One Hour. One Book: Esther

tonight we want to take a look at the book of Esther and this is a book that is unique in all of the Bible partly because it straddles one of the great moments in military history the Battle of Thermopylae occurred when a Greek force of approximately 7,000 men held off more than 150,000 fighting soldiers of the Persians and they did it in a small 20 yard wide pass from that you might know that King Lea notice Leonidas of Sparta led the defending Greeks and when he realized he was actually surrounded he sent away the bulk of his troops and he had 300 Spartans 700 thespians 400 demons and all of them fought to the death and from that Hollywood made the movie 300 back in 2006 now that stands right around the opening of the book of Esther Esther is a response to a black eye gotten by Xerxes or a hash Mirage or a house aware us so one of the greatest moments in military history is sitting right on top of that that might require a closer look so let me just do a little bit of what was in the news back at the time of chapter 1 of Esther as you open up and we'll try to use that to kind of introduce the book before we study the book I want you to think about Herodotus and the early historian that provided us with newspaper headlines on what was going on in the background it all started two decades before Esther chapter one with a revolt in what is now western Turkey or what was then called the Ionian states and it was backed by the Athenians the Athenians didn't like the Persians taken over areas they had once had so the Athenians back to revolt on the western edge of Persia which is today modern Turkey and actually incited a revolution Durai as' the first the king found out that the Athenians were feeding into his own kind of insurrection on his edges of territory so he vowed that he was going to go and get the Athenians and bring them bring them to his chair and they were going to kneel before him bottom line is all of that happened around 500 BCE he swore revenge on Athens but he really didn't get it he crushed the Ionians but then he put down the revolt in my Letus and he marched on Greece and there's a battle that some of you know in 490 called the Battle of Marathon the Battle of Marathon was set at the end of August beginning of September it's hot in Greece in August and September and dry sent a naval task force that took on the Cycladic islands and wiped out a lot of the offenders on those islands but then he finally wanted to march on Athens itself he landed north of Athens in Marathon and when he did that he wanted to meet the Athenians marched up to Marathon to meet the Persian advance and stop them from coming into the city of Athens and so they sent these Athenian hoplites to go out and take on these Persians and when they did that they devastated the Persian infantry they were out man they were outgunned but the Athenians knew the landscape and the terrain and so they whupped him well Derr is was in no way ready for that by the way you know about this story this is that kind of weird story Thea deputies runs away from the battle all the way 26 miles from Marathon all the way to Athens and we get the term marathon from this he dies when he says that that the Athenians have been victorious Durai assailed after he pulled in his you know took his little red wagon and went back home to rious veld I'm coming back and I'm going to clean out these Athenians they have embarrassed me the great king of Persia the problem was he was preparing to do that and Egypt went into a revolt because they thought well if the Ionians can do it we can do it too and he went to fight against the Egyptians and he died in 486 his son aha so eros or Xerxes took over I told you that whole story only make one point his son came into the job put on the crown but he had a chip on his shoulder with the crown on his head and the chip on his shoulder he decided he was going to make good on his dad's old problem he was going to form the largest army that had ever been formed he was going to take his Persian army and march all the way back to Athens and clean that place out to do that Esther chapter one says he threw a really huge party to get all of the military to come to see how incredibly glorious he was because some of them didn't believe after his dad got whupped that maybe they were quite as strong as they thought they were so Esther chapter 1 is set in an attitude it's people coming together now what's interesting to me is that Esther chapter 2 is after the battle what happened in the battle well Xerxes decided after Esther chapter 1 and the big party that they would put together this plot they marched back to Athens they were going to take it and that's when he found himself up against a much smaller force that held him off for several days and the Battle of Thermopylae occurred and the battle that we call the Battle of the 300 it's interesting because even after the Greeks lost their men even after he was able to come into Athens the Athenians were smart they evacuated their town before the Persians got there Xerxes army found an empty downtown where were the people they put them all on light ships and took him out to selamat out in the ceramic gulf and as they were moving around in the Gulf on these light ships the Persians had an opportunity to burn Athens down to take over the city to populate it with their own people and they thought no no no no no we're going to get those Athenians we're going to put them in the bottom of the sea we are really ticked about that way that they beat us in the past so we're going to make this right they chased them but the big Persian ships were no match for the little Athenian ships that outmaneuvered them and by the time it was over this massive army a million strong including all of the people that brought supplies back and forth and a hundred and fifty thousand on the front lines were cleaned out and were beaten by the Athenians yet again Xerxes comes back and in Chapter one and his big party he lost his queen but between chapter 1 and chapter 2 it says in the beginning of chapter 2 after these things there were quite a few things that was after quite a few Athenians just whipped quite a few versions and now he's back and chapter 2 begins with a guy who's depressed without a queen and feeling really bad about himself so it sits right on top of this incredible moment in history you know what I think is interesting is that we know in the book that Esther was taken to Xerxes in December of 479 we know that he was warped in 480 so it's a year later we know that he's he's hurting over his situation now there's something else about the book that's a little bit unique if I were going to set a theme over the book of Esther it would be this God's sovereign preservation of his people even when they're wayward and his establishment of a feast called poor him what's interesting to me is the book is unusual because the name of God is not mentioned in the book and prayer is never overtly mentioned in the book there in the middle of a crisis in this book and you will see fasting but you'll see no specific word of Prayer you'll need to see no specific specific reference to the God of Abraham Isaac or Jacob at all it is set among people who frankly are not following the law these are Jews not doing right if you read it closely you have to have your eyes on and see it from a Jewish perspective Mordechai for instance is found in Esther chapter 3 on the 13th of Nisan he is in Susa well on the 14th of Nisan he should be in Jerusalem observing Passover these people are not doing what they're supposed to be doing so don't color Esther and Mordecai as upstanding godly people there's a reason why Mordechai doesn't have a problem with Esther entering a sleep one night with the King pageant these are not people who are following God's law but they are God's people and God is preserving not just the people that are wayward but he's preserving the Judean Jews where Messiah will come because if Haman gets his way they won't just kill the Jews of Susa they'll kill the Jews of Jerusalem as well and then it's game over so God is preserving even through wayward people in the book that aren't praying that aren't doing the feast that aren't keeping the law properly God is preserving his people I think what's interesting is that the story itself is laid out over a ten chapters and the easiest way to divide it is the first two chapters set up the background of the people in the story so I just put a people in my first box chapters 1 & 2 and then chapters 3 through 8 is sort of the plot line of the book Haman attempts to have all of the Jews killed and he puts forward this idea through a complex plot and God Swartz what he's doing even though the players themselves Mordecai and Esther are not sure that that's the way it's going to play out then the last part in chapter 9 is really the remembrance of pouring what the feast of Purim is and how it came about and chapter 10 is just three little verses on and by the way Mordecai got his name written in some pretty important periodicals of his day and he got some accolades and things went well for Mordecai a good time was had by all kind of a nice ending now I want you to go to chapter 1 for just a minute because the opening chapter sets up one of the great pictures of a bad decision made by a drunken plotting king who's got a chip on his shoulder and a crown on his head he's got a problem before his defeat he's walking in arrogance he honestly believes that his father got walked by the Athenians but he won't so he makes some terrible choices in chapter is really how did he get into the math I see for component a greedy ingredients to how to make an absolute mess of something or how to go from riches to ruin because that's what he's going to do and the first one in the first six verses is personal pride look at the opening verse and it says that a hash brochures irk seized ruled from India to Ethiopia over a hundred and twenty seven provinces you can hear the regality of it right here's the bottom line the problem with focusing on fame is that life is short positions don't last and putting your hope in them as a fool's errand so you open up with his position and his personal pride based on his fame but then you moved to his personal pride based on his power he holds a banquet verse three says for all his princes and attendants army officers of Persia and media the nobles the princes verse four says he displays the riches of his glory and the splendor of his great majesty for wait for it a hundred and eighty days he throws a six-month party at the palace okay and words like glory and Majesty should tell you how he felt about himself and what it was he was trying to show but you know what happens the life that's focused on power is a life spent for something you can't secure and it's something that doesn't last so he's walking around with pride in his fame and pride in his power you get down to verse five and you see pride in his fortune do you see the the banquet lasted seven days in verse five and then look at the end of it from the greatest to the least they were all running around the garden of the king's palace no doubt Xerxes or a hash brooch thought I am an incredibly benevolent king all the little people are even invited to my part isn't that lovely the problem with buying friends is they constantly need another payment to stay happy and the bottom line is he's focusing on fortune and the pride in his fortune you get two verses six and seven you see him putting pride in personal pleasure look at this verse six there were hangings of fine white violet in cords of purple silver rings marble columns look at verse seven drinks were served in golden vessels of various kinds in the Royal wine was plentiful according to the Kings bounty can you see this you have a bunch of simple farmers and merchants walking through a palace with bleached linens beautiful fabrics cords expensive purple purple and they're going whoo aah and then they serve them in these gold goblets any one of which they would have liked to hijack under their toga and take home and they're going whoo aah and then they're dumping wine in it out the Yazoo and their loo ah and it's getting just louder in the place there's laughing there's music some dancing of some scantily clothed Persia clad Persian women and and nothing is lacking but nothing is real it's not a real focus on pleasures a focus on the wrong world because it ends quickly I think most people that have been on the planet for a while or surprised at how quickly it ends okay if if pride and that focus in the first part of the verse and first seven verses is a problem so is poor perception so the first thing they do in verse eight is they drop the restraints it says drinking was done according to the law there was no compulsion that's the word onus which is like the word onus in' in latin which means responsible burden nobody was responsible for their behavior as a result of the amount of wine that's what it says well there's a great idea what we ought to do is legalize drunkenness because that'll stop us from having to arrest people right it'll get jail time to a minimum it just means you don't want to drive and here's the thing it says at the end of the verse that he should do according to the desires of each person we're just going to let everybody work out what's good for the whole town because that's going to work really well the removal of restraints though it makes you popular is a disaster and it leads to disaster so right in the middle of that restraint being thrown off there's deserted rolls look at verse nine Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women because while the king is having is banquet the women are going to have a banquet too and here's the problem with day after day after day of the king attending to showing off and the Queen attending to the women here's what they're not doing they're not attending to each other distance between them means that the possibility of bad communication is obvious it's interesting it's it's possible to get so caught up in doing lesser roles that you don't do your most important role now look at the diminished respect that comes out of the deserted roles in verse 10 by the king it says in verse 11 that he was ordering to ha bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people on the princes for she was beautiful I think this King was really big on displays and pageants but here's the bottom line could it be that parading your wife in front of a drunken palace is not the best idea to get people to respect their I'm just saying you can embarrass your spouse with anger and humiliation but where you go from there and verse 12 says Queen Vashti refused shock of all shocks she didn't want to come down there you know walking the red carpet after they've all been fish snickered pretty badly so you end up in the end of verse 12 with his deluded reasoning and I'm using the pun intentionally it is diluted reasoning and the King became very angry in his wrath burned within him now anybody who knows anything about how to make a mistake knows that angers a bad guide to any destination but disaster and he out of anger pulls in the third problem see he's got pride then he's got a perception problem now he brings in problematic partners a bunch of partners that are going to lead him in the wrong direction and in verse 13 he puts out his personal problem in a mistaken forum this is like settling an argument with your spouse on Facebook okay so what what he does is the King said to the wise men who understood the times it was the custom of the kings so to speak before all who knew law and justice and he's going to tell them about his problem with his wife now I'm just going to tell you that if you want to find a way to fix the problem quiet down and get a loan if you want to blow it up call the experts because that's going to do it or make it public because that's the help I know so many people have repaired their marriage through the embarrassment method no now look at the misplaced trust that he puts in the people it says that they call in these guys there's a whole laundry list of names seven princes of Persia and media media and verse 14 who had access to the King's presence and they sat first place in the kingdom look there's a special danger when you call in people and you're in power and you're asking their opinion because their opinion might not be motivated by your best interest so they come up with a mischaracterized problem look at it in verse 15 because she did not obey king ahaz rose it looked down at verse 18 the day of the ladies of persia this day the ladies of persia media who have heard of the Queen's conduct will speak in the same way to all of the Kings princes and there will be contempt and anger the whole world is going to collapse because of what just happened you know what happens when people are asked for their advice if they can make it sound worse than it is they become indispensable and what they're trying to do is ratchet up the problem is it really possible that every woman was going to lose respect because of what Vashti did at a drunken party very likely not however in their and their characterization is based on less on facts than it is on the essential nature of them being involved now yeah a pride a problem a perception then you have wrong partners and finally you end up with a permanent pronouncement and here's the end of the chapter in 119 through chapter 2 verse 1 what you don't want to do is quickly react in something that you can't take back this is what I call the tattoo reaction you don't want to get a tattoo across your face quickly because you're not going to get it off so here's what happens in verse 19 it says that the laws of Persia media cannot be repealed issue an edict this can't be changed it absolutely will be set in concrete oh this is a good idea while you're mad verse 21 the word please the king and the princes and the king did as mem acum had proposed the great theologian Elvis reminds us wise men say Only Fools Rush In it's worth remembering that it's better to sleep on what you planned than to stay awake on what you did and it seems to me that the quick reaction led to lasting regret so after these things verse 1 of chapter 2 says the anger of King Ahaz Rocha had subsided he remembered Vashti and what he had done and decreed chapter 1 is a great belly flop of bad decision set in pride with bad partners and bad perception and permanent solutions that are terrible by the time you get to chapter 2 chapter 2 is entirely about pain it's humiliation and news has come to Xerxes that he is lost so when you see chapter 2 verse 1 and it says after these things that means after word got back that the Greeks have just kicked us out of their territory and handed us a sore defeat after that thing anger of a hash Rose had subsided he remembered Vashti well of course he did he had a lot of other things to be upset about so he was less upset about her and and after the King's pain of regret came the Kings redirection in verse 2 the king's attendants who served him said I think what we ought to do is do a pageant you're really big on pageants o king let's do a pageant bring in beautiful young virgins to be sought for the King and verse 4 it says let the young lady who pleases the King become Queen Queen in place of Vashti now look close what they're telling him in the first four verses of chapter two they're saying physical beauty and sensual training are exactly what we need to pick a queen honestly these guys sound like they could run a party in the United States I mean they're just finding people that you're going what are you thinking the world around him offered him an aesthetic pleasures of redirection when what he needed were firm hands to help him get a steady stream forward the rest of the chapter the first four verses are about the Kings pain but the rest of the chapter is about Esther's pain I want you to pick up on Esther's pain for a minute because God brought her into the scene with pain that occurred even before you start seeing her role in the book look at verse 5 chapter 2 verse 5 says that she was living she was in Susa with a Jew who was Mordecai who was an exile in verse 6 from Jerusalem in other words when we're introduced to her she's already lost her family home she's already lost her National Honor second half of verse six she was living among the captives she's already lost a nurturing environment in verse seven Hadassah that is Esther had no father or mother so she had already lost a family environment so now she's down a family home she's down National Honor she's down a nurturing environment by the way now she's lost her freedom go down to verse eight young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Haggai that esther was taken into the king's palace into the custody of Haggai she has lost her freedom she's now a part of something that whether she likes it or not she's going to be trained to pleasure a king that's going to be her lot in life by the way the odds of getting picked to be the Queen pretty low so this might be a real flame out of a career and she lost all control look at that in verse 14 down at the bottom it says in the evening she would go in and then in the morning she would return to the and harem in the custody of Jacques the Kings eunuch this is a woman who has found herself outside of the nurturing love of a mother outside of her hometown outside of the place that would have been comfortable for her and now dropped into a pageant that no woman in this place would have considered a comfortable environment for anybody before you go past this chapter two is about pain just remember this God understands pain there are great many things in God's divine providence that don't look like to our eyes goodness but the fact of the matter is faith sits before the mystery of something that's painful and accepts that God is good no matter how it looks right now faith patiently waits for God's revealing of an explanation in a later time it doesn't put God on trial in the now so as to responded a couple of different ways the rest of the chapter is about her response look she follows with obedience it says in verse 15 she came to go into the king she built relationships look what it says it says in verse 15 she did not request anything except what Haggai the Kings eunuch was in charge of women advised she saw God elevate her she knew it wasn't her verse 17 the King loved Esther more than all the women she understood by doing exactly what she was told and walking in obedience that she was elevated and she trusted God's messenger it's interesting do you notice that Mordecai is outside having sent her in and in verse 20 it says Esther had not yet made known her kindred or her people even as Mordecai had commanded her for watch it Esther did what Mordecai told her as she had done when she was under his care this is a gal who trusts God's messenger and becomes God's tool in verse 21 it says Mordecai was sitting at the gate and there's a plot that unfolds in verse 22 and Mordecai has made known makes known the plot and actually gets the men taken care of so that they cannot harm the King and virtually nothing happens to that story for a number of chapters the point of Chapter two God understands pain and God can put you in an uncomfortable place but God is working a plan and it's well beyond what you can see and often well outside of the area that you would consider a strong suit for you now that's chapters 1 and 2 and it sets up Mordecai it sets up Esther or Hadassah it sets up Xerxes or a hush Faraj and and here's what I want you to know by chapter 3 through 8 we begin now the actual unfolding of a plot chapter three and four are about Haman plotting to destroy the Jews when Mordecai finds out about the plot basically in Chapter three what you're looking at are two agendas that are in conflict God was working a plan and so was the enemy there is a spiritual component behind the political and greedy politicians that are here there is a spiritual component so I want to see if you can see some of the key strategies on how it plays out with these two colliding one against the other there's an armed spiritual conflict going on all around you you were born into a spiritual battle so is Esther so was Mordecai I want you to notice in chapter three verse one that the battle was a lot greater than we often tell and the stakes are higher than we believe they are it simply says that King Ahaz Rajesh promoted this man by the name of Haman he was the son of Mohammed Atta the Agra gate and he advanced him and he established his authority over the princes who are with him now let me just say this there are some corollary truths the battle is greater than you think it is and before there was a Hitler there was a Haman this is a man who is elevated on the surface politically but spiritually for a purpose in other words he got a promotion and Satan signed off on it I want you to also know that from the standpoint of the Bible it is my belief that this battle that was going on behind had started generations before if you go back to exodus 17 you'll find out that when israel had come out of Egypt and they were at a time of resting they were attacked by a people called the Amalekites in Exodus 17 16 and the Lord said this the Lord has sworn the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation follow the line deuteronomy 25 when they got to the edge of coming into the land God said you shall blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven why am I talking about the Amalekites because Haman isn't a GOG II and a God was a king of the Amalekites and this fight started long before the book of Esther what's interesting to me is do you remember the story in 4 Samuel 15 Saul was told go and kill all the Amalekites all their sheep all their goats all their camels all the people who did he let survive a gog the king of the Amalekites who continued to have his harem until finally you find Samuel coming and saying Saul did you kill them all why yes I killed them all then what is the bleating of sheep on yonder hill that I hear oh well I saved the best but in the time period between the sacking of the Amalekites and the time where the Prophet himself has to hack the king to death a childís is conceived and there are a goggies that last all the way down into the book of Esther who come back to destroy all of the children of Israel why because God said I'll destroy all the children of a Malak this is a winner-take-all fight so when you step into this story you don't realize it's been going on for generations that literally Haman was not was not coming into this story without satanic help and without a long term revenge that's bigger than himself let me just say this in verses 2 through 6 of chapter 3 that the enemy is going to tip his hand you're going to know it's the enemy because there's going to be unethical behavior involved here it's going to be that verse two says that when the when Haman was at the Kings gate people would bow to pay homage Mordecai wouldn't bow verse five says Haman soul meet Mordecai neither bow down nor paid homage Haman was filled with rage verse 6 says that Haman sought to destroy all the Jews now stop right there does anybody else think that sounds like overkill you won't Bellamy I will wipe your race from the earth does that sound like the way a normal person would respond see the basis of his actions weren't just evil it was a hatred that came from the pit of hell itself and the revenge orientation that went on here the enemy resorts time after time to blaming a race to justify inhumane actions and they do it on the basis of they did it to us like that's an excuse that works beyond a two-year-old get down to verse seven and you see another fact the enemy is going to use self-made religious standards to convince workers that wrong is right and it says down here that that poor was the lots were cast from Haman from day to day months a month until the twelfth month what's going on here he's using a false religion a casting of dice or lots in order to decide when he should take action can I just say this this false Zoroastrian predictive system had a little bit of help from the spiritual dark world it wasn't just happenstance that had it fall where itself this guy said in a position by something going on behind the scenes this is bigger than you think now very quickly the rest of chapter three the enemy's fingerprints are all over the destructive work of what you're going to see in verse 8 Haman said to a hash Burroughs there's a certain people scattered and dispersed among the nation's and then he will characterize them without naming them verse 11 the King said to him and silver is yours the people also do with them as you please and the King scribes her summoned verse 13 says letters were written to couriers verse 15 ends with the city of Caen of Susa within confusion you see it the enemy throws these things and you see the bubbling of the confusion and the conspiracy going on in Chapter four Mordecai learns of this and he tears his clothes and verse one and he begins to fast here's the bottom line behind the physical and political world is a spiritual world bubbling it was going on before you were born it'll be going on after you're gone here's the reality there is a cosmic war and you're a part of it politics aren't all what they look like some people win and it has nothing to do with what's best for the country it has to do with what the spiritual moves on the chessboard that are being played you get the chapter four and here's the problem a lot of us can live in a spiritual battle but we live in the fog of a physical comfort so meanwhile back in the palace in Chapter four what we have is you have Mordecai in verse two standing outside the Kings gate in in sackcloth in verse 3 it says each and every province there was great mourning but what's interesting is inside the palace they're not hearing any of that see the the pleasured world the comfortable world of blessing often insulates us from the tears and the problems that are going on around this so in the fog we can be dulled into our own comfort so Esther's maidens start a came and told her that the Queen rides in great anguish and she sent garments to clothe Mordecai when she finds out Mordecai is walking in sackcloth and ashes but Esther doesn't know why why because she's living in the palace men and women we can live right in the middle of a spiritual battle and we're doing fine because we really didn't know there was a problem and that's where she's living what's interesting is she seems unaware of what's happening around her verse 6 says that hatak went out to Mordecai and started to carry a message out he also gave a copy of the text of the edict that he might show it to Esther and warmer and verse 8 so now it sounds like some words are starting to get in front of Esther she's starting to understand that there's a problem what's interesting to me is that instead of a radical response to the need we can easily form our appropriate response Mordecai says look we're going to die here you got to do something what are her words in verse 11 what you need to understand I haven't been summoned before the king it would be inappropriate for me to go Mordecai is gone the place is on fire out here you're worried about appropriate because what happens when we're distanced from the reality of the problem is we're thinking about what's going to you know be appropriate not what's absolutely necessary why abide prophets are bound to tell us to be sold out but that sounds so extreme to the privileged child and so here she is now what's interesting is God it comes at the crossroad of the crisis after had 12 months to prepare for her first meeting with the king six months of oil six months of perfumes but today she really needed to meet the king for her destiny she had no time to think about it and now was the time she had she calls and she says she's struggling inside verse 13 of chapter 4 Mordecai told them to reply to Esther do not imagine that you and the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews if you remain silent at this time relief and deliverance will arise from the Jews from another place that's the climax of the book right there get a clue Missy things are going badly out here and if you don't grab on you're in trouble now Esther was beautiful on the outside that's established but it wasn't until her eyes were open to the battle and fish we see the extent of her inner beauty Esther gave a reply in verse 15 a change of heart was all that needed for her to engage God's will go assemble the Jews fast for me don't eat or drink night or day if I perish I perish verse 16 verse 17 Mordechai went away and did just as Esther had commanded it's interesting although the name of God is absent from the book the fingerprints of God are all over her heart so you get to chapter 5 and in chapters 5 and 6 you see her go and make a request God's working behind the scenes to move Xerxes to elevate Mordecai and expose the evil of Haman and this thing that's going to kill the Jews this plot that's been formed against them what's interesting to me is in the first eight verses Esther's request in Chapter five then Haman's request is nine through 14 and then God's intervention is the first part of chapter six six one through nine look at how she comes her request was rooted in some latent recognition of God's control and for 14 it had already said deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place that's what Mordecai told her get on board with doing this or God will have to use somebody else there's obviously in her sense of the situation she's quivering a little bit over what she has to do in chapter 5 verse 1 God required involvement not distance so Esther put on her royal robe and stood in the inner court it's interesting cuz in verse 2 God expected caution not presumption and so it says Esther came near and touched the top of the scepter but she took the time to get ready she perceived how important her approach to the King to talk to him about this plot was I think what's interesting to me is as I continue to read in state verses 3 & 4 of chapter 5 that God wanted a direct encounter not oblique Esther prudently wanted the enemies man Haman to be in the room when she brings out all of this so what is your request Esther verse 3 if it pleases the King let him call Haman it's interesting she gets the King on board with helping her to get everybody in the room and she gets him there in verse 5 Haman quickly came to do that we may do as Esther desires what I think is in interesting is that she is timing herself very well timing really is everything and she delays her request until she sees whether the king is in fact on board with helping her and I think that you see that in verses six through six through eight now look at verse nine you get to Haman's request Haman went out that day glad and pleased of heart you know what's interesting to me unbelievers live in the happiness of the now their whole life is about is it going well are the circumstances good I find that the world focuses on recognition it's interesting it says that that he he was so upset Haman saw Mordecai in the Kings gate and he did not stand up or tremble before him listen you're having dinner with a king and queen you'd think that'd be enough to get you going and get your juices going for the day you got to have everybody stand when you walk through oh my how many of you like me get sick of the ego battles with people I'm your world leader for crying out loud get over your ego what I think is interesting is that the world views success by the wrong standard Haman comes in and he starts sharing with his wife what what's happening even Esther the Queen let no one but me come with the King to the banquet you know the world measures success by wealth and celebrity and recognition those are all very short-term things what I find interesting is God intervenes in Chapter six and how did he do it Esther has gone in she's done everything she can she's had a dinner with him and she's spending time with with the king she's trying to break the news to him and she needs a little help in God's hand to the unbelieving I would look like coincidence meanwhile God gives the King royal insomnia and he works in the stillness in verse one the King could not sleep so he said bring me some records but not only that God worked through surrender can you imagine this God directs the hands of the servant right to the right bin with the right scroll of the right memory of what Mordecai had done years before God had more weapons in his arsenal than the people could even perceive so they're in the middle of the night the King says what honor or dignity was disposed to bestowed on Mordecai because of what he did you know what God works through your testimony Mordecai had a long-standing testimony that didn't need to be paid back that day and as a result when God wanted to use him he could pull the trigger on a testimony that was intact it's interesting how God worked covertly nothing's been done for him the Kings reaching his own conclusions or is he he's reaching his own conclusions when God set up his reading schedule in the middle of the night he's reaching his own conclusions when God is hand feeding him interestingly enough - God works through the enemy's mouth if you go from chapter 6 verse 4 all the way down to to verse 9 he sits down the King sits down and has an interview with Haman and says how do I honor somebody I really want to honor and right out of Hammonds mouth he sets up what God is going to do for Mordecai not for him well you get to chapter 6 verse 10 through chapter 7 verse 10 and I want you to see something God is working sovereignly because his arsenal includes orchestrated insomnia it includes having the right books on the nightstand it includes having the right people in the hallway it includes dealing with our the heart of an arrogant person to pronounce their own doom it is it God has all of these things ready at his disposal look at verse 11 6:11 says Haman took the robe and the horse and arrayed Mordecai here's what I want you to know when you feel like he were abandoned by God you weren't when you think the counselors can be gathered together to hold back God's will they can't in verse 12 Haman harried home in morning with his head covered recounted the darish his wife and all his friends everything that happened to him darish his wife says if Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall as a Jewish origin you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him guys only a fool believes you collect can collect counsel against God you can't do it and the people that Haman collected together including his wife offered advice to build gallows before securing the Kings permission for an execution that seemed very prudent and it was inherently wrong remember there's a way that seems right to a man what are the ends thereof the ways of death 6:14 says if you think you will choose the time you're going to face God's judgment you're wrong it says at the end of verse 14 they hastily brought Haman to the banquet after had prepared one of the great ploys of the enemy is to convince people that they can somehow handle or control events that will keep them from harm how do I know this I used to do some counseling in a prison and virtually everybody there thought they could get away with it if you think you can talk your way out of judgment by the way chapter sevens for you you can't verse seven says the king arose and his anger from drinking wine and went into the palace garden but Haman stayed there to beg for his life from Queen Esther some people think they can talk their way out of that everything but here's the truth if you think your actions to challenge God have been ignored they have not I'm reading chapter seven at the end of verse nine that says the King said hang him on that so they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai and the Kings anger subsided Haman god is payment in this life but that doesn't always happen does it sometimes people do evil and it looks like they got away with it I would remind you of Hebrews 9:27 it is appointed unto man wants to die and then the judgment I would remind you of proverbs 14 there's a way which seems right to a man but the end is the way of death you can't discern spiritual realities by looking at the physical world alone but if you look closely in chapter 6 and 7 you'll see God all over in the background pulling the string from everything from insomnia to putting the right guy in the hallway now as you move forward take a look at Esther chapter 8 and what you'll find is that the plot against the Jews is turned into an opportunity for the advancement of God's people there's going to be a turnabout happening in Chapter eight and then the celebration in Chapter nine and ten and one of the things we have to learn when we open up chapter eight is how to create conditions for God's blessing and so you notice that chapter eight verse one says on that day well when did God act on behalf of his people it was only after Esther lived out practically what she was supposed to be living out and disclosed openly her identity it's important for us to understand that when she identified with her people and she walked with a knowledge of what was their best good and kept that in mind that she created a platform for God then to work through her and God worked through the people when they worked together when they decided to coordinate because standing together build strength and standing apart has little or no influence in its wake now if you keep reading chapter eight verse one you have to also understand the nature of God's blessing so King Ahaz faroush gave the house of Haman the enemy of the Jews to Queen Esther and when you look at the verses in verse one until you find out that God gave assets God gave greater Authority so that Mordecai could now come before the king God gave influence of God's people and all of that happened as he begins to turn the narrative to use what what Haman plotted against the Jews in order to bless the Jewish people in verse 2 it says that that Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman and it's interesting because Esther was given the choice as to how God was going to use the blessing and the and the giving of the assets she was given the choice and she put it in the hands of mature of a mature one Mordecai because mature people will get out in front of the influence of what God's blessing is and helped push it forward she absolutely focuses on what God is doing and blessing the people and if you read chapter 8 much of chapter 8 like verses three four or five six that she speaks to the king she falls on a tour to his feet she tries to avert the evil scheme and she says how can I endure in verse six such a calamity that will befall my people when God's people are given protection and position like Esther was given that grace was extended to care for God's bigger agenda and she helps and steps into that role people are about to suffer calamity and that gripped her heart because you don't take action until the passion grips your heart for what God wants to do with his people I noticed that in verses 7 & 8 there was also a sense of building up unity the King turns and says look I gave you the house of Haman already to do what you want verse 8 says now you write to the Jews as you see fit and Esther steps into the role now of actually gathering the people in unity the world doesn't have the ability to undo the moral messes it's creating by its fallen use of power what she has the opportunity to do is get god's people united because one string isn't strong but many strings together make a chord one nail isn't strong but many melted together can make a mallet and she's going to create a sense of unity look at the tools that they used in chapter 8 verse 9 they use the king's scribes they used commanding Mordecai commanded in verse 9 the Jews say traps governors princes they did it according to their own language of all 127 provinces in verse 10 you see down in verse 13 that a copy of the edict was issued to all of the provinces and that in verse 14 the court couriers hastened and impelled the king's command so they used the network of the connection tools that were already set up they work through the channels of existing leadership and they did all that to bring about the blessing to God's people the promises of God are backed by the person of God and so what they were doing was taking those those refuge statements that would help the Jews actually turn this thing around and using the power of God to do it through the channels that were available I would say at the very end of chapter 8 it's also worth noting that Mordechai verse 15 went out in the presence of the king and royal robes of blue and white verse 17 says in every province in each and every city where the Kings commandment is decree arrived there was gladness and joy for the Jews there was even dread for the Jews the dread for the Jews that had fallen on the people and you read the end of chapter 8 and you see that there's an outward show of honor there's rejoicing of God's people and there's respect for God's people so he uses even the defeat of the world to advance his kingdom but not until they were ready to stand together and take his promises seriously we get to the final section of the book in chapters 9 and 10 and in that final section there's a remembrance there's pouring the word for Lots 815 217 already started this the idea of a celebration but there's there's a story that no one in this territories saw coming no one in the hundred and twenty seven provinces expected to get word that Jews were going to be able to defend themselves in the story and what's interesting is there was a con that went on in the mind of Haman and in the mind of people that wanted to do damage to God's people the con that went on was they based their thinking on their own intelligence and they thought that they could win evil could win by the way the same con exists today there's a sense that evil is somehow winning in history the enemy thinks he's in control and he's so smart he's outwitted the Creator but chapter 9 1 all the way to 10 3 tell the story about a turn about let me just give you very quickly a couple ideas about how that turn about came about and as you begin in chapter 9 verse 1 and you see that God's patience will leave people believing it's not going to happen so what you see is in 9 1 that the Kings command an edict we're about to be executed on the day when the enemy of the Jews hope to gain a mastery over them but it was turned to the contrary God did a turn about what's interesting is if you notice in the beginning of chapter 9 it's all the way into the eleventh hour it's all way into the time when it's about to be executed and God does this 11th hour solution he waits until the end and the important thing to remember is you don't believe that because God God hasn't judged something yet he won't judge it God is incredibly patient and his patience trick those who don't believe his word into believing he's not going to judge I would also remind you that the end of verse 1 it was turned to the contrary if God's purposes will transform the landscape in profound ways that the word turned is a Hoffa and Hoffa is actually the idea of a replacement or a turnabout it's often associated with something that couldn't happen if God didn't step into it just remember that God is the one who can step into a situation and turn it in verses 2 and 3 of chapter 9 I noticed that God's purposes were reflected when the people were in harmony and unity and it's interesting because the Jews assembled in verse 2 no one could stand before them and averse to those who were doing the King's business assisted the Jews it's interesting when people came together when God's people came together to do what look like would be the best rescue for them God then brought off the bench a team that was bigger than they knew was there and all of a sudden people began to defend them even though the month before would never have thought that way I think it's important for us to understand that God brings resources that are unexpected to aid desperate people who are dependent on him you read the rest of chapter 9 and you'll see that God bestowed honor and verse 4 on Mordecai in the king's house and that he struck all the enemies in verse 5 and that notice in verses 5 through 16 that that when the Jews got the chance it says in verse verse 6 that the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men in Susa now notice in verse 10 they did not lay their hands on plunder verse 15 they did not lay their hands on plunder verse 16 they did not lay their hands on plunder in other words when God gave them the privilege to defend themselves they didn't abuse the privilege and turn it around in a way that showed read I think when you're wrapping up the end of chapter 9 you'll you'll notice very carefully that God knows the exact terms for success in his objectives so it's interesting verse 17 says that there was feasting and rejoicing in verse 18 the Jews who are in Susa assembled on the 13th and the 14th and the rest on the fifteenth and so what you have is the establishment of Perrine Jews outside the capital had but one day of killing to secure their own people and those in Susa had more time and what you see is that God knew exactly what he was judging the success of the mission to be wrap up the end of the book and here's what you'll see that God will triumph and his people were will see his triumph clearly he's going to bring about a victory even though it's not going to look like he's bringing about a victory here's what I'm trying to say this book ends with this stunning model evil will wax worse and worse it'll look like they're winning and then God will turn it about on the last hour we should take and be hardened to a certain amount of solace from that God is in the job of turning things that look like they're broken beyond repair and setting them a right in my view that'll happen when a trumpet sounds in my view that'll happen when the King comes to set people free the nations will see him let me just suggest to you that the book of Esther is God's salvation of the Jewish people but it's also a template or a model for how evil can look like it's coming to its final fruition and just at the hour it believes it has one God will break through the clouds and change the conditions the book of Esther [Music] I don't have [Music] you

Channel: One Hour. One Book.

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Keywords: GCBI, Dr. Randy Smith, Bible teaching, Bible class, Hebrew, Greek

Id: m0mwO3aOswc

Length: 57min 52sec (3472 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 04 2017