Now Is The Time (Esther Part 6)

Title - Now is the Time

Text - Esther Chapter 4

Introduction

In Esther Chapter 4 the Jews are in trouble and they going through all their religious rituals to beseech God to intervene.

In the first 2 Chapters of the book, things had been going pretty will for our protagonists, Esther and Mordecai, there where promotions and relative ease of living, they were comfortable, and probably was also true for the other Jews living in the land as well.

However, Chapter 3 introduces us to the antagonist of the plot, the chief villain, Haman, The man who had family history with the Jews and wanted his revenge!

The King and agreed to Haman’s wicked plan to exterminate all the Jews, sparing none, it was mass extinction! The decree had been sealed, there was no going back, the order had been declared throughout the Kingdom, the Jews were in deep trouble

I. There was a mourning vs1-3

a. Queen Esther knew nothing about the danger that she and her people faced.

i. Oblivious as she walked the Kings courts

ii. Such disconnect between those in power and those in the streets

iii. The people where in mourning, they knew this was serious

b. Mordecai, the man who made his stand in Chapter 3, is committed to the cause he immediately began to act.

i. Mordecai’s appearance and actions were those of a person showing great grief (2 Sam. 1:11–12; 13:19) or deep repentance (Jonah 3; Neh. 9:1–2).

ii. Mordecai was neither afraid nor ashamed to let people know where he stood.

1. He had already told the officers at the gate that he was a Jew;

2. now he was telling the whole city that he was not only a Jew but also that he opposed the murderous edict.

iii. Mordecai stopped at the king’s gate

iv. That was as far as he could go because Oriental kings lived in an artificial paradise that sheltered them from the realities of life

c. What could Mordecai hope to accomplish at the gate with his sackcloth and his wailing?

i. Well, perhaps somebody from the palace would take notice of him and get a message to Queen Esther.

1. Since Mordecai couldn’t enter the house of the women, this was his only hope.

ii. Here Mordecai is doing all he can, going through the religious ritual of his people

1. Mourning

2. Crying out to God

d. I wonder what it takes for you to cry out to God totally helpless to change your circumstances, unable to alter your predicament, is it then that you call out God?

i. Is sad but true that a lot of Christians today only turn to God when their backs are up against the wall, when they have nowhere else to go!

Transitional – So there was a mourning, the people wept and cried out to God, The secondly…

II. There was an informing vs4-14

a. Mordecai’s public demonstration was witnesses by the queen’s staff, and they informed her of what was going on

i. Esther immediately sends clothes to Haman, to get him out of sackcloth and ashes

ii. She is asking him to behave, to get in line, without fully understanding or even asking why he is in the state he is in!

1. This reminds me of how people think by throwing money at a problem it can solve things

2. Or if people win the lottery it will solve their problems

a. It’s a heart issue, and so it was with Mordecai, his heart was grieved for his people, and their desperate predicament.

b. Oh if only our nation would see the gravity of our situation as we turn our face from God

b. The clothes went back, and Esther is intrigued, she sends another messenger to Mordecai to find out what’s going on

i. Mordecai tells all, and gave the messenger a copy of the decree

1. This proves that he held a high position in the government, a position God had given him for the very purpose of saving the Jewish nation.

ii. Mordecai did much more than inform the queen. He urged her to reveal her true nationality and go to the royal throne and intercede for her people.

iii. Now, the big question was: how would Queen Esther respond to this crisis?

iv. Keep in mind that Mordecai couldn’t speak directly to Esther but had to send his messages to her via an intermediary

1. Esther had no way of sensing personally how Mordecai felt, nor could Mordecai fully understand how Esther was expressing herself.

2. Sometimes letters, emails, texts don’t convey the emotion we intended

a. They can be taking wrongly

b. Always best to meet in person for serious matters

c. In verses 10–11, Esther’s reply was not an evasion but an explanation.

i. She reminded Mordecai of what he already knew, that nobody, not even the queen, could rush into the throne room and ask for an immediate audience with the king.

ii. If she were to do so, she would take her life in her hands.

d. Again, I don’t think this was an excuse on Esther’s part, but rather a plea that Mordecai give her some guidance.

i. He knew palace protocol, he was a man, and he was in touch with what was going on.

ii. She was isolated in the harem and incapable of devising the kind of strategy needed to solve the problem.

e. I get the impression that Mordecai misinterpreted Esther’s message.

i. It sounded to him like she was trying to hide her nationality and avoid the responsibility of presenting herself to the king.

ii. Had he seen and heard her in person, he probably would have judged her differently.

f. In his reply, Mordecai reminded Esther of three solemn facts.

i. First, he told her that her being a palace resident was no guarantee that she would be delivered from death.

ii. Second, Mordecai reminded her that her silence wouldn’t prevent deliverance from coming from some other source.

1. Knowing the Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 12:1–3), Mordecai had faith that the people of Israel would be protected from annihilation.

2. However, he warned her that even if deliverance did come, some of the Jews might still be slain, and Esther might be among them.

iii. Mordecai emphasised a third fact:

1. Her being in the palace was not an accident Est 4:14

a. He didn’t say that God had put her there, but that’s what his statement amounted to. If Esther would just take the time to review her life, she couldn’t help but see that there had been divine leading all the way.

b. Now, if God brought her to the throne, then He had a purpose in mind, and that purpose was now evident: She was there to intercede for her people.

g. Mordecai – tells Esther in no uncertain terms, “Now is the Time”

i. It’s time to act

ii. It’s time to make your stand

iii. Don’t leave it for somebody else

h. Church I exhort you to the same thing

1. Now is the time

2. Don’t leave it to somebody else

3. Don’t wait and say nothing

4. Don’t keep silent

5. Now is the Time!!!

Transitional – So there was a mourning, then an informing, followed finally by a conforming

III. There was a conforming 15-17

a. Since Jews throughout the empire were already “fasting, weeping, and wailing”

i. it wasn’t difficult for Mordecai to unite the Jews in Shushan to pray for Esther as she prepared to intercede before the king.

ii. This was a matter of life and death both for her and her people, and God used the crisis that Haman had created to bring a spiritual revival to His people scattered among the Gentiles.

iii. It’s often the case that God’s people have to experience trouble before they will humble themselves and cry out to God.

b. Esther is determined to do what’s right

i. Mordecai took his stand and now Esther takes her stand

1. You see how one affect the other

2. How we live effects those around us

ii. Esther is taking her stand no matter the consequences

1. “If I perish I perish” vs16

a. Esther is surrendered into God’s hands

b. The Jewish people are surrender to God

c. They have cried out for his deliverance

2. Mordecai and Esther are no longer hiding their identity

a. The trial has drove them to God

c. The Jewish people where once again together and reaching for the God of their forefathers,

i. the God that delivered them from Egypt

ii. the God that had made them promises

iii. They were clinging to the only one who could really save them

Conclusion

From the human point of view, the Jewish people were in a world of trouble, and everything was against Esther and the success of her mission.

The law was against her, because nobody was allowed to interrupt the king.

The government was against her, for the decree said that she was to be slain.

Her sex was against her, because the king’s attitude toward women was worse than chauvinistic.

The officers were against her, because they did only those things that ingratiated themselves with Haman.

The odds of success were slim; the Jewish race had never been so close to extinction.

The reality was however, that at that point they were safer that they had been in the previous years before, because God was with them, and they as a people had turned to him.

I wonder what it will take for the people of this land to turn back to God, I wonder will there be many more opportunities even? It seems as we look at the world stage, that time is indeed short, that the Lord is coming back, just as he promised.

Folks the main thought for this evening from this message, is “Now is the Time”, we might not have tomorrow, we need to make our stand now, not leave it to somebody else, we must make our stand.

Remember, you’re being born in this time period, you being in this Church is no accident, that indeed you just like Esther have been brought to the Kingdom for such a time as this, and now is the time!

Let’s Pray