Purim and Passover: Self-Sacrifice for Deliverance

Greetings, brethren. Happy Sabbath to all of you. That was utterly beautiful. Thanks, Carly, for that. It was very, very nice. And yeah, how can we keep from singing? There's just so much to praise God about. We're so grateful for that. Also very grateful for the sermonette. And actually, you know, having written on that subject, I didn't know exactly what he was going to key in on on that. But there are several things that he said in there that tie directly into what I'm going to cover today, and I really, really do appreciate that. A lot happening in the news, of course, today. And it also ties in a little bit to what I'm covering today because the setting is Persia, Iran. And we know there's a lot happening there right now, but there's a lot that happened there in the past. It's just over a month until the Passover. But we are actually a lot closer to another festival that is instituted in a book of the Bible, the Book of Esther. And that festival is, of course, Purim, which always comes a month before Passover. Passover is the 14th day of the first Hebrew month, while Purim is the 14th day of the last Hebrew month. It is always a month before. Now, this year it's coming in the 12th month. It's the normally that we don't have a 13th month this year. We have a 12th month. But in years where there is a 13th month, sometimes, you know, they add a 13th month to the Hebrew calendar. And when they do that, that 13th month is not looked at as a 13th month. It's looked at as a repeat of the 12th month. So they have a new 12th month that's inserted in there.

And so for Purim, which occurs during that month, during the 12th month, they do have in those years an acknowledgement of Purim in the first 12th month. They call that Purim Ketan or little Purim. And then in those years, they call the one that occurs in the 13th month, which they say is a repeat of the 12th month. That is Purim Gedol, the great Purim, because that's the one they are mainly celebrating. And also, I think they're doing that because it ties it to the Passover season, because it's directly tied to Passover. It always occurs, like I say, a month before Passover. And there actually is some relation to Passover, as we'll see in this observance. Quite remarkable, actually. Now, this year, Purim begins Monday night, this coming Monday night, actually at sunset on March 2nd, and it continues through Tuesday. In Jerusalem, they observe the next day to imitate the Jews of the Persian capital that were not able to celebrate until the next day, because they were still fighting going on at the capital, and it was pushed another day back. But everywhere else, Purim starts on Monday night. Now, we'll note about this, that it is a biblical festival. But it is not one that is commanded in the law. It's not listed as one of the appointed times of the Lord. But it is one that has great meaning for us as well. It recalls the preservation of the Jewish people and faith amid a satanic attempt to destroy them, which allowed for the later coming of the Messiah among the Jewish nation in the Holy Land. And I really want you to understand this. If it was not for what happened then in what Purim remembers, then there would be no biblical Christianity, and we would not be here observing the Sabbath today. That is pretty stunning to think about. This is one of those hinge points of history.

If the Jews were wiped out throughout the Persian Empire, including in the Holy Land, this would have gone quite differently. We see the same thing at the time of Hanukkah.

That's another Jewish observance that they have a little bit earlier in the year that it would have devastated what was happening there in the Holy Land. And the idea was to wipe out the Jews, to wipe out this people. Of course, this is a satanic plot to try to destroy the people of God. That was his intention. And also it would have tried to wipe out the lineage that would lead to the Messiah and all of the apostles and everything else that came out of that. Now also the story of Purim Amish has also a very strong connection to Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, which we are commanded to observe. And we'll see that here shortly. The Book of Esther relates the miraculous working out of a divine plan and a willing sacrifice to accomplish the redemption of God's people. You know, we see a story played out here in Esther, but we see it played out again and again through the whole Bible. And it's all a picture of the ultimate story, the ultimate story of the whole plan of God of what he's working out. You think back to Joseph when he was sold into slavery and put in a prison. And then he came out and he was made the ruler of the whole land of Egypt under the Pharaoh. That is a type of Jesus Christ very clearly.

And so we find these parallels all through God's leaders and prophets through the biblical account. It all points to the ultimate story, and so does this one, as we'll see. Well, brethren, this afternoon we're going to look at the overlap between the story of Purim and the New Testament Passover and Unleavened Bread, both in time and in theme, and the example for us. We're going to look at the overlap between the story of Purim and the New Testament Passover and Unleavened Bread in time and in theme, and the example for us. And I've titled this, Purim and Passover, Self-Sacrifice for Deliverance. Purim and Passover, Self-Sacrifice for Deliverance. I'd like you to turn over to the book of Esther.

And I'm not sure if my wife and kids are watching today, but my wife is sick, so please be praying for her. I miss them, and I look forward to seeing them in a week, but certainly pray that they're all well and in good health. And all of you think you're all well and in good health. The book of Esther gives us an interesting history of events, and it doesn't start out with the main character here. It starts out with this whole episode of the king, who's called Ahasuerus in the Hebrew Scriptures. Actually, it's some kind of, you know, Ahasuerus, if you want to do something like that in the original Hebrew, we could have a coughing fit up here trying to get that out.

But it does transliterate over into Greek as keserkeses, which gives us Xerxes, the great king Xerxes, X-E-R-X-E-S. And that's the same figure from history as we find here in the Scriptures. And he asked for his main bride, the queen of the kingdom, Vashti, to come in and present herself before all these other men. But she doesn't come. I think, you know, it was very untoward what was happening there. She thought, this guy's drunk and all these people are, and I'm not going to be paraded around, so I'm not going to do it. Well, then the other leaders were upset, saying, well, then all these wives are going to disobey their husbands, and you better do something about it.

And so he ended up banishing her. She was sent away. And at least he didn't kill her. I mean, there could have been that. There's a lot of danger in these courts. But she was sent away and banished over this. And then they said, well, and what you need to do is go around up a bunch of women from all over the country, and we'll have some beauty pageants, and go pick which ones are the best, and you like, and they can go into the king's harem, and then you can decide out of that who you want to set up as the queen, which is kind of awful.

But that's what happened in the ancient world among these pagan monarchs. And actually, sadly, it ended up happening among God's people, too, when Solomon ended up with this crazy massive harem like no ancient ruler ever had. But this was pretty awful what was happening here. Some people kind of despise the book, and Esther, because she married some Gentile king, but of course she was dragged into this. This wasn't—we shouldn't judge too harshly in that sense. They just grabbed this girl and stuffed her in here unless she wants to die. We don't know how much everybody understood at this time.

It's also interesting even her name Esther, on a point about this, which we find her in chapter two here, when she is one of the people that is brought into this harem, and then she ends up the queen of the country. She ends up being selected as the queen. Is that a coincidence? I don't think so. And as we read through here, I think there's clear evidence that's not a coincidence.

This was set up this way. But some interesting things about this. Esther is not her actual name. It's the name she went by here. I don't know at what point she started going by this, but her name in Hebrew was Hadassah, which basically just means a myrtle—a myrtle tree, a beautiful tree, and there's a common name among the Jewish women.

But here she's going by this name Esther, which is kind of a weird name. It's a Gentile name that basically means Ishtar, the pagan goddess. It means a star, because that's what Ishtar—the word star itself comes from that word Ishtar. It's the same roots going way back. But it was the star in the east, the evening star of Venus, the planet, which was looked at as a goddess, the goddess Venus later, but also back then the goddess Ishtar. And so she had this pagan name.

And even her cousin who raised her as an adoptive father, his name is Mordecai. And Mordecai is also a pagan Gentile name, so he probably had a Hebrew name as well, but he's listed here as Mordecai, because Mordecai is basically the equivalent of the Babylonian name Marduk, which is their chief god.

Bel Marduk was this person that people worshiped, or this being that people worshiped throughout the land at that time. And we know from history, by the way, that Xerxes had a high official whose name was Mardukah, and that's probably Mordecai, probably the same person. But he had this name. We think, well, when did he have this name? It's not entirely certain. But it's not uncommon, by the way, that the Jews would take on these other names. Even we see that in the Bible, in other cases, where, like Daniel, when he was brought into a pagan administration, he was renamed as Bel Teshazzar.

Bel is the pagan god as well, and that was not his name. It was named Daniel. But he went by Bel Teshazzar in that land, and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that was not their names.

Those were pagan names that were put on them. And we see, you know, Joseph, way back at the time of the Pharaoh, when he was made vizier of the country, he was named Zaphaponea.

But again, that wasn't really his name. He was Yusef. He's Joseph. But yet he took on this name that was given to him then. And we don't know exactly when Esther and Mardukai had these particular names. They're called that early on, and maybe they did. Because Mardukai tells Esther to conceal her Jewish identity. Didn't want her to let that be known, so maybe that name she was already going by it. But even if she wasn't, one idea I have about this and why that's so prominent here is because I think this story, and by this there's another thing about this. Let me mention one more thing. There's people who say because of that, because these people were taken on pagan names, and because she was married to this Gentile king, shouldn't have done that. And because there's no mention of God in the book, therefore this really shouldn't be, and even in the Bible. We need to kind of look down our noses at this book and think this is just some propaganda piece. And we don't give it the respect of being part of the Scriptures, but it is part of the Scriptures, brethren. It is a very important part of the Scriptures. And what I think about this book, and I don't know this for certain, but I have in my head that this may have been originally written as a Persian state chronicle, because you end up with Mordecai as the prime minister of the land, and he and Esther are working together, and they could have compiled this account for those people. And so maybe that's why you don't see all this prominence about God and the faith and the religion and so forth. It wasn't so much part of that.

Now you do find in the Septuagint, the Greek translation, they stuck in a lot more about God, but I think that's because they were trying to quote fix the problem as they perceived it.

But it's not really a problem. If we understand, I think, what's going on here. Number one, I don't think it was meant to portray that. It does seem odd to me that there's not some statement in there somewhere like, the Jews besought their God or something. That's not even in there. And I actually think that's intentional. I think it's intentional from God is what is happening here. And why is it?

Well, it's interesting this name Esther, because the name Esther is this pagan name, but it does have a sense in Hebrew. It sounds very close to another Hebrew word that means hidden. That the word itself means hidden. And it's like, well, she was hidden. Her identity was hidden. That's true.

But there's somebody else who's hidden through the story. And that's the one who's behind it all.

The one who made it all come to be. Who is not mentioned by name, but is present on every page.

And that is the Lord God who is directing things. And there's no question that He is directing things and leads this to what it ends up being. I'm not going to go into the whole story.

I do recommend that you read it over the next few days as meet and do season. It's actually the time of Purim, as I say. But it's also, as we'll see, it fits in a time of Passover preparation. There's a lot to do with Passover in this story. I do want to point out a few key things. At the end of chapter 2, I'll note to you, first of all, that it says in verse 21, in those days, while Mordecai set within the king's gate, and we're not sure when he was given that job. He may have had that job before, but I'm guessing he got that job after Esther was pulled into the harem. Either he somehow got himself into the job to kind of keep tabs on what was going on with her, or maybe she even helped him to get that position, which seems very reasonable that she would have been able to do that.

In those days, while Mordecai set within the king's gate, two of the king's eunuchs, Bigtan and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on the king. They wanted to kill the king.

They had an assassination plot, and the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai's name. And when an inquiry was made into the matter, this is verse 23, it was confirmed, and both were hanged on a gallows. And by gallows at that time, they're not talking about people being hung by the neck on a rope. It's something much more awful than that. It would be like either a giant pole for impalement, or maybe even like a scaffolding that you'd either fasten people up to, tie them up, or nail them up there like a crucifixion.

That's more what we're referring to with these gallows at that time. And it was written in the book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king. So it was said to him and told to him that this had been what these guys had done and how they had been informed on. But as you'll notice, nothing was done for Mordecai in this instance, which was a tremendous oversight that nothing was done here for Mordecai. And that's to come back in the account. It's very important that nothing was done yet. So again, why was nothing done? That was very unusual.

Because the habit of kings at that time was to, of course, blast your enemies and put down those who tried to rise up against you and set a very tough example for those people. But for those who stood up for you, for those who were on your side, for those who informed to help you, they were greatly rewarded because you want to encourage that. You want to encourage that. Everybody will take these steps to be on your side. But nothing was done for Mordecai here. Maybe there was some distraction. Whatever it was, it got, it didn't happen. For some reason, I put that in quotes because it was for a big reason, as we will see. But continue on then in chapter three. And after these things, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above the princes who were with him. This is an interesting name, Haman.

Haman, or as in a more modern form, is Khomeini. It is actually the Ayatollah of Iran, which right now we don't know if he's alive or dead because of these attacks that are going on. But that's the same name. We're talking about the same name. This is the family of Haman, is the caretakers of the Persian government today, amazingly. But anyway, he's called the son of Hamadatha, the Agagite, and I do believe that's significant. We'll come back in a second. And advanced him and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. And all the king's servants who were with the king bowed and paid homage to Haman.

So the king had commanded Khosirmi. He's like the prime minister now. He's a very important person. But Mordecai would not bow or pay homage. He's not going to accept this guy. And that's a very odd thing. And then the king's servants who were within the king's gate said to Mordecai, Why do you transgress the king's command?

He was going so far they get himself in trouble. He's not going to bow to this guy. Now it happened when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them that they told it to Haman.

Hey, it gets back to Haman to see whether Mordecai's words would stand. For Mordecai had told them he was a Jew. So they know he's a Jew. And they're letting this be known to Haman. And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay him homage in verse 5, Haman was filled with wrath. He's furious. Who is this guy that he's doing this? Verse 6, But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai.

And instead Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai, all the way of the whole empire. He wants to kill, he wants to commit genocide against this guy's whole people.

It's pretty extreme. And what's going on here? Well, first of all, it's been noted in Josephus' records, and I think it's a sensible thing, that this man is an Agagite descended from Agag of the Amalekites. If you remember, in the days of Saul, he was supposed to kill the Amalekites because God had perpetual war with Amalek. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, he was upset with the Amalekites for attacking the Israelites, and they were attacking in the rear and taking out some of the children, all this.

And God was very upset with what had been done. And he said, I will have perpetual war with Amalek over those incidents. And so then at the time of Saul, Saul was supposed to get rid of them, but he didn't fully get rid of them then. And even David was fighting some of them later. But what's interesting about it is this king of that time, his name was Agag.

And I don't think that was just his personal name necessarily. I kind of think that was a title of these Amalekite kings. Because the name itself sort of means like a head highest. Like he was... it might have been like a dynastic title for these rulers. To where there could have been other people, there could have been other Agags, not just even that one. And you know, that from those families would have come these later people. And there's some historical basis to believe that the Amalekites migrated up into Persia. And there was a district there of Amalek at the time.

And that it may have been from these very people. So this is... a lot of people understand this to be that we're talking about that heritage that went on from the Amalekites. There's got to be something, by the way, if you think about it. He wants to wipe out all of the Jews. Why does he care that much about the whole Jewish people? It's obvious that there's something about those people altogether. And it makes sense if there was some sort of historical enmity between his people and their people.

And also another factor in this that's very interesting is that Mordecai was of the family of Kish, of Benjamin. He was of that descent, which was the same as Saul. And so they had that same heritage. And so here you see, you know, generations later we see this playing out of between these family of Benjamites of Saul and then this family of the Amalekites.

And so there's, I do believe that is a logical conclusion for why this guy wanted to wipe out all the Jews in the whole kingdom to commit genocide. And that would have been lots and lots and lots of people and would have ended the Jewish people from being able to come back and set up the whole their government and the holy land and everything that followed from that. Well, then it says, in the first month, this is verse 7, which is the month of Nisan in the 20th year of King Aswares, they cast puer.

That is the lot, puer is Akkadian word for lot, like you roll the dice to figure it out, before Haman to determine the day and the month until it fell on the 12th month, which is the month of Adar. And I'm not sure exactly how this went, where they rolling for every day and they finally got, you know, all those many months later, it was only the first month and they're rolling through the rest of the year.

That would be really something. If I had to guess, I'm just going to guess they were they were rolling for the month first and then they end up rolling for the day and they just kept rolling and it's not that month. It's not the next. It's not the next. And they get all the way to the last month.

Is that a coincidence that they got all the way to the last month? You know, there's a verse in the Bible. It's Proverbs 16 33, which says the lot falls into the lap because they, you know, they kind of spread out the sheet there over the laps and throw it in there. It says, but it's every turn or it's every decision is from the Lord. That doesn't mean God controls the outcome of every dice roll, but He could. I mean, and whatever it lands on is up to Him, ultimately.

And in this case, what it had to do with the wiping out of the Jewish people, do we believe that God had any input into when this was allowed to fall? It didn't fall immediately. It falled way, way later in the year, which gave the Jews a lot of time to prepare. Now, you might have thought Haman would have been discouraged from this, but my guess is it seemed very unusual that it was put so far off in the air. And because it was so unusual, my guess is it seemed like something auspicious. Like this is something from the gods that is, that is, yeah, that must be the right time. We're going to make that happen at that time, and it's going to be great. And in the meantime, maybe some of the Jews are going to run, but they'll get to get all their stuff.

And so that wasn't too much of a problem, and there wouldn't be as many to fight.

But continuing on, so he goes to the king. Haman said in verse 8 to Haswares, there is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different. They are different from other peoples. It's just a weird, peculiar people with these different laws, things they have to do. You know, we probably hear that.

Things that we do, so it seems weird to people. We're different. And they do not keep the king's laws, and of course, they were not rebellious people, but he means that they're not, you know, following all in line with what the Persians were doing. Therefore, it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. If it pleases the king, let it decree be written that they be destroyed.

And I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work to bring into the king's treasury. Now, that is a lot of money. And we think, well, he must have been super rich.

I think he was probably wealthy, but my guess here is that he's thinking, we're just going to take this from the Jews. We're going to take all their property and all their things, and then we use that money to pay into the treasury. So we'll kill a bunch of them to get what they have. If any run before that, they'll leave their stuff. We'll take it, and we'll be able to pay it. So the king took his signet ring in verse 10 from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hamadoth of the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews, the enemy. And of course, he is the type of the ultimate enemy who is the one who really wants to destroy the Jews and all God's people, and that is the devil.

And the king said to Haman, the money and the people are given to you to do with them. It seems good to you. And I'm not sure he understood what exactly he had agreed to here, the king, that is, because now he didn't know yet that Esther was a Jew, but later he is going to honor Mordecai the Jew. And when he does that, he doesn't go, oh yeah, I'm supposed to kill all the Jews.

No thought about that. So it seems to me like he didn't really know who Haman exactly was talking about. He just entrusted Haman with the whole thing. Haman's going to take care of it. He knows who the bad people are, and he'll fix everything, and that was pretty shameful. But it's just extraordinary that this thing is happening. It's so weird to everybody. Everybody gets shocked.

And then it says, verse 12, then the king's scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month. The thirteenth day of the first month. What day is that? That is the day before the Passover. That is when this happened. That's when they're putting this decree out.

And a decree was written, according to all that Haman commanded, to the king's satchel. All these people are going to send it everywhere. And it was written in all these languages, in the name of King Aswersu, it was written and sealed with the king's signet ring. And the letters were sent out to all the provinces. And it says, to destroy this verse 13 and kill and annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, to plunder their possessions. So way off in the twelfth month there's going to be this plundering that happens so many months away. And a copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, for they should be ready for that day. And they went out, hastened by the king's command. So this is a hurrying thing on that day. And the decree was proclaimed in Shushan, the citadel. So the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed. What the heck is going on here? This seems really weird, and it was terrifying, of course, for the Jewish people. They're faced with annihilation.

And all the people are thinking, how could this be? But what's very interesting to note is, again, the timing here. This was posted immediately there at the capital on the 13th day of the first month.

And so Mordecai, who's part of the administration there, he's immediately aware of this at that very time on the 13th day of the first month, even though it probably took a little bit of time for word to get out to the rest of the provinces. For them here, they have immediate knowledge of this. And when Mordecai, chapter 4, verse 1, learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes, he put on sackcloth and ashes and wept in the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. He went as far as the front of the king's gate. Anyway, where it gets back to Esther, that this guy, Mordecai, that is out here, he's mourning and wailing, and he's inconsolable. And she wants to know what's happening. So she summons for some message to come back and forth, and they start this back and forth between these messages. And then Mordecai, verse 7, told this person she sent all that had happened, and then she gave him a copy of the decree, and that goes back to Esther. And then Esther sends a message back because now she's hearing her people are going to be wiped out. This is pretty horrendous. So she says, verse 11, all the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who's not been called, he has but one law put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go into the king these 30 days. There was some breach, something happened with this relationship where she's not in favor, she hasn't been around the king at all for a whole month. That's an interesting period as well because that month, if this is at the time of Passover, which it is, that month would be the time that Purim ends up being just a month before. So that was a time of uncertainty here for her, like what's going on, that she couldn't come into the king. But she is thinking, because she's being asked to go deal with this, with the king, and she's thinking if I go into the king, I could be I'd be dead. And it wasn't an unreasonable fear because some people think, wow, she wasn't really a mortal peril. She's the queen and he's not going to kill her. We don't know that. And in fact, the way that this guy was, Ahasuerzur Xerxes, he was quite an impetuous and rash person.

There were bizarre things that happened. I remember from the history that he sent all these forces over to fight against the Greeks, but at first he was trying to have them go across these pontoon bridges over the hellespont, and it was quite boisterous and they weren't able to go across there. So he sent these guys out to give the what for to the sea and say, you know, why are you being so rough and not allowing the great king to have these guys run across? Because he's done nothing to you and you're acting so mean to him. And so then he sent these guys out to lash the sea, to lash the waters, to punish the sea for its rebellion against the great king. This is the kind of crazy stuff we're talking about. And so she wasn't in, you know, when she knew that it's a death penalty if you go into the king without being summoned, that was a real serious concern because in that rash, in that impetuosity, who knows what would come from that? And she had not been in favor. She thought they always got something against me already. So she was not anxious to go in there. But they told more to Ky Esther's words. So Esther told them to answer Esther, verse 13, do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise from the Jews from another place. Well, how did he know that? Because that is what the history shows. God delivers his people. And he's done it again and again and again. And he will do it again is the warning that Mordecai has given to Esther here, and she needs to roll with it and be part of it. He says to her, but you and your father's house will perish. But who knows whether you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Maybe this is the very reason that you're here, is to affect this deliverance that God is surely going to bring. And it needs to come through you, because you're in the place to be able to do it. And you need to do it. And that was pretty sobering, I'm sure. But it was also a, you know, cogent message for us, because if we think about it, you know, there's other times where Jesus said stuff like, well, if they don't sing out these praises, or they don't do this, the rocks will cry out. Somebody's gonna do the work whether we do it or not. But we need to do it. If we don't, we're just gonna get left behind, and God's still gonna get it done, right? That's what's going to happen. But we want to be with the program. And that's what Mordecai's message was here to Esther. And of course, she was ready to accept that. And she told them to reply to Mordecai, verse 16, Go, gather all the Jews who are President Shushan, and fast for me.

Neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. And my maids and I will fast likewise, and so I will go to the king, which is against the law. And if I perish, I perish. I'm ready to die for this cause. And something else to think about that, she says, we're going to fast. Well, there's no mention of God in this book. Why do you fast? So it's just something good to do. She's gonna go without food for a few days, and somehow that's gonna make everything right. No, clearly it's about seeking God. It's about going before Him. And it's of course about self-denial. We are fasting. That itself is a sacrifice. We are denying ourself. And it wasn't just her. It was all these people were joining with her in denying themselves for these three days and three nights while she is going to put herself in real moral jeopardy, in real mortal peril, that she could die. But she's willing to take that on. Now, here's another interesting thing. What is the time frame here?

Now, I've got to think that the decree went out on the 13th and Mordecai was out there in mourning, and that was brought to her. And by the time he's brought in, and he's got this back and forth going with Esther, I would venture to guess that that is later that night and that's probably the Passover day, the 14th, that this is happening where she commits on the 14th.

If I perish, I perish. And she's going to do this. But when is this fasting going to begin? It says we will fast night and day. So it's going to begin probably at night. The next night, which would be wise, it would be the first day of Unleavened Bread, the beginning of the first day of Unleavened Bread, the night to be much observed. And that's very interesting if you think about it.

Because now, by the way, I don't want to be dogmatic and say we absolutely know this. It doesn't spell this out directly, but there's no question that these events are happening in the context of days of Unleavened Bread. Now, if it's lining up exactly like I'm saying, I don't know for sure, but I think it probably is. But even if it's not, it's still in the very context of these events of Passover and the days of Unleavened Bread when the Jews are remembering their past deliverance that God has given and knowing that now they need to plead with God to be delivered again. To be delivered again.

And He, of course, is going to deliver them, and it's going to be pretty amazing. But it's not going to be in the same way. We'll talk about that here in a little bit. But I want to make another statement.

These three days, starting night and day, the first day of Unleavened Bread, the second day of Unleavened Bread, the third day of Unleavened Bread, well, it just so happens that those are the same three days and three nights. Jesus Christ was in the grave. I mean, if you think about it, Jesus Christ was in the grave for three days and three nights, starting with the night after His crucifixion, and He was put into the grave at the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and He was there for three days and three nights. And that is the same, I think, three days and three nights that Esther is fasting for her people and having these others join with her to be delivered. And she's considering that she's in mortal peril, and she's waiting to be delivered. And, of course, what do we read in the beginning of chapter 5? Now it happened on the third day—on the third day. Something else happened on the third day. Something big. But here it is, on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace across from the king's house. Here she is, dressed in royalty. She's coming out of this period of three days and three nights of fasting to present before the king. And while the king sat on his royal throne in his royal house, facing the entrance of the house, and so it was when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand, and then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter. So she is saved from death. She is brought out of mortal peril on the third day. She's saved and delivered. And she's in, you know, queenly robes before the king. And what does he offer? And the king said to her, What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you up to half of the kingdom. The kingdom is yours. She comes up three days later. The kingdom is yours. This is pretty astounding if you think about all these parallels that are going on here. But she answers if it please the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet I prepared for them.

Then the king said, We'll bring Haman quickly that he may do as Esther said. So they go to this banquet, and it's kind of odd because when they get there, he says, Okay, Esther, what do you want? And she says, Well, if it please the king, I'd like you to come back again the next day. First of all, why did she even ask Haman to be there? I mean, maybe she wanted him to wanted to confront him to his face. I'm not sure what the purpose was instead of behind his back. But then the next day, why does she do that?

Why did she say, Well, come back for a banquet the next day? Some people might think, Well, she got kind of scared. I mean, but but she's thinking about the fact that she was delivered.

She was just delivered from death and has this opportunity now to make the case, but she doesn't make it immediately. Something restrained her. Something restrained her from telling it that day until the next day. And it's important that nothing was done that day. And it waited till the next day, because something happens that night that's crucial to the whole thing. She didn't know what that was. She had no idea. But somebody else knew and worked it out. And another thing I would point out here is very interesting. There's two banquets. There's two of a lot of stuff in this book. There's two gatherings of women. There's two of these banquets. There's two of extensions of the of the scepter. There's, we're gonna see another one here in a minute. There's two writings of decrees. There's a lot. There's, things are in twos. And I'm not sure exactly why that is, but it almost cries out the fact that this is all, there's a duality going on here. Not just within the story, but it's picturing something beyond that. And I think that is true. That there's a, we're given that sense that there's much more being shown in all this. And we should take note of that. But in this case, of course, they go to the and by the way, they came out of there and Haman is just on top of the world. All the queen invited me. It's the greatest thing. He just wouldn't believe. He's telling his family, this is, it's so tremendous, except that then I ran into Haman or I ran into Mordecai and that guy still won't bow. I just hate that Mordecai. You know, it's just everything is so great, except for that.

I can't deal with him. And his family says, well, just build a big galas or scaffolding or whatever, you know, build to hang Mordecai, you know, out in front of the people. Oh yeah, I could do that.

That's what I'll do. That's what I'll do. So he's excited. He's gonna, he's got it all figured out, except that night we read at the beginning of chapter six something important. The king could not sleep. This is a big moment here. So it was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles and they read for the king. Because you know, when you can't sleep, you just want a history lesson. But I think what's really going on here is that it was, bring me something super boring and start reading it so I can drift off and fall asleep. That was what was happening here. And, but what happens is it says it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigtana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Hasuares.

And the king said, well, what honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this? And the king's servants who attended him said, well, nothing has been done for him. Oops! That's a gigantic oversight by the king and he's very troubled about this and very bothered. Now something has to be done. So the king said, who's in the court? Now Haman had just entered, so this must be real early morning, entered the court of the king's palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows he's built. So he's built the gallows and he wants to get Mordecai hanged. That's his, actually impaled or fastened up or crucified, essentially. And the king's servant says, well, Haman's there and the king says, well, let him come in. And Haman comes in in verse 6 and the king asks him, what should be done for the man who the king delights to honor? And Haman thought in his heart, whom would the king delight to honor more than me? Because I got so much going for me right now. The king is on, or the queen is on my side. He doesn't know that the queen was raised by Mordecai.

There's no idea. And so he is just thinking things are going great for me. So I'm going to say, verse 7, for the man whom the king delights to honor, let a royal robe be brought, which the king is worn, and a horse on which the king is ridden, which has a royal crest placed on his head.

Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, thus shall it be done, to the man whom the king delights to honor. And the king says, that sounds like a great idea. You go and do that for Mordecai the Jew.

It was the worst thing that you could imagine. It is so unbelievable what happened here. I mean, this is beyond belief. And again, was this a coincidence? I don't think so. Now, the other thing about this is that here he's leading him through the street. By the way, I don't know if you've ever seen this movie. There's a movie called Esther. It's one of these visual Bible collections.

I do highly recommend it. F. Murray Abraham plays Mordecai. And I think Esther is played by Louise Lombard, if you can find this movie. I think it's probably on Prime or something if you look around for it. But it might be good to watch it this time of year at Purim, just to refresh. I think it's quite accurate in many respects. It's got a few tie-ins later that I think they might be taking a few liberties. But for the most part, I'd say this is a very biblical movie and goes right down the line. So again, I highly recommend it. But what I want to mention about it was you see Haman leading Mordecai. And Haman is just an utter chagrin. He's in horror over what he's having to do. But Mordecai is just beaming. He's just beaming. He's just so happy. He's just so ecstatic. And why is he beaming? Of course, he's happy to see his enemy put down and shamed like this and having to lead him around. I'm sure he was happy about what was being done for him.

But what is he really happy about? He's happy because he knows that something else is going on here. That there's somebody up there who's running the show. Because how else could this be?

That this enemy of the Jews is going to have all of his people killed is now leading him around on a horse and proclaiming the king's honor to him. It's unfathomable. But it's happening. And he knows that it's God. Because it is God. Who else could it be? Who else could do this? There's no other way it could have happened. So it's pretty amazing, and he's aware of it. Now, continuing on then, he goes home in shame. Haman does. And his family says, well, if Mordecai, your enemy, is a Jew, then you will fall before him. In other words, it's over for you. They could see the handwriting on the wall. This was the end for him. And indeed it was. Because he goes to the banquet.

He's confronted. He, you know, he's identified as the enemy. It says directly in chapter seven, I think it's in verse six, and Esther said, the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.

The adversary and enemy, again, the ultimate adversary and enemy, the devil, is being pictured here, and he's being identified to be put down. And then, of course, the king says, well, when he's, his anger subsides, and he's ready to deal with it, he says, what did I do with this guy?

And they said, well, he built this, you know, gallows for Mordecai. And the king says, well, hang him on it. Hang him on that. Which is the ultimate poetic justice. Again, you just can't read a story with more poetic justice than this one. It is so staggering to see how directly these things come back. People set traps for others, and it comes back on themselves.

This is the premier example of that. But then we still, so then this is, this is great. And when again did this happen? When was the downfall of Haman? It was here at the end of the Days of Unleavened Bread. Is that a coincidence? Again, I don't think it is. I think it is in line with God's plan and what he's trying to show. But it's not all over yet, because we still got a big problem. Because there was still a decree out there that said that the Jews were going to be destroyed and killed and wiped out. And what could be done about that? So trying to figure out what to do, there's something else happens here in chapter 8. And this is interesting. Here's where you have the scepter again. But in the beginning of chapter 8, it says, King Haswers gave Queen Esther, the House of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. So the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai and Esther. Esther appointed Mordecai over the House of Haman.

So basically, now Mordecai is the Prime Minister in place of Haman, and he has all of his estate.

And Esther spoke again to the king, fell down in his feet, and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews.

And the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king.

So here's another deliverance in that sense. And said, If it pleased the king, and if I found favor in his sight, and the thing seems right to the king, that I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the son of Hamadoth of the Agagite, but which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who are in all the king's provinces, for how can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people? But there's a problem with this, because you can't revoke it. There's other places where it's mentioned. I'll just reference for you a couple references. It talks about the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed.

The law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed, is mentioned in Daniel 6, verses 8, 12, and 15. That's Daniel 6, 8, 12, and 15. It's mentioned earlier in Esther 1, 19.

It's mentioned here in Esther 8, verse 8. And the king tells them, well, here you can have the king's signet ring, whatever is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's signet ring, no one can revoke. But the problem is, what had already been ordered was with the king's signet ring and could not be revoked. So they're in a certain problem here. Now, it's interesting the timing of this, because it says in verse 9, so the king's scribes were called at that time in the third month, which is the month of Sivan on the 23rd day, and it was written.

So they're going to try to make a new decree. Now, this is a little bit late for Pentecost.

I think the latest Pentecost can ever be is the 11th of the month. But it might be that when the scepter was extended out and when she was first dealing with the king, it could have been right around Pentecost. It does make sense in time frame that that would be it. And so we're in the time frame of Pentecost, and I do find it interesting that it's in this Pentecost time frame that they are able to cope with this law that is going to condemn them if they don't do something about it. Because there are definite themes here as well. First of all, I will say to all of us, that all of us are justly condemned, have been, not anymore, but you know, starting out, are justly condemned under a law that cannot be changed. There is a law that cannot be changed, and that law mandated death for all of us. And in one sense, you say, well, there's no escape from that. Except there was a way to work within the same law and the broader applications to be able to enable a deliverance. And that is by the lawgiver himself, and the coming, the creator, coming to die in our place, and taking on that penalty on himself. That is an amazing fact.

And then, of course, it doesn't end there, because if we did not have not just that redemption, but an ongoing help to obey the law of God, then we would still be lost, because we would not prevail in overcoming. And the only way we can do that is through the help that we receive through the Holy Spirit, which of course is given at Pentecost. That was the time that it was given to be able to obey the law of God. And there's some, again, remarkable things going on here as we look at all these various parallels. But then we come to chapters 9 and 10, and that is where we have the defeat of the anti-Jewish forces following Haman's plan and the institutional Purim to commemorate the great deliverance that was secured, both for the Jews and, as it says, for all who joined themselves to them.

There were a lot of people who became Jews, it says. They were afraid, and they became Jews.

Now, I don't know if they were legitimately converted, but a lot of people decided it's safer to be a Jew than not a Jew at this time. They were concerned about Mordecai. They were concerned about this power that was there, and they saw something supernatural had happened in their kingdom. And a lot of them decided to join up and become Jews in one sense.

And what that ended up doing was it just made the Jewish forces massive when the enemies would come to take them on. And they did come. They still came. They came and tried to destroy them.

But they didn't succeed. On that 13th day of the 12th month, they tried to destroy them.

And if you read this, it's people say, well, this is awful because it says that the Jews went out and killed all these people and their children and did this and that. That's not a right reading of that. If you look at it very carefully and compare it to the original decree, what it's saying is that the Jews were able to defend against those who were trying to do all that stuff to them, according to the original decree. They were defending against the original decree.

And they did. They defended. And they won. And by the way, the Jews have a saying for all these festivals. They say it for Purim. They say it for Hanukkah. They say it for Passover. And even like, you know, with tabernacles coming out of Egypt, I mean, they're thinking that's when they started dwelling in tabernacles after they left Egypt. The way they phrase it is like this.

They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat.

And that's again and again. The way it happens, right? That's the way it's gonna be for us.

They try to kill us. We won. And in the end, we have a great big feast with God that goes on and on. And it's a wonderful thing. And that is what we celebrate and we remember.

And we're so glad for God's great deliverance. And He gives it here in a mighty way. And so they instituted upon themselves these days a Puri of the 14th day and the 15th. And, you know, it was celebrated the next day at the Capitol because the fighting went on for another day there at the Capitol. But anyway, this is an amazing account to read all that happened here.

But let me conclude with these thoughts. I'd like you to turn over to Mark chapter 8.

I appreciate it in the sermonette going through Mark and had this sense to it. And I'm going to continue that sense that was mentioned here in something Jesus said here in Mark chapter 8.

One thing I will also note about Purim today is it's very sad because the Jews have kind of paganized it in some ways. I think, you know, they turned it into a big carnival thing, like, which is at the same time of year, I guess, with Mardi Gras and all that. And it's a big bash, a big drunken bash, actually. They even, I think it might even, it's in the Talmud or somewhere where it says that people are supposed to drink until you do not know the difference between Haman and Mordecai, which is pretty horrendous if you think about it. Well, what an awful thing.

What a corruption of what was originally there. And then they bring in these pagan elements to it.

They did that with Hanukkah too, when, you know, even today they have like a Hanukkah bush to imitate the Christmas tree. It's so sad because these observances are supposed to acknowledge their separateness from the nations and how they have, you know, they were trying to be assimilated by the surrounding culture. And yet now, the way they observe these things is they are basically assimilated to it. And it's awful. But we still have the original intent here and what was given to begin with. And we can be appreciative for what these days truly represent and what they symbolize. But as we near the Passover, we think of the one who gave it all in sacrificing himself for us in all humanity. For all who will become Jews inwardly, as it says in Romans 2. And we see it here in Purim as well as we contemplate the fact that God works through His people, leading them to exhibit His character imperfectly but growing in it. You know, this is a different kind of a deliverance that you see here in the Book of Esther. It's not God leading His people through the divided Red Sea and killing the Egyptian army directly by the waves. It wasn't that at all. It was God working through people to bring about this victory. But it had to be God.

These people could never have affected this victory on their own. God works behind the scenes and He works in behind the scenes in our lives. And God, in this Book of Esther, God is in this story and God is in your story and my story. God is working things out in our lives according to His plan.

And He helps us to grow in His ways and in His character. The Spirit of Christ was at work in Esther as she was led to lay down her life for God's purposes. I mean, you think she was willing to die for this? That is the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus said to His followers in Mark 8, I'd like you to look here in Mark 8 verses 34 through 35. When He had called the people to Himself with His disciples also, He said to them, whoever desires to come after Me, let Him deny Himself.

It's a self-sacrifice. Let Him take up His cross, His execution stake, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save His life will lose it, but whoever loses His life for My sake and the Gospels will save it. That is the same story. Consider that when we memorialize Christ's sacrifice at the Passover, we are bought with the price, and that we are to be giving up our lives in sacrifice to Him and the Father and to one another, for all those for whom Christ died. You know, as He said on the Passover night in John 15, 13, greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for His friends. He was not only talking about what He was going to do, He was also talking about what we are supposed to do, that we must follow His example, that we must be sacrifices, we must be willing sacrifices, living in service and willing to die if need be. And here's another point to this. Somebody says, well, Jesus died so that I could live. Well, that is true, but Jesus did not die so that the person you were could live. Jesus died so that the person you were would die with Him, and then you would live in newness of life with Him in His resurrection. And that's actually what we're told in Romans 6. It tells us that baptism symbolizes our dying to self and being buried with Christ and rising with Him into new life. And that is what Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread are all about. It is the time when Jesus was dead for three days and three nights and then rose again. And it is the time that was foreshadowed when Esther committed herself to dying for God and His people, if that's what it took, and then was raised to accomplish God's great deliverance.

Brethren, that is our story too, the story of our deliverance and of our serving in the deliverance of each other and the rest of the world. So, happy Purim! And may you have a richly profitable month of preparing for the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread and for the victory to ultimately follow.