Esther

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Noah Porzelius

First Baptist Church

The Gospel Story • Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 7 months ago • 30:25

Esther 7:1–10

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Welcome

Good morning everyone, today we are continuing in our Gospel Story sermon series. Today we are jumping ahead in time. The last two weeks we have talked about Daniel and how God spoke through him to the king of Babylon to interpret a dream. That was all taking place during Israel’s time in exile in Babylon. Today we are jumping forward a few decades. A small group of Israelites have started to go back to Israel to rebuild the temple and to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. That is what the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are about. We will touch more on them next week. But, since we have been in Babylon the last two weeks we are going to stay there and look at a remnant of Israelites who stayed behind in Babylon. So this morning we are going to summarize a lot of Esther, but ultimately I want us to see that even in this book that never mentions God, God is all over the pages of the book of Esther.

Prayer

Engage / Tension

The Israelites had been conquered by the Babylonians and spent 70 years in exile in Babylon. The Babylonians eventually are conquered by the Persians and Cyrus issues a decree that allows the Israelites to return to Jerusalem. Esther takes place after Ezra, after some of the Israelites have left Babylon and returned back to Israel. Now, you may be wondering, “If Esther was an Israelite, why didn’t she go back to Israel?” Well, there were a lot of Jews who decided to stay there instead of returning to Israel. Life there had been pretty good for the most part. Some had even risen to high positions in the government, one of them being Mordecai. Mordecai had an orphaned cousin whom he raised, known to us as Esther.

A guy named Xerxes is now king over Persia, we likely know that name more from the wars that he has with the Greek empires. But one day King Xerxes is having a party and his summons his wife, the queen, to come to the party. She refuses to attend the party and as a result, King Xerxes decides he wants a new wife.

The method of finding a new queen begins with inviting all of the beautiful young women of the empire to the palace, then having them go through a year of beautification, and finally they go before Xerxes and he will choose his queen based on which one catches his eye. In short, Esther is chosen as Queen but she never reveals to the King that she is a jew.

A few years later a man named Haman hatches a plan to wipe out the remaining Jews. Haman was very close to the King and convinces him that the Jews do not obey the King and that it would be in their best interest to destroy them. Mordecai learns of this plan though and goes outside of the King’s gate and just begins to mourn and freak out, after all, an order has just gone out to kill him and all of his people! Esther’s servants hear about this and tell her about it, so she sends them out to find out what was happening. We’ll start reading then from Esther 4.

Esther 4:6–17 NIV

6 So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people. 9 Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.” 12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” 15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” 17 So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.

Mordecai wants Esther to go before Xerxes and ask for mercy for the Israelites. Esther knows though that according to the law anyone who goes before the king without being summoned will be killed. The only other option is for the King to extend a gold scepter to them and spare their life. Mordecai tells Esther that maybe this is why she was chosen to be queen, “for such a time as this.” Esther agrees to go before the king but she asks Mordecai and all of the Jews in the city to fast for three days before she goes to the king.

So we get some hint of the role of faith in this situation. Esther asks everyone to fast for her and presumably to spend that time fasting in prayer. As you move on to chapter five and Esther approaches Xerxes, she asks for him and Haman (the guy who wants all of the Jews dead) to come to a banquet. So they eat together and things go well. Xerxes even asks Esther what she wants, and says that he would give her up to half of the kingdom. Esther just tells him to come to another banquet tomorrow and then she will present the king with her request.

Now, in the meantime a lot of stuff happens. Haman sees Mordecai and gets super angry. He really hates Mordecai. His wife convinces him to try to get him killed. That night the king also has trouble sleeping and so he does what normal people do. He has a record of his reign as king brought in and read to him almost as a bed time story to help him fall asleep. And while this is being read he realizes that Mordecai has actually saved his life by preventing his assassination and nothing was ever really done for Modecai for doing that. At that moment Haman comes into the courts and wants to talk to the king about killing Mordecai. In short, what happens is that Mordecai is honored for what he did in the past. Haman is actually the one who has to carry out the kings order to honor Mordecai and it destroys him to do this.

Later the king, Haman, and Esther all have this banquet together and Esther finally reveals everything to King Xerxes. She reveals that she is a jew and this order that the king has been convinced to give is going to lead to her death along with all of her people.

The king has Haman killed and we pick up in the story in chapter 8.

Esther 8:1–17 NIV

1 That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. 2 The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate. 3 Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. 4 Then the king extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him. 5 “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. 6 For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?” 7 King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set up. 8 Now write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.” 9 At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language. 10 Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king. 11 The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of their enemies. 12 The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. 13 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. 14 The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. 15 When Mordecai left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration. 16 For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honor. 17 In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.

The king can’t take his first command back, he can’t just reverse it. So instead, he issues a command that the Jewish people can gather together and defend themselves. They can defeat anyone who tries to cause them harm and on top of it, they can plunder those people who try to harm them. They can have all of their stuff essentially (even though the Jews refuse to plunder and take these things from them). And so everything then works out okay for the Jews. They are able to defend themselves against their enemies and these days turn into a yearly celebration for the Jews, a day when they were able to defeat their enemies.

So what does this book teach us? Two main things that I want us to really think about this morning.

Application

God is still Present

One of the interesting facts about the book of Esther is that it never mentions God. That is a bit unusual considering the Bible is all about God. However, even though his name does not appear in the book, it is clear that God is on every single page. God was hovering over the Israelites, Mordecai, and Esther throughout this whole period of time. None of the events that happened took God by surprise and there were no coincidences that allowed Esther to become queen “for such a time as this.” God was over everything and was with them throughout this challenging time. In the same way God is with all of us, even if we don’t see him acting directly over our life there is no doubt that he is there, hovering over our lives just as he was over Esther’s situation.

Often it can be difficult to think of God hovering over our lives when it feels like life is boring or mundane. When we are trapped in our circumstances and feel like nothing important is happening in our lives we can easily forget that God is still with us. He is with us in the great highs in our lives, he is with us in the great lows, but he is even with you in the ordinary, daily routine of life. After all, I am sure that Esther spent many days in the palace wondering why on earth she was there. I am sure that she wondered what she was doing when she had to go through an entire year where the only thing she did was go through beauty treatments. Even after she was crowned as Queen, it was five years until Haman comes up with this plot to wipe out the Jews. Esther spent years waiting for “such a time as this” for which God had placed her in the palace.

That is how things often go though. Moses spent 40 years in Midian before God called him to confront Pharaoh. David spent years running from Saul before God placed him on the throne. John the Baptist spent years in the desert before God called him to his ministry. Even Jesus waited until he was thirty before he began his public ministry.

The whole point of this is that God is pleased when we serve him faithfully and obediently in all of the ordinary tasks of life that lie before us.

In the same way you might serve God in your marriage, your workplace, your family for years before you see the reason that God has placed you there. Esther knew that there was something great that came from serving God in everyday tasks.

The Picture of Jesus

I hope that we can see the New Testament exploding off the page as the book of Esther concludes. Mordecai has become a foreshadowing of what would be done for the world, and in particular, the people of God, when Jesus came. In chapter 8 we observed that intercession is being made for the people of God. Mordecai writes a new covenant to counteract the prior covenant which was a covenant of death. Mordecai went from the condemnation of death, experienced reversal, and has now been elevated to the king’s right hand. With this reversal accomplished, good news is proclaimed throughout the world. The good news is a message of light, gladness, joy, and honor. This good news will continued to be proclaimed until the time of judgment on God’s enemies which is set on a given date. As the proclamation is made, people in the empire begin to change their allegiance and claim to belong to the people of God. When the day of judgment arrives, Mordecai and his people will have complete victory over those who have risen up as enemies. The enemies of God and his people are dealt the complete blow, leading to the rejoicing of God’s people. This victory was to never be forgotten, regularly celebrated by God’s people, remembering how relief has been given to God’s people and sorrow has been turned to joy. Finally, Mordecai is elevated because he worked for the welfare of his people and brought them peace.

This is what Communion remembers.

We are remembering how we were under the proclamation of death but Jesus brought our reversal and rescue. His death to life reversal changes our condition from death to life. Jesus writes a new covenant for us which gives us victory over our enemies. Our greatest enemies are Satan, sin, and death. The writer of Hebrews joyfully proclaims this truth:

Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14–15 CSB)

The apostle Paul loudly proclaimed this truth with joy.

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:51–57 ESV)

Jesus is elevated to the right hand of God, ruling over the world and putting all enemies under his feet because he worked, not for his own welfare, but for the welfare of his people, bringing them peace.

But we need to see where we are in this story. We are living in the time where the reversal decree has been given, but we are still waiting for judgment on the enemies. We are able to live for the Lord in great faith because we are under the new covenant. We have heard the decree of the king. Anyone who rises up against the Lord and his people will be utterly crushed. (This is Nebuchadnezzar’s dream once again, we know who wins, we know what kingdom will last forever) We are looking in hope for that day. The reversal, rescue, and elevation of Mordecai was symbolic of the reversal, rescue, and elevation that would happen for Mordecai’s people. The reversal, rescue, and elevation of Jesus was symbolic of the reversal, rescue, and elevation that will happen for Jesus’ people. We no longer live in fear. We live in hope because of what Jesus has done for us, and how he has redeemed us.