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The Book of Esther Played Out in Acts

In Acts 4, Peter continues the accusation that Jesus began. He accused the Sanhedrin and the High Priest of killing the “Blessed One.” The Apostles’ message of comfort for all who would listen changed once they appeared before the Sanhedrin & that leadership began their attempt to stop the message. Peter turned to accusation because he had made his choice – Christ, the King. It was either Christ or the establishment. The apostles and other of Christ’s followers, like Stephen, clearly thought Christ would be victorious over the establishment of that day. The establishment thought they would survive somehow within the Roman system or escape it in the future somehow. Christ and His apostles focused on God and his judgment of who should succeed and prosper into future generations; the establishment relied upon political power, negotiation, gamesmanship, waiting the Romans out, as they had waited out the other empires that had taken Israel captive. In that waiting, however, the establishment ignored Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and the other visions Daniel saw. See the post, “Daniel – The Key Timing Prophecy.”

Acts 5 is full of the blessing of God upon the Apostles, showing that history was with them. Key events: Miraculous judgment upon Ananias and Saphira in the new church like the judgment upon Achan and his family in the church of Israel in Joshua 7 upon first entering Canaan, multitudes of sick healed, miraculous signs, persecution by the Sanhedrin, miraculous release by God’s hand from prison, and intercession by the most honorable of the Sanhedrin, Gamaliel, in the Apostles’ favor. Every aspect of life was working in the Apostles’ favor, whether the miraculous, the political, their liberty to preach, the preservation of the holiness of the early Church – everything was working in their favor, and everything was working against the establishment. It was similar to the story in the book of Esther about Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Everything Haman did to try to destroy and frustrate the Jews was turned around by the providence of God to frustrate and destroy him.

What was ironic and what demonstrated the blindness of the Jewish establishment was the possibility that they could be playing the part of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. They had no conception of that possibility, verifying John the Baptist’s warning:

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” Matthew 3:7-10.

They did not heed John the Baptist’s words, even though he was a prophet, and so they reaped what he promised – blindness and God’s judgment. Soon after Acts 5, the establishment, which can neither win legitimately nor resist the power of the new Church, turns to what they used against Christ – false accusation and murder. That strategy arose not from deliberation – Gamaliel had ended such a murderous, illegitimate plan with his wise advice; no, it arose out of the passion of a moment – Stephen’s faithful indictment citing the Hebrew Covenant and law of Moses and the prophets, which exposed the hellish hearts and motives of the establishment. Most importantly, it exposed the establishment’s failure to abide by the very scriptures they contended they lived by and by which they accused the Apostles and Stephen.

But, like Pharoah, they had been raised up for this very purpose – to have power temporarily and then be cast down, demonstrating the truth and the glory of God. “And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.” Exodus 9:16. To the establishment, this verse could only apply to Gentiles, even though God’s testimony through Daniel lead to the salvation of a Gentile king, Nebuchadnezzar. It was a mysterious thing – that the people of God could be NOT the people of God; it was mysterious to Daniel. Daniel 9:24-27; 12:1-4, 8-13. With Christ’s coming, mountains would be leveled, valleys raised, the crooked made straight, and the hearts of many would be revealed. Luke 2:34-5. It was a mystery to John the Apostle. Revelation 17.

Again, timing was critical. The establishment didn’t understand the times, even though Daniel had laid them out. They didn’t understand that they could not wait this one out. God had changed things, established His Son as the new Moses, the new Adam, for a new people – a new Church. The old would be swept away, and all those who held onto that old would be swept away with it. And the establishment, those who had persecuted and rejected the CornerStone – Christ – would see it with their own eyes in their own lifetimes.