Title Don't Kneel (Esther 3:1-6)
Contents
God wants all things to prosper and to be in good health just as the souls of the saints prosper. To say that things go well means that you have won, and to say that your soul is going well means spiritual victory. All victories in the Bible are spiritual victories and Christian victories. We have to fight every day. It is a fight against oneself, a fight against the lusts of the world, a fight against enemies, and a fight against sin. Jesus promised us victory. “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Jesus Himself has triumphed and He has promised to give us victory too.
In the text, Mordecai and Esther gathered the Jews in Shushan, stopped eating and drinking for three days, prayed, and went before the king with the determination that if they died, they would eventually die. Haman himself hung on the pole that used to hang Mordecai and the Jews, and in the end, God's people were victorious. The text is the battle between Mordecai and Haman and the battle between the Jews and Amalek. In the end, it was the victory of Mordecai, the man of God, the victory of Judah, and the victory of Christians. It means that those who believe are victorious and those who are with God are victorious.
Then why didn't Mordecai bow down without kneeling?
First, the reason Haman did not kneel was because he was an idol.
Second, Mordecai did not kneel because Haman was a descendant of Amalek.
Mordecai knew who Haman was. Haman was a descendant of Agag, king of Amalek. Amalek is the enemy of Israel. God commanded the Israelites to fight against them forever (Exodus 17:16). When Moses led the people of Israel across the Red Sea, Amalek was the first to appear. Exodus 17:8 "Amalek came at that time and fought with Israel at Rephidim" There was a time when Moses had to fight. And there were times when the nation of Israel had to fight. Pharaoh of Egypt was the enemy that Moses had to fight, so God gave Moses the strength to overcome. In Genesis 36:12, Amalek says, "Timnah the son of Eliphaz the son of Esau, and Timnah, the concubine of Eliphaz, bore Amalek to Eliphaz, who were the descendants of Ada, Esau's wife." The battle between Esau and Jacob continues. Descendants are emerging as enemies. Strictly speaking, this enemy is not a Gentile, but one blood. Brothers became enemies and enemies.
Even today, our enemies are always near. The enemy we must fight is the blood of Esau that flows within us. It is the lust of the flesh that sold the firstborn for a bowl of red bean soup, and it is an attribute of the fallen flesh. Amalek means the ancestor of the flesh and an enemy with the attributes of fallen flesh. Many of Israel fell unaware of the hidden enemies of Amalek. Samson repented and stood up, but Judas Iscariot, Ananias, and Sapphira fell and failed. Therefore, the enemy that the nation of Israel must fight and win is Amalek. We have to fight and win until the end of history.
God also warned, "You shall blot out the name of Amalek from under the earth, and you shall never forget it." 1 Samuel 15:2-3, “I remember what Amalek did to Israel, what he fought against on the way when he came out of Egypt. Kill the camels and donkeys,” God commanded Saul. But Saul defeated the Amalekites, but the king was captured and the good things were left behind, and only the worthless and insignificant things were destroyed.
There was nothing good in Amalek, and there was nothing good in God's sight. King Saul disobeyed God's command and tried to find good things from God's curse, which was a sin and the cause of his fall. Mordecai is a descendant of King Saul (Esther 2:5). Mordecai was a descendant of Benjamin and a great-grandson of Kish. Kish is Saul's father. Mordecai was well aware that Amalek was the enemy of God. By disobeying the word, Saul left the enemy alive and eventually lost his throne, and there he was put to death by the hand of the descendants of the Amalekites (2 Samuel 1:10). Haman was the descendant of Agag king of Amalek who was spared then, and now he is an enemy who wants to kill the Jews. Also, when Mordecai did not bow down to Haman, the king's servants told him not to disobey the king's command. But they didn't listen. Because he is a Jew and a man of God, he cannot serve idols. The forces that oppose God eventually perished and were cursed.
Third, the reason Mordecai did not bow down to Haman was because Haman was a member of the devil's family that was obstructing God's work of salvation.
If the Jews had been annihilated using Mordecai as an excuse, Jesus Christ could not have come into the world. God's work of redemption through the Messiah, who said that there were fourteen generations from the time they moved to Babylon to Christ (Matthew 1:17), would not have been accomplished. Mordecai knew Haman's terrible identity and fought according to God's will and won. Mordecai knew the true identity of the terrible Satan hidden in Haman, so to bow down or kneel before him was to lose his life and to rebel against God. King Saul did not know who Amalek was and died. This is a tragedy and the folly of the unfavorable. Mordecai's victory is a Christian victory. A Christian must know the identity of Haman, a disguised modern man who is challenging himself. When you know this, you can truly win.
Like Mordecai, who knew Haman's identity and won the battle against Amalek, Jesus showed us the example of true victory. Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. When you fasted for 40 days, the devil = = Turn stones into bread and eat them.
= Lead him to the top of the temple and jump down
= Showing all the kingdoms and glory under the heavens from a high mountain and giving them all things
and tested. Jesus overcame them with the word each time. Jesus knew the identity of Satan, and he knew the identity of Satan who tempts us with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Jesus did not bow to temptation. Kneeling is defeat. Christians should not bow their knees to idols. We must not kneel in covetousness. The idol that has challenged modern Christians is still the golden idol disguised by Amalek. This is greed. Colossians 3:5 says that covetousness is idolatry. The idol of modern man is greed. Modern people worship the idol of material things. We must not bow our knees to lust for honor and lust. You have to fight with yourself. During the Japanese rule, many patriots did not bow their knees to Japan, but starved, naked, and lived on super-hardwood blood to keep the pride of the nation until the end and to keep the word of God. Their fight was more against their own lust than against Japan. If you bow down to a Japanese idol and bow down once, you can win a position, earn money, and go on to become a career, but to endure to the end is a victory in the fight against lust.
Let us also follow the Lord. It means to nail yourself to a cross and kill yourself. Let us deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow the Lord. Here is victory.