Poetic Justice — Esther 7:1-10; 9:1; 9:20-28

Introduction

(Show picture of the guillotine of Robespierre) In 1793, just after he had successfully argued for King Louis XVI’s execution by the guillotine, Maximilien Robespierre was elected to the Committee of Public Safety, which was formed in April to protect France against its enemies, foreign and domestic, and to oversee the government. And so began what has become known as the Reign of Terror that took place during the French Revolution. Robespierre would gather any person that he believed was an enemy of his or the Revolution and have them guillotined publicly without trial or appeals. During the course of the reign of terror, more than 17,000 people were beheaded.

But, you know, the saying goes live by the guillotine, die by the guillotine. Exactly one year to the day of his election and the beginning of the Reign of Terror, Robespierre and 21 of his closest associates were arrested as a result of a bipartisan takeover of the National Assembly. And, on the anniversary of his election to power Robespierre attempted to take his own life, missing and shooting himself in the jaw instead. Fate had other plans. And on the following day — without a trial — Robespierre’s head was laid beneath his own guillotine, where he died beneath the very symbol of his power.

God’s Word

There’s nothing more satisfying than poetic justice, is there? And, Esther is meant to be read as a book of poetic justice. In fact, it says as much in Esther 9:1 “Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s command and edict were about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the Jews gained mastery over those who hated them.” What the ESV translates as “the reverse occurred” is quite literally in Hebrew: “The tables turned.” “Poetic justice came about.” And, this is the main idea. That God reversed the plans of evil down upon their own heads so that his people were safe. So, as we conclude our time in Esther, I want us to look at Three Reversals that Give Us Hope: (Headline)

The “weak” are made “strong.”

Esther 7:2–4 “And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.””

Esther, like you and me, had a lot of baggage. She has appeared weak every way a person can. Her family situation puts her in a weak position. She’s “taken” by the king so that she’s shown to be vulnerable. She’s appeared morally weak, appeasing the king and not identifying with her people. She’s a weak character with a lot of baggage, and she’s the last person we’d think God would use.

God “works” through weakness.

But, in chapter 7, we finally see the reversal that’s long been coming. It was her weakness that brought her into Mordecai’s house. It was her weakness, perhaps even sinfulness, that won her favor with the king. God had worked through her weakness, through her very own baggage to get her into exactly the right place for her to be used by him to save her people.

But, God hasn’t just worked through her weakness to put her in the right position. God has worked through her weakness to make her the right kind of person for this moment. Notice the development that’s taken place. She doesn’t just tell the King to kill Haman. She approaches the king diplomatically and with deference, like a skilled politician. She’d lived as a Persian for more than 5 years now. She knew what to do. She starts with “if I have found favor in your sight and if it please the king.” Then she said she would’ve been fine to just be his “slave,” which she basically already was, and she talks about the king’s “affliction” which he doesn’t have. She’s grown wise. So, her weakness put her in the right place to learn the right things.

And, she’s grown in her faith. Remember earlier she was concerned for her well-being. She has waffled back and forth between two identities the whole time. But now, every time she mentions herself, she says “I and my people.” She has finally realized who God has made her to be: She’s his daughter placed by him to save her people. And so, she says: “King, if they die, I’ll die too.” What a strong statement from a weak person. A reversal has taken place. And, the point is that God has been at work the whole time to use who you wouldn’t expect in a way you wouldn’t expect so that you’d know it was all him.

God “accounts” for weakness.

And, that means God can use you too. This is a reversal that you can experience, too. You see, God’s providence accounts for your weakness. Your pain and traumas, sins and shortcomings, rebellions and bad decisions, sicknesses and sufferings don’t disqualify you from use by God. They, by his grace, become the very means by which you are used by him. That which Satan tried to convince you would make God not want you becomes ground zero for his grace in your life. Do you know why John Hall ministers to the youth detention center? Because he was once incarcerated there. (Reversal) Do you know why John Smyton ministers to addicts? Because he once battled alcoholism. (Reversal) God takes the weak, and He shames the strong. And, that means there’s not one of you He won’t use.

He’s a God of reversals! You see, the guarantee of your reversal, the proof that God’s grace was for you came in the person of Christ. He was the true and better Esther. Esther said, “If you kill my people, you’ll have to kill me.” But, Jesus said, “I’ll lay down my life so that my people will always live.” Jesus appeared weak and as a servant so that we, the weak, could be made strong through him. What a reversal!

But, we see the opposite reversal too. We see…

The “strong” are made “weak.”

Esther 7:9–10 “Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.”

Verse 10 is the sweet moment of poetic justice that we’ve long awaited. There are few moments as satisfying in the Bible than Haman being hung — impaled — on his own gallows. And, really these verses are meant to highlight both a defeat and a victory.

A “tragic” defeat.

The defeat is the clearest for us to see. Throughout Esther, Haman has paraded himself around as the strong man. He loved to bring together his echo chamber so that he could point out how mighty he was with all of power, wealth, and influence. And, the 75 foot gallows that are constructed on the grounds of his mansion are meant to serve as the proof of how strong Haman really is. They are a monument to his success, an accumulation of his life’s work. He had earned the right to be bowed down to. He had earned the privilege to punish those who did not bow down to him. And, by his own sweat and blood, he was executed. The height of his strength only served to highlight the tragedy of his dangling feet. A tragic reversal.

And, that’s the tragedy of those who spend their lives trying to prove how strong they are and how little they need God or answer to God. Some try to prove their strength by being the most moral of all the moral people. They’re better than virtually every Christian that they know. But, like the gallows, their good works are just monuments to their pride. Others try to prove their strength by accumulating for themselves as many promotions as possible or as much honor as possible or as much money as possible. And, like Haman, the higher you build your life in this world, the further from the ground your feet will dangle, when your sin hangs you.

Nick Saban is the greatest college football coach of all time. He won six national championships at Alabama. And, people were saying he had lost it during the first part of last season. Some were ready to move on. His office was filled less than 72 hours after he retired. You know, if you live your entire life for a trophy case and a corner office, that trophy case can become a shrine to a wasted life when they’re dusty and empty. When you step out of this world and stand before God, do you want rusted out, dusty trophies to hand him? Are you weak enough to realize that real victory only comes through Jesus?

A “resounding” victory.

But, we shouldn’t just see this from the perspective of a defeat, but also a victory. And, it’s not Esther and Mordecai’s victory, but God’s. Remember who we said that Haman was. He was an Agagite. And, Esther and Mordecai are both descendants of King Saul. So, this is a recapitulation of the Holy War between God’s people and the Amalekites, the enemies of God that He had promised would lose. And, when Haman dangles from his own gallows, God is winking at all of his people engaged in this Holy War throughout the generations so that they will know — He’s going to win, and they’re going to win with him.

Life may be hard. God may seem silent and late. But, that Snake’s head going to be crushed. And, it’ll be a moment of poetic justice! That very snake will construct his own gallows so that the strong man — God himself — will be impaled and made weak. But, when He cries, “It is finished,” the Snake’s doom will be certain, not his. That is, Satan will be die by the gallows that he built too. What a reversal!

And, when that Serpent’s head is finally crushed, the final reversal will take place when all of...

The “bad” is made “good.”

Esther 9:20–23 “And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor. So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.”

Esther 9:26 “Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them”

Romans 8, when it says that “all things will work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose,” is really just confirming and expanding what Esther already teaches. Notice what happens in chapter 9. It’s the final reversal. “the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday.” Much of Esther has been focused on the worst day of these people’s lives. Their captors had turned their neighbors against them and had planned to wipe them from the face of the earth. They were hated and oppressed. Their children were hated and sentenced to death. It’s as bad as it can get. But, by the time the day actually comes around, their weeping has turned into joy.

Their “worst day” became a “holiday.”

Their worst day turns into a holiday. “Purim” is unique among the Jewish holidays. All of the others feasts and festivals up until this point celebrate miraculous, supernatural interventions by God. But, “Purim” celebrates how God works even in the midst of the ordinary, including ordinary brokenness, to turn what is bad to good for his people. Even the fall of the “pur” is within his control.

Your “scar” will become a “celebration.”

And, this means that not a single bad thing in your life has escaped the all-seeing, all-knowing eye of God’s providence. And, just as their worst day was turned into a holiday, you can press on with the assurance that your scars will be turned into a celebration. Scars can make us insecure, can’t they? That scar may be on the outer man, or it may be on the inner man. I know what it means to have both, and I know what that insecurity feels like. I have an unsightly 8” scar that spans my full abdomen. And, I remember the going to the beach and to youth camp my first summer after the surgery. I was so insecure to take my shirt off because I knew that I looked badly deformed. And, I remember Megan telling me: “Take off your shirt, and show your scar. Because I love that scar. It saved your life, and it reminds us not to take a single day for granted. That scar is a reminder that God has been good to us.” And, did you know that every year on September 28, very much like the Jews on Purim, my family eats steak and celebrates that scar? Because what looked like a day of death actually became a day of new life.

Your celebration may not be as immediate as mine was, but a day is coming when you’ll be able to celebrate your scars. Because all that is bad is giving way to all that is good. The reversal is coming, and it’s going to be permanent. When Jesus was resurrected, do you remember how He proved himself to his disciples? He showed them his scars. They put their hands in his side and their fingers in the nail holes in his hands. And, they didn’t cry. They celebrated the scars. And, if a cross can be made good, anything can be.