Queen Esther respond to this crisis. (Es. 4:10-14)

Remember that Mordecai couldn’t speak directly to Esther but had to send his messages to her via Hathach. Esther had no way of sensing personally how Mordecai felt, nor could Mordecai fully understand how Esther was expressing herself. What a difference it makes when we can see the faces and hear the voices of the people we communicate with! Hathach certainly had a great responsibility placed on him as the link between two distressed people who held in their hands the salvation of the Jewish nation.

I. Esther’s reply was not an evasion but an explanation.

10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a command for Mordecai: 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.”

A. She reminded Mordecai of what he already knew.

Nobody not even the queen, could rush into the throne room and ask for an immediate audience with the king. If she were to do so, she would take her life in her hands. Not only was the king of Persia sheltered from seeing sorrow and hearing bad news, but he was also protected from interruptions that might interfere with his schedule.

I don’t think this was an excuse on Esther’s part, but rather a plea that Mordecai give her some guidance. He knew palace protocol, he was a man, and he was in touch with what was going on. She was isolated in the harem and incapable of devising the kind of strategy needed to solve the problem.

B. We get the impression that Mordecai misinterpreted Esther’s message.

It sounded to him like she was trying to hide her nationality and avoid the responsibility of presenting herself to the king. Had he seen and heard her in person, he probably would have judged her differently.

Besides all this, she hadn’t seen the king for a month; and it was possible that she had somehow fallen out of favor. Ahasuerus was unpredictable, and Esther didn’t want to make matters worse.

II. Mordecai reminded Esther of three solemn facts.

13 And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

A. No Guarantees.

Mordecai told her that her being a palace resident was no guarantee that she would be delivered from death. The royal edict said “all the Jews” (3:13), and Haman would see to it that every last Jew was discovered and slain, even those in the palace.

B. Esther’s silence wouldn’t prevent deliverance.

The reference here is to the providence of God even though the name of God isn’t mentioned. Knowing the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1–3), Mordecai had faith that the people of Israel would be protected from annihilation. However, he warned her that even if deliverance did come, some of the Jews might still be slain, and Esther might be among them.

Why would God send “relief and deliverance” (NIV) to the Jewish people but allow Esther and her relatives to be slain? Perhaps Mordecai saw this as a punishment for her unwillingness to intercede for the people. To know to do good and not do it is sin (James 4:17). Therefore, instead of protecting herself by her silence, Esther would be putting herself into greater jeopardy. Haman and his agents would have little trouble finding her in the palace and taking her life.

C. God had Esther where He wanted her.

Her being in the palace was not an accident, for she had “come to royal position for such a time as this” (Es. 4:14, NIV). 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.

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. The statement of Joseph to his brothers comes to mind: “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Gen. 50:20, NKJV).

III. God accomplishes His purposes through people.

A. We may not fully understand.

God permits wicked people to do evil things in this world; but He can work in and through unbelievers and His own people to accomplish His purposes. While He was not the author of his sins, God permitted the king’s drunkenness and his foolishness in deposing Vashti. He used the king’s loneliness to place Esther on the throne.

God will accomplish His purposes even if His servants refuse to obey His will. If Esther rejected the will of God for her life, God could still save His people; but Esther would be the loser. When ministers and missionaries appeal to the church for volunteers for Christian service, they sometimes give the impression that God’s work is at the mercy of God’s workers; but this isn’t true. If we refuse to obey God, He can either abandon us and get somebody else to do the job, and we will lose the reward and blessing; or He can discipline us until we surrender to His will.

B. God isn’t in a hurry but will fulfill His plans in due time.

God waited until the third year of the king’s reign before taking Vashti off the throne. Then he waited another four years (Es. 2:16) before putting Esther on the throne. It was not until the king’s twelfth year (3:7) that God allowed Haman to hatch his evil plot, and He decreed that the “crisis day” for the Jews would be almost a year away.

God is never in a hurry. He knows the end from the beginning, and His decrees are always right and always on time. Only a sovereign God is great enough to decree freedom of choice for men and women, and only a sovereign God could fulfill His wise and loving purposes in this world and even make evil cooperate in producing good. The question is not, “Is God in control of this world?” but, “Is God in control of my life?” Are we cooperating with Him so that we are a part of the answer and not a part of the problem?