Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Esther. Yes, the entire book of Esther. This is gonna be a different kind of sermon because today we are indeed basically going through the entire book of Esther. Not normal, but prayerfully. Very encouraging for all of us here this morning. Some people look at the book of Esther and they say, I don't know about the book of Esther. I mean, the name of God doesn't appear anywhere in the entire book of Esther. So I don't know about the book of Esther. That's true, right? The name of God doesn't appear in the entire book of Esther. However, the presence of God is felt in every line of this book. And as one said, the book of Esther may not directly mention God, yet it clearly reveals God at work for his fingerprints are all over it. And that's absolutely correct. And I pray that we all see that very clearly today. Let me remind you, as I did last week, when we looked at Daniel 6, that Israel was once a united kingdom for a while. It wasn't long before the kingdom, the united kingdom, divided into two kingdoms and it was very sad times indeed. The ten tribes to the north called Israel were conquered by the Assyrians in 710 BC. The remaining two tribes in the South were called Judah, and it was around 600 BC that the Babylonians invaded Judah three times with the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple of God during their third assault in 586 BC. So the Babylonians came in, they conquered, they took the wealthiest and most distinguished people of the land along with the most valuable treasures in the temple, and they sent them all off to Babylonia. Jeremiah lived and prophesied during that time. The prophet Ezekiel was himself among those captives, along with Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were deported around 605 B.C., not long before the eventual destruction of Jerusalem. Well, 70 years later, in 538 BC, the Jews are still there in captivity. This is the same time that Daniel stood strong and faced the lions. And look, it's also when the king of the new empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, or simply the Persian Empire, when that king, whose name was Cyrus, who also could have been the Darius who's mentioned in Daniel chapter six, very interesting, look, He let the Jews go back to Judah and rebuild the temple of God. And that's what some of those Jews did. A group of them returned to Jerusalem and they began rebuilding the temple of the Lord according to the book of Esther, Ezra, sorry. Well, in between Ezra chapter six and Ezra chapter seven, there is a 58 year gap. And it's in that gap that the events of Esther take place over in Persia around the year 483 BC. This is all 20 years before Ezra takes another group of Jews back to Jerusalem with him, and it's about 35 years before the events of Nehemiah take place. So, the Jews have been exiled away from their homeland, and 120 years later, many of their offspring are still living in exile. Well, we find that a baby girl named Hadassah was born during that time in Israel, during that exile. And tragically, Hadassah was orphaned at a very early age. After her parents died, she was adopted by her older cousin, a man named Mordecai. Mordecai was a God-fearing man who loved Hadassah dearly, like he would love his own daughter, and who raised her well in the face of some very hard circumstances. Hadassah was the girl's Jewish name, and Esther was her Persian name. So here they were. Think about that. Here they were, the two of them, living in the city of Shushan, also known as Susa, which today is located on the western edge of Iran. See, Shushan was the capital city of the Persian empire, and it was the winter residence of the Persian kings. This is the same city where Daniel previously had his vision in Daniel chapter eight. And it's also the same city that Nehemiah will find himself serving another king as his cupbearer some 35 years later. King of Persia is King Ahasuerus. the son of King Darius, who ruled 127 provinces. Think of this, from India to Ethiopia. So this is a massive empire, and this king has a great amount of power. Look what the book of Esther says as it begins, chapter one, verse one. Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, this was the Ahasuerus who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia. In those days when King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the citadel, that in the third year of his reign, he made a feast for all his officials and servants, the powers of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of the provinces being before him. When he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty for many days, 180 days in all. Now, as we look at the book of Esther, we can observe seven truths that will help us understand what's really going on. First is this, King Ahasuerus divorced Queen Vashti. Now look, the king isn't a good guy. Let's make that very clear. The king is not a good guy. He was known for his drinking, his lavish banquets, his harsh temper, and his sinful sexual appetite. I mean, this guy was a cruel tyrant. This guy was an evil man. Many believe that King Ahasuerus was indeed King Xerxes, that they're the same guy. The belief is that Ahasuerus is a Hebrew adaptation of the Persian word for this king. which the Greeks then turned into the name Xerxes. So here he is, and in the third year of his reign, it's 483 BC, that he calls all his officials and all his servants together, and he basically shows off. Look, for 180 days, think about this, he holds a feast, 180 days. where he showed his guests all the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty. It seems that the reason for this time of feasting was in preparation for a war that he would soon engage in against Greece. Why throw a feast before a battle? to give people confidence in your greatness perhaps? Wow, this king is so glorious, he's so excellent, yeah, let's go to battle, because a guy like that will certainly win the battle, something like that, perhaps. The guests were probably coming and going over that period of time like a sort of rotation, but then after 180 days, The king gave a final banquet, a feast that lasted for seven days for all the people that were present in Shushan, the capital city, both the great and the small. So he ends 180 day feast with a feast. The feast lasted, this one lasted for seven days. And it must have been absolutely incredible to see because boy, was it extravagant. Verses five through eight tell us how excessive it was when it tells us that there were marble pillars and hangings of white and violet linens in the gardens. There were also couches of gold and silver, even mosaic pavements made of costly material. And look, no two wine cups were identical. and the wine flowed freely because he was a great king. He was a very generous king. Why go into all this detail? To impress the readers, right? To all the readers at the display of this excess. My thought, what a waste, right? Like the birthday parties that people in Hollywood throw for their one-year-olds that they'll never remember. This guy, though, was even more excessive than that. But hey, the king wants to show off. The king wants everyone to see his amazing power and his incredible wealth. So drink up, do what you please, and keep on drinking. For as verse 8 says, in accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory. In other words, you don't have to drink. but you can certainly drink. You can drink as little as you desire, and you can also drink as much as you desire. So I'm sure the alcohol just flowed. In verse 9, we find that the queen, Vashti, she also held a special separate banquet for the women. And look, it was on the seventh day of the feast, as the king was merry with wine, look what happened. He commanded the queen to come and to show her beauty to all the people and to the officials." Yikes. Now, this isn't good. This isn't good. I mean, this is something that only a drunk fool would want because this indeed is foolish. Well, Queen Vashti refused to be paraded around before everyone. Some have said that the king requesting Vashti to come wearing her royal crown meant that she was to come wearing only her royal crown. Nothing else except for that crown, but that's speculation. Others say that he wanted her to come unveiled, which was a massive no-no, but again, speculation. Whatever the case, think about it. He's commanding his beautiful wife to appear before them, for the enjoyment of a crowd of drunken men so they can stare at her beauty, so they can gawk at her, so they can treat her as an object who existed only for the king's pleasure and also for the pleasure of these sicko drunken men. No! You gotta like Vashti. No! Even though refusing the king could mean her death. No! Not gonna do it. Well, that made the prideful king furious, and his anger, it says, burned within him. What? She turned me down? She made me, me, look bad? She disrespected me? What, oh, what are we gonna do about my queen? The king asked his so-called wise men. Response, oh, king, king, you have to do something because other women are gonna follow her lead. And if you don't do anything, then you're going to have women all over the land standing up for themselves. Things like that. You know, that's not good. And you're going to have women all over the land not obeying every ridiculous whim of their husband. That's not good. You're going to have women all over the land thinking for themselves. That's not good. Things like that. See how messed up they are? Pagan society that they were, I mean, this is really messed up. The Bible's very clear that women are equal to men. Of course women are equal to men, while being different at the same time with different God-given roles, but of course equal. And God's people have always understood that fact and gloried in it, but pagan societies often don't recognize this truth. Instead, they're abusive and they want to treat women like objects, and sadly, as we see happening here. Divorce, Vashti. Find another wife. Find a better wife, they said. Good idea. Good idea. Oh, what a mess. Well, that's what he did. Second look, Esther became queen and this is absolutely amazing. Look how chapter two begins. Chapter two, verse one. After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done and what had been decreed against her. Then the king's servants who attended him said, let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king, and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shishun, the citadel. into the women's quarters under the custody of Haggai, the king's eunuch, custodian of the women, and let beauty preparations be given to them. Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. This thing pleased the king, and so he did it." So now the king is looking for another wife. It's really interesting because at least a couple of years have gone by between chapter one and chapter two. It's interesting, it says, he remembered vastly because something happened in between that time. The belief is that in between that time, the King's Persian army invaded Greece. And the victory for King Ahasuerus was certain. I mean, he had the numbers by far. He also had the weapons by far. But look, instead of winning, the attacking Persian army lost shockingly. 300 valiant Spartans did great damage to his massive army before they lost, those Spartans lost, and there's a movie made about that, but before he was finally defeated later on. Well, the king then returned home with his pride severely damaged, and he then devoted himself to more domestic affairs. In other words, I gotta find a new wife. That means that they searched the vast domain of the Persian empire. They then brought all the fair young virgins to Shushan. Can you picture that? Some people have called this the Miss Persia beauty pageant, but it was nothing like that. It was nothing like that. This is wretched. This is sick. And these poor young women are taken forcibly out of their homes. And the king alone would be the judge of this pageant, and he would appoint the winner to be his queen based on spending one night with him. That's it. King Ahasuerus did whatever he wanted to do, and this contest appealed to the sinful, sensual desire and ego of this wicked king. The plan was simple. The king was to spend a night with each of the young women, hundreds of them, And then he would select the one that pleased him the best. So the only requirement for a new queen was beauty, youth, and virginity. So this is not a sweet romantic story here. No, no. Instead, each young woman was forced to allow this lustful king to take advantage of her for one night in the sad hope that he would favor her. If they failed, then they would be doomed to a life in the king's harem as his concubine, his property, without the hope of a loving husband or family, not ever. Note this, none of these approximately 400 young women had a choice in the matter. important. This is when we first meet Mordecai and Esther, for Esther was a part of this harem of young virgin women. Again, Mordecai was Esther's older uncle, and when Esther's parents died, Mordecai took her in as his own daughter. But now, Esther is forced to be a part of this pageant to become queen. Some believe that Esther willingly signed up to be a part of this thing, but from what I've seen, this was something that neither the parents or the young women could ever, ever refuse, especially when we know how wretched this king was. No, they had no choice here. They had no choice. So a search was made, and as Esther was lovely and beautiful, I told a couple of guys this week, I was preaching on Esther, and they both said, man, she must have been really pretty. And that stands out. That is a fact. She was lovely and beautiful, it's mentioned more than once. As she was beautiful, I doubt she could have hidden that fact for very long, so she was taken. And then all the young women on arrival at the palace, they were then placed under the custody of Haggai, the chief eunuch, who was usually a repulsive old man to whom all the young ladies were dependent and whose favor they were always desiring to secure. Well, guess what? Esther obtained Haggai's favor. She impressed him. He liked her, see? So he favored her. How? How did he favor her? Well, he gave her provisions of cosmetics and food and maids and the best place in the harem, which is huge, the house of the women. See, he moved her up in line, which was good. Look, each woman was in this harem for one year. Why? To get pretty. See, their beauty treatments included six months in oil of myrrh and another six months with perfumes. And this was all done to enhance the beauty of each young woman. Note that Esther was Jewish, but Mordecai told her to not reveal that fact. Why not reveal that fact? Racism. That's why. Anti-Semitism was very real back then, as we will see, just as it's very real even today. And why make an issue out of something that shouldn't be an issue? No, Mordecai isn't ashamed, not at all, but again, why make an issue out of this? All the while, Uncle Mordecai is pacing in front of the women's quarters as close as he can get to Esther to find out how she's doing. See, he's worried, wouldn't you have been? I think a lot of fathers were probably pacing worried about their daughters. After the preparation period, it's now Esther's turn to be with the king for a night. How incredibly sad. But again, I'm convinced that she had no other choice. And chapter two, verse 15 tells us that she was careful to follow Haggai's instructions. The next morning, she would be relegated to the status of a concubine who would be considered a legitimate wife, but of secondary rank. And it probably also means that if she was a concubine, she would never again see the king unless he liked her and unless he called her by name, which was unlikely to happen since there were hundreds of these poor young women. Look what happened, verse 16 and 17. So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal palace in the 10th month, which is a month of Tebeth, and the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the other women. She obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins. So he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Wow. I mean, even in times, think about this, even in times of great distress, which Esther certainly was facing great distress, we see God's hand moving. And that's often how it is, where God doesn't take us always out of our trial and our distress and our adversity and our hardship, but God is still with us even in the midst of it. And he's moving in spite of it, which is clearly what we see happening here. Look, the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and in Esther, he found what he was looking for. Ahasuerus then made Esther the queen in Vashti's place, the royal crown was put on her head, and a feast was given for her honor. I mean, what an incredible turn of events. So look, Esther is now queen. Think about that. A humble Jewish orphan is now the wife of the most powerful monarch on the earth. the queen of an empire that was comprised of more than half the world at the time. That's Esther. That's incredible. She's married to a wretch, yes, but she's now queen. I mean, I wonder why. Can anybody guess? Third, Mordecai wouldn't bow down to Haman. One day Mordecai was sitting within the king's gates. What does that mean? It means that he was some kind of official in the city of the king. We don't know if he held this position before Esther became queen or after, but at this point, Mordecai is a king's official who was able to sit within the king's gate. So there he is, and as the young women have gathered together for a second time, for some reason that we don't know, look, he heard about a plot to kill the king. See, two of the king's eunuchs are guards, Big Thon and Toresh. Good name, isn't it? Big Thon? They were conspiring to assassinate King Ahasuerus. Why, we don't know, but I'm sure there were many reasons why someone would want to assassinate this king. But Mordecai can't let that happen without doing something, so he tells Esther about the plan. Esther then told the king, giving credit to Mordecai for telling her. An investigation then ensued, and then the two conspirators were hanged while Mordecai's name was inscribed in the royal archives. Question, did the king recognize Mordecai for saving his life? Did he? No, he did not. He forgot about the whole thing for now. So now we're learning about what kind of man Mordecai really is, right? Look, the king was an absolutely terrible guy, and I'm sure that many people around wanted him to die, and 13 years later, he would indeed be murdered. But clearly, Mordecai is a God-fearing man, and he takes the sixth commandment very seriously, thou shalt not murder. And to know that someone is plotting murder and to not do anything about it, well, that certainly isn't a God-honoring thing. We learn more about Mordecai in chapter three, which is about four years after Esther is crowned queen. Enter Esther. Hitler, I mean Haman. Chapter 3 verse 1, four years later, look. After these things, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hamadathah the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. And all the king's servants who were within the king's gate bowed and paid homage to Haman. for so the king had commanded concerning him, but Mordecai would not bow or pay homage. Then the king's servants who were within the king's gate said to Mordecai, why do you transgress the king's command? Now it happened when they spoke to him daily, and he would not listen to them, that they told it to Haman to see whether Mordecai's words would stand, for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with wrath, but he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, listen to this, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai. That's very interesting, isn't it? Haman's promoted. The king advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. And this shows us a bit of the character of the king because Haman was a terrible guy and the king has promoted a terrible guy. That's not good. Look, Haman was an Agagite, which means that he was likely a descendant of Agag, king of the Amalekites, who were longtime enemies of the Jewish people. See, centuries earlier, when Israel came out of Egypt, the Amalekites attacked them in the wilderness, especially the stragglers at the back, which would have primarily been the older people and the children. And because of that, God then declared that there would be a lasting hatred between those two groups, and he then committed himself to blot out all remembrance of Amalek from the face of the earth, which was a kind of judgment for their wretched, terrible, wicked sin against the people of God. I mean, they were terribly evil, and they were wretchedly wicked. They were brutal. The Amalekites had absolutely no remorse. And while I don't believe there are any Amalekites left today, the equivalence of their brutality would be what Hamas did last month to the Jewish people, even to their babies. And they did that not only with no remorse, but they gloried in the violence and they gloried in the murder. That was the Amalekites. Well, at the time of King Saul, God sent Israel to carry out that sentence on Amalek, but Saul failed to obey the command. His disobedience led to the loss of his kingdom, and then now, to the threat of annihilation for all the Jews, as we are gonna see. So Haman was an Amalekite, sworn enemy of the Jews. He was married to an absolutely terrible woman named Zeresh, and they had 10 sons. He was a very proud man, insecure too, I believe. And because of his new elevated status, everyone paid homage to him. Everyone bowed down to him, except for one. Who's that? Mordecai. Question, why didn't Mordecai bow down to Haman? There's two reasons for this, I believe. First, as I already said, Haman was an Agagite, a descendant of Amalek. And for Mordecai, whose genealogy links him to King Saul's family, oh, to bow down to Haman, a descendant of King Agag's family, was just too much for him to swallow. There's no way he's ever gonna bow down to Haman. Second, I believe that Mordecai didn't bow down before Haman or to any human being in worshipful reverence was because to do so would be tantamount to giving something to man that which is due to God alone. See, Haman wasn't just wanting people to recognize him and his greatness. No, Haman wanted the people to worship him, and that's something God's people cannot do. Look, in verse 4 it says that Mordecai told them that he didn't bow down to Haman because he was a Jew, and that's significant because Jews clearly worship one God, the one true God, and everybody knows that. We only bow to one. Now, there are biblical examples of God's people bowing before other people as a sign of respect, yes. That said, the words for bowing and paying homage stand out. See, throughout the Bible, those terms are found only in respect to bowing down before God, and they clearly carry the idea of worship with them. And so it seems that Mordecai didn't kneel or pay homage to Haman because Haman considered himself a deity who wanted everyone to worship him, and true believers bow and worship to God alone. End of story. So Mordecai cannot bow down, see. I mean, for him to do so would be compromise, and he will not compromise. To do so would be idolatry, and he worships God alone. So it seems that Haman demanded worship, and as a God-fearing Jewish man, Mordecai had to refuse to bow before Haman at any cost because God comes first. How good is that? He says, I'm a Jew. We don't do that. Just like we would say, I'm a Christian. I can't do that. See? Some disagree with this, that Mordecai, that's not the reason Mordecai didn't bow down, but there's certainly added incentive for him not bowing down because Haman was a descendant of Agag. Yes, however, behind all that, I believe it's clear there's a conviction and a love for the Lord that rises to the top. I mean, why give your life for this if it's solely because of Haman's lineage? Why give up the lives of all the Jews in the whole land if it's solely because of Haman's lineage? No, clearly, love for God is foundational here. And that's the kind of conviction that I want for all of us as lovers of Christ today. And this is one of the reasons that I wanted to preach this today, to get to here, for us to be like Mordecai, to have a no-compromise conviction like Mordecai had. where we have a love for Christ that's so deep and so real that we're willing to stand up when everyone else is bowing down for the glory of God, and we're willing to honor Him even when it means pain and death for us because we love Him and He comes first. See, Christians are not to be a wishy-washy people. That should be clear, but it's not. We're to not be a wishy-washy. People know Christians should be a people of conviction. We love God and love for him compels us to stand and be bold and be strong and to do what's right and God honoring no matter what because we love God and he's worthy, he alone. What's more important, your temporary comfort or the smile of God? Do you live for this life or do you live for the next? This life is fading, the next is forever. What are you gonna do? Well, Haman... prideful little guy that he was, he took personally the fact that Mordecai wouldn't bow down to him. And look, that personal slight grew, not just into a murderous hatred of Mordecai, but into a murderous hatred of all Jews. See, eliminating a single individual was far too small a payback for Haman's wounded vanity. Instead, he planned an end of all of Mordecai's people, the Jews, throughout the entire empire, so forth. Haman conspired against the Jews, and this is truly wicked. So look, Haman devised a plan. And the first thing that he did was to find the most suitable date for a mass massacre of all the Jews. And so he cast lots, or basically he rolled the dice. He consulted his magic eight ball. The lots were cast. March 7th comes up, which was nearly a year later. And now they have a plan. See, mass murder is hard work. So they have to get a plan even up to a year ahead of time. So they have the day, but now they need permission. Chapter three, verse eight. Chapter three, verse eight. Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, there's a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from all other people's and they do not keep the king's laws. He's a liar. Therefore, it's not fitting for the king to let them remain. Liar. If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed. And I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work to bring it into the king's treasury. So basically he's bribing the king. This is a lot of money that he's promising right here. A bribe that's equal to two thirds of the royal income, which was millions and millions of dollars. The king's response after hearing that, do it. Sounds good, make it happen and make sure you give me that money. So the king listened to Haman wrongly. The king trusted Haman wrongly. I mean, come on, take heed who you trust, take heed who you listen to because they might just be your enemy. Even so, the king gives Haman permission to destroy all the Jews in the land. So Haman enacts that decree to destroy, kill, annihilate all the Jews in the land, every bit of them, and then to plunder all their possessions. This is his final solution. And it's now a law and Haman is very, very happy. Note the indifference of the king. I mean, he doesn't really care about exterminating a whole people group. And look, he doesn't even know who those people are, no matter. They're just people, not me. No big deal. So the king and Haman sat down to drink, happy and unconcerned, but the city of Shushan was perplexed, rightly so. I mean, why do this? No reason is given. perplexed indeed, but hey, how do we explain many of the terrible things that people do to other people today? So is the way of sin. Mordecai soon heard of this new edict. He reacted like we would expect him to react. He's devastated. He tore his clothes. He put on sackcloth and ashes, which were signs of grief and mourning. And then he cried bitterly. And so did the rest of the people in the land, great mourning and fasting throughout the entire land. Well, it wasn't long until Esther heard about Mordecai and she too mourned greatly for Mordecai. And look, she also went and sent to Mordecai to find out more information and he gave it. Question, how did she not already know what was happening in the land? How's she surprised by this? Well, because she's isolated. She's up in the palace and clearly she doesn't know everything that the king does or everything that's happening in the city. Lester's maids and eunuchs told her about Mordecai, how Mordecai's sad, how Mordecai's dressed in sackcloth and ashes, and she's deeply distressed about this. Why? Because her stepdad is deeply distressed. She still didn't know the reason why, and she couldn't have fathomed the extent of the horrors that were really going on, so she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, who was still in sackcloth. Why send him garments? To comfort him. See, it was the custom of Persians to send new garments to relatives who were mourning over the deaths of their loved ones, and perhaps Esther assumed that someone had died, perhaps, but look, Mordecai refused the garments, and that was very revealing to Esther. And this caused Esther to inquire more about what was really going on through her servant. Well, look, through that servant, Mordecai also relayed this news back to Esther. He said this, you need to go to the king and plead before him for our people. That's a very serious request. Look at Esther's response, chapter four, verse 10. Then Esther spoke to Hathak and gave him a command for Mordecai. All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court of the king who has not been called, he has but one law, put all to death except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go into the king these 30 days. So they told Mordecai Esther's words. See how serious this request is? I mean, look, according to custom, visitors had to be summoned into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and no one, no one, no one could appear unannounced. The penalty for violating this law was death, unless the king extended the scepter to welcome them, and that was a massive if. One noted, in order to protect the king's life from would-be assassins, the king would extend the scepter only to those whom he knew and from whom he welcomed a visit. So there's really a small chance that the king will extend the scepter even to his wife Esther if she comes to him without him having called her first. It just didn't happen. Only for a select few, and the king's wife wasn't one of those few. So it's like, This is how she felt. It's like she'd be walking into her own death. And that is a very scary thought. On top of that, Esther hadn't been summoned into the king's presence for 30 days, which wasn't a good sign. I mean, they're married. You haven't seen your husband for 30 days. That's not good. None of this looks good. None of this at all. Look at how Mordecai responds, verse 13. And Mordecai told them to answer Esther. Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet, who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. How good is that? How good is that? In other words, Esther, if you don't do this, you're gonna die. You're gonna die because you too are a Jew and you aren't gonna be able to hide that fact. And that's right. So you can't be silent. No, you have to do something. Now, clearly Mordecai is a man of great faith. I mean, he's fully confident that God will indeed preserve the Jewish people somehow. He fully believed that God would make a way to rescue the Jews from this terrible edict. And if Esther didn't step up and step in, then God would do it in some other way. But hey, why not you Esther? Who knows whether you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Again, how good is that? Question, do you trust God? Do you trust the good providence of God? Will you honor God where He has you or won't you? If you blow it, then God will use someone else who will act and obey. But why would you want someone else to do that when you can have that great privilege yourself? No, trust Him, act, obey, don't compromise ever. Look, every child of God is where God has placed him or her for some divine purpose. And your call is to be faithful to him right where he has you and right now today. Don't cower in fear. No, obey and honor him. Because he has you here where he has you for a reason. Don't miss it. Look, it was no accident that Esther became the queen of Persia. She was there for a reason. She was indeed on the throne for such a time as this, and she became God's instrument of deliverance for all the Jews in Persia, an orphaned Jewish girl. Now, Esther could choose to recognize her providential placing in the royal court and opt to risk her own life in an effort to save her people, or else she could choose to remain silent, try to protect herself, and hope for the best. So, God could use her for his glory if she steps out in faith, even unto death, or else he would use someone else. But don't you want God to use you? Look, God uses people in fulfilling his purpose. One said, God has at the ready brave, committed, and obedient individuals who will step out in faith and accomplish his work. So step out. We may not have as much power and influence as Esther did, but God has still placed us where he wants us to be for such a time as this. Amen to that. We're not here by accident. He has placed us in this time, this position, and this place that He wants us to be right now. And we are called to be faithful to Him. Don't miss it. No, honor your King. So, what's Esther gonna do? Fifth, Esther agreed to help Mordecai. Chapter four, verse 15. Tell this to Mordecai, she says. Please pray and fast for me. I will go to the king, which is against the law, by the way, and if I die, I die. So this is the kind of people, this is the kind of people we need today. I'm gonna do the right thing, the God honoring thing, and if I die, I die. People who will do the right thing, the God-pleasing thing, the God-glorifying thing, even if it means they have to die for it. We have enough wishy-washy people around. We have enough compromisers around. We have enough lukewarm people around. We have enough spiritually mediocre people around. We need people with conviction, people who know that God is the all-glorious One, and people who know that pleasing Him is always worth it, even if they have to die for it. And that's true. And believers throughout the ages have proven that fact to us. He is worth it even unto death. Anyone, do we know this? It's true. Now we gotta believe it and live it. For such a time as this, think about this. As a believer, a Christian, he died to save you from hell. He poured out his wrath onto Jesus so you could be his forever. He forgave you of all your sin that condemned you. He loves you more than you can ever think or imagine, despite all of your wretched, sick sin. He chose you, His child. He adopted you. He wanted you to be His forever. He saved your soul that was doomed for wrath. And His children know this, and they love Him intensely for it, so much so that giving up our very lives for His glory and honor is indeed our greatest privilege. Esther is hailed as a great hero for doing the God-pleasing thing for her people. And we are called to be like her when it comes to glorifying God today for such a time as this. Well, guess what? Now's the time. Every second is time. Every moment for us in Christ is an opportunity to choose to honor Him or to bow down and dishonor Him. What will you do? I believe we're living in very unique times. I believe we are living in very special times and the stakes are high. And who knows what amazing opportunities will come our way. This is exciting. Who knows what amazing opportunities will come our way to greatly glorify God and take a stand for Him. So let's stand for Him in the small things so that when other bigger things come our way to stand up, even if it means death, look, we're already accustomed here to standing up for Him because we stand up for Him in the little things. Again, God has us where He has us for divine reasons. Let's honor Him with it today, at this time, and then tomorrow, And then the day after that, one noted, faith in God's providence, instead of repressing our energies, excites us to diligence. We labor as if all depended on us. And then we fall back upon the Lord with a calm faith, which knows that all depends upon him. And that's absolutely right. So let's labor, let's act, let's glorify him, let's seize every opportunity he gives to us to please him. What a privilege, what an honor. Well, after fasting, Esther went in to see the king. How scary is that? Put yourself in her position. She clearly thinks this will end in her death, but she's also been praying and fasting and she has others who are praying and fasting for her. So courage, Esther, courage, trust, be brave. Be strong. Now remember, one, Esther has to break the law, and which is a penalty for doing that is death. Two, Esther has to admit that she's been deceiving Ahasuerus about her ethnic background for five years. Three, Esther has to persuade the proud Ahasuerus to effectively reverse an irreversible law, and in so doing, he will lose a huge amount of promised revenue. Four, Esther has to oppose and overcome one of the most cunning and powerful foes in all of Persia, Haman. And five, Esther has to lead Ahasuerus down a path in which he will inevitably lose face, which won't be easy for someone as prideful and as arrogant as him. Danger is everywhere. In she goes, dressed in her royal robes. The king, who is on his throne, because man, he loved being on his throne. He sees Esther out in the court. What happens? The scepter is extended. Yes, that's good news. Esther goes in, she touches the top of a scepter. That's good news. Esther, what do you want? I'll give it to you up to have my kingdom, a good sign. Esther, listen to her response. I wanna have a banquet for you and Haman today. Say what? That's interesting. I mean, why not just come out with the real issue? I think she's being wise here. See, she's on dangerous ground. It was already a massive win that the king let her come in to see him at all. And this banquet would allow her more time to win his affections. Also, it's best to have him in there when she brings this up. And then there's this. She's scared. and this will buy her a little bit more time. Either way, she got what she wanted, and the king was eager for the banquet. So, banquet time with Haman, the king, and Esther there. He says, what do you want, Esther? Ready? I want another banquet. I want another banquet with the two of you tomorrow. Really, another banquet. Why? More time to win the king over, perhaps? She was really, really scared for her life perhaps. Matthew Henry suggested God's overruling providence intervened and let her know to put things off for the next day perhaps. One commentator said that Esther's womanly intuition told her that the strategic moment hadn't come yet, perhaps. And then Spurgeon said this, God was in it. It was not the right time to speak and therefore, She was led to put off her disclosure. Whatever the case, I don't think Esther's trying to get out of what she needs to do. I believe she's fully committed to it. And look, God used the delay for His glory. Look at this. Feast number two is scheduled. In the meantime, Haman is up to something. Haman went home from the first banquet. He saw Mordecai sitting there at the city gate, the king's gate, unafraid, which made Haman very, very angry. He got home. He then invited all his friends and his wife together, and he bragged about himself, his riches, his children, his promotion. He is very, very, very proud of himself. He said, no one but me. And the king had a banquet with the queen today. And tomorrow we're having another banquet. I'm awesome, I just want you to know that. But that means nothing when I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. Haman, chill out, man. Calm down, let it go. Let it go, but he can't. Sinful, prideful little man that he is. His wonderful, amazing wife responds, killing them. Make a gallows, which was a stake on which the victim would be impaled to death. Suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged, impaled on it, and then go merrily to your banquet. Good idea, honey, excellent idea. So the gallows were made. Well, that night the king couldn't sleep. So what did he do? He reads about himself. See, this book was a written record of facts and events that were important to the kingdom of Persia. What exactly did he read in this book? He read about the time a number of years ago that this guy named Mordecai saved the king from those two assassins, which he had evidently taken for granted and forgotten entirely. In fact, he never had formally recognized Mordecai for doing that when that should have absolutely been done. So why not recognize Mordecai now? See how God works? Here we see that Esther's delaying was indeed providential. It wasn't an accident, no, because it was on the sleepless night in between that the king learned about what Mordecai had done, and now Mordecai must be recognized for it. Well, it's early in the morning and in walks Haman. Haman, come here. Good to see you, Haman. Haman, what should be done for the man that the king delights to honor? Chapter six, verse six. Haman thinks, ha, that's me. Who would the king honor more than me, awesome little man that I am? Let me think about this honoring me. He goes all out with his answer. Let him wear a royal robe, king's robe. Put him on the king's horse. Have a parade and treat him like he himself is the king. Now that's quite a bit over the top. Yeah, it's way over the top, but even so, good. Good idea, Haman. Go and do that to Mordecai. Say what? But I thought we were talking about me, Mordecai. This is tragic for Haman. I mean, this is quite the turn of events. This had to have killed Haman, who is so prideful and arrogant and spitefully angry at Mordecai, the one that he now has to honor as a king. Amazing. So it happened. Mordecai didn't really seem to care about this honor. I mean, his people are still gonna be exterminated. Haman is extremely humiliated and his friends and family see it as a very bad sign. But there's no time to delay because guess what? It's now time for banquet number two. The banquet begins. Esther, what's your request? As the three of them are eating, look what happens. Chapter seven, verse three. Chapter seven, verse three. Then Queen Esther answered and said, now it's time. If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request. We have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, to be annihilated. Think Haman began to sweat a little bit. Had we been sold as male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king's loss. So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, who is he and where is he? Who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing? And Esther said, the adversary and enemy is the wicked Haman. She's pointing at him, him. Oh, how dramatic is that? I mean, Haman is now utterly terrified, and the king is extremely angry, so the king leaves and goes out into his garden. He has to walk it off for a little bit. Haman then pleads with Esther, and look, he falls across the couch where Esther was at, and that's when the king walks back in. What? What's going on? Haman, what are you doing to Esther? Will you assault the queen while I am in the house? And in a dramatic turn of events, they took Haman away. They hanged him on the very gallows that had been set up for Mordecai. How incredible. God has clearly intervened for his people. God will continue to do that. Now what? Seventh, Esther saved the Jews. The edict is still in place. Good news, Mordecai has now taken things over from Haman. Then Esther implored the king to counteract the edict that had previously been acted about killing the Jews, which he did, which is absolutely amazing. On top of that, the Jews get to defend themselves against their enemies. Esther and Mordecai then write a new decree and there's great rejoicing among the Jews because of it, rightly so. I mean, they went from annihilation to total deliverance. In chapter 9, we find that on the day that was originally decreed for the destruction of the Jews, they instead defended themselves and defeated their enemies throughout the kingdom. What a turn of events. Esther then requested a second day of fighting in Shushan, and the king granted that. The Feast of Purim was then established to commemorate that great turn of events, this great victory. Note that the Feast of Purim is still celebrated today. And among other things, it reminds us that nothing, nothing, nothing is impossible with God. Our call is to trust Him. Our call is to glorify Him. Our call is to not compromise our faith in Him. Our call is to please Him for such a time as this. And now is that time. In chapter 10, Mordecai gets exalted in the kingdom, and he now holds a very high position under King Ahasuerus. That's the story. What a story. What a story. What stands out as we look at this? One, Mordecai's refusal to bow down stands out. His refusal to not compromise stands out. His passion to glorify God above all else stands out, even at the cost of his life. Lord, help us to be like Mordecai. Also, Esther's boldness, even in the midst of her great fear, that also stands out. Esther inspires me. Think about that. She was scared. She was scared for her life, but she still did what she knew she must do for God and for the people of God. Lord, help us to be more like her. Honor God, even when you are scared. Glorify God, even if it means you might die. Please God, no matter what. What else stands out? God's providence. See, God is in control. Our call is to trust and obey him. He knows, he can handle it. He can be trusted in any circumstance because even the smallest details are under his control. So trust him, obey him, and then leave the rest up to him, even unto death. Just please, don't give in. Don't compromise, don't live to please people. No, live to glorify God and honor God right here where he has you because he has you here for a reason for such a time as this. And I'm fully convinced of that. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us to be a people who are bold, A people who don't compromise, a people who stand strong, a people who trust you even when tragedy happens, even when hard things happen. And we know that you don't always take away those hard things, we have to walk through some of them. So give us faith that the best really is yet to come and it's well worth all of it. Help us to be faithful, help us to trust you. May we be encouraged by the book of Esther, and may we be a people of conviction whom you use greatly for your glory. We love you and we ask you to bless us mightily as we go out, in Jesus' name, amen. God bless, thank you.