Thank you, Jeanette, John. Back to Esther 2. Amazing story. I think you were blessed in reading
it. I know I was. Another type and
shadow and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. made many stories and pictures
in the Old Testament that represent his son, pictures, depictions
of him before he came. We might know him when he came,
that this is the Christ. Pictures. Those who love Christ
love to look at his pictures. You love your loved ones and
you still look at old pictures of them, don't you? Time and
again. You have many pictures, don't you? Our Lord has given
many pictures of... God has given many pictures of
our Lord. And because no one picture can adequately depict
Him and display His glories. There are too many. So that's
why there are so many. And not one of them is perfect.
Just like no picture is as good as the person, the one you love
in person. We love to look at these pictures,
don't we? Chapter 1, by way of review. The King, Asteros, represents
our God. reigning over all. And the queen,
who was his queen, Vashti represents man, who fell, disobeyed him,
did not glorify him, did not honor him, would not come to
him. She represents man, and she fell. And then the king banished
her, didn't he? Cast her out. He cast Adam and
Eve out of the garden and barred the way with a flaming sword,
flaming And they said in verse 19 of chapter 1, let the king,
the last line, give her royal estate unto another that is better
than she. Better than she. The book of
Hebrews, all the way through, talks about one that is better.
Better than the law. Better than the house. Better
than Aaron. Better than Moses. Speaking of Christ. So the search
began. And then chapter 2 is where we
pick up. And the title of this, and the
subject here, is the one who pleased the king. The one who
pleased the king. And all who knew her. She was
so pleasing. To everyone that knew her, as
is Christ our Lord. Seven points. Seven points. Number
one, the decree. Number two, the gathering. Number
three, the keeper. Number four, the substitute.
Number five, the Jew. Number six, Hadassah. That's
her real name. And then number seven, the coronation
and feast. The decree. Look at verse one.
The king, Hasris, when he was appeased, his wrath was appeased,
he remembered Vashti, what she had done and what was decreed
against her. And he's going to do something.
Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
Why did man fall in a garden? Because God decreed it. That's
enough said about that. Evil is here, isn't it? It could
not be here had God not decreed it. Known unto God are all his
works from the beginning of the world. And his wrath, though,
must be appeased. His wrath, his justice must be
satisfied. I kept thinking about Habakkuk's
prayer. Habakkuk 3. We've looked at it
many times. He said, Lord, I've heard your
speech and I was afraid. Oh, in wrath, remember mercy. So this king decided to show
some mercy. But who shall ascend unto the
holy hill of the Lord? Psalm 24 said. He that hath clean
hands, he that hath a pure heart, he that hath not lifted up his
soul unto vanity, or sworn deceitfully. Nobody fits that bill, but one. And he came. Quiet. So here's
the gathering. Look at verses 2 and 3. I said
7 points. I scared you, didn't I? We're already on point 2. Here's
the gathering. The king's servants that ministered
unto him said, let there be young virgins sought for the king.
Let the king appoint Let the king appoint officers in all
the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together
all the fair young virgins under Shushan the pallid, to the house
of the women, under the custody of Hegai, the king's chamberlain,
keeper of the women, and let their thanks for purification
be given. So the king, by way of his servants,
according to command, purposed a gathering Does that sound familiar? Go to Ephesians 1. Go to Ephesians
chapter 1. They were to be gathered together,
all the virgins, to the king's palace, the court of the king,
and the one that pleaseth the king in search of her. They were all gathered together
for the sake of one. And that's exactly what Look
at what the gospel says here in Ephesians. Ephesians 1, look
at this. This is God's decree and God's
purpose known unto God. Where do you start? Look at verse
6. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, Here's the theme of chapter 2, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved, His Son, in whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will
according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him." Go back to Esther. So there was to be a gathering
by order of the king, and he had these officers gather them.
Who are they? Preachers of the Gospel. Pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching. And they were gathered to this
keeper of women. Who's that? Well, that's the
Holy Spirit. Look at point number 3. Verse
3, the king appoint the officers and young virgins brought to
the house of the king into the custody of this he-guy. He-guy. gathered for safekeeping, for
beautification. This man was a eunuch, meaning
undefiled with women, keeper of these women, a purifier, one
who would purify these women. That's the Spirit of God, the
Holy Spirit of God. The gospel of God's salvation
can be summed up in three ways. Election by the Father, redemption
by the Son, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. It's a triune
work of God. Ruined by the fall, we just looked
at that. Redeemed by the sun, regenerated
by the Spirit. Ruined, redeemed, the three R's.
That's the foundation, that's fundamental. The gospel is what
God decreed to be the means of gathering all his people. And
the Holy Spirit is the one who blesses the preaching of the
gospel and brings his people in to worship God in the house
of the king, in the courts of God. He's made us kings and priests
in his house. And the Holy Spirit gives repentance,
faith, life. He gathers us, the elect, to
God through Christ and Him crucified. Point number four. The substitute. Look at verse
four. Let the maiden which pleaseth
the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased
the king, and he did so. This was all by decree, a substitute. The fall was by the decree of
God. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning. Everything
purposed by God before the world began. Christ is the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. God chose a people, put
their names in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation
of the world. It's all happened before the fact. God said, I've
spoken it, I will do it. I've purposed it, I will bring
it to pass. I will and you shall. Aren't
you glad that God is sovereign and has decreed all things, everything,
all things work together according to this purpose for our salvation,
for God's glory. And the substitute, the substitute,
this one who's going to be in the stead of one better than
the first, the fallen one. She was there all along. She
was there all along, yet to be revealed. The maiden, the maiden.
She's a virgin. She's a virgin. She's to be queen.
In the previous chapter it says, give her royal estate unto another. Unlike Vashti, Vashti didn't
have any authority. She didn't reign. She didn't
have any sovereignty over anything. But our Lord does. All power
is given unto Him in heaven and earth. God the Father, He thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. And God said unto the Son,
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. He does reign and rule
over all according to God's decree. So let her royal estate be given
to one better than she in the stead of. That's a familiar term. Go to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42, this
is glorious, which speaks of God's elect. whom all God's people
are chosen in Christ and His servant who shall bring forth
judgment, justice, salvation to the Gentiles. Isaiah 42, look
at it. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him.
He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentile. He shall not
cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break. The smoking flack shall he not
quench, he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall
not fail nor be discouraged, for he hath set judgment in the
earth, in the aisles, everything, and everyone waits for his law. Verse six, I the Lord, speaking
to Christ, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold
thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant. The second Adam, covenant head
of the people for a light even of the Gentiles, verse 21. And it says, the Lord is well
pleased for his righteousness sake. He will magnify the law
and make it honorable. Let the maiden who pleaseth the
king come in and be queen instead of. Well, he did. Christ came. The substitute. Jesus Christ
the righteous. The substitute. In the stead
of Adam. Adam rebelled. Christ obeyed.
Adam fell. Christ is high and lifted up.
In Adam all die, but in Christ all his people are made alive.
In the stead of. Do you remember over in Genesis
22 where Abraham turned looked and saw a ram caught by his horns
in the thicket. His head, his horns, his power
was surrounded by a crown of thorns in the thicket. And Abraham
laid hold of that ram and offered him up Can you quote the rest
of it? "...in the stead of his son."
That's substitution. That's the gospel. The gospel
is substitution and satisfaction. This woman had to please the
king. Not only fair and beautiful, but obedient, humble. Devoted, faithful and true, and
Esther was. She was, and beautiful, in the
stead of the Jew. Let's look at the Jew. Number
five, verse five. 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, a certain
Jew, chosen by God. A lover of Esther. Taken up with
Esther. Esther was his life. Esther was
one with him. She was his family. He and she
were one. They were united. They loved
each other. Verse 6 says he was a captive. He was one of these captives
brought in by Nebuchadnezzar. Captive in Babylon. He was brought
in with Zerubbabel. Well, that's another story. Another
picture of Christ. Have you ever heard of Zerubbabel?
He's all through the Old Testament. Another picture of Christ. But
he was brought in with Zerubbabel, this Mordecai. And the rest of
the book now, the rest of Esther, concerns the salvation of the
Jews. This whole book is about the
salvation of the Jews, isn't it? You remember when our Lord
was speaking to the woman at the well? He said, woman, you
know not what you worship. We know what we worship. He said
salvation is of the Jews, didn't he? Well, what does that mean?
Well, it means that God is a God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's not Ishmael, not the God
of Ishmael. Not Esau. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. God of covenant. He made a covenant with Abraham
concerning Christ. represents Christ in that covenant.
Jacob have I loved, God of sovereign election, sovereign love. This
is the God of the Bible. And he chose a people and they're
called Jews. And all Israel shall be saved. But he's not a Jew which is one
outwardly, Scripture says, but inwardly. And the marks of a
true Jew, Paul wrote in Philippians 3, are they worship God in the
Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, no confidence in the flesh. We
don't observe all these fleshly ordinances. The beggarly elements? No. We don't observe an altar
like Southern Baptists? No, no. We have an altar and
he's Jesus Christ. And the way to God is still the
way he purposed it in the beginning. You've got to have a tabernacle,
you've got to have a high priest, and you've got to have a sacrifice.
And these three are what? Jesus Christ. Tabernacle among
them? He's the sacrifice and he's the one high priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. Like Esther, no father and mother. Oh my, did God write this book
or what? A certain Jew held captive. He's
the God of the Jews, the Savior of the Jews, and he's the one
that makes his people Jews. Circumcision of the heart, not
with hands, but by the Spirit of God. These three things, the
high priest, the tabernacle, and the sacrifice represent Christ. Well, this verse 7, this Jew,
Mordecai, who is he? Who does he represent? Well,
he represents every believing believer who's looking for the
Christ, but I believe he represents the prophets. He represents all
the prophets because he talked about Esther, everything
he said, everything he did, his whole life was devoted to Esther. And to him, to Christ, give all
the prophets witness. Christ said, they are they which
testify of me. Moses wrote of me. Abraham rejoiced
to see my day. All the prophets, to him, give
all the prophets witness. That's why they were raised up.
The prophets were raised up to declare, to witness, to write
of Jesus Christ. And that's Mordecai, that's his
job. And Mordecai was concerned with one thing. How is, are we
going to, is Esther going to be accepted? Mordecai was pacing
the floor, as it were, not knowing. Well, the prophets, Peter wrote
of this, they wrote of things revealed to us. But they wrote of Christ, didn't
they? And they all give witness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. So he represents all the prophets. The substitute. Hadassah, verse
7. Look at it. Here she comes. So
he brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, the uncle's daughter.
She had neither father nor mother. And the maid was fair. Fair of
form, good of countenance, beautiful, whom Mordecai, when her father
and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. Hadassah is
her name. Hadassah. Esther is a Chaldean,
a Persian name, has really no meaning. That's fitting too,
because Revelation talks about Christ having a name which no
man knew save he to whom he revealed it. But her name is Hadassah. What does that mean? It means
myrtle tree. Myrtle tree. Now scripture speaks
a great deal of the myrtle tree. I want to show you one and prepare
to be blessed. Isaiah 55, go over there. Isaiah
55, myrtle tree. Virginia is full of myrtle trees. This is my favorite tree, one
of them. Rightly so. We've got several in our yard
and they grow prolifically around here. We've got one that's red,
the blooms are red. We've got one that the bark is
red. That's fitted. And it's a hearty tree, beautiful
tree, thornless tree. When man fell in the garden,
because of sin, thorns and thistles grew up, didn't they? Thorns
and thistle, because of sin, which represent pain and suffering
and sorrow, sting, thistle, like stinging nettle. Have you ever
been stung by stinging nettle? It's terrible. We were with Barbara
and Charles Ross picking berries one time and I got over the hill
there and Barbara said, look out for that. It's too late.
I was in it. Stinging nettle got it all over
me. It's awful. The sting of death. Sin. All around us. Thorns. Thorns
of this life. Pain. Suffering. Okay? That came
in with Adam, didn't it? Our Lord wore a crown of thorns,
like that ram caught in a thicket. And He was made sin for us. The sting of death He removed
by wearing this thing called sin in His body on the tree. A tree. He wore thorns on a tree
and removed the sting, removed the sin. Look at Isaiah 55. This is another picture type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 4, Behold, I have given
Him for witness to the people, a leader and a commander to the
people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not,
and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because
of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he
hath glorified thee. Verse 10. He's like the rain
that cometh down, and snow, pure as a snow from heaven, and returneth
not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth
and bud, that it may give seed to the sower." He's all of this,
isn't it? He's the rain, he's the snow,
he's the sower, he's the seed, and he's the bread to the eater. Verse 11, "...so shall my word
be," that's Christ, "...that goeth forth out of my mouth.
It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that
which I please." The thing pleased the king. Whatsoever the king
was pleased to do, that did he. And it pleased God to make him
our covenant head and you his people. And it shall prosper
in the thing whereunto I sent it. Verse 12. You shall go out
with joy, be led forth with peace. The mountains and hills shall
break forth before you into singing. all the trees of the field shall
clap their hands, instead of the thorn shall come up the fir
tree, instead of the briars shall come up the myrtle tree." And
what's it all for? It's be to the Lord for a name,
to the praise of the glory of His name, the only name under
heaven given among men, whereby we shall and must be saved. An
everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. Christ, Isaiah said, unto us
a child is born. Yes, a baby was born, called
his name Jesus. But the Christ was eternal. The
man, named Jesus, was born of a woman, made of a woman. We
see Jesus made a little lower than the angel, but Christ was
forever. He said to the Jews, the Pharisees,
he said, what think ye of Christ, whose son is he? They said, he's the son of David.
He said, then why did David call him Lord? Well, he existed. His
name in the Old Testament is Anointed. That's the cry. But
he existed before, as Esther was not known until she was revealed.
She was there all along. And she had neither father nor
mother. Now, she was an orphan because her parents died. Now
a child is born, but the Son, the Eternal Son is given. Call
His name. Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father. How can the Son be the Father?
I don't know, but He is. We believe. He said, if you've
seen me, you've seen the Father, didn't you? I am the Father of
one. We believe that, don't we? Thomas of old, we bow the knee
and call him our Lord and our God. Had neither father or mother
and a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, no beginning
or end. Christ said, I'm the Alpha, the
Omega, the beginning and the end. And she was fair, very fair. Scripture says he's fairest among
10,000. He's anointed with the oil of
gladness above his fill. I'm getting ahead of myself.
But she was beautiful. Oh, Shulamite maiden, let me
ask you, what is your beloved more than another beloved? Would
you describe him in two words? Altogether lovely. Altogether
11, like Esther, but better, much better. And Mordecai owned
her as his own. Christ said, my people, God's
people are my people, my children, and I'm theirs. I am my beloved,
and he is mine. And she pleased, look at verse
9, the maiden pleased Higgai. Look at this, pleased she obtained
kindness of him, means speedily. He gave her things first for
purification, such things as belonged to her. Wait a minute,
you mean he gave her things that were already hers? Yes. It's
fitting, belonged to her. Seven maidens. Why seven? That's
perfection. Such things as were meet or fitting
to be given to her. Read on. Out of the king's house,
the king handed it down. She was pleasing, he preferred
her, and she was in the best place. That's Christ. Pleasing, preferred, and in the
best place in heaven at the right hand of the majesty on high. Let me read to you what John
said of our Lord in John chapter 1 when he came, and what the
Holy Spirit did when Christ came. John said, There standeth one
among you whom you know not, like they didn't know Esther,
she's not yet revealed. Somebody knew her. Mordecai knew
her. These fair maidens knew her,
and they already loved him. He, it is, John said, coming
after me is preferred. before me, whose shoe latchet
I am not worthy to unloose. And these things were done in
Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next
day John seeth him coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he
of whom I said, After me cometh the man which is preferred before
me. For he was before me." Read on,
or listen on. "'And I knew him not, But he
should be made manifest to Israel, therefore I'm baptizing with
water." And John bear record saying, the Spirit. It was the
Spirit that descended from heaven like a dove and abode on him.
And I knew him not until the Spirit descending remained on
him and said, this is He. The anointed one, the cry. The
same as baptized with the Holy Ghost, and I saw and bear record
that this is the altogether lovely Son of the Most High God. And that's how he's revealed
to all of us, by the Spirit of God, through the preaching of
the Lamb of God, the Gospel of God. So she was pleasing, she
was preferred, she was in the best place and so were her maidens.
Isn't this a good place? He's raised us, quickened us
together with Christ and made us sit together in heavenly place.
This is the best place. This is the land of Goshen. Where all the loved of God dwell.
Verse 10, Now Esther had not showed her people nor her kindred,
For Mordecai charged her that she should not show it. How many
times did our Lord tell His disciples? He charged them not to make Him
known until it was time. Many times. Many times, until
it was time, until the fullness of time was come. And Christ
is hidden throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. A veil
is over the face of many, unless God removes that veil to reveal
Christ, like his maiden's new vesture. All right, look at verses
12 and 13. This is my last point. Here's
the coronation and the feast. Now, when every maiden's turn
was come to go into the King of Hesperus after she'd been
12 months, according to the manner of women, so the days of purification
were accomplished. It took six months of oil and
six months of sweet odors and other things for the purifying
of the women. In other words, it took a long time to purify
them. Not Esther. She was already beautiful. But us? We're made beautiful
as Gomer, as a child in Ezekiel, through His comfort, by the Spirit
of God purifying us. Then, verse 13, came every maiden
unto the king, and whatsoever she desired was given to her.
Didn't our Lord say, whatsoever you ask, it'll be given unto
you? Didn't he say, he that spared not his own son, but delivered
him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give
us all things? What do you need? All the maidens,
what do you need? I'll give it to you. And they
got it out of the king's house. Every good and perfect gift come
down from the bell. Verse 14. In the evening, the
maiden would go in. On the morrow, she returned to
the second house of the women, custody of another. These names
are long and difficult. Chascus, the king's chamberlain. And again, it's another Persian
name, a mysterious name. I think he represents the angels
of God and gives them charge over that. One time Gideon, the
angel of the Lord came to Gideon and Gideon said, what's your
name? He said, it's secret. Don't ask my name. It's secret.
And that's when he touched the altar and the sacrifice. So the angels of God, we're given
to them to keep charge over us in God's house. And it says,
except the king delighted in the maiden, and she recalled
my name. She couldn't come in. Didn't
Christ say in John 10, I know my sheep and I call them by name? All the Father gave me will come
to me. Now, here it is. Look at verse
15. Are you still with me? I'm trying
my best, people. Now, when the turn of Esther,
the daughter of Abaham, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her
for his daughter, must come to go in under the king, She required
nothing. She was naturally beautiful. Everything about her was naturally
beautiful. It says that this man gave her the things she needed
in the beginning. Well, Christ had the Spirit without
measure, didn't He? From the beginning, without measure. When her turn was to come in,
she came in, the keeper of the women appointed, given to her,
anointed by The Holy Spirit there in Christ's baptism. And Esther
obtained favor in the sight of all them that looked upon her. Look unto me and be ye saved,
he said. All the ends of the earth. You'll
find grace in the eyes of the Lord. All that look upon him. And doesn't it say in Luke chapter
2 that our Lord grew in wisdom and stature and in favor? with God and man. And all those
who look upon Him, they love Him. They love Him dearly. So,
verse 16, Esther was taken unto the king. Now what do you think
Mordecai was doing? Hoping, praying, praying, praying. You know, Our Lord is our great
High Priest and in the Old Testament, the High Priest, he had bells
and pomegranates on the hem of his garment. That's significant. The hem of his garment. The woman
with the issue said, if I can just touch the hem of his garment. He's the High Priest. Bells and
pomegranate. Pomegranate being fruit. Bells. Why? Because he would go into
the Holy of Holies once a year with the blood of a lamb for
the remission of the sins of God's people. Jews, not the world,
Jews, his people. He would go in beneath the veil
into the Holy of Holy and pour that blood of the lamb on the
altar, on the mercy seat. hoping, praying that God would
accept that blood, accept his sacrifice for the people, on
behalf of the people. And he had these bells on his
garment, okay? And the people would listen for
the ringing of the bells. And as long as those bells were
ringing, he's alive. He's alive. And I'm to ring the
bell. I'm here to tell you he's alive. And then they waited. And what
happened? If God accepted it, came out of the veil with a smile
on his face. And everybody else rejoiced too.
The sacrifice has been accepted. And so have we. been accepted
and beloved because of Christ. He's alive. He's alive. Ring
the bell, loud and true, because He bore fruit under our Lord,
accepted, beloved, well-pleasing, preferred by God. And we're going
to see another time the golden scepter. Okay? So, look at verse 17. Then the king loved Esther above
all the women. And she obtained grace and favor. Oh, grace is poured into his
lips, Scripture said. She was the king's favorite.
That's okay by me. Didn't God say on the mounts
of transfiguration to his disciples, this is my beloved son. They
were taken up with Moses. They were taken up with Elijah.
And God said, this is my favorite. Don't build a tabernacle or monument
to these men, but bow down and worship the sun. My well-beloved
only begotten son, hear ye him. Bow to him. I have declared the
decree. This day have I begotten thee.
He set his king on his royal throne. Jesus Christ, the favorite. more than all the virgins. Psalm 45 says he's anointed him
with the oil of gladness above his feather. And so the king
Ahasuerus set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen
instead of Vashti. He loved her. He was well pleased
with her. And he put a crown royal on her
head. And you know what? He sat her
right down on the right hand of His Majesty. And that's where
she sat, His Queen. And after Christ, after He had
obtained eternal redemption for us, Scripture says, He sat down
at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Well pleasing, the Lord
is well pleased for His righteousness. Because He made Himself of no
reputation, took upon Himself the form of a servant. God has
given Him a name above every name. Rather, it's no coincidence that
Psalm 2 speaks of his coronation, Acts 2, Peter preaches of his
coronation, Philippians 2 speaks of his coronation, and Hebrews
2 speaks of his coronation. You want to remember those things?
Chapter 2. Esther 2. That's no coincidence. God wrote this book. About who?
Jesus Christ. Crown Him with many crowns. our substitute, our righteous
representative, our covenant heir. Then the king made a great
feast. He called it Esther's Feast. This is Esther's Feast. In Revelation
it speaks of the marriage of the supper of the Lamb, doesn't
it? Look at this, verse 18. He made
a release. I just about split my britches
when I read this. The margin says, rest. He made a feast and told everybody,
quit working. Just come sit and rest. Why? Because I'm well pleased with
her. My wrath is appeased. I'm happy,
I'm well pleased with your substitute. Just come and dine. Isn't that the gospel we preach?
Christ our Sabbath, I read. And he gave gifts. When the Lord turned our captivity,
our mouths were filled with laughter. These things are too good to
be true. He gave gifts according to the state of the king. Doesn't
it say in Ephesians 4, when Christ ascended on high, He gave gifts
unto men. What? Some prophets, some apostles,
some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers for what? The perfected
and the saints. Do we all come to the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ? Come into the kingdom. The virgins, verse 19, were gathered
together a second time. There's going to be a second
gathering. Are you with me? A second gathering. There's a
first gathering. Here we are. There's going to be a second
one. Gathered together a second time.
And then Mordecai sat in the king's gate. Now Esther had not
yet showed her kindred nor her people. as Mordecai charged her. Boy, that's prophetic, isn't
it? The Jews to this day don't know Jesus Christ. They don't
know that He's the only Messiah, their only hope. They don't know.
All those types, all those ceremonies, all these... They still read
these books. They just don't know because
He's hidden these times. But aren't we blessed? Aren't
we blessed? Were you blessed? The half was not told. I just
scratched the surface. We waded ankle deep in that ocean
of His fullness. This is a hymn book of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Stand with me. Our Father in Heaven, O Lord,
thank You for this glorious book, Thy book, the Word, The Word
of God, and that's His name. The Word was God. Made flesh, dwelt among us. That's
His name. He has on His thigh, the King
of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Word of God, revealed only to
His people. How we thank You, Lord. We praise You like Christ did. You've hid these things from
the wise and prudent Revealed among the babe, even so, Father,
it seemed good in thy sight. Thank you, Lord, for what we
do now. Thank you for what we have revealed to us. Christ in
us, our hope of glory. Christ with you, our hope of
glory. It's in his name we pray and
give thanks. Amen. You're dismissed.