Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Philippians 3. It’s strange for you (I’m sure) not to hear me say Esther. It was certainly odd for me, as well.
If you’re visiting with us today, we just finished a 3-month study of the book of Esther, and today we’re hopping over to Philippians. Next week, there won’t be a sermon – at least not a preached one – although I pray that you might receive God’s Word as the choir performs their Easter music. Then, on Easter Sunday, we’ll be in another one of Paul’s letters: 1 Corinthians 15. And we’ll end the month of April in another one of Paul’s epistles, either Galatians or Colossians.
Hopefully, you’ve all found your spot in Philippians 3. Yes? Or you can follow along on the screens. We’ll read the first 11 verses:
1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.
2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh – 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
“Father, we pray now that you will come by the Holy Spirit and teach us from the Bible – that You will make the Book live to us, O Lord; that You will show us Yourself within Your Word, that You will show us ourselves, and show us our need for the Savior. Make the Book live to us. For Jesus’ sake we ask it. Amen.” (Hudson Pope, paraphrased)
Well, as I said earlier, it’s been a while since we’ve read anything that wasn’t situated in 5th century B.C., and wasn’t located in Susa – the capital of the Persian Empire. So, before we consider the text, let me begin by very quickly recalibrating our minds to the context of the letter.
Of course, the apostle Paul is writing this letter and he’s writing it from his prison cell in Rome. He’s writing to the church in Philippi. You might recall that Paul, Timothy, and Silas first visited Philippi during Paul’s second missionary journey. It was in Philippi where Lydia was converted. She was a dealer of purple fabrics. Rather apropos for today, right? It’s also where the group cast out a demon from a slave girl. That little act got them thrown in prison. They were worshipping and praying, and near midnight there was an earthquake that opened the doors of the prison, and the Philippian jailer and his family accepted Jesus.
Well, it’s probably this little collection of believers that eventually became the church that met in Lydia’s house, and that’s who Paul is writing to. His reason for writing is to express thanksgiving for their generous financial gift, but also to address some of their practical problems – and one of those problems was the teaching and influence of the Judaizers. That’s who Paul refers to as “dogs, evildoers, and mutilators of the flesh” in verse 2. They were Jewish Christians. That is, they were Jews that accepted Jesus as their Savior. But they had such a strong affinity and connection to the Old Testament and the Law of Moses that they preached a version of Christianity that we might call: Jesus, Plus.
Jesus is good. Confession of sin to Jesus and receiving the free gift of His grace is good, but we need to add a little something to that. And that “little something” that needed to be added was the old covenant, and in particular, circumcision. The Judaizers genuinely believed that you couldn’t call yourself a Christian, that you weren’t fully redeemed, that despite your faithful trust in Jesus you weren’t forgiven of your sins unless you were circumcised and also attended to the other ceremonial laws, like dietary restrictions.
Well, Paul wanted to set the record straight concerning this group and their erroneous teaching. At the same time, he wanted to encourage the Philippian believers in proper devotion to Jesus and the growth in holiness. So, in Philippians 3, Paul encourages them to have no confidence in gaining merit in God’s eyes through things that you do. And that admonition still needs to be heard today.
You say, “Pastor, I’m not sure that anybody does that. Doesn’t everybody know that our right standing before God only comes by faith in Jesus?” Well, no, all of us have a tendency – from time to time – to think that we’re earning a little extra credit with God. Think about it. If we’re all honest with ourselves, we’ve probably thought these things or even said them.
“I’m at church today. I could be playing golf. Surely, this counts a little.”
“I volunteered at the soup kitchen last week. And what about giving up my day to build houses for Habitat for Humanity?”
“I fasted this week and didn’t miss any Bible readings or prayer times.”
“Hey, the economy is getting tight and I gave an extra offering. I passed up buying that new fishing rod. You do know that it’s prime fishing season, right?”
Now, again, we may not preach that verbally, but there’s no denying that we think it sometimes. And, if we’re not careful, we can find ourselves feeling confident before God when we do these things and unsure of our eternity when we don’t. And what we’re doing in those moments is that we’re relying on our deeds, our achievements, and our accomplishments. We’re tempted to see the Law of God and our obedience to God as a ladder that we’re climbing – like in the corporate world – to gain another level of acceptance with God, rather than discovering that the Law of God is to be written into our very hearts.
So, that’s what Paul is addressing here in chapter 3. In fact, Paul even uses himself as an example of how this kind of thinking can show up.
In verses 5-6, Paul lists 7 things that he used to have listed on the left side of the balance sheet – on the assets side of his theological account.
First of all, he says that he was “circumcised on the eighth day.” Do you remember Isaac’s brother, the half-brother that was born to Abraham and Hagar – Ishmael? The Ishmaelites were circumcised at the age of 13. If you were a convert to Judaism, then you got circumcised as an adult. Paul says, “I’m an eight day-er.”
Second, he says, “I’m of the people of Israel.” All the privileges of the people of Israel are his by birth. He wasn’t the child of proselyte parents. He’s what we call the real deal, the full Monty, the real McCoy.
Third, he was from “the tribe of Benjamin.” When you come to live on this mountain, or you’re from this part of the Dark Corner, you begin to hear some familiar names: Plumley, Gosnell, Harrison, Emory. That’s what Paul is saying: “My family tree is connected at the root of what it means to be Jewish.” I’m not out on some far-flung branch of the Jewish tree. Oh, no, I’m firmly established by family origin.
Fourth, he says he was “a Hebrew of Hebrews.” This is nothing more than piling words together. It’s Paul’s way of saying, “I speak Hebrew. I studied Hebrew. I’m a full-blooded, card-carrying Jew.” All he’s doing is building his case. And these first four were all as a result of his birth. He had no personal control over any of these. But the next three qualification are tied to his personal efforts.
Fifth, he says, “as to the law, a Pharisee.” The Pharisees were a sect of Jews that emerged in the second century before Jesus Christ, during what’s known as the intertestamental period – that time of history between what we have in the Old Testament and the New Testament. They were committed to not only keeping the Old Testament law, but they added a whole bunch of their own so that they could be seen to be doubly meticulous. That’s Paul: meticulous to the Law of Moses.
Sixth, he says, “Was I zealous? Was I passionate about being a Jew? You better believe I was zealous. I persecuted this new Jesus movement.” Paul hated Christians, and he hated the notion that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised One.
Finally, Paul says, “as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” In other words, you could ask Paul: Did you keep the Sabbath? Absolutely. Do you do the external washings before eating? For sure. What about observing holy days? You bet ya. Do you eat Kosher? Is there any other kind? In other words, as you looked at Paul’s life, he was sure to dot all the “I’s” and cross all the “T’s”.
And yet, despite all of that, Paul calls it “rubbish” (v. 8). The Greek word is skubalon. It’s a combination of two Greek words kyon, meaning “dog,” and ballo, which is the verb “to throw.” Literally, it’s garbage given to dogs. It’s table scraps. Figuratively, it’s dung. It’s dregs. It’s trash.
All of those seemingly good qualities that Paul had, all of those rites and rituals and external things that we do: being baptized, attending church, reading your Bible, praying, being a Sunday School teacher or a Deacon or an Elder, all of those things ultimately mean nothing if you don’t know Jesus. That’s what Paul says in verses 7-9.
We’re quickly approaching Tax Day; you know that, right? Paul thought that he was a spiritual millionaire, but he came to realize that he was spiritually bankrupt. He sat down, and he did a spiritual audit, and he reached the conclusion that what he had been entering in his ledger in the profit side should actually have been entered in the loss side. Paul was expecting a nice tax return from the IRS and instead he realized that he owed a massive debt.
The things he thought were making him acceptable to God were actually grounds for rejection. He thought that he was advancing in holiness; he wasn’t even on the path of holiness. The things he was counting on as using as arguments in his defense were actually being used by the prosecution.
Paul would say, “I used to be able to go into a city, and people would say, ‘Hey, it’s Saul of Tarsus! Good to have you here!’ I had my own table at the local restaurants. That’s the way I used to be able to move around. And now the people say, ‘Pfft! Saul of Tarsus? Pfft! Who’s he? Scumbag! Prisoner! Traitor!’ I’ve lost everything.” Do you see how radical this is?
What we have here is the doctrine of justification – God’s declaration of forgiveness towards the sinner on the basis of the sacrifice of His Son. Not on the basis of a righteousness of my own that comes by way of the law, but on the basis of a righteousness that comes from God and that it is mine by faith. The declaration is full and final. You cannot add to being justified with God. You cannot subtract from being justified with God. Justification is full, because God gives to us Christ’s righteousness. Justification is final, because it doesn’t depend on my keeping of the law, but on God’s gift of His Son. Justification cannot be reversed and can never be destroyed. Do you know Jesus in this way?
There are some of you here today and you honestly don’t know Jesus. Sure, you have an intellectual knowledge. You’ve heard the stories. You know the songs. But you’ve never thrown yourself down at the feet of Jesus and confessed your sin and received His gift of grace by faith. Might today be the day of your salvation.
For the rest of us it’s a question of discipleship. It’s an issue of spiritual growth. Can you and I join Paul in his impassioned statement in verses 10-11 and say that we want “to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection, share in His sufferings and become like Him in His death, and reaching our intended destination, which is fully realized at the resurrection” (paraphrased)? Are we finding our spiritual lives dull, or are we hungry to grow in godliness and holiness and intimacy with Christ?
You say, “Pastor, what does all of that mean?” Well, knowing the power of the resurrection is a two-part process. The first part is what happens to us at our conversion. Spiritually speaking, we go from death to life – resurrection. We get a new life in Christ. The second part is what we refer to as sanctification. It’s the daily discipline of dying to ourselves, seeking (by the power of the Holy Spirit) to show forth the fruit of the spirit in our lives, having our characters and inner constitutions and affections and desires changed so that we want to please Jesus, and glorify Jesus, and love Jesus.
It also means identifying with Jesus in His sufferings. Now, Paul didn’t expect to contribute to Jesus’ death, as if he would be able to take upon himself some kind of redemptive suffering like Jesus. That’s not what Paul is talking about. And he didn’t mean that he would seek to be crucified like Jesus. What Paul meant by sharing in Christ’s sufferings and being like Him in His death is being obedient to God.
If there’s sin in your life, then deal with it. Do you struggle with some besetting sin? We all do. What are you doing (with the help of the Holy Spirit and fellowship with other believers and prayer) to fight it? Or maybe you bump into the same person day after day, or you work with them, or you get paired up with them on the golf course, or you live with them, and you have this inner heartburn, this lump in your throat, this voice in your head that just won’t go away, and you know that God wants you to ask them if they know Jesus or would they be willing to come with you to church but you just can’t bring yourself to do it. These can be hard things. This is denying yourself and taking up your cross and following Jesus. In fact, the more obedient we are to Jesus the more we find that we’re conformed to His death. The more obedient we are to Jesus the more resurrection power becomes evident in our lives. And we begin to understand the truth of Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
“Father, look upon us in your mercy. We pray, that in an abundance of words we don’t miss the point. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see. Grant us repentance and faith and the grace necessary to lay hold upon Your great and precious promises. Save us from our pride and from thinking that we can come before You on the strength of all of our endeavors. Help us to do the calculations. Turn us the right way up. Let us take a spiritual audit. We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus, who, for our sake became sin so that we might become Your righteous ones. Amen.”
Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me, one last time, to Esther chapter 10. Esther 10 is one of the shortest chapters in all the Bible, behind Psalms 117, 134, 131, and 133. Several scholars are of the opinion that it wasn’t originally in the book (at all), but added some time later. I tend to take the other view, which is this: God is writing Esther; and although we don’t know who the human author is, God is composing this story and thus Esther 10 was intended to be in the Bible. Simplistic, I know. But that’s my view.
If you’re visiting with us today, we’ve been in the book of Esther since January and many of us have come to really appreciate this little story tucked away in the pages of the Old Testament. It’s set in the 5th century B.C. during the Medo-Persian empire, and one of its primary themes is the providence of God – that God has the right and the power to rule over His creation, and that He does so in such a way as to accomplish His purposes in all things. And we’ve come now to the final three verses in this book.
1 King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. 2 And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? 3 Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.
“Gracious Father, we bow before Your Word, asking for the help of the Holy Spirit to teach it, to understand it, to believe it, and to live in light of it. And so, we look away from ourselves to You, humbly and confidently. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Well, we’re quickly approaching one of the most significant celebrations in the life of the Christian Church. I say “one of the most significant” because it seems as though there’s always a tug of war between Christmas and Easter, as to which is the most significant. Nevertheless, Easter is fast approaching and we’re looking forward with great anticipation to retracing our Lord’s steps as He made His way to Jerusalem, down the Via Delarosa on the way to the cross of Calvary, and then to the Garden Tomb where He gloriously rises from the dead on that first Easter morning and triumphs over sin, Satan and the grave.
And one of the great themes of Christianity is that triumphant hope. Not just hope as in a distant, vague dream, but triumphant hope, the kind of hope where all things end right. In the midst of the struggles and the storms and the sufferings of life, we can look beyond today, beyond all of that stuff to the other side of the Jordan, as it were, and see relief…see triumph…see victory.
Think about it. All of our earthly woes, all of our financial pressures, all of our emotional trauma, all of our physical disabilities and handicaps, all of our domestic conflicts, all wars and rumors of war, all demonic oppressions and satanic attacks, all of that stuff ends because, in the end, God wins. We’ll be with Him, and that means we’ll experience nothing but harmony and unity and victory and joy and praise and delight.
We’ll be changed from the inside out. We’ll have new natures. We’ll have new minds. We’ll have new bodies. We’ll have the joy of living forever and ever in constant and never-ending praise and adoration of our God, because in the end God wins. God comes out on top. God’s plan prevails.
That’s one of the reasons that we’ve come to love the story of Esther. Not only does her story have a great plot that keeps us on the edge of our seats, but when it comes to the final scene, things turn out right. Truth wins out over lies. Right wins out over wrong. Good reigns supreme, and things just end well because God wins!
All of this brings me to three concluding observations from Esther, which yield three principles for our own lives in light of this little Old Testament book.
It reminds me of Psalm 78, which ends with this comment about King David: “[God] also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from the care of the ewes with suckling lambs [God] brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. So, [David] shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skillful hands” (Psalm 78:70-72).
For almost 40 years the Israelites had experienced the reign of a king who was tall, dark, and probably handsome – after all, King Saul, though he failed in character, at least looked regal. That was part of the reason that the people chose him to begin with, and they became accustomed to such a stature. Until God slipped His hand into the ranks of the Jews and picked and unknown young shepherd. What a surprise, right?
Or consider another unexpected choice. If you wanted to lead an exodus of 2 million people out of Egypt, who would you choose to confront Pharaoh – a Jew or a fellow Egyptian? (Be honest, now. It’s not fair to choose based on your knowledge of how things work out in the Bible.) And if you say, “No, no, really, I would choose a Jew” would you choose a man with a murder on his record? And would he be 80 years old? And would you select a leather-skinned shepherd who hadn’t been in a big city for 40 years? Moses was an over-the-hill Bedouin shepherd. See, the deeper you look, the more surprising it gets.
Would you have chosen a prostitute to hide the spies? How about a defecting, rebellious prophet to lead the Greater Nineveh Evangelistic Crusade? What about a church-murdering, right-wing religious fanatic to model grace and pen most of the New Testament? How about choosing a man who denied Jesus – not once, not twice, but three times – to pastor your first church? See, God does surprising things.
That’s why He lifts up a no-name like Mordecai from the gate of the king and makes him the prime minister of Persia. God delights in lifting up nobodies and using them as somebodies. As Paul writes to the Corinthians, “not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of [God] you are in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:26-30a).
When God wins, the people He often uses are unexpected. This opens the door for the second principle.
Mordecai doesn’t seem to have a “kingly” look about him. He doesn’t fit well on a throne. There’s nothing said in these verses (or elsewhere, for that matter) that Mordecai looked good in royal robes. I kind of picture Mordecai like Winston Churchill. But that’s the point: God uses humble people.
Think about Esther. She was from humble means. We never read of her being highly educated or eloquent in her speech or greatly gifted. In fact, one of the only descriptions we’re given is found in Esther 2:7, where we’re told that she “had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at.” Ladies, how does that strike you? It’s like saying, “Yeah, she’s a dumb blonde, but boy she’s hot.”
Esther is fairly unassuming. She’s pretty silent through most of the book. Her husband has to ask her three times what her request is, what her wish is. Mordecai practically begs her to use her position as the queen to speak up for the Jews. She’s generally unassertive.
Listen to what’s said about Jesus, when He came from heaven to earth as a little baby in a manger:
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).
That was the worst kind of death. That was capital punishment for common criminals. Now, in all fairness, it does say, in the next verse, that God also has “highly exalted Him,” and that, ultimately, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Philippians 2:9-10). But in order to get to that triumphant point, He remained humble and became obedient.
And, by the way, remember, humility isn’t about how you dress, or how much money you make, or where you live, or what you drive, or how you look. We’re never commanded by God to “look” humble. We’re simply called to “be” humble. Humility is an attitude. It’s an attitude of the heart. An attitude of the mind. It’s knowing your proper place in any given situation. It’s never talking down to, or looking down on someone because of a lower financial status or educational pedigree or social standing. It’s knowing your role and fulfilling it for God’s glory and praise. I know that we “know” this, but it’s so easy to forget or overlook or even ignore in our day-to-day lives.
If you want to know how this works itself out, just go back two verses in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Have the attitude Christ had. He emptied Himself of the voluntary and independent use of His divine attributes.
Remember that when the next promotion comes. You say, “Pastor, I’m retired. I’m not looking for another promotion.” Maybe so, but promotions come outside of the workplace too. There are subtle promotions and not-so-subtle promotions in your peer groups and community endeavors. Remember that when God selects you as one of His unique spokespersons and places you in a position where the public looks up to you and listens to you. Nothing is more admirable, more godlike, if you will, than being willing to live out true humility.
It’s like the story of Walter. See, he went to work for one of the largest corporations in the world. The personnel manager told Walter that he had to start at the bottom and work his way to the top. So, he began working in the mailroom. Walter liked his job. But as time went by, Walter often daydreamed about what it would be like to be an Executive, maybe the President, even the Chairman of the Board.
One day as Walter was dividing the mail, he saw a cricket in the corner of the room. He walked over to step on it, and he heard a tiny voice crying out, “Don’t kill me! I’m Jiminy the cricket, and if you spare me, then I’ll grant you all your wishes.” Walter agreed that was a good arrangement, and so he spared Jiminy’s life.
Walter’s first wish was to leave the mailroom and become a Vice President, so Jiminy granted him the wish. In fact, Jiminy granted wish after wish after wish until finally Walter was the Chairman of the Board – just as he imagined. He had an office on the top floor of the tallest building in the world. Everybody looked up to Walter. He was rather happy. He often said to himself, “I’m Walter, and I’m at the top. No one is bigger or more important than me.”
Then, one day, Walter heard footsteps on the roof, and went out to find a small boy on his knees praying. “What are you doing?” asked Walter. “I’m praying to God,” said the little boy. Well, Walter was quite disturbed by this, so he returned to his office and called for Jiminy. “I have another wish,” he told Jiminy. “I want to be like God.” So, Jiminy the cricket granted Walter’s wish, and the next day Walter was back in the mailroom.
Now, I know that you’re thinking, “The pastor’s lost his mind. What’s he thinking telling us some made up story like that?” But you see, that’s the way our world tends to look at things. You start at the bottom and you work your way up, and up, and up, until one day you’re on top of the world. Sure, there’s no Jiminy cricket to your story, but that’s the way we think.
According to the Bible, the way up is down. The place of highest exaltation is a place of self-emptying humility. It’s not a phony-baloney kind of fake piety. It’s true humility of mind. It’s putting the other person first. It’s sharing and sharing alike. It’s giving up, as well as building up. It’s enjoying the pleasures of another person’s promotion. It’s applauding God’s hand in other people’s lives. It’s quickly forgetting our own accomplishments. It’s like Mordecai, who was “held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for their welfare.” Best of all, it’s being like Christ.
When God wins, the people He often uses are unexpected, the qualities He often uphold are unassuming, and finally:
Mordecai’s world was large. It wasn’t limited to his family. It wasn’t limited to his neighborhood. It wasn’t limited to Susa or the king’s throne room. And it wasn’t limited to 15-20 “chosen” provinces. It spread over 127 provinces. And the message that he spoke to the entire country was shalom.
We often translate shalom as “peace,” and rightly so, because that’s what it usually means. But shalom, like other ancient words, has many nuances. It’s a word that describes health and security and prosperity. It’s a word of great delight among the Jewish people. Mordecai spread and wholesome message of hope and security to all people, and that certainly pleased the Lord. Why? Because God has the whole world on His heart – “every tongue and tribe and nation” is what Revelation tells us. And don’t forget Jesus’ closing words to His disciples in Matthew 28, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
Unfortunately, we forget this most of the time. We live in a world where we tend to take care of our own. We look out for ourselves first, then maybe our neighbors. But God’s plan encompasses everyone. Every nation. Every race. Every culture. Every place from the huge, highly developed countries to the small, struggling ones. His message of shalom through faith in Christ Jesus is universal. It’s unlimited. It’s without prejudice. It’s vast.
That’s the story of Esther. God surprising us with His providence – elevating a young Jewish orphan to be the queen of Persia, moving the heart of a powerful, moody, stubborn, unbelieving Gentile king, turning the evil plan of a murderous, anti-Semitic official upside down, and promoting a humble Jew to the position of Prime Minister to change the entire history of a kingdom and a people.
And in the end never forget, God wins. Whether we believe it or not, God wins. Whether we accept it or not, God wins. Whether we even return to Him in repentance, God wins. Whether we bow before Him as Savior and Lord, God still wins.
Mordecai and Esther join the apostle Paul in proclaiming the words: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8). In the end, God wins – as do all who serve Him. Not “pie in the sky by and by;” but a permanent home in heaven, where we will know and experience and eternal existence of shalom.
That’s our future home, if we know Christ. That’s where all arguments, suffering, disabilities, handicaps, brokenness, losses, tears, and tragedies will cease. That’s where God will reign triumphant, in glory and majesty. That’s where Jesus will be the light and where we shall see Him as He truly is. No longer by faith – but by sight. No longer in hope, but in absolute reality.
“O Lord, bring us back to the ancient message of Esther. It’s the same message that Jesus declared and modeled. Bring us back to the One who is indeed our victor. Show us the importance of a humble spirit and true character. Give us a sense of satisfaction in being in Your plan, regardless of what that may mean for us on this earth. Give us the faith to trust You, even when You seem removed and distant. Fill us with hope as we anticipate the end that is sure to come. In the meantime, Father, make us responsible people who, like Esther, have been placed in our particular circumstances for “such a time as this,” that we might carry Your message of reconciliation through Jesus to the entire world. Remind us again and again that in the end, You win! May our hope rest firmly in Your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose strong name we pray. Amen.”
Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Esther 9. Today and next week, then we’ll close the pages on Esther. The date was February 7, 1980. The American band was named Kool & the Gang (Kool with a ‘K’). And the song was the band’s first and only single to reach No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. “Celebration” held the top spot for two weeks before being overtaken by Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.” You remember it, right?
There’s a party goin’ on right here
A celebration to last throughout the years
So, bring your good times and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate your party with you
Come on now, celebration
Let’s all celebrate and have a good time
Celebration
We gonna celebrate and have a good time
It’s time to come together
It’s up to you, what’s your pleasure?
Everyone around the world come on!
Well, the band in the mid-400’s B.C. Persia wouldn’t have been called Kool & the Gang, but rather Mordecai & the Jews. The 1980’s lyrics fit rather nicely. What we’re getting ready to read about is the Jewish festival of Purim, which, providentially speaking, was celebrated this past Wednesday and Thursday (March 16-17, 2022). I was careful to use the word “providentially” [there] rather than “coincidentally” because, if there’s anything that we’ve learned in our study of the book of Esther it’s the fact that there are no coincidences in the economy of God.
Divine providence is the doctrine that says God is in complete control of all things. And it’s through divine providence that He accomplishes His will. Well, hopefully you’ve found your spot.
20 And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 21 obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, 22 as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
23 So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. 24 For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them. 25 But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26 Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, 27 the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, 28 that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
29 Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim. 30 Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth, 31 that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting. 32 The command of Esther confirmed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.
“Father, what we know not, teach us; what we have not, give us; and what we are not, kindly make us; for Your Son’s sake. Amen.”
Now, what I’m about to say is said with all seriousness. I’m not mocking you or making light of your current station in life. I say this truthfully; it’s far easier to forget than it is to remember. Right? Is that not true? Sure, it is.
Many of us would agree with Sir Norman Wisdom who said, “As you get older, three things happen. The first is that your memory goes, and I can’t remember the other two.” Or perhaps you identify with the Disney character Dory in the animated movie Finding Nemo, who said, “I remember it like it was yesterday. Of course, I don’t really remember yesterday all that well.” Or maybe your flavor of literary humor is that of Mark Twain, who said, “When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.”
So many times, throughout the Bible, the people of God are called to remember things – to remember events – and put in place certain rituals and celebrations in order to help them remember. And the events that are described here in Esther chapter 9 underscore that reality. In fact, what you have [here] in the latter half of chapter 9 is the biblical description of the Jewish celebration of Purim.
Purim is the plural of pur, which is the Babylonian word for “lot.” You see that in verses 24 and 26. It takes you back to chapter 3, where Haman and his cronies cast lots (pur) to determine the “lucky day.” So, Purim is the festival that the Jews celebrate to remember – not only the entire story of Esther – but more specifically, the day of great reversal, the day in which they overcame their enemies. Proverbs 16:33 says: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” While Haman and his friends thought that the lot (the pur) had given them their day of victory, what really happened was the God used the casting of the lot to determine the Jew’s day of deliverance.
Now, in the portion of Scripture that we read, you’ll notice three key verbs in chapter 9 (v. 20 “recorded,” v. 23 “accepted,” and v. 29 “confirmed”). Those are the three movements, if you will, for today’s message. All of the feasts of Israel – the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Lights, the Feast of the Passover – all of these other celebrations, as with Purim, were created so that the people of God wouldn’t forget God’s sovereign intervention and care. If we understand that, then we have the big idea.
First, then, let’s notice how Mordecai recorded these things. If you’ll allow your eye just to scan from verses 17, 18, and 19, then you’ll see there was a spontaneity about what happened. And with verse 20, Mordecai – by virtue of his newfound position as the Prime Minister – standardizes the event. He stamps it with his official status, so to speak, so that it will be remembered and captured for all time, especially as you get further and further away – decade after decade, century after century, millennia after millennia. That’s why we consider these things under the little phrase “lest we forget.” So, Mordecai says, “Even though you’re rejoicing in this moment, it’s going to be important that we make sure that other generations understand this.”
And this, of course, is in keeping with the pattern of the Jewish people throughout all of their story, isn’t it? Remember when the Jews crossed the Jordan River in Joshua 4? The river was at flood stage and God told Joshua to have the priests carry the Ark of the Covenant into the water, and when they did the Jordan stopped flowing and the Israelites were able to cross over on dry ground. It was very similar to the Red Sea crossing, except when they crossed the Jordan the 12 tribes were instructed to pick up 12 stones from in the middle of the river. When the Israelites got to the other side of the river, they erected a monument. And the Israelites would say, “Why are we setting up these stones?” And Joshua says, “So that in years to come when your children ask, ‘What do these stones mean?’ you will be able to tell them. But if we don’t put the stones there, there will be no reminder; therefore, there will be no point of reference.”
It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? That’s why we have monuments.
Many of you know where Tigerville Road is. It runs beside The Hungry Drover over near Locust Hill Baptist Church. Well, if you take Tigerville Road out towards Highway 25, you’ll eventually pass Enoree Baptist Church, and directly across the street is a rock monument that was erected to pay tribute to a lady named Laodicea “Dicey” Langston Springfield.
In the summer of 1781, she learned that the dreaded Banastre Tarleton was leading his Tarleton Raiders to ambush her brothers and other patriots. Knowing the country as she did, this young teenager evaded the enemy, went deep into the woods, and crossed a swollen Tyger River where she alerted the Patriots, then cooked them breakfast. A few weeks later, she famously stood between loyalist militia, who broke into her house and tried to interrogate her father, Solomon. Bravely, she stood between a cocked pistol and her father, and the militia left. She spent the rest of the war running interference and being an informant for the Patriot cause.
Now, I can tell you’re intrigued by that, and you’re all planning on going this afternoon, aren’t you? Probably not! But it was put there so that we wouldn’t forget – even though most of you never knew. But that’s the point! That’s why Mordecai does what he does: in order that this would be a commemoration. So, that’s the first point – the Purim celebration is recorded.
Secondly, verse 23, the Jews accepted these things: “So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written.” And then, in that little summary statement, you realize that they understood that there was a higher throne than the throne of Ahasuerus, that ultimately their fortunes had been reversed because of the intervention of God himself – a God whose name is never mentioned and yet a God who appears everywhere. Surely none of them would have been in any doubt whatsoever as to the source of their relief.
And so, we’re told that they didn’t merely accept this directive, but we’re told in verse 27 that they “firmly obligated themselves.” So, it wasn’t a case of “Ah, um, that seems like a good idea. We might do it, we might not.” No, they said, “We’re definitely going to do this.” That’s the nature of obligation. That’s the nature of duty.
Obligation is almost a dirty word now, isn’t it? You know, we tell people, “I don’t want to make you feel obligated in any way.” Oh yes, I do! I want my children to be obligated to me in the jurisdiction of parental authority – not when they’re “of age” but when they’re children. And the obligation that extends throughout our interpersonal relationships is first an obligation on the part of the individual to God. And they recognize God has provided this deliverance. This feast is a celebration of God’s activity. “Therefore,” they said, “we will obligate ourselves.” Furthermore, you’ll notice, verse 27: they “obligated themselves and their offspring.”
You see how this challenges the contemporary approach to child-rearing? “Do you want any breakfast, honey?” “Nah.” As opposed to “Would you eat your breakfast! You’re gonna die, clown.” That doesn’t sound very nice. I understand. You don’t say it like that. I’m not suggesting that’s how you say it. But, as parents, we have a responsibility to obligate them to eat, don’t we? They obligated their children: “We’re going.” “I don’t want to go. What are these stones for? Why do we have to go stand by the stones again? People think we’re nuts.” Can’t you hear it?
Or think about in Nehemiah’s day, when the Book of the Law came out, and they discovered the Feast of Tabernacles, and they realized they hadn’t been doing it, and they said, “What we’re gonna do is we’re gonna go up on our roofs, and we’re gonna build little tents, little shelters, and we’re all gonna sit up there” (Nehemiah 8:1-18, paraphrased).
Can you imagine the kids? “No, we’re not! Nuh-uh-uh-uh! I’ve got to go to school tomorrow. We’re not doing that! Dad, you and mom can go up there, but I’m not going up there.”
“Oh, you’re coming up! Yes, you are! Not only are you coming up, but you’re gonna like it.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. It’s an obligation.”
“Who says?”
“God says. I said.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m your dad, let’s go.”
Contemporary Judaism has a lot to teach us about these things. They understand this line. They “obligated themselves,” they obligated their children. That’s why, in Deuteronomy 6:5-7, we have this classic passage that’s often read at baby dedications (although we haven’t celebrated one at Mountain Hill in quite a while): “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.” The progression is vital. If it’s not on your heart, you’ll never obligate yourself to it, and you’ll never obligate your children to it. It’ll just be something you say, but not something that you do.
“Well, we might celebrate Purim, but I don’t know. We may skip it this year.” No. They “obligated themselves” to it, and “their offspring” to it. And you’ll notice that not only did they obligate themselves and their children, but “all who joined them.” Remember, at the end of chapter 8 some of the people said, “Hey, we want to be Jews too” (Esther 8:17). Pragmatists, some of them. But maybe some of them said, “Goodness gracious! If God intervenes in this way, we want to know this God. We’ve got all kinds of gods here in Persia, but we want to know the true and living God.” And the Jews said, “Well, come on. We know who the true and living God is.” And so, they obligated them to it as well.
If I may, let me just add a little footnote here, a little sidebar statement. Our unwillingness to obligate those who are in our sphere of influence says something about the things that are important and vital to us. So, for example, let’s say that you routinely come to church on Sunday (like you have today). And then Aunt Mable from Minnesota, who doesn’t really like church, comes to stay with you over the weekend. Are you going to say to her, “Well, now that you’re here, Aunt Mable, we need to give up our obligation”? Or are you gonna say, “Hey, Aunt Mable, if you want a ride to the airport, you gotta come with us to church”? Now, there’s great skill and wisdom in this, and I’m not laying down a law of the Medes and the Persians. But you’d be surprised how many times the Aunt Mables will come along – if they know this is important to us, if they know this is on our hearts, if they know this marks our steps. But when we suggest that their visit can override the routine and the rhythm of our lives, then we convey something about ourselves (that we’re unprincipled), and we convey something about the God we say we serve (that He’s not important). Ok, enough of that.
You will also notice how comprehensive this obligation is in verse 28: “[And] that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation.” So, this is not a sort of “We’ll do this for a couple of generations and let it go.” No, “every generation in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.” That’s quite a commitment, isn’t it?
“Hey, did you see how amazing the deliverance was? We faced absolute ruin and destruction. We were dead. But now we’re alive. We never want to forget what God has done. So, we’re gonna do this, and we’re gonna obligate ourselves to do it, and we’re gonna make sure our children understand it, and we’re gonna make sure that everybody everywhere, in the 127 provinces, both near and far, that they all understand it as well. And we’re never gonna allow this to fall into disuse. We pledge ourselves to that.” And here we are, two and a half thousand years later, and it still goes on.
Have you spoken with any of your Jewish friends recently about this? I know some of you have, because last week and even the week before you were asking me if we were going to study this. In Reformed circles they don’t hold as tightly to it, but in Orthodox circles it is imperative that the Orthodox Jew, on the occasion of the celebration, attends for the entire reading of the Megillah, which is the Scroll of Esther, and that it is incumbent upon them to have these things rehearsed in their hearing. And on the following day the children participate by dressing up – some of you have come from this background, and you know this – some would dress up as Mordecai, some would dress up as the queen, and some poor soul would have to dress up as Haman.
And cookies are made by the mothers, and the cookies are called hamantaschen, which apparently means “Haman’s ears,” or “Haman’s pockets” and so the children would eat Haman’s ears. And as they celebrated and as they shouted, every time the name of Haman was mentioned (54 times), the children would take their graggers, their noisemakers and they would drown out the name of Haman. The adults will write Haman’s name on the soles of their shoes, and every time Haman’s name is mentioned they stomp their feet. Why? Because of Esther chapter 9. Because of the obligation of these people. Because they said, “We will never allow this to fall into disuse. We will never allow the generations that follow us to be unaware of what God did when he intervened in our behalf.”
Loved ones, I jump ahead of myself, but that’s the whole point about the nature of the gospel, and the celebration of the gospel, and the holding of the line, and the instilling it in our children, and the ensuring that it passes from one generation to another generation: so that if Christ does not return in a thousand years from now, there will be those who stand forward and say, “Were it not for my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, I would never be here.” Because we held the line in our day. Because we were obligated. When friends and family said, “You don’t have to be obligated to anything. You just do your own thing. It’s all about you, and it’s all about now, and it’s all about the moment.” No, it’s not. It’s all about God. It’s all about then, and the then giving significance to the now, and the now having a place in the future. Purim celebration recorded. Purim celebration accepted. And finally, Purim celebration confirmed.
Verse 29 says, “Then Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim.” Remember, it says in the Bible that things should be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15; Matthew 18:16; John 8:17). Well, here we have the two cousins, side by side, and these letters have been sent to all the Jews. And they’ve been sent out, verse 30, “in words of peace and truth.” Lovely phrase, isn’t it? “In words of peace and truth.” The shalom of the rest of the people of God, the truth of God as revealed in His dealings with His people – not an occasion for triumphalism but an occasion for charity and for sincerity. And in the same way, we’re told in verse 31, that the people had obligated themselves and their offspring with regard to their fasts and to their lamenting, now “Esther confirmed [the] practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.”
Now, let me finish in this way. We’ve been studying the Bible long enough now for you folks to understand that “whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). So, all the deliverances of the people of God in the Old Testament are pointing forward to the “Great Deliverance” that’s provided in the Messiah, in Jesus. That’s why it’s important that we learn to read our Bibles backwards. Because when we read in the New Testament about the deliverance that’s provided in Jesus and we go back into Esther, we say, “Well, this is pointing forward, so that the people of God might look yet again for the One who was to come, for the One who was the Messiah of God, for the One who would intervene and ultimately grant them freedom from their enemies, set them free.” But “He came to His own and His own did not receive Him. But to those who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave the power to become the children of God” (John 1:11-12). Do you know this great deliverance?
Well, we’re getting ever closer to the conclusion of our study of the book of Esther. So, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Esther 9. We’ll be camping out (here) in Esther 9 this week and next week, and then the last Sunday of the month will be our final sermon in this series.
1 Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s command and edict were about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them. 2 The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could stand against them, for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples. 3 All the officials of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and the royal agents also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. 4 For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew more and more powerful. 5 The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them. 6 In Susa the citadel itself the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men, 7 and also killed Parshandatha and Dalphon and Aspatha 8 and Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha 9 and Parmashta and Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha, 10 the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they laid no hand on the plunder.
11 That very day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was reported to the king. 12 And the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and also the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled.” 13 And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day’s edict. And let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.” 14 So the king commanded this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged. 15 The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed 300 men in Susa, but they laid no hands on the plunder.
16 Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies and killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder. 17 This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness. 18 But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness. 19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.
“We pray, gracious Father, that as we turn to some of these truths that stand unchanged, echoing down through the halls of time, events that took place so long ago and so far away, that they might instruct us and change us. Help us now, we pray, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to rightly consider these verses before us. For we pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
When you read the concluding words of chapter 8 and the opening words of chapter 9, if you’re not careful, you’ll assume that Mordecai leaves the palace in his new “royal robes of blue and white, with his great golden crown, and a robe of fine linen and purple,” to the cheers and rejoicing of the crowd only to prepare for a fight. Not so. Between chapters 8/9 there was a span of approximately 9 months. In fact, those Jewish wives that were giving birth around the time of Esther 9:1, well, let’s just say that the celebration of Esther 8:17 carried over into the bedroom.
You say, “How do we know that?” Well, Esther 8:9 tells us that the new counter-edict that Mordecai and Esther had drawn up was on “the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day,” and Esther 9:1 tells us that it was “Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day.” So, 9 months had passed. You say, “Ok, but what difference does that make?” I’m glad you asked, because that brings us to something we talked a little bit about last week, and it’s our first point of consideration this morning. The timing all points to a great reversal.
A great reversal. In fact, you’ll notice that the verb “reverse” is actually used near the end of verse 1. When they were expecting to master the Jews, the Jews mastered them, and so the author of the book of Esther says, “The reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them.”
The author of the book of Esther is very specific about the occasion in which this took place. Back in chapter 3, that the author records for us that Haman and his friends – those who were so opposed to the Jews – took a long time determining what would be the best day to kill them. They didn’t just say, “Let’s arbitrarily choose a day.” No, no, it had to be the perfect day.
We’re told in chapter 3:7 that at the beginning of “the first month” in the year, “in the twelfth year” of the king, which was five years or so after the events in chapter 2, they began to cast lots every day. They conducted a kind of lottery every day, and they did it “day after day” and month after month, and that went on for twelve months as they tried to discover what they felt was the lucky day. They wanted to be sure that they chose the absolute correct day, and they investigated it, and eventually they decided on this day: the 13th day of Adar. Finally, that was the right day . . . at least it was in their eyes. But God took what they had planned and reversed it for His glory.
Let me show you another reversal. Remember back to Esther 5:9, we have the record of Haman emerging from the banquet with the king and Esther; and on that day, he went out “joyful and glad of heart.” And despite the fact that he saw Mordecai at the gate, he managed not to get derailed by that, because he was on top of the world looking down on creation. And you remember he went home, and he brought his friends and his wife, Zeresh, and he spent the evening letting everybody know how fantastic he was and how terrific everything was.
And, you remember, he “recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons” (Esther 5:11). It’s interesting, isn’t it, the number of his son? When I read that in chapter 5, I said to myself, “Well, why does it say the number of his sons? Why not just say ‘his sons’?” Then, you get to chapter 9, and I just read the list for you. (Not an easy list to read, by the way! Some of you were holding your breath as I was reading that.) But Haman’s sons are actually listed there in the text of sacred scripture in order to make the point: “Hey, Haman, all this gloating and pride about you and your accomplishments and even your family, look at your sons. We just hanged them on a pole.”
And if you’re having trouble accepting the fact that they would kill Haman’s kids, let me just remind you that it’s likely they drank from the same well of hatred and animosity that their father did – not to mention the fact that they might have become even more embittered when the inheritance that would have been theirs as a result of their dad being the Prime Minister was passed on to Mordecai’s family. That’s a great reversal – from exaltation to devastation.
Here’s another one. Remember, back at the very beginning of the story (chapter 1) when Xerxes’ first queen, Vashti, refused to come show herself before him and his drunk buddies? Because she did that she was deposed, remember? Same chapter, right after that, the king’s counselors and advisors got worried that Vashti’s refusal to obey the king might catch on and all the other wives of Persia might refuse to obey their husbands. You remember this silliness? And what did they do? The drafted an edict, a law of the Medes and the Persians, that said Vashti was never allowed to come into the presence of the king again. They sent that out with the hopes that all their wives would read it and “all women will give honor to their husbands” (Esther 1:20).
Now, look at Esther 9:12. Xerxes is speaking to Esther and he says, “Now what is your request? It shall also be granted you. And what is your further wish? It shall also be done.” There was only supposed to be one granting of requests and wishes, remember. But ever since Esther revealed Haman as the bad guy, back in chapter 7, Xerxes has been answering to his wife. Talk about a great reversal.
But there’s at least one more in these verses and that’s Mordecai. Mordecai goes from obscurity and apparent irrelevance to the most powerful man under the king in the entire nation. He starts off (simply) as “a Jew named Mordecai who sat at the king’s gate” (Esther 2:5, 19). It doesn’t sound like much, does it? Yet, we get to Esther 9:4 and we read, “[And] Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew more and more powerful.” What a great reversal.
What we’re learning and seeing in all of these great reversals throughout the entire book is this: God can reverse things. God can fix the impossible. God can make right that which is wrong. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I didn’t guarantee that He would (at least in this life), only that He can. I know there are many of you that are hurting because you feel as though God let you down. God didn’t reverse your spouse’s cancer diagnosis. God didn’t reverse your situation at work and you were fired. God didn’t fix your marriage. God didn’t overrule this or overturn that, and I don’t have answers for why He did or didn’t in each of those situations. But I know one thing for sure. If you’ve placed your faith and trust in Jesus and repented of your sins, then God has already done the greatest reversal in your life that you’ll ever experience.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
“[W]e all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:3-7).
At the very moment, when Satan hoped to gain the mastery over Jesus, the reverse occurred: Jesus gained mastery over the one who hated Him. A great and marvelous reversal. Next is…
A great restraint. Do me a favor. If you still have your Bibles open, look back over in Esther 8:11. If you don’t, just listen. Here’s what the counter-edict explicitly said, “[T]he king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods.” Now, look at Esther 9:10, 15, and 16, “but they laid no hand on the plunder.” They had the freedom to take the spoils, but they didn’t. They defended themselves, but that didn’t go any farther.
The English words “avenge” and “vengeance” come to us from the French, and the French words are informed by the Latin word vendicare, which has the same root as “vindicate.” Now follow me here. “Vengeance” is passion out of control based on hatred. “Vindication” is what God claims to do when defending His people. Both words are from the same root vindicare. They carry contrasting messages, but the Jews displayed a great restraint not allowing their vindication to become vengeance.
Some of you (maybe most of you) will recognize the name Chuck Swindoll, former President of Dallas Theological Seminary and radio evangelist on Insight for Living. Back in 1997, he wrote a series of books called Great Lives from God’s Word, and one of the lives that he wrote about was none other than Esther: A Woman of Strength and Dignity. In that book, he devotes an entire chapter (18 pgs.) to the limitations of retaliation. Listen to what he writes:
The Jews were free to strike back without reservation, in retaliation. But it’s clear that they applied self-control. The Jews certainly defended themselves against their enemies, against those who attempted to wipe out their race, but the Jews resisted the temptation to go too far. They had been given permission to take material advantage of their enemies’ defeat, but they refused to do that. They held back. Think of it this way: Not only did the Jews gain mastery over their enemies [the great reversal], but they gained mastery over themselves.
Perhaps you’re here this morning and some things were said that hurt you. Maybe you’ve said some hurtful things to others. Or perhaps it wasn’t words at all, maybe it was deeds done and/or left undone. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t get some of those scenes to go away. They’re like paintings hanging in the gallery of your mind, permanently etched in the creases of your brain. And there are moments when the enemy of your soul (and mine) waits in the wings, ready to encourage you to proceed and not hold back.
With very persuasive suggestions he hopes to convince you – you’ve taken it long enough. You’ve graciously and unselfishly held back and gone the second, third, fourth and fifth mile. You’ve run out of miles and patience, so go ahead, “Get back. Pay back evil with a little evil.” Remember a great restraint. The example of the book of Esther says, “Although we’re allowed to take the plunder, we won’t take it.” Remember, Romans 12:17-21, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Don’t carry out your own revenge. Lay down your arms. Take all the verbal bullets out of your weapon. Place your knife of revenge back into the drawer. Let God be your defender.
A great reversal… A great restraint… And finally…
We have to leave rejoicing for next week but let me just get you started on it. Essentially, what’s happened is that God has turned this curse into blessing. Somebody told me this week, “You know, the best psalm to summarize what’s going on with all these reversals is Psalm 30.” And I looked it up and I said, “You know, I think you’re right.” This is what Psalm 30:11 says: “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing Your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever!”
This is kind of like Mordecai’s psalm, isn’t it? “You’ve turned my mourning into dancing.” You’d see Mordecai and Esther, and they’re holding hands. They’re not gloating over the destruction of their enemies. They’re not hanging scalps up on the wall and saying, “Look what we did to those people.” No, they’re holding hands and saying, “You know, I used to sit at the gate of the king’s palace. I was dressed in sackcloth. I’m the prime minister! I’m in charge of this whole place! How in the world did that happen?” God flipped the script. Isn’t that amazing?
And Esther is saying, “Yeah, I used to be a young, orphaned Jewish girl. Now, I’m the queen of Persia. I stood up to evil and sought the preservation of my people, and with God’s help, they won. How in the world did all that happen?” God flipped the script. Isn’t that amazing?
Have you come to the One who can flip the script of your life – take you from spiritual death to spiritual life, remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, turn you from an old creation into a new creation? Have you given your life to Jesus? Have you acknowledged that you’re a sinner in need of a Savior? Have you confessed your sins to Him, and have you, by faith, received the gift of His marvelous and amazing grace and mercy and forgiveness and love? If not, would you do that today?
Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me (once again) to Esther 8. I have a fondness for British television, especially British automotive shows and, as you know, I’m a huge fan of Formula 1 auto racing. And one of the things that I’ve discovered over the years, while watching these shows, is that American English and British English are sometimes, some might say oftentimes, different.
For example, the Brits use the word “spanner” to refer to a “wrench.” They use the word “kit” to refer to what we would call a “toolbox.” And they use the word “nick” for “stealing.” So, someone might say, “Nice spanners you got in that kit. Did you nick it off someone?” And what they’re saying is, “You have some nice wrenches in that toolbox. Did you steal them?”
Well, another word that falls into this category is the word “sort.” We use it to describe arranging things in groups or separating things from one another based on some qualification: size, color, value, etc. The British, on the other hand, use the word to refer to solving a problem or dealing with someone or dealing with something successfully. So, they’ll talk about getting something sorted, and what they mean is getting it resolved, getting it dealt with, getting it fixed.
For example, they might say to you, “Don’t worry about the bill. I’ll sort it.” And if you’re not familiar with that usage, then you’re saying to yourself, “What’s there to sort?” What they mean is they’ll take care of it. Or they might ask you, “Did you get your flights sorted?” And what they mean is “Did you get your flights fixed?”
Now, that verb is actually quite helpful when it’s used in that British way. And I’ve been excited about the fact that as we’ve come to the end of chapter 7 and now into chapter 8, things are getting sorted. Right? Things are being resolved. They’re getting fixed. There was a great sigh of relief at the end of chapter 7 when Haman was finally hanged, because we had all determined that he deserved it. And now, for those of you that haven’t read ahead or for those of you that aren’t familiar with the book of Esther, we get to see how things get sorted. And even for those of us that have read the whole story and do know what’s coming up, it’s a nice rerun. So, follow along with me as we read Esther 8.
1 On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. 2 And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
3 Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. 4 When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, Esther rose and stood before the king. 5 And she said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. 6 For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?” 7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he intended to lay hands on the Jews. 8 But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”
9 The king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. 10 And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king’s service, bred from the royal stud, 11 saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods, 12 on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. 13 A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies. 14 So the couriers, mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king’s service, rode out hurriedly, urged by the king’s command. And the decree was issued in Susa the citadel.
15 Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. 16 The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. 17 And in every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.
“Now, gracious God, with our Bibles open before us, we pray again for the help of the Holy Spirit to be able to understand and to believe and to obey and have your Word applied to our lives, this day. For we ask it in Christ’s name. Amen.”
So, things are getting sorted, aren’t they? King Xerxes’s heart – a heart that seemed it would never change – finally changes. Prior to this chapter, things looked pretty dark for the Jews. Yet, God sends them a glimmer of hope. In Corrie ten Boom’s book The Hiding Place she quotes her lesser-known sister Betsie as saying, “There’s no pit so deep but that God is not deeper still.” Well, to paraphrase that: “There’s no heart so hard that God cannot change it. There’s no edict so permanent that He can’t erase it. And there’s no scene so dark that He can’t brighten it.” And that brings us to the first point this morning: an unchangeable heart.
Think about what we know of Xerxes from our study. This is a powerful man. This man can cause people to live or die with a simple thumbs up or thumbs down. This is the man that got rid of his first queen because she displeased him. This is the man that decided to promote Haman – a man who hated the Jews – to the position of prime minister. This is the man that said to Haman, “Here’s my ring.” Another way of saying, “Take my pen. You sign for me. You pass the executive orders.” (And don’t forget that those edicts were permanent.) This is the man who willingly agreed to Haman’s plan to rid Persia of an entire race of people – something that feels like is being done as we speak.
And yet, all of a sudden, this is the man who held out his golden scepter to Esther and said, “Honey, what’s wrong? What can I do for you? Just name it.” And boy did she… He had his recently appointed prime minister impaled on the gallows that were ironically made to hang his wife’s cousin – the man that saved his very own life. And now he’s given Haman’s entire estate to Esther.
By the way, the Greek historian, Herodotus, said that the property of condemned criminals reverted back to the crown. So, in this case, the estate of Haman, would normally become the property of the king. And yet, Xerxes doesn’t keep it. He gives it to Esther, who, in turn, give it to her cousin Mordecai.
Folks, there’s no heart so stubborn that God can’t penetrate it. No will that’s so determined that He can’t break through it, whenever He so desires. Nobody is a match for the living God. I’m reminded of what Proverbs 21:1-2 says, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes. Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts.” The king’s heart is like playdough in the hands of God.
Just for a moment, imagine someone else’s name in that proverb instead of “the king.” Perhaps it’s someone who gives you grief. It might be one of your own grown wayward children. Maybe it’s someone who represents a formidable presence. Someone who haunts you. A person that wishes to bring you down: stubborn, strong-hearted. Imagine that heart – the one that’s so hard, so granitelike – turning into soft clay in the hands of the Lord. It’s possible! There’s no heart so stubborn that it can’t break in the hands of the Lord. If God can change the heart of a Xerxes, then He can change any heart. And just in case you’re inclined to doubt me on that – look in the mirror.
The prophet Ezekiel, speaking to the nation of Israel on behalf of God, said, “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My decrees. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be My people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleanness” (Ezekiel 36:26-29). God can take the heart of anyone and change it, just as He did with the heart of this king. Things are getting sorted, aren’t they?
Next, is an irrevocable edict.
Haman’s gone, but that doesn’t change the edict. It’s still very much in place. That was the whole trouble with those Medo-Persian edicts. Once they were passed, they couldn’t be reversed or repealed or revoked in any way. Listen to Daniel 6 – Daniel was a Jew living in Babylonian captivity under King Nebuchadnezzar until King Cyrus (Xerxes’s grandfather) defeated the Babylonians and set the Israelites free. Listen to what Daniel says about these laws of the Medes and the Persians:
“Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.”
“The king answered and said, ‘The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.’”
“Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, ‘Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed’” (Daniel 6:8, 12, 15).
Haman might be dead, but the edict is still very much alive. It’s irrevocable. The Jews will die. And knowing this, Esther cries. If I may say so myself, there are times when the genuine, compassionate tears of a woman are absolutely irresistible. It’s rare, indeed, for a man not to be softened by the genuine tears of a woman. So, here’s Xerxes: the mighty king with his queen at his feet in a puddle of tears.
And I know that I keep pausing and bringing this up week after week, but we’ve seen all of these reversals in the book of Esther. In the first couple of chapters, we have all these feasts, all these times of celebration around the table, and then you come to chapter 4 and you have Mordecai and Esther and the Jews are fasting. Then chapters 5, 6, and 7 it’s back to feasting. See the reversal?
Here’s another one. In the first couple of chapters, we have all the descriptions of robes and royal garments and the beauty treatments of the women and cosmetics and such, and we get to chapter 4 and you have sackcloth and ashes.
In chapter 6, we saw Haman describe what should be done for the man the king desires to honor, and all of that ultimately went to Mordecai. Last week, we saw Haman fall at the feet of Esther (the Jew), even though Mordecai (the Jew) wouldn’t bow to him. The gallows that Haman built for Mordecai was ultimately built for himself. All of these great reversals.
Well, here’s another one. When Haman fell at Esther’s feet last week, his concern was only for himself. Esther fell before the king, and her concern was only for her people. It kind of reminds me of the heart and the anguish of the apostle Paul in Romans 9. Listen:
“I am speaking the truth in Christ – I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit – that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:1-5).
What’s Paul saying? He’s pleading with his own family members (the Jews) to open their eyes and see that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. In fact, he’s so concerned with their eternal salvation that hypothetically, he says that he’d give up his own salvation if it meant that his people would be saved from eternal judgment.
Folks, we’re in the same boat. If, as the Bible says in Hebrews 9:27, “it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that comes judgment”, and if the way to escape the judgment is only, solely, finally, in the cross of Jesus Christ, then only those who come to the cross of Jesus in repentance and faith will escape the judgment. So, how can we just gather here on the Lord’s Day and sing songs in order to feel good about each other? What about the calamity of souls being lost forever? What about the realities of hell and damnation? Where is our pleading before the King who holds the lives of men and women in His hands? It’s challenging, isn’t it?
An irrevocable edict doesn’t get undone. It can’t be removed from the statute books. It has to stand. But the second edict can nullify the first. Because what Mordecai’s edict is about to do is to reverse Haman’s by giving power to those from whom the power had been taken in the first place. In other words, it’s going to be edict vs. edict. It’s another great reversal, as things continue to get sorted.
You and I may not only have a person after us, a person that we think has an unchangeable heart, we might also have a document, something that’s been written that seems irrevocable – some review at work, some newspaper article written about our company, some transcript, some diagnosis, some lawsuit, some contract, whatever. And because it’s in writing, it looks so intimidating, so un-erasable, so legal. And you’re hearing me preach this morning, thinking, “Yeah, but if you only knew who’s behind that?” But that’s my whole point. Who is anybody compared to the Lord our God? We serve a sovereign God who has yet to be taken off guard by anything done on earth. Nothing frightens Him. Nothing causes Him to do a double-take. Nothing is too hard for Him.
We live “in the shelter of the Most High” and we “abide in the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). That’s the God we serve. That’s the Lord we worship. That’s the One who is our refuge and fortress. When God steps in to rewrite the edict of death, the results are amazing (amen). Not only will every knee bow before Him, but every lie will be exposed, every falsehood overturned. Someday the final books will be opened and the true record will be read.
We’ve seen what God can do with an unchangeable heart, and an irrevocable edit. Finally, an impenetrable gloom.
We have to remember that we’re getting an “inside scoop” on everything that’s taking place inside the palace. The average Jew was still counting down the hours before they breathed their last breath. I hate to say it this morning, but it’s true. The Jews in the streets of Susa probably felt like the people of Ukraine, the atmosphere of Auschwitz or Dachau or Birkenau. There’s wasn’t any laughter. No joy. No peace. Just another day closer to destruction. Just another moment closer to doom. But look at this… Another great reversal. Look at verses 15-17 again:
“Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. And in every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.”
It was like VE Day on May 8, 1945. It was like the fall of the Berlin wall on November 9, 1989. It was like nothing they’d ever seen before. The gloom was lifted. The darkness wasn’t impenetrable after all.
Do you live in a place of gloom and darkness? A place where there’s no laughter and joy? Has your life become grim or even borderline tragic? While others go home to the love and warmth of family, do you go home alone to the awful memory of broken relationships, remorse, and guilt? Perhaps you’re holding a medical report that’s gotten you paralyzed. You’re facing a person, a situation, something that seems unchangeable.
Listen to me; Esther’s story is as relevant today as it was when it was first recorded. It’s for the people who face stubborn spouses, intimidating children, hateful co-workers and angry neighbors. It’s for people whose lives have been scarred by documents and lawsuits, and bad reports, or rumors. It’s for people whose lives are lived within the thick, stone walls of depression and gloom. And Esther 8 announces in big bold letters: There Is Hope!
What we need is the presence of the Savior and the perspective of the Cross alive and at work in our lives. The cross of Calvary casts its shadow across all of life, and it makes life bearable. We need the Lord God living in our lives, operating in masterful control. We need the Holy Spirit of God there to prompt us and give us endurance and patience and understanding amid the fog or anxiety and despair. Esther’s story may be ancient, but it kind of feel current, doesn’t it?
And how beautiful it is when the Lord steps in to sort things out. Look at the last verse of chapter 8 and we’ll be done: “And many among the peoples of the land became Jews…” (NASB). The gladness of their hearts, the joy on their faces, the delight in their dancing attracted others to their Lord. An unchangeable heart can change in the hands of the Lord. An irrevocable edict can be revoked in the hands of the Lord. An impenetrable gloom can be penetrated in the hands of the Lord.
The late pastor and author Ray Stedman, in his book The Queen and I: Studies in the Old Testament Book of Esther, writes the following (and I’ll conclude with this quote):
When, because of your faith, your life too becomes perceptibly different; when your reactions are quite opposite to what the situation seems to call for and your activities can no longer be explained in terms of your personality; that’s when your neighborhood will sit up and take notice. In the eyes of the world, it’s not our relationship with Jesus Christ that counts; it’s our resemblance to him. In the midst of circumstances that look like certain defeat, there is no more powerful testimony than the joy produced by faith.
“Now, gracious God, look down upon us and help us. Some of us are all too aware of being at the end of a road that seems to have no more options left, no more exits on the freeway left to us, and before us just seems to stand a great impasse. Help us to find that the Lord Jesus Christ stands in that place, in that situation, in that moment with His arms stretched, opened wide to gather us up in His embrace and to clothe us with the robes of His righteousness. Fulfill Your purposes, we pray, in us and through us, for it’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.”
On February 26, 1935 three men positioned themselves in a vast field just outside the market town of Daventry, Northamptonshire, England to demonstrate a technology that would ultimately help win the Battle of Britain during WWII. The demonstration involved radio signals from a BBC short-wave transmitter and a Handley Page Heyford aircraft. The demonstration was a success and led to the first practical radio system for detecting aircraft. The gentleman credited with that discovery and demonstration was Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt.
Ironically, later on, driving in Canada, Watt found himself caught in a speed trap – a radar trap. Watt wasn’t just a clever man. He was also a humorous man, and he wrote a little poem titled Rough Justice concerning this incident. It went like this:
Pity Sir Robert Watson-Watt,
strange target of this radar plot
And thus, with others I can mention,
the victim of his own invention.
His magical all-seeing eye
enabled cloud-bound planes to fly
but now by some ironic twist
it spots the speeding motorist
and bites, no doubt with legal wit,
the hand that once created it.
Now, I begin there because that provides an apt summary of what happens in Esther chapter 7, and if you have your copy of God’s Word, then let me invite you to turn there with me. What happens to Haman in Esther 7 is far more significant and far more devastating than getting a speeding ticket, but nevertheless, it’s rough justice.
I wish I had more time to give you a thorough review, but I don’t. So, let this suffice. We’re in Persia. Xerxes (a.k.a. Ahasuerus) is the king of the Medo-Persian Empire. Some Jews have returned to Jerusalem following their Babylonian captivity, but many have not. People like Mordecai and Esther, and many others, have remained in Persia, and in particular the Persian capital of Susa. Esther, by way of a beauty contest and the encouragement of her adoptive father, Mordecai, has become the new queen of Persia. Mordecai saved the king’s life but wasn’t immediately rewarded for it. Along comes a prideful, evil politician and governmental advisor name Haman who hatches a plot to kill, annihilate, and destroy the Jews – all because Mordecai won’t bow down and pay homage to him.
Mordecai has convinced Esther to use her position, as the queen, to intervene on behalf of her people and seek the king’s favor – that’s chapter 5. Keep in mind, now, she hasn’t revealed to her husband that she’s a Jew. Esther throws a tailgate party for her husband, king Xerxes, and his prime minister, Haman, where she’s asked, by the king, what she wants. Sensing what I believe is the Holy Spirit, she stalls and calls for the second party. Overnight, between the first party and the party we’re getting ready to read, king Xerxes can’t sleep, and his bedtime story reminds him that he never rewarded Mordecai for saving his life. This leads to the central pivot, the primary reversal in the entire story – honoring Mordecai and shaming Haman. And now we come to the second party.
You with me so far? Listen, it’s a quick read. You can catch up on all the details this afternoon. Follow along with me as we continue this dramatic story of deliverance that can only be written by the hand of God.
1 So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. 2 And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” 3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. 4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared to do this?” 6 And Esther said, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.
7 And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king. 8 And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. And the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.
“Father, we bow before You, a great and good God, thanking You that You have made Yourself known to us – the wonder of Your ways and Your dealings – in Your Word. And as we continue our study here in this book, from so long ago, our prayer is that You will make Yourself known to us. Help us to see ourselves and to see our Savior, and to turn to Him in repentance and in faith, for it’s in His name we pray. Amen.”
Well, as we seek to make our way through this chapter, I’ve summarized it in three headings. The first is Esther’s Answer.
That’s what we’ve been waiting on since the beginning of chapter 5. You remember? She goes in (uninvited) to see the king and she’s literally putting her neck on the line. Coming into the presence of the king, without being summoned, could literally result in her having her head cut off. And we’ve seen enough of king Xerxes to know that he’s anything but emotionally stable. So, it’s a real possibility. But God is writing this story and God’s hand is upon Esther, and king Xerxes spares her life and raises his scepter in acceptance. It’s there is Esther 5:3 that we hear the king’s first inquiry. She says, “Hey, why don’t you come to a party that I’m throwing, and I’ll tell you there.” Xerxes and Haman come to the party, and in Esther 5:6 he asks again. And you might recall that I showed you that colon (:) in the text, and I suggested that it was really rare to have any punctuation in the original texts of Scripture, and yet it was there.
The point is this: Esther had a sensitive ear and a wise heart. She sensed something wasn’t quite right, and so, she didn’t push it. She knew when to act – and she knew when to wait. And the question that we have to ask ourselves is: Do we? Do we know when to listen? Do we know when to speak up – and when to keep quiet? Do we know how much to say, as well as when to say it? Do we have the wisdom to hold back until the moment is right? Those questions make a difference, you know.
Obviously, nobody gets this right every single time. Life and death decisions are rarely straightforward, but the question is: Are we sufficiently “in tune” with God to read His subtle signals? Do you remember Solomon’s counsel in Ecclesiastes 3, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” and then he goes through a laundry list of matters and verse 7 says, “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.” Silence was appropriate at the previous party, but not today.
And notice the shrewdness of Esther’s answer. She takes what Xerxes certainly intended to be a single appeal and makes it into two. See, when Xerxes said, as he did each time, “What is your wish and what is your request” I’m certain that he only intended it to be understood as a single response. Just like we do when we ask someone what their birthday wish is. “Hey, what do you want for your birthday? What’s your birthday wish?” We don’t usually expect multiple answers. Well, maybe we do. But that wasn’t the intention, right? Esther used the king’s question to present two requests.
And notice that both requests are inseparably linked. We tend to run the details of this story together, unintentionally mixing and mingling the facts – either because we’re familiar with the overall outcome, or because we read it in fits and starts – but Xerxes never knew what group of people Haman wanted to kill. He only knew that Haman wanted to get rid of a group of people. And Haman was crafty enough not to explicitly say which people. But Esther’s answer united two requests into one depiction of injustice, “For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.”
And notice that she never implicates her husband. She never points her finger at Xerxes, and she never says, “Hey big guy, this ultimately rests at your feet.” No, she was careful to word her explanation in the passive voice and avoid any direct references to him. And her discernment continues in the second half of verse 4, “If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” In other words, she says, “Boo bear, I know that you have so many other important matters to attend to, that I wouldn’t even both you about this if we were just being sold into slavery – but we’re going to be killed.”
Naturally, Xerxes demands to know who’s responsible (v. 5) “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared to do this?” Do you see, now, why it was so important for Esther to word her answer in just the right way? Kind of reminds me of the prophet Nathan confronting David after his sin with Bathsheba, right. You remember how sharp and astute Nathan was when he created that fictional story of the guest with the little ewe lamb and how the king took that little lamb away from the visitor. And David says, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity” (2 Samuel 12:5-6). Do you remember Nathan’s response? “Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man!’” (2 Samuel 12:7).
Esther doesn’t do that. That’s not smart. That wouldn’t be shrewd. Guys, this woman isn’t just pretty. She’s clever! Instead, she protects her husband and finally (v. 6), “Esther said, ‘A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!’” BOOM! Drop the hammer. Drop the mic. “Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.” That’s Esther’s answer. Now, let’s look at Ahasuerus’ Response.
Do you know what. Even if we didn’t have verse 7, I think that most of us could have filled that in. Don’t you think? This is the typical response of this guy. He’s enraged. He explodes. He storms out of the banquet hall and into the garden.
Now, let me just pause here for a minute. We’ll come back to the king in just a moment. I want you to think about who I’ve suggested is the author of this story. We’ve noted that God isn’t mentioned by name or title or reference throughout this entire book, and yet He’s working. He’s orchestrating this story in such a way as to make it clear that He’s the author. He’s sovereignly and providentially in control. Now, with that in mind, I want you to notice how frequently the scenes of this story are saturated with wine-drinking. And notice the overall emotion and feeling of the scenes.
The book opens up with a huge celebration and the wine is flowing. In fact, at this opening party, there’s only one rule: there’s no limit. Give each man as much as he wants. It’s at this opening party that we read that king Ahasuerus is in “high spirits from wine” (Esther 1:10) And what did he do? He made a foolish request that his former queen parade herself in front of his buddies. When she refused, he made another foolish mistake and banished Vashti. Then, when Haman presents this plot to kill the Jews, he and king Ahasuerus wrap up the day’s events with a drink. Then, at the first banquet (chapter 5), Ahasuerus and Haman were drinking again. Then, when this chapter opens up, they’re drinking again.
Now, I’m not a “T-totaler.” In fact, the same Bible that gives strong warning against drinking also says that God made “wine to gladden the heart of man” (Psalm 104:15). And it was wine that Jesus consecrated at the Lord’s Supper. He could’ve used fruit juice if he wanted, but He didn’t. He used wine. So, I’m not completely and utterly against alcohol. But, if God is the ultimate author of this story, don’t you wonder what He might be trying to say to us when he includes so many scenes with drinking and the negative consequences, and the anger and foolish decisions that are made in the presence of such indulgence? Is it possible that God is trying to say something rather clear to some of us?
Now, back to the king. He storms out of the room and into the garden. The Bible doesn’t tell us explicitly why he went into the garden, but it is pretty clear that – of the party attendees – he’s the only one to leave. Haman stayed and Esther stayed. An awkward moment, no doubt. But I want you to see the king storming out into the palace garden alone. Besides sleeping in his bed at night, when have we ever seen him alone? Never. He always has somebody around, whether it’s advisors, or counselors, or military personnel, or attendants. The man always seems to have someone that he can turn to when he needs to make sense of something. But not this time.
I think he’s out in the garden – this is pure and utter speculation on my part – but I think he’s out in the garden on the horns of a dilemma. See, he finally recognizes that he has to decide on his own. He finally recognizes that he signed Haman’s edict into law. He finally recognizes that he backed it up with the authority of his royal signature. He finally recognizes that he’s as much responsible for the potential demise of his queen and the death of the Jewish people as Haman is – maybe even more so. And he’s wondering exactly what he’s going to do, what he’s going to say. What’s going to be his response.
Notice verse 8, “And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. And the king said, ‘Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?’” Now there are only two ways to see what’s going on here. The first is to see what Xerxes saw, or rather what he thought he saw, which was Haman trying to rape his wife. I think this was due to his impairment. Why do I think that? Because Haman already knows he’s dead. Verse 6 ends with him being terrified in the presence of the king and the queen. But even more so than that, the rules of decorum were such that no man, other than those assigned to the queen were allowed to be within seven paces of the queen or any of the king’s harem. And we thought social distancing was a new thing.
The other way to view this is what I believe was intended. Haman was throwing himself down upon the mercy of Queen Esther. Mervin Breneman, in his Old Testament commentary on Esther writes, “Haman, in typical Near Eastern form, probably grabbed the feet of Esther, kissed them, and begged for forgiveness.” Plus, this is in keeping with the reversals we’ve seen throughout the book, right? Mordecai (the Jew) doesn’t bow down to Haman, but now we find Haman bowing down the Esther (the Jew). Poetic justice is everywhere, isn’t it?
Esther’s Answer… Ahasuerus’ Response… Finally, Haman’s End
It’s lights out for Haman. That’s what we read at the end of verse 8, “As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face.” It’s customary in the Roman world, in the Greek world, and apparently in the Persian world too, that when a sentence of death was issued, the person on the receiving end would have their face covered.
Job 5:12-14 describes Haman well, “[God] frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night.” Haman meets with darkness in the daytime. The judgment of God falls on Haman, and we say to ourselves “Hoorah, the bad guy gets what’s coming to him.” And Harbona says (v. 9), “Well, you know, he built gallows for the hanging of Mordecai – who, by the way, king, saved your life.” There’s nothing left out here, is there?
Now, as we bring this to a close, I want you to see how Esther 7 foreshadows what we see played out for us in the New Testament. Now hear me well. Listen closely. Don’t take this analogy too far. This is not a perfect allegory, but I want you to see some of the connections here in Esther 7 to the New Testament. We’ve been studying a book that never mentions God’s name, and yet the hand of God is all over the place. Let me show it to you here.
In Esther 7, who does King Xerxes represent? You. Me. We think of ourselves as the little kings of our own lives – eating, drinking, being merry, half the time not even paying attention to anyone except for ourselves. I’m right. I’m never wrong. (Again, don’t draw a bold line between these connections. If you were going to put this on a chalkboard you might draw a dotted line, or a faint line. Not a hard line.) Who does Queen Esther represent? The Holy Spirit and the Word of God – who confronts my life and convicts me of my sin in light of the truth of the Word of God. Well, then, who is Haman? Haman represents two different things.
First, he represents the “flesh.” Listen to Paul, in Romans 6:6-7, 11, “We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin… So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” And what you have, here in Esther 7, is this: put the old self, put the old man, put the flesh on the tree.
And the second thing that Haman represents is the One who was covered in our sin and nailed to the tree. Now, remember, I said don’t take this analogy too far. There were plenty of things that Haman did that weren’t Christ-like. I’m not suggesting that Haman was like Jesus in the way that he lived. But I am suggesting that Haman’s death is – in some measure – a picture of our salvation in Jesus.
Think about it, as all the people of Persia saw Haman hanging there, they knew what he’d done. No doubt, the word got out about what he’d done – all of his deception, all of his wickedness, all of his evil scheming. Again, listen to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake He [God] made Him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him [Jesus] we might become the righteousness of God.”
In a mysterious and yet very clear way, rough justice is served. It won’t be served at the thrones and the courts of the Ahasueruses of this world. Persia is long gone. The emperors of our world are just a footnote in history. But Jesus Christ is King. He’s the One who’s in charge of the great reversals. He turns us from darkness to light, from sadness to joy, from death to life. God achieves His purposes through the preservation of His people here in Persia, and all the way through, and ultimately in the provision of His Son as a Savior, the gift of salvation to the world for all who will believe.
“Father, thank You for the Bible, and thank You for the privilege of thinking these things through with us. Grant us a conviction that shows us who we are and who Jesus is. May the unclear and confusing things be lost; anything that’s wrong, may it be banished from our recollection, so that we might affirm again that beyond the voice of a mere man, we actually listen to You, the living God. And how humbled we are to think that You, the One who made the entire universe, would come and speak to us in such a manner. Hear our prayers, O God; for we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Some of you have noticed the title of today’s sermon and are wondering how I’m going to tie Sleepless in Seattle (the movie) with the biblical book of Esther. Well, the answer is: I’m not. I simply borrowed the title and plugged in Susa. Some might say it’s coincidental that Seattle and Susa both begin with the letter ‘S.’ But if there’s anything that we’ve seen in this study of Esther, it’s the fact that there’s no such thing as “coincidence.” Rather, I think it’s pretty providential. Wouldn’t you say?
No, there’s no connection between the 1993 movie starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan except, perhaps, the fact that this is the Sunday following Valentine’s Day and that was the day that Sam (Hank’s character) and Annie (Ryan’s character) were scheduled to meet at the top of the Empire State Building. But that’s a rather flimsy connection, as well. No. It wasn’t a movie, or a late-night phone call to Dr. Marcia Fieldstone, or the lyrics of a song that kept king Xerxes awake all night in Esther 6. That’s where you need to go.
If you have a copy of God’s Word – and I hope that you do, because that’s what I use here at Mountain Hill Church – then let me invite you to turn with me to Esther 6. We encounter a king that can’t sleep, a queen that’s failed to tell him what’s troubling her, and a bad guy that can’t contain his excitement. The chapter takes place at night, and we open up in the king’s bedroom. Follow along with me:
1 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. 2 And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 3 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.” 4 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. 5 And the king’s young men told him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.” 6 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 would the king delight to honor more than me?” 7 And Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, 8 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. 9 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.’” 10 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.” 11 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.”
12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. 13 And Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him.”
14 While they were yet talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the feast that Esther had prepared.
“Thank You, Father, for the reminder this morning that 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.”
Just as a little review, the Jews were still on course to be exterminated. Back over in Esther 3:13 we read that letters were sent by couriers to all the provinces with these instructions: destroy, kill, and annihilate all Jews. Now Haman had conveniently left out the identity of the people he wanted to kill when he was telling Xerxes. So, Xerxes doesn’t know that it’s his wife’s people. In fact, Xerxes doesn’t know that his own queen is a Jew (at this point). So, Xerxes is completely in the dark on this thing. None of that has changed.
What had changed had to do with Mordecai. You remember that Mordecai used to sit at the king’s gate, and he refused to bow to Haman, which led to this holocaust of the Jews. Well, not only that, but because he continued to show Haman no honor, Haman’s family and friends had convinced Haman to build a gallows 50 cubits heigh (75’ tall) and hang Mordecai on it (Esther 5:14). Now, what we don’t know for sure is exactly what is meant by “hang.”
See, our western-American thinking automatically assumes the wild west picture of a gallows and a noose and a trap door and all the rest. But that’s not necessarily what’s in view here. It could be, but it might also refer to “hanging” like we say, “hang that picture over there.” So, it could refer to affixing someone to the gallows. But there’s another way that this word is translated, and if you’re reading from the NIV (New International Version) or the NLT (New Living Translation), you see that the translators chose the other usage – “impaled.” That’s right. The Greek historian Herodotus recounts that, when Darius I, king of Persia, conquered Babylon, he impaled 3,000 Babylonians. So, Mordecai was on the fast track to be killed the very next morning.
And Esther (chapter 6) is filled with people that are facing desperate situations, desperate decisions, and desperate moments. Listen to me, God will often use the times of our desperation as a stage to display His sovereign power and deliverance. It’s true. Often times, God will use our desperation as a stage to display His sovereign power and deliverance. And that’s what we’re going to see this morning, and our first principle is this:
When no one else remembers, God does. Verses 1, 2 and 3 actually take us back to an event that occurred in chapter 2. You might remember, back at the end of chapter 2, that Mordecai overheard a plot being hatched by two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh. They were going to kill Xerxes; Mordecai found out about it and alerted Esther, who, in turn, told Xerxes, and Xerxes’ life was spared. Well, on this particular night (chapter 6), Xerxes can’t sleep; so, he calls for some bedtime reading and what’s brought to him is nothing less than the record of that event from several years prior.
And so, he asks his attendant, “Hey, what was ever done for Mordecai?” and the guys says, “Nothing. Zip. Nada.” (That’s in the Hebrew.) You didn’t remember him. You didn’t say “thank you.” You didn’t send him a card. You didn’t give him a plaque to hang on the wall. You didn’t get him a cute knick-knack to go on the mantle. You didn’t do anything. And the interesting thing to me is that Mordecai never says a word. The text doesn’t say anything about Mordecai complaining or whining or poor-mouthing Xerxes. Listen, you come to the beginning of chapter 3 – right after Mordecai has saved Xerxes’ life – and what do we see? Haman is getting promoted. Who’s this guy? Where did he come from? What happened to Mordecai? Oh, he’s sitting at the king’s gate doing his job. And yet, he never says a thing.
All the while, it’s Haman that’s getting all the attention, all the promotion, all the glory. And we say to ourselves, “Isn’t that just like life?” How many times have we done something great at work and nobody said a word? Nobody paid us any attention. Nobody gave us a plaque. Nobody held a dinner. Nobody gave us a gift. Nobody gave us an increase in salary, all the while we did something great for the business. How many times does that happen? All the time. And not just at work. Wives/husbands, how many times do you go out of your way for your spouse, and you feel as though it was overlooked? You give. You serve. You go out of your way, and yet it seems that nobody notices. And so, we get hurt and offended because we think that nobody remembers or notices, but God does.
Listen to what the writer of Hebrews says, “For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for His name in serving the saints, as you still do” (Hebrews 6:10). The preacher can overlook it and forget it. The staff can overlook it and forget it. Your spouse can overlook it and forget it. Your boss can overlook it and forget it. Students, your teachers and coaches can overlook it and forget it. But listen to me, God never forgets a thing that you do for Him. Here’s another verse, Psalm 56:8, “You have kept count of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?” God has a book. Listen, let me take you to the last book of the Old Testament, to the prophet Malachi. Listen to what he says, Malachi 3:16, “Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed His name.”
Dear brother and sister, you may have been forgotten and overlooked by everybody else, but God remembers what you’ve done for Him. There’s an old hymn from back in the 50’s. I know, I just said, “old hymn” and 50’s in the same sentence. Listen, there’s a hymn that Ira Stanphill wrote in 1953 called Follow Me, and one of the refrains in that hymn says, “If just a cup of water I place within your hand, Then just a cup of water is all that I demand.” Jesus said that. He said, “I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:36-38, paraphrased). Nobody else may remember what you’ve done, but Jesus remembers what you did for Him.
Now, let me show you the second principle. When no one else knows, God does. Nobody in the entire chapter knows what’s going on with everybody else. Each of the players are oblivious to what’s going on with the others. Xerxes is in his bedroom having trouble going to sleep. He doesn’t know that Haman has prepared gallows and is planning on asking permission to have Mordecai skewered. Haman is so excited about his plan that he can’t sleep and he’s out in the king’s courtyard. I imagine that he’s just pacing back and forth waiting for the first opportunity to see the king.
You know, we aren’t given any indication or clue what time of night this is. Could be shortly after the party. Could be 2, 3, 4 o’clock in the morning. We don’t know. I imagine Haman is like those crazy people that camp out in front of the department stores just before Black Friday, or those crazy college students that camp out all night in front of the arena or stadium to get tickets to the big game or the concert. He’s so excited about what he’s planned for Mordecai, but he doesn’t have any idea what Xerxes just finished reading.
Poor ole Esther is busy preparing for another party and doesn’t have time to be thinking about Xerxes sleepless night or Haman’s eager anticipation. What about us, the readers? You say, “Well, I’ve already read ahead, and I know what’s going to happen.” That may be, and I hope you have, but that’s not what I’m not talking about. Let me show you something that we wouldn’t have a clue about unless the Bible told us. In fact, I’m sure that most of us probably missed it.
Look at verse 6. Xerxes invites Haman into his bedroom and asks him what should be done for the man that the king wishes to honor, and notice the second part of verse 6, “And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” You see that phrase, “And Haman said to himself…”? In the Hebrew it says, “And Haman said in his heart…” You and I were completely unaware of what Haman was thinking in his heart until the text of Scripture told us. We’re getting the opportunity to see inside the heart of this man. We’re getting to see a part of Haman’s heart that nobody else knows – not even his wife – except for the God who knows.
And notice what Haman wants. Pay close attention to Haman’s response (vss. 8-9), “[L]et 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.’” Haman wants to be the king. Haman wants what the king has. He wants the king’s robe. He wants the king’s horse. He wants the trumpets and fanfare. He wants someone to go before him proclaiming his special place of honor. Did you know that? I didn’t know that prior to God’s Word telling me. I didn’t know that’s what Haman wanted in his heart, but God did.
Does that sound like somebody else in the Bible? Was there somebody else that wanted to be the king, wanted what the king had, wanted the glory and honor of the king? Sounds a little bit like Satan, doesn’t it? Here’s a guy (Haman) who comes off as being Xerxes’ greatest counselor – his greatest servant. He appears to be serving the king, when in reality he’s serving himself.
And here’s an application that none of us are going to like, especially me. This very thing happens in the church. To some degree or another, at some point or another, we’ve all been guilty of playing the part of Haman. We serve, and do, and give, and go, and teach, and minister, and invest, and we all want people to know that we’re doing it for the King, when down on the inside (in all honesty) we’re wanting a little glory for ourselves. I told you that you wouldn’t like it. But it’s true. The pastor, the staff, the deacons, the council, the Bible study leaders, the prayer group and small group facilitators, and the people in the pews – we all need to ask ourselves, “Whose glory do we seek in what we do at Mountain Hill Community Church?”
That hurts. And I’m the one having to preach this. And listen, all your eyes are on me. We need to pray what David prayed in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” When we serve . . . are we serving for show, or are we serving out of a heart that loves God?
Now listen, I can’t move on without drawing our attention to the greatest irony in all the Bible. In fact, this is Hebrew humor at its best. Look at verse 10, “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.’” I bet Haman’s jaw hit the floor. I bet Haman said, “I’m sorry, my Persian is a little rusty. I’m not familiar with that Chaldean dialect. Did I hear you right? You want me to do that for MORDECAI?”
Dr. Tim Mackie holds a Ph.D. in Hebrew and is a former pastor and adjunct professor at Western Seminary. He says that verse 10 is the “crucial pivot, the ultimate reversal. Every detail of Mordecai’s recognition, even his own role, as the one to make the honorary proclamation, all came from his own mouth. Haman personally designed the whole extravagant show.” Talk about no one else knowing – Mordecai has been silent this entire chapter and all of a sudden, he finds himself riding on the back of the king’s royal horse, wearing the king’s royal robe, being heralded by none other than the man that wanted to kill him. Mordecai is the most surprised man in the entire kingdom. That’s the beauty of the story. When no one else knows, God does.
Finally, let me show you the last principle. When no one else dispenses justice, God does. Now, we need to get to verse 13, but I can’t get there without first saying just a little word about verse 12.
This honoring of Mordecai happened a few years after Mordecai saved Xerxes’ life. Now think about it. Put yourself in Mordecai’s shoes. You save the king’s life, and now you kind of expect some sort of recognition, but nothing. Eventually, you just go on about your business and then, finally, out of the blue, the day comes when you’re dressed in the king’s finest, and paraded around the empire on the king’s horse, and honored before all.
Now, watch Mordecai in verse 12, probably one of the most underrated verses in the entire Bible, “Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate.” He just went back to work. Who, after they’ve been in the limelight, can do that? Who, after they’ve been in the place of honor and accolades and receiving the royal treatment, can simply go back to their former life? This verse speaks to the humility of Mordecai. I can’t say all that I want. I can’t explain it all, but folks, there’s a link between justice and humility. Listen to 1 Peter 5:5, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Why did this happen? We’ve seen that Mordecai is in a position of compromise. He and Esther, both, should’ve returned to Jerusalem when the Jews were released from captivity. But they didn’t. We never hear the name of God on his lips. We never see him pray. We never see him in the synagogue. We never see him reading the Torah. The closest thing to faith and religious devotion that we see him doing is putting on sackcloth and ashes, but even then, there’s no explicit mention of repentance. God could’ve shown favor to Haman, but He doesn’t. Why? Because he’s full of pride.
Now we get to verse 13. Haman goes down to his house and recounts everything that’s happened and notice the change of tone. Just a few moments earlier they were giving instructions on building gallows and killing Mordecai. Listen to what they say now, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him.” You go back to Genesis 12, where God establishes His covenant with Abraham and you hear these words, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3, NKJV). That’s still true to this very day.
Just when you think that Haman is about to get away with murder, God dispenses justice. Never once in all of Haman’s peacock strutting and evil plotting had God ignored him or his plan to murder Mordecai and the Jews. God hadn’t missed his statements, the pride of his heart, the violent and prejudicial motives behind his decisions. God might have been invisible, but He wasn’t out of touch, and He hadn’t forgotten His people or the promises He made to them.
Let me close with this fictional, yet poignant, story. Perhaps you’ve heard it. There was a man who was shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. He painstakingly built a little hut for protection from the elements where he could keep the few items he had salvaged from the wreck. For weeks he lived with only the hot sun and the cold nights and the tropical storms for company. Prayerfully, he scanned the horizon for the approach of a ship. Nothing.
Then, once evening, when he was returning from a search for food, he was terrified to find that his little hut was in flames. As he stood there, unable to put out the fire, he was crushed by the disaster. What few possessions he had were now gone up in smoke. He went to sleep that night near the ashes, listening to the surf pounding on the sand and despair throbbing in his heart.
Early the next morning he awoke to find a ship anchored off the island – the first ship he’d seen in all the weeks he had been searching for the hope of rescue. Still trying to believe his eyes, he heard footsteps and then heard the captain’s voice: “We saw your smoke signal, and we came to rescue you.”
God seemed so distant for so long, but He was working on both ends – to bring the ship of rescue near at just the right time and to reduce the hut to ashes and the man to his knees. Where are you in that story? Do you feel that God has been absent or “on hold” in your life? Distant in some way? He may have seemed absent, but He’s been present all along. Furthermore, He knows your heart. He knows the true condition of your soul. He knows the hidden impurities of your motives. He knows the deep depravity of your sin. But He’s heard your cry and He won’t turn you away. He always responds to a truly humble heart that comes to Him on His terms.
“O 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.”