Shabbat Shalom, everyone. We are going to study the book of Esther today that tells us of the dealing of God with our nation, Israel, and with the Jewish people throughout the ages. We are going to start with reading the first nine verses of Esther chapter 1 and introduce the book for your encouragement and your blessing. Night came to pass in the days of Achashverosh. This is Achashverosh, which reigned from India even unto Ethiopia. Over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces. That in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, in the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants, the power of Persia and Midia.

the nobles and princes of the provinces being before him when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days even in hundred and four scores days this is hundred and eighty days and when these days were expired the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace both unto great and small seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace were white, green and blue hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble the beds were of gold and silver upon the pavement of red and blue and white and black marble and they gave them drink in vessels of gold and vessels being diverse one from another and royal wine in abundance according to the state of the king and the drinking was according to the law None did compel, for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house that they should do according to every man's pleasure.

Also Vashti, the queen, made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to King Achashverosh. now i'm thinking today is the 11th day of the month of february next month on the 11th of march the actual feast of purim began in israel and around the world the feast that is called in hebrew chag purim the feast of esther and as we're going to study together the book of esther we will learn how important it is in the canon of scripture but also in the history of our nation the nation of Israel, and how it is so important to learn it and to apply it to you and I today.

There are two more verses that I would like to read with you in the study of the book of Esther, which I am reading many times in the study of Old Testament scripture. So turn with me to Romans chapter 15 and verse 4. Shaul Paul wrote to the Roman believers in the city of Rome, and he said to them for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope then first corinthian chapter 10 and there we read in verse 11 again shaul paul wrote to the corinthian believers and to them he said now all these things happen unto them this is our nation Israel for an example and they are written for our admonition upon whom the end of the world are come and so beloved brothers and sisters the apostle Paul wrote to believers like you and I that what happened to our own Jewish people teaches a very important lesson to all believers even in the present day age in which you and I live in today.

Now let me just mention by way of introduction a few things about the book of Esther. The period of time in which our own nation Israel have been taken captive by the Babylonian and God have given a vision to King Nebuchadnezzar of the times that is called the times of the Gentiles our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah in the gospel of Luke mentioned about the times of the Gentiles the times of the Gentiles began about 606 605 BC and it will end at the second coming of the Messiah Yeshua when he is going to come to reign and to rule this world as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

We have the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw and that image he received a revelation from God about the times which the Gentiles will rule this world And the times of the Gentiles will involve four nations. Number one, the Babylonian. Number two, the Medo-Persian. Number three, the Grecian Empire. And number four, the Roman Empire. Babel, Paras, Yavan, Roma. It began in 605 BC when the Babylonian came and took the Jewish people, Judah captive to Babylon and about 605 BC Daniel was taken captive then later on in 597 BC Yoachin was taken captive and then in 586 BC Tzedekiah was taken captive and all our Jewish people were now in Bavil the temple was destroyed if you remember in our study of Nehemiah the walls of jerusalem were burned down and the jewish people our own nation find itself in babel where they were saying if you remember psalm 137 by the rivers of babylon there we sat down and wept as we remember zion there they that took us captive said unto us sing unto us one of zion's songs and they said how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land so here are Jewish people have been taken captive to Babel and just the same like there were three deportation by the Babylonian 605, 597 and 586 there was also have been a three-fold return to the land of Israel and the dates is 538 Zerub Havel came back to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.

458 Ezra returned with another group to beautify the temple in Jerusalem and about 444 BC Nehemiah returned and he rebuilt the walls of the city of Yerushalayim and then the people of Israel were for a while there in the land of Israel until other events have occurred later on. So when we are here in the book of Esther, we are sometime at about 483 to 473 BC. You see, there were many who returned back to the land of Israel to rebuild the temple and to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, but those many were about 50 60,000 jewish people the vast majority of the jewish people remain in babel in babylon they remain under the authority of the babylonian and then later on under the authority of the middle persian empire and the time in which we are talking about in the book of Esther is sometime during the Persian kingdom.

The events of the book of Esther took place about 10 years, 483 to 473 BC. Our own Jewish people were in Persia at that time and then they remained there and didn't want to come back to the city of Jerusalem, to the land of Israel to live in that very promised land that God had given to Father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, it is not different today. There are about 13, 14 million of our own Jewish people that live in the whole world today. After the Holocaust that happened, 6 million of the people of Israel, of our Jewish people, died by the Nazis, and many more have died over the generations.

But just like today, there are about seven and a half million of our own Jewish people in the land and the other half or so are still in the dispersion in the diaspora, including those of us that are still here today, Jewish people who are still in various areas of the world today and not in the land of Israel. and so in a similar way to the time of the book of Esther we can see today that the Jewish people are still not yet in the land as a whole and awaiting the final day of restoration but it is very important beloved brothers and sisters how do we apply this to the body of Messiah to the church today to the ecclesia is in a very similar way there are those who return to the principles that have been taught in the word of God according to the teaching that we have in the new covenant but there are those who are believers who are not back into the studying of the word of God gathering around the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah learning from his word living for him here in this world in a very similar way the church, the assembly is finding itself in the same condition as Israel historically So this is just to give you an idea about the times and the events that we find ourselves when we study the book of Esther is in the time where the Medo-Persians were reigning where we see things that happen in the Persian Empire to the Jewish people who remain outside of the promised land.

Now, when it comes to the author of the book of Esther, many ask, who wrote this book of Esther? It is one of the two books in the whole Word of God that were given to us with the title of a name of a woman. Esther, a Jewish lady, Ruth, a Gentile lady. Esther, somebody suggests it was written by either Ezra or Nehemia, because it happened in the era of Ezra and Nehemiah, but some suggest also that it had been written and put together by Mordecai the Jude. So we do not know really who is the author of the book of Esther, but one thing we do know that it is part of the canon of scripture that God have allowed it to be part of the Tanakh and Megillat Esther the scroll of Esther is being read every year by our people in the synagogues especially in the feast of Purim so the date I mentioned is again around 483 BC to about 473 10 to 12 years the events that happen here in the book of Esther.

And it is an interesting event that we can learn so much that will help us in our spiritual growth. Now, another thing that I want to mention by way of introduction about the book of Esther is many ask the question, what is the purpose that God had given us such a book in the canon of scripture? What can we learn from the book of Esther? And so the answer may be in two ways the first thing that we discover about the book of Esther that the purpose of the book is to show to us the sovereignty of God that God is sovereign that he is the one that has chosen the nation of Israel he is the one that have called Abraham out of Mesopotamia and a promise that through Abraham, Yitzhak, Yaakov and his sons Israel, there will be a blessing flowing to all the nations of the world.

So God is sovereign. He has chosen the Jewish people, the people of Israel for a purpose. In fact, I would like you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 12 in verse 1, 2 and three. Notice the sovereignty of God. He is the one that is electing the nation of Israel. He elected Abraham and he made a covenant with Abraham. According to Genesis chapter 12, we read, Now the Lord, verse 1, had said unto Avram, Avram, notice that, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee.

Verse 2 And I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee and I will curse him that curse thee and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed notice this beloved brothers and sisters God is sovereign we don't read that Abraham chosen God but we read that God had chosen Abraham we don't read that Abraham is the one that have electing God the true and living God it was the true and living God that had chosen Abraham and have elected him and have promised to him according to this Abrahamic

covenant I will make you a blessing he said to him and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed this is so important these three verses in genesis chapter 12 that he's teaching us the sovereignty of god god is the one who've chosen israel god is the one who made a promise to israel to make them a blessing and god is surely going to bring it to pass look what we find out throughout the jewish people we have the tanakh in our hands We have the Brit HaChadashah in our hand, the old covenant, the new covenant in our hand.

We have the prophets. We have the covenants. We have the many promises that have been given to us in the scripture, including, of course, the Mashiach himself, Yeshua, that came through the nation of Israel. So he teaches us the sovereignty of God. He is sovereign. He chooses whomsoever he will.

he's the one who is electing those that ultimately will come to him and you and i as well today brothers and sisters you and i as believers in yeshua the messiah in fact i want you to turn with me to ephesians chapter one for a moment as well and to show you the sovereignty of god with respect to believers today in this present day dispensation and there are many other verses that i can make reference to notice that ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3 blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ our lord yeshua ha-mashiach who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenlies in christ in mashiach and then verse

4 says according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love you see just like he's chosen Israel the nation and the Jewish people for a purpose before the nation was even formed God and his sovereign mercy and grace have chosen us believers today whether you are here locally in this country or you coming from any other nation think about it there are believers today every people tongues and nation and you and I are proof to it Jewish people non-Jewish people he have chosen us and brought us to himself on a basis of the finished work of Yeshua the

Messiah God is sovereign and he chooses whomsoever he will and he will surely bring it to pass now there's a second reason why we believe and we understand that the book of Esther teaches us some lesson not only the sovereignty of God beloved brothers and sisters but it's also teaching us the providence of God now this word as a Hebrew boy I don't usually know all these words so I have to discover in English what does that mean the providence of God in Hebrew we call it hashgacha el yona hashgacha el yona means that God is not only sovereign to choose but God is the one that bring everything to pass everything he is accomplishing

in this world to bring his will as he intending to do that somebody explained the word providence in these words it says the means whereby God directs all things to do his very own will so sometimes the Lord allows things to happen in the life of God's people and he bring it about in other words he directs everything his hands is moving about and he brings and he allows things to happen in the life of his own people that ultimately it will reach in a way that it will accomplish his very own will i'll give you an example a verse that we all know very much that we often quote in the book of romans

romans chapter 8 and verse 28 for we know that all things work together for good to them that are called according to God's purpose in other words God have a purpose in your life God have a purpose in my life and all the things that happen to us in our life work together for good it doesn't mean that all good things work together for good but all things the good as well as the bad working together for the purposes of god to be accomplished in the life of god's people god has a plan for israel god has a plan for the jewish people god has a plan for the body of messiah god has a

plan for every individual specifically those whom he has chosen he has a plan for us and sometimes unfortunately we don't like the way whereby he brings about his plan in our lives maybe some sufferings maybe some trials in our lives you remember like we just read in psalm 119 that all the trials and the suffering that the lord have allowed us in our own personal life he is allowing us to experience this but ultimately he will bring about all things to do his own will this is the providence of god not only the sovereignty of god but the providence of god he sees us he knows your problems he knows your trial he knows the

challenges that we face in our own life he knows what our own jewish people have been going through for many many generations he know what the body of christ the church the ecclesia is experiencing he knows everything and he allowed the events to flow that it will ultimately bring about his own will in the life of his own people now i want to read another verse or two i want you to see how paul explained this we'll read one old testament and one new testament verse in connection with the providence of God.

Look at Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 11.

Shaul Paul was writing to the believers at Ephesus and he said, in whom also we have obtained inheritance, being predestinated, listen to this, according to the purpose of him who work all things after the counsel of his own will you see what he's saying to the Ephesians he says God has a purpose God has a plan God works all things after the counsel of his own will he has a will for you he has a will for me he has a will for God's people Israel he has a will for the church for the assembly as well and he works all things to accomplish his very own purpose and that's what we learn from the

book of Esther the sovereignty of God and the providence of God in Israel's history now go back to Daniel for a moment chapter 4 and verse 35 look at this here we find out as Daniel was speaking to Kid Nebuchadnezzar look what Daniel said similar to what Shaul Paul wrote to the Ephesians he said that all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing listen to this and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what does thou you see all things that happening in this world beloved brothers and sisters today are really allowed

by God and ultimately working his own purposes he will ultimately do his own will we just struggle and we go through challenges in our life and we don't understand sometimes things in our lives but this is the lesson that we learned from the book of Esther that ultimately God is going to accomplish his very own will in the lives of God's people look at the events that are going on today the nation Iran celebrated their independence for so many years the present day iran is really the persia of biblical time of which we have in that image that nebuchadnezzar have seen and you know what they are doing they are celebrating by burning the flags

of israel and have anti-israel slogan and anti-america slogan as well but specifically against the jewish people our nation israel the people of israel As if they want to destroy the Jewish people out of the face of this earth.

And yet God, in his wisdom, has a plan for the Jewish people. And in the time that we read here in the book of Esther, and Ezra, and Nehemiah, that was in the time when the Persian kings were ruling over his great empire, and God had allowed Cyrus, Koresh, to let the Jewish people return to the land, but some of our own people remain outside of the land and this is the events that we learn about here in the book of Esther. So the author may be Mordechai HaYehudi, the Jew Mordechai. The dates between about 483 to 473 BC. The purpose is to teach us of the sovereignty of God and the providence of God.

He is in charge of the affairs of this world.

all will ultimately come to acknowledge that he is the king of kings and lord of lords but he cares over the affairs of his own people and he takes care of them now the next thing that i would like to mention by way of introduction of the book of esther is the theme what is the main thing that we learn here from the book of Esther that doesn't matter what the world do ultimately the Jewish people will survive throughout the ages because God will preserve the Jewish people for his own purposes and own plan the theme teaches us that even though we don't have God name Yehovah or Elohim mentioned even once in the book

of Esther that even though we don't have once the mention of the word prayer mitpalel or pray in the book of Esther yet God overall his hands preserve his own people even though they are outside of his own will they should have been going to the land of Israel they should have go back to the promised land but they didn't they were satisfied to live outside of the land they were perhaps very prosperous doing very well they say what's the point i'm not going to go back to the promised land because i'm doing better here i have a financial gain here i don't need to go back to the city of jerusalem and to the

land of israel well they discover very quickly that there are many who want to destroy them and to do away with them and yet God preserved the people of Israel also with respect to the theme of the book of Esther there are two individuals Mordecai and Esther that have been so emboldened to stand up for their own brethren for the Jewish people that they receive a special strength not knowing it even where it came from to stand for the preservation of their own people the people of Israel so we find Mordecai and Esther action of boldness and they really delivered their own Jewish people humanly speaking from destruction by one who is the hater of

the Jewish people the jews enemy and then finally another thing with respect to the theme we find also the wickedness of a man by the name of haman he was the enemy of the jewish people he desired and he sought very hard to destroy all the jewish people in the provinces of persia look in the history of our nation we had pharaohs hamans hitler herods we have all sort of enemies of the jewish people today there are many around the nation of israel there was always an enemies that came against god's people and you and i as part of the body of messiah we also have an enemies that constantly hate us desire to destroy

us from enjoying the things of the Lord so the theme is God's name is not mentioned prayer to God is not mentioned boldness of two individuals Mordecai and Esther and the wickedness of Israel's enemy you can see it as we're going to study here Esther now the four individuals that are very prominent in this book is Esther, Mordechai, King Achashverosh, and Haman.

By the way, the name Esther is not her Hebrew name. Actually, it is Hadassah. In chapter 2 of the book of Esther, verse 7, it says, and he, this is Mordechai, brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter. For she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful, who Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, he took her for his own daughter. Actually, Esther comes from a pagan Persian named Star. But her actual Hebrew name is Hadassah, which means myrtle. It's like the myrtle tree. You have the fruit of the trees of the myrtle trees. Today, if you go to Israel, you go to the city of Jerusalem, you have the Hadassah hospital that was given to us from here, this woman by the name of Hadassah.

But you know, as all our Jewish people went down to Babylon, to Daniel they gave a name, to Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael they gave him a pagan name. Shadrach, Meshach, and Avednego. The Hebrew names that are so beautiful, they have given to them a name that is Babylonian and Persian name. But it became such a beautiful character in the history of Israel that Esther became very prominent.

We learn to love that name because she was indeed as a star shining for the people of Israel there in the land of Persia now one more thing before we're going to go into the verses themselves there's one verse that is very prominent here in the book of Esther this is in Esther chapter 4 in verse 13 and 14 let me read these verses to you brothers and sisters then Mordechai commanded to answer Esther and he said to her think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house more than all the Jews for if thou altogether hold thy peace at this time then shall their enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews

from another place but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed and who know whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this see this is really the theme verse here in this book of Esther Mordechai is saying to Esther Esther you may have been placed in the kingdom in such a favored position right now because who knows maybe and he doesn't use the name God here whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this what was that time we're going to learn a little bit about it when the enemies of our own Jewish people sought to destroy all the Jews that lived in Persia somehow by

the providence of God God have allowed Hadassah that is Esther to come into the kingdom to preserve the Jewish people from being totally destroyed.

And you know, that teaches us an amazing lesson. Maybe the Lord allows you and I to be in such situations in our lives, whether it is in our home setting or work setting or local congregational setting, wherever we are, we never know why we are there. Perhaps the Lord allow us to be there for a special time and a special reason for a special need that may exist in the lives of others. And brothers and sisters, this is what we learn from the book of Esther. The author may be Mordecai. The date, 483 to 473 BC.

The purpose, the sovereignty of God and the providence of God in the life of his own people the theme is no mention of God no mention of prayer the Jewish people away from the land and yet God preserving his own people even though many enemies seek to destroy them the main characters four Hadassah, Esther, Mordechai, Achashverosh and Haman and the main verse is whether thou art come into the kingdom for such a time as this so this is just the introduction that i would like to give it to you before we're going to go into the actual verses themselves well today we're going to only look at the first nine verses and i would like

to just highlight before you and I these verses notice first of all in Esther 1 verses 1 and 2 you notice that now it came to pass in the days of Achashverosh this Achashverosh which reigned from india even unto ethiopia over 107 and 20 provinces 127 provinces that in those days when the king achashverosh sat on the throne of his kingdom which was in shushan the palace let's just pause here for a moment now notice that can you imagine the king of persia he ruled basically all the then known world notice it says from india in hebrew it's hodu all the way down to libya to ethiopia notice the persian empire was a huge kingdom

127 provinces that he ruled over this men by the name of Achashverosh.

Notice in verse 1 it says from India this is Hodu even until Ethiopia that is Cush 127 provinces in every province the Persian ruled a little bit different than the Babylonian. They have allowed the nations to govern that's why Cyrus allowed the Jewish people to go back to the land to govern themselves but they used to pay taxes to him. He used to be under his authority. He was the king of the Middle Persian in those days. His name is Achashverosh. That is not his actual name. It is his title. Many believe that he was the Xerxes, that actually he was the one that was the son of Darius I.

And the word Achashverosh, In English you say Ahasuerus, but in Hebrew we say Ahasuerus. This is merely the title of the king that ruled over the Persian Empire. Just like you have the Caesars that ruled over the Roman Empire. And you have the pharaohs who ruled over the Egyptian Empire. You have the Ahasuerus who ruled over the Persian Empire. So, the first two verses, we see the king himself, Achashverosh, who is the one who has this great kingdom, all the way from India until what is known as the present-day Ethiopia and Sudan. Can you imagine the large kingdom that the Persians have had in those days?

You can see that the Medes and the Persian are being seen in that image that Nebuchadnezzar has seen. The two arms and the chest represent the Medes and the Persian. They united together and they form, you might say, one nation. But the one that took the prominent is Persia over the Medes. And therefore, you often find the name the Persian Empire rather than only the Medes.

because the persians were prominent in those days so verses one and two introduced to us the king of persia and his ruler of 127 provinces these are nations he's ruling and you notice that the capital city is shushan the palace the persian took over babylon and basically what you have the persian ruling over 127 provinces and the capital city is called shushan the palace next we have beloved brothers and sisters in verse 3 we find that the king achashverosh made a feast it says in the third year of his reign this is about 483 bc he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants the power of persia and media the nobles the

princes of the provinces being before him so the king achashverosh they have decided to make a large feast and he invites everyone to come to that feast notice that according to verse three it shows us a little bit of his pride and arrogance you might say in a sense you can see that there is a measure of pride that rises up here in the heart of king achashverosh zexus that we read of him in this chapter so he is inviting everyone for that special feast all the princes all his servants all the nobles of all the provinces everybody came before the king well you notice immediately in the next verse 4 it takes before the

feast began he showed them everything that he owned 180 days now imagine brothers and sisters when he showed them the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty for many days even 180 days this is about 6 months can you imagine he's inviting everybody to come to Shushan the capital city of Persia he's showing to everyone hey look at this he was a wealthy man and what does he do according to verse 4 he shows his riches and then he shows the honor that he has you see it shows some kind of pride in the heart of this man by the name of Zexus or Achashverosh it shows that he really

wanted to you might say elevate himself not recognizing that what he has was allotted to him by God and that the God of Israel the God of the universe the god of heaven have allowed him to rule and reign over this great empire but no he got to invite everyone and he got to show everyone notice look at my wealth look how great i am and not only this look at the honor that i receive in my kingdom you see you remember the verses that teaches us the pride comes before a fall that God is going to teach lessons you know God resistes the proud but he gives grace unto the humble but no he

doesn't show it for a week for two weeks for a month but for 180 days biblical month is 30 days 30 times 6 is 180 180 days equivalent of six months he show off before all the leaderships of the 127 provinces the greatness of his kingdom and the power that he has and the splendor of his own you might say honor that he has it already shows us the days rather sad about this king and so he didn't even begin the feast as yet first I'm going to show you what i own and now i'm going to have you celebrate with me then the feast happened in the palace in shushan the capital city and

you notice we read in verse 5 and when these days were expired the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in shushan the palace both unto the great and the small for seven days in a court of the garden of the king's palace so now he began the feast there in his own palace everybody could come and see what the king owns and what he possesses and the beginning of the celebration for seven days not one day you know when we go for a feast or for a celebration usually we do it for one day or one evening but no one day and then a second day and then the third

day for seven days beloved brothers and sisters can you just imagine what kind of feast this king Achashverosh king of Persia had provided for the people that came from all the 127 provinces as we continue by way of introduction we see the splendor of the palace of the king he was such a wealthy man it says here in verse 6 where were white and green and blue hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble and the beds were of gold and of silver upon the pavement of red and blue and white and black marble i mean can you imagine pillars of marble that were there and then

the pavement were all kind of colors there was silver and gold and purple and so on i mean this man was a wealthy man and unfortunately in pride he was presenting this before the people came from the 127 provinces but not only that he wanted to show his wealth and to show his honor and to show everybody the hanging that he had in his own palace and his castle but then the party began and you notice in verse 7 and 8 there was a lot involved in there with drinking and you know it's unfortunate it seems to be everywhere today when you go to a party everything has to do with drinking everything has to

do specifically with alcohol and get dizzy and get drunk and celebrate just have good time well according to verse 7 and verse 8 he gave them drink in vessels of gold these vessels being diverse one from another can you imagine you have a big vessel a small vessel this kind of cup this kind of mug all kind of shapes but with gold it's all the wealth that he shows to them the royal wine was presented to them according to verse 7 in abundance according to the state of the king the king was so happy to be able to show everyone just look what i own and you come and celebrate me and the honor that

i have the riches that i possess have a drink have good time it says in verse 8 that the drinking was according to the law none did compel how much you want to drink you carry on and drink for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house that they should do according to every man's pleasure so the party had begun the drinking have taken over and I remember the verse that came to my mind as I was preparing for this the passage that King Solomon received from his mother he should have listened to his mother who said to him it's not for kings to drink wine it's not for kings to

be taken up with alcohol why because then you're not sober anymore you can't think right anymore you can't make the right decisions anymore and you remember when the Apostle Paul said to the believers at Ephesus be not drunk with wine wherein there is excess but be controlled be guided by the Spirit of God in other words you can see that what they really were doing here ultimately led to a destruction in that kingdom and the lesson here beloved brothers and sisters is to show us that it's far better to be under the guidance of God in submissiveness to His will than to carry on in a way that is not pleasing to the Lord we

find out that the drinking that was going on in this Shushan the palace led ultimately to what we're going to learn in the rest of the story in the book of Esther and finally in verse 9 it's not only that he did so but he was married and his wife called Vashti.

Vashti apparently was a very attractive lady. She was the queen. She also made a party. According to verse 9, also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belongeth unto the king Achashverosh. She also made a feast. So you can just imagine in Shushan the palace, the feast was so huge in the palace where Ahasuerus was in the area where Queen Vashti was and everybody is celebrating and feasting and drinking and ultimately we can see the events that will follow in the study of the book of Esther again I just want to close with these remarks by way of introduction of the book it teaches us the important lesson even though God's people are not in the right place where they should have been even though when God's people are not in the spiritual state where they should be yet God in his providence working out his own will in the life of his own people that does not justify God's people to have their own way not at all But still, it shows us that God is in control over the affairs that exist in this world, whether in the past, or whether in the present, or whether it will be in the future.

God will ultimately work all things to bring about the purpose and the will that He has for the human race. May the Lord just help us as we study this, that we will appreciate the lessons in the book of Esther.