The work of the cross and the resurrection of Christ are exactly like the Feast of Purim. In the story of Esther, the Jewish people were to be annihilated. Haman had the king’s signet ring and was completely in charge—that is, until the authority and power of that ring was taken from him and given to Mordecai. The king told Mordecai, “Do whatever you want to destroy the decree of death against you” (see Esther 8:2-8). That is literally what happens in Christ. Like the deliverance of Purim, the cross removes the death sentence that overshadows humanity and delivers us from the decrees against us (Colossians 2:13-15). Through the resurrection, Yeshua (Jesus) became the all-powerful One and has given us the authority of His signet ring to do business in the name of the King (Matthew 28:18-20).

The resurrection of Yeshua turns the Body of Christ loose to be the ones who rid the earth of the decree of death. I love connecting these two events because there is something in Purim that makes His resurrection alive and powerful to us in our daily lives. We are not celebrating the resurrection because someday in a thousand years there will be a resurrection of the dead. Instead, there is a power in the resurrection that should be ours today, and we can use that power “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).^[1]

Before the Day of Pentecost, satan was wise enough to know, “All I have to do is kill the Jews because the things of God will come forth from the Jews.” But now satan realizes that he must bring the absolute destruction of all flesh. Why would he do that? Because he knows that the power and authority of the Kingdom will come forth through the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15). He cannot be specific enough so he must kill everyone. That is why the decree is set to destroy you because the enemy knows that God wants to use you. Remember that!

Further, we need to recognize that the annihilation of the Jews is still an amazing focus for satan. A lot of Christians believe in replacement theology, stating that the Jews are now rejected, and Christians have replaced them. They say, “Christ came and ended the old.” But what was the purpose of the Holocaust if it was not again an attempt by satan to get rid of the Jewish people? Even though Christ came, we still see the enemy trying to annihilate the Jews. That should wake us up to realize that God continues to have an important purpose for this chosen group of people. We know that God is still planning to do something through the Jewish people because satan is trying to crush and remove them from the earth.

Now that the Gentiles are included in salvation through Christ, no one is safe from the enemy’s destruction. The devil knows better than we do that the will of God and the authority of Christ will come through humanity. We take the power of the resurrection and move as the sons of God, as the Body of Christ, to eradicate the results of the decree that was made against us. We set our hearts to do this. Things do not just happen; we must move in God. Christ accomplished a perfect salvation but unless we do something with it, nothing changes.

^[1] All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).