The One New Man Study - The Theology Of Jew And Gentile - One In Messiah
Entire Study Recently Updated January 2006
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The One New Man Study - The Theology Of Jew And Gentile - One In Messiah Entire Study Recently Updated January 2006
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Lesson TWO: Esther: The Church's Call To Stand Up For The Jewish People
Esther 4:10-14 -
Again Esther spoke unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai; [11] All
the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that
whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court,
who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to
whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter, that he may live: but I have
not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. [12] And they told
to Mordecai Esther's words. [13] Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think
not with thyself that thou shall 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.
The million year old question is this. Why do so many people hate the Jews? Before Jesus came, the answer was simple: Satan was using any means necessary at his disposal to annihilate the people who would give birth to the Messiah. But since that has already happened, why is Satan still trying to destroy the Jews as both a people and a nation? And why should this concern the church? Why is it so important for Christians to embrace once again their Jewish heritage and take up an intercessory role for National Israel to be saved? Why is it so important that we recognize our Jewish roots once again and come together in unity with the Jewish part of the church? The answer is this:
The Jewish people hold many keys to evangelizing the world, to Messiah's return and to Satan's final defeat.
In Matthew 23:39, Jesus tells us that the last Biblical event necessary before His literal return to this earth with the Saints is the Jew's recognition of Him as their Messiah. They will first recognize another one (the Antichrist) but will just as quickly realize that the one whom was crucified outside Jerusalem's gates some 2,000 years ago was the one God sent to this earth to redeem humanity. He came to His own, (the Jews) and they received Him not. One day, that will change.
Matthew 23:39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Just as Jews were used mightily to initiate the gospel at the first coming of Jesus, they will be raised up as mighty witnesses to evangelize the world just before His return the second time. We know from scripture that during the Great Tribulation period at least 144,000 Jewish evangelists will be sent throughout the earth to witness of Messiah's soon return. These evangelists will number 12,000 each from the original tribes of Israel. They will once again turn the world upside down with the good news of the Messiah just as the first church, whose membership was comprised of mainly Jewish believers until Paul and others were sent to the regions of Asia Minor and what we now know today as Europe. In addition, I'm sure they will give the Antichrist fits in his bid for world domination. These will be spirit-filled individuals. Yes, I believe they will be baptized in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking with tongues. They will have "the spirit of prophecy."
Isaiah 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
The Jewish people, and Israel, the nation, are not only essential to Messiah's return but also is God's instrument to BLESS and CURSE both individuals and nations. God tells Abraham in Genesis 12:3:
Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curses thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Jesus also said that all nations will be judged according to their treatment and actions towards the Jews:
Matthew 25:31-32 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: [32] And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Do you know the difference between a goat and a sheep? A goat has a mind of its own. A sheep follows the shepherd. What will be the single issue of obedience that will cause this distinction? The issue of division is found in Matthew 25:40. Jesus says, "whatsoever you did to the least of these my brothers of mine, you did for me." Who are His brothers? In context, He is speaking of His brothers after the flesh, the Jewish people. Yes, you can apply this promise to the future spiritual seed of Abraham (Christians) but at that moment in time He was speaking clearly about the physical JEW. Even the Greek word here for "brother" literally means, "from the womb." Jesus came forth as the Son of David and the Son of Abraham. He was Jewish!
Matthew 1:1 The very boundaries of the nations were originally set by God based on the Jewish nation being in place and in obedience to Him. Part of the world's condition now goes back certainly to the creation travailing in anticipation of the coming Redeemer, but it's also travailing because Israel as a nation is lost and away from Her Creator- Jehovah. She has rejected God's Son, Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha'maschiah, who died and shed His blood outside the gates of Jerusalem for all humanity - both the Jew and the Gentile. He came unto HIS OWN (The Jewish nation) and HIS OWN received Him not, but as MANY (The Gentiles and yes now many Jews who are coming to the knowledge of the truth) as received Him, gave He POWER to become the Sons of God! The creation is moaning for the full revelation of the sons of Gods
Romans 8:18-21 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
According to Rabbinic tradition, when the Jews are out of God's assigned boundaries (Israel) they are under a curse. <Deut. 28:36, 28:8b> Conversely, God says He will bless the Jewish people when they are in the land. But only only the Jewish people will be blessed when they are in place physically and spiritually; the whole world will be blessed. In that day, Israel will be like the garden of Eden (Ezekiel 36:35) and Messiah will rule the world from Jerusalem.
Deut. 28:36
- The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shall set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there
shall thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
But just as Satan has a strategy to destroy all the Jewish people, God has a strategy to preserve them. No other nation in the universe has had so many enemies and survived. The church has been called to be a last-day "Esther," for "such a time as this." The threat to murder all Jews didn't die with Hitler's suicide. In March, 1953, Joseph Stalin developed a master plan to murder all the Soviet Jews (from Wilmington's Guide to the Bible) But like Haman did in the book of Esther, Stalin died before the plan could be implemented. Ironically, he was buried on Purim, the day Jews celebrate their great victory over Haman. The same spirit that was bound in Haman, Stalin and Hitler remains alive and well today manipulating world events to destroy the Jews. The rise of the man of Sin, known as the Antichrist, is soon upon us. I personally believe before his full revelation that there is going to be a season on increasing persecution even before the rapture of the church against both Jews and Christians. The church remained silent for the most part during Hitler's demonic reign of murder and genocide that killed 6 million Jews. If we in the Body of Christ, called to these last days for such a time as this remain silent, then the results of this coming purge will make Hitler's effort look like a choir boy's rehearsal dinner. Israel's darkest days are yet ahead of her. The only friend she is soon to have on this Earth are those who name the name of Jesus and stand with her during these upcoming dark days.
Esther, A Type of the End-Time Church
The church has a destiny to fulfill. We were created to do battle in these end-times on behalf of the Jewish people. This is why without question this is our greatest hour on this planet.
God's master strategy for the Jewish people in the last days in many ways is revealed in the book of Esther. Allegorically speaking, Esther represents the end-time Church. Esther was adopted into a Jewish family. She was an orphan without father or mother. Esther was flawless, beautiful, young virgin. She had favor with the king. And Esther was totally obedient. She was also instructed to keep her Jewish identity hidden.
Ephes. 5:23-28
All those same qualities describe the church of the Lord Jesus! When God sees His church, He sees no flaws, blemishes, or sins. As God's child we are as righteous as Jesus based on our faith in what He did at the Cross. HIS BLOOD WASHES US WHITE AS SNOW and makes us WORTHY to stand before the King!
Esther (CHURCH) you are beautiful! We are God's workmanship, created in His image. We are as loved, appreciated and accepted as Jesus providing our faith is anchored IN JESUS! The goodness we posses is not our own but HIS! The righteousness we posses is not OUR OWN but HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, which He freely gave at Calvary! At the beginning of the book of Esther, we read that the queen of the land was rebellious In fact, that is what her name, Vashti, means. in this kingdom, the queen had to subject to the complete will of the king. Because Vashti was not willing to submit, she was removed and a search was conducted for a new queen. In spite of this the chances for Esther, an orphan, without the proper heritage, were SLIM to NONE of her ever becoming queen. This was how much of a chance the Gentiles had of being grafted in spiritually into the seed of Abraham. Yet, neither happened by chance but by God's divine plan.
In preparation of Esther's new responsibility she had to bathe for six months in oil of myrrh. The myrrh plant is not sweet on the outside, but when it is crushed the fragrance is spectacular. Esther's "crushing" was a type of the sufferings we go through as Christians that will in the end produce JESUS in us. The fragrance that God wants from us is pure Jesus. The fragrance Paul produced in the end after years of sufferings, beatings, stonings and desertions was JESUS. In the midst of adversity he would be filled with joy. People were watching him. Would he complain or murmur when circumstances were bad? Or would he react based on the pure truth of the Word? As people watched his childlike faith, they were provoked to jealousy. What he had, they wanted. And this is the time we've as the church of the Lord Jesus have been called to- to provoke the Jewish people to jealousy to they will embrace Messiah Jesus and be saved. Paul prayed that ALL MEN MIGHT BE SAVED.
Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. [2] For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. [3] For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. [4] For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Esther did not become queen right away. It took four years before she was even considered by the king. Faith and patience were two of her virtues. And it must be ours as well. The problems we face will change or God will change us through them. THE KING is molding us into His image. Not only are people watching you, but angels, demons, those who have died, the devil and God are watching you. We have a "great cloud of witnesses," Paul says. It is as though we are an actor on a stage and the whole world wants to see if we will be faithful to God no matter the circumstances! God has promised that no matter what happens, He will never leave you nor forsake you. He will be faithful to you in all things no matter the plight. We get so caught up in the outcome we forget to realize that the most important part of this journey is the path we walk everyday that changes us into His image. We must decrease, He must increase and that is so terribly hard for us to see sometime. Religion plays up what we do. Jesus plays up what we ARE!
Esther's Secret Heritage Hidden Till the Right Time To Save the Life of the Entire Jewish Race
God gave Esther favor and approval with the king, and she was grafted into royalty. Although she was now the queen, she still honored Mordecai, the one who had raised her, by keeping secret her family and Jewish background. Esther might have argued with Mordecai and said, "Now that I am queen, I want to tell the king about my family." I am glad she was obedient because, had she opened her mouth, Mordecai would have overheard two royal guards conspiring to kill the king. The guards ignored Mordecai because they were unaware of his relationship to Esther. Later, Mordecai alerted Esther, who in turn reported the conspiracy to the King.
Esther could have taken responsibility and credit for the heroics, but instead gave full credit to Mordecai. As a result, Mordecai's name was written in the records of the king. He received no money or recognition, not even an article in the Sushan Times! Mordecai could have turned bitter. Instead, he looked to God for His reward. Later on, God used this incident to save Mordecai's life from a madman named Haman.
Haman's name means "rager," "mad one" and "angry." This describes what happened when Mordecai refused to kneel down before him. Haman became so enraged he looked away for a way to kill not just Mordecai, but ALL JEWS.
Haman tried to convince those in authority that it was not in their best interest to tolerate the Jew. And to make his proposal more attractive, he offered the king a million dollars worth of silver. It's the same spirit that drive the Arabs to blackmail the west in return for the United States to pressure Israel into concessions concerning the Middle East. "Dump Israel, we want gas!" was one of the common slogans heard in the 1970s. Those slogans have increased in their venom AND intensity since that time. Esther could not counter Haman's move by just taking up offerings, which was her first plan when she heard Mordecai was fasting, weeping and in sackcloth. Clothing was the last thing Mordecai needed. Finally, Esther got the message. Fasting, humility and prayer were the only things that would save the lives of the Jews. When the prayer and fasting started, Satan moved quicker to implement his plan for his murderous plot he was trying to implement through Haman.
First, he had to kill Esther. When Mordecai commanded her to go to the king, Satan thought he had her. It was the law of the land that no queen could go to the king unless he requested her presence. The king had not requested her presence for 30 days. Perhaps he was angry with her. Perhaps he was tired of her. Perhaps someone had replaced her like she had replaced Vashti. If Esther came unsolicited and he did not extend his scepter, the punishment was death. The king had already proven he was not afraid of disposing of a queen:) This situation however was urgent. Haman was going to exterminate every Jew in the Kingdom.
Esther, whose name means "star." And do you know who the star represents? That is the name for Jesus in Revelation 22:16, "I am the ...bright and Morning STAR." Every Jewish person has two names; one is from the culture in which he or she lives and other is a Hebrew name. Esther, your Hebrew name is Hadassah, which means "myrtle." Myrtle is figurative of the gospel. This was her call as the queen for the time the Lord placed her in the Kingdom. It is the call of the church for this end-time era we are in today in relation to our role as protectors of the Jews.
Philip. 2:15
That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights
("stars") as you hold out the Word of Life in the world; Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
We will start giving birth to spiritual children (Jew and Gentile) when we start travailing, fasting and praying. It's time for the church to intercede and travail for the Jewish people and reach out to them with the gospel like never before. The same message God was sending to Esther then is the same one He is sending to us in the Body of Christ now. Esther could have remained comfortable in her role as queen and watched action less as Haman's plan to exterminate the Jews was produced. She had that right. So too today, we can be comfortable in our church, singing our hymns, having great fellowship and building our golden cathedrals but:
Esther 4:13-14 Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shall escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. [14] For if thou altogether holds 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 knows whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Esther laid down her life and went to the king. And God gave her favor. The door to the king was very narrow. Esther's only way of entry was to be touched by the golden scepter. Today, that golden scepter for access to God is the Messiah
The End Of ALL Jew Haters, Including Satan
Satan missed out on Esther so he tried to destroy Mordecai. Satan used Haman's wife, Zeresh, to tell Haman to build seventy-foot gallows for Mordecai. But then came God's providence. Some would say the king's inability to sleep was just coincidence. In addition to insomnia he also desired to read the chronicles of the kingdom. In reading these chronicles he "just happened" to notice out of the thousands of pages the section about Mordecai saving his life. In addition, he asked what honor Mordecai had received. In doing so, he realized that Mordecai had received no reward. At the precise moment the king decides to reward Mordecai, Haman came to get permission to hang Mordecai. Coincidence? NO! It was God's plan.
There is a law of sowing and reaping and Haman was about to get his due. Not only did he have to publicly honor Mordecai but he had a new problem - what to do with the 75-foot gallows. Then his wife, who had prompted him to build the gallows in the first place - had another revelation:
Esther 6:13
And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him. But it was too late. Another law of God had taken effect. God uses Israel as His method of divine retribution. Israel is similar to Jesus, the "stone," in this respect. The kingdoms of this world who will not worship Jesus will one day be crushed by the STONE.
Psalm 118:22
The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Thou (ISRAEL) art my WAR CLUB (battle axe) and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
Haman's gallows were similar to Satan's cross for Jesus. As Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 2:8:
1 Cor. 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
If Satan had understood, he never would have orchestrated the cross. It is the last thing he would have allowed because it spelled his defeat. And if Haman had realized who would swing on his gallows (a type of the cross), he never would have built them.
At her second banquet for Haman and the king, Esther had the chutzpah (nerve) to reveal her Jewish connection and to plead for the lives of HER PEOPLE. As a result, the King changed his mind, but even he could not change his edict. There had to be a higher law to spare the Jewish people. The higher law was to allow them to defend themselves with the sword.
Esther 9:5 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.
The sword is symbolic of the Word of God. When Jews today are equipped with the Word of God, they will not only defend themselves but will wreck havoc in the enemy's kingdom. As a result of this banquet, Haman and his ten sons and all the other enemies of the Jews were destroyed. God's word says, "no one could stand against them." People got so excited at the power displayed by these supposedly defenseless Jews that many Gentiles recognized the God who was responsible, and revival broke out!
Esther 9:2
- 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. Finally, the authority (the king's signet ring) was taken from Haman and given to Mordecai. This is the lesson we learn from this. Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because we worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.
Esther 8:1-2
On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews' enemy unto Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was unto her. [2] And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea. [2] 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? [3] 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. There is coming a day when the nation of Israel will once again be "over the house" of the entire world, reigning in preeminence with Christ from Jerusalem. ALL nations will come to her and bow down as all those in King Ahasuerus' kingdom came and bowed down to Mordecai. The house of Haman which sought Mordecai and the Jewish People's demise was brought low. One day in due season this will happen once again. The one person responsible for all of this was ESTHER, a type of the church, who through prayer and intercession against the enemies of her people brought about a great salvation.
Church, the message this writer seeks you to take from this study lesson is this - PRAY! Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We have been called to be intercessors and prayer warriors for the nation of Israel. When we stand in the gap and pray we are literally putting ourselves in a place where we are praying for a people, "near to the heart of God," (Psalms 148:14). We've been called to the Kingdom for SUCH A TIME AS THIS- the last days prior to the return of the King! No amount of love we can show the Jewish people right now will be too much. No amount of time spent in prayer praying for the salvation of the Jewish people will be too much time! No amount of money we send to help further the cause of the Jewish nation will be too much. No amount of grace we bestow on Israel will be too much. We are seeing record numbers of Jewish people come back to their Messiah right now as we enter 2006. We're living in Biblical times friend. We must stand up for the Jewish race because, even though they are away from God right now, one day they will ALL BE SAVED, according to Romans 11. Before that happens the Jewish people are in store for more tears, more death and pain. They will have no friends save one - THOSE WHO KNOW YESHUA and have accepted the call to become like ESTHER - FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS. Will you accept that call today?
Psalm 148:14
Psalm 122:1-6
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