The book of Exodus, in chapter 12, tells the story of Passover.
It was in a different nation to Persia. Then it was Egypt. It was a different ruler; rather than Xerxes it was Pharaoh. But it was the same issue. God’s people were under threat by a pagan nation and a ruler who considered himself god.
On Passover, the angel of death came and killed the first born child of any family who didn’t do the following:
- Gather a spotless lamb without blemish or disease (this symbolised being ‘sinless’)
- Confess their sins to God (when they did this the lamb would become the substitute for those sins)
- The ‘perfect’ lamb, now stained by sin, was then slaughtered as the penalty for sin is death
- The blood of the lamb was then to be put on the door posts of their homes (they were then, literally, covered by the blood of the lamb)
Those who did this in Egypt were saved the judgment.
In the story of Esther, Haman’s decree to annihilate the Jews went out on the eve of Passover. Do you see the signs?
God delivered His people in Egypt. God will deliver His people again in Persia.
The whole story of Passover and Esther point to Jesus. The whole Bible is all about one Hero. John the Baptist said of Jesus, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes the sin of the world.’
Jesus is the fulfilment of Passover, our Great King, greater than Xerxes, who rules a far greater kingdom, wasn’t arrogant, selfish, lazy, greedy or abusive like Xerxes was.
No, he loves us and served us, even unto death on a cross. And on that cross he cried out to God, ‘Father, forgive them.’ Jesus forgives all our sins with His death.
Jesus works all mistakes into His plan and takes our tragedies and turns them to His glory.
The whole Bible, the entire Word of God is all about Jesus, our King, and what He did for us!
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[Excerpt from the fourth week of our series on Esther: The King’s Queen. You can find the sermon HERE]
