Esther 8-10 (Final Draft)

I. Introduction: What do you do when you don’t get what you prayed for?

A. How often do you ask God to solve your problems?

We live in a fallen world and it seems like each day presents a new set of problems compounding on yesterdays — so how often do you pray and ask for help?

From money, marriage, work, and disobedient children to unreliable vehicles, political turmoil, and living expenses— chances are you have a lot of problems.

And you’ve read in your Bible all the passages about prayer so you take your problems to the one who can solve them — the Triune God.

You open your bible and read Philippians 4:6–7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

And then you say, “Yes! I can do that!”

So you do your best to cast your anxieties on Him and in your prayers you give your thanksgivings and tell God your requests.

B. How often do you not like the answer?

And sometimes, the Lord answers our prayers and it’s what we wanted!

Our children repent, we get the dream job, the repair bill is 1/3 of what was estimated and the day is saved.

But often times, we don’t really like the answer because its not what we wanted.

Instead of repentance our children’s hearts seem hardened.

The company doesn’t even call you back about your interview.

And not only is the estimate for the repairs way under, another contractor is going to be have to be brought in who specializes in an different area that needs to be fixed before they can do the repair you hired the original contractor to do.

Ask yourself, how often do I dislike the way the Lord answers my prayers?

The question will probably illuminate to a dark recess in your heart.

C. How do you respond when God doesn’t answer your prayer how you wanted Him to?

How do you respond when God doesn’t answer your prayer the way you wanted Him to or give you the answer you want?

How do you act when God’s providence doesn’t meet your expectations?

Perhaps, you’ve given up on prayer altogether because it just seems like God isn’t listening.

Or, because you feel like He’s just going to do the opposite of what you ask you say, “what’s the point of praying anyway”.

D. God’s Providence is for you

But too often as Christians, we forget that God’s providence is FOR US.

We forget that God is FOR US — not against us.

This morning, as we conclude Esther we will see what it was like for the Jews whose prayers only seem to be half-answered and that God’s providence dictates and trumps the pagans would murder them.

II. Esther Chapter 8: Dark Providences

A. After the Banquet

Esther 8:1 “On that day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had disclosed what he was to her.”

That day, is the same day of Esther’s banquet where she exposed Haman and his plot against the Jews and the King had Haman hung upon his own gallows.

Following this, Esther brings Mordecai before the king and tells him that Mordecai is her father.

Upon hearing this, the King gives Mordecai the house of Haman and not only that but he gives Mordecai the same signet ring he had previously given to Haman.

B. Esther’s Request and the King’s Decree

And then Queen Esther brings her true request to the king.

Esther 8:3–6 “Then Esther spoke again to the king, fell at his feet, wept and implored him to avert the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite and his plot which he had devised against the Jews. The king extended the golden scepter to Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king. Then she said, “If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him and the matter seems proper to the king and I am pleasing in his sight, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. “For how can I endure to see the calamity which will befall my people, and how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?””

Queen Esther falls at the feet of the king and implores him to undo what Haman has done in the King’s name, with the King’s signet ring.

Haman may be dead, but the decree has still gone forth, and her people are still in the crosshairs of those who would kill them.

Just because the foe has been defeated, doesn’t mean the threat has gone away.

And as we shall see later, the same could be said for us Christians now. f

Christ has defeated Satan, but a threat still persists.

C. Two Kings and their Irrevocable Decrees

The King’s reply:

Esther 8:7–8 “So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given the house of Haman to Esther, and him they have hanged on the gallows because he had stretched out his hands against the Jews. “Now you write to the Jews as you see fit, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring may not be revoked.””

The King has made a rule that his decrees cannot be revoked.

Meaning: there is no stopping the bus — those who followed Haman and agreed with him are going to attack.

The King’s Rule is foolish.

The King’s rule that no decree he puts forth can be undone is clearly a foolish rule.

You may recall from my first sermon, that the Persians primarily made decisions by getting drunk and discussing the proposal. After they sobered up if they liked what they’d come up with the king would approve it.

Knowing that this is their process, the rule that the king’s decrees cannot be reversed is bananas.

It’s utter foolishness, because the king is a fool, an idiot, really.

God’s Decree

However, we believe that God’s decree is also irrevocable.

But God’s eternal decree being irrevocable isn’t foolishness, because God is no fool.

Our God has both omniscience and omni-sapience which is a theological way of saying God has all knowledge and all wisdom to use that infinite knowledge perfectly.

God knows everything about all things, and His eternal decree springs forth from His unlimited knowledge and wisdom, which means in any case, whatsoever occurs is to His glory and exactly how He has decreed it to be.

What our confession has to say:

The 1689 3:1, “From all eternity God decreed everything that occurs, without reference to anything outside Himself. He did this by the perfectly wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably.”

The 1689 5:1, “God the good Creator of all things, in His infinite power and wisdom, upholds, directs, arranges and governs all creatures and things, from the greatest to the least, by His perfectly wise and holy providence, to the purpose for which they were created. He governs according to His infallible foreknowledge and the free and unchangeable counsel of His own will. His providence leads to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness and mercy.”

What the Scriptures say:

Isaiah 46:9–11 ““Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.”

Our God is no fool, in fact, Christ is wisdom personified but He is the good king who CAN make irrevocable decrees because HE is truly good, and truly God.

Returning to our text: Mordecai and Esther waste no time in drafting a decree.

They write to the Jews of all the provinces to take up the sword and defend themselves.

Esther 8:10–12 “He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses, riding on steeds sired by the royal stud. In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil, on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar).”

III. Esther Chapter 9 (pt.1): Taking up the Sword

A. The Jews take up the sword

Esther 9:1–5 “Now in the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar), on the thirteenth day when the king’s command and edict were about to be executed, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, it was turned to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained the mastery over those who hated them. The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm; and no one could stand before them, for the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples. Even all the princes of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and those who were doing the king’s business assisted the Jews, because the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them. Indeed, Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordecai became greater and greater. Thus the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying; and they did what they pleased to those who hated them.”

The Jews have received and rejoiced over the new decree that gives them the right to take up the sword and defend themselves.

And on the day of they are prepared and read and they are successful.

Esther 9:11–12 “On that day the number of those who were killed at the citadel in Susa was reported to the king. The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman at the citadel in Susa…”

This is a great victory, but Esther wants more.

Esther 9:12–13 “The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman at the citadel in Susa. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall even be granted you. And what is your further request? It shall also be done.” Then said Esther, “If it pleases the king, let tomorrow also be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do according to the edict of today; and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.””

Esther asks for another day of battle and she asks that Haman’s 10 sons be hanged as well.

This may seem like a wild request, but given that the feud between the Agagites and the Jews is centuries long, Esther is securing the safety of her people in that it is likely that Haman’s sons will try to pick up where there father left off.

And again they are successful.

In fact, in 9:16 we find out that the Jews killed “75,000 of those who hated them;”.

B. Christians, take up the sword!

It can be hard sometimes in the narrative to find application, but to a degree our situation as christians is similar to that of the Jews in Esther.

We christians are God’s elect living in a hostile world that hates us.

Much like in Esther, our arch-villain (Satan) has been defeated by our hero (Christ) and yet the threat persists.

We are besieged on all sides, from the natural and supernatural realms and our own sin or as some have put it: the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.

Yet, we too have been given the right and in fact, have been commanded to take up the Sword against our enemies and this sword is greater than any in myth or legend.

Mightier and sharper than the swords Excalibur, Glamdring, and Narsil — we have the word of God.

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Ephesians 6:17 “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

2 Timothy 3:16–17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

And these Scripture helps us in how to use the Sword we’ve been given.

The World:

Against the world we use God’s Word to preach God’s Gospel of good news!

The good news that Jesus Christ died for sinners and that he takes their old hearts of stone and gives them new hearts of flesh.

We preach with the word that by the word and spirit the fallen mind is renewed and blind eyes gain sight of King Jesus.

We use the sword not to kill but to preach life to those dead in their sins.

We do not kill, but rather we bid them as Christ does to come and die, and be raised to life.

The Flesh:

We use the word of God against our own flesh, and by the word and Spirit we put our sin to death.

Again, the Scriptures are profitable for reproof, and correction, and training in righteousness — and oh how we need it.

Each and every day we are flanked by temptation and to be perfectly honest, we don’t always resist it.

But we have the word and Spirit to convict us of our sins and Christ our sanctification helps us along to fight against it.

And this battle rages until we die — and again, if we’re honest some days are better than others.

Sometimes we get right, and sometimes we get it wrong.

Kids, if you want to know what the Christian life is like, it’s basically like the new Sonic movies.

In each film, Sonic ignores the wisdom given to him by others only to lesson his hard way most of the time.

And each movie whether he’s fighting against, Doctor Eggman, Knuckles, or Shadow he has to use the wisdom he’s learned to save the day.

I know, King Arthur, Lord of the Rings, and Sonic under the same subpoint, I’m really going for it today.

What am I going to say next? Harrison Ford stapled his hat to his head in Indiana Jones so it would fall off when he’s dragged under the military vehicles? Because he did but there’s no time to go into that.

Every day of the Christian life is practically the same.

There’s always a fight against our sin, and we’ve been given wisdom in the word to fight it and all to often we decide we know best and make matters worse or we cave to temptation and fall into sin.

The Devil:

God’s Word is our sword against the evils of the devil.

1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

Satan our adversary is seeking to someone to devour and although it may not be Satan himself who plagues us it could be one of his demons.

Frankly, we don’t talk about spiritual warfare enough because usually those with the largest platforms who do talk about it are bananas.

But there is a rich treasury of from the Reformed Tradition that we can learn from:

Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks

John Owen, Charles Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Joel Beeke have are all helpful.

But as Christians it’s important to know the Word and to rightly divide it because our adversary knows it too.

It’s not enough to just own a sword, you must know how to wield it.

IV. Esther Chapter 9 (pt.2): Celebrating Victory

A. The Feast of Purim

Esther 9:20–23 “Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor. Thus the Jews undertook what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.”

Esther 9:26–28 “Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. And because of the instructions in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them, the Jews established and made a custom for themselves and for their descendants and for all those who allied themselves with them, so that they would not fail to celebrate these two days according to their regulation and according to their appointed time annually. So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews, or their memory fade from their descendants.”

The Jews now establish the only feast not prescribed in God’s Law — and they do it to celebrate their salvation from those who would kill them.

And it’s important to note the date is that this feast takes place in the last month of the Jewish calendar and I might add that the Passover is celebrated in the first.

Mitchell Chase (40 Questions on Typology & Allegory): “The Israelites now began and ended their year with feasts remembering God’s deliverance: Passover in the first month and purim in the last”.

In the first month they celebrate their deliverance by God’s hand from the Egyptians and the last their deliverance in Persia.

B. Celebrating God’s Victory

Now, is having to take up the sword to fight for your life the ideal answer you think Esther was hoping for?

Uh, NO — look again at her petition to the king in Esther 8:5 “Then she said, “If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him and the matter seems proper to the king and I am pleasing in his sight, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.”

Ideally, a decree could be written to put the brakes on what’s been put in motion.

But that’s not the answer they got — and they responded by answering the call to arms.

And through the cacophony of clashing and steel somehow this was good for them and ultimately the eternal decree of God before all time.

And this pain of battle serves as the foundation for the Jews to celebrate deliverance and God’s faithfulness.

C. Providence in Narnia

I think C.S. Lewis illustrates this well in his book “The Horse and His Boy”

Which is statistically, the best Narnia book.

In The Horse & His Boy Lewis tells a story about boy named Shasta meeting a talking horse named Brie.

Shasta was orphaned and raised by brutal and abusive man and Brie the horse longs for Narnia.

Together they decide to escape to the land of Narnia and naturally, chaos ensues.

Initially, while still learning to ride a horse the duo is chased by lions. Eventually the group which grows by two adding another young runaway and her horse to their group, and separated from them Shasta has to survive the night in a graveyard surrounded by jackals with his only comfort being a stray cat. And just as Shasta nearly arrives to safety he’s pursued by a massive lion that who actually injures Aravis, the other human companion.

In the story, there is shift from the goal of going to Narnia to finding King Lune and preventing a war that the Rabadash — the son of the Tisroc (may he live forever) — is trying to start with Lune so that he may conquer Lune’s kingdom.

Through his journey, Shasta becomes privy to Rabadash’s plan to attack and it becomes his goal to alert the unaware King in the land adjacent to Narnia.

Personally, my favorite favorite part of the story is when Shasta finally gets to meet with and talk with Aslan.

Shasta tells Aslan that he is the most unlucky person in the world and info dumps on Aslan about all of his misfortunes including being chased by a lion to which Aslan replies: “I do not call you unfortunate” and tells Shasta that he wasn’t pursued by man lions, just one.

And Shasta is incredulous upon hearing this and argues that there were many, but Aslan confirms there was only one lion because HE is lion.

Aslan says, “‘I was the Lion. I was the Lion who forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the Lion who drove the jackals from you wile you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”

Aslan reveals, that nothing that has happened to Shasta has been outside his providence and that he has been guiding him the whole time.

And in no way that Shasta suspected.

And it’s now that he begins to see the truth of it all and that eventually because of these things he will be reunited with his father — the very king he has come to warn of the impending danger.

Shasta can now see that Aslan has been behind it all and ultimately, its been for his good.

D. Same Plot, Different Details

For us Christians, it’s the same plot with different details.

When we are tempted to call ourselves the most unfortunate, we must remember that all things are for our good and that nothing happens outside the providence of God.

And not just our salvation but our sanctification and eventual resurrection and glorification — these are all in God’s providence.

And most certainly the things we do not understand are in that very same providence.

Surely, we can relate to Shasta if he were to hope and pray for easy and safe travels to Narnia and we can relate to his admittance to being so unfortunate when his prayers are not answered in how he would like.

So I return to my introductory question: how do you respond when God doesn’t answer your prayers how would like him to?

How do you respond to God’s providence when you don’t like it?

May I submit to you that the best response is to be submissive to the will that is greater than yours.

The best response being to take up God’s Word and embrace that even if you don’t know how, you believe that it is for your good?

Even Aslan’s wounding of Aravis serves for her good.

How much greater our wounds would serve us if we but look God’s providence that bemoaning our misfortunes.

V. Esther Chapter 10: Closing the Loop

A. Mordecai victorious, Mordecai exalted

Esther 10:1–3 “Now King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land and on the coastlands of the sea. And all the accomplishments of his authority and strength, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and in favor with his many kinsmen, one who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the welfare of his whole nation.”

Preceding Lewis by nearly 2.5 milenniums, the author of Esther concludes on the same note.

Through the woes that Mordecai goes through, God’s providence dictates that he be exalted in such a way that loops back to Joseph — another Jew in a pagan land who rises to the rank of 2nd in command.

And this providential narrative isn’t unusual or unique because it loops us almost directly to the story of Joseph.

Joseph suffers greatly, and yet God’s providence dictates that through his suffering he should rise to a high station and save the world.

Mordecai begins in this story in a lowly position and is raised to a high station and he is revered for it through God’s providence.

B. Christ victorious, Christ exalted

And as highly exalted as Mordecai is at the end of Esther, he’s still no Christ — he’s just merely a type of Christ.

Mitchell Chase, “Mordecai as a type of Christ. Though the enemies of Jesus sought his destruction, their plans against him led to the highest status of honor for him, for God has given Jesus the name that is above every name (Phil. 2:9-11). While Mordecai was donned with royal garments, Jesus is the true King of kings who has all authority in heaven and earth (Matt.28:18). Just as the book of Esther ended with the greatness of Mordecai, who ‘sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people’ (Esther 10:3), the earthly ministry of Christ ends with His vindication and greatness. He, above all others we know, seeks our welfare and speaks peace to us.”

The Son of God, the man Jesus Christ is greater than Mordecai.

He doesn’t send someone else to intercede, but rather in accordance with the Covenant of Redemption — He comes down willingly to us, being made lower than the angels so that He might dwell among us as one of us and die so that we might have eternal life.

Christ is greater than Esther in that He willingly lays down his life and is under no threat of having his life taken from him unless he first lays it down.

And the salvation Christ secures is greater than the combined efforts of Esther and Mordecai, because although they saved the day, for the elect Christ has saved eternity.

Because of Christ’s sacrifice and victory we have eternal life.

We celebrate Christ’s victory with a feast greater than Purim each and every week with the Lord’s Supper.

Like Purim, where the Jews who celebrate their mourning becoming gladness we too celebrate the same thing in communion with the Lord Jesus Christ who laid His life down for us.