Great Texts of The Bible: Will You Remain Silent | Esther | Pastor William Hixson

We're coming back to our series on great

texts of the Bible, great texts of the

Old Testament.

And I'm going to bypass Ezra and

Nehemiah since we spent an awful lot of

time in those books fairly recently.

Uh I'm not going to grab one from there,

although we could do that. But I am

going to go to the book of Esther.

And I know we've all probably

most of you people were with us when we

talked through Esther, but I'd like you

to uh turn with me to the book of

Esther. And I'm assuming familiarity

with

this book,

this wonderful book, 10 chapters

of glorious,

glorious text.

I'm interested in Esther chapter 4.

Esther 4 · chapter mention

And just to remind us of the main people

that are involved here, Xerxes,

also know as Hasawarius

Hmon,

we know who he is, an Amalachite.

And we find that out, we immediately

know that there's problems there.

And of course there's Mori

and Esther.

Those four

to round out

and remind us of our of what we're

dealing with here.

And again

assuming

familiarity with this particular book of

the Bible

you remember that Mori offended Hmon

and he wouldn't that Hmon had a very big

ego and he was way too big for his

britches as they put it and um uh but

the king advanced him anyway

and because of Mori's refusing to

recognize that wicked man.

Hmon didn't want to just kill him.

He wanted to hang him on a gallows and

but he wanted to kill all the Jews.

Now talk about overreaction.

That's a major overreaction, right? Uh

it says something about the ego, the

self-centerness

and arrogance and pride of that wicked

man.

And but you know also the story about

Esther and how

uh she was taken into the uh herum of a

Xerxes. Why? Because Queen Bashi was de

demoted as queen

uh because she wouldn't come in to the

party the way the her husband wanted and

so forth and so on.

So there's a lot of interesting things

here.

A a terrible, terrible

decision in the leadership of that

country to advance somebody like Haymon

and to sign off on the murder of all the

Jews not only in the city of Susa, which

is in Iran,

but the whole empire.

So this was a very big issue. We're in

the book of Esther

and the the the slaughter of all the

Jews in the whole empire was on the

agenda of Hmon.

So with that review, we can't go through

the whole book. We're not going to try

to go through all the book. I'm assuming

familiarity

with this.

We're going to look at Esther chapter 4.

Esther 4 · chapter mention

in verse 13,

Esther 4:13. And again, to prepare us

Esther 4:13

for the table of the Lord.

And when we come to Esther 4:13,

Esther 4:13

Mori has just learned about the decree.

He's in sackcloth and ashes, and he's

gone to the herum and standing outside

sending messages into his cousin.

Esther that he's adopted.

Verse 13.

This is Mori's

answer to Esther

as he's trying to strengthen her to do

the right thing.

Verse 13. Then Mori commanded to answer

Esther.

Think not with thyself

that thou shalt escape in the king's

house more than all the Jews. Don't even

think that just because you're queen.

Remember, the king did not know Esther's

genealogy. He didn't know her family. He

that doesn't seem to be the kind of guy

that cared about that. His mind was

elsewhere.

And uh Esther's identity was secret.

And they told to Mori

Esther's words. Oh, excuse me. I'm

sorry. Verse 11.

I'm I am I am sorry. I'm reading way up

from where I need to read. Read verse

13. Verse 14. For if altogether you hold

your peace at this time, then shall

there be relief and deliverance rise to

the Jews from another place. But thou

and thy father's house shall be

destroyed.

Who knows whether you are come to the

kingdom for such a time as this? I want

to underline that last phrase.

It's a question

all of us number one have the

opportunity to ask ourselves

and answer for ourselves God's direction

and revelation and purpose in our life.

There's a providence that all of us

experience

at times in our lives

that are is very interesting. It's a

catalyst for a question like this. Why

am I here?

Who knows?

What am I supposed to do?

Why are things going the way they are?

Am I the person that needs to do

something at this moment?

Who knows? And that who knows, uh, he

admits I don't know. He admits you don't

know

that God's doing something.

Who knows

whether you are come to the kingdom that

means become queen

for such a time as this? She is the one

that had access to the king in the way

no other Jew did.

We should all reflect on where we are in

life.

We should all reflect that God puts us

at certain places with certain people to

accomplish certain things. He places

every member in the body as he will.

Very interesting

phrase there in 1 Corinthians 12.

And I want us to reflect on that. I was

teaching this in nursing home in

preparation for this. And I wanted every

person in the nursing home to understand

you're here not just for yourself.

you're here for some other purpose.

And most of us, if we had a choice to

make, would not choose to be in a

nursing home.

Can't think of anyone that really wants

to be there

or in a hospital

or in a prison

or

in certain situations that were quite

difficult and dangerous.

But God's in control of everything. He

runs everything.

And we don't always know what he's

doing.

We're not always 100% sure about what

he's doing with us and through us and in

us.

But this question is a great question.

It's a big question. And all of us at

certain times of our lives especially

have time times to ask ourselves and

even answer ourselves with God's

direction and revelation

what am I supposed to do and why am I

here and what's going on at this

particular time in my life.

It this question calls for reflection.

It calls for action.

And it's kind of like in a baseball game

when you're up to bat.

You're sitting on the bench, you're up

to bat. This is my turn to do something.

I'm either going to strike out or I'm

going to walk or I'm going to get a base

hit. Maybe even

second base

or maybe more.

We're off the bench. We're in the game.

It's our turn.

And that's why what that's what Morai

felt about Esther.

Esther, you're off the bench.

You're up the bat.

Get that bat off your shoulder.

Understand why you are where you are

where you are at this time.

And God's providence sometimes puts us

in a position where we can score

we can make a contribution

to the Lord's work in this world.

So the question is who knows? Who knows?

I don't know. You don't know. Who knows

whether you are come to the kingdom for

such a time as this? There's no

accidents, Esther.

You're a Jew. They don't know you're a

Jew. I can't go to the king. No other

Jew can go to the king.

You're the only one.

You got to think about that.

And so the the big question is not

something just for her. But all of us

have an opportunity at special times in

our lives especially to ask ourselves.

Why am I here instead somewhere else?

Why am I in this situation instead of

some other situation?

My life coaleses to a moment

and a moment for action.

And God provides

puts us in a position where we can

score, where we can contribute, where we

can do something.

So that's the first thing. It's the big

question.

And some have never asked theirel this

question. They just go through life with

not any reflection.

And Esther may have been doing that. I

don't think she wanted to be queen. What

do you think?

I don't think she wanted to get married

to that guy. Who would want to be

married to Xerxes?

I mean, you look at him in chapter one

and then you reflect on what chapter one

they just lost a big battle to Greece.

He's trying to, you know, there's not a

lot about this guy that's very

attractive.

And so, she's kind of put in a situation

she didn't really want to be in. I don't

think they ask, "Would you like to be in

the beauty contest?"

No, you will be in this one.

And so there she was. So the big

question, all of us sooner or later in

life have the certain opportunities

designed for us ourselves. God is

you are his workmanship created into

Christ Jesus unto good works that God

has ordained that we should walk in

that.

So if that's true, and I believe it is,

our salvation happens so that we can do

something for God and for others. And

God's got a plan.

So the first point is the big question.

The second is the reflection, the big

reflection on the total sovereignty of

God.

We all need to be engaged in that

reflection for our own benefit and for

the benefit of those we love and for the

benefit of the accomplishment of our

personal responsibility.

And so the question was asked she

reflects.

She was scared. She was nervous.

Obviously she was perplexed. And so he

asked this question

and u

uh

God there's God-given opportunities that

often come unannounced and unexpected

and frankly unwanted.

You think Joseph wanted to be sold into

slavery by his brothers?

I don't get any indication that was his

idea of a good thing.

You think Moses wanted to be on the back

side of the desert for 40 years of

watching sheep?

No, I don't think there was anything in

that that was part of his plan.

That was part of God's plan.

So, first of all, there's this question

all of us have an opportunity, necessity

to ask ourselves and answer for

ourselves under God's direction. Who

knows where Athens Bible Church is in

Athens, Ohio in 2026 in the summer for

such a time as this, but we're here. God

didn't put us here together to just do

it. He's got something in mind.

And Esther is not alone or unique in her

experience or opportunity either in the

Bible or in life. What is my place?

What is my role?

You know, if you're playing on a

basketball team, am I a forward? Am I a

center? Am I a guard?

What's my position?

If I'm playing defense, what's what's my

position?

So, what's my place? What's my role? I'm

on a team. What position will should I

play? What contribution can I make?

Well, the coach is kind of in charge of

that.

But not just the coach, right?

If you're a skinny kid, I don't think

you're going to be playing on the line

probably.

You know, if you can't run, you're not

going to be an end.

So every I'm talking about football now.

So God in his providence gives us

certain bodies to do be able to do

certain things. And then in his

providence, he puts certain things in

our path.

in Abraham's life was there was a a

circumscribed and uh choreographed

history.

You're going to be the father of many

nations, but we got them things to work

out to make that happen.

And all the nation in you, all nations

of the earth will be blessed. But

there's a lot of that's got to happen

first in you.

And Abraham's son Isaac was uh his life

was circumcised. Not circumcised,

circumscribed.

He was circumscribed. He was

circumcised, but he was his life was

circumscribed to be to live in a certain

place and achieve a certain purpose as

was Jacob's and as with Jacob's family.

And the back to football, it's not up to

the team who gets to be quarterback.

It's not. Everyone's got their role to

play. Everyone is good at some some

particular part of that game that others

are not.

Not every soldier serves in every

battle.

Not everyone that serves is on the front

line. Many are in the behind the lines.

I think in World War II it took eight

men behind the lines to put one man on

the line.

But that you know that's the army's

choice not your choice.

So we don't always know our role or our

the particular part. It's way too

complicated.

It's way it it's it's uh God's program

is tightly organized. There's a big

picture but we don't always know the

picture. We don't even have to know all

the picture.

We just have to be flexible and let the

Lord do what he wants to do with us.

Remember the background of this is

Esther 3:8. And Hmon said to the king,

Esther 3:8

"There's a certain people scattered

abroad and dispersed among the people

and all the providence of your kingdom.

Their laws are different from all

people. Neither keep they the king's

laws. Therefore, it's not the king's

profit to tolerate them. If it please

the king, let it be written that they

may be destroyed."

Get rid of

and I'll pay 10,000 talents of silver to

the hands of those who have the charge

of the business to bring it to the

king's treasures. King took his ring or

from his hand, gave it to Hmon, the son

of Hamadatha, the Agagite, the Jews

enemy. And the king said to Hmon,

"Silver is given to thee, the people

also to do with them as it seems good to

you."

So that's what was going on. total

annihilation, extermination of the

Jewish people. That became the public

pro policy of uh Persia.

You see, this whole business in Iran has

happened before.

You almost feel like you're in an

orchestra and you're hearing the theme

and then it's coming back to the theme.

You understand what I'm saying? History.

There's a bigger picture

and the policy was slaughter them all

and appropriate their assets.

Sadly, the public policy of current Iran

is now back to this.

The Egyptian policy was drown all the

Jewish babies. That was the pol male

babies. It was a birth control uh after

the fact kind of policy. The antichrist

at the end of history is going to go

after the woman who gave birth to the

baby. The woman is the Jewish nation.

So we see these kind of things.

We see them in the Bible.

And I've said this so many times. If God

were done with the Jews, as some think

Satan would be done with them, but God's

not done with them. That's why Satan's

not done.

Um,

so we're back to our situation.

What what the question in chapter 4:13

is, there's no safety in silence.

There's no safety in passivity.

It's a time to be bold. It's a time to

act. See your place in the world. You

are in a place to do something.

do it.

It's no accident.

It's no coincidence.

It's a providence of God, a hard

providence

that you were drafted into the harum of

Xerxes.

And who knows?

You don't. I don't. None of us know our

place or our part in the larger larger

matter of life.

We may have a little part or we might

have a big part at one point in our

life. You don't know because sometimes

it's the big things hang on a little

thing.

So this is fascinating.

Now this Xerxes ran reigned for about 21

years.

He got into a war with Greece and lost

and he's at the winter residence of the

Persian kings. Some of them they some

they had four different palaces ec

ecbatan

Babylon and pup prompilus

and susa where this takes place we find

in the book of Daniel was there in

Daniel 8:2 Nehemiah was sent from there

Daniel 8:2

in Nehemiah 1:1

Nehemiah 1:1

and so all this is all kind of

fascinating I love this part of the

Bible history is very interesting to me

the intricacies of it.

But uh

when it comes to Xerxes, he seemed to

have been a better judge of quality

women than quality men.

I mean, he really saw quality.

He saw quality in Esther above all the

rest. Then he goes and picks Hmon

to be the second most powerful person in

the empire.

He picks Esther

out of all the other options. And he

picks Hmon after all the other options.

And he had seven men to consult,

but they were just psychopants. They

just told him what he wanted to hear.

So he was really his own man except for

God's providence.

You know the good thing God's providence

was in both picss.

That's interesting to me. God had a

purpose in the

uh Esther being there and he had a

purpose in Hmon being there and he

brought that he brought this conflict

together. He brought this situation

together for his sovereign purposes. So

the great question is asked, who knows?

And the great reflection begins.

None of us know.

God knows.

And all we have to do is submit to him.

Whether we're Moses or Joseph or Abraham

or David or Samson or Gideon or Paul in

the New Testament.

Um,

think about what happens here.

A young Jewish girl who lost both her

parents, who's alone in the world except

for her her elder cousin Mori

becomes a tool to save a whole nation in

danger

of judgment. That's pretty big.

So the question is asked and the

reflection begins and the answer is

given. This is dangerous.

And you know she took it. She heard it.

She reflected on it and she'd be willing

to give her life

to save her nation.

She's certainly going to risk her life,

but she's very probably or possibly

going to lose her life in an effort to

save her people. And she makes this

decision and then she says, "Shakult

shakali, if I perish, I perish. I'm

going in

going to the king.

There's something more than my personal

survival, more important

uh than my earthly comfort or my

longevity.

I'm going to do my part.

We're coming to July 4th in America.

It's a big day, right?

As we think about people who sacrificed

for the Revolutionary War. There were

many people that went broke. Million

millionaires people we call they never

got paid back from the government. They

put their money into the project, save

the country, get very little

recognition. Others gave their lives.

They felt it was worth it.

And Esther did not know if she was going

to be successful or not. She did not

know if she were going to survive or

not. She was willing to die for her

people to live. She was not willing to

live and see her people die.

And in that, she's just like Jesus.

She saw her nation under a sentence of

death. And she saw herself as someone

that could deal with it

by God's providence.

You and I got our place in the world.

And as Paul said, I beseech you,

brethren, by the mercies of God, present

your bodies a living sacrifice. holy

acceptable to the Lord which is your

reasonable service. He died for you. You

present your bodies to him to do

whatever he wants. So the question is

asked, the great question is asked. The

great reflection begins. And then the

great decision is made.

I have decided to follow Jesus. No

turning back. No turning back.

No halting between two opinions as in

the days of Elijah.

And so in chapter 4 of Esther verse 15,

Esther told them to return Morortei this

answer. Go gather all together all the

Jews who are present in Sushan and fast

ye for me. Fast ye for means pray for

me. Fast was to go along with the

prayers and neither eat nor drink three

days night or day. I also my maidens

will fast likewise and I will go into

the king.

Remember the law was if the king didn't

blow his scepter, you were killed. Even

if you were his wife, he didn't accept

you coming.

And I'll go into the king, which is not

according to the law. You had to be

invited. If you're not invited, you

don't go. If you're not invited and you

show up, you can die. Just have being

arrogant to show up. And if I perish, I

perish.

And so Moray went his way and did to all

that Esther had commanded him.

So in what we've been looking at is a

really wonderful text. A great question

is asked, a great reflection begins and

a great decision is made.

A great decision is made.

And that brings us to our fourth and

last point.

A great celebration

is initiated.

Esther was successful.

Hmon was executed.

The Jews were saved.

And if you go to Esther chapters 9 and

Esther 9 · chapter mention

10, a great holiday began.

One for the Jews in the outside the

city, others for one for the others

inside the city. And it's called pareim

pine.

And lots

the word pareim means a lot in ancient

Persian.

The casting of the lot.

And and Esther was victorious over the

enemies planning to destroy the nation.

It was a fantastic thing. She saved the

nation from extermination.

There's someone else that saved the

world from extermination. His name is

Jesus.

And

what a fascinating business

in the book of Esther. I just enjoy this

book so much.

Now, the holiday of Pereim is celebrated

once a year to the Jews to this day.

They celebrated this year in March 23rd

of this year, 2026.

And uh uh no, no, that's that's next

year. This year was celebrated on March

2nd and 3rd.

But behind all of this stuff is

something very interesting. And

everybody that's ever studied Esther

knows this. God is sovereign, completely

sovereign. He's assumed at every point

He there at every point there's an

assumption made uh but his name is never

mentioned.

God's name's never mentioned in this

book that he's in everything every

decision that's made.

It's kind of fascinating.

In fact, what happened the feast of

Pereim is just the last of many feasts

in this book.

They they decided to celebrate this

deliverance of the Jewish nation once a

year and that's chapters 8 to 10.

But did you know the whole out the whole

book of Esther can be outlined by

feasts.

The NIV study Bible does that.

It mentions 10 banquetss or 10 feasts in

the book. the person that starts off

with the feast of Xerxes in chapters 1

and two and then the feast of Esther

that's two and seven. Now the feast of

Esther a little different it's just her

the king and Hmon

but then there's the feast of Pereim in

chapters 8 to 10

and those feasts are meant to celebrate

the deliverance.

There was no way they wanted to have the

deliverance without celebrating the

deliverance.

And so that's a fascinating thing. The

king's edict on behalf of the Jews is is

brought out that they'd be saved in

chapter 8. The initiation of the holiday

of Pereim is brought about in chapter

nine. And the promotion of Mori,

he gets Hmon's job is chapter 10.

Isaiah 10 · chapter mention

History

has an interesting poetic

justice to it.

Most of us know about Joseph Stalin if

we're old enough. He was still ruling

Russia.

He was uh he was a Russian communist

leader. He had plans for dealing with

the Jewish problem in the USSR.

talking about 1950 there. He was talking

about it. He was promoting it. He had

plans to deal with the Jews and destroy

them.

Stalin was good at killing people. He

people estimate

that Stalin killed between 8 million and

two million of his own people. Now, if

you think communism is a good option,

think about that.

But he's he he got it in his crawl to uh

persecute the Jews.

And guess what happened?

Stalin died.

Crisis point came in 1953.

The persecution was almost ready to

start.

and Stalin died on the holiday of Pereim

in 1953.

Does God have a sense of humor?

Genesis 12 1-3 is still valid.

So when we come to the last chapters of

the book,

the great the fourth point the great

celebration is initiated

and uh

Kareem wasn't started because of a

uh a madeup story

like Goldilocks and the Three Bears or

something.

Kareeim was started because something

happened in history

that was so significant it should always

be brought to remembrance and never

forgotten.

Something so significant it must be

remembered publicly. It must be

remembered and celebrated

uh down through time.

And isn't that just what the Lord's

supper is?

Isn't that what the communion table is

all about?

We're looking back not at some fictional

story about some fictional people, about

some fictional uh salvation.

We were not there, but the Jews that

celebrate it today weren't there. But

they celebrate it because they know it

was something to celebrate. It was real.

And we celebrate the Lord's supper. Why?

Because we know. We know.

We celebrate

the death of on the cross of our Lord

Jesus Christ.

The way they celebrated

Perim and the way they celebrated

Passover.

So, we come to the Lord's supper to uh

realize that we have a great blessing

that's come our way.

It's not just happened for one

generation's sake.

It's something that needs to be

celebrated down through time and will be

celebrated

all through eternity.

the acts of the triune God on behalf of

his people by his infinite grace

and wonderful redemption.

Father, help us now to enter into the

Lord's supper

with the reverent enthusiasm

of those

who cannot ignore

could not

forget

what our God has done for us.

God was in Christ reconciling the world

for himself.

And he who knew no sin was made to be

sin for us that we might be made right

the righteousness of God in him.

May we stand up for our savior.

May we stand up for his people.

May we stand up for his

cause.

in a world that hasn't changed since

Hmon.

Help us to be bold.

Help us to be brave.

Help us to be quietly courageous.

And whatever time left we have on this

planet,

may we not just with our lips

take the cup and the bread

with our lives

show our love for a savior who died for

us and rose again

in Jesus name.

>> Amen.

Lord, as we go from this place,

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine well to a sin

darkened world.

As we go from this