Esther

Standing in the Gap Series

Standing up for God when persecution hits as we get to the end

Preached at Churchill Baptist Church

(2/10/2022 → 18/12/2022)

The book of Esther is all about God calling a person to stand in the gap when His people were faced with annihilation from the devil through his agents.  His agent in the 5th century BC was the evil Agagite, Haman.  God is not mentioned in the book of Esther and so there were serious doubts about whether it should even be accepted as part of the Hebrew canon of Scripture.  But even though God is hidden in this book His fingerprints are all over it and He is not in hiding.

Every year the Jews celebrate the Feast of Purim where gifts are exchanged and the "Megillah" is performed when the scroll of Esther is read out.  The main characters are Ahasuerus (Artaxerxes), Haman, Mordecai, and Esther.  Purim celebrates the victory of the Jews over Haman and his ten henchmen on the 13th Adar when they were allowed to defend themselves by Royal edict.

This book has all sorts of implications as the church and Israel heads towards the time known as "Jacob's Trouble" or the Great Tribulation.  Haman was empowered by the devil wanting to implement a holocaust against the Jews.  Hitler was also a type of Haman implementing the 2nd holocaust in the Second World War.  Both men point us to the final Haman/Hitler, the beast who will war against the Jews and the church in the final 3 ½ years.  Haman's ten sons were impaled upon a single pole (the gallows) and Hitler's ten henchmen were also hanged on the gallows in October 1946.  There is an obvious link between the two events which you will discover in this series.  See also my blog "The ten sons of Hitler."

God is looking for his men and women who will use their gifts to "stand in the gap" and be God's agents just as Esther and Mordecai.

Attached Files