Here
is what we have scene thus far of the Character that the book bears her name.
A)She was a Jewish orphan
girl – Raised by a cousin a godly man name Mordecai –
B)She
was beautiful – so beautiful that when it came time for the King to Choose a
new Bride for himself –1)and he has a beauty pageant – Esther wins –
C)She was beautiful both
inside and out – and the Lord’s grace and favor were upon her.
D)Suddenly everything in her
life has changed she is in the Palace –
1)
in the place of Prominence and blessing.
E)Things seemed good for
Mordecai as well he has a good job in the Kingdom –
Five
years go by and nothing real significant happens.
A)Then we met this wicked
man named Haman – He is prideful and arrogant – and he hates the Jews -
B)He is an Agagite – long
standing hatred –
C)When
Mordecai refuses to bow to him one day and pay him homage – Haman is enraged
and devises a plan to annihilate all the Jews in the Persian kingdom.
D)He
convinces the King that this is the right thing to do
1)The
King signs off on the decree making it official that in 11months – D-Day is
coming.
E)Haman wants the Jews to
suffer in torment –
11 months
When
Mordecai – hears of the decree he begins to weep and mourn like all the Jews in
the Province
A)He
gets word to Esther – you have got to do something.
B)At
first Esther feels helpless – what I am supposed to do – I can’t just walk into
the Kings chamber and demand an Audience
{Bat her eyes}–
C)Persian custom was she had
to be summoned – she had been summoned in 30 days.
E)Mordecai – tells her you
must try – God has obviously put you in this position for such a time as this.
Esther
tells Mordecai to fast and pray for three days
get
all the Jews to fast and pray for three days – A)Esther was going to get her maidens to
fast and pray as well – (her maidens were probably Jewish.)
B)That is where we left the
story last time.
Also
remember the Kings has no idea that the queen is Jewish
A)So
he has no idea that he has just signed a decree that could not be reversed that
sentenced his wife to death.
B)Haman
also did not know that Esther was a Jewish.
C)So Esther and her crew
Mordecai and the pp are all fasting and praying.
Lets
talk for a minute about Fasting: Fast and Pray
A)Denying the flesh in some
form usually food for the purpose of seeking the Lord.
B)Creating a more intense
time to seek Him
Heighten our sensitivity to
His voice to His word.
C)Jesus said When you fast!
C)God
Blesses when we seek Him and wait upon Him – I was encouraged this week in my
heart by the Promise of
“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they
shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they
shall walk and not faint.”
Waiting
is not one of my strengths!
A)
I really can struggle in this area. From this verse, I see four things that
happen when we wait.
First, we gain new strength.
A)Our
strength is renewed, the Lord meets our weakness with His strength. (See 2 Cor.
12:9)
Second,
we gain a
better perspective.
A)The passage says we will
mount up with wings like eagles.
B)Eagles
sour, eagles fly above the normal terrain. 1)Eagles see things from a
higher vantage point, they can spot a fish in a lake several miles away on a
clear day.
C)When we wait on the Lord,
we gain a higher or a heavenly perspective on what it is we are dealing w/!
Third,
we gain extra
energy.
A)We
can run spiritually and not get tired. God supplies us in our time of need with
extra energy.
B)I
love those days where it has flown by and all day long I have sensed that
supernatural energy from the Lord to just keep going.
Fourth,
we gain an
extra ability to persevere. A)We keep on walking
without fainting. When we wait on the Lord, He enables us with the ability to
endure.
When
I consider those blessings, I really shouldn’t mind waiting especially when it
means waiting on the Lord.
Between
Chapter 4-5 in my Bible there is a white space in my Bible
A)A blank – a pause – three
days no action – just a lot of prayer – that is unrecorded
B)Chuck
Swindoll called those three days a silent but powerful parenthesis in Esther’s
life.
Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal
robes {respect
and beauty} and stood in the inner court of the
king's palace, across from the king's house, while the king sat on his royal
throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house.
So
Esther is out in the inner court hoping the King notices her and he does.
He
calls for her to come in.
2 So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the
court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the
golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of
the scepter.
No doubt this was the
protocol; if the king accepted you, and held it out, you’d come and touch the
top.
RD V. 3-4
Now
it is obvious here that the time of Prayer and fasting resulted in several
things in Esther’s life. Because
of her time with God she was able to approach the King calmly wisely and
confidently.
A)And
She was given a plan –
B)Much
like Nehemiah who would have a similar situation with this Kings Son.
1) Prayed
fasted – God gave him a plan
C)God
gave Esther a plan.
Interesting
why didn’t she just say - I want you to
kill Haman –
A)Or do something to
counteract your decree I am Jewish.
B)Esther is wise – she
realizes there is a sense of timing involved here.
C)Perhaps all the Lord told
her was plan a Banquet or a dinner.
1)God
often only gives us one step at a time.
D)So She says Come to my
Banquet you and Haman.
I am Reminded of
The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of
water; He turns it wherever He wishes.
That
is what is happening here – RD V.5-7
Now
why does Esther want to wait one more Day?
A)I believe the answer is in
that she sensed from the Lord – again from her 3 days of fasting and prayer.
B)She had a heightened sense
of awareness and sensitivity.
1)The
sense she was getting from the Lord was one more day. She isn’t sure why but
she waits.
C)But Something needed to
happen. RD V.9-14
Now
this is astounding to me – because I think we can easily be like Haman.
A)This is maybe the best day
of his life – He has just spent personal time with the King and Queen – invited
back tomorrow –
The
King loves him and has given him special position.
B)And he is letting it all
be robbed by one person.
1)
Have you ever been guilty of that?
One
person or one little thing – one thing out of place.
C)God is working and doing
great things all around you – all you see all you can think of is one or two
things – that are seemingly out of place.
1)Shame
on us for being like Haman.
D)Haman’s
wife should have set him straight – Why are you so fixated on this one guy –
forget him – 11 months he will be gone.
Instead
she encourages him!
A)Do something about it – Guys
anytime your wife encourages you to respond in the flesh – that is not God that
is just dum!
B)Do something about – take
him down – Build gallows 50 cubits high
1)The
anger of the flesh always wants to respond in exaggeration –
C)50 cubits was 71/2 stories
high – Build a sky scrapper so everyone can see
D)
Gallows were not hangmens – stations – Not hung by ropes – but impaled on a
stake – Impale Mordecai – 71/2 stories High
E) Haman responds “Great
idea Honey – I will show him.
What
a contrast between Haman led by his flesh and Esther – following the Leading of
the Holy Spirit.
A)Who are you more like.
B)Close
C)Things are maybe looking Hopeless – You feel Helpless.
D)Encourage
you to wait – don’t rush – wait – don’t try and take matters into your own hands
– wait on the Lord.
E)Listen to these words from
the Psalmist in this time
Close
Chapter 5 reminded of these words from the Psalmist in a time of trouble Psalm
32:6-7
6 For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You In a
time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they shall not
come near him. 7 You are my hiding
place;
You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with
songs of deliverance.
The Lord responds
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I
will guide you with My eye.
That
is what is going on with Esther. – Watch next how God is going to turn the
heart and hand of the King.
That
night the king could not sleep.
A
God-inspired insomnia. I do believe that
there is God-inspired insomnia.
I believe that the Lord wakes me up on many
occasions at night- Pray – Bible or book by my bed
The king couldn't sleep,
So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the
chronicles; and they were read before
the king. {That
would be kind of nice – read to me ok }
2 And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and
Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands
on King Ahasuerus. 3 Then the king said, "What honor or dignity has been
bestowed on Mordecai for this?"
And the king's servants who attended him said, "Nothing has
been done for him."
So
the King becomes aware of this huge oversight. We have got to fix this – make
this right!
A)I
think that this is a great word – to remember – God is not unjust to forget
your labor of love.
B)What
happens next is absolutely hilarious to me!
So the king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had
just entered the outer court of the king's palace to suggest that the king hang
Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
5 The king's servants said to him, "Haman is there, standing
in the court."
And the king said, "Let him come in."
6 So Haman came in, and the king asked him, "What shall be
done for the man whom the king delights to honor?"
Now
it is going to be obvious from Haman’s response that he has thought about this.
A)He
has wondered about how he would want to be honored by the King!
Now Haman thought in his heart, "Whom would the king delight
to honor more than me?" 7 And Haman answered the king, "For the man
whom the king delights to honor, 8 let a royal robe be brought which the king
has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest
placed on its head. 9 Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of
one of the king's most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king
delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and
proclaim before him: 'Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to
honor!'"
B)Now Haman could see
himself riding on the king's horse, wearing the king's robe, and the king's
crown, and one of the noblemen going before him in the street, and all of the
people going, "Ooh, aah."
C)Of course, in this, Haman is revealing what's in his
heart. He is desiring the throne
himself.
1)He's desiring the honor
and the glory of the throne.
D)Haman is thinking – that would be awesome to be honored in that way.
What comes next is one of my favorite verses in this story!
10 Then the
king said to Haman, "Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have
suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king's gate!
Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken."
Great
idea – do all of that!
RD V.11-14
I
want you to notice one thing here that you don’t see very often – found in v.12
easy to pass over.
A)Mordecai – is honored –
exalted – he returned to the Kings gate.
B)I love this about this guy
- He is not looking for a promotion. There is no sense of entitlement.
C)Nothing like that at all.
He just humble goes back to his normal spot. -
Awesome.
So, queen Esther is begging for her very life and for the
life of her people, for she said,
We are sold, I and my people, to be
destroyed.
So, this is the first time now the king realized that she is
Jewish;
A)But it is also a realization that he is the one who has sold them
out! {He took Haman’s Bribe -
B)And so, it hits him just like a ton of bricks falling on him when
she is there crying and pleading for her life, and the life of her people.
5 So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, "Who
is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do such a
thing?"
He
knew – He was there – but at the same time realizing what did I do?
RDV.
6-10
Isn't it great to be a child of God? To have the affairs of your life ordered and
directed by the Lord. A)To know
that you're life is in His hands, and He loves you, and He is watching over,
and He is keeping you, and all things, all things are working together for
good, your good, because you love God.
B)Sometimes it can be hard
to believe that- when things seem like they just aren’t coming together.
C)Sometimes life can seem –
Foggy –
Close with these 3 insights from Chuck Swindoll
First:
“The fog on your lake is neither accidental or fatal. So while swimming, listen
very carefully and patiently for His voice. Some days you will be seized with
panic and dog paddle like mad….But all the time you want o be listening for His
voice.
I urge you to listen with
great sensitivity, because His message with come in various ways.
Like Esther don’t rush into
big decisions and may I be painfully direct? Don’t talk so much! Believers who
are maturing not only respect God’s silence, they model it as well.”
Second: “The workings of God are not related to our clocks, they are related
to our crises…God’s timing is unrelated to Planet Earth’s time clock. So while
waiting, look beyond the present. The best way to do that is to pray.”
Third:
“The surprises in store are not merely ironic or coincidental, they are
sovereignly designed. I have found, while in the fog, that my great temptation
is either to doubt or deny that God is even at work. But more often than not,
when something looks like it is the absolute end, it is really the beginning. I
can see this later, when I look back.”