The Lamb is all the glory of
Emmanuel's land. That's what those in the promised
land are singing about. That's who they are beholding. And that's who we will behold
if we love Him. Lamb, as it had been slain on
His throne. Sovereign Lamb unto Him who loved
us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. The Lamb is
all the glory. The Lamb is all the story. The Lamb is the whole book. That's
what this whole book is about. Christ is all in all. And that's
a fact. Beginning with the fall of man,
all the way through, this book is about the salvation of sinners
through Christ, the Lamb of God. Now this is an interesting story.
It's a fascinating story. I know you have been very interested,
as I have, and even fascinated by the, just amazed by it. But that's not why we study it,
and I don't want us to just merely be fascinated by this story. We study it to see Christ in
it. Scripture says, he that hath
the Son hath light. Now what that means is, he that
believeth on the Son, he that trusteth the Son, he that loveth
the Son. And we talked about looking at
pictures of our loved ones. And we never grow tired of looking
at pictures of them. It's the same with God's people
who love Christ. We love to see these pictures.
And so we look at these pictures and we behold His glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And
we love to read these stories. We love to hear it. We love to
hear it preached to us. The glorious Gospel of the Blessed
Son. That's how you know God's people.
God's people are Christ's bride. They love Him, like a wife talks
about her husband. That's what the Beloved does.
They talk about their Beloved. They seek Him. They fellowship
with Him. They love Him. They love to hear
about Him. Faith is why we look at this. Faith cometh from hearing
God's Word. Faith in Christ. Repentance toward
God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And God through
these pictures, through these stories, He confirms to us, He
reveals to us very clearly what He hides from the world. Shows
us very clearly that He is the Christ. That One named Jesus
is the eternal Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior
of God's people sent here. He lived, he died, he buried,
he rose again, he ever lives to make intercession for us.
And we see these pictures of him and we believe more fully. There's nothing anyone could
possibly say or anything that could happen in this world today
that would convince me otherwise. Could they you? We've seen too
clearly. seen him and heard his voice
and seen his glory and all that, but the psalm says, you ask me
how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. But
this is how he bears witness with our spirit. He hides these
things from the world, the wise and the prudent, and reveals
them unto his people. Like that time on the road to
Emmaus, those two disciples were walking along, they were sad,
they were worried, they were troubled, they were fearful about
what was going to happen to them, and Christ appeared to them and
began to preach to them. What did he preach? Not future
events, he preached himself. He was hidden, he was just a
preacher they thought. It didn't matter. He was preaching Christ. And their hearts burned and their
faith was strengthened. They were encouraged. All their
fears and doubts and worries were gone. Why? When they heard
Christ high and lifted up. Living, reigning, ruling Lord
and Master right now. Everything in His hands. Controlling, manipulating, even
evil. We're going to see in this story. Old Haman who represents Satan.
His name even sounds like Satan doesn't it? Haman, Satan. The
king was manipulating him. He did whatever the king told
him to do. Whom should I fear? Huh? Esther, the name is the name
of this book. Now here's a wonderful footnote. Have you ever thought about this?
The name of this book is Esther, Poor Little Jewish Maiden. Now why would God name a book
in his Bible like Ruth? Why would he do such a thing?
To show us that he came into this world to save nobody's sinners. Esther, like Ruth. I have six
points. I don't always preach with an
outline. My pastor did and advised we
do so. I have been doing that lately.
I sent it to Mindy and one other lady who
seemed to appreciate it. If anybody would like to get
it beforehand, I'd be glad to send it. Sixth point. The beloved accepted. The beloved
given the kingdom. The destruction of the enemy
determined. The enemy's little season. Honor
to the king's loyal subject, and the enemy hanged. Okay, the beloved accepted. Chapter
4, we saw that Mordecai said this wonderful prophecy. Who
knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time
as this? And did not Paul write, in the
fullness of time, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made
under the law. Why? to redeem them that were
under the law, his people. That's why Esther was raised
up. She is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Yes, she was raised up for this
purpose. And so was Christ. He came for
this purpose. And so she said, gather the people
together, all the Jews, and fast. Don't eat or drink. Three days,
three nights for me while I go in. to the game. And if I perish,
I perish. See, their whole lives depend
on her being accepted by this game. Our salvation completely depends
on, depended on, the Lord Jesus Christ, who offered up that one
sacrifice for His people forever, His own precious blood. Going
into the Holy of Holies with that blood and pouring it out
on the mercy seat. And our salvation depends on
if God accepted that sacrifice. Alright, look at chapter 5. Here's
where it begins. And it came to pass on the third
day. She put on her royal parable.
Remember how this all started? Let the fallen queen, let the
king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she.
Oh my! Hebrews, especially, speaks of
Christ who is better. Better sacrifice than Abel. Better
than Aaron, the high priest. Better than the blood of bulls
and goats. Christ is better. Better than
the angels. Better than Moses. Better than the house. Like he
that built the house. That's Christ. And after Christ
arose from the three days, Christ was buried Three days, and he
put on his royal apparel. He took his glorified body, didn't
he? Where was Christ those three
days? Where was he those three days? There's no soul sleep. That's Roman Catholic doctrine. That's thought. There is no purgatory.
That is not in the Bible. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. Our Lord was with the Father
that whole time. He assumed His glorified body. When He came back three days,
He had on that royal apparel. Verse 1 says, He stood in the
inner court of the king's house. Christ, His great righteousness,
stood. Who shall ascend unto the holy
hill of the Lord? Psalm 24 says. He, that clean hand, a pure heart,
never lifted up His soul unto the vanity or sworn deceitfully.
That's Christ. And that Psalm 24 says, open
up the gates. Someone's coming in. To the very
inner courts of heaven. The Holy of Holy. Who is it?
Who's coming in? Psalm 24 says, the King of Glory. The King of Glory. And you know
who He was taking with Him? In His heart? His people. Like Esther was going into the
King to ask requests on behalf of her people. So Christ went
in. And it says, verse 1, the king
sat upon his royal throne in a royal house over against the
gate of the house. It was so when the king saw Esther
the queen standing in the court. What do you reckon he did? His
countenance. He smiled. He smiled. He loved her dearly. My beloved. And it says, she obtained favor
in his sight. She was altogether lovely. to
the king, and so is Christ to the father. God in heaven hadn't
spoken for a long, long time. And when Christ came at his baptism,
the father could not refrain himself any longer, and said
out loud for all the world to hear, this is my beloved son
in whom I well plea, my favorite, my beloved son. Hear Him. Hear Him. And He said that twice
to mankind. God has spoken once, yea, twice. God said that twice, didn't He?
At His baptism and on the Mount of Transfiguration. And God has
spoken once and twice, but men perceiveth it not. We do, don't
we? We've heard His voice, haven't
we? He's revealed unto us that God has one thing to say to mankind. What's that? This is my beloved
Son. Hear Him. Come to Him. Believe
Him. Trust Him. Hug up to Him. Bow to Him. Kiss the Son. Oh,
I will. I will. I do. You don't have
to compel me to kiss Him. I love Him. Bow to Him. I believe Him. I fear Him, but
I love Him. I believe Him. Don't you? And
whoever is pleased with God's Son, God's pleas of the pen. Our Lord said, the Father loves
you because you love Me. The love of God is in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. So she obtained favor in His
sight. And the king held out to Esther.
The king on his royal throne in his royal house with his royal
golden scepter. Boy, you don't come unless you're
called. You don't come. You just don't come in. You've
got to be called. He's sovereign. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me, Christ said. And he held out this royal
scepter by which he reigned and ruled and decreed all things
and purposed all things. He could kill or he could make
alive. He could damn, he could save.
He held out this royal scepter to her. As if I'm putting all
power, giving all power unto you. Isn't that what Christ said
in his prayer, John 17? As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him." The whole thing. And what she did? She reached out and touched the
top of the septuagint. The top of the septuagint. Boy,
that's presumption. No, that's acceptance. That's
equality. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. She touched the top of the septuagint.
And in that story of Zerubbabel laying the top stone to the temple,
it says he laid the foundation. Zerubbabel is a picture of Christ
building the temple. And Zerubbabel was the one that
laid the last stone, the top stone, with cries, shouts of
grace, grace unto it. Yes, by grace are you saved.
And the foundation is crying, and the top stone is Christ in
it. He did it all. He built the whole thing. She
touched the top of the sepulchre, so she drew near. Alright, that's
the Beloved accepted. And our motto, if you will, I
hate that saying, I shouldn't say that. Our salvation is Ephesians
1, 6. To the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein God hath made us accepted in the Beloved. That's why we call this place
Grace. Central Grace Church. The grace
of God that's in Christ. Alright, here's the gift that
was given to the accepted one, the beloved one. Verse 3, the
king said unto her, what wilt thou, Queen Esther? What is thy
request? Ask me anything. It will be given
to you, the half of the kingdom. I'll give you half of everything
I own. You'll own as much as I do. Ask me. And then Psalm 2 says, ask me,
I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance. Just ask. Listen to Philippians chapter
2. Don't you love this? It says that Christ, who took
upon himself the form of a servant made in the likeness of sinful
flesh, found in the fashion as a man, humbled himself, became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore,
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name. At the name of Jesus, every knee
should bow, things in heaven, things in earth, and things under
the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. God hath given all things
to his Son. All things to his Son. Now here's the destruction of
the adversary. It's been determined. Chapter
5, look at verse 4. Esther answered, if it seemed
good to the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto
the banquet that I have prepared for him. And then the king said, he issued a decree to cause Haman
to hurry. Alright, this man had great power,
this Haman, he gave him great power. But the king said, snap
to it boy. Come quick, soon as I speak."
And he did. He even came to the banquet that
Esther had prepared. Now, I believe this is several
things to be seen here. Several things. You remember
in Job chapter 1 where the Lord mocked Satan? Where Satan had
to appear, was where the sons of God were, but he had to appear. He had an answer to his God.
And God mocked him. Where have you been? Where have you been, Satan? Running
to and fro, running around all the earth. And he said, have
you considered my servant, Job? Satan was mocked and Satan was
manipulated by God. The Lord manipulated him to do
everything that he did to Job's possessions, Job's home, Job's
person. God manipulated him to do all
that. Why? To show forth his power
and his glory. He said that about Pharaoh in
Romans 9. He said, for this purpose have
I raised you up. He raised up Pharaoh to do one
thing, throw him in the river. Romans 9 says he's made up vessels
of wrath fitted for destruction. That's what the Bible says. This
adversary. Look at Isaiah 45 with me. Isaiah 45 again. And these are
things that cannot be reasoned or explained, but simply believed,
vowed to, professed, confessed. Isaiah 45, 5. I am the Lord. There is none else. There is
no God beside me, meaning no one has any power whatsoever
over anything. Is that right? If they do, God delegated it,
and they still don't have their own power. They can only do what
God allows or lets them do that's in keeping with His purpose. Read on. Verse 5, I girded thee, though
thou hast not known me. Everything he girds, he feeds,
he clothes, he creates. He's the Creator. He's the powder.
We're the clay. That means Satan is a created
being. Though that they may know from
the rising of the sun from the west, there is none beside me.
I am the Lord. There is none else. The Sovereign
One, reigning and ruling. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
Now, do not argue or reason with anybody about these things. Don't
do it. Just read it to them. But let the potsherds strive
with the potsherds of the earth. Answer like Paul did to Romulus,
who said, who hath resisted his will? He said, don't reply against
God. Elihu preached to Job and his
friends and us, and he said, why do you strive against him?
He giveth not account of his matters. Psalm 76 10 says, the wrath of
man shall praise him. The remainder of wrath he will
restrain. He will use the wrath of man
however he will. And the remainder he restrains.
Nothing is unrestrained. Everything is absolutely under
his control. And this is a picture, this intimate,
and his destruction was determined. He was set up by the king, wasn't
it? Haman, he was set up by the king, and he was put down by,
he was decreed to fall by the king. He was set up, he was elevated
by the king, and he was hanged by the same king. The Lord lifteth
up, the Lord casteth down. The Lord killeth, the Lord maketh
live. How the Lord do all these things.
Now, all of this happened one day and then the next day, and
I thought about when our Lord at the supper, she made this
banquet for the king, his glory, which
is a picture of Christ crucified. What he did on Calvary's tree,
the sacrifice he made, was for his God. Satan was there. Wasn't it? He was there. But Satan thought he was doing what
he willed to do. Didn't he? But he did what God determined
before to be done. Satan thought, I'll be exalted
now. I've killed the Son of God. No.
He's crossed your head. Oh my, this banquet of wine. When our Lord made that supper
for his disciples, it says Satan came in and entered Judas. When he was in the garden, he
prayed. And then at the cross, God was
there, Christ was there, and Satan was there. Okay, now verse
6, the king said to Esther, what is thy petition? It will be granted
to half of thy kingdom. And she said, I'll tell you tomorrow. But wait another day. Christ
ate that supper, and the next day is when he went to the cross.
The next day is when this thing was finalized. He's going to
hang. It's as good as over. And brothers
and sisters, here's a point I want to make about this thing of evil. It's with us. It wouldn't be
with us if God hadn't allowed it and decreed it according to
His purpose. It's for His glory, it's for our good, for Christ's
exaltation. And the greatest proof that God
is in absolute control of everything evil is Calvary. That's the greatest proof of
all. The greatest, the worst act of
evil and wickedness by mankind was upon the Son of God at Calvary. Okay? And Peter at Pentecost
said this, Him being delivered by the determinant counsel and
foreknowledge of God. you hath taken, and with wicked
hands, and crucified." And a little while later it says, yes, it's
true, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with all the people and
the Gentiles gathered together against thy holy child to do
what God determined before to be done. That's the greatest proof of
all. There's no evil in and of itself that God controls. Oh,
I was going to have you read Romans 9, but you read it for
yourself. Just start reading Romans 9. Alright, here's the
enemy's little season. Verse 9 of chapter 5. Haman went
forth that day joyful, glad. I love this, don't you? Haman
thought, I'm going to be promoted. Yeah, I'm going to ascend to
the highest. That's what Isaiah 14 said. Lucifer said, I will
ascend, I will ascend. And he thought that he was ending
Christ's reign and rule when he worked in Judas to betray
Him. And he went back to tell his
family. But he saw Mordecai sitting on the side. He saw that Mordecai. And Mordecai says he wouldn't
stand up or wouldn't even move. Brothers and sisters, don't you
wish, why can't we be like this? Where nothing moves us. Nothing anybody says, nothing
the adversary says, nothing the world says or does, nothing we
read or hear around us will move us. You know what Mordecai's hope
was? There's somebody on the inside he knows, and knows him
and loves him. And he's already heard by this
time, the king loves her and has accepted her and given her
half the kingdom. Mordecai's feeling real good
right about now. I'm not going to bow to that
man. I'm not going to bow to anybody. I'm not going to worry
about a thing. It's all good now. Why? Accepted. Come hail their high water. We're in Him. He's in us. Nothing to worry about. We're
going to say the rest of this book is about a battle, a struggle,
a warfare of the Jews, but they overcame, didn't they? No one
could... I don't think, John, I need to
look back, I don't think one of them died. And who is He that overcomes
us? Who is He that overcomes us?
What is it that overcomes this world? The fears, the worries,
the doubts, the unbelief? Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who? The One that sits on the throne
right now that's doing all this. Whatever it is, Christ said,
it is I. And He loves me. And I love Him. I love Him because He first loved
me. And I know he must love me because I love him. There was
a time I didn't. And now I do. Where am I? Oh, he said, I can't
take that fellow. His indignation and wrath was
against this one little Jew. What's one little Jew matter
to him? He knows, he realizes, you're not as powerful as you
think you are. You read Isaiah 14 for yourself
sometimes, it says, is this the one that made people tremble?
Is this the one that people were worried about? Oh, how art thou
fallen, Lucifer, son of the morning. Is this the one that we were
afraid of? And I'm not speaking evil of dignities like false
prophets do. I'm just saying, I'm just quoting
God's Word. So he went home and bragged about
his riches to his family and all that. And he said, but nothing
matters as long as I'm Mordecai in the game. I have all this,
but I'm going to get that done. If it's the last thing I do.
They said, well, make a gallows. Make one 75 feet high so everybody
will see when you hang him. Everybody will see him as the
example of your wrath and your hatred. If they see him hanging,
they'll all be afraid and bow to you. Make a tree and hang
him on it. Okay, that's what I'll do. Proverbs 11 verse 5 says, the
wicked will be taken in their wickedness. He that diggeth a
pit will fall in it. And Old Haman made a tree. Do you know who hung on it? He did. Isn't this wonderful? Have you
ever heard anything better than this? He had a little season.
I was going to let you turn to Revelation 12. Revelation 20
talks about Satan's little season. A short time. He knows he has
a short time. Cast out into the earth. Let me just say this about Let me just say this, for our
comfort. Satan is powerful. But we shouldn't fear him. We
should fear God. Okay? There was a man who attended
here for a long time. He lived a long ways away. He would come here every now
and then. He was always talking about the
devil, the devil, the devil, the devil. He was scared of the
devil, the devil, the devil this, the devil that. He would mail
support checks here, mail it. One time he wrote me and said,
I'm not going to mail it anymore. The devil will get a hold of
that. The devil will use that money. I wrote him back. I said, you
make the devil as powerful as God. I said, he's God's devil. He can't do anything if God doesn't
let him do it. He said, you need to quit fearing
the devil and fear God. He can't do anything. He got
mad at me and I never heard from him again. Never heard from him
again. Did I tell him the truth? Well, Satan is powerful. He's
not all powerful. Satan knows some things, but
he's not all knowing. Satan is wise to do evil, but
he's not wise. If he were, he wouldn't fight
God. Which ought to make us stop and
think about the so-called wise men of this world, the brilliant
minds of this world, scientists, doctors, lawyers, and all these
people in the world that really hate God. Hate the truth. Hate the gospel. Call this old-fashioned.
Call us a bunch of little nobodies. A bunch of ignorant people. They're
the ignorant one. They're the foolish one. The
fool that said no God. A fool would fight God. It's
an absolute fool that would fight God. Deny his Creator. A blind
fool that doesn't look and see clearly all that. How could Satan
fight against God? How could he be so blind? Because
God has blinded him. And sin blinds and enrages people,
doesn't it? They don't have free will. People
are absolutely, totally in control by their evil nature. And this
sin makes people... God doesn't tempt people. They're
drawn away of their own lusts. They're absolutely filled with
rage and passion and all that. And they go after it. Sin is
a temptation to us. Not them. They go after it. It's
what draws them. Bloody men and violent men and
Satan. He rages. The world, natural
man rages against... The whole world is mad at God
right now. He's rained on their parade.
He's messed up their fun. And they're mad at God. A man told
me on the phone the other day, he said, the Bible was written
by men. He said, I don't believe God, I believe science. She said, let me give you some
scriptures. I was listening on the side. Let me give you some
scriptures. He said, no, I don't want them. Don't want to hear
it. Turn away their ears from the
truth. The fables. I believe science. You believe
people that think we all came from soup. There where the soup
is in their brains. I believe God. You know, all
those that believe God do so because He gave them this faith.
And He reveals Himself to you. And He said, didn't I say unto
you, if you'd believe, you'd see glory? And all who believe,
He keeps opening up things. Just keeps opening up. Just keeps
opening up mysteries and mysteries. We see things, we have things
like this. This is a closed book to most
people. They don't see anything of Jesus
Christ in there. This whole book is about him. Praise the Lord. Well, where am I? That's the
enemy's little season. Alright, here's the honor to
the king's loyal subject. Chapter 6. One night, the king
could not sleep. And Psalm 121 says, He that keepeth
Israel, he never sleeps. He doesn't slumber. Bring the
book. The king loved the book of the
Chronicles. It was read before the king. Mordecai had exposed
a conspiracy of two men. And the king said, verse 3, what
honor and dignity has been done to Mordecai for that? And they
said, nothing has been done for him. The king said, well, hmm.
Now, I've told you before, and I believe that he represents
the prophets. And by the way, Esther is the
name of the book, right? Esther. The little insignificant
woman from nowhere. But do you know Mordecai's name
is 60 times in the Bible. Mordecai's name is 54 times in
this book. More than anybody. More than
the king. And what does that tell you?
The salvation of the Jews. That Christ came in this world
to save sinners. This gospel is for sinners. Sixty times, Mordecai's name.
Who's Mordecai? He's a nobody. From nowhere.
Do you see your calling, brethren? Not many wise men of the flesh.
Not many mighty. Not many noble of call. God hath
chosen the base things. Things that are not. Things that
are foolish. To confound the wise. That's
our calling. Brother, this whole book is about
our Lord and His bride, and that's us. This is all about Him, how
He came to save us. Not the world. Us. Who? What's my name? Sinner. Jacob. You know whose name is
in the Bible next to Moses is the most? David is the next.
You know whose name is in the Bible the most? Jacob! He said, I'm the God of Jacob. Jacob have I loved. Fear not
ye sons of Jacob, thou worm of Jacob. Mordecai. Nobody in the world cares about
Mordecai. I do. He's my brother. He's my brother. And his hope
is my hope. The one that's accepted. Well,
Mordecai had access The king said he was going to
honor Mordecai for what he'd done. Mordecai represents a prophet. He lived for Esther. That was
his purpose in life. To raise up Esther. Isn't that
the purpose of the prophets? To him give all the prophets
with him. Esther was his life, his purpose
in life. And so it was the prophets, all
of them. And he sat in the gate. He was
always sitting in the gate. While Esther was inside, what's
he doing? Waiting on Esther. He's waiting on Esther. And that's
what God's people did. That's what the prophet did.
Wait on the Lord. Waiting on Him to come. Mordecai
defended the honor of the king. Oh, how the prophets defend our
God's honor, don't they? Honor our God. Exalt Him to the
highest. Mordecai exposed the enemies
of the king. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel,
all of them exposed. All the enemies, all the wolves
exposed them all. And so it is still with all of
God's true men who preach His Word and those who witness. All
of His faithful witnesses, they do the same. They defend His
honor and they expose the problem. They do. Mordecai, verse 12,
had access to chapter 6, verse 12, it says that Mordecai came
to the king's gate. After finding out what Mordecai
did, he had full access to the king because of the queen. But don't you love this? It says
that the king said in verse 4, who's in the court? Now Haman
just happened to be walking around. And the king said, bring him
in here. Let me paraphrase all this. Bring him in here. He brought
him in. He didn't ask him. Bring him
in here. This adversary. He came in. The king said, what
shall be done to the man I delight to honor? And Mordecai thought,
give him everything. Give him the crown. Give him
the king's horse. Give him the king's royal apparel.
Let him ride through the street and everybody do honor to the
one the king desires to honor. So the king said, bring Mordecai
in here and put him on my horse. And put my royal apparel on him.
And put my crown on his head. And you, Haman, parade him through
town. Brethren and sisters, you know
what the scripture says. Romans says that he shall bruise
Satan under your feet directly. Our great adversary who seeks
to destroy us. True story. This is no cunningly
devised fable as Peter said. No, this is a true story. And
those who feel his hot breath, the adversary, his temptations
and his assaults, they want more than anything for him to be gone. David prayed against his enemies
and I think his greatest enemy was Satan himself. It's determined. And all those
who honor the King, the King will honor. All those who stand
up for their King, the King will stand up for them like Stephen
when he was being stoned. Remember that? The Lord Jesus
Christ who was seated at the right hand when Stephen was being
stoned, Stephen said, I beheld a low one standing. I saw the
Son of God standing. Doing what? In honor of His Son,
in honor of Him. Well done, my good and faithful
servant. And it says there's a royal crown awaiting all of
God's people. A crown of righteousness for
those who, by grace, remain faithful. Alright, now look at this. Verse
6, verse 13. Haman told Zerath his wife and
all his friends everything that befell him. And his wise men,
his wife, said unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before
whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against
him, but shalt surely fall before him. If he be of the seed of
the Jews, You and all your house is going to fall before you.
Now, this goes all the way back to Genesis 3 verse 15, where
God said, I will put in between thy seed, that is, Satan's seed,
and her seed, and it, her seed, the woman's seed, that's Christ,
shall bruise your head. Thou shalt bruise His heel. That's
right. Crucified, isn't it? And this thing was predestined
by the king. He's going to fall. Alright,
chapter 7. Here's the enemy hanged. The enemy's hanged. Look at chapter
7. Look at verses 1-4. So the king
and Haman came to the banquet with Esther the queen. The king
said again to Esther, at the banquet of wine. What is thy
petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted thee. What
is thy request? It shall be performed, even to
the half of the kingdom. When Christ was in the garden
praying, he prayed, Father, I will. I've manifested thy name unto
the men that thou hast given me in the earth. I've kept them
in thy name. Thine they were, and I've kept
them in thy name. He said, Father, I will that they may be one with
us. Thou art mine. Thine are mine. I will that they be with me and
behold my glory, that thou mayest know that you love them as you've
loved me. And on and on he went in that high priestly prayer.
For his people, he said, I pray not for the world. I pray for
them which thou hast given them. And then he said on the cross,
remember when he's hanging on that cross, that's the banquet
of wine. Or he offered up that precious blood to the Father.
Wherein we were accepted. And the royal robe that he put
on. He prayed on the cross the first
words out of his mouth. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? And then he said, Father, forgive
them. That's the first prayer. Father,
forgive them. They know not what to do. And our Father forgave all of
His people for Christ's sake. And then He was forsaken. My God, my God. So, that's what
Christ did on the cross. He petitioned the King, our God,
on our behalf. And God accepted. In verse 3,
Esther the Queen answered and said, If I have found favor in
thy sight, O King, if it please the King, let my life be given
me. at my petition and my people
at my request. My people. Isaiah 53 says, for
the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he gave
his life, didn't he, that we might live. He said in verse
4, she said, we're sold, my people, to be destroyed, to be stained,
and to perish. God's people are sold unto sin
and Christ, and captives, and Christ came to lead captivity,
captives. Then the king, Ahasuerus, answered
and said unto the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that
doth presume in his heart against? And isn't that what Psalm 2 says?
Who? Who is he that would fight against
God, against His anointing? He better kiss the sun. And the
king found out it was Haman. And he rose up in his wrath,
verse 7, in a banquet of wine. The wrath of God was poured out
on Christ at Calvary's tree, that banquet of wine. The wrath
of God was poured out on his blessed son. But I'll tell you
where else it was poured out on. The adversary. Something else was happening
there. Satan was being totally defeated. Sin, men, vanquished. Death and hell. Immortality brought
to life and life. And down at verse 7, the king arising from the banquet
and his wrath went into the palace garden and Haman stood up to
make a request for his life. And he was shaking like a leaf.
Haman. And don't you think for a minute
that Satan is not fearful. He knows. He knows. Well, Haman
fell down before the queen. She was evidently lying on a
couch. And he fell on that bed or couch. And when the king came in, he
said, will you force the queen before me in the house? And they
covered his face, Haman's face. And one of the chamberlains said,
there's a gallows outside 50 cubits high that Haman made for
Mordecai. The king said, hang Haman on
it. They did. Verse 10, they hanged
Haman on the gallows prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's
wrath was pacified. That's what all happened at Calvary.
Satan. Christ hung on that tree, yet
really, he hanged the enemy. He defeated
sin, Satan, death, and hell when he hung there. And our sins,
and the handwriting of ordinances and everything hung there in
the balance, but there was no doubt about it. And I want you
to see the first two verses of chapter 8. I didn't tell you
to read it. No, I did tell you. Maybe you
didn't see it. On that day, chapter 8, it's kind of like
Romans 8. On that day, the day the king's
wrath was pacified, the day of that banquet of wine, the day
that the enemy was vanquished, was defeated, destroyed, on that
day, the king gave the house of Haman to Esther and Mordecai. Mordecai came in before the king.
He has complete boldness to enter in. to the very place where the
king himself is. And the king, verse 2, took off
his ring and gave it to Mordecai, that
little old Jew. Here, son. He not only honored
him, what this is a picture of, he adopted him into his family.
You're going to be my family from here on out. You love Esther,
I love you. Esther loves you, and I love
you. And what's hers is mine, and what's mine is hers, and
you're mine. Here, this is a symbol of my
love for you. And all those in Christ, accepted,
loved, and always will. There's going to be a fight,
I've already told you. God's people overcome. me overcome. Alright, stay with me.