And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of the Lord."

Hezekiah set a good example.

He took a public stand for God.

Oh today how we need to take a stand for God.

God’s people need to take a public stand for God.

We need to stand for God in our place of work and in our neighborhood.

The priests made an atonement for all Israel  with the burnt offerings  and sin offering.

Music was again brought into the worship in the temple.

There was singing and instrumental music as David had organized it.

The whole congregation sang praises to God and worshiped Him.

2 Chronicles 29:36   "And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people,  that God had prepared the people:  for the thing was done suddenly."

The Feast of Passover was Restored.

 2 Chronicles 30:1   "And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah,  and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh,  that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel."

This is very wonderful thing that Hezekiah did.

 His father had carried on warfare against the northern kingdom, and many of those from Judah had been taken captive.

One might think that Hezekiah would have come to the throne with a spirit of vengeance in his heart and with a spirit of getting even.

But instead,   Hezekiah opened up the temple of God,  and restored worship.  He gave his own testimony, and sent an invitation to the northern kingdom to come and worship God.

What a wonderful, marvelous spirit this is!

2 Chronicles 30:2   "For the king had taken counsel,  and his princes,  and all the congregation in Jerusalem,  to keep the passover in the second month."

Authority for observing the Passover in the second month, instead of the first, is given in Numbers 9:10–11.

Although the invitation, Hezekiah sent into the northern kingdom, was rejected and ridiculed by some, many responded and came to keep the Passover with their brethren.

For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified:  therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the Passovers for every one  that was not clean,  to sanctify them unto the Lord."

The people had come from all over Israel, and some of them were not sanctified.

And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people."

This, I think, is one of the loveliest things Hezekiah did.

When he sent invitations to the people of Israel in the north,  many came down out of the different tribes to Jerusalem to worship.

But, you see, these people had been without the Word of God all their lives.

They had been living in the northern kingdom,  in the place of idolatry,  and yet they had a hunger and a desire to serve God and to obey Him.

When they came down for the feast,  they were supposed to have been cleansed,  to have prepared their hearts for the Passover, and they had not done that.

They went ahead and ate the Passover without knowing that they should have been cleansed.

When it was told to Hezekiah, he prayed for them:

"The good Lord pardon every one."

Isn’t that just the loveliest thing!

It was ignorance on their part.

Their hearts had been seeking the Lord, but they didn’t understand that they had to be purified.

The Lord listened to the prayer of Hezekiah and healed the people.

This reveals that the form and the ceremony are not the important things.

God is interested in the condition of the hearts of the people.

What a wonderful,  glorious lesson this is for us right here.

2 Chronicles 30:21   "And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord."

They were having such a wonderful time, that they decided to extend the feast for another week.

2 Chronicles 30:23   "And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days: and they kept other seven days with gladness."

This was a joyous return to the Lord and to His Word.

Hezekiah's  father Ahaz,  had made idolatry the state religion in Judah.

Hezekiah began to get rid of the  idols.

2 Chronicles 31:1  "Now when all this was finished,  all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah,  and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all.  Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities."

After this, there was a great period of reformation that took place.

Hezekiah was the man who led in all of this.

WHAT KIND OF MAN WAS HEZEKIAH?

He was a man of faith.

Hezekiah had great faith,  real faith in God.

Hezekiah was not only a man of faith, he was also a man of prayer.

Hezekiah was a man of faith and his faith in God reformed  his life. And led to the reforming of the kingdom.

Hebrews 12:2   "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Hezekiah was reformed in his heart.

There will be reformation in your life when the Lord Jesus saves you.

When we are in Christ He is going to live His life in us.

Remember that when the man sick of the palsy was brought to Him,  Jesus told him his sins were forgiven. The crowd of scribes and Pharisees began to murmur, and call this a case of blasphemy.

The Lord Jesus said,

"… What reason ye in your hearts? Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?"

They had no answer for Jesus.

Obviously, it is just as easy to do the one as to do the other.

It is also just as difficult to do the one as to do the other.

Only God can do either one of them.

Only God can forgive sin.

Only God can make a person get up and walk.

 Luke 5:22-24   "But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee,  Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house."

Dear reader, if Christ has forgiven your sin, and you have taken up your bed,  you have walked away from your old life.

You have walked away from your old sin.

If you have not walked away, you are still paralyzed with sin.

 

 

 

• 25 •

The Feast of Joy

Esther, Chapters 9 and 10

Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;) the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them fell upon all people. 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: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater. Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them. And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men. And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha, and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha, and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha. The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand. On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king.

And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done. Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons. For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand. But the other Jews that were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey, on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. Therefore the Jews of the villages that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.

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, to stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, 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. And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them; because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them; but when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them, the Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year; and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed. Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim. And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, to confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry. And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.

And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea. And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.

As we see in the ninth chapter of the Book of Esther, the anti-Semitic element still tried to carry out their nefarious plan. I’m of the opinion that very few of the Jews were slain. (Scripture gives no evidence that they were.) Instead, "the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them" (9:5).

There are people who feel that it was brutal and cruel for a court of law to sentence many of Hitler’s henchmen to prison, but those henchmen were rascals of the first order. Their treatment of the Jews in concentration camps, was absolutely inhuman. To many people on the outside it did not look as if Hitler’s men should be treated with such harshness, but those who knew the inside story knew that they were rewarded with justice.

"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: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater" (9:3, 4).

For once Mordecai, one of their own, was by the side of the king. Haman, who would have put the Jews to death, had been put to death. The very throne that had once condemned the Jews protected them.

After this marvelous deliverance, a celebration was instituted called the Feast of Purim. "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, to stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, 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" (9:20–22).

The Jews still celebrate the Feast of Purim each year. (Adar is the month of March). Purim comes from the word pur, meaning "lots." Haman rolled the pur like dice to determine the day of the Jews’ execution. "Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them.… Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them, the Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year" (9:24–27).

(Incidentally, the unnamed feast mentioned in the fifth chapter of the Gospel of John could not be the Feast of Purim, as some hold, because the Jews were not required to go to Jerusalem for Purim, and no sacrifice was offered. Purim was celebrated throughout the empire of Persia.)

In our day the Feast of Purim still is commemorated by the Jews. The day preceding is the "Fast of Esther." On the first evening, the festival begins with a convocation in their synagogues, concluded by the reading of the Book of Esther. As the Scriptures are read, the listeners stamp on the floor whenever the name of Haman is mentioned, saying, "Let his name be blotted out. The name of the wicked will rot." And at the end of the reading they say, "Cursed be Haman; blessed be Mordecai!" Then the following morning they come to the synagogue again. The remainder of the festival is a time of rejoicing to celebrate the great fact that God has delivered them (they also include subsequent deliverances such as from the Nazi German atrocities) according to the promise that He made to Abraham. God said, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee …" (Gen. 12:3).

The Book of Esther concludes with this interesting sidelight in chapter 10. "And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea. And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed" (10:1–3).

Let us stop for a moment to think through the history of the world, noticing in particular the nations that have engaged in anti-Semitism and seeing where they are today. For example, consider the nations of Europe. During World War I people lamented the plight of "poor little Belgium." Do you want to know about poor little Belgium? It had instituted an awful siege of anti-Semitism. God says, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee." Look at Spain. Spain was the first nation to bring her flag into the Western Hemisphere. What happened to her greatness? Spain conducted the Inquisition. We think of the Spanish Inquisition as being against Protestants, but it was primarily against Jews. Spain lost her power. The Jews have attended the funeral of every nation that has attempted to destroy them. Babylon attempted it. Assyria attempted it. Egypt attempted it. And the glory of those nations lies in the dust. It would be well for our nation to take note of this fact.

In the end Ahasuerus celebrated the presence of the Jews in his own nation, and the Feast of Purim that the Jews celebrate each year sets forth that fact in a very vivid way.

As we conclude our study of the Book of Esther, let’s draw a parallel. A decree has gone out from almighty God: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die …" (Ezek. 18:20). God has said also, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). He says that the entire world stands before Him dead in trespasses and sins, waiting to be executed. He says that the world today is guilty and that the death penalty must prevail.

Now there are a great many softhearted and soft-headed liberal theologians who have taken the position that God forgives sin simply because He is bighearted, He has forgotten His law, He has changed it, or He has become a weakling. Liberalism in this century has depicted God as a senile old man sitting on a cloud. He has no notion of carrying through any kind of a decree that says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." You hear sloppy teaching about God being a God of "love." If the expression "God is dead" means that the liberal god is dead, then I’ll attend his funeral. I’m glad he’s dead. But the God of the Bible is quite different. God has not changed—not one whit. His decree about sin holds today one hundred percent. The idea that we are getting by with sin is a lie. We are getting by with nothing!

"Well," you may say, "it looks as if we are getting by with it." The psalmist thought so too. He wrote (in Psalm 73), "I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men" (vv. 3–5). That disturbed him, and he wondered about it. Then he said: "When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end" (vv. 16, 17). In other words, "In the temple I found out that God has a whole lot of time on His hands, and He doesn’t have to move today or tomorrow, next week or even next month. He has eternity out yonder ahead of Him, and He moves according to His schedule. I found out that the wicked finally are judged, that God does deal with them."

I can remember (maybe you are old enough to remember, too) that when Hitler was going great guns, many people said, "Why doesn’t God stop Hitler?" Where is Hitler today? God has plenty of time on His hands. He doesn’t have to move today against the wicked, but His decree stands: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die."

However, this is not the end of the story. God has another decree that has gone out from heaven. That decree is: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish …" because He bore the penalty (John 3:16). God cannot change His first decree, but He can send out another decree: a decree of grace that Another, His own Son, has paid the penalty for your sins and mine.

When God forgives today, He loves. Don’t forget that He loves, but He loves in the context of the Cross. You do not find the love of God anywhere in this world but in the Cross of Christ.

You will not find God’s love in nature. Within a block of my home, four teen-agers came careening down the street the other day, and their car, a little Volkswagen, went out of control. One of the passengers was killed; the others were rushed to the hospital. This world in which we live operates according to hard law. The law of gravity has not been repealed. None of God’s laws have been repealed. But, thank God, the grace of God can reach down and save any sinner who will come in under the provision He has made. That is love.

That is good news. In fact, the literal meaning of the word gospel is "good news." The gospel, correctly interpreted, is good news for the human family. The gospel is defined for us by the apostle Paul in the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved …" (vv. 1, 2). The gospel is what saves men today. The gospel is what Someone has done for us. The gospel is not a request on God’s part for you and me to do something. On the contrary, the gospel is what He has done for us. Here is what Paul says the gospel is: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (vv. 3, 4). That is good news! That is what Christ has done for us. We may accept it and receive it now by faith, by faith alone.

Just as the throne of Ahasuerus protected the Jews when Esther and Mordecai interceded, the very throne of God protects us today. The apostle says, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" (Rom. 8:33, 34). Notice how He justifies: (1) Christ died; (2) He is risen again; (3) He is even at the right hand of God; (4) He also makes intercession for us. These are the reasons no one can condemn a believer. How wonderful this is! Today there is a Man in the realms of glory—He knows exactly how you feel, and He knows exactly how I feel. And in that position He is interceding for us. How wonderful to know that we have Someone there for us. Things have changed for us sinners.

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need

(Heb. 4:14–16).

Go back with me now to some little unknown village in one of the 127 provinces of the Persian empire. Possibly way out in the hinterland there was a community in which there were a few Jews. When they saw the decree, they looked at it and said, "We don’t believe it," and paid no attention to the second decree of the king at all. I’m of the opinion that all of them perished. All they needed to do was to believe the king and act upon that belief in faith, and God would have delivered them.

Today God saves all sinners who will act upon the marvelous new decree of grace that He has sent out into the world: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved …" (Acts 16:31).

Let’s look again at the theme of the Book of Esther: the providence of God. Although God’s people in the days of Queen Esther had rejected Him, and He had withdrawn His name from them, they were not out of the reach of His providence. God preserved His people, and by His providence He still was gracious to them.

If you are a child of God, do not be led by God’s providence. Do not be like the horse that must be led forcibly by a bridle. Being led by His providence is the method He uses with those who rebel at being led. If you are His child, He wants to lead you directly. He says, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye" (Ps. 32:8). This requires a blessed nearness to God if we are to have the guidance of His eye. God wants to direct us and touch our lives in an intimate way. But how many Christians are sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in this day? God will not bring much pressure to bear, but when He makes just a little suggestion to you at the crossroads of life, are you too far from Him to know that He is indicating a certain pathway? You and I as believers should not be guided by the providence of God; we ought to be guided directly by the Spirit of God.

Yet even if we slip out from under God’s direct dealings, we have not slipped out from under His providential dealings. God ever stands in the shadows, keeping watch over His own.