Last Wednesday we talked about a plot that was uncovered by Esther & Mordecai… to assassinate the King however before she goes into the Kings presents with this news another plot has unfolded…
It seems Haman (king’s right hand man) had devised a plan to kill all of the Jews in Persia… so Esther must now go to the King on behalf of the Jewish nation… she finds favor and Haman is punished and the Jews are saved…
ESTHER 9:13-32
Life Lessons From The Life Of Esther:
1. SHE RECEIVED THE GOLDEN SCEPTER
Let’s pick up where we left off… Esther takes a deep breath… and is about to enter the Kings courts unsummoned.
Will he accept her or will he reject her and have her killed?
As the King reached down with his hand would we pick up the spear of death or the golden scepter of life?
The King lifted up the scepter much to the delight of Queen Esther. She had gained both entrance and approval of the King.
So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the King held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand.
Esther 5:2
What a beautiful type of Jesus the golden scepter becomes…
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His Spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom…
Matthew 27:50-51
The golden scepter being lifted up the King resembles for us today our heavenly father lifting up his Son Jesus so we Christians today and gain both entrance and approval into the courts of our Heavenly Father.
There is no doubt that this scene here falls short when likening God to the Persian King, but I can see the hinged door as the law, demanding perfection, and the scepter as the cross of forgiveness and divine acceptance.
There are many Christians who struggle with acceptance and forgiveness, from God the Father. They must embrace the golden scepter of the cross and rest in the arms of a loving Lord.
The veil of the temple was torn in two for our sakes by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, just as the hinged door opened for Esther.
Friend you are accepted in the courts of the Lord because of the love and sacrifice of Jesus. Enjoy your relationship with the Lord, receive now His acceptance of you, and begin today to rest in His boundless love.
2. SHE PLEASED THE KING
The phrase, “if it pleases the king” is said so often in the book of Esther that it becomes appearant that the Holy Spirit is saying something the each believer reading it.
Esther 5:4, 8; 7:3; 9:13
Esther was consumed with pleasing her King; in fact her desire to please go well beyond any human fear, but is instead founded on the biblical truth of loyalty.
Loyalty is something often associated with lords and knights of mid-evil times, but in a much larger sense it has great application to the Christian life.
If Christians are committed to pleasing King Jesus as Esther was to pleasing an earthly King, than we have more disciples in churches today than converts. After all isn’t that really what God is searching for, real disciples, men and women who embrace the discipling of becoming like Jesus?
So we make it our goal to please Him, whether at home in the body or away from it.
2 Corinthians 5:9
The apostle Paul expressed that it was his ambition to be pleasing to God, what is the ambition of the Christian sitting in the pew of today’s church?
How many decisions in our lives are based on the premise, “will this please my Lord or displease Him?”
How many conversations are based on the question, will my words please Jesus?
How many of our daily actions rest in pleasing God? Pleasing the king is seemed to occupy the thought-life of Queen Esther. Is Pleasing Jesus what occupies your thoughts?
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. Hebrews 11:5
It is said of Enoch that he pleased God. Only five verses in the Bible are given to this great saint, yet the one thing we know of him is that his faith pleased his Lord.
If only five verses would be recorded on the life of every Christian today, how many of them could be summarized by these three words, “they pleased God”
Could these words summarize your Christian life up to this point? If not than ask the Holy Spirit to help you please the Father
3. SHE LIVED IN CELEBRATION OF DELIVERENCE
Esther 9:13-32
The swords were quiet now and no more blood flowed on the battlefield. The ten sons of Haman were hanged and a peaceful calm rested on the Persian Empire.
Now was a time for celebration, for feasting and rejoicing because sorrow had turned to gladness and mourning into a holiday.
The enemy had threatened to exterminate the Jewish nation, but God had rescued them through His vessels, Esther & Mordecai. (Esther 9:20-22)
It was agreed to that all Israel would celebrate an annual holiday to observe and commemorate the victory of the Jews over Haman and his evil henchmen.
The name of the holiday would be PURIM, because Haman cast two pur, or lots, to determine the day he would slaughter the Hebrews, and to this day PURIM is celebrated annually.
Judaism has its PURIM and Christianity has Easter and Christmas. The question is not the celebration of these holidays but is there still life in the celebrations?
It is possible for our spiritual calendars to become dead tradition instead of days of life and refreshment to our spirit man.
This is what happened to the scribes and Pharisees in the day of Jesus; the day became more important than the event that birthed the day.
Matthew 15:1-9
Christmas can become just another day to exchange presents, and the birth of Jesus can get lost in the glitter and tinsel. Easter can digress into egg-hunts and ham dinners without the reality of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lamb of God.
Then they said to Him, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast when we are suppose to, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus said, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a patch of unshrunk clothe on an old garment for the patch will pull away making the tear worse. Neither do men put new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, spilling with wine onto the floor and the wineskins will be ruined. No they pour new wine into new wineskins.” Matt. 9:14-17
In every generation we must guard against dead tradition. Days are just a shadow, but the substance is God and what was accomplished in all of eternity.
Everyday should be a celebration of the Christian life, but certain days are set aside to remember sacred events. Let’s strive to keep them sacred.
If you have allowed sacred days to become just days, repent unto the Lord and allow Him to change every day to SUNDAY in your Christian walk.
