed, and he came far
short. Worse than failed, he rebelled
like this woman. She refused to do what the king
said. Apparently he was a good king.
You read about him through this book. He's a good king, a reasonable
man, a fair man, a merciful man in the end. And that's our God. But man rebels against God, refuses. Man's the only creature on earth
that does not give God his due, his glory. And so the decree
went out to find one better. than her. Find someone better,
someone the king will favor, someone the king will love, someone
to be our queen. This is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The whole book of Hebrews speaks
of Christ being better, better, better than the high priest of
old, better than Moses, and on and on it goes. So the decree
went out Now, these people were the Jews. They were Jews, and
they were in Babylon. This was Babylon. They were in
bondage. They were under bondage. And now the decree came forth
to kill all of them. There were people in bondage.
Their death was decreed by law. Look at chapter 3. Chapter 3
of Esther. Verses 8 and 9, Haman said that
the king is a certain people. You have it? Verse 8. Certain
people scattered abroad, dispersed among the people. Their laws
are diverse from all people. They don't keep the king's laws.
It's not for the profit of the king to suffer them. If it pleases
the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed. And what a picture that is of
mankind, Romans 3, Romans 5, as I quoted, by one man's disobedience,
sin entered the world, so death passed upon all men, for all
have sinned. And so, but by one man's obedience,
by one man being accepted on our behalf, we're going to be
saved, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. whom Esther is a type
of. But all the Jews heard this decree. Those that heard it, they heard
and they were all weeping and mourning and trembling. They
heard the decree. The letters went out all over
all the kingdom that all the Jews at a certain day were supposed
to be killed. And those ones that heard it
and read it, they were weeping and mourning and crying out and
needing somebody to save them. True story. This happened 500
years before Christ. And our Lord said to this man,
when I look, he that is poor and contrite and trembleth at
my word. This is no fairy tale. The truth
is no fairy tale. Peter says, no cunningly devised
fable. Our God truly is angry with the
wicked every day. Our God has decreed that this
world is going to be destroyed. This is no fairytale. This is
fact. Our God is holy. Man's a rebel
against God. Through and through. Throughout.
All of them. God looked down from heaven to see if there were
any that didn't understand. Any that didn't seek after God. Any that didn't worship Him.
None. And God has decreed that the
soul that sins shall surely die. God has decreed. The law says
guilty. The law says die. And God is
going to destroy this world. The world doesn't believe that.
They think this is a fable. They think the gospel is a fable. They think this book is a fable.
There's no Jewish fable like this about heroines and heroes
and heroines and men and women and all that. No, it's about
the true and living God. It's about man, the truth about
man. It's about one man dying, saving, And that's what this story is
about. The people had an adversary. They were in bondage. They were
condemned. They had an adversary. Chapter 3 begins, and there's
so many key verses. The half is not going to be told
this morning. I wrote down dozens of pages
of notes full of verses, key verses that we're not going to
look at. Our Lord preached on the road to Emmaus and I have
to think that it probably took eight hours to get there because
they were stopping and they were amazed at what they were hearing
from Him. The whole was told by Him. On
that road, but it won't be this morning. Chapter 3, significant. In chapter 3, this adversary
is mentioned. Haman, his name sounds like Satan. Doesn't it? Chapter 3 of Genesis
is where the adversary is made known, Satan. And so he was an adversary of
the people. He had power given to him by
the king to kill. Really. Now why is that? Because Satan, mysteriously,
it's hard to understand, but Paul told young Timothy that
Satan holds people captive at his will. and has something of
the power of death that comes to kill and steal. Chapter 4
of Luke, when our Lord was tempted by the devil, the devil said
this, that all this power I will give thee because it's delivered
unto me and whomsoever I will I give these things. It was true. He's the God of
this world. And God, because of man's rebellion,
because of man's sin against God, God gives them over to this
evil one. And they love to have it so.
Man loves to have it so. They worship the God of this
world and will not worship the God of the universe. They had
an adversary. He was an accuser of the people.
He accused the people. What he said was so. They're
sinners. Half wasn't told of his accusations.
Satan's called the accuser of the brethren. This man, in reality,
wanted the king's throne. He went home to his people. and
talked about his glory and his riches and his honor that the
king had given to him. But he was bragging about himself.
And what he secretly hoped was that he would be exalted to the
throne. And that's Satan whom Christ
said, I saw Satan, Isaiah 14, cast down, who said, I will exalt
my throne. If every knee is going to bow,
This adversary is going to fall on his face before Esther. You know, Satan is wise, this
man Haman was wise to do evil, but he was a fool. Even his family
finally told him, if you're fighting against, you're not going to
win this battle. They clearly saw this. You're
going to be destroyed by this one you hope to destroy, Mordecai. He's going to be the death of
you. You want him dead, but he's going to be the death of you.
All right, now we come to this man that's an advocate of the
people. It's Mordecai. You know, his name is mentioned
more than anyone else. all the way through Esther, Nehemiah,
Ezra, Esther, 58 times. More than Esther. You see, he
came in, in chapter 2 of Ezra, he came in with Zerubbabel. He's one of these Jews that was
brought in with Zerubbabel, who built the temple. He was brought
in with Ezra and Nehemiah. He was there from the beginning.
He was one of the people. He was in captivity with them.
Who does he represent? Well, Christ is all and in all. And everyone in this story represents
our Lord Jesus Christ, with the exception of the evil one. Christ
is the king, Christ is Esther, Christ is Mordecai. Mordecai,
listen to this, listen to all this if you read it for yourself. Mordecai was completely loyal
to the king and his kingdom. He foiled a plot to kill the
king. Mordecai was loyal to the king
and his kingdom and his cause. That's our Lord Jesus Christ.
It was there in the beginning, Proverbs 8, daily his delight,
loyal to the Father, his kingdom, his people. Mordecai was an advocate
of the people. He was the people's advocate.
He was always pleading for the people, always praying for the
people. That's our Lord, who has ever lived to make intercession
for his people. Mordecai was honored. Mordecai
was promoted by the king. He became second in power. even over Esther. You know, queens
didn't have any real power back then. But Mordecai was promoted
almost equal to the king himself. That's our Lord Jesus Christ.
He was set forth. The king had him put on his own
horse and paraded through town with the king's royal apparel
on him and told everybody, bow to and worship Mordecai. That's
our Lord Jesus Christ. He was supposed to be hung. The adversary plotted and planned
and purposed to hang Mordecai. Well, you know what happened,
don't you? Mordecai had his adversary hung on the very tree that he
was supposed to hang on. You see, there's Christ in him
crucified in this story. Our Lord preached this on that
road and he said, Ought not Christ have suffered? These things,
the scriptures, must be fulfilled concerning me, Christ said, now
that Christ was crucified, hung on a tree, made a curse for God's
people. Cursed is he that continueth
not in all things written in the law to do them. The curse
is death. Mordecai was destined to die
on this gallow, to be hung, but God, in his sovereign mercy and
grace and power, switched. The adversary was hung in his
place on the very gallows he was supposed to be hung on. Our
Lord Jesus Christ said that to his disciples. He said, Now is
the God of this world cast out. Go into the tree. Go into Calvary.
Christ said, Now is Satan cast out. Surely our Lord, as we did preach
from Genesis 3 15 on the woman's seed, throughout the scriptures
in it. The one who's to come, the one
who's to be bruised himself, his body broken, but who will
bruise the serpent's head. And in this story it ends up,
and there's so many things, a chapter, look at chapter, let's see, where
is it, chapter, Let's see, chapter 9. Go over
to chapter 9. As I said, there's so many key
verses that I wish we could read, but we don't have the time. I hope you read it for yourself.
But chapter 9, and our Lord talked about Satan being bruised under
our feet someday. Didn't He? God so bruised that the Scripture
says He will bruise Satan under your feet shortly. Because He
has a short season. And he's accomplishing God's
purpose in this earth. But God's people, through Christ,
have the victory over sin, Satan, death, and hell. And he will
bruise Satan under our feet. He's not going to bother us anymore
after a while, ever again. And chapter 9, I love this, it
says, 12th month, month of Adar on the 13th day of the same,
the king's commandment, his decree, drew near to be put in execution
the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over
them, the enemies hoped to have power over the Jews, but it was
turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that
hated them. Oh, our Lord has turned the curse
for us into a blessing, and he was made a curse for us. Well,
Mordecai is an advocate of the people, and he was given authority. In the end, he was given authority
by the king to write a book and letters to reverse the decree
against them, to free the people. Mordecai represents the Holy
Spirit to them. Mordecai represents the Holy
Spirit. He brought up Esther. He's the one that brought her
up, that raised her from a child. He was the one that ministered
to her. He's the one that communed with her. He's the one that hid
her from the people and yet eventually revealed her to the people. That's the Holy Spirit in him,
who takes things of Christ and shows them to all of God's people.
He's a true Jew. Mordecai represents the prophets.
He represents the prophets who all witnessed of our Lord Jesus
Christ, like Mordecai did of Esther. She was the people's
salvation. He was the advocate. Mordecai,
he was the people's representative, and he represents so much. All right, now there's the book,
the person who's Name is at the head of this book. Esther. Esther. An unknown savior. The name Esther, that's not her
name. You know that? That's not her name. That's a
Persian name. That's a name, the name Esther
means hidden or concealed. Her name is Hadassah. Look at
chapter 2. Her name is Hadassah. And Mordecai
knew this. He knew her name. Look at it. Chapter 2, verse 7. Mordecai
brought up Hadassah. That's her name. That's her Hebrew
name. What does it mean? It means myrtle
tree. The myrtle tree. It's throughout
the scripture. The myrtle tree is an evergreen
tree. often mostly grows by the living
water. It's an evergreen tree. It's
a fragrant tree. It blooms as white flowers all
over. It's a gorgeous, beautiful tree.
The myrtle tree has edible berries all over it. They say most Western
people can't tolerate it, but the Jews love it. Isn't that
something? The myrtle tree, the boughs of
those trees were used in the feasts of the tabernacles, the
booths of people. They found shelter on it. It was fragrant. It was shelter.
It was evergreen. It was edible. It was beautiful. It was the myrtle tree. That's
the NASA. That's Jesus Christ, the tree
of life. Well, she was unknown to all
but a few, yet to be revealed. She's a virgin. She has no father
or mother. She's fair. Look at verse 7.
It says that she was fair and beautiful. You know, when our
Lord was made flesh, you remember the message of the self-made
man? He made himself, Philippians 2, he made himself with no reputation.
Well, he made himself to be flesh, and he was of no form or comeliness,
no beauty about him that anyone should desire him outwardly.
because he's such a picture of that tabernacle of old. So he's
such an example as a man of how the true beauty is not outward
at all. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom, and the rich man as rich as the strong man in
his strength, or the beautiful person in their outward beauty.
That's not beauty at all. It's inward beauty. It's beauty
of character. It's the beauty of holiness.
Only one true holy man ever walked this earth. His name is Jesus
Christ. And he, to God, he was, outwardly
he was no beauty. Nobody would look at him and
say, isn't he a handsome man. Nobody. Just a common, ordinary
Jew. Look at that, that's a Jew. Dark
skin, long nose, you know. Despised by the Gentile world. Look at that. Oh, but God said
he's altogether lovely. The fairest of ten thousand. The bride and morning star. This was Esther. She was fair
and beautiful. That's our Lord. A virgin, no
father or mother. One better than her predecessor. One better. They were looking
for one better than Vashti. And they found one. One was brought
forth, hidden before. She was always there, but she
was brought forth. Verses 16 and 17. There's so
many verses. Esther was taken in to the king
and said in verse 15, she didn't, she didn't, let's see, verse,
where is it? Verse 15. Yeah, verse 15 said
she required nothing to make her beautiful. She was just naturally
beautiful. The rest of the women that were
trying out for queen, if you will, And that's a good picture
of man and religion, that she's trying out for heaven, you know.
So, let's do all this to make ourselves beautiful, and the
king will, he'll see how beautiful we are, and he'll let us be queen. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no.
There was one already waiting. One predestined to be. And she
needed nothing to make her beautiful. She had this natural beauty.
And soon as the king saw her, Look at verse 15, and Esther
obtained favor in the sight of all that looked upon her. If
you ever see Christ truly, look to him, at him, on him, oh my. But the king, in verse 17, she
was taken into the royal house and the king loved Esther above
all the women. She obtained grace and favor
in his sight more than all the virgins, and he set his royal
crown on her head and made her queen instead of. That is a summary of the whole
gospel right there. In Adam all die. In Christ all
may die. In Adam, all sin and death, destined
to die, became ugly. In Adam, man became ugly. In Christ, all together living,
beautiful. Loved by God, spared, favored,
accepted in the beloved. Well, there was a council held.
A council, chapter 5. Look at chapter 5. Esther had
the king and the adversary come to this council, to this meeting,
because she purposed to save her people. In chapter 4, verse
11, this is what Mordecai said to her. No one can come into
the king except he hold out the golden scepter. You just can't
come into the king unless the king He calls you and he holds
out the golden scepter and he finds favor in you. You just
can't do that. Only one whom the king holds
out this golden scepter to. Well, he did just that with Esther. He saw her in the outer court.
Verse 2 of chapter 5 says, The king saw Esther, she obtained
favor in his sight, and the king held out this golden scepter.
He said, Come in. Come in. My love, my fair one, come in.
And he said to her, the king said to her, what is your request? It will be given to thee the
half of my kingdom. Whatever you ask me, my fair
one, my love, I will give you. You've obtained favor. Are you
with me? In Psalm 2, God said this of
Christ. I'll declare the decree. Thou
art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask me and I'll give you
the heathen for your inheritance. And that's what Christ said.
Yes, give me the ring-streaked, speckled, spotted, and brown
ones. Give me the heathen. Give me
these Jews. I'll become a Jew. He did. Esther
was a Jew. She became a Jew. Our Lord became
a Jew. So salvation's of the Jew. You're
going to hear that in the next message. But she held this council
with the king and the adversary present. And her purpose was
to save. Well, the adversary's plan was
to kill. All right? Chapter 8. We're going to make
it. We're going to make it. Chapter
8, a plea for the people. Mordecai, Esther, they both have
a great burden for the people. Esther's purpose is to save her
people. And this purpose of God, according
to salvation and redemption, was held before the world began.
concerning God's people and the adversary, between Christ, the
Father, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the purpose
to save. When our Lord became a man, became
a Jew, in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made
of woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under
the law. He became a Jew. He was captive, as it were, to
the flesh. like we are, tempted at all points
like as we are, made a curse for us under the law like we
are. And our Lord pled for, He prayed
for. In chapter 8, Esther pleaded
with the king. Verse 5, If it please the king,
if I have found favor in his sight, and things seem right
before the king, if I be pleasing in your eye, let it be written
to reverse the letter, reverse this curse, this decree of death. O King, I will that my people
be saved. That's what she's saying. Those
whom I am one with, keep them from death. Didn't our Lord pray
that in John 17? The whole prayer in John 17,
like that, is our Lord saying, Father, These are my people. These are your people. Mine are
thine and thine are mine. Keep them. I've kept them while
I was with them in the world. Father, I will that they be with
me where I am, that they may behold my glory. When this is
all over, all the people are going to be shouting at the top
of their lungs for joy. They're going to see Esther enthroned,
Mordecai enthroned, and they're going to have a feast from then
on. Victory over the people. But
our Lord pled for his people. He ever lives to make intercession
for his people. Well, there was a victory, a
great victory, and a celebration after. Chapter 8, verse 7. The king Hasrara said unto Esther
the queen, to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the
house of Haman, and him I have hanged upon the gallows. Now
verse 8, write it down for the Jews as you like. Write whatever
you like in the king's name and I'll seal it. The freedom of
God's people from that decree of death. Write it down. The
adversary is hung. I give it all thanks to Esther
and Mordecai. Now write a new book, a new decree,
a new covenant. that decrees the freedom of all
of Esther's people. You know, the law says, die.
The gospel says, live. The law says, do. We don't. The gospel says, done. The law says, cursed. Christ
came and Matthew and the first thing out of his mouth was, blessed. We're all blessed, we're all
saved because of our Lord Jesus Christ, like these people, because
of Esther. But you know what? There was
a battle, there was battles that took place, and the people, I
like this, verse 11 of chapter 8. You know, there are at least
30 key verses throughout these chapters. But this is one of
them, verse 11, chapter 8, says the king granted the Jews in
every city to gather themselves together. Gather together and
stand for your life. Because you've got an adversary
to destroy and slay and cause to perish all the power of the
people that assault them, little ones and women and your children
and everybody. Get together. You've got an adversary. Stand for your life. And the Hebrews say, let's forsake
not the assembly of ourselves together so much as you see as
many do, but so much more as you see the day approaching.
We've got an adversary. Now, the battle is not ours,
but it's the Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ. He fought our adversary
for us and defeated him on Calvary's tree. Okay, but he's still around,
but he's in chains. But his demons are in chains.
They can only do what he... But there's still a very real
battle. There's a battle, a fight of
faith, our Lord said. A mortified of the members and
a battle that rages in us and all around us. It's very real. But here's the good news. It's won. In Isaiah 40, I just
read Isaiah 40, he said, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Speak
ye comfortably to my people. Tell them the warfare is accomplished
by Christ. So we're not fighting for our
souls, but we're just fighting against temptations and so forth. And how do we do that? We call
upon our Lord. Tell them that the warfare is
accomplished. Tell them that the iniquity is pardoned. The
decree has been cancelled of death. There is no condemnation
to them that are in Greece. Tell them we've received of the
Lord's hand double for all our sins. peace, righteousness and peace,
mercy and truth, forgiveness and adoption, and on and on it
goes, because of Christ. You see, it's all because of
Christ. It really is. We had nothing to do with it.
See, Esther did all this. Mordecai did all this. The king
decreed all this because of her, because of him. And all of this
is the purpose, the decree, the person, the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ for God's people. They're just bystanders. That's our Lord. Salvations of
the Lord. Chapter 9. Look at this, here's
another key verse, glorious verse. Verse 20, Mordecai wrote these
things, sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces. And
he told them, and it was written in every language, these letters,
that they were to keep this feast called Pur. And verse 27, He
ordained and took them upon their seat, upon all that joined themselves
unto Him, and everyone who wanted to be a part of this, verse 28,
that this should all be remembered and kept through every generation,
a memorial, a memorial of this great salvation that Esther and
Mordecai accomplished. for God's people. Remember this. Don't ever forget this. They
wrote this down. Are you with me? He wrote this
down all in every language. Everyone is to keep this feast
and remember what great salvation was wrought for you by Esther
and Mordecai to reverse the decree of death against you. Don't forget
this. Celebrate this from now on. And that's exactly what our Lord
said the purpose of the table was. And the purpose for us gathering
together every time is to remember what great things the Lord had
done for us. The Lord Jesus Christ. Great
salvation. And chapter 9, verse 30, it says
that the letters were sent, 27 provinces of the King of Hasarir.
Word, look at it. I want you to look at it. I'm
about done. Chapter 9, verse 30, it said
these letters were sent out everywhere, words of peace and truth. And some might have thought,
this is too good to be true. No, it's true. But we have this
battle going on. No, there's peace. The king has
decreed it. You're not going to die. He promised, you're not going
to die. Remember that. And then he confirmed
these things. These things were confirmed.
Verse 32, the decree of Esther confirmed these matters. And
it was written in a book. And sealed. And delivered to
all the people. Oh, man. Bless God for this book. And then chapter 10, the last
chapter, goes back to the great king, Hesodas. Talks about verse
2, all his acts of his power and his might and a declaration
of his greatness. The great king. And then he mentions
Mordecai. Mordecai, the king advanced him. Is it not written in the book?
All that he did. In verse 3, Mordecai the Jew
was next unto the king, great among the Jews, accepting the
multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and
speaking peace to all his seed. My, my. What a book God has written. And what great salvation Christ
has wrought for us. Okay.