The focus of the book of Esther is on King Ahasuerus, who is commonly known as Artaxerxes (oftentimes shortened to Xerxes). He is the same king who subsequently — after the events in the book of Esther occurred — issued a decree allowing the rebuilding of Jerusalem that began the prophesied 483-year countdown until Messiah Jesus appeared as King of the Jews in Jerusalem.

It is easy to get the picture that King Ahasuerus is older than he is; actually, he is about 18 years old when these events happened. The movement of the story begins after a six-month party and after the king banished his wife, Queen Vashti. So here is a king who is 18 years old, who is just starting to become a man, who does not have a queen, and who is lonely and restless.

Picture: This king is a picture of individuals who are not saved (people who have a soul and a body, but do not have a spirit), which includes the elect [before they are redeemed] and all unbelievers.

Adam had a body (includes the brain), a soul (mind - will - emotions; the will is most important), and a spirit. Holy Spirit totally controlled Adam's spirit, which totally controlled his soul. The hierarchy was as follows — in descending order:

• Holy Spirit
• Adam's spirit (transmitter that God used to communicate with Adam and to delegate dominion to him)
• Adam's soul (his mind - will - emotions)
• Adam's body (including his brain)

Let us consider the following Scripture that has always puzzled people:

We know that Adam did not die physically when he sinned, because he lived at least another 900 years. However, Romans 6 tells us—

and Adam's sin did bring death.

When Adam sinned, his spirit died. The very day he sinned, Adam still had his soul and body/brain, but he no longer had his spirit who had been created the boss (located at the top of the hierarchy).

An interesting thing happened when Adam's spirit died: the order of the hierarchy was reversed, as follows — in descending order:

• Adam's body (specifically his brain)
• Adam's soul (mind - will - emotions)
• [Adam's spirit died, so he was disconnected from Holy Spirit]

Adam's body (specifically, his brain) became the boss. Why? Without a spirit, Adam's soul became lonely and restless so his soul plugged into his brain, because — as designed by God — his soul had to plug into something. The new boss was in a fallen state and the things Adam desired (some good and some not good) controlled his mind, will and emotions.

Unfortunately, Adam's descendants are born after his fallen state. Every descendant of Adam's — including everybody who has ever lived except one Person, Messiah Jesus — was/is born without a spirit, but is born with a body and a soul. The soul cannot plug into a non-existent spirit, so it plugs into the brain; therefore, desires are the boss.

Application: Some people go after what we call bad things, while others go after what we call good things. God does not see a difference between bad things and good things, because bad things and good things are all flesh — explaining the restlessness experienced by King Ahasuerus.

To know that the human race is sick, one just has to scan the titles in bookstores — the psychology and self-help departments are bulging with insights — including topical studies such as:

• Taking care of yourself
• Looking out for number one
• Winning through intimidation

And these books pertain to one of two aspects of the flesh:

1. Acknowledging we are sick – ways to fix what is wrong with us
2. Exalting the flesh – ways to elevate ourselves

Obviously, the human race is restless.

Picture For Unbelievers: That is where the king is — restless and lonely. Again, the king represents our will (King Will I), and there is always an inner restlessness when the soul is not plugged into a spirit.

Picture For Believers [the better picture]: Queen Esther represents our new nature, which is synonymous with a spirit that an individual gets from God when he believes Messiah Jesus is his Savior. Your soul is plugged into your spirit, which is plugged into the power supply — Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God through Messiah Jesus our Lord for your good news!

Knowing The Difference

Let us look at the difference between our spirit and Holy Spirit according to the Scriptures, because sometimes we mistakenly mingle the two, when in actuality, they are two separate entities.

Consider the following verses—

As we will see in this study, there are many times when Holy Spirit is experiencing emotions within us. Sometimes the emotions we feel are completely inexplicable to us; it could very well be that those emotions are Holy Spirit's emotions being absorbed into our spirit.

Since believers have a spirit (new nature), let us compare what we have now with what Adam had. [What is alarming to me is that there should not be any difference.] The relationship that God and Adam had was rich and real. We now have the very same thing because we got back part of what Adam lost — we got back the spirit that Adam had.

Another way for us to distinguish between our spirit and Holy Spirit is to recognize that Holy Spirit is not just an emanation or an outflowing; Holy Spirit is a Person. I think that we also have to recognize that our spirit is also a person.

Many of us tend to think of a person as a human being; however—

In the Godhead (three Persons in one God), those are the three different centers of consciousness: mind – will – emotions. And our spirit has a mind; Paul says—

So our spirit has a mind of its own, a will of its own, and emotions of its own; therefore, it is a person.

To enlarge our understanding of our spirit and Holy Spirit, in this study we are going to look at the following:

• How our spirit interacts with Holy Spirit.
• How our emotions transfer from Holy Spirit to our spirit.
• How Holy Spirit is grieved.
• How Holy Spirit grieving is good news.
• How our unexplainable, deep grief may be an answer to that.

The king is looking for a queen and there is a contest. In God's providence, Mordecai brings Esther to the contest.

Picture: Mordecai represents Holy Spirit, and Esther represents our new nature.

So who is Holy Spirit to us? Holy Spirit is the Father of our spirit:

which was dead and now is alive:

Holy Spirit is that Father of the human being Jesus, and in the same sense, He is our Father too.

What do we know about our new nature from the following verse? —

We know that our new nature is:

• Renewed
• Our new self
• In the likeness of God — just as Adam was created
• Righteous — which is better than Adam, because, before the Fall, Adam was innocent but not righteous. What is the difference? Innocence is untested; however, righteousness is innocence that has been tested and proven to be true.
• Holy

Esther was chosen to be the new queen. Surely, the king thought he had chosen Esther; however, we know that God sovereignly arranged the whole thing.

Picture: When believers are redeemed, they thing that they did the choosing Messiah Jesus until they look back. Then they see that God is the One who sovereignly arranged everything; Holy Spirit was the matchmaker—

It does not mean that since He chose us, then we should be holy and blameless. What is really being said?

When we put it all together, we get the picture of what Adam had with God [before the Fall]. Adam had a spirit, which is where God's Holy Spirit lived. Through his spirit, Adam and God had perfect communication, fellowship, and love going back and forth constantly. Adam's spirit totally ruled his body and his soul since Holy Spirit indwelt his spirit—

What has been restored to those who believe Messiah Jesus is their Savior? We got back our spirit through which we can communicate, fellowship, and love God through the Person of Holy Spirit. Of course, once Holy Spirit makes that match and delivers our spirit to us, the enemy — our flesh — attacks.

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