In the gospels, our Lord Jesus describes the devil as the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning. And as we're studying Esther chapter 3, and we come this morning to chapter 3 as we're studying Esther, we have seen and we will see increasingly the devil's persecution, his hatred, indeed his murderous intent against God's ancient people, the Jews, who are living at the time of Esther, at least some of them, in pagan Persia. In our world today, as was the case then, there is a constant battle between God and the devil, between good and evil, between right and wrong, between light and darkness, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, between heaven and hell. But I want you to grasp this, that in spite of the opposition, the conflict, the hostility, and the hatred, God always, always takes care of His people.
Jesus said, in the world you have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. John 16, verse 33. Paul writes in that great chapter, Romans chapter 8, what shall we say then to these things?
Yes, there are many things against us. What are we going to say? What is our response as the people of God? He's asking a question rhetorically. The answer, if God be for us, is God for us?
Of course He's for us. If God is for us, who can be against us? And in the book of Esther, the small book that we often ignore, we're learning of God taking care of the Jewish nation.
The word Jew is used 50 times in Esther, only 26 other times in the Old Testament. And behind the darkness and persecution, God is setting the stage for the deliverance of His people through the removal of Queen Vashti, as we've learned, and the coronation of Esther, this Jewish queen. Also, God is at work through the positioning of Mordecai, her Jewish cousin, God watching over His people. Do you think God's watching over you today?
Do you think God knows you, caring for you? You may not feel that, but we're learning that God always cares for His people. Now, in the first five verses, we're introduced to the villain of the story.
This is a drama, isn't it? His name is Haman, and we see Haman's promotion to power and prestige in the first five verses of Esther chapter 3. Let's first of all read verse 1, Esther 3 verse 1. Why are we reading from an old Scripture rather than listening to some hype and motivational talk about how we are going to get through in a tough world? The answer, this is God's Word.
It has stood the test of time, and the grass withers, and the flower fades, but the Word of God stands forever. Esther 3 verse 1, now after these things, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hamadatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all of the officials who were with him. Esther is still queen in Persia.
Between the end of chapter 2 and chapter 3, there's about four years. You may recall, as we saw last week at the end of chapter 2, Mordecai discovers a conspiracy to kill the king, King Ahasuerus. Rather than the king then honoring Mordecai, he promotes Haman, the villain of the story. When the book of Esther is read in synagogues, when Haman's name is mentioned, children boo and stamp.
If you like doing that, go ahead. When Mordecai's name is mentioned, they cheer. Just what we read, that the king advanced Haman and set his throne above all of the officials who were with him. He becomes, in a sense, prime minister. Throughout the immense and powerful kingdom of Persia, he is, in effect, second only to King Ahasuerus. This evil man, Haman, is going to use his power and his position, as is the case so often for those in leadership. He's going to use that as he tries to control and in fact manipulate events. In our wicked world, people who are wicked often prosper.
We say that, don't we? Perhaps you are an authentic follower of Jesus Christ seeking to display Christ at your work as God opened doors to testify of the uniqueness of our Lord Jesus Christ. And while you're doing that at work, a very unscrupulous colleague is promoted over you, and he may in fact be placed in authority over you.
Pretty hard, isn't it? This is happening in ancient Persia. But remember, God is at work, invisibly and silently behind the scenes. And in all circumstances, dealing with what seems to us to be so unfair, we are to continue to trust the Lord. Now Haman's promoted, but now he's going to be provoked.
His insecurities are going to be demonstrated. Verse 2, and all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman. Didn't he love it? For the king had so commanded concerning him, but Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. Then the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai, why do you transgress the king's command? And when they spoke to him day after day, and he would not listen to them, they told Haman in order to see whether Mordecai's words would stand.
Notice this, for he had told them that he was a Jew. And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury. So, King Hadjures commands everyone to bow down and pay homage to Haman. And this message is communicated to Mordecai day after day, and Mordecai consistently refuses to bow down to Haman.
It becomes, in a sense, the talk of the town. Why does Mordecai not bow down? It wasn't really wrong for a Jew to bow before someone in authority. It wasn't worshipping. Esther is going to fall at the king's feet in chapter 8. Wasn't it just a matter of court protocol to bow before the prime minister, even though you may not have much respect for him?
Would that have been the advice that you would give in Mordecai? Is he just kind of one of these awkward individuals? Is he too proud, too stubborn, too envious of Haman's promotion, and he didn't get it even though he exposed that conspiracy to kill the king? The clue, I think, is given in the text of Scripture. I emphasize at the end of verse 4, for he had told them he was a Jew. Now, who is Haman? Did you notice as I read in verse 1 that he's called Haman the Agagite. He is a descendant of the Amalekites.
Agag, after whom Haman is called, was the king of the Amalekites. And the writer is drawing attention in this context to Mordecai being a Jew, and Haman, far from being a Jew, is a descendant of the Amalekites who were the bitter enemies of Israel. You may remember after the exodus from Egypt very early on in the wilderness journey, the Amalekites attack the people of God. They were enemies of the God. You can read about it in Exodus, in Deuteronomy chapter 25, it expressly says this. And you may recall that King Saul, who was a Benjamite, as is Mordecai.
We read that before. Mordecai is from the tribe of Benjamin, as King Saul was, and Mordecai must have heard the story of King Saul. You remember King Saul is instructed by the prophet Samuel to kill all of the Amalekites. They're the enemies of Israel.
They're trying to kill Israel. And Saul, instead of obeying the command of God, which was relayed to him through God's prophet Samuel, he kept the king, King Agag. Haman is an Agagite. He keeps King Agag alive, and he keeps the best of the sheep, and the goats, and the oxen, and the lambs, and did not utterly destroy them, we read in 1 Samuel. Samuel learns of this, and he confronts Saul and says, why did you spare King Agag? Why did you keep the best of the flocks? And Saul, with his pseudo-dripping spirituality says to Samuel, come on, Samuel, I kept the best so that we could offer them as sacrifices to God.
What are you complaining about? Do you remember Samuel's wonderful answer that we need to hear? Saul, obedience is better than sacrifice.
And to hearken and to listen, that is listen and obey the word of God, is far better than the fact of rams. And what does Samuel do? As King Agag comes to him, and King Agag says to Samuel, surely the bitterness of death is past, and Samuel hacks Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
You say, that's pretty drastic. What did we do with the enemy behind the blowing up of the towers? Your government then said he must be exterminated, that those who are about to kill us, we are to go and kill them. Mordecai knows the story from the same tribe as Saul, and he'd be very familiar with that story. And Haman's description then as an Agagite makes it very clear that Haman, can I say like Hamas today, is the enemy of the Jew. Look down at verse 10 where the writer tells us that.
We're getting ahead of the story, but I want you to notice this. The king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agagite, the son of Hamadatha, the enemy of the Jews. Chapter seven, verse six. Esther said, a foe, an enemy, this wicked Haman. Chapter eight, verse one. On that day, King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther, the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews.
Chapter nine, verse 10. The ten sons of Haman, the son of Hamadatha, the enemy of the Jews. Verse 24, for Haman the Agagite, the son of Hamadatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them. The writer of Esther is making it very, very clear that this man, Haman, hates the Jew. He's the enemy of the Jew. He's an anti-semit.
Now his promotion. Here's his plan to deal with this, Haman's plan. Verse six, but he disdained, that's Haman, disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So as they'd made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, through the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
In the first month, which is the month of Nisan in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast pure, that is they cast lots before Haman day after day, and they cast it month after month until the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, there's a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all of the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people. They don't keep the king's laws so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them. If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed.
I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who have the charge of the king's business, that they may put it into the king's treasuries. His fury and his hatred of Mordecai goes further. He wants, as we read in verse six, to destroy all of the Jews who are throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. He wants to commit genocide. He wants to wipe out the Jewish nation from the face of the earth. He's planning a Holocaust.
Haman does not know, however, that the very course in which he is embarking will result in disaster for himself. In the Abrahamic Covenant, you read about it in Genesis 12, 15, and 17, a very, very important covenant in Scripture. In the Abrahamic Covenant, God promises, I will bless those who bless you, that's Abraham and his descendants, and him who dishonors you, I will curse. This man doesn't know it, but he's under the curse of God because he's going to attack the people of God.
He's an evil man. He's superstitious. He seeks astrological guidance. He casts these lot, the pure, which is the Persian word for lot. They're like dice.
And he's trying to work out the best day to hatch this plot. Isn't it interesting when people, in their sin, turn from the Word of God, they go to the most ridiculous places for advice about the future? Horoscopes, astrology, mediums. You may have heard on the radio the adverts about these psychics in California. I almost feel like calling one just to see the nonsense they would say. But people believe it, and people pay a lot of money to somebody in California. Imagine them calling and saying, hey, I'm John Monroe, what about my future?
And they're going to tell me the future. But even in the casting of lots, this wicked man Haman, we see the sovereign control of the Lord. Proverbs 16, verse 33, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord.
No luck, no chance with God. And the day selected for the genocide was almost a year away, which gave the Jewish people time to prepare for the coming Holocaust. God not only is in control of events, He's in control of the timing of events. He's always watching His people. And so the Haman goes to the king. He doesn't mention the Jews by name. He explains that there's a certain kingdom, certain people, kings throughout your kingdom, they don't respect you. They don't obey your laws.
You don't get any profit for them. They're against you. By the time they were wiped out, the king says, okay. And slippery, evil Haman bribes the king by giving him 10,000 talents of silver, a huge amount. So the king makes this terrible proclamation, verse 10. So the king took his signet ring from his hand, gave it to Haman the agagite, the son of Hamadathah, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, the money is given to you, the people also, to do with them, as it seems good to you. When the king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, then the edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king, satraps, and to the governors over all of the provinces, and to the officials of all of the peoples, to every province in its own script, and every people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed with the king's signet ring. Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with instruction to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation to all the people to be ready for that day.
The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa, the capital. The king and Haman sat down to drink, totally hardened, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion. You know, Persia was normally tolerant of ethnic and religious differences, but the king is manipulated, and he agrees to Haman's hate-filled request. And so the king gives to Haman, the enemy of the Jews, permission to annihilate them, to wipe them out, and to take all of their possessions. And to do it as seems good to you, Haman. And this proclamation goes out to all of the kingdom, all the people speaking different languages, different ethnicities, but the message is the same. We're going to annihilate all of the Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, and we're going to plunder their goods.
And that had the force of law. What a story isn't it? It's a very vivid and dark illustration of Satan's attempt to exterminate the Jewish people. Haman is an agent of Satan seeking to thwart the purposes of God.
He is, in fact, a precursor of the Antichrist, who during the tribulation period will seek to exterminate the Jewish nation and all those who don't have the mark of the beast. But Scripture says, or Lord says, John 4, salvation. Where does salvation come from? Salvation is from America. Salvation is from Europe. Salvation is from Russia. Salvation is from Persia.
No, salvation is from the Jews. John 4, verse 22. And we know that our Messiah, our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, He comes from the tribe of Judah, the kingly tribe.
And this is God's plan of salvation. From the ages of eternity, that He's going to send His only Son into this dark, hateful world. And when He sends His Son, yes, salvation has come from the Jews. He's born in Bethlehem.
His ministry is in Israel. But He comes as the Savior of all of the world. He comes to seek and to save the lost. That He is the Deliverer.
He is the Rescuer, rescuing us from the grip of sin and Satan and hate and selfishness and washing us and cleansing us and putting us on a new path. And Satan, down through history, right from the garden, remember Genesis 3.15, where the Lord says to Satan that there's going to be this conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, and they're going to continue that fight as it were. And we see it continuing down through redemptive history. We see Pharaoh at the time of Moses trying to kill all of the baby boys in ancient Egypt.
Good debate going on in our country about abortion, isn't there? It's a very, very ancient problem. Pharaoh wants to kill all of the baby boys in Egypt. Herod, at the time of our Savior, wants to kill all of the little babies born in Bethlehem and the area.
And Goody and I were recently in Rome. We read about the Emperor's, Emperor Nero. You know what they did with babies they didn't want? Oh, they didn't have abortion then, but they took unwanted babies and they left them on the hills for the wild animals to kill.
Or a couple who wanted a baby, didn't have a child of their own, could go and maybe pick one of the children. Unwanted children, discarded, killed, now pre-birth, often after-birth throughout human history. Where does that all come from? Our enemy, he is a murderer from the beginning. And here Haman, around 475 B.C., obtains a decree to exterminate the Jews, including the women and children. In 168 B.C., Antiochus Epiphanes killed 80,000 Jews, tried to exterminate Judaism. He erected in the temple in Jerusalem an image of Zeus, the Greek god.
What blasphemy. In A.D. 70, the Roman army, the superpower of the day under Titus, marches into Jerusalem and kills over one million Jews. In the victory march under Titus through Rome, they're demonstrating their superiority over the Jews by carrying the seventh branch menorah, the silver trumpets, and perhaps the Ark of the Covenant.
That's the Arch of Titus, which is in the Roman forum. It's not my photography is bad, it's just so faded, this arch which was built in honor of the destruction of the Jews. And the Jews who survived the Roman assault around A.D. 70 are scattered to the four corners of the earth. Is that the end of the Jewish nation? In World War II, there was the systemic extermination of Jews during the Holocaust. Approximately six million Jews, estimated 1.5 children, think of the hatred, were exterminated during the Holocaust. Many are gassed in extermination camps in Auschwitz, Dachau, and Treblinka, and others.
What hatred, what cruelty against innocent people. This is what the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg on 7th of June 1946 said right after World War II. Of the 9,600 Jews who lived in parts of Europe under Nazi domination, it is conservatively estimated that 5,700,000 have disappeared. Most of them, deliberately put to death by the Nazi conspirators.
Only remnants of the Jewish population of Europe remain. An attempt by the Third Reich to wipe, in their view, the scum of humanity off the face of the earth and to destroy the Jewish nation. This is history.
It can't be denied. Anti-Semitism that we have today, we see in ancient history, but it continues today doesn't it? The hatred and the persecution against Israel. Present day Israel has many enemies, want to destroy it, want to drive the Israelis into the sea, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, the Houthis, many others. They absolutely hate the nation of Israel.
The spirit of Haman that we see here in Esther chapter three, to annihilate, to destroy, to kill all of the Jews is certainly not dead. Wasn't it so sad in our own country within days of the October 7 attack last year by Hamas, where over 1,200 Israelis were killed, butchered, including children, pregnant women, over 250 hostages taken. Within days of that happening, we had in our own country rallies promoting Hamas. Hamas was hosting rallies on American campuses, shouting, from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.
In other words, sweep them all into the Mediterranean. Get rid of the Jewish nation. I read, surprisingly, in April of this year, summit ministries and RMG research polling revealed that young adults here in the United States of 18 to 24 are more than three times as likely as the general population to deny that Israel has a right to exist. If they deny that Israel has a right to exist, presumably they don't believe that Israel has a right to defend themselves. Now as I say that, this is not to say that everything which the present government of Israel does is right.
I am not saying that. But I am saying this, no other nation in world history, none, has been so persecuted, so hated as the Jewish nation. Why is Israel repeatedly condemned in the United Nations, including by countries which are extremely repressive and undemocratic? Why is Israel so often targeted in international politics? Why Israel? You've been reading what's happening in Sudan.
It's largely forgotten. A hundred and fifty thousand people have been slaughtered in Iran's capital. Ten million people, a fifth of the population, have been forced to flee from their homes.
Did you get the number? Ten million people. And the famine looms in Sudan, I was reading, not in Christianity today, but in The Economist, a secular magazine.
It's estimated, with this famine, millions could perish, they said, in the world's worst famine for 40 years. Now where are the protests we see for Sudan? Did you see any Sudanese flags flying from Ivy Leagues encampments this year? Do you see any protests the United States must do much more to prevent the killings and famine in Sudan?
Do you see the United Nations taking decisive action? So the question is, repeatedly, why the hatred, why the condemnation of Israel, which is the only democracy in the Middle East? Here is the answer. We read it in Esther chapter three. Satan hates the Jewish nation.
Why? They're God's chosen people. Salvation is from the Jews. And our enemy hates followers of Jesus Christ. He hates the church of Jesus Christ. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, He's totally against you. He's totally against those who are baptized here today. You say, John, come on, you're getting a bit extreme.
Listen to the words of Jesus. John 15, 18, if the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. They took our blessed Lord, sinless, perfect, His brilliant teaching, His miracles, His compassion, His love, and what did they do?
They crucified Him on a cross. Now we ask, who will eventually win? Haman's satanic plot struck at the everlasting Abrahamic covenant with promised land, greatness, and blessings to Abraham and his descendants. The book of Esther is reminding us that all of the hatred and all of the plans of our enemy Satan, all of the persecution of the people of God will never thwart the invincible purposes of God.
Haman, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, all of these countries which hate Israel, they will never, ever destroy the Jewish nation. God's promises and His word is at stake. God does not forget His ancient people. God does not forget His promises to them. You say, John, that's Old Testament.
Well, listen to Paul, a Jew, raised in Judaism. This is what he says in Romans 11. All Israel, as he is prophesying, all Israel will be saved. God has a future for Israel. God never goes back on His promises. God always watches over and cares for His chosen people, even in the midst of fierce persecution and cruel opposition.
How wonderful. You say, well, what's all this to do with me? Well, keep your eyes on Israel and remember this. The God who watched over His ancient people at the time of Esther is the same God who watches over you and me.
Yes, His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me. You say, I'm concerned about our country. I'm concerned as well. Do you feel the mounting hostility against Christ's followers and their views and their values at your work, at your home, in society generally?
Yes, I feel that, but I'm not discouraged. I'm following Christ and God always takes care of His people. Remember the old hymn through every day or all the way, He will take care of you. The best loved of all Psalms, what does it say? The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want. There's no need to fear. There's no need to fear the opposition. There's no need to fear what's going to happen, that He leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. That even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil.
Why? He is with us. God will take care of us and that irrespective of which president will be elected. I find some Christians, they're up in arms. If their candidate is not going to be elected as if this is going to be the end of the world, is your trust in a president? Is your trust in a political party? No wonder you're upset.
No wonder you're feeling miserable. We're people of God. Yes, we're to be involved in society.
Yes, we are to vote wisely according to biblical values and to know the candidates and to know what they believe, but we don't allow what is happening around us to swamp us and to paralyze us and for us to retreat, as it were, into our little spiritual cocoons. What a time for the people of God to stand and to be lights in the world, to be salt permeating the corruption. And when our Savior comes, He comes to deliver us.
And what's His promise? From the Good Shepherd, John 10, I'm the Good Shepherd. I give my life for the sheep, and I give them, what's His gift? Eternal life. And they shall never perish, and no one shall pluck them out of my hand. My Father who gave them me is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
I and my Father are one. Brothers and sisters, if your trust is in Jesus Christ, we are eternally secure. Jesus Christ is building His church all over the world, and the gates of hell and Satan himself will not prevail against it. And we have a glorious, glorious future that we often have fear forget, that our eyes need to be up, and saying, even so come, Lord Jesus, on one great and glorious day. Our Savior is going to come, and He's going to catch up His bride, the church, and we will be forever with the Lord. Yes, and God's judgment is going to fall on this world.
Yes, the Jewish nation are going to be persecuted during a time of tribulation, but during that time when our Savior returns, they will look on the one whom they pierced, and so all Israel will be saved. So as you go to your bed tonight, if you're a child of God, put your head on the pillow and sleep well. Sleep well. The Lord. And remember, remember Psalm 121, the God who keeps Israel. He doesn't just keep Israel, He keeps you and me. He neither slumbers nor sleeps.
You're afraid to go to sleep? God never falls asleep. God always watches over us. And God's purposes are often mysterious to us as He works in our individual lives, as He works in the affairs of the nations of this world, but He is in control, Esther is telling us.
And yes, it seems that evil often seems to prevail, and it seems that we are weak, and it seems that we are powerless, and you have the king Ahasuerus, and you have the evil Haman, the enemy of the people of God, but we look up and thank our great God, this God who was our help in ages past. Our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home. Father, we thank You for these glorious truths, and we do pray, as we think of Israel, we pray even now for the hostages. We pray for peace.
We pray that You will work in the darkness there and bring peace to that country. We think of the many followers of Christ in Israel. We think of the many among the Palestinians and these surrounding nations, may they shine for Christ, and in the midst of these horrible situations, point people to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Some of us here are fearful about the future, fearful about what's going to happen to our country, fearful what's going to happen to our lives and our families, and all of that. May we be calm. May we be still and know that You are God, a great God. And we know that to those who love You, all things work together for good, and so we humbly submit ourselves to You, and trust You, and pray from the depths of our being, even so come, Lord Jesus. May those here who don't know the Savior, who are outside of Christ, who never come to Christ for salvation, may Your Spirit open their eyes and draw them to our Savior. And may our trust always be in this great God, who's helped us in the past, who's our hope today. And we know that with our Savior, we have an eternal, wonderful salvation, and so we rejoice. And so we praise Your great name, as we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.
