Esther 9-10[1]
As preached at Rolling Hills Church on Sunday, June 12th.
Today we come to the exciting end to this wonderful story, and it is one of the best! The setting is an exotic ancient capital; the story flows swiftly downstream with drama, intrigue, romance, danger, fighting, a nasty villain, ordinary people who become heroes, and a happy ending. This is a fantastic story; better yet is that it's a true story!
Esther 9
1 Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's command and edict were about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them.
2 The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could stand against them, for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples.
3 All the officials of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and the royal agents also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.
4 For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew more and more powerful.
5 The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them.
6 In Susa the citadel itself the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men,
7 and also killed Parshandatha and Dalphon and Aspatha
8 and Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha
9 and Parmashta and Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha,
10 the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they laid no hand on the plunder.
11 That very day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was reported to the king.
12 And the king said to Queen Esther, "In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and also the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces! Now what is your wish? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled."
13 And Esther said, "If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day's edict. And let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows."
14 So the king commanded this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged.
15 The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed 300 men in Susa, but they laid no hands on the plunder.
16 Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king's provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies and killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they laid no hands on the plunder.
17 This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness.
18 But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness.
19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.
20 And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,
21 obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year,
22 as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
23 So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.
24 For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them.
25 But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
26 Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them,
27 the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year,
28 that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
29 Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim.
30 Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth,
31 that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting.
32 The command of Queen Esther confirmed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.
Esther 10
1 King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea.
2 And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?
3 For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.
What a beautiful, masterfully written story; and we don't even know who wrote it. We do know who inspired it, and we can be grateful to Him – and I am! Now in finishing up this story, it generally tells itself. Esther and Mordecai grow in favor and influence with the king, and the story of the feast of Purim is brought to the table, showing us what was coming all along – why the Jews celebrate this feast. But that's not all. So in this wrap-up sermon, there are so many themes in this book that we should be careful to acknowledge…
God providentially preserves His people. Even in this book where God's hand is unseen and His words are unspoken, it is painfully clear that He works on behalf of His people. And throughout all of history, we can look back and see God's plan unfolding; in His way, in His time, and to His glory alone. We usually can't see God's work too clearly in our present; sometimes we have to live, to get past today and look back. But having seen God work in YESTERDAY, we can trust Him to work again TODAY. He is faithful to His Word! If God makes a promise you can rest assured – He will keep it. He promised to bring a Savior to this world through Abraham, and He made sure this would happen time and time again! He did so here by saving the Jews from Haman's plot. As I said the week I opened this series:
No Jews, no Jesus.
No Jesus, no cross.
No cross, then no atonement for sin.
No atonement, no pardon.
No pardon, no eternal life with God forever.
The law of the harvest; or the rolling stone. In this story Haman was an evil, unforgiving man who was full of pride. He loved to exalt himself, and as for others, he apparently loved to see others suffer and die; at best he used people (wife and advisors) to rub down his bruised ego. He prospered at first, but it didn't last. His sins were brought to the light, and he was burned in his own fire, or literally hanged on his own gallows. Mordecai, on the other hand, was a humble, honest man. He lived to see others (Esther) honored, and didn't concern himself with his agenda. He saved the king's life and wasn't disturbed at all when no reward came his way. But God, in His time, lifted Mordecai up, and here at the end, we see that he was more powerful, more respected than Haman ever was. This point is exaggerated here, but it is real; you reap what you sow. When you roll a stone with intention to crush others, it will roll back and crush you; if not before then certainly at the final judgment of God. Wickedness is absurd; God laughs at such foolish, vile men (Ps 2). Wickedness will never pay off; and the wicked will never escape God. The attacks on God's people will never stop the plan of God from advancing; and evil men can never take the lives of God's people, for we are hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3). Someone wrote this modern-day proverb of this law…
If you plant honesty, you will reap trust
If you plant goodness, you will reap friends
If you plant humility, you will reap greatness
If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment
If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective
If you plant hard work, you will reap success
If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation[2]
We do reap what we sow; and if we sow obedience in faith, we will reap a grand harvest to God's glory. It doesn't always work out like a storybook, but we can trust God; it works out eternally. So God providentially preserves His people, and the law of the harvest. Third…
God works through ordinary means to accomplish extraordinary things. One ordinary thing God used in this story was courageous obedience. Esther obeyed Mordecai, and God worked through that. Folks, God works in mysterious ways, but He often uses ordinary means to accomplish His works. Consider it this way; God gave the Jews a reprieve here in this story; but they had to fight. God put Esther in the position to appeal to the king; but she had to make the appeal. God used the story of Mordecai's saving the king to undermine Haman's plan; but only because Mordecai reported the plot.
Folks, the implications for this principle in our lives are huge. We trust God; we believe God; we pray to God. And – we obey God. We pray for healing, and we take medicine. Jesus once spit in the dirt and made mud to rub on a blind man's eyes; then he told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. He did as he was told, and he was healed. You pray for provision, and you work hard to earn money. You pray for children, and you have sex often. You ask God to save people, and you share the gospel. You pray to mature in faith and obedience, and you read God's Bible. You pray for obedient children, and you train them to obey. God uses ordinary means to do extraordinary things. God works (sometimes invisibly) on our behalf, church; and courageous obedience is used as well. Obedience displays our faith in God's Word. Obedience displays our love for God! Don't apply this principle to salvation; God alone saves us through grace, and not of our works. But doesn't God use the ordinary man or woman to share the gospel from the Scriptures? Yes, He does; we are commanded to go and preach the gospel.
It is good to celebrate God's merciful works! Folks, when God works on our behalf, it's good to remember it. This Purim is the most secular of Jewish holidays, and yet those who believe in God recall His faithfulness to preserve a people for Himself. And today when they celebrate Purim, they remember all the horrible attempts to destroy Jews as a people group. That didn't stopped with Haman; Anti-Semitism is still a danger today. Jews are still consistently accused of being secretively in control of Hollywood, Wall St, global finances, etc.[3] In a survey conducted late in 2008 and early in 2009 in seven European countries, 40 percent of those surveyed indicated that Jews have "too much power in the business world" and 41 percent indicated that Jews have "too much power in international financial markets." Perhaps most troubling, in the same survey, taken during the height of the global economic crisis, 31 percent of the Europeans surveyed said Jews were to blame at least in part for the crisis[4]. Even the church has persecuted the Jews at times, to our great shame! You can understand why Purim is so vigorously celebrated by the Jewish people.
God has worked on their behalf. Church, God has also worked to bring a church to Himself through the Gentiles! He has worked to save you, to bring you here, to make you a part of this church, or just to have you here today to hear about His grace through Christ His Son. Let us remember; let us celebrate! Don't stop celebrating Christmas and Resurrection Sunday! Don't stop celebrating the Lord's Supper, remembering the cross. Let us commemorate God's good work as well, until He returns.
Esther is a story of providence, courage, and commemoration. What about you; do you trust God? Do you see Him at work? Does your obedience reflect genuine, gritty faith in Christ? Does your obedience display a warm love for Christ? Do you celebrate God's good work in your life, your family, and in your church?
No comments:
Post a Comment