ENTER HITLER
Esther 3


The situation in which we find ourselves at the close
of Esther 2 and moving into Esther 3, is not unlike
the situation in Germany before WW II. Germany was
the country of Martin Luther. It was also the country
of the Protestant reformation. It was there in
Germany that Martin Luther called the church back to
the Bible and to the great truth of justification by
faith in God. In the nation of Germany, God did a
remarkable reformation work, and brought the people of
God back to His Word again.

Shortly before WWII, something happened in the nation
of Germany. A virus began to spread. It was far more
ominous and more serious than the recent "love bug"
virus. It was a virus that began to eat away at the
very heart of the spiritual life of the people of
Germany. That old virus is what I call Liberalism.
It is the view that there is no such thing as the
supernatural. The view that Jesus Christ is not
divine and the view that the Bible is just a book
inspired only to the degree that other great works of
literature are inspired.

That old virus began to eat away at the faith of the
German people. That old virus began to lay its hold
and to get its grip upon the minds and the hearts of
the people of Germany. So, they turned their backs on
the Lord and ignored Jesus Christ. They lost their
faith in the Bible and refused to go to the Word of
God as their final authority. So standing in the
corner, standing in the wings, there was a man—enter
Hitler.

It was not unlike that in the days of Esther. Esther
is now the queen. She has been installed as the queen
as the result of a search that has gone on in the
second chapter. She is now the queen to this King
Ahasuerus. When we came to the close of chapter 2 we
are told about a plot that had been made against the
life of a king and Mordecai had uncovered that plot.
So, Mordecai told Esther, Esther told the king, and
told him that it was Mordecai that had uncovered it.
The king's life was spared because of something that
Mordecai had done for him. It was all written down in
a book. The last verse of chapter 2 says. But Haman
ignored the book, turned his back on what Mordecai had
done—enter Hitler.

Oh, he's not called Hitler in the book of Esther, he's
called Haman. Haman has been well called the Hitler
of the Old Testament. When you turn your back on
Jesus and when you ignore His Word, you open yourself
up for a move of the devil. Haman was here all along,
just waiting for the opportune moment. He was just
waiting for his moment to make his move.

This is true in the life of an individual. Jesus
Christ is the Savior. He knocks at the human heart.
The Bible is God's Word which tells us about what
Jesus has done to save us and make it possible for us
to go to heaven. But when you turn your back on Jesus
and ignore the truth about Him in the Word, you open
yourself up for an invasion of the devil.

It is true—standing somewhere in the shadows you will
find Jesus. But it is also true—standing somewhere in
the shadows you will find Satan. When you receive the
Lord Jesus Christ the Bible says the Holy Spirit comes
to dwell in your heart. The Holy Spirit begins to
work in your heart. He begins to work in and through
your life. Paul says, "for it is God who worketh in
you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure".
But if you come to that moment of decision and you
consciously reject the Lord Jesus Christ as your
Savior, the Bible says you open yourself up for the
activity of Satan.

Ephesians 2:2 says, "according to the course of this
world, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience". You receive Christ as your Savior and
God's Spirit begins to work and you become more and
more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you
reject the Lord Jesus Christ Satan begins to work in
your life and he works and he works and he works. You
become more like the devil.

Here is Haman. He is the Old Testament Hitler. He is
also an Old Testament picture of the Antichrist. The
name Haman is a rather significant name. It means
"the rager." It reminds me of one of the names for
Satan in the Bible. In Revelation 9:11 the devil is
called "Apollyon". "Abadon" in the Hebrew language
which means the "destroyer." I'm here to announce to
you tonight that the devil is a destroyer. The Bible
says "the thief cometh not but to steal, and to kill,
and to destroy".

So Haman represents Satan. Haman represents the work
of the devil in the life of an individual. We are
going to study Haman. There's nothing good that can
be said about Haman. There's a passage over in the
book of Proverbs which says these words: "these
things doth the Lord hate. Yea seven are an
abomination unto Him. A proud look, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood. An heart that
deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in
running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh
lies, and he that soweth discord among the brethren."

Almost every statement there is a description of this
man, Haman. His total life is an abomination—enter
Hitler. Enter Haman.

I want to call your attention in the first 6 verses of
chapter 3 to-




I. Haman's HONOR.

In these verses we are told that Haman came into
honor. We discover that Haman is given rule. You see
this in verse 1. It says that the king promoted Haman
and that he is advanced and set above all the princes
that were with him. Evidently this means that this
man Haman is promoted to be the prime minister of the
entire realm of King Ahasuerus. He is second in power
only to the king himself.

Isn't this an amazing thing? Mordecai did something
for him to save him and the king ignores him
altogether. Mordecai did everything for him, the king
does nothing for him. Here's a man named Haman who
does nothing for the king and yet the king promotes
him.

It reminds me a lot of what people do in the
relationship with the Lord. Jesus has done everything
for you, ladies and gentlemen. Where have you put Him
in your life? What role have you given Him. Where
have you placed Him in your heart and life? Jesus has
done everything for you and a lot of people ignore
this wonderful Jesus. Yet, on the other hand, the
devil has done nothing but misery for you and yet you
let him run your life.

What has the devil ever done for you? what good has
the devil ever brought into your life? You don't have
a friend in the devil. If you were neck-deep in quick
sand the devil would pat you on the head. You do not
have a friend in the devil.

So, here's Haman. He's promoted to prime minister of
the kingdom. We know that isn't right. We know that
what happened here is not fair to Mordecai. It is not
right that he has not been rewarded for what he has
done. It is not right that he receive no promotion at
all.

I was thinking this morning as those graduating
seniors were sitting out there in front of me. They
are going out into life and they are going to make
some startling discoveries. One of the discoveries
you are going to make in life is that life is not
always fair. You are not always dealt a fair hand in
life. So, it is possible to get bitter. If you want
to you can just go through life being bitter and
complaining that life is unfair to you. We raise the
question—why does God let bad things happen to good
people? Why does God allow the godly to suffer? Why
does He let those who are ungodly be lifted to places
of prominence and power?

I rest again in Deuteronomy 29:29 which says "the
secret things belong unto the Lord". There are some
things we will never understand until we stand around
the throne. We'll understand it better by and by.
There are some things we will not understand at all
until we get into the by and by. So, here is a man
who is promoted and he doesn't deserve it. He's a
godless, wicked man. He has evil intentions.

He is also given not only rule, he is given
reverence. In the second verse you will notice that
we are told that as Haman went by they all bowed and
reverenced him. You get the picture there. They are
all falling on their knees in front of this man. They
are all giving this man attention. There is always a
test for a person. Any time a person is promoted or
is given some special attention or is given a role of
prominence, it is always a test of character.

When I was elementary age there was a boy in the 7th
grade who was promoted to be a school patrol. That
was a big deal. You had one of those belts you could
put around you. You had a badge you could wear. You
could stand on the street corner and you could direct
traffic. Most people could handle that fairly well,
but it just ruined this old boy. The minute they put
that school badge on that boy he turned into a tyrant.
I had to go on that block every day on the way home
and he made my life miserable. You would have thought
he was Hitler himself, goose-stepping up and down on
the corner of that street. Bossing everybody and
telling everybody what to do. Sometimes promotion is
a test of character. When you get a little glory,
what do you do with that glory? Do you take that
glory unto yourself or do you give that glory unto
Jesus?

I learned a long time ago in my ministry that if I get
any criticism I'll turn it over to Jesus. If I get
any praise I need to turn that over to Jesus as well.
Let Him get the honor and the glory.

Haman is going to get a test. He is given rule. He
is given respect. But he is also given rejection. As
I have read these verses of Scripture to you, you know
what happens. He's marching along in his pride and
everybody is falling around. The political flunkies
of the day are on their all-fours in front of him,
falling down. Yet there is this man, Mordecai. When
Haman walks by Mordecai refuses to bow down. We know
in verse 4 why he won't bow down. He told them the
reason he didn't was because he was a Jew.

Get the picture. Everybody else is bowing down, but
Mordecai is not. Kind of reminds you of Daniel 3 and
the three Hebrew children. When everybody else fell,
when the music began to play before the image of gold
and there were three boys who refused to bow down.
Now, here's one man who refuses to bow down. You
think that's easy? That's not easy. When everybody
else is on their knees and you're standing up, it's
not easy. It takes courage to dare to stand alone.
It takes courage to be different. It takes courage in
your job to be the one who lives for Christ when the
others around you are not living for Christ. It takes
courage to stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ when
everybody else around your school, for the most part,
are falling to the pagan gods of their time. It
takes a lot of courage to do that kind of thing.

Of course we know exactly why he didn't do it. We
know now that he is a Jew. That piece of information
has come out to us in the 4th verse. That is very
significant to the overall narrative we are going to
study in Esther. The Jews were told specifically what
they were to do and not do.

In Exodus 20:5 they were told that they were not to
make any graven images and they were not to bow down
nor give reverence to any image. Only God is the One
to whom they are to bow the knee. God has never
changed that commandment today. God has said, "I and
I alone, Christ and Christ alone, Jesus is absolutely
first. Jesus is not to be just present in your life,
He is not to be just prominent in your life. Jesus
Christ is to be preeminent in your life. He's to be
the one and only in your life. Don't bow your knee to
any other pagan God." So, he will not bow down.

The Bible says in verse 5 when Haman saw what was
going on that "he was full of wrath". It just ticked
him off big time. He is so mad he could bite a ten-
penny nail in two. Now, it's really kind of a little
thing when you think about it. Why doesn't he just
ignore it. Here's just one little guy over here. One
man named Mordecai who won't bow down. Why make such
a big deal over it, "Haman?" But you can tell a lot
about a person by how little the thing is that causes
them to be upset. You can learn a great deal about an
individual by how they respond to things like this.
Sometimes little men wind up in big jobs. Haman is
one of those kind of guys who said, "I demand to be
respected." People are all the time wanting respect,
demanding to be respected. You don't have any right
to demand respect. Respect is not something you
demand, respect is something you earn over a course of
time. You earn the respect of those around you. You
earn the right to be appreciated by those around you.
Respect is not something you demand, you earn it.

It's a little thing. Someone said that when little
men cast long shadows, it's a sign that the sun is
setting. I'm not talking about his physical statute.
I don't know how tall Haman was. I'm talking about
his moral character. He's a little man. He's little
in his attitude. He's little in his outlook. He's a
little guy. He just cannot take it. Haman's honor.
He is full of wrath.

So he decides in verse 6 that he's going to get rid of
Mordecai. But he's not going to just stop there. He
decides in verse 6 that no only will he get rid of
Mordecai, he'll get rid of the people of Mordecai. He
thinks the solution to the pressure and to the heat
he's feeling in his heart is a massacre. He's going
to get rid of the ones he hates. It is a dangerous
thing to let hate smolder in your heart. You never
know where hate will lead in your life. Don't let
some little injustice or some indignity that someone
has thrown your way cause you to have smoldering hate
in your heart.

Someone sitting here tonight and a former mate wronged
you and you have hate. You're going to get even.
Someone sitting here tonight and a former pastor
abused you and you said, "I'll get even with him if
it's the last thing I do." Some of you were in a
church where you feel like you have been mistreated
and you've decided you're going to get even. You
better be careful what you let that hate grow into in
your life.

Here's Haman who let some anger get in his heart. He
get some indignities in his heart and it smolders and
he decides that he will destroy and kill. He hates not
only the person of Mordecai, he hates the people of
Mordecai. We live in a world kind of like that, don't
we. We live in a world that hates the person of
Christ and the people of Christ. We live in a world
that hates Christ and hates His church. If you think
everybody is real happy because you're a child of God
and living for the Lord, then you don't know what's
going on. Your biscuits haven't been baked quite all
the way yet. If you think everybody in this town
loves First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, you are
about two bricks short of a load. Your elevator
doesn't go all the way up to the top. No, this world
doesn't love Jesus. This world doesn't love the
church. This world doesn't love the things of God.
Haman's honor.

In verse 7 we move to the second thought about this
man Haman.





II. Haman's HATRED.

Enter Hitler. Enter Haman. He has hatred in his
heart. You have here in Haman is anti-Semitism. Of
course that is something we find all the way through
the history of the Jews. Pharaoh was an anti-Semite.
He hated the Jews and he thought he would destroy
them. Of course, Hitler in Germany, was an anti-
Semite. He hated the Jews and tried to destroy them.
It's still around us today. What is anti-Semitism?
Mark Twain said that anti-Semitism is the swollen envy
of pigmy minds. It is a manifestation of prejudice.
Prejudice is the dislike of all that is unlike. If
someone is unlike you, then you dislike them. So,
here is anti-Semitism. Notice where it leads.

He goes in verse 7 and gets all of his astrologers.
"They cast Pur, that is, the lot." It was kind of
like dice. It was pieces of broken pebble or stone.
They used them like dice and cast lots. He evidently
has all of his astrologers together. That was the
common way. The astrologers made the decisions. He
is premeditating the destruction of the Jews. He is
premeditating a time that will be especially a lucky
and a good day to annihilate the Jews.

When you examine that 7th verse very carefully you will
find that they went over every day of the year. They
cast lots for each day. It says, "from day to day,
and from month to month". To find that special day
that the gods had chosen. They were all wrapped up in
astrology. They were all wrapped up in all kinds of
mysticisms.

It's an amazing thing that here in cultured America we
are having a revival of spiritism and witchcraft and
new age mysticism and the horoscope. I call it the
Horrorscope. You are not going to find your destiny
in the stars. You are going to find your destiny in
the Scriptures. Turn to the book. You don't look to
God's creation. You look to God the creator to find
direction and destiny for your life. You're not an
accident. You're not a fortunous concourse of atoms.
You're not a green slime that just slithered up on a
shore somewhere. God created you in His image. He
has a purpose and a plan for your life and your life
is not to be decided by the whim of the throwing of a
pair of dice.

There he is. He's building his hate. He's picking
his date. Finally they get to the day and it is going
to be in the 12th month, the last month of the year.
This was almost a year from the time that they were
making that plan. So he has his plan. He knows what
he's going to do. He's going to see to it that the
Jews are destroyed on that day.

In verse he goes in and makes a proposal to the king.
He says to the king, "there is a certain people
scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all
the provinces of thy kingdom: and their laws are
diverse from all people: neither keep they the king's
laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to
suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written
that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten
thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that
have the charge of the business."

He is saying to the king, "King, there's a group of
people in your kingdom and they are different from
everybody else." Amen. Did you know that Christians
are to be different. Christians are to be distinct.
That doesn't mean that you're to be odd. That doesn't
mean that you are to be some kind of screwball. That
doesn't mean that you are to walk around in a
pilgrim's outfit with a black pilgrim's hat on your
head. That's not what it means. When the Bible says
God's people are a peculiar people, it means God's
people are a special people. You are a chosen people.
You're to be different. We operate on the basis of a
different authority. Our authority is the Scripture.
We operate on the basis of different standards and
values. Our values are assigned to us from the
Scriptures. We are different in our behavior. We are
different in our outlook on life. We need to
understand that. "Isn't that awful? We Christians
have to be so different." Yeah, you're different.
That means you don't have to get your life all messed
up like most people do in this world. I want to
encourage all of you Christian parents to talk to your
children about this. As you go along the way and are
trying to bring your children up in the things of the
Lord, sometimes there will be activities that all of
their friends go to that they will not go to. There
will be things that their friends will be doing that
they will not be doing. Let me encourage you to talk
with your young people about this and talk with them
in terms of a positive affair. It's not just that
they don't do things, but explain to them why they
don't do things. Explain to them that you are trying
to bring them a better quality of life. My hat is
off, and I congratulate all of you Christian parents
who love your boys and girls enough to want them to be
different and to try to train them in a different way.
Right now all of our children are over in the Awana
program. Several hundred of them. I don't know how
many, but 400 or 500 are not even in this services,
they are in the Awana program. God bless you parents
who have enough love for your children to want them in
good Bible programs where they learn Scripture and
where the things of God are instilled in their hearts.
You're doing it the hard way. There are many parents
today who do not have a foggy clue where their
children are or what their children are doing. God
bless you folks. You care for your boys and girls.
They are different.

Now, the devil doesn't like separation. He never
does. Separation is not a popular teaching to the
devil. The devil doesn't like it when you dare to be
different in your life. It's not liked over there on
that job either. When everybody else is telling their
dirty jokes and gambling on the ballgames and you
don't do it, it makes them feel uncomfortable and they
don't like it. You kids in high school, when
everybody else is hitting the booze and shooting the
needle and sniffing the coke and you don't do it, they
aren't going to like that. They are going to
criticize you for it.

I was a 16-year-old boy when the Lord called me to
preach. I was saved at the age of 9. I didn't live
as close to the Lord as I wanted to live, but I am a
product of a revival that came among the young people
of my church. I committed myself totally and
completely to the Lord. I remember the first time I
went back to the football team after I had totally
committed my life to the Lord, I wasn't the most
popular guy on the team anymore. Some people shunned
me on the team because I was different. I didn't go
along and do the things I used to do. Though it may
not be popular to be separate and different, it is
God's way. It is a holy way. It is a happy way. It
is a helpful way. These people are different. Would
to God that Jacksonville will look at First Baptist
Church members and say, "Those people are different.
There's something attractive about them. There's
something winsome about them. Those people are
different. Their standards are different."

He starts talking to the king and you have a mixture
of truth and error and exaggeration. The main thing
is he doesn't tell the whole story. He doesn't throw
in the fact that the bottom line for why he wants
these people destroyed is that he hates them. He
doesn't tell the king that but he talks the king into
it.

In verse 10 it says the king took off his ring. That
was his special signet ring. You would take wax and
put the imprint of that ring into the wax and that
made the matter official. So the king, of all things,
takes off his ring and puts it in the hands of old
Hitler. Old Haman himself. He gives him carte blanc
to do whatever he wants to do.

Verse 11 says, "and the king said unto Haman, the
silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with
them as it seems good to thee". Here is a king who
has such a hard heart he is just now giving Haman the
authority to destroy several million people in his
kingdom. He doesn't even bother to ask what their
names are. Talk about a godless man.

Notice there's a proclamation made in verses 12 and
following. The kings' scribes are called in in verse
12. It says that they are to write out this
proclamation for the destruction of the Jews over
every province. Think about it. This is a multi-
lingual providence. There are 127 providences in the
kingdom of King Ahasuerus. It included Africa and
Egypt and Asia and Europe and all of the nations
around the Mediterranean Sea. There were all kinds of
languages that were spoken. This is a mammoth
project. So all of the scribes, the king's official
secretaries are writing out this proclamation that the
Jews are to be destroyed. You have a death warrant
here. When it is over verse 12 says that it is
written and sealed with the king's ring. Verse 13,
"and the letters were sent by posts". That's
couriers. In those days they had a mail system
similar to the days of the Pony Express. The Pony
Express would have these horses and they would go to
one post and get fresh horses and move on to the next
post. This is similar to what you have going on here.
Here is a death warrant. Here is a death sentence.
All of the Jews are to be destroyed.

Do you see what's going on here? Look at verse 14,
"the coy of the writing for a commandment to be given
in every providence was published unto all people,
that they should be ready against that day". A day
has been chosen. Almost a year from now. A day the
Jews will be destroyed. Now, we have a direct
conflict going on in this passage. You have the will
of man vs the will of God. God has made some promises
concerning the Jews.

Let me read you one of those promises over in the book
of Jeremiah 31:35, "thus saith the Lord, who gives the
sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and
the stars for a light by night, who divides the sea
when the waves thereof roar. The lord of hosts is his
name. If those ordinances (the sun and the moon and
the stars) depart from me says the Lord, then the seed
of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before
me forever". God is promising the Jews that if the
sun and the moon and the stars fall out of the sky,
Israel can fall as a nation, but as long as the sun
and the moon and the stars are there, "my people will
persist". So you have the will of man and the Word of
God on a collision course.

Haman—old Hitler in the Old Testament, now has a
decree that the Jews are to be destroyed. The time
comes. All of the documents are prepared in all the
languages of the province. The couriers get on their
horses and begin spreading out all over the kingdom.
They ride and ride all night. They co me to the next
post and they get fresh horses. Then they ride to the
next one. One of those couriers comes to a little
town and walks into the center of the town where the
bulletin board is. He takes this proclamation and
nails it up to the board and the people begin to
gather around and some of the Jews begin to gather
around. They look and they read the proclamation. It
says in the 12th month on that day all the Jews are to
be destroyed. Can you imagine? The grief? The
anguish? Can you see them as they toss the dust into
the air? Can you see them as they rip their clothes?
All the men, all the women, all the boys, all the
girls, are to be destroyed.

We have a real sadist on our hands. Haman not only
wants to destroy these people, he wants to terrorize
them for a solid year. They have a solid year to
worry and to dread their fate.

What would happen in the morning if you got up and
there was special bulletins all over the television—in
the month of December, it has been decreed that all
Christians in America, on December 25, will be killed.
What would you do? What would say?

Haman's honor. Haman's hatred.





III. Haman's HARDNESS.

The last sentence of this 3rd chapter is almost beyond
belief. "And the king and Haman sat down to drink:
but the city Shushan was perplexed". They sat down
to drink. They have just sent out a decree that meant
death for millions of people. So, what do they do?
They just go have a drunken meal. They have just
written a death warrant for millions of souls and they
have cocktails. How brutal, how cold can you be?

I thought about Amos 6:6 where it says "they drink
wine in bowls, but they are not grieved for the
affliction of Joseph". Yet I think about us so many
times. Not to this degree surely, but I think about
you and me. All around us in the city of Jacksonville
there are souls that are dying. Souls that are under
the sentence of death. Souls that are lost. If they
died in that lost condition they would go to a devil's
hell. What do we do? We entertain ourselves. We
enjoy ourselves. We fellowship among ourselves. I
love fellowship. I think it is an important part of
the life of a church. But there is something wrong
with the church, with the Sunday School class that
is so busy entertaining itself and enjoying itself
that is has no ears to hear the cry of a lost
community. There's something wrong with people who
call themselves Christians who believe there's a
heaven and there's a hell, who can never have a broken
heart or a burdened spirit for those around them who
do not know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. We must
not be content to sit around in the fullness of our
houses and enjoy the good things of God ourselves.
And come and listen to these songs. And come and
study the Word together. And not hear the cry of the
field out there where there are lost people who need
our Lord.

I want to call you to prayer. I want to call you to
renewed dedication to witness. Get somebody on your
heart. Write their name down. Begin to pray for
them. Invite them to the services. Get them here on
June 11 and let's win them to faith in Jesus Christ.

The king and Haman sat down to drink but the city
Shushan was perplexed. The Living Bible paraphrases
it this way: the city of Shushan fell into confusion
and panic.

Sometimes average people seem to be able to understand
what's going on more than other people do. I think
sometimes the Supreme Court could take a lesson from
the man on the street. I think Congress could. I
read the other day where they are spending 100 million
dollars in Congress to see if there is intelligent
life in outer space. I think that 100 million would
be far better spent seeing if there's intelligent life
in Washington. Just the common person on the street
knows that partial birth abortion is wrong. Yet, they
debate it in the halls of Congress. Just the common,
average man knows that we have a perfect right to
stand for what we believe and worship our God and give
our testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ, yet the
Supreme Court can't seem to figure that out. In some
places of authority in this country, the common
average people of America know what's going on. They
understand the situation. They are not deceived by a
lot of things that happen.

We've come to the end of the chapter. There's an Old
Testament holocaust just ahead. There's going to be a
massacre of the children of Israel. But providence is
at work. The providence of God is the hand of God in
the glove of history. The name of God nowhere appears
in this book of Esther. But the activity of God is on
every page and every line of every verse in this book.
God is already beginning to work. He has already
moved Esther into the palace. She's the queen. He's
already elevated Mordecai. He has received a
promotion. He's a judge sitting at the gate. He has
done something to save the life of the king. It's
been written down in a book, though the king has
neglected it at this point, keep it in mind that God
is getting all the pieces together so that people will
be in the right place at the right time so when God
gets ready to move, everything will be in place.

God may be having you in the right place at the right
time to do something big for God. Who knows? Just
around the corner it may be E-Day. Not D-Day. E-Day.
It may be your day. When God's time comes for you—be
ready. When God wants to use you. be prepared.