For Such A Time as This

This is Women’s History Month and I want to highlight the power of a particular woman in the Bible today. I want to let you know there just may come a day and a time when you will have to let people know who you are and whose you are.

It won’t need to be done from a loud and boisterous, shouting from a rooftop position, raising your voice, or stomping your feet. It may just be a soft request. One done from a place of humility.

Holy Spirit brought this message at such an appropriate time, as the Spirit always does. I thought I was going in another direction, but that wasn’t the assignment for this day.

Today I’m going to share with you a story about a lot of partying, drinking, pride, jealousy, and bad counsel. A combination of things which caused some bad decisions to be made. But God used them all to once again rescue his people!

Turn with me to the Old Testament book of Esther. I’ll be reading throughout the book, but the focus text comes from chapter 4:13-14 and I’ll be reading it from the NLT.

Esther 4:13 Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. 14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

The title for today’s message is, “For Such A Time as This”.

In the book of Esther, we see the story of yet another instance where God delivered the children of Israel from the hand of someone whose goal was to wipe all the Jews in the region from the face of the earth. Hitler was in no way the first with a desire to take out the Jews.

It’s amazing to me that someone would desire to destroy an entire nationality of people for any reason. But here we are again with someone trying to destroy God’s chosen people.

It was nothing they had done, except this group had not returned to their own land when they had the opportunity. But what put them in danger in this case was one man’s vanity, and that vanity threatened an entire group of people. I hope people are paying attention, I pray they’re listening. One man’s vanity can affect an entire nation of people.

For a full understanding of today’s message, your assignment for the week is to read the book of Esther. It’s not long and shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes.

Our primary players in this book are Mordecai, Haman, Esther and King Xerxes or Ahasuerus as he was known in the King James translation.

Through bad counsel, the king disposed of his wife because she refused to come and display herself to a bunch of drunken men.

Let me just say, alcohol uncontrolled can be a dangerous thing. You must know your limits because there is a point when you are no longer in control and the alcohol is. It’s at that point when the alcohol will cause you to ruin lives.

In this instance it was Queen Vashti’s life that was forever changed.

When Vashti was removed as queen for having standards, it opened the door for Esther. Esther was a Jew, who at the direction of her uncle Mordecai, had not let anyone know her heritage.

The king was looking for a new woman to be queen and there was a process. You’ll see that when you read the book. To say the least, it was a long involved process to get a woman ready to present her to the king.

One look at Esther and the search was over, when King Xerxes saw Esther, the text says he loved her more than all the others and placed the crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. He didn’t know she was a Jew.

Sometimes you just need to be quiet. Everyone doesn’t always need to know who you are. Blend in until the time comes to reveal you’re identity, to let people know your title or position.

You’d be surprised what you can learn. People may say things to you or do things they wouldn’t say or do if they knew who you were.

Has anyone ever seen the show, Undercover Boss? It’s a show where the CEO of a company goes out to certain stores in disguise and works as a new employee. They learn about the good, bad, and ugly of some of their company stores and at the end of the show they reveal who they are and bless the people they worked with and in some cases they fired people.

So, Esther kept quiet about her identity for the time being.

Mordecai was not only Esther’s uncle, he was loyal to the king and when he overheard a plot to kill the king and exposed it, the king was grateful.

Meanwhile, Haman was promoted and his promotion went to his head. All the other nobles bowed down to him, all except for Mordecai.

Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman and that made Haman furious, the text says he was filled with rage. Who did this man think he was to not bow down to him? Didn’t he know who he was? How dare he.

Some people think more highly of themselves than they ought to. Always remember, it’s better to be asked to come to the table than it is to be asked to leave the table.

Also, don’t take yourself so seriously that one person can cause you to forget who you are. Haman had been promoted above the other nobles, he was second to the king. Why was he so bothered by Mordecai? In a word, pride.

Like alcohol, pride will make you do some crazy things. Haman’s crazy thing was to wipe out a group of people. An entire nationality in the land controlled by King Xerxes, because one man refused to bow before him.

Haman went to the king and put the Jews in the spotlight, telling him this, “There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. So it is not in the king’s interest to let them live. 9 If it please the king, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 10,000 large sacks of silver to the government administrators to be deposited in the royal treasury.” Can you say bribe?

I’m going to pay to have a group of people killed. In essence, Haman put a hit out on the Jews.

How did it go from being upset with one man to wiping out an entire race of people? How did it go from Mordecai not bowing before Haman to a whole race of people refusing to obey the laws of the king? In a word, pride.

Now, when Mordecai discovered what Haman had done, he went into prayer, he fasted, he put on sackcloth and cried openly. He didn’t try to hide who he was or how grieved he was about the situation.

This man had just sent out an edict or order to have Mordecai’s people killed by anyone who could do it and their prize would be they would get the possessions and land of the people they took out.

Esther heard about Mordecai and sent a message to find out why he was so distressed and the answer came, with an explanation and a request for her to go to the king on their behalf.

But Esther was afraid. It was the law if someone went before the king without being summoned, if he didn’t hold out his golden scepter, that person was doomed to die. To which Mordecai told her…

“Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed.

Mordecai had to remind Esther of who she was. Perhaps because she was now queen, living in the palace, being served and the king loved her, she may have forgotten she was a Jew also.

Maybe she had lost sight of the fact if this order were to be carried out, the murderers would come for her too. She couldn’t keep her heritage quiet forever. Mordecai continued telling her…

14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die.”

Modecai had to remind her, baby girl, if you keep quiet at a time like this, there will be deliverance and relief for the Jews from some other place, somehow, someway there will be deliverance. God always has a ram in the bush.

Mordecai knew, like the Hebrew boys in the fire, that there would be deliverance for his people, even if he didn’t see it.

But he let Esther know, don’t think this edict won’t affect you, you and your relatives will die too. He reminded her it was a death sentence for her whether she went to the king or not, so what did she have to lose?

It’s one thing to not reveal who you are, it’s quite another to forget or deny who you are.

Mordecai went on to say, “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

Maybe this is the whole reason you are where you are? To save our people from annihilation,

• just because of our nationality,

• just because of the pride of one man,

• just because of vanity.

When you get to the palace, don’t forget who you are and where you come from. Reach back and help those you can.

Not everyone will receive you. Not everyone will get on board, but save who you can. Help who you can.

Esther told Mordecai to have all the Jews of Susa go on a three day fast and she and her maids would do the same.

It was time for some warfare to happen and they were preparing for the battle. The battle was one they needed to take to the Lord.

When you’re preparing for battle, you gotta know how to prepare. You don’t prepare for every battle the same way. It’s not always about taking up arms. Sometimes the battle begins on your knees, turning down your plate and glass and talking to the Lord.

The fast being complete, Esther prepared for the fight. She got dressed, not in armor but in her royal robes and went to the outer court of the king. I have no doubt she looked as beautiful as she did the day he chose her to be queen and when he saw her, he welcomed her in.

She looked so good, he told her she could have whatever she wanted, even if it was half the kingdom.

Y’all she looked real good. Ladies take note. If there’s something you want from your man, dress to impress. I’m just saying.

Esther didn’t go straight into it, she exercised wisdom and kept Haman off kilter. He still didn’t know she was a Jew. She invited him to a private dinner for the king and Haman was happy until he walked out the gate and saw Mordecai and that took the wind right out of his sails.

He was sick of this man and he complained to his wife and friends about how angry he was Mordecai didn’t give him the respect he wanted. Once again we have some bad advice given. His wife and friends told him to set up a 75-foot pole and impale Mordecai on it.

Now what kind of advice was that? His circle was just as twisted as he was. That’s why you have to be careful who you have in your circle. You don’t want a bunch of yes men and women. You need someone who isn’t afraid to tell you to calm down, you may be going off the rails a bit.

Now back at the palace.

Anyone ever have trouble sleeping? The king did and guess what he did? He had them bring the book about his reign and read it to him. And guess what story they landed on? The one where Mordecai revealed the plot to have him killed, which got the king wondering if had he done anything to reward Mordecai for saving his life.

And he hadn’t, so when Haman came the next morning to ask permission to kill Mordecai and have him impaled on the stake he had built, the king spoke first and asked what shall he do for a man who truly pleases him.

Haman with his self-centeredness, thought he must be talking about me, so he answered, “If the king wishes to honor someone, 8 he should bring out one of the king’s own royal robes, as well as a horse that the king himself has ridden—one with a royal emblem on its head. 9 Let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials. And let him see that the man whom the king wishes to honor is dressed in the king’s robes and led through the city square on the king’s horse. Have the official shout as they go, ‘This is what the king does for someone he wishes to honor!’”

Haman could just see himself up there on that horse, dressed in the king’s robes, with an official shouting and drawing attention to him. But in a twist the king says…

10 “Excellent!”… “Quick! Take the robes and my horse, and do just as you have said for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the gate of the palace. Leave out nothing you have suggested!”

Wait—WHAT! Now how could he ask to kill Mordecai when he must give him this honor and he was the one who had to carry it out.

Going home dejected he finally received some wise counsel from his wife and friends. They told him since he has humiliated you and is of Jewish birth, you will never succeed against him. It will be fatal to continue opposing him. Little did they know how true those words were.

Just then the eunuchs arrived to escort Haman to the set up—uh, I mean the banquet and now Esther drops her bomb.

You not only have to pick and choose your battle, you have to pick and choose when to deliver the knockout blow to your opponent.

The king now sitting at the banquet with his beautiful wife again asked what she wanted and again promised her up to half the kingdom, to which she replies…

“If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, I ask that my life and the lives of my people will be spared.

Boom, it’s time to let them know who she is.

4 For my people and I have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. If we had merely been sold as slaves, I could remain quiet, for that would be too trivial a matter to warrant disturbing the king.”

She minimizes being enslaved, calling it trivial. While it is not a trivial thing you have to weigh it against an alternative to prove a point.

5 “Who would do such a thing?” King Xerxes demanded. “Who would be so presumptuous as to touch you?”

Who would dare touch this beautiful woman the king loves and has promised up to half his kingdom if she asks for it?

Jab!

6 Esther replied, “This wicked Haman is our adversary and our enemy.”

Notice she says “our”, not mine or yours, she has made herself one with the king by saying our. Esther didn’t have to have a whole table full of people to do what she needed to do.

She was fighting one man and he was the only one who needed to be at the table. Others would soon see what was happening.

Haman grew pale with fright before the king and queen. The once arrogant, but insecure man who insisted on having everyone’s praise including Mordecai was now afraid. And as the king stepped out for a moment, in his fear, Haman did something he never should have done. He fell on the sofa the queen reclined on to beg for mercy, but instead it looked like he was attacking her.

Big mistake—huge. That was the end for him and one of the king’s eunuchs was so helpful letting the king know Haman had a 75-foot sharpen pole he built to kill Mordecai, and for good measure adding, the one who saved the king from assassination.

The pole Haman prepared for Mordecai, ended up being the one he died on, his property was given to Queen Esther and she placed Mordecai in charge of it. Be careful when plotting your perceived enemy’s doom, it just may end being yours.

But there was still the matter of the edict which had been declared. You see once a decree has gone out from the king, it could not be revoked. But it could be amended.

In the first edict, the Jews could not defend themselves, but now another decree had gone out that gave the Jews the authority to unite to defend their lives. They were allowed to kill, slaughter, and annihilate anyone of any nationality or province who might attack them or their children and wives, and to take the property of their enemies.

The tables had turned and there was hope for the Jews. It was now a fair fight.

I said before this was not the message I was going to preach, but when the Lord led me here I saw why. On April 17 Haman’s decree was written and distributed to the provinces to be carried out on March 7th of the following year.

On June 25th Mordecai’s decree allowing the Jews to defend themselves on March 7th of the following year was penned and distributed to the provinces.

When I saw the dates, this is why this message was for today. The final scripture I will highlight from the Book of Esther says this…

16 Meanwhile, the other Jews throughout the king’s provinces had gathered together to defend their lives. They gained relief from all their enemies, killing 75,000 of those who hated them. But they did not take any plunder. 17 This was done throughout the provinces on March 7, and on March 8 they rested, celebrating their victory with a day of feasting and gladness. 18 (The Jews at Susa killed their enemies on March 7 and again on March 8, then rested on March 9, making that their day of feasting and gladness.)

In our lives there will be times when we will be placed in positions of power, where we will be given authority over others.

Keep in mind always, the people we have rule over are God’s people, not ours. And, Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.

Don’t just obey them blindly, pray for your leaders,

• study to show yourself approved unto God,

• study so you’ll know what thus saith the Lord.

• study so you’ll know the right way to go

• study so you’ll know if your leader has gotten off track and you don’t go down that same path

• and study because it’s what the Lord requires of you.

How can you lead someone else to Christ if you don’t know the way yourself?

How can you make and teach disciples what the Lord has commanded, if you don’t know yourself?

How can you help somebody along the way, if don’t know what kind of help God has for them?

How can you tell someone else Christ died for their sins, if you don’t know or receive that he died for yours?

For you to help someone else, you must first know the Lord and the way for yourself.

Haman had no idea who he was dealing with in going after the Jews. He allowed a single person to negate the status and blessings he had and in the end the very person he tried to take out ended up with everything he owned.

Your life is not about your title or position, it’s about whether you first accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life, then did you tell others?

It begins with a prayer, Father, God I confess I’m a sinner, please forgive me. I believe Jesus is your Son and that he came through a virgin, lived a sinless life and died for my sins. I believe he rose again and now sits at your right hand interceding on my behalf. Jesus I give you my life, come into my heart, in your name I pray amen.

If you prayed that prayer for the first time welcome to the family of God, now find yourself a Bible-believing Bible teaching church where you can learn how to study the Word.

If you’d like help finding a church, if we can answer a question for you or if you’d like to connect with us, please contact us through our new and improved website at www.lovechristianctr.org. Perhaps you’d like to join us for the entire service live on Zoom, you’ll also find the code on the website. But if you live in the Douglasville, GA area we’d love to see you here in person for Sunday School at 8:45, Worship Service at 10 a.m. on Sundays, Bible Study at 7 p.m. on Weds or maybe you’re available during the day. We’d love to have your help in the food pantry on Weds from 1 - 6 p.m.

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