In this message from February 19, 2016, Pastor Ben continues the series, “Too Good To Be True” with the incredible story of Esther, where faith in God meets action to make a way for God’s people.
Stories from the Bible that are too good to be true. They’re too good because the people in them make decisions that, if we are honest, do not make a lot of sense in regard to human nature. They seemed to have characteristics like faith, hope, determination, and wisdom in super human quantities. Noah built a boat in the middle of dry land. Abraham bound his only son and placed him on the altar of sacrifice. Gideon faced an entire nation with 300 men. Rahab the Harlot risked everything to hide Israelite spies. And Esther saved the nation of Israel from extinction. But she was different from all the other people we’ve talked about because Ether was a queen; not of the Israelites, of a foreign people.
Esther’s story:
Chapter 1
King Ahasuerus, king of Persia, deposes Queen Vashti. Vashti get a bad rap, but it was the King who was wrong. The queen must be replaced.
Chapter 2
King Ahasuerus sends out a decree requiring all beautiful young virgins to be gathered at his headquarters.
5 Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6 who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. 7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
Esther joins this group of young women in what is basically a Persia’s Got Talent competition. She goes through the preparation process (12 months of spa treatment). When it is her turn, she goes in to the King. Let me be clear; part of the audition was to sleep with the King. As upsetting as this is, it was accepted and acceptable then. Esther wins the King’s favor and becomes Queen of Persia. She has not revealed her heritage because Mordecai told her not to because she’s Jewish, not Persian. It was against the law for the King of Persia to have a non-Persian as his queen.
Chapter 3
King Ahasuerus elevates a man named Haman to a place of great prominence. Haman’s pride is legendary and poisonous. Every day, Haman comes strutting into the King’s Gate and everyone who works for the King bows down to him and pays homage. Everybody but Mordecai because Mordecai will not bow to any human being because he is a devout Jew. Haman goes genocidal. He asks Ahasuerus permission to destroy ALL Jews. The King agrees and commands that every Jew in the kingdom be put to death.
Chapter 4
The Jewish people begin to mourn, Mordecai included. Esther learns of the plot and Mordecai tells her that she has to do something. And Esther has a problem. Because no one approaches the King’s inner court unless they are summoned. If they go anyway, the King’s law is that they be killed on the spot. BUT, there’s a loophole. If someone who has not been summoned shows up and he holds out his golden scepter to the person, that person is spared. Esther has not been summoned for over a month. If she goes, there’s a good chance she’ll be killed. Mordecai tells her that she has to try saying, “Who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” After asking Mordecai to assemble all the Jews in Susa to fast along with her for her endeavor, she says “I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
Fast forward to the end of the book, and Esther’s plans work. Haman is deposed from his position of power, Mordecai takes his place, Haman and his family are put to the death, the King’s decree is reversed and the Jews are given permission to attack any and everyone who intends them harm in their own cities. It is an amazing account of God’s power and faithfulness and I want to bring your attention to something very important: at no point is Esther commanded by God to do any of these things. No where is it written, “And God said to Esther”. There’s no vision, no visitation from an angel. They acted because they saw what was right and just did it. Mordecai was a Jew and he saw what was set to happen to his people and acted. Esther was a Jewess, who saw what was set to happen to her people and she did something about it. They didn’t just wait on God to get the okay do something. She acted because she saw the need and stepped in to meet it. As a Jewess, was her life in danger? Absolutely. But she could’ve just waited to see if the King would spare her life.
Jesus came to meet needs. He didn’t wait to hear directly from the Father, He just acted. Step up to the challenge of following in His footsteps and step into the needs around us. Step up and step in; simple, but not easy.