Esther 9-10: The Edict
About This Episode
Esther ends with a counter-edict going out to the soon-to-be-oppressed Jews. Instead of the suffering that was soon to be poured out on them, the Jews end up rising up and conquering their oppressors. In this last episode in our series on Esther, David and Seth talk about how to see Jesus in this beautiful book's closing chapters.
The Book of Esther: God's Hidden Providence and Final Rest
Show Notes
In this episode of the Spoken Gospel Podcast, David and Seth conclude their series on the Book of Esther. They explore how this Old Testament story points to Jesus and the Gospel, examining themes of divine providence, holy war, and ultimate rest from sin.
The Edict of Life and Conversion
David and Seth discuss how Mordecai's counter-edict allowing Jews to defend themselves led to widespread conversion among the empire's citizens. They draw parallels to the Gospel, noting how Jesus' victory on the cross issues an "edict of life" that brings people into God's Kingdom. Just as many in Persia aligned themselves with the Jews out of fear, David and Seth explain how the good news of salvation through Christ leads people to repentance and trust.
Holy War and Rest from Enemies
David and Seth examine the concept of "holy war" in Esther, connecting it to similar themes throughout the Old Testament. They highlight how the Jews' victory over their enemies and subsequent rest points forward to Jesus' ultimate defeat of Sin and evil. David and Seth emphasize that while Christians still face temptation, Christ's work on the cross provides true rest from condemnation and the accuser's power.
The Ongoing Tension of "Already, Not Yet"
The podcast explores how Esther's conclusion, with the Jews still under Persian rule, reflects the Christian experience of living between Christ's first and second comings. David and Seth discuss how those who follow Jesus experience both victory and continued conflict, rest and exile simultaneously. They encourage listeners to look forward to the day when God's people will experience uninterrupted peace and freedom from sin's influence.
The Final Rest and Freedom from Sin
In a powerful conclusion, David and Seth paint a vivid picture of the ultimate rest and freedom from sin that awaits those who trust Jesus in eternity. They contrast humanity's current struggle with sin to the future state where Christians will no longer desire wrong things. David and Seth emphasize how this hope, foreshadowed in Esther, should motivate and encourage us in our present struggles against sin and temptation.
Intro: Welcome to the Spoken Gospel Podcast. Spoken Gospel is a nonprofit dedicated to the idea that every part of the Bible, Old Testament and New, is about Jesus, and this podcast is our experiment to publicly test that belief. Every episode, hosts David Bowden and Seth Stewart work through a biblical text to see how it helps us see and savor Jesus. Let's jump in.
David: Welcome, everyone, to the Spoken Gospel Podcast. Thank you for joining us. We are wrapping up our talk on the Book of Esther.
Seth: Our talks. Plural.
David: Talks through.
Seth: Through the Book of Esther.
David: I. I use the wrong cate or like the wrong. Like, what is it? Plural, Singular and plural. What's that genre called?
Seth: Oh, number. Number.
David: Is it just the wrong number? Is that it? I know what it is. And that's what we call it in Greek. I don't know if that's. Wrong number of things and the wrong preposition.
Seth: Yes.
David: Failed.
Seth: David's rough this morning.
David: I'm rough. It's first thing in the morning.
Seth: Before we go on, what are some resources for people like, hey, I really want to study the Book of Esther more deeply on my own. I want to hear where you guys are thinking through some of these categories. Where would you point people to help them understand the Book of Esther?
David: Oh, that's a great. That's a great question. I think we can put it in the description.
Seth: Yeah.
David: There is an article by Ian Dugood. Okay. Do guid is what it looks like. And he. He's a great. A great scholar.
Seth: Scottish, too, Right?
David: I think so. He's. I think he's lived in a bunch of places.
Seth: Yeah.
David: For, like, long periods of time. So his accent is, like, very blurred. But now he's in the States. And anyway, it's a. It's a. It's a. It's a article you can read about 15 minutes. And it's about the eschatologic. Like the eschatology of the Book of Esther.
Seth: Right. The eschatology of the Book of Esther. That's the name of the article. That's the name of the article.
David: And which is like the. Which sounds really the law, like the. The future coming of the Savior.
Seth: Yeah, yeah.
David: We see in the Book of Esther, I think.
Seth: Oh, yeah. Does anyone in Esther live happily ever after?
David: Yeah, that's how he ends it. Yeah. And so.
Seth: Oh, actually the name of. The name of it is. But did they live happily ever. Ah, there we go. Eschatology. The Book of Esther.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So it's actually. It sounds a little scholarly, but it's not.
David: It's not. It's super easy.
Seth: To read, I would recommend redemptive reversals by G.K. beale.
David: You can hold it up for those watching on YouTube. You can see the book.
Seth: It's a great little book. And the first couple chapters are about the irony of sin and the irony of salvation. So super. Like what we talked. A major theme of the Book of Esther.
David: Yes.
Seth: I was also really helped by Karen Jobe's NIV application. Commentary. Commentary. So if you want to do a deep dive, a deeper dive, like, and go verse by verse through it. I really liked her.
David: Yes. I was going to recommend the Tyndale Commentary series, which is also written by a wonderful woman theologian. I'm trying to pull up her name.
Seth: Right now, but just like a man to forget a woman's name.
David: Oh, my gosh, it's the worst. Here it is. It's Deborah Reed. Deborah Reed. Tyndale's. And her. I read. I read through her introduction, and it was phenomenal. Super, super, phenomenal. So those are some really good recommendations I would make.
Seth: Oh, and the Help Me Teach the Bible podcast.
David: Help Me Teach the Bible podcast, hosted by Nancy Guthrie.
Seth: It's also really excellent.
David: She's phenomenal.
Seth: And I think she's in conversation with Ian.
David: Do good on Ezekiel.
Seth: I forget who it is on, but.
David: They do a wonderful job.
Seth: So Bible Project is also super helpful.
David: Bible Project talks about the chiasm really well. So you can go watch their video to kind of see the chiastic formation that we kind of referenced in the first episode. If you go watch the Bible Project video to see that really clearly. So those are some good resources to help you through, I think. Totally.
Seth: So the story so far, then, the Book of Esther.
David: So go.
Seth: Huge party.
David: Yeah.
Seth: King Xerxes Vashti refuses to be objectified by Xerxes and all of his drunk officials. She gets banished. Sexualized beauty pageant. Haman is elevated to power. Mordecai refuses to bow to him because.
David: Of a great eternal battle.
Seth: Because of a great eternal battle happening behind the scenes. Mordecai, descendant of King Saul. Haman, a descendant of Agag. Go back to 1st Samuel 3 to read that story. Then, yes, Mordecai. There's angry Mordecai. Haman is angry, makes this edict to kill all Jews everywhere. Mordecai says, esther, you're our only hope. She says, sure, if I die, I die. We then have these multiple feasts that are set up to convince Xerxes to save the people. That happens. And Mordecai is elevated to a position of power and is able to make an edict that counteracts the first. So this is kind of where we are in the story.
David: And Haman is brought down from power and humiliated. Ironic reversals. We talked about that in episode two.
Seth: Yeah, so where we are right now is that Esther and Mordecai have now eliminated the threat of Haman.
David: But the edict is still circulating the empire.
Seth: Right. So on the 13th Vidar, all the Jews will be killed by all their enemies. All the people of God will be killed by the. And the. By the empire.
David: Yeah, and there's not like a mass communication system that's like instantaneous. It's not like they could just like send a group chat and you know, like, or like do a public service announcement on TV or something.
Seth: Right. And, and besides that, the law of the land cannot be revoked. So Xerxes can't just go back on his law because one, he would lose face and going back on his law. Yeah, and it goes back to that kind of ironic pridefulness. He assumes the best way to run his nation is by having unchangeable laws. That's kind of stupid. What happens when you make a stupid law that has to be revoked? You can't, because that would require humility. That would require like, require some self reflection, which apparently doesn't exist in the empire. So Xerxes tells Mordecai and Esther this. So they come up with a counter edict, a counter decree, and it's that all Jews are allowed to fight back and that they are allowed to bring friends and family that are not Jews to their aid to destroy anybody that comes against them.
David: Well, okay, so I actually didn't pick up on that. Okay, but you're right, you're right. I read it like, nevermind, what we said before is not true anymore. You're right. Because what I wondered about that. I was like, they were given permission explicitly. It says to. To harm those who sought to harm you. Yes, but I was like, how would they know if the edict, you know, the first edict didn't actually go out? Yeah, but they. This is war now.
Seth: This is all out war. So like it's like this, like. So the edict goes out saying, jews, defend yourselves. Gather, gather and gather an army for yourself.
David: Militia.
Seth: Yeah, people's militia. In order to defend yourselves. That's the second edict. Okay, so it allows Xerxes to save face, but. But also prepares the Jews to do battle. And what's crazy is as Mordecai rises to power, as this edict goes out, fear of the Jews overtakes the capital city. So let me read it to you in chapter eight.
David: Where is it, Seth? What are you looking for?
Seth: Oh, yeah, sorry. I found it. I found it. Okay. Verse chapter 8, verse 16. So then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. And in every province and in every city, whenever, wherever the king's command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews for fear of the Jews had fallen on them. So there's this great site now, Jews, prepare yourself for battle.
David: And as they're doing this, as they're.
Seth: Doing this, people are afraid the empire. Citizens of the empire are afraid of the people of God. And out of respect, out of fear, fear, they become Jews themselves. They align themselves with the people of God in order to be part of the salvation that's coming for the people of God. They see the salvation pronounced from the throne, and they want to be a part of the people of God's kingdom rather than the kingdom of the empire. I think a really easy way to say that is like, this is a conversion moment.
David: Yeah.
Seth: For multiple people within the empire.
David: Whoa. Okay, Okay. I have so much I want to parse out of that.
Seth: Okay, go.
David: Okay. So first off, there is this category I think we have for the mustering of the Jews, you know, and the fear of the nations. So I think of the king of Moab that hires Balaam in the Book of Numbers.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Feared the people who were camping on his.
Seth: Right.
David: I think about the people of Jericho and, like, the story of Rahab, you know, like, she has heard about this great God and his. What he did in Egypt, and so she ends up repenting and helping the Jews. Like, this is like a cycle that's happened, is that when God's people are mustered by the hand of God, the nations quake in fear, which is like. That should sound like the prophets. That should sound like Psalms. This is something God does.
Seth: Yes.
David: With his people.
Seth: Yes.
David: So that's just something I just noticed that I hadn't thought of before. So this is happening again, which, like, I think should clue us in, which we'll talk about. But that should be one of our first big clues of, like, this sounds like the conquest of Canaan again. This sounds like the holy wars of Israel again.
Seth: And it is.
David: It is when we'll get there. But so that, That's. That's one thing. The thing is, like, this sounds a lot like the blessing of Abraham being fulfilled. The promise to Abraham.
Seth: All nations of the world will be blessed.
David: All nations of the world will be blessed.
Seth: Even citizens of the empire. The pagan, brutal, awful empire.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Which is like coming into the kingdom.
David: And it's also, like. It's a really interesting thing. I just don't. I don't think of the Old Testament, especially, like, when I. When I read it. I don't see a lot of conversion.
Seth: Yeah. That's fair.
David: To the Jewish nation.
Seth: That's fair.
David: Not something I see, because you'll see every.
Seth: There's all sorts of laws for sojourners and exiles. There'll be hints that the Gentiles will come in through the prophets or an expectation that there's foreigners living in the land by. In the Psalms and the historical narratives.
David: But we don't really see the conversion a lot.
Seth: No, we don't.
David: And so here it is.
Seth: Yeah.
David: So that's very interesting. Yeah, it's just like a. Whoa. I guess that happened every now and.
Seth: Then there's an edict of salvation and good news for the Jews, and then you have a whole bunch of citizen, the empire joining the cause.
David: So there's that. And then there's also just like the. Why did they. Like, why did they proselytize?
Seth: Why did they convert?
David: Convert? And it's like, like, I like how you said it. They. There was this new edict. There was an old edict and a new edict.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And there was. There was one that was about death and one that was about life. And they wanted to join the edict of life.
Seth: Yeah.
David: I'm like, that sounds like an altar call.
Seth: It does.
David: It sounds like a Billy Graham crusade.
Seth: It sounds like the ending of the book of Deuteronomy, which we were just in. Like I said before you, life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life.
David: And there was an edict on the mountain of life and an edict on the mountain of death. And which one will you choose?
Seth: And we said over and over again, in the book of Deuteronomy, fear the Lord.
David: Right.
Seth: It's like. It's like the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.
David: Like fearing God all throughout Deuteronomy. How will they obey the edicts put before them? Fear me. Right, right.
Seth: Yes.
David: And it's like the fear. Fear of the Jews gripped the people and so they converted.
Seth: Yes.
David: It's just very interesting.
Seth: Yeah. Yeah.
David: Wow.
Seth: Fascinating.
David: What a strange little statement.
Seth: So do we See Jesus in this particular instance, or do we need to move further in the story?
David: No, I think. I think we absolutely do. I think that, like, there are. I can think of, like, parallels in some of the teachings of Jesus, especially ones that. In which he talked about the end times, where he talks about, like, how he will come and, like, he will judge and he will rule and reign. And he's like, so expect that day, you know, and, like, go out into the fields because the harvest is plentiful. Plentiful. But the workers are few. And, like, so go and tell people that that day is coming.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Expect it and repent, you know? And like, I think, like, the fear of the Lord, which is like, a really good thing. Like. Like, this was. This saved people from a holocaust. This is a very good thing that happened here. And for us, it means the recreation of all things. It means the righting of all wrongs. It means the enacting of great justice. You know, it means the restoration of our bodies, the defeat of death, the defeat of pain when Jesus comes is like, what I'm saying. But that day, if you are still under the edict of death.
Seth: Right.
David: That day is a fearful, dreadful day for you.
Seth: What is. How does Luke. How does Jesus introduce himself in the book of Luke when he first comes?
David: The spirit of the Lord is upon me.
Seth: Yeah. To proclaim liberty to the captives. I'm gonna read it right now. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to claim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, the recovering of sight to the blind and set at liberty all those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
David: Right.
Seth: So what is happening here? What's the edict coming out from Susa?
David: The year of the Lord's favor.
Seth: The year of the Lord's favor is here upon the Jews. The oppression will no longer exist here. Like some of the liberty to the captives is coming. Don't be in fear of the enemies. The messianic hope has arrived. And even like Mordecai has clued us into that what Esther is accomplishing is messianic hope. Who knows? Maybe deliverance will rise from somewhere else. Like, this is a picture of the messianic future that will come.
David: That's right.
Seth: The final victory over the enemies of God accomplished by Jesus through his ministry and at the cross.
David: And the news of this coming day. Yes, because this edict was still in the future. Yes, it was soon in the future, but it was in the future. This news of this coming Day of the Lord of the year of the Lord's favor is bringing repentance to people and conversion. And so it's like the edict of life. Yep.
Seth: Brings people into the kingdom.
David: Yes.
Seth: Out of the empire.
David: Out of the empire into the kingdom. Yeah.
Seth: Yes.
David: That's really cool. It's also just interesting to think about the interplay between the two edicts.
Seth: Okay.
David: Like, so I just think about, like, the. The camp, you know, like how Colossians talks about the. The record of death that stood against us. And Romans talks about this too. And it's like there was this decree over our life that. And it was like, from the king.
Seth: Yeah, yeah.
David: Like, God's word is irrevocable.
Seth: Yeah.
David: You know, in a sense. Not because he's proud and unfinishing, because he's right.
Seth: Every.
David: Every time he writes a law, it's correct.
Seth: Right. You know, the fact that King Xerxes is described like God and his laws are unchanging, he rules over the whole world is to prove how terrible that works out when a human does it.
David: Yeah, right, right.
Seth: When God has unchanging laws, therefore are good. They're also for our condemnation.
David: Right. So God writes this letter of condemnation.
Seth: And like, edict of condemnation.
David: The edict of condemnation. We will die, and it will be right. It won't be some capricious, drunken, stupid decision that was passed down because he was whispered in his ear while he was drunk that he was like, oh, sure, we'll. We'll kill them. Let's flood the earth. Like, that's not what's happening here. This is a correct, sober judgment of God.
Seth: Right.
David: Edict of condemnation. But then Jesus comes and he dies the death of Haman to be raised to the position of Mordecai to write a new edict, seal it with the king's ring, and send it to us.
Seth: There's two edicts in God's kingdom, just like there was two edicts in the empire.
David: Right.
Seth: And the empire, they were violent, they were capricious, they were imperfect, incomplete. And the two edicts in God's kingdom actually represent the goodness of our God. They're not contradictory. No, they're not capricious. God is a good God of life. And any activity, behavior that belongs to death will not be tolerated.
David: Right.
Seth: But there's also an edict of life for people who commit deeds of death, who commit disobedience, because God is merciful and he's loving. And so it feels like those two edicts, like it feels in the book of Esther that they shouldn't go Together that there might be a contradiction in them. But we're learning in the kingdom of God those two edicts are find perfect like. Like overlap in the cross of Jesus Christ.
David: That's right.
Seth: That's exactly.
David: Only in the cross of Jesus Christ that those aren't contradictory edicts.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Because he is both the just and the justifier, as Romans 3 says.
Seth: Yeah.
David: He both fulfills and allows the edict of condemnation to come along and be himself, thus justifying the edict of the king by taking our condemnation for us on the cross.
Seth: Yeah.
David: But then he extends to us the edict of life because that's what, that's.
Seth: What Xerxes should have done.
David: Yes. He should have recognized died to his own pride.
Seth: That's exactly right. He should have died to the edict. That was foolish and foolhardy. God recognizes that his edicts aren't capricious or foolhardy or based on pride.
David: Dies to them anyway.
Seth: But he dies to them anyway. So that we might have only the edict of life applied to us. That we would only have victory. And as the next part of the text shows, rest from our enemies. So that's, that's the next thing that happens. The battle happens on the battle happens 13th of Adar and the Jews, they rise up, win.
David: Yeah, they win. We even see numbers of like death toll numbers.
Seth: Yep. And just like you read back in Joshua, just like you'd read in some of the chapters in Deuteronomy. And what's fascinating about the, about the.
David: Conquest here is that.
Seth: Well in verse 20 and 20, 21, 22, it talks about relief and rest from the enemies. But before we get there it says that they did not take plunder.
David: Right.
Seth: Which. Why is that significant?
David: Well, yeah, it's significant because that was the rule way back in the Torah that God gave the conquesters of the land of Canaan on how to treat the people who were to be devastated or designated for destruction.
Seth: So the seed of the serpent, that.
David: Eternal conspiracy, the Canaanites, the parasites, the Jebusites.
Seth: Right. Or even just like Cain killing Abel, like that divine satanic conspiracy you were supposed to utterly destroy, utterly destroy those.
David: People and do not touch the plunder.
Seth: That was the, that was the big.
David: Unique rule about that to compare it if you were. If you were just expanding your territory and having normal kind of diplomatic expansion wars with non seed of the serpent nations.
Seth: Right.
David: Sure. Take the plunder and. But don't devote. And don't. And also don't devote them to complete destruction. Just engage in normal warfare there.
Seth: Right.
David: This is Different.
Seth: This is different. So this, so we keep saying that this empire isn't just Persia.
David: Yes.
Seth: It's actually a demonic consigliere whispering into the ear of Xerxes in the EMP to further the demonic empire's goals on. In an earthly empire.
David: That's right. Yeah. We, and this is, this is, we see this first in the fact that Haman is a descendant of the king of Agog, the Amalekites, who are the. One of the enemies of God. And this goes all the way back to the seed of the serpent. This is a demonic long standing. Like in Genesis of God.
Seth: Yeah. In Genesis 3:15 we're introduced to two, like, two, like an empire and a kingdom. There's an empire, the snake and there's the kingdom of the seed of, of Eve.
David: Yep. And we see throughout history two family trees develop.
Seth: Two family trees that are always in conflict.
David: Yep.
Seth: Cain kills Abel.
David: Jacob and Esau fight.
Seth: Jacob and Esau are fighting.
David: What are the other clear examples like Ham and Seth?
Seth: Pharaoh, the seed of the serpent, tries to kill all the children of Israel. Haman tries to annihilate all the Jews. Herod wipes out all the infants. In Jesus's birth town of Bethlehem, there's this demonic conspiracy to kill the children of the people of God.
David: This goes all the way through to Revelation.
Seth: Right. And where in Revelation 13 there's this crazy vision of this woman, like clothed in stars, who's a representative of the people of God. And as she's giving birth to a child who is supposed to a child, there's a dragon like crouched at her hips as she gives birth and seeking to like eat the child of the people of God. And what John is saying, I think in the book of Revelation, he's saying this image is actually an image of the entire book in the entire Bible.
David: Yeah. This is what's been happening the whole time.
Seth: This is what's been happening the entire time.
David: God's people have been fruitful and multiplying as God said they would. And the evil one is like a lion waiting to crouch. And he's crouching and he's ready to attack.
Seth: He's like a serpent wanting to destroy the seed of Eve. That's why Cain killed Abel. That's why Haman killed the Jews, that's why Pharaoh tried to kill the Egyptians, why Herod tried to kill Jesus. It's the same story.
David: That's right.
Seth: Over and over again. So all that, all that canonical context to say that when they don't take the plunder, it's cluing you into the fact that what's happening in Persia isn't a Persian problem. It's a cosmic spiritual problem. And what's happening here is God's people's victory over the empire of the snake.
David: Yes. And what happens is another reversal. So what's been happening is as long as the people of God have been conquered by Persia, they've been assimilating into Persian culture, they've been named after their gods, they're getting drafted into their sexual competitions, they're cut off from the temple and are unable to follow the laws of the Torah. But as this holy war starts happening and the enemies of God are punished and judged, the opposite starts happening. Those who were worshiping Marduk and Istar are now worshiping Yahweh. They're converting. It's a great reversal. Again, like, that's what's happening here.
Seth: Yes.
David: So like. Like this is what happens. Like, God is seeking and will destroy those who oppose him, but in order to bring about the salvation of those who come to him, it's.
Seth: As the month that had been turned for them. So the month of the day had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness, from morning into a holiday that they should make them days of feasting and gladness. So it's like what was meant for evil.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Has been turned to good.
David: Yes.
Seth: What we read in Genesis.
David: That's right. The day of death has become the day of life.
Seth: Yes.
David: And like, this is the picture we see on another day.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Very important day of the day, Easter. You know, like the day of Jesus's death. Friday.
Seth: Easter is probably a bastardization of Ishtar.
David: Oh, that's interesting.
Seth: Like, it was a celebration of the. One of the. One of the goddesses, Ishtar. Like, that's why we say Easter rather than resurrection.
David: That's very interesting.
Seth: Fascinating. Right?
David: Anyway. And like. But on the day of Jesus's death, that was the day that the seed of the serpent finally said, I did it.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like, that was Haman rising to power, going home and gloating to his family. Satan, you know, the evil one, that ancient serpent is going, like, I did it.
Seth: Right.
David: The day of death has come. The edict that I tried to sign back in Haman's day actually got enacted.
Seth: The actual seat of God has been destroyed.
David: I did it.
Seth: I crushed the head of the son of God. That's what Satan's thinking.
David: Yes. And then. But ironically, this reversal happens where the day of death is actually the day of greatest life, because Jesus beats not only the grave and his resurrection. But in his death, yes. Satan ends up taking away his only weapon.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Which is condemnation and accusation. He is the great accuser.
Seth: Yeah. And death too.
David: Like, death is his greatest weapon.
Seth: Think of death and Satan for a moment as synonymous. Like, if Satan's only weapon is death and he uses it to conquer. Like he uses himself to conquer the son of God, the son of the people, of the seed of the kingdom, and it doesn't work. He's defeated. He has nothing left within himself to defeat the God of life with. If Satan and the curse of sin is death, death is his primary weapon.
David: Yeah. His ace.
Seth: He's utterly destroyed. Yeah, he's utterly destroyed. On top of that, condemnation is also part of it.
David: Big time.
Seth: Yes.
David: Yeah. I mean, we're told in Colossians that he disarmed the spiritual authorities by taking the legal code against us and nailing it to the cross.
Seth: Yes.
David: The disarming of Satan was a legal issue too.
Seth: Yes.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And maybe another way to say that is like he's called like the ruler of this world.
David: The ruler of this world. Yeah. He's the consigliere whispering in every year of every king.
Seth: And so one way that he exercises power is through the inevitable death that happens to all of us. Like, that is proof of his reign and rule and that. And that.
David: I just want to say that that death that he. That you say, like he kind of has.
Seth: Yeah.
David: This is a deputized thing that he. He doesn't own death. He's not the God of death.
Seth: We're not Greek.
David: We're not Greek, you know, myth. Mythologists here.
Seth: No, but he, like, you have to look at exit in the world. He's been delegated authority to.
David: I don't know, I have trouble with that. I can't find a verse that says that's true. I think that's a Greek mythology idea. Well, God says, I kill and I make alive.
Seth: Yes.
David: God is the one who like punishment. God said in that day, you will surely die in Genesis. And God is the one who punishes justly.
Seth: Yes.
David: Satan does not have the power of death. He has the power of condemnation. He's the accuser. That's his name. Hasatan is the accuser.
Seth: Okay.
David: He's not the killer. He doesn't have that power.
Seth: Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy.
David: So no killing, no Satan. Wait, where's that? The thief comes to steal, kill and Destroy. That's John 10 talking about the Pharisees. That's not Satan.
Seth: Well, that's A whole different podcast.
David: Yeah, but I'm just saying, I, I, I don't like this idea of Satan having this big power to kill people. That's not, look at Job. He had to go ask permission to hurt him and then he was not allowed to kill him.
Seth: That's fascinating.
David: He doesn't have that ability. He's not, he doesn't have the authority, like he has the authority to move kingdoms and whisper in people's ears. And he thinks that if he can kill this Jesus and stop this Jesus movement because he thinks he's not omniscient, right? And so he thinks that this Jesus, this incarnate son of God. I know who you are, Son of God. You know, he knew who he was. This was God incarnate. He knew he was. And he's thinking like everyone else is thinking, that there's going to be some kind of rise to the throne, okay? He's going to take over the kingdoms of this world and rule justly. He's going to do what David should have done, right? He's going to rule with peace and goodness and kindness and perfection. And he can't let that happen because then Israel would be re established, the temple of God would be filled, and the light of God would go around the world. And so he's like, if I could kill this king though, right? Then it would stop. The divine plan of God would stop and there would be no final good king on the throne of Israel. That's what he's trying to stop, right? And so he kills this king. He works, he works with the evil authorities of the world, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Roman governors.
Seth: It's kind of like Haman, Haman actually doesn't have final authority. Kill Mordecai.
David: No, Xerxes does.
Seth: Xerxes does, yeah.
David: The king God.
Seth: So he's always like whispering in his ear, kill this person, Accuse this person. This person's a traitor. This person shouldn't be alive, right? Which is exactly what Satan whispers into the Pharisees ears, to Pilate's ears. Kill him, kill him. Or like, yeah, yeah.
David: And so he does this thinking it will stop the plan of God, but in doing that, he actually disarms death itself and takes away his only tool, which is accusation.
Seth: Fascinating.
David: Like, because the record of death, the edict of death that came before us, that he is always trying to stick on us, right? Right now it can't. Because all of that condemnation has been dealt with in the very act that he put into plan on the cross.
Seth: Okay, so talked a lot about the eternal conspiracy, the term demonic conspiracy. This is a holy war that Israel has won. They have defeated the powers of darkness, they defeated the empire. And to commemorate that day, Mordecai makes a new edict that on the day that was meant for the Jew, the people of God's destruction, they will celebrate a feast, and particularly feast of rest. This is what it says in Esther 9, 20. And Mordecai recorded these things referring to the defeat of the empire, and sent letters to all the Jews who are in all the provinces of king, of the king, both near and far. So pause right there. That's actually a quote from Isaiah 57, 19 and 20, where it said, where there's a messianic blessing, like there's a coming blessing, peace for all of God's people. So what he's doing is he's quoting another author from the exile and he's saying, before the exile, before the Exile. And he's saying, the peace that Isaiah has talked about, we're tasting right here and right now. So let's celebrate it in expectation of a coming and greater day of. And he says it in the next verse of rest. And he obliges all the Jews to keep the 14th day of the month of Adar and also the 15th day, a two day feast, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies. That word relief is super, super important. And it's also the reason he says that they're celebrating it all. The reason that we're celebrating is that we get relief from our enemies. So that word relief or rest is actually all throughout the Bible. It's in the pages of Genesis as God creates the world, rest. But more importantly for this context, it's also the hope of holy war. Like one day holy war, the enemies of God, the seed of the serpent, will finally be destroyed. So in Deuteronomy 12:10, it's promised that once the enemies of God have been destroyed, God's temple can be built in the promised land. In Joshua, once he destroys all of God's, all the seeds of the serpent, that's when the temple is finally built.
David: When you have rest from your enemies.
Seth: Then the presence of God comes.
David: The presence of God comes.
Seth: That's exactly right. Even during David's reign. It's one of the markers of David's reign and the promise in 2nd Samuel 7 that you'll have rest from your enemies. But David cannot build the temple because he's a man of blood, right? So only his son, who lives in a Season and has his hands unstained.
David: By the holy water, because he's in a season of rest. He's in a season of rest, can build a temple. God's presence came and filled it.
Seth: That's exactly right.
David: Yep.
Seth: So what we should see then is that when the enemies of God, when the seed of the serpent is destroyed, God's presence comes and dwells with us, lives with us. It fills the temple.
David: Right.
Seth: So really, simply, what they're doing here is they're celebrating a taste of it. Yeah, they got a taste of it in Persia.
David: In exile.
Seth: In exile.
David: Yeah.
Seth: God's enemy. The enemies of God, the seed of the serpent has been destroyed. So the people of God will celebrate the fact that God's presence has come to us.
David: That's ironic if you think about it, because they are surrounded by their enemies.
Seth: Yes.
David: They're living in exile and they're claiming rest from their enemies.
Seth: Yes.
David: That's ironic.
Seth: It is ironic.
David: You're surrounded by your enemies, claiming rest from your enemies. That's not how that works.
Seth: Right. Well, it should also point. So, like, there was a very specific group of enemies. The forces that were aligned with Haman, the force that aligned with the consolidated, they rose up and. They rose up and they were destroyed.
David: I see.
Seth: But the surrounding nation, what happened? They became Jews themselves. It's like it's pointing to the fact that it's not just Jews who can experience the presence of God.
David: All nations.
Seth: All nations can experience the presence of God.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So this gets us to Jesus pretty simply at the cross. Jesus defeats the consigliere of darkness.
David: Right.
Seth: Like, he no longer has the power to condemn people to death.
David: Right.
Seth: He can no longer do that.
David: Yep.
Seth: And so we become the temple of God.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Because his presence dwells in us.
David: Yeah. And we before that, it's the consigliere is defeated. So we can rest. Right.
Seth: And then from God.
David: Yeah, from the battle. So, like, he's not whispering in our ear anymore because everything he says is a lie. And it's like, no, I'm perfectly right with God now.
Seth: Right.
David: And so now we are made little temples of God, and he comes and dwells with us. And in the midst of exile.
Seth: Yes.
David: We too are still in the empire. We talked about this in the first episode. We are still in exile, but we become these outposts of the temple of God, of the presence of God. And now as we go and we live the fear of the Lord, the grace of the Lord, the edict of life that the Lord has written through the blood of Jesus pours through us. And those in exile come to the light and like, they convert, like.
Seth: Yeah.
David: It's amazing. That's the holy war we go about now.
Seth: Yes.
David: The only holy war Christians are engaged in now is against the enemy, the spiritual enemy. And we go and we tear down his thresholds and other people's lives by preaching them the gospel.
Seth: Yes.
David: Hey, there's no condemnation for you anymore.
Seth: Yes.
David: Because Jesus died for what you feel condemned for.
Seth: Yeah.
David: That's the only kind of war that we engage in as Christians.
Seth: Jesus was the last death of the holy war. Yeah. That is the last casualty of the holy War. Like the last casualty of the holy War.
David: The last casualty of holy war.
Seth: Yes.
David: Maybe until the second coming.
Seth: Until the second coming.
David: Until the final death.
Seth: And so I want make sure we name right there that when we say like Satan is defeated, it doesn't mean we don't still experience temptation.
David: Correct.
Seth: So like, in what sense then do we have rest from our enemy if we're still being tempted by our enemy? Right. Does that make sense? So it's like I want to make sure that we like are really clear. It's like the presence of God comes when we have rest from our enemies. But does that mean I had to perfectly experience no temptation in order to feel God and worship?
David: Maybe this is helpful. So let's say this is going to be perfect, but I think it'll be helpful. So let's say you have an anger issue. Right. And one day that anger issue led you to kill a person.
Seth: Okay.
David: And you're taking a trial and you get a not guilty verdict.
Seth: Okay.
David: And let's somehow figure out that justice was actually carried out in that situation. You go home, your guilt, your, your, your guilt is gone. Like, no one can bring a charge against you. It's done. The court, the case isn't going to be re examined. There's no guilt that can be brought against you, but you still have an anger issue. Like it's still, you know, that's still a part of you.
Seth: And like, and you know you committed all those crimes. Yeah. Even if for whatever reason you got off free.
David: Oh, maybe that's not a good example. Then What I'm trying to say is like the, the, the, the accuser comes to you and says you are still that same murderer.
Seth: Yeah.
David: You're like, no, like all the justice has been done. I'm actually not that person anymore.
Seth: It is helpful. That is helpful because we have committed true crimes against the kingdom of God. We have committed treason against the Kingdom of God. And Satan isn't coming just telling us false things that we did. He's telling us true things about what we did. And he's saying, you should be condemned. You don't deserve to live. You deserve to die. You deserve to stay whatever hellhole you thought you think you deserve.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And what the crazy thing about the gospel is that verdict of guilty, despite the evidence to the contrary, sticks. And we have a hard time believing we are innocent. And Satan is always trying to convince us. No, no, you should have got the verdict of guilty. So one way to. I think that's actually.
David: We need to hold up the edict of life. Romans 8:1. No, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Like, that's our. That's our, like, shield.
Seth: There's rest for me.
David: There's rest for me in Romans 8:1.
Seth: In the edict of life.
David: Edict of life.
Seth: That's exactly right.
David: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Seth: So it is helpful. It's kind of confusing. It is confusing, but it is like, it is kind of what we're talking about. So the way in which we are no longer under the power of the evil one and get to experience the rest of God's presence is that the verdict of guilty, the verdict of condemnation, the edict of death has been dealt with. Satan has no final power over us. We will only experience life when we trust in God's son and in the seed of the woman and the Son of the kingdom. Right. However, Satan, the. Satan, the seed of the serpent, the accuser, he's still trying to convince you that the edict of life, it doesn't apply to you. Doesn't apply to you.
David: Yeah. You didn't do anything to earn it.
Seth: Exactly.
David: Right.
Seth: So I think that. And so the temptation is. Well, might as well just act like the edict of death is still hung over you.
David: Right.
Seth: If you're gonna die anyway.
David: Yeah, if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die.
Seth: If you're gonna die, why not?
David: When I die, I die.
Seth: Why not? Esther, do whatever you want to do.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Why not fulfill your greatest desires? Why not eat, drink and be merry? Because tomorrow you die.
David: Right.
Seth: The edict of death is coming for you. So I think that's probably the way in which temptation still works itself out while the power of it is actually gone.
David: Which is why, like Paul will say when he says, like, don't sin. Don't fall into the old patterns that you used to. He says, do you not know that you were bought with a price, that you are the temple of the holy Spirit, like, don't listen to the lies of who you were. Listen to the truth of who you've been made to be.
Seth: Yes. So here, the good news of the Book of Esther. Because of Jesus's victory on the cross over the power of the serpent, you are at rest from the condemnation from the edict of death.
David: Yeah.
Seth: It cannot come from you, so live like the edict is true.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Amass your followers. Amass. Muster your friends for the goal of seeing Persia, the empire, come into the kingdom.
David: Yeah. That's so good.
Seth: Yeah, that's so good.
David: One thing I love about this day of rest is that it's called the Day of lots.
Seth: Yes.
David: Right.
Seth: The feast of Purim, the Day of the Dice. So, yeah.
David: The Day of the Dice memorializes forever this beauty of the Book of Esther that it looks like everything happened by chance, but it's all divinely orchestrated.
Seth: Yes.
David: Because it's like this Day of the Dice that it's like. And I guess it's all random and it's just everything's happening by the roll of the dice. And, like, life can feel that way. Like everything feels random. Everything's by chance. God's out of control or not even real.
Seth: Right.
David: And it's like. But the Day of the Dice is a yearly festival to show the people that even though this day was picked by a roll of the dice, God was in control of it all, to bring about his purpose.
Seth: What Haman thought was a roll of dice is actually God's seventh day of creation. You know what I mean? Like, the day of rest comes not by Haman's dice.
David: Yes.
Seth: But by my power and my new creation in you.
David: Wow.
Seth: New life.
David: Y.
Seth: Welcome to the eighth day. That's.
David: Welcome to day eight.
Seth: Let's go.
David: That's so cool. Okay, so the book ends with chapter 10. Very short chapter.
Seth: Super short chapter.
David: And we'll talk about maybe why it's so short.
Seth: Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about that a little bit.
David: But three verses in this chapter, and the first verse is King Ahasuerus, or King Xerxes. The king imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea. All the acts of his power and might, and the full account of his honor of the high honor of Mordecai. Oh, sorry. Yeah, I was getting too excited.
Seth: You get too excited. To which the king advanced him.
David: Right. Are they not in the book of the Chronicles, the kings of Media and Persia. And so we get this last little statement here, you know, before the ending.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And it's like the King is re exerting his power. He's taxing the people of God. The people of God. And it's like, wait a second, that doesn't sound like rest and that doesn't sound like peace and that doesn't sound like prosperity. The people of God are still in the empire. The taxes aren't going to the temple.
Seth: Right.
David: These aren't the tithes and free will offerings of the people of God.
Seth: They're going back to the shallowness and the gregariousness.
David: Yeah. This is. The people of God's resources which were once used to build the tabernacle in the wilderness are now being, are going to further or like make beautiful the false inner court of King Xerxes, which.
Seth: Is what our taxes do.
David: Oh yeah, totally.
Seth: There's how many governmental organizations, wars that are being fought, organizations that are being funded by the taxes imposed on the.
David: People of God that we could be using for other things.
Seth: So what that points to is that this battle, even as we experience victory, is not yet over.
David: That's right.
Seth: The Satan, the eternal satanic conspiracy is still going on. Is still going on.
David: Yep.
Seth: And I think even like Esther is giving us categories for victory yet continued conflict. Jesus victory. Yeah, continued conflict.
David: That's right. Rest and exile.
Seth: Rest and exile is happening side by side. So we're really hoping for is a.
David: Final rest in rest.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like freedom and freedom. Peace in peace. Like where there's no more tension between the two. But that rest is full, final, continual, uninterrupted rest that pieces deep abiding, like not going anywhere. Peace.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Shalom, you know, like that's what we want. So we're not there yet.
Seth: We're not there yet. The book of Esther actually like, for like is a foreshadow of Armageddon.
David: Yes.
Seth: So when the people, the final enemies of God, the final seeds of the serpent, the final empire, comes against the final armies of the people of God's kingdom.
David: Yep.
Seth: And there's a great battle just like there here is in the book of Esther. And God's people are victorious.
David: Yes.
Seth: Very quickly, very quickly. By the mouth, the mouth of Jesus.
David: He just speaks.
Seth: He speaks a word.
David: They are destroyed.
Seth: And they're destroyed.
David: Yep.
Seth: None of their plunder.
David: What he'll say is, it is finished.
Seth: It is finished. But you know, who knows?
David: That would be awesome. That would be dope.
Seth: It is finished.
David: Yeah. And so I think it's really interesting, you know, as we, as we, we've looked at this and really I think we have doubled down on what you and I are convinced is the central theme of this book, at least the central conflict. Yeah, the conflict, the tension is between Haman and Mordecai.
Seth: Yes.
David: And ultimately between what they represent, which are the people of God and the people of the serpent.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And so with that. And so like, we were kind of talking about, like, I think that's right. And we talked about even more last night.
Seth: Not to say that they aren't real people in real history.
David: Absolutely.
Seth: Because if they're not real people in real history, it doesn't actually work. We still believe the conciliary of darkness is whispering to every world leader right now. Yeah, he's whispering to us right now like, this has to have happened in history.
David: Yes, but it is. But God. And that just shows further that nothing is a roll of the dice. God is in control of everything because he's using things that actually happen to tell bigger stories.
Seth: Yes.
David: And so. But we were talking about this, and then we started to realize that the Book of Esther actually has what are called deuterocanonical chapters. Now, that's a big fancy word for like that. There are chapters added on at a later time to this book.
Seth: So if you attend a Catholic church, you're familiar with the Apocrypha, the Deuterocanonical.
David: Books is what they're also called.
Seth: Yeah. And they're just added to it.
David: And so these books. So if you are a Catholic or may Greek Orthodox, you might have these chapters in your Bible. And so we don't as Protestants, but it is very interesting how these later editions shed light on how to interpret the Book of Esther.
Seth: Yeah. At least the history of interpretation of the Book of esther. And chapter 11 goes and describes a dream that Mordecai has between these two dragons that are trying to consume the people of God. People of God and this small number of people. Like, I think it's like. Like a tiny spring rushes out like a great river and destroys the dragons. The dragons. Y.
David: And we have. And like in, like. And so like, we're like, oh, this is the dream that Mordecai has to help him understand what's happening to himself and Haman and Esther, what's really going on behind the scenes. God showed him in this dream, you know, apparently.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And it's this. It's this great dragon, the serpent, from. From eternity past. And so like, which is exactly what.
Seth: John dreams in his apocalypse. In the book of Revelation, there's a.
David: Dragon in the water.
Seth: So even if it's not inspired literature.
David: Right.
Seth: It's just somebody interpreting the book for us.
David: Still very helpful.
Seth: It's super helpful. We actually have a history of interpretation that says that this isn't just Xerxes versus It's just not Haman versus Bordechai.
David: Which is just a really good thing for us to remember that the things going on in this world are not just earthly, that there are spiritual elements to the decisions that world leaders make and that you and I make it on a day to day basis. How we treat one another is not. Not just a carnal decision.
Seth: Yeah.
David: It is one that has spiritual ramifications for how that person will live the rest of their life and have a relationship with God. And like the same thing happens at a geopolitical scale, like how, how countries interact with one another. And like God is doing something through all of that. And it might seem, especially right now, it might seem that it's all out of control. It might seem that there's just someone, someone is rolling the dice. And I really hope it doesn't turn up double six, you know, like.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And like. But God is in control. Like, that's, I think, is the big point. And we see that most clearly in the fact that when it came up double sixes for Jesus, you know, and the lots did not fall in his favor on that day, on that day he died, we see that God is still in control.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And he rose from the dead. And like God is doing something with all the seeming chaos.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And he's doing something beautiful. Like, so beautiful that when you look at the Book of Esther, you're like, it has to be an author behind this book.
Seth: The justice is too poetic for there not to be.
David: And so think about this. One day we will be able to look back on the historical events that have unfolded throughout all the centuries on earth. And it will look like this beautiful poetic chiasm. Like the book of Esther. It will all make sense. It will all have a part and counterpart, a point and counterpoint. And like everything, we will see that God has built this grand narrative. And the end result of that narrative will be us saying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Like, you are glorious, you are perfect, you are beautiful. Your works are beyond compare. Oh, the depths of the wisdom of the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his ways. Like that is what will pour out of us when we see the final book of Esther.
Seth: Right.
David: Like in the kayak. It'll be amazing.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like that's what God's doing in the seeming chaos and dice rolls of the world.
Seth: Yes.
David: He is in control. Not the seed of the serpent.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And that is.
Seth: Nothing's a roll of the dice.
David: Nothing's the roll. Nothing's a roll of the dice. And I think that is the good news that Esther brings us.
Seth: So one more question, though.
David: Don't.
Seth: Don't. There it is.
David: Yet I won't. There it is.
Seth: Let's move from like the political and the chaotic forces of the world to what will it feel like to experience final rest from the consigliere of darkness.
David: Yes.
Seth: So like I have in my mind, like there. I think it's Augustine. He says in the. In the garden, Adam was able, not.
David: Able to sin and not able to sin.
Seth: He was able, not.
David: Not posse peccare. And passe non peccare was the Latin.
Seth: So he said he was able.
David: Able to sin and able not to sin.
Seth: Yes.
David: Yes. Basically what that means is he actually was free in his own heart to actually do the right thing.
Seth: Yes.
David: But he also was free to do the wrong thing.
Seth: Yes.
David: Now we believe that that is how every human being operates.
Seth: Yeah.
David: We believe every human being has that freedom to do right or do wrong.
Seth: Right.
David: No. The fall comes in and we are posse, not. Not able not to sin.
Seth: Yes.
David: We're non posse, non pecare.
Seth: Yeah. We're not able, not.
David: The only thing we can do is sin because everything we do, even if it looks right, is unjustly motivated. It's selfish.
Seth: Part of the. It's. It's in so intricately connected with the empire.
David: It's all in service of the prince of the power of the air.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Yeah. But then whenever. Whenever we become Christians.
Seth: Yeah. The.
David: The. That. That bond that slavery is broken.
Seth: Yeah. We are now not to sin.
David: Now we go back to Adam's state and we're able. We are able to. Able not sin and able to sin.
Seth: Yeah. But then on the last day.
David: Yes.
Seth: When the final reversal comes, when the.
David: Final rest comes, we will not be able to sin.
Seth: Yes.
David: It's the best.
Seth: So good.
David: It's my favorite thing.
Seth: So what does that feel like?
David: I don't know, but I want to know. So bad.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Like, could you just imagine, like, think about your greatest sin, the thing that you struggle with, and every time it happens, you just get wrecked and you're like, why is this still here? Imagine going to the place where your sin ultimately comes up. You know, like the place where you always are confronted with it and you can't avoid it. When you go to that place, like an alcoholic going to a Bar, right? And you go to that place and you have no desire for that sin anymore. You don't go, man, that still looks good. But I have the power to overcome it. That's not what we're talking about here. We're not talking about. You will always be able to say no. Yeah, right. No, that's not what we're talking about.
Seth: No.
David: We're saying the desire for that sin will be completely obliterated. You won't even want it anymore. And every false desire will be replaced with better ones. And so all that you will be able, all you will say to your desires every time they pop up in your heart is yes. Every desire in your heart that you'll just say yes to and that, and that yes to your inmost desire won't be a sin. It will be good. It will be.
Seth: Yeah.
David: It will be righteousness that you enact. And you will be doing it perfectly consistent with your own desires. Because that's how God operates.
Seth: Yeah. Yeah, that's.
David: I just. I, like, want that so bad.
Seth: Like, I. I feel myself being, like, tired of sinning. Right. I feel tired having to second guess your motives, decisions. Because were they. Were they inspired by the Empire?
David: Yeah.
Seth: Like, I'm tired trying not to yell at my kids and failing at that.
David: Right?
Seth: I'm tired of, like, trying to be a good husband and failing at that. Like, I'm tired of being selfish and then having to catch myself. Like, I'm tired of rehearsing my past mistakes in my head and listening to that accusing feeling, condemned the edict to death and hating myself for it. Like, I'm exhausted. Like, I groan to be free by that ping pong in my mind between, like, I'm better than everybody else and deserve to be celebrated and worse than, like, I do that all the time. One of my favorite lines in the Chronicle. I think I've said this before.
David: You probably have, but go for it.
Seth: But, like, is when Prince Caspian dies and he enters into Narnia's version of heaven with Aslan, the final rest. And he asks, aslan, Aslan, can I see my friends one last time? Like, he wants to go see, like, Edmund and Lucy and everybody. And then he catches himself and he's like, oh, is that okay? Am I allowed to want that? Is it okay for me to want that? And Aslan responds, my child, you cannot want wrong things anymore.
David: You cannot want wrong things anymore.
Seth: Imagine, bring that on, never wanting a wrong thing again. I feel like I spent so much time trying to figure out if something I want Is a good thing or bad thing or a foolish things.
David: Like you will not want wrong things anymore.
Seth: I will not want wrong things.
David: You will only eat from the tree of life.
Seth: You will experience rest.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Internally internal rest. Yes. Oh, every desire I will ever have is always go. Yes. Do enjoy.
David: Yep. And God will smile upon each of those decisions that you make internally consistent with your own affections.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Amazing.
Seth: Could you imagine everything that you want.
David: To do is allowed and like, makes God happy. Celebrate and is consistent with his desires.
Seth: Like, that's the rest. The book of Esther.
David: Yes.
Seth: Invites us to hope. For empire is gone.
David: Yes.
Seth: The consigliere of sin can no longer condemn that. We are no longer so intermingled with the empire that we have to second guess all of our decisions.
David: Right. Like we do when we read Esther.
Seth: Yeah. She good or bad? I don't know. Am I good or bad or bad?
David: That's not. No more.
Seth: There is rest. Is rest from every enemy.
David: Oh, it's so good. I'm glad you. You held on. Don't. Don't end yet. That's good news. Now can I. Now can I end now? That's the. That's the place to land the plane. I love it.
Seth: Go for it.
David: That's it.
Seth: That's it. That's it.
David: That's the book of Esther.
Seth: I'm pretty sure we could talk for a good bit longer in the book of Esther.
David: Yeah, we. This is a beautiful book. It really is. We hope this has been enjoyable for you guys. Thank you. If you're watching, thank you for joining us on our first series.
Seth: Please subscribe to YouTube and to our podcast Like Us. That's how more people find out about Jesus and all of scripture.
David: Yep. You always say like us, but it's. It's. Leave us a review.
Seth: Leave us a review.
David: That's right.
Seth: It's five star rating.
David: Five star rating.
Seth: Leave us nothing below five stars or one star that you define why it's one star. You can't leave a one star rating.
David: Right.
Seth: Not tell us why.
David: And then if you're watching on YouTube or if you're new to the podcast, we've been doing this for a year and a half. Yeah. So there's a huge back catalog. We have episodes on every single chapter of the Torah. So go binge. Go for it. And so anyway, we'll be back next week with more goodies. We're still debating on what we want to do next. So I can't. I can't reveal it yet. It'll be a surprise.
Seth: Surprise.
David: Thank you guys so much for joining us and we'll see you next time.
Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel is a nonprofit that gives all its resources like this podcast away for free because of supporters like you, To help Spoken Gospel and our mission to speak the gospel out of every corner of scripture and view all our free resources, visit spokengospel.com.