For Such A Time As This...
Part One
The story of Esther holds tremendous prophetic implications for the future of Israel. The events portrayed in this beautiful story of God's providence behind the scenes even in a strange land are foreshadows of events coming upon Planet Earth very soon. The choices made by the main characters in this story may very well be the same choices facing you and I as well.
By Chris McDonald
Esther 4:14-17 - 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.
Among the feasts of Israel, PURIM, also known as the Feast of Esther, holds a favored position. According to some of the rabbis, when Messiah comes, all the feasts will become redundant, but PURIM, will never cease.
This high esteem for Purim would be puzzling was it not for the fact that it is an expression of faith in the invisible working of an invisible God behind the scenes of human events. The story of Esther is a fitting tribute to the God of an exiled people, without a temple or priesthood, without a prophet or even a great spiritual leader, who nevertheless are deeply conscious of the divine watch care on them.
The Book of Esther, so conspicuous by the absence of the name of God, seems to be shouting in its every line and word, “Behold, he who keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalms 121:3).
Purim, unlike any other feast, is a warning to ALL who come against the people of God, the nation of Israel, and the Jewish people in general. If you seek the destruction of the Jewish people, the same destruction you seek will come back to you!
Our conflict with Iraq officially began Tuesday, March 18, 2003. That was the day Israel celebrated Purim all over the world. The conflict started with a surprise hit on the bunker many believed Sadaam Hussein and his two older sons were hiding. Rumors have been circulating since Tuesday whether Sadaam had been killed in this attacks.
If he was killed on this day I firmly believe this is vengeance for the treatment Mr. Hussein gave Israel in 1991 when he lobbed 39 scud missiles into Israel killing hundreds of innocent Jewish citizens. Since that time Mr. Hussein has done nothing but indirectly terrorize Israel by paying thousands of dollars to Palestinian families who would offer up their sons and daughters to detonate themselves and kill innocent Israelis. This was not an isolated situation, but one Mr. Hussein bragged about and published without blushing. He hated Israel and even in the dying days of Iraq said the only reasons he ever kept weapons of mass destruction were to protect him from Iran and to eventually deal with Israel. Had the United States not acted eventually Israel would have been attacked again.
Friend, let this thought sink in. YOU DO NOT MESS WITH THE GOD OF ISRAEL. WHEN YOU MESS WITH ISRAEL YOU ARE MESSING WITH THE APPLE OF GOD’S EYE! AND THE GOD OF ISRAEL DOES NOT SLEEP OR SLUMBER.
World history is littered with the epitaphs of dictators, groups, and even nations who have come against Israel only to find out that there was a plumb line of judgment they took upon themselves when they took up this demonic inspiration to kill Jewish people.
I am totally convinced God has a sense of humor. The Psalms tell us that He laughs in heaven when the heathen rage and bring calamity upon themselves:
Psalm 2:1-6
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? [2] The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, [3] Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. [4] He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. [5] Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. [6] Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
The Lord said through the Psalmist He shall laugh and have them in derision. The only thing those who have come against Israel and the Jewish race has ever left here on earth is an occasion for a holiday. When Pharaoh first stretched forth his hand to kill the Jewish race in Egypt, the night of his destruction became the perpetual celebration of Passover.
When Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the temple in Jerusalem in 156 B.C. and slaughtered a pig in honor of the heathen god Zeus as a precursor of horrible persecution on the Jewish people, his demise only led to the Jewish feast of Hanukkah.
Modern dictators have also found their end on interesting days in history. Adolph Hitler died on April 19, 1945 – the day the Jewish people celebrated Passover. Joseph Stalin died in March 17, 1953 – the day that the Jewish people celebrated PURIM that year. And on March 18, 2003 – it is very possible that yet another of Israel’s potential destroyers – Sadaam Hussein – may have found his end – again on the JEWISH FEAST DAY OF PURIM. That is the day we entered into this conflict to liberate Iraq but I believe for even a greater purpose in heaven- to remove a threat to the safety and security of the nation of Israel – at least for now.
There will be one more in history – the Antichrist himself – who will attempt one final act of barbarism and murder on the Jewish people – as he seeks to wipe out the knowledge of God during the Great Tribulation period and “overcome the elect of God,” for a season – before finding his end in the FULFILLMENT OF ALL THE JEWISH FEASTS – The Lord Jesus Christ – Yeshua Ha'maschiah.
Daniel 8:23-25 - And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. [24] And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. [25] And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand
All the despots of the past – including Mr. Hussein in many ways – were but dress rehearsals for the Antichrist. Hitler, Antiochus Epiphanes and Haman attempted what the Antichrist will succeed at doing for a season – destroying the “mighty and holy people,” of God. Neighbor, those days are ahead of us soon. Time is getting short for us to spread the gospel to the entire world.
That’s why we are living in this time – for “such a time as this.” THIS GENERATION will behold the events written about by John the Revelator and Daniel. I firmly believe that. It’s hard to fathom the Lord tarrying 30-40 more years. I don’t look for Him to tarry at all. He could come at any moment for the church, or His body. The rapture of the church is the next great event on the prophetic horizon for the child of God.
Whether you believe in a pre-, mid-, or post- tribulation rapture – neighbor the soon coming of the Lord is HERE! It’s time to get ready to meet Him. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to get unconfessed sin out of our lives and remove any impurities in our heart – no matter how small or great. As Jude exhorts us – we need our garments clean “without even a spot of the flesh,” on them!
Jude 1:19-25
These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. [20] But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, [21] Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. [22] And of some have compassion, making a difference: [23] and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
We need to hate the garment SPOTTED by the flesh. We need to abhor sin like it was the deadliest plague we could ever inhale in our bodies- because neighbor – IT IS! Sin will destroy you child of God just as it will destroy those who do not know God. We are in the time of the end. The harvest is here. We who are living right now have been called to the kingdom for such a time as this.
We have been called to this time in history to be part of the greatest army on the face of the earth. This is an army that is not armed with bullets and bombs but with the power of the HOLY GHOST that as a SWORD will destroy the enemies of the spirit world through the intercession and prayers of the saints. Oh neighbor, don’t you feel that? The feast of Purim is a feast that cries to us to see the power of intercession and how it changes nations and people.
I believe that even though we couldn’t cause this conflict to be totally avoided without conflict, the prayers of the saints in the United States have went a LONG way for the destruction of Sadaam’s regime. We are still a Christian nation – despite the wickedness in a good majority of our citizenry. Those things will have a payday. When the rapture of the church occurs the fabric of the United States as a whole could very well come unraveled so quickly that the entire nation will be destroyed.
Hear what I say to you. We are the ONLY superpower on the earth at this time in history. But in no shape form or fashion can we find the United States on the pages of the prophetic scene as recorded in Scripture. This is not something to be overlooked or passed over. Something is coming that will remove us off the pages of history to give way to the LAST superpower on earth – the Kingdom of the Antichrist. America may be here in a form – but no one can find us in the main role of players in the end times.
The one nation however you find on EVERY page of the prophetic stage is the nation of ISRAEL and the city of Jerusalem. As we wrote in a separate journal, Jerusalem and Babylon are the only two cities mentioned by name in relation to end time events in Daniel and Revelation. Not New York, not Los Angelies, not London, not Paris – none of these are mentioned. But the entire scope of events that are coming in the future center on the national salvation of Israel and the restoration of Jerusalem as the center of the earth.
The Jewish people have seen some dark days and their immediate future is not going to be too great. Many will perish at the hands of the Antichrist and a growing worldwide hatred that will culminate in a final holocaust. During this time many believers who are not Jewish are going to be called on as Esther was to stand in the gap for the Jewish people and in many cases possibly shed blood to protect them.
My dear brother Todd has shared with me many times that he believes that this act of unselfish service and sacrifice by the Body of Christ for those whom the church has shunned and at times in the past persecuted itself – may very well be the catalyst that will reveal to the Jewish people that Yeshua the Messiah is real because the ones who claim He is their Lord are willing to die for His brethren after the flesh. THIS IS THE TIME WE ARE LIVING IN. This is the time we have been called into – “for such a time as this,” have we be summoned to history to witness the hand of God orchestrate events that will culminate in the Second Coming of His Son of Earth.
And when Jesus comes – Jerusalem will once again be the center of the earth. He will rule and reign from Jerusalem for 1,000 years. His coming will destroy the Antichrist with its brightness and the devil will be cast into the bottomless pit for 1,000 years. The nations will know war no more and the lion will lie down by the lamb.
Both the Antichrist and False Prophet will find their end in the lake of fire. MAN DOES NOT WIN and SATAN DOES NOT WIN this war! God WINS! And those who are the Lord’s will be there to witness it all.
I believe there is no other Feast in scripture that puts the events of the current time we live in kaleidoscope form
The Feast Of Purim
There is one other individual that we know of in history that found his end on the inaugural celebration of this Jewish Feast of Purim – the wicked Haman.
Every year during the Feast of Purim, the story of Esther is read with glee in the synagogue. Mordecai’s name is cheered, and Hamans name is greeted with stomping of the feet, derisive booing, and the grinding sound of special noisemakers.
Private and public merriment is the order of the day. Gifts are sent to fiends and to the poor in a joyful reenactment of the first Purim, commemorating the deliverance of the Jewish people from the hands of Haman – Amalek and Agag’s descendant – and his henchmen.
As we read this story of Esther, we notice an exquisite fabric of seeming coincidence woven by the invisible but sure hand of God into a pattern that spells DELIVERANCE. It has a lesson not only for the Jewish people but also for all believers who name the name of Jesus. God moves to accomplish His plans – even in modern times – but it takes FAITH to see this.
The setting of this story in ancient Persia at the peak of her glory and power. Some years had passed since 538 B.C., when Cyprus permitted the Jews to return from Babylon to the Holy Land under the leadership of Zerubbabel (Ezra, chapters 1-6).
Those Jewish people who stayed behind in Babylon chose to live comfortably in dispersion rather than face the hardships of pioneering in their devastated homeland. Among those who decided to remain in exile were Mordecai and Esther. Upon the throne of the Persian Empire, stretching over 127 provinces, was Xerses (486-465 B.C.), a might ruler of nations but of weak character. Self-seeking courtiers and intriguing politicians often engineered his decisions. The Jewish rabbis were fond of calling Ahasuerus “a fool of a king,” probably not without cause.
Yet behind the vacillation and follies of the king, behind intrigues and political maneuvers in the royal court, was God out His eternal plans. It is fascinating to watch the divine hand behind the “perfectly natural” coincidences, weaving an intricate fabric to shield and protect God’s people.
Haman-The Tool Of Satan
Haman, the evil spirit of the drama, was a descendant of Amalek, the eternal enemy of Israel, whom God commanded them to destroy utterly.
Deut. 25:17-19
Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; [18] How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou was faint and weary; and he feared not God. [19] Therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God gives thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shall not forget it.
It was Saul, the first king of Israel, who disobeyed God and SAVED Haman’s ancestors, thus bringing upon the children of Israel the dire peril of Haman. But, in the artistry of the divine providence, Mordecai, of the same tribe and family as Saul, was chosen to repair the damage. With the annihilation of Haman and his sons, the divine verdict to destroy Amalek was carried out.
This should tell us even today that when you spare evil and do not deal with it as God says to deal with it – DESTROY IT – evil will always come back to you through future generations. The Gulf War of 1991 is a GREAT example of this. The United States left Mr. Hussein in power and watched 12 years elapse without us confronting his evil. I don’t know what the divine mandate was in 1991 but I can’t help but feel that the MORAL mandate at the time would have been to expel Mr. Hussein from Iraq and bring freedom to the Iraqi people. It was the wishes of the United Nations that we leave him in power and you see what that has caused.
This same body of people- the UN- has fought the United States and Mr. Bush tooth and toenail in dealing with him in 2003. Mr. Bush has taken a beating in the liberal press, liberal Democratic Senators and in world opinion for taking a stand against Mr. Hussein and bringing liberty to the Iraqi people. Mr. Bush has the mandate of God on him to do what he has done. You cannot appease evil. We let Hussein go unconfronted for 12 years and when all is said and done God only knows what we will find in Iraq as far as weapons of mass destruction go. But more importantly to me has not even been the issue of mass destructive weapons – but Hussein’s treatment of his own people – the torture, the rape, the murder, the mass oppression for over 30 years – and his blatant desire for the destruction of Israel. THOSE TWO THINGS are what I believe brought a day of recompense upon him and his regime during this current conflict.
Please understand. I’m not painting the United States as a righteous angel or a nation without its own issues with God. We have a payday coming to our own nation for the sins of our people. But as God told Israel many times about her enemies – “I’m not delivering them into your hands because of your own goodness- they’re just more wicked than you are and you are the instrument of judgment I’m going to use to destroy them.” That’s blunt but that is how God deals with nations – especially nations who seek the destruction of the apple of HIS EYE!!!!!!!!!!!
Amalek was the grandson of Esau who became the head of a generation of people who sought Israel’s destruction back even in the days of Moses. Israel is the name of Esau’s brother – Jacob – before God changed not only Jacob’s name – but his character as well. Esau, who held years of bitterness and hatred toward his brother over the lost blessing and birthright, summoned Amalek his grandson to his side at the time of Esau’s death. Esau made Amalek to promise him that he would do to Jacob’s line that Esau had never been able to do- kill them! He told Amalek to make war with Jacob and avenge his name throughout the generations to come. The actions of Amalek as recorded in Deuteronomy 25 were actually the actions of Esau. Amalek was just a tool of an “ancient hatred,” between the line of Esau and the line of Jacob. That hatred still exists today.
As a result of Amalek’s cowardly act of barbarism, God commanded that Amalek’s descendants (uh, coughing – the Arabs) would be destroyed and their name would be blotted out under the heavens. Haman, the prime minister and major domo of Ahasuerus, was a descendant of that same lineage. He did not know these things as he sought to plan his demonic plan to destroy the Jewish race in Persia. The vainglorious politician, obsessed with Jew hatred, was tightening the noose around his own neck without realizing it, for when God would punish someone He first deprives him of his reason. In essence, the noose was placed around every single attempt to destroy Israel for the future.
Haman was a tool of Satan, who from the beginning of the history of the Jews sought to destroy them. Satan has known for ages that from the Jewish people – the line of Jacob – would come the ONE who would bruise his head. Haman’s reaction to Mordecai was perfectly modern. The Jew Mordecai had offended Haman, and so Haman’s wrath turned against all the Jews. Historic patterns have always had a way of protecting themselves.
A Bill Of Indictment
Esther 3:8
And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them.
When Haman came to Ahasuerus requesting the total destruction of the Jewish people, he had a ready-made bill of particulars against them. This bill is worth our discussion. These accusations are historic and prophetic in some ways because they have been leveled against the Jewish people repeatedly throughout their checkered and tragic history:
1. “The Jews are a people scattered abroad and dispersed among all the people.” The charge was that the Jewish people were an alien element in the body of that host nation. That was Hitler’s initial claim en route to the genocide of 6 million Jewish people in 1938-1945.
2. “They have different laws.” Their religion, customs, and the whole structure of their society and civilization do not fit into the pattern of the host country.
3. “They do not obey the king’s laws.” This is a charge of disloyalty and lack of patriotism.
4. Summing it all up: “It is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.” They are a burden on the body politic and on the economy of the land, and so they are useless to the king, and the economy is better off without them.
Solomon the Wise said, “There is no new thing under the sun.”
A Drastic Solution
Esther 3:9
If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king's treasuries.
Haman, like Hitler and countless others throughout history – including Sadaam Hussein – have always had a ready solution to the Jewish problem in their eyes – DESTROY THEM – TOTAL EXTERMINIATION.
Haman was not unaware of the economic value of the Jewish people to the country. He realized that their absence might hit the king where it hurt. So he offered as compensation the tidy sum of 10,000 talents of silver (forty to fifty million dollars in our somewhat inflated currency) “into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s treasury.”
The King for whatever reason refused to accept the offer and gave Haman the Jewish people anyway – “do with them as you like.” How often have the Jewish people been delivered to the mercy of the merciless! The verdict had been pronounced, the trap set. It was the first time since Pharaoh that the entirety of the Jewish race faced total extermination.
I want to make a few statements here. President Bush has announced recently that he would unveil his roadmap for the Middle East. Bush is planning to quickly move to unveil this plan once Arafat appoints a Prime Minister. (Arafat will remain as president.) Bush also demanded that settlement activity in the Occupied Territories cease. This roadmap is a joint effort between the United States, the European Union, Russia, and China. The United Nations is also actively involved in this road map which in layman’s terms calls for the establishment of a terrorist, oops, Palestinian, state by 2005.
Days on the heels of the United States being humiliated and trashed by the United Nations over Iraq, Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "We will continue our pursuit of a roadmap for peace in partnership with the E.U. Russia and the UN."
The United States has a history of selling Israel out over the barrels of cheap Arab oil. In addition it has had an awful history of stepping in and handcuffing Israel in her pursuit of justice for Palestinian terrorists who have come into Israel time and time again since 1948 and murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent Jewish civilians.
The establishment of a Palestinian state will make it virtually impossible for Israel to defend herself and make her borders of protection less than 60 miles apart in some places of the country. The Bible does not end with the rebirth of the nation of Israel, but goes into great detail about what happens after the nation is reborn.
The Bible shows the reborn nation of Israel will be rejected and suffer war after war. The wars that Israel has gone through since its rebirth along with the rejection of the nation by nearly all religious, political and economic organizations fits right into the Bible prophecy. The wars involving Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 are minor compared to the future battles described in the Bible. These wars against God’s covenant people will not go on forever. There will be an end to the wars. The end will come when God directly intervenes for Israel against the actions of mankind.
The political and religious rejection of Israel will eventually result in a worldwide military campaign led by the Antichrist against her. The Bible describes at least three future wars which are going to be beyond anything the world has ever seen before. Israel will be defeated for the first time in her history in the middle of the Tribulation when the Antichrist declares war against her and seeks her total destruction. Each war will get progressively greater and greater. These future wars will destroy 1/3 of all mankind – two billion people.
The world events taking place now are planting the seeds for these future wars. There is a huge confrontation with Islamic nations in the Middle East and other parts of the world. There is no escaping these confrontations as we are witnessing at the present time in Iraq.
The flow of oil out of the Middle East is very delicate and a catastrophic war could overnight cripple the world’s oil supply. The stock markets and banks would be sent reeling from a massive war in the Middle East.
The fuse for an Islamic-Israeli confrontation was lit on September 28, 2000 when Israeli general Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and vicious fighting erupted. The Muslims rioted over his presence on the Temple Mount site. This was the beginning of the Al-Aksa intifada. The Al-Aksa Mosque is located on the Temple Mount and it is one of the most important sites of Islam.
This event in 2000 was the summing up of 8 years of the Clinton and Bush Sr’s administrations pressuring Israel into giving up her covenant land. In August 2001, our current President Bush drafted the very same roadmap he is pushing now – the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The scheduled date for the announcement of this state was originally slated for 10:30 A.M., September 11, 2001 – on the floor of the United Nations. We all know what happened to America at 8:45 and 9:15 AM on that same date. Our focus is Iraq now but our attention is soon to turn to Israel once again. Should the United States push this roadmap we will pay a horrible price for this. God is NOT for a Palestinian state. Make no mistake about that. The land in question does not belong even to Israel – it belongs to HIM – and He has chosen to give it to the nation of Israel.
Joel 3:1-3 - For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, [2] I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. [3] And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
Bush is planning to quickly move to unveil his plan once Arafat appoints a Prime Minister. (Arafat will remain the PLO President.) Bush also demanded that settlement activity in the Occupied Territories cease. If this roadmap is pushed and passed there is NO question that Israel will be sacrificed on the political altars of Washington. God help us all if that happens. Saint of God – that is why you and I have been called to the “kingdom” for such a time as this. We are the Esther’s’ of this generation. We are the intercessors of harvest generation to stand in the gap for God’s chosen people and if necessary “perish” for them if called upon.
That is the story of Purim, which we will continue, in the next journal in this two-part series. Neighbor, it’s getting late. I pray you are born again and know the Lord today. The declaration against Amalek is actually a declaration of war between the Spirit of God and the flesh of man. The Holy Ghost is at war with our flesh to bring it under subjection to the power of God. That war will be eternal. There will be victors and there will be losers. Neighbor, eternity is long and it pays that today we have made our calling and election SURE. In Him, Praise God. Praise God.