Let us turn to Esther 7. I am going to read the whole chapter; it is only ten verses. It says in Esther 7:1-10:
So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom. Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request: For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage. Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so? And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king. Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.
That is the end of the chapter.
We were looking last time at verse 5 when the king asks the question:
…Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?
The king is asking this because Esther had just said that she and her people had been sold to be destroyed. They were to be killed, and so the king asks this question.
Spiritually, God knows everything, of course. We saw where God does this. On occasion, He asks a question. He did this with Adam in Genesis 3 after Adam and Eve had sinned and Adam hid himself from God. This is when God asks the question, “Where art thou?” But God knew exactly where Adam was.
Then in Genesis 4 after Cain slew Abel, God asks Cain the
question,
“Where is Abel thy brother?” Cain said, “I know not: Am I my
brother's keeper?” Of course, God knew what Cain had done.
In both cases after an act of rebellion and sinfulness when God is about to pronounce judgment, He asks a question. After asking Adam this question, He cursed Adam and Eve and the serpent. This is also the case with Cain after God asks Cain the question. God then pronounces the punishment for his sin, which was that Cain was to be driven out.
Here, too, in Esther, God asks the question, “Who is he?” Of course, God knows that the one who wanted to kill the believers, who are typified by Esther and all of the Jews, is Satan; and so the question is asked, even though the answer is obvious.
Probably, Haman is very uncomfortable at this point. Historically, things have not been going well for him on this day, the 17th day of the 2nd month. Earlier in the day, Haman had already been humiliated in taking Mordecai around on horseback. He is now thinking that it would be a wonderful thing to be invited by Esther to the banquet of wine, just her and the king and himself.
Yet how does Esther begin things in making her request known to the king? She says in Esther 7:3-4:
…let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request: For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish…
As Esther says this, there stands Haman. Who was it who had recently done something like she was saying? It had not been that long ago. It was on the 13th day of the 1st month that the decree went forth that all of the Jews were to be killed. This is just the 2nd month. It is the next month and it is on the 17th day of the month when she says:
For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain…
Without question, it would have been obvious to Haman and probably to the king what she was saying, even before the king asked the question, “Who is he, and where is he?” More than likely, Haman was squirming in his seat at that point before Esther responds and answers the king’s question in Esther 7:6:
And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
Haman is the adversary and the enemy of Esther and of all of the Jews. This is why he is such an excellent type of Satan himself. This is because who is the believer’s enemy and adversary? God tells us, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against…spiritual wickedness in high places.”
There is a spiritual battle going on that has been raging from the very beginning. This has been going on since the Garden of Eden when Satan deceived Eve and then Adam into partaking of the fruit, which they did in complete rebelliousness against God. That began a war, a spiritual war: the Kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of Satan or the Kingdom of Light vs. the kingdom of darkness.
All mankind begins in the kingdom of darkness. This is because we are conceived in sin. We are “born, speaking lies.” We enter into the world as “children of wrath, even as others.” It is only when God translates us “from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” that real troubles begin for us in this world.
This is the way it is as far as getting along with others in this world. We can get along pretty well in the world no matter what we believe and no matter what we are like, even though some people may not like us; but that is nothing compared to the time when God takes us out of the world, in a sense. He is now placing us in His Kingdom. Our citizenship is now in Heaven. We have a new heart and a new spirit that is patterned after His own, and this makes a big difference between us and the rest of the people who are still in the world and, therefore, still in Satan’s kingdom. Then in that individual’s life whom God has changed and redeemed, the Spirit of God begins to work in them and they begin to change and to do things differently.
The world is a very accepting place. It is very all-inclusive and does not want to leave anybody out, except for the child of God, except for the believer who wants to do things God’s way and who wants to keep Sunday as the Sabbath and who wants to be faithful to God. These people are not quite as accepted as everybody else. You can have pink hair and it does not matter. A man can marry a man and a woman can marry a woman. You name it. What is not accepted today? Everything is accepted, except for the believer who comes wanting to do things God’s way and just simply follows the Word of God as closely as possible.
This is because the light is beginning to shine in the darkness. This light is the light that God has placed within His people, but the darkness does not like the light. It wants to get away from the light, and so people begin to separate from the child of God. They begin to pull away. You might notice this in your workplace. You could have been very friendly with everyone; but the more you start doing things God’s way, the more alone you are probably going to be.
Here, we see the language of Esther calling Haman the “adversary and enemy.” We have to just be careful about one thing. This is because of who the adversary of man is. Who is this? Is it Satan? Who is the adversary of mankind? It is God Himself.
We read this in Matthew 5:25:
Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
God is our adversary because of our sin. We have set ourselves against Him, and God hates sin and He hates the sinner. If we continue in this way, if we continue going the broad way, this will lead to destruction and we will finally be destroyed.
So the admonition is and the wise counsel of God is and has been all throughout history:
Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way…
The Bible says that we are sinners. Do not argue with this, because this is true. We know ourselves that this is true; so agree with God, “Yes; I have sinned. I have broken the Law of God.” If we are honest, we have not just done this once and we have not just done this a thousand times. We are not just a little sinful, and so we are to agree with God. We are completely sinful. The Bible tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Agree with God. This is true. This is a very accurate statement.
If someone were to begin there, then they could go to God and say, “O Lord, what You say in Your Word is true. Actually, when I read what You say in Your Word and look out into the world, as I read the newspaper or I look at the news on the television or as I talk to any of my friends, I see that this is true. I see this is true. I have never met a good man. I have never met a completely honest and pure and good man.” The Bible tells us, “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” A “just man” would be someone whom God has made “just,” someone whom God has justified through salvation.
So we agree with God and then we also agree with everything else that the Bible says. We cannot save ourselves. We are in our sins. Our situation is hopeless. We are completely at the mercy of God, and so we throw ourselves on His mercy. Of course, all of this would have been before the day of salvation ended and Judgment Day began. But we can still pray even today, “O Lord, having had mercy, have mercy.”
If we do not know whether or not we are saved or whether or not someone else is saved, there is still a possibility and we can still pray this way. We can still agree with God and with what He has said in His Word. If not, if we continue to disagree, if we continue to shake our fist at Him and argue with Him and contend with Him, then we will be judged and we will be destroyed.
So this is the first thing. God is originally our adversary because of our sin. It is only when God saves someone and then does that transfer of taking them out of Satan’s kingdom and places them in His own Kingdom, in the Kingdom of Christ, it is then that He is no longer our adversary. At that point, we have another adversary. We have another problem, but it is far better to have Satan as the adversary than to have God as our adversary.
Is this not true? This is what the option boils down to. The two adversaries are either God or Satan. Either God is your adversary if you are not right with Him and if you or not saved, or Satan is your adversary.
Is Satan the adversary of the unsaved also? This is not necessarily true, because the unsaved go along with Satan. Actually, the Bible says that he is like their father. He is not set against them in the way that he is set against the believer, because the believer is identified with Christ and Satan cannot stand God. Satan always comes against God, and yet the people of the world are not really identified with God.
In fact, Satan is not the adversary of the unsaved people of the world, even though he has no love for them. Just think about this. If Satan is your spiritual father, if he is the one in whose camp and in whose kingdom you dwell, he is not a good ruler. Satan could care less about you. You will be utterly destroyed and spit out, and he would not even give this a second thought.
Look at how ruthless King Nebuchadnezzar was in the Bible. He did not care about people at all. He was a good figure of Satan. Likewise, Haman did not care about anyone but himself, which is exactly whom the devil cares about; it is only himself.
So we know that Satan is our adversary and we know that this is because we are identified with Christ, but is there anything in the Bible that might explain this a little better? Yes; there is.
In Revelation 12, we will see the spiritual warfare. In Revelation 12, there is a woman who “brought forth a man child.” This “woman” is representative of the believers. The “man child” is Christ. Then it says at the end of Revelation 12:5:
…her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Jesus was resurrected and went up into Heaven back in 33 A.D.
Then it says in Revelation 12:6:
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
This would be a figure of three and a half years pointing to the last half of Daniel’s 70th week. The first half went all the way up to the cross. From the cross, it covers the New Testament Era. For three and a half years, the woman fled into the wilderness; and so, in a sense, we are still this “woman.”
Then we read in Revelation 12:7-8:
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon [which is Satan]; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
This occurred in 33 A.D. when Jesus was victorious and Satan was cast out of Heaven and came down to the earth.
Then we read in Revelation 12:9-10:
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.
So Satan was busy. He was busy in Heaven as he went to God constantly, like he had done concerning Job when he asked God, “Doth Job fear God for nought [or for nothing]?” Then Satan claimed, “Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” But we know that God set this whole thing up to reveal this particular aspect of Satan to us through His Word, because He wanted Job to go through those things in order to typify Christ.
So God listened to Satan’s accusations and then He took away Job’s riches, his health, and his children. God took all of those things away. Remember that Satan had said, “But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.”
Is this what Job did? No; at the end of all of this, Job stated, “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” But it was not over for Job, because we read in the next chapter where Job’s wife said to him the very words that Satan had accused Job of when she stated, “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.”
Arguments can go a little bit too far sometimes and we can say things that we do not mean, but Satan can use these kinds of things. He can stir up individuals to somehow even express the very words that he himself used with God. Satan wanted Job to curse God, and it was his accusation that Job would do this. Satan thought that if all blessings had been taken away from Job, then Job would curse God.
This has a little similarity with us. God has put us in a severe trial at this time, and yet this is basically the same old accusation. If things go a little astray or if things apparently go wrong, what are God’s people going to do? What are they going to do if things do not work out exactly as they had thought?
Of course, there is a temptation here, is there not? Do people not want to say, “Enough of this; let me just go back to the world; let me just go back to the church; let me just go away from this information that I have learned”? It is always a matter of integrity, and God is the only One who can give us the integrity to stand fast and to stay in His Word and to not go away from His Word.
Let us finish reading in Revelation 12. It says in Revelation 12:13-14:
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
By the way, we found earlier that the number 1260 identifies the number “a time, and times, and half a time.” This is what that number is referring to here. This language of “a time, and times, and half a time” is found in a few places and the context always determines what it means. It is not always referring to the number 1260; but here, it is.
Then we read in Revelation 12:15:
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
This would be referring to the flood of false gospels. Satan has been at this for centuries. Churches have fallen, denominations have fallen, and now the entire church has fallen. It has all been for the purpose of seizing “the woman” and to destroy “the woman,” yet he cannot ever do this. Satan has never been able to accomplish this. No matter how many churches and individual congregations fell away from the truth, this never ultimately harmed one of God’s elect. No matter if a whole denomination fell away from the truth and stayed that way for hundreds of years, this never harmed one of God’s elect. Now even the whole church all over the world has fallen away, and yet, still, this cannot harm God’s elect.
Then it says in Revelation 12:16:
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.
Where this says “the earth helped the woman, and…swallowed up the flood,” this would be referring to the fact that individuals all throughout history who developed false doctrines and false gospels die, or those who brought persecution against the church would die. Where would they go? They would go into the ground, and so the earth would swallow up that particular attack or assault against God’s people and it would not be successful.
Then we read in Revelation 12:17:
And the dragon was wroth 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.
This is the enemy. Our adversary and our enemy is Satan. He is making war or he did make war. Why? He did this because we “keep the commandments of God.”
If we do not keep the commandments of God, there is no problem because we can just compromise. We do not worry about Sunday being the Sabbath. Go watch the Super Bowl or go do whatever. Do not worry about that. Compromise and you will get along fine. Do not worry about all the particular commandments of God.
This question of obedience is sinking more and more into our society. Who is to say who will be next? In China now they are told that they can only have one child. If someone compromises, they can get along well in China. But if they hold to the commandments of God and say, “I am sorry but I cannot abort this baby because the Bible tells me that this would be murder,” then they will not get along and there can be trouble.
Wherever there is a conflict between the government’s law and the Law of God, the believer has to hold to the Law of God, and yet many are willing to compromise; then the warfare is over for them. There is no battle then.
Let us take a look at a couple of other verses, like 1 Peter 5. This is the verse that many of us think of when we read that Haman is the adversary and the enemy. It says in 1 Peter 5:8-9:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
We see very clearly here that Satan, the devil, is the adversary and that he is going about still, just like Revelation 12 told us, after the woman. This is his target. This is whom he wants to get. This was why he was so interested in the churches, because that was where the elect were found throughout the 1,955 years of the church age. He was so very eager. Once God loosed him at the beginning of the great tribulation back in 1988, he went quickly into the churches to take his seat as the “man of sin.” He was very eager to do the will of God, as God’s servant, to bring about destruction on the church.
Just think of Jehu. He is a good picture of Satan. Jehu was very obedient to God when God told him, “Go destroy the house of Ahab and Jezebel.” Jehu was excellent in destroying. He had been very obedient. It was after all of that was done when he slew two kings, the king of Israel and the king of Judah. Even after that, he was still rebellious against God; because Satan’s particular talent is destruction. He is able to be very obedient if God wants him to destroy, but that is as far as it goes.
Let us also go to Lamentations and look at something interesting with these two words “adversary” and “enemy.” It says in Lamentations 4:11-12:
JEHOVAH hath accomplished his fury; he hath poured out his fierce anger, and hath kindled a fire in Zion, and it hath devoured the foundations thereof. The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.
Do you see what God is saying here? Lamentations is a book describing the destruction of Judah by the Babylonians. Historically, the Babylonians entered into the gates of Jerusalem; but, spiritually, the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Babylonians pictures Satan’s assault against the churches and congregations of the world over these last 23 years.
God is actually speaking to us, as the phrase “kings of the earth” could either be referring to the true believers or to those in the churches. We find this phrase a few times in the book of Revelation where the context determines it. Here in Lamentations 4:12, it is saying:
The kings of the earth, and all the inhabitants of the world…
So this is talking about how the unsaved in the corporate church and all of the other people out there in the world did not believe this. They would not believe that the adversary and enemy entered into “the gates of Jerusalem,” even though they were told.
How many years were the churches told this by God Himself as the Scriptures were opening up? They were told that the church age was over, that the Holy Spirit had come out of the midst, and that Satan, the “man of sin,” had entered into, spiritually speaking, Jerusalem. They were told that this was their enemy and their adversary.
It was not the friend of God and His people, not someone seeking their welfare, but it was their enemy and their adversary who had been given, so-to-speak, the key to the city. He was shown the way in to take his seat by God Himself, because God was using him, just as He used Nebuchadnezzar and had called Nebuchadnezzar “my servant,” as Nebuchadnezzar went about utterly destroying Jerusalem and taking the Jews captive.
So we see that there is a lot behind the phrase that Esther is using in Esther 7 when she says to the king in Esther 7:6:
…The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
This word “afraid” is also translated as “troubled,” like when Saul had an evil spirit from the Lord trouble him.
So Haman saw what was happening and he was very troubled by the events going on, and it just so happened to be that he was troubled or afraid before the king and the queen. This does not mean that he was afraid of the queen, but that his troubling of mind was just taking place before them.
Then we read in Esther 7:7:
And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden…
We have seen that the book of Esther is spending a lot of time on the 17th day of the 2nd month, which was Judgment Day. We know this because this was the underlying Hebrew day for May 21. The events that we are reading about also fit perfectly with the spiritual judgment.
But even if we had not learned this, even if we had not learned that the banquet of wine was taking place on the 17th day of the 2nd month, the language in this verse that we are reading would point to judgment. When we do what we normally do, which is that we look up each word to see how it is used elsewhere, the language here all by itself in Esther 7:7 is spiritually indicating that the 17th day of the 2nd month was Judgment Day. This is because the king was arising.
Let us look at this word “arising.” We read in Psalm 7:5-6:
Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah. Arise, O JEHOVAH…
There is that word. It continues:
…in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
We can see a very similar wording and idea in this passage:
Arise, O JEHOVAH, in thine anger…
This is like the king rising up in his wrath in the book of Esther.
We also find this word in Psalm 76. We read in Psalm 76:8-9:
Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still, When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.
Is this not interesting? He is arising to judgment “to save all the meek of the earth.”
Do we find both of these things in view in the book of Esther? What was Esther’s request? Her request was that the king might spare her life and the lives of her people.
When the king rose up in anger, this was because he was listening to Esther. He believed Esther and he fully intended to grant Esther’s request. Part of fulfilling her request was finally to bring judgment to pass on Haman; and, here, God arises to judgment “to save all the meek of the earth.”
The other word that we can look at in Esther 7:7 is the word “wrath”:
And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden…
If we look at Deuteronomy 29:23, it says:
And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which JEHOVAH overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
Turn to Job 21:20. Of course, there are a lot of verses that we could go to concerning the wrath of God, but here this is pointing to drinking because they were at a banquet of wine. We read in Job 21:20 where it is talking about the wicked:
His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
So the wording in Esther 7 concerning the king “arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath” has everything to do with Judgment Day and the wrath of God. Notice that it also says “from the banquet of wine.”
The word “banquet” is translated as “feast” in several places. It is also translated as “drink” in Daniel 1 four times. This was when Daniel and the four young Hebrews were asked to drink the Babylonian wine and they refused. That word “drink” is the same word for “feast” or “banquet.” This was why it was a “banquet of wine.” They were going to the banquet in order to drink the wine.
In Psalm 75:8, it says:
For in the hand of JEHOVAH there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.
In Jeremiah 25:15-18, we read:
For thus saith JEHOVAH God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. Then took I the cup at JEHOVAH'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom JEHOVAH had sent me: To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah…
This would be number one, because “judgment must begin at the house of God.” Then following Jerusalem, it comes on “all the nations.” There is a transition made from the judgment on the churches to the judgment on the world, and this transition took place on May 21.
Then a little further down in Jeremiah 25, we read in Jeremiah 25:28-29:
And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith JEHOVAH of hosts.
So drinking the wine is related to drinking the cup of God’s wrath.
Revelation 14 will be the last verse concerning this. We read in Revelation 14:10:
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
So, again, just the words that we are finding in Esther 7 as King Ahasuerus is arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath, that whole sentence and all of the words within it are pointing to Judgment Day. And it so happens that it was the 17th day of the 2nd month that this was taking place, which is the underlying Hebrew day for May 21st.
God drilled this into our heads so that when we finally saw this in Esther, we could quickly make this identification and make this connection that this banquet of wine on the 17th day of the 2nd month was pointing to Judgment Day.
May 21st was Judgment Day, and whom was this pointing to in particular? It was Haman, the adversary and the enemy. It was pointing to Satan, because that was the time of his judgment. We are just seeing this truth reinforced in many place and in many different ways.
Let us look at the first part of Esther 7:7 where we read of the “palace garden.” It says in Esther 7:7-8:
And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king. Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine…
The “palace garden” is mentioned twice. It is interesting why God brings this up. I am not sure if I know the reason for this exactly, but where did all of the trouble begin with Satan? It began in the Garden of Eden.
So one thing that God is reminding us of when He rises in His wrath is what took place in the Garden of Eden. Historically, Haman is not seized by the throat, but the king does go out into the palace garden.
Of course, we would know why. He went out to get the guards and the soldiers. In the banquet of wine, there probably would have been a few servants, maybe a chamberlain, as well as Esther and Haman himself. What need was there to have had armed guards inside? They would have been outside protecting the palace.
So, historically, the king went out to get help, to get men to come in and to seize this wicked Haman. There is no problem in understanding this.
Spiritually, this does remind us of what we read in Genesis 3 where the ruin of mankind took place in the Garden of Eden. It was Satan who said at the end of Genesis 3:1:
…Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Then we read in Genesis 3:2:
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Then it goes on and we know the true story. We know that Eve was deceived and that she took of the fruit of the tree and rebelled against God. She believed Satan when he tried to cast doubt on God’s Word. She began to get confused and she believed him, and then she disobeyed God. God then comes to pronounce the judgment, as we read in Genesis 3:14-15:
And JEHOVAH God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity…
This word “enmity” is translated as “hatred” in one place. It continues:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
This is speaking of the warfare, that spiritual battle that began right away. God said right from the beginning in the Garden of Eden, “I will put enmity between Satan and the seed of the woman.” Christ is in view here, but also the people of Christ, which is just like when Mordecai was the target, and yet Haman went after the people of Mordecai.
There has been this animosity and this hatred all of these many thousands of years from the very beginning. Now it is finally Judgment Day on May 21; and so in the book of Esther, the king in his wrath rises from the banquet of wine and he goes into the palace garden to get the armed guards, but this is also done to hearken us back to where it all began and to why Satan is under judgment.
Why has this judgment now come upon Satan? It is because of his rebellion from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden.
Let us continue reading in Esther 7:8:
Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.
So as soon as the king leaves, Haman rises up. He did not do this while the king was there; but once the king left the place of the banquet of wine, then Haman goes after Esther. Of course, this was to plead for his life, but he was fallen down on the bed. The king even said, “Will he force the queen also before me in the house?”
This is very much like Satan, and this is teaching us that right up until the point that he could do it no more, he was after the woman, trying to allure the true believers, the elect, trying to just find favor with them in some way. This is not unlike him.
Go to Ezekiel 23. God is speaking here of Aholah and Aholibah who are both figures of the corporate church. God says at the end of Ezekiel 23:36:
…declare unto them their abominations;
Then we read next in Ezekiel 23:37:
That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery…
When looking at adultery spiritually from the Bible’s perspective, we are all married to the Law of God. Romans 7 tells us this. We should be faithful to our “husband,” which is the Law of God; and yet we are unfaithful to the Law of God. We commit acts of spiritual adultery every single time that we are unfaithful to the Law of God. Because of this, God places in the Law, in the Bible, that an adulterous woman could be stoned to death, legally.
This is what happens to every unsaved person. Their husband, the Law, will finally at the end of all things charge them with adultery, and then they will be utterly destroyed. They will be annihilated, because they are adulterous.
Remember that in the Epistle of James, God is speaking to all of us and says, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses.” There are no exceptions. It does not matter how old we are. From young children to old age, we are all spiritually adulterers and adulteresses.
So, too, are the churches and congregations. They entered into a relationship with God to keep the Law of God. When they failed to keep the Law of God, they became spiritually adulterous. This is what God is saying here in Ezekiel 23.
Then further down, we read in Ezekiel 23:40-41:
And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments, And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.
Then we read in Ezekiel 23:44:
Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women.
So on a bed, they are committing adultery. This is all pointing to the churches and congregations.
Turn to Revelation 2 where God is speaking to the churches. Remember that after each address to the different churches, there is this refrain: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” I think that this refrain is found after each address to each church; and so God is speaking to all of the churches.
In Revelation 2 in particular, He is addressing the church in Thyatira; and He says in Revelation 2:20-22:
Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
This is referring to the churches. They were given “space to repent” for 1,955 years of their fornications. That is, as they went astray from their relationship with the Word of God and transgressed against it, they did not repent. Therefore, God cast them “into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her,” and that “bed” is identified with the great tribulation.
So here is the 17th day of the 2nd month, which was May 21 and the end of the great tribulation. This was the day that the great tribulation ended and the day that the latter rain ended and the first day of judgment. It was a very active day. On this day, Satan had just been very successful for over 23 years in alluring the churches and congregations to commit fornication and adultery in a “bed.”
Now, here Haman is going towards Esther. As soon as the king leaves the room, he goes to Esther and he falls upon her bed. The word “force” is also translated as “subdue.”
Esther 7:8:
…Will he force [subdue] the queen also before me in the house?…
In other words, Satan was attempting to lead the believers, typified by Esther, into the same sin that got the churches and congregations in trouble in being unfaithful towards God and towards His Word.
We will stop here.