It is the feast of Purim today. Purim is from the book of Esther.
In the book of Esther, Haman (the enemy of Gods people) made gallows to hang Mordecai, but because of Esther’s intercession, he was hanged on his own gallows. So we see the plans of the enemy were the cause of his own downfall.
So now,as the people of God, as we rise up in intercession, the plans the enemy tries to use against us will be the cause of his ultimate defeat! Hallelujah to the Lamb!
”So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai…” Esther 7:10
Ultimately this is a picture that points to Christ. For where else is it so powerfully displayed that the means the enemy, Satan, tried to use to destroy the Son of God at the cross, was the place of his ultimate defeat, and of Christ’s complete victory over the powers of darkness?
We have nothing to fear brothers and sisters, even from the Coronavirus, for the Lord knows the way , even if we don’t. And as we stay close to Him we are safe and in the place of victory.
“I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined to me and heard my cry…” Psalm 40:1
God is always on time
He is never early, He is never late. He is a punctual God.
He is also a miracle-working God.
We see the evidence of God’s miraculous and perfect-timing in Esther.
Haman’s wrath against Mordecai had grown steadily by the day. This Jew who refused to bow or pay homage to him! How dare he? Who does he think he is anyway?
Finally the day came when Haman’s hatred is unleashed. Queen Esther invites Haman to a feast, and when he, being filled with pride and his own self-importance, is once again confronted by this humble man who will simply not bow to him in the gate, he has had enough!
He builds a gallows with the intention of suggesting to the King in the morning that Mordecai be hanged on it.
Haman goes to bed happily.
But God had other plans….
“That night the king could not sleep….” Esther 6:1
That one little sentence sets the ball rolling for the events to follow. The king not being able to sleep is seemingly insignificant, yet it is the very thing that God uses to set in motion the overthrow of the enemy. But even more than that, that seemingly insignificant event is the beginning of the honouring of God’s servant.
The King calls for the book of records to be read before him. It is found in the records that a man called Mordecai had uncovered a plot by two of the king’s eunuchs to “lay hands on King Ahasuerus”. Mordecai had saved the king’s life.
“Then the king said, ‘What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” Esther 6:3
Mordecai had been overlooked, but the king wanted to rectify that.
“So the King said, ‘Who is in the court?’ Now Haman had just entered the court of the king’s palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.” Esther 6:4
We see God’s amazing timing here. We see God’s hand upon His servant, Mordecai. While the enemy was plotting for his downfall, God set events in motion that end up having Mordecai honoured and the enemy being brought low.
“So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’ Afterward Mordecai went back to the King’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered.” Esther 6:11, 12
Hallelujah!
Brothers and sisters, we do not need to fear when we have the Lord on our side. Our Father knows how to look after His own, and if you are a child of His then He will not let you down. Remember that ultimately Haman was killed on the very gallows that he had built for Mordecai. The very thing the enemy is trying to destroy you with will be the very means of his downfall.
Whatever your circumstance is, whatever your prayer need, the God who is outside of time, is always on time.
Picture it – a young orphan girl, brought up by her uncle in a foreign land where her people had been carried away as captives years before….She had known the sorrow of the loss of her parents, of poverty and hardship. But now she found purpose in looking after her uncle and hope in looking forward to a future as one day becoming a Jewish wife and mother, even in the foreign land of Persia.
But one day, the King of the land of Susa, where she was dwelling, issued a decree and this young lady, as well as some others, was brought into the custody of a eunuch in the King’s palace.
For the King was seeking a bride.
Imagine this young Jewess, Hadassah, in the King’s palace, gazing at the splendor surrounding her. The fierce might of the palace’s guards, the opulence of the furnishings. Everything so beautiful, so different than she had ever known. And what of her future hopes now? Would she ever become a wife and mother? Would this Gentile king cause her to have to relinquish her future and remain with him in his palace?
For one whole year this young lady remained in the eunuch’s care, and eventually Hegai, as he was called, became her friend, her helper, her adviser. Each day for twelve months she was prepared and beautified for her first meeting with the King. Each day she wondered what that one night with the King would mean for her and what her future held. And as she soaked in the oil of myrrh, tears as bitter as that herb flowed down mingling with the oil and softening the harsh callous places of her skin.
After six months of the oil of myrrh preparation, Esther, as she was now known, was led by Hegai to begin the beautifying preparation with perfumes. Soft and supple now, her skin had been made tender by the bitter treatment of myrrh.
But that wasn’t the only thing that had changed. Soaking in the myrrh Esther’s heart and character had also been softened by the bitterness of her own “death”. Death to her future, death to her own plans, to what she had desired for her own life. But even further, the tender treatment and counsel of her constant companion Hegai had taken her through that bitterness of death and brought her into something new, something fresh, even…exciting. Now she was filled with a different hope, a different expectancy for the future that was laid on the foundation of a humble yet mature character wrought through endurance.
The perfume preparation complete, Esther was now ready to enter the King’s presence. Having come through this next stage of preparation Esther had become even more dependent on her friend Hegai and sought his counsel as to what she should take with her to the King. He, after all, knew the King and the King’s taste.
It was Esther’s turn. Hegai took her to the King and “the king loved Esther more than all the other women and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen….” Esther 2:17
Esther, now as the King’s bride, settles into life as a Queen. She of humble origins, an orphan, now the Queen of 127 provinces, from India to Ethiopia.
One day Esther receives some troubling news from her uncle. Haman the Agagite has decreed to exterminate all of the Jews, her people, and her husband the King has authorized this decree! Her uncle tells her to make a plea to the King for her people.
Deeply distressed, Esther hesitates. She knows, as does her uncle, that to enter the king’s presence unbidden brings the immediate sentence of death. Yet she loves her people, her heart yearns for her people with every day that goes by. Her uncle’s heart breaks, he loves her and knows her dilemma – yet he must utter these words:
““Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13, 14)
Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” (Esther 4:15, 16)
If I perish, I perish
As her tears had rolled into the waters of myrrh long ago Hadassah had known that her life was no longer her own. It was then that she had perished. Long ago she had been prepared for this.
And it was because she had perished then, that she could intercede now for those who were perishing.
OH Lord, make us into a people like Esther, who would die to ourselves, our plans and our own lives. Make us into a prepared and beautified Bride, who will come boldly before the throne of grace in Your presence and plead for the lives of those around us who are perishing. Father we thank you for Your Son, Yeshua, the ultimate intercessor, who did give up His life for us, who stood in the gap for us, so that we should not perish but have everlasting life. OH Lord, help us to be led by Your Spirit only, to seek You only and Your will. May we be brave and stand in the gap, even in the midnight hour. In the Name of Yeshua Hamashiach, Amen.
Hosea 6:5: "Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth."
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