You can now turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Esther, chapter one. If you're using the Pew Bible, this is found on page 410. This morning we are beginning a new series in this beloved book of the Bible. But you may know this book of Esther has not been beloved by all. Some have dismissed this book as deficient. After all, you read through this book and you'll find no mention of prayer anywhere in it. You'll also find no mention of anything miraculous in it. In fact, there is no mention of God in the whole book of Esther. Martin Luther, The great reformer in one of his table talk speeches said this, I am so hostile to the book Second Maccabees and Esther that I wish they did not exist at all. Luther, Luther, Luther. Well, contrary to Luther, we can thank God that the book of Esther does exist because it is holy scripture. It is the very word of God and it is given to teach us much. In fact, it's perhaps one of the books that is incredibly relatable to us in our current moment in redemptive history. In a certain sense, we could say our times are similar to the times of Esther. After all, we are exiles far from home. Truly, we are citizens of heaven, and this earth is not our home. and were surrounded by those who put forth their worldly pomp and power, nations and governments. And it's a time in which there are no longer spectacular divine interventions that occur, like occurred during the Exodus, the parting of the Red Sea. Yet, That does not mean God is not at work. In fact, he is. He's at work behind the scenes, bringing about his divine purposes and bringing about the fulfillment of his promises to his people. In our own day, as in Esther's day, we can only see that, we can only see his magnificent handiwork when we look not with the eyes of the flesh, but with the eyes of faith. So that's what I'll call you to this morning as we begin. We'll be looking at chapter one, the whole of the chapter. And so please follow along as I read Esther, starting in chapter one, verse one. Hear now God's holy word. Now in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia, over 127 provinces, in those days, when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel, in the third year of his reign, he gave a feast for all his officials and servants, the army of Persia and Media, And the nobles and the governors of the provinces were before him while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 days. And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa the citadel, both great and small, a feast lasting for seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace. There were white cotton curtains and violet hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rods and marble pillars and also couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones. Drinks were served in golden vessels, vessels of different kinds. And the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king. And drinking was according to this edict, there is no compulsion. For the king had given orders to all the staff of his palace to do as each man desired. Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women in the palace that belonged to King Ahasuerus. Now on the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehumen, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zether, Karkis, the seven eunuchs, who served in the presence of King Aswerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command, delivered by the eunuchs. And at this, the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him. Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times, for this was the king's procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment, the men next to him being Carchena, Shethar, Admetha, Tarshish, Maris, Mersinna, and Mimucan. the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king's face and sat first in the kingdom. According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?" Then Memucan said in the presence of the king and the officials, Not only against the king has Queen Vashti done wrong, but also against all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Asweras. For the queen's behavior will be made known to all women, causing them to look at their husbands with contempt, since they will say, King Asweras commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him and she did not come. This very day, the noble women of Persia and Media, who have heard of the Queen's behavior, will say the same to all the King's officials, and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty. If it please the King, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it may not be repealed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all the kingdom, for it is vast, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike. This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did, as Memuchan proposed, He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script, to every people in its own language, that every man be master in his own household and speak according to the language of his people. Amen. Let us pray together. Father in heaven, once again, we come to you and plead with you You have told us in your word that we are to be a people who walk by faith and not by sight. And so we ask that once again you would give to us spiritual eyes to see your handiwork in your word and to trust and to believe in you, the one who is our king. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Well, in our fallen world, one of the perennial snares of sin is a lust for power. Those with little to no power want power, and those with power crave more power. Vying for power can occur in different levels, in different contexts. It can occur on a global scale as nations and rulers seek to conquer one another to gain more land, more territory, more people, more wealth to rule over. But it can also occur more locally, can't it? It can occur in the workplace. as different people vie for the position as manager. Or it can occur in the home, even between a husband and wife. It even can occur in churches. Because of sin, those who are in power often can abuse their power for selfish ends. Jesus himself said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. So this should come as no surprise to us, especially when we remember that this prideful lust for power played a major part in the original sin at the very beginning. Indeed, Satan himself created being, an angel. He was the most beautiful of angels. What was his great downfall? But that he wanted power. He wanted to sit in the place of God. And isn't this also what happened with Adam and Eve? Satan tempted them, saying that if you eat of the fruit, you can be like God, having divine power, as it were, for yourself. Well, therefore, it's no surprise to us that when we come to the beginning of the book of Esther, we find that this lust for power is present here as well. And as the story begins, we're introduced to the king. showing us the king of Persia, Ahasuerus. He's also known as Xerxes I. He's not, of course, the first emperor of Persia. He is the son of Darius. You may recall the Persian emperor Darius from the Book of Daniel. So this is Darius' son. And Ahasuerus ruled in Persia from the years 486 BC to 465 BC. And in that time, Persia was the superpower of the ancient Near East. And what this meant was that Ahasuerus was the most powerful man in the world at that time. But that didn't mean that his power would go unchallenged. From history, we learn that at the very beginning of his reign, and his power was challenged in his realm. There was a rebellion in Egypt and two other revolts in the region of Babylon in the very first couple of years that he began to reign. But as Suarez went with his mighty Persian army and crushed these rebellions, soon he would also then go further and seek to invade Greece. But what's happening in this opening scene is happening between those incidents. The king is in high spirits after the victory of crushing Egypt and Babylon. And now he's basking in his power. But just how powerful is he really? This opening chapter is quite revealing. I wanna gather our thoughts under two main points then this morning. The first is this, the pretentious power of the king of Persia, the pretentious power of the king of Persia. But then we'll also see secondly, the perfect power of the king of heaven. So let's start by considering the pretentious power of the king of Persia. And what we see first of all is worldly pomp and glory on display. Verses one to nine of this chapter are designed to impress upon us Ahasuerus' ostentatious display. He is at the height of his worldly pomp and power and wealth. And so the first thing that's described for us is the vast extent of his power in verses one and two. It says that Aswaris reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces. It stretches all the way from India through present day Iraq and Iran down to Egypt. and even to Ethiopia, a vast stretch of land. And as I said, he's even trying to push on into Europe and to the area of Greece. This is a vast area. And the author of the Book of Esther wants us to get a sense of how vast it is. That's why he lists all of the different provinces, 127. He could have just mentioned what's known as the regions, the satrapies. There were no more than 31 of these. But instead of doing that, he wants to list a higher number. So he lists all of these different provinces, 127, so we get a sense of the extent of his power. And at this time, he is residing in one of four capital cities in the empire. It's so vast that it couldn't just have one. And so in Susa, which is on the border of present day Iraq and Iran, that's where he is. And he's in this royal residence, this royal palace and citadel that's on a high mound on the west part of the city, serving in the city of Susa as a sign of his royal power and his military might. But that's not all that we see in these first nine verses. Not only do we see the vast extent of his power, we also see his extravagant wealth. And that's on display by these great and opulent feasts that he has and that he holds. The first one is found there in verses three and four. We see that it's in the third year of his reign, which would be 483 BC, he throws this massive party. Now this first feast is for only a specific group of people, those who are his officials, his servants, the members of his army, the nobles, the governors. Perhaps they are celebrating the recent victories over Egypt and Babylon. And what he's doing in this great feast is he's showing to them the riches, it says, of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness. So much so that this is a feast that doesn't last just a week or a couple of months, but six months, half of a year. They're partying. In this way, he's showing forth the almost seemingly limitless supply of his wealth. And if that were not enough, he throws a feast after that six-month feast is over. But this time, as we see in verse five, it's not just for the nobles and those who are his generals and serve in his army, but it's for everyone, great and small, that's in the capital city of Susa. And so he invites them now for this seven day feast to come to the royal palace and particularly to that section outside the royal gardens to see this seemingly endless wealth of this great king. And notice the description. This is the only place in the Old Testament where the description of a pagan palace is given with such detail. And it's described as a place where when you come upon it, you see outside there's these marble pillars that are all around this garden, surrounding this garden. And in between these marble pillars would have been these silver rods in which would hang these luxuriant drapes made of white fine linen and violet or purple, that color of royalty that was most expensive in that day and in that time. And not only that, you have these pillars with these drapes, but there would be couches placed all around the garden made of gold and silver itself. Can you imagine sitting on golden couches? Be afraid, make a mess. So you have this, if that's not enough, think about what they're walking on. It's not, you know, just dirt or grass, nor is it just, you know, stone pavers that we might put out in our kind of patio. But no, it's this kind of flooring, this flooring that's a mosaic made of these different kinds of materials, marble as well, but also mother of pearl. And not only that, precious stones. like rubies or emeralds or diamonds embedded in the flooring that they're walking on outside in this garden. And if that weren't enough, there is a free flow of wine for all of the guests. And each guest is able to drink this wine out of a golden goblet. And this golden goblet would be unique, each and every one handcrafted and designed so that no two of them are alike. Millennials would love that. Crafted. And this is the kind of opulence and extravagance that he goes to, spending his wealth for this feast, even for the commoner to come and to be overawed. At the same time that this is going on, the queen, Queen Vashti, also holds a feast for the woman, we're told in verse 9. Now it's interesting, you have several verses given for the king's feast and only one verse for Queen Vashti's. And that's on purpose. This one verse description serves as a contrast to the elaborate description of the king's feast. It's highlighting for us the excessive extravagance and pomp of the king. It's pointed out how he wants to impress upon everyone his greatness, his glory, his power, his wealth. In fact, there's this little note. He's so much in the grip of the lust for power and he's so desirous for the recognition of his power that Ahasuerus even gives an edict or a decree about how his guests can drink freely at his party. Do you see how ironic that is? He gives a decree saying there should be no compulsion. He compels them to not be compelled. In other words, his megalomania causes him to micromanage every detail, even down to who can drink and how. It's a sign of his desire for complete control of everything. But it's also at the same time a hint to us that he does not have as much power as he would like everyone to think he has. So these nine verses show us the worldly pomp and glory on display. But the rest of the chapter reveals to us the worldly pride and folly on parade. You see, Ahasuerus' swelling pride comes to a climax on the final day of the feast, it says in verse 10, the seventh day, when his heart was merry with wine. In other words, he is inebriated. And he is swelling with pride. He's already shown off his immense power and opulent wealth, and now he wants to show off his beautiful wife. So what does he do? He issues a command, of course, and he commands the seven eunuchs, as if one were not enough, to bring her in her royal finery. To what end? To what purpose? It tells us in the text. In order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. Now some rabbis, They don't like the Book of Esther partly because of statements like that, but they go beyond the text and they suggest that Queen Vashti is asked to appear before the king and his guests wearing nothing but the royal crown. Well, that's not what the text tells us. It's more likely, though, that he is asking her to appear, yes, in her royal finery, but perhaps without a veil covering her face. Which, you know, in Persian culture at that time, no woman would do in public. But he wants them to see her beauty. Whatever the exact details are, the point is this. Ahasuerus is treating his wife as though she were just another possession. To be used by him to make him look good before all of his guests. In his foolish pride, he has objectified and dehumanized his wife, another human being made in the image of God, all for his own pleasure and ego. And sadly, that's not just something that occurred back then and there, but it still occurs in our day. Just consider the Super Bowl. But Queen Vashti, as she receives this command, refuses to be subject to such a scandalous treatment. And in one instant, by her saying no, the real extent of the king's power has been unveiled. You could say it this way, the curtain has been pulled back and yes, the Wizard of Oz is shown to be but a little man pulling levers. The illusion of total control is burst by one woman in his vast empire, in fact, his own wife. Now his lack of control is not only seen in Vashti's response, but it's also seen in his reaction to her response. What does he do? It says there in verse 12, and at this the king became enraged and his anger burned within him. Lacking self-control. Matthew Henry says it this way, he that had ruled over 127 provinces had no rule over his own spirit. See the irony, this one who wants to convince the world of his vast power shows his lack of power. Can't even control his own wife, he can't even control his own self. The irony doesn't stop there. The text continues. It continues by the king's foolish response. Instead of dealing with his wife in a personal way, what does he do? Anasuerus decides he's going to call his, quote, wise men to give him legal counsel, because that's how you deal with these kinds of things. And he says there in verse 15, asking the question, according to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs? And he asks for a legal answer to a domestic problem. And it is one of these wise men, one of the seven, Memucan, and what does he do? How does he respond? He sees what has happened and he sounds an alarm. He says, well, you know what's gonna happen. Word's gonna get out. And other women are gonna hear what Vashti's done and they're gonna act this way to their husbands as well. And we're gonna have mayhem and disorder all across the empire. This is not just one small thing. This is an empire-wide crisis. You need to make a royal decree, king. It needs to be sent to the whole empire. Vashti needs to be told that she can never come into your presence again and that every man must be commanded to be master of his own household. And that's the advice that's given. The king and the other princes are pleased with his advice and they put it into effect. But do you see the irony and the folly of this response? Think about it with me for a moment. These wise men have been summoned because the king cannot control his wife with a command or a decree that he's issued. And what's the answer, solution to this problem? Let's issue a decree to control not only one woman, but every woman in the empire, because it worked so well the first time. Or think about this, Vashti is to be punished because she refused to come into the presence of the king. And what's her punishment? She can no longer come into the presence of the king. Wait a minute. Or these wise men, they're concerned that words going to get out about Vashti's refusal and other women are also going to refuse their husbands. So what do they do? Let's make a decree and send it out so that the whole empire hears what happened. It's laughable, isn't it? I can't help but chuckle. And that's part of the lesson that we're supposed to learn from this chapter. The lesson that worldly wisdom, worldly pomp, worldly power are not all that they appear to be. Worldly wealth and power are ultimately a mirage. A mist, a vapor. We sang it earlier. Fading is the worldling's pleasure. All his boasted pomp and show. It's just a show. Trying to get you to think that they are ultimately in control. Don't be fooled. Don't be fooled by the supposed wealth, power, and wisdom of this world. Don't envy the wealthy, the rich and famous of this world. And don't spend your precious limited time and energy pursuing foolish things like they do. Remember what Jesus said, one's life does not consist in the abundance of one's possessions. Don't follow in their footsteps. Don't pursue what they pursue. Don't do what they do. Don't think that the way to lead is the way in which they lead, especially you husbands. Don't think that being the head of the home is a license to issue domineering, controlling commands. That would be foolish. Now scripture is clear, we saw this when we went through the book of 1 Peter. Husbands, what are you called to do? To live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to her. That word honor could also be translated respect. There's a right respect here to show your wives. It's not just the wife that's to respect the husband. There's a proper respect you show to your wife as a fellow image bearer made in God's image to serve, love, God. So you don't go around husbands barking orders, issuing decrees, treating your wife like an object that you can command and control. No. She's one who's been entrusted to your care as a gift for you to love, to cherish. You're to do so knowing that you will be held accountable by God for how you've cared for her. So don't follow the ways of this world, otherwise you'll also be one who's laughed at in heaven. That also means, brothers and sisters, that we should not be afraid of the political powers and military might of this world. Even as in this year we enter into another long election season, we think about all the things that could or might happen, Don't be afraid. Instead, you need to remember where ultimate power truly resides. And that's where we come in our second point, the perfect power of the king of heaven. You see, in the context of the Old Testament, when you look at Esther in its whole scope, this passage in chapter one invites us to contrast the king of Persia with the king of heaven. For the way in which King Ahasuerus is described, in some sense, is similar to the ways in which God is described. For God is often described, in the Old Testament especially, as the king of the whole world. Psalm 24 verse 10, the Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory. Psalm 97 verse 1, the Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice. He is the king that dwells in an exquisitely described tabernacle and temple with furnishings of gold and silver and garden imagery. It's interesting. Osiris Palace is the only one of a pagan palace described in their similarities to the tabernacle and the temple. Indeed, we remember the first place for the dwelling of God's special presence was the Garden of Eden itself. Not only that, the prophets teach us that our God and King will summon all the world, and particularly those who trust in him, to come to his royal city for a great feast at the end of time. Isaiah 25 verse six describes it this way. On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow and aged wine well-refined. The parallels are clear, but the point is this, Ahasuerus, though a king with a great realm, a royal palace, a beautiful garden, and a great feast, is only a poser. His power is not ultimate. His control is limited. No, the one with ultimate control is God. According to his perfect power, in his perfect way, He rules over all things, including Ahasuerus and what's taking place in the Persian court. We think about how God rules. He rules in perfect power by his inconspicuous providence. Now certainly, God can and has clearly displayed his magnificent power in miraculous divine interventions. He did that in the book of Exodus, we saw that before, with the great plagues, or with the parting of the Red Sea, or appearing in a burning bush, making his presence clearly known without any question. But God does not always work in that mode. In fact, more often, he works in quiet ways. More often, he works by his providence. If you remember your shorter catechism, the question about what is God's work of providence, the answer is that it is his most holy, wise, and powerful, preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. Everything that takes place is under God's sovereign command. And while God is not mentioned at all in this chapter or even in this whole book, he is the one who's behind everything that takes place. One commentator put it this way, the presence of absence is not the same as the absence of presence. What does that mean? Just because the word God does not appear in this book, the presence of absence, that does not mean that God himself is absent. No, God is everywhere present, everywhere at work, everywhere in control. That's exactly what's going on here. He is orchestrating every detail to work out his divine plan. And in this particular episode in chapter one, we learn that he is working out the removal of Queen Vashti for the purpose of making way for the rise of Esther. God is present. He's at work, even when we cannot see him. And perhaps that's a word you need to be reminded of this morning. Perhaps you've forgotten and you look at your life and you see the difficulties or you look in the world and you wonder, where is God? Globally, we see the rise and fall of nations and political powers. We hear of scary things like coronaviruses and presidential elections. And we need to remember that every detail of these things is also under God's sovereign control. but it's not only global, but it's also local. In your own life, the trials that you wrestle with each and every day, your daily frustrations, that person that interrupts you, that child that frustrates you, the difficulty you have at work, these things too are under God's sovereign decree and control and have been decreed for God's good purposes. The bringing about of his promise that it might come to pass. See, this is our God. He is the God who is king over all. And you see, he doesn't have to show his displays of power and great might all the time. He doesn't have to try to prove it to us because the reality is he does have it. And instead, what he does so often is he wins the undying allegiance of his subjects, not by overhauling displays of power, although that happens sometimes, but more often it's through his self-sacrificial love. And isn't that seen most clearly through the one who is our King, the King of love, Jesus Christ himself, the one who came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. You remember how he came in the fullness of time. As we read in Luke, Caesar, Augustus, was the superpower at that time. He was issuing decrees. But it was the little baby born in a manger who was actually in control. God the Son is the true king. But the problem then and the problem still today is that many did not recognize him as such, saw him as nothing more than a carpenter's son, nothing more than a peasant who had interesting things perhaps to say. To the religious leaders, a nuisance, one to be gotten rid of. So what do they do? nailed him to a cross, and they mocked him, putting a robe of purple around him and a crown of thorns on his head. And when they nailed him to the cross, they nailed a sign in three languages that says, King of the Jews. Little do they know that that's exactly who he is, and more, because he is the king of the universe, the conquering king of love. And on that very cross, where they thought that they had gotten rid of their problem, they've only revealed the reality of their problem, that their problem was sin and blindness. And in that very moment, Christ himself, as the King of love, was performing the ultimate act of love and power. And by his death, he conquered death and displayed that eternal, infinite love of Christ. And now this king is our risen Christ, our risen savior who rules over all. And he calls his bride, he calls his wife through his servants to come, to come to a feast, the greatest feast of all time. But unlike Ahasuerus, he doesn't call his wife to the feast in order to be exposed to shame. but no, to be lavished with his grace and mercy. But this is a feast that's only for those who see who Christ really is, who see that he really is the king. The question for you this morning is, is that how you see him? May God give you the eyes to see his matchless glory and his unfathomable love. Amen, let's pray. Father in heaven, again we give you thanks. Thanks for how you are a God who is active in this world. The eternal God who breaks into time. And even this day, though we do not see you with our eyes, you are present. And through your word, you are actively speaking to us. Lord, we ask that you would give us years to hear and spiritual eyes to see that we would respond with joy and faith and trust in you are glorious King. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.