THE FAST AND THE FEAST
Friday – March 10, 2017
Greetings from The Three Minute Word publication and Eastern Gate Ministries International. Today we will break for one day from our Bible Study in Ephesians and talk about the Feast of Lots or what may be better known as Purim. This is not one of the prescribed Feasts of the Lord found in Leviticus twenty-three but is a self-prescribed memorial by the Jewish people of God’s goodness to them. The Book of Esther is the book of Purim, the supernatural rescue of the Jewish people yet again.
This account of the goodness of God to His people, the Jews, takes place about 478 BC. The Medes and Persians are ruling much of the known world as shown by the map. The map is courtesy of; www.freebibleimages.org.
Esther and her uncle, Mordecai, both Jews, are taken captive from Jerusalem to the capital of this empire called Susa (Shushan) by King Ahasuerus. By a series of events Esther a Jew, becomes the Queen of this empire. Haman a chief prince of the Kingdom conspires to kill all of the Jews due to Mordecai’s disrespect. Iran (Persia) was involved in this plot to destroy the Jews and remains committed to the extermination of the Jews. Mordecai spurs Queen Esther to action with the following familiar admonition.
They are not in the Promised Land but in captivity due to evil leaders. The leaders can only be evil it the people are evil or not diligent, deceived about the Word of God. Review this following passage and see the time of Esther and see our time.
2 Chronicles 36:5-16 (ESV)
5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.
6 Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon.
7 Nebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon.
8 … Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place….9 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD….11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
12 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD.
13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar …14 All the officers of the priests and the people likewise … And they polluted the house of the LORD that he had made holy in Jerusalem.
15 The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.
16 But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy. (Bold added by Dr. Wood)
Bottom line, they all did wickedly in the sight of God until there was no remedy. Apparently a place comes then even repentance is not possible. So, Mordechai and his niece Esther end up as captives by the Medes and Persians (yes, Iranians). This pattern of continual rebelling against God and going into captivity was a recurring theme for Israel.
Esther 2:5-7 (ESV)
5 Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite,
6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away.
7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
Next we find a rebellion (feminist movement) by the Queen so she was banished and a new Queen was sought and the King decided on Esther. In the meantime a wicked high ranking official by the name of Haman is plotting to kill of the Jews because he did not believe Mordecai respected him. Mordecai brings this news to Esther asking her to intercede with the King which brings us to this commonly quoted passage.
Esther 4:13-17 (KJV)
13 Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.
14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
15 Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,
16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
17 So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.
Through a series of maneuvers Esther brings the true intent and the reality of this plot to kill all the Jews to the attention of her husband, King Ahasuerus. King Ahasuerus is enraged and has Haman and his ten sons hanged on the gallows Haman intended for Mordecai. Mordecai was promoted and the order was given that the Jews were free to kill those that had previously sort to kill them. To make this more pertinent to us today remember that the devil wanted to kill us all but now in Christ Jesus we are free and given to reign and rule over all principalities. Now back to Esther. Following the exposure and elimination of Haman a great feast was instituted which the Jews celebrate to this day, called Purim.
Esther 9:20-22 (KJV)
20 And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,
21 To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,
22 As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.
Our God is faithful. Think of this in terms of America who has been taken captive due to a multitude of wicked leaders put in place by a wicked people including deceived persons in the Church. The Church has finally come to the realization that Christianity was being wiped from America and being confined to the Church house. A critical mass of peoples, the Prophets have spoken, our King has heard and the wicked Haman is about to be hanged in America along with all his wicked sons. The wicked who have plotted against the Christian Church are being taken out of the picture. A time of celebration is at hand, prepare for the Feast of Pur by the Church whose God has brought the plans of the wicked and the wicked one to naught.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
