Esther 4:1 When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry;
2 And came even before the king’s gate: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth.
3 And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
Mordecai was beginning to experience the effects of secrecy with that which must be public. He did not grasp his sin here. We do not know that he ever acknowledged that. When those who are supposed to be God’s people think they can just blend in with the culture, they will find themselves in trouble. Israel is still suffering today because they want to be a secular people. The devil hates the Jews. He does not care if they are secular or God-fearing. He hates them. He has instilled that hatred into his followers. No one can escape God’s wrath by blaming the devil.
The Muslims are one of the main haters of the Jews in our time. They have been greatly assisted in their hatred by the Catholics. The Catholics claim to be the replacement for Israel. They want to claim the promises made to Israel. In order for them to do that, they have to get rid of the Jews. Islam is an offspring of Catholicism. The Catholics and Muslims worked together to counsel Hitler to try to get rid of the Jews. They failed, but they have not given up trying to do so. The antichrist will work feverishly during his seven years to wipe them out, but he too will fail.
In New Testament times, when Israel was cut off at the root by God, born again Christians were to be His vehicle for reaching the world. Local churches were to be His place where saints would meet to be strengthened in their faith. Saints were to go out from the local church into the world to reach the lost. The lost were to be able to come to the local church to hear the truth and be saved and baptized and serve the Lord.
Sadly, in many instances the world has come into the church and changed the church from a God-fearing place to a social club. Preaching must be preaching. It cannot be story telling. It cannot be tiptoeing around Bible doctrines. When the preaching and teaching is weak, the results will be weak as well.
We have seen how the governments have taken advantage of the apostasy and they have claimed authority over the churches. A fictitious idea that has been promoted for a long time is the idea of separation of church and state. What that fictitious idea has really produced is the dominance of the state over the church. The state has done what the churches are supposed to do. This was a problem in Jesus’ day as well. The Roman government had the Jewish state under its thumb. Jesus Christ came and taught the truth. He established His church in Jerusalem. From there it branched out, after His ascension. Churches were established, but false teachers and false churches were also established. Most people harden themselves against the convicting work of the Holy Spirit and they gravitate to the socially engineered churches. They like what they hear and it makes them feel somewhat good in their sin. The world hates the few who would dare to follow God’s way.
In the book of Acts we read of the accusations against the apostles:
Acts 17:6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;
Even in that time, there was a disorder of things. Rather than God being acknowledged as the authority, the Roman empire had claimed superiority to God. Jesus Christ came and lived under that system. The Jewish leaders, ie the chief priests and Pharisees, etc. lived and operated under that system. Jesus Christ, of course, did not submit to that system. He taught the truth. He exposed the hypocrisy of the religious false teachers. He also exposed king Herod as “that fox”. Jesus told Pilate:
John 19:11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
The separation of church and state theory is a corruption of God’s design. He is to be the authority and all people are under His authority. He gives man much rope with which to hang himself, but man will be accountable to God. It is imperative that those who are saved, be a light in this dark world.
In Mordecai’s day, the nation of Israel had failed to be a light as a nation and thus God had sent them into exile. His design for Israel was that they should demonstrate the power and holiness of God as they were to live under His law and thus show the nations the blessing of living under God’s law. There were times when a few Gentiles were attracted to Israel because they saw God’s blessing there. However, those times were few.
Daniel and his three friends were convinced of the faithfulness of God and they remained faithful to Him even while in exile. They had a great impact on two world empires in their time because of that. God has used their testimony since that time, to encourage others to know and follow the true God.
Mordecai chose the path of compromise that most Jews had long ago adopted. Now it was beginning to backfire rather obviously.
Mordecai was greatly grieved by the possibility of seeing his entire people destroyed. He did not turn to God at this time. He turned to the midst of the city and cried with a loud and bitter cry. He came to the king’s gate dressed in sackcloth. He knew it was against the law to appear at the king’s gate dressed in such a manner, but he did not care.
We have seen a degree of opposition to the ungodly decrees our governments tried to impose on us all over the past several years. Many of those took their trucks and other things and tried to wake up society to the evils coming upon us. The government did not hesitate to flex its muscles and they shut down the protests. There are people sitting in jail today because they defied the government mandates. Those people are not saved. They are like Mordecai. They saw something was wrong, but they did not know the true God and they did not turn to the right Source for help.
The Jews that were in exile were not sent into exile to overthrow the ungodly empires. The Babylonians were not defeated by godly Jews. They were defeated by wicked Medo/Persians. The Medo/Persians would not be defeated by godly Jews. They were defeated by the Greek empire.
The Jews that were in exile were supposed to learn the importance of repentance toward God. They needed to turn back to their true King, but they did not do that.
Mordecai wanted to live comfortably in a pagan land. Since he took a wrong approach, as did many of the Jews of that time, he along with all the Jews that were in exile were in danger of annihilation.
In verse 3 we read that in every province where the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews. They would fast and weep and wail. They would dress in sackcloth and ashes. But they did not turn to God. There was no revival here. It did not even occur to them to turn back to God.
Again, that is the same problem today in the Gentile world. Churches are not waking up and turning back to God. They are bowing further and further to the ungodly governments. They are continuing to go down the road to destruction. The people attending those social churches cannot even see the danger they are in. Few are waking up because there is no Gospel in those places. The perversions have no power and God cannot bless what is happening there. The people are deceived into thinking God is doing amazing things there, but in reality it is all the work of the flesh. The devil is happy to deceive people into thinking they are good when they are not.
We are seeing people being groomed by the devil to prepare to accept the antichrist when he comes. He will be welcomed with open arms by those left behind at that time. No true saints will be on this earth at the beginning of that seven year period.
It is important that we not elevate personal experience above the Word of God. The Word of God is still the Truth. It always will be the Truth. The true Biblical local church is the place where you will hear the truth. The true Biblical local church is not program oriented. It is Bible oriented. It does not try to slip the Bible into its programs. The Bible is the central factor in a true local church. The preaching and teaching of God’s Word is central to all that is done. I know this is not popular today. In reality it seldom has been. In the first chapters of the book of Acts we see large numbers being saved and added to the local church. As we move along, we see a massive change taking place in the first century. The book of the Revelation was written in the early 90’s AD. Jesus addressed seven churches in chapters 2&3. There were problems that had developed in most of those churches and they needed to be addressed. Those churches did not heed Jesus’ warnings, and they fell apart.
In every generation, there have been a few people who have heeded the convicting work of the Holy Spirit and they have been born again. True churches have existed throughout church history. They have not kept the same names, but God has seen to it that His witness will always be there. He is not willing that any should perish and He has preserved His Word and made it possible for people to know the truth in every generation.
Today is the Lord’s day. God has given us the opportunity to attend a true local church where we can hear the truth preached. Don’t be deceived by a place that claims to be a church but uses some perversion to entice people to come. Don’t be deceived by a place that uses the KJV but only uses that as a decoy to bring in modernist philosophies. God is gracious and He will show you where His truth is being taught, if you will listen to Him.
We do not need more Mordecais today. We need more Daniels. There will always be a few Daniels. Take advantage of the opportunity God has given you to attend a true church this morning.
Pastor Bartel
