There’s so much happening in the world right now. As we are seeing the spirit of Haman rise in the nations, we recognise that the book of Esther parallels our crisis. No matter how bad things look, God is still on His throne and His word is still true. He is going to bring to pass everything that He has promised. We need to walk in complete trust in Him and let the shaking have its full purpose, for the Lord is shaking everything that can be shaken so that only the unshakeable will remain.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. (Matthew 24:35)
It is important that we don’t look to the right or the left, nor find ourselves criticising and questioning the word of the Lord, both His written Word and that which has been spoken through His anointed prophets. His Will has been made known to us, let us keep our faith and trust that He will bring it to pass. Just because it looks different to what we expected doesn’t mean He’s not at work. His words remain true, that we can count on!
Join me on a journey through the book of Esther and be encouraged to see that God is working on our behalf in the same way as He did in the time of Esther:
1. The Haman spirit is driven by anger and hatred, determined to destroy the righteous and those who refuse to bow to it.
And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. (Eshter 3:6)
2. The Haman spirit will twist the truth and pay to legalise its murderous plan.
Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.” (Esther 3:8-11)
3. In haste, the evil decree was proclaimed throughout the whole kingdom, instructing its people to turn against their Jewish neighbours.
Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation to all the peoples to be ready for that day. The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion. (Esther 3:13-15)
4. The plot is exposed and Esther’s role becomes clear. It is not without danger and risk. Her silence will not save her, nor her family, however, God will still bring salvation through another if she does not act.
We have seen the provision that God had made in America for a time as this. Three justices were positioned in the Supreme Court as Esther was in the court of the king. However, unlike Esther, they chose silence. God’s promise still remains that He will provide relief and deliverance from another place.
And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:12-14)
5. Esther found favour with the king. The risk of her life was immediately obliterated. Her voice and wish was heard in the courts of the king, where Haman couldn’t see.
And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.” (Esther 5:2,3)
6. Haman, thinking he’s ahead of the game, boasted and recounted all his wealth. He had the gallows made and planned to have Mordecai hung the next morning. Little did he know that his life was about to take a complete turn the next day. Pride comes before the fall.
And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king. (Esther 5:11)
7. God, Himself, on the night that Haman prepared the gallows, intervened in the life of the king without the help of man. Insomnia led him to hear the chronicles, discovering that Mordecai had saved his life without reward. Mordecai was being set up for the surprise of his life: vindication, reward, promotion and authority!
On that night the king could not sleep. And he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. And the king said, “What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” The king’s young men who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him. And the king’s young men told him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.” So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” (Esther 6:1-6)
8. A great turn of events occur. Instead of hanging Mordecai on the gallows, he is proclaiming and publicly showcasing him as one who is honoured and favoured by the king.
God is working behind the scenes where we can’t see. He will surprise the enemy while he is at work, even using him to elevate and promote the ones he set out to destroy. Great humility awaits Haman!
We also see accelerated time from the moment the king reads the chronicles. We see the word, ‘hurry’ oftentimes, emphasising that once God steps into our situation of danger and despair, He works in accelerated time to bring His purposes and salvation to His people.
Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry; take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.” So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he dressed Mordecai and led him through the square of the city, proclaiming before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”
Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. And Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him.”
While they were yet talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the feast that Esther had prepared. (Esther 6:10-14)
9. Haman’s plot is exposed. Esther didn’t reveal the plot on the first night, but on the second. Trusting in the Lord, being sensitive to His leading, she made the plot known to the king in front of Haman.
The Lord prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies. While we are feasting in the Lord, exposure and judgment will come to our enemies.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. (Ps 23:5)
Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared to do this?” And Esther said, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen. (Esther 7:3-6)
10. Haman offends and infuriates the king, and with great speed, the Eunuchs respond as the word left the mouth of the king. He is hung on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.
We can be rest assured that once God steps in, we will see an acceleration in time bringing Haman from exposure to judgment. God’s intervention will set His plan of salvation in motion!
And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. And the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated. (Esther 7:8-10)
11. The first edict couldn’t be revoked, but God made provision for salvation through the second edict.
Let’s not be discouraged by what seems like the the first edict – that which we can’t revoke. God is going to make provision through a way we don’t expect, it will be like a second edict that will bypass the first. As Mordecai and Esther had to be strategic in how to work around what they couldn’t change, so God will give His people the strategy that’s needed to avert the planned destruction.
But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”
And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king’s service, bred from the royal stud, saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods, on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies. So the couriers, mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king’s service, rode out hurriedly, urged by the king’s command. And the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. (Esther 8:8, 10-14)
12. Going in the authority and favour of the king, the second edict was proclaimed. Many who planned to do them harm, now declared themselves Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them!
There is going to be a turn in the tide. Loyalty and support is going to shift from Haman to Esther, causing an abolition of the first edict. Both edicts rallied people together to bring about the king’s decree. The first one united people against the Jews, the second one united people against the enemies of the Jews.
And in every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them. (Esther 8:17)
13. God made Mordecai great in all the land. There was a cleansing in the land as the Jews pursued and destroyed their enemies.
God will not be mocked. He will promote His people in positions of authority and power, from where they will uproot and pluck up the evil from the land. That which the enemy planned for evil, God is going to turn for good. Haman and all his wicked plans create the backdrop to the unveiling, promoting and advancing of God’s faithful and courageous Mordecai’s and Esthers.
For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew more and more powerful. The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them. (Esther 9:4,5)
14. The feast of Purim was initiated and kept in remembrance of what the Lord had done. God is going to give us a testimony that will be recorded and celebrated for future generations, making known His great deeds of salvation when He turned our sorrow into gladness.
We will teach and celebrate this with our children so that future generations will know that the Lord our God saved us from the hand of our enemies.
And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor. (Esther 9:20-22)
15. Queen Esther’s role became solidified through standing against evil, in the midst of danger. She stepped out of the shadows into a position of governmental authority.
Be not afraid, nor intimidated in this time. Trust in the Lord, do what is right, speak the truth, and see what the Lord will do. He will not only deliver His people, but He will also establish and root them firmly in their governmental position of authority within the nations.
Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim. Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth, that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting. The command of Esther confirmed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing. (Esther 9:29-32)
When looking at the above notes and scriptures, it is evident that God works in ways we don’t see. He works behind the scenes, divinely intervening without the help of man. He also makes provision by positioning and placing Esthers and Mordecai’s in the courts of kings, even promising that He would still remain faithful to bring salvation through another, if they are unfaithful.
He uses Haman to advance His work, trapping him in his own folly. He unites people, Jew and Gentile, for His own purposes. That which seems unmovable as a mountain, He moves and casts into the sea as He paves a new way that we didn’t see. One thing is for sure: the way of the Lord is perfect and His word will always remain!
