Esther UnMasked

The Finding Emet radio program focuses on understanding and living the truth of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective. The host, Brother Daniel Rendleman, teaches about the importance of using the Hebrew names for God and Jesus. He emphasizes the need to renew our minds through studying the Scriptures and understanding the language, times, and people of the Bible. The teaching for today is about the book of Esther, which is often overlooked but contains important lessons and is celebrated during the festival of Purim. The story revolves around Queen Esther, who reveals a plot by the prime minister, Haman, to destroy the Hebrew people. Through a series of events, Haman is punished and Mordecai, Esther's cousin, becomes the new prime minister. The story highlights the theme of hidden or masked truths. Hello, and welcome to the Finding Emet radio program. Emet is the Hebrew word for truth. This program will help you understand and live the truth of the Bible from a Hebrew perspective. The Finding Emet radio program features the teaching ministry of Brother Daniel Rendleman of Emet Ministries. Prepare your heart to receive the Emet, the truth of the scriptures. More audio lessons and teaching articles are available at the www.emetministries.com website. Please visit our site to find all things spiritual, including a free online Bible search program, or submit your prayer requests. That's www.emetministries.com or www.findemet.com. CD copies of this teaching are available for free by submitting a request at the website. Let's welcome our teacher, Daniel Rendleman, as he helps us find the Emet. Hello and welcome to our teaching today entitled Esther Unmasked. Today as we're talking, we're going to be using the sacred name of our creator, the Almighty Yahweh, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh in the Hebrew, the Hebrew Tetragrammaton that's actually hidden in your English Bibles behind the letters L-O-R-D or G-O-D in all capital letters. We're also going to be using the sacred name of our master and savior, Yahshua. Perhaps you're familiar with this name from the Passion of the Christ DVD or from hearing that. We're going to be using these names as these are the true names of the Almighty Creator and His Son, our Messiah and Savior. The name spoken when the Savior was here was the name Yahshua. He was never called Jesus while He was here on the earth. So today to have a better understanding of the Scriptures, to have a better understanding of the Bible and Biblical principles, we're going to use these Hebraic phrases, these Hebrew phrases, learn a few more Hebrew phrases and try to renew our mind through the Scriptures. We are told in Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, it says, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And so every time we gather together, we look at the Scriptures, our mind is to be renewed to what the Scriptures have to say and our mind is renewed to Biblical things, to the language of the Scriptures and to best understand the Bible, we need to understand the language of the Bible. We need to understand the times of the Bible and we need to understand the people of the Bible. So today we're going to be talking about an important subject, a subject that will really inspire you, I believe, as today's teaching is entitled Esther Unmasked. Esther Unmasked. If you were to pull away the mask from Esther, what would you find? Now the book of Esther is one of those forgotten books in the Bible. You don't hear very many sermons about Esther, you don't see very many television programs about Esther. However, it is a wonderful retelling of some events that actually happened. They are historically accurate. It's a wonderful retelling of some things that apply to us today, apply to them way back then, and apply in the future with prophecy. And every year, at a certain time in the year, usually in the spring, not only is the book of Esther read in the synagogues, in the Jewish synagogues, but there is a huge celebration about Esther and the story of Esther and what occurred in the book of Esther. And this celebration is called Purim or Purim or Purim. Different groups say it different ways. You can say Purim, Purim, or Purim. Different ways of saying that. And this is one of the most joyous of all days in the biblical calendar. Now what's interesting here is that Purim is not mentioned in the holy days found in Leviticus 23. You can turn to Leviticus 23 or in Hebrew Vayikra 23, and you can find all types of holy days. You can find the Passover celebration, you can find first fruits, you can find Pentecost or Shavuot, you can find the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. You can find all these different days, but you will not find Purim. However, we will find that Purim is alluded to in the scripture. That the reference to Purim is actually hidden in the scripture. And this is aptly so, because the hidden, or the secret, or the masked, is the major theme of the story of Esther. We're going to see that today. Now every year, at this time of March or April or so, there's this festival of Purim, and in the synagogue they pull out what's called the Megillah. It's a smaller scroll on which the story or the book of Esther is written in Hebrew, and it's pulled out and it's recited in the synagogue. It's read in the synagogue, and the congregation is active in the reading. So let's just remember the story of Esther, and remember what's recounted during this festival of Purim. What exactly is hidden? The Purim story, or the book of Esther, reveals the downfall of the vicious anti-Semite Haman. Now Haman was a descendant of Emelech, the traditional enemy of the Hebrews, so keep that in mind as we talk today. Now Haman, or Hamad, was a prime minister in ancient Persia around 2300 years ago. Now events happen that Haman plays a crucial role in the coronation of Queen Esther. You see, there was this queen, her name was Vashti, and she was banished as she wouldn't come to the king's banquet that he was having. The king's name, Ashkashvarosh, or you may have heard the king's name, Xerxes. Same guy, Xerxes or Ashkashvarosh, he was having a party. He invited his queen. His queen did not show up. He kicked his queen out. He banished his queen, and so there's this beauty pageant, you could say, to find a new queen, and Esther, the Hebrew, Esther from the tribe of Judah, Esther the Jew, was chosen as the next queen. Now no one realizes that Esther is a Hebrew. Keep that in mind. Haman has become a powerful man in the kingdom, and he's upset that there's this one guy that doesn't bow down to him. There's this one guy that won't reverence him and worship him, and guess what? His name is Mordecai, and by the way, he's also a Hebrew or a Jew, and he and Esther are cousins. He and Esther are cousins. So Haman, the bad guy, succeeds in getting King Ashkashvarosh to authorize a royal decree to annihilate an unspecified nation that Haman says that are unloyal or the enemies of the king. Now initially he does not identify the nation. This way the king can later claim that he doesn't know who it was. Now Haman casts lots, or dice, or what's called pur, or purim, he casts his pur to determine what day this annihilation was going to happen, and when he casts those purim, when he casts those dice, he realized it was going to happen on a certain month on a certain day. Now Mordecai and Esther leave the Jews in the land there in Persia in a return to Yahweh, and they declare a day of fasting and prayer, a few days of fasting and prayer, saying, this is not good, we're going to be destroyed. Esther decides that she is going to go before the king and reveal this hidden plot to destroy the Jews. So Esther invites the king and Haman to join her for dinner. In response to this wonderful dinner and what the king had a great time, the king offers her half of his kingdom, and she asks simply that they come back the next day. I guess they're going to have leftovers the next day. So he comes the first day, and she says, come tomorrow, I'll tell you more tomorrow, we'll have a great time. Now, throughout that night, Haman orders people to begin working on some gallows so that he can have Mordecai killed. He's just fed up with Mordecai, he's fed up with the Jews, he wants to annihilate them, and he says, make some gallows and we're going to hang this Jew, Mordecai, on these gallows tomorrow. Now at daybreak, he appears to go before the king, he's going to denounce Mordecai as the leader of this band of rebels, and go ahead and begin the procession to hang Mordecai. Now in desperation to get some sleep that night, the king just couldn't sleep, maybe he had indigestion from that meal at Esther's house or so, but in desperation to get some sleep, the king asks his servants, he says, read to me from the Royal Chronicles. So they open this book to a long forgotten story about, okay, on this day this happened, on this day that happened, but the book opens to a long forgotten story of how Mordecai discovered an assassination plot by two people who were dressed up as royal servants, and they were trying to kill the king, Mordecai exposed the plot, he saved the king's life. And at the exact moment when the king is inquiring whether Mordecai was rewarded for this loyalty, that's when Haman appears on the scene. Now before getting his chance to request that Mordecai gets killed, Haman is ordered by the king to parade Mordecai around the capital city in royal garments and proclaim, this is the man to whom the king favors. Well you can just imagine, Haman is hating every second and every minute of that. Now after this occurs, Haman is whisked away to the royal dinner, they're going back to Esther's house, they're having meatloaf I guess, or mashed potatoes and gravy, whatever it is. So at dinner, she reveals to the king that she is a Hebrew. She reveals to the king that she is a Jew, and that Haman is an enemy of the king because he seeks to destroy the Hebrew people. Now the king gets very upset, he gets very angry, he cannot have his queen to be killed, so he storms out of the room, and then after that you've got Haman pleading to Esther, please, please, please, don't allow me to die, don't allow these things to happen. He somehow loses his balance, you could say, falls on the couch where Esther is reclining, the king comes back at that moment, he's upset, he sees what's happening, he explodes in anger. So the king, Ashkashverosh, he orders Haman to be taken out and hanged on the exact gallows that were built for Mordecai. The king then takes Mordecai and elevates him to Haman's position. So Haman's been killed, he's no longer the prime minister of Persia, Mordecai the Jew gets there. So Mordecai issues some orders, of course with the king's permission, allowing the Hebrews to fight back. You couldn't rescind a king's order, but you could send out a different order saying, okay, you've got to fight back against your enemies. And on the thirteenth and fourteenth days of the month of Adar, the Israelites won tremendous victories and they were saved from total annihilation. Now since that time, we've been celebrating, as Messianic or Nazarene believers, this feast of Esther called Purim. The Jews have been doing this for thousands of years and it's just now that many, many people around the world, as they're studying their Hebrew roots, as they're understanding their Hebrew roots, as they're coming into Messianic congregations, they're beginning to celebrate Purim as it tells us to do in the book of Esther. In the book of Esther, chapter nine, verses seventeen and twenty-two, it says on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, on the fourteenth day of the same month, they rested. And they made it a day for feasting and joy, as the days in which the Jews rested from their enemies. And the month which was turned from sorrow to joy, from mourning into a feast day, that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of sending portions to one another and gifts to the poor. So as you can see, this is a great time to celebrate Yahweh's salvation, Yahweh's power, what he's been able to do and how he's been able to protect the people here. And as we see from the story, we can actually see how Yahweh's favor was with them. Now many times Purim, or the celebration, is viewed as a children's event, or maybe it's just a bedtime story of Esther, it really didn't happen. At the surface, it's only for the kids. There's costumes and there's noise as the day is celebrated. At first glance, it's childish. From an outsider, it's a simple story or a fairy tale. But we can learn much as we look at the story and we peel away the mask from Purim. Now why would there be a mask in Esther? Why are we calling this teaching Esther Unmasked? Well, it's because in celebrating this holiday or this feast day, the Jews, for thousands of years, have had several traditions or things that they've done. One of these traditions is you take the scroll, the Megillah, in the synagogue, you unroll it, you read it, and as you're reading it, you just are actively involved. And so when you save a name, Mordecai, everybody in the audience and everyone that's in the service just applauds with yeas and these noisemakers. And when you save a name, Haman, everybody boos and it's a lot of fun. You can stomp your feet and you make lots of noise against him. When you read the story, many times in Jewish communities, the kids actually dress up and go around kind of trick-or-treating. They go around from door to door to the Jewish families and giving gifts and receiving gifts. So imagine they're Jewish trick-or-treating and not only receiving nice gifts, but giving nice gifts. And then, of course, there's the giving of gifts to the poor. And many times in the synagogue is a place of seriousness and you're solemn and you're quiet and you go in. Well, on Purim, they take all those nice decorations out of the synagogue and they decorate it like Mardi Gras and they have a huge party. So they read the story, they use the rattlers, or in Yiddish, it's actually called a grogger. They have a lot of fun, they give these gifts to the poor, and the celebration of Purim is just that, it is a celebration of Yahweh's greatness. And there's much we can learn about Esther and about Yahweh and about our life today as we discover some hidden messages in the book of Esther. Now the Bible says, the Tanakh says, in the book of Isaiah, in the book of Yeshayahu 53, it says, to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? Now the arm of Yahweh is a metaphor, it's a picture of salvation, it's a picture of Yeshua. Who has the salvation of Yahweh been revealed? Now we will see the arm of Yahweh. We can see in the story the redemption of Yahweh in the story, and we can see that it's been revealed to us. It's been revealed to us today as we look at the story of Esther. To whom has it been revealed? It has been revealed to us. Now what's interesting here is that the arm of Yahweh has been revealed to us in the book of Esther as we can see Him working and protecting the Hebrews and keeping them. We don't see the name of Yahweh. We don't see the name of Yahweh. In fact, the book of Esther is the only book in the entire Bible. You can take just the Tanakh or the Older Testament, you can take the New Testament, all those books, 66 books, the Tanakh is the only book that does not have the name of Yahweh. It's never mentioned. It hides His name, yet He is there. He is there. And the truth is, the arm of Yahweh is there. Because if it was not for Esther, if it was not for Mordecai, if it was not for the story that we read in the book of Esther, Yeshua could not have come. Understand that today. That as we unmask Esther, that if it was not for Esther, Yeshua could not have come. Because Yeshua was born a Jew. Yeshua was born in the tribe of Judah. The Jewish people and the tribe of Judah would have been annihilated and destroyed if Haman would have had His way. And Yeshua could not have come. So when we celebrate Purim, when we celebrate what's in the book of Esther, we're celebrating the arm of Yahweh. And though Yahweh's name is not present in the book, we can sense His might, we can experience His salvation. Another interesting thing about the book of Esther is the name of the main character, Esther. That's not her Hebrew name. Her Hebrew name, her true name, was Hadassah, Hadassah. But the Persians called her Esther. Her Persian name was Esther. And interestingly, that the Esther is, in Hebrew, aster, aster, aster. The word aster in Hebrew means secret. Like you're going to whisper a secret to someone, like you're going to keep something hidden from someone. Aster, it means to hide. You know, Esther hid the fact that she was a Hebrew. She hid the fact that she was Jewish from the king. And it was Mordecai that said, do not tell anyone of your true identity until the right time. For perhaps you were placed here for such a time as this. For at the right time, the true identity of Esther was going to be revealed. We'll talk more about that later. But the word aster in Hebrew actually means secret, secret or the hidden. Esther hid her identity. Yahweh hid His name in this book. And we actually see that the Torah or in the Law of Moshe, the first five books of the Bible, actually speak about what's occurring here. And if you were to turn in your Bible to Deuteronomy or Devarim chapter 31, and in Devarim or Deuteronomy chapter 31, and starting in verse 16, it begins talking, Yahweh is talking here to Moshe saying you're going to die. In verse 17, he's saying that the Hebrews, the Israelites are going to break the covenant that Yahweh's made with them. They're going to disobey the Torah and they're going to be scattered in the lands because of what's happened here. And then in verse 18, it says this, and I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils that they do and that they will have turned to other gods. Now, therefore, write this song and teach it to the children, put it in their mouths that the song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel. He's saying, look, I'm giving you instructions, I'm giving you teachings, I'm giving you Torah for the nation of Israel. All they know is Egypt. But now they need to know Yahweh's will and Yahweh's word. And they're going to follow. But yet they're going to disobey. And when they do disobey the punishment, the wages of sin is death or expulsion from Yahweh's will in his life. Exile. That's how the Adam and Eve were dealt with. They sinned and they were sent out of the land. That's how the Hebrews were dealt with. They sinned and they were sent out of the land. You had the Babylonian captivity. You had the Assyrian captivity. Well, here Yahweh is speaking to Moshe and in verse 18, he says, I will surely hide my face in that day for all of the evils that they do. In Hebrew, this is written, v'anachai ha'astir panim, I will hide my face. v'anachai ha'astir panim, so you can hear ha'astir, the word for secret or hide or Esther. The word for panim is the word for face, my face, and then v'anachai means I will hide or so I will do this. He's saying, I will hide, yes, I will hide my face. The phrase is here, ha'astir panim, hiding of the face, is a description of Esther, the book of Esther and the time and the condition of the people during that day and even today because they were in a time of exile. The Hebrews, the Jews, were not in their land. This was at the very end of the Babylonian captivity. They are here. The Israelites are there, they're in exile, and that Purim is a festival of exile. Well, we know that we are in exile today, that all of Israel have not been gathered and placed in the land of Israel, that we are in a time where Yahweh may seem hidden to us. But let me tell you, Yahweh is behind the scenes working. No matter what you face, no matter what kind of persecution you face, because we know that the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3, verse 12, that all who live for Yahweh will face persecution. No matter what you face, Yahweh is with you, Yahweh is working. That just as in the book of Esther, or Esther, or the secret or the hidden, that we see that Yahweh was there, but they were not able to keep Torah fully, they were away from their homeland, Yahweh was with them, Yahweh was protecting them. They were under the rule and reign of a Persian king in a foreign land. They were facing extinction, annihilation. They were facing someone that was going to destroy them, and we'll see how this all works together for us today. Yet even in exile, Yahweh was there. He wasn't there with a tabernacle. Notice that he wasn't there with a pillar of fire and a cloud of smoke. He wasn't there with these majestic miracles, but he was there. His presence was with them, his blessing was with them. In the book of Esther, the celebration of Purim teaches us that things are not always as they appear. Let me say that again, because the book of Esther, or the celebration of Purim teaches us that things are not always as they appear. Again, Esther hid her true name, Hadassah. She hid her true identity as an Israelite, or as a Jew. We know that Haman hid, he veiled, his anti-Semitism. He did not come to the king and say, I want to kill those Jews. No. He said, there's a people out there whose laws are different than ours, who won't conform to the society today, and I want to destroy them. Doesn't that sound familiar? Haman hid that. Yet we also have what's interesting with Mordecai. Mordecai, the humble Mordecai, the Jew Mordecai, is paraded around town in the royal garb. Isn't that interesting? How things are not always as they appear. The two servants who tried to kill the king. Remember how Mordecai was able to foil their plot? Their names were Bikdan and Teresh. They actually disguised themselves as royal servants of the king, and that's how they tried to kill him. They were hidden. They were masked. There is so much in the story that is to be unveiled. That is, again, why today's teaching is called Esther Unmasked. There are many connections to be hidden in the story. Yahweh's name is hidden. And did you know that the Messiah, Yeshua, celebrated Purim? He celebrated Purim. Now, you can go to your King James and you can look and look and look for a reference to Purim. You won't find it. But the Bible actually alludes to the fact that Yeshua, our Messiah, did celebrate Purim. In John chapter 5, it is said that Yeshua was in Jerusalem for an unnamed feast. In John chapter 5, he was there for an unnamed feast. I wonder why it was unnamed. Hmm. It could be Purim. We know that when we read the Newer Testament, the Brit Hadashah in Hebrew, that it says that he was there for Shabbat. We know it says that he was there for Hanukkah. We know it says that he was there for Pesach or Passover. We know that he was there for all of these holy days, as we can go through and recount, okay, he was there for this one, he was there for that one. But then it says he was there for an unnamed feast. What feast could that be? And why was it unnamed? It's also interesting that John chapter 5 states that he was there for an unnamed feast that happened to fall on a Sabbath, that happened to fall on a Shabbat, the seventh day of the week. Now, there's several people that have done research here, one of those being named Lambert Dolphin, and he did research into this question. He wanted to know what feast day was it that Yeshua celebrated on a Shabbat in John chapter 5. He wanted to know what feast day was unnamed in John chapter 5. And so he went back to the historical record, it's pretty easy to actually do, and he looked from 25 AD to 35 AD, or 25 CE to 35 CE, and he looked at every single feast day that fell on a Sabbath. And he went through and he said, okay, one of these feast days that falls on a Sabbath has got to be the one Yeshua celebrated because it said he went to an unnamed feast day on Shabbat. There was only one. And in the year 28 CE, or common error AD, 28 Purim fell on a Shabbat. So we can take that historical reference, because we know that history will always back up what the Bible says, we can go to John chapter 5 and say it was an unnamed feast day that Yeshua celebrated on a Shabbat, and we know why it was unnamed, because Yahweh hid his name in the book of Esther, Yahweh hid himself in the story of Esther, Esther hid her true identity, and here Yeshua is keeping the same theme, where he's hiding the fact he was there. It was very likely that this was in reference. Yahweh was giving us yet another clue that Yeshua was there at Purim. So there are many hidden connections. There's even a hidden connection that we're going to talk about for a few minutes when we unmask Esther in the book of Esther and Purim to see that there's a huge connection between the feast of Purim or the celebration of Purim and the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement. Now you may think, what in the world do these two holy days have to do with each other? You've got the Day of Atonement, it's a day of seriousness, it's a day of fasting, it's a day of repentance, it's a day of beating yourself down, it's a day of sitting in the synagogue all day long and oh I'm sorry I did this and I did that, it's a day of affliction the Bible even says in Leviticus 23, it's a day of introspection, it's a day of confession, it's a sad, it's a quiet day, and then you have Purim, it's a party. If you've ever celebrated Purim, you know, you show up in a Bible costume, you have your grogger, you have your noisemaker, you take the flowers out of the synagogue and you bring balloons, it is a joyous day, it is a day of laughter. Many synagogues even have joke telling contests on Purim, it's so much fun, it's loud, it's joyous, and there's feasting, Yom Kippur you've got fasting, you don't eat for 25 hours, but on Purim you're feasting and you're even sending food to other people, how strange. How could two opposites be alike? How could these two holidays that are so dissimilar be similar? How could they be connected? Well Purim is the feast of lots, remember that. They called it Purim because of the lots that were thrown by Haman to choose the day, and we also know that on Yom Kippur that the high priest would take lots, he would take a set of dice, he would take a set of purr, and he would roll those and he would cast them to see which of the two goats was going to be sacrificed for the sins of the people, and which of the two goats was going to be let free as a scapegoat. Do you see the connection? But actually Yom Kippur is not an accurate name for the day, Yom means day, Kippur means atonement or covering, but in the Torah it's actually called Yom HaKippurim, Yom HaKippurim, Yom HaKippurim, Purim, Purim, Purim. It's called the day of atonement because there was atonement made for the priest, there was atonement made for the priesthood, there was atonement made for the sins, there was atonement made for the tabernacle, there was atonement made for the nation for the many sins that they had committed. So you hear the name Purim and Yom HaKippurim, in fact in our Torah scrolls there are no vowel points and you could read it Yom HaKippurim, Yom Kippurim actually means in Hebrew a day like Purim, Yom Kippurim means a day like Purim, Yom Kippurim means a day of atonement, if you're not confused that's okay, it's how you pronounce Ki or Ke, so a day like Purim. How in the world is the day of atonement like Purim? How is it hidden? How is that message hidden? And the truth is we're going to see that they are connected, that in reality Purim or the festival of Esther, the joyous time is a result and an actualization of Yom Kippurim, that the rejoicing that we do on Purim is because of what has occurred on the day of atonement. You could say it this way, that Purim is the flesh on the soul of Yom HaKippurim. At the Feast of Esther, the joyous celebration of Yahweh's deliverance is the flesh on the soul of the day of atonement. It tells us in Esther chapter 9 verse 24 that Haman, the enemy of the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them, he had cast Pur or lots to be consumed, therefore these days are called Purim. There is a direct connection. And perhaps, and I believe so, and I submit to you today, that the message of Purim, the hidden message of Purim, the secret message of Purim is actually that of atonement and the power of repentance. That hidden behind the actions of Mordecai and Esther is a connection to Yom Kippurim. Now remember that when Haman issued this decree, when the Jews were said, OK, on this day the Jews are going to be exterminated, you would have expected Mordecai to do something. The Bible says that Mordecai would sit at the king's gate. This means he sat in a place of authority. He was friends with the king. He had won the king's favor. Remember that he had saved the king's life. Talk about an IOU. He had not just gone to the king and said, Mr. King, actually, Mr. Oshkosh, I guess it would be, but Mr. King, remember on this day when I saved your life? Well, Mr. King, if I found favor in your sight, I know that I sit on your kind of your Council of Advisors, yada yada. They're going to kill us on this day. Can you do something about it, King? Why didn't he go? Why didn't he call in his bets? Why didn't he do something? The truth is he did. You read in the book of Esther. You see what Mordecai did. He did not go to King Oshkosh Baroche. He did not go to the king of Persia and said he went to the king of all kings. He went to the master of all masters. He went to Yahweh Zevaot, Yahweh of hosts. Not to initially beg for pardon. He didn't go and say, oh, Yahweh, take away this king, just make him disappear. He didn't go to Yahweh and say, oh, Yahweh, I beg you, just make Haman disappear and let it just be forgotten that this has happened. But you know what he did? He didn't go to Yahweh and say, Yahweh, take away this judgment. He didn't go to Yahweh and say, take away this evil decree. He went to Yahweh and the Bible says he begged for forgiveness. He begged for pardon of sin. The Bible says that he tore his clothes and he put on sackcloth and ashes. That means he went into mourning. That means he went into repentance. That means that he realized that what was happening to them could only be stopped through the power of Teshuvah, Teshuvah, scary Hebrew word. Not really. It's a Hebrew word that means to turn and to return. He realized that this decree could only be annulled by the power of Teshuvah and Mordecai got others to join him as they had corporate repentance. Now when you read the book of Esther, you realize that before she went to see the king, she decreed, she said, we're going to have a three day fast and for three days, I'm not going to eat. I'm not going to drink. I'm going to simply put my face before Yahweh. I'm going to repent for my sins. I'm going to repent for the sins of the nation. And I want you Jews, I want you Hebrews to do the same with me. She didn't spend those days pampering herself. She was about to go before the king and the king could have destroyed her. If you know the story, there's actually a law in Persia that said if you came before the king unannounced, he would have your head. He would have you killed unless he showed forth the golden scepter, unless he proclaimed favor your way, you were going to die. So there was a chance that Esther going before the king. Just to invite him for dinner would have been killed. And so what does she do? Does she, you know, get a script together? Does she practice it over and over and over again? Does she make sure that her diction is correct? No, she says we're going to have a three day fast. What does she do? She spends three days before fasting, withholding, defeating unbelief in her life, because that's the power of fasting. Now, let me tell you something. If you've ever fasted for three days, you really don't want to be close to people. Do you know why? It's because your breath stinks, you smell. And back then, many times when they would fast, they wouldn't they wouldn't bathe. But at least your breath is going to smell. Do you want to go before the king of the land who could kill you with bad breath, knock him over in his royal chair because of how bad your breath smells? No. But Esther took that choice because she knew that she could make herself right with the king of all kings and she could repent and turn from her sins and she could get the people of the land to turn from their sins. But the decree would be annulled. This is the message of Esther. This is the hidden message of Purim, the Hebraic concept. We are understood. We understand that Mordecai knew these events were connected to some type of sin, that Israel was in exile during this day. Indeed, the Talmud actually says. The Talmud actually says that Israel was threatened because the Jews had bowed down to Nebuchadnezzar's image and had gone to the banquet given by the king. But the king, remember the banquet Vashti wouldn't go to? That was actually a banquet to celebrate the destruction of the temple in Israel. And the Talmud says that Vashti wouldn't go. She was too upset over that. Yet the Jews went. I can imagine that probably not going over very well in the hallways of heaven. I don't think so. Yet the king was the king kicked out his queen. The Jews showed up. And because of the sin, the Talmud says that King Ashkashveros was allowed or Haman was allowed to issue this evil decree. Yet we know that we have Yahweh's favor. No matter what we do, we have Yahweh's favor. We have Yahweh's hand. We have Yahweh's forgiveness through teshuvah, through repentance. Because when we come to Yahweh with a broken and contrite heart, he does not despise us. No matter what we've done, no matter what we've done, no matter what we've done, Yahweh forgives. And the Bible says in Romans chapter eight, verse thirty nine, that nothing can separate us from the love of Yahweh that is in Yeshua Hamashiach. That Yahweh even loved Haman. That Yahweh even loved Hitler. That Yahweh even loved Saddam Hussein. And the truth is, the truth is, he loved Hitler as much as he loves you. He loved Saddam as much as he loves you. And the most evil person you can imagine, Yahweh loves them. And Yahweh's there and he's offering forgiveness, he's offering blessing, and he says, all you have to do is come to me and repent of your sins. He says that he is faithful and just to forgive us of all sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But we have to come before him and repent. We have to come before him and do teshuvah, again, the Hebrew word, the Hebrew phrase for repentance. And the truth is, teshuvah and repentance aren't really the same thing. Today, repentance is easy, say you're sorry, say a couple of Hail Marys, go before the priest, give your offering, whatever it takes, and you can go out and do it again. That is not repentance. That's not repentance and that's not teshuvah. Repentance is generally just changing your mind and, oh, I hope to do better. Repentance is regret, saying you're sorry. Repentance is making a mental decision not to do it. Repentance is usually a sad event. But teshuvah is greater. True teshuvah is to abandon the evil act and direct your effort towards doing what is right. True teshuvah includes regret and sorrow, but does not stop there because true teshuvah is characterized by joy. True teshuvah is characterized by joy, joy, joy found in the renewal to the connection with Yahweh. Ezekiel 14, 6 says teshuvah, teshuvah, repent, turn from your idols, renounce all the detestable practices. Notice that this verse says that you are to teshuvah, repent and you are to turn from those practices. You are to do that, not just repenting, not just saying you're sorry. Oh, Yahweh, I'm sorry I got caught. Man, I should have told that lie. Man, I should have done this. Man, I should have done that. But turning from that and doing what is right. Thousands of years ago, Yahweh gave man specific instructions and directions called Torah, loving instructions. When we disobey Torah, that is what is called sin. First, John 3, 4, everyone who sins breaks the Torah. In fact, sin is Torah lessness. When we break that sin, the Bible says in Romans 3, 23, the wages of sin is death. We deserve to die. Yet teshuvah, teshuvah is the bridge that Yahweh has provided us to him through the blood and the sacrifice of our master Yeshua, we can have forgiveness of sins totally and fully. Any sin we committed yesterday, today or tomorrow is totally forgiven by his blood. If we receive it, the Bible says that you're saved by grace through faith, not of yourself, that man should boast. It is the gift of Yahweh. But notice that it is by grace through faith. It's not just by grace that we are saved. If it was just by grace, then everybody in the world would be saved. The blood was shed on Golgotha. The blood was shed, everybody saved. Doesn't matter what you do. Everybody's going to heaven. But it says you're saved by grace through faith. You've got to have faith. You've got to do teshuvah to reach out and claim it and reach out and say, Father, I'm sorry. Forgive me. Cleanse me with the blood of Yeshua. And do teshuvah and turn from those sins. In Lamentations, chapter five, verse 21, it says, turn to me, teshuvah, oh Yahweh. Teshuvah is like restoring the relationship in the Garden of Eden. It does not occur. If you say this, oh, you know, teshuvah does not occur. Forgiveness is not there. If you say today, I will repent and tomorrow I'll go back and do it again. That denies the power of teshuvah. Yahweh is looking at the sincerity of the heart. And let me tell you, Mordecai and Esther and all the Hebrews living in the land of Persia that that day and that time were serious about it. They were serious about it because the Bible says sacrifice of Yahweh is a broken spirit. That is what he wants. In James, chapter four, verse seven, it says, submit to Yahweh, resist Hasatan, and he will flee from you. Too many times we forget that we want to just run from Hasatan. We just want to get away from that temptation that we may have, but we don't want to submit to Yahweh and his will and his way and his word. Teshuvah submits to Yahweh and then turns away from the enemy. Now, there was a rabbi, a well-known teacher and physician named Mammonides, and he developed a four-step plan or biblical four-step process of teshuvah. This is a story, this is the purpose of Yom Kippur and of Purim, that we could turn from our sins and repent, and it's a four-step outline, and the result of this is growth and forgiveness and atonement. Just saying you're sorry is not enough. You need to say you're sorry. You need to acknowledge that you were wrong. You need to turn from that sin and you need to return to Yahweh. Four-step process. Number one is very simple. Stop. That's rocket science, ain't it? Stop. Stop what you're doing, acknowledge your sin area and stop it. If it's destructive, then stop it. If you're engaged in it, then stop it. If you're stealing, you've got to stop stealing. You cannot continue to sin if you want to be forgiven. And no matter what that sin is, you cannot continue to sin if you want to be forgiven. So, number one, stop. Number two, regret. Number two, regret. You should feel regret for your error. It is wrong to steal. We'll just use it as an example. It is wrong to lie. It is wrong to gossip. It is wrong to talk about other people. It is wrong to be disrespectful. It is wrong to hold back Yahweh's tithes. Theft is breaking Yahweh's word, and it hurts other people. You should be sorry for the harm that you've caused. And there should be no, let me say this, there should be no, let me say it again, there should be no excuses. You were in error. Don't excuse it. Don't give a reason. Take responsibility, regret it, and understand what you've done has hurt Yahweh, and it's hurt other people. So, number one is stop doing it. Number two is to regret it. And number three, very important. Number three, verbalize. Verbalize. Verbalize. Say it out loud. Explain your regret to Yahweh out loud. And this does not have to be done at a synagogue. It does not have to be done at a church. It does not have to be done at a worship center. It can be done in the confines of your heart, of your house, of your car, wherever you are. Talk to Yahweh, at least an audible whisper, not just in your head, but say it out loud. Yahweh knows it. But who needs to hear it? You do. You do. You need to hear that fact. Tell Him that you are sorry for what you've done wrong. Now is the time to confess and confess it out loud. The Bible says in the Brit HaRashah, it says to confess your sins to one another that you may be forgiven. But there is a time also to go to one another. It's interesting that the rabbis tell us regarding Yom Kippur that Yom Kippur or Yom HaKippurim, the Day of Atonement, does not atone for your sins against other people, but it only atones for your sins against Yahweh. That for your sin against Bob, you have to go to Bob. You have to stop what you've done to Bob. You've got to regret what you've done to Bob. You've got to verbalize to Bob that you were wrong. Ask him to forgive you and then accept his forgiveness. Sounds an awful lot like the master's prayer. Forgive us of our sins as we forgive others who have sinned against us. If you cannot forgive man of their sins, how can Yahweh forgive you of your sins? Didn't Yeshua say that? That you need to go to other people. If you have hurt your sister, your brother, your aunt, your uncle, your spouse, your children, your pastor. If you have hurt your friends, if you've hurt your family, if you've hurt the neighbor, if you've hurt a waitress, you need to go to them and say, I'm sorry. I was rude to you. I was nasty. I'm sorry. Forgive me. I should not have taken advantage of you. Forgive me for doing this. Forgive me. I was wrong. Stop it. Regret it and then verbalize it. Say it out loud. Ask forgiveness of Yahweh. Ask forgiveness of people and then finally make a plan. So number one, stop. Number two, regret. Number three, repent. So number one, stop. Number two, regret. Number three, verbalize. And number four, make a plan. Make a plan. It's said that if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail. Call this the four steps of teshuva. Because if you make a plan, you will not fall back into that sin again. How can you make sure of a mistake won't happen? See, many people don't do this. They may be heartfelt and say, I'm sorry. And yet they go right back into the same sin. If your sin is pornography and you watch pornography on the Internet and you're lusting on the Internet, then you know what? You may need to have your Internet service cut off. You may need to have certain websites banned. You may need to say, I'm only going to get on this website for the Internet. I'm only going to get on the Internet if someone else is in the house. Or better yet, put your computer in your living room. So everyone can see what you're on. If that's your sin, number one, you need to stop it. Number two, you need to regret it. Number three, you need to verbalize it. Tell someone. And number four, you need to make a plan that it won't happen again. The Brit Hadashah says to make no provision for the flesh. If you are weak, if you are weak, then don't allow yourself to be tempted. If you have, you know, sticky fingers, you like to put things in your pocket. But don't go down the candy aisle. You know, I've got some children, their children and my four year old. For some reason, he's having a hard time understanding that when you go into a store, you've got to pay for it. So a few days ago, we were there at the store and and sure enough, we go to check out and I said, Joshua, do you have anything? And out of his pocket comes this pack of gum. And I had to explain to him that you have to pay for it. And I had to explain to him that you have to pay for it before you can take it. He said, Daddy, I'm sorry. Daddy, I'm sorry. Well, you know what? Next time we go to the store, I'm going to be with him. I'm going to be with him in line. I'm going to make sure he doesn't take that gum and put it in his pocket. We're going to have a plan to stop it from happening again. Your plan might include and I encourage your plan to include memorizing scriptures. Know the scripture, the even issue of battle, the enemy said it is written, it is written. You need to know that. And when you're tempted, you need to say it is written, it is written, it's a four step process and it sounds so simple, it sounds so elementary, it may seem meaningless to you. But heartfelt to Shuba erases the sinful action. Do you understand that that there's cause and there's an effect? But when you do to Shuba, you actually can stop the effect. When you had the cause, you had the sin, the effect of that is maybe judgment. But by doing to Shuba, by turning from that sin, you can stop that from taking place. That's what Mordecai understood. That's what Esther understood. But they were going to be annihilated. They were going to be killed. But by to Shuba, they were going to stop that from happening. In Yom Kippur, there's a phrase saying that the decree has been annulled. But the decree has been stopped. The decree of judgment has been stopped by the forgiveness of sin because the person has turned from their sins and they've returned to Yahweh called to Shuba. The book of Micah, the book of Micah, says that you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all of our iniquities into the depths of the sea. Know that when you do to Shuba, you are forgiven. And this was the message of our Messiah. Yeshua preached, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Revelation two, five says, remember the height from you fallen, repent, do the things you first did. And if you do not repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place. Revelation three, three. Remember, therefore. What you have received and heard, obey it and to Shuba repent, but if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will know not what time I will come to you. Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be made as white as snow. The scriptures say in Isaiah 118, that is the power of repentance. That is what repentance does. It saves us, it heals us, it repairs the broken relationships and it stops the decree of annihilation. Many times we have made mistakes in our lives, we have sinned, we've made the bad decisions. And simply by coming to Yahweh in mourning or in repentance, in seeking him in fasting and in prayer, the effects of those decisions, the effects of those sins, the effects of what we've done in the past can be changed by the power of Teshuva. And this is the joy. This is the joy that our sins are forgiven, that the Bible says that an angel in heaven rejoices. When a person sins are forgiven, not just when, oh, I'm born again, there's the angels rejoicing in the corner of the room for me. No, when you do Teshuva, that the Melechim, the angels in heaven are rejoicing over that. That there is joy, the Bible says in the Tehillim, in the Psalms, when we repent because it cancels the decree. Teshuva stops what was going to happen. And what was made for bad turns out for good. Now, there is a there's a tradition at Purim that the Jews use and they say that you are to drink on Purim until you don't know the difference between blessed be Mordecai and cursed be Haman. You are to get so drunk, you are to drink, drink, drink, drink, drink until you can't tell the difference between blessed is Mordecai and cursed is Haman. Now, we know that that goes directly against what it says in the in the New Testament when it says, do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Ruach HaKodesh and the Holy Spirit. Now, we know that in a sober state, Mordecai's righteousness is more beneficial than Haman's wicked plans. But a drunken person cannot tell the difference between Mordecai and a monkey. Now, friend, as a believer, we should have our vision blurred just the same. Whatever happens in our life should not lead us to worry. You know, sober minded people, they see the doctor's charts, they see the facts, they see the negative bank balances. But when you are drunk in the Ruach HaKodesh, when you are filled with the spirit. You know that Yahweh is working all things together for the good of those who love him and those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8.31 says, What then shall we say of these things? If Yahweh is for us, who can be against us? Remember, too, that Purim or the story of Esther, of its annihilation, occurred in the month of Adar. Adar means joy or strength. And the rabbis say that our joy or our strength increases in Adar. It's hidden, though. It's hidden and it's not fake. But it's a hidden joy in our spirit. No matter what we face, Yahweh is with us. When Haman threw the purr, when he threw the lots, when he threw the dice and he chose the month of Adar, he rejoiced. Do you know why? He rejoiced because it was in the month of Adar that Moses died. He said, Oh, this is great. I'm going to kill all the Jews in the same month that Moses died. Yet Haman did not know the rest of the story. Not only is Adar the month that Moses died, but it's also the month that Moses was born. It was also the month that Moses was born. It was secret. It was hidden that what the enemy thought was bad is actually good. But the enemy thought, oh, this will be great. I'll kill him on this month. This is this is. And yet the plans were foiled by the power of Yeshuva, by the power of repentance. Yeshua came that we might have life and life to its abundance. John, chapter 10, verse 10. And there is a there is a traditional toast when you're drinking yagin or Hebrew wine. You take your cup, you toast it and you say l'chaim, l'chaim to life when we have the life of Yahweh in us. No matter what we face, be it good or bad, be it evil, be it a bad plan to annihilate us will be to our life, will be to our good. It will all work out that Yahweh's greatness is with us, that we rejoice at Purim because Yahweh is working all things together. We rejoice at Purim because our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We rejoice even when another Persian king rises up to annihilate us, as we'll see in the end times. But the hidden story, the hidden message behind Esther is Yahweh is with us, even though we're in exile. The hidden message is the power of Yeshuva cancels the decree. The message is that our lives can be changed. Our lives can be transformed if we learn from Mordecai and Esther. If we understand that fasting is for us and it beats down the unbelief in our life. If we understand that we've been forgiven of our sins and we need to turn from our sins and return to Yahweh. If we understand that even though Yahweh's name is hidden in the Book of Esther, Yahweh was there. And even though Yahweh's name may be hidden from our day, that our friends and family may look at us and say, why are you saying Yahweh's name or don't say that name? But Yahweh is with us. Yahweh is working it out. That he's blessed us, he's given us forgiveness, he's given us victory over our enemies. That we are to be filled with the Ruach HaKodesh, to abundant life, that no matter what we face. Whether it's righteous acts or evil acts upon us, we will know and we will understand that Yahweh is working all things together. Now, why is that? We'll conclude with this. It says Yahweh works all things together, Romans 8. Yahweh works all things together for the good of those who love him and those who are called according to his purpose. When you love him and you walk in his ways, the Torah says, if you love me, keep my commandments. Yeshua said that. Yeshua said, if you love me, keep my commandments. So Yahweh's working everything together as you keep his commandments and are called according to his purpose. As you're walking in his purpose, he's going to work it out for you. But if you're walking in your purpose, if you're doing what you want, then guess what? You're going to get what you deserve. You're going to get what you made. But when you walk in his ways, when you keep his purpose, just like Esther, just like Mordecai, you can repent of your sins, you can turn to Yahweh, you can see the favor. You can see the exaltation of Yahweh's people. And you can see the joy in forgiveness. That Purim is a time that we celebrate what happened on Yom HaKippurim, the atonement of our sins. Read the book of Esther and celebrate what Yahweh has done any time of the year. Yahweh has given us the victory. May Yahweh bless you and keep you. May Yahweh cause his face to shine upon you and be graciously unto you. May Yahweh look upon you with his favor, with his countenance, with his peace, and give you peace. Through Messiah, through Yeshua, the Prince of Peace. Amen. Thank you again for listening to the Finding Emet radio program. Please visit our website to learn more about the Emet, the truth of the scriptures. Search the Bible, submit your prayer request, or read an article on various subjects. The website is www.findemet.com. That's www.findemet.com. CD copies of this teaching are available for free by submitting a request at the website. Or write to us at Emet Ministries, 1310 Trent Street, Newberry, SC 29108. That's Emet Ministries, 1310 Trent Street, Newberry, SC 29108. Thank you again for listening to Finding Emet with Daniel Rendleman. May you find the Emet, and may the Emet, may the truth set you free.