A Day of Reversal & Rescue | Esther 6-7

There are moments in history when it seems that

the world stands still. A single decision is

made, a single conversation takes place, a single

action on a given day, and the course of human

history changes forever. In recent history, we

think about things like the day that the Japanese

bombed Pearl Harbor and nothing was the same

in this country. We think about 9 -11 when New

York was attacked by Islamic terrorists. On a

more personal level, we think about those great

days in our lives, the day we get engaged or

the day of our wedding, the day a child is born.

Or most importantly, the day that we first trust

in Christ. Momentous days in our lives. And there

are many momentous days recorded for us in the

Bible. The day that Noah entered the ark, for

example. Big day. The day that Moses and his

people crossed the Red Sea. The day that David

became king over Israel. And as we look at the

New Testament, we have the big three. The day

that God's son was incarnated, took on flesh

in the fullness of time. The day of his death

on the cross. The glorious morning of his resurrection.

We sometimes underestimate what God can do in

just one day. Or in just one moment when everything

changes. Scripture reminds us that with him,

time is never ordinary. And so when he sovereignly

moves, ordinary days become divine turning points.

In fact, that's part of what we know about as

we wait for Christ to return. We know that someday

his eschatological timeframe is gonna begin to

unfold and we will never be the same. This earth

will never be the same. when that happens. So

we look forward to that day when God will sovereignly

move. Well, in the passage we're gonna look at

this morning, we're gonna see one very important

day in the history of God's people, Israel, a

day of reversal, a day of rescue, a single moment

that took place in the royal court of Persia

when Queen Esther stood before her husband, the

king, the most powerful man on earth at that

time, and she named Haman, the man who was also

there in that room, as the enemy. Esther had

no idea at that time how the king was going to

respond to that accusation. She had no control

over the outcome of it all. In fact, perhaps

it would lead to her death. What she did know

was that remaining silent was no longer an option

if the Jewish people living in Persia were going

to survive. And on that big, momentous day, God's

unseen, sovereign hand guided her path and turned

the tables. on what Satan wanted to do, which

was to destroy the Jewish people. One big decision,

one huge conversation, one very important day.

Grab your Bibles. We are indeed back in the book

of Esther. Okay, just checking. I know it's been

a while. I did the math last night. The last

time we were in Esther was September 28th. That

is not how you draw it up as a pastoral team.

But here we are, right? This was, of course,

that was right before Tanya and I left for Scotland.

And then we came back. We went straight into

our annual Reformation study. And then the holidays

came. And I'm so grateful in between all that,

Pastor Adam brought us a couple incredibly insightful

and important messages from the book of Ecclesiastes.

Thank you, Adam. But if my calculations are right,

that means it's been 14 weeks. since we were

last in Esther. And that means before we just

dive into chapters six and seven this morning,

we have to do some recapping and some summarizing

so that we get your brains and your hearts back

in the flow of the narrative of the text. So

let me first reintroduce you to our main characters.

And of course, you remember that I... I found

these great AI images of them, so I'll put them

on the screen because I think it's helpful to

just have images as we look at the flat page

to just sort of think about what these folks

might have looked like. First, we have the king

of Persia in this day. His name is Ahasuerus.

That's how he's described in the Hebrew text.

He's better known by what his enemies called

him. The Greeks, they called him King Xerxes.

He was the fourth king of the great Achaemenid

dynasty of Persia, following after Cyrus the

Great and his father Darius I. And Xerxes ruled

over the Persian kingdom for 21 years in the

5th century BC, a very historical and important

character. Then there's the second man. We have

Mordecai, the Jew. That's what he is called throughout

the text. In case you didn't realize, his ethnicity

as a Jew is very important to this part of the

story. Mordecai served as a palace official in

the Persian capital of Susa. He worked at the

king's gate, which was sort of that front -facing

gate of security between the city and the palace.

And of course, then we have Esther, right, whose

Hebrew birth name was Hadassah. A young woman

who was Mordecai's orphaned younger cousin, having

been raised by Mordecai after the death of her

parents. And then finally we have... Very good.

You guys, after 14 weeks, you haven't forgotten

that. Good job. We have the great villain of

the story, the wicked vizier of Persia, Haman,

whose lineage, by the way, also matters. He was

a descendant of King Agag, who was a Amalekite.

This bitter enemy from Israel's past during the

time of the Exodus. That matters as well. So

I'm going to give you, we've done five chapters

in Esther. I'm going to give you really quick

summaries of those five chapters so that you

feel like you're in the flow of the story. Chapter

one, we're just going to call the removal of

Queen Vashti. Remember, this takes place at one

of two extravagant banquets thrown by the king

in his capital city of Susa. The first banquet,

do you remember how long it was? It lasted 180

days. That is a party. And it was designed to

display his wealth and power to his nobles in

his kingdom. Then he held a much shorter seven

-day feast for all the citizens of the city.

And on the final day of that second banquet,

the queen, probably a little inebriated, orders

his queen, whose name is Vashti, to appear before

all the guests at the banquet wearing her crown

in order to showcase her beauty, but for his

glory, right? What does Vashti do? She says,

I'm not coming out. She refuses and she publicly

embarrasses the king. And after consulting with

his advisors and hearing them warn him, look,

if Vashti gets away with this, all the Persian

women in the kingdom are gonna begin to be, gonna

be defiant against their husbands. After getting

counsel from his advisors to depose her and replace

her, King Xerxes issues this edict and sends

it out across the entire empire. So that's chapter

one. Chapter two, we'll just call Esther becomes

queen. So Vashti is banished. And the king begins

a new search for a queen. And he sends his servants

far and wide across the kingdom to find every

most beautiful virgin to fill his harem. And

this is where we're introduced to Mordecai. And

we find out that Esther has been chosen as one

of those women who may replace the queen. And

she is brought to the palace. And she wins the

favor of the king's chief eunuch, which was very

important because this guy was in the center

of the politics of Susa. And following the advice

of Mordecai, Esther conceals her Jewish identity.

That is incredibly important to understand. Conceals

her Jewish identity. And after a year of preparing,

of getting ready to meet the king, she goes in

to see him. She captivates the heart of King

Xerxes, and he crowns her queen at a grand banquet.

And you might recall that I spent some time discussing

some of the cultural factors involved in all

this because this concept of a beauty pageant

and a harem, this is all very foreign to us in

modern days. And I talked about what I see as

some of the spiritual compromises on the part

of both Mordecai and Esther as Jews. And I won't

rehash all of that because I know some of you

are still recovering. from having me destroying

your vision of Esther. And you might recall that

Josh C. put this meme up on Church Center. Still

one of the funniest moments in the history of

our church. of me destroying their childhood

memories of Esther. But no, there's spiritual

compromise throughout this story. These are Jews

living in Persia. They have not returned to the

Holy Land and they're participating in this process.

You can go back and listen to those messages.

I won't put them back in your head. Meanwhile,

as Esther's being hailed as the new queen of

Persia, Mordecai, who's working at the king's

gate, overhears two fellow officials plotting

to assassinate the king. So he informs Esther,

Esther alerts the king, and that plot is foiled,

and then the story of that plot being found out,

it gets recorded in the Royal Chronicles. That's

chapter two. Put that, get that down. Chapter

three, we call Haman's plot against the Jews.

The king promotes this man Haman to the position

of chief vizier, which means he's basically the

number two man behind the king, the second most

powerful man in the entire Persian kingdom, Everybody

is told, every official is told, you must bow

down before this man, Haman. But because he's

an Amalekite and because he's an arrogant leader,

Mordecai refuses to honor him, refuses to bow

down. And being enraged by this, Haman finds

out, first of all, that Mordecai is a Jew. That

stirs up all of his ancient hatred. And he goes

into the king and he cleverly convinces Xerxes

that the Jews are a disloyal people. Disloyal.

They're a threat to the Persian kingdom. And

he secures permission from the king and 10 ,000

talents of silver to annihilate the Jewish people.

On the 13th day of the 12th month, which had

been chosen by what? The casting of lots, which

are called purr in Persian. That's going to come

up later when we talk about Purim, right? So

Haman drafts this death warrant to the Jewish

people in a decree that once again is sent across

the entire kingdom to every province. That's

chapter three. Chapter four, we call Mordecai

urges Esther to act. When Mordecai becomes aware

of this wicked decree and the imminent death

of the Jewish people, he goes into a state of

public mourning and sackcloth and ash. Inside

the palace, Esther hears that her older cousin

is doing this in the city streets, and she wants

to fix the problem, so she sends him some clothes.

He refuses to receive them, and then he tells

the messenger, go back to Queen Esther and tell

her what's going on. Tell her to plead with the

king to reverse this decree. And he exhorts her

very firmly. He says, look, if you stay silent,

Esther, yes, Yahweh is faithful. He will find

another way to rescue us. But then he adds that

famous line. He says, but perhaps you have attained

to royalty for such a time as this. That's a

great challenge, right? And so Esther goes into

fasting and prayer for three days. She considers

all that might happen to her. If she goes into

King Xerxes without being invited, she could

be put to death. She considers all that. And

then she courageously says, look, if I perish,

I perish. And she resolves to approach the king

in order to save her people. That's chapter four.

Then last time we looked at chapter five, Esther's

banquet invitations. This is where the whole

story gets very intriguing. This was back in

October. We looked at this chapter. Esther approaches

the inner court of the king with fear and trembling,

but he doesn't reject her. In fact, he extends

to her the golden scepter. to accept her and

to have this conversation with her. And the king

entreats Esther to ask him whatever she wants.

And he promises up to half of his kingdom. He

loves this woman. But to our surprise, in that

moment, we would think at that moment, Esther

would just blurt out, Haman's trying to kill

me. But she doesn't, does she? Instead, she invites

him, the king, and Haman to a banquet that day.

And they arrive at the banquet. And Xerxes repeats

his offer. I'll give you anything that you want.

And for a second time, Esther asks them to another

banquet that will take place the next day. And

the reader is left kind of puzzled by this. Why

is she delaying this? We'll find out later. As

Haman is returning to his home that afternoon,

he once again sees Mordecai who will not bow

down to him. And he's enraged by this. And he

tells his wife, this Mordecai has got to go.

And she says, well, why don't you do something

about it? Why don't you build a gallows where

you can put him to death, go to the king and

ask for permission to execute this man? And that

pleases Haman. And that's where we left off on

this cliffhanger back in October of chapter five.

We're now up to speed. Now, 14 weeks ago, I said

chapters five, six, and seven are basically one

pericope, one unit of thought. But we only had

time for chapter 5 back then, so today we're

going to read through all of chapter 6 and 7

to sort of close the loop on this particular

unit of thought, which means we're biting off

more than usual in terms of reading, so you need

to stick with me. By the way, our plan is to

finish Esther here in January, and then for those

of you who may be visiting this morning, beginning

in February, we're going to start what is going

to have to be a multi -year study in the book

of 1 Corinthians, which will be fun. Okay. Still

got your Bibles open to Esther chapter 6? Let's

Esther 6 · chapter mention

take a look at verse 1. During that night, the

king could not sleep. So he gave an order to

bring the book of records, the chronicles, and

they were read before the king. Now, how many

of us have done this before, right? You can't

sleep. You're tossing and turning in bed. You

start punching your pillow. You're like, why

can't I fall asleep? For me, it's usually because

I got too much on the brain and these thoughts

are all running through my head. So what do you

do? It makes no sense to stay in bed. You get

up and you move, right? And if you really want

to get sleepy again, you read a book. That seems

to work every time. Only when you're the king,

you don't read a book. You wake up your servants

and say, hey, read the book to me. And that's

what Xerxes does. Now, here's the thing. I'm

sure there was an unlimited number of books that

Xerxes could have asked to be read to him. He's

got a massive library. But he chooses his own

chronicles, which record the details of the most

recent events of the royal court. In verse 2,

it was found written in those chronicles what

Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and

Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who were doorkeepers

at the king's gate, that they had sought to lay

hands or assassinate King Ahasuerus. So he reads

about the assassination attempt. And you can

sort of picture him. He's sitting in the chair.

You know, he's listening to this. Maybe he's

starting to get a little bit sleepy. But then

he hears the story of this attempt on his life,

which will wake any man up, right? There's people

that want to kill me. And suddenly, he holds

up his hand to the serpent. He says, hold on

a second. Hold on. And his brain begins to spin.

In verse 3, he says, and the king said to them,

what honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai

for this? Okay, good, so this is not an accident,

right, that that's come to his mind. And he says,

wait a second, did we not honor Mordecai for

saving my life? And then verse three goes on.

Then the king's servants who attended him said,

and you picture the king's servants kind of going,

uh -oh, don't get mad at me, but nothing has

been done for him. You can almost see the king's

countenance fall as he hears this news. How could

such an outstanding deed of loyalty have gone

unrewarded. This is going to reflect poorly on

his rule. So Xerxes is going to take action on

this. But then we come to verse 4, and you get

a sense now that some time has passed, maybe

hours since the king had first got up and heard

about this oversight. And apparently he can't

go back to sleep because this is really bothering

him. It's now early in the morning and he hears

somebody arrive at the palace. Clearly somebody

has come bright and early at the crack of dawn

to present something to him. Verse four. So the

king said, who's in the court? Who's making that

racket out there? Who's arrived? Now Haman had

just entered the outer court of the king's palace

in order to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai

on the gallows, which he had prepared for him.

The king's servant said to him, Behold, Haman

is standing in the court and the king said, all

right, let him come in. My guess is, I can't

prove this by the text, but my guess is Haman

had a whole script prepared for this meeting.

He was probably up half the night rehearsing

it. He is fully prepared to convince the king

that Mordecai is this massive threat and he needs

to die. So of course he's anxious, he arrives

at the crack of dawn, he's excited to lay out

his case, but then the unexpected happens. Before

he can say a word, the king brings up what's

on his mind, what he just heard from his own

chronicles that Mordecai hasn't been rewarded.

Verse six, so Haman came in and the king said

to him, what is to be done for the man whom the

king desires to honor? Ooh, doesn't mention a

name. The man that the king desires to honor.

And Haman is thrown off by the king's question,

right? But because of the pride in his heart,

who does he think the king's talking about? Obviously

himself. He's the man to be honored. The verse

tells us, Haman said to himself, whom would the

king desire to honor more than me, right? As

he pounds his chest, more than me. I'm the man.

So he's got visions of applause dancing through

his head, right? Cheers from the crowds, right?

It's all dancing through Haman's mind. It never

occurs to him that the king could be talking

about somebody else. And get this, the king is

now asking him how he wants to be honored. Literally,

Haman's dream is coming true here. This is the

best day of his life. He gets to basically say,

this is how I want to be honored. So he starts

to rattle off this list of ways that the king

should honor him. Verse 7, Haman said to the

king, For the man whom the king desires to honor,

hmm, let me think. Well, let them bring a royal

robe which the king has worn. Oh, interesting.

I want to play king. And the horse on which the

king is ridden and on whose head a royal crown

has been placed. In other words, make me look

like the king. And let the robe and the horse

be handed over to one of the king's most noble

princes. Let this important guy do this. And

let them array the man whom the king desires

to honor and lead him on horseback through the

city square and proclaim, announce before him,

thus it shall be done to the man whom the king

desires to honor. Now, look closely at that list

of things, how ridiculous it is. It's all pomp

and circumstance. It's all superficial. It's

all self -glorifying. He doesn't ask, for example,

to give any recognition to his family or any

recognition to his fellow officials at the court,

to even maybe lift up somebody who got him to

this place. He's thinking of nobody but himself.

This is a tragic tale as old as time itself.

The pride of mankind just oozing out of this

man. Haman. In fact, Solomon says in Proverbs

26 that he who digs a pit will fall into it.

And he who rolls a stone, it will come back on

him. This is what Haman is doing in this moment

because of his pride. And how often in our daily

lives we hear about wicked people like Haman

who they appear to be prospering. But we don't

know the full story. We don't know how God is

working behind the scenes, giving that man over

to his devices, over to his pride, and that really

what that man is doing, even as we see him prospering,

this man is setting a trap and digging a pit

that someday he is gonna fall into. That is just

a reality. We have to remember this when we see

people that we think don't deserve any goodness

because of their wicked hearts when we see them

prospering. Trust what God is doing behind the

scenes. But you can picture the glow on Haman's

face as the king now starts to issue the command

that he thinks is going to be applied to him.

But this is a day of great surprise. Verse 10.

Then the king said to Haman, take quickly the

robes and the horse, as you have said, and do

so for Mordecai the Jew. Dum, dum, dum. Right?

Who is sitting at the king's gate right now.

And do not fall short in anything of all that

you have said. Do all of it for Mordecai. Can

you imagine the shock on Haman's face? The color

draining from his face as he hears the name Mordecai.

His most hated enemy is now going to get all

the glory that he just suggested to the king.

And he, Haman, is the one who has to carry it

out. The pain of this must have been awful in

his prideful heart. It's Mordecai, that Jew,

ooh, that Jew. He's gonna be dressed in a royal

robe. He's gonna be the hero in front of the

city. Mordecai, the same man that Haman thought

he was about to have executed. This is the ultimate

reversal of fortune, isn't it? Verse 11, so Haman

took the robe and the horse. And he arrayed Mordecai

and led him on horseback through the city square.

Picture it. And proclaimed before him, thus it

shall be done to the man whom the king desires

to honor. Like, you can picture him not saying

that with all of his, you know, energy. Imagine

the pain for a prideful man. Verse 12. Then Mordecai

returned to the king's gate. The show's over.

He's like, I'm going back to work. Goes back

to the king's gate. But Haman, it says, he hurried

home, mourning with his head covered. This day

has not gone well. The day before he had come

home, remember, he was swelling with pride. He

was gushing with words of his own greatness and

glory. Now he's coming home with his head covered.

And in ancient Near East culture, basically that

is a sign of mourning and dejection and humiliation.

It's as if someone close to him had died, but

really what's died is his pride -filled heart.

And as he walks in the door, at least he expects

to be consoled by his family and friends, right?

He's not even going to get that. Verse 13, Haman

recounted to Zeresh, his wife, and all his friends

everything that had happened to him. And how

do they react? With sympathy? With encouragement?

No, they prophesy to him. This is wild. It says,

then his wise men, his advisors, and Zeresh's

wife said to him, If Mordecai, before whom you

have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you

will not overcome him, but you will surely fall

before him. Now, why would they say, what do

these Persian people know of the Jews? Well,

they know that Yahweh is Israel's protector and

redeemer. They know this from their own history,

right? From the days of Cyrus the Great. They

know how Yahweh protects his people. And so Haman's

counselors, even his wife in this moment, begin

to move away from him. The unseen hand of God

is moving them away from Haman. They know something

bad is coming. And really, guys, this is an amazing

thing to see unbelievers prophesying. Gentiles,

Gentiles are the ones here in this story, ironically,

who proclaim Yahweh's eternal love for the Jewish

people. Now, there's other places in the Bible

where we see this. Balaam, right, in Numbers

22. Right, when unbelievers, when pagans do this.

Think about another famous wife, Pilate's wife,

who has a dream and then prophesies to Pilate,

have nothing to do with this man Jesus who's

on trial. So interesting parallel there. But

Haman is in trouble and he's out of time because

look at verse 14. While they were still talking

with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hastily,

quickly brought Haman to the banquet which Esther

had prepared. Is God moving? The kingdom of heaven

is moving against the kingdom of earth right

here. This is amazing. Let's go over to Esther

Esther 7 · chapter mention

chapter 7. Now here's where we're going to see

Esther begin to shine. I know I've been hard

on her in this series, but this is going to be

her shining moment where she is going to grow

in courage and what we're going to see, grow

in shrewdness, cleverness. This has been a trajectory

she's been on since chapter four. When she first

came to terms with the fact that she has an important

role to play to save her people, it started there.

And then once she successfully navigated that

first appearance before the king and she got

the golden scepter and she wasn't killed, she

began to grow in her trust in Yahweh, in her

resolve to put her life on the line. So by the

time we get to chapter seven, we're going to

see that she becomes a very wise and shrewd negotiator.

Look at verse one. Now the king and Haman came

to drink wine with Esther the queen. By the way,

how worried do you think Haman is at this moment?

His wife and counselors have just prophesied

his downfall. But in that setting, does he think

he's safe? I think he does. And this is what

pride will do. It will blind you to reality at

times. But I don't think he has at this point

any concerns about Esther. In fact, he may very

well see her as an ally. After all, she's invited

him now to two banquets to dine with the king,

and he believes that he has Xerxes in his pocket

as well. This is my close friend. He feels pretty

good about this. I don't think he has any concerns

about Esther. So rather than feel threatened

in this moment, I think he lets his guard down,

and then with a little bit of wine, I think he

is not worried at all. But don't forget this

important fact. He still doesn't know that Esther

is a Jew. Right? Verse two. And the king said

to Esther on the second day also, as they drank

their wine at the banquet, what is your petition,

Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what

is your request? Even to half of the kingdom,

it should be done. So the subject of Esther's

request is once again brought up by the king.

It's he who is now eager to hear what's going

on. Now, he might be just curious or perhaps

he senses in Esther that she's troubled by something,

but he's anxious to get to the mystery behind

these multiple banquet invitations and this long

drawn out petition that she has. And I think

it's obvious from the narrative that Xerxes really

loves this woman. He really does. So whatever

concerns her is a concern of his. And once again,

he assures Esther that, look, I'm going to grant

your petition, just ask it. And look, we know

that the king trusts the people closest to him.

This is a pattern in Xerxes' life. Remember back

in chapter three, when he handed his signet ring

to Haman and gave him all the royal authority

of the Persian kingdom to do whatever he wants.

This is a pattern in his life. He's willing to

give Esther up to half the kingdom. He trusts

both Esther and Haman, but now what's about to

happen? What happens when these two people that

you trust, you've got to make a choice between

the two of them. That's what's coming, right?

Verse three, then Queen Esther replied, if I

have found favor in your sight, O king, and if

it pleases the king, let my life be given me

as my petition and my people as my request. Underline

those two phrases, my life and my people. This

is what Esther has been building up to, my life

and my people. Now, when she says that, can you

picture Xerxes' face? Puzzled, right? What does

that mean, he's thinking? Verse four, she explains,

for we have been sold, I and my people, to be

destroyed, to be killed, to be annihilated. She

puts it in three distinct ways to send the message

of how horrible this is. Destroyed, killed, annihilated.

We are sold into Haman's hatred for Mordecai

and for the Jewish people. And then she shows

great wisdom. Her next statement shows incredible

wisdom. Look what she says. Now, if we had only

been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have

remained silent for the trouble would not be

commensurate with the annoyance to the king.

Isn't that surprising? Here's what she's doing.

This is, she's employing submissive. you know,

court language. You don't come in front of the

most powerful man in the world and drop a request

without flattering him. And this is what she's

doing. So in effect, she's saying, look, king,

your wellness is my number one concern. So if

this were just about slavery, I wouldn't waste

your time. I wouldn't dare do that. But in this

case, someone intends to kill me and my people.

Now, don't forget, Esther's been hiding her Jewish

identity this entire time. Xerxes doesn't know.

This is the pivotal moment, right? She's not

been truthful before her husband. And in this

very tense moment, she has to come clean. Honestly,

you guys, things could have gone south really

quickly here. Had the king decided, you know

what? You've not been truthful to me. Why drop

this bomb on me right now? Why do this? He could

have been offended by her lack of disclosure.

He could have sent her off just like he did with

Vashti or worse. Now stop and think about Haman

in this moment. What is Haman thinking? Esther

drops this bomb about her people. How do you

think he reacted? He is caught off guard. He

never imagined that Esther was a Jew. Apparently

never dawned on him. He's sitting, he's all chummy

with the king. But he's just been accused of

trying to murder the king's wife. The three of

them in this room, oh, to be a fly on the wall,

to feel the tension in the air. But guys, Esther

has played this beautifully, hasn't she? She

successfully aroused the anger of her husband

with her enemy right there in the room. And now

all the king has to do to satisfy his wrath is

to be given a name and where this traitor can

be found. Verse five. Then King Ahasuerus asked

Queen Esther, who is he and where is he? Who

would presume to do this? And here comes the

moment, right? Esther finally blurts it out.

Verse six, a foe and an enemy is this wicked

Haman. Right there in the room, points at this

guy. And then Haman became terrified. That's

probably a great understatement. But the wisdom

here, listen, again, she's clever here. She doesn't

say, he's trying to kill me. She frames the statement

in the idea of the security of the king and the

kingdom. She basically says, that wicked man

is actually not your faithful servant. He is

a foe and an enemy of Persia. Verse seven, how's

the king gonna react? The king arose in his anger

from drinking wine. Puts his glass down. And

he went into the palace garden. Can you picture

it? He's got to clear his head. He's probably

had a couple glasses on. He's got to clear his

head. He's got to process what he's just heard.

He has a very difficult judgment to make in this

moment. And it's not clear what he's going to

do. At that moment, does he realize that Haman

has been deceiving him for a long time? Is he

willing to turn on this guy who is his most trusted

advisor? Or is he going to blame Esther for hiding

her identity from everybody in the court? He's

got a lot to think about before he returns, right?

Meanwhile, the text says this, but Haman stayed

to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he

saw the harm had been determined against him

by the king. He saw the anger of Xerxes. And

now what does he do? He's terrified, rightfully

so. And maybe at this moment, he's remembering,

oh, the prophecy. Didn't my wise men just tell

me that I'm gonna fall? Maybe he remembered it

right here. So with the king out of the room,

he turns to Esther and he pleads for her mercy.

By the way, the very thing that he didn't want

to show Mordecai. Isn't it amazing, humankind,

when the shoe goes on the other foot, we all

cry out for mercy, don't we? But do we show mercy?

And in his panic, and perhaps because he's had

some wine, Haman falls towards Esther on the

couch where she has been reclining, and that

is a big mistake. Verse 8. Now when the king

returned from the palace garden into the place

where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling

on the couch where Esther was, and of course

he assumes the worst, right? It says, then the

king said, will he even assault the queen with

me in the house? Gulp. Uh -oh. It's possible

that Haman, and there's been lots of things written

by rabbis on this, that it's possible that he

had just fallen on his knees before Esther and

was like grasping at her legs, trying to beg

for mercy. But to touch the queen is a grave

offense. And regardless of how Xerxes had decided

to judge as he walked back in the room, and we

actually don't know what his judgment would have

been. This scene obviously seals Haman's fate.

And Xerxes orders his guards to arrest Haman.

End of verse 8, it says, as the word or the order

went out from the king's mouth. Interesting,

they covered Haman's face. And again, ancient

Near East scholars say basically what that was

was they arrested him, they covered his face.

It was something you did with a traitor who no

longer had the privilege of looking at the king

anymore. They covered his face. Verse nine, the

irony here. Then Harbanah, one of the eunuchs

who were before the king said, behold, indeed

the gallows standing at Haman's house, 50 cubits

high, which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke

good on behalf of the king. This guy understands

the moment, right? The irony of the moment. And

I can't prove this again from the text, but how

likely is it that this Harbinah had no love for

Haman? The guy's arrogant. The guy's a terrible

leader, a terrible boss. And so he jumps on this

opportunity to say, I know what you should do.

And the king said, okay, hang him on it. So they

hanged Haman on the gallows, which he had prepared

for Mordecai. and the king's anger subsided.

What a story. What a story. I can't think of

a better example of what David writes this in

Psalm 7. Behold, the wicked man conceives evil

and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth

to lies. He makes a pit, digging it out, and

falls into the hole that he has made. His trouble

returns upon his own head and on his own skull.

his violence descends. It's a perfect description

of what happens to Haman. Now, let's wrap up

with a few important observations. Guys, there's

so many principles that we can draw out of this

story. I'm gonna save some of them for the coming

weeks because we have a lot more to talk about.

But for this morning, let's focus on really the

primary theme that has run throughout this preaching

series, which is what? God's providence in dark

times. That's long ago when the elder team planned

this series. We called it God's Providence in

Dark Times. And you might recall in the very

first message in the series, we talked about

the difference between sovereignty and providence.

Those words matter. They're very, very important.

Sovereignty is best understood as God's absolute

right and power to do all that he purposes to

do. His supreme authority to do whatever he pleases.

Providence is how he carries that out. Does that

make sense? How he carries it out in a wise and

loving way. So when we talk about God's providence,

we're talking about the Lord actively guiding

all things, all the affairs of men and women

on the earth to his appointed ends. Now, here's

the thing. If you were to hand the book of Esther

to your unbelieving neighbor, say you do that

tomorrow and you say, read this book. It's a

really great story. they would spend some time

reading it and they would come back to you, hand

it back to you and say, boy, there's a lot of

coincidences in this story. Right? But as believers,

we know better. We know that this story is being

relayed to us under the inspiration of God's

spirit and it is designed to show us how God

providentially moves behind the scenes, how he

manages the affairs of men and women to bring

about his purposes. So we know Esther wasn't

lucky to become the queen. Right? Mordecai wasn't

lucky to have been in the right moment to overhear

this assassination plot. We know that the king's

sleepless night was not an accident. Neither

was the choice of which book to be read to him.

God is moving, isn't he? We see Esther doing

something so strange, inviting Haman and Xerxes

to a banquet and then putting them on a hold

and saying, well, no, let's do a second banquet.

And we all go, why? Well, More time so that God

can move the chess pieces around the board to

put things in place to accomplish his purposes.

There's no coincidence that Haman came into the

king's court at just the right moment. Neither

was it a coincidence that the king wanted to

honor Mordecai in that moment. See, in spite

of the limitations of our physical eyes, in this

story, there is no luck. There is no accidents.

There's no coincidences. What's happening is

God's sovereign purposes are unfolding to deliver

his people and not just to deliver the Jews in

that time, but to assure future generations of

believers like us that he is in control. Sometimes

we read these books of the Bible which are so

concentrated in a particular time of history

and we go, this is such a great lesson for the

Jewish people. This is for us as well. He's reassuring

us, hey. Hey, Santa Claridans in 2025, see this

lesson. I'm in control of things. I am managing

the affairs of men and women for your good. Do

we trust what Paul says in Romans 8? That God

is working all things together for those who

love God, who are called according to his purpose?

We should trust in that, right? It was happening

in the days of Esther. It's happening today.

God is providentially at work. And yes, by the

way, that includes hard things and difficult

things. Sometimes we read a story like this and

we're like, oh, it's so good that God was doing

good things for Esther. But what about the hard

things? What about the difficult things? Yes,

even the tragic things, the pain, the sorrow,

the trials of this life, they too are for our

good. We have to accept that from God's hand.

They're shaping us. They're molding our character

as we walk with the Savior. They are for our

good. And this book shows us that principle.

Listen, this story, this was not all rainbows

and unicorns for Mordecai and for Esther. They

struggled, didn't they? They mourned, they suffered.

They were forced into making decisions harder

than anything you and I will probably ever have

to face. But God was working through all of it.

In fact, God is so sovereign, he's using an Amalekite.

To bring about his purposes. A man whose entire

character is rooted in rebellion and wickedness.

He's using a man as powerful as Xerxes to accomplish

his will. Yes, even the most powerful man on

earth, our president, right? Any world leader.

God is using those men and women to further his

purposes. That's the point of this verse. How

often do we quote this verse from Proverbs 21,

right? The king's heart is like channels of water

in the hands of the Lord. God can move it any

direction he desires. And he does this with Xerxes.

Yahweh's in control of every breath, every choice,

every word, every action, and nothing and no

man, no matter how impressive he looks, can hinder

God's purposes. And friends, this is a huge truth

for us today. that we have to see and learn from,

right? How often do we, we have our eyes fixed

on Christ and then things happen in life, circumstances

happen, and we drop our eyes down to the world

and we forget what scripture tells us about God's

providence. And we start to worry and we start

to scheme. We think, well, maybe I can control

the situation. Maybe I can manipulate people

involved in this. It's something we all need

to grow in and learn from. Now, as we grow in

our trust that God's working behind the scenes,

does that mean we can be passive? It doesn't.

God has given each of us commands to obey. He

has given us works, good works to walk in. And

we need to be about our Father's business in

these days that He's given us. But here's the

good news. Here's the good news. It's not our

performance that ultimately produces God's results.

It's not our performance. He goes way beyond

our efforts, moving and intervening in such a

way that every single time his desired result

comes to pass. And aren't you glad for that?

Imagine if it was up to you or me. But God does

way more than we can imagine. Notice, by the

way, not only God's providence in this part of

Esther's story, but how perfect his timing is.

How many of us struggle with timing? Yeah. Why

wasn't Mordecai honored back when he saved the

king's life? God's timing. Why did the king suddenly

get insomnia on that night? God's timing. Why

did Haman appear in the king's court just as

Xerxes realized that Mordecai hasn't been honored?

God's timing. Why did Haman order the building

of that platform for execution the night before

all this went down? God's timing. Why did he

fall onto Esther's couch and grab at her legs

just as the king was coming back into the room?

God's timing. And so we have to learn from this.

Last Sunday, Elijah brought us this great convicting

message about prayer. But how often do we as

Christians, we either don't pray about important

things or we pray about them and then we stop.

We give up. Why? Because we say, well, I asked

God for that and it didn't happen in the timing

that I thought it should happen. Learn from this

story. God's timing is always perfect. Do we

trust that he's sovereign, first of all? Do we

really believe that he's in control? Absolute

supreme authority. Do we trust that he's providentially

at work? In your life, right now, all day today,

this week, next month, he's providentially working

to accomplish his will. Do you believe that?

Do we trust that he's good and loving in those

purposes? That may be the most important question.

Because when we go through hard things, we doubt

that. Is everything that he's doing providential

in your life for your good and his glory? Believe

that. And lastly, do we trust that he will accomplish

his will in his timing, not ours? These are big

questions, you guys. And this is why God gives

us a book like Esther, to see these things. What

a difference a day makes, right? This day, this

momentous day in the course of history in the

life of the Jewish people. Imagine, look how

big this was for our main characters. One day

Haman is rich and powerful and he is sitting

down and drinking and eating with the king and

queen of Persia. He is swelling with pride and

overflowing with talk of his own greatness. And

the next day, they're covering his face and leading

him away to the gallows. The same goes for Esther

and Mordecai. One day they're facing extermination.

And the next day they're spared. The perfect

living out of the passage we read from in Isaiah

41 comes to pass. Remember our call to worship

from earlier this morning? Listen to it again.

God says to Israel, you're my servant. I've chosen

you. I've not cast you off. Fear not for I am

with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you. I will uphold you with

my righteous right hand. Why would they doubt

that God would come to the rescue with that promise?

And then that passage ends. Behold, all who are

incensed against you, like Haman, shall be put

to shame. And those who strive against you shall

become nothing and shall perish. Let the reader

understand, amen? Let's bow our heads. Father,

as your people this morning, gathered in your

name, gathered for your glory, gathered to be

in fellowship with one another and to celebrate

who you are and your love for us and your goodness,

we say this morning with one voice, thank you

for your sovereignty. We praise you for your

providential moving behind the scenes. And we

ask, Lord, that by your spirit, you would continue

to help us grow in our trust. in your perfect

wisdom that we would not drop our eyes. We would

keep our eyes fixed on Christ and not drop our

eyes and start to worry and start to scheme and

start to try to find our own ways out of things.

But we would go to you in prayer. We would obey

your word and we would trust that you are providentially

working. So Lord, help us learn this lesson from

the life of Esther, from the life of Haman. Help

us learn all of it, Lord, so that we might be

more fruitful servants for your kingdom. Thank

you, Lord, for bringing us back into the book

of Esther. We look forward to the next few weeks

as the rest of this book unfolds. Thank you,

Lord Jesus, for the fellowship of this church

and for a chance to be together. We praise you

in Christ's name.