For our scripture reading and sermon text, please turn with me in God's most holy word to the Old Testament, and Esther chapter 9, verses 16 through 32. Again, that's Esther chapter 9, verses 16 through 32, which can be found on page 415 of the Church Bible. We're picking up where we would leave off last week with verse 16 and its news of the Jews' victory in the rest of the Medo-Persian Empire beyond the confines of Susa, the citadel, one of the capital cities. It's a somewhat awkward place to resume reading, but it leads on to verses 17 and following, which speak of how the Jews would basically begin partying. In a transitional way, preparing us for what comes next when the partying is ordered and regulated by imperial decree. When all this would be foundational to what would become an ongoing practice. That said, let's go ahead then and concentrate and listen intently to the Word of the Lord as I read it to us. Again, Esther chapter 9, verses 16 through 32. 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. This was on the 13th day of the month of Adar and on the 14th day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness. But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the 13th day and on the 14th and rested on the 15th day making that a day of feasting and gladness. Therefore, the Jews of the villages who live in the rural towns hold the 14th 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. And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Asherah, both near and far, obliging them to keep the 14th day of the month Adar and also the 15th day of the same year by year 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. So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. For Haman and the Agagite, the son of Hamadathah, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast poor, that is cast lots, to crush and to destroy them. 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. Therefore, they called these days Purim, after the term poor, 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, 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, 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. Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihel, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority confirming this second letter about Purim. Letters were sent to all the Jews to the provinces of the kingdom of Asherah in words of peace and truth 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, the command of Esther confirmed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing. Amen. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Wednesday is D-Day. when many will look back on June 6, 1944, on which invading Allied forces would storm the beaches of Normandy, France, on their way to liberating Europe from Nazi oppression. It is pretty universally recognized as the decisive blow that would ensure a victorious outcome to World War II, at least in the European theater. In other words, it would lead on to May 8, 1945, V-Day. a Victory Day or VE Day, Victory in Europe Day, when the Germans would unconditionally surrender. The newspaper headlines would read things like, we win. And here in the United States and elsewhere, there would be dancing in the streets. Well, the rescue of the Jews their own V-Day of sorts, following a series of turning point D-Day like events, as God's covenant people in Old Testament times would call for dancing in the streets in a similar way, with even more at stake, as I'm about to hopefully show. In fact, one reason the author appears to have written the book of Esther is to explain the origins of this eating and drinking and the yearly keeping of the festival now known as Purim. With verses 17 through 19 indicating that it would already be an annual holiday by the time these things would be set down in God's written word. With the variance between when the Jews in Susa and in the rest of the empire would conclude their vanquishing of their enemies and when the next day would respectively be for each The day set aside for glorying and reveling in their against all odds, surprising, unexpected triumph, accounting for how some would celebrate on one date of the calendar year and some the next, as we read up here. In Covenant Presbyterian Church, we too, as the Christian Church, are ourselves to so rejoice with God's grace and salvation and its coming in Jesus Christ, superseding any past deliverance He would pull off in Old Testament times. Yes, we mourn our sin. It lies heavy on our hearts. And we do continue to live in a fallen world, not being exempt from or immune to its miseries. Still, nevertheless, we know the answer to our sin and its ill effects. The God we know in Christ outweighs it all, tipping the scales of everything in our favor. Through faith in Him, giving rise to love for Him, we are to rejoice, sharing in something of His joy, the joy that He gives. We can take our cue then from Purim, which according to verse 32, or verse 31 that is, is formally instituted with regard to the Jews' fasts and their lamenting. Yes, there is also to be fasting and lamenting, but it is to be more than counterbalanced by such overriding rejoicing. In other words, the tears of repentance are to flow alongside the river of joy found in God's forgiveness, His reconciling love in Christ, and the new life He gives through Him by His Word and Spirit. What we find here echoes what we find in Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 10. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. And it is something of a preview of what the Apostle Paul would add in New Testament terms in Philippians chapter 4, verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. So this is the bottom line. Because of the call of Purim and its application to the Church as the new Israel in Christ, We are to feast and be glad in God-centered ways, praising and thanking Him for His deliverance. What then should drive and impact our godly celebrations brought on by the spiritual and even cosmic versions of D-Day and V-Day? What ought they to look like on the Lord's Day? And when it comes to how we are to live more broadly considered at all times and on every day, I want to glorify God even when we are scattered and given over to the fulfillment of the particulars of our callings and spheres and not so much gathered as the church for the purpose of worshiping Him in the narrower sense. I'd like to walk us through an answer to such questions as we break it down under three headings. First, rest for the covenant people, an occasion that spontaneously initiates celebrating. Rest for the covenant people, an occasion that spontaneously initiates celebrating. Brothers, sisters, the people need no command to celebrate. You know, they don't need a cool in the gang to show up and start singing, celebrate good times, come on. From Susa to the rural towns and villages, as verses 18 and 19 explain, the Jews begin to make merry. Joy in the Lord over his providential care, and in this case, the superintending of a remarkable rescue operation is not just a duty, something God's people have to do, Then and now, it's something we want to give ourselves to, taking pleasure in it, instinctively knowing it's pleasing to him, which the external command only serves to confirm. You see, the codifying of Purim comes after the fact, after the Jews begin to hoop it up. It's only afterwards that Mordecai, as it says in verses 20 through 22, records these things and sends out letters to all the Jews in King Asherah's realm, obliging them to keep the feast annually, every month of Adar, roughly our month of March. for two days to add to the list of many doublings of things we have in this book, and all for good measure, which is basically what the Jews have done through the course of their history ever since, even in concentration camps during the Holocaust, when their captors would threaten and try to stop them. So as we read in verse 23, the Jews accepted what they had started to do and what Mordecai had written to them. With verses 27 and 28 further reinforcing and detailing their commitment to follow through, to pass this on to their offspring, successive generations. Mordecai also spells out in verse 22 what makes this event so worthy of commemoration. For these would be the days on which the Jews got relief or rest from their enemies. And this would be the month where things turn for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday, that they should make them days of feasting and gladness. He seems to be picking up on a theme with rich overtones found throughout the Hebrew Bible with, for instance, the promise in 2 Samuel chapter 7 made to King David to be realized in significant part through his son Solomon and his building of a temple in Jerusalem with the land then being secure. with the people, the ones the king represents, largely through him, at rest from their enemies. Verses 24 and 25 provide further elaboration, spotlighting how God's people, even as a dispersed nation, would gain the upper hand against their arch-adversary Haman, for Haman The Agagite, the son of Hamadathah, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them. But orders would be given 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. You see, their fortunes have been restored. They have had their lives spared and their welfare preserved and even promoted. all in keeping with God's covenant, His promise, which Mordecai seems to be referencing when he sends word to the Jews, quote-unquote, near and far, as verse 20 specifically says, insisting that they continue to celebrate it all, renewing the celebration year by year. It appears at the very least to be an allusion to Isaiah 57, verses 19 through 21, where the Lord says, Not only that there will be no peace, no rest for the wicked, like in the case of Haman and company, who were judged, destroyed, but also that He will speak peace, or words of rest, to the far and to the near, says the Lord, and I will heal him." Yeah, this would all have to do with the coming of His Kingdom, and salvation, something eternal. While the deliverance of the Jews in Esther would be merely temporal, as would be the period of rest from their enemies under David, with Jerusalem and the temple and everyone and everything coming under threat again, being eventually besieged by foreign powers, with the Persians just being the latest pagan nation to tyrannize Israel and Judah. And with the far and near referring to Gentiles as well as Jews being brought under this blessing of deep and penetrating but also comprehensive and wide scale shalom. And not something so limited as resulting in favor for the Jews only. And those who in effect would become Jews throughout the Persian Empire. 400 plus years BC. Nevertheless, such celebrating is called for. without the people perhaps being totally aware of the full range of implications, because the smaller scale deliverance of the Jews in Esther's time and place would lead to what God would bring about in Christ, as their being kept alive would make possible His coming as one of their descendants, leading to what He would accomplish in the days of His flesh. As the Savior of the world, He would grant rest from the wrath of God itself. What our sin against Him is due. As Paul announces in Ephesians 2 verse 14, Christ himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. With the us being made one, referring to Jews and Gentiles, as peace with God. Rest from the guilt of our sin, thanks to the cross. And thanks to being led by the Spirit to repentance and faith in Jesus means not only that we are one with our Maker, but one with one another as fellow believers. With the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles crumbling down, being obliterated and taken away as a result, issuing in Vertical reconciliation with God and horizontal reconciliation with one another. In fact, Paul adds in verse 17 of that second chapter of Ephesians, picking up on Isaiah 57 and Esther chapter 9, that Christ would come in order to preach peace to speak words of relief, of Sabbath rest, to you who were far off, namely Gentiles, like virtually all of us are, who are here tonight, and peace to those who were near, namely Jews, You see, the story of Esther is our story too. Inspiring celebrations of our own, since our own salvation and inclusion as Gentiles will be riding on these things, on God, bringing it all to pass just so. Otherwise, we'd still be a far off. Miles. and light years away in the same position as the Medes and Persians and even the Amalekites, Haman would be identified with. At enmity with God and His chosen covenant people. As again, Paul puts it in Ephesians chapter 2, this time verse 12, having no hope and without God in the world. First, rest for the covenant people, an occasion that spontaneously initiates celebrating. Second, the king's hidden hand, an insight as to who lies behind the celebrating. The king's hidden hand, an insight as to who lies behind the celebrating. Brothers and sisters, just when it looks like Mordecai is being given the prominence, humanly speaking, Esther comes back into the foreground in verses 29 through 32, where she also signs off on a second letter about Porim, as she teams up with Mordecai to further validate what they are communicating, these words of peace and truth to all their people in all 127 provinces under the rule of Asherus. Lending the weight of her own authority in writing as well. She is called in verse 29, Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihel. As her Jewish identity and Persian position are now integrated. She has come a long way. Clearly she and Mordecai have worked in concert together throughout as far back as chapter four, rendering mutual obedience. Even as here they are providing a written moral basis for this perpetual observation of Purim, which would be necessary, as this feast would need a biblical grounding, not itself already deriving from that which would be divinely established and legislated through Moses. So Esther and Mordecai aren't in competition. More than that though, they are secondary, and God is primary. With His being unnamed throughout the story, highlighting how His work is nonetheless on display, even though you can't see Him, even though He is invisible, even though it may be that He is not being acknowledged, maybe not even as He should be by His people. whose own holy status and lifestyle may be compromised in captivity, a long way from home, from the land of promise, well removed from things that would be associated with their identity as his covenant people. Remember, though, The presence of absence does not mean the absence of presence, namely His presence. You see, despite it all, in the face of it all, He is on the field and He cannot be stopped. So that the celebrations must always revolve around Him. for his people, including Christians and the church today, the celebrations must never be reduced to something secular and stripped bare of the God-centeredness, the Christ-centeredness meant for them, whether it's Sunday or some other holiday season. Whatever the circumstances or situation might be, We must praise the Living God, sacrificing, thank offerings His way. Because behind the scenes, even if it's very ordinary looking, minus the more ostentatious miracles and supernatural signs and wonders, He is calling the shots and orchestrating all things, working them for the good of those who love Him, as Paul says in Romans chapter 8, who are first loved by Him, as the Apostle John says in 1 John chapter 4, and for the just cursing and destruction of those who refuse to repent, who persist in despising and hating Him and His children, as His Word promises throughout. like in Revelation chapter 20. Isn't that why the feast is called Purim? In honor of the Pur, spelled P-U-R, as verse 26 gets at, with Pur being the singular term for the ancient Persian version of drawing lots or throwing dice, and Purim being the plural. The day of reckoning would, in this manner, be chosen by Haman and his henchmen. And yet the Lord would overrule His plans, His actions, commandeering them for His own good, pure, and wise purposes. As Proverbs 16, verse 33 teaches, the lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. In fact, there seems to be a dual meaning to the way this word concept is used in the Old Testament, with the lot referring to your assigned portions, like the territories to be assigned to the various tribes of Israel in the book of Joshua. And like what our Lord deals out to His people, as represented by David their king in Psalm 16, verses 5 and 6, He speaks of the Lord holding His lot. The lines, he goes on to say, have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. The lot, you see, in whatever sense, is not determined by the gods, by chance, by any such thing, but by the Lord. And there is no safer place to be in His grip, secure in His hand. So he is the real hero. That's the book's message. Along with this too. That he can use anyone. Even a Mordecai, who until he reaches this stage would be nothing other than an obscure figure. Even an Esther, who goes to show that women have a place of usefulness in God's economy in both the world and the church, and that it isn't always going to be confined to homemaking roles, to the roles we are traditionally assigned to them, though we heartily affirm such things. So if you're a Christian woman, Maybe a young lady growing up. No, you're not called to be ordained to special office. The scripture makes that pretty obvious. But you do have gifts, including Holy Spirit-given gifts, to be applied and employed for the glory of Christ. And we need to be a church that encourages you in what you can do, instead of just telling you what you can't. Frankly, a congregation our size needs every hand on deck anyway. So God can use you just as He can use me. In fact, He can even use a despotic pagan emperor like Asherus. Now isn't it striking how he and his role seem to be cited here in verse 25? But when Haman's plot came before the king, such that he is forced to pay attention to it, he gave orders in writing that the man's evil plan that he devised against the Jews should return on his own head. We don't necessarily need a Christian in the White House, in the halls of political power and influence, you see. And we need not fret and panic without such a one there. Strategically, consciously serving there on behalf of our interests, among other things. God will accomplish His will even through wicked rulers, like Ashweras, who remains altogether unconverted, so far as we know. To quote another proverb, Proverbs 21, verse 1, The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will. Verse 25, here in Esther chapter 9, might even be providing a deeper clue as to what has been going on, as it seems to be overly crediting Ashuerus. After all, it would be Esther who would open his eyes and plead with him. It would be Mordecai who would write the key counter-edict and all the edicts that would turn the tables. Perhaps the mismatch is meant to jar and alert us to something. That another king is in view. The true king. The Divine King of Israel, Yahweh, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This then would be the closest the book comes to actually mentioning Him. Albeit in a very indirect, oblique way. You see, here as elsewhere, the importance of the written word of decree is emphasized. And yet, the earthly decrees of earthly kingdoms are nothing. It's God's decrees that are ultimate, are written in the heavenly scrolls. And they are the ones that cannot be reversed or revoked, that stand eternally with an authority that cannot be challenged. A higher hand has been at work here, you see, just as He is in our world. So as I ask myself, I ask you, do you trust Him? Will you? First, rest for the covenant people, an occasion that spontaneously initiates celebrating. Second, the king's hidden hand, an insight as to who lies behind the celebrating. Third, imitating God's generosity, an ethical imperative to arise from such celebrating. Imitating God's generosity, an ethical imperative to arise from such celebrating. Beloved, it does arrest your attention, the repeated ways in which sharing the wealth is stressed. In verse 19, where the sending of gifts of food to one another is the order of the day. And then again in verse 22, in which not only is there a directive to send gifts of food to one another, but also gifts to the poor. This time it's P-O-O-R. Here we have again another dual meaning connected to the name given to this feast of Purim. First, the word translated gift or present of food amounts to choice morsels. Like the choice morsels King Hezekiah commands be given to the priests. and Levites, so they can minister before the Lord and devote themselves to His law and not have to work in the fields, as we read about in 2 Chronicles 31, verse 4. With the same word also, however, translated portion, again in that 16th Psalm, in Psalm 16, verse 5, where it speaks of the portion the Lord gives in parallel with the lot that He makes secure. You see, the custom of sending gifts or portions of food to friends and neighbors on Purim symbolizes what God has destined for His priestly people, which amounts to a heavenly provision when all is said and done, the heavenly cannon foreshadowed by the earthly. And in His kingdom, none are to be excluded, are to be have-nots. We are to call and invite others to join in the feast, to enfold them, starting with our spiritual brothers and sisters in need, but reaching out to others as well. Paul again orders our priorities in Galatians 6, verse 10, where he says, so then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. materially generous to people, to precious souls, in wise and appropriate ways to be sure, but at the end of the day that we might lead them into the banqueting halls of Christ, the friend of sinners who leads us to sweet fellowship with his Father and ours. We need spiritually to be like the lepers of 2 Kings chapter 7 who are convicted to, instead of keeping it to themselves, spread the good news of provision within the camp, not left destitute by the enemy, as they would discover, so that their fellow Israelites would not have to continue to suffer from famine. The humble but contagious joy of the Lord we celebrate ought to be a winsome advertisement and billboard-like testimony to those around us as we pray that God would draw them to himself, as they witness our own rejoicing from the joy wrought by the Holy Spirit in our assembly as God's worshipers on the Lord's Day, to the joy he gives that we take with us to wherever our post may be, may take us as the days of a given week unfold. A dour Christian, you see, sends the wrong message, is a contradiction in terms. So is a gloomy church. Worship unto God is not to be equated with going into funeral mode, nor is it to be construed as something dull and tedious. Quiet may be our corporate personality or temperament as Presbyterians, as orthodox Presbyterians, but make no mistake. Our worship of the Father in spirit and in truth is to be exactly that, and the expression of a living orthodoxy that makes no room for the so-called frozen chosen, as we engage with him from the heart in a life-transforming way, not devoid of emotion, of passion, of zeal, it is not something we can allow to become boring and thus a stumbling block and turn off, such that we need to apply ourselves to the means of grace as they are meant to inflame and excite our devotion, our love for the Lord, our experience of His joy, a Purim-like joy, such that it is real and not fake. Dear brothers and sisters, here's the thing. For the true Church and for every real and sincere believer who belongs to Christ, you don't have to wait for V-Day to start feasting, to be glad. No, Christ has not come back yet. And until His return in all His glory and splendor, when every knee will bow before Him, the world will still not be as it should be. are afflictions to endure. There are sorrows to bear. Sickness and death are still realities to be dealt with. The unredeemed world still hates God and His people however they might show it. The wicked, the ones who do not and will not repent, have not yet been put down. Our own sin still plagues us. We still have enemies starting with the enemy within. And yet, like I don't, you don't have to wait before celebrating. You can start enjoying rest right here and right now, though the fullness of the eternal Sabbath rest is still to come. You can start acknowledging and appreciating by faith, without yet seeing it all, the hidden hand of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And you can start imitating our faithful covenant-keeping God's generosity without delay. Because Christ has come and died for our sins, making payment for them all with God in the person of his own incarnate Son, turning aside his own wrath at the cross. Because the D-Day of all D-Days has been thus accomplished, guaranteeing our secure future, a future of unbridled joy. The eschatological final V-Day is a certainty. Because of these things, we can let the celebration begin. In fact, V-Day itself has already dawned. In principle, the climax of the new creation, the everlasting state in the new heavens and new earth, the making of all things new, the riddance of every evil and source of evil, the overturning of death and the wiping away of all tears, when God will be all in all, has arrived. We've been given a first installment on immortality, the gospel proclaims to us. in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And as by His Spirit and through His Word we are united to Him unto resurrection life, which we know and taste of, anticipating the very best we have to look forward to. As our ascended and exalted Lord would say to John in Revelation chapter 1, Verses 17 and 18, fear not, I am the first and the last and the living one. I died and behold I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and Hades. And so we are to get on with the business of among other things. in the spirit of Purim, being the most blessed and happiest people on the face of the earth, fulfilling the chief end of man, to glorify and enjoy this God, this triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, both now and forever. Amen.