Pillar of Enoch Ministry Blog: March 2009

From the 2006 Movie: "One Night With The King"
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Scripture On Image:

~*~ Esther 7:3-4 ~*~ Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king...let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.”

Copyright © Helena Lehman
Pillar of Enoch Ministry

http://pillar-of-enoch.com

PLEASE NOTE: This article was derived from Chapter Two of the copyrighted book “The Language of God in Humanity,” and autographed and digital copies are available to purchase at the Pillar of Enoch Ministry Web Site. As a copyrighted work, this material cannot be copied or reprinted in any paid for digital or printed publication without the author’s express permission. If used in nonprofit publications, the author’s name and web site must be listed in the article credits.

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The Feast of Purim commemorates the amazing story of Esther in the Old Testament’s Book of Esther. The Feast of Purim was added to the Jewish religious calendar during the time of Israel’s exile in Babylonia. Purim commemorates the victory of the exiled Jews over their enemies through the courage of Hadassah, the beautiful Jewish virgin who became Esther, the Queen of Persia. Through her petition to King Ahasuerus, the Jews were able to successfully defend themselves against their foreign enemies in Persia.

Purim is celebrated in late winter - usually in March. On the Jewish Lunar Calendar, this celebration of the Jew’s victory over their enemies is always during the Full Moon on the 14th day of the 12th lunar month called Adar - one day after the Jews protected themselves successfully against their enemies on the 13th of Adar.

Interestingly, Purim is exactly one month before the Full Moon celebration of Passover. The decree to annihilate the Jews was made by Haman the day before the previous Passover, on the 13th of the first month of Nisan. Though Haman ostensibly gave the enemies of the Jews in Persia nearly a year to prepare for their slaughter of the Jews, he also gave the Jews the same amount of time to seek God’s help in providing a solution to their plight.

Amazingly, these dates seem to speak prophetically in regard to my hypothesis that the 12 Millenniums consisting of the Six Great Days of Creation, and the Six Great Days of Men’s Works are to be followed by a 13th Millennium ruled by Christ, and then by a 14th perfect Age that will be everlasting. It is important to note here that not all evil will be averted during Yahshua’s earthly reign until the very end of that time, when Satan will finally be cast into the Lake of Fire forever:

“Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations… Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They… surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came… out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire… where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented… forever and ever.” - Revelation 20:7-10 (NKJ)

This passage of Scripture is telling us that Yahshua’s long sought-after Millennial Reign will not be the end of evil on the Earth! How else could Satan still be around to tempt and deceive men, and raise a wicked army as large as “the sand of the sea” that will need to be destroyed? Instead, it will be a time when no demons, or fallen angels will be around until the very end of that Age, when the last evil tares will be weeded out from among the good wheat in the Master’s earthly garden. Therefore, the 13th day of Adar in Esther’s day was a prefiguration of the end of the Thirteenth Great Day, when Yahshua will wipe out every last trace of evil on the Earth with fire.

Recounting the Esther story, many other parallels and types can illuminate our understanding of events in the future. The story begins with King Ahasuerus throwing a banquet. Interestingly, the Bible’s Book of Ezra identifies this same King Ahasuerus by the name of Cyrus, who was also known as Xerxes, or alternatively as Artaxerxes by the Greeks. At this time, the king asks his wife Queen Vashti to come to the banquet hall. But Vashti is haughty, and apparently refuses to be put on display (perhaps because she feels underrated - like a prize mare instead of a desirable woman) (Esther 1:10-12). Interestingly, there are seven eunuchs, and seven princes who serve the king, and are his closest confidantes (Esther 1:10,14). The seven eunuchs go to fetch Queen Vashti into the king’s presence, but she refuses to come - in apparent mimicry of the Israelites who refused to go up to the top of the mountain with Moses to meet with Yahweh face to face (Exodus 20:19). It is therefore the seven princes who help the king to decide the disobedient woman’s fate as a defiant wife and queen.

This leads to Vashti’s banishment, and begins the quest to find a more deserving (i.e. humble) queen for the king. At this time, all the loveliest maidens in the kingdom are brought to the palace to be beautified over many months, after which they will be allowed to spend only one night with the king. If they please him, they will be considered for the position of queen, but if they do not, they will spend the rest of their days in a harem as unwed concubines who serve the Queen. These concubines serve as an image of the Gentile nations that will surround Jerusalem in Yahshua’s Millennial Kingdom, but will be kept at a distance from Yahshua’s Throne until they repent fully, and submit to Him.

Now, among the maidens taken from their home to become concubines, there was a lovely Jewish girl named Hadassah, who takes the name of Esther to hide her Jewish identity. Since Hadassah was a Jewess who had spent all her prior life as an orphan under the care of her loving Jewish Uncle Mordecai, it is odd that she was chosen for this role. Since Mordecai was a distinguished judge in service to the king, Hadassah surely would not have had to endure the fate of becoming a concubine unless she wanted to! This implies that Hadassah voluntarily chose this role.

Already we can see archetypes emerging in the story, with the King of Persia representing Yahweh God in His fatherly and kingly roles, while Queen Vashti signifies the Israelites that became yoked under the Law, overly proud of their privileged status with Yahweh, disdainful of all outsiders, and unwilling to extend God’s salvation to them through love, forgiveness, mercy and acceptance. In juxtaposition, we find Mordecai, a type of Christ who is the loving caretaker of Esther, and the mediator between his people and Esther, who has the ear of the king.

Meanwhile, Esther serves as a prefiguration of the True Church. For example, when Esther is taken to the palace, she leaves the ordinary world around her, and enters a separate place of unimaginable wealth and beauty. It therefore likely felt as if she had left the mundane earthly realm of her peers altogether to serve a grand role in a loftier place. In this respect, Esther’s fate prefigures the Rapture of the True Church, when all faithful believers will be taken up to Heaven to serve as the wife and Queen of the King of kings.

Due to these obvious analogies, it seems likely that the seven eunuchs and princes who serve the Persian king represent the Seven Churches of Revelation. For example, the seven eunuchs and seven princes seem directly tied to the following Scripture:

“The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.” - Revelation 1:20 (NKJ)

The seven angels in this verse can be directly connected to the seven eunuchs of King Ahasuerus’ court, while the seven lampstands, or churches are easily equated with the seven princes who serve the same king! Though these seven churches currently exist in the world, they will one day also serve their Messiah and King in Heaven as the faithful virgin attendants of the Bride of Christ.

Further on in the story, we find that Esther - who wisely chooses to hide her identity, and listen to the eunuch Hegai - pleases King Ahasuerus so well, and is so beautiful to behold that she is soon desired above all the other women in the king’s harem, and thus becomes the new Queen of Persia. This suggests that Esther not only pleases the king physically, but that her real love for him sets her apart from all the other women he knows.

Meanwhile, a drama begins to unfold outside the palace between Mordecai, and the king’s chancellor, or Vizier Haman, who hates Mordecai because he will not bow down to him like the other people do. In fact, Haman hates all the Jews for following Mordecai, who will not bow to anyone with an Amalekite heritage, as the Amalekites are the sworn enemies of Israel.

Interestingly, Haman is identified as an Agagite, which means he was a descendent of the Amalekite king called Agag (Esther 3:1; 1 Samuel 15:8). Agag may have been a descendent of the Anakim, who descended from the Nephilim, who serve as the Seed of the Serpent, or Satan in prophecy (Genesis 3:15). This is why the prophet Samuel later mercilessly hacked Agag to pieces when Saul disobeyed God and spared Agag’s life (1 Samuel 15:32-33). Sadly, in sparing Agag’s life, Saul also must have spared at least one of Agag’s genetically tainted children. Later, the descendents of Agag gave birth to Haman - a prefiguration of the Antichrist of antichrists who will rule during the Great Tribulation. Eerily, Haman has ten sons who eventually perish along with him (Esther 9:12-13). These ten sons may be a prefiguration of the ten horns or kings that will give their power to the Antichrist, which are spoken of in Daniel and Revelation (Daniel 7:24; Rev. 13:1). They may also allude to the unrepentant wicked that will be found among the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel in this Last Day.

Now, Haman plots to destroy the Jews by coaxing King Ahasuerus to give Haman the authority to pass a royal edict allowing all the enemies of Israel to rise up in arms against them on the 13th day of Adar (Esther 3:5-10). When Mordecai learns of this plot, he dresses in sackcloth and mourns. Later, Esther finds out about Haman’s plot from Mordecai, but is hesitant to go to the king because it is against the king’s law for anyone to approach him without his permission. But Mordecai warns Esther that she will likely perish anyway if she does not help her people (Esther 4:14).

Interestingly, Mordecai, the good Jew and hero of this story shares his heroic role with his niece Esther, who is a prefiguration of Israel as found in the True Church. For example, just as many people now in the True Church did to survive, Esther divorced herself from her Israelite heritage, and concealed it by eating unclean foods in the harem, worshipping God on the same days that the Persians worshipped their many gods, and by sleeping with a Gentile who was initially not even her husband. In this way, Esther ensures her survival and acceptance among the heathens she must live and work with. But, in Esther’s willingness to forsake her heritage, there is also the implication that she truly desires to please the king, and has secretly fallen in love with him. In this way, Esther and her seven choice maid servants (Esther 2:9) prefigure the True Church, which - despite its Gentile veneer - is Jewish at heart, loves God, and desires to please Him above all else.

In Mordecai, we see an honorable man who loves King Ahasuerus in a different way than Esther. He loves the king by being faithful in his duties within the king’s empire, and in his promise to protect, and honor the king, and care for his people. Mordecai shows his exemplary character when he overhears two of the king’s eunuchs plotting to assassinate the king. Interestingly, instead of going to the king himself, Mordecai tells Esther of this plot, and allows Esther to alert King Ahasuerus about it, though she gives Mordecai the credit (Esther 2:21-22). This places Esther and Mordecai in an even higher regard with the king.

After being gloriously successful in her subterfuge, and placed in a position of extreme favor as the Queen of Persia, and as the dearest love of King Ahasuerus, Esther is called to tell the truth about her Jewishness, and risk everything she has worked so hard to establish and maintain. This happens when Mordecai learns of Haman’s plot to destroy all the Jews in Persia. At this time, he again goes to Esther instead of the king, and asks her to plead the case of her unjustly condemned people before the king. To do so, Esther must swallow her fear, and go before the king without a formal summons, which is forbidden and is punishable by death. In this way, Esther behaves as those who are saved, who can go before the King of kings without fear of reprisal because the King loves them, and they love the King, despite their sins.

While the Jews fast and pray on her behalf, Esther goes to King Ahasuerus and is granted his mercy. Then, Esther cunningly invites the evil Haman and King Ahasuerus to her palace apartments to share a banquet for two days in a row. However, after they drink wine together on the second day, Esther reveals that she is a Jewess, and tells how Haman has plotted to destroy the Jews. Note here how Esther shares a banquet with the good King Ahasuerus and the evil Haman for two days. This echoes the 2000-year period allotted for the Church Age, which closed in the year 2000. In fact, we are now in the Last Day, and Yahshua is coming soon! Despite this, however, God has granted mankind an additional 10-year period for His Grace to be carried out in history, and then the seven-year period of God’s Tribulation Wrath will come before Christ’s Millennial Kingdom becomes a reality. The prophecies that foretold this period are discussed at length in Book Four, “The Language of God in Prophecy.”

Now, because Mordecai alerts Esther of the plot to kill the king, and then later asks her to appeal to the king to save her people from certain destruction, these two related people share an interesting allegorical role that reveals a startling truth. This is the fact that there are two spiritual houses of Israel, as can be seen allegorically in the behavior of one avowed Jew, and one heathenized Jewess. These are the House of Judah, and the House of Israel, or Ephraim. Both of these houses are filled with believers in the same God, and both see a need for a Messiah, though those in the House of Judah are Jews and Messianics seeking an earthly and spiritual kingdom, while those in Israel/Ephraim are Gentiles and faithful Lost Israelites seeking the heavenly kingdom within.
(Article Continues After Character Chart Below)...

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Characters in Esther and Their

Allegorical Prophetic Connection

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King Ahasuerus/Xerxes: Yahweh and Yahshua as King of kings

Haman the Agagite: Antichrist - Satan - Azazel - Anakim

Mordecai the Jew: Judah Ruled By The Spirit - Yahshua as Messiah

Queen Vashti: Israel ruled by the flesh and the Mosaic Law

Esther/Hadassah her seven choice maid servants:

Hidden Israel ruled by the Holy Spirit; the True Church

Eunuchs Hegai, Shaashgaz, and Hathach:

The Holy Spirit as the motherly aspect of our Triune Father God

The seven eunuchs and seven princes (Esther 1:10-14):

The seven angels and seven churches of Revelation, Chapters 1-3

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In the roles of Mordecai and Esther, several truths that pertain to the Church Age emerge, especially during the End Times. First of all, in Mordecai we allegorically see Yahshua’s Spirit alerting His beloved children of impending danger, and then we see God the Father providing a means of escape for them. Secondly, on an even deeper scale, we can see that Mordecai and Esther represent the Two House Church, or congregation consisting of Judah (as Mordecai) and Ephraim (as Esther). Furthermore, we can see that these two Houses are being called to work together. In fact, one day soon they will be forced to unite, and help one another during one of the darkest moments in human history - the time of the Great Tribulation. That time is very near, and “The Language of God” Book Series is a product of God’s Spirit moving to unite these warring factions of Christ’s invisible Kingdom, and to prepare them to fight the coming battle against the Antichrist.

Sadly, a large portion of this united Two House Church will be on Earth to fight that coming battle to its conclusion. They will be on Earth because they are left behind in the Rapture. Of the billions of avowed Christians in the world today, perhaps only a few hundred million faithful believers have set themselves apart from the apostate churches, and will be spared the plagues of that terrible time via the Rapture (Rev. 3:10; 4:1-2). Nonetheless, this event will serve to awaken many apostates from their sinful slumber. These Tribulation Saints will fight the Antichrist, many will be martyred, and all of them will be resurrected into Christ’s glorious conquering army at Armageddon (Rev. 19:11-15).

Interestingly, after the Rapture, the Jews living in Israel will be like the small portion of Jews who faithfully returned to the Promised Land before the events in Esther, even though doing so meant forsaking their property and high standing in Persia, and instead enduring privation and toil in Israel in order to do God’s Will. Likewise, many Jews had to leave everything they had behind in order to move to Israel, and build a new life for themselves far from their exilic homes among the Gentiles.

This exploration of the allegorical messages in Esther reveals that Esther actually is a prophetic book with a message that was to remain hidden until this era, which is just before the time of Jacob’s Trouble that it defines, and the subsequent coming of the King of kings that it promises. This coming of Yahshua as King can be seen in the triumphant figure of Mordecai, who is dressed with the colors, and regalia of the coming princely Messiah:

“So Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, with a great crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple; and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.” - Esther 8:15 (NKJ)

Just as Yahshua is depicted in a blue thread among the white ones making up the tassels on a prayer shawl, or Tallit, Mordecai is first dressed in blue and white like an Israelite priest and Persian prince, and then has purple and gold draped over this to show his elevation to the status of Vizier of the king. As the new Vizier, Mordecai took the place of the evil Haman, just as Christ will one day take the place now unlawfully held by Satan as the evil ruler of this dark world.

Indeed, our current world is full of lovers of pleasure like the Jews who stayed in Persia, rather than lovers of God like the faithful remnant of Jews who returned to Israel to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. They therefore will be left behind to fight the battle against the Antichrist. Sadly, however, unlike the victorious Jews who suffered few losses from their battle with their enemies in ancient Persia, the Tribulation Saints will almost lose this coming modern war, and will suffer greatly until Christ intervenes with His army of angels and saints, and saves the day with His “glorious appearing” (Titus 2:11-13).

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Pillar of Enoch Ministry Blog

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Monday, March 09, 2009

The Feast Of Purim Tied To The Tribulation And Great Tribulation!