The Image Reflecting Back
ESTHER 5:1-3
1 ¶ Now it came to pass on the third day (it is interesting to note that we are also in the third day – HOSEA 6:2 says “After two days will he revive us (That’s after 2000 years): in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight”), that Esther put on her royal apparel (A change of garment – the bride being clothed in the word), and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house. (This event is taking place directly after the ministry of Mordecai and Hatach had caused Esther to be willing to lay down her life for her people)
2 And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre. (It required both mercy to be extended and mercy to be received)
3 Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.
I CORINTHIANS 13:9-12
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. (He is referring to part understanding)
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. (We know that part word understanding would gave way to a full word understanding at the opening of the seven seals)
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (This is speaking of mature understanding of this age in relation to a Pentecostal baby understanding – you don’t hold to Pentecostal denominational ideas when the full word has come in our day – you are to put away childish things)
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly (this word “darkly” = to have an obscure or imperfect vision of reality); but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (Paul is speaking of a future time of the end time age when the people of God would come to know who they are in the same way that God knows who they are. So when we look into the mirror of the word in this hour, we need to see ourselves reflecting the image of the word prophesied for this day, and to see that image of ourselves reflecting clearly back to us throughout the entire bible, not as though a mirror that is obscure, but by a mirror that is clear, showing every detail clearly of what we truly are in this hour. That is what produces rapturing faith - is when you really know who you are)
The Image Reflecting Back
We know the story that brother Branham tells of the little boy and the mirror…
THREE.KINDS.OF.BELIEVERS_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-6 SUNDAY_ 63-1124E
273 A little boy one time, down here in Kentucky, raised way up in the mountains, he--he had never been around where there was a looking glass. He had a little piece tacked up on a tree, but he had never seen himself. He come here to Louisville, it was told, and stay with his mother's sister. And she lived in one of the nice homes, a old-fashioned home. When they went into one of the--the bedrooms that had a--a door that had a mirror all up it, all way up-and-down the door. See?
274 And when the little fellow started to running through the house, he stopped. Little Johnny saw little Johnny. See? And he scratched his head, and little Johnny in the mirror scratched his head. He laughed, and little Johnny in the mirror laughed. He jumped up-and-down, and little Johnny jumped up-and-down in the mirror. See? He walked up real close. He thought it was a little boy he could play with, so he walked up. Directly, he pecked on the glass. He turned around, and his parents was watching him. He said, "Mama, that's me."
He came to the realisation that that was him being reflected back in the mirror because what he saw in the mirror was the same actions of how he was acting in real life.
And so when we look into the scriptures, and we see the events of our lives of this end time hour being reflected back to us in the lives of Ruth, and Esther, and Sarah, and Rebecca and many more throughout the entire bible – then after a while it begins to dawn on us that those stories were put in the word to reflect back our lives as a people in this end time age – you begin to realise that you are a part of the word and that it was written of you, just as Jesus was the word also for his day.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
155 Notice, the Bride. If the Bride, in the beginning, was the Word, or the Bridegroom; and then if the Bride is taken from the Bridegroom, It must be the Word also. Notice, the Bride must be.
156 Why, why must the Bridegroom be the Word manifested, made plain? Is because the Bride and the Bridegroom are One. She is just a smitten piece off of Him. There is the Masterpiece.
So if Christ is Boaz, then the bride of this hour will reflect the life of Ruth, and then if King Ahasuerus is Christ, then the bride of this hour will reflect the life of Esther – because the secret of the whole bible is the mystery of Him and Her – he is the word portion reflecting the husband part, and she is the word portion reflecting the wife part.
***From last week we saw how that Esther had been raised by Mordecai in a way that her character had attracted the king above all the other virgins, and so it was during the time of Mordecai’s ministry that she had been bought into a marriage union with the king, just like you and I as the end time virgin bride of this hour have been raised up under the seventh angel’s message, and we have also come into an invisible marriage union with the king during this same time of Malachi 4’s ministry.
**But then we saw as the story goes on, that it would take a further ministry of Mordecai’s message through the ministry of Hatach (who is a type of the 5 fold ministry of this hour, and who was faithful to reiterate the message of Mordecai to Esther), so that under the ministry of both Mordecai and Hatach, we see Esther coming into an even greater character of finally being willing to lay her life down for her people.
*And we know that when Esther came to that decision, that she was then reflecting back what Christ also did for us at Calvary, because in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus had to also come to that same place of being willing to lay his life down for his people – “not my will but thine be done”.
***So we notice here that it was when Esther’s life reflected back the same character of Christ, then that is when she went on to receive the power to speak the word and start the process of the deliverance for her people.
***So we see that it was Christ in Esther that she was reflecting back in her life by this action.
ESTHER 4:9-11
9 And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.
10 Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai; (Look at her state at the beginning of Hatach’s ministry)
11 All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.
(The law of man was against this of what Mordecai was asking Esther to do – and there was a serious threat of the death penalty attached to that law)
ESTHER 4:12-14
12 And they told to Mordecai Esther's words.
13 Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther (notice here that it is the message of Mordecai that changes the heart of Esther as reiterated to her by Hatach – listen to his message..), Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. (She had a complex of self-preservation – and Mordecai was dealing with this character weakness in his message to Esther, showing her that if she tries to save her life, then she will lose her life, but if she is willing to lay down her life, then she will keep her life)
14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
MATTHEW 16:25-26
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
JOHN 15:13
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
So we find that when Esther was willing to lay her life down for her people, it was only then that she also saved her own life – and this was the spirit of Christ that had come into her and that she was now reflecting back in the actions of her life, and so she had finally come into a character that was fit to rule, and only then could she be given the power of the spoken word up to half the kingdom.
Remember - Haman had power, but he had it without the right character, and look at the mess he made as well as losing his own life, because power without character is satanic.
116-2 SMYRNAEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.4
Now the Lord God Almighty says, "I KNOW." There He is walking in the midst of His people. There He is, the Chief Shepherd of the flock. But does He hold back the persecution? Does He stem the tribulation? No, He does not. He simply says, "I KNOW your tribulation--I am not at all unmindful of your suffering." What a stumbling block this is to so many people. Like Israel they wonder if God really loves them. How can God be just and loving if He stands by and watches His people suffer?
That is what they asked in Malachi 1:1-3,
"The burden of the Word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.
I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet we say, Wherein hast Thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob,
And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness."
You see, they could not figure out God's love. They thought that love meant no suffering. They thought that love meant a baby with parental care. But God said that His love was "elective" love. The proof of His love is ELECTION--that no matter what happened, His love was proven truly by the fact they were chosen unto salvation (because God hath chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth). He may commit you to death as He did Paul. He may commit you to suffering as He did Job. That is His prerogative. He is sovereign. But it is all with a purpose. If He did not have a purpose, then He would be the author of frustration and not of peace. His purpose is that after we have suffered awhile we would be made perfect, be established, strengthened and settled. As Job said, "He puts strength in us." (Job 23:6b) You see He, Himself, suffered. He learned obedience by the things that He suffered. He was actually made perfect by the things that He suffered.
Hebrews 5:8-9,
"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered;
And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him."
In plain language, the very character of Jesus was perfected by suffering. And according to Paul He has left His church a measure of suffering that they, too, by their faith in God while suffering for Him, would come to a place of perfection. Why did He want this?
James 1:2-4,
"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."
Why does He stand by? The reason is in Romans 8:17-18,
"And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
Unless we suffer with Him we cannot reign with Him. You have to suffer to reign. The reason for this is that character simply is never made without suffering. Character is a VICTORY, not a gift. A man without character can't reign because power apart from character is Satanic. But power with character is fit to rule. And since He wants us to share even His throne on the same basis that He overcame and is set down in His Father's throne, then we have to overcome to sit with Him. And the little temporary suffering we go through now is not worthy to be compared to the tremendous glory that will be revealed in us when He comes. Oh, what treasures are laid up for those who are willing to enter into His kingdom through much tribulation.
"Think it not strange concerning the fiery trials that are to try you."
That is what Peter said. Is it strange that God wants us to develop a Christ-like character that comes through suffering? No sir. And we all have trials. We are all tried and chastened as sons. Not one but goes through that. The church that is not suffering, and is not being tried, hasn't got it--it isn't of God.
To be continued...