LESSONS FROM PURIM PART 2
SUNDAY February 25,2018
Last week we see that wicked Haman had released a plot to kill all of God’s people on one day the 13th day of the 12th month. Haman was a direct descendant of King Agag an Amalekite who King Saul in rebellion & stubbornness refused to kill and destroy the spoils.
· Haman cast lots or rolled the dice and it came out as the 13th of the Month of Adar.
· Since Purim means to cast lots or “chance”, one might assume that God is not directly involved in this story, especially since God’s name is not mentioned even one time in the entire book of Esther.
· In Hebrew there is no word for “coincidence” or “chance” or “luck”
· Purim is the revelation that “no matter what you see, what you feel or what’s going on, God is moving on behalf of His people who still obey and walk in His Word, Truth & Covenant.
· Remember Purim is during the time when Judah and Benjamin the Southern Kingdom of Israel is carried for 70 years into captivity for their disobedience of not honoring God’s word & commandments of how to Hit the mark (Torah)!
Deuteronomy 31:16-18 – The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the land, into the midst of which they are going, and will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.
· *Historical fact that when Haman rolls the dice to get the date of when to destroy the Jews,
· Haman rolls 1-3-3, the month of Adar and numerical value of the name of Agag, who was his ancestor that Israel defeated.
· Haman believes this is a sign from his Gods that He is now going to get revenge on the people of Judah. (Jews)
· Agag means: Addiction, anger, depression, sickness, death, debt, financial ruin, illegitimacy, etc.
· Haman also recognizes it as the month that Moses died.
· He sees this as a sign that HE has the victory and chooses the date Adar 13, 11 months later.
· Haman *Does NOT know it is also the month of Moses’ birth.
· Even though the name and the face of God is hidden to the natural eye, Mordecai and Esther are fasting and praying to turn the evil verdict upside down!
Esther 4:13- 17 NKJV13 And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 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?”15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: 16 “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!”
17 So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded him.
Because of the this corporate three day fasting and prayer, Esther had favor with the King to prepare a banquet of wine for the purpose of revealing the plot against her and her people by wicked Haman.
· Wine: symbolic of the joy of life, but also the blood of atonement and covering of sin.
· Jesus last supper was a Passover Seder meal.
Luke 22:20 NIV In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you
· The Blood of Jesus reconnects to God’s covenant. The blood of Jesus reverses evil and those who would try to destroy you.
· The blood of Jesus just like the banquet of wine is a celebration of the joy of life that comes from God alone. The blood of Jesus reverses curses and judgments against you!
Esther 7:3-10 NKJV3 Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. 4 For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king’s loss.” 5 So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?”6 And Esther said, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman!”So Haman was terrified before the king and queen.7 Then the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stood before Queen Esther, pleading for his life, for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king. 8 When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine, Haman had fallen across the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he also assault the queen while I am in the house?”As the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Now Harbonah, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, “Look! The gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke good on the king’s behalf, is standing at the house of Haman.”Then the king said, “Hang him on it!”10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath subsided.
· Mordecai would see a restoration of all that He had lost and was stolen because He was faithful not to bow to the Idolatry of Haman.
· Mordecai will now possess even the palace of His (hater) enemy
· God promised that Abram and His descendants would take dominion and posses the gates of their enemies (Genesis 22:17)
Genesis 26:40 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her:
“Our sister, may you becomeThe mother of thousands of ten thousands; And may your descendants possess
The gates(palaces) of those who hate them.”
Esther 8:15-17 15 So Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, with a great crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple; and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. 16 The Jews had light and gladness, joy and honor. 17 And in every province and city, wherever the king’s command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a holiday. Then many of the people of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews fell upon them.
· The opposite occurred instead of destroying God’s people now people began to convert to the true God the God of Israel
Esther 9:19-23 19 Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns celebrated the fourteenth day of the month of Adar with gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and for sending presents to one another.
20 And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, 21 to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, 22 as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor. 23 So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them,
Proverbs 19:17 NIV Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.
Esther 9:27 27 the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would join them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days every year, according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time, 28 that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants.
Esther 9:1 JUBILLEE BIBLE Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his law drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, it was turned to the contrary (OPPOSITE); for the Jews took dominion over those that hated them.
· Saturday we will be celebrating the spirit of Purim by declaring the opposite to occur over those who are poor and need help!
· We will preach good news to the poor.
· We will feed those with physical and spiritual food
· We will demonstrate the God of Purim.
You don’t need luck, chance or coincidence you need to connect to the God of Israel through the blood of Jesu