Book of Esther - Part 25

We're in Esther chapter 8, and let's take a look at this. We're gonna review just a little bit.

In chapter 8, it kind of brings together all of these types or symbols that we see in this passage.

The New Testament tells us in a couple of places that God has taken the physical stories of the

Old Testament and made them to be object lessons which teach us spiritual truths on this side of the cross.

It says that in a couple of places in the Book of Romans and in Corinthians, and so we know the

Scripture says that, and it's a great clue as to how to study the Bible, I think, is you can go into the

Old Testament and find out that it will give you colors of words and shades of meaning that you would not have if all you had was the

New Testament. So we see a lot of this. Now, let me just review a little bit. In this chapter, we see that kind of looking back at all of the story of Esther, that Mordecai had raised

Esther, but he was not her father. And I want you to look at the symbolism in all this. He was not her father, he was her cousin, but he adopted her.

So Esther was an adopted child, just as we are adopted children, and Mordecai was a symbol or a type of the

Jewish nation, himself being a Jew. Esther is a type of the

Bride of Christ, the Bride of the King, or the Church, and Ahasuerus, the

King, was the type, or example of Jesus Christ, the King, and also the

Bridegroom. And Haman was a type of Satan, who is the enemy of the

Jews, but also of the Christians, all of God's children. And Haman was at the right hand of Ahasuerus, which is very much the same as Lucifer, when he was created, was at the right hand of God, protecting the very holiness of God before he fell.

Haman was full of pride, and then he fell. Lucifer was full of pride, and then he fell.

And so Haman is a picture of Satan. Haman was killed by the very instrument he prepared for the murder of Mordecai, just as Satan was defeated by the very instrument that he prepared for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Also, we began to study last time that the Lord had given dominion of the earth to Adam.

If you go into Genesis 1, verse 26, it talks about that, but he had given dominion to Adam, representative of mankind, had given them dominion over the entire created world.

And then all of a sudden, Satan comes into the Garden of Eden, and by right of conquest, he takes that dominion away.

Remember that. And so we see that happening. And that's found in Genesis 3, verse 17 and following.

And in 2 Corinthians 4 .3, we see that Satan then is called the little g,

God of this world. And in Ephesians chapter two, we see that he's called the prince of the power of the air.

So he had this dominion over the world. And what's interesting about it is that almost 2 ,000 years ago, when

Jesus Christ was on the cross, and he said, it is finished, and then he gave up the ghost, and then three days later, he was resurrected from the grave, he then, by right of conquest, took the dominion back away from Satan.

And so Jesus Christ, the second Adam, brings that dominion back to mankind, although at this point, now

Jesus is the head of mankind, and the head of the church, of course. And so by the same right of conquest, he takes that dominion back.

And we talked about that a little bit last time in Colossians chapter two, verse 13. It talks about it quite a bit.

It says that Jesus, through the cross, blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us.

And it says he nailed it to the cross, and then verse 15 says, having spoiled principalities and powers and made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

So Jesus defeated Satan, took back the dominion of the world from him, and actually made a show of him openly for the whole universe.

John chapter 12 and verse 31 says that now is the prince of this world cast out.

That's talking about Satan. And we looked at several areas like that.

Now, in Esther chapter eight, verse one, Ahasuerus is going to give the house of Haman to Esther.

Now, Haman was very wealthy. Remember, he was a picture of Satan. And the fact that he had this enormous house or palace that he lived in, that palace was a picture of the dominion that he had, the dominion that Satan had over the world.

And when Satan is defeated, as is pictured by Haman being defeated, that house was taken by the king and given to his bride.

And that is a picture of how Jesus Christ, when he took that dominion back from Satan, he now hands it to the bride of Christ.

He does not just hand it to human beings as a race because now there's been the fall.

And so it's not going to happen that way. But it is given back to the bride of Christ, the church, and the dominion is given directly to her.

And all of this is pictured by King Ahasuerus giving the house of Haman to Queen Esther.

So we saw that. Also we see there in chapter eight, verse two, that the king took off his ring, which is a picture of sovereignty.

It's a symbol of sovereignty. And he gives this directly to Mordecai, the

Jew. And then Esther sends Mordecai over the house that the king had given her, which was the same

Haman's house, which is that dominion over the world. So now we find some interesting pictures being drawn here that I don't know that we see them this specific anywhere else in the

Bible or this detailed, where it pictures in Esther how

Jesus took back the dominion of the world from Satan and took that house, which is the world, and gives it to his bride, which was

Esther in this case, which is us, the church, in reality. And he takes that ring, which pictures the sovereignty and the power of the king and gives it directly to the

Jews. And we see in the scripture that, of course, the Jewish nation is going to be at the height of power in the millennial kingdom, that is to come after the second coming.

I found it interesting, though, because I have not seen this specific anywhere else in the scripture, that the dominion was given to the church who then put the

Jewish nation over it for 1 ,000 years. But who does it belong to?

Who did he give the house to? No, who did Jesus give the house to? His wife.

Pictures who? The bride, which is the church. So the church has a role in the millennial kingdom.

And we see all this in other scriptures, but it's so beautiful to see it pictured here. So now

Satan is no longer the god of this world. And we have mistakenly continued to teach that he is because the scripture says that he is.

But you have to remember that King Saul had his throne taken away by God and it was given to David, but Saul stayed on that throne for a long number of days and he was usurping power that was not rightfully his.

And that's exactly what Satan does today. He has already been removed from the dominion positionally.

In fact, he has been removed from that dominion over this world. So therefore he has no right to have dominion over you or your thought life or your family, gentlemen, or your church or your world.

He has no right to it. He usurps it. He will take it when he can unlawfully. And if you yield certain areas of your life to him, he will take ground and it's warfare.

It's like he takes a hill. If you give him a hill in your life, he'll take it. I'm gonna tell you something. Once he has the hill, it's really hard for you to get it back, just like in war.

When the Vietnam War, those of us baby boomers grew up during that war, when those

Viet Cong would take one of the hills, we lost thousands of young men going back, trying to take those back.

And so that's all pictured in the Bible as far as spiritual warfare. So we see these things. We see this dominion has exchanged hands.

In Esther three and following, we see that the queen falls down at the feet of the king and says, there's more work to be done though, because she reminded him there was a law that was passed where you funded the murder of all the

Jews in the entire world that you control and you need to reverse that. And she requested that and so he did it.

And he even allowed Mordecai and Esther to write the law. And he said, just put my signet on it.

He put the seal of my ring on there. You have the power, because who had he given the ring to? Mordecai.

And so they wrote the law exactly as they wanted it written and what happened was it actually went across the world of that day and gave the

Jews the right to stand up if they were attacked by anyone, to stand up and fight and destroy their foes, even down to the women and children.

So the law allowed them to destroy anyone who would come against them. And you know, that's an interesting picture because when that law was passed and that dominion exchanged hands from Satan back to God's people,

God has given you the right to do that. That's why in the scripture in Sunday school, we were studying that very verse in first Peter where it says resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Resist Satan. You have the right to do that. Jesus Christ has given you the right and the commandment and the law, so to speak, to if you are attacked by the enemy, to defend yourself and to push the enemy back.

And all of that is pictured in this passage as well. They went out all through the world on camels and donkeys and everything, every different kind of animal they needed to get the word out all over the world and gave forth this law of the right that the

Jews had to protect themselves. The Jewish nation will, as we know, finally be addressed in royal apparel.

You see that in verse 15 of chapter eight. It says, and Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white and with a great crown of gold and with a garment of fine linen and purple in the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.

So now Mordecai, who is a picture of the Jews, was dressed in royal apparel.

And this is a picture of the fact that the Jewish nation will be dressed that way during the millennial kingdom and they will rule the world from the physical aspect, whereas the church will reign and rule with Jesus Christ from the spiritual aspect of that.

Verse 16 says, the Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor.

In verse 17, and in every province and in every city, whether so ever the king's commandment and his decree came, the

Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became

Jews for fear of the Jews fell upon them. So we see now that the Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor, and that really is what we should have.

We are adopted into this family. We're in under the Abrahamic covenant, as you know, or you wouldn't be saved this morning.

And so we, because Jesus Christ has taken that dominion away from Satan, and Satan is no longer the little

G God of our world, we should have light and gladness and joy and honor in our families.

When we come under depression or ill feelings or darkness, that's not normal.

And God has freed us from that. Jesus Christ has freed us from every other master that we ever had, and we stand free.

That is our position. We have been freed, the dominion's been given back to us over this world that we live in, and that should bring great gladness and joy in our hearts.

In fact, joy is the fruit, one of the great fruits of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.

And so we have this because Jesus has given back that dominion from us, taken it away from Satan.

Satan has no right over our life, over our minds. Now, in verse 17, it says that in every province and every city, the

Jews had joy, and then other people became Jews because they feared the Jews. And that is a picture of the millennial kingdom where Christ will rule with a rod of iron and the

Jewish nation will lead the other nations and many will become Jews during that time period.

Let's look at Isaiah chapter 52. Turn there with me. And we'll start to see, in fact, what this story of Esther had pictured.

In Isaiah 52, starting with about verse 13, you see the other places in the scripture where it gives these truths.

You could call them doctrines, I suppose, because we have built an entire doctrine of the end times in the 1 ,000 -year millennial kingdom around clear scriptures throughout the

Bible. Esther was picturing these things, but let's look at the detail that we see in different places.

Isaiah 52, 13, behold, my servant shall deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.

As many were astonished at thee, his visage was so marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men.

Who do you think this is talking about back in Isaiah? It's Jesus talking about when he was beaten, before he was even crucified, that his face was marred so that people could not even see that he was a man.

That's how severely he was beaten before he ever went to the cross. So shall he, this

Jesus Christ, this Messiah, sprinkle many nations. The kings shall shut their mouths at him, for that which had not been told them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

And this is pictured when the king gave that house to his wife, the bride, and that ring to the

Jewish nation. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ will be the head of the Jewish nation and will sit on the throne in Jerusalem and rule the world.

And this shows clearly that the prophet Isaiah said there's coming a day when the other nations of the world will come to Jerusalem, will serve

Jesus Christ, and will be overseen by the entire nation of Israel. Isaiah 55, turn over to that chapter,

Isaiah 55 in verse four. It says, behold,

I have given him for a 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. In other words, because of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified thee.

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near.

Now this was an exhortation by the prophet Isaiah to the nation of Israel back in his day.

And he said, someday the other nations are gonna flee to you. Someday the ones that you are a servant to shall serve you.

And all of this was given thousands of years, of course, before it will come to pass out in the future in the millennial kingdom.

Isaiah chapter 61, turn there. Isaiah 61 in verse nine. And their seed shall be known among the

Gentiles and their offspring among the people. Now this is talking about the Jews.

You see, when Ahasuerus gave his ring to Mordecai, the Jew, it pictured this power that is going to be given to the

Jewish nation and it will be fulfilled during the millennial kingdom. Their seed shall be known among the

Gentiles. In other words, the Jews, the children of the Jews. Out in the future, the future

Jewish men and women are gonna be well known. They're gonna be famous among the Gentiles.

Their offspring will be famous among the people. All that see them shall acknowledge them and they that are the seed which the

Lord hath blessed. In other words, they will see that they are the seed which the Lord has blessed. They are

God's blessed people and everyone will see that during the millennial kingdom. Right now, they're the most persecuted people in the world, the

Jews are. And the Christians follow behind but they're not persecuted nearly as much as the

Jews have been. But they will be in coming days.

We know the scriptures tell us about this. Verse 10, and I will greatly rejoice in the

Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.

He has covered me with a robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels.

For as the earth bringeth forth her bud and as the garden causes the things which are sown in it to spring forth, just like that the

Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations.

And so the Jews are gonna be like the evangelists of the world. I think that begins during the tribulation period and then continues on into the millennial kingdom.

Then turn to Jeremiah chapter three with me. Two other passages we'll look at will be done a little early today,

I think. Jeremiah chapter three, verse 15, and I will give you pastors according to my heart.

Now, the Lord is promising through his prophet, Jeremiah, to God's people that God will give pastors as gifts to the people.

And he's gonna give them pastors according to God's heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

You talked about that this morning in Sunday school, Brother Bill. Funny how it ties together so often. But in that very passage that we were studying in First Peter is where it exhorted the elders to feed the flock of God.

And God tells us here in Jeremiah that God will send such men who are equipped to feed the flock of God.

They will feed you knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass when you be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the

Lord, they shall say no more the ark of the covenant of the Lord, neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done anymore.

And at that time, they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it to the name of the

Lord, to Jerusalem, neither shall they walk anymore after the imagination of their evil hearts.

And so when we come to that day, when Jesus is on his throne in Jerusalem, and the Jews are the leaders of the world, the other nations will give up their idols, and they will come before the

Lord and kneel and bow the knee and worship him. And so all the different things we see that we're so concerned about, the false religions, the false cult groups, all the things that we see in the world, those will be done away at the second coming of Jesus Christ when his kingdom is set up.

And then let's turn to Isaiah chapter 11. We'll end with this beautiful passage that describes everything that was pictured in the book of Esther as the

Lord handed out the dominion to the church and to Mordecai who pictured the

Jews. It says in Isaiah 11, verse one, and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse.

Now that, Jesse, of course, was the father of David, and David's throne is the throne upon which

Jesus Christ will sit someday. And Jesus came out of the line of David.

We know that, so this is a reference to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse.

So Jesus Christ comes out of this Jewish nation, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the spirit of the

Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might.

This is talking about the nature of Jesus Christ himself. The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the

Lord. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together shall lie down together, and a little child shall lead them.

This is a beautiful picture of the way it's gonna be when Jesus reigns over the world physically for a thousand years.

Little children will be playing with calves and young lions as pets in that day, and the cow and the bear shall feed together.

Their young one shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like an ox.

You know why? Because he was able to do that in the Garden of Eden before the fall. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of an asp.

So children can play with snakes, poisonous snakes, and they won't hurt them.

Did you know that Dr. Carl Baugh did an experiment, I don't know how long, not that long ago, where he put rattlesnakes in the same environment of the world before the flood.

He put higher atmospheric pressure, he put more density of oxygen, and he did this in a hyperbaric chamber which was made to have the conditions that he hypothesized were like this in the world before the flood, and he put rattlesnakes in there, and after they were in there just a few days, their venom no longer was poisonous.

In fact, it became like a medicine, where if you injected it in a human, it would heal diseases.

And that's the way rattlesnakes were in the Garden of Eden, but they are not that way right now, but they'll be that way again when we're in the

Millennial Kingdom. So the children will be able to play with these poisonous snakes, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the

Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, and he shall stand for an ensign of the people.

To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious.

Now Jesus Christ has already purchased all of that. He has already set that in place.

The dominion has already been transferred away from Satan to himself and handed to his church.

And all of this de facto positionally is the way it is in your hearts now, but it's the way it shall be in fact at the second coming.

Now understand what I'm saying. At the second coming, all of this will be made to be a physical fact in the physical world.

But right now, the kingdom of God is in your hearts. Your body is the temple of the living

God. He dwells within you, and that same principle is already in your heart now. You don't have to wait for the second coming to have the same joy and happiness that it says that the children of Israel had at this point when

Mordecai was dressed in his royal apparel and the law went out that the Jews could defend themselves and not be destroyed.

All of that was pictured. You already have that in your hearts. When you have a down day or when the enemy's attacking you, you just turn and you resist him.

You just turn and you grab the hand of the king, Jesus Christ's hand. He'll turn to you and say, who is he and where is he?

And you just over here and point to the devil and he will take care of him. And you can live a joyous, glorious life even now.

Now understand this, that that'll only be during moments because your walk with the

Lord is a moment by moment walk. We've talked about that a lot in 2011 behind this pulpit.

It is not a thing where once and for all you can say, well, I'm a spirit -filled Christian. Does not work that way. It would be awfully easy if it did.

But it's a moment by moment decision that you and I make each moment. One moment we will make the decision to be filled with the spirit and that simply means we're holding the hand of the king and pointing to the king where our enemies are and letting him handle it.

And then the next moment we let go of that hand and we get off in the flesh and we get down and we get depressed and nothing works right.

And we even are tempted and we sin. And then the next moment we come back and we confess that and agree with the

Lord how sinful it was and he cleanses us from all unrighteousness and we stand clean before him and now we have his hand again.

And then the next moment the other and then the next moment that. The key is to try to have more moments where you're hand in hand with him.

Because when you are, you can have joy and peace and glory and yes, even power.

Power over temptation, power over sin. You don't even have to sin. In fact, you can't sin during those moments.

So let's have more of them. Let's stand and have prayer together. Father, we thank you for the beautiful picture that you've given us throughout the book of Esther, especially in this chapter eight where this victory is pictured, this glorious kingdom age that is coming.

And thank you for sharing with us the fact that we already have that kingdom in our hearts now. We can live that life right now because of the

Holy Spirit indwelling us and giving us his fruits. And Lord, we just pray that you'd help us to walk more moments of our time in this coming weeks filled with the spirit and that you would give us the power that comes with that and the joy and also help us to be the witnesses that we ought to be, the light and the salt in this earth.

We ask you to go with us in this time of fellowship and Lord, we thank you so much for the food we're about to have in this time we can spend together and we pray in Jesus' name, amen.