Section 05 - The Life of Victory

Let's start with just one verse from the book of Esther. Esther 8:15 says,

And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.

Reviewing the Story

Let's look at the story so far and have a quick review of everything we have covered in this series.

We saw that it starts with a king by the name of Ahasuerus who we said is a picture of the human soul. He is enjoying life and having a big party.

Everything is going great until suddenly he discovers that his queen by the name of Vashti is unresponsive. She won't come at his order to show herself.

He decides to dump Vashti, who is a picture of the old, unrecreated spirit; the spirit in us that is dead in sin. And he starts looking for a new queen.

He finds that queen in the lovely Esther. She is a picture of our new, recreated spirit in Christ. She also happens to be a Jew. She is part of God's chosen people.

Right after that Ahasuerus makes one big mistake. He goes and appoints a man by the name of Haman to be his second in command. Haman is a picture of the flesh; the sinful nature that is opposed to everything that is of God.

This means that Haman is opposed to everything that Esther stands for. He hates her adoptive father Mordecai who is a picture of the Holy Spirit. So this entire story is an allegory and a picture of the spiritual life.

Because of his hate for Mordecai, Haman issues a decree in the king's name for all the Jews in the Kingdom to be killed on a certain day. The Jews are a picture of all spiritual influences in our lives.

Mordecai, Esther's adoptive father, tells her to go and approach the king. But she can't just do that. She has to be very gentle about it and she has to woo him over.

And so Esther appears before the king, dressed in her royal garb and at peril of death that she could be killed if the king is not pleased to see her.

She comes in very gently to the king. She invites him to a party, so that she can finally give him the message that she as a Jew is to be killed because of this wicked man Haman.

We see that eventually Haman is exposed, and he is hanged on his own gallows that he had set up to actually hang Mordecai whom he hates. The flesh always hates the Spirit.

And so finally Haman is hanged and Mordecai steps into his place. The king takes the ring that he had given to Haman and he now gives it to Mordecai. So Mordecai is if you like second in command in the Kingdom.

Decree Still in Motion

There is just one problem now. Everything is not over yet. It looks like all the problems are solved because we have got rid of Haman.

But there is a decree that was issued by Haman in the name of the king. It was signed with the king's decree, and according to the Law of the Medes and Persians, the king himself could not retract that decree.

So Mordecai and Esther come to the king and say,

"King, please can you cancel this decree that Haman has made against us. We are due to be killed on a certain day as a result of a decree issued under your authority. So since it was issued under your authority, please will you retract the decree?"

The king says, "I would love to, but it is not in my power to do so. Once the decree has been issued it cannot be returned."

Countering the Decree

We have a dilemma here. Although we have dealt with the flesh, the effects of the flesh still remain in our lives. And so the king says to Esther and Mordecai,

"There is only thing I suggest you do. Take my ring and issue a new decree - a counter decree - that will oppose the original decree."

We looked at a Scripture in the last section that said,

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

You see the law of sin and death is the decree that was issued by the flesh which produce death. But a new decree can be issued. This is known as the law of the Spirit of life, and it opposes the law of sin and death and overcomes it.

So Esther as the queen makes the arrangements, and Mordecai initiates the process. He issues a counter decree.

The counter decree is that on the same day that Haman had decreed that all the Jews were to be killed, the Jews are now allowed to gather together and defend themselves against attack.

Not only that, but they are actually allowed to even take the possessions of the people that they kill. They are allowed to take the spoils of the battle. So finally a new law is set in motion to counteract the old law.

From Sorrow to Joy

You will remember right at the beginning when I shared the portion of the story where the king promoted Haman.

It says that the king and Haman sat down to drink and the city of Shushan was in confusion. It was perplexed and there was chaos.

Now the story changes, because straight after this we read that Mordecai leaves the court, clothed like a king.

He has a crown of gold on his head and royal garments all around him. And instead of the city being perplexed and discouraged, it says that the city rejoiced. The city was full of joy.

Joy is the first sign of when you have moved from walking in the flesh to walking in the Spirit. It is automatic; you can't help it. If you are still feeling perplexed, depressed and discouraged, could it be that Haman is still in control?

The moment the Holy Spirit takes control of your life there should be a transformation. That is the main emphasis of this last section. This is the ultimate goal that we are to be headed for as believers.

Mordecai is now fully in control of all things and there is joy. And so we come to overcoming the flesh. Haman was already hung on the gallows, but the story isn't over.

You see although Haman has been hung, the effects of the flesh are still there. There is more that the flesh produced that is still there.

A New Confidence

The Jews prepare for their big day and they are quite bold. In fact they are so bold and strong, that all the people start to be afraid of them because they rise up in a new confidence.

When the Spirit of God is able to take control of your life you will lose your insecurities. You will stand up in boldness and confidence, and evil will fear you.

Nobody can withstand them now. They are invincible. The Spirit of God gives us the power to be invincible.

Even all the leaders decided it was a good idea to help the Jews. All the governors and the people in charge all threw in their support to the Jews.

Mordecai was now really famous. His influence had spread throughout the whole kingdom. Everybody knew who he was and everyone revered him.

The Spirit of God will influence every part of your being if you will allow Him and put Him in control.

Starts on the Inside

So on that day a great slaughter begins. The Jews start in the palace.

What is the palace a picture of? It is a picture of the inner man; the heart of man. It is right in the place where the king, queen and everyone else live.

It is that part of us that the Bible calls the heart. It is not the spirit because Esther is a picture of the spirit. It is not the soul because that is pictured by Ahasuerus.

It is the entire place where the spirit and the soul reside. It is the inner man.

In the Old Testament they had the old tabernacle. This was set up with an outer court, an inner court and a Holy of Holies.

The outer court was a picture of the body. The inner court was a picture of the heart of man. And the innermost court was a picture of the spirit.

So the inner man or the heart of man is where it all begins. This is where the victory must start. And until the victory has taken place in your inner man , it is not going to affect the rest of you.

It is not going to affect your body or affect the rest of your life. The change has to start deep inside your heart.

Removing Uncleanness

And so a slaughter began right there in the palace. They killed hundreds of them. But after that they also killed 10 very significant people. They were the sons of Haman. You see Haman is not over yet. He had 10 sons to carry on his generations.

You may have to come to a place of a crisis of sanctification where you have dealt the flesh a blow. And you may have had a revelation of the holiness of God and have started to walk in this new thing, but it is not over yet.

Sin is still there and will be there until Jesus comes. There will be the roots, the fruit and the effects in your life, and you will have to deal with them.

There is now something interesting that I read here. Although the king had given them permission to take the possessions of everyone that they killed, they didn't touch a thing.

What is that a picture of? The Scripture says,

Touch not the unclean thing.

It says we must separate ourselves from the world and its system and from the flesh. Although they had overcome and killed these enemies, they didn't take their possessions and become contaminated by it.

Don't think that you are so great, now that you have overcome the flesh, that you can indulge yourself with a bit of liberties. Why not still enjoy a little bit of the flesh? Why not have a bit of benefit of it?

No, the flesh dies and you don't touch anything to do with it. It is called a life of holiness. Unfortunately the church of God doesn't know much about that these days.

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