God in Preparation Mode

01 - God in Preparation Mode 1-2

Wednesday, January 08, 2014

7:00 PM

Esther – The Providence of God

God in Preparation Mode Esther 1-2 Sermon 1

In our study we want to look at the Book of Esther. An interesting point about the book of Esther is that neither God nor Satan is mentioned in the book. However we get a glimpse of the providence of God in this story.

To give us a little background – the story of Esther happened during the days of King Xerxes or Ahasuerus . His kingdom covered 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia. In his third year he gave a banquet for all his nobles & officials, military officers of Persia and Media and the princes and nobles of the provinces. This banquet lasted for 180 days. It was a tremendous display of his wealth, pomp & splendor of his empire. When this was over Xerxes gave a banquet for all the people from the greatest to the least, who were in the fortress of Susa. This lasted for seven days and was held in the courtyard of the palace garden. It was richly decorated Drinks were served in gold goblets, with such an abundance of royal wine that the king said for the palace officials to serve each man as much as he wanted. It was on the seventh day of this feast of King Xerxes that our Bible study begins tonight.

It Displeased The King – Chapter 1

The king seems to be a pompous selfish man, driven by his own lust. Xerxes was planning to invade Greece so had invited important officials form all over his land to see his power. Vashti’s refusal to obey made Xerxes look week and his military credibility would have been damaged. I imagine King Xerxes was accustomed to getting what he wanted. It Pleased The King – 2:1-20 It Saved The King – 2:21-23