This morning we are wrapping up our four -month
series in the book of Esther. Yeah, we started
back in July of last year, and then we took a
sizable break over the fall for a whole bunch
of reasons, and now today we're going to look
at the end of chapter 9 in Esther, and we're
going to go through the very short final chapter
of this book, chapter 10, and then if you haven't
heard yet, our plan two weeks from today is to
launch into our next big New Testament and that
is going to be in the very practical and very
convicting book of 1 Corinthians, which will
take us a while. Trust me, there is a lot there,
but I am looking forward to that. So that will
begin on February 15th, the next two Sundays.
We have some exciting things to share with you,
both myself and Adam, so stay tuned for that.
Now, as we come to Esther, that first glance,
closing out this book, is going to look a little
bit anticlimactic. because over the last two
Sundays, we covered what most scholars believe
is the pinnacle of the whole story in chapter
8 and the beginning of chapter 9, right? And
all that really remains for us to study today
is watching the Jews celebrate their victory.
But trust me, there's a lot here. Pay close attention,
because this last section we're going to study
through is a very important part of foreshadowing
the coming of Messiah. and the coming of the
gospel of grace. So we have a lot to learn together.
So let's get to it. Grab your Bibles, and let's
open up to Esther chapter 9. And when you arrive
there, I want you to drop your eyes down to verse
16. That's where we're going to start. Esther
9, beginning in verse 16. When we left off last
week, the Jews had just completed a full day
of very fierce fighting against their enemies
all across. the 127 provinces of the vast Persian
kingdom. And then at the request of Queen Esther,
there was a second day of fighting that was done
right there in the capital city of Susa. And
in verse 16, we basically get the results. Here's
the scorecard of how this all played out. Verse
16. Now the rest of the Jews who were in the
king's provinces assembled to defend their lives
and to rid themselves of their enemies and kill,
look at that number, 75 ,000. of those who hated
them. Now, that seems like a big number, but
remember, we're talking about the Persian kingdom
that stretched from India to Africa. This is
a big, big kingdom. But still, that is a sizable
number of enemies killed. And then we saw this
next statement in verse 16. By the way, repeated
three times in this chapter for emphasis. When
you see things repeated in scripture, no God
is trying to emphasize it. It says, but they,
the Jews, did not lay their hands on the plunder.
And there's a good reason for that, actually
multiple reasons for this. First of all, remember,
this is a war of self -defense. This was not
an expedition to try to grab land or to take
control of material gain. Even though by law
they had every right to do that, the Jews from
their own history knew better than to take the
spoils of battle from their pagan enemies. And
they didn't. They did not lay their hands on
the spoils. 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 Jews who were in Susa assembled
on the 13th and the 14th of the same month, and
they rested on the 15th day and made it a day
of feasting and rejoicing. Whole bunch of interesting
little administrative notes here, right? The
13th is a reference to that single day of fighting
that took place across every province in the
kingdom. That was the day that was originally
set forth by Haman's wicked decree, remember?
His first edict set that day as the day for the
enemies of the Jews to annihilate them. And then
the 14th refers to the second day of fighting
that took place just in the city of Susa. But
now the fighting is done, and the Jews now make
it their goal to rest and to rejoice in their
hard -fought victory. And there at the end of
18, you see that one of the features of their
celebration was feasting. And we'll come back
to that later. We're going to feast together
after the service today. Now, verse 19 is designed
to sort of explain some of these details. It
says, therefore, and some translations say, this
explains why. The Jews 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. So here's the thing. Some of the Jews
are celebrating on the 14th, others on the 15th,
and the difference is city versus rural. And
actually, in practicality, it's walled cities
versus unwalled cities. Understand in the ancient
world, only big cities like Susa would have had
fortified walls. They were expensive. They were
a lot of work. And it makes sense. In a place
like Susa, that's where the majority of the population
lived. That's where the government officials
lived. So it needed to be protected. But if you
were a Jew living out in the country, out in
the rural areas where walls didn't exist, Those
folks only went to war on that first day, on
the 13th. And so they rested and they celebrated
the next day, the 14th. The Jews in Susa kept
fighting on the 14th and they are now going to
rest and celebrate on the 15th. And it's interesting,
to some extent, this is still going on today
with the Feast of Purim. Most of the Jewish world
celebrates this historical victory on the 14th
of Adar, but in walled cities like Jerusalem,
even today, or Hebron, for example, they celebrate
the next day, the 15th of Adar. By the way, Adar,
that basically roughly translates to early March
on the Gregorian calendar. So this year, this
festival. is observed at sundown on March 2nd
and ends at nightfall on March the 3rd. And then
a day later, it's actually celebrated in places
like Jerusalem because it's still a walled city.
Okay, verse 20. Then Mordecai recorded these
events and he sent letters to all the Jews who
were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus,
both near and far, obliging them. Look at that,
obliging them to celebrate the 14th day of the
month of Adar and the 15th day of the same month
annually. So Mordecai writes of the celebration,
he writes it in the form of a law, just another
law coming out of the royal palace. And he obliges
them to obey this. Some of your translations
say, ordering the Jewish people to rejoice on
these two days. Every single year. And why? Verse
22. Because on those days, the Jews rid themselves
of their enemies. Now, some translations put
it a bit more mildly. The Jews gained relief
from their enemies. And it goes on. And it was
a month which was turned for them from sorrow
into gladness. and from mourning into a holiday.
That's a description of the eucatastrophe we
talked about two Sundays ago, right? This very
sudden turn of events in a positive direction
from sorrow and mourning to holiday gladness.
It goes on, that they should make them days of
feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of
food to one another and gifts to the poor. Verse
23, thus the Jews undertook, or some of your
translations say they agreed to continue what
they had started to do and what Mordecai had
written to them. In other words, this very early
on becomes a highly valued tradition among the
Jewish people, and they commit themselves to
keep celebrating this law that Mordecai has put
into effect each and every year. And then in
the next two verses, we get sort of a historical
recap that says, here's why we celebrate. Verse
24, for Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the Agagite,
the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against
the Jews to destroy them and had cast purr, okay,
purr, that is the lot, we would say cast the
dice, to disturb or some say to crush the Jews
and destroy them. Then beginning in verse 26,
we're given the official title of this special
day, this holiday, and the reason for it. And
in Hebrew, it would be pronounced Purim. We say
Purim here in English, right? Purim after the
name of Pur. So to me, this is one of those places
in the Bible where I feel like God shows us a
little sense of his humor, a sense of his irony,
because the story begins, remember, with God's
enemies casting these dice to determine the precise
day that they were going to wipe out God's people.
And then here's the story ending with a feast
commemorating the absolute reversal. of that
plan, and then God says, let's call this thing
dice. I mean, I just, I cannot get more ironic
and beautiful than that. The verse goes on. And
because of the instructions in this letter, both
what they had seen in this regard and what had
happened to them, the Jews established and made
a custom for themselves and for their descendants,
look, and for all those who allied themselves
with them. so that they would not fail to celebrate
these two days according to their regulation
and according to their appointed time. So you
see here, interestingly, Jewish allies are also
invited to participate in the tradition. And
back in the days of Esther, that would have meant,
remember, we saw how the government officials
came on the side of the household of the king.
That would include them. They helped the Jews
in this fighting. Any other people who came to
the aid of the Jews in defending themselves are
welcome. And by the way, this is still true today.
There is no law or tradition in Judaism that
prohibits Gentiles from joining in the Purim
celebration. Verse 28, so these days were to
be remembered and celebrated throughout every
generation, every family, every province, and
every city. And these days of Purim were not
to fail from among the Jews or their memory fade
from their descendants. Guys, that is a pretty
strong endorsement for the importance of this
tradition. Every generation, every family, every
province, every city, do not let this moment
fade from your memory. Verse 29, then Queen Esther,
daughter of Abahel, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote
with full authority to confirm this second letter
about Purim. He sent letters to all the Jews
to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus,
words of peace and truth. I love that, words
of peace and truth. To establish these days of
Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai
the Jew and Queen Esther had established for
them, and just as they had 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, and it was written in the book. Now,
let's turn over to chapter 10, just three verses
in chapter 10. But this is interesting. This
is where we get an interesting historical summary.
It says, now King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on
the land and on the coastlands of the sea. And
that word tribute in the ancient world referred
to attacks that a great and powerful king could
lay on his subjects throughout his kingdom and
also lay attacks on all the vassal nations that
would bow down to him. Verse two, and all the
accomplishments of his, Xerxes, authority and
strength and the full account of the greatness
of Mordecai to which the king advanced him. Are
they not written in the book of the chronicles
of the kings of Media and Persia? I think the
point being made here by the author for us as
readers to see after the events of this book,
we see here how strong Xerxes has become, right?
And not just Xerxes, but his vizier Mordecai
as well. And we'll come back to that a little
bit later. Look at verse three. For Mordecai
the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus and
great among the Jews and in favor with his many
kinsmen, one who sought the good of his people
and one who sought for the welfare of his whole
nation. Kind of a funny ending, right? A little
bit odd, but we'll come back because I think
the author, I know the author has something to
tell us in this. So here's what I want to do
as we wrap up Esther this morning. I do want
to talk briefly about Purim. Again, we did this
back in chapter three. Back when the lots were
first cast before Haman, in chapter three, we
took some time to look at Purim. We'll go back
and review some of that stuff. But then I wanna
look again at all of the gospel elements that
are sort of embedded in this book. And they're
not the most obvious things right out of the
gate, but you begin to see them as the story
unfolds. And I think you see the author beginning
to show us even more of them in these last two
chapters. And then we're gonna finish by talking
about feasting. Feasting in victory. Amen? Are
you ready to feast in victory? We're going to
do it today. Okay, so when we talk about Purim,
here's my assessment of Purim. I think there's
some features in this holiday that we should
admire, and I think there's some features which
raise some questions. So it's worth talking about.
Several times in this series, we have talked
about how God's name is noticeably absent from
this entire book. You don't hear the name Yahweh.
You don't hear Elohim. You don't hear Adonai.
You don't hear any of those names throughout
the book. And of course, over the centuries,
that has caused some people to wonder whether
this book belongs in the canon or not. I believe
it does. I believe God's sovereign over that.
But as we've also talked about multiple times,
just because God's name isn't explicitly mentioned
doesn't mean he isn't present and active, right?
Right? After all, is there anything that goes
on on this earth where God is not active and
present? No. So of course he's involved, and
especially so considering the content of this
story, the rescue of his chosen people from the
very people from which the Messiah has to come.
So clearly God was not taking a coffee break
and saying, well, this part of the story on earth
I don't have to worry about. He is sovereignly
involved. Even though he's not explicitly named,
obviously he is involved. But having said that,
although we know he's providentially guiding
these events, I do think it's worth pointing
out that neither Esther nor Mordecai seem interested
to point out his involvement. Right? Because
what you'd like to hear, at least in this part
of the text, somewhere here is that the victory
that was won by the Jews was actually God's victory.
That he came to their rescue. That he defeated
the enemy. But instead, you read in verse 22,
what does it say? It says, the Jews rid themselves
of their enemies. Isn't that interesting? No
talk of, really, of God's mercy coming in and
winning this victory on behalf of the Jewish
people. What you'd like to hear is that the Jews
not only feasted with gladness, gladness to who?
Right? that they would be thankful to the Lord
for his protection. It would be helpful to read
that there's some measure of worship going on
here in this gladness rather than just a really
fun party. What you'd like to hear is that it
was God who orchestrated this great reversal
of fortune that we read in the story, that he's
the one that exposed the wickedness of Haman,
that he moved in the king's heart in order to
show favor to Mordecai. But we don't see that
explicitly in the text, do we? What you'd like
to see is God himself establishing the celebration
of Purim, that God would instruct them how he
desires them to observe it. But in verse 21,
you read that it's Mordecai who orders the Jews
to celebrate. In verse 27, it says, the Jews
established and made a custom for themselves.
Who? The Jews did it. God isn't really given
the credit here. What you'd like to see in the
text of Scripture is that Purim is about looking
back to those days when God moved so miraculously
in favor of his people, but it's really not there.
This is why I say that I have some concerns here.
But fair play to the Jews today if you talk to
a Jewish friend. By all accounts, they do, when
they celebrate Purim, they acknowledge God's
involvement in the celebration. But again, strangely,
it's not found here in the text. Now, here's
the thing. And I know I mentioned this earlier
in the series, but it bears repeating at this
point. The question is asked, if Esther and Mordecai
were not exactly the most observant Jews, why
would God come to their rescue? If they weren't
really, their minds and hearts weren't focused
on God, if they're not giving him the glory that
probably you or I would at the end of this story,
why did God rescue the Jews? And the answer to
that question is part of the good news that comes
out of this story, that God doesn't save people
because they deserve to be saved. Aren't you
glad? God doesn't save people because they've
earned salvation through their piety or through
their good works. God saves people because he's
a gracious God who demonstrates extraordinary
love for people who very often ignore him and
try to do things their own way. And I'm glad
for this because you and I, we often fall into
that same category. So let that be a really important
lesson that comes out of this story. They don't
deserve to be saved, but God had a plan. He had
decreed it in eternity past. It was gonna come
to pass. This is the grace of God that he saves
people that sometimes just ignore him and do
things their own way. The fact is God is faithful
to fulfill all of his promises. Remember, he
had promised Abraham that all the nations of
the earth would be blessed through him and through
his descendants, through the patriarchs Isaac
and Jacob. And that great blessing would later
be revealed in the person of Christ. Jesus comes
from the Jews to the Jews and through the Jews
to all people in all nations, including us, right?
So the Jews had to be rescued. It's part of God's
plan. He was determined to carry out that promise
of rescuing them in spite of the disobedience
of the Jews, which caused them to go into exile
in the first place, and in spite of the shortcomings
of people like Esther and Mordecai. We just sang
about it because God's faithful. He's faithful
to his plan and to his purposes. God's not going
to let his word fail. And he's willing to work
behind the scenes, even in silence, as we see
here in Esther, in order to protect and redeem
his people. So for us as Christians, it reminds
us of God's providence in all things. And the
really good news that even when we don't invite
God into our plans, he is still working to fulfill
them. Isn't that great news? So let that be one
of the things that we take out of Esther. So
that's my partial assessment of Purim. I think
it's less than perfect, for sure. But then again,
I think the same thing of some of the holidays
that we celebrate in the church. Could we not
put Christmas in the same category? Are we commanded
in Scripture to observe Christmas? No? Okay,
good. It's not a holiday commanded by God. It's
not explicitly found in Scripture. And like Purim,
anyone who observes Christmas has the choice
either to acknowledge God in it as the prime
mover and the sovereign in it, or not, to see
it as a secular holiday. We don't want to be
too hard on Purim, but I think it's lacking in
some ways. It's certainly not like the Old Testament
feasts like Passover and Tabernacles and Pentecost,
where God sets out not just the festival and
the feast itself. He establishes it, and he instructs
the people on how to observe it. So it's not
in that same category. But still, there are features
built into the celebration, and you see it in
the text here, that can be God -honoring. If
the focus is in the right place, if what's being
taught in the story goes past the flesh and points
to this unseen yet sovereign hand that produced
in Esther and Mordecai everything that they needed,
right? All the courage, all the strength, all
the trust, all of it is produced by God's spirit
in these two people, even if they don't acknowledge
it because God is fulfilling his plan. So we
know today that one of the core, I'm gonna put
this picture on the screen because we did this
back in chapter three. We know that today one
of the core elements of Purim celebrations is
the reading of the Megillah, which you see there.
It's the scroll of Esther. And that's a good
thing, right? Anytime people open up God's word
and read it, that's a really good thing. We know
that Purim brings about joyful family gatherings,
sometimes costumes and masks even, to make it
really, really fun for the kids. And this is
one of the most important parts of Purim for
Jewish families. This is when children are taught
the story of God's faithfulness to Esther and
Mordecai. which is a great thing. As we talked
about back in chapter three, the kids all bring
noisemakers to the reading of the scroll, right?
It's that little wood thing in the front. It's
called a grogger, which is a Yiddish word for
noisemaker. It's a grogger. And whenever name,
Haman's name comes up, what do they do? They
boo and they hiss and they spin their grogger.
How meaningful and memorable is that for kids?
Very much so, right? It's something that Jewish
kids will always. Remember that after the Megillah
is read, it's customary to celebrate over a festive
prayer meal, to quite literally do what Mordecai
ordered, to feast and to rejoice. And in most
households, that comes with the reciting of a
very special prayer that does give thanks to
God for the miracles that he did in the days
of Esther and Mordecai. As you can see on the
screen, one of the traditional treats that gets
eaten is that triangular pastry. I guess you
can ask Yael afterwards. I guess it's filled
with different kinds of, Fruit, is that right?
Oh, chocolate. I'd be down for that. Okay, good.
Those are called the ears of Haman. Again, talk
to Yael. She'll explain it to you. But those
are referred to as the ears. What's the Yiddish
word? There you go. Very good. Very good. And
then... So there's some good stuff here, right?
And then it's customary on the second day of
Purim to shift the focus away from self to others.
And so Jewish families will often spend the day
driving around town and leaving baskets of food
and treats on the doorsteps of one another, and
if possible, to go out and to feed the poor,
just as Mordecai ordered. So all that to say
there's a lot of good built into Purim. But of
course, we have to come to this place without
recognizing Christ in it. It's incomplete, isn't
it? It's incomplete. So I would encourage you,
when March rolls around, the first week of March,
pray for the Jewish people, especially at a time
like prayer. When they're opening the scroll,
when they're opening the Bible and they're reading
it to their children, pray for Jewish people.
Pray that God might move in their hearts and
add to the remnant of Jewish believers on the
earth today. Amen? What I want to talk about
as we move forward here is to talk about some
of the gospel foreshadowings that point us to
Christ in this story, point us to the new covenant
where God is going to do a new work. And we looked
at a bunch of them two Sundays ago. I'm going
to re -go over some of those because I think
they're so important to see, plus give you a
couple more that I see in the text from today.
These are gospel foreshadowings. foreshadowings
that I think are embedded in the text itself
that we can hang our hat on. Because I was telling
Jeff Steele outside before the service, I said,
the book of Esther frustrates me. Is that okay,
by the way? It frustrates me because I really
would love to see these characters be much more
bold in their faith. I'd love to see God be explicitly
glorified in this text. Now, I know he is because
he's sovereign. But boy, this can be a difficult
book. So let's look at some of these gospel things.
The first thing that we saw was this idea of
intercession that takes place in this story.
When Esther goes before the king to plead, literally
plead for the lives of her people. And the reason
she had to do that is so important to recognize.
Because the Jews living in Persia had no standing
before the king of Persia. They're minorities
in a foreign land. They have no opportunity to
get a hearing in front of the only man in the
whole kingdom who can save them. They have no
chance to get into the palace. So all they can
do is hope to get an intercession. Listen now,
they cannot save themselves. That sound familiar?
They cannot save themselves. They have to hope
for an intercessor, someone who does have the
standing. to enter the throne room of the king
where mercy can be found. Sound familiar? So
we recognize that as sinners who fall short of
the glory of God, we are all just as helpless
as the Jews living in Persia in that day. We
need an intercessor. We need a great high priest
who has the standing and the ability and the
opportunity to go into the throne room of grace
and plead for us. Otherwise, we perish, just
like the Jews would have without Esther. That's
number one. Second thing that comes out of this
text is a look at this first edict that was written
up by Haman. This wicked law that called for
the death of the Jewish people. And we likened
it to the edict of guilt that exists for every
sinner born into this world. Every one of us.
We are all born under the law of sin and death.
What Colossians 2 calls the certificate of debt
that stands against us. A debt that will someday
come due. Whether we like it or not, there's
a due date on that debt for every single sinner
born into this world. And by the way, that is
an edict established by God himself. It's a law
that is rooted in his holiness and in his perfectly
righteous standard. And therefore, it cannot
be repealed. It cannot be revoked, just as Haman's
law could not be revoked by Xerxes. It cannot
be. But then God, then God, provided the remedy
for the problem here. Okay, again, not by compromising
his eternal justice, but by meeting his own righteous
standard, by laying the debt that we owed upon
his own son. How amazing. In other words, just
like the situation in Esther, God could not cancel
out that first law. He couldn't, but he could
issue a new law which would turn our condemnation
into mercy. could turn death into life and defeat
into victory. A second law is what we needed.
The second law is found in Christ alone, right?
That's the second law. Paul writes in Romans
8, the cross is God's counter decree that, quote,
frees us from the law of sin and death. We needed
the second edict, didn't we? And we have it in
Christ. Beautiful. Third thing, we looked at
this great reversal. that you see in the story
of Esther, the eucatastrophe, we called it, right?
And we saw how it points forward to the resurrection,
because the resurrection is the greatest reversal
in the history of mankind, from the cross to
the resurrection, right? Just when Haman thought
he had found a way to annihilate the Jews, he
stumbled into a trap of his own making. He stumbled
into his own wickedness. And just when Satan
thought he had found a way to destroy the Son
of God on the cross, He failed to see how that
cross was actually his own undoing. Amazing.
On the morning that Jesus stepped out of that
tomb alive, death was put to death, and the grave's
power over us was broken, and Satan was defeated,
just like Haman was. Amazing, right? It's right
there in the story. Four, we also saw how the
Jews were able to go from despair to gladness
when the king's second law was issued, even though
the day of its actual application was still nine
months away. So they're under the threat of death.
The king issues a new law and says, nine months
from now, you'll be able to defend yourself.
But the Jews celebrate right then. Right then,
why? Because now they had the king's favor. Now
they had the king behind him. With the king's
favor, they are assured of victory. And in a
similar way, Christ followers who've been saved
by God's decree of salvation in Christ, we can
celebrate right now. Even though salvation is
not completely fulfilled, that will come, right?
Eschatologically, that will come, but we can
celebrate right now because we have the favor
of the king in the universe. Amen, right? The
fullness is coming, but we can celebrate now.
So those are four things we talked about two
Sundays ago. Let me give you two other things
that I see in the text from this morning. One
is a little bit more subtle. One is very obvious.
I'm going to give you the subtle one first, and
here it is. Behind the scenes, there's something
going on in chapter 10, those three verses in
chapter 10, that causes Xerxes. to come out of
the story sort of shining as the great king of
the ancient Near East. Did you see the language
there? Remember, as we studied through this book,
Xerxes was more of a bumbling fool than he was
a great king. He's making mistakes all over the
place, right? Remember, I know it's been a while,
it's like July, but right before the events of
the book of Esther, Xerxes had led a disastrous
campaign against the Greeks. and was soundly
defeated. And he limped home as a defeated king.
And then his queen publicly humiliates him. Then
his officials begin to publicly manipulate him.
Then he foolishly hands his signet ring to this
wicked man, Haman, then has to correct what Haman
did, making himself look bad. He just doesn't
look like a competent king early on in the book.
But now at the end of the story in chapter 10,
the author seems to put him in a whole new light.
He writes of Xerxes' authority and strength over
the entire ancient world. He's able to lay this
tax on vassal nations, which raises the question,
how did this renewal come about? Well, for years,
there was a hidden cancer at work within his
kingdom. In fact, it was right under the king's
nose. It was the presence of Haman, this vizier,
this wicked man. But now what it looks like in
chapter 10 is that there's a new spirit operating
in the royal palace. Mordecai, who took Haman's
place, is said to be both great among the Jews,
but also, look, one who spoke for the welfare
of the entire Persian nation. It's a whole new
spirit in the royal palace. So here's what scholars,
Hebrew Christian scholars have looked at this
and they've seen this turnaround. And what they
see is a foreshadowing of the coming in an indwelling
way, the spirit of God in a man's life. And I
know this is a bit of a stretch, but walk with
me on this. Once again, consider Haman as the
embodiment of our spiritual enemy. He represents
the rule of the flesh. He represents arrogance
and self -promotion and anger and vengeance,
all these different things. And as long as he's
in control of the kingdom, what happens? There's
chaos, there's confusion, there's violence, there's
despair. And if you're able, consider Mordecai
then as sort of representing the spirit, providing
a sense of renewal throughout the empire once
he comes into that position. Now, like I said
with Esther earlier, we don't want to push that
analogy too far, right? But the principle is
interesting to consider. Why else would God provide
those three verses at the very end of this book?
It just seems strange, as we said before. If
you want to carry the principle forward, consider
how necessary it is for us as Christians to get
rid of Haman, to put the flesh to death, to crucify
the flesh, to hang the flesh on the gallows.
Think about it. And to do it in a public fashion.
as a testimony to new life in Christ? Is it possibly
that that's the reason why Haman is so publicly
shamed on the gallows? Why his 10 sons are hanged
on the gallows as well? Here's some more good
news. Our battle against the flesh today is different
than in the days of Esther because our battle
isn't waged against the backdrop of a failed
human king like Xerxes. Our conflict today is
waged against the flesh in light of the much
greater king that we have based on his finished
work on the cross. That means there's no doubt
about the outcome. We know exactly how it's going
to end. In fact, we're told in Colossians 2,
not only has Jesus canceled out the certificate
of debt that we owed, it goes a step further.
It says, he has disarmed the rulers and authorities
of darkness, making a public display of them.
A public display of them and triumphing over
them. I know it's subtle, right? But I want you
to think about that. Is that what's going on
with the death of Haman and the renewal of Xerxes
in his palace? Okay, questions, adam at okillbible
.com. Adam will explain it to him, right? Okay,
last one, last one. And this one is very clear
and very obvious. How you and I not only have
a glorious victory in Christ, we get to celebrate
it every day, not just once a year. I mean, does
this not embed the idea of celebrating victory?
Do we celebrate victory in our life as Christians?
I hope so. The fruits of this victory that the
Jews won are all over this text. feasting, rejoicing,
resting, remembering, celebrating, showing generosity
to others. It's all there in the text. These
are things that we get to do every single day
as those who are found in Christ. In Christ,
we rejoice and we celebrate no matter what life
throws at us, right? Right? No matter our circumstances.
Life is hard. Trials come. Trouble comes. But
we rejoice and we celebrate because the victory
is ours. In Christ, we have rest, right? Rest
from the world, rest from having to strive to
earn something that we never could earn in the
first place because it's by grace alone. In Christ,
we have peace with God and salvation secure.
In Christ, we're now set free to focus on others,
to love unconditionally, to be generous and sacrificial,
to put the needs of others before ourselves because
we're found in Christ. And in Christ, we continually
remember. We remember his sacrifice on our behalf,
how he became sin for us in exchange for what?
His righteousness. We can never, never forget
that. The great exchange. He became sin for us.
He took your sin and said, here, take my righteousness.
Are you kidding me? So we remember. We do all
those things. Remember, feast, rejoice, rest.
celebrate and show generosity. It's no wonder
that we get a chance to do that because of what
Christ has done for us. It's in the text. I know
it's hard, right? I mean, I wish Esther was more
explicit. I wish there was more glory given to
God. You gotta dig in sometimes and find some
of these things. So this is where I wanna end,
not just the sermon, but the whole preaching
series. Earlier in the week, I was asking myself
and I was praying. I said, Lord, what's the,
what's the last statement we want to make coming
out of this series? What should we take away
from this? And I kept coming back to, first of
all, the subtitle of the series, which is God's
providence, right? How he's working all things
together for our good. But where that providence
leads people like Esther and Mordecai, where
it leads people like you and I, and ultimately
it leads to feasting and victory. We may not
even realize that, but that's true. Have you
ever thought about the concept of feasting in
your walk with Christ? Did you know that word
is used 133 times in scripture? So it's not a
small theme at all. Did you know that food itself
is one of the greatest gifts that God gives us?
And not just to sustain us, but things that we
can enjoy, right? Paul says that in 1 Timothy
6, 17, that God richly provides us with everything
to enjoy. To enjoy. We're going to enjoy tacos
later. Right? We get to enjoy these things. And
so when we sit down at the table, anytime we
do, we enjoy his good gifts, we should give thanks
in our hearts. If not verbally, at least in our
hearts, right? At least something that at the
table we acknowledge that this sustenance didn't
just fall out of the sky. It's been provided
by our good God. And when we get to sit down
and eat together as a body, as we're gonna do
after this service, every time we do this, friends,
it should be a special time. We should see, I
know tacos are fun, I know the fellowship would
be great, but see it as something bigger and
more sacred than just that. It should be special.
Not just any lunch, but a time to remember the
past 19 years. 19 years that we've enjoyed together
as a church family. When you eat today, honor
God for his faithfulness. With rejoicing and
with gladness and celebration. You know, I was
thinking about the miracle of Oak Hill is not
anywhere in the same category as the miracle
that took place in the book of Esther, but it's
still a miracle. Trust me, it is a miracle, right?
All you guys, some of you guys are OGs. You've
been around here since day one. You know, it's
a miracle that God has sustained us for 19 years.
Again, setting up and breaking down the hard
work of local church, it's a miracle. So let's
celebrate it. Finally, you should know that at
least part of what we're going to do today is
rehearsing for the next stage of life in the
millennial kingdom and beyond. Our lunch today
anticipates this much greater time of feasting
and worship that we find in Revelation chapter
19. Remember, the angel says to John, write this
down. Write this down. This is important. He
says, blessed are those who are invited to the
marriage supper of the Lamb. That's our future.
That's where the bride of Christ will come together.
We will sit down and feast. We will celebrate
this sacred union with our Savior, and we will
join with a multitude of saints from every nation,
every tribe, every tongue, and we will all worship
the Lamb with great joy and with gladness. So
we see that happening in Esther. We get to do
it today, but man, there's something so much
greater coming. There's also a future messianic
banquet in the final dispensation of history,
the millennial kingdom. We read from Isaiah 25
in our call to worship this morning where God
promises that there will be a great feast in
a very specific place. He says in Jerusalem on
Mount Zion where God promised on this mountain,
it says, the Lord of hosts will make for all
people a feast of rich food, a feast of well
-aged wine. I'm just going to leave that there.
And what's amazing about this, as God's people
are swallowing this rich food, Isaiah tells us
God will swallow up death forever for those at
this feast. Swallow up death, wipe away every
tear, and remove the reproach of his people.
Thank you. And this is what... How often when
we celebrate communion, we read what was said
in the upper room where Jesus says, take this
cup and share it among yourselves. For I say
to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the
vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.
We're going to sit down with the king and share
this cup with him. What a day of celebration.
In Matthew 8, Jesus talked about many will come
from the east and from the west and will recline
at the table alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Jews. Yeah. Yeah. So our current festival celebrations
in the present, you know what they are? They're
appetizers. They're just appetizers that are
pointing us towards this incredibly fully Fully
satisfying entree this to come when our king
returns and sits with us at his table. But until
then, in the here and now, we feast and we rejoice
and we're glad. And let's do that well together
today. But most of all, let's fix our eyes on
Christ, our great high priest and our king. Amen?
Amen. Let's bow our heads. Father, what a joy
to finish the book of Esther. And Lord, I confess
to you as I have in the past that there have
been times I was frustrated with it and I wanted
it to say more than it says and then I rebuked
myself for that. And I praise you for exactly
the way it's laid out and praise you for that,
God, and for the truths that are embedded in
there and the things, God, that your spirit has
shown us in this study. Lord, we praise you for
all of it. Even if it's been hard on us, we praise
you for it. And we praise you for your sovereignty
and for your faithfulness to these characters
who are imperfect, just like we are. It reminds
us that you're at work in our lives, even during
those times when we are just going through the
motions of life and not abiding with you as we
should, that you are still working together for
our good. So thank you, Jesus. And thank you
for a chance to celebrate. and rejoice with gladness
today. And over the tacos we'll eat later, Lord,
make it a sacred moment for us as we celebrate
your goodness to us. Thank you for this gathering
today. We, with one heart and with one voice,
praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.