Esther 9:27 The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;
28 And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.
29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim.
30 And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,
31 To confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry.
32 And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.
Understanding of God’s Word depends on our understanding of God. God gave us the correct view of Himself. He began by showing us His power, wisdom and omnipresence. He showed us that He made a perfect world and put a man into that world who did not know sin. Man was made with the capacity to sin, but he was not a sinner at creation. God allowed the man to discover that there was no help meet for him in the animal world. He saw that every male animal had its female counterpart. He noticed that he did not have one. God knew all about that and on day six, God also made the woman and brought her to Adam and allowed Adam to identify her and name her. God continued to show the order of things in that action. Then at the end of Genesis 2 God showed us the perfect union between the man and the woman. There was a unique relationship there that would never be duplicated.
In Genesis 3 we read of the tragic fall of man. That changed everything about God’s creation. It did not change God, nor did it change His holiness nor His love.
In the book of Esther we have a history of a pagan nation — Persia, and the people that were supposed to know the true God — the Jews. The Jews in Persia at that time, chose to remain there, even though they were given the opportunity to go back home and rebuild the homeland that God gave to Abraham several hundred years earlier. The same God that promised that land to Abraham and blessed that land in the days of king David and king Solomon, was still the same God at the time of Esther. Sadly, the exile did not break every Jew and cause them to realize their need to turn back to God. God uses different circumstances to help people to stop and consider the direction they are taking.
Man likes to take his circumstances and use them as an excuse for the choices he makes. He twists what God wants to do and uses that as a crutch to excuse his sin. Adam did that in the Garden. We have all done that in our lives.
In our text in Esther, we are looking at God’s mighty hand in protecting His people, even though they were not looking for His protection. The Jews did not want to die. They did not like the plot that Haman had cooked up. They looked at life through the lens of fate, rather than the lens of hope.
We see in verse 27 that the Jews wanted their descendants to remember this amazing deliverance they experienced here at that time. No one can argue that this was an amazing piece of history. The tables were turned in an amazing way.
Probably, Mr. Trump would like to see some amazing thing happening in the Middle East right now. He has no clue how to move forward with the current stalemate in Iran. They are good liars and he is on thin ice with certain segments of government in the U.S. He talks big but he does not have the answer to what the next step needs to be. He expected a different outcome than what the current situation is. With religious counsellors like Paula White and Kenneth Copeland, he will never get any good counsel.
Yesterday was termed a day of prayer for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. There were different people that were reported to be part of the team of ‘prayer partners’ associated with the President and his government. Some of them, including himself were unrepentant adulterers who had no audience with God due to their rebellion against Him. The media could not tell the difference and they just spewed out their assigned talking points. Many people watched that and were quite impressed with what was going on. Of course the Muslim population in the U.S. hated it and they will continue to plot the overthrow of the U.S. government. The Democrats will help them with that.
In the closing verses of Esther chapter 9, we continue to read of the plans that the Jews had in mind for remembering this important event. In verse 29 we read of the second letter that went out to establish this feast of Purim. God recorded all this in His inspired Word. God does not hide the facts. What we have in the book of Esther is all true. It was not all according to God’s will, but He knew all about it and He included it in His Book, the Bible, for our learning.
As we have mentioned before, the Jews still keep the feast of Purim now. This year it was held on March 2&3. They have their stories of this day in their history and for most it is just a secular commemoration. As we read in verse 32, the decree of Esther was written in the book. God wants us to remember this aspect of Jewish history. He protected them, even when they were not interested in knowing Him.
God is still doing that today.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
God loves the Jews. He also loves the Gentiles. He sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die on the cross of Calvary for our sins while we were yet sinners. We were not looking for Him. He was reaching out to man, providing that which man needs, but was not seeking after.
John 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Jesus started with His own people, the Jews. However, His message and His offer of forgiveness and salvation is not restricted to the Jews.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
It is important for us to study all Scripture. That includes the book of Esther. It is important that we not study any of the Scriptures to try to find a loophole to justify sin. That is not God’s intent, and it should not be ours. We, those who are born again, need to learn the lessons God gives us and we need to ask Him to help us to set up safeguards against falling into the traps of previous generations. We will all sin. We should not live carelessly, and assume that since we will all sin and since God is a God of love, it will all work out in the end. It will work out well for those who walk humbly with Him and submit to His will. Prayerfully, that includes you.
Pastor Bartel