TiL- Esther 9

Good evening. Welcome to the truth and love podcast tonight. We are going to look at Esther chapter 9.

Hope you will stay with us So Dan, I played with the video just a little before we got on here tonight

It's not bad. It's not bad. What do you think? I Wasn't sure what I was listening to there.

I didn't enjoy it. I Wasn't sure if I was getting slammed in a jail cell or if the ocean was going off or if there were cannons involved

Either way it kept you intrigued. I liked it. Well, you know, at least it it triggered your imagination

For anybody it could be anything I guess that's what art supposed to be whatever It's not our theory our theory or intent anymore, is it?

No, no No, in fact, I'm going to choose to believe that what I just heard was a underwater jail cell in wartime

Hey, that sounds good coast Nice nice good stuff. I'll a

Pat miss type stuff. There you go. There you go, and we can go back to a revelation At least at least with this video.

I faded at the end. I finally got it wasn't as abrupt Good we had a good day today.

We we had we've been kept away from our Church fan our morning church family

Due to we had car troubles for a few weeks and then We had covered for two weeks and so today was like the first day in like a month and a half or so since we've been able to could go and Be with the folks at the

Walton congregation and we got back there today and it was just wonderful And then you know, we're healthy.

So we're finally able to get back to The church up here where we're planting the church for for our evening service and we had the

Lord's Supper and I don't know what Happened to our pastoral intern tonight, but something clicked in his brain and he preached a fantastic sermon tonight from John 11 in the 12 a little bit about Mary worshiping

God and people trying to to kill Jesus and Lazarus and Good good stuff

But we had a good we had a good service as well. And I was encouraged by what our pastor said

I was encouraged But we we have a small group and the small groups at our church.

They can meet at different times we We chose to meet right after the service we're trying to find the best time and so we show we're choosing to meet right after the service and The way these community groups community gospel groups we have some different names for them

But we started out and and we've kind of continued this Trend where we kind of debrief

On the sermon we go over the sermon We we jot down some notes jot down questions and we talk about the sermon and I was really encouraged

The other guy that helps me lead the small group He was speaking of I guess the conviction of his that that we should live in light of the victory of Christ and Really have a

Aim to change culture and I was really encouraged by that We've touched on that because of our eschatology how we believe that that Jesus wants us to Engage and and have a heart for our culture

Which is through the gospel and and so to hear to hear that same conviction and message

Being reiterated by other people in your congregation. It was really encouraging to me

Yeah, so Yeah, I was thankful for that Did y 'all baptize any babies in your service today?

We did not Oh One day maybe I had to think about it

Dan just for a second, but no we didn't do that today well, we didn't either but coming up here in the next

Several months. We'll have two of them Yeah one for we got a little one due in December and there's another family in the church that has a baby due in October beginning of October.

Okay now now we may dedicate one or two here Show But we're not we're not baptizing quite yet So, are you ready to jump in Esther Absolutely.

Let's do it. All right. We are I'm ready to hear you pronounce these names I'm not gonna do it.

Well, I can promise you we are we are in Esther chapter 9 and We can probably look at Esther chapter 10 because it's only three verses and we will wrap up and be finished with Esther tonight

So So Mordecai and and Esther are on kind of on the other side of this thing with the king he has

She's come clean to him about who she is about her relationship with Mordecai and she is she is pleading with him to save her people and he can't he can't go back and Take away his his decree

To to eradicate the Jewish people. So he's he's worked worked away found a way

To go against his self. I guess a way that you could put it He he has given them the right to assemble he's given them the the means and the ability to Take up for themselves and so wrote the

Second Amendment before it was cool. That's right the right to assemble and bear arms Absolutely, so yeah, they are they are excited about this they know they know good things are ahead because of What the

Lord has done through through Esther and Mordecai, so let's jump into chapter 9 and I'll read a few verses and Let Dan give us some commentary

Starting in verse 1 it says now in the 12th month That is the month of Adar on the 13th day when the king's command and edict were about to be executed

On the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them it was

Turned to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained the mastery over those who hated them

The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King We learned a different way to pronounce the king's name actually hopefully the right way, but I still can't do it

I've been saying it has to wear us What'd you say? It was Dan a hash way

Ross a hash for us close There's about eight different ways to pronounce every word and for every way that there is a pronounce a word

There's about seven people out there who will tell you you're doing it wrong Ways to just go on ahead and do it

Forget anybody else behind you and just move on understanding who that person is in your brain

So I wouldn't even worry about it, but also known as Xerxes there you go

To lay hands on those who saw their harm and no one could stand before them for the dead of them had fallen on all the people's

Yeah This is pretty cool The same day that they were going to go out with the

Haman and all of his folk. We're gonna go out there and Annihilate the Jews are just going let them have it the king said

I choose gather up you're gonna go out there, and you're going to Defend yourselves so they gathered up arms they gathered together.

They they acted as a unit. I'm sure that They they probably came together and did some training exercises made sure they knew what they were doing and The folks there were

Their enemies were afraid Now here's the thing it's interesting to what

God is fighting for a people the dread of the Jews will come across come on top of those people if you think about the

The Exodus they leave out and they're coming up and as they come up They're talking to no different people who around the area a rehab

I think was even one of them and They're they're talking to him and they say well, we've heard about what happened what your

God did and we're afraid We we don't want any part of you know messing with you because we know that your

God fights for you It's the same sort of thing here now. We don't hear God's name mentioned but God was still fighting for them

Because the dread of the Jews fell upon the people Yes Well, I mean it's kind of a given

We're talking about the Jews and we we know who the God of the Jews is They knew who the

God of the Jews is and They knew who their God is was

Yeah, and so when it says Jews, we know their religion. We know their God.

They knew their God and Yeah, I just I think it's a given and there's even a passage isn't in chapter 8 or chapter 9

Dan where it says many became Many more became

Jews or something like that. Yes towards the It's towards the end of chapter 8

Yeah, yeah I'd have to look for it. But but yeah, yeah, they not only was there dread but uh there was there was a revival not a revival, but a insurgence, there's a

Coming to um Coming to the religion Yeah mass conversion, oh, yeah.

Yeah Um Also interesting that uh, it wasn't just a supernatural thing but God used means as well you look there in verse 3 and actually 3 3 & 4

Yeah, go ahead read those Even even all the princes princes of the provinces the satraps the governors and those who were doing the

Kings business Assisted the Jews because the tread of Mordecai had fallen on them

Mordecai was great in the king's house and his fame spread throughout all the provinces for the man

Mordecai became greater and greater Yeah, so Mordecai was he was getting a name for himself

No while he was he was there they figured out. Hey, this guy's is somebody He's Getting power the king really trusts him.

He you know thwarted a plot to kill the kill the king He wouldn't let his enemy, you know take him over and not only that but he's got all the

Kings horses and all the Kings men Getting ready to fight for him So the people who had the dread fall on them weren't only afraid they weren't afraid for no reason they were afraid because God had put the fear of him in them and part of that was accomplished because They were now living in a an empire where on a certain day if they came and fought against the

Jews They were also gonna fight against the full might of the the Medo -Persian army right, so it's like you had to deal with Know the

National Guard Couple couple Marines and the local police department while you're going after the

Hatfields down the road It was not going to not gonna go well for you.

Yeah yeah, I just I find it amazing that they just didn't

I Mean roll over because The the tables had turned even though he couldn't reverse his edict

I mean, I guess they had to obey the King Me there's such an interesting turn of events

You had some that had to obey the King to attack the Jews and you had some to obey the

King to to Fight and protect the Jews against the ones

Against the people who the King commanded to attack them. I mean, he's commanding both people to fight against each other

It was more of an allowance than a command because it was the enemies who were who were destroyed

So if if you decided you know, I'm not gonna be an enemy of the Jews this day I'm gonna go somewhere else.

I'm gonna go take a hike and Even though some were afraid and I'm sure a lot back down If you look at who all was fighting

Mm -hmm. It was a payment spoke Go on through Go on through verse 9

Okay Here comes the good part thus the

Jews struck all their enemies with the sword killing and destroying and they did what they pleased to those who hated them as Us at the

Citadel in Susa the capital the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men and harsh and Bethel Delphine Asked but Poor of the

Dahlia it is a Dahlia Aradatta Parmishta are our re si are a die and Buzzard buzzard close enough

Do Close enough. Yes, right the the ten sons of Haman the son of Haman Dotha the

Jews enemy, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder Yeah, the people there were who are fighting against the

Jews were Haman's ten sons and Their people and on one day 500 of them died

Now, I don't know if any of the Jews died as well It doesn't say

But 500 of them died. I'm sure that they were outnumbered because they had you know, all the king's horses and all the king's men

But this this old blood feud between them Was I Mean it was over before it started there.

God was on the Jews side and he was making sure that it was It was finished the way it was supposed to be finished which is also interesting why they didn't lay their hands on the plunder

They didn't take the stuff that was there because they weren't supposed to take the stuff the first time

Yeah We're supposed to take the plunder when they were going after them as they entered into the land

And so they understood what they were doing these are the people that we were supposed to plunder or go in there and destroy before and not keep the plunder and We left some alive and now we're gonna go back and we're gonna finish the job, right?

I Think that references first first Samuel 15 but if I remember correctly,

I think that's That's when

Saul was supposed to Not leave anything

But he did and and so then Therefore we now have Haman and his and his sons

To go against Mordecai and Esther. Yes somewhere in there

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the reference Yes, it's it's working in there.

There's a lot of it there. I don't want to spend the whole time reading on it So so verse 11 on that day the number of those who were killed at the

Citadel and Susa was reported to the king The king said to Queen Esther the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and the ten sons of Haman in the at the

Citadel and Susa What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now, what is your petition?

It shall be even it shall even be granted to you And what is your further request? It shall also be done.

Oh, man. She uh Excuse me Yeah, they they went to The King and told him 500 people were killed in the capital in his city that day and he told he told

Esther say 500 people all the sons of Haman were killed in the Citadel day.

He was like, hey, how many folks? Did you actually kill? You know how many more have died all the way across this has been a great success

But you're also kind of slaughtering my people He says but hey, we're gonna get these guys so what do you want?

I'll give it to you. No, what is your request? We'll do that even more. It's like do you want to ask for more?

Ask away. I got you No, that's a good husband That's right.

That's right and You know eventually the obedience to God, you know, we we don't want to make promises for God but you know ultimately

You know He's gonna rain blessing upon blessing, you know upon us even if it's in glory, but Even sometimes in this life

We we see Extra blessing from God it seems like I know

I was listening to it a sermon and and these terms have been hijacked by the

Some of the folks in the charismatic movement, but he was talking about how they were looking forward to the the ladder rank

This this in in blessing where where God was just going to pour down his blessing and and here

You know, we can't use this as a prescription say this is do this and what happened for you?

but what we can do is rejoice in the situation that Esther is in and Just like they do and we're gonna we're gonna read about you know, the festival that was created

But you know, that's I would say that it's part of the festival that's part of the remembrance that we do when we read a story like this and and you know, the

Jews will even Make it out into a play. Well people will dress up.

Somebody dresses up like Mordecai Somebody dresses up like Haman Haman comes across the stage and people boo

But part of that process is is looking at this situation where Mordecai was

Mordecai was faithful Esther was faithful. They could have done this they could have done that but they were they were faithful to God and They fasted they sought

God and they they obeyed him. They were faithful to him and here not only is

Esther in a position where the the king Probably really hated being deceived by Haman so she has that on her side, but also she has

His favor on her side He really he really loves her. He I think It's been that way from the very beginning of their you know, their first interaction

So he really he really cares for her. He really favors her But also he's he really hates being deceived.

So God has put Esther in this position of Double blessing from the king and so he's like Give me some more give me some more request and it's yours, you know, whatever you want.

It's yours He's just feeling really generous So let's look on to Few more verses

Verse 13 then Esther said if it pleases the King let tomorrow also be granted to the

Jews who are in Susa To do according to the edict of today and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows so the king commanded that it should be done so and an edict was issued in Susa and Haman's ten sons were hanged

The Jews who were in Susa assembled also on the 14th day of the month of Adar and killed 300 men in Susa But they did not lay their hands on the plunder

Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king's provinces assembled to defend their lives and rid themselves of their enemies and kill 75 ,000 of those who hated them, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder

That's a lot of people yeah Number keeps going up and up Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, that's the number of people who live in The Gastonia area 75 ,000 if you if you think about a

I mean Gastonia is what like a mid -sized town Just like the whole

Population gone You figure 127 provinces

Let's do some math real quick You were close Seventy six thousand six hundred thirty five in 20.

Yeah, right about there. You're really close That's a good memory. Yeah, I haven't lived in Gastonia in a while So, let's see, oh,

I mean that's that's a really good picture I mean Numbers are just numbers when you're reading through them in Scripture, but when you can put when you can put a picture to it and really

Imagine it in your head. Yes, that's huge. Yeah if you

Pull the numbers out Now this is a large area, right? but the the population of each one of the the

Provinces was centered around cities look by and large was centered around cities. So it was roughly 590 591 people who died per province.

So Imagine each large town in a state.

We'll call it a state for helping Americans think through it anyway So about about 600 people per state the size of will say

Something like New Jersey, you know a postage stamp You can drive across New Jersey like hour and a half

North to south No, as long as the traffic's good I don't know how often that happens

But you know, it's it's not very big. I mean so so you knew somebody Some somebody there knew somebody what's up Claude?

The the destruction was Was Widespread Yeah, I think that that's kind of on on purpose

Wherever God's enemies are when God fights against his enemies they go down You everybody in the kingdom knew somebody who had been a part of the losses of those days

Everybody had a personal story Somehow even once maybe twice removed, you know, my brother's cousin or my aunt or some but something like that Where they said no

God bring judgment on us as a people and he did it because we were going against his

His people he had chosen the people and we went against them and we had to pay

It's really a picture of God's faithfulness to his covenant people To the coming

Christ that these people would be around to or not around themselves but that the Jewish people would be around to see the coming

Christ that he would come he would do everything that he said that God the promises that God had made we're going to be true and Every once in a while my email just like takes half my screen.

It just threw me off Don't know what what that's doing but yes, this this was a time where God elevated his people to show not necessarily how great the

Jewish people were but to show how great he was And I think that's part of why They get into one of the next few verses talks about turning this into a large festival

This is something where they're going to remember it year after year after year even to today

Because it was something where God had kept a promise and so we're going to commemorate God keeping that promise

Yeah, and not only is a him showing himself off to the these other people outside of the

Jewish nation But just to bring back in what we have talked about this whole time through Esther if you go back to the

Ezekiel 38 and 39 This is fulfillment prophecy fulfillment where God says

I'm going to bring all these nations against you and I'm going to Save you

I'm going to bring this victory for you and and so I'm God is showing himself faithful in these prophecies and And he's showing himself to be true

To his people so he's showing he's showing off and showing his glory before all these people outside of the

Jewish nation But he's also showing himself true To his own people by fulfilling that prophecy

Mordecai and his his communication with Esther who was there in the temple and He says to her, you know you got a chance here to speak to the king on behalf of your people, but If you don't

You and your household are going to go down and God is going to God is going to bring deliverance from somewhere else.

So there there is that knowledge of God's promise that he is going to deliver his people.

That's That's that's in the heart of these prophets back then like Mordecai They got is he knows the scriptures.

He knows the prophecies and God has promised that he's going to Deliver them and here here. He's showing off 70 75 ,000 of those that hated him 500 in each province and like like Dan was telling us and we got to remember to We've talked about the size of the the the kingdom.

This was the Persian Kingdom around the Iranian area and you've got This this

Persian Kingdom that goes all the way to India from India to Egypt It's huge huge kingdom

And with all these hundred with 27 provinces You know that right?

Yeah All these battles going on And God is working through that whole area through the whole region to show himself to be true to his people now imagine for a second being a

Nominal Jew at the time, you know somebody who maybe Really enjoying living in the

Medo -Persian Empire No, you were no, maybe your parents or your grandparents were taken back by the

Assyrians and so you've Seen maybe you grew up a little bit of Babylonian influence

Least you heard of it. Now. You're in the Medo -Persian Empire. You're not Not really second -class citizen, you're just enjoying life

You're going through living in a different kingdom and you know, you know, you're Jewish guy, but you know, whatever

I'm gonna you know, kind of live my life and do whatever I want to and you know, enjoy myself and then

All of a sudden you hear. Hey, we're going to Who want to take out all the

Jews? You know, I will What gives I don't want to be taken out

I'm enjoying it here like I'm not causing any trouble Who's causing trouble over there? It's not me and then to see

God work his promise You hear well, God was faithful to us. God had called us a no out of the land of Egypt He brought us across the

Red Sea. He put us in the land of Canaan. He gave us that land We were unfaithful and he took us out now here.

He is Defending us in a foreign land and to see the backslidden brothers the the nominal

Jews Coming out of the woodwork saying our God is an awesome God No, look at the 75 ,000 that he has killed no over the course of one day

It would have brought revival It would have would have been incredible and Here's the thing we've seen

Things like that with our own eyes today We've seen

God fighting for his people even today how we've seen People preserved alive or we've seen even

Christ coming and taking care of sins We should really be careful not to be a backslidden comfortable in captivity type of Christian where we think that because we're living somewhere where we might be a little comfortable

We can just go on doing whatever we want to but there is still an enemy who wants to see us destroyed who wants to?

See our lives taken apart just because the devil is bound in a sense where he can't deceive the nation

It doesn't mean that he doesn't want to lull people to sleep and see their souls destroyed He's still out there trying to wreak havoc where he's able to but Christ has made his promises and he has stood firm in Defeating his enemies and we who who backslide who fall away who live

Apathetically towards the reality that Christ is King and he's done what he said He's going to do in this world.

We should we should really take the opportunity to think like these Jews and think hey

I Have a God who has fought for me. I have a God who has done something fantastic for me

I should really worship this God. I need to put my sin away. I need to no change my mindset

I need to know like first Corinthians says Let this mind be in you which is also in Christ Jesus let us

Just repent turn from ourself Give everything to God and know that he is a wonderful fantastic Savior That's right.

Amen, and we we need Claude's organ at this point Because that was a wonderful message that was that was powerful and that's something that we need to be reminded of and and I would say

I Would say um, I don't know what

I would say. Hoorah. I would say that's right because that's kind of the purpose of us going to Esther is to To point to The hearts replaced the organ tonight

What you heard from Dan is what we wanted to share with you as we go through the book of Esther How to interpret

God's Word how to look at it You know biblically we spoke about this and and you know,

I've got to touch on this But it's one of the main reasons why we came from Ezekiel to Esther was because of eschatology but the reason we

We were in eschatology is because we want to interpret Scripture correctly accurately and so listening to Dan how we should view

God and how we How this scripture helps us to to view God and understand God is is one of the ways that we should be reading the book of Esther But we touched on it last time when we were going through the going through chapter 8 how

People view people interpret Scripture based on their 2022 current

Understanding of language understanding of culture and trying to squeeze it into these words that they find in Scripture to these

Circumstances that they find in Scripture so so a person will walk outside and they say well the stars are still there

They haven't fallen a third of the land is isn't taken away a third of mankind

Isn't taken away so I can go back inside. This hasn't happened yet. So, you know, it's in our future.

It has to happen yet And we we say no, we don't interpret Scripture based on our 2022

Understanding of language understanding of culture. No, we understand Scripture based on Scripture and how it interprets itself

That's why we don't go to Ezekiel to try to squeeze in Russia in our

Eschatology in our pre -trib dispensational rapture eschatology when it doesn't fit we we kind of go and and cherry -pick verses throughout the

Old Testament to try to fit a certain eschatology when in reality

We go to places like Ezekiel Zechariah and we found their fulfillment in you know,

Nehemiah Ezra and Esther and that's how we want to share with you the the accurate accurate

Best way to interpret God's Word to let it speak for itself. And so I'm glad Dan was sharing what he shared about how to view

God in light of These books, yeah, it's interesting if you think back to the road to Emmaus Jesus is talking to some folks that should have known who he was

But for whatever reason their eyes were blinded to him It says he started with Moses and the prophets explaining how all the scriptures were about him

If we go through the Old Testament and we find Russia or something, that's often our future Unless it's something that just barely mentioned or we find the end result of what

Christ is going to do You know mentioned there We've kind of kind of missed it

What we need to be looking for is Christ because that who is represented in the

Old Testament scriptures And it's interesting because a lot of the New Testament is simply a commentary on the old

There's some new stuff there. I mean, obviously Jesus came we have the Gospels We know stuff like that, but a lot of Paul's letters are him explaining.

What does the Old Testament? What did the Old Testament say and how does it apply to us now that the

Christ that it was talking about has arrived Now that he has procured salvation. He has defeated sin death and the devil.

How do we live our lives? What do we do? How do we set up at the church? What do we go about doing? Interesting stuff there.

Oh, yeah. Listen, let's move right along starting in verse 17 This was done on the 13th day of the month of Adar and on the 14th day they rested and Made it a day of feasting and rejoicing but the but the

Jews who were in suits assembled on 13th and the 14th of the same month and they rested on the 15th day and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing therefore

Go ahead people in the city just worked too hard them country folks did did one solid day of work and said we're gonna let's party

Throw down y 'all come on to the barbecue. We're gonna get it started them city folks said now we need to work an extra day.

I Don't know well and and here We have the theme of rest

Yep, and we we know that we can point to Christ On that they they were they were working they were working they were battling and they they had to take

Take this time this this to set aside to rest, but we can point to Christ And we're gonna do that here in a second.

Of course when we look Deeper into the chapter, but yeah, we can see We can see

Christ coming up Uh Therefore the Jews in the of the rural areas who live in the rural towns

Make the 14th day of the month of Adar a holiday for rejoicing and feasting and sending portions of food to one another

Come on out to the barbecue You ready go on yeah, okay

Then Mordecai recorded these events and sent he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus Xerxes both near and far

Obliging them to celebrate the 14th day of the month of Adar and the 15th day of the same month annually

Because of those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies and was a month

Which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday that they should make them days of Feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor

Thus the Jews undertook what they had started to do and what Mordecai had written for them

Man, if that don't sound like Easter I don't know what does There was a people who thought that they were going to die on a certain day and their mourning was turned into rejoicing

Man, it sounds like Easter. I mean, it's not this is something completely different, but it's the same idea there

These people were expecting to die on that day and it was going to I mean look grim it looked dark

They weren't gonna survive it The same thing when Christ went to the cross if you were standing there, it got dark.

His blood was coming down his side He was no crown of thorns beaten beyond recognition

It looked dark. Now. How are we gonna come back from this? This is a day of sadness and now every year

Whether we're supposed to or not That's a different debate but we are we're definitely supposed to remember

Christ passion and his especially his resurrection his death and his resurrection that he he died

But it wasn't a sad time because what he did was he procured salvation the sin that holds us down that keeps us tied to sin and death and darkness

Goes away because Christ rose from the dead. He's alive. He's reigning now.

He's living It was a day turned from sadness into rejoicing.

It's the same thing here. This is pointing ahead The Christ that was promised will come through the bloodline that was preserved on this day

It was a time that what could have been sad But instead it was turned to a day of rejoicing and gladness

Feasting come on out to the barbecue. Let's let's talk about how the God is right is it and There's nothing wrong with celebrating and and we should

I Mean it makes me want to celebrate Tomorrow, it makes me want to celebrate more when

Easter rolls around And enroll at the barbecue have a feast because I mean you're exactly right

This this is Easter because if you think about it, you know, we're we're looking at a battle here

They were they were battling people who hate them. Well, we

We are enemies of God in our mind through we could works. We we Battle with sin and if we if we were to continue to battle with sound though, we wait for the gospel to the end

But you know here it is in Scripture. We got to talk about it I mean if we if we continue to battle with sin for the rest of our lives to try to defeat it

It would be like climbing to the trying to climb to the moon on a road made of sand We it's impossible.

We can never do it We can never defeat sin in our lives we can never make up for it

We can never kill it we can and so I were our position with the father

Would What would still be where it is no matter how much we fought against sin

So therefore he sent his son to to battle sin and Jesus defeated it

Jesus won the battle against sin Our sin that we brought into this world that that brought a curse onto this world

Jesus won that battle on our behalf for the glory of God so that we could be saved so that we didn't have to fight

Anymore against this sin and so on the third day He was he was resurrected and now we can have rest in him and we can celebrate that rest every day

You know, we can we can honor this feast we can remember this feast and We can see how it points to Christ but you know

We we don't have to celebrate this feast on a certain day because we we have our

Sabbath rest every day we have we have our Purim Celebration every day because Christ won the battle and we can find our rest in him every day and And here that in this feast

They they celebrated with rejoicing and and and with food and they gave gifts to the poor

They gave gifts to one another and you look in the book of Acts what happened the people in the church

There was there was no one who went without They they sold what they had so that no one went without and and they looked after the the widows and the orphans and and so we

And I'm sure this also applies to just good gifts just generous our generosity giving good gifts to to even people who were not in need just because You know, we want to in in honor of Christ Our holidays have been hijacked and we

They become so materialistic But if if our in our Celebrating we we eat to the glory of God We give gifts to the glory of God by pointing to Christ because of what he did

Then we're honoring Christ and we can we can celebrate Every day all day long because of Christ because he is he is our

Purim feast he is our Sabbath rest Yeah Um It's very important to know that While we find our ultimate rest in Christ, we have been given a command to rest together on the

Lord's Day So when we look to like when you said I can't wait for Easter roll around.

Well, man today's Easter Really if we were to take that sort of traditional

Hype and understanding of how we we as especially evangelical Protestants That we go into Easter with if we would take that same level of excitement into each and every

Lord's Day That's how we should be celebrating and worshiping the Lord each week that sin has been defeated death couldn't hold him down no, we're gonna stand up we're gonna sing our psalms and Praise the

Lord, you know, we're gonna eat the supper We're gonna commune with our God because he has done what he's promised to do.

That's right Some of us sing psalms some of us Baptist hymns, but you know

Hey, it's a name like Covenant or Dan would you expect that's right All right, let's go to the verse 23 and read some more

Thus the Jews undertook what they had to had started to do and what Mordecai had written to them for Haman the son of Hamadatha the

Agagite the adversary of all the Jews had schemed against the Jews to destroy them and had cast her that is the lot or dice to disturb them and Destroy them.

We saw that earlier in Esther when he was he was rolling the dice rolling the lot

Trying to decide what day when to begin this battle it says and Cast her that is lot to destroy disturb them and destroy them

But when it came to the King's attention He commanded by letter that his wicked scheme which he had devised against the

Jews should return on his His own head and that he and his son should be hanged on the gallows

Therefore therefore they called these days Purim Purim.

I think that's how we decided Purim after the name of Pur And because of the instructions of this of this letter

Both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them This section right right here reminded me of conversation that we had earlier in Esther where?

You know you talked about those rural Jews who were Outside of the capital and even if you were inside the capital of Susa you still didn't have

Privy to what was going on in the inner courts the conversations of the king, you know

Just just like we don't have we're not privy to what? Conversations go on in the oval office in the

White House in the Senate behind closed doors We're not privy to that. And so just in in their day, they weren't if you were outside, you know the

King's Circle And this is the tightest circle that there was between King and Esther You know these people outside in this huge kingdom area from India to Egypt You had no clue what was going on But here because of God's kindness and God's Providence Mordecai records it writes a letter and And we have the book of Esther not just for the

Jews remembrance, but for for our For our edification

To help us understand know God and to glorify him and so God allows us to be

To be in a position of Privilege I guess to see his work inner workings of what was going on Yeah The Jews established and made it custom for themselves and for their descendants and for all those who allied

Allied themselves with them and that they would not fail to celebrate these two days according to their regulation and according to their appointed time annually

So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation every family every province and every city and these days of Kareem were not

Were not to fail from among the Jews for their memory fade from their descendants

One of the things that I was studying I mentioned you earlier And you may want to make some comments here too was that This happened to be one of the or the only feast from my understanding that wasn't associated with the temple

So you think about the other the other feast and their relationship with the temple? Once the temple was destroyed

It was hard to celebrate the those feasts but This was this was outside the temple the temple hadn't even been rebuilt yet and so At least that's what this pastor this commentator theologian was

That's one of the things that he saw but it didn't have any association with the with the temple and the command here to Keep it in their remembrance in Every generation without fail every family every province every city, right?

What one of the things that we're supposed to do is we're supposed to pass on the faith from generation to generation

That includes not just the the doctrines and the practices but also the history of God and what he's done to Preserve his people to save his people

That means that we should be teaching our children You know Reformation history

Scottish history History from no God's working in the different places around the globe throughout all of time

Where God has been faithful we teach our kids that God has been faithful It's it's important to to pass that along because Well lots of reasons but I don't want to get too

Presbyterian on you That's all right good every point of view is

Figure figure I'll keep it where we can all agree. There we go. There we go well, I had to stick my foot in my mouth because I almost said that you know, every every view is welcome to be discussed which

We can we can discuss it but not every view is gonna be is gonna line up with scripture Yeah It's good to have those discussions

Sure. Oh as we were looking at this this passage and and I was thinking about what

I had studied The the study of the the Passover the the

Feast of Booths Is that that's the same feast

The Feast of Booths happened in the fall. It was right after kind of During the harvest time they would put their booze out out in the field

To it was part of the celebration of God's provision for them. Yeah. Yeah This guy was

He was he was taking time to point show these festivals and how they pointed to to Christ and how he fulfilled them and and he was also talking about what was going on here and which we we talked about earlier how

The dread of the Jews because they could see God's hand at work and and then that many many people outside of the

Jewish nation came in to be Jews and You know, we can see that this was this was

God's plan all along it was a worldwide plan not just not just for a certain nation and What he was teaching was that that's what part of what the the

Feast of Booths were about Because they were they were to set up the booths Outside and and they were to be open and so they were to at that time they were to make

I can't remember the exact reference, but I Think it was 70 70 bulls that were sacrificed and those 70 bulls

Represented 70 nations, which were the the nations of the world And so they were making sacrifices for all the nations not just for individuals not just for the nation of Israel but part of the sacrifices that were happening there in the temple to God were for the nations and and so God God has always loved his the

The whole of his creation all the nations and sacrifices were being made for the nations and here you see

God was bringing people in to into the fold into of course probably the remnant

But with the Feast of Booths if they did not honor or or celebrate and and obey that that part of Living in the booths out out in the open.

It was a rejection of that bull sacrifice where God was

God had a plan for those Gentile nations and and that I Think the quid pro quo part of it was if you did not

Obey that that Feast of Booths that you would be You would be scattered and that's eventually what happened that was a fulfillment that happened in 70

AD that they were scattered They they rejected the the

Messiah. They rejected the kingdom. They rejected his message that he he was Come here for the whole world

He came for the Gentiles as well. He you know, he went to the Samaritan woman. And so they they rejected that That God had a plan for the whole world.

It wasn't just for them and so There was part of that honoring that quid pro quo

Agreement or covenant that? they were scattered because of the rejection of the

Messiah and His plan of salvation for the world. Is it have you heard anything like that before?

Does that make sense? Maybe I Really had really dove that deep into that aspect.

It was fascinating to me and hope you did I didn't bore you with it but uh It was really fascinating to me to learn about the

Feast of Booths and what it actually Stood for what it meant and how it related to You know the

Why the temple was destroyed why Jerusalem was destroyed why they were scattered? And that played a big role in it

So it's just fascinating Let's move on.

We're starting in verse 29. Then Queen Esther daughter of Abigail with Mordecai the

Jew wrote with full authority to confirm his second letter to about her him

He sent letters to all the Jews to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Heshuares Namely words of peace and truth to establish the these days of Purim at the appointed times just as Mordecai the

Jew and Queen Esther had established for them and just as they established for themselves and for their descendants with instructions for their times of fasting and their lamentations the command of Esther established these customs for Purim or Purim and it was written in the book.

Yeah, that's cool. They they put it in writing They're so important that they

Celebrate these things they remember what God had done for them that they put it in writing that hey every year

We're gonna remember it at this time words of words of peace and truth

Yeah, check out chapter 10 real quick Interesting when it gets down there into the third verse

Okay Starting in verse 1 now King Ahasuerus Xerxes laid a tribute on the land and on the coastlands of the sea and all the accomplishments of his authority and strength and full account of the greatness of Mordecai to which the king advanced him and They wouldn't and they not written.

Are they all are they not written in the book? Sorry about that. This screen is a little fuzzy.

So it's hard to read Are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia for Mordecai the

Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus and Great among the

Jews and in favor with his many kinsmen one One who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the welfare of his whole nation it wasn't just a

It wasn't just a one -time thing that Mordecai was setting up it was his whole plan here

Wasn't a one -time thing He sought full -time long -lasting peace for the nation for his people

So while we can remember The things about the festival we can remember the promises of God One of the things that should work out in us as we remember those things is that the the way that we can

Remember it the best is by being faithful and everything that God has called us to when he was in that position of power he didn't just Go on and move on and enjoy the power

He used that to bring peace to his people to speak peace to his people and to make sure that his people lived in peace

While they were there in that land No, that's all

I got to say about that Well, I mean, it's a good reminder God has placed us all in in different positions in different places

And so no matter where God has put us if we happen to be in one of those positions like Mordecai We can we can honor the

Lord in that position But being concerned about the the welfare of Of his people

Having having a concern about the His kingdom about his kingdom advancement

And we can do that in whatever position we're in From a stay -at -home mom

Custodian all the way up to the president of the United States So Yeah, take take advantage of every position that you're in.

I really appreciated what you said earlier about Having that right perspective on the what what you call the

Sabbath the day of the Lord's Day Sunday when we gather when we assemble to worship him and Remember his resurrection if we if we had that perspective

About coming in celebration When you were talking about that it reminded me of of Jesus, right

He was riding it on a donkey, but you know, they were they were laying down the branches They were they were laying down their coats that he could have something to to travel over They were seeing

Hosanna Hosanna And they you know, they were singing his praises and and so that's the picture that come to my mind as as we approach our

Assembling together to to get together when we come to worship And that's and that might be why some people you have a meal share a meal share the

Lord's Supper every Sunday Is is just to elevate elevate that that time together

Because it's so special Remembering the resurrection of Christ and his victory over sin and death and his

Accomplishing Work of glorifying the Father and so What what a special occasion that we should come marching in marching with celebration trumpets instruments

Singing dancing food. Yeah, not on the Lord's Day Not on the Lord's Day.

We don't use instruments on the Lord's Day. Okay Once again,

Denver Dan over here doing covenant or stuff But but any other day absolutely 100 %

Yeah, yeah on your interpretation how you celebrate how you honor it but But definitely in your hearts

The Lifting and exalting Christ absolute to his highest degree possible

However, that may be and as we talked about Feet of feast gifts instruments and as opposed to Gloom despair

The low count and that's on our faces when can I get out of here kick off one?

Exactly. Exactly We will be We will have no testimony to the world

Or we will continue to have no testimony to the world until we come into his

Assembly with with great celebration and that was Beautiful picture that you painted earlier that I could just you know, see in my mind what what it could be what it should be

Any last thoughts on Esther No, God is good. That's right.

I appreciate you walking through Esther with me and I hope it's been Edifying encouraging to the people who watch and listen to it

Like we said earlier The book of Esther the

God's working all points to God's working ultimately

To the fulfillment of his his son coming to battle and take away sin

It is interesting that the the feast is named after Lot or or dice the symbol is is dice and and we we associate dice and lots with with the game of chance

So it's it's very interesting that they use that symbolism, but We know with God and and that's probably what they're they're pointing to With God there.

There is no chance. There is no There's nothing up in the air.

So whenever the the lot is cast on the lap the the Lord has chosen and knows what it is and And so We see his working we see his providence we see his provision we see his help

We see him defeating his enemy so that his people his Continued prophecies be fulfilled and ultimately through Jesus Christ.

And so it It is only applicable

To you if you come to him in submission turning from your sins and putting your faith and trust in him

Otherwise There is no calls for celebration. It is calls for great fear because we have to face

Apart from Christ. We will have to face the wrath of God with scripture calls and eternity

Separated from him any Physically not not spiritually or emotionally or mentally but We we will experience his wrath in an eternal hell a lake of fire scripture describes

And so it is it is too much dread that we should face

Eternity apart from him scripture says that that we should not fear man who can only kill the body

But we should fear him who can destroy the body and the soul But there is much celebration from now through all eternity

If we come to Christ and we're found in Christ, and so that's our desire for you.

That's our desire for this Program is that we share the truth of God's Word and we edify you

The gospel is presented Christ is exalted and God is glorified So if you if you do not know him come to him tonight putting your faith and trust in him

With that being said then you might have closed us in prayer. Sure Dear Heavenly Father We thank you for tonight for giving us a chance to look through the book of Esther pray that as we go from here

That we would cause the truth of your word to sink into our hearts that your spirit would work among us

That we would all be changed and you would be glorified in that change We thank you for being

God and for sending your son In Jesus name. We pray. Amen. Amen All right.

We do hope you were edified. Thank you guys for watching. Would you give us a like share follow? we would really appreciate it appreciate your prayers and As always remember you we want you to remember that Jesus is

King go live in that victory Go live in the victory of Christ Just speak with the authority of Christ and Go share the gospel of Christ.

Hope you have a good evening, and we have to see you soon Statesmen who stand by principle rather than seeking their own comfort and welfare are rare They are needed and we need to train up our children men women and children

Who are who have the moral guts and have the moral character to stand strong even if everybody else is against them