Providential Victory

INTRO: How many of you remember Paul Harvey? He was a familiar voice on the radio who famously coined the phrase, “And now you know the rest of the story.”

Well, that’s our goal today- to walk through the rest of Esther’s story.

If you’ve been with us over the past few weeks, we’ve had a great time discussing and learning from the book of Esther. Today, we are going to wrap up the story and, with God’s grace, we will walk out with an appreciation and understanding of God’s providence. My hope is that we will take time to reflect upon the victories that God has granted us, and that this will result in more authentic praise of our Lord.

Last week we said goodbye to Haman, our primary antagonist of the story. When we left last Sunday, Haman was hanging, impaled on a 75 ft high gallows. But that was not the end of the story. There is still a few matters to be resolved before we can happily close this study and move on.

For one, what is to be done about Esther’s request and petition that she made to the king? After all, Esther did not ask that Haman be executed. She asked for her life and the life of her people. Haman was gone, but the edict has been issued.

Second, how would the king regain confidence in his kingdom? We saw that the people of Susa were weeping and mourning over this edict. How could King Ahasuerus fix this?

Finally, we must ask how all of these events, recorded and preserved in Scripture, point us to Jesus.

So, if you picked up a bulletin, you can open it to the sermon guide on the inside flap and follow along as we discover how God brought Providential Victory in Esther’s story.

This first thing I want us to see in resolving this saga, is:

The Righting of the Ranks (8:1-8)

Now, on the same day, Esther 8:1 says, the king gave the house of Haman over to Esther. This was Haman’s riches, his home, etc. Haman had wronged Esther through his evil plot, and the king saw fit to grant to Esther all that was Haman’s.

Now, what we see is that the king is giving Esther the authority and inviting her to take part in the promotion of Mordecai to the role that Haman once held.

In the moment, this all looks super positive. I mean, here we have the man who was about to get killed for the sake of another man’s pride, receiving all that that one prideful man had.

Mordecai is the new, better Haman. At the beginning of the day, Haman thought that he would be standing with the king looking out over his estate, puffed up with pride and satisfied to see the body of Mordecai on the gallows. But instead, the roles were reversed and Mordecai stood with the king and with all of the power and honor that was once Haman’s.

Now, if we just looked at this here, it would seem great! In fact, our protagonists are both in good spots- the queen highly favored and Mordecai now the top-ranking official in the Persian Empire. But there was a problem… the edict of Haman was still out there. There was still impending doom for the Jews all throughout the kingdom.

Esther was in about the same spot as before- she might be safe, but the people of her heritage were not.

So she once again spoke to the king, this time weeping and begging him to retract the edict of Haman. And she says all the right things as she humbly and yet boldly makes her request known. Yet, the king could not retract the edict.

If you remember, in our first lesson in Esther, we learned that any law or order of the king could not be retracted. This might be because it would communicate fallacy or incompetence of the king to the people. It might be because the king would in effect be admitting that he was swayed or influenced or worse that he was actually in the dark, which would draw into question his sovereignty… At any rate, the king could not retract the order.

In fact, there is a saying that is derived from this rule “Thus is the law of the Medes and Persians..” which means it cannot be changed or undone. We can see a similar case when the king of Babylon signed the decree that sent Daniel to the lion’s den- there too his hands were tied.

There’s a certain amount of helplessness that we should feel here as we empathize with Esther. Sure, the ranks are righted, but what about the others. I imagine that many of those who were in Nazi Germany as Jews were being hauled off felt the same way. Perhaps they were safe because of their position, but what about their neighbors?

Discuss: What area of life are you ‘safe’, but your neighbor is not?

The glimmer of hope is that Esther and Mordecai were given the opportunity of:

Countering the Command (8:9-17)

In verse 8, the king tells Esther and Mordecai to write as they saw fit. He placed the ball in their court.

How could they help their people? In what way could they change the course that Haman had put in place? This would require some ‘out of the box’ thinking.

This led to, as we see in v.11, not a retraction, but the right (permission) for the Jews to form their own military/ group and defend themselves against any who attacked them.

This is important because it changes the scene. You see, before, if the Jews decided to defend themselves, it would be likened to treason. So, even if they were successful, they were doomed.

Think about it: If you were to get pulled over and arrested in the US, and you decided to fight back- even if you were innocent of any crime, you would be on the hook for ‘resisting arrest, assault on a police officer, etc.’

This did not mean automatic victory, but it did give the Jews HOPE.

The danger was still there, but there was a way provided. It would not be easy, and it may not be popular, but it it was not hopeless. There were 8 months until the day of the planned slaughter. And messengers from the king’s palace delivered this message with all the fervor of the first message.

And the Jews rejoiced.

Let me read for you Esther 8:15-17.

Here’s what has changed:

The kingdom was brought into balance. A man of integrity was in the right position. And the people recognized this. The tension that a prideful and spiteful Haman brought to the kingdom was no more.

Now, the oppressed had a voice- one who interceded on their behalf. Though the whole kingdom might have looked down on them, there was one who was looking out for them. They would not have a perfect existence- but God had placed the right people in the right positions at the right time in order to bring hope to His people.

The fear of Yahweh was made known. (17b) Look here, people were becoming Jews. They had probably heard of how God had given favor to the Jews through another single character by the name of Joseph. They likely heard how God rescued the Jewish nation from Egypt, how He had given them victory over their enemies in the days of Moses, Joshua and David…This God was mighty, and seeing that God had once again placed one of His people in a prominent position, the people who were wise knew that something big was about to happen!

Discuss: Mordecai and Esther were intercessors for the Jews. How has God given you authority/ power to intercede for someone else?

The ranks were righted, the command of Haman was countered, and as the day of the edict draws nigh, we witness the:

Celebrating of Success (9-10)

Verse 1 of chapter 9 gives us a great picture of what took place on this 13th of Adar. (Read 9:1)

There were some who still liked Haman’s idea, and they were hoping to carry out those plans. BUT, as the text says, “it was turned to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained mastery over those who hated them.”

We see a detailed account of the number of people who rose up against God’s people and consequently fell by the sword.

On this day, the hope that was given to the people through Esther and Mordecai’s edict, was realized.

The text tells us what we need to see here. Look at 9:22 with me: (read)

This dreaded month- the month of promised sorrow and mourning, became a time of gladness and celebration. Once again, we see that in God’s providence, He allowed these evil plans to be made, but He made a way and as we see, the victory was won.

This victory became a national holiday. The Jews would celebrate the Feast of Purim for 2 days each year- the 13th and 14th of Adar to commemorate the providential victory granted by God. It was called such to remind them of how Haman had rolled dice called ‘pur’ to select the day of destruction, but God is sovereign even over “chance”.

You say, why create a national holiday? Simple- to be a reminder for God’s people that He is still on His throne. In the Exodus narrative, we see that the Jews built altars and raised ‘ebenezers’- stones of remembrance, for the same reason. And here, they used this holiday as an opportunity to bless one another, even sending gifts to the poor.

Here in a few months, we will celebrate Resurrection Sunday as we remember the greatest victory ever won!

Discuss: How can we intentionally celebrate the victory we have in Christ this week?

Now, before we leave Esther, I’d like to give you 2 things to ponder and reflect upon:

Throughout this story, we have seen that God is indeed sovereign over all. There is no situation in your life that will ever come up where God’s hands are tied. He does not make mistakes and is never late to the party. For this reason, you and I can have hope today. We do not hope in politicians or stock markets. No, we hope in Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 15:4

Romans 15:4 NASB95

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

2. We have great reason to celebrate today. We have been given victory over sin and death through Jesus. The sad thing is, instead of celebrating, many have taken for granted the grace that was given to us.

I want to encourage you this morning to celebrate what God has done in your life.

Celebrate the victories that you’ve won in health battles- I know some of you have experienced miraculous healing!

Celebrate the victories as you have overcome strongholds and sins in your life! God has delivered some of you from addiction, abuse, apathy.

Celebrate the victories that God has given you in your family- with your spouse and your kids.

Friends God is still working things out! How will you celebrate Him this week?