Esther Sermon - 9

Behind the Seen: My How the Tables Have Turned

Esther 8:1-9:19

1. Introduction – So this week I changed my mind mid-course. I said last week that we would study just chapter 8 this week and look at 9-10 the last Sunday of November.

a. But as I was studying this week, I quickly realized that a more logical section to look at would be chapter 8 and the first half of chapter 9 this week, and look at the last half of chapter 9 and all of chapter 10 on the last Sunday of November.

i. So, that’s what we’re going to do. 8:1-9:19 is one self-contained unit about a counter-edict, the Jewish victory over their enemies and the final reversals of the book.

1. So that’s what we’ll look at today. We’ll read quite a lengthy section of the book, and instead of simply retelling the story, I’ll point out the final reversals that happen in this section, and then, as we close our study through this amazing book, we’ll look that the hope that it has offered in the past, and can offer us today.

a. So, let’s pick up the story of Esther and Mordecai in chapter 8:1.

2. A Counter-Edict – Over the past few weeks we’ve been so wrapped up in the story of Mordecai and Haman and Esther and Xerxes – it’s almost as if the author has forgotten one major portion of the story.

a. The storyteller has almost lulled the reader into forgetting one very important aspect.

i. The 13th of Adar is coming. That was the appointed day that the people of Persia were to kill, destroy, and annihilate the Jews. The Haman problem has been taken care of, but there’s still that little problem to solve.

b. So, Esther goes about trying to get the king to reverse the already made edict.

i. The king actually has an idea of his own – finally. He reminds Esther that the edict Haman made has become an irrevocable law.

1. But he also said there’s nothing stopping Esther and Mordecai from writing their own edict. In fact, he gives them permission to do so.

c. He says, ‘write whatever you want, just keep in mind that the edict Haman made still stands.’

i. Esther and Mordecai do just that. They write a counter-edict to Haman’s.

1. The important difference between the 2 edicts is that Haman’s was aggressive and meant to destroy, whereas the edict Esther and Mordecai wrote promotes self-defense.

a. The Jews could not aggressively and randomly kill destroy and annihilate anyone – only those who took up arms against them.

i. And this counter-edict went out swiftly by the very same messenger horses that brought Haman’s message of destruction.

1. It also was made into an irrevocable Persian law.

d. And we have to keep in mind that even though we’ve strayed from in that past few weeks, this is the main story of Esther – how God delivers his people through his own means.

i. The story of Esther isn’t mainly the story about a young girl’s bravery – that’s part of it – the story of Esther is of God’s providential deliverance.

1. Two edicts made – one against the Jews, and one for the Jews and on the 13th of Adar the two edicts will come to a head.

3. Mordecai Honoured – But before the 13th of Adar there was another reversal that took place.

a. Fully and finally Mordecai received the reward he was due.

i. Vv.15-17 once again describe Mordecai’s attire and this time its as elaborate as it can get.

1. He’s wearing a blue and while royal robe. He has a crown of gold on his head and an outer cloak of fine linens.

a. Mordecai has come a long way from the burlap and ashes he had on in chapter 4.

i. He’s come a long way from being forgotten for his loyalty to the king.

1. He’s come a long way from almost being impaled on a pole in chapter 6.

b. Mordecai has finally received honour from the king, he’s receive that promotion he should have gotten at the end of chapter 2, and he is receiving the praise and adulation of the people in Susa.

i. It’s a scene that reminiscent of when Esther become queen. Parties are thrown and a holiday is declared.

c. There’s a great reversal happening. Once Haman was promoted and Mordecai forgotten.

i. Now, Mordecai is being honoured and Haman is dead.

1. The author is showing that the fortunes of God’s people are on the rise.

a. The tables have turned and it is better to be with the people of God then against them.

i. In fact, the author writes that many people adopted a Jewish lifestyle and claimed to be Jews out of fear of what the Jews might do to them.

1. My how the tables of turned. Once it was the Jews living in fear, now others are living in fear because of the Jews.

4. Victory – And the first half of chapter 9 describes for us that fateful date of Adar 13.

a. The day the edicts went into effect – and people took up arms against the Jews and the Jews defended themselves.

i. The author of Esther doesn’t really describe the battle for us – mainly because from the flow of the story it is fairly obvious that God’s people are going to win.

1. The Jews pretty much wiped the floor with their enemies.

b. A couple of things to notice – the author goes out of his way to tell us that the Jews didn’t take any plunder. They weren’t waging war on their enemies – they were defending themselves.

i. And also notice that with the death of his sons, Haman’s demise is complete.

1. Remember back a few chapters ago when Haman came home from the first banquet with the royal couple and he was bragging to his family and friends about how great he was?

a. He bragged that he was honoured by the king and queen.

i. He bragged that he had great wealth.

1. He bragged that he had a lot of sons – 10 to be exact.

ii. But here – all of that fully and finally taken from him.

1. Haman is long dead; his vast fortune has been given to Mordecai and in chapter 9 all 10 of his sons meet the same disgraceful end as their father.

a. All of the things Haman bragged about has been systematically dismantled.

c. And so, the question is answer, Yes, God will deliver his people. God will protect his covenant people – even if they are living in exile.

i. Against all odds – no matter how bleak a situation may look or how daunting the circumstances may seem, there has been the precedent of Esther on which to lean.

1. God’s providential work to overturn a devilish plan is to keep hope alive. It’s a reminder of God’s ability to reverse the irreversible – even in the midst of great threats.

5. Story of Hope – Is it any wonder then, that the story of Esther was cherished by Jews living under the Nazi’s oppression?

a. Now wonder they held so tightly to the hope of this story. In the face of Hitler’s ‘final solution’ which was eerily similar to Haman’s edict – the Jews could read and reread the story of Jewish survival against a tyrannical force.

i. And they could hope for the same outcome.

1. In fact, the story of Esther and Mordecai was so powerful that Hitler actually banned the reading of this story and Nazi soldiers would kill anyone on the spot who was caught reading the story of Esther.

6. But for Many – But the honest truth is that for so many the tables didn’t turn. For them, the story of Esther proved hollow.

a. The chamber filled with gas, the bullets left the barrel and the gallows were built.

i. And for all them, where was there last-minute deliverance? Where was God’s providential reversal?

1. Or for Christians in the Middle East or in the Sudan who are facing persecution and death everyday – where is their deliverance?

b. And I’m sure, in our own way and in our own circumstances we’ve asked those same questions.

i. Who hasn’t faced the ruthless enemy called cancer or some other disease and prayed for God to reverse it?

1. I remember in the days before I was diagnosed with cancer – crying out to God and asking for a miraculous healing that day… and it never came. I had to wait.

c. Who hasn’t lost a loved one due to tragic circumstances and cried out to God “Where was her deliverance?”

i. Why hasn’t faced one kind of evil or another, either internal or external, and pleaded with God for deliverance?

d. When deliverance hasn’t come our way we ask, “Where’s God?” “Why didn’t deliverance come my way like it did in Esther’s story?”

i. And in world history, where was God in Auschwitz or Hiroshima or when Katrina leveled New Orleans or Houston and whole Islands were devastated by hurricanes?

1. Where’s God when a guy shoots up a church? Where’s the promise of deliverance that’s so prominent in Esther – in the shadowy places of life?

7. Disciples – And perhaps Jesus’ disciples were asking these same questions in the aftermath of the crucifixion.

a. Why were the Hamans of their world successful? Why didn’t God deliver Jesus – the man they followed for 3 years, who performed miracles and who claimed to be the Messiah – why wasn’t he delivered?

i. Perhaps on that silent Saturday, the disciples asked themselves, “Why did the tables not turn in our favour?” They did for Esther and Mordecai, why not for us?

b. And the honest answer to the question of where’s God in the events of the crucifixion is this – in Jesus, God was lying dead in a tomb.

i. But it’s in that place, a place of death, hopelessness and tragedy, its in that place that God was able to open up a new future.

1. Because on the third day, the stone was rolled away and Jesus was raised to new life.

c. And it is here that we remind ourselves that it’s the resurrection of Jesus that anchors the truth of Esther.

i. God has turned the tables, but not because Esther and Mordecai devised a plan – God turns the tables in our favour because his perfect Son submitted himself to death on the cross.

1. Hope is available, not because God delivered the Jews in Persia, but hope is available because the spotless lamb of God when down into the grave and was raised to new life.

d. The resurrection of Jesus, not Esther and Mordecai, the resurrection of Jesus stands as a promise of deliverance – that God will rescue his people.

e. And what we have to realize is that sometimes God’s deliverance comes before the 13th of Adar, but most of the time his deliverance comes after Good Friday.

i. Sometimes God delivers us before any harm comes our way, like he did for the Jews in Persia. A counter-edict was put in place and they defeated their enemies on the 13th of Adar.

1. But sometimes, tragedy comes our way – like when Jesus died, or in the events of the Holocaust or Christians being killed by ISIS or in the Sudan.

a. But whether God delivers us unscathed out of tragedy or after it – the promise still stands.

f. Because deep down in the place of death, hopelessness and despair there – even there – God is at work.

i. He is plunging his hands into the dirt of our lives and our world and he is crafting a newness of life. He is preparing a resurrection.

1. And if God is at work in the midst of life’s tragedies, if he is present with us in the valley of the shadow of death, if he is with us in the storms of life – that means that nothing in this world is beyond the reach of God’s providential hand.

8. Conclusion – And here’s one of the big takeaways – for today and for our entire study of Esther…

a. God has given us life in the place of death, he has given us goodness in the place of evil, and he has given us beauty in the place of tragedy…

i. Not because he delivered Esther and Mordecai and the Jews from their enemies, but God has given us all of these things, because he gave us his Son Jesus – who came into this world, submitted to death and was raised victoriously on the third day.

1. That is where our hope lies – in the person and work and death resurrection of Jesus our Saviour.

b. Next week we’ll put the finishing touches on our study through Esther. We’ll study the festival of Purim in detail and we’ll wrap up how this incredible book still is relevant for us today.

i. For next week read chapters 9 and 10.