Well, today we begin this new series of one of the most unusual, and yet I think one of the fascinating books of the Bible, the book of Esther. It takes place in a foreign land, obviously, in ancient Persia. And it's one of only two books in the Bible called After a Woman.
And Esther, like the other book, Ruth, is a real-life drama involving real-life people in real-life situations. And perhaps some of you are asking yourself, why are we studying such a strange and ancient book? Well, the Bible gives us the answer. Paul says that all Scripture is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God may be adequate, complete, equipped for every good work. Paul in Romans 15 verse 4 says, for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction. That through endurance and through the encouragement of the Holy Scriptures, we might have hope. We were saying about that hope, we live in a world where many people are hopeless as followers of Christ. We are people of hope.
How is that hope going to be sustained? How is it going to be strengthened through the Word of God? So this is God's Word, and He wants us to read it, and He wants us to understand it.
It is, admittedly, an unusual book. Not only does it not mention God's name in the 10 chapters, there's no mention of the Abrahamic Covenant. There's no mention of the law of God.
There's no mention of sacrifices or prayer, although on several occasions there is a reference to fasting. A pagan king is mentioned 190 times in the 10 chapters. It's only 167 verses. God is not mentioned once.
That's strange, isn't it? Because God abandoned His people who are in exile, the Jewish people in exile at Persia at the time of Esther, because they did not return to Israel, although they had the opportunity to do so, had He abandoned them. But the title of this message, and I think which could be written over the book of Esther, perhaps may supply an answer, the providence of God. That is, a sovereign God is providentially caring for His chosen people, the Jews.
It's true. His hand may sometimes be hidden, but His people are never forgotten. It's true that God is not mentioned in the book of Esther, but He is the main character in the intriguing story. Isn't it true that sometimes we fail to discern God's hand at work in our lives as we look back over the years? Sometimes to us it appears to be an invisible hand. It seems sometimes in our lives that God is hiding, that we are unloved, that God is distant from us. At other times, although we may be slow to admit it, we don't want God in our lives.
We want to live our own way, follow our own rules without regard to God. And yet, in all circumstances of life, we're going to be learning that our God, our Heavenly Father is watching over us. And He is at work through the ordinary circumstances of our lives, through seemingly coincidences in our life. Paul writes to the Ephesians that God works all things according to the counsel of His will.
And we're going to learn that. So, if we're wise, we trust as God, even though He sometimes seems invisible, even though sometimes we don't understand what He's doing in our life and He seems remote and we don't hear from God, we are to trust Him whatever the circumstances. That's one of the lessons of Esther. Now, as we come, I ask you to open your Bibles to Esther chapter 1 in the Old Testament. We have Psalms.
Most of you know about Psalms. Before that, there's the book of Job, and then there is Esther. And in the first nine verses, we're going to read about a king's power. First of all, the writer very helpfully gives us the historical setting in the first two verses of Esther 1.
So let's read that this morning. First of all, Esther 1, verses 1 and 2, now in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia, over 127 provinces. In those days, when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel.
This is the historical setting. Because you know your Jewish history, you will remember that in 586 B.C., before the events of Esther, Nebuchadnezzar was the Babylonian king. Babylon was the superpower of the day. And at 586, Nebuchadnezzar and his forces sacked the city of Jerusalem and burned the temple. And at that time, many Jews were taken captive, including the young man Daniel. And they were taken to Babylon, and there they lived in exile.
We call it the Babylonian captivity. On October 12, 539 B.C., the Babylonian empire came to a sudden and abrupt end during the reign, you read about it in Daniel 5, of Belshazzar, King Belshazzar. Cyrus the Great, the grandfather of the king we're going to be reading about, King Ahasuerus. Cyrus the Great, leader of the Persians and the Medes, led his army up the Euphrates River.
How did they do that? They dammed the river, they redirected the river, and they went right through the gates under the city into Babylon. And in that strange way, the Babylonians were defeated. And the great Babylonian empire ended, and now the ruling power were the Persians. The Persian empire became the superpower.
If you've studied the book of Daniel, remember the image of Daniel chapter 2? There is the gold head representing Babylon, and then there are the silver arms and chest representing the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians, then there's the Greeks, and then there are the Romans, and that was true historically. Babylon is going to be succeeded by Persia as we're reading. Persia is going to fall to the Greeks.
The Greek empire is going to fall to the great Roman empire. Now under the reign of Cyrus the Great, Jews living in exile were allowed, quite miraculously, they were allowed to return to Israel to rebuild the temple. You read that in Ezra chapter — in Ezra and Nehemiah in your Bible. However, many of the Jews and their descendants did not return to Israel, including Esther and Mordecai that we're going to read about in this book. They didn't return. They remained in Persia.
Why was that? Had they forgotten God? Had God forgotten them? And the events of Esther take place, historically, in your Bibles between Ezra chapter 6 and 7, around 483 B.C.
It's almost two and a half thousand years ago. In the first return from the exile back to Jerusalem was that return was led by Zerubbabel. And according to Ezra 2, 49,897 Jews returned from exile to Israel to rebuild the temple. And then there was the second return led by Ezra. So Esther is taking place between the first return and the second return. And as we read in these opening verses, our story begins in Susa, in modern Iran, devastated although it is.
It's the winter capital of the Persian Empire, which was a capital of great beauty and luxury. Ahasuerus, notice what it says, verse 1, he reigned from India, probably what we know as Pakistan, to Ethiopia, over 127 provinces. There we have it. I don't have that in my Bible. Before I got up, I looked at my granddaughter's Bible. She's got pictures in hers.
I don't have pictures in mine. But there it is, and we have a narrow Susa, modern day Iran. Think of the extent of that kingdom. Right over, it says Ethiopia, probably what we know as northern Africa, perhaps Sudan, and it is a mass empire.
Middle East, Turkey, Greece, right over to India itself, 127 provinces. This King Ahasuerus is a pretty impressive character. The grandson of Cyrus the Great, and he's the absolute sovereign, the absolute dictator over this huge and very powerful empire.
That's the historical setting. Now let's read of his power and glory in verses 3 through 9. So in the third year of Israel, that's the reign of Ahasuerus, he gave a feast for all of his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him, while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 days. And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa the Citadel, both great and small, a feast lasting for seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace. There were white cotton curtains, violet hangings fastened with cords of fine linen, and purple to silver rods, and marble pillars, couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry marble, mother of pearl, and precious stones.
Pretty impressive, isn't it? Drinks were served in golden vessels, vessels of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king. And drinking was according to this edict, there is no compulsion."
Normally you only drank when the king drank, but here he's saying that you can drink any way you want. "'For the king had given orders to all the staff of his palace to do as each man desired. Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women in the palace that belonged to King Ahasuerus.' Here the rider details the pomp and the splendor and the riches and the glory of King Ahasuerus. And for six months, 180 days, Ahasuerus throws this elaborate party to display his power and his riches.
This is an opportunity for him to consolidate his power, to assert his leadership, and no doubt to discuss with his princes and the military advisors, his war council as it were, the military strategy for conquering Greece, which is a rising threat." Ahasuerus doesn't know it, but from world history we know in 330 BC, the Persian Empire is going to fall to the Greeks, but that has not yet happened. The father of Ahasuerus, Darius I, had been humiliatingly defeated by the Greeks at the great Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. In the Olympics, we have an event called the Marathon. The legend is that a runner announcing the Persian defeat in Athens died of exhaustion.
And so this long trek where he was running is probably a legend, but the marathon is called after the Battle of Marathon. And so here is the king, got his war council, he's got the princes, he's got everyone, and no doubt some strategies are being worked out to avenge the defeat that they've had at the hands of Greece. And a sumptuous banquet is brought to a very impressive climax. There's extravagant furnishings, there's beautiful gardens, no doubt everyone is in awe as the people come to see this and see the king, seemingly at the height of his riches and power and glory. Herodotus, the historian, records that the Persians loved to drink in large quantities, something not confined to ancient Persia. We read that the wine was in abundance, it was lavished, the royal wine.
Great party, isn't it? Meantime we read in verse 9 that his queen, Queen Vashti, is giving her own banquet to the woman in another palace. Verses 1 through 9 then, the power of the king. Secondly in verses 10 through 12, the king is going to be defied.
I want you to understand who this mighty man is, Ahasuerus. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mahuman, Bistha, Harbona, Ictha, Abichthar, Zithar, and Carcass, the seven eunuchs, who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to show the people and the princes her beauty. For she was lovely to look at, but Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command delivered by the eunuchs. At this, the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him.
He's got this party, very impressive. He's merry with wine, and he commands his queen, Queen Vashti, to appear. She has brought, verse 11, to show the people and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at.
Now, this was a highly unusual request. The queen's beauty is normally only displayed to the king, and the king at his party, no doubt drunk, merry with wine, is using his power in a very self-indulgent way, and he calls for her to come and so that the men could admire her beauty because she's lovely to look at. Astonishingly, having regard to the power of this man, to the empire over which he rules, astonishingly, Queen Vashti refuses to obey the king's commands.
The people go to bring her, we read. The eunuchs who oversaw the harem and the queen, they ask her to come, to appear before the king and all of the people, and she says no. To be paraded in front of drunken men as a sex object, particularly if she was going to be fully or partially naked, would have been a humiliating experience for anyone and certainly for the queen. And the queen's open defiance at the command of the king results in the king's extreme anger. He's arrogantly flouting his wealth, his power, and his glory. Now he is very, very angry, the most powerful man in all of Persia, if not in all of the world, is being publicly defied by one person and a woman at that, his own queen. His power is being defied, and now in verses 13 through 22, we're going to see the king's pettiness. First of all, in verses 13 through 15, the powerful king doesn't know what to do with this when his wife refuses to appear. Verse 13, then the king said to the wise men who knew the times, for this was the king's procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment, the men next to him being Karshena, Shethar, Admutha, Tarshish, Meris, Marcina, and Memuchen, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king's face and sat first in the kingdom.
According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs? He doesn't know what he's to do. This is a highly unusual situation, and so he brings his seven princes. You might say his inner cabinet.
These are the only men who can come and stand before the king. It's ironic, isn't it? The most powerful man in the universe doesn't know what to do when his wife disobeys the command. Now he's about to make a huge issue of the incident.
Now he's about to make a monumental mistake. Rather than admitting that this was a foolish command, or just laughing it off as a silly drunken idea, it becomes a matter of national policy and honor. You ever find yourself in a situation when you refuse to admit your mistake? You do something, you say something, and objectively you know, this was wrong, this was foolish. But you know, when we refuse to admit our mistakes, when we refuse to humble ourselves, the consequences are often far-reaching, not only for ourselves, but for others. And when we're proud, as this king was, we often act irrationally and emotionally. What's the biblical response?
When you're wrong, you make a mistake, do something really stupid, humility, admit it was wrong, readily admit your mistake, and seek forgiveness. The king does not do that. And so a very petty law is passed, a foolish law. Verse 16, then Amulkin said in the presence of the king and officials, not only against the king has Queen Vashti done wrong, but against all of the officials and all the peoples who are in all of the provinces of King Ahasuerus. For the queen's behavior will be known to all women, causing them to look at their husbands with contempt, since they will say King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come this very day.
The noble women of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's behavior will say the same to all of the king's officials, and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty. If it please the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be repealed that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. Up until now she's called Queen Vashti.
Now she's just referred to as Vashti. And let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all of his kingdom, for it is vast, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike. This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Mamukan proposed.
He sent letters to all of the royal provinces, to every province in his own script, and to every people in its own language, that every man be mastered in his own household and speak according to the language of his people. This man Mamukan gives this very pompous speech, saying to the king, this is not just a personal matter between the king and his wife, this is a matter of international importance. Verse 16, for all the peoples who are in all of the provinces of King Ahasuerus, traditional family values are being threatened throughout the whole kingdom by this queen's defiance. We can't allow this to go on, it will become general knowledge that Queen Vashti has openly defied King Ahasuerus, and there will be an insidious ripple effect, there will be whole-scale rebellion by all of the wives throughout the 127 provinces. I mean, you can't have women treating their husbands with contempt, can you? I thought there might be at least one amen, but no. What was the solution he proposes?
Was there a policy on this? Let's write a law, and the law will mean, verse 20, that all women will give honor to their husbands high and low alike. This feminist rebellion is going to be stamped out, going to nip it in the bud, and a public example is going to be made of Queen Vashti who will never again see the king. Furthermore, we know, Daniel tells us this as well, that the law of the Medes and the Persians can't be repealed. Once the law is made, it stands, you can't revoke it.
Queen Vashti, or Vashti she's now called, is permanently to be banished. And his elaborate, his drastic solution meets with universal mail approval, and letters are sent throughout the province in all of the different languages right from India to Ethiopia that every man be mastered in his own household. Pretty stupid law, isn't it? Hardly designed to bring more respect for the king, who's just showing his own insecurity, isn't he?
I mean, how can you command a man to be mastered in his own house? The arrogance, the chauvinism, the insensitivity, in fact, the irony and the foolishness of this law is mind-blowing, and all caused by a king's pride, by his anger, by his acting when he is merry with wine, demonstrating his own insecurity. However, the king has set in motion a chain of events which is going to greatly impact the Jewish nation, and that's the story.
And we'll continue with it next week, but let me make three important, as we draw this together, three important interconnected, and I think very encouraging truths to us on the providence of God. First of all, God's hand may sometimes be invisible, but his hand is always in control. Who's in control of the Persian Empire? King has yours?
No. God's in control. And God's name may be deliberately omitted from the book of Esther to demonstrate that although God's hand is often invisible, although he sometimes seems absent in our personal affairs and in the affairs of the world, he's very much present. Not only is he very much present, God is always in control. That's what we mean when we say that God is sovereign.
So although his name is not mentioned in the book, his hand is everywhere. And in Esther 1, what's God doing? God is moving Queen Vashti off the scene so that there is a vacancy as queen. God is working. God is working behind the scenes. Do you believe that? In this world? Do you believe that in your life?
John Calvin put it very well. He says that God's hand is at the helm. You're in a storm?
God's hand is at the helm. When Gudnaya were on their travels, we were, we had the privilege of visiting Sicily, and it was the same night, you may have read about that yacht. We were not on a 183-foot yacht. It was called, fortunately, it was called the Beisian, owned by an Englishman, his wife. And it was sunk in Sicily.
We were there that night, different part of Sicily. Here is this beautiful yacht. There is a down thrust, and within very short time, minutes, this very, very beautiful, very expensive yacht with the highest mast in the world goes to the bottom of the ocean.
Twenty-two people on board, seven die trapped in the yacht. And the captain has presently been investigated by the Italian authorities for negligent shipwreck and homicide. It was said that they should have known the storm was coming.
Other captains knew. It was said that he should have had the yacht facing the storm, that the hatchet should be down. And so, the storm came, and the captain was not at the helm with disastrous consequences. Calvin is saying, the Bible is saying, God is always at the helm.
Does it appear to be when the storm comes? No. Does it appear in Esther 1 that God has anything to do with this?
Of course not. God is not even mentioned. But God is at the helm.
His hand may sometimes be invisible, but his hand is always in control. Isn't that reassuring? Your life kind of unwinding at the moment, things not going well. Remember, God's in control. Look out over the world, what a mess.
You worried about what's going to happen to the United States? Don't worry, be still, no God. God's hand may be invisible, but God is in control. Second truth, God's hand may sometimes be invisible, but his hand is always invincible. The silence of God in books like Esther and the book of Job is very eloquent. God is powerfully present when he seems conspicuously absent and silent. Yes, God, from our perspective, may sometimes be invisible, but he is always invincible.
We're going to learn that here in Persia, here in Susa, the capital, Satan is inspiring a holocaust for the Jewish nation. Think of the power of Persia to stamp out the Jews if they want, but nothing can stand in God's way. And God had made faithful promises to the Jewish nation, and God's promises and his purposes are invincible.
Do you believe that? If you have a true understanding of the biblical God, you know that God is not a weak God. God is strong.
He's invincible. Paul says, and if God be for us, who can be against us? Dreading some future event. You're really quite afraid, aren't you, of some future event, whatever it is. Remember, that God is always in charge, ruling and guiding all things to their divinely appointed end. Yes, as I've already quoted, God works all things after the counsel of his will. Nothing can stand in the way of God.
There is no force, no person, certainly not Satan, who can stop the invincibility of our great God. And your life and mine is not at the whim of fate or chance or unseen mechanistic or capricious forces. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are certainly not fatalists, and we certainly don't believe in luck. We don't believe just in chance, as it were, no. We believe in the providence of God. That God works providentially in our lives through seemingly trivial events, sometimes through seemingly coincidences.
Have you found that as I have? Look back over your life, and we're doing that as we reflected our life since we met even our meeting. The last moment Goodney decides that she's going to go on this missions trip from something which seems just coincidental, rather minor in our lives, and yet the whole course of her life and mine has changed.
Why? Because God is working behind the scenes, and his purposes will be fulfilled. Therefore, brother, sister, life is hard, life is difficult for you.
You're a bit afraid, you're worried about your ministry, about your life, about your children, about your health, about your finances, about your work. Remember this, God's in charge. The invincible God, therefore place your trust in God. Is God for us? He's always for his people.
I realize that doesn't always seem obvious. Sometimes it seems that we're weak. Sometimes we're devastated. His hand may be invincible, but it's always invincible.
Here's the third one, the final one, I wish something about this. God's hand may sometimes be invisible, but his hand is always working for our good and for his glory. You say, John, I think it's gone a little far because I've had a lot of bad things happen in my life. Well, I've had bad things happen in my life, but this great God is so powerful that even when our, from our perspective, things go bad, God is still at work for our good and his glory. For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purposes. And God is working behind the scenes of your life and mine, even when you act contrary to God's will.
God's hand just now may be invisible. God is working silently and invisibly for your good, for my good, and for his glory. He cares for us even when we forget him, even when we ignore him, even when we take him for granted, God is still at work for our good. And just as God is going to protect, as we'll learn, his ancient people at the time of Esther, so God in his providential care protects and guides us. He is always working for our good.
He's always working so that he will be glorified. And we have the assurance, the absolute assurance that there is nothing in the whole universe which can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's Paul's majestic argument, isn't it, in Romans 8, is he brings it to this brilliant climax. There's all kinds of things that could happen to us. There's wars, there's the sword, we're like sheep scattered, he says. There's death itself. There's all kinds of things that could happen to us.
Yes, a nuclear holocaust, devastation, economic collapse. The worst situation you can imagine, yet there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. You know, I was thinking about this when we were away. I love to visit church buildings.
My wife, not so enthusiastic all the time. So we visited a lot of church buildings in Europe, and Goody would say to me, do we need to go into this one? I said, absolutely yes, let's go in. And many of them were absolutely beautiful structures, magnificent from an architectural standpoint, often very built, very prominently on the hill of the town of the community. So obviously when it was built, it was the very center of the community. You go in, and my, how ornate some of them are. The gold, you look at the beautiful paintings, masterpieces. You look at the stained glass windows, you see the statutes. But almost invariably, they were very dark. They were very gloomy.
There was very little natural light. And it suddenly hit me that as I looked around, the paintings, the stained glass, the statutes, almost exclusively, with a few exceptions, were reflecting the sufferings of Christ, the wounds of Christ, His death, Christ still on the cross. And as I looked around one, these beautiful structures, and asked our guide a few questions, I said to her, I said, I'm looking around here, and correct me if I'm wrong, but there's a great emphasis on the sufferings of Christ and the death of Christ. But I don't say much about hope. I don't say much about the resurrection or the empty tomb.
Have I missed it? And she looked at me, and she said, well, no, she said, we believe that when Jesus died on the cross, He died for the sins of the world. And yes, I believe that. But you know, that is not the full gospel, is it? And it struck me as she said, and I asked this same question to every time we're in a church, I said, how many people, not talking about tourists, how many people actually come here to worship?
In Greece, you get these beautiful icons and everything. I said, how many people actually come here to worship? And the answer was always, not so many. You know, our young people no longer believe this. Church is mainly older people, and I thought, I understand why.
What is the relevance? From an aesthetic standpoint, yes, beautiful, we could admire these works of art, these statutes and stained glass windows and all of that, but where is the reality of a living faith and a living Christ who not only died for our sins, not only gives us eternal life, but now, yes, now is actively involved in our lives, guiding us, helping us, Christ living in us, seems to be missing. And it struck me, you know, as we come to Calvary Church, no, we don't have icons, we don't have statutes, we don't have a dead Christ on a cross, but you could appreciate the choir, you could appreciate the ministry, you could be glad your children are cared for. You can enjoy the fellowship, but is it possible? Yes, it is all too possible that you miss the central fact, the uniqueness of authentic Christianity, that the one who died for our sins and was buried rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and he ascended to the right hand of God, that he is alive as he himself said, I'm alive forevermore, and of the keys of death and hell, and that the Christian faith at its fundamental level is a personal living faith in the person of Christ based on his redemptive work.
It's not on the trappings, however wonderful they may be. It's central to our faith, and I ask you, do you understand this, do you know Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, do you? You talk about your heritage, you talk about your background, you talk about all of the programs, all the things going on, they may be wonderful, but at the very centrality of our faith is this living faith in Christ, is this God who knows me, that the majestic God, the sovereign God, the God who in love, who in his grace sent his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ to die and redeem us, that this God is alive and sovereignly at work in our lives, often behind the scenes. He's the perfect choreographer, sovereign over all of human history, sovereign over time, sovereign over eternity. He oversees the fall of nations, he oversees the fall of the sparrow, and I know he watches me. Do you understand that, that this God in his grace is not a remote God? Does he seem sometimes remote? Yes, he does, but he's a God who is with us, a God who saves us, a God who redeems us, a God who is coming for us, a God that we will spend all of eternity with, and now as we live our lives, how wonderful to know that we can love and trust and worship this living sovereign, personal and loving God, whose hand may sometimes be invisible, but who is always at work, who's always in control, whose hand is invincible, and who is always working for your good and His glory.
Therefore trust Him. Our Father and our God, we humble ourselves before you, how proud we are. We sometimes want to be king in our own little world, our own little kingdom. Teach us humility, help us to learn of the Lord Jesus who said He was meek and lowly. Thank you that you are a great God. You're not a little God, you're God, the sovereign God, the God of all eternity, and the God who in your grace has sent your Son in love to redeem us and to save us. Some here have never yet knowing Christ as their personal Savior. Open their eyes, Father. Draw them to Christ, and may we who know Him, Father, remember that there is nothing in this whole universe that can stop you, the living God. And so we know that in the storm we may be shaken, we may be afraid, but you're always at the helm, and therefore we will trust you because we know that you will hold us fast, and we give you thanks for that in Christ's name, amen.
