The Unseen Hand of God

the following message by aleister begg is made available by truth for life for more information visit us online at truthforlife.org our reading this morning is from the book of esther and chapter 6 and in our church bibles you'll find that reading on page four hundred and thirteen page four one three esther chapter six let's read from the 14th verse of chapter 5. then his wife zeresh and all his friends said to him that is to haman let a gallows 50 cubits high be made and in the morning tell the king to have mordecai hanged upon it then go joyfully with the king to the feast this idea pleased haman and he had the gallows made on that night the king could not sleep and he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds the chronicles and they were read before the king and it was found written how mordecai had told about bigtana and teresh two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the threshold and who had sought to lay hands on king eswaras and the king said what honor or distinction has been bestowed on mordecai for this the king's young men who attended him said nothing has been done for him and the king said who is in the court now haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to speak to the king about having mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him and the king's young man told him haman is there standing in the court and the king said let him come in so haman came in and the king said to him what should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor and haman said to himself whom will the king delight to honor more than me and haman said to the king for the man whom the king delights to honor let royal robes be brought which the king has worn and the horse that the king has ridden and on whose head a royal crown is set and let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble officials let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor and let them lead him on the horse through the square of the city proclaiming 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 robes and the horse as you have said and do so to mordecai the jew who sits at the king's gate leave out nothing that you have mentioned so haman took the robes and the horse and he dressed mordecai and led him through the square of the city proclaiming before him thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor then mordecai returned to the king's gate but haman hurried to his house mourning and with his head covered and haman told his wife zarish and all his friends everything that had happened to him then his wise man and his wife zeri said to him if mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is one of the jewish people you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him while they were yet talking with him the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring him into the feast that esther had prepared so the king and haman went into the feast with queen esther and we leave the story there for now let's pray together thank you father for the reminder this morning that the part of the work of the holy spirit is to help us to understand the bible so we pray for that help now in jesus name amen while we say to one another don't we the early bird catches the worm there's great advantages in getting up early in the morning those of us who were here early this morning or up early i had the benefit of seeing that wonderful sunrise others will only be able to know about it because we're telling you now and it would appear that a haman worked on a very similar principle he was up early in the morning so that he might be promptly in the court of the king after all his wife and his friends had given him such a good suggestion the previous evening why not build a gallows and kill mordecai the jew he's such a nuisance to you and then once you've killed him then you can go to the second banquet feast that esther has prepared and that really then was the strategy in the morning with which haman had awakened little did he know what was waiting for him it's a reminder of what solomon says in proverbs 10 the hope of the righteous brings joy but the expectation of the wicked will perish the hope of the righteous those who are in a right standing with god the hope of the righteous will bring joy to them but the expectation of the wicked will perish now it's not just solomon that says that we find it all the way through the bible in fact the book of psalms opens with a very similar theme doesn't it blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of the scoffers and then the psalmist says this is what this man will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water and his uh life will prosper and then he says but the wicked are not so because they're like the chaff that the wind drives away therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous there's a sort of prevailing notion amongst contemporary america that death is the great equalizer you know no matter what you've really believed or what your convictions have been or what you've done or what you haven't done don't worry about it because all bets are off as long as you die and when you die it'll all be evened out the bible says no no the expectation of the wicked should only be that of destruction it is the righteous to look forward to discovering that in god's presence there is fullness of joy and at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore that's what makes everything so unbelievably solemn now in the sixth chapter we are arguably at the most ironically comic section of the entire bible not just the entire old testament this is a comic tragic picture this i think shakespeare probably knew this passage and borrowed from it in the way he introduced many of the scenes that we find in shakespeare's plays usually his his sad plays his tragedies and it confirms what we have noticed namely that the book of esther is a book of wonders without any obvious miracles there's nothing that you come to and you go well that's a dramatic thing you don't have the crossing of the red sea you don't have some dramatic intervention everything ticks along fairly steadily and in these little bits and pieces decisions and so on it becomes increasingly obvious to the reader that behind all of this coincidental activity there is a higher hand that beyond the throne of ahaz there is as we often sing a higher throne than all this world has known and i hope that you have been fastening on the fact as i've been trying to that even the most casual events that take place in our world are actually connected to god's purpose for his people from all of eternity that things that are apparently inconsequential are appointed by him and directed by him in order to achieve his purposes even the sinful activities of those who are involved so for example when we think about the role of these two characters who are mentioned here again uh big fana most unfortunate name and terrish maybe big fam maybe there was a a small thana as well as a big fan of but anyway i don't recommend that as a name and uh but but when we're reminded of them here in chapter six it takes us back to the end of chapter two and what had taken place there here were two individuals whose job was to ensure the custody and safety of king aheris they decided that they would subvert that and that they would assassinate the king now let me ask you a question do you think that big thana and teresh sat down one morning and said let's fulfill the eternal counsels of god from all of eternity let's do something that will set forward the purposes that god has had from all of eternity no they didn't do that they said let's kill the king they were solely responsible for the idea they were solely culpable for their wicked intentions so what a mystery it is that god brings about events in the fulfillment of his purpose through the freedom and the sins of men and women you see you have immediately gone wrong if you read your bible and read the events of life in terms of a a duality in the universe where you have god on the one side and the devil on the other and every time something good happens to you it happens as a result of god one one and every time something bad happens to you it means the devil won one no not for a moment and the book of esther is making that clear now all i would like to do this morning is follow the story line so let's notice first of all that the king couldn't sleep the king couldn't sleep now keep in mind that the king was unaware of haman's plot and he couldn't sleep on that night that's important on that night the king could not sleep think about it it wouldn't have mattered if he couldn't sleep the following night if he was going to be awake this was the night to be awake because this was the night where haman couldn't wait to get up in the morning to come to the king who presently can't sleep to make sure that mordecai is hanged on the gallows on that night the king couldn't sleep god is at work in the tiny details and of all that he might have done given that he couldn't sleep look what he chooses to do he gave orders not to bring one of his harem he had plenty of girls available to him to help him get back to sleep or amuse him in the night if old king cole was a merry old soul and could call for his pipe in the middle of the night then this fella had plenty of options as to what he might do either to induce sleep or having decided that he wasn't going to sleep to enjoy being awake but of all the choices that he makes he says why don't you bring the book of the chronicles the things that record the minute book as it wear of his kingdom for whatever reason either as a means of encouragement or because he wants to catch up on events which he has not paid particular attention to so they bring the book what are the chances of them bringing this book and of reading this part the part about mordecai because think about it mordecai is asleep i mean i assume he's asleep he's not mentioned during the night you're supposed to sleep and mordechai is the one who should be awake if anybody should be awake he should be the one with the threat of death hanging over his head the one who when he awakens in the morning he's going to be hanged on a gallows 75 cubits high he's the fellow who shouldn't be able to sleep but apparently he's sound asleep because he's unaware of his doom he's unaware of the fact furthermore mordecai had no means of intervening to save himself he didn't know what awaited him and if he'd known he couldn't have fixed it so how does god plan on fixing it he's going to use a pagan king he's going to use the sleeplessness of a pagan king who when he wakes up says bring the book and when they read the book they read from the section that contains the part about mordecai who had been the one responsible for intervening when ahazuris the insomniac was going to get clobbered by big thana and teresh and so the king says what honor or distinction has been given to mordecai the jew what did we do for it now behind that of course is the whole persian gesture whereby the authority and the magnificence of a persian king would be seen not simply in his entourage or his palace or his enthronement but would be seen in the spirit of generosity with which he rewarded those who'd been good to him and so he says what did we do for mordecai and you'll notice what the answer is they said to him we haven't done we haven't done anything for mordecai the king's young man who attended him said nothing has been done for him now here's just a thought in passing we're never told what mordecai thought at the end of chapter two after he'd done what he'd done he had prevented the assassination of the king but he hadn't been honored do you think he felt hard done by i wonder did he say to his wife you know you think you'd at least get a note i mean i wasn't looking for a for a gift certificate or anything but you know the the king was going to be assassinated i tipped him the nord through esther and there's i've never heard a word from him and eventually time had gone by it's some four years almost five years since the events of chapter 2 he's been overlooked the thing that he did that was so significant nobody apparently cares about it not least of all the king who was the beneficiary of what he did well we've been overlooked too haven't we or we've said to ourselves you know i deserve better than this why am i not getting what i deserve if anybody had just even a plausible perspective on what i've done they would they would say something but nothing has been said we have to learn to do what is right because it is right whether we're honored or whether we're not on it whether remembered or whether we're never remembered because the fact of the matter is that one day all the scales will be reset one day honor will be given where honor is due one day the cups of cold water that no one has paid attention to the kindnesses that no one has apparently received with a spirit of thankfulness all of that will be settled but no we just need to learn to do what is right and god's timing is always perfect because god is never in a hurry there's a lot of hurry up in chapter 6 but it's not the hurry up of god it's the hurry up of humanity god is never in a hurry as for god his way is perfect i wonder do you believe that not when the band is playing and the sun is shining but when that which we've done which we think is deserving of honor and acclaim is largely if not entirely ignored the king couldn't sleep secondly we're told that the king sought advice he sought advice we know this he has done this from the very beginning he in a moment of peak banishes his queen vashti he then doesn't sure what to do his advisors come up with a beauty pageant and so it goes on from there you can rehearse it all yourself and so it's no surprise to us that uh when he discovers that nothing has been done his first response is to say well who is in the court that can actually help me with this kind of thing that seems to be the inference doesn't it and the king said who is in the court two questions in a row what has been done nothing who's in the court now we're told now haman had just entered the outer court of the king right okay i should really have an organ plane up here behind me but that was no i shouldn't i shouldn't that was just foolishness so i imagine haman gets up in the morning he says to his wife you know i want to get an early start as early as possible please don't don't do eggs i'll just get an orange juice on my way out the door because i want to get i want to get as whereas before anything else happens i want to make sure that i get to him so that i can tell him let's get mordechai hanged on the gallows then we'll have a wonderful evening at the feast well little does he know as he makes his way there to the outer court of the king that the king is also wanting to talk about what is to be done to mordecai so they are both wanting to do something to mordecai so they woke up singing when i woke up this morning you were on my mind remember that song 1964. when i wake up sorry for those of you who were born earlier when i woke up this morning you were on my mind who was on their mind both of them had mordecai on their mind it's remarkable isn't it if the king hadn't been kept from sleep if the book had not been read if the conspiracy within the book had not been referenced then mordecai would have been on his way to the gallows if the king had asked the question he then asked differently than mordecai would have been a dead man look look what he says and uh and haman is there standing in the court verse 5 and the king said let him come in so haman came in and the king said to him look at how he asked the question what should be done to the man he doesn't say what should be done to mordecai if he had said what should be done to mordecai remember his mordecai that he has on his mind he's asked what has been done for mordecai they said nothing's been done for mordecai i said then we need to do something for mordecai who's in the court haman's in the court bring him in haman what should be done for the man whom the king delights to honor if he'd said what it should be done to mordecai haman would have said i'm glad you asked i couldn't get up fast enough this morning because i'll tell you what should be done to mordecai he should be hanged on the gallows that we have prepared once again we see that god's purpose is brought about by those whose only view is to fulfill their own purpose do you get that the purpose of god is brought about by those who are always seeking to fulfill their own purpose you see when you read this story it becomes apparent that god had a plan for the deliverance of his people even though the enemies had a plan for the destruction of the people isn't that right isn't that what we see in the unseen hand of god that the the longer we read this book the more we realize that the the the activity of god is unmistakable in this and that god has a plan for his people that he has sought to execute long before this particular threat to the welfare of his people has unfolded now this should be no surprise to us gold's worthy in his gospel-centered hermeneutics has a wonderful sentence or two that i wrote down years ago this is what he says history is not the story of god's trial of something good that failed thus requiring him to come up with an emergency package as an afterthought god's ultimate creation plan was not adam and eve in eden but christ in the gospel god's ultimate creation plan was not adam and eve but christ and the gospel remember mary mistook jesus for the gardener it's a remarkable thought isn't it and it helps us so that we don't think somehow or another that god looks over the parapet of heaven as it were and says to himself dear dear what am i going to do now this thing is going to get completely out of control no it's not nothing is out of control and nothing will be out of control the hymn writer puts it oh loving wisdom of our god when all with sin and shame a second adam to the fight and to the rescue came god planned that what should be done for the man whom the king delights to honor the king couldn't sleep the king has advice thirdly we're told of haman's miscalculation and what a miscalculation it is notice how it begins and haman said to himself haman said to himself a man wise in his own eyes there's more hope for a fool that's what we saw last time and so haman is proud and he's presumptuous when you're proud and somebody says you know what should be done for the man that the king wants to honor and you think there's nobody in the world that he would want to honor more than me you're going to immediately assume that this must be some special package that he's put together for you and that's exactly what he thinks and so he outlines a plan for the exaltation of the man not with anyone else in mind other than himself and it's there in verses what seven eight and nine we didn't rehearse it again but it is it's quite remarkable isn't it he takes it right down to the details not only is he going to be dressed properly he's going to ride a royal steed that is marked by the insignia of a royal crown but he's going to have somebody walk in front into the square announcing the fact if anybody would like to know the kind of thing that the king does for those that he honors here's an illustration of it right now and here we've got to hurry up verse 10. then the king said to him and hurry hurry well him and eamonn had woken up hurrying he was in a hurry when he woke up he'd be in a hurry when he went to his bed so no problem for him to hurry now and if you if if you ever imagine you know we think do we talk about somebody's jaw dropping you know this is the great jaw dropping of the bible as far as i'm concerned and it's made all the more ironic by the way in which the king doesn't use mordecai's name until deep into the instruction do you see that hurry take the robes got the robes and the horse lovely horse as you have said good idea haman and do so to mordecai the jew who sits at the king's gate are you kidding me i know mordecai the jew of course never pays homage to me never stands up when i walk by mordecai the jew how do you think that felt for him no no eggs just take orange juice i'm going to go and hang mordecai if he called his wife on his cell phone he said hey you're never going to believe this why what are you doing well i'm walking through the public square actually if you're out shopping you might even see me what are you walking through the public square for well i've got mordecai on a horse why do you have mordecai on a horse he's supposed to be on the gallows no no there's been a big change a big big change it's gone all pear-shaped i mean the thing is a mess i mean i hang on a minute i've got to shout again this is what is done for the man i'll get back to you in a minute hang on oh watch the horse would you watch the horse please yeah you know what we'll talk when we get home bye thanks we're good done he didn't get up early in the morning to honor mordecai he got up early in the morning to hang mordecai do you think they talked to one another during this little episode what a parade what a picture what a performance i if i was mordecai i don't know if i could have kept quiet right no shout it again hey man i love it when you do that go ahead no now go to that thing about what does the king give to the one he wants to honor i love that do it again i can't imagine what haman was saying the king can't sleep the king asked for advice hayman's dreadful miscalculation and finally haman's fall is predicted verse 12 then mordecai returned to the king's gate i'm sure there's more in that than we have time to deal with right now there's a sense in which the sort of humility and normalcy of the existence of mordecai is established just in that single sentence then mordecai went back to the king's gate he in other words he didn't do what haman had done obviously you know heyman when he came from banquet number one couldn't wait to get home to blow his trumpet to tell everybody you know how significant he was that he was the key guy for the king that he was the only person that esther had invited to the feast and so on his whole head could he could hardly get in his bedroom for the size of his head mordecai is paraded through the town an unsought parade an unsought enthronement an unsought journey on a horse and he just went back sat down where he'd always sat something about routine isn't there there's something about just faithfulness there's something about just doing what we do doesn't seem like much i do the funeral of elderly grandparents and they always tell me the kid the kids and the grandchildren always tell me you know he always did this he was always there he used to sit here this is where his bible was mordecai went back to the king's gate how different for haman who's hurrying again he hurried to his house course he hurried to his house he didn't want anyone to see him he covered his face like an arrested person trying to shield himself from the gaze of the television cameras he's a picture of mourning and disappointment and pain and now he goes back to the same group of friends to his wife zarish and his friends and he told them everything that happened well they've changed their children pretty quickly haven't they the end of chapter five whoa i'll tell you what to do let's just build a gallows and hang the guy he comes back and tells them this and they say well don't look at us we don't know what to do in fact the purposes of god will be fulfilled for his people we've understood that we've learned that along the way and if this is mordecai the jew before whom you have begun to fall frankly your destiny is written well that's really the end of it let me just make one or two observations before we sing a final hymn observation number one surely as we pay attention to this we are reminded that we need to trust god in the matters of timing and in the matters of apparent delay remember god is never in a hurry god's time is the right time mordecai might have had reason to think well this would be a good time for them to have a party for me after four years has gone by now but god knew exactly what he was doing kidnapper in his little commentary on the psalms says all of god's delays are maturings either of the time or of the man so for example in psalm 119 the psalmist says before i was afflicted i went astray but now i keep your word who likes affliction who likes losing your job who likes the pain of partying before i was afflicted i just went my own way but now i listen to your word times have changed trust god in the matter of timing and details secondly don't let's miss his hand in the details in the details some of us do not enjoy god in the way that we might because we've got some kind of expectation that is neither realistic nor biblical or any other thing if god was really god and he really loved me and really blessed me then this would happen and that would happen and the next thing happened hey listen did you sleep through the night did he awaken you today is your double circulatory system at work right now creating oxygenated and deoxygenated blood do you have renal function do you have neurological function can you blink your eyes can you say hello can you kiss your wife can you hug your kids what else do you want don't miss god in the tiny things in the tiny things the reason that some of us live impoverished lives is because we have decided what it would be really like if god were to step forward at the time that we've decided and to do what we believe is right for us to receive if it is going to be a representation of our status and our standing thirdly let us in light of this truth bring all our doubts and all our fears and all our disappointments whether it's our children or our future our employment or our lack of it or whatever it is just bring it all underneath this overarching truth which is as we began the entire series to keep reminding ourselves of the fact that god has an ultimate purpose that paul says in ephesians 1 has been set forth in christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him things in heaven and things on the earth for from him and for him and to him are all things that changes the sunday changes on monday changes the way we view things i was sure that the verse was there but i had to go and check the verse i had in mind was romans chapter 5 where paul having outlined the condition of man and the provision of god in the condition of man is in being in rebellion against god in romans chapter 5 for while we were still weak here's the phrase at the right time at the right time christ died for the ungodly god is not in a hurry he's never late but here's the issue let me end where i began the righteous of every reason to look joyfully forward even through tears pain disappointment and regret the expectations of the wicked have no such joy to look forward to haman unwillingly declared mordecai's honor he wasn't happy about it and the bible says that on that day when every knee will bow before jesus christ and declare him to be lord some will bow unwillingly some will bow rejoicing in their understanding of jesus others will bow with great cries of anguish we sing it in our hymn don't we a shout of joy a cry of anguish as christ returns and every knee bows low can i say to you can i urge upon you this fact that you and i will stand before god we will bow before christ either with great joy in the reality in its fullness of having discovered him to be a savior and a friend or we will cry out in anguish before him the bible says so so would you not will you not come bow before him now bow before him in right of his love and of his kindness because here is a king who is stripped in order that we might be robed here is a king who is wounded in order that we might be healed who is forsaken in order that we might be forgiven here is a king who wears a crown of thorns so that we can wear a crown that will never perish or fade away is this not good news are you going to live in your rags forever the rags of your religious see the rags of your good works the rags of your well i'm not as bad as the others see our next door neighbor the rags of whatever it might be or the rags of your sinful sadness clutching them to yourself with no hope for today and only fear for tomorrow and the love of god towards you in jesus would draw you to himself that's what this is all about at the end of the day can i ask you have you ever exchanged your rags for a robe you may today you just say jesus look i've been work i've been wearing this stuff and resting in this stuff and i am i'm giving it to you now i know you promised me a rope i don't deserve a rule but i'll i'll take it if you're giving it you ever done that that's what it means to be converted that's what it means to be saved that's what it means to be born again that's what it means to become a christian well i leave it with you but i have one final thought the focus here is all on these people right we've got mordecai we've got hammond we've got king as where's we've got various people so the the camera angle is in really narrow meanwhile life is going on in the community right people are getting up they're going to their work they're meeting each other for the equivalent of coffee they're talking about the news and somebody's sister's friend do you think anybody knows what's going on in this kingdom his friend said what are you talking about he says well i read the newspaper it seems like total chaos to me i mean take the king for example it's not a few months since the headline in the local newspaper and fire was throughout the entire kingdom and said we're going to annihilate the entire population of the jews but did you see the little article on page two yesterday his friend says no what was that well mordecai you know the wee guy that sits at the king's gate apparently he he was riding all around the place on a on the king's horse dressed up and the kid the horse had a crown on and his friend says what's that all about oh and let me tell you something else haman you know the guy with the big head and the big mouth haman he was leading him around and apparently mordecai is the new man mordecai is exalted but wait a minute i thought you said the jews were to be annihilated yeah that's right and mordecai the jew is exalted does anybody know what's going on around here the guy says well you know what i'm going to tell you something that king is a vacillator one minute he says this the next minute he says that i don't know if he even has a plan i don't even know if the plan is workable i don't even know if he's competent for the job i don't know what is going to happen to us in this place it's got a real contemporary ring to it doesn't it what is the answer the answers right here in the book of esther to acknowledge that god knows exactly what he's doing the exalts who he chooses to exalt he uses the freedoms the foolishness the sins of our feeble humanity in order to bring about his plan from all of eternity so that all things may be united in heaven and under heaven on the earth and under the earth i wonder do you believe that do you believe that in a way that you just believe it for yourself in your own car in your own bedroom just trust in god i hope so and i hope if you don't that god in his mercy will spare you for another day so that if you hear his voice you won't harden your heart let us pray oh god our father look upon us in your grace and kindness we pray you know us grant to us the enabling of the holy spirit so that our hard hearts may be softened and our dull eyes may be able to see and help us to bow down underneath your sovereign rule acknowledging you to be a good god entirely reliable even through our sadness and our disappointment our shortcomings and our rebellions for we pray in your son's name amen this message was brought to you from truth for life where the learning is for living to learn more about truth for life with alistair begg visit us online at truthforlife.org you

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 45,200

Rating: 4.8792315 out of 5

Keywords: Biblical Figures, Faithfulness of God, Redemptive History, Sovereignty of God

Id: TxPHyXGs6sA

Length: 41min 39sec (2499 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 28 2021