If you have your Bibles, would you turn with me, please? Our text is found in the book of Esther, chapter 8. If you're in the middle and hit, say, the book of Psalms, you want to back up a bit, you're going to come through Proverbs and then, I mean, sorry, Job and then into Esther. If you're back in Kings or Samuel or Chronicles, just keep moving a little farther ahead. Through Ezra and Nehemiah, you come to the book of Esther. We have been preaching through this book chapter by chapter basically and what we've seen is the turning of events in the book of Esther. God's hand of deliverance has begun to show itself. The people were brought under great peril and distress. But the deliverance has begun. There's still a long way to go. Esther has been delivered. Mordecai has been spared. Haman has been removed in rather dramatic fashion. But what about the rest of the Jews throughout the entire land? They're still in great danger. This isn't over yet. We have more reversals yet to come for the people of God. Follow as I read from Esther, chapter eight, beginning at verse one. On that day, King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman, the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, Esther rose and stood before the king and said, if it pleases the king and if I have found favor in his sight and if the thing seems right before the king and I am pleasing in his eyes. Let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of Hamadatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred? Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman and they have hanged him on the gallows because he intended to lay hands on the Jews. But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews in the name of the king and seal it with the king's ring for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked." The king's scribes were summoned at that time in the third month which is the month of Sivan on the 23rd day. And an edict was written according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces. To each province in its own script and to each people in its own language and also to the Jews in their script and their language. And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud, saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, and to plunder their goods on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the 13th day of the 12th month which is the month of Adar. A copy of what was written was to be issued as a decree in every province being publicly displayed to all peoples and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies. So the couriers mounted on their swift horses that were used in the king's service rode out hurriedly urged by the king's command and the decree was issued in Susa, the capital. Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white and a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. And in every province and in every city wherever the king's command and its edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them. Let us pray. Father, open our ears. Without Your grace, without Your Spirit to guide us and lead us, we will not understand the words here set before us. So lead us now, we ask and pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Some of you remember the day, January 1994, an American citizen living in Israel, Baruch Goldstein, walked into the mosque at Abraham's tomb in Hebron, opened fire, killed 55, wounded 170, was beaten to death before he was able to escape by the mob. He had been seen a few hours earlier in the synagogue celebrating Purim, listening to the reading of the book of Esther. That is just one example of why many have found the book of Esther to be so troubling in the canon of scripture. Does it authorize, does it somehow legitimize the attacks against the enemies of the Jews? Is holy war a practice that continues? Does God really condone the killing of women and children? And we will get to that. But first we have to look at the account itself, the story that's here, a new edict that is delivered. It's a very straightforward story. Esther comes with a second request. She approaches the king, this time not in her finery, but this time weeping, falling down, wailing before him. And the king extends his scepter to her. Her position, it seems, has changed. And she comes before the king. If it pleases the king, or seems right, if I've found favor, if I am pleasing, she says, if you really loved me, she says, you'd do something. You take care of this dreadful problem. And so she gets this time right to her request. There's no delay. There's no plan. She comes immediately to her request. I cannot bear it. That is the destruction of my people. This death sentence is still in effect. Please revoke the law. But it's the law of the Medes and the Persians. It's not going to be overturned. Most likely, no king is going to admit a mistake. He's not going to overturn it. He's never wrong. She brings her request and the king responds. Sort of, we might say. He says to her, well, you have Haman's goods, you have his house and his properties, and he's hanging on a pike out in front of the yard, haven't we done enough here? Isn't that good enough? I can't revoke the law, he says. It realizes he can get himself out of this, but you may make another law. It's as if he's powerless to do anything, so he says, well, you solve it right as you please, he says now to Mordecai. This king has already condoned genocide in his kingdom against the Jews. Now, he's going to support a sectarian war within his kingdom in order to see them defended. So, Mordecai now writes a new regulation. He sets before them a new edict. Haman's was one of death and destruction and it continues to stand. Mordecai now who has risen to a place completely reversed. Do you see the reversal that's taken place? A dramatic reversal. Here is a man who days earlier couldn't enter the citadel because he was clothed in sackcloth and ashes. He couldn't even come into the citadel, let alone before the king. He goes out from the king clothed in royal robes. And not only that, he goes out from the king with the authority of the king and the king's ring, his seal in his possession. He was a man who was under a sentence of death. Now he's a man who can pronounce a sentence of death to his enemies. One of the dramatic reversals of the book of Esther. And so, with that reversal, Mordecai brings forth an edict. They may attack, they may respond to and attack anyone who attacks them, anyone who comes against them. And so, he reverses the language that Haman uses and as we'll see in just a moment, he uses the exact language of the edict of Haman and turns it around completely. The question that we wrestle with and struggle with is, is this simply an act of self-defense or given the nature of the language, is it one of revenge? The edict is written, it is sent out in the same way that the first was by the swiftest couriers. They use the king's own horses, the best in the kingdom obviously to get the word out. And it will take weeks if not months to get to every end of the kingdom. Remember it's now, the edict was made in the first month, it's now the third month that we're in. It's going to take quite some time to get that word out but it's going to be there in plenty of time because it's still nine months away. when the first one takes effect. When the Word comes, the people rejoice. All the Jews hear of this wonderful edict. There's a great reversal. In chapter 4, verse 3, when they heard the first edict, there was mourning, fasting, weeping, lamenting, distress, humiliating, humbling themselves before the Lord. Now we look at verses 15-17, and instead of mourning, There's rejoicing instead of weeping. There's joy instead of lamenting. There's gladness instead of distress and dishonor. There's honor instead of fasting. It's feasting. And when that decree went out, many were converted because of the fear of the Jews. Now, Mordecai is second in command. This comes. through his hand and all of the governors of the provinces and the leaders of the satraps definitely want to be on the good side of the man closest to the king. Suddenly, there's a lot of support for this new edict. And because of the fear of the Jews, many convert. They want to be on the winning side. Was it genuine? That's doubtful. But some certainly may have been genuine. And so, hooray, happy ending, everything is solved, it's all settled. Really? Not yet. It's not over till it's over. There hasn't been any battle yet, nothing to work with here. But the edict has gone out and we see the reversal beginning to take place. Now, we could really talk about some of the problems that this raises and the questions that it raises for us. Esther, for instance, what would have been, might things be a little different if Esther had spoken up in the first place, not hidden herself for years? Her fear of exposure, what were the consequences of that? What about the people here now rejoicing when the deliverance is actually months away? And if we look at the rejoicing that they're doing, you'll notice that God is never mentioned. There's no, great is thy faithfulness. There's no, praise my God, Jehovah. Well, good. We're not going to be dead necessarily. We can fight back. Yay! Hooray! What kind of rejoicing is that? Many things there to talk about. But there's one question that for me is the quote-unquote the elephant in the room. It's the one that just grabs you as you read through this in our day, in our culture. I'm not so sure it would have been so striking in Esther's day. But is this an issue of self-defense or is this some kind of revenge? To defend themselves against aggression, yes, to include killing children and women of those attackers who were likely not part of the attack. Isn't that effectively, actively moving in an offensive manner, trying to cut off their name from the earth? Are you giving them license to kill the innocents? In other words, it's not right to exterminate the Jews, but it's okay for the Jews to exterminate everyone else? Is that what's being said here? Is that justice in God's eyes? There are a minority of scholars and translators who try to avoid altogether the idea of a potential holy war in this passage. If you read this, if you were following in the NIV, for instance, you'll notice that at verse 11 it translates to kill, to destroy, kill and annihilate any armed force or any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children. As opposed to any nationality or province to attack them, women and children included, and to plunder their property. It's quite a difference. Now, I admit the Hebrew here is just a bit difficult but that change is unwarranted. The text must stand as it reads. Yes, it says very clearly, the attackers, their children and women can be destroyed. What has happened? Remember the book of Esther. Remember the theme of the book of Esther with the reversals that take place throughout the book. Mordecai takes the edict of Haman verbatim. He doesn't devise the language of this edict. He borrows it. If we go back to chapter 3, verse 13, you see the exact same thing being said. Instruction to destroy, to kill, to annihilate all the Jews, young and old, women and children in one day, the 13th day of the 12th month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. He borrows, he takes the exact same language and turns it right around. You have to remember that the battle is not just Haman and Mordecai. It is the Amalekites as the quintessential enemies of God and the people of God, the Israelites. We've traced that a number of times already as we've worked through the book. So if you have questions about it because you're visiting, stick around for Sunday school and I'll be happy to trace it out again. But that's very clear in the book of Esther. It looks like this is simply a personal vendetta. It is much greater. It is pointing always to that broader battle of the enemies of God and the people of God. But the question is still there. Is this new declaration, is this new edict one of holy war to take the language of total destruction against your enemies? What is holy war? I think it's a question that has to be raised in this text. The Hebrew would be harem, not the harem like Esther was thrown into, but harem, H-E-R-E-M, which is in Hebrew, the devoted things, things devoted to God. carrying out his righteous judgment. A holy war is God carrying out his righteous judgment against his enemies through the agency of men. It is by his direct command. It is for the purpose of cleansing the land. That is holy war. It's to prepare a place for God's people where they live without threat without any threat of corruption. Now, God certainly doesn't need human warriors to carry out his perfect justice, does he? I mean, we remember Noah, don't we? Didn't require anybody's hand for God to carry out his judgment upon the whole earth. We remember Sodom and Gomorrah, where God rescues a few, a very few people, four then three, because of their association with Abraham and the covenant promise. But fire and brimstone rained down upon those people. He didn't need any agent, no people to do it. But when God's people entered the promised land, they were given very specific instructions. We'll look at them in Deuteronomy 20. We'll open that up during our discussion time. But what comes through so clearly is what I tried to point out to the children. God fights for his people. In holy war, when the people were to go into the land and cleanse the land and drive the enemies from it, it was by God's direct command and God would fight for them and with them. Go back and read Joshua's conquest of Jericho when he meets the angel of the Lord, that is the Lord himself. Whose side are you on? I'm not on anybody's side. I'm the Lord. I fight for what is righteous and good, and I fight for my people. And that battle is won, not by the strength of the army, but by the champion who fights for them. David and Goliath, how is that battle won? It's won by the champion who fights for them. Joshua entering in the land, how are those battles won? Because God, the champion, is there with them. And so when they entered into a holy war, Yes, destroy everything in order that they might be protected in that place. But Holy War had very specific instructions regarding it. So the problem, the question really arises, do I have a problem with God as the righteous judge, that God has the right to carry out his judgments where and when and how he chooses? I hope not. But I know many do admittedly admittedly many in this world and especially in our culture. And I am afraid too many in the church today have trouble with God as judge who has the right in his time in his way through whatever means he chooses to judge righteously. Oh, God is love. He would never judge anyone. Jesus died for sin. There's no judgment now for anyone. God loves everyone in Jesus. Well, go back and read Revelation 19 again. And tell me that Jesus isn't going to judge and go on and read chapter 20. Because the language there is equally as stern, maybe stronger. In the Old Testament, people want to say, we see a God of wrath. But now, God has become a God of love and mercy. We shun the God of the Old Testament. No, I'm afraid we can't do that. He is one God and He has not changed. He is righteous and holy and He judges wickedness and rebellion, righteously. You see, it is precisely because God is loving and good that He does judge the wicked. He would hardly be just or good if He didn't. If He let sinners have their way in the world, killing, maiming, defrauding, destroying, and then winked at justice, oh, just come on in. We love everyone here. Is that going to be at all loving toward those who have suffered, who have died at the hands of the wicked, the unholy, We would impeach an earthly judge for such action because they mock justice and they show a hatred of suffering and abuse. But when we acknowledge that God has the right to judge all men everywhere, we balk at the thought of his using even sinful people as an instrument of his judgment, don't we? And we're not the first. Go back and read the prophet Habakkuk. What does he discover? He knows how wicked the Israelites are. He knows that they deserve God's punishment and His discipline. And he says, God, how long are you going to let this continue? And God says, well, I'm bringing the Babylonians to judge them. The Babylonians? Well, they're much worse than we are. How can you use them, God, to bring that Righteous judgment upon your people. I encourage you to read it and see how God answers him. As to who is really righteous and who is just. And what God will do even with the Babylonians when they do not bow and bend to Him. They too will be judged. Here in Esther, God uses seemingly faithless Israelites to bring a judgment upon His enemies. Enemies of His name and His people. Even upon innocent women and children? The question of course is, is anyone really innocent? Is anyone innocent? It's not what the Scriptures tell us. There's none righteous, no not one. Psalm 14 or Romans 3, doesn't matter where you find it. David would declare, sinful from the moment I was conceived. Sinful at my conception. Romans 5 will tell us that we've all fallen in Adam. We have a nature that is sinful. We are by nature haters of God. Rebellious. Sinners. We sin because we are sinners. We don't become sinners. We didn't start neutral. and then mess it up and become sinners. It doesn't work that way. You and I may be innocent of particular crimes or sins or atrocities, but our hearts, before we do anything good or bad, quote unquote, are deceitfully wicked and beyond cure. It's what we call depravity. I think the people in Esther's day understood that. They hadn't shaped God into something that they could control. shape God into something, someone who made them comfortable and happy, who didn't constantly confront them with who they really were. But the Word of God confronts us with just that. God was and is carrying out a sentence of death decreed in the garden even on women and children. There may be great injustice in the way lives are taken in this world by sinful men and women who are only acting according to their wicked desires, but there is no injustice when God judges. This we must understand. Hard as that may be for our sensibilities to accept, this is who God is. Is this a holy war? I don't believe it meets the qualifications of holy war. Is it a type? Is it a picture of? Yes, it is. But it is clearly providentially what God has devised as a means of delivering and preserving his people. Was it carried out according to the strict law, according to the strict letter? I doubt that, but I can't prove it. But the reversal has been now set in place. Things are going to change. What we have here very definitely is a picture of God's judgment on his enemies. The ultimate reversal. All the plans and schemes of mankind against God and against his people. They fall on their own heads. It points us back to God judging the wicked of the earth. God will deliver His people from that edict of destruction. And it points us forward to that last day, to that final day that we read about in Revelation 19. Can you and I be called to a holy war today as His people? From time to time, His people were called to that work. And I think the answer to that is unequivocally, absolutely no. Is that because God no longer judges His enemies because He set aside judgment? No. Has God forsaken judgment in light of the cross? No. Has the wrath of God, has the God of wrath rather, turned over a new leaf? He's now the God of mercy. No. God's nature, His call to holiness, it has not changed. But we are not called to holy war. Like the people who would carry the Ark of the Covenant into battle with them because God would fight for them and His presence would be there. Moses would stand with his arms lifted up, held up by his people, by her, Aaron and her, so that God would fight for them. No, we don't fight a holy war because it has been fought on our behalf already. Our champion has come. Gloriously, much greater than David, much greater than Joshua, much greater than Moses. By the time of Esther, the people and the prophets looked forward to the coming of their divine warrior, of a champion who would stand for them in battle, a mighty deliverer like David before Goliath, who would conquer all his enemies. And they looked for it. But listen to John the Baptist, who had that very clear expectation. Listen to what he said when he finally saw Jesus, knew who he was, but he didn't meet his expectations. Matthew chapter three, beginning of verse seven. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee the wrath to come, bear fruit in keeping with repentance and do not presume to say to yourselves, excuse me, We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. You see, that's the picture he had of Jesus. And Jesus didn't match his expectations. He didn't bring that immediate violent judgment against mankind. He took the battle to the realm of the principalities and the powers. He healed the sick. He cast out demons. He raised the dead. And so when John was in prison, he had to send his disciples to say, Did I get it wrong? Are you really the one who was to come? Where is the judgment coming? And Jesus sent back to him, look what's happening. The kingdom of Satan is being broken. It is that kingdom being attacked. He took the battle to Satan and his army instead of to the flesh and blood enemies of Israel. It wasn't just that with this warrior God is with us. This warrior is God Himself. He took the battle against sin all the way to the cross to pay the penalty of that unchangeable decree. The wages of sin is death. The assurance of victory won on the cross by this champion, this righteous warrior who rose from the dead, conquering death itself. That's the assurance we have. That's the victory that was won. But the battle, this warfare against the forces arrayed against God and His people, that's going to continue to the end of time when Jesus will return finally to judge righteously all things. This was a picture of holy war, a reversal of the edict of death against those who are identified with the King of Kings and with the Lord of Lords. And when God turned that judgment against His own people and drove them out of the promised land, any right that they had to a divine judgment, to a holy war, was overturned because the battleground And the promised ground has changed. We don't engage in holy war with the people around us. We now engage in the same battle that Jesus did, a battle against the forces of evil. And we battle now for those people around us. To draw them in, to bring that light to the Gentiles, like the Savior, our champion, Ephesians 6, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. That's our battleground. Has that first law been revoked? The wages of sin is death? You and I know it has not. It stands. It's in effect. God's people, however, have seen God frustrate the plans of the wicked to show His glory, to provide a way of deliverance for His people. God, through Jesus Christ, doesn't revoke that law, but fulfills it. Because of sin, every person of every nation is under that decree of death. The Jews couldn't overcome it. We can't overcome it. But the holy war that God decreed against rebellious sinners is now fought by our champion who will go to battle in the blood-dipped robes, that is stained with the blood of the martyrs, when the judgment will indeed be swift and final. That law stands, but God has written a more ancient law, has he not? I love the way C.S. Lewis puts it when he talks, when it's Aslan rising from the stone table and he talks of a deeper magic that wasn't known. save in the mind of God, by which those who trust in the divine warrior, who would do battle for us against the forces of darkness, who would bear the consequence of sin, in him we might be delivered from that penalty of death. It isn't distorted. It's not ignored. Justice stands. But it's perfect satisfaction through the blood of Emmanuel's veins flows to us. Those who identify with him, That blood covers us. And we are made His. And we are now indeed called to a holy war before our righteous and just God and King. But that battle is fought on our knees. The battle is fought. Where's the battleground? It's in our hearts. That we might see sin and rebellion put to death in us. That more and more we might take the name, be identified ever more faithfully and joyfully, rejoicing with our great king and champion. That war is fought in our hearts and it is fought on the streets. To declare that great reversal to all who will believe, For this, we cannot be silent. We cannot stay hidden like Esther tried to do. But we must declare and stand with our great champion, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so know His power to conquer, to change, and to judge. as is His right. Let's pray. Father, we must acknowledge Your justice as well as Your goodness. Lord, they are not in opposition. They do not oppose In Your nature, Lord, they are not opposed in any way. But goodness and justice and righteousness and peace kiss one another in our Savior Jesus Christ, our Champion, who has fought for us. who has taken that holy war even to the kingdom of darkness, to the kingdom of Satan, to overthrow it. Lord, open our hearts and eyes to walk in that kingdom and fight that war that goes on in our hearts through the power of Christ, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.