Let us go to Esther. But before I read this, let me just, once again, quickly point out the spiritual chronology that we have found so far in the book of Esther. It starts in chapter one with Vashti. Vashti was a type of national Israel who was married to God. Then God divorced Israel and put them away at the cross. Then, at that time, it was God’s plan to send the Gospel out into the world.
So Esther chapter one identifies with Israel, spiritually, and the picture is through Vashti. Then in chapter two, there is a call that is sent out to all of the provinces that the king desires a bride, and so all of the virgins are gathered to Shushan the palace; and “Shushan” is a word that means “lily,” which is completely associated with Christ.
So the virgins are coming from all 127 provinces, or the whole world, and they are coming to Christ, or Shushan, and they are gathered into the “house of the women,” which would point to the church or the house of God.
The eternal Church is the only real Bride of Christ; but during the church age, we could not make this distinction. In the corporate body, we did not know who was saved or unsaved. We did not know who the wheat or the tares were.
So this is pointing to the “house of the women,” and there was a “keeper of the women” who was Hege who gave them their things for purification. This is just as Ephesians 5 tells us that Christ washes His Bride, the Church, through the “washing of water by the word.”
So Hege purified the women who were brought into the house. This would point to those who came into the churches during the church age. They were purified by the Word of God if they were saved.
Then Esther spends one year being purified. This is accomplished with six months of oil and myrrh and with six months of sweet odors. This, again, would have to do with the washing away of sin and the purification of the elect. Then she is brought to the king. Then at the end of chapter two, after Esther becomes his bride, we find the two doorkeepers or the two chamberlains who were wroth with the king. They were rebel doorkeepers.
There are three things that identify with the church. One is the number two, because the number two has to do with the caretakers of the Word. The second one is the fact that they were rebels. They were not faithful doorkeepers, because they had plotted against the king. And the third one is that they were doorkeepers. Christ is the door and it was the task of the true believers who were in the churches and, therefore, the task of the churches to keep the door, the door to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Then their plot was found out, as it says in Esther 2:22:
And the thing was known to Mordecai…
Mordecai is a picture of Christ. Of course, the rebellious nature of the church has always been completely known by Christ. He has always known the true hearts of so many who were in the churches. They were never really born again. They were never truly the people of God, only in name. Then we read of a plot to kill the king.
Can we really think that the churches and congregations would desire to kill God since King Ahasuerus typifies God? Well, remember the parable that Jesus gave of Israel when God the Father sent many messengers to warn the people in the parable about the husbandmen and the vineyard. Then, finally, he sent his son, and they killed the son. We read, “But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.” Well, the Son, of course, is Christ, and this is referring to Israel. They desired to kill God and they actually took Christ to the cross.
So the rebellious nature of man certainly can go as far as actually wanting to rebel against God and to be rid of Him. And these two doorkeepers fit this mold and are a good illustration, a spiritual picture, of the church at its end.
This was found out. Inquisition was made of the matter as it says in Esther 2:23:
And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree…
When did God make inquisition of the sins of the church? He did this at the end of the church age. They had always had sin; but, finally, He established a time. He gave space to repent; but when they did not repent, He comes, makes inquisition, finds many high places, many sins and rebellious things, judges the church, and makes them a public shame.
This is what we have had since the end of the church age. Since May 21, 1988, the church has been under the judgment of God. It has been an open judgment because they were not killed and put away somewhere. They are still on every street corner.
Remember that being hanged has to do with being cursed. These two were hung on a tree; they were cursed. Later, Haman will be hung. Then later, Haman’s ten sons will be hung. God is illustrating, “You are under my curse.”
The church became the emissaries of Satan, then we have Satan himself, who is typified by Haman, and Haman’s ten sons, who also are representing Satan but just in different aspects because it is teaching different aspects of him. And all come under the judgment of God. All will be cursed, because these were hung on a tree.
After the two doorkeepers are hung, then we immediately read in Esther 3:1:
After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.
When the church age ended, what also happened? Satan was loosed. When Satan was loosed, God gave him authority to rule in the churches and congregations. We will not go there, but read Revelation 13. The beast that comes up out of the sea is given authority.
Satan took his seat in the temple, and it says here that Ahasuerus promotes Haman, advances him, and then:
…set his seat above all the princes that were with him.
So Satan is given official rule and authority over the churches and congregations of the world.
We know that Ahasuerus is a type of God and the only thing that identifies with this would be the promotion of Satan at the time of the great tribulation and the end of the church age when God loosed him. We have seen this already take place.
We keep saying that Haman is Satan. Of course, this is very clear when you read the book of Esther that he does typify Satan, because Haman is called the enemy and the adversary by Esther.
Look at Esther 3:5-6:
And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not…
Remember that Mordecai is a type of Christ. Are we really saying that Satan would want Christ to bow down to Him? What happened in the wilderness when Christ was tempted of the devil? What did Satan ask Him to do? He wanted Christ to worship him and then he would give Christ all of these things. Yes; Satan wants to be God.
It continues:
And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath.
This also reminds us of Nebuchadnezzar when the three young Hebrew men would not bow down when he made the image of gold. It tells us in Daniel that he was full of fury.
So Haman is “full of wrath,” and then it continues:
And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone…
That is, it was not good enough just to kill Mordecai. He was so full of hatred and despised Mordecai so much, as we continue to read:
…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.
Mordecai is Christ. Who are those people, those Jews who are throughout the 127 provinces? They are God’s elect.
Satan has long wanted this. For a long time, he has desired to kill each and every one of us. He would like nothing better, even when Christ was born, as we read in Revelation 12 where the woman brought forth the man child and then He was “caught up unto God, and to his throne.”
If we go to Revelation 12:6, we read:
And the woman fled into the wilderness…
And this woman represents the true believers. It continues:
…where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
That would be for the New Testament period.
Then we read in Revelation 12:7-13:
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
He went after the body of believers. He could not get to Christ anymore. Jesus went to Heaven, but who was still on earth? It was the believer.
Therefore, all down through the centuries, Satan has stirred up things in generation after generation to get to God’s people to destroy them. Of course, he primarily works through false gospels. Church after church has fallen away. Sometimes, it has been whole denominations, but sometimes he can stir up people even to do physical violence; and so, “Let us burn the heretics! Let us kill them in some way!” God’s people have been killed this way because it has always been the desire of Satan to destroy Christ and His people.
But remember that there is a spiritual chronology in the book of Esther. We read of national Israel and then of the church age with the gathering of the virgins. Then we read of the end of the church age with the killing of the two doorkeepers. And then the advancement of Haman is representing the great tribulation.
Is it true that during the great tribulation, Satan wanted to kill Christ and that he wanted to kill the believers? Let us go back to Esther 3. We read in Esther 3:2-5:
And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence. Then the king's servants, which were in the king's gate, said unto Mordecai…
By the way, in relation to “the king’s servants” and “the king’s gate,” “the king’s gate” is the door. Again, this would be pointing to the churches and congregations, as that would be the entry point into the Kingdom of Heaven. Traditionally, that is where the Bible was found and where people would go to hear and to become saved.
So they said unto Mordecai:
Why transgressest thou the king's commandment? Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's matters would stand: for he had told them that he was a Jew. And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath.
Let us see how this fits the great tribulation in Revelation 13. Revelation 13 is a chapter describing Satan’s ascent out of the bottomless pit. God gives him authority in the world and in the church. He is typified by a beast, and it says in Revelation 13:14 that they made “an image to the beast.” Then we read in Revelation 13:15-16:
And he had power to give life unto 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 their right hand, or in their foreheads:
So the image of the beast is made and it was to be worshipped, which is just like we read in the book of Daniel when they are told to bow down to the image. If you do not bow down and if you do not worship, it says in Revelation 13 that you will be killed. You will be killed and you will be called a heretic by the church. You will be driven out of the congregations, as many of God’s people were during the period of the 23-year great tribulation. This would be like the Jews of old who would cast someone out of the synagogue if they did not do what the authorities of the Pharisees and the Sadducees wanted them to do.
So that is what this is pointing to. Spiritually, Haman is advanced by the king, which pictures God giving Satan rule where all in the churches were to bow down to him. But Mordecai refused. And we know that Christ is not in the world in the sense that Mordecai, historically, was in Shushan, but Christ’s Spirit is in His people.
So Haman desires to kill Mordecai, but not him alone, “Let me kill the people of Mordecai, all of the Jews.” What hatred! It goes on to speak of him wanting to kill all the men, women, children, old, and young. He wanted everyone dead, every single Jew.
We know that there is an undercurrent of hatred towards the people of God in this world. Jesus said, “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.” It hated Him and it will hate you, too.
Who is able to stir this up, this animosity that is in the hearts of unsaved people? Satan is able to direct this, but only at God’s allowance. He cannot do anything that God would not want him to do, but he has been able to do this as God would allow him to do it.
Let us go to Esther 3:7. This says:
In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar.
Now it is going to start to get interesting; because when were they casting the Lot? This is Haman and he is going to whoever it was that cast lots. Maybe he went to a soothsayer or something like that. Maybe Haman was a superstitious man and wanted to be sure that he picked the right day.
So he went to someone, whoever this individual was and however that was arranged in those days, and the lot was cast for the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus “from day to day” and from “month to month.” This was probably happening on the first day of the month, even though it does not say this. This just tells us that it was the first month. But in order to pick a day, the first day could fall on any day of the year and it could fall on any month.
So the lot was cast, but it does not tell us here except it is basically like they laid out the whole calendar for the coming year; and so the lot was cast. Then we read in Esther 3:13:
And the letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar…
So that was the day that the lot selected. I guess we could look at this as dice. I do not know; maybe it was a short straw. But how ever it was that they cast the lot, it fell on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month.
This by itself is interesting because we have the number 13 and 13 identifies with the end of the world. 1988 was the 13,000th year of history and the beginning of the great tribulation; and here, we are looking at a time where Haman is picturing Satan the beast during the great tribulation.
We also have the number 12 which has to do with fullness. This means that we could say, since this is dealing with a calendar date, that this is in relation to the fullness of time at the end of the world.
Of course, if they had picked the lot for a birthday party, that would not have fit. But what was the purpose of that lot? It was not to throw a party. It was to bring judgment to kill all Jews, to kill all of the elect; and we will have to talk about this idea another time.
But this idea does fit Judgment Day. This is because out in the world, God had all kinds of elect who had never heard the Gospel. Satan, of course, did not want them to hear the Gospel and become saved. He wanted to kill them. If the day of judgment came and they had never heard the Gospel and had never become saved, he would have accomplished this. This is one way that we can look at this.
Anyway, the day was chosen. If it was the first day of the month, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month would be 338 days later. Someone wrote me a breakdown of this number and it was 2x13x13, but I did not jot it down. This would be from day one of the twelfth year to the thirteenth day of the twelfth month. Please check me on this.
So the lot was cast and Haman picked the day of judgment. Does this mean that Satan picks the day of judgment? Is this true? No. No; this is not true. This is not possible. He is not the one who is in control of all things; God is.
When we read about the lot, it is always good to keep this verse in mind. It is the last verse of Proverbs 16. We read in Proverbs 16:33:
The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of JEHOVAH.
As far as the lot, from our perspective, we do not know what is going to happen. This is part of the excitement of gambling. When people go to Atlantic City or Nevada and they are gambling, they do not know what that card is going to be and they do not know the way the dice are going to turn, if it is going to be a winner for them or if they are going to lose. They are casting the lot and they are hoping to win. Really, they are hoping that God will help them because they even pray, “Oh help me win. Turn that die.”
They are hoping and hoping this because deep down we all know that God is in control of all things. He orchestrates all events. Nothing happens randomly or coincidentally or by chance. He is the One who is the supreme worker behind the scenes of all of our lives and all things in our lives, which is incredible to think about but it is true.
This does not mean that He is responsible for our sin, because we are. But this does mean that He knows about it, He allows it, and He either puts His hand of restraint on it or He lifts His hand of restraint from it.
He works this way in thousands of ways that we cannot even imagine. Each and every day, circumstances that we think are just random or things that we think happen accidentally are things that are in complete control by God. He even tells us for His people only, the true believer, “All things work together for good to them that love God.” This means all things, whether you become a slave like Joseph or whether you are taken into a harem like Esther, all things means every minute detail. It means every phone call. It means every time you get up out of bed an hour late or an hour early. Whatever it is in our lives, all things work together for good.
It is not out of the hand of God that May 21 and that October 21 came not as we expected. Those things work together for good for the people of God also. We might think, “Oh, no! No; God is unfavorable to us now. He is not looking at us in the same way that He did before.” But, no; He always works all things for good for His people, even though for a period of time we may not see this.
It may not feel this way for us. We just get the highlights in the Bible, but Joseph really had to spend time as a slave. He really had to spend many nights in a prison with no comfort of any kind, apparently, except He knew and trusted God.
So the lot is mentioned here, but I want to jump ahead because we are running out of time today. Even so, I really want to look at this. In Daniel 12:13, I want to connect this to Esther 9, because we are going to think about the lot and why it is that we are in the book of Esther. It says in Daniel 12:13:
But go thou thy way till the end be…
This is what God said to Daniel and there is no question as to what end He is talking about. He just got done giving him so much revelation dealing with the end of time.
It continues:
But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
I am sure that people have found something to be true, because God’s people love to study the Bible. Today, we are just blessed with concordances. But when you are doing a Bible study and you find a word, one word in a verse, you take that word to see wherever else that word is found. If you find another passage or verse that seems to identify with one word, you made a connection and you can begin to see that somehow those verses are related.
So you have found one word and you are normally pleased with this because there is something else in another part of the Bible that is shedding some light on this one particular word. Then sometimes you find two words that identify with another verse and it is just a double emphasis, “These two verses really do identify.” But it is very, very rare that you find three words. Very rare, I think.
I am sure this has happened but I cannot remember the last time that I found three words that identified with another passage in one verse. But in Daniel 12:13, we actually have four. We have four big similarities between this verse and Esther 9. Three of them are words and I think that everybody will be able to see this quickly. The fourth one is difficult. The fourth one is difficult, but this is because we are trained to look spiritually. In this case, for the fourth one, we have to kind of take a step back and look at it more plainly and more naturally.
So the first word is “rest.” Let us go to Esther 9:15-16:
For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand. But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey,
We will not do this due to time, but verse 17 also mentions “rest,” verse 18 mentions “rest,” and verse 22 mentions “rest.”
Consider one other thing related to the lot. The land of Canaan was given as an inheritance to the people of God by lot. The lot decided that Judah got a certain portion of land and that Simeon got another portion of land, and so on with all of the tribes.
What did they have to do first before they stood in their lot? This word rest/rested, the same word in Daniel and Esther, is also used in association with the distribution with the land of Canaan. So what did they have to do first? They had to kill their enemies. They had to kill all of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan and then they could stand in the lot. It was then that they could receive the portion of their inheritance after all of their enemies were killed.
So in Esther, the Feast of Purim is the Feast of Lots. This is because “Purim” is a plural word for “lot.” “Pur” is “lot.” And in the Feast of Lots, they killed their enemies and then they rested, which is very similar to the account of Joshua.
So one word is “rest.” Let us go to Daniel 12:13 again:
But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand…
We just read this word “stand” in Esther 9:16:
But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies…
This word is also found in Esther 8:11:
Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life…
Stand and then rest; and so those two words are there. Then, of course, we read of the lot, as it says in Daniel 12:13:
But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
So the lot was cast at the beginning of Ahasuerus’ twelfth year, probably on the first day. The lot was cast and the date was chosen by God. He picks a date: the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar. A post will be sent out on the thirteenth day of the first month, so it would be exactly eleven months later.
But in the beginning of the year, the end is selected, as God says that He knows the end from the beginning. He chooses the date of Purim and He chose it by lot; and to “stand in thy lot at the end of the days” would be to go the length of time until you come to that actual day that the lot selected.
That was the third tie-in. The fourth is something that I do not think that anybody is going to get. I really do not think that anybody is going to get this. But let me say this: this is a hint and a clue. It is not inspired.
When we look at chapters and verses in the Bible, God did not give them to us. The original Hebrew and the original Greek of the Bible did not have the breakdowns of the chapters and verses. It was later that they were added, but God does recognize them; and this was a very wise thing to do.
Just think of how easy it makes it to turn to any point in a book. Think how difficult it would be to find something again in a book with a thousand pages. You would be going back and forth, because you would have no idea and no system to find something.
What a beautiful system it was to break down the Bible into names of books, divided by chapters and verse-by-verse. This was really an excellent and wise system. I think we can see the hand of God in governing this as these men went to work. He allowed them to come up with this and to put this in place; and this has been a big help.
How could we have a concordance without it? We could have the words, but how could we direct people where to go? It would be so hard to teach. Everyone would have to sit with their Bibles closed. When the teacher or the pastor during the church age would make reference, he would only be able to read it. He would not be able to direct you where to go.
In Acts 13:33, it refers back to “the second Psalm”; and so there is a number. This indicated that God accepted that the Psalms were broken up into numbers. There was a first Psalm, therefore, and then there was a second Psalm.
However, saying all of this, I would not say that this is inspired. But we are learning from the book of Esther, which teaches us about the providence of God, that He knows all things, that He works in all things. For instance, our names are not in the Bible if we are a child of God, if we are elect; but God has known them before time. Before the world began, He recorded the names of His people in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
In other words, He knew perfectly the breaking up and the division of the Bible by book, by chapter, by verse. This was not a hard thing for Him to do.
So in Daniel 12:13, we find three things that identify with Esther 9 very clearly. Without any question, these things point to that chapter. This is how God instructs us and this is how He often teaches us, by comparing word with word, Scripture with Scripture; and three things point to Esther 9 where we see a clear identification.
The fourth thing is the reference: Daniel chapter twelve, verse thirteen (Daniel 12:13). What do we find in Esther 9? When does Purim take place? It takes place on the twelfth month and on the thirteenth day.
Again, this is outside of the Bible, but this is not outside of the working of God. It is God, I think, encouraging us that, yes, we are to take a look at Esther 9. If we had one word, I probably would not say anything; but we have three words. Please, try to find another verse that identifies with another passage in this way with three words, unless it is something like a Psalm that is restated almost word-for-word.
But in the case of having an independent Scripture verse where you are trying to find where it leads, if you find three words, it is like a blinking light with God putting His finger on that passage. Then to find that it just so happens that the Scripture reference identifies and matches up perfectly with the date of Purim of 12/13, I think that this is a little bit beyond coincidence.
Lord willing, we are going to continue on next week. We need to move a little faster. Things will really start happening when we get into the next couple of chapters. I think God will let us know even more assuredly. He let us know with Esther’s name when it appeared in Zechariah 1 after five months. He has let us know with that verse in Daniel 12:13. And He is going to let us know in a big way that May 21 was Judgment Day, a spiritual judgment.
Let me just say this. Haman was killed and he represents Satan, but were his ten sons killed at the same time? No. The beast that came up out of the sea had ten horns. So how is this possible? Were we perhaps correct in thinking that on May 21, Judgment Day, that Satan was deposed? Of course, he did not cease to exist; he continued to exist. The answer is that we were.
Let us stop here and have a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for Your grace and we thank You for Your Word. Father, we pray for wisdom, as You are the personification of wisdom. You are wisdom. We pray that we would be wise, having Your Spirit. Father, we ask that You would direct us and lead us into truth. We pray these things in Christ’s Name. Amen.