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Take a look at that before we look at our scripture, take a look at that timeline. You'll see that I've narrowed it down to the events leading up to and the generation or so before Darius. And then have plugged in the events that we know from scripture and plugged those into a historical timeline of the reign of Darius. And it's interesting that this new chronology solved several problems that I overlooked in the previous chronology. And with those problems being solved, it brought this together, made it a more, you might say, compact and useful chronology or timeline. And also note down at the bottom, we'll be talking about this a little bit, the names, the different names that are used for the kings of Persia. Ahasuerus, chief of rulers, Artaxerxes, king of justice, Darius, the doer of good, and Xerxes, hero among kings. There's some variations on those, but generally that's what those names mean. And before we say anything else about the chronology, we need to recognize that the Hebrew naming of kings would not necessarily correspond to that of the Greek or the Persians themselves. Or the Assyrians, I'm reminded that the Hebrews had a different name that they called the king of Assyria. Rather than a title, they actually had a name for him, actually it was his name. And I'm reminded also of Solomon. When he was born, God sent word that he loved him and named him Jedidiah. Of course, he's never called that in scripture, other than that singular time. So one of the things we need to recognize when we see a lot of different names in the scripture, in the text, not to be confused, although it can be confusing, and think that we are dealing with different people, because we aren't necessarily dealing with different people if we're talking about the king of Persia. One of the things that doesn't appear in this timeline, and I don't believe I missed it, I just didn't fix it, but I've also come to the conclusion that the Darius, some of these things have been battered around by commentators and theologians for centuries, but the Darius of Daniel's book is actually Cyrus, the one who is called Darius of Babylon. And so these changes, and this is again evidence of the fact that I just don't have the time I need to get these things thought through and completed before, well, this takes a lot of time. But these changes don't do a huge amount of, they don't bring a lot of difference, I should say, to what we've talked about over the weeks and months past concerning the book of Esther. When we talked about the character of Xerxes, we can frankly talk very easily about the character of Darius as well, not just from the histories, but from the scripture. And part of the reason is because it's the nature of being king of the emperor of a vast realm like that, the amount of power vested in someone in that position, and the kind of behavior that is common, unfortunately, to, well, I suppose it's to be expected, to kings and despots and dictators and so forth. But what is important here is that, we're going to talk about it in a little bit, but I have long held to the belief that we need nothing but the scripture in order to understand what it is God wants us to know. Everything we need, according to 2 Peter 1.3, is given us, and we'll talk about that in a minute. Although I should say this before we go further, one of the places where this brings some continuity to the text is in Ezra chapter 4. Now when we had gone through this, I suggested to you that Ezra chapter 4, 1-7 was a parenthetical, I guess you could say, text. But in revising this chronology, that was really the worst, or I should say the most difficult portion. In Ezra 4, 1-7, let me read this to you, this is right after the Jews had gone back to, speaking at a time after Cyrus' decree had gone back to Jerusalem. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers' houses and said to them, Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do, and we have sacrificed to him since the days of Esharaddon, king of Assyria, which is not what the Jews called that king, who brought us here. This is right after Cyrus had allowed them to go back. But Zerubbabel and Yeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel said to them, You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God, but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us. Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah, they troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purposes all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia. Now here's where it's, if you have your text open, you see it typically is translated, and in the reign of Ahasuerus. But that isn't what it says in the Hebrew. What it actually says is, let me just go back to verse 5, Even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia, reign of Ahasuerus. And that's all it says. And then it goes on. But so in other words, it's saying something like, to wit, the reign of Ahasuerus. It isn't saying, and. So, when I finally got around, found the time, I suppose you could say, to looking at the Hebrew here, I was struck by the fact that it doesn't even say what most translators say it says. It simply says again, Even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia, reign of Ahasuerus. And what this, this is how I would read this. And hired counselors against them to frustrate their purposes all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia. To wit, the reign of Ahasuerus, who is Darius, chief of rulers. In the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah. To wit, in the days of Artaxerxes, king of justice, Darius, king of justice. Also, Bishlam, Mithradath, and Tebel, etc., etc. And it goes on from there. So, in other words, these names are all applied to the same king. Now, it's interesting, when we read Josephus, he calls the king of Esther, Artaxerxes. And recognizes that he has another name, Ahasuerus. Now, he's thinking of Artaxerxes, the long hand, who came after Xerxes, Josephus. But the point is, it supports this thesis that the Jews had many different names for the kings. Josephus calling Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes. And here, I think we see an example of that. In the Hebrew, again, it's a little more clear, actually. Because there's this need on the part of translators to not only translate, but to interpret. And I think it was the father of John Wesley who said, learn the languages. Because any translation you read is likewise an interpretation. This would be an example of that. So, what I think we have accomplished in revising the chronology, in revising this timeline, is to bring the story back, you might say, under the wing of scripture itself. Because rather than have this, as is often the case, this is put off not just to Xerxes, but clear out of the reign of Artaxerxes, which is much beyond this. And we don't have anything in scripture about that. And if we bring the book of Esther back into a more condensed timeline, we don't have anything in the scripture about Xerxes either. So, this is important because I have long felt, as I mentioned earlier, that everything we need to know about God's kingdom, about his word, everything we need to know in order to interpret the scripture, is found in scripture itself. Now, yes, it's easier, I should say, helpful to have a knowledge of history, to have other helps in interpreting the Bible, but we don't really need it. It's not necessary in order to understand the scripture. His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness to Peter 1.3, which we'll be talking about in just a minute. In fact, let's, at this point, pray as we typically do upon reading the text. Heavenly Father, I ask that as we briefly examine the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture, that we will understand your Holy Spirit guides us in the understanding of scripture, guides us in knowledge and in insight, so that truly all we need is the Holy Spirit guiding us in your word to have a grasp of the necessary doctrines, a grasp of what your kingdom is all about, and what you would have us to know from your Bible. We pray your blessing on this time, in Jesus' name. Amen. So, a chronology where Darius takes the position of a hosierus, a hosierus chief of rulers. And even, by the way, the secular historians recognize that the kings had different names from time to time. There's an inscription, actually, of Darius. And I should have jotted that inscription down to read it to you, but in that inscription that's on one of the ancient stone monuments to Darius, he is called by three different names. One of them a hosierus, one of them a martyxerxes, as I recall. And so, the secular historians are likewise aware of this. Let me give you a quick rundown on the scenario with Ezra, just so you'll see where, again, this kind of plugs in. But when Joshua and Zerubbabel returned to Jerusalem, as we know from the scripture, we know from the text, they went because of Cyrus' decree. They went there to rebuild the temple, and they met with some opposition. Now, if you look at the chronology, you'll see that I've placed in here, in 536 B.C., Cyrus' son Cambyses is installed as co-regent. And apparently, Cambyses was anti-Jewish. And it was during his participation, in fact, if you go back, there is some indication in history that Cambyses was a co-regent for much of the time that the Persian and Median Empire was under the rule of Cyrus. And this would be possibly very likely where this anti-Jewish sentiment came from. But they went back in the first year of Cyrus. They rebuilt the altar and began to rebuild the temple we see in Ezra 3. And that's when they began to encounter opposition, as we read about. And part of the opposition was this desire to see the temple left in ruins unless they could have a hand in it. So they stopped them from building the temple. And what they began to do at that time was build homes for themselves. And if you're reading the prophets in Haggai and Zechariah, the admonition to the people is to stop building. What are you building these nice homes for yourselves for when the temple still lies in ruins? And apparently, they were also beginning to rebuild the wall, beginning to rebuild Jerusalem to some degree. And so really, God, being merciful, raised up adversaries who complained about this wall building, complained about this restoration of Jerusalem because the temple was still lying in ruins. And they asked for the king to investigate. And this is at the beginning of King Darius's reign. And so he forbade them from building on the wall. So then they began to devote themselves to the building of the temple, which then again, another letter goes to the king. What's going on here? And at this point, the king, searching the archives, responds, no, they're supposed to build the temple. So if you look at the chronology, you see that on 520 B.C., Darius issued a decree to continue restoration of the temple. And we see that at Ezra 6.1. So then they began to continue with the temple. They finally finished it. We see that in the 517, the second temple finished. That's just the temple that we're talking about. And it's dedicated. You see that at Ezra as well. And interestingly enough, it corresponds very closely with the gathering of the virgins and the choice of Esther as the queen. Remember, we've talked about how Esther was representative of the people of Israel and how we should remember that the temple is likewise representative of the people of Israel. Yes, it is the home or the throne, I should say, of God. Home is not the right word, but the house of God. And it is the place where he was to be worshipped. But also, it was the center of Israel's life, of their culture, and of their religion. And so it was very much so representative of Israel. And it's significant that in the seventh year of the reign of Darius, Esther is chosen as queen. Now, if you read the histories concerning Darius, you'll also find that he had numerous wives that are known, that were from the nobility. And his first wife was from the rabble. She was a commoner. But once he became emperor, he created a large harem, as was common, as I say, with the other kings of Persia. But, so, excuse me, you also will note down here in the 20th year of the reign of Darius, that's when Nehemiah, so it was quite some time after the finishing of the temple, about 13 years after the temple was finished, that Nehemiah went to Jerusalem. And then that's when the wall was built and finished. And that, as you recall, in Nehemiah chapter 2, is when Nehemiah says, I'm speaking to the king, and the queen was beside the king, which, as I mentioned, would be a highly unusual reference, except for the fact that now in this revised chronology, we can understand that we're talking about Esther. This, frankly, eliminates more problems than it might bring up. And for years, before I've ever presented Esther to you here, I've wondered about the chronology on this, and I've never taken the time, I wish I would have now, to think it through and to complete a timeline. When I first presented the timeline to you at the beginning, I was relying largely upon not modern scholars as much as some of the scholars from the early 19th century. And now, in this case, I've run across some things by James Jordan that I should have remembered, because I think I've read them years ago, and have drawn from some of his insights to bring this chronology to the point that you see it here. When we look at scripture, we are looking at the word of God, and we are told, as we just read from 2 Peter 1.3, that everything we need is found in knowing Jesus, and in sharing in his glory and goodness. That's really what the text in 2 Peter 1.3 is telling us. His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness, the scripture tells us. So, when we think about life, we should think about life and life more abundantly, because we can think about this as everlasting life, we can think about this as the salvation given us in Jesus Christ, but it is, as we've talked about before, comprehensive, salvation is comprehensive. And to miss that is to miss out on the fact that when Peter says everything we need for life and godliness is given us, he's talking about everything. So, what is this everything that we need? need for life, and we'll talk about that in just a minute. But as James says, that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, comes down from the Father of life, with whom there's no variation or shadow of turning. And so, every good gift, everything we need for life. And I'm not, again, I'm not trying to say we shouldn't study history or we shouldn't read books of theology or works of theology and what have you. But if all you had was your Bible, and I think I've said this in this company before, but if all you had was your Bible with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you could arrive at correct and sound conclusions concerning any issue, anything, concerning a chronology like this. And really, the truth is, when I, as I said, when I went back and rethought and redid this, I was amazed at how many errors were glaring in that first chronology, and they were solved with this. Things that I just didn't, because of the, I guess you'd say the conditioning of the training or teaching that it had in the past, it was difficult to see that difference, that the need to change some of these things in the chronology. But everything we need in life, including how to interpret scripture, everything we need for life and godliness. In Ephesians 2, for by grace you've been saved through faith, not of yourselves, the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast, for we are his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And so the good works, the way we live our life, the way that we think, the way that we do everything, is available to us in God's word. Of course, guided by the spirit of God, because we've all known, I think we should recognize that if we haven't known people personally, we know of folks who know quite a bit about the Bible and yet don't have any real understanding. So what's required is the power of God and the Holy Spirit and his word, those things together. Everything we need is given by God and is found in knowing Jesus, the second part of this verse, through the knowledge of him who called us. So it's an empowered relationship, a Holy Spirit empowered relationship we're talking about. To have knowledge of Jesus Christ is more than just knowing the history of him, reading the gospel and saying, well, there was this man who lived and did these things and so forth. It's more than just knowing that, although that's important. It's Holy Spirit empowered relationship and insight. For I want you to know, says Paul in Colossians 2 verse 1, what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged being knit together in love and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both the father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. So everything we need is given us and that is wisdom and knowledge is found in Jesus Christ. As we see here in Colossians, that Paul is talking about this mystery and even that mystery of the gospel, which was so difficult for the Jews to accept because they couldn't seem to see it in the old covenant scriptures, is in fact very obvious in the old covenant text. There's this movement today that's, I don't know, maybe it's been around for a long time, called the Kinnists or they call it Kinnism. And say, it's just a form of racism. It's a suggestion that there's such vast differences between the races that we shouldn't co-mingle, that we should be have separate but quote, equal, unquote. And this is the Christian movement, by the way. A lot of them are moving up to Coeur d'Alene in that area, which sickens me because having come from that area where the Aryan nations used to be, I guess apparently there's still quite a few of them up there, they go up there embracing this Kinnism, this really is racism, and code it or cloak it with a reformed theology. So I'm afraid that there's gonna be a lot of folks who get into that kind of thing and see it as a reformed church that may be teaching this kind of thing and either be swayed by it or be turned off for a good, solid Bible teaching. Because some of the stuff they talk about, as you'll hear at any reformed or Presbyterian church, till they start talking about the races and this claim that there are inherent differences in the races that will result in, for instance, one of their big issues is that the blacks or Africans, no matter where you might find someone of African heritage, that they're going to always be less capable. They're always going to be in ghettos and always gonna be poor and so forth and always gonna be criminal and immoral and so on. And that's simply not true. They have all kinds of so-called, they're not really studies, they're just anecdotal articles that they claim prove their point. Take a city in Georgia that's mostly black and has a lot of churches that say, see, these people are incapable, genetically, of being good Christians. And all they're really saying is that, see, these people have embraced American folk religion like most people who call themselves Christians. That's all they're saying. Because American folk religion doesn't require anything of you. And if you were to come into a community, regardless of its race, and teach and disciple true, godly, kingdom Christianity that requires of people certain behavior and requires them, or else they're put out of the church, and that's how it should be, so you wouldn't have these churches full of folks calling themselves Christians who are, in fact, adherence to American folk religion. And I'm kind of getting off base here, but the point is, we know from scripture that that isn't true, that this racist or kinist approach isn't true. Paul says that in Christ there is no slave, no free, no barbarian, Scythian, no Jew, no Gentile, no male or female. And how much more basic than that can you get when he says that there is no difference? There is no different gospel. In fact, they go so far to say that there needs to be a different presentation of the gospel for different races, and that's not true. Certainly you can come into a culture that is alien and say, here is the gospel in a way that would be more acceptable or more understandable, not acceptable, but understandable, but you would never alter, you would never change, you would never expect less from somebody just because they're a different race than the all-powerful Aryan, white, and so forth. Well, that's just a bunch of baloney. We know that from scripture. We don't need to look at studies, quote, unquote, we don't need to look at anything else to know that the differences between the people on this face of this earth are simply those who are in Christ and those who are not. That's the only difference that matters. And anyway, so I'm a bit off this topic there. We can know everything there is to know of any value, and I'm not talking about the elemental or principles of physics or whatever. What I'm talking about is the knowledge of truth, the knowledge of the basics of human character and so forth, the basics of the core of human history. Those things are known in Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus said to his opponents at one point, you search the scriptures. For in them you think you have eternal life and these are they which testify of me. So he says the whole of the Old Testament, which you've heard him say before, you've read this before, speaks about Jesus Christ. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive honor from men, but I know you that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, in other words from the scripture of the Old Testament, in whom you trust. If you believe Moses, you would believe me for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? So everything we need, everything we need to live life, to understand the text of the scripture, to know how to be in relationship with one another, to know how to act in the marketplace, to know how to pursue a living, to know how to work and to be involved in the political realm, all of that is given us and it's discovered in the scripture. We can't be like the charismatics, and by the way, this is one of the things that is rampant in the black community, in the church, the African-American churches, is emotionalism, it's part of American folk religion. It's just what do your emotions tell you? Whatever feels good, do it. Well, it's not exclusive to black churches by any means. Any quote, charismatic unquote, and I say the quotes because they would extend to so many churches today that act charismatic, but don't do the speaking in tongues and that kind of thing. But everything's emotion, everything's feeling. They neglect the Bible. Everything we need is given by the Holy Spirit and revealed in scripture, and we have the knowledge of God in the text, in the scripture. It's not something we absorb by osmosis, by the Holy Spirit, but something that we know because the Spirit of God brings the scripture alive in our hearts. So everything we need is found in knowing Jesus and in sharing in his glory and goodness. Last part of the verse, by his own glory and goodness, through his divine powers have given us everything required for your life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who has called us by his own glory and goodness. So we share in this, really what the text is telling us, we share in this glory and goodness. Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So it is in sharing in the experience, I guess we could say, of Christ's death that we come into this life. It is in sharing in the experience of his glory. Therefore, if you've been raised with Christ, Colossians 3.1, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. So that doesn't mean that we neglect this life. It means that we think in heavenly terms, that we view our participation in this world in heavenly terms. What is it that's important? Well, the kingdom of God is important, and so that's what he's talking about. Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And so we are dead to these things. The world around us should not be able to direct the way we live. It should not be able to cause us to live according to a worldly standard. The world around us should not influence us to the point that we are no longer able to serve the Lord. We've died to all these things. So it goes on in verse four, when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him. Now, I believe Paul is talking here about the appearance of Jesus Christ in glory in the sense of the old covenant age coming to its conclusion. We've talked about this many times. But at the end of the old age, Jesus was revealed, according to his own words in Matthew 24, as the reigning king of the universe. He said to his opponents there, the high priest, chief priest, from this day forward, you'll see me at the right hand of power. And coming in the clouds at the right hand of power. And they knew what that meant. They knew that that meant that he was claiming the title of son of man, the one who ascended to power, not came down. He's saying he's going up to power, receiving a kingdom, as Jesus said very clearly in his own teachings. And so what Paul says, when Christ, who is your life, appears, he's talking about the revelation of Jesus Christ as king. When this happens, so to paraphrase, when Christ, who is your life, is revealed as king, you too will be revealed in glory with him. What does that mean? Well, there's a new age that was dawning. And when that age dawned, there would be something new that all these people who embraced Jesus Christ would be part of. We have a hard time grasping the significance of this because we've been living in this age for 2,000 years. But in the turn, at the turn of the old age to the new, it was a dramatic and traumatic change. The Jewish people who embraced Jesus, and this is why Paul wrote Hebrews, because there were so many Jews who couldn't do this. They said, we won't, we can't do that. We can't go, we can't take this step. It is a complete transformation and overthrow, you might say, of our way of thinking. Now we are no longer a chosen people based upon our blood heritage, but we are a chosen people based upon a relationship with a single human being who is indeed God himself, man and God. So when Christ is revealed, Paul says, you will be revealed in glory with him. We will be seen as a glorious people is what he's saying. Why? Well, because we're part of this new kingdom. Peter says, we share in his glory and his goodness. We share by his own glory. In fact, there's some, there's different, the Greek text is a little bit different on this in a couple of different, in some of the manuscripts. And in some manuscripts, it says, as it's translated here, by his own glory. In others, it says, in his glory. It's actually something that we participate in. Well, in either case, it's simply Peter saying that everything we need is found in the knowledge of him. And in this participation with glory, we are seen as glorious people. We are seen as those who are transformed by the power of God so we might walk in righteousness. And that's really what Peter's saying here. Everything we need is given to us to understand how to walk in righteousness and to be transformed into a glorious people by the power of the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of the word, so that we might be seen as the glory of Jesus Christ. And that is largely by our righteous behavior, our behavior in him. So it's important, I think, to continue to study the chronology, the timeline, the history of scripture, to pull back under the umbrella of this covenant document. Some of the things that have, you might say, kind of flown away from that covenant. There really is no reason, in the case of the story of Esther, to consider Ahasuerus anyone other than Darius. When we get right down to it, it's been a long tradition. In fact, if you read in the NIV Bible, it doesn't ever say Ahasuerus, it says Xerxes. And that, again, is simply an interpretation. And also, it's unfortunate that they would ignore the fact that the name Ahasuerus has a particular meaning, and that the names, as you see in the bottom of the chronology, all these names had a particular meaning. And chief of rulers, Darius being the chief of rulers. So, in conclusion, I want to encourage you to study the word on your own, especially in the circumstance that we have here at our church, where my time is limited. And it's frustrating to me, because I sometimes bring before you a presentation of God's word that I'm not finished with. But, so, it's a work in progress. Makes me think of Monsters Incorporated. And then, by the way, there's a new Monsters Incorporated movie out, which, we might have to see that. So, it's a work in progress, oftentimes. And I think what I should do is be ready and willing to revisit, as we have here, these topics in the future. Some of these other times that I have not felt completely satisfied with the presentation of the word, I think we, as the body of Christ, can benefit from rethinking, revisiting, re-covering some of these things. And you, likewise, can do that. Spend time on your own, reading the word, studying the word, writing out your own timeline. In fact, it would be quite the exercise to begin at the Genesis 1-1 and make your own timeline, and kind of fit some events of history into that. And finally, Finally, this is important because it enables us to be consistent in our presentation of the gospel. We don't have to worry about historical embarrassments, you might say, where we can't seem to find the right fit for events in history. We can simply, once we have completed a thorough study, say this is what it is because the word of God gives us all that we need to understand this chronology, gives us all that we need to understand and to interpret, to understand and make sense of history and the other, in fact, the current events that we find around us. So finally, be encouraged, be diligent, and realize that everything we need is indeed found in knowing Jesus and ensured in his glory and goodness. Praise God for it, let's pray. Heavenly Father. ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Amen ♪