Let us turn to Esther 8. I will start reading in verse 7. It says in Esther 8:7-17:
Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews. Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring: for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse. Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language. And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries: Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey, Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the palace. And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour. And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.
We will stop reading there.
Before we get into Esther 8 and look at this verse by verse, I would just like to mention something that someone has found regarding numbers. For instance, we know that the great tribulation period was 8400 days. From May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011 was 8400 days exactly and an exact 23 years.
This is no coincidence, because God identifies the number 84 with the great tribulation. For instance, He uses the figure of 3.5 days in Revelation 11. This refers to the 2300 evening/mornings; but, still, this was identifying with the great tribulation and 3.5 days is 84 hours. So, again, there is the number 84.
We also know, historically, that there are certain types of the great tribulation in the Bible, like the 7-year famine in Joseph’s day. 7 years times 12, the number of months in one year, is 84. There was the 70-year period when Judah came under Babylonian assault and was finally delivered. 70 years times 12 is 840 months. So this number continually shows up in relation to the great tribulation.
Also, if you want to look at this in a certain way, 7,000 years from the flood is how many months times 12? It is 84,000 months until Judgment Day on May 21. We could say that after 84,000 months, on the day that was the 8400th day of the great tribulation, was Judgment Day. So we see that the number 84 continually comes into view.
We have learned that God’s plan for this period is to double the five months, and so we made a correction. It was not the 153 days as we had thought. Instead of 153 days, it was actually 147 days.
We made this correction based on the Bible. We can point to Genesis 8:3-4 that says that the waters prevailed for 150 days and that the ark rested on the 17th day of the 7th month. We took this date, which was at the end of the five months of the flood that had begun on the 17th day of the 2nd month. We were already using this date as the underlying date for May 21. Then we took the 17th day of 7th month, which means that we are being even more Biblical, and we found that this space of time is 147 days.
Then we found that God instructs in the Bible to double this in Revelation 18:6-7. This was in the context of Babylon or this world. We read in Revelation 18:6:
Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
God’s judgment was five months, but now He says to double it, and so we double the space of days. It is 147 plus 147, which is a total of 294. From May 21 of 2011 until March 9th of 2012, which would be Adar 15 in the Hebrew calendar, is 294 days. This breaks down to 2x147.
Someone noticed something, and I can see how beneficial it is when people are studying these things and then sending you information, like people have been doing to Mr. Camping for years and years and years. He is no longer there. Actually, who else is out there teaching right now besides just a couple of people? So, naturally, people are sending me things and I am learning a lot. This has been very beneficial.
So this person has sent a study to me and he pointed out that if you take 3.5 or three and a half days, which is 84 hours, and you multiply that by 84, it equals 294 days. But, actually, why would we use the 3.5 days?
Well, we do not have to use this. But, basically, 294 days is 84x84 hours. When we do this, we get 7,056 hours in 294 days or in 2x147 days. So the number 84 that God has used in a big way in many passages carries into this period of the doubling of the five months.
In other words, we could say that the 8400 days of the great tribulation ended on May 21, the 17th day of the 2nd month, and then God began a judgment of 2x5 months or 294 days. This is 84x84 hours; and, again, the number 84 is still in view.
I just wanted to mention this, because I do not think that this is a coincidence. If we had the number 293 or the number 295 or any other number of days, we would not get 84x84, which is the number that shows up in so many ways.
So this is just a little bit of information that helps us to verify that the dates are correct. If this is correct, we should be finding things like this. We should be seeing things that verify this, and so this is one thing that we have seen.
Going back to Esther 8:7, we read:
Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows…
Notice that this is past tense now. This means that they did this rather quickly. When they covered Haman’s face and took him out, they took him right to the gallows. They went right to Haman’s house, to his courtyard or wherever it was that he had built those gallows. Maybe it was in his backyard, but he was hanged upon it immediately. There was no delay. The king ordered this, and so they carried out the king’s instructions quickly.
Then it goes on to say:
…because he laid his hand upon the Jews.
Spiritually, if we could write an inscription on Satan’s death stone, like we do when men die, this would be the reason for his death in the sense that he lost all authority on May 21. This will be the reason that he will ultimately be destroyed on the last day of judgment. It is because he laid his hand upon God’s people. He tried to injure, to harm, and to come against the people of God.
God put up with these assaults for thousands of years because this served His purpose. He wanted Satan and used him in many different ways in order to put this whole salvation plan on display to principalities and powers. He used Satan to do this, but God was never pleased that Satan did this. Satan was sinning through all of this time. But, finally, this will bring about his ruin and his destruction.
Then we read in Esther 8:8:
Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring: for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse.
So they had a problem. If you remember, there was an earlier writing. If we go back to Esther 3:12, we read:
Then were the king's scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's ring.
This is very, very similar language. Esther 8:8 is actually identical to when Haman had been given the authority. Haman received the ring of the king, which represents the authority of the king, and so he wrote or commanded to be written that the Jews would be destroyed on a particular date. Then it was sealed with the king’s ring, which indicated that it had the full blessing of King Ahasuerus. It carried his authority. The power of his kingdom stood behind it.
We saw that the way in which this spiritually could relate was because Satan was instrumental back in the Garden of Eden in bringing about the fall of mankind. As a result of mankind’s fall into sin, what happened? Was there a decree made that sinners were to die, including all men? Yes! Was here a final date that was decreed in the Bible. Yes! God wrote of Judgment Day and the end of the world and He wrote this from the very beginning, because He knows the end from the beginning. Spiritually, Satan was involved in having the Law of God that says that “the wages of sin is death” published to all of the world.
Then because of our sin, we would die. Everyone would die. We were subject to die on that particular day in the sense that we would be annihilated and completely wiped out in our whole being without ever any possibility of coming to life again.
This is why we can understand that Haman was involved with the writing of this original decree that went out into all of the provinces and that carried the king’s seal. This letter that went out in Esther 3 is also referring to the Word of God, the Bible, and it was published that there would be a Judgment Day. This has been published all throughout history, especially leading up to May 21.
So here in Esther 8, once again, the king gives allowance or permission to Esther and to Mordecai to write a letter or a decree or a commandment that will bear his name and be sealed with his ring.
He has already given Mordecai the ring that he had given to Haman. It was the king’s ring that the king had given to Haman. Haman wore this temporarily, just as God gave authority to Satan temporarily when He loosed him. But after the end of the great tribulation, God removed that authority from Satan. Then on the 17th day of the 2nd month, King Ahasuerus takes this ring back from Haman and he gives it to Mordecai.
Mordecai then rules over everything that Haman had previously ruled over. Mordecai was given full authority over all that was Haman’s, just as Christ has been given full authority over all the kingdom of Satan that had been given to Satan during this period of his loosing.
Then it says in Esther 8:9:
Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof…
We have pointed out something about “that day.” Esther 8:1 says:
On that day…
This is referring to the 17th day of the 2nd month. Then Esther again “on that day” is pleading with the king for him to reverse the letters of Haman, and the king grants her request. She finds favor in his eyes “on that day.”
But God does not tell us directly, “That day – the 17th day of the 2nd month – passed and then sometime later the scribes are called and this information is written.” We do not think that He tells us this directly, but He does. This is because it says:
Then were the king's scribes called at that time…
“At that time” is translated a few times as “in due season,” like in Deuteronomy 11 in relation to the latter rain. It says in Deuteronomy 11:14:
That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season [or at that time], the first rain and the latter rain…
God is indicating that there is a particular period for this. We know that the first rain would be a certain time of the year and that the latter rain would come at the end of the year.
So here in Esther 8:9, the king’s scribes are called “in due season.” But why “in due season”? Why not immediately? Why not right away?
The reason for this was because we have to realize that this was a touchy situation. There was already a law that had been sent out into all of the provinces bearing the king’s name and with the king’s seal that said that the Jews were to die. They were the ones who were to die, and so that law was unalterable. It was the law of the Medes and the Persians and no one could change this.
This was just as King Darius in the book of Daniel labored to the going down of the sun when he was deceived into casting Daniel into the den of lions. Those wicked presidents and princes kept coming to him and reminding him that the law of the Medes and the Persians could not be changed. Then the king realized something. He had been trying to delay the inevitable as much as possible; and then, finally, he had Daniel cast into the den of lions because he had written a law. It did not matter whether or not it was the wisest of laws and it did not matter that he realized that he had been fooled. It was still a law that the king of the Medes and the Persians had given and it could not be altered or changed in any way.
What does this remind us of? This reminds us of the Word of God, the Bible. God “changeth not.” Does His Word change? His Word does not change. Can we alter it?
Well, if you are thinking about publishing a new Bible, sure. If you have already published some of the modern versions of the Bible, you altered it. The Bible has been altered to make some money and it has been altered to try to indicate that it will help people to learn the Bible better if they put it in the language of our modern day.
What a dangerous thing for anyone to do, to dare alter the Word of God. Even the Medes and the Persians would not dare to alter the word of their king! Now, we are talking about the King of kings and the Lord of lords who has given His Word and how the church has altered it, and yet they claim to be His people. This is really a very sorrowful thing.
So the Medes and the Persians had a law. No matter what the law was, it could not be changed at all. The original law stood.
This is not saying in Esther 8 that when the king grants their request that they can write another law and give another decree. This is not saying that they did away with the first law at all. They did not. That first law stood. On the 13th day of the month Adar, the Jews were to be killed. Any of the enemies of the Jews could have tried, but the way that circumstances were developing, they did not dare try.
Mordecai was a wise man, and so we know that they would not have hastily and carelessly just quickly called the scribes right at that moment and hastily sent out a decree to all of the provinces. For one thing, they still had about 10 months until the 13th day of the 12th month came. The king had granted their request on the 17th day of the 2nd month. They almost had a full ten months to do this. They also had the problem of the original law, which made this a sensitive situation.
So they would have carefully consulted with one another and with the elders of the Jews. They would have prayed for wisdom and guidance before they wrote this new law. They maybe even first showed something to the king’s counselors, to those who were familiar with the law of the Medes and the Persians. Would this new law be acceptable and not violate the first law in any way? We can be sure that this is what they did.
Esther 8:9 continues:
Then were the king's scribes called at that time [or in due season, and this would have been a little over a month later] in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof…
It was then that they were finally ready to call the scribes and to have that law written.
The 23rd day of the 3rd month would have been 69 days from the first time that the decree had been given. That first decree had been given on the 13th day of the 1st month. 1/13 to 3/23 is 69 days and 69 is 3x23.
So one way that we can understand this is that it is God’s purpose to bring judgment, as the law that was now going out on the 23rd day of the 3rd month would bring judgment on all of the enemies of God’s people.
It continues:
…and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews…
Mordecai is a type of Christ, and so this is what Christ commanded, spiritually. Then this law is sent out:
…unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces…
There are four groups that are mentioned, and the number four points to the furthest extent of whatever is in view, like universality or like the four points of the compass: north, south, east, and west. This means that this was to go into all the world.
The next part of the verse assures us of this:
…from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.
One hundred and twenty-seven is really picturing the whole world, as God’s elect are typified by this number. This was Sarah’s death age and she was “the mother of us all.”
So it is no coincidence that Ahasuerus ruled over 127 provinces. All of the Jews were located in these provinces. All of the elect are located where? They are located in the world. We cannot say that there is a nation where there are no elect.
This is why there is an emphasis of this going to four groups of people:
…unto the Jews…lieutenants…deputies and rulers…
This word “deputies” is actually translated as “governors” back in Esther 3:12. We read in Esther 3:12 again:
Then were the king's scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors [or deputies] that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing…
So it is going to the same three groups. It is going to the lieutenants, to the governors, which is the same word as “deputies,” and then it is going to the rulers. The difference is that there is an added group of people in Esther 8, which are the Jews. The original decree was not sent to the Jews even though they were the subjects of it; they were the ones that were to be destroyed.
The decree that is sent out in Esther 8 is sent by Mordecai and he is sending it, first of all, to the Jews, then to the lieutenants, deputies, and rulers of the people. Why?
I think that we can understand that God’s purpose in sharing this information of Purim is primarily and overwhelmingly for the elect. This information that God is opening up is for the comfort of His people. This is for their encouragement and for their strengthening and for their help.
Just look at how the Jews receive this in Esther 8:16-17:
The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour. And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day…
This is all positive for them. This is all good news.
Talk about “good news”! The day that you are subject to be destroyed is turned from one of misery to one of great salvation. You are delivered. You have been set free. You are not going to die. You are going to live. Moreover, your enemy, Haman, is dead. All of those who hate you will also die on that day, but not you. This was nothing but good news and great encouragement to the people of God.
It is surprising that there are believers today who are fighting against this. I understand that it is one thing to be confused and it is one thing to doubt and to not be sure, but they are actively fighting against this and disliking this, and so on. They are not fighting against the Scriptures. They are not arguing that we are not seeing these things correctly in Esther. They are just making over-generalized arguments about how we did not understand this or how we did not understand that.
Well, let us talk about what we do know. Let us read from the Bible. If they are finding fault with the study, we can then discuss this. But how can we discuss things when they are making basic generalities and basic statements like, “We did not know before, and so we cannot know now.” Alright; then, therefore, we will never know anything.
Is this really our conclusion? No; we can know things. God is still the same God. He is still giving us His Word and He is still giving us the proper way of approaching His Word and of studying His Word. We go to the Bible. If God is pleased, He can still show us information.
So, here, the message of Purim goes to the Jews and then to all of these rulers who have various responsibilities in Ahasuerus’ kingdom.
Then it says in Esther 8:10:
And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries:
Mordecai wrote in the king’s name. We already saw that he sealed this with the king’s ring.
God is really emphasizing this. He is indicating that this has the authority of the king or that Christ is going to declare these things with the authority of God because He is God. Then Mordecai sends letters by post on horseback.
Remember concerning the earlier letter, we looked at 2 Corinthians 3:6. It says:
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
The original letter killed, did it not? It was a death sentence for the Jews. But what is this verse referring to? It is referring to the Bible, the Word of God. This is because the Bible condemns us all. It condemns each one of us because of our sins and we are subject to die.
So the first letter condemned. It brought condemnation. But with the second letter, there is no condemnation. “There is therefore now no condemnation,” as Romans 8:1 says, for the people of God.
It is interesting that this is a “letter” that is sent in Esther 8:10. This word is also translated as “book” in Nehemiah, which is the book right before the book of Esther. We read in Nehemiah 8:1:
And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses…
We could say:
…the [letter] of the law of Moses, which JEHOVAH had commanded to Israel.
We also read at the end of Nehemiah 8:3:
…and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.
Then we read in Nehemiah 8:5:
And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people…
What is this “book” that Ezra opened? It says that it was the “law of Moses,” but what is the “law of Moses”? It is the Bible.
So this is the same word in Esther 8:10 that is translated as “letters” where Mordecai wrote in the king’s name and sealed it with the king’s ring:
…and sent letters by posts on horseback…
Look at 2 Chronicles 30 where we find that posts were sent in the days of Hezekiah with letters. This is the same Hebrew word for “posts” as in Esther. 2 Chronicles 30 is in relation to a Passover that Hezekiah wanted to hold. We read in 2 Chronicles 30:6:
So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto JEHOVAH God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
Then look at 2 Chronicles 30:10-11:
So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. Nevertheless divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.
So these posts were messengers who were carrying the word of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah was another type of Christ and he was the king of Judah.
This was in regards to coming to the Passover feast in Judah. He sent the message to Israel and most of them laughed and mocked this; it was a joke. But, as usual, here and there were God’s people who humbled themselves, or God humbled them and gave them contriteness. They then went in obedience to the letter that they had received from the posts.
So they heard the news from the rider or the runner. Sometimes in Israel, we read that they had runners who would carry a message. How ever it was that they carried it in the days of Hezekiah, the posts brought the news; and so in the kingdom of Ahasuerus, they used this same method of communication. The mail system was through these riders.
Notice in Esther 8:10 that there were four animals that were used. There were horses, mules, camels, and young dromedaries.
Again, the word went to four different people groups and now we read of four animals. This indicated that this was to go everywhere. This was to go into all the world. It was to reach everyone in the kingdom, especially the Jews. They were to hear this information.
We have to wonder about this because we are now looking at the message of Purim and this is after the message of May 21. We know that the message of May 21 went into all the world, but how many people are hearing about the message of Purim?
I would say that just over the last couple of months, which is just an estimate that is based on some of the little amount of advertising that we have been able to do, that the total is probably a few hundred thousand. A few hundred thousand have heard through EBible or through studies or have seen something through advertising. More will, Lord willing, as we lead up to this date; but it is very unlikely that 7 billion will or that 200 million or anything near that number of the elect will hear this.
We have to think about something first, though. What exactly is the message of Purim? What is the message of Esther that the posts were carrying? There was more to the message than just the date. They were carrying the news that Haman, the Jews’ enemy, was killed and that Mordecai was exalted.
We can know that this information was included, because it says in Esther 9:3-4:
And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces…
So they were aware in all the provinces that Haman, the Jews’ enemy who hated them, was slain and that Mordecai was put in his place and placed second under the king. This news traveled everywhere.
They also knew that Mordecai was a Jew himself, that he favored the Jews, that they were his people, and, therefore, this new law was written to help and protect the Jews so that they would not be slain. Then the final piece of information was that this would all take place on the date of the 13th day of the 12th month.
But with all of the other information, if you look at it, what was being taught on Family Radio for a few months and in an intense way leading up to October?
Let us think about this. Who is in control of the ministry of Family Radio? God is. Mr. Camping has taught the Bible Study and the Open Forum for over 50 years. We know that God has protected that ministry, that He has blessed that ministry, and that He used that ministry to reach the whole world.
First of all, what message was it that was broadcast on Family Radio after May 21 on a daily basis in the Bible Study to the whole English-speaking world? What was the message that was being broadcast day after day after day for about three months?
The message was that May 21 was Judgment Day, that Satan had been defeated on that day, that he was put down, that he lost all authority, that Christ was exalted, and that God’s Kingdom won the greatest victory in the world, which, of course, was apart from what Christ had done in paying for the sins of His people. What was taught was that May 21 was the great day of triumph and victory and that all of the elect were saved. All of the elect in all of the world were saved. There were no more to become saved; they were all saved. We were also saying that the future would bring a day of final judgment when God would destroy the world.
Basically, this was the entire message of Purim. When I studied the book of Esther, this is one of the things that I noticed. I noticed that the message matched, and I did not even look into Esther all that much when studying those other things, and yet this matched. It agreed perfectly with these spiritual things that we had learned from the rest of the Bible and that were being taught on Family Radio.
I know that some people looked at that as a mistake. They think that it was a mistake that this was taught on Family Radio; but, again, who is in control? Could God have set somebody up in Family Radio to teach salvation? Could He have set somebody up to teach the ongoing nature of the Gospel and that the Gospel was to go out into the world again?
Certainly, He could have. But did He? He did not. He wanted this taught and He wanted this emphasized in a great way because, just as we are learning in the book of Esther, it was Mordecai who commanded that this message was to be carried to all of the Jews in all of the provinces to all of the people. And what was taught on Family Radio after May 21 matches perfectly with what is being taught as we learn about the feast of Purim.
Let us go back to Esther 8:11:
Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey,
So the king granted the Jews in every city to gather themselves together and to stand for their life; and this language of standing is significant.
Look at Psalm 130:3. This says:
If thou, JEHOVAH, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
Who is going to stand if God marks our sin? If He were to just say that the man who sins will die and then have no provision for grace and no provision for the Gospel of salvation at all, then no one would stand. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are all guilty, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” We cannot stand. No one can stand on their own. It is only when God saves people that He causes them to stand; and this is what is being stated in Esther 8. We will stand for our life.
Let us also go to a couple of verses regarding this. Let us go to Ephesians 6. We read in Ephesians 6:10-14:
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day…
What is “the evil day”? That is Judgment Day. It continues:
…and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Then it continues with the rest of the “armour of God.”
So God is talking here about “having done all,” which reminds us of the statement in Hebrews 10:36:
For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
Why would we have “need of patience” after we have “done the will of God”? How could you and I complete the doing of the will of God?
This would only be possible in one sense. If God had a plan to carry the Gospel to all of the world and if He then completed that plan; therefore, if we completed our task in being watchmen and blowing the trumpet, it is then that we would have done the “will of God”; and we now see that there is a period of time that follows us having done the “will of God” when we have to wait patiently to receive the promise.
It is this time that God is talking about in Ephesians 6 where He says “that ye may be able to stand…in the evil day,” in Judgment Day, “and having done all, to stand”; and we stand only by God’s grace. We stand only by His mercy and only by His will, His moving in us to do so. We stand completely at the will of God.
This is what the commandment in Esther is saying. He is telling the Jews to stand for their life. They are to stand in what day? They are to stand on the 13th day of the 12th month.
In Judgment Day, we are to stand for our lives, because God is giving us this ability. He is telling us to do this, He is commanding us to do this, and He will cause us to do this. Basically, God is giving us this encouragement that we are to stand.
Remember what Jesus said about a house divided. He said that a “house divided against itself shall not stand.” What happened to Satan’s kingdom on May 21? It fell.
If we go to Daniel 5, as Daniel is interpreting the writing on the wall, look at verse 28. It says in Daniel 5:28:
PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
So that is the end of the 70 years. It is the day that the king of Babylon, who typifies Satan just as much as Haman, is slain and he is slain at a banquet of wine, just as Haman was. At the end of the 70-year period, his kingdom did not stand, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” which is stated twice. And it is pointed out that the writing on the wall is also doubled, “MENE, MENE.” “MENE” means that “God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it.” We could say this twice, “God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it,” because He has brought double destruction upon Babylon.
Babylon did not stand, and yet God’s people continue to stand, but only by His grace. We wait on the Lord patiently and we look to Him.
Let us also go to Luke 21. After going a little bit further in this chapter, we will stop here and take a break after this. We read in Luke 21:25:
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity…
Do you know what this word “perplexity” means? It is actually translated this way. It means “doubt.”
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days,” Matthew 24 tells us, “the sun [shall] be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven.”
Luke 21:25 is speaking of the very same thing, but God is helping us by telling us that these things are signs and not to be taken literally. They are “signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars.” What follows after May 21 is “distress of nations, with [doubt],” with all sorts of doubt.
We know that people are so perplexed and wondering what is going on. There is such confusion, and God is telling us that this is exactly what He foresaw. He foresaw that there would be “perplexity” all over the earth and even amongst the people of God.
Notice the next part of Luke 21:25:
…the sea and the waves roaring;
If the sea and the waves are “roaring,” what does this mean about the sea? What type of sea is that? It is a troubled sea. It is not calm waters; it is a troubled sea.
In Isaiah 57, God tells us about a “troubled sea.” Again, I am the beneficiary of someone who noticed this and sent me a note, which is very helpful. We read in Isaiah 57:20-21:
But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest…
What do we read about Judgment Day? There is “no rest day nor night,” which is speaking of the rest that we find in Christ. Remember that Matthew 11 tells us, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Well, God did, but not today, not at this time.
Isaiah continues:
But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
Luke 21:25 is indicating that the people of the world who are unsaved are like “the troubled sea, when it cannot rest,” because there is no more rest “day nor night.” There were five months of torment and they were doubled to ten months when there is no rest or no salvation available for anyone.
Then we read in Isaiah Luke 21:26 says:
Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
We are going to have to stop here. We still have another study and I have already gone into material for the next study.