Esther - Part 1

Intro

Don’t you love it when something works out just perfectly?

Have you ever said, “Well if this is going to work, everything will have to go perfect!”

Do you ever sit back and just tell God, “Wow!”?

God works out so many things “perfectly” to accomplish His will with His wisdom in His way…

(I’ve told the story before)

Went to look at Pastor Caviness’ grave site

One car up there, hood open

Stopped, spoke to one who asked for a jump

Jumped them

Preached the Gospel for about 15 minutes to all 3

One got saved

Went to visit Pastor Caviness’ grave site

With his old truck

Led someone to the Lord on the bumper of his truck (which he did many times)

“Just so happened” their car battery died at that moment in time…

Romans 8:28 (KJV 1900)

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Where does Esther fall in the historical timeline?

Jews disobeyed and were conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar

This began their 70 year Babylonian captivity

King Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon

Now all of the slave Jews were now captives of Persia (which is why Esther was there)

Cyrus decreed to let the people go back to Jerusalem, but only a remnant went back

Esther falls between the first and second return of the Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem… (Between Ezra 6 and 7)

1st return: King Zerubbabel (temple was rebuilt) - Ezra 3-6 (Haggai and Zechariah prophets)

2nd return: Ezra

3rd return: Nehemiah (walls were rebuilt) (Ezra 7-10 and Nehemiah) (Prophet Malachi)

Not everyone returned to Jerusalem… Why? They were flourishing in Babylon, Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor

About 30 years before Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls…

Esther became queen about 40 years after the temple was rebuilt in Ezra…

Who was Esther?

Father was Abihail

Spouse: Ahasuerus

Only mentioned in the book of Esther

From the tribe of Benjamin (like Paul, King Saul, Jonathan)

Queen of the Medo-Persian Empire

Saved her people from an attempted Holocaust (Est. 7:3-6; 8:3-8)

Theme of Esther: The Sovereignty of God

Sovereignty of God: God’s supreme authority and power over all creation with the right and ability to do whatever He pleases, whenever He pleases according to His perfect will and wisdom.

Who was to be queen next? Esther 2:4

Esther 2:4 (KJV 1900)

4 And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.

1. The Imperfect Candidate (for God to use in one of the most miraculous ways)

This details a very important historical event… the Hebrew nation’s deliverance from annihilation in the days following the Babylonian captivity…

If they would have been destroyed and wiped clean, that would mean no Hebrew nation… no Messiah… a lost world…

Her parents were dead

Esther 2:7 (KJV 1900)

7 And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.

She was part of the captivity

II Kings 25 details the events that led up to the beginning of the captivity…

King Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem…

Because of this, they had no:

food

soldiers

freedom

wealth

history or memory

choice

They took King Zedekiah captive, killed his sons in front of him and then gouged out his eyes...

Then they took the King and the people to Babylon in captivity…

After they destroyed the temple, the homes and the walls of Jerusalem…

Home was completely destroyed… gone… burned…

She was a Jew in Persia

God knows what He is doing…

He knows your upbringing, education, family, and everything about you…

2. The Perfect Vacancy (for the position of queen)

What are the odds that Esther… Jewish slave girl… would end up in the palace as Queen of the Medo-Persian empire?

God knew…

He needed Esther for a specific purpose at a specific time…

Esther 1:10–20 (KJV 1900)

10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, 11 To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. 12 But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him. 13 Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, (for so was the king’s manner toward all that knew law and judgment: 14 And the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king’s face, and which sat the first in the kingdom;) 15 What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? 16 And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus. 17 For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. 18 Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king’s princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath. 19 If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she. 20 And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small.

1. The Perfect Candidate

2. The Perfect Vacancy

3. The Perfect Opportunity

Esther 2:15–17 (KJV 1900)

15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her. 16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

How is it that a slave girl with no parents from another nation has the opportunity to become queen?

God’s sovereignty

Isaiah 46:9–10 (KJV 1900)

9 Remember the former things of old:

For I am God, and there is none else;

I am God, and there is none like me,

10 Declaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times the things that are not yet done,

Saying, My counsel shall stand,

And I will do all my pleasure:

Psalm 115:3 (KJV 1900)

3 But our God is in the heavens:

He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

Daniel 4:35 (KJV 1900)

35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

God is sovereign…

Sovereignty of God: God’s supreme authority and power over all creation with the right and ability to do whatever He pleases, whenever He pleases according to His perfect will and wisdom.