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say this day unto all the king's princes which have heard of the deed of the queen, Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath. If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and Medes that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before king Asuares, and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, for it is great all the wives shall give to their husbands honor both the great and small. And the saying pleased the king and the princes, and the king did according to the word of Mamuukim. For he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank the Lord to come here to gather together to hear the preaching word. Thank you for all the souls that got saved this afternoon, our soul winning and pray you bless us now as you hear the preaching word. Please direct us to the power of your spirit so we can understand very clearly what's being taught here and we can all grow and be edified and be better Christians. We pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. The title of the sermon this evening is the book of Esther explained. The book of Esther explained or maybe a subtitle or a different title would be Mordecai pictures Jesus. Now I've gone through a lot of different prophets and I've talked about how they pictured the Lord Jesus Christ and the book of Esther is one of these books where I've always found it kind of difficult to understand a lot of the meanings or you know the pictures of this book. However, this evening I think as we go through the book of Esther we're going to see how the book of Esther is a great finishing book for what would be known as the historical section of the Bible. So if you understand how your Bible is kind of laid out in the Old Testament from Genesis all the way book of Esther is basically a chronology or a history of the Old Testament. Then you would get into Job then you get in which kind of starts over and it's like a new section of poetry and the timeline kind of goes back and goes through Psalms and then you have different books like that. You have the major prophets and the minor prophets which fit in with all the kings and the chronicles and those timelines. But Esther is basically the last book as far as the history of the chronology of the Bible and I think that makes a lot of sense after we look at this book and we kind of think about how it's last. I think it's going to fit together really well and it makes a lot of sense. Some people have attacked the book of Esther because two things. First of all, there's not another book where it's directly referenced or vice versa. You would say in the New Testament it says in the prophet Isaiah or when David said this. So in the Bible itself a lot of internal evidence of them pointing to different sections of the Bible. Peter references Paul. So you have a lot of internal evidence. Esther doesn't really have that per se where there's just a direct mention like remember in the book of Esther when such and such happened? You don't really have a picture like that. So some people have attacked the book of Esther and questioned its authenticity or if it's really the word of God. Another accusation that's brought against the book of Esther is the fact that the name of God is never mentioned one time. Now that's definitely interesting. It's interesting that you never see the word God or Lord or something to that effect anywhere in the book. However, neither of these things have ever caused me to doubt the authenticity of the book of Esther and in fact I think we're going to exonerate the book of Esther purely in everyone's mind very clearly this evening. Because the book of Esther has so much symbolism in it that you can't deny it. It's obviously God's word. Now look at verse number one. It says, Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, this Ahasuerus which reigned from India even unto Ethiopia, over one hundred and seven and twenty provinces, that in those days when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, and the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants the power of Persia and Medea, the nobles and princes of the provinces being before him, when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom in the honor of his excellent majesty many days, even a hundred and four score days. Now the timing of the book of Esther is very similar to that of Ezra and Nehemiah. It's when the Medes, or I'm sorry, the Persians and the Medes, they've taken over the entire world. They basically are the one world kingdom in a sense. And so that's the kind of the timing. That's the place. And we have this king, King Ahasuerus. Now what you have to understand about the Bible is King Ahasuerus is going to picture someone for us. Who is he going to picture? He's going to picture God the Father. So if you actually understand that King Ahasuerus pictures God the Father, you're going to understand this very well. You're going to understand the book of Esther very well. Now you'd say, well, King Ahasuerus doesn't seem like the most righteous guy. Well, God the Father often is represented with people that aren't that great. You know, the unjust judge in the New Testament, you know, that guy wasn't a very good guy, but he was clearly a picture of God the Father and the importance of praying to him. King Ahasuerus is going to picture God the Father. Now what does he want to do? He wants to show his glorious kingdom and his honor and his majesty. He's going to have a big party to show out gradius, okay, essentially. Now here's the thing. There's something very similar with what God the Father wants to do. God the Father has a special marriage feast that he wants us to be a partaker of. There's going to be a great marriage feast that we're going to all come to. And who's throwing that party? It's God the Father that's throwing that party. But keep your finger good in Matthew 22 and we're going to turn to a lot of places in the New Testament. Matthew 22, we're going to see this parable actually is very similar to what we see here in Esther 1. Matthew 22, look at verse number 2. The kingdom of heaven is like it unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son. Now who's that king? It's God the Father. And there's a special ceremony, a special feast that he's going to invite people to. And what is that similar to? It's similar to King Ahasuerus who's going to throw this big party and this big feast. Let's keep reading. It says, and he sent forth his servants to call them that were been in the wedding, and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants saying, tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage. But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city. Then say these servants, the wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as you find shall find bid to the marriage. So the servants went out into the highways and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. And the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king was come in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had knotted a wedding garment, and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then the king said to his the servants, bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called but fewer chosen. Now, what was the point of Matthew's parable here in chapter number 22? Who are all these guests that are being refused? Who are all these guests that said, I don't really care? It's the Jews. The Jews are the ones that rejected the feast that God the Father, the marriage that he had for them. Now you say, why are you bringing all this up? Because there's someone else that refuses to come to King Ahasuerus party. Who is that? Vashti. Who is Vashti? Vashti is the Jews. Vashti is a picture of the Jews, and now they don't want to come to King Ahasuerus party is exactly like how the Jews rejected that wedding ceremony, that marriage ceremony in Matthew 22. Now what do we know about Vashti? Look at verse 11 in Esther chapter number one. To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to show the people and the princes her beauty, for she was fair to look on. So King Ahasuerus wants to present before everyone Vashti because of how beautiful she is. Now this is exactly what God the Father has done with Jerusalem and the Jews. He's made them exceeding beautiful, and he wanted to show them off to the whole world. He wanted them to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, to be that glorious beautiful nation, but there's a problem. The Jews didn't want to do that. The Jews weren't interested just like Vashti rejected King Ahasuerus. It's a picture of how the Jews rejected Jesus. They rejected God. Okay, keep your finger. Go to Ezekiel chapter 16. Let me prove to you that God has adorned the Jews to make them beautiful. It says in Ezekiel chapter 16, and we're going to flip to a lot of different places. Ezekiel chapter 16, look at verse one. Again the word of the Lord came into me saying, Son of man caused Jerusalem to know her abominations. So we're talking about Jerusalem, but look at verse seven. I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxed and great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and now became his mind. Then washed I thee with water, yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badger's skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck, and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. That was decked with gold and silver, and thy arraignment was of fine linen and silk, and broidered work. Thou didst eat fine flour and honey and oil, and thou wast, notice this, exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. So notice Jerusalem, the Jews were this beautiful nation. It says in verse number 14, And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. So notice when God describes the children of Israel, the Jews, what he's done unto them. He took them as this rejected, you know, discarded, gross baby, and he cleaned her up, and she grew up, and he put all kinds of clothing on her, and decked her, and made her beautiful, and she's the most beautiful. What does King Ahasuerus do to Vashti? She's the most beautiful. She's decked with all the beautiful ornaments, and all these things, but just like Vashti rejected King Ahasuerus, the Jews rejected the Lord in the same way. Now let me give you proof to that. Look at verse 12 in Esther chapter 1. But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains. Therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned within him. Now this is a picture of God the Father being very angry at the Jews for refusing. Keep your finger, go to Psalms 118, and we're going to see that. Just flip to the right, just the hair in your Bible. Psalms 118, and look at verse 22. The Bible reads, the stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the corner. So notice the Jews refused the Lord Jesus Christ, which is a picture of Vashti refusing King Ahasuerus. And what happens? That makes King Ahasuerus very upset, and that makes God the Father very upset. Look at verse number 17 back in Esther, verse number 17. Now this made the king very upset. Some of the men start questioning, you know, you got to do something about this King Ahasuerus. It says in verse 17, for this deed of the queen shall come abroad and all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported the King Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king's princes which have heard of the deed of the queen, thus shall there arise too much contempt and rant. So you say, when did feminism start? Well, it definitely was here. I don't know when feminism started for sure, but you know, it seems just maybe it started with Eve, you know, telling her husband what to do, telling him to eat the apple. But we have right here a picture of feminism, and at least the men back then were smart enough to say, you got to put a stop to this, because if one woman disobeys her husband, all the women are going to disobey her husband. And see the horrible example of Vashti. Did Vashti tell the other women to rebel? No, but by her behavior, it's causing other women to rebel. You know, feminism is taught in a very subtle way. It's taught through what? The television. It's taught through the magazines. It's taught through the movies. You see all these women being rebellious to their husbands, and then you wonder why wives are rebellious to their husbands. It's because they saw it on a movie. It seemed really cool on the movie. They make some loser dad, make a bunch of bad decisions, and then the wife's so much smarter, so she has to come up with better ways and mouth off to her husband. And look, you know, don't marry an idiot, but even if you do, you're still supposed to obey him. You know, it used to be a byword for a woman to say something to her husband. If a husband says, jump, you just jump. If a husband says, do something, you just do something. There used to be a day and a time when women would not go against their husband's commandments. It's gross. It's disgusting. It's against God's commandments. It's blaspheming the doctrine of God, what the Bible teaches. You know, wives are supposed to obey. They're supposed to submit under their husbands. And when they don't, bad things happen. You know, my cow, she disrespected David. How did that turn out for him, for her? Oh yeah, she had no children. She had a horrible marriage. She had a horrible relationship with David. Look, women are supposed to obey their husbands. Nothing makes a man more upset than a wife not obeying her husband. Okay. First Peter chapter number three makes it clear that women are supposed to obey their husbands. And if you want to be like Sarah, you have to obey your husband. No, there's no great woman in the Bible who is disobedient to her husband. That's all the bad women, Jezebel and my cow and Vashti, you know, who were the great women, Esther, who was very obedient to her husband, even though her husband wasn't the greatest guy. I mean, you think King of hazardous was just the most godly person on the planet. Of course not. Obviously represents God, the father in our story, but that does not make him special. And you know, I've heard this and I thought it was pretty good. Someone said about feminism, they said, well, if you put women in charge, even if they pass certain laws, they could never enforce them, which is true. Women can't enforce the laws that they pass. There's a re look, it used to be that it wouldn't be that hard for women to just submit to their husbands because they realized they needed their husband. You know, it used to be the world was a scary place. There's lions and bears and tigers and someone's got to go out there and fight them and go get the food and bring it on the table. And you know, they, they needed someone to build them a log cabin to live in. Look, the woman was thinking like, I need you. She wasn't thinking like, get out of here. The government's going to give me siphon your paycheck, which promotes feminism today. There wasn't this no fault divorce. There wasn't all these easy ways for women to despise their husbands and refuse their husbands, just like Jerusalem, rejecting God, thinking it can go on its own without God. Nope. That's not going to work out very well. And you know, one thing I'm not a Trump supporter. Okay. But I have to say, if Hillary were in office, this would be a bigger mess. Can you imagine a woman trying to navigate what's going on in our country right now? It'd be insanity. Why? Because men are born to lead. Men are supposed to be the providers. Men are supposed to take action and make direction. Look, women need men and you know what men need women, but it's a both side of the equation. Don't get this hottie attitude. Women like, I don't need my husband. No, you need to just submit and obey. You know, men don't have a problem. Usually in this area, I barely rarely have ever seen men just give so much lip to their boss at work. I mean, they just don't do it when their boss says something. They just say, yes, sir. Now I've seen a lot of people bad talking behind his back, but you know, to his face, they're not going to bad talk him yet. Women will just, just argue with their husband right to their face. They'll just bad talk their husband right there in their face. You're lazy. They'll just say that about their husband in front of, in public. They'll say you're lazy. You're a jerk. You're an idiot. I can't believe you do that. I mean, that's what the TV shows do, right? I mean, the wife just sitting there bashing her husband in front of his face. What man does that to his employer at work? Never. I never. Oh, you're just a dumb boss. Aren't you? You're just such an idiot. I can't believe you do that. Look, you get fired in a second. I've seen a guy mouthed off to the boss one time. It was pretty bad. Just gone. I mean, you know, I couldn't even believe it. I was just thinking like, you're going to be struck with lightning by the boss. You know, like the boss is going to come and take you out. You know, you say, well, I don't respect my husband. Well, you know, what you should do is you should just call him, sir, until you start respecting him. You know, it's hard to call someone, sir, and not have respect. You know, you don't have respect for your boss at work, man. Just start calling him, sir, every single time. Just say, yes, sir. And you know what? Maybe that respect will get built with your employer, with your husband. You know, you teach your children to say, yes, sir. And yes, ma'am. And they learn there's a respect factor there. When people just say, okie dokie, whatever, not what I would do. That's not respectful. You're not going to have respect for them. Why don't you start changing your vocabulary like Sarah did, calling him Lord. And then you can be a daughter of Sarah. Okay. That was just a quick segment here. We have to explain this point. Okay. That was the carnal truth. The carnal truth was feminism bad. All right. But what's the spiritual truth here? It's just like the Jews rejecting God, rejecting the Lord, rejecting that husband, man. And what does he do? Go to Matthew 21, Matthew 21. How does he react to that? Look at verse 43. Therefore, I send you the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof. So notice, just as God is going to rip the kingdom and the nation away from the Jews, that's what King Ahasuerus did unto Vashti. He's not going to make her queen anymore. Now, here's the thing. Is it right for King Ahasuerus to just basically put away the queen and marry another one? No. Okay. But God is obviously going to use that earthly example to illustrate what he's doing to the Jews and the Christians. And that's obviously right. Okay. So we have to understand God can use a bad human example for something good for him. Just like he uses that unjust judge who just grants the petition of the woman coming to him and pestering him as a picture of how he wants to answer our prayers when we constantly go and petition to him. Okay. So he can use bad things in a good way. Don't let the bad part of this confuse you about the good example here. Okay. Go to verse 20 in Esther chapter one. So let's verse 19, I think. I don't know if we read that. Verse 19, if it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, that Vashti come known before the king Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. Oops. It's called the better testament. You know, it's better than the Jews, the true Jews, the Christians. That's what's better. They're way better. Okay. Verse number 20, and when the king's decree, which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, for it is great. All the wives shall give to their husbands honor, both of the great and small, and the saying, please the king and the princes and the king did according to the word of the mucan, for he sent letters in all the king's provinces and to every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people. Now, a few things I want to make note of. He's going to replace Vashti with another person. That's just like God's going to replace the Jews with the Gentiles, the believe in him, the Christians. That's one aspect. Another aspect is he doesn't want Vashti to ruin, basically, what? His reputation in a sense. If God just lets the Jews just continually have no nation they're serving him, nobody worshiping him, then who's going to believe in him? I mean, if I live in a heathen nation and the Jews don't even worship God, how are they going to get saved? So, he has to replace them with something better. Notice by Vashti's rebellion, everyone's going to rebel. So, what? He has to have a light in this world. Who's the light? We are the light. But when the Jews rejected being the light, they don't want to be the light anymore, they have to be replaced. So, the picture of Vashti being a good example to all the other women is a picture of Israel being a good example to all the heathen nations. When she's no longer a good example, he's got to get a new Vashti, as it were, okay? He's got to get a new light and what's going to fill that void spiritually? The Christians. We're going to fill that void. Now, that's a picture of what? A sense of the bride of Christ, right? He's looking for a new bride, as it were, right? Isn't it? He's going to reject them. Now, he's looking for a new bride. What is that bride? That's the bride of Christ. So, we are that new bride that he's looking for. Another thing, notice that he's looking for her. It's not that she's looking for him. Is there a woman seeking him? No. He's seeking a new bride, just like God the Father is going to seek the Gentiles, which asks not after him, is what the Bible says, okay? There's a lot of layers here, all right? I'm just trying to quickly go through them. But here's the coolest part about this. He's looking for a new wife, okay? Who is that new wife? Spiritually speaking, it's us, the saved, okay? Now, how is he going to try and find this new wife? He's going to write it in every language and publish it in the entire world so that he can get that new wife. You know what that is? That's the gospel being preached in all the world so that he can get a new wife. Published in every nation, in every tongue, in every language. It's the gospel going out to find that new bride. We are that bride, the bride of Christ. Now, tell me the book of Esther is not the word of God, okay? And we got nine more chapters left, all right? We're just heating up. Look at verse number one of chapter two. After these things, when the wrath of the king of Hasheras was appeased, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what was decreed against her. Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, let there be fair young virgins sought for the king. So now we're going back to the carnal truth. He's seeking that new bride, just like in Romans chapter number 10, verse 20. He's seeking those that ask not after him, okay? Verse number seven, and he brought up, this is talking about Mordecai, and he brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful, whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for her his own daughter. Now, Mordecai in this picture is picturing Jesus Christ. He's taking someone that's not his own unto himself, okay? And what does he want for her? He wants Esther or Hadassah, that's her other name. He wants her to be pleasing in whose sight? King of Hasheras' sight, okay? That's just like Jesus Christ making reconciliation for us so that we can be what? Pleasing in God the Father's sight, okay? So that's the same picture here of Mordecai being like Jesus. Look at verse number 10. Esther had not showed her people nor kindred, for Mordecai had charged her that she should not show it. Verse 11, and Mordecai walked every day before the court of the woman's house to know how Esther did, and what should become of her. You know, to me, this is like Jesus Christ constantly checking on us and making propitiation for us so that we can be pleasing in his sight. Constantly checking on us, making sure. Verse number 17, and the king loved Esther above all the women. Notice this, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. So notice Esther is chosen as the queen. How did she get chosen? By grace. How do we get chosen? By grace. How are you elected? By grace. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. So we obtain favor and grace of the Lord, okay? It's not something that I did on my own. It's not how special I am, and it was not based on anything that she did, okay? But Mordecai is basically an intermediary here. It says in verse number 19, this is where it gets cool, and when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai sat in the king's gate. So Mordecai, he sits in the king's gate, and he's checking on Esther, and Esther is what? Esther is being presented before King Ahasuerus. Now keep your finger and go to 2 Corinthians, chapter number 11, and really the cool thing about the pictures here that we have in the book of Esther is they follow a pretty logical chronology, because we basically have the Jews being rejected. Then what do we have the pictures of? We have the picture of the gospel going out, then we have the bride of Christ. What's going on? The bride of Christ obviously is also going to have a timeline in the sense that after we get saved, we still have to live our lives. We still have a life that we have to live, and we want to live that through what? Following God's commandments, doing that which is right, and who's going to help us? Jesus, just like Mordecai was helping Esther, and the Bible tells us that when we finally get to God, when we finally stand before him, we want to be presented in a certain way. Look at 2 Chronicles, chapter 11, verse number 2, For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you, notice this, as a chaste virgin to Christ. So, we want to be presented as a chaste virgin, just like Esther is a chaste virgin unto God the Father. So, the same way that Esther is going to be this chaste virgin, the same way that we want to be this chaste virgin unto Jesus, and Jesus is ultimately going to reconcile us unto whom? God the Father. So, it's the same pictures, it's the same illustrations, and the need for us to be a chaste virgin. It says in verse 21 that King Mordecai had sat in the king's gate. We already saw that. Look at verse 21, it says similar. In those days while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigfin and Teerash, of those which kept the door were wrought and sought to lay hand on the king of Hazris. Now, Mordecai sits in the king's gate. Where does Jesus Christ sit? Right hand of God the Father, doesn't it? So, we have that picture. Another picture is what? Well, we have here these two guys that are going to try and kill King of Hazris, or they have some kind of an ought against King of Hazris, and Mordecai is going to end up giving this message to King of Hazris to preserve him. It says in verse 22, and the thing was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen, and Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai's name. So, Mordecai understands some kind of a danger, some kind of an issue, and then Esther is going to ask some kind of a thing to King of Hazris, but notice, in Mordecai's name. Keep your finger, go to John chapter number 15. So, when I read the Bible, and I understand there's some kind of a problem, or some kind of an issue, or some kind of a threat, or whatever, whatever the case is, just my daily life. Who am I supposed to pray to? I'm supposed to pray to God the Father, and make petitions known unto him, but the Bible tells us there's a certain way we're supposed to pray. We're supposed to pray in a certain name. Look at John chapter 15 verse 16. Jesus says, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. So, notice, when we pray to God the Father, we're supposed to pray in what? In Jesus' name. When Queen Esther goes and gives this petition unto King of Hazris, who does she certify in the name of? In the name of Mordecai, who's one who sits in the king's gate, someone of renown, someone of a great stature. Hey, I have something I need to tell you, and I'm going to tell you in Mordecai's name, just like when we go to God, we pray in what? Jesus' name. So, chapter number two is giving us a picture of the Christian life. It's giving us a lot of different illustrations and areas of Christians and their life. Look at chapter number three verse one. So, think about our timeline. We're talking about the Jews rejected, who replaces them? The Gentiles, the bride of Christ, those who get saved. Chapter two gives us kind of some pictures of the Christian life and things that we do, but there's coming a day that there's going to be a problem for Christians. What is that day? Well, look at chapter three verse one. After these things, did King of Hazris promote Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the Agite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes that were with him? Now, let me tell you who Haman is. Haman is the Antichrist and the devil. He's a clear picture of the Antichrist and the devil. What does he want to do? He wants to kill God's people, but look at verse two. And all the king's servants that were in the king's gate bowed in reverence Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him, but Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence. So, notice everybody bows except for who? Mordecai. Who doesn't bow to the devil? Jesus Christ doesn't bow. And let me prove that. Go to Matthew chapter four. Go to Matthew chapter number four in your Bible. Mordecai is not going to bow to Haman. Look at Matthew chapter number four. Look at verse number nine. Let's back up a verse to get the contents. Verse eight, again, the devil take them up into a high exceeding mountain and show them all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and say unto them, all these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me, then sayeth Jesus on them, get thee hence Satan, for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. So, notice the devil tries to get Jesus Christ to bow and Jesus Christ doesn't bow, just as a picture of how Mordecai is never going to bow to Haman. And Haman hates that. Haman despises Mordecai because he won't worship him, because he won't bow down and give him reverence. Look at verse number three of Esther. Then the king's servants, which were in the king's gate, said unto Mordecai, why transgresses thou the king's commandment? Why did they kill Jesus? They said that he broke God's commandment, right? But he didn't. Go to verse six. This is Haman's plan. And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had showed him the people of Mordecai, wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. So, Haman wants to kill all the Jews. Keep your finger. Go to Revelation chapter 12. So, we keep with our chronology. We've talked about what? The bride of Christ and how we're the bride of Christ. But there's an enemy of that bride of Christ. Who's the enemy of Esther? Haman. Who's the enemy of the Christians? Haman, the anti-Christ, okay. And in Revelation chapter number 12, we have an enemy that's coming that wants to destroy us and kill us. Just like Haman wanted to kill Esther, okay. And just like he's against Mordecai. Revelation chapter number 12, look at verse 15. It says, and the serpent cast out of his mouth waters of flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away in the flood of the flood. And the earth helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wrought with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. So, the devil wants to kill the remnant of the woman seed, which is what? It's the Christians. It's those that are saved. Just like Haman wants to kill the Jews, the anti-Christ and the devil wants to kill the Christians. Now, keep your finger here in Revelation. Go back to Esther for a moment because we're going to keep seeing this. It says in verse number eight of chapter three, and Haman said in the King of Nazareth, there's a certain people scattered abroad in this verse among the people and all the provinces of thy kingdom and their laws are diverse from all people. Neither keep they the king's laws. The airport is not for the king's prophet to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed and I'll pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business to bring it into the king's treasuries. And the king took his ring from his hand and gave it unto Haman the son of Hamaditha, the Agagite, the Jews enemy. Says, and the king said unto Haman, the silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee. Then were the king's scribes called in the thirteenth day of the first month and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king's lieutenants and to the governors that were over every province and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof and to every people after their language and the name of king Ahasuerus was it written and sealed with the king's ring. So notice Haman's given a special opportunity here. Haman's given the ability and the authority from king Ahasuerus to kill all of the Jews and notice it's going to be written into what? Every language and everywhere. Now this is a picture of the antichrist. Why? God the father allows the antichrist to come into power of the entire world. Go to if you would to Revelation chapter number six. Go to Revelation chapter number six and his goal is to kill all the Christians. Revelation chapter six verse number nine and when he had opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. Now go flip over to Revelation 13. Flip back over to Revelation 13 and these are parallel you know timings of these of these books. But in Revelation 13 look at verse 15 and he doeth great wonders so he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast which had wound by a sword and did live and he had power to give life under the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed and he causeth all both small and great rich and poor free and bond to receive a mark in the right hand or in their foreheads and that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. So the Bible warns there's a day coming when the Antichrist will have the ability to subject the entire world to his dominion to his control and in every language and in every province what they have to submit to that Antichrist or be killed. Now here's the thing the Jews don't have a chance here it's not like bow down to Haman and they get saved right and Christians don't have a choice either because the Bible says it's impossible for us to believe in him it's about no Christian is going to take the mark no Christian is going to receive this so there's an enemy coming that wants to kill us just like Haman wanted to kill the Jews it's the same picture it's the same Antichrist the same dialogue exactly. Go to chapter four and look at verse one chapter four verse one when Mordecai proceed all that was done Mordecai ran his clothes and put on sackcloth of ashes and went into the midst of the city and cried of the loud and bitter cry and it came even before the king's gate for none might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth and in every province whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came there was a great morning among the Jews and fasting and weeping and wailing and many lay in sackcloth and ashes so Esther's maids and her chamberlains came and told it her then was the queen exceedingly grieved and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai and to take away his sackcloth from him but he received it not. Now here's the thing what we're reading about is sad it's very grievous because the bible makes it clear that it's called great tribulation all those those souls in heaven at that altar were killed in a very grievous way keep your finger go to Daniel chapter seven Daniel chapter number seven when we read about the great tribulation it's not something that's going to be pleasant don't be deceived and think like oh it's going to be so great it's going to be horrible it's going to be horrifying Christians are going to be betrayed by their own brother by their own sister they're going to take pictures of you and report you you know he's not wearing a mask you know I don't know if it's oh I'm sorry was it mask it was he doesn't have the mark okay same difference it's sorrow it's grief look what it says in Daniel chapter 7 verse 25 and he shall speak great words against the most high and shall wear out the saints of the most high and think to change times and laws and they shall be given into his hand until the time and times and the dividing of time now he's giving us the the same event he's going to wear out the saints you know what's crazy about this whole coronavirus thing people will turn in four-year-old kids won't they look at the four-year-old kid playing on the park they're such a terrorist to our health let's report them let's call the cops on them right away you think that I mean it's like crazy that's going to be happening there's going to be people that want children put to death they're going to kill everyone and anyone no one's safe at this time he's going to wear out the saints I'm already worn out all right and we're not even a great tribulation I'm worn out but look at verse 28 hitherto is the end of the matter as for me Daniel my cogitation is much troubled me and my countenance changed in me but I kept the matter in my heart when Daniel realized what was going to happen he was exceeding sad he was exceeding sorrowful because it's a horrible thing notice Mordecai he just rips off his clothes he won't even take clothes it's just such a grievous thing because look the great tribulation is going to be a difficult time it's going to be a great bloodbath of Christians that's just reality now look at chapter number five verse number four chapter number five verse number four of Esther it says and Esther answered if it seemed good under the king let the king and Haman come this day under the banquet that I prepared for him so notice we're we're still keeping the same kind of chronology right we have vastly the Jews are rejected then we have the king seeking for a bride who's that bride it's Esther Esther becomes that bride which is the bride of Christ we have that daily Christian life then we have an enemy the enemy is what the anti-christ but there's going to be an end of the enemy what's the end of the enemy there's a coming banquet it's called the marriage supper of the lamb there is a banquet that is coming and Esther is making petition for this banquet for him to come look at keep your finger here and go to revelation 19 we're going to put there twice in this chapter 6 but look at revelation chapter number 19 and look at verse number 19 and I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army so notice they're gathered together they want to kill him and in chapter I think I'm skipping ahead for a second in chapter number five look at verse number 14 then said zarash his wife and all his friends and then let a gallows be made of 50 cubits high and tomorrow speak thou into the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon then go thou in merrily with the king into the banquet and the thing placed Haman and cause the gals be made so in chapter number five we have that marriage supper coming we have that banquet coming okay and then what happens Haman wants to kill Mordecai he's gathered to kill Mordecai just like we just read in revelation chapter 19 verse 19 where all the armies are gathered together under the battle of Armageddon they're gathered together against who the Lord they're gathered against the Lord Jesus Christ just like he wanted to kill Mordecai okay look at chapter six verse number one on that night could not the king sleep and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles and they were read before the king so notice the king he's he's something happens he ends up thinking about something and that is going to cause him to do what he's thinking about Mordecai okay and how good Mordecai was it says in verse number four and the king said who is in the court now Haman was come into the outward court of the king's house to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gals which he had prepared for him again that's the picture of him being ready to slay him look at verse number eight now let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear and the horse that the king rideth upon in the crown royal which is set upon his head and let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes for they may array the man with all whom the king delighteth honor and bring him on horseback through the street of the city and proclaim before him thus shall be done to the man whom the king delighteth honor then the king said to Haman make haste and take the apparel and the horse as thou said and do even so to Mordecai the jew that said that the king's gate let nothing fail of all that thou has spoken then took Haman the apparel and the horse and raid Mordecai and brought him on horseback through the city through the street of the city and proclaim before him thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth honor now here's the this is the crazy thing about this this book okay so you have Mordecai's plotting to kill I'm sorry Haman's plotting to kill Mordecai right then the king remembers some good thing about Mordecai and he wants to honor him he's telling Haman I want to honor some guy and Haman's thinking like it's obviously me that he wants to honor I'm so great and so wonderful but he really wants to honor Mordecai well Haman tells him how he's supposed to honor him put him on a horse and give him this great clothing and parade him around and say how great he is and then he's like all right do that to Mordecai so he has to do it to his own enemy the guy that he prepared the gals for what's so cool about this is how does that relate to our our bible story okay go to revelation chapter 19 again go back to revelation chapter number 19 and look at verse number 10 and I fell on his feet to worship him and he said unto me see thou do it not I am thy fellow servant and thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus worship God for the testimony of Jesus the spirit of prophecy and I still have it open and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war his eyes was a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God and the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen white and clean so notice there's a battle coming it's that battle of armageddon and the antichrist is gathered against the lord but who's coming Jesus Christ on a horse arrayed in great apparel just like Mordecai on the horse arrayed in great apparel being paraded through the town and what is God going to do with Jesus Christ he's going to exonerate Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is about to come into his triumphal entry as the king but we have this battle don't we just like we have in the book of Esther go back to Esther and go to chapter seven now go to chapter number seven look at verse number one chapter seven verse one so the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen so Esther fasted three days asked the king if him and Haman could come to the banquet they both come to the banquet this is the fourth day they both showed up at the banquet which is a picture of what go back to revelation chapter 19 because we're just it's exactly the same setup revelation chapter 19 look at verse 17 and I saw an angel standing in the sun he cried a loud voice saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven come and gather yourselves together under the supper of the great God that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great so just like Esther is getting Haman to that banquet just as God is bringing the antichrist to that banquet the marriage supper of the lamb and it says in verse number nine and Harbonah one of the chamber of them said before the king behold also the gallows 50 cubitide which Haman had made for Mordecai so Esther points out that Haman's the wicked person Esther says this is that Haman he wants to kill me and the Jews and he even wanted to kill Mordecai which spake good for you Haman's you know freaking out he begs Esther even on her bed like will you please save me and they come and grab him they put a hood over his head they grab him and then this Harbonah is like hey look here's those gallows that he happened to make for Mordecai the guy that spoke good for you and then what happens to him it says the old also the gallows 50 cubits high which Haman had made for Mordecai who had spoken good for the king stand in the house of Haman then the king said hang him there on so they hanged Haman on the gallows that he prepared for Mordecai then was the king's wrath pacified so go to revelation chapter 19 verse 20 what happens to Haman the antichrist it says in revelation chapter 19 verse 20 and the beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image these both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone you know what happens that antichrist he's the first one to kindle the lake of fire for all of us or not us i'm sorry whoa he's for everybody in general and sense but for those that go into the lake of fire right obviously we're not going there all right but who warms up the lake of fire for all the damned the beast and the false prophet the antichrist Haman just hanged on those gallows just like we had in our story now here's the thing you would think it'd be over right but this is not over we still have more chapters so let's keep reading right chapter number eight look at verse 13 the copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published in all people and that the jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves and enemies so in the book of esther it's not all perfect because that commandment that came from the antichrist or from Haman essentially to kill all of them still existed so and they can't reverse it notice you can't reverse the fact that great tribulation is going to happen but they're supposed to be prepared to fight for their lives on that great day is what the jews are supposed to do and they write it and they signify it in the king's name and this is how they're going to defeat those enemies look at verse number 15 it says in Mordecai went out in the presence of the king in royal apparel blue and white and with a great crown of gold and with a garment of fine linen and purple and the city of shushan rejoiced and was glad the jews had light and gladness and joy and honor and every province in every city withers over the king's commandment and his decree came the jews had joy and gladness a feast and a good day and many of the people of the land became jews for the fear of the jews fell upon them now we basically have here a picture of the battle of armageddon is kind of signified with that first writing of how they're going to defend themselves and defeat them then we have what we have jesus christ is going to set up his millennial reign just like mordecai is basically getting to rule and reign and you have all this great stuff but it's interesting here because in chapter number nine look at verse number four for mordecai was great in the king's house and his fame went throughout all the provinces for this man mordecai waxed greater and greater that's a picture of jesus christ's kingdom getting greater and greater in the millennial reign right but then look at verse number 13 then said esther if it pleased the king let it be granted to the jews which are in shushan to do tomorrow also according to this day's decree and let haman's 10 sons be hanged there hang upon the gallows and the king commanded it so to be done and the decree was given at shushan and they hanged haman's 10 sons for the jews that were in shushan gathered themselves together on the 14th they also of the month adar and slew 300 men at shushan but on the prey they laid not their hand now if you don't know the book very well let me try to explain it a little bit better basically haman's killed but he has in the future a day in which all the jews are supposed to be killed all the enemies of the jews are supposed to gather together and kill them this is kind of a picture of that battle of armageddon okay but before then mordecai has already been promoted and it's already kind of a picture of that millennial reign then the day finally comes they defeat and kill all their enemies but then esther asked the king a really interesting request she says hey why don't we do this again tomorrow why don't we tomorrow do the exact same thing now what's interesting about this and i always was struggled with this it's like why did they do this again well there's a very important reason why they did this again keep your finger and go to revelation chapter 20 verse 7 when we think about the timeline of the new testament in the revelation what happens you have the battle of armageddon then you have the millennial reign but what happens right after the millennial reign you have the battle of gog and magog look at verse number seven and when the thousand years are expired satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth gog and magog to gather them together to battle the number of whom is in the sand of the sea so notice the exact same event that you had with the battle of armageddon happens all over again right at the end of the thousand year reign which is the battle of gog and magog which is pictured in the book of esther how they do it all on the 13th day and then they're like you know what let's do it all again on the 14th day the exact same thing we're going to slay all of our enemies and it's another picture of the battle of gog and magon which makes perfect sense it's crazy how these books work go to chapter 10 let's finish the book of esther all right and again this whole book just follows the same it just follows one really cohesive chronology when i read that they're like doing it again you know i've heard all kinds of weird you know stories like oh it's just because the jews are bloodthirsty that's just like i don't get that like what's the symbolism that doesn't make any sense but the fact that it's the battle of gog and magog and the battle of the of uh or the part of armageddon and the battle of magog and magog sorry that makes perfect sense and it fits exactly like the book of ezekiel i haven't preached this yet but if you study the book of ezekiel it gives you the battle of gog and magog however the first time you're going through that that's actually the battle of armageddon because it clearly shows the marriage supper the lamb and the fowls coming and eating and then it's used again as the battle of gog and magog so it's dual fulfillment of two future events that are going to happen just like this is a dual fulfillment of two things happening again for sake of time i'm not going to prove all that but look at chapter 10 verse 1 and the king of hasris laid a tribute upon the land and upon the isles of the sea and all the acts of his power and of his might in the declaration of the greatness of mortichai wherein to the king advanced him are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of the media and persia for mortichai the jew was next unto the king hasris and great among the jews and accepted of the multitude of his brethren seeking the wealth of his people and seeking peace to all i see now after the battle of gog and magog what happens jesus christ is going to reign forever and ever and it's just peace and he's they're all accepted and it's just he's right next on the king of hazard it's perfect it just exactly fits go to revelation 22 go to revelation chapter 22 last place i'll have you turn look at verse number one and he showed me a pure river of water of life clearest crystal proceeding out of the throne of god and of the lamb and in the midst of the street of it on either side of the river was there the tree of life which bear 12 manner fruits and gilded her fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations and there shall be no more curse but the throne of god and of the lamb shall be in it and his servant shall serve him the exact same ending now what's so cool about this is when we think about the book of esther how does it kind of start it starts with what the jews being rejected and being replaced with esther which is a picture of what the christians and then after that you have what the anti-christ then you have the defeat of the anti-christ you have the battle of armageddon you have the millennial reign you have the battle of gog and magog and then you have jesus christ at the end with set up with god the father now how could you pick a better book to end the old testament chronology i mean what's going to happen at the end of the jews they're going to be rejected and then we're going to be ushered into what the new testament it actually is a perfect book to end the the old testament chronology now obviously it's not the end of the old testament what i'm saying is when you study how it's the history that's a perfect book to symbolize how we're going to be entering in to the new testament and all the prophecies that are going to happen so you know what if someone comes i've heard look there's christians good people say people they'll say the the whole book of esther is just bad and like mordecai's the bad guy and i'm just thinking like what in the world you know there's some weird theories out there about the book of esther all right i would hope after a sermon like this and comparing spiritual spiritual i've exonerated the book of esther in your eyes i mean how could a man write that book i mean that fits perfect that's hand in glove for me i think it's case closed and look there's a lot of other great things we could get out of the book of esther but i like how it pictures all the in the prophecies that we have today so if we study our bibles and we're always looking for jesus you will find him when we're always looking for you know mordecai pictures jesus i'm in case calls okay and