Okay, this evening we're looking
at the book of Esther, chapter 9 and chapter 10, and this will
be our conclusion and our last message of the study through
the book of Esther. And it has been to me personally
a blessing to see and to learn how God has an eye to his people,
how he cares for them and loves them and watches over them, And
not only that, but how he delivers them. He delivers them by his
power and by his purpose. Now I'm taking the title for
the message from what is said in verse 30. Let's read Esther
chapter 9 verse 30. And he sent the letters unto
all the Jews, that is Mordecai, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom
of Hagiris, with words of peace and truth. Now look at chapter 10 verse
3, Mordecai the Jew was next unto the king, and great among
the Jews, and accepted the multitude of his brethren, seeking the
wealth of his people, and speaking peace, speaking peace to all
his seeds. So the title of the message is
in words of peace and truth. And Mordecai being a type of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord Jesus Christ does speak
peace to all his people. He does seek their welfare. He is looking out for his people. Words of peace and truth. Now
whenever we read in the Word of God and read the word peace,
We immediately think of the Lord Jesus Christ in that verse there
in Colossians 1, how the Lord Jesus Christ made peace through
His blood, the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
our peace. There is no peace with God apart
from Christ. There is no peace that any vile,
guilty sinner can make. We cannot make peace with God.
Peace has already been made for God's people in Christ. Likewise, whenever we are reading
the book of God and read this other word, this word called
truth, We also immediately think of the Lord Jesus Christ, don't
we? He is our peace and the Lord Jesus Christ is all the truth
we need to know. All the truth we need to know
about how God saves sinners in Him who is the truth. Christ
is the truth. who bears witness of the truth,
who is truth personified, and who tells us the way of salvation
by the truth that he has honored and established. Our Lord said
this, you shall know the truth and the truth, the truth will
set you free. The lives of men won't, but Christ
the truth of which it said it is impossible for him to lie.
Christ the truth, speaking the truth, with the truth, sets us
free. Remember John 14, 6, the Lord
said, I am the way, the truth, the life, no man comes unto the
Father but by and through me. in these two chapters, Esther
9 and 10, when the day came when that first decree of Haman's
wicked plot to destroy all the Jews, when that day came, you
remember the 12th day, the 12th month rather, the month of Adar
on the 13th day of the 12th month when that decree rolled around,
that all those in the Persian Empire were to take up sword
against the Jews. and to kill the Jews. You remember
the second decree of Esther and Mordecai was also in force which
gave the Jews the right by the decree of the king to fight and
to defend themselves against those that would attack them.
Well in this chapter we quickly find out that the enemies of
the Lord's people were soundly completely defeated 75,000 Persians,
75,800 Persians were killed and we do not read in the book of
God in these two chapters of one Jew that died. Not even one Jew that suffered
harm. God gave them complete dominion
over the enemy. They had complete victory by
the will of God, by the purpose of God, who was working mightily
in them and for them. Reminds me of the verse found
in Isaiah 54, 17, where it says, No weapon, no weapon that is
formed against thee shall prosper. shall prosper. And then the verse
we used last week, 2 Corinthians 2.14, now thanks be unto God
who give us, thanks be unto God which always causes us to triumph
in Christ and make us manifest the savor, the sweet fragrance
of His knowledge by us in every place. And we can say with Paul,
thanks be to God who has given us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now I've got five different divisions
in this message for you this evening. The first one is found
in verse 11, verse one rather, down through verse 11. And here
we see the enemies of the Jews defeated, the enemies of God's
people defeated, including Haman's ten sons. Now, don't you imagine
that Haman's ten sons were out for revenge out to get even. When it came that day when they
were to kill the Jews, don't you know they were chomping at
the bit to get every Jew they could find? But the tables were
turned on them, the Jews had their way with them, and the
ten sons of Haman were killed. And Mordecai He becomes greater and greater
and greater and is exalted higher and higher and higher. Now the
day, when the day came when the enemies of the Jews were to execute
them and hope to have power over them, just the opposite happened.
The Jews had rule over them that hated them. No man could withstand
them. Even the rulers of the Persian
army helped the Jews win the day and to win the fight. Look at chapter 9, verse 1, 2,
and 3. That twelfth month, that is the
month Adar, the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's
commandment and his decree drew near to put in execution in the
day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them,
that's that decree and plot and plan of Haman, though it was
turned to the contrary. How did that happen? It's the
will of God. that the Jews had rule over them
that hated them. They had power over them. And
the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout
all the province of the king to lay hand on such as sought
their hurt. And no man could withstand them
for the fear of them fell upon all the people. And not only
that, the rulers of the provinces, the lieutenants and the deputies
and the officers of the king helped the Jews because of the
fear of Mordecai fell upon them. Now what a remarkable, amazing,
amazing event. What an amazing turn of events
and what amazing power. What amazing power the Lord does
possess in protecting His people and fighting for them and with
them, wiping out Haman's house completely, and the ten sons
slain and hanged, and Mordecai now is exalted in power next
to the king. And Haman, who at one time had
that place, is completely out of business and out of the picture,
being hanged and buried in some obscure place. Now, there's somewhat
of a parallel, like when these same Jews crossed over Jordan,
you remember 40 years in the wilderness, and when they finally
crossed over Jordan, we read about it in the book of Joshua,
And they took the land of Canaan, all those different enemies,
you remember what happened to Jericho when they crossed over
the river? How they walked around that city and then on that seventh
day they shouted and the walls fell down flat and the people
had their way with them. You see, God gave them the victory. They were outnumbered, they were
outmanned, but God gave them the victory in a most mighty
and marvelous way. Now, if you want to turn to this,
you can, but if not, I'll just read it to you. Psalm 44, we
have heard with our ears, verse 1, O God, our fathers have told
us what work thou didst in their days in the times of old. how thou didst drive out the
heathen with thine hand, and plantest them, and how thou didst
afflict the people, and cast them out. For they got not to
land in their possession by their own sword, neither did their
own arm save them, but thy right hand, thine arm, and the light
of thy countenance, because thou hast that favour unto them. Thou
art my king, O God, command deliverances for Jacob. Through thee we'll
push down our enemies, through thy name we'll tread them under
that rise up against us, for I will not trust in my bow, neither
in my sword, neither shall my sword save me, but thou hast
saved us from our enemies and put them to shame that hated
us. Same God, isn't it? In God we trust all the day and
praise thy name forever. Selah, which means, think about
this one, as God protected Israel when they crossed over Jordan
into the promised land of Canaan, they still had enemies to face,
they still had enemies to fight, but the Lord blessed them and
gave them a victory. We're going to study about that
in the book of Joshua in the coming weeks ahead. Like Israel in that day, they
had a mighty leader in Joshua, didn't they? You remember Moses
died? Moses couldn't lead them into
the Promised Land as Moses represented the law. Joshua, the Savior,
had to lead them in. And that's a picture of Christ.
As Israel had a leader in that day, so too did Israel. in the
day of Esther and Mordecai, it was Mordecai who led them to
victory. Notice the words in verse 4,
Mordecai, it says here, waxed, for this man Mordecai, waxed
greater and greater. He just God just blessed him
so that in the esteem of all those 127 provinces among the
Persians, Mordecai was a tremendous, mighty man of valor. Also we read, I was thinking
about when I read that statement, Mordecai waxed greater and greater,
it rung a bell with me because It is also recorded in the Word
of God in 1 Chronicles 11 verse 9. The same words are said about
David, David the king of Israel. David waxed greater and greater
in the eyes of the people. And we can see how both of these
men, that is Joshua and Mordecai, both of these men are personal
types of the Lord Jesus Christ who is our great God and Savior,
who is called the Captain of our salvation, who has won every
battle for us and has given us so great salvation. And He has become greater and
greater in our esteem, in our eyes. He has been exalted in
our heart and we esteem Him. Oh, we esteem Him very highly,
don't we? Here's the second thing. and
verse 12 down to verse 16, 800 enemies of the Jews were killed
in Shushan the palace, 75,000 were slain in the other 127 provinces
throughout the Persian Empire. Now if they killed 75,000, Just think how many more came
against them in that day that weren't killed. It's probably
double that number, wouldn't you think? 150,000 came against them, but
God so blessed the Jews that one man chased probably 100 or
200, and they had their way. But I want to focus a minute
or so on what is said here in verse 12, 13, and 14. The king said to Esther the queen,
the Jews have slain and destroyed 500 men in Shushan the palace,
and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest
of the king's provinces? Now what is our petition? It
shall be granted thee, or what is our request, further request?
And it shall be done. Esther said, If it please the
king, let it be granted to the Jews which were in Shushan's
palace to do tomorrow also according unto this day's decree, and let
Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. Now Haman's ten
sons were already slain with the sword. They were already
dead. And the king commanded it to
be so, And the creed was given at Shushanah Palace, and they
hanged up Haman's ten sons. Now why hang a dead man? Kind
of a puzzle, isn't it? Why hang a dead man? Why'd she
do this? Why did Esther do this? She's
not trying to further punish them. They're already dead. I
believe Esther remembered what the Law of Moses says in Deuteronomy
21, 22, and 23. Those who commit sins worthy
of death were to be stoned and hanged upon a tree to show they
were cursed of God. Now, have we read that before
somewhere? Turn over to the book of Galatians.
Why was the Lord Jesus Christ hanged upon a tree? Galatians
chapter 3. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse, verse 10. For it is written,
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them, but that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God. It is evident the just shall
live by faith. And the law is not of faith, but the man that
doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
Deuteronomy 21, 23, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on the
tree. So, you see what Esther was doing? She was demonstrating that those
ten sons of Haman were cursed of God. And this is exactly what
we see happening to the Lord Jesus Christ. When he was made sin for us,
became guilty for our sin upon Calvary's tree as our substitute,
God laying on him the iniquity of us all. We know the wrath
of God fell on him with no mixture of mercy that God might be merciful
to us. The Lord consumed all the wrath
of God for our sin against us and put away our sin. The Lord
Jesus Christ was made accursed and guilty for us, being made
sin for us, that we might be set free from the curse of the
law. You see, even in the hanging
of those ten sons, we see a picture of the gospel and how the Lord
Jesus Christ was made guilty for our sin and demonstrating
that He was cursed of God because of our sin being laid upon Him.
The lovely Son of God who had no sin, who knew no sin, and
did no sin, He was yet made sin for us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Christ also once suffered for
our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God. Now here is the third thing,
verse 17 all the way down to verse 28. Now I won't read these verses
again, but here we have Mordecai setting forth this day, this
day of victory. God gave him a great victory,
there is no doubt about it. God gave him a great victory
and Mordecai is setting forth this special two-day feast as
a memorial to remember what God had done. Now it's not, it's
not, He said don't remember this because of what you have done,
but as a memorial as to what God has done. When their sorrow
was made joy, when they were turned from a day of mourning,
and it was made a good day. Notice verse 19. Therefore the
Jews of the village that dwelt in the unwalled towns made the
fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day of gladness, feasting
and a good day, and sending portion one to another. Look down at
verse 22. As the days were in the Jews
rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto
them from sorrow to joy, from mourning into a good day, that
they should make them days of feasting and joy, and sending
portions one to another, and gifts to the poor." I mean it
was a high day, a day of feasting. It was the day the Lord had made.
You remember the psalmist said, this is the day the Lord had
made and we shall be glad in it. They had gladness, they had
feasting, they had a good day, they sent gifts one to another,
and giving of the poor, and they called these days of feasting
a memorial day. And verse 28, that these days
should be remembered and kept throughout every generation,
every family, in every province, in every city, that these days
of Purim should not fail, Notice the marginal reference should
be ended from among the Jews nor the memorial of them that
would perish. It's not to end. This is a day,
a continual, perpetual day of remembrance, a day of feasting. Now I read The commentators that
I normally read on this, John Gill, Robert Hocker, and Matthew
Henry, and they all made mention to this that the Jews still celebrate
this day of Purim. Now remember those old timers
that I read after lived back in the 1700s. And I thought to myself, you
know, they did in that day, 17, 1800, I wonder if the Jews are
still doing it in this day. So, you know how you can take
something and use your internet and Google it, they say, Google
it, Google it. I put that in on a Google word
search, and sure enough, look it up when you get home. The
Jews still to this day on when it was said right here on the
month Adar on the 13th day of that month
they have a two-day feast and it said that they read this book
of Esther and remember how God gave them the victory. But, and that is good, that is
good to do those things, but what I want us to see here is
the gospel feast that we are told to celebrate. When the Lord
set forth the table of the Lord to remember his death for us,
who conquered all our enemies for us, and I believe this too,
these days of Purim is a picture of that. You see, I think everything
in the word of God has to do with the gospel. You remember
Romans 15.4? Whatsoever was written aforetime
was written for our learning that we might see the gospel
of Christ. We know the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled every feast
for us. And he said, this do in remembrance
of me. Every feast under the law was
fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. All those
feast days that we studied a while back in the book of Leviticus,
you could all stand and quote and remember all those feast
days, couldn't you? If I called on you, you'd...
Well, our mind is short, but let me remind you of a few. The Day of Atonement was a feast
day when that priest went under the veil into the Holy Holy,
putting the blood on the mercy seat, and that is the picture
of Christ. He is our mercy seat. Blood on
the mercy seat is our atonement for sin. Herein is love, not
that we love God, but He loved us. and sent his son to be the
sacrifice for our sin. And then that Passover feast,
when they were to remember that night in Egypt, when they would
take that blood of that certain lamb that was put up to make
sure it was without spot and without blemish, and they would
kill that lamb, roast its body, and put its blood upon the door,
and the Lord said, Oh, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you.
Now what is that a picture of? Oh, that's a picture of Christ,
is it not? The Apostle Paul writing in 1
Corinthians 5-7, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. The only
reason God passes over us in mercy and grace is because of
Christ crucified. And then the Feast of the Tabernacle.
And we know that that pictures and tells us about Christ, our
tabernacle, Christ who tabernacled among us, God incarnate in human
flesh. And then the feast of firstfruits.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the firstfruits from the dead. His
resurrection guarantees our resurrection, does it not? What if he didn't
come forth from the dead the third day? There'd be no salvation. We'd still be yet dead in our
sin. But because he was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification, and he's the first fruit, that means what's
true of the head is true of the body. We're following him. who are following Him, it reminds
me of that verse there, "...the Lord shall give that which is
good, or land shall yield its increase. Truth shall spring
out of the earth. Righteousness shall look down
from heaven. Righteousness shall go before Him and shall set us
in the way of His steps." Remember in the book of Hebrews, He's
called, what's He called? The forerunner has entered in
for us. and is seated, and we know that
we are entered in with Him. All these descriptive words that
are used here are all typical of the gospel of Christ, are
they not? A day of feasting, we feast upon Christ. Our Lord
said, except you eat my flesh and blood, you have no life in
you. We feast upon Him who is the bread of life. And He is
our gladness. We do rejoice in Him. And every
day with Him, It's a good day, is it not? When our sorrow and
our mourning over our sin is turned into joy and forgiveness.
Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou hast covered
all their sin. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thy anger. Well, that's a good day, is it
not? The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all
our sin. And we do observe the Lord's
memorial table in remembrance of His broken body and His shed
blood, remembering how Christ has purchased our salvation for
us with His own blood. It's a privilege to do that,
to remember the Lord. Now, here's the fourth thing.
Esther and Mordecai with all authority verse 29 Esther the
Queen the daughter of Abihel Mordecai the Jew wrote with all
authority to confirm to confirm this second letter of Purim designating
these two days as a memorial feast forever And he sent letters
unto all the Jews of the 127 provinces of the king, Ahasuerus,
with words of peace and truth, verse 32. And the decree of Esther
confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book.
It was written down, black and white. Esther and Mordecai with
all authority to confirm this letter, sent it to all the Jews
with words of peace and truth, The war is over. Peace has been
won. Truth has prevailed. The pleasure
of the Lord has prospered in his hand. That's a good day. Good day. As I said in the beginning
of the message when I gave you the title, Words of Peace and
Truth, that is what the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ declares. In all the epistles of Paul and
Peter, They begin with these words, grace unto you and peace
from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Studied
in Romans 5 verse 1, because he was delivered for our offenses,
raised again for our justification, therefore we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ honoring
the truth of God in the gospel of Christ. In Romans 16, 20,
we read, and the God of peace, he's a God of all grace, the
father of all mercy, the God of all comfort, and he's called
the God of peace. Shall bruise Satan under your
feet shortly, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be with
you, amen. Now, here's what encouraged me
And I would use the word inspired, but I don't want to act too sanctimonious
by saying I was inspired, but somehow the Lord brought to my
mind Psalm 85, 10, where it says, mercy and truth are met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall
spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Where did that happen? Where did mercy and truth meet
together? Where did righteousness and peace
kiss each other in harmony? That happened at the cross, did
it not? That's what happened at Calvary's cross in Christ
crucified, all the attributes of God were honored in Christ
being 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, and he waxes greater and greater and greater,
does he not? Now here's the last thing, here's
the last thing, in chapter 10, Esther chapter 10, verse 1, 2,
and 3. Ahasuerus, the king, gave tribute
to honor Mordecai and to declare his greatness. As we read in
chapter 9, verse 4, Mordecai waxed greater and greater. I
think what John said of the Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist,
you remember what he said? that Christ must increase, I
must decrease. He must be greater. He's already
great, but He's greater and greater and greater and greater. All
greatness belongs to Him. The Father hath highly exalted
Him. When He had by Himself purged
our sin, He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Christ
is seated at the right hand of God, a place of honor, a place
of love, and a place of power. and dominion he ever lived to
intercede for us right now. This is a good description of
the blessings we have in Christ. Look at the last part of verse
3, Esther chapter 10. Mordecai was great among the
Jews and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, accepted of
the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people,
and speaking peace to all his seekers. He's looking out for
them. He's looking out for them, isn't he? Seeking their wealth.
And we know all these things are typical of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ came seeking
the wealth and good and the salvation of his people. Luke 10, Luke
19, verse 10, rather, We read, the Lord Jesus Christ came to
seek and to save the lost, his lost sheep, of which he said,
of all that the Father had given me, I'll not lose one, not lose
one. He came to enrich us in mercy
and grace, for God who is rich in mercy, for His great love
wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sin, He came
to make us rich, not only in mercy and grace, but He came
to make us rich in righteousness before God. How holy and righteous
do you need to be to stand before God accepted? As righteous as God. How can
that be? only as we stand in Christ. He is the Lord our righteousness. God who spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? 2 Corinthians 8, 9 For you know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, Yet
for your sake he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be made rich. So he came seeking the wealth
of his people and then he came speaking peace. Peace. Look what it says there carefully.
Seeking peace to all his seed. And that speaks of God's elect.
The Lord Jesus Christ only speaks peace to his elect. Now the false prophet and the
false preacher, they go around speaking peace when there is
no peace. You're okay, I'm okay, everything's
okay. God loves everybody, everything's all right. Now what it says here,
he's speaking peace to all his seed. all His people, all His
elect. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
make peace for His seed. Call His name Jesus, He shall
save His people from their sin. Upon the ground of Christ making
peace for us, we have peace with God. And therefore upon that
ground He speaks peace unto us. John 6 verse 63, Our Lord said,
the words I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life. They are spirit and life. He came speaking peace to all
his seed upon the ground of Christ making peace for us. God was
in Christ reconciling us unto himself not imputing their iniquity
unto them, but imputing our sin to Christ, and the Lord Jesus
Christ put away our sin by the sacrifice of himself. Well, Brother Mordecai, thank
you. Thank God for Mordecai. Thank
God for Esther. And I think about those times
and those days we spent in the book of Ezra, the ready scribe,
and Nehemiah. You remember Nehemiah was a builder.
God bless both those men and God bless Mordecai and Esther,
the queen.