[MUSIC PLAYING] The Bible from 30,000 Feet,
soaring through the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Father, we thank You tonight. We have so much fun worshipping
You and these great truths that we sang. They are
life-transforming truths. They wouldn't be if we were
just singing positive things into the air. Were there not a God
behind those truths answering prayers,
intervening in lives, it would be senseless
and powerless. But because You are the same
yesterday, today, and forever and because You're
the God of the Word and we're studying the
Word of God written by You, we believe, inspired by
Your spirit, we pray, Lord, that You would break
the bread of life to us. Even though we're doing
an overview of a book, I pray that You would
bring out the lessons that we need to learn
and that our lives would grow because of it. In Jesus' name, we ask. Amen. Amen. One of my favorite
Spanish words-- not that I'm great at Spanish,
though I do love the language. But one of my favorite words in
Spanish is the word [SPANISH].. And it's "star." And I love it because, first
of all, it just sounds good. It's got this sweet sound. It rolls off the tongue-- [SPANISH] I love that. That is the name of the
book that we are studying. It is the Book of [SPANISH]. Esther means star. Her Hebrew name was the
name Hadassah, which means myrtle, myrtle tree. And you go, I don't
get it-- star, myrtle? Well, her Jewish name,
Hadassah, is the myrtle tree, and the myrtle tree that was
native to Babylonians that is now transplanted in the land
of Israel, that species puts out a flower that
is like a starburst. So some think that there is
a relation between those two names. But she really is the
star of this book. Her name is mentioned right off
the bat at the top of the page. Like the Book of Ruth, she
is the star of the story. She is the main character. And one of the refreshing
things we have seen-- and we'll see as we go on-- is that at critical,
crucial times in history, God raises up unique women who
relentlessly hear God's voice and pursue His will. People like Ruth,
people like Esther, people like Deborah, who was
one of the judges in Israel during the Judges. A woman by the name
of Yael or Jael, you may know her as, very bold
warrior in the book of Judges. A prophetess named Huldah. And in the New Testament, a
gal by the name of Priscilla, who, as you know,
is the wife of-- Aquila. --Aquila. So they'd never forget their
names because they rhymed. So these were very unique
women who followed God's will. Esther is the star of this book. Now, you might
say, no, she's not. God is the star of this book. Well, of course God is the star
of every book in Scripture. But interestingly,
the name of God does not appear in
this book even once. And because of that,
you might think God is absent from the
book because the covenant names, the typical names,
the variety of ways God is described in name
in the Old Testament is not found in this book. Also, what's not in this book is
there's no reference to prayer, no reference to faith, no
reference to the law of Moses. No New Testament writer
ever quoted this book. It is not found among the
biblical scrolls of the Dead Sea Scrolls that were
uncovered in Israel. Martin Luther wished this
book had never been written, he said. Now don't take Martin
Luther too seriously. He said that about a few
books in the Scripture. He didn't like
James either, didn't care much for the Book
of Revelation as well. To me, this is the
beauty of the book. God is in the book. He's just not
overtly in the book. He's not apparently in the book. Oh, but He is in the book. Not in a miraculous way. Not in an audible way. Not in a part the Red Sea
kind of a way or manna come from heaven kind of a way. But God, like John
Nelson Darby-- my favorite quote
of his, he said, God's ways are behind
the scenes, but He is-- "God's ways are
behind the scenes, but He moves all the
scenes that He is behind." So God is in the book, but
you won't find His name. But you will find
a characteristic of God in this book, the
characteristic of providence, providence, a very
important thing. God's providence is different
than His miraculous, where you definitely see God
intervening in human affairs. It's a miracle. It doesn't happen,
but it happened. The water parted. Manna came from heaven,
et cetera, et cetera. A miracle-- God overrides,
overturns the laws of nature and does something miraculous. In providence, God
takes the natural and uses it supernaturally. God is moving
supernaturally naturally. That's providence. He takes the affairs of
normal everyday human life, decisions that people make,
laws that politicians pass, accidents that seem to happen,
and He moves in those things so that all things work
together for good-- Romans 8:28-- to those who
love God and are called according to His purpose. So Matthew Henry said about this
book, God's name is not in it, but God's hand is
certainly in it. You see His fingers all over the
narrative, all over the story. And here's the truth, baby Ruth. [LAUGHTER] God does not owe
you an explanation. Or He doesn't have
to report to you when He does things
a certain way, when He operates a certain way. He can work through
something that seems even ungodly and unholy. But God can work His magic
through it, so to speak. Ephesians 4-- Paul said, "God
works all things according to the counsel of His will." Now I see value in
the Book of Esther. For those of you who
might think of your life as a mundane life, an average
ordinary life, and you look at your life and you go,
I'm in the workplace. I don't know if my life has real
purpose or much significance. I'm a plumber. I'm an engineer. I'm a lawyer. I work in a medical office. I just have a regular job. It's not all that dramatic. It's not all that
wow of an occupation. This is the story of a
girl, a Jewish girl who gets elevated to princess
and queen in a pagan court, but God has her there for
a very specific season and for a very
particular reason. She doesn't know it
until the story unfolds. But she will discover in the
normal occurrences of life what God wanted her to do. Now, Esther, though
it is found where it is found in
your Old Testament, in the Hebrew Scriptures,
it is in a little section toward the end of their
Bible called the Ketuvim. The Ketuvim are the writings. And a portion of the writings
in the Jewish Bible, the Hebrew Bible, is known
as the Megilloth. I'll spell it for you
if you're taking notes. I only see a few of
you taking notes. So for those of you who are,
Megilloth, M-E-G-I-L-O-T-H. Megilloth means
the Five Scrolls. And the Five Scrolls
in the Hebrew Bible comprised of the Song of
Solomon, the Book of Ruth, the Book of Lamentations,
the Book of Ecclesiastes, and the Book of Esther. All of these little books,
all of these scrolls in the Megilloth,
the Five Scrolls, are recited at different
celebrations or commemorations in the Jewish calendar. So for example, the Song of
Solomon is read every Passover. The Book of Ruth is
read every Pentecost, the Feast of Pentecost. The Book of Lamentations,
which describes the destruction of Jerusalem and
the temple, is read in a special
commemoration called Tisha B'Av or the ninth of Av. That's a date in the Jewish
calendar when the temple fell. It is read every Tisha B'Av. The Book of Ecclesiastes
read during the Feast of Tabernacles. And the Book of Esther is
read during a Jewish feast known as the Feast of Purim. Now, if you just know the
first five books of Moses, if you know your Old
Testament up to that place, you're thinking, what
is the Feast of Purim? I never read that
in the Law of Moses. And you're correct. But you will read about
that feast starting here. It is a Jewish feast. It is not one of the Levitical
feasts in the Law of Moses. But it was initiated and
inaugurated in Persia, and it has been kept ever since. Without the Book of
Esther, we would not know what life was
like for the Jews who were left behind in Babylon. Remember I told you Israel
was-- or Judah was taken captive by the Babylonians. And then the Babylonians
were overtaken by the Medes and the Persians. And then the decree
went back for the Jews to return to their homeland,
and a very few went back. Only 50,000 or so went back from
Persia to Jerusalem to rebuild. So 50,000 returned. Over one million stayed. So we know what life
was like for those who came back to rebuild under
Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. We've read already about that. But we might be wondering,
well, what was life like back in Persia? Though I can't tell
you all of what life was like, although they
probably had it pretty good, the Jews did because a million
of them wanted to stay, didn't want to go back. So life is pretty good. We get insight into a crisis
and how the crisis is met, the overriding of this crisis. So we're going to be
introduced quickly to a crisis by the time we get to chapter
2, and the plot thickens in chapter 3, et cetera. But what we're
going to discover is that God is the
God of the crisis as well as the God of the calm. When things are calm, we go,
oh, this is so peaceful, man. This is the Lord. But when we get a
crisis, where's God? He didn't leave. He's right here. You may feel distressed. God doesn't panic. He's good. He's the God of the calm as
well as the God of the crisis. So whether you have peace
or you're in a predicament, God is present. The Book of Esther divides
up into three sections. Chapters 1 and 2,
the first section is supernatural providence. This is where God moves behind
the scenes to set things up. Chapter 3 through 5,
the plot thickens, and so it's satanic plottings. And the last part of the
book, chapter 6 through 10, sovereign protection. Let's consider the first as we
get into Esther chapter 1 verse 1. Let's look at the
Providence of God. Now the book opens with a party. "It came to pass in
the days of Ahasuerus-- this was the Ahasuerus who
reigned over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia." Ahasuerus is better known
in history by his Greek name Xerxes spelled with
an X. Xerxes' dad was Artaxerxes, who let
Nehemiah, his cupbearer, go back to Jerusalem. So the book of
Esther is a book that transpires between the Book of
Ezra chapter 6 and Ezra chapter 7. Artaxerxes becomes the king
in the Book of Nehemiah. This is now his son, Xerxes,
or we call it here Ahasuerus. "In those days"-- verse
2-- "when King Ahasuerus"-- now Ahasuerus means mighty
or mighty man or even lion in the Akkadian language. So his name means lion. He's king. So this is the first lion king. He's not Simba, though. This is Ahasuerus. So the lion king sat on the
throne of his kingdom, which is in Susa or, translated
in my translation, Shushan the citadel, one
of those four kingdoms, cities in the Persian
Empire, the spring residence. It says "that in the
third year of his reign, he made a feast for all of his
officials and his servants-- the powers of Persia and Media,
the nobles, and the princes of the provinces
being before him-- when he showed the riches
of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of
his excellent majesty for many days, 180 days in all." This is one long party. This is a six-month party
paid for by the government. Talk about government
wasting your taxes. [LAUGHTER] A six-month party. Now, the year that this
is happening is 483 BC. What is happening? Out west, there's a king
that is on the rise named Philip of Macedon. And it is the rise of
the Grecian Empire, which will soon take over the world. So this six-month feast bringing
in these different governors of city-states that
are under his control. But he still has to manage them,
and he has to do it delicately. It is believed by scholars
the reason for a long feast was to sell them a war plan. They need to go to war. He needs to get an army. He has to fight this
incursion of the Greeks. Now eventually,
he's going to lose because the Greeks are going
to overthrow the world, right? Philip of Macedon will have
a son named Alexander, who thought he was really great. And he was. He was Alexander the Great. And he takes over the world,
takes over the Persian Empire so that the first
world-governing empire was Babylon, the second Medo-Persia. The third was Greece. Alexander will quickly
take over the world. He will put pockets of Greek
culture all around the world. He will build a road system that
will later on be expanded on by the Romans so that by the
time of the New Testament, the world speaks
a common language and the Gospel can travel on
this network of roads built by the Romans,
started by the Greeks. And the Gospel can travel
in the most precise language ever, the Greek language. So we're starting to
see behind the scenes God setting up just the perfect
events for the New Testament to happen. Galatians chapter 4, verse 4-- "In the fullness
of the time, God sent forth his Son, born of a
virgin, born under the law." When? In the fullness of the time. When the time was ripe,
plump, just right. So six-month feast followed
by-- verses 5 through 7-- another feast. This is a seven-day feast. And it seems that
the king is thanking all of his palace
officials for helping him put on the first feast. That's the background. Verse 9-- "Queen Vashti"-- that's his wife-- "Queen Vashti
also made a feast for the women in the royal palace, which
belonged to King Ahasuerus." Now social custom is that men
and women didn't eat together. It is still that custom in
the East in many places. I remember the first time I
went to Thailand for a pastors conference, and it
was time for dinner. And we were served by a group
of women who prepared the food, and they served the men. And then they went to another
place to eat themselves or to eat the food
for themselves. And I remember when the
women came by with the food, I got up out of my seat and
offered it to one of the gals. And I was reprimanded
by one of the leaders. You do not do that
in our culture. The men eat alone. The women eat separately. Such was the policy in
the kingdom of Persia. So they had their
own meal times. They had their own festivities. And so the King, Ahasuerus,
commands his wife, Vashti, to be brought in to
his feast with all of those provincial
rulers coming. I think he wanted to
showcase his wife. She was probably a trophy wife. And it's like, hey,
check out my woman, and parade her before the men. We don't know if it was lewd. It probably was rated PG, not
R. I think it was probably OK. But here's a note. She refuses to come. But history tells us
that Vashti the queen was the granddaughter of
somebody very famous, King Nebuchadnezzar, the
Babylonian emperor who had preceded the Persian Empire. This was the granddaughter
now married to King Ahasuerus. So she's probably a bit spoiled. And Hasi, her husband-- she probably called
him that, Ahasuerus. Hasi wants me to come in. I'm not going. She puts up a fight. Verse 12-- "But
Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command
brought by his eunuchs. Therefore, the
king was furious." Now it doesn't end there. It says, "He was furious, and
his anger burned within him." The author wants you to know
this guy went on a tirade. He wasn't just miffed. He was angry, and the
anger boiled within him. I think the author did this
because King Ahasuerus was known, had a reputation
for his fierce anger. Example-- at one
point in history, King Ahasuerus had a bridge
built over the Hellespont, a river out in the
Western Empire in Greece. The bridge was built by 300 men. The bridge was destroyed
by a huge storm that came from the sea,
wiped out the bridge, and destroyed
several of his ships. He was so angry that he waded
out from the shore into the sea and started striking,
beating, hitting the ocean. [LAUGHTER] Like that would do a
whole lot of good, right? But this is the kind
of temper that he had. He started beating
the waves, beating-- you bad ocean. I'm going to get you back. [LAUGHTER] But then he took the 300
men that built the bridge and had them all beheaded. So maybe he thought they
didn't do a great job. That's why it got destroyed. So this is the kind
of temper that he had. So he gets angry, and his
anger boils within him. Why? Because his wife just said no. This king had never
faced feminism before. [LAUGHTER] He didn't know what to do
with the wife who said no to his command from the king. So he consults with his staff. One of his chiefs of staff
by the name of Memucan mentioned in the text advises
that the king depose her from her throne and
send out a decree that all the women in
the Persian Empire, you better obey your husbands. So he does that. Now, between chapter 1 and 2-- and we'll speed up. Trust me. Between chapter 1 and 2,
a very important thing takes place in history,
not mentioned in the Bible. But historically, we
know what takes place. There is a battle
out west called the Battle of Thermopylae. Some of you don't know
about that battle. But some of you do know of
the movie called the 300. And the movie was based
upon the historical Battle of Thermopylae when the Spartan
leader Leonidas takes his 300 Spartan men along with a cohort
of other armies from Greece, and they fight the Persians. It was a fierce battle. King Ahasuerus,
though eventually he's going to outflank them and
technically win the battle, he retreats from the
battle, goes back home in very low spirits. They underestimated the Greeks. Now, the Greeks are going
to take over the world soon. They're going to be in
charge of the world. And what the
Persians discovered, though they came at the
Greeks with a massive army and the Greeks had a few men in
comparison to the large army, they started realizing
that though they had many men in
the Persian army, the Greeks emphasized
the individual man, the individual soldier. They trained each soldier
well, equipped him well strategically. So there was a saying
that one Greek soldier was worth 10 Persian soldiers. And eventually, the Greeks,
though much smaller, they're more rapid. They're fleet of foot. They can travel great distances. They will take over the world. So Ahasuerus comes home. He's in low spirits. He turns to his
harem for comfort. Remember his wife is gone. And all the while, God is
lurking in the shadows. Chapter 2, verse 1-- "After these things, when
the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered
Vashti and what she had done and what had been
decreed against her. Then the king's servants
who attended him"-- they saw this king
in low spirits. He's going, I miss my woman. I know I've got a harem
of all these women, but I miss my wife, the queen. "So the king's servants
who attended him said, 'Let beautiful young virgins be
sought for the king.'" So this is the first beauty contest. Why? So the king could
pick a new queen, a replacement for Vashti. There's a man in the court named
Mordecai who hears about this. Mordecai is the cousin
of Esther, Hadassah. He hears of it. Verse 7-- "And Mordecai
had brought up Hadassah"-- her name means Myrtle-- "that
is Esther,"-- name means star-- "his uncle's daughter, for she
had neither father nor mother. The young woman was
lovely and beautiful. When her father and
mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter." Now, the name Mordecai
is not a Hebrew name, even though a lot
of Jewish people today will go by
the name of Mordecai or call their sons Mordecai. It's a Persian name,
an Akkadian name. And it is related to
the false god Marduk. Think of it-- Mardukai. That's Mordecai. Just like Esther is related to
the Babylonian goddess of love Ishtar, also represented by the
star or Venus, so is Mordecai. Now, something's going on here. Mordecai hears of this,
and he goes oh, I'm going to take my cousin
Esther and put her in this beauty contest. Now, first of all, he's Jewish. She's Jewish. The Law of Moses, that
is not mentioned here. But if they knew it, it all
forbids marrying pagans. So this is against
the Law of Moses. And if she loses the
contest, he knows, Mordecai knows that she will
end up just in the harem as a sex slave, a sexual
slave for the pleasure of King Ahasuerus. So this is a great
risk he is taking. And here's a little bit
of insight into the Jews who are left back in
the kingdom of Persia, that they are far enough
away from God that I think we could say they're
in a backslidden state. He's not doing what God
commanded them to do. He's putting her at great risk. And yet, and yet here's
where providence comes in. God is still in control. God is still going to
move behind the scenes. If you know the book,
you know the outcome. According to Josephus, the
historian, the Jewish historian who wrote during the time of
Christ for the Romans, he said, "Esther surpassed
all women in beauty in the entire habitable world." That's a direct
quote from Josephus. Now, we don't know if
that's true or not. That's sort of hearsay. Josephus didn't lived
during that time. It could have just been
passed on as folklore. But nonetheless, she was a
girl, I think we can presume, who was quite a looker. She was beautiful. Verse 12-- "Each young woman's
turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she
had completed 12 months' preparation"-- Think of it, gals. 12 months of beauty treatments. "--according to the
regulations for women, for thus were the days of
their preparation apportioned-- six months with oil of myrrh,
six months with perfumes and preparations for
beautifying women." Men-- [LAUGHTER] --can I just speak
to you frankly? [LAUGHTER] Don't get upset if
your wife spends a few hours at a beauty salon. Come on. This is 12 months. Or if she spends a
little longer than you'd like in the beauty supplies
of the department store. Now, women, think
of what this means. Think of what it would be
like to be in her spot. No job. No cooking. No cleaning. No laundry. No errands. No budget to worry about. You can have whatever you want. You can have whatever
beauty supplies you want. Unlimited, 12 months,
they just keep pouring in. Talk about being pampered. Something you need to know-- the Bible does allow for
physical beauty, certainly acknowledges physical beauty,
is not down on physical beauty. But don't get so hung
up on physical beauty that you neglect
spiritual beauty. It's OK to be beautiful. It's OK to do the best with
whatever you got, right? Men and women, right? But not to the neglect of the
inner man, the inner person, the spiritual person. Peter writes, "Do not let
adornment be merely outward-- arranging of the hair
and wearing of gold, putting on fine apparel. Let it be of the inner
hidden person of the heart." I have discovered just a trait
that is, I think, human nature. Most humans don't
like their appearance. Most people don't
like their appearance. Some of us do. We don't care. But most people don't. And some people don't care
because they just think, why bother? But of all the
polls I've ever read and discussions I've read
about this in articles, most people want to
change their appearance. I've had the same guy who
cut my hair for years. And I said, let me ask
you just a question. A lot of people come. What do you notice-- what is the one thing-- of all the people you've
ever cut their hair or colored their hair,
what have you noticed? He goes, bottom
line, nobody's happy. People with straight
hair want wavy hair. People with curly hair
want straight hair. People with blond
hair want dark hair. People with dark hair want
blond hair or red hair or purple, whatever. Everybody wants a different
color or a different look. And it's like they want the
opposite of what God gave them. That's just human
nature, it seems. But in Babylon, come on, 12
months, all expense paid. So verse 16-- "Ester was taken
to King Ahasuerus into his royal palace"-- I'm reading verse 16-- "in the tenth month,
which is the month of Tebeth in the seventh
year of his reign." And it says, "The
king loved Esther more than all the
other women, and she obtained grace and
favor in his sight more than all the virgins. So he set the royal
crown upon her head and made her queen
instead of Vashti." She is Jewish. She has not told the king
of her Jewish background, nor did uncle or cousin Mordecai
reveal that he is Jewish. Now, that will come
up soon enough. It seems that she
uses her position as the new queen of the
empire to get Mordecai, her cousin, a raise, a position
in the courtroom a little bit closer. Because at the end of this
chapter, verses 21 to 23-- actually, verse 19 down-- he is in the gate. He is sitting in the gate. So he is probably a
judge in the royal court. While he is there
in the royal court, he hears of a coup to
kill King Ahasuerus. He hears of it. He uncovers it. He gives the names
of the guys who are trying to kill the king. That plan is thwarted. But Mordecai is not
recognized for it. He's not rewarded yet. That's the operative word, yet. This is where
providence will come in. He will be rewarded but not yet. I hope that word comforts
you in this sense. Whenever you seek to do good or
live justly or live selflessly, you won't get
rewarded immediately. You won't be noticed yet. You might not ever be
noticed on this Earth. But you will have
a reward in heaven. And Jesus said, "Lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven where moth cannot destroy,
rust cannot corrupt." So he uncovers it. Nobody notices. He doesn't get rewarded yet. But as we said in
previous books, big doors swing on small hinges. So this patriotic act, though
not rewarded, is written down. It is recorded. It is placed into the
historical chronicles of the kingdom of Persia. We'll see it. Chapter 3, we get to phase
two of the Book of Esther. And that is after the
supernatural providence comes this satanic plotting. Verse 1 of chapter 3-- "After these things,
King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of
Hammedatha the Agagite." That's a hard word to say. I hate to have to tell people. Well, what's your nationality? I'm an Agagite. [LAUGHTER] I gag just saying Agagite. [LAUGHTER] But it says it right here. Not only was he the
son of Hammedatha, which is a hard name,
but he's an Agagite. "--and advanced him and set his
seat above all the princes who were with him. And all the king's
servants who were within the king's gate bowed
and paid homage to Haman, for the king had
commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would not
bow or pay homage." I have an odd question. Who cares if he's an Agagite? Why does the Holy Spirit bother
to place that in the text so that I have to read it
and say that weird name? Agagite. Why does the Holy
Spirit think it important to give you the
information of his background? I believe for this reason. The Holy Spirit wants
the reader, you and I, to know how far reaching is
the cost of disobedience. You say, Skip, I
don't understand. What you mean? Well, way back in
1 Samuel chapter 15, King Saul was
given a command to fight the Amalekite army and
destroy the Amalekites because of what they had done to
almost completely annihilate the Jews at a previous episode. Annihilate them. Kill them. And King Saul
thought, oh, yeah, I don't know if he
means that literally or if I should just like
kill a few bad guys. But he brings some of
the animals for himself, and he spares King Agag. Agag was the King
of the Amalekite. He spares the king. He comes back, and
he says to Samuel, I've done all that
God wanted me to do. And Saul goes, really? Why do I hear sheep
bleating and cows mooing? And who is Agag? Why do you have Agag here? [LAUGHTER] He goes, well, I've done this
to sacrifice to the Lord. He goes, the Lord didn't
need your sacrifices. To obey is better
than sacrifice. To heed is better
than the fat of rams. Then Samuel the prophet
took out a sword, and it says he hacked
Agag in pieces. Don't mess with Sam. [LAUGHTER] Sam, Samuel the prophet. So some of the Agagites, some
of the Amalekites escaped. And you might think,
well, God is sure harsh to command the
annihilation of all the Amalekites. Had the Amalekites
been destroyed, this threat to annihilate
the entire Jewish population in Persia would
not have come up. It did. That disobedience
was far reaching. And probably Haman remembered
that from his history. And maybe he wanted revenge. So he decides to act, and he
acts in the worst possible way. Verse 6-- "But he disdained to
lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of
the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman sought to
destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole
kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai." That's a million people,
a complete genocide of the Jewish nation. Verse 9-- Haman said,
"If it pleases the king, let a decree be written
that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000
talents of silver." Now 10,000 talents of
silver was about a third of the entire revenue
of the Persian Empire. Where is he going to
get that kind of money? Well, if you kill a
million Jews and you take all of their
plunder, you'll have that. So he thought, I'll kill
them and take the money and put it back into the
treasuries of this nation. I'll show you why that's
important in a minute. "--to bring it all into
the king's treasuries." Now the Persians had
just suffered militarily by all these battles in
fighting the Greeks, right? The Greeks were threatening
them, Philip of Macedon. Alexander the Great will
eventually take over. So they're having this
problem on the western front of the empire. So they are low financially. Their morale is down. They have been defeated in war. If you can eliminate
this group of people and use their resources, you
can build up the kingdom again. So Haman sends letters
with the king's signet ring put on it or his authority
to the 127 provinces that on a certain date, all
the Jews will be eliminated. This sounds
suspiciously like what happened in the early
1940s in Germany when Hitler and his henchmen
decided, we have to solve the-- they called it the
Jewish problem. Let's eliminate the
race altogether. Let's demonize them. Let's say that
they are subhuman. Let's give them a derogatory
name, [GERMAN] in German. And let's make them
wear a Star of David and mock them and tear
their businesses away from them and their
families and put them in concentration camps. Let's solve the Jewish problem. Haman thought, I don't
like the Jewish people. There was an ongoing
anti-Semitism at that time. Let's just destroy
the Jewish people. So now you have
anti-Semitism legalized. Now, remember the premise
that I gave you in weeks past and in years past if you've
been a part of this church. Think of the satanic strategy. If God promised that
through the seed of a woman, one is going to be
born who is going to crush the head of the
serpent that is Satan, now you have to determine, who
is that seed of the woman? Where's that seed coming from? How can I destroy
the people so I can destroy the promise of
God in sending the deliverer? So here's the premise. If God's plan of
redemption requires the existence of a nation and
the continuance of that nation, if you can destroy that nation,
you can thwart God's purpose. That's why you see all
the anti-Semitic attacks through history,
including biblical history and post-biblical history. It's part of Satan's attempt to
overturn the promises of God. Chapter 4, verse 1-- "When Mordecai learned
of all that had happened, he tore his clothes,
put sackcloth and ashes on his head, went out into
the midst of the city. He cried out with a
loud and bitter cry." He is reactive emotionally. But he is proactive
strategically. He goes and tells the
plan to his cousin Esther, informs her of the decree
through a group of translators, a group of people who worked for
her as servants in the court. Verse 13, chapter 4-- "And Mordecai told them"-- that
is, the servants of the queen-- "to answer Esther, 'Do not think
in your heart that you will escape the king's palace any
more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely
silent at this time, relief and deliverance
will arise for the Jews from another place." That's a significant statement. "But you and your father's
house will perish." Best verse, best phrase in
the whole book is right here. "Yet who knows whether you have
come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Now God is not
mentioned in this book. But I believe in this verse,
He is certainly implied. How is He implied? Well, Queen Esther, if you don't
do anything, just know this. You're going to die, but
there will come deliverance from somewhere. How could he say that? I believe those
are words of faith of a Jewish man, backslidden
though he may be, who understood the covenant
that God gave to Abraham. Genesis, chapter 12-- "I will bless those
who bless you. I will curse those
who curse you." Genesis 15-- "I will
make your descendants like the stars of heaven,
like the sand of the earth." He knew that God made a
covenant with these people, and he was convinced
by faith that God somewhere from some place
would send deliverance. But I love this. "Yet who knows whether you have
come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Maybe the whole reason you're
the queen of this kingdom is to be an instrument
to save the Jews. So number one, the plan
of God is not thwarted. He believed that. Deliverance will come
from another place. And number two, he
is saying, I don't believe that your
appointment as queen is accidental but providential. It's by God. Though He's not mentioned,
He is certainly implied. God is behind the scene. He's saying, cousin, this
could be your finest hour. Now, the response to
Mordecai, verse 16-- she says, "Go,
gather all the Jews who are present in
Shushan, and fast for me." Notice she didn't
say pray and fast, but prayer and fasting
often went together. And we might imply that when
you fast, you are probably praying to your God. So she's saying, let
the Jews do this? Why not just get all
your friends to do it? Because she probably realized
that the Jews were the covenant people and had a special
connection with the covenant God. And so fasting could
imply prayer and fasting. "Gather all the Jews who
are present in Shushan. Fast for me. Neither either eat or drink
for three days, night or day. My maids and I
will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king,
which is against the law." And I love this phrase, too. "And if I perish, I perish." Now, why does she say
it's against the law? The Greek historian
Herodotus said that Persian kings,
Persian and Median kings, Medo-Persian kings isolated
themselves and would not allow anybody to
enter their courts for a couple of reasons--
number one, for protection. I don't know if you
know this or not. But in the days of
Abraham Lincoln, anybody could walk in the
White House unannounced. They had people sleeping in
the halls of the White House just off the street. So there was no protection. But back in antiquity,
because of the threats that were very prevalent
in those cultures, kings would isolate themselves. Nobody was allowed
admittance unannounced. So to protect themselves. And also, they thought it would
enhance the dignity of the king to not allow anybody in
except by invitation. That was the law of the
Medes and the Persians. If you came in and the king
did not like it, you would die. Probably be beheaded. She thinks logically, right? She goes, what do
I have to lose? I'm a Jew. If I say nothing,
I'm going to die. The decree has gone out. It's eventually going to be
discovered that I'm Jewish. I'm dead. If I go in to the king and
say, hey, king, I may die. But I might not. So if I die, I die. But if I do nothing,
I'm going to die. So I'm going to go for it. Very logical. She's going to die
either way, but she might not if the king is favorable. Now this is where
providence is kicked in. This is a normal set
of circumstances. This is real history. It really happened. God is not mentioned,
but providentially, He's working things out. And when there is a
problem, God answers the problem with providence. Example-- how do you get
a Jewish couple living in Nazareth to go to Bethlehem? Because the prophecy
said that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem-- Micah chapter 5, verse 2. Well, for God, no problem. Providence. God will move the
heart of the king to make people go back to
their ancestral tribal towns and get registered, which
forces Joseph and Mary to leave Nazareth and go to Bethlehem. The problem is
answered by Providence. Or another problem-- how
do you get a preacher to the heart of the Roman Empire
to spread the Gospel from Rome outward to the rest of the
world and speak to the ruler? Easy. Have him born a Jew but
also born a Roman citizen, having the ability to appeal
to Caesar, which he does. Put him on a Roman grains ship. Get him sent to
Rome as a prisoner, and he stands before Nero. God answers the problem
with providence. Here's another problem. How do you get Jews protected
during a time of famine and kept alive so they
can thrive and grow and eventually inherit
their own land? Answer-- get a boy named Joseph
sold as a slave to Potiphar. Let him interpret dreams for
the king, which will make him prime minister of Egypt. And your answer will
be-- or your problem will be solved by God's
providence, the overruling hand of God. So that's providence. God moves naturally
supernaturally, supernaturally naturally. Chapter 5, Ester goes in. Verse 2-- it says she
found favor in his sight. He holds out his golden scepter. That was his little
gesture of I'm not going to cut your
head off, sweetie. It's OK. Verse 3-- "The king said
to her, 'What do you wish, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given to you,
up to half the kingdom." Well, that's pretty
generous, right? Not only is she not
getting her head cut off, but she can kind of
have anything she wants. "So Esther answered,
'If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come
today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.' What can I do for
you, sweetheart? I want to have a party. OK. Who do you want to invite? You and Haman. Why? I'll tell you later. [LAUGHTER] Haman hears this,
feels very special. Persian kings were typically
protective of their wives, didn't bring them out
except the time he was drunk and wanted Vashti to come out. So it was an honor,
nonetheless, to be invited to a banquet with the queen. So he leaves. He's all stoked. Man, I'm going to a party with
Esther the queen and the king. As he's leaving, though,
he sees Mordecai, his hated enemy who will not
bowed before him at the king's gate. Verse 9-- "So Haman
went out that day joyful with a glad heart. But when Haman saw
Mordecai in the king's gate and that he did not stand
or tremble before him, he was filled with
indignation against Mordecai." He goes home fuming. Everything is good,
but Mordecai, hate him. Tells his wife. His wife says, this
is an easy fix. You make a gallows 75 feet high. You hang him on it. And then you go party. [LAUGHTER] And he's thinking, why
didn't I think of that? Verse 14-- "Then his wife
Zeresh and all of his friends said to him, 'Let a gallows
be made 50 cubits high." By the way, the Acropolis
where the palace was built was 75 feet higher than
the rest of the lower city on the outside. So it's not like you have to
have a gallows or a pole 75 feet high. You just have to stick anything
at all on top of the wall. "'Let a gallows be made 50
cubits high and in the morning suggest to the king that
Mordecai be hanged on it. Then go merrily with the
king to the banquet.' And the thing pleased Haman. So he had the gallows made." The word gallows is translated
in a more modern translation a pole. That is the literal translation
of the word gallows, a pole. Don't think of a hangman's
noose necessarily. The Persians would often impale
people on vertical poles. Now, remember, it
was the Persians who will later on
invent crucifixion. Or actually, in
their history, they have invented crucifixion,
raising a person on a pole. But sometimes they would
impale them or parade them after they die atop of
a building or on a pole. So the plan is in place. Mordecai goes to the king
to announce his plan. He's going to go to be
honored at the feast. But there's a plot twist. Chapter 6, verse 1 initiates
the third phase of the book. This is sovereign protection. And I love it. God uses insomnia for His glory. [LAUGHTER] The king can't sleep. Verse 1-- "That night,
the king could not sleep. So one was commanded
to bring the book of the records of
the chronicles, and they were read
before the king." If you want to
cure your insomnia, you read books like this. You read legal briefs
or records of Congress, these thick voluminous pages
of the accounts of the kingdom, the board minutes. And verse 2-- "It was found
written that Mordecai had told Bigthana and Teresh, two
of the king's eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought
to lay hands on Ahasuerus." So they read, and
the king discovers that Mordecai
uncovered this plot, but he had never
been rewarded for it. So he wonders, how
can I reward this guy? This guy Mordecai's a great guy. How can I reward him? And he's thinking,
how can I reward him? And he thinks, I know. The first guy that walks into
my palace in the morning, I'm going to ask him
how I should reward him. Well, the first guy
that walks in is Haman. And Haman is about to say,
I want to kill Mordecai. I built this 75-foot
high gallows. Can I just kill him? And before he can
get the words out, "Haman came in"-- verse 6--
"and the king asked him, 'What shall be done for the
man whom the king delights to honor?' Now Haman thought in his
heart, whom would the king delight to honor more than me?" [LAUGHTER] He's totally unaware
that he's referring to-- the king is
referring to Mordecai. And so Haman says,
"Let the royal robe be brought on which
the king has worn and a horse on
which the king has ridden, which has a royal
crest placed on its head. And let this robe and
horse be delivered to the hand of one of the
King's most noble princes, that he may array the man whom
the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback
through the city square and proclaim before him, 'Thus
shall it be done to the man whom the king
delights to honor.' Then the king said
to Haman, 'Hurry. Take the robe and the horse,
as you have suggested, and do that for Mordecai
the Jew who sits in the king's gate.'" Gulp. [LAUGHTER] "Leave nothing undone of
all that you have spoken." He goes, great idea. I want you to parade
him around town. [LAUGHTER] Now it's time for the feast. Esther has not told the
king what she wants yet. In chapter 2-- or 7, verse 2,
he says, ask anything you want. The king does not know
that she is Jewish yet. Haman does not know
that she is Jewish yet. So now she drops the bomb. Chapter 7, verse 3-- "Then Queen Esther
answered and said, 'If I've found
favor in your sight, O king, if it pleases the
king, let my life be given me at my petition. Let my people at my request-- and my people at my request. For we have been sold, my
people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, to be annihilated. Had we been sold as
male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue,
although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss.' So King Ahasuerus answered
and said to Queen Esther, 'Who is he, and where is he who
would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?' And Esther said, 'The adversary
and enemy is this wicked Haman.' Now, again, double gulp. "So Haman was terrified
before the king and queen." This is like a real
live game of chess. It's like God and
Satan are playing chess with real live kings and queens. And so Satan moves the king to
make an edict to kill the Jews, and Satan goes, check. And God moves the queen
to reveal to the king that it's the Jews, and
she's is one of them. And God says, checkmate. It's like a real
live game of chess. Well, the king hears this. He goes out of the room for a
minute, goes into the garden to process all this. He comes back. And Haman, when he comes back,
is collapsed on the couch, like on Esther or
leaning toward Esther. And he's thinking, is this
dude, like, making a pass at my woman? [LAUGHTER] So has him arrested. Verse 10-- "So they"-- after they arrested
him-- "hanged Haman on the gallows that he
had prepared for Mordecai. And the King's
wrath was subsided." So they hanged him or they hung
him or they impaled him, right? He was a pain in
the neck, anyway. So they got rid of him,
gave him a pain in the neck. They still have a major problem. And that is fixed in chapters
8, 9, and the three verses. You can see-- did you just
see chapter 10 only as three verses? So it is solved in this
last set of chapters. Here's the problem. The king has made an
edict to kill the Jews. The problem with that is that
when Persian kings made edicts, for some reason, their
law said it's irrevocable. The law of the Medes and
the Persians is irrevocable. So this is like the first
time he revokes an edict, but he does it by allowing
the Jews to defend themselves before the anti-Semitic peoples
who want to destroy them under Haman's law would do it. So the second decree is so that
the Jews can defend themselves. Chapter 8, verse 17-- "And in every province and city,
wherever the king's command and decree came, the Jews
had joy and gladness, a feast and a holiday. Then many of the people
of the land became Jews." So there's a conversion of
sorts from Gentiles to Judaism, that they can't change
their nationality. They can only change
their religion. If they're becoming Jews, they
have to proselyte into Judaism. It's changing their religion. So I might argue
God is in this book. Because to convert
to Judaism, you have to acknowledge
the God of Israel. Amen. Let's skip to
chapter 9, verse 20. "Mordecai wrote these things--"
this is the letter to Jewish people everywhere-- "to
establish"-- verse 21-- "to establish among them that
they should celebrate yearly the 14th and 15th day of the
month of Adar and the days on which the Jews had
rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned
from sorrow to joy for them, from morning to a holiday,
that they should make days of feasting and joy, of
sending presents to one another and gifts to the poor." Verse 26-- "So they
called these days Purim after the name Pur," which means
a lot in the Persian language. "Therefore, because
of all the words of this letter,
what they had seen concerning this matter and what
had happened to them from-- happened to them." Chapter 10, verse 3-- "For Mordecai the Jew was
second to King Ahasuerus." He is promoted like Joseph. He's promoted like Daniel. He was second to King Ahasuerus
"and was great among the Jews and well received by the
multitude of his brethren, seeking the good of his
people and speaking peace to all his countrymen." The first time I ever
went to Israel was 1978. Israel was 30 years
old as a nation. Now it's 70 years
old as a nation. When I hit the ground
and went to the kibbutz, I happened to be there
on the day after Purim. And I walked into
the dining hall. And there were kind of
these ugly pictures of Haman that people would poke
fun of and throw darts at. There were gifts that had
been given to one another. There was tinsel and all
these decorations sort of like our Christmas. And there's this great
cookie, this amazing dessert that comes out. Now the Jews just celebrated
Purim not long ago. So you may be able to still
find these in bakeries. They're called hamantaschen. And hamantaschen
means Haman's ears. [LAUGHTER] So they're kind of triangular
shaped, sort of like an ear. And it's like a cookie dough. And inside is this kind of
jelly paste with crushed up dates and poppy seeds and nuts. Just amazing. Sort of like a Fig Newton. So anyway, go look
for the hamantaschen. [LAUGHTER] So we have in this book
the providence of God. But I think we also
have a picture of God. What do I mean a picture of God? You could not enter
the king's palace unless he raised
the scepter to you. You and I are separated
from a holy God. You can't just run into
the throne room of God as a human being
anytime you want. But true Christ,
because of the cross, because of the bloodline,
God has raised his scepter and said, what would you like? You're royalty. You have access. So we have the
providence of God. But I think even in
this king, in Christ, we have a picture of God. Father, we thank You
that the cross has become for us the golden scepter
that gives us admittance into the very place of royalty,
the very throne of the king so, that as the writer
of Hebrew, said we can come boldly before
the throne of grace to receive help in time of need. I pray, Lord, in
this last song as we close if we have some great
need, some worrisome problem, we would just entrust them
to Your providential care. Solve our problem
by Your providence. In Jesus' name, Amen. [MUSIC PLAYING] We hope you enjoyed this message
from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. For more resources,
visit CalvaryNM.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from The Bible from 30,000 Feet.
